Colle eventually calmed himself down, though the void-like infection that was growing on his arms was still there. It didn't disappear like he wished and hoped so, he felt like he was going insane after many migraines and stomach aches coming to him, he felt like he was being stabbed by a bunch of needles when that happened. 

He was still laying on the wooden floor, everything was so dark because he blocked the windows with the blinds, but the sunlight was still out so it can only make a faint shade of red in his home. He felt sick, his throat was soaring, and all he can do is just lay on the wooden floor until he feels like he should get up.

He already forgot that he was supposed to go out today for something.

He squinted his eyes shut, and muttered a curse, his arms already felt like it was burning hot because of the infection. He's scared, he didn't think that it would end up like this. The visions he got were true, he was slowly turning himself into a monster. He thought he would give it time to find a way to stop it, he didn't want to worry anyone, even Seer.

God, what would Seer even think about his situation? 

The Hero already has his responsibilities, and Colle didn't want one of them being his physical state at the moment. No matter how many visits Seer came by for him, Colle never had the chance to tell him about this. He was scared of what Seer would think about it, he imagined he would be scared of him, heck even maybe kill him at the very last second.

Not even a word about it to the Elites, the same reason he had for Seer.

He felt his ahoge go on fire again, he muttered a curse again from that. Today was just not his day, maybe considering that this week was bad.

I mean, what's worst than suddenly just becoming aggressive and letting out an outburst in front of everyone?

.... He sure will have a dreading feeling of that crawling on his spine whenever he sees Desert Apprentice again.

After a few minutes of laying on the floor uncomfortably, he finally lifted himself off the floor and sat up. He was slouching, but he doesn't feel like he should his body that much at this moment. He looked over to the mirror on the other side of the room, and yikes he didn't like the look of his arms at that point, even the look on his face.

Sure it may be dark inside his home right now, but he can still see the dark eyebags underneath his eyes, his hair was an actual mess than his usual morning hair, and the infection on his arms was now up the same level as his elbows and there were red-imperial colored like markings following with the obsidian infection (it was eve like those lava markings that the Demon Steves had on their magma skin).

It can be admired if t wasn't an actual infection, but now that it was and is an infection, Colle is now terrified cause of that.

He didn't want to become a monster, he is scared, and he doesn't want to hurt anyone. He wanted everyone to be safe, like Seer said, they were now entering an era of peace. Now the era would be witnessing something new from Colle himself, the start of the corruption of Steve whose name would be in History at this point.

The Red Steve Elite, who helped defeat the Last Inferno by gaining the trust of other Biome Steves and asking the for assistance, who helped reconnect the trust of Dream's creations to each other, who walked and supported the Steves who were under the curse of Dread Steve by facing their dread and fight back and even his own, and the Red Steve Elite who gathered every Steve from their kingdom, Chromatics and Biomes, to help and fight back with the Obsidian Steves from the invasion of the Demon Steves.

He is pretty sure he is already known by everyone because of those things he did just for the right to protect them, and now he is terrified of the consequences if they found out he is becoming a monstrosity and possibly a threat to all of them.

Maybe remove the "possibly" from that-

At this point Colle just wished he can just shut himself away from the world, so that they can't see him being a mess like he is right now, to not feel afraid of a new danger in their lives, to not get hurt by him, from his words or even physically.

...

. . . .

. . . . Or maybe he can?

His gaze hardened as he slowly looked at the floor but immediately pulled back in his head to be swarmed with thoughts. He won't hurt anyone if he's gone, and can't cause any destruction o̶r̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶t̶a̶k̶e̶. Though maybe the Elites and Seer would notice he was gone for too long, he just needs to find a better place to be away from everyone, and if his infection gets worst, he might trap himself.

Though it was his decision. Shut himself away from everyone, especially the ones he loved, or stay and hurt them.

It wasn't even a decision anymore to Colle, cause just as he closed his eyes and sighed, he already knew what he was going to do.

He's not risking anyone getting hurt, even if they all try to help him.

- ✯ -

Rainbow Steve soon landed on the cobbled ground, his wings quivering just as he reached down the ground. He arrived at the Red Kingdom in time, but he doesn't know why he was called there for. He just hoped he didn't mess anything up to get into their boundaries, he knew some of the Red Steves were a little isolated to themselves before all of the Biome and Chromatics decided to ally with each other.

But he was called by the Red Elite Leader, and the both of them seemed to be fond of each other already. No arguments at least, along with the new Red Leader, but he just hoped he didn't do anything wrong.

