The Lost Children • Rainbow Quest AU

Chapter Five - Recollection

When Crystal, Sabre and the mysterious person got back to the base where everyone else was, it seemed to be in pure chaos. A lot of the younger Steves were running around, throwing dirt and pebbles at others, including some of the older members.

Sunny, Lilac, Clover and Joy were trying to get everyone under control but everything seemed to have broken out into complete mayhem when Crystal left to find Sabre.

Crimson was sitting idly by underneath a tree, reading a book that didn't have a cover so no one could figure out what it was exactly he was reading. The mysterious person happened to catch a glimpse of him and their eyes lit up almost instantly, though it wasn't visible.

Crystal and Sabre went to try to help calm the situation down, leaving the mysterious person standing there. So, instead of just being alone, they walked over to Crimson and sat down next to them.

Crimson looked up from his book for a moment, looking over at the mysterious person and tilting his head to the side, confused.

"Who might you be?" He asked, picking a leaf up from the ground and placing it between the pages, closing the book right after. "Your energy seems really similar to mine, are you also a Red Steve?"

The mysterious person pulled the hood of their cloak off, revealing that they were in fact a Red Steve, a smile on his face directed towards Crimson.

"Oh! My sincerest apologies, hello apprentice." Crimson quickly said, recognizing the Red Steve to be the Red Apprentice, or future Red Apprentice, as their king had said he would make his first born child the apprentice.

That's how elections into power worked, there was no election unless the previous king had no children. Apprentice's are then choosen based on if the newly elected king has children already, which is usually how it works unless the newly elected king is younger the minimum age of leadership.

If they do not have children, then they are free to make anyone in the kingdom their apprentice, no matter their age or skills. It's obviously smarter to choose someone around the same age and with skills fit to run a kingdom, but it's not necessarily required.

The Red Apprentice stuck his tounge out at that, shaking his head no. "I'm not taking no stinky apprentice job, don't call me that."

Crimson laughed softly, placing the book down on the other side of him. "I know M, don't worry, just teasing you." He smiled, showing that he was truly just teasing the Red Apprentice, or M.

M huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah yeah, sure." He wasn't completely convinced but still laughed anyways, unable to keep completely serious.

A few minutes of catching up between the two passed, since it had been awhile since they had seen each other with Crimson having joined Crystal and M being stuck with apprentice training.

(A "few minutes" actually ended up being closer to an hour but no one realized this because they don't have access to a clock, nor can most of them read one anyways.)

During that time, Crystal and Sabre had managed to calm down everyone else and now everyone had a chance to eat, which was a relief since it was evening now.

Crystal made his way over to M and Crimson after eating, the existence of another Red Steve intriguing him.

"Hey Crim! You two seem to know each other, makes sense since you're both Red Steve's. What's your name? We never got it on our way over here and Sabre didn't seem to pick up on it when you two ran into each other."

Crystal sat dowm in front of Crimson, though was purely looking at M, who was sat on his knees with his hands on his lap.

"Oh- I'm M, weird name I know, that's just what my dad calls me and I don't know what else my name would be." M responded, laughing nervously and trying not to seem completely socially awkward.