I know there was an episode where a Yellow Steve was stuck in the old kingdom before this, but I thought that if they could just teleport, why didn't he do that while he was trapped? So uh, that one's not happening here. Besides, the Steves are robots in this AU, they're smarter than that.

So yeah, time to meet the wacko broken skittle.

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[Sabre's POV]

Orange and I have just been hanging out in the Hub since yesterday.

I can't stop thinking about what Indigo said. Are people really going to try and take me away from my friends? Who would do that? What if... What if someone actually manages to? What would they do to me?

Orange then comes up next to me, and gives me a hug.

"...What's this for?" I ask.

"You looked worried, so I wanted to make you feel better." Orange says, smiling softly. "You doing ok?"

"I'm just..." I say. "I'm a little scared about what Indigo warned us about. Will people really try to get me?"

"Not on my watch, they won't." Orange says. "Nobody is gonna get you, not here. And not as long as I'm with you. You're safe."

Orange let's go, and I smile at him.

"Thanks buddy." I say.

"No problem, Sabre." Orange says.

Orange then picks me up and heads towards the house.

"Is that why you just stayed in your room after we got home, once you woke up?" Orange asks. "You've been scared about that?"

"Yeah, that's why..." I say as he walks into the living room and sets me down on the couch, him then sitting beside me.

"Ah, okay. I got worried about you." Orange says. "You didn't even come back down to eat..."

"Heh, I guess that's quite the red flag for me." I say. "I kinda regret doing that now..."

Orange gets up and grabs something from on top of the furnaces.

"I knew you'd definitely want food by now, so I got you some." Orange says, chuckling.

He gives me a bowl of soup, and I happily take it and start drinking it. Having soup is the best, because once I finish I feel all nice and warm inside, and I really like that feeling. The bowl is empty pretty soon, and I reach over and place it on the table. I then lean on Orange and hug his arm, which makes him smile.

"Thanks, Orange." I say. "You're the best."

"You're welcome, Sabre." Orange says as he wraps his other arm around me.

We just stay like that for a little bit, quietly relaxing as Orange watches the space outside the window. I'm even almost falling asleep, when Orange seems like he remembered something.

"Sabre, since the talk about the prophecy and all that, I came up with a plan on how we go about collecting the Crystals." Orange says.

I sit up and look at Orange, excited. I've been waiting to start on that! I'm actually important for something for the first time ever!

"Knew that'd get your attention." Orange Steve says, smiling. "I was thinking that we start with the Red Crystal, which is supposed to be at, um... Red Steve's house. Then, we go out and get some help from outside sources that would know where their respective Crystals are."

"Sounds like a plan!" I say, jumping up off the couch. "Let's go!"

"Alright, calm down." Orange says.

We the head out the door, and Orange picks me up and holds onto me as he teleports us to a very familiar place.

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Once the lightning stops, I open my eyes to see a red house surrounded by forest.

Even though I was barely conscious, I remember this place really well. After all, this was where I entered this world. I still remember Red Steve carrying me out of this house to find help for me... I might not have known him for very long, but I still miss him.

I look at Orange and notice he seems sad, which I understand why. I give him a hug, and he smiles at me.

"Thanks buddy." Orange says. "C'mon, we gotta find the Crystal."

Orange takes us inside the house, and we start looking for the Red Crystal. We look through chests, under little areas, in the secret portal room, and Orange even gets me to look in smaller places he can't reach, but we can't find the Crystal anywhere.

"This must be what he was freaking out about the day before we found you..." Orange mumbles. "The Crystal isn't here at all!"

"Well, now what?" I ask.

"I don't really know... Where else could it possibly be?" Orange says.

Orange just stands there for a minute, then he picks me back up again and heads out the door.

"Let's just go home, we can find it another day." He says. "It's alright."

As we head outside, I notice something in the side of the nearby mountain. I stop Orange before he teleports us.

"What's that over there?" I ask, pointing at the mysterious hole. "That wasn't there when we got here, right?"

