I've always been a big Rainbow Brite fan, ever since I was a tiny author-in-the-making, and now in my "adulthood" I find myself fascinated by the larger universe in which RB exists. This is a small piece of a longer journey I'm undertaking to answer all the questions that come to mind. Like, where did the Color Belt come from? Where did Wisp live before saving Rainbow Land, and why did she have the quest to begin with? How do the sprites know Orin? Yes, I know, I'm over-thinking things here, but that's what my muse wants me to do! Really! So, anyway, this is the story of what happened to the 7 Color Kids before Wisp's appearance and during the great battle against the Evil One.

I don't own Rainbow Brite or any of its associated characters, content, etc. Sadness. But I do like it and, though I do not profit from its use in a monetary fashion, it gives me something happy instead.

Enjoy!

"He's coming!"

"What'll we do?"

"We've got to protect the Color Belt for as long as we can!"

"Quick – I've got an idea. I don't have time for precise calculations, but I hope this will work. Everyone put your hand on the Belt."

"Why? What good will that do?"

"He's getting closer!"

"Don't argue with her – just do it."

"Now everybody close your eyes and feel the colors, the light inside the Belt that's inside each one of us. Reach out to the best part of your color, the heart of our powers."

"Do you really think this will help?"

"I don't know. But we've got to try. Now, feel all of us together in the Belt. Let's mix our colors, each taking a tiny bit of everyone else's."

"I...feel all of you with me, part of me."

"Me, too."

"So will this help us protect the Belt?"

"I think her idea is more to help us keep track of each other, if the worst happens."

"Isn't there anything else we can do?"

"YOU CAN SUFFER!"

--==OOO==--

Red Butler opened his eyes painfully, feeling a bone-deep ache thunder through him. For a moment, he was only conscious of the hurt that seemed to leave a burning tingle behind, and a rough coolness under his cheek. His mind wandered fuzzily.

"Where am I? What happened?"

As the Color Kid's vision cleared, he found himself in pitch blackness. His hands encountered rock all around him. He pushed himself to his feet.

"What's going on?"

Some of the events just before he had blacked out came racing back. The Color Kids had retreated deep into the Color Caves, trying to hide from the King of Shadows. They had wanted to protect the Color Belt, their only hope against him, but had failed. Red remembered the Evil One entering the deepest chamber of caves, bringing darkness like a wave in his wake. His monstrous power had lashed through the space, catching all seven Kids and suspending them helplessly. The Color Belt had been torn from Shy Violet's hands and the King of Shadows had laughed.

Then...Red's memory became clouded. The Evil One had done something, something that burned freezing cold in his mind, and he felt certain that he had forgotten something important. Or had been forced to forget something. The last thing he remembered clearly was the dire voice of the King of Shadows echoing in his ears.

"Now, you who have stood against me, you who would oppose me, now you will feel my power. You have already lost much, but you will lose still more. Be banished, then, bound by the corners of this wretched world, and watch it decay at my hand!"

Red Butler felt something twist in his stomach. They had failed. The Color Belt was gone. And so were the other Kids – he knew by instinct that they had been separated and confined. It was exactly what the Evil One had promised to do. But they were still alive, he was certain of it. Thanks to Shy Violet's quick thinking, Red could feel their heartbeats underneath his own. Their powers had melded, linking them, though they had no means to communicate beyond the simple knowledge that each was alive. Somewhere, the Kids were out there. And for as long as that was true, there was still hope for them all, if only Red could reach them.

Moving blindly in the dark, Red Butler found the edge of his prison. He feared for a moment that he had been completely buried underground, but further examination proved that he was somewhere deep in a cave. A familiar smell wafted to him; he followed the stale current of air to a series of stalactites and stalagmites that met like a monster's teeth. But there was no mistaking that scent, even so faint. It was a tangy smell, one he knew well from endless days uncovering color crystals. He was still in the Color Caves, a little-traveled section, yes, but his own Caves. It appeared he had been walled in by the very earth itself, encased in stone with a mocking window to a tunnel he knew eventually led to the surface, if it had not collapsed. With a will, Red began kicking and digging at the rock with his hands until they bled.