Seer made his way over o the finished build of the library, already going towards where the Elite meeting area is, and stopped just as he reached the wooden door. He raised his hand over to the plank and knocked, before slowly opening it and peeked inside.

" Seer, perfect timing. " He heard the Captain speak before he opened the door a bit wider this time. 

The Red Captain was up from his seat across the table, along with some of the other Elites and Beef was here and was sitting on his chair but he looked puzzled, disoriented, or both in general, his foot is even tapping on the floor non-stop. Sharp was on his seat, his hand over his chin but his expression showed worry as he bit his lip and looked lost in thought. Spark was here as well, standing right next to Sharp's seat, he was a bit confused but a slightly puzzled face was shown.

The Red Captain's Elites were all here, except Colle.

" Come in Seer, I need to ask you something before we go on about what's going on. "

" Uhm- please do, I sense that all of you are uneasy and worried about something wrong. " Seer walked into the room and closed the door behind him, he made his way to the empty seat in the room but only stood right next to it. The room felt so tense, something was up, and a problem must've occurred. 

The Elite Leader fidgets his hands for a bit before letting out a breath. " Seer, I know that you and Colle have been friends for a good moment, and I am glad that you visit him a lot to check if he's doing okay outside of the Kingdom. But I have to ask if you ever heard a word from him, and when was the last time you saw him. "

Seer's eyes widened from that, they were asking about Colle. Oh, gods...

" I... last time I saw him was last Thursday after we had a snack in the Desert Apprentice's bakery in the Desert Kingdom. " Seer spoke honestly, everything felt so intense in the meeting room all of a sudden, something about Beef's gaze on him was so threatening. " I haven't seen him since that day, nor told me if he was going somewhere... "

Beef looked away and back to the meeting table, before running his one hand over his hair and ducking his head, Seer could've sworn he heard a shaky mutter from the warrior. Sharp's expression showed more worry, maybe showing that he was scared, Spark only patted his back for comforting support. Elite Leader bit his lip just as he turned away from the Hero, eyebrows furrowed.

" Did- " Seer spoke up as the Elite Leader gazed back at him. " -something happened to Colle? "

The room fell silent, Seer's anxiety rose, felt like something was gonna grab him from behind. The Hero gripped his shirt from below and bit his lip and waited for the Elite Leader to respond.

" Not that we know of for sure. " The Red Warrior raised his head and turned back to the Rainbow Hero, his tone made Seer nervous, Beef sounded serious or mad about the situation. " Colle was supposed to come around the Yellow Kingdom with me and Sharp 3 days ago. We assumed that he was busy or tired when he didn't come by, but the Desert Apprentice and one of the Forest Steves just reported to us that he was no longer in the Desert Kingdom just today. "

" Spark and I even checked inside his house after hearing the report, and it was a mess. " Sharp joined in just to give out some information. " All of his research and information papers were scattered on the floor, his bedroom was a mess as it was also scattered by some of his clothes. No broken glass or anything that can tell us what happened, but we only assumed that Colle was attacked by someone, and possibly got... kidnapped. "

' Kidnapped... no that's- ' 

The Elites stopped sharing information just to let Seer process the situation at the moment, all of them already knew that Seer had no idea of this, already mentally crossing his name out of the suspect board. And this wasn't a good thing, for all they know Colle could be in danger. If he is kidnapped by someone he could be hurt at this very moment, locked away from any connections that could prevent him to have a chance to escape.

But they knew that Colle wouldn't make someone his enemy, he's kind and loyal, and he's not the type of person to start a fight with someone and would end up making the situation worst. Sure he might've yelled at the Desert Apprentice when they heard about that rumor, but Colle was probably stressed out on something, Beef and Sharp knew he would lash out of reason when's tired about something but only on accident.

" Rainbow Steve, has Colle talked to you about anything that can be associated with this situation? Maybe someone he had problems with or something he's struggling with? "

" I- "

Seer wanted to say it, he wants to, but he couldn't. He doesn't have the courage to say what it is, he's scared that they might consider him a trickster, a traitor to someone whom they cherished the most. He already promised himself he would deal with the situation by himself and not let anyone be a part of it, Colle disappearing without him knowing would make things worst.

" ... no- He didn't have any problems with anyone. But he was feeling tired when I last saw him. " He didn't technically lie about that, the situation of Colle suddenly being tired after him being unresponsive after putting out the flame on his ahoge was true.

" Tired? "

" Probably stayed up all night, I knew he had insomnia when we both stayed in the Obsidian Citadel for a while and it probably got a little worst. " Now he didn't know if that was a lie or not, Colle having insomnia was true, even after witnessing his dread after the Dread Steve fight, and maybe eavesdropped a bit of Colle's conversation with Professor Red asking if his insomnia had been lacking.