Orange looks over, and also seem confused by the appearance of the strange cave.

"No, no it wasn't..." Orange says. "Should we check it out?"

"Maybe we should!" I say. "What if it has the Crystal?"

"Good point, let's go." Orange says, and he walks towards the cave entrance.

We enter the cave, and I notice that there's redstone torches all around the broken-down cave, spaced from each other along the cracked stone wall. Totally not creepy one bit...

Eventually, a room appears at the end of the tunnel, and we see... a figure, standing in front of some kind of structure.

"Is that a Red Steve?" Orange whispers.

He looks like one, but he has a multicolored bar on his back, and some differently colored marks appear all around his body. There's some wiring sticking out of joints and holes in his metal plating, mostly around his arms. The figure slowly turns around, and I see that one of his eyes is entirely yellow, while the other is grey and has a dark slash mark over it.

"Hello." The strange robot says.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Orange says, holding me close.

"Ah, apologies, I believe it does look like I'm intruding." The robot says. "I'm Rainbow Red."

"Rainbow Red...?" I whisper.

Rainbow Red then looks at me. Did... did he hear me? But I was so quiet!

"Oh, I see you have the... the prophesied human." Rainbow Red says, a smile creeping across his face. He looks kind of... excited?

Rainbow Red starts stepping closer, but Orange holds out his free arm and turns away from him a little.

"Hey, back off!" Orange sternly says. "You don't exactly seem like someone that should be near him."

"Oh, don't worry about the Darkness over my eye. It's just a scar." Rainbow Red says, still smiling and staring at me. "I'm not really infected or anything."

"That's not what I was talking about..." Orange mumbles.

I hang on tighter to Orange, as Rainbow Red is still staring at me. His smile is starting to get... unsettling.

"I just wanted to see him, it's alright..." Rainbow Red says. "I'm not going to hurt him..."

Suddenly, Orange and I notice something being held in the structure Rainbow Red is in front of. It looks like a sculpture, the crimson color of it glittering in some kind of glow.

"The Red Crystal..." Orange gasps.

Rainbow Red quickly turns to the Crystal and grabs it.

"Why do you have it?!" Orange yells. "That belonged to my friend, not you! You took it from him!"

"Maybe I did, but it was for the greater good." Rainbow Red says, staring at the Crystal. At least he's not staring at me...

"We kind of need that..." I say. "We're supposed to be collecting the Crystals in order to create the Hero."

"I'm not giving up the Red Crystal until all the others are collected. It's the only way to ensure it stays safe." Rainbow Red says, his expression turning cold for a second.

Rainbow Red then seems to calm himself, and he puts the Crystal in his pocket.

"I believe that's a fair deal." He says, smiling again. "Besides, you need to collect the other colors anyway. Does it really matter if you collect them out of order?"

Orange just keeps and eye on him, then slightly nods.

"I guess..." Orange says.

"What? Why are we just letting him have it?" I whisper to Orange, and he looks at me.

"We don't know what he might do..." Orange says. "He already seems a little-"

Orange then turns back to look at him with me doing the same, and suddenly Rainbow Red is closer to us than he was before, reaching out a tiny bit towards me. He's still giving us that creepy, eccentric smile. Orange protectively wraps his arms around me and steps back.

"Dude, I said back off!" Orange snaps at Rainbow Red. "You're getting a little close!"

Rainbow Red quickly steps away and pulls his hand back, surprised by Orange's outburst. I grip even tighter to Orange, freaked out by Rainbow Red's weird interest in me. Is he one of the crazy people Indigo warned us about?

"Sorry, sorry..." Rainbow Red says, smiling wider. "It's just... that's a human. A species long forgotten by this world, suddenly right in front of us... and the prophesied one no less! The one supposed to aid the Hero!"

"His name is Sabre, and yeah, he is." Orange says. "Doesn't mean you should be getting that close. You're scaring him."

