AU: Son of Science

Context: How the Professor originally found Sabre.

Also I drew art of the AU because it stuck in my brain :3

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[3rd Person POV]

Professor Red walked through the overgrown forest, letting the foliage shelter him from the harsh rain.

He pulled the hood of his raincoat (which he wore over his lab coat) over his head as he quickly dashed through an uncovered area, still searching the ground for the rare plants he's been looking for. They're needed for an experiment, and they only grow in dense forest, so he didn't have any other choice but to go out and look for them himself. And of course, it had to storm so heavily today of all days.

The Professor grumbled as he once again had to pull his boot out of sunken mud, already imagining how much of a pain it's going to be to get it all off his shoes and pants once he goes home. He had some success in finding said plants, the samples he collected in a bag he carried, although only a small amount. Barely enough for two runs of the experiment. He needed to find more if he wanted to see if he could replicate his results once he did a first pass, or in case he messed up.

Walking a little further, he realizes he's coming to the edge of the forest and sighs, this being the third time he's had to turn around and go a different direction. He was about to do just that, when he heard some sudden and strange noises coming from just past the forest's edge.

A warping noise, like a portal had just had something go through, followed by a loud crash. It was like glass shattering and shockingly loud, making the Professor jump. For a few minutes, he just looks at the direction the noises came from, wondering if he should go check that out or not.

And then, he heard crying.

Now thoroughly concerned, Professor Red carefully walks to the forest's edge to see what it is. Peeking out from behind a tree, just barely inside the area where the foliage above blocks the rainfall, he sees the source.

Just outside the forest is a strange red portal frame, surrounded by broken shards of what the Professor could guess was the actual portal. However, that's not what has his attention. He's more focused on the fact that lying on the ground in front of the portal frame, is an odd-looking baby dressed in simple white clothes a little bit too big for it, crying as it writhes around.

The Professor quickly runs over, taking off his raincoat and holding it above him, in turn protecting the child from the rain as he picks it up. He tries calming the baby, rocking it back and forth with one arm as he hurries back under the safety of the forest. After a while of staying out of the rain and the Professor talking softly and rocking, the child quiets down and seems to fall asleep.

Professor Red looks back up at the portal, curiously wondering where it had opened to, and why of all things a baby is what it brought from the other side. Did the other side of the portal randomly open up somewhere and pull things in? Was there an accident that somehow resulting in this?

...Was this child abandoned?

That thought made the Professor upset, and he decided not to dwell on how this happened for the time being. For now, he needed to focus on getting the child he held in his arms somewhere safe and out of the elements.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt something grab onto his fingers, and he looked down to see that the child had wrapped its little hands around them. It was then that Professor Red felt something he hadn't felt in a long time; A warm, lovely feeling emanating from his heart and seeming to fill his veins. For a few moments he just stood there, staring.

Professor Red then gently pulled his fingers from the child's grasp, being careful not to wake him up. He took off his raincoat and set it in a bundle on the ground, carefully setting the baby down on it while he took off his lab coat. He then wrapped the child in the coat, swaddling him the best he could to keep him warm. Carefully, he picked up his raincoat off the ground and put it back on with one hand, being sure not to disturb the baby. Then, as silent as he could make it, he teleported away. Back to the lab.

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The child was now in a room quickly put together to be comfortable for him, the Professor watching over him as he slept soundly.

Of course, the Red Leader was slightly upset with the Professor for being outside of the Kingdom and bringing back something from outside. But no way in the World Below could he not let the child stay. He's barely a toddler, small, defenseless, and without any family in this new world. So, the Red Leader allowed him to stay in the Red Kingdom.

On the condition that the Professor would be the one to raise him.

It's not like he could say 'no'. He hadn't planned to suddenly become a father that day, but the child needed someone to care for him and the Professor had found him and brought him home in the first place. It was only fair that he would be the one to care for him, and of course Professor Red didn't object to it. So, he brought the child to the lab and quickly set up one of his upper floor experiment rooms to be a temporary room for him. He'd find the materials to renovate a real room for him later.

For now, though, the Professor simply observed as the small child slept soundly in a soft, comfy bed. He could have sworn he could see him with a happy smile. While he did wonder what on earth the child was, given that brown hair and tan skin were nowhere near normal colors for a Steve (if he even was one at all), he could save all of that curiosity for later. Perhaps once he's older.

...What a wonderful little anomaly he's found today.