Radiance

A New Dawn

|Sabre|

I don't know what woke me up first. The fact that the sun was shining into my eyes, or the fact that M was cuddling me on his chest. It was a bit awkward, but I didn't mind. He was nice and warm.

I shift my head to hide in M's side, away from the sunlight.

"*sigh* Sabre. You know it's hard to wake you up without you jumping and knocking that Red Leader awake." A familiar, dark voice sounds and I grumble a bit. I peak out again and see Shadow standing right by the window, his arms crossed in front of his chest. I squint because of the bright light, then shift to face back into M's side.

Shadow growls and I hear him face palm.

"You- Why do I even try. I let you sleep in for the past four or five days because of what had happened and thought today, you might benefit from at least waking up on time because your sleeping has been so thrown off." Shadow starts and growls in annoyance.

"Yeah, I know. But... I don't really feel like getting up right now..." I say mentally to him and he just sighs.

"Look, I hate you, but you also need to be in the best shape so your problems get resolved and I don't have to deal with being your only company and sanity!"

I peak back up at him and see Shadow pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head annoyedly. M shifts a bit, yawning, which makes Shadow instantly disappear back into the shadows.

"Mmmm- Sabre, you're already awake? It's not even 8:30-" M mumbles and I sit up, yawning. I rub my eyes before I speak quietly.

"Usually would be awake by now."

I hear how raspy my voice is still and remember how I hadn't been talking for several days, but now was able to. I rub my throat a bit and M sits up, a look of surprise on his face. But that surprise turns to a smile as he goes to rub my shoulder, obviously happy at me being able to speak.

"Well, I'm glad with that." M says softly and a groan sounds from behind us. I look and hear a very familar voice say something I hadn't heard in years.

"Ja'lāna- Ow..." Lucas says and see he's sitting up, rubbing his head. He looks over to see I'm staring at him, which I give him a small wave.

"Stomach still causing pain, Horse boy?" I say quietly with a bit of a jab and he nods before chuckling. I hadn't called him that nickname in a while. It felt good to see him grin again at it.

I shift to get off the bed and stand up while M used his fingers to comb his hair. Rubbing his neck as I walk over, Lucas watches me carefully. I sit on the edge of the bed, fiddling with the edge of my hoodie.

"So. How'd you sleep, Sabre? I know you passed out after getting the Green Leader to change my bandaging." Lucas says, to which I shrug. I guess I slept well? I couldn't tell because I still felt extremely tired. Ever since I cried my voice out, I'd felt drained. No amount of rest was helping and even with Time having let me fall asleep in his arms to feel safe was not helping.

"Could be better. Still am tired." I say quietly. Lucas nods and I hear footsteps walk over. I feel M place his hand on my shoulder.

"I was meaning to ask you about that... The others and I were worried since you still have been tired ever since everything went down." A note of concern fills M's voice, making me feel slightly ashamed and look down at the covers of the bed. I felt bad having everyone worry about me. I just got back and all I had been doing was-

"FOR THE LOVE OF THE DARKNESS GET YOURSELF A THERAPIST!! STOP WALLOWING IN YOUR THOUGHTS!!"

I wince at the sudden shout and glance over to where Shadow was dead glaring me down. I sigh, now realizing I probably did need one-

"Shadow- Don't yell. That hurt my ears." I say and he just growls.

"Get. Therapy. Go find a Violet Steve and say all that is on your mind right now or else I'm going to get a lot louder." Shadow says, to which I shake my head. I hear Lucas clear his throat and realize I spoke outloud. I glance back over at Lucas, who was giving me a questioning look and motioned over to where Shadow stood.

I knew what he was indicating. Nobody was there. So why had I been talking out loud.

M taps my shoulder, which makes me look up at him. He also has a concerned look on his face. OH WAIT- M DOESN'T KNOW! Uh... Neither of them know about Shadow-

"Probably best they didn't know. Just get up and go say you need to look for a Violet Steve to be your therapist." Shadow interrupts my thoughts again and I mentally groan.

"Could you stop that?"

"No. Now go."

I wince and sigh, then look up at M. My head lay on his stomach for a moment before I asked him a question.

"Do you know where a therapist is?"

---

|Corin|

I sat in shock, staring at Calon. He- He wasn't serious, was he? I slowly shake my head and lean forward, shakily running my hands through my hair. After a moment, a hand rests on my shoulder that causes me to look up. Calon has a solem look on his face, his mouth set in a firm line.

"Calon... You- I..."

"I know it's a lot." Calon says with a sigh as I fumble for my words, trying to wrap my head around all of this. The exiled son, Xenos was the leader of the Sa'aal? My son was alive all this time and being protected by a Nebula and Le'Spike?

I commend them for their bravery.

I sit there for a moment longer with my old friend's hand on my shoulder before I look off to the side.

"Calon, how long do you think I'll be able to remain safe? If word has gotten to the Sa'aal that my son is alive and has the birthright, I'm going to be on their list to be used." I mumble to Calon who sighs and shrugs.

"I'll have my people keep an eye out for you. You may not have privacy for a while. But... I can have Vel also keep you company."

Wait- Vel?

"Calon- Vel is a-?" I start in shock and Calon interrupts me with a nod.

"Yes, She is a Reaper. She's been one for a while."

I remain quiet for a moment and then chuckle. Vel Vel Vel. Now I knew why you never were bothered by waking up early in the morning.

"She's very sly then." I remark and Calon chuckles as well himself. 

"Had to be, in order to escape your eye." He says quietly and then snaps his head towards the window. Instantly, I knew it too.

Somebody was watching us.

A shadow stood blocking the light from the window, his cape flowing in the breeze. His presence was menacing as he reaches down to open the window. In a heartbeat Calon is up and drags me to my feet, dashing over to the door. He flings it open with a slam and we dart into the hall. I hear a whistle shrill by my ear and flinch to the left. A knife embeds itself into the stone wall and Calon leads me down a hall to our left.

Footsteps echo behind us as we run, my heart pounding in my chest.

In any other circumstance, I would have stopped running to draw my sword and fight. However, I knew I would have been outmatched against him. Being trained in the Royal Family meant you trained against the Captain of the Guard.

He would have knew my moves, since I taught him.

Knives whistle past my ears again and I see one embed itself into Calon's Shoulder, making him stumble for a moment before he resumed running. This led me to be in front of us, which left me to run as fast as I could.

I take a sharp right turn, skidding a bit before I ran down the hall. A guard appears in my vision, looking confused. With that, a thud sounds with a sharp yell. I skid to a stop to look over my shoulder and Calon and our pursuer grappled on the floor.

Calon shoved the man off of him with a swift kick to the stomach and drew his knife. The man shakes his head, grinning before he flung himself at Calon again.

This struck me to action, yelling out and drawing my sword.

"Leave him alone, Xenos!"