"Oh, but there's nothing to be afraid of with me." Rainbow Red says, still smiling. "It's perfectly alright... I'm not going to hurt him... not at all..."

He's reaching towards me again. Orange gets angry, and raises his voice to a level I haven't heard before.

"That's it- BACK UP BEFORE I SNAP YOU IN HALF BACKWARDS." Orange yells, his voice shaking the room.

Rainbow Red almost runs backwards, running into the structure behind him. He looks... scared, but still kind of has a creepy little smile. Orange turns away.

"We're leaving. Don't even think about trying to pull something like that again." Orange says, venom in his words.

Orange takes me outside, and gets to the spot we teleported here at. He then looks at me, worried.

"Are you okay, Sabre?" He asks. "Sorry I got so loud back there..."

"It's okay! That was awesome!" I say, excited about my metal friend's little show. "He looked soooo scared of you! He's definitely not gonna mess with you anytime soon!"

"Heh, thanks buddy." Orange smiles. "This is probably what Indigo warned us about..."

"Uh, yeah... I thought so too." I say. "I don't really want to meet him again..."

"Ready to go home?" Orange asks, his hand glowing amber.

"Yeah, let's go." I say.

In an instant, lightning surrounds us, and I feel like I'm floating as we teleport.

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It's been a while since we got back, and the sun is setting by now.

Orange just brought me inside while I was climbing trees because he says that tonight's gonna be cold. I didn't really argue, as I could feel the winds getting colder from in the tree branches. I used to be terrified of cold nights, because I was so worried that I wouldn't make it through them before, but now I just get to wrap up in more fluffy blankets and Orange makes me warm food.

Speaking of food, Orange Steve is letting me have a little more because he says he wants to make up for forgetting about the cold while climbing the tower. He didn't really have to do that, but hey, I'm not gonna turn down extra food.

We're sitting together on the couch again, as I finish the last of the baked potatoes and soup Orange made for me. I set the now empty plate on the table alongside the bowl and lean back onto Orange like I always do. Orange giggles.

"Heh, you're all warm now." He says, wrapping one of his arms around me and giving me a hug.

"Yeah, it feels nice." I say, hugging his arm. I just realized I look like a teddy bear next to him.

We sit for a while and just enjoy each other's company. However, it's interrupted when an icy wind rushes throughout the house, making me shiver.

"Oh, right, the house doesn't have good insulation because us robots don't have to deal with temperature..." Orange says.

Orange then gets up, carrying me with him.

"Well, just another reason to get you to bed, then." He says, walking towards the stairs.

"Not even gonna argue this time, fluffy blankets are comfy." I say.

Orange gets me upstairs, and I happily climb into the warm covers. Orange had given me a softer, white wool blanket a few nights earlier, which hides under my green one. It's good for nights like this.

I've already wrapped myself in the blankets as Orange turns off the lights. I soon fall asleep, listening to the wind rush past the window.

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I suddenly wake up in the middle of the night. It felt like I was falling in some sort of dream...

I look around, and notice that Orange is outside. Perfect, I can sneak a little snack. I quickly slide out of bed and head downstairs, making sure Orange doesn't see me in any of the windows.

I get into the storage room pretty quickly, as I've been doing this type of thing for a while. I'm probably not gonna take much this time, maybe a few apples... yeah, that sounds good.

I open the apple-filled chest, and I immediately notice three apples that look a little different than the others. They're a darker red, more like the color of a rose than the normal bright red. They look interesting... Hey, maybe they work a little like berries, and the darker they are the sweeter they are? I wanna try!

I take the three darker apples and rush back up to my room. Now sitting on the bed, I take one of the apples and bite into it. As I guessed, they're a lot sweeter than normal. I like it! I quickly finish that one, and then the other three, stashing the apple cores under my bed to put in the composter later.

I then roll back into the warmth of the blankets, the air in the house having been cold due to the shift in temperature outside. I go back to sleep quickly, once again drifting off to the sound of the wind.