"I don't care how long it takes. I'm going to dig my way out of here and rescue the others. And the Color Belt."

--==OOO==--

La La Orange shivered violently, shrugging deeper into her skirt against the cold. The ice around her didn't melt with the natural heat of her body, which helped her keep dry, but it was small comfort.

"What am I going to do? I've tried everything and there's just no way out."

La La gazed upwards at the impossibly high chasm in which she found herself. She knew, with sinking dread, exactly where she was. At the top of the deep hole cut in to the ice, she could see a strange, curling cloud of mist and snow, churning violently, blocking any view of the sky. That, she recognized, was one of the Evil One's most dastardly creations – a fountain that struck any innocent passerby and froze them solid. La La was trapped beneath it.

"Even if I could climb out, it would just turn me to ice like the poor sprites who got too close."

She thought of her friends, the other Color Kids, all thankfully somewhere, though she was aware that none of them were safe. She felt, now that she had been awake some amount of time, that they were all uncomfortable, unhappy, occasionally quite frightened. She could feel a sort of thrill of fear now and again, as though one of her friends had known a sudden terror, but she had no way of knowing which Kid was endangered or by what.

A shrill scream from above set La La to shuddering again, this time with tears coursing down her cheeks. That cry, she knew all too well, was the sound of another sprite caught in the power of the fountain that imprisoned her. Though she clapped her hands to her ears to block out the sound, she could feel it in the very ice that held her as the tiny sprite was painfully frozen. His final whimper, his wordless sob of fear, a plea for help, echoed in her mind long after the world above had again gone quiet.

"Oh, please. Please don't come here anymore, little ones! Please stay away! Run away!"

Wrapping her arms around her to fight the cold both outside and growing in her own heart, La La felt her endurance straining already. She wanted her friends, she wanted to help the sprites, she wanted this ordeal to be over.

"I hope someone comes soon. Someone has to rescue us, rescue our world. Before there's nothing left of any of us."

--==OOO==--

Canary Yellow felt her head drop to her knees. She, known amongst the Color Kids for her indomitable spirit and cheerfulness, was losing herself. To be defeated, separated from the other Kids, trapped in this now-dark world was a terrible thing, but worse still was that she was not alone in this place. The tangle forest had been created almost immediately upon the King of Shadows' appearance, twisting and perverting one of her favorite parts of the land into a nightmare version of itself. Waking in the heart of it, trapped by spiny limbs that created a labyrinth of interconnected and impassible branches, Canary's heart had sunk even before the full horror of her position had been revealed.

"It's my turn!"

The Color Kid shrank back under the base of one of the wicked trees as her appointed guardian stomped ever closer. The two-headed dragon had appeared shortly after her arrival, its heads arguing about simply eating her for breakfast rather than obeying the order to keep her trapped. Though one head appeared to be mildly more sympathetic than the other, it was also dangerous, caring for nothing but how nice Canary might taste.

"Well, I say it isn't!"

"Oh, come on! Just let me eat her and I won't eat for a week! We can pretend something else got her while we weren't looking."

"And then he'd destroy us for not keeping a close enough watch. Just shut up."

Canary curled into an even tighter ball. At first, the dragon had been barely taller than the King of Shadows, although it had still been terrifying. But in time it had grown until it now towered over the tangle forest, mountainous. It was only by this that Canary could keep track of how long she had been imprisoned. The other Color Kids, she supposed, might not have any idea how long they had been held captive. Days, weeks, years, they all passed without notice in a world that saw neither sun nor seasons. The Kids had never been good with time, existing outside it as they did, so Canary wondered if they might not realize that the day they had been defeated and separated was in the quite distant past. And every few hours, it seemed, she was again faced with the possibility of becoming a snack for a horrible, hungry monