AU: Son of Science (bringing a favorite back hehe)

Context: After Carnelian (the Red Steve from the beginning) dies, Sabre becomes a bit closed off while the Orange Steves help him move in with his friend Orange Steve. Orange notices and tries to get him to talk about it, but because of him needing a cover story to protect the Red Kingdom, he can't tell the truth.

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[Sabre's POV]

...It feels like my life is coming crashing down around me.

Just a few days ago I was still learning from Scout Carnelian, talking about my lessons, and the portal, and the temple, and being lucky enough to be able to leave the Red Kingdom to study it all. Just a few days ago he was still... alive. That visit to the temple was supposed to be normal, all it was supposed to be was us recording the mural on the wall... and now he's...

I hold back tears as I stare at the jar of portal shards in my hands, staring out into the rainy sky while sitting in the window seat in... what used to be my room. There's a few crates and barrels around, some filled or half-filled with some of my stuff, the rest still unused. My room is half empty. Packing everything has been... hard. The last time I had touched any of this, Carnelian was still here. I could still go home. I could have visited dad. I probably would have, if I had known it'd be a while since I could again.

I've been a mess ever since what happened. I didn't even come back here; Orange took me to the village to tell the Leader what happened because he didn't know what to do, and I was too much of a crying disaster after explaining everything to him to do anything. The Orange Leader was really kind though... I stayed in a small guest room of his house while he worked on figuring something out for me.

I couldn't live alone, especially still at this house, because the Darkness is too much of a danger. It might come back to that temple nearby, or it's still sticking around already and just gathering strength. It's especially dangerous because I can't teleport, I wouldn't be able to get help or fight it off on my own. Well, there's... but that would expose the Kingdom. I can only use it to visit dad when nobody's going to be around me for a while. That, and send him letters. I'm going to be sending a lot more letters.

I lift the small gold chain and pull the warp quartz out from under my hoodie, staring at it. Unless someone had access to a scanning machine and stole this off me, nobody can tell it's not normal quartz. Pearlescent and shining, it holds enough energy for two round-trip teleports, and recharges in sunlight. At least, that's how dad explained it to me.

I can't visit him anymore because of my cover story. Nobody can know about the Red Kingdom, so me and Carnelian had to make something up; I was just his student, and he's a close friend of my father, the only other Red Steve we knew of. We lived alone with nobody else for miles. We heard of things we were trying to study being here, so my dad allowed Carnelian to take me with him to do research on them. We got here by Carnelian teleporting us here.

Because of that, to everyone else, I've lost my entire family in one fell swoop, as without Carnelian I can't get back home. It's not actually too far from the truth... I still can't go home. I miss my dad, I miss the Assistant, I miss the lab, Maroon, the Red Leader, everyone else, I miss the Red Kingdom entirely. I wish I could just go back, but I can't. I wish I never left in the first-

"Sabre?"

I look up, and Orange Steve is standing in the doorway. He walks over as I wipe a few tears off my face, and he sits across from me on the other side of the window seat.

"Me, Happy, Funny, and everyone else just finished packing up the living room." He says. "You need help packing in here...?"

I sniff as I look around the room. All I have packed away are smaller things, like books and trinkets, and some of my clothes.

"...I might." I reply, my voice shaky.

Orange points at the jar in my hands.

"I'm guessing you don't want to pack that-?"

"Not really, no... I can carry it with me."

"Alright."

There's a bit of silence. Orange fidgets with his hands before talking again.

"...Missing him right now?"

"Him and my dad... and home..." I mumble, looking at the warp quartz again. Orange notices it, but doesn't ask about it. I... appreciate that.

"I... can't even imagine what you're going through right now, but I... I'm gonna try my best to help. If you want me to, of course- I'll just give you space if that's what you want."

I smile. Still teary and distraught, but that's the first time I have in a few days.

"Thanks, Orange. I really appreciate it." I say. "You sure I'm not gonna bother you, moving into your place?"

"Of course not. You're my best friend, and this is what best friends are for."

He smiles back.

We sit there for a while longer, then I get up, him doing the same. Placing the jar of shards down, I glance around the room.

"I should really get back to packing... you still want to help?"

"Yeah, just tell me which crate something should go in."

We walk to different spots of the room, talking as we put things in boxes. I admit, it makes me feel a little better... just being able to talk to someone else.

"Aw, this is an adorable bear! Where should it go?"

"Oh, thanks, my dad gave it to me when I was little. Just put it with my blankets. Y'know, there used to be a flower on the scarf that was a matching blue, but it fell off and I just haven't gotten to sewing it back on. It's somewhere in my trinket box."

"Sounds really important to you, I'll be careful with it."

"Thanks. It... reminds me of home."

"...Hey, Sabre?" What was your home like?"

"Oh, well... my dad was worried about things getting to us, so there was a big stone brick wall around our and Carnelian's houses. It didn't feel like we were trapped though, it was actually pretty nice. Had decorations on it like flowers. Speaking of, there were a bunch of flowers around in the grass too. We must have been in a meadow. And there was also a bunch of little creeks that connected to each other..."