AU: Haunted Hero (Takes place after everything, Sabre and Time returning to the Realm and living in peace. A few years have passed, and during those years they've opened a cafe in the village they live in, Time making the food while Sabre makes drinks and tends to the front. They've been enjoying their peaceful lives as the aftermath of RQ settles down and blows over. However, just as Sabre's gotten comfortable with his new life, something only he recognizes begins to haunt him.)

Context: The night that everything started going downhill.

Warning: Injury, blood

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[3rd Person POV]

"Thank you, come back soon!" Sabre called out as the last two customers left the shop, happily waving goodbye with smiles in their faces.

It was a successful day, the cafe being fairly crowded at almost all hours. The changing seasons brought in a surge of customers, mostly because of the new seasonal items he and Time made for the coming fall. Everyone thought it was genius, although Sabre would never let anyone know that someone else from his world thought of it first, and he just missed the flavor. It's why a lot of the popular items on the menu were there.

As Sabre began wiping down the countertop, he heard footsteps approaching from the cafe's kitchen, joined by a very strong smell. As Sabre begins laughing, Time stops a few feet away and sighs.

"I still smell like pumpkin spice, don't I?" He says defeatedly, although he's smiling as well.

"I can smell it from here, man!" Sabre snickers. "You sure one of the batches of spice mix didn't explode on you?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if one did, and I just didn't notice during all of the chaos."

"Again, if you ever need a hand back there, I can always-"

"No, no, you're always just as busy out here! I'm alright, I promise. You can focus on beverages and attending to the customers."

The two look up when they hear the small bell above the door ring. A familiar face walks into the shop, however stops when he notices Sabre is cleaning up.

"Aw man, are you guys closing?" Green Steve asks. "Just missed it-"

"Nah, you're alright man. You're always an exception." Sabre smiles. "C'mere and sit down, what can I get for ya?"

Green Steve smiles and sits down at a table next to the counter. Time moves to a back corner behind the counter behind Sabre as he takes a few steps, moving to the drinks station.

"Pumpkin spice latte, please." Green says, Sabre already starting on the order. "Decaf, extra cinnamon."

"Coming right up." Sabre replies, putting everything together.

As they watch Sabre work, Time and Green look in awe at how fast and high-quality Sabre makes the drink. As he finishes it off by sprinkling cinnamon into the latte, he hands it to Green, who happily takes it and sips.

"How do you always make these so good?" Green asks. "Seriously, it's amazing."

"And so fast. I never knew you had experience with making such complicated coffees and teas before we opened the shop, Sabre." Time adds.

"I had some experience making a... different type of drink, back in my old world." Sabre explains, his face slightly turning red. "It was pretty similar to making the drinks we sell, so I just picked up on it pretty quick and learned how to make these instead."

"That's cool." Green says, taking another sip from his drink. "And it's good you were able to carry over that experience, because your drinks paired with Time's cooking have practically been making you guys a fortune!"

"I know! It's great!" Time says with a beaming grin. "We're gonna have enough to buy the materials to add that deck to the back yard we've been talking about for so long soon! We've been really excited about it."

"Yeah, a deck with a view of the lake would be perfect to relax at right about now." Sabre says, returning to tidying up the counter. "Today was so hectic... people really have been going crazy over the pumpkin spice stuff I came up with."

"Y'know I'm pretty sure one of the Blue Steves that came by earlier was the Blue Leader's assistant?" Time says. "He was trying way too hard to blend in, and he was still covered in snow. He ordered one of the pumpkin spice coffees too, can't remember if it was a latte or a mocha though."

"Oh, you noticed him too?" Sabre asks. "Yeah, that was definitely his assistant. I haven't been able to go visit him much or attend any meetings in a while, but I recognized his assistant from when there was that huge meeting about that wraith problem a while back."

"He's really sending his assistant to get him coffee?" Green chuckles.

"He takes his job pretty seriously, so he doesn't want to leave the World Beyond too often." Sabre explains, then starts laughing. "Although if he literally just wants a coffee every so often, he should just tell me and I can make one ahead of time and he can say whenever he's free to come pick it up."

"You could send him a letter, and tell him that his assistant needs to work on blending in a bit more." Time chuckles.

"Or you guys could start doing deliveries, if you wanted." Green suggests, halfway through his drink.

Time and Sabre stop for a moment, thinking.

"Oooh, that's not a bad idea actually." Time says. "We'd get more customers outside of the village and could offer some jobs to people."

"Yeah, good idea Green." Sabre smiles at his friend.

"Well maybe sometimes I just want good food, but don't feel like leaving the house." Green says, laughing.

Then, all three of the friends start laughing. The atmosphere is comforting and joyful, the nighttime ambience calming. It's a moment where they can enjoy the tranquility that the times of peace have brought.

Until the moment is, quite literally, shattered.

Suddenly a crash echoes through the air, Sabre quickly jumping to shield Time from the broken glass. Green ducks under the table he's sitting at, shielding himself with a chair. Something big and heavy slams into the countertop, breaking and splintering the wood.

Sabre yelps in pain as he feels something stab into his shoulder, an unsettling warmth already spreading out from the area hit. Opening his eyes for a moment, all he sees is the last bits of glass falling to the ground, and Time's fearful expression. It's as if everything was put into slow motion, and he could only watch as his friend's face contorted into horror when seconds ago his expression was filled with joy.

And just as quickly as it happened, everything was silent again as the last few tinks of glass pieces hitting the floor resounded through the air. Everyone was still, but not for long.

As the shock and scarring memories overtook him, Sabre nearly collapsed as his legs gave out, and he would have fallen right onto more glass if Time hadn't caught him. Green quickly came out of hiding as Time began screaming Sabre's name, and he quickly vaulted himself over to the other side of the counter to assess the damage.

Sabre, breathing heavily as Time tried to snap him out of it, was badly injured. It wasn't just his shoulder, his entire backside was covered in glass, even the backs of his legs were peppered with the clear, sharp pieces. His shoulder was just hit with the biggest shard, about as large as a dagger. Dark red blood seeped out of every wound.

It wasn't long before the village people came to see what happened, at first confused, but confusion quickly turned to fear and horror as they saw what had happened. People yelled to get a healer, potions, anything that could help Sabre. Some helped Time and Green get Sabre out of the glass-covered interior of the shop, carefully lying him on his stomach as not to have anything touch the shards embedded in his body. Others quickly handed them rags to help stop the bleeding, still being cautious not to pull the shards out; no matter how scary it was, they were stopping the worst of it.

As Time hurried back into the shop to find the clean dish towels they stored in one of the counter's cabinets, he looked at the countertop and saw what was hurled through the window right next to where they were standing.

A large stone, with a paper message tied to it, reading:

"Return to the blade, Harbinger."

He didn't know what it meant, but there wasn't time to think about that right then. All he could think about at the moment was that Sabre needed help, and fast. However, he could be sure of one thing.

Whoever did this was trying to hurt Sabre. But why?