#soul Steve RQ

[thebeingmerf]

MerMay 2024 Days 22-30

Sorry for the lack of description, tumblr seems to hate the longer version.

🌈

Be ready for tomorrow ;}

[reponute]

BIG STEVE RELATED PNG DUMP HERE !!!!!!!

[shadow-genesis-yay]

When ur messing around

[incorrectstevesagaquotes]

Sabre: Stay back, Gerald! I won’t let them take you!

Soul Steve: Ha, we’re not here for the little hog.

Corruption Steve, pointing at Sabre: We’re here for the big mouth.

[itsgirlcraft]

Welcome to the masterpost of all [256] of my FavreMySabre AUs/OCs/concepts :]

Feel free to ask questions or just give me a number between 1 and [256]! Or directly ask CWK!Sabre or MCRP!Time for what something means, navigation (i.e., genres, specific characters), or just questions on the multiverse these all belong to!

264 AUs. 256 AUs w/o dsmp, 186 w/o dreams (or dsmp). 8 dsmp-exclusive AUs were included here, I apologize.

Edit: at the bottom of the main list ID, will be a "changelog," where I put additional AUs that I didn't have in the og list. Once a page has been filled, there will be a new picture of it and a proper ID like the original pages.

That way, nothing gets confused. Also, the AU number will change as needed. AU names will most likely stay the same, and if they do change, I will include the og in the changelog.

Under the cut is the digitalized list/"ID"!

I got this done sooner than I thought tbh. Had to go thru my old tablet, my art binders, and all my notes on my phone. Worth it, this is SO USEFUL, my god!

FavreMySabre AUs/OCs List

drm = dream, OC = original character.

2019 era = 2019 and 2020, 2021 era =2021 and 2022, 2023 era = 2023 and 2024.

Oldest AUs (Wattpad, tablet, 2019 era) 62 AUs

•On The Run •Lost In A Fairytale •The Black Hole •Wings And Horns •Ore Steves (OCs) •Call Of The Void •Infected •The Nether Prince •Halloween With The Steves •Steve Saga High •I Don't Know How To Rule! •Future Legends •Altered Realities •Power Switch •Underwater • Not You. Anyone But You. •Why?! •Black Hole Steve (OC) •Family Secret •Undead Me •Fairies •Mirror World •Metal/Magnet (ocs) •The Cursed •Chicken Dad •Containment Breach・Wolf Boy •Vampocalypse •The Night Shift •Covid-19 •Broken Reality •Seven Square Chickens. One Adult. •Demons In My Head •Reverse Evil •Anti-Brine •Genderbent Royalty •Error 404: Steve Not Found (oc/drm) •Chemical AU/2.0 •Confusion •Gender Swap •Earth Portal •Rainbow City •A Glitch In The Matrix •SCP AU •Lost And Broken Soul/Cursed With knowledge •Wisps •Did We Meet Before •Darkest Quest For Peace •Learning The Ways Of The Multiverse •Trapped Crossover •When Three Worlds Meet •The Olympian Saga • Dragon (oc) •Dream SMP Meets Steve Saga:Therapy Edition •Moth (oc) •The Haunting Saga •OG Body Horror AU •Different Artstyle •That One Trapped/Steve Saga Crossover •Storm Steve (oc) •The Weirdest Adventure •Failed_Rainbow_Steve (oc)

Old AUs (2021 era) 48 AUs w/o DSMP

DSMP: •Minepocalypse •The Shapeshifters •The Meet-Up •The Streamers/Hunt •Guardian Of The Forest •The Game (drm) •Trapped In Minecraft But We're Stuck Together •The Monsters In The Cages Look A Lot Like Me

•The Obligatory Reversed Role AU But Optimistic (Steve Saga Roleswap) •DSMP/SS Oneshot •Squinkies Are Taking Over My Life •Time Travel AUs •Fantasy AU ft. Chicken And Horse •Hybrid Boys •A Dance With A Devil •That *One* Prophecy •Fading Humanity •Creatures In The Woods •Experiment Shadow •A Human In A Supernatural World •RQ ODAA •One Disaster After Another • Universe fusions (ocs) •Discolored And Disoriented •Language Barrier •BodySwap •Elements Of Family Magic •The Creation God's Puppets •Crash-Landing Aliens AU •RQ: Security Breach •Follow Me/Robot Soul •Uno Reverse, Fate! •Weapon AU •IRL Twisted Rainbow •Robots, Hybrids, And Experimental Friendships •Seldistynell (OC) •My Life As A Feathered Monster Hiding At A Human College •The Aliens Inside My Computer •The Five Elements •Monster Under Your Bed/Rescue Mission •Lab Monsters •Little Nightmares Crossovers •Monster House In Zombie Land •A Colorful World •Human Machine •Taking It Literally •Digital Magic •FRS' Childhood (oc) • Ancient Aliens • Demon AU •Anime AU • Nightmare Princess •A Rainbow Of Identities

Newer AUS (2023 era) 75 AUs

•Dark Matter/Wilted Lily/Ultra Chaos/ Corruption (ocs) •RQ Plague •Cave Monsters •SSO Color kids (ocs) •SHSF No Evil •The Owl House Crossover •SlenderSabre •Reverse Quest (Rainbow Quest Roleswap) •Wise Anger (ocs) •Blindfold-centric AU Collection •Blindfold Of Skin •Gacha DJ •RQ/TR MLP Crossovers • Naga!Plague •NPCs/Thing (drm) •SS Bodyswap AU •ColorSwap Horrors •TR Roleswap •SL Roleswap •Desk Dolls •AGITM x Trapped •TR Weirdcore •Become Food •ZWV Hybrid (drm) •Half-Fused TR •RealityElan •MCRP •"B" The Elf-Eared (oc/drm) • Jellyfish!Twisted •Human!Galaxy (drm) •Halloween TR •Alien!Sabre •Vent AU •Crystal Swap •Gacha Weirdcore •SBI x dragon!Sabre •WTWM Bad End •Catboy!Sabre •Color Change!Reverse •TFC!Elan •SkeleModern (drm) • Urban Legends •WTF!Sabre •Migraine AU •Dot Eyes •Haunted Dolls •Relationship Problems •Uncanny Alien •Planetheads •Potato/Carrot (ocs) •AR x RQ •Changing With My Imagination •Center Of The Freakshow •Eldritch POVs • RQ x SL •Happy Place Hub •TR x Nimona •One Last Chance Before Our Demise •Warforged •Hello Puppets •Reformed Villains •Imprisoning Infection •Apocalypse Survivors •Sky Voices •TR Elite's Return •RQ Roleswap x TR •Star-Rats •Diamond Mafia •God Application •Earthly War Crimes (ocs) •Would You Love Me If I Was A Worm (drm) •FMS x DSMP •Alien Or Human? (drm) • Shadow Child (drm) •An Angel's Death Wish (drm)

Dream-Based AUs/Concepts (76 AUs)

•Generic Simpsons Crossover •Medieval Simpsons Gore •Steve Summer Camp •Desert House •Me/Sabre As Mike Afton •Gx/Vd IRL •Flooded World •SS!NM/TFTSMP!Karl •SS/RQ Monster AU •How Isn't This A Nightmare •Twisted Parkour •New Steves ft. Ranboo (ocs) •Girl Posse VS. Steves •Branch Legs •Lava Rainbow •Music Video ft. Grandmas •The Red Eyes (ocs) •RQ x OSMP Ft. Various Demon Cats • Shapeshifting Imagination •Fix Before • Abandoned Mall •Guardian Is Ripped AF •The Dead Kings •Dungeon Crawler •Ruined City ft. SBI •Girl Fight ft. Eldritch Abomination (oc) •Weird Alien Carrot •I'm Colle •Dolls w/ Reds •Befriend VR Sabre •Interview Show •Crafting Dead •TR Planet •Sideways Void •Trapped Sequel •Become Dragon •Failed 7 Colors •Contact Via MP3 Player •Tricolor Jester/Apocalypse (oc) •LOTB Chicken •Steves At Mall •Haunted Mushrooms •WTF Emily (oc) •Prof. Red In Costco •Companion Adventure • Camping Race •Board Game •Psychiatrist/Colle's Ghost •Pathetic Baby Bord •Figurines/Power Levels •Cosplay/Basketball •Fruits •Camping w/ Origin •Dystopia Costco •TR Elite IRL• Rock Concert •Deku Floating Gloves •Dark Sun •I'm TR Assistant •Steve Comm Post (Normal) •Necromancer/Kirishima •Unrecognizable •Cashiers •Bad Intentions •Catnap/ATLA/SpongeBob •MLP/Jesus/OCs •Whirlpool Facecam •Barbie Dolls •Bedroom Balancer (oc) •Sps Sabre Sci-Fi Movie •Fake Blue On Earth •Gen Loss Implied •Genderswamp (oc) •Steven Universe/MHA/Steves At ComicCon •Seer/Colle/SS Galaxy Classmates •Steve Saga Mobile Game

Changelog 10/7/24:

<Added 3 AUs> •Apocalypse Alien (drm) •Time and Elemental's Adventure (drm) •Keep The Memories Alive (ocs)

<Changed 2 AU names> Cryptid Sabre->Cave Monsters, Tired Eyes->Blindfold-centric AU Collection.

[brainrot-stitch]

GANG IK I SAID THAT THE LAST POST WAS GONNA BE THGE LAST BUT I NEED TO YAP SO BAD SO!!!! !

:3

ok this headcanon i mostly associate with rainbow quest but its for the steve saga too i just dont think abt it as much

so like

headcanon time !!

the steves and their individual colors mainly represent a certain thing yk but a headcanon i thought up that i rlly like is that theres different shades of steves for each color (for example a cyan blue vs a deep like royal blue or navy blue) and they can be based off or have powers associating with different things that has to do with that color...

like in the steve saga blue steves were VERY water based and i LOVE LOVE the blue steves representing spirit in rq but where did the water fellas go..

so this obviously isnt limited to this but heres a few ideas for dif powers or things they represent different colored steves could have !

red- wisdom/knowledge, redstone/electronics/machinery, fire/lava, explosions, possibly war and or bloodshed

orange- creativity, fire/lava, the sun,

yellow (theres no yellow color option sigh)- power, electricity, the sun, light, desert/arid landscapes, sand

green- health/healing, plants, earth, life, calm/peace

blue- spirit (also i feel like spirit based blues could connect with souls that havent passed on and maybe connection indigos too, and like they could try to help settle their spirit.. :3) , water, ice, air, ocean, sky

indigo- connection, empathy, the end/endermen/teleportation/the end city (idk how to describe it??)

violet- love, empathy, heart

indigo and violet (and orange) i have the least on so far bc i ran out of ideas :( sighhh

again its not limited to these just these are the main ideas i had and also i feel like these could make the steves a lot more diverse, even though its probably more confusing

HGEHJKJ IM GOING FERAL OVER THIS THE DEMONS THE DEMONS

and also this would make it easier to make steve ocs!! speaking of this... (starts running)

ALSO how this would fit with the rq part of the headcanon but i love that the tss purple steves can teleport so i feel like some of the indigo or violet (mainly indigo) would have a connection to the end or like live in the end city or sum omgg i should go add that to the list one sec

ok added silly rant finally over i think time to add tags

GANG

i need to make characters so bad sos sososososos losing my mind

looks at yall like this

[illusion-reality-steve]

Rq Night-bow light-verse bonus: so if we do substitute EEB's role for soul steve's role than we get hypno in the role of soul steve, first of all it would be M instead of the red leader (who would NOT be happy) but sabre would also learn that red steves (or at least red steve, singular) are still alive way earlier, that's all i got other than the fact that the RQ!Swap!hypno would be perfect for stealth missions

(For all NRLR AU posts, please refer to the masterpost in the upcoming pinned post.)

So M would be kidnapped by Darkness to become Hypno Steve? And since Soul dies in canon RQ, Hypno might die too. Rip Hypno. You didn’t last long in this AU as much as your fans would have wanted.

Hopefully meeting the Red Steves earlier gives Sabre extra wisdom in this AU. He really needs it, rip.

Thank you for the ask!

[ibroughtthisonmyselfpixels]

Part 2: The Cross-generational Perspective

In which the influence of Cupid Hawthorne can be felt as early as junior-year history

Warning: contains a scene of murder (of a young person) more explicit than in the previous part, focused on in great detail - specifically, strangulation - and murder as a whole is discussed throughout. There’s also minor homophobia / historical gay denial from a forum poster, transphobia disguised as “it’s just a joke bruh” rhetoric, very mild NSFW implications in one paragraph, and a requisite Cuphead reference since Vidcund would have killed me if I didn’t work King Dice into this somehow.

Castor didn't start collecting trophies deliberately until the third kill. By then, they were more at ease with the monumental task they'd set themselves, and more certain of what He would expect of them. Besides, the higher the body count, the harder it is to tell the victims apart without a souvenir or five. A broken button here, a tie there... Every little helps.

The first and second are both embodied by the same thing – though the need for reminiscence there is more out of desire than duty.

Automatically, they reach for a side drawer on the desk, an old shawl wrapped in a plastic bag wrapped in their hand in seconds. It's how Moms used to store the old photo album at home (may still do, actually; they need to pay them a visit next weekend). But, if anything, the history book inside is even more precious and handled with greater care, each page the wing of a gossamer moth. To desecrate His face would be nothing short of sacrilege.

Their finger runs along His pale jaw, and they pretend the deep-set eyes widen slightly at the sight of them.

Soon, Cupid. I'm nearly there.

The eyes that will first see that face on the page belong not to the nonbinary person they will become, but a teenage girl who happens to carry the name and the penis she had at birth. Her identity is just one of the many things Castor has picked up over time, like pierced ears, the zits that turn her rounded face into a game of connect-the-dots, and a keen interest in aspects of academia that most of her peers refuse to touch.

That last one especially. She didn't get into AP History through luck alone, after all. And it's paid off – she's learned more about the 1920s and 30s in the month or so they've been covering it than anything she gleaned from comparing the differences between World Wars I and II. To a Sim who drinks knowledge like it's water, such a thing is invaluable.

No matter how grisly that knowledge is.

“--looking at the rise of gangsters, mobs, and other such criminals, and how that relates to what we've already studied,” says Mr Piper, breaking through her thoughts. Ah, today's one such 'grisly day', then. “It's no secret that Roaring Heights, even today, has something of a fearsome reputation; when we made our list of qualities a few weeks ago, 'bad crowd' was a term that came up a lot, as I'm sure you remember. The existence of these criminal syndicates was and still is a large factor in those bad crowds, both proverbial and literal.”

“Like the Hook?” shouts a voice (as best as he can with it cracking) from the back of the room. “Is the Hook a syndicate?”

“No, Elliot. And I thought we agreed we wouldn't bring that urban legend up in class again.”

Elliot groans, but he does stay quiet after, thank god. It's not even from the right decade... Weren't it still Sunshine Cove back then?

“I'm more referring to actual families with lengthy histories of illegal activity: the Reeves, the Dandys, and so on. But we're going to focus exclusively on the Hawthorne family today, since they are particularly notorious. Who here knows which crimes the Hawthornes are the most tightly associated with?”

Hands rise sporadically around the room. Sam Nguyen's was up right away, but she was born there, so she's known about everything in this module so far.

Tallying the results in his head, the teacher stops when he sees her own hand still down. “Castor, I'm surprised you don't know,” he remarks.

“I've heard 'em mentioned in passing, Sir; I've just never had a chance to look into it.”

He seems to accept that: “Okay then. Glenn? Any ideas?”

“Extortion tactics, Sir? That's what most mobs do.”

“No it ain't! Haven't you seen CSI? Mobs are about murder. Culling the good guys, making them sleep with the fishes, capiche?” Orchid slips into an attempt at an Italian accent towards the end, one that doesn't jive well with the usual Hollow twang in the slightest.

“Uh, they probably wouldn't talk like that if they're--”

“Don't they blackmail people too?”

“That's the same thing, Clover!”

“Not really; extortion's more about getting what you want, blackmail's about them getting what they don't--”

A sharp tap on the desk with a spare whiteboard duster brings the class to silence and order... very temporarily, since it's broken by the sound of Steve's text-to-speech system. (God, she's just imagined that with a bad Italian accent too...) “Does it depend on which member of the family you're looking at, Sir?”

“That's right, Steve. And so are the other three of you, in that sense. Different generations of Hawthornes have those three aspects covered at different ratios. But while extortion and blackmail were reportedly the roots of the family business, it traces back to the 1910s, beyond the scope of the decades we are looking at this term. It's the second aspect – the murder –” Mr Piper lets the word hang in the room for a short second – “that cast the blackest mark on both them and the town as a whole from the years 1920 to 1930. If you can all turn to Page 74 in 'A Roaring Heights History' for me?”

Ever on the ball, Castor joins the others in retrieving their copy from the bottom of her quite hefty backpack. Damn lack of foresight. The air's thick with the sound of pages turning, numbers counted, 74, 74... ah-ha, there it is. Chapter title on the left, picture on the right, captioned: 'Cupid Hawthorne, feigning grief'. She glances at it by chance --

-- and the very foundations of the Earth shift beneath her.

He's so... striking. So real, despite the medium; like a firework given form. His jaw is practically a V, set in a scream, his lips curling back to show near-perfect teeth. Hair – no, she can hardly call it hair, it's a mane, swept wherever the wind takes it. His nostrils flare, highlighting a nose prominent enough to warrant sculptures, monuments. Eyebrows slant heavy in the fierce expression, and the eyes underneath...! There are a million and one stories within those eyes, greyscale though they are, every imagined fleck of those distant polaroid irises a new memory, of anger, of family, death, blood, anguish...

For a wild moment, for a wild lifetime, she imagines that it's her he is looking at, that his gaze is fixed upon her alone, that she's the reason for this burst of passion within such a soul. His voice, abstract, unheard, repeats within as the name lingers on his mouth, Castor, Castor.

When the world turns again and the echo fades, she's left adrift between peace and unrest.

Looking up to the classroom again is like stepping out of a cinema into a rainy day: brighter than hoped, darker than expected. To her surprise, only two minutes have passed since, given the clock's hands. She looks back at the people behind her. Sam, Steve, even Elliot... His face looks up at them all from the paper, captured and reflected from multiple angles.

And yet none of them seem to see him. If they look, it's briefly, before returning to the text underneath. There's a rarity in their books, and they're choosing to ignore it? Wait, Sam's looked up too – confused – was she, too, caught in the--?

“Uh, Castor?” she whispers. “You okay? You look pale. Need to see the nurse?”

“Uh-? Y-no, it's okay. I'll be fine.”

Castor quickly turns back to the front, to the task at hand – if such a thing even exists. There's words beyond the caption, and the teacher drones on, but they all seem strange now, nonsensical. An emotional dyslexia.

Is she really the only one to feel it? The only one to see Cupid Hawthorne, emblazoned in history, and have a reaction so...

visceral?

The haze the history lesson left behind shields her from the rest of the school day, for better or worse; she's unceremoniously home before she realizes it. Mom One is working tonight, so only her jade-green mother is there to greet her. Dinner's brief, a bowl of mac and cheese and a slice of sheet cake from the local baker's, and then it's time for homework. In theory, anyway.

In practice, the first word she types into Google, on reflex, is “Hawthorne”. She makes no attempt to stop it after that. She does have a week for most of these pieces, and a reputation of being prepared to uphold...

Result after result pours onto the screen, and with it information and revelation. First, that out of all the people in the room that morning, Orchid had been closest to the truth. Matters of money and influence are barely mentioned, with some of the forum users she digs up not even knowing that the criminal activity went that deep. All talk is of the War of the Hawthornes: the players, the game, and even a fraction of the cause.

Crimedivi So turns out they used to run bachelorette challenges in the old days too?? They weren't c**** popular like now, but there were apparently enough of them that RQ ran one, and Cupid meddled in it by killing everyone off!! I mean, wtf???? Even if you don't like your family that's just low you know??????

Castor assumes the asterixes are due to the forum's format, rather than self-imposed (especially when the same poster later refers to it as a series of 'a**a**inations').

Allystelle205 I've heard about that too! That's why no one knows who Rose Quartz ended up marrying in the end, I think: she had to protect his identity to make sure Cupid couldn't track them and kill them again... :O

xxxgogetterx “his”? wasn't she pansexual? there wouldve been women in there too dumba**

Allystelle205 Dude, gay people didn't exist in the 1930s! They would have been killed for--

She scrolls past that hot mess quickly until she finds a mod post warning them that her sexuality's neither up for debate, nor the actual point... she thinks. It doesn't have his name in it, so she doesn't get all the details.

movethatpawawayfromyoursim Anyway, back on topic...... @crimedivi it wouldn't have been the first time Cupid killed off his own family. Pretty much everyone else in it are dead because of him after all – three in that car crash, one got shot, one got strangled. I forget which is which. After that level of evil, killing her suitors to get to her really isn't that much of a stretch

Crimedivi ik ik but until then no one else had to get killed OUTSIDE off the family right?? and think about it, there's NEVER been a bc since where this has happened, people dying cus they wanna get married!!!! its just a new layer of bad somehow yknow??? kinda makes me wanna be sick!!

SpeckleP Especially since Rose Quartz was like reeeeaaaally mentally ill. There's records out there of her being in an asylum once upon a time in Bridgeport I think it was. They say schizophrenia but I think it was more that Cupid had such a hold over her that she broke herself so he couldn't hurt her anymore or something like that? Imagine getting out of there only to lose even more people to him and not knowing why...

Crimedivi now I really AM gonna be sick thanks SpeckleP!!!!!!

She looks at her hands, poised on the keyboard, then over to her open book. He's still there in print, facing away from the gossip about his motives and deeds that splits the screen. Castor slants him towards her again, giving him another long look, waiting for... she doesn't know what. Another change? How can there be change, when he has already infected her mind so thoroughly? How can there be anger, revulsion, at such a sight? And yet it's so easy for others to feel, firmly in the corner of the family scorned...

The book goes back down. Maybe there's something to what Sam said, after all. Maybe Castor is sick – just in a very different way to little Crimedivi.

This notion doesn't bother her as much as she thought it would.

The topic staggers on for another few posts (including a very pointed remark about the healthcare system from AtheistKatherine33) before stalling. Perhaps another website will bring her more insight.

Searching more specifically for “Cupid” this time, it's not long before she's inundated with a wall of neon text that looks like it's from the era of GeoCities, if not somehow earlier. But it doesn't take long for her to convert it into something resembling legibility. It's broken up by a picture – not a copy. This one's captioned “most recent known photo”, but he's less clear here, a calmer face in a crowd of dots and stripes, caught only by a red circle. His arm is linked with that of a black man to his right, in... is she imagining it? Or is it a protective sense? A partner of some kind? That'd be odd, given the era, and yet... they're standing so...

For the first time in months, Castor's chest feels a dismal flickering that she recognizes as dysphoria. She winces. Not now, not... Reading, more reading. She sinks into the paragraphs on paragraphs, feeling the flames of that shrink under a much greater fire.

1914-1918: Records show that Cupid H served in the Roaring Heights branch of the Allied forces during the events of the first World War. Debates are thick on the ground as to how many casualties can be attributed to him in this time ...

Winter-Spring, 1920: After a meeting with a rival syndicate, Oleander, Dogwood and Gillyflower H are killed in a car crash. It later transpires that the crash was due to sabotage of the vehicle in question; despite denying it at first, Cupid would later admit to being the culprit ...

Summer, 1920: Cupid strangles Blush H, then goes on to shoot Bow H in a duel to the death. These are the first murders that he is known to have committed directly, without the use of war as an excuse or a car crash as a buffer. Reports persist, though unsubstantiated, that Cupid was crying during these acts ...

1925: After five years of being in charge of the family business, Cupid H goes into an unexplained exile, leaving the company with no head and no direction ...

1930: A further five years of absence end with a secret reappearance in Raspberry Hearts. Cupid infiltrates the bachelor challenge of his sister Rose Quartz H, using Grey Tundora as a proxy to eliminate all competition. By the time only he and the person who will marry her remain, Cupid reveals himself to her, and--

“Cassie?”

“Mm?” She jolts herself back into the room in time to see a body in the doorway. “Yeah, Mom?”

“Are you okay? I've called up to you four times.”

Oh crap... first too little time has passed, now apparently far too much. “Sorry, I've just been doin' a spot of reading up. I'm fine.”

Mom Two doesn't budge. “I hope you did some of your homework before--”

“Oh, this is homework... sorta. Extracurricular – y- nothing you’d understand,” she reassures a little too quickly for her own mouth.

“What of, hon? Anything in particular?”

Yeesh, what is this, the Inquisition? I'm keepin' him waiting... “Just stuff, Mom. School stuff? That's what extracurricular means. And if I don't get back to it soon it'll be extra-extracurricular, so if y’all could... y’know...?”

The face in the door twists, disconcerted, confused. “Are you sure you're okay? You're not normally so ornery. If there's anything wrong, you know you can tell me and Laverne, don't you?” That look, backed with the sadness under her words, brings mollified shame to Castor's cheeks.

“No, nuffin's wrong. Sorry, didn't mean to shout; s'been a heck of a day, is all. I'm okay, though, honestly,” she adds before more worry can spawn from that. “Promise.”

This, at least, seems placating enough, since her parent smiles again. “Promise promise?”

“Yup. And if I'm wrong, sic Mom One on me in the morning.”

“I will. Anyway, I'm near about past going, so I'm heading to bed. Don't stay up too long now, will you?”

“I won't,” says Castor, already acutely aware of how much of a lie that could turn out to be. “Night, Momma.”

“G'night, little spark.”

And thus Mom Two finally departs, leaving her child to dive back into research, first online then back to off, under the watching eyes of a man briefly seen.

It's little surprise that she sleeps late, book tucked under the pillow; yet, inexplicably, she still jolts awake just before sunrise. She dreamt mostly of Cupid. She couldn't help it. A man so mysterious, powerful, and – judging by the hand pressed between her legs – experienced could invade the dreams of anyone if he desired it. (The fact that he would be several years her senior doesn't cross her mind, addled with mingling red and white splatter stains as it is.)

She spends so much time scrutinizing the parts of the chapter she missed over breakfast that she clean forgets to make up her usual teapot-ponytails. The excess hair weighs more than usual at her nape, a pleasantly strange sensation; few comment on it when she gets into school. At this point, they tend to let her more unconventional fashion choices slide.

Well... most of them do. As morning drags her kicking and screaming into the sticky, perpetual hours of lunch period, an exception first seeded years ago is set to prove the rule.

“Hey, Cassie. What's a gal like you doing in the boy's bathroom?”

Ignore him. Just ignore him. Focus on freshening up.

“Helloooo? I said, what's a gal like you doin--”

“That ain't gonna work, Lemonlips. I'm in too bad a mood.” Focus, focus. Sweep 'cross the eyelid, left to right...

Merlot barks out a laugh that morphs into a gravelly hack halfway through, courtesy of the cigarette aflame in his pale-green hand. “Shit, you're always in a bad mood now. What the hell happened to your sense of humor, babe?” he drawls, lingering on the final word as though it in itself is an insult.

Nothing, your sense of humor just switched into makin' me the butt of every joke when you worked out I was trans, her mind snarls, fingers curling around the eyeshadow brush. But there's no sense in voicing that. She's explained it to him before, even before their friendship dissolved, and he's never gotten it. Out of ignorance or malice, she still doesn't know.

Thank Christ he was in none of her classes today. After the morning she's had – distracted by a roaring beauty, sidelined by a surprise pop quiz in her worst subject, caught passing a note to Floss in Biology – more of Merlot than is necessary would turn her into the very being in the photo.

“I'm only saying that with you saying you're a girl all the time and wearing your hair like a girl and putting on that f-” he stalls, apparently thinking better of it – “makeup like a girl, you oughta be in the bathroom with the other girls. Sue me for making a good point every once in a while.”

A swift wave of red across the other eye. She loves this color; it puts more emphasis on the contrast within her pupils and less on the zit that’s somehow appeared in her eyebrow, what the hell? “Last week I was in the girl's bathroom, and you kicked up a stink about that too. Made out like I was a predator, remember?”

“Jesus Christ, I was only jok--”

“Yeah, well, it weren't funny. It were sick.” On to the next shade in her kit, a deeper hue this time, reminiscent of roses and blood... She wonders how often Cupid saw this color in his line of work. “Besides, everywhere else is full up today, so I'm stuck in here with you--”

“Riiight, right, gotcha,” says her fellow Berry dismissively. “Can't stand the thought of them being prettier than you.”

“It's not--”

“Don't lie, it's always been like that.” He stubs out his smoke on the wall, leaving one of many little marks on the linoleum. “Envy's your Achilles heel, babe, your deadly sin. That's why you broke it off with me, that's why you decided you were a girl – cus you knew you could never match up to what I've got to offer if you just stayed a boy like I asked.”

Her teeth grit together... is she being particularly touchy today, or he particularly aggravating? “Lemonlips, you know for a fact that's not true. I--”

“Bullshit it's not!”

Pain erupts in ear and vision both – “Gyah!” – he's much closer and louder than before, and the alarm's made her jab the brush through her closed lids and into the actual eyeball. “Sunnuva... ” Owww, she thinks as she pulls it out, sending an ugly smear along her right cheekbone, that's gonna sting somethin' awful.

“Sorry. Y-you okay?” she hears beyond the ringing. “Didn't... fuck your face up, did I?” There's a tremble in the tone, an off-key one. Did that actually...? Blinking the injured eye rapidly, she cracks open the other, casts it at him – Adam's apple quivering, but a smile in the mouth and the...

Laughing. The son of a bitch is still laughing.

The brush falls to the floor. Her hand reaches immediately, instead, for her standard trusty watch enclosed in a trouser pocket. By all rights she ought to have done this the second he saw her, but she had to give him a chance, didn't she? Like she does every single... ugh. She prays this time will be quick. Calm and quick.

“Uh, w- what are you doing?” the idiot says, still trying to stifle his guffaws.

“You know what I'm doing,” she replies, evenly. “What's important is what you're doin'. Doing.”

“Oh please, you think I'm gonna fall for that again? I'm getting wise to your tricks, Cas-”

But she is wiser. “No tricks, Merlot. Think about what you're doing. Think about what you're saying. Think about how you're breathing. Think about that breath, caught in your chest. Let it out for me.” The rhythm to her words is coming naturally, as is the subtle swing of the watch, a distraction to the other's eye. Even in their early days, he was drawn to this. “Let the breath in. Let the breath out. Focus on that. The breath in, the breath out. Focus on the breath. Focus on my voice, focus on the watch. Let us fade, let us stay, stay where you can see us. Focus on the breath and the voice and the watch.”

“Yyou're...” The protest is stoppered; he's already slurring.

“Focus on the voice and the watch. On the voice, the watch. The voice. Only the voice. Let the voice guide you. Let me do the work. Focus on the voice. Ignore how your eyes droop. Ignore how your tongue feels heavy. Ignore how your bones slouch. Focus on the voice telling you this. Focus all of your being on the voice. Ignore your tiring. Focus on the voice. Focus... and sleep.”

And he's slack against the wall, dropping to the floor in a well-executed trance state.

There. Now maybe he can shut up. Castor retrieves the brush from the ground, repacks her makeup kit, slips it and the watch into her bag. She's still got a while before class begins again. She can grab a snack from the cafeteria, she decides. Fix her eyeshadow elsewhere, add some blush. Read some more about...

She pauses in front of the door.

On any other day – on the same day, in any other world – this pause would be brief. She would shake it off, swing open and out into the school as herself. The satisfaction of seeing him down for the count would be enough, enough to quell everything, the haunting of her dream, the reminder of what was and what's to come. That would be the end of it.

On this day, she turns back.

A slow approach to her former friend. A discarding of the backpack. A lowering onto bended knees to see him up close. His yellow buzzcut is coarse, a shaved pattern disappearing. The insectine lines across his face are slack in slumber. Long eyelashes rest upon cheeks.

This much is true – he was pretty to her, once upon a time. But there is greater beauty than her own to compare him to, now.

He's not wearing his usual scarf; it's a warm sort of day, so it doesn't call for it, she supposes. The uniform looks incomplete without it, though. Too small for his body, too wide for his neck. His neck. Exposed, thin. The lump of a voicebox within is less clear, hidden by its stretching out, its length. She looks more carefully – there's a vein, or perhaps another birthmark of the skin, crawling to his chin.

It occurs to her, looking at it, how fragile a neck can be. There's only skin and blood protecting the windpipe, and not even that much of it. Anything could sever it, whatever the sharpness. A knife. A pen. A hand. Two hands.

Those of a criminal. Those of a hypnotist.

--three in that car crash, one got shot, one got strangled--

The bathroom at once seems much wider and taller than before, swamping them both. A dizzy Castor looks at her fingers again – red with makeup, green with potential.

Could I-? Could I...?

--the first murders that he is known to have committed directly--

She finds herself reaching out, softly, towards the breathing vessel. Two fingers, a thumb. A pulse underneath. He doesn't stir; the trance must be deep. So very...

He wouldn't even notice. He wouldn't wake. He'd never wake again, would he? No more of those thinly-veiled jokes. No more memories, tainted. No one hurt by him ever again.

And the ocean within her head would stop crashing at the shores of the skull.

--Cupid strangles Blush H--

Left hand joins right. Both fasten, like a collar, around the sleeping Merlot's throat.

Solid ridges form under her touch, columns of muscle. Tighter; the drumbeat rises, a steady rhythm. Tighter; she feels it when he subconsciously swallows. A circle smaller by degrees, the more she squeezes, her grip steadying with each of her own inhales and exhales. Calm and quick.

Calm and quick. Don't get carried away. Don't waste this. Could never waste this. Is she hearing herself, or him, or Him? Who's pretending to be her? Is this pretension? Too many questions. Too much air in the body of this waste of space, his arrogant being, his brother. Flush it out, flush it all out. Let oxygen drip away.  

A quickening of the arteries – a fluttering, a stirring. Dammit. Merlot's coming out, he's aware, he's seeing the vice grip and the body attached to the grip and the eyes of red and green and blue that see him too. He tries to gulp in alarm, to shriek... it won't help. How can it help if he can't breathe to do it? He struggles underneath her, fails to back away, to press forward. His own limbs, ineffectual, reach up to grab hers, to pull her away from this most vital of tasks. A begging for mercy, when he offered her none. A chance to let go.

She presses harder.

He croaks, panics, claws at her haphazardly, barely scratching the surface, much less the spirit; they're limp before he knows it. He's kicking out now, but she isn't dislodged. He has no quarter in this battle, this war, this slaughter. Not anymore. Not now she can sense that nothing's passing through, nothing in, nothing out. Focus on the breath. Hah – focus on the lack of breath. Focus on the blood vessels bursting, tinting the whites of him. Focus on the single tear. Focus on the fear, the danger, the regret, rising, then falling, fading, fading away...

When her own trance lifts, her palms can no longer feel his heart.

Castor finds herself unable to move at first. Then, gradually, carefully, she peels away from him, shuffles back to get a better look at this: her destruction. The body is unchanged on the fundamental level; buzzcut, filled with lines, lashes thick. But it's only a shell. Merlot, as she knew him, as grew up with her, as turned on her, simply isn't there, a victim of his own cocoon.

...no, not of that. A victim of me, she thinks. Thinks again. Victim. Killed. Killed him. It's almost tuneful. I just killed him. I've literally just killed a man. Didn't even need a car to do it. Just hands. 

Wonder if anyone heard me doing it. ...wait, what if they did? What if they find his body? This is going to get out eventually. Lots of things do in this school. What if it does and they find out I did it? What if they see my fingerprints? What would Moms think? What would Mr Piper think? Floss, Sam, wh- what would...

What would He think?

The bag's been dislodged, somehow, in the scuffle. She pulls it back to her, as though in a dream. An errant streak of pink is on the front cover; she can clean that up later. What's important is Page 74, and the Cupid within. The restrained rage. The black and white look that's...

changed. Everything that was within before has coalesced into one emotion. She doesn't have to guess to know it's for her, or to know what it is.

Pride.

The world is suddenly and startlingly hot and cold and wet. She crushes the book to her chest, His picture flat against her heart by coincidence or design. At the same time, there's a smell of ichor and bone and fog, wrapping around her legs. The walls rumble motionlessly.

Of two things, Castor is certain in this moment. First: that Death has come to take the carcass, the damning evidence, of Merlot Lemonlips away. Second: that she will love Cupid Hawthorne for the rest of her limited existence.

[immortalafton]

sabres-rq-steves​:

“I never said I would hand it to you. You will have to… earn it. Show me you have honor and pride. That you have a soul that can reason. Then, if I see you are fit…” He swirled the vial around again. “…then this will be yours.”

This time, when the substance in the vial stirred, blue, yellow, red, and black tendrils snaked up along the glass, attempting to escape.

“Alright...how do I show you all this?” Glitchtrap raises his eyebrows and crosses his arms over his chest, resting on one leg more than another, giving him a real sassy look.

He watches the stuff in the vial closely. 

"My my, a robot with the brains and being of a human who murdered innocent children inside, burned into nothing, and revived via the code of a game. Quite the exhilarating life... and afterlife you've had." Said a Steve who was white in the middle between the other two colors, yellow and blue. He had two scars on either eye, black scar on a white eye, white scar on a black eye. "Pleasant to meet you I suppose. My name is Corruption." He said, sticking out a hand as a greeting.

Glitchtrap raised his eyebrows, trying to register what he was seeing and hearing here. Was this a person? He couldn’t tell if they were human. Which was odd, since he should be only the non-human around. “Corruption? That’s quite the name. And how do you know so much about me?” He grins and takes his hand though. “I’m Glitchtrap.”

[thebeingmerf]

Stevetember Days 19-26 @stevetember

Day 19, Change: Shy Orange Steve —> Light (RQ)

Day 20, X-Ray: Q from Z’s pov (TPORR)

Day 21, Insidious: Elemental (TSS)

Day 22, Machine: C!Sabre (TSS)

Day 23, Paradise: The World Beyond (RQ ver)

Day 24, Musical: Galaxy Steve (SCU Hamilton au)

Day 25, Quarrelsome: Void (TSS)

Day 26, Lackey: Soul and Corrupt (RQ)

[shadow-genesis-yay]

Some personality headcanons for my Rainbow Saga SMP AU

Aka, certain characters acting like YouTubers I watch who play Minecraft

Sabre, TSS! Rainbow, TSS! Galaxy, and Lucas all act like themselves obviously, but:

The First Curse: Kolanii

TSS! Void: Calvin

Soul: Kian

Corruption: LockDownLife

Positive & Negative & Infinity (i know theyre the same.): KIER and DEV

Origin (both versions): Ashswag

Time (both): Mogswamp

Spirit Guardian: Aust

[itsgirlcraft]

I just spent 2 hours trying to explain my RQ Roleswap AU for my last Stevetember post haha-

Buttttt ofc I rambled so much it got confusing yayyy

SO!! Here's the uncut version! I have simply Too Much Lore and Even More Time! I hadn't even gotten into how he found out abt the multiverse through Shattered Time or TFC's relation with the roleswap or the multiverse curse and the roleswap! There's So Much! (Pain. I will never be able to explain it all)

This AU is more or less about changing unrecognizably, healing, fate/repeating history, and loops. It all begins after Sabre has spent years alone with Origin, teaching him and growing together. Sabre had changed over the years - into his god form, with wings and animalistic legs and antlers upon which crystals grow. His first god form is mostly green and white. Technically, he has 3 god forms and 3 "mortal" forms.

Origin had started creating the Steves, and becoming an independent young man. Sabre knew he wouldn't need his guidance much longer, and he couldn't reveal his true identity to the first Steves. But he hoped, maybe, something may come along and take him away. The loop, age, something. Nothing came - he realized he had to do the leaving. He worked towards creating a portal, which would close behind him. Somewhere unknown.

He wound up in the RQ Roleswap timeline - in episode 32, aka the pig episode. So already partway through the first season. He retained all his memories - and so he knew what had to do. He had to change history, and change everyone's fate. Most importantly...Orange Steve's. He can't let this all fall down again. He had to unite them all, before bringing about any heroes. He had to support everyone, give everyone room to breathe, treat them all with the love they may not deserve, but that they need. He needed to greet the world with open arms.

Heh, Epic reference :>

Anyways, yeah. That's the basis of the AU - Sabre uses his memories/experience (and carefully constructed journals) to change fate and lead with love. He goes on to warn the Steves of the future, their fates, and their choice to follow it or not. Despite his new outlook on life, he knows he isn't perfect - his past haunts his every calculated move. He tries to just experience reality as it is, but slowly that alienates him in a different way - people are so surprised to hear his thoughts behind all of it that many look up to him. All he really wants is to give everyone a choice in their fate - even his enemies - and appreciate what he has, and had, in this moment. And that mindful, kind mindset puts some people in awe.

Even before he regained his god form, Sabre was already put on a pedestal he tried to jump off of repeatedly. It's not to seem humble - he genuinely doesn't want this power, this gift of second life. But he'd never waste it - he can't let them fall again. One of his greatest accomplishments, in his opinion, is his ever-growing library of stories. Of journals others have given him, his own observations and notes, and of history books detailing stories long gone. He wants to tell everyone's story, and his library is the most important thing to him (in that sense). A daring dream that he has witnessed so much success with. He takes no interest in censorship or revealing secrets, only to make sure they are remembered. Every one of them, every person he meets, every path he has followed.

Near the end of the "main plot" of the roleswap timeline, Sabre locked up Origin (who is in TFC's role) in more chains, refusing to listen to his call. But, eventually, he starts to drift back to the past...if only his old friends could see he's finally saved them, finally been a real hero for once.

Soul and Corruption, the swaps of Time and Elemental, decide to work together to give Sabre a gift: a portal, that they hope takes Sabre back to his home timeline. He's so so excited! A chance to show that he didn't waste his new life! It lands him in the middle of the Rainbow Kingdom just before og Soul/Corrupt attempted a seige with the Darkness, aka episode 144. It takes some convincing to get RQ Light to let them stay - as not only did Soul/Corrupt come with, but so did Orange Steve, who became the 3rd hero....Void.

In the roleswap timeline, Sabre looks more like Shadow Sabre, while Crystal Sabre (the Shabre of the timeline) is brightly colored. The crystals replace the darkness, being amalgamations of infectious gems, so bright they can set things ablaze with sunlight. Sigils are the new crystals, being darker colored just like the main color Steves. In this world, the shadows are comforting and kind, while the light is deadly and violent. (Though no, they aren't really nocturnal...I might change that eventually). Naturally, the Steves have dark skin tones and eyes, looking all too much like the darkness infected. Similar can be said of the og timeline in comparison to the Crystal infected, though ofc the infections are a lot more frightening. You could consider it to be the first stage of infection, I guess.

In the roleswap timeline, there is a specific set of swaps, that change how Sabre is recieved in the og timeline. It goes like this: Prof. Red, Rainbow Red. Void, Rainbow. Soul/Corrupt, Time/Elemental. Assistant Steve, Hypno. The First Curse, Origin. Galaxy, Nightmare. Ultra, Chaos. Faceless, Great Librarian, Ghost. Shadow, Sabre. Sigils, Crystals, Darkness. (For trios, just move them one to the right, that's the role they take on)

This goes beyond Rainbow Quest itself. Twisted Rainbow and Steve Legends are affected, too. There are two TR roleswap timelines. The first one, which TR Shadow/Elite ends up in, only switches he and Sabre's roles. The second one is a semi-shitpost idea turned canon and is completely wild. Btw, the first name takes the second name's role. It goes: Shadow, The Great One. TFC, Sabre. Sabre, Twisted. Twisted, M. Prof. Red, Hypno. M, TFC. (Yeah, that last one was intentionally an insane choice). TR is also the only universe whose roleswap still has normal Color Steves, simply because Twisted/Darkness is already an important motif/split as it is.

Sabre's, the main, FIRST Sabre's, story is split into several acts. Act 1: changing fate, where he repeats RQ with a new ending. Act 2: old friends, where he returns to the og timeline, and defeats TFC/swap Origin with his newest god form. Act 3: reliving history, where Sabre mentors Colle through his swapped timeline. Act 4: domain expansion, in which Sabre discovers the multiverse and is determined to save EVERYONE from evil. Act 5: returning home, in which Sabre, now caring for a whole multiverse, finally creates a portal to Earth, but has he changed too much? Act 6: doubled over, another shitpost idea made canon, in which Sabre gets stuck in a version of the RQ timeline which has both the og and swap versions, where the world is changing quickly, mimicking the og story, and where Sabre's desire to give everyone a choice in fate is tested.

I've had the AU for awhile before I listened to Epic, but the musical has inspired me to create for it, as well as consider the overarching themes!! So the first drawing, the dual timeline "mortal" form, is basically Sabre at the end of the au, as he becomes a fused form of the swap and og timelines' versions of himself. His crazy outfit is made of bits and bobs from people he meets, sometimes he adds stuff inspired by people around him, but a lot is just gifts he's recieved. He has a goopy Darkness horn and a sharp crystal horn, and a fluffy colorful tail and a sharp black tail. His eyes depict his former infection of crystals/darkness.

Drawing 2, in the upper right with Sabre's arms out in front of him, is meant to be him midway thru act 1. Where he willingly infects himself with the crystals, which are like the darkness, in order to be able to fight Rainbow (who created the infectious crystals, aka the Void of the timeline). Crystal/Shadow Sabres would probably be saying the lyrics to him.

Drawing 3, with the big barrier sigil over Sabre and the Steves, is based on act 6 of the au. He gets the Hypbo variants to help him create the barrier sigil to keep the Steves from changing unexpectedly due to the strange nature of their timeline (its Complicated, but the world is basically changing in accordance w/ the og timeline w/o anyone doing anything). This barrier, as well as the smaller, jewelry-based variants, protects them from time/space basically going by quickly. However, Sabre's insistence on keeping everyone from changing can be seen as almost manipulative, which is why he's saying the lyrics there. He can't give them the choice, not when the world is changing them without them actually doing anything. But by keeping them inside the barrier, he's refusing to let them experience it. So uh...yeah. Complicated.

Also...here, have this drawing of god form Sabre. Enjoy. I guess.

[thebeingmerf]

This is kind of a stupid question but which Blue Steve (RQ) became Soul steve? I forgot which one it is and I don’t want to rewatch all of RQ just to find out

[itsgirlcraft]

Omg I've just realized none of you have seen my Rainbow Quest birthday cupcakes!! It was 2 years ago holy cow-

I'd never done, like, frosting art, so I was realllyyy out of my depth here but!! I made two of each default color, all 7 leaders/Nightmare, and Dark, Light, and O!Rainbow! Plus the Rainbow Hub statue I think!

I actually had a whole plan, I was gonna make SO MANY-

Actually wait I have the drawings-

Okok so in order, left to right, we've got:

Pic 1: RQ Hypno, SS Hypno, RQ Crystals, RQ Sabre, Astronaut/Darkness infected Sabre, SS Sabre, RQ Nightmare, SS Light, RQ Light, SS Rainbow, RQ Rainbow, and Galaxy Sabre!

Pic 2: RQ Dark, Illusion, Elemental, Time, SS Nightmare, TFC, Shadow Sabre, RQ Reverse, Galaxy, Void, Memory, Plague, M or The Guardian, SL Dream, RQ Gerald, Faceless, an RQ leader base, RQ Corruption, RQ Soul, SS Alex, RQ Sol or TR Elite, a Chromatic Steve base, SL Genesis, Origin, and Prof. Red!

Tbh maybe I'll actually try this again, I really just need to learn how to use fondant or whatever makes shapes n stuff.

I was kinda rushed on the og versions 😭 maybe I'll just try to experiment, like my sister does. She's a baker, so like- maybe I'll just. Borrow her stuff lol

(Also I can't believe I actually tagged them all- well uh most-)

[illusion-reality-steve]

Au idea: an au where sabre makes soul and corruption for the steve saga instead of rainbow quest, when would they show up, what would their stories be, would this lead to new characters from neither rq or tss

Maybe Soul and Corruption could be inhabitants of the Nightmare Dimension. They already have designs that matches the Dimension's aesthetic. It will also give the Nightmare King people to actually rule.

Hopefully Sabre, Lucas, and Rainbow can save them and transform them back to Blue Steve and Indigo (or I guess Purple) Steve, and they can be residents of the Rainbow Town, along with the components who made up Reverse Steve!

I know my suggestion isn't that creative. I just went with what sounded alright and would give the Rainbow Town a few more characters to live in it.

Thank you for the ask!

[itsgirlcraft]

I wanna try something.

...holy shit it lags but it works! This is just Sabre's interview, after the RQ/TSS!Sabres got merged together. ...I don't suggest trying to read it, it might crash-

"The explosion shattered the crystal and sent the entire lab around me into the void! Even if I had survived the explosion itself, I would've died anyways!"

Sabre had a wild look in his eyes as he recounted the explosion that took him away from his friends. He waved his arms around, imitating the explosion that killed him.

"...AND if the shockwave hadn't shook me to the bone and made my ears bleed, the crystal shattered at a wavelength so high my mind burned! The crystal shards flung everywhere, lodging themselves deep into me. It burned, it burned like a thousand suns. The sheer power of the crystal couldn't be handled.."

He paused only to reveal scars. Thick, jagged scars along his face, neck, and arms. They bunched up the closer to his torso they were.

He stared into the men's souls with an empty expression void of joy.

"I screamed as I fell into the void below, the burning not stopping as I was enveloped in the cold blackness. My eyes burned with hot tears as my limbs froze. I started coughing up blood, the knife-sharp pieces lodged in my chest burrowing deeper. My breath slowed as I choked in the airless void. I tried to reach out, do something, anything.

But it was no use. The debris falling with me escaped my grip every time.

I had enough consciousness left to watch the giant yet not endless crater above dissappear from view. The dimension would survive. I did it.

My view was soon blocked by a massive chunk of wood coming right for me.

I shut my eyes as it slammed into me, sending me flying deeper into the abyss.

The crystal shards pushed deep into me, piercing many organs. I bit my lip, trying not to scream. My body was bruised and torn. I tried to hold on.

But the blunt trauma and sharp pain was too much.

I howled in agony as I fell into the uncaring, freezing, void. My eyes were growing heavy.

That was when I saw it. The creature was as dark as the void, somehow even darker. Teal and green markings, shimmering in the emptiness, defined its form.

It was truly MASSIVE. Larger than any being I had ever seen.

It appeared above me. I froze mid-fall the moment it appeared.

I couldn't make out any features on the Thing. I could see a teal and green light growing below me. It soon was so bright I couldn't help but look.

I couldn't see anything by that point.

My eyes had grown blurry with tears and blood.

The light enveloped my broken body. It was just as cold as the void."

Sabre stared at the two with his dead eyes. His pupil-less coded eyes had turned teal and green, just like the creature, but dull. Like a computer turning off slowly.

The pro hero tried to avoid the man's uncomfortable gaze, finding himself unable to look away. The pure power this man held kept him in a trance.

The detective did manage to avoid his gaze, jotting down as much as he could, as if his life depended on it. If he noticed his companion's trance he didn't show it.

"And that was when I died. At least, that body of mine," Sabre smiled dangerously, "It felt like a rebirth, into another world.

Which it almost was.

When I awoke in the new world, it felt like time had skipped. I was in a cave base, speaking to the...viewers. I won't explain who they are. All you need to know is that I became aware only after I had been in the new world. I...can't remember how I got there. How I encountered it. Why I was aware of the viewers again, or had my tablet back. Why I was in a cave in the first place.

I talked to them like I knew what I was doing, like I hadn't just woken up. I used my tablet's camera mode to interact with them before leaving..

At the time, I couldn't remember what I'd just been through. None. I couldn't remember the Steves, I couldn't remember the explosion. I knew the world was...different though. That the world was more detailed than usual.

All I knew was I didn't remember showing up and encountering a creature.

It's not until now that I've connected the two..

That...light. It wasn't just a hallucination as I died. It was a portal - a portal directly to its home. I..."

Sabre stopped speaking suddenly, a grim and dark thought on his mind. The thought in question had been plaguing him since the walk to the police station.

If these Steves have come with him, what if there were others somewhere else? More importantly, what if they were his past enemies?

SS Sabre was even in a non-Steve world, when he got sent to this universe.

He was supposed to be dead.

The Rainbow Steves were supposed to be dead.

SS Nightmare probably was dead, at least when Sabre returned and had to deal with Illusion.

How many vanquished enemies were alive, then?

And even if he somehow convinced these "Pro Hero" people to help him deal with those enemies, how would they even do it?

He and his friends may be smarter thanks to their past and stronger together, but so were those against them.

What made him stop talking was a horrifying realization of just how screwed they could be very soon.

What if the Void Steves team up? What if they started up a team of all the others?!

"Ahem.."

The voice shook Sabre out of his thoughts.

"Oh. Sorry, I just- had a thought. A really terrifying thought. I've mentioned multiple times that there's more Steves than those here.." Sabre sighed, "But I think there's quite a few so dangerous it'd be putting this world in danger to not talk about them."

Sabre grabbed a piece of blank paper and a pen, scribbling down names hastily.

"These are the ones you really need to look for," he turned the paper around for the two men to see, "I'll list visuals later."

He readied himself to discuss some of the most traumatizing people he's ever crossed paths with.

"There's two versions of Nightmare Steve. One redeemed, one who went too far and died but returned from the grave only to be killed once and for all. It's a good thing the redeemed one is here and not the other."

"Died? Literally?" Naomasa raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Yep," he instinctually rolled his eyes, "dude wouldn't stay dead. Actually, both did that.

RQ Nightmare, the non-redeemed one, isn't extremely dangerous on his own. But he uses fear tactics, being extremely good at making others do what he wants out of fear.

He also can use the Darkness to a degree, more on that later. SS Nightmare has control over fire and lightning, being able to go at extremely fast speeds and summon craters of fire."

Aizawa opened his mouth to speak, but didn't want to interrupt. This was vital information that clearly needs to be heard.

"Thank you. Reverse Steve also has two versions, I can't say one is worse than the other but they have different stories and powers and that changes how you can defeat them. Both are supposed to be dead, by the way.

Origin Steve has two versions, RQ version is kinder compared to the maniac the SS version is. You can tell them apart by the way they speak. SS Origin will be lovesick for Alex, and try to take her back as his own.

Okay, first of all, don't let him, he's a jerk and the relationship was toxic. But I can't imagine how you would defeat him. Both are the creators of their respective universe's Steves. But that also gives SS Origin scary abilities...

I got him mad, and he literally removed me from the timeline! Not kidding! It was only 10 minutes of being in there, but I escaped via basically the Steve version of heaven- don't ask- but when I got back, it had been centuries.

And worse yet, Origin had spent those years mutating the Steves! He was mutating the basic colors, adding bits of another, so they didn't have powers. They were just as powerless as me.

It was genuinely one of the most disturbing things I've seen. The Steves saw themselves as normal, but I knew this was far from it.

Your best shot at dealing with the guy is to get him away from civilization, so history can repeat itself...

*Sigh*

If you must know, the only reason he's dead is because Alex got angry at him when she found out he was hurting Galaxy and I..

And

And she literally blew up, we escaped unharmed. But she had been blown apart, and we had to recollect her energy that now laid hidden in bottles. She wasn't even a ghost, more like...something even less tangible.

But somehow, Origin survived that initial blast. He was an absolute wreck, but he was alive somehow.

It took someone else, by the name of Hypno Steve, to finish him off in a single blow."

Sabre took a deep breath after such a long info dump.

He pulled out a glass bottle of water, taking a long sip, before speaking again.

"He's still not the only extremely dangerous one. There's like 6 more, all insanely powerful foes that took many sacrifices to defeat.

I'll let RQ Sabre discuss them, The Unnamed, The First Curse, and the RQ Demon Steves.

Also that version of Void Steve. And the Darkness, actually- *laughs nervously*

Oh colors, there's a lot.

Okay, enough about RQ. Void Steve - it doesn't matter the universe. He is a clear-cut villain. In the Steve Saga, he had his own personal dimension and a henchman we call Memory Steve.

Memory can wipe memories, don't look at him. Though I doubt his powers work identically here.

The Void I knew would stop at nothing to destroy Galaxy Steve. It's a long story, but what you need to know is that Galaxy and Void are one and the same.

It's confusing and concerning. I know.

Basically, a really really long time ago none of the Galaxy Family existed- Elemental, Time, Void, Memory, and Illusion. Only Galaxy. Then Galaxy decided to split himself, to lighten the load of watching over the galaxy and keeping time and space in check.

Void ended up with most of his memories and powers, leaving Galaxy confused and unaware of himself.

Void, knowing why he existed, grew hateful of Galaxy and decided to attack.

But then, Galaxy, faced with this powerful stranger attacking him, created Time and Elemental to watch over time and space while he dealt with Void.

To combat this, Void made Memory. At least I think, don't know for sure. Memory started messing with them, removing all memories of Galaxy.

Eventually that results in Elemental losing his cool and accidentally falling right into Void's trap, being manipulated to destroy the world and his own brother. He sacrificed himself to stop the machine that would cause the end of the world..

Memory also had screwed up Galaxy's memories so bad that now, probably hundreds of years later, he's got serious short term memory problems.

I had encountered Memory, not fun.

Those two? Absolutely would wreck this world.

Void also not only can traverse dimensions, he can destroy worlds.

He can form massive craters, ones that would lay this city to ruin in mere moments.

If you make him mad enough, they'll have fire too.

The only reason he's not around is because his goal was to reabsorb Galaxy, becoming stronger. But while Void was physically stronger, he was mentally weak. Galaxy was able to absorb him from the inside out.

And now while Void isn't dead, he is stuck deep in Galaxy's mind somewhere. You may notice some physical traces of that event.

It's fine to discuss that with Galaxy, by the way.

Anyway, I don't even have any idea how we could possibly destroy or lock him up inside Galaxy again. He's one of the few that I've got no emergency plan for.

At least Nightmare and Origin had the decency to die.

Like 5 of the RQ enemies are also quote-unquote 'apocalyptic' cases, might I add. You can't defeat them easily. Especially RQ Void, he was literally immortal. Got killed multiple times, turned into a demon, then finally died for real only for someone worse to show up.."

Sabre went off on a short tangent about Rainbow Quest, before returning to his own universe.

"The Virus, as I call it, is a creature I'm not certain of. It holds a lot of power - that I'm certain of. But its intentions? I...don't know. It seemed curious at first. But then it attacked. It became highly aggressive.

It's such a different experience from what I'm used to. Steves - they usually have some form of communication. They can tell me somewhat who/what they are and their intentions.

The Virus is a faceless pure black entity, with green and teal stripes all over its featureless body. Those stripes fade into white, they remind me of lines of code…

It can move extremely fast, summon lightning, and water and lava (both things more or less equally accessible for me) don't affect it at all. The only thing I found worked on it was a literal firewall."

He couldn't decide whether to laugh or glare at the two men's expressions. Why not both?

He shot them a glare from underneath his bandanna before continuing.

"Now I know it sounds stupid - but it genuinely worked! I mean, if this thing was actually a computer virus in physical form, it makes sense! *laughter* It couldn't run through the fire. However, I found that unlike Steves, it could summon lightning despite being trapped. I haven't actually seen it fly, however I doubt that's much of a weakness, seeing as nothing else has affected it so far," he looked down, considering this creature in a new light,

"But something I hadn't noticed until after I escaped its presence, was its manipulation of my memories.

The first instance was when I was surprised by its speed. I thought I hadn't seen anything like it. But I had, in the Steve Saga, where I used to be, I was aware that Yellow Steves could literally pause time with how fast they could run.

For some context, I encountered the Virus after the crystal explosion in the Steve Saga server. My current theory is that it is to blame for the spooky events in the Steve Saga server.

The creepy voice threatening Alex into complying, the bedrock, the fact that Emerald Steve was aware of the creature but simply speaking of it would aggravate it into revealing itself…it adds up.

What I was probably dealing with was something that wasn't showing all it could do. Even the very world I woke up in looked different from what the Rainbow Quest and Steve Saga servers looked like.

I don't think it was revealing its full capabilities to me when we came face-to-face…" he became lost in thought as Aizawa and Naomasa were left to contemplate this information.

The two exchanged thoughts on the matter, leaving Sabre to do his thing.

"Do you think this discussion may cause…it to come?" Naomasa spoke softly as to not disturb Sabre.

"Best case scenario, no, but we can't confirm anything. We'll need to ask him directly about the consequences," Aizawa muttered, looking over his notes.

"Sabre," the detective said a bit louder.

The man jumped slightly.

"Oh," he laughed nervously, "sorry. Got lost in thought."

"I noticed. You said it would show itself if spoken of. Could this very discussion cause this?"

Sabre gulped. "I don't know for sure. I can't feel its presence at all here. Sure, I didn't feel it earlier on in the Steve Saga server, but I get the feeling that this is a whole 'nother universe. I don't know if it can cross universes, but dimensions/servers are possible. Universes are harder to traverse than dimensions, servers, and worlds. I'm capable of entering all of those. But universe-hopping is new. I'm hoping the Virus can't get here unless the lightning transfers it. That's a whole different can of worms we're opening there. As long as my current understanding of the situation is right, it can't get to us. And hopefully never will."

The weight of this discovery fell hard on the three men's shoulders. But they knew there were much more important things to focus on. The likelihood of Void Steve coming to this universe was much higher.

So Aizawa asked for RQ Sabre directly.

He would provide the rest of the needed information.

The Pro Hero and detective watched as SS Sabre transformed into RQ Sabre with a flourish.

"Okay, first off, this'll be much more structured than his," he laughed.

"Let's start off easy. There's two main things that exist in the Steve Realm I'm used to that's not in the Steve Saga's.

The Darkness and the Crystals.

There are seven crystals, one for each color. Unlike the Steve Saga, there are Orange, Indigo, and Violet Steves. Long story short, each color represents a specific concept.

In standard rainbow order it goes: wisdom, creativity, energy, health, spirit, connection, and love. This gives each crystal a special ability, such as the red crystal providing knowledge.

The Darkness rivals the crystals, created from a hero's corruption. Darkness generally appears as living shadow creatures, sometimes a Beast. A Darkness Beast is gigantic, one was able to siege an entire kingdom alone..

To be fair, no one was doing anything until I took charge- Soooooo I don't think said kingdom was anywhere near ready to deal with it in the first place-"

He laughed quietly to himself, reminiscing memories of being the under-qualified general of the TNT cannons.

"Yeah. They needed some help there-

Anyways, the Darkness truly isn't a laughing matter. It is terrifying. Its primary form of offense is infecting others, spreading itself across the land. The Darkness seeked to destroy the world into nothingness.

It almost did.

The first time I had accidentally released the Darkness from its temple prison. I had met this Red Steve for only a few hours, and he was infected because of me.."

Sabre bit his fist, trying not to cry. His first friend, along with so many others, was dead because of him.

"I...I watched him die. He pleaded for his closest and oldest friend to kill him, that's how freaking awful it is to be infected. It had already gotten in his eye, and he knew what would happen if it got worse.

The Darkness would've gotten in his mind, in his heart. He would lose control. He would be forced to give in sooner or later and succumb to the Darkness. He would've attacked me and his friend, Orange Steve.

Orange is here right now, in fact.

Don't pressure him into talking about this. I don't want to remind him of one of my many failures as a hero..."

He lifted his bandanna, wiping away black tears threatening to spill.

"There's so much more blood on my hands.

It's all my fault..the Steves would have lived on happily if I never came back to their world.

I wish I never opened that temple. I wish I never touched that stupid message. I wish I could go back and stop myself from bringing all this misery to them.

They never deserved it..."

Sabre's voice was barely a whisper as he fell silent, mourning his past mistakes.

'Hey, it's alright. Those Steves don't hate you for all of this.'

'× Why should I believe your lies? They all know it's my fault. Orange Steve knows I caused all of it. ×'

'Because I've regretted a lot of my past. Sure, I saved some of them. I killed Nightmare, I stopped Reverse. But a lot of the chaos was because of me being stupid.

In fact, the part I talked about earlier that I asked you to ignore was really recent...it was such a stupid move and I paid for it.

What I'm saying is we made mistakes but everyone we hurt tends to still love us.

If it wasn't for the Guardian stepping up to merge us, we'd be in a lot of pain right now.

He saw me do ridiculous things, and he still helped us.

You made mistakes but I can tell Orange Steve still loves you as if nothing ever happened.'

'× *sigh* fine...if you catch me crying again, please repeat that until I'm chill again, please? I want this over with but obviously my trauma outweighs my discomfort. ×'

'Sure I guess.'

Sabre wiped away tears, calmer now. SS Sabre knew just what to say.

"Ugh, sorry. ✨️Trauma things✨️"

Aizawa looked concerned but didn't say anything.

"Uhm..okay then?" Detective Naomasa also looked concerned but didn't comment further.

"Cool. So, after some guidance Orange and I were on a quest to gather the 7 crystals. Only problem: since the second hero, the colors had turned cold towards one another.

So Orange made the first Rainbow Hub. There were portals to each color that would go off if they needed help. He made it really fast too, it was crazy- like 30 seconds for a whole complicated structure with like magic and everything.

Yeah. Well, things go south while getting the yellow crystal.

The first kingdom we end up in gets seiged by that Darkness Beast, then we meet the Nightmare King. Long story short, he creates Dark Steve in an unholy merging of his own assistant and Darkness.

Nightmare turns out to have stolen the throne from the true king by force and had planned on having the Darkness seige his own kingdom. He also was using the Darkness and the crystal to become powerful.

Oh yeah, he also trapped us in a secret underground lab. Not fun.

He also committed at least one act of murder right in front of us. Right in his own throne room.

The place was right above a goddamn pit, and he pushed one of his own citizens into it.

He was a jerk.

Oh, he also murdered me! Yea, I got sent to the Steve equivalent of heaven only to plead with a Blue Steve to send me back. I also learned a bit about the second hero."

Naomasa and Aizawa glanced at one another.

"Is it true?" Aizawa muttered.

"He...isn't lying."

"Of course I'm not. There's more important things to explain though. Can I go on?"

RQ Sabre, unlike SS Sabre, did not like to keep talking about his past.

He was definitely going to need some alone time.

Too bad that wasn't going to come any time soon.

Aizawa nodded.

"Good. Well, Dark had absorbed Happy Orange Steve after I died. He was able to turn into any Steve of any color, as long as he absorbed one of that color.

So he already had done that with the seige at the Yellow kingdom.

He pretended to be Orange, the one I was friends with.

I arrived, and was able to trick him and save the Orange Steves from Nightmare's facility.

Back at the Rainbow Hub, I decide to create the Light Crystal. I wanted to make a Steve much like Nightmare did, but for good.

Someone to fight alongside the Steves while we collected the crystals.

Shy Orange Steve offered up himself to become that defending hero.

He became Light Steve, who is here now. He is quite capable, a very effective fighter. Though he became more emotionless after the transformation, he hadn't lost himself.

He went on to join the Yellow Steves.

While collecting the crystals, we met Rainbow Red, an old Red Steve who was holding onto the red crystal. He promised us he'd give it to us once we get the rest.

I also learned that Orange Steve was abnormally powerful, and that was why he lived alone instead of in the Orange village.

When we brought the crystals to Rainbow Red, he stole them, taking all of us to a broken library-like place where a machine was held.

He was obsessed with becoming the hero, and, well, that required the crystals.

But he put Orange in a glass box too close to the orange crystal, messing up the hero formation.

He became Reverse Steve, who looked like a reversed-colors Rainbow Steve. The mess up also injured Orange and corrupted the orange crystal.

He barely escaped and we ended up getting back to the Rainbow Hub in time to watch the world end.

Soooo Rainbow Red had been infected with the Darkness before, he said he was healed but it turns out he was wrong. The Darkness fed off his interest in being a hero, evolving within him. It fueled his obsession.

Becoming Reverse and going out into the world caused the evolved Darkness to jump to the rest. It caused rapid evolution within all Darkness, making it resistant to attacks.

The world was overwhelmed, and it was our fault.

But as the shield over the Rainbow Hub was draining of power, an old friend arrived.

Red Steve, with Blue Steve's help, was able to tell us Orange Steve's past.

He was the crystal.

It had the creativity to split itself and become a Steve. We were surprised, to say the least.

But with that knowledge, we were able to make the true third hero.

Orange Steve gave himself up to create Rainbow, unknowingly becoming the hero himself.

It sounds weird, but that wasn't the best thing. He barely knew how to use his powers before, but now he had even more and didn't know how to do anything.

He also had to keep up a facade of being all-powerful to keep the Steves from freaking out. You know how it is.

We came to Light for help. He was able to provide some training.

But then Reverse came for our heads.

Reverse was outraged that Orange was the hero. He beat up Rainbow in the catacombs so bad, Rainbow teleported me away.

But that's when I met Dark, alone. He was reconsidering his life choices, and I did my best to comfort him. Long story short, he agrees to help me but then betrays me.

I didn't see it then, but now I know Dark was teaming with Reverse to be a double agent.

I was left with a severely injured Rainbow and we went to the Orange Steves for help. They thankfully were able to save him.

There was a ghost in the catacombs, that requested we remove the machine Reverse made to hurt Rainbow.

We did, but that also released something evil.

We also ran into Nightmare, whose body was losing to the Darkness. He was losing control over the Darkness, and it turned on him.

He said he joined the Darkness because he was scared he was on the losing side. Light got tired of his bullcrap and killed him on the spot."

"Really? Just like that? Doesn't sound particularly heroic," Aizawa commented.

"He has a no-nonsense way of dealing with things. Kinda nice, until you get on his bad side.

Anyways, we had released Faceless, a Red Steve who willingly took on a curse to gain the ability to become anyone he touches, but he lost his identity with it.

He escaped the catacombs and came to the Rainbow Hub, where he pretended to be Rainbow. We figure it out, and he runs through the Yellow portal as me.

We run through, to be met with chaos. He had run rampant through the true yellow king's outpost, murdering Steves and committing arson.

The king sentenced me to execution.

But in a moment of quick thinking, we teleported back to the Rainbow Hub. We were able to realize Faceless was impersonating the king, and teleported to him. Thankfully we were able to fix things but Faceless got away, ending up in the Orange village.

We were able to sniff him out and trap him, but before we killed him he panicked and turned into a variety of other entities.

It's also important to note that he doesn't have the powers of the Steves he turns into.

Well, Reverse comes back for round 2. He destroys the Rainbow Hub, injuring Rainbow again. He had brought Dark with him.He taunted us, saying that if he couldn't be the hero he would cause chaos instead.

I accused Dark of betrayal and he stayed quiet. I still didn't think that Dark was actually trying to help.

Then they merged into Chaos Steve.

Outraged, Rainbow lunged at Chaos, and then Chaos teleported them both. Alone, I went to the Great Library to find a way to save my best friend.."

Sabre took a deep breath, letting the scenario settle in with the pro hero and detective.

"I ran into Nightmare, who was back from the dead.

But I also made a new ally. Galaxy Steve. He was...interesting. He fought against Nightmare, apparently not knowing he was supposed to be winning.

When I told him we wanted to win, he killed Nightmare into oblivion, sending him back to the void.

I was able to get back Rainbow, and we ended up being able to stop Chaos with Light's help. We separated Chaos back into Reverse and Dark, and while Reverse was locked up, Dark...

Dark wanted to be split again. He was still good. He wanted to return the old friends he stole from us all that time before."

He paused, looking away.

"I...still feel guilty for yelling at him for being evil when in reality he never wanted any of this, he wanted to be good but Reverse took that away.

But he thanked me in the end. Rainbow separated him and he disappeared.

He ends up returning only to be manipulated and then disappear again, by the way.

Miss him, he was actually really nice despite what you'd expect," he gave a sad smile, recalling the first time he used the Dark crystal to summon his friend.

"Wait...so let me get this straight, he was a villain? And then you trusted him to stop Reverse?" Aizawa seemed flabbergasted at the fact that Sabre trusted an enemy.

"Uh- yeah? We kinda had a whole heart-to-heart thing by the lake- why you ask?"

"None of your concern. So, who's the worst of those you mentioned?"

"Depends. Nightmare and Reverse are hard to beat. Dark and Faceless would be hard to deal with in a place like this since they can basically shapeshift into anyone. Probably Reverse, if I'm gonna be honest. He was screwed up in the head, man.

From this point forward, I'm going to just explain the overall premise of those I fought, okay?"

"Fine."

"Alrighty. So, let's have a quick overview," Sabre sat up at the table and began writing, "Void Steve, Time and Elemental, Corruption and Soul, Shadow...nope, the Corrected Sun and Sol, the Red Steves, the Demons, Origin, Hypno, the Core, *sigh* and The First Curse. Man I hate that guy."

"The...First Curse?" Naomasa looked up, intrigued. "Why do you hate him?"

Sabre cursed under his breath. They weren't supposed to hear that.

"Sigh. He's the worst out of everyone. Frickin omnipotent bish. Tried to curse the ENTIRE UNIVERSE! AND SUCCEEDED! He's literally all-powerful, he even cursed Origin - who's basically the god of the Steves in the Rainbow Quest server.

I may or may not have accidentally caused the end of the world - again.

And this time it was alllll my fault!"

Sabre smiled, but everyone knew he was dying inside. Trauma time. Again.

"How- how many times did the world end because of you-?"

"I don't know any more. At least 5 or 10 now.

Now shall we start from the worst or work our way up? Either way it's ✨️all trauma✨️"

"Let's go from easiest to hardest, I guess," Aizawa muttered, looking completely done with the trauma.

"Well then that would be the Corrected Sun. Wait- I should mention that Void split Galaxy into Time and Elemental Steve, and they both have similar powers to that of the Steve Saga versions. You'll see why that's relevant later.

So, there was the true Yellow king's assistant, Sol, who was basically fired. This was after two evil Steves, Corruption and Soul, were neutralized. Those two were an Indigo and Blue Steve respectively.

Well, this Yellow Steve starts an extremist group, the Corrected Sun. He starts a revolt protesting the inclusion of Indigo and Blue Steves in the Rainbow Kingdom. They start getting increasingly violent, all the while Sol saying that he speaks for the people and trying to take over the kingdom. The Yellow leader ends up siding with him, along with the Orange and Violet Steves.

Me and the leaders, along with Light, eventually are able to take back control and end his reign of terror.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention, Light has a whole guard, the Colorless Guards. They were the soldiers and security of the Rainbow Kingdom.

Also, uh, the Red Steves were kinda almost extinct before I showed up. Yeahhhh, the Darkness kind of went after them after the first hero fell to corruption...

So at the time there were no Red Steves in the Rainbow Kingdom.

But yeah, I'm sure you've seen similar stuff here with revolts and such. Sol could definitely do some damage if given the chance to convince people to hear him out.

I did find Red Steves eventually. Er- well, they found me. There was the Core, which was a massive power source that this Professor Red guy had made. The Red leader died in a battle some time later and Prof. Red used my DNA and mad science to reanimate him. But he became Hypno, who uh...was cursed by my blood to know how the world ends.

I don't know, okay?!" He raised his arms up in defeat.

"I just know that The First Curse and I have some weird connection and seeing as I'm basically their god it feels like Hypno being cursed by my DNA being part of him makes some sense.

Okay, so with The First Curse he was trapped inside this armor and was chained. Somehow he was able to get inside my head and speak to me, manipulating me into releasing him.

I took off one chain, and that was all it took. Everyone else would die if they touched him, but I didn't.

He was unleashed, and trapped basically every living entity inside the armor except me and a couple others.

Hypno was able to break into the armor, when no one else could.

I feel like I was the only one who could interact with anything with the First Curse.

Anyways, enough about that guy.

Hypno was insane, and could warp reality and just generally was crazy. But he did help so he isn't exclusively bad.

Also, The First Curse seemed to be on a mission to curse every Red Steve because Prof. Red was cursed with insanity when he popped his head through a portal and met the guy eons ago and every other weird entity I come across seems to be a cursed Red Steve as well.

Now, this next one is dangerous as hell but I'm not interested in going into detail so I'm making this quick.

Shadow Sabre was basically my evil Darkness twin who convinced me to make the Shadow Sword. The sword and Shadow used Darkness I was infected personally with by Void. More on him later.

Shadow was all in my head at first, until I released him into the real world and he took over my body. He was evil, and at one point I had to trust him to fight other evil.

He murdered, manipulated Dark into being a puppet, and tried to take over the world with Darkness after Void perished. He tried to become me but I fought it with Time by my side.

No questions, moving on.

The Demons were the reason the Darkness exists. The first hero was created to fight them, but he wasn't able to do as well as the Steves expected. He fell under pressure, breaking. The first hero became Void Steve, the first Darkness. The Darkness is the only thing to really combat against the Demons, which are from the World Below, the Steve equivalent of hell.

See, that's why I trusted Shadow and the sword. They helped me against the Demons. Said demons also could manipulate reality at one point. And might I add, the demons are so numerous that they're practically a species. Like, a LOT of demons were down there.

The Demon Steves are hungry beasts, draining the life force of Steves like starving wolves on sheep.

Terrifying.

Though killing a ton of them with the Shadow Sword made them a lot less scary."

"WHAT?!"

"Haha, let's just ignore that I said that- ple a se-"

'× Great. I scared em. ×'

'LOL you really did man.'

'× What do I do now ;-; ×'

'Idk you figure it out'

'× be useful for once please QwQ ×'

'Nah'

'× Ughhhh fine ×'

"Guys...please...I did crazier stuff than that... P L E A S E can we move on..." Sabre signed internally as the two men slowly calmed down.

Once the two were calmer, Sabre broke the silence with one sentence.

"Y'know, I am kinda a god lmao."

This time, Aizawa stopped Naomasa before he started asking questions.

Sabre just laughed.

"Heh, you knew I was trying to trick ya that time.

Yeah, technically I am kinda sorta a god- I mean, I created Origin who created every other Steve soooo-"

"*sigh* it checks out, you're not lying," Naomasa muttered, jotting down "god???" on his notepad.

"Yeah I didn't actually remember doing it so I have no idea either.

Let's just continue, now that that's out of the way-

Let's see....uh, Void, the Core, Origin, Corruption and Soul, probably Time and Elemental along with Rainbow I guess-

*sigh*

Let's just deal with Void now. So he was the first hero, as a Blue Steve. He was supposed to fight against the Demons that were attacking the Steve civilizations.

However, he fell under pressure, until he gave in to the horrors deep within. He became Void Steve. The crystals rejected him later, landing in the hands of a Red Steve. The Red Steve became the second hero and sealed away the Darkness and removed Void from the dimension, putting his spirit in a world which no Steves existed within.

That's where I come in. That message from before was from Void - he had made a whole prophecy and portal and stuff so I would collect the crystals and make the third hero. He manipulated everyone and everything. The Darkness fell upon every civilization. It destroyed thousands. It left hundreds of others a husk of who they once were.

He tricked us all. A call to adventure, a hero's journey, was all a ruse. He destroyed so many, just to manipulate Rainbow into joining his side and falling to the same corruption within - using the same pressure he once felt as the hero to bring him down.

He created Corruption and Soul Steve with an Indigo Steve and a Blue Steve corrupted by pure Darkness.. They became his right hand men. I fought them both in the final battle.

When I finally destroyed Void with the help of Light and the Colorless Guards, it didn't last long. The Demons were manipulating reality and Void was alive - he was immortal. He became the leader of the Demons.

At one point I created the Dark Crystal to bring back Dark Steve. Time, Dark, Shadow, and I fought Demon Void together.

Time was able to remove Void's immortality and we destroyed him. But not without casualties. The Rainbow crystal shattered, leaving only a shard of each color left.

After that was when Shadow reared his horns. He kept saying we were one and the same...he tried to take me over, and make me the lesser of us two. I had to fight for control. He mind controlled Dark Steve, making him say and do horrid things..

Time stayed by my side throughout it all...

At the end of it all, I had to decide whether to spread out the Darkness so thin it'd never be able to rise up again, or be able to keep Dark Steve, one of my closest friends at the time... I..I did what I had to.

I'm sorry Dark. I hope you're doing well, wherever you went..."

'Hey, it's okay. He knows you cared, even though he isn't here I'm sure he's watching over you.'

'× Thanks... I miss him.. ×'

'I know.'

Sabre cleared his throat, wiping away tears.

"Now, Time and Elemental. They were brothers, and good friends of mine. But with Void on the loose, Elemental started acting..weird. He wasn't himself. Eventually he went mad, asking his own brother to kill him...

He deserved better. He was an innocent soul, despite his brash attitude.

Time...did what he had to. We both mourned the loss..."

Sabre grew quiet for a moment, but SS Sabre knocked him out of his thoughts.

"There..was a worse death. I'm almost too afraid to speak of it.

Rainbow.

We were trying to save the kingdoms...and we..failed. The Indigo and Blue Steves were evacuated but many were lost. An Indigo and a Blue Steve in particular Void turned into monsters.

And with Rainbow not knowing how to use his powers or be the hero, he was under a lot of pressure.

Void used that to his advantage.

I saw his fall..I..I wish I was a better friend. I wish...I wish I was a real hero."

Sabre grew quiet and solemn. The temperature dropped, but not in the bone-chilling way it did before.

No, this was a lonely cold, of unlit fireplaces and dusty rooms and unkempt hair.

"Rainbow fell to the Darkness. The hero was lost to corruption, again. And it was all my fault.

If only I checked in more often. If only I actually listened to him. If only I stopped it..."

Plump black tears trickled down his face, leaving gray marks. He didn't care.

"He...lost himself. He decided he wasn't worthy. He..tried to get rid of the crystals' powers.

Time stopped it before he destroyed himself. But the damage had already been done.

People saw it earlier. The corrupted form. Orange came up to me while I was glitching and he glitched too... into his Rainbow and corrupted forms.

Rainbow was broken. His once blooming colors were cracks along his old orange self.

That's when he joined him. Void convinced him the Steves were all the same.

And what scares me is once I felt the same.

After being infected, Shadow was starting to interact with me more.

No one would trust me.

I felt alone in the world.

I was trying to do good.

I was using the Darkness to save everyone, I swear...

But no one would listen.

Except Shadow and Time.

I was playing double agent, trying to pretend that I was still on the Darkness' side.

But that fooled the Steves too.

Even Light didn't trust me...

I...I wish I could've shown them.

I wish I never let Shadow in.

When Void...Void got Rainbow on his side he...turned Rainbow into a husk of himself.

He became a vessel of evil and I still wanted to believe he was still there. That somehow he wasn't gone.

But then Elemental and I..there was a rainbow portal...and..and we arrived in time to see it all."

Sabre went quiet, drowning in tears.

It was growing colder.

"See what?" Naomasa asked quietly.

"To see him die.

We- we were frozen by Void and he-he he absorbed Rainbow. He took the crystals and KILLED HIM!" Sabre shouted out of pure guilt and rage, standing up and slamming his fist.

He sunk into his seat, pulling off his bandanna, revealing blackened eyes growing darker with each moment.

"I couldn't do anything at all the entire time I was around. I always was the useless one, I couldn't break him out! I couldn't place a block down! I couldn't do anything! I was weak!

And you know what's worse??!?!

It's! All! My! Fault!

I was the one who released the Darkness! I was the one that decided to go to some random world a mysterious message wanted me to go to! And that message was probably from, you guessed it, VOID!

I not only was useless most of the time and when I had powers I didn't get to use them to do good, but I also was the cause of everything evil! I CREATED Origin, and he created The First Curse!

And you know what the First Curse created? Curses! Evil! Manipulated everything to get me to free him!

Void may have fucking killed my best friend, but at least he had a past of being the Hero! The First Curse is just fuckin evil!

He cursed my Red Steve friend, M, he murdered thousands of Steves with a variety of 'natural disasters', he almost killed Time and Light, he's the reason Prof. Red, Hypno, and probably hundreds of others never got to lead a normal damn life!"

Sabre was breaking down. Shaking, he could feel the horns of Darkness sharply pulling themselves back out of dormancy. Hot tears ran into his hands with gooey junk from his nose dripping alongside.

"I never wanted this. I didn't plan on being the one who saved everyone. I didn't plan on causing misery to everyone around me..I swear I didn't mean to... I- I didn't know- Void was the tomb ghost..the First Curse would..I'm- I'm §øřrý!"

With the final word, an old 'friend' appeared behind the grief-stricken man.

The dark astronaut smiled with a wicked grin, revealing sharp teeth, unsettling the two men before him.

"Hëĺļø ţhęřě. Îť §èēmš țhąť hîś ŕëğŕėţ hãş åłļőwəđ mę ťö mæķé mý přëşęñçĕ ķňőwñ~

Į ąm Šhåđøw §ãbřę."

'RQ, IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!'

'× IT IS! You know just as well as me that it's all my fault! ×'

'SHADOW'S HERE, MAN! WE NEED TO STOP HIM BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!'

'× What. ×'

'He's literally threatening the other two!'

RQ Sabre stopped wallowing in self-pity, the familiar voice sending a chill down his spine. He tried to grab Shadow as he stood up, only to find his body wouldn't move. He couldn't stop the dark tears.

'× Oh..Oh no. Nononononono- I can't move! ×'

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN??'

'× I! Can't! Move! At! All! ×"

'Okay okay thinkthinkthink- What if I- I swapped with you??'

'× WHAT! How is that supposed to fix- ×'

RQ Sabre was pulled from his mind as he felt his arm lift up. From the corner of his tear-blurred eyes, he could see Shadow grab his wrist.

His blood ran cold as an all too familiar sword appeared in his now clenched fist.

The Şhăđø₩ Šwøŕđ.

That blasted thing was supposed to be gone along with Shadow!

Despite being practically paralyzed, Sabre bared his teeth at his evil twin.

'× Dammit! How do we stop him!? ×'

'Can we open up our inventory? Maybe we could swap it with the Galaxy Sword!'

'× Good idea! ×'

Sabre concentrated on opening his inventory, and with extra effort, he succeeded.

'× Try to swap it while I try to break free of Shadow's control! ×'

As SS Sabre struggled to force the Shadow Sword to leave their hand, RQ Sabre focused all his energy on speaking.

"Hęh. Ĕvëñ wįţh ťwõ §äbřēş, ţhęy'rē ştïłľ ñø mâţčh föŕ mė~ Ãnđ țhåñķś ťő ţhèm, Î çãń pŕòvîďę ýõü ţ₩ø wïțh §ómě ĺøvəłý ñįğhţmâŕəš~"

Aizawa stared Shadow in the eyes as he activated his quirk. As the pro hero's scarf whipped out, Sabre's arm moved in an instant, slicing the gray fabric with ease.

"HĄ! Đø ¥őų ŕæĺľý bëłįəvē śùçh čhïłđíšh ťhīņģš čøůĺď pő§ïbłý šțôp mė?!"

Finally, Sabre broke free. The Darkness-powered sword swapped with the Galaxy Sword as he pointed at Shadow.

Surprised, Shadow stopped taunting, backing away from the sword beneath his chin.

Sabre turned his head mechanically, as if a rusty machine.

He looked Shadow dead in the eyes as the puddle of Darkness below him rose into a tiny humanoid.

"Perhaps I shall instead~ Get back in my head or we'll make the score 2 to 0, §håđøw," his words dripped with hatred as the tiny Darkness grew larger with his tears.

"Ůh- ūh- Š- Šåbřę wĕ- ₩è çäñ ťąłķ ābøųť ţhïş!" Shadow's voice got higher pitched as he raised his hands against the sword inching closer and closer.

"Freaking. Shut. Up. Last time I trusted you, you BETRAYED ME! I should've known. You're nothing but a slimy bastard of the Darkness. Get back in, or I WILL stab you. That is a threat I can't WAIT to fulfill!"

Sabre's form loomed over Shadow as he gave him a bloodthirsty grin with the last sentence. Shadow backed up, bumping into the wall.

"What? Little Shadow ScArEd~?"

Shadow hissed in defiance but vanished back into Sabre's mind.

Sabre sighed as he lowered his sword. He'll have to be more careful not to let that happen again...

Maybe it was just the merge situation that let him free, but it didn't matter why. He had to keep his emotions under control or risk Shadow escaping.

"S-Sabre?"

Sabre looked up, bewildered, as the Darkness retreated back into his core.

Orange Steve had opened the door and everyone had witnessed the event.

"G-guys...I- I can explain, I swear-" Sabre put away the Galaxy Sword, afraid his friends would think he was a monster.

"Sabre it's okay.." Orange Steve walked up to his dearest friend, giving him the biggest bear hug ever.

"Orange I'm- I'm so sorry- I could've saved y-you- I-I- could've been a better fr-friend.." He mumbled into Orange's shoulder as he choked back tears.

"Shhh, that's the past, okay? I think that's enough 'interrogation' for you. You need a stick!"

They parted for a moment as Orange gave Sabre a stick (and SS Rainbow threw one in his direction).

Sabre couldn't help but laugh. Orange had named his 'Orange's baddies-go-away-stick' and Rainbow's was 'Rainbow's good feelies stick.'

"Pfff- you two always know how to make me feel better-" He gave a small smile as they walked out of the room, leaving a shaken up Aizawa and Naomasa alone.

The pro hero and detective spoke in hushed voices after a long silence.

"What do we do with them? They're clearly dangerous!"

"Yes, Sabre alone has concerningly powerful abilities, even if we don't count that Shadow Sabre thing! If he is 'quirkless' like he said, who knows what these Steves are capable of!

"We need to keep them in a secure location, but if that Shadow Sabre can appear whenever Sabre is overwhelmed, we have to keep him in a neutral state so this doesn't keep happening."

"We can't use a prison or jail, obviously. But where else can we hold them until we know if they are truly as dangerous as Sabre said?

"This interrogation won't get much out of the others, now that Sabre broke. We'll have to find other ways of getting information out of them."

"We still have these lists, but we can't waste more time trying to get details on all of them. We need to act soon before these people do something stupid."

"Agreed. Let's have the rest come in pairs or trios to introduce themselves. We can send over others to watch over them for a few hours while we decide where they'll stay."

"Good. I need a long rest after whatever THAT was."

Meanwhile, Sabre was laying in the middle of the floor, vibing as the Rainbows piled sticks on him.

"We now declare you the stick king!" SS Rainbow tapped Sabre's face with a particularly long stick.

RQ Rainbow tried to twirl his own but smacked himself in the head.

Everyone else was piled onto the couches besides Nightmare and Illusion. Night was definitely smiling, but Illusion was pouting in the corner.

"Alright, listen up!" Naomasa announced from the doorway.

"The rest of you will come in here in pairs or trios. Introduce yourselves and explain how you know Sabre.

If you have a..duplicate explain the main difference between you two.

Afterwards you will be allowed to roam the city with several pro hero escorts.

You will return here later for us to take you to where you shall be staying for the time being."

The Steves nodded as Naomasa left.

"Soooooo- who's gonna go second?" Sabre laughed as he tried and failed to sit up.

"Y'know what? Orange and I can go first! :D" SS Rainbow offered.

"Sounds good! The Light Steves can go after us!"

RQ Light gave the duo a thumbs up as they left.

Have I. Have I ever told yall abt the 22,493 word long *chapter* before

It was for my wattpad crossover fic When Three Worlds Meet (ft. RQ and TSS in the My Hero Academia world)

And was the last chapter I posted before fucking off to nowhere 💀