Day 5
Sabre's P.O.V.
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"So things are finally starting to settle down?" The Orange Leader breathes a sigh of relief. I notice the dark bags under his eyes have started to fade. He's been recovering from his imprisonment under the Corrected Sun. They all have.
"Yeah, I guess having a common enemy really brings people together." Violet Leader smiles. In response, the Yellow Leader shifts uncomfortably in his chair. Nobody wants to mention that his former assistant was the common enemy. Nor that his inaction helped the Corrected Sun grow stronger.
"Have you seen the blue and indigo districts lately?" Indigo Leader pipes up shyly. "The Orange Steves have been helping to expand them. They're really pretty!"
"Aww, thanks." The Orange Leader lights up at the praise. "I think my people feel really sorry about the way we've treated you guys. We hope we can make it up to you."
"Of course, that means the red district's empty again." Blue Leader points out with a laugh. "Since we aren't using that housing."
"Why did we build it anyway?" Green Leader asks Violet. "It's not like there are Red Steves around anymore." I stay silent from my spot beside Light's chair. How would it look if I started cracking up in the middle of the citadel?
"You never know." Violet shrugs. "We didn't think the Blue and Indigo Steves would join, either. Maybe a Red Steve will show up."
As if their words summon him, M bolts into the room.
"What the- Oh, M, you startled me!" Indigo Leader clutches his chest, eyes wide.
M skids to a halt, probably just realizing we are halfway through a meeting. I can't see his face, but his breathing is fast, like he sprinted all the way here. He's in a hurry.
"Do you mind?" Yellow Leader huffs.
"No, we do not." Blue retorts. "M saved us when we were trapped down in those sewers, remember?"
"Am I interrupting?" M asks in a strained voice. I frown, crossing to join him.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry Sabre, I didn't know who else to contact." I nodded quickly, before turning to address the leaders.
"You guys can continue the meeting without me, right?" I glare pointedly at them, and most of them nod quickly. Even the Yellow Leader grumbles his agreement. Satisfied, I steer M out of the room.
"I'm sorry." M repeats the second we're out of earshot. "But nobody in the Red Kingdom knows what to do."
"Calm down." I say quietly. "What's the problem?"
"It's the Professor." M admits. "He's been acting weird lately. The Leader's been trying to keep it quiet, but we're both worried, Sabre."
"He won't like me being involved." I mutter to myself, already plotting ways to work around the annoying royal.
"Actually, he agreed to let me bring you." M says, much to my surprise. "You have more experience with weird things than anyone else in this world, except maybe the Professor himself."
I frown. If the Red Leader is agreeing to this, it must be worse than I thought.
"Let's go, then." I agree, pulling a brown cloak out of my inventory and quickly throwing it on.
"Do you still have that?" M asks incredulously. I shrug.
"It comes in useful."
Without questioning it further, M teleports us into the heart of the Red Kingdom. As usual, I am astonished that no one questions me. You would think that since I am walking (jogging) right beside M, somebody would realize that I am a stranger. I guess not.
I almost lose sight of my cloaked friend as he rushes through the masses, almost bumping into several steves. Luckily, they start to jump out of his way, sensing the urgency.
"Oh, good, you're back already." The Red Leader is ushering both of us inside the second he opens the door. "I wasn't sure how long it would take him to get the note." I can see M fidgeting nervously. I guess he hadn't wanted to tell his leader about barging into the middle of the citadel to find me. Oh well, I wouldn't snitch.
"Any changes?" M asks.
"He insisted on going back into the lab." The Red Leader points down to a tunnel erupting from his carpet. You'd think I would've noticed that earlier. "Said he had things to take care of."
"And you let him?" I ask skeptically. "What if he does something dangerous down there?"
"Assistant Steve is looking after him." The Red Leader scowls, not pleased at my questioning. "He's programmed to keep the Professor safe." Yeah, but he's not programmed to keep anyone else safe. I don't say the thoughts out loud, not wanting to antagonize the leader who has only now let me into his kingdom willingly.
"Come on." M urges me. "We should go see him. You can't tell what's wrong unless you speak with him, right?"
"No, you're not going." The Red Leader rolls his eyes. "Didn't I tell you that? I'm not letting you visit the Professor until we know what's wrong with him."
"But you're letting Sabre go!" M protests.
"I'll tell you anything I find out." I promise him as the leader gestures for me to follow him. M crosses his arms in frustration, but nods, watching us with anxious red eyes as we descend into the dark.
"Assistant Steve?" The Red Leader knocks at an iron door embedded into the wall. The sound echoes loudly around the tunnel. With a shriek of unoiled metal, the redstone helps push the door open. In the entrance stands Assistant Steve, who looks tired for a robot. His movements are slightly jerky, maybe even anxious. He must be worried about his creator.
"Yes, come in, leader." he invites in his usual mechanical voice. "The Professor was just taking notes on his latest experiment."
"I don't suppose his behavior has changed?" The Red Leader asks quietly.
"Yes, actually. The changes we noticed earlier have become more pronounced."
"Really?"
"Yes, moron. Come and see for yourself."
I follow behind them at a distance, still not feeling comfortable in the underground lab. I guess I have too many unpleasant memories here.
"Oh, Assistant Steve, there you are! Red Leader!" The Professor greets both of them with a friendly smile, rising to approach the robot. "Assistant Steve, are you okay? Your battery levels seem low. Perhaps you should be charging."
"I'm fine, Professor."
"Really, Assistant, I would feel better if you replenished your battery. You need to take care of yourself, after all." The Red Leader frowns. I scan the Professor from head to toe, unable to place the problem for a few moments. Then, a strange suspicion comes over me. Slowly, I remove the hood of my cloak. "Oh, Sabre! Sorry, I thought you were M."
He makes no move to capture me. His eyes flash with curiosity, but only briefly.
"Has he ever acted like this before?" I ask the leader.
"Yes, actually." The Red Leader gives a fond smile. "But that was a long time ago, before he became a professor. I'm not sure what caused him to revert."
The word revert strikes a strange chord with me, but I can't place it.
"Oh, are you talking about me changing again?" The Professor asks sensibly. "Anything I can help with?" I turn to Assistant Steve.
"When did the symptoms begin?"
"A few days ago." Assistant Steve replies promptly. "After his latest portal experiment." I straighten up.
"Portal experiment?"
"He wanted to see if he could find more of your kind." Assistant Steve explains unapologetically. "To run tests."
"Did you connect to something?" I ask quickly, my voice strained. Memories of my last world flash through my mind. Was there even anything to connect to?
"Yes, actually." Assistant Steve replies.
"Wait... you did?" The Red Leader breaks in. "And I was not informed?"
"The Professor wanted to finish observing the specimen before making a report." Assistant Steve snaps.
"The specimen?"
"Actually, I was just going to tell you!" Professor Red says happily. "I've been thinking about it, and I was wondering if we need to get in contact with the Green Leader. From what I've seen, this one looks very sick, and isn't under our jurisdiction."
"Jurisdiction? Since when do you-" The Red Leader shakes his head, looking even more worried. "Yeah, let's go check it out."
"Perfect! Assistant Steve, return to your charging station, please." The robot does not look thrilled, but he walks off to go and recharge anyway. "Oh, good! He listened! I thought he might never get any sleep."
"Let's go see this specimen, then." The Red Leader says quietly, prompting the Professor to guide us down one of his many halls.
"So, a few days ago, I tried to connect to Sabre's old world via portal." Professor Red recaps. "And, instead of doing that, I must have reconnected to this one. The Green Steve who fell through, for some reason, looks and behaves oddly. I can't tell if it's from the portal, or just his personality.
"I haven't heard of any Green Steves going missing." I murmur quietly to the Red Leader. After all, I was just in a meeting with all the leaders. Wouldn't they have known if anyone in the kingdom disappeared. Unless it was someone outside of the kingdom?
"He's just in here!" Professor Red calls, opening a door. "Some kind of machine also fell through the portal. It's weird. I've never seen this kind of model before."
I freeze.
I recognize the redstone, alright. I remember building it myself. And of course, it's him who would fall through the portal. The steve I always forgot about.
He's sleeping in the piston's grip, looking worse for wear, as usual. His appearance is almost jarring here. It's difficult to pinpoint the differences between him and most of the Green Steves in this dimension, but he radiates the air of being different.
His skin is paler than normal, and despite sleeping, a slight tremor runs through his body. The sickness. Here.
I spin so fast I nearly give myself whiplash.
"Has he been out of the machine?" I demand.
"Uh... yes." The Professor looks alarmed at my words.
"How many steves have you been in close contact with since meeting this one?"
"Um, just the leader and Assistant Steve." he replies slowly. "The Red Leader wouldn't let me near anyone else, for some reason."
"That's good." I breathe. "Because you, Professor, are very, very sick."
"Wha- But..." The Red Leader begins to stress out. "How do you know?"
"You said he's reverted back to a younger stage of mentality? That's the second stage." I explain quickly and quietly. "Professor, have you been feeling ill lately? Fevers? Tiredness?"
"Just a little." The Professor admits. I nod solemnly.
"Is this a normal player disease?" The Red Leader wonders, his voice unusually high.
"It's a steve disease." I correct. "Or a sickness of some sort. Virus, toxin, nobody could really identify it."
"And that Green Steve has it." The Red Leader realizes. "Oh no, Professor..."
"You might have it, too." I warn him. "It's highly contagious, from what I've heard. You haven't been in close contact, have you?"
"I... don't think so." he mumbles. "Unless you count yourself."
"I don't. I'm immune." I say quickly. "I'm just trying to figure out how many of you need to be in quarantine."
"Quarantine?" The Professor demands. "Surely it can't be that bad." I shake my head.
"Professor..." I don't even know how to explain. My mind is still reeling from the fact that the Green Steve is here. A real Green Steve from my old world, in the machine I made to stop his spreading infection.
"You said it... effects the mind?" The Red Leader chokes. "For how long? What are the stages you were talking about?"
"I haven't seen all of them." I admit quietly. "I've mostly seen the aftermath and heard the stories.
At first, it seems like a regular illness. Tiredness, fevers, maybe headaches or nausea. That's the first stage.
Next come the mental difficulties. Your brain reverts back to a younger stage, and begins to slowly bring out all of your insecurities until they consume you. It drives some insane." I remember, vividly, the moment Alex had finally reached that stage. She had been willing to kill for little to no reason, power hungry and scared. I hold back a shudder.
"How long does it last?" The Professor interrupts, startled.
"Until the steve disappears." I finish. "There's not enough evidence to say if it's death, or what happens, but they're there one moment, and gone the next." The Professor shudders.
"How do you know?"
"It's what happened to them." I gesture to the steve in the machine. "There used to be hundreds. The population had barely begun to recover from all the villains on the loose. Then, the sickness came, and only a handful remained. That's why you two need to get into quarantine as soon as possible. Otherwise, the Red Kingdom will be next, possibly followed by all the others. Red Steves might actually go extinct."
"But who will lead the kingdom?" The Red Leader frets.
"M can handle it." The Professor tells him seriously. "And Assistant Steve can bring us food and water while we're quarantined. If this is as serious as Sabre says, we can't afford to have you interacting with other people, nor myself."
"We should move him, too." I point out, nodding toward the Green Steve. "So nobody comes down here and catches it."
I flick the lever of the machine, and the pistons unlock, letting the steve slowly open his green eyes. They are a little clouded, clearly dazed.
"Sabre?" he murmurs sleepily. "Oh, have I died already?" I smile sadly, steadying him to make sure he doesn't collapse.
"No, you're still hanging in there." I explain. "I'm going to get you into a quarantine, okay?"
"But... aren't you dead? Didn't the end crystal blow you up? I- I thought there was an end crystal. Have the delusions set in?"
"I made it out okay. Don't worry about it." I can hear the strain in my own voice as I fight off memories of the explosion. "Come on, now. Let's get you out of here."
"Are those Red Steves going to punch me?" his voice slurs a little as he wobbles, and I struggle to hold him up.
"Nope! They're very nice. And you're going to be in quarantine with them, so you'll have plenty of time to talk."
"Ohhhhh."
"Professor? The room?" I ask, not sure where to head. Both he and the leader are staring in concern at the Green Steve by my side. Maybe they hadn't realized how severe the symptoms were.
"I- I don't want to go!" The Red Leader panics. "What about my people? I don't want to be trapped somewhere!" Oh, his mental state must already be backtracking. This is worse than I thought.
"Your people won't be better off if they're sick." The Professor points out, taking his friend's hand firmly. "Come on, Leader."
"Leader? He doesn't look like an elder steve to me." The Green Steve squints hard. "Hmmmmm I guess I haven't seen a Red Elder before, though." I don't have the heart to explain to either group about elder steves and why this world doesn't have them. I just want them all quarantined before the sickness catches. I practically haul the exhausted steve over to the quarantine room.
"Alright, guys. Just stay in there, okay?" I ask tentatively, watching as the Red Leader starts to panic. The quarantine room doesn't look too bad, actually. Professor Red is trying to calm his leader down. Green Steve has conked out already. Ten minutes of consciousness seems to have worn him out.
"Sabre, you'll be able to cure this, right?" The Leader asks.
"I'll try." I say honestly. I don't add that I've already tried. It's quite difficult to do, especially if they don't want their energy removed. But I know that I have to, in order to preserve the Red Kingdom.
...I also need to see that portal that Professor Red made, the one linking to the Steve Saga world.
Leaving the sick steves, I go through the tunnels to tell M the news.
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Word Count: 2,601