AU: Altered Prophecy

Context: Remember how people in the Orange Village started treating Orange Steve when they found out he was the powerful one? Y'know, when people started lining up at the Leader's door to ask him stuff? Since it's known right off the bat that Sabre's supposed to be the Hero in this AU, he probably gets that a lot.

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[3rd Person POV]

Orange climbed up the stairs of the Leader's house, looking for his friend. It wasn't long before he found Sabre sitting in the corner of the second floor, next to a window.

Sabre looked up when he heard Orange approach, his expression a bit panicked, but when he realized who he was he calmed down. As Orange walked over and sat down next to him, Sabre sighed and looked out the window.

"Hey, Orange..." He says quietly. "Do I need to go back out there already?"

"No, I was just wondering where you went. You just disappeared when the Leader started shouting for everyone to give you some space... I'm really sorry about that by the way." Orange asks. "You okay buddy?"

"Yeah, I just- I got a bit overwhelmed." Sabre replies. "As soon as you said 'Catalyst' to the Leader, suddenly everyone wasn't staring from a distance anymore. It went from dead silent to everybody asking me questions so fast, it'd probably give someone whiplash. The Leader noticed how spooked I got, and when he pulled me away to make everyone back off, he told me I could hide up here for a bit. Nice of him..."

"Yeah, he's really nice. He's just been a bit stressed out recently." Orange smiles. "Pretty sure I can guess what it's about..."

"Lemme guess, the Orange Crystal?"

"Yep. It's really important, so I get it. But I don't know why he won't tell everyone else about it."

"Judging by their first time seeing me? He probably knows they'll flip."

"Again, I'm so sorry about that..." Orange says, slightly burying his face in his hands out of embarrassment. "People have just always been... jittery about the prophecy and all that, treating it like some sort of sacred event, and all of these guys are some of the most excitable people on the planet. I swear, they're not usually this..."

"Lacking in the concept of personal space?"

"I- That's- Okay that's not really wrong, but-"

Orange starts laughing, Sabre soon doing the same. It eases some of the tension in the room. As they calm down, Sabre smiles at Orange.

"Thanks for coming up here and finding me, man." He says. "I kinda needed that."

"No problem, Sabre." Orange smiles back.

The two turn their heads when they hear someone coming up the stairs, at first worried, but they take a breath when they see that it's just the Orange Leader.

"Sabre-? Oh. Orange Steve found you." The Leader says, noticing the two sitting together. "You alright?"

"Yeah, Orange just found me and calmed me down. I'm good." Sabre replies. "What's up?"

"Sooo... I have good news and bad news about the swarm."

"Oh boy..." Orange sighs.

"The good news is, I've talked some sense into them and they're not going to crowd you anymore." The Leader explains. "Shy helped me put things into perspective about how bad it is to do that."

"...What's the bad news?" Sabre asks.

"I could not talk them out of all of them wanting to talk to you, so... they've made a single-file line at my front door to take turns doing that. They figured out I hid you in here."

Sabre and Orange groan.

"Oh, fun..." Sabre mumbles. "Guess I'm gonna be here a while no matter what."

"Don't worry Sabre, I'll make sure they don't crowd you again." Orange says, holding up a stick. Sabre laughs a bit.

"Please do. I don't know if I could take any more of that."

"Orange, you have full permission to whack people with the stick if they start getting too excited again." The Orange Leader adds, heading downstairs. "I'll be in the living room if you need me."

"Aw, yeah." Orange says, doing a fist pump. He then gets up and holds out his free hand to Sabre. "Ready?"

"Don't really have a choice." Sabre shrugs, taking it.

Orange helps him up, and together they head back downstairs to take care of the crowd.