Beef let out a deep growl. " None of this is getting us anywhere... "

" Beef, calm down, I don't want you causing any more heated arguments. We will find Colle- "

" For all we know, Colle might've gotten himself in danger. " Beef cut off the Elite Leader's reassurance, he regretted doing that sometimes but right now he couldn't handle it. " And who knows what happened to him?! This is just like what happened to him after he got taken away by The Ruin after trying to save Alex! "

" Not particularly the same, also the Ruin was an Indigo Steve who got cursed and he did the countering teleportation out of spite. Yes, it was unnecessary but Colle still felt bad that he didn't know that Indigo was seeking help. "

" Sharp, that's not the point. The point is that Colle got taken away by who knows whatever they are and we weren't there to help. " Beef already had his hands on his table when he smacked on the wood, it wasn't a loud one, and Beef didn't want to lash out at the younger. " I wasn't there to prevent that from happening... " Beef muttered that to himself, letting himself sink from guilt but his anger still boils.

A hand reached for the Red Warrior's shoulder, Beef turned around and saw the Elite Leader standing next to him, a reassuring face that would try to calm him down. " Beef, I know how problematic it is that Colle has gotten himself in danger wherever he goes but we all knew that he can handle any situation fine. He'll find a way to fight back against whoever is keeping him away from us. "

Beef only stayed silent, he gazed back to the table and sank back to his seat, his expression softened as he let out a small sigh. At least the Elite Leader calmed him down for the moment.

" I'll try to get any connection of him to recognize his certain pinpoint location with his energy, I'm gonna hope that he's not that far away. "

" I- I can try to help find Colle as well! " Seer turned back and quickly replied, he didn't mean to sound that desperate. " I mean, I can try to ask around to the other Kingdoms to see if they saw him around there. Maybe as to some of the Leaders if they saw him around. "

The Elites were looking at him, Seer could've sworn he felt like he was about to fall, even Spark was looking at him in suspicion. 

" Sure, you can help us out but let's not make this situation fully known alright? We can tell the Leaders but don't make it public. " The Rainbow Hero nodded at the Elite's words, and the elite Leader nodded back and looked back at his Elites. " The rest of you can investigate by tomorrow, for now, I need you guys to rearrange your schedules for this investigation. Any problems with that? "

The Elites shook their head.

" Alright, meeting dismissed. " The Elite Leader made his way over to the front door but stopped near Seer's side. " Oh and also, " The Captain turned around to his Elites, Sharp and Beef already standing up from their seats. " I'm reporting this to the Leader and you need to tell Professor Red about this as well. "

" WHAT?! "  " Oh Origin- Should we?- "

" Professor is still Goggles, your friend and Colle's best friend since childhood. It's unlikely for us to keep this a secret from him, and you know how badly he takes things when it's kept away from him, especially after Colle's disappearance with the trap he did for the Ruin. " The Elite Leader turned back and walked, he opened the door and was already out, going somewhere in the Kingdom roads.

Seer looked at the Leader as he left, then to the other Elites in the room with him. They seemed more nervous about telling Professor Red about Cole's disappearance, Beef even let out a curse while running a hand over his hair. 

" Sharp you do it. "

" WHAT?! No- Oh no nonono, not so fast Beef I am not gonna be out by the next day during the "Goggles panic" after I tell the news. That would be my deathbed. "

" Well I dealt with it last time, so now it's gonna be your turn to try to calm him down or he'll build something that would maybe hurt himself. "

" I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH EMOTIONS BEEF YOU KNOW THIS! "

" Uh, I can tell Professor Red about it if you want- " Spark finally spoke up, but was immediately cut off by the duo's " NO! " with an instant.

" Not a chance Spark! You don't even know how to actually calm him down when he gets into a panic attack. "

" Well it wouldn't hurt to not try, and it's not a decision to make, I'm going. " And with that said, Spark already ran out of the room quickly, followed by Beef and Sharp with panicked expressions on their faces.

" SPARK GET BACK HERE! "

" YOU ARE GONNA REGRET DOING THAT. "

Their distant yells were already far enough to not hear, Seer was left alone in the room by that moment.

He only stood from his spot for a while, Colle is missing. Seer already knows that it's happening, he thought- he thought he had time. He thought Colle was alright and was still trying to get over his mental state, trying to relax a little. He failed to notice or help sooner after he snapped him out from spacing out last week.

' I just need to find him, I can't risk anything bad happening this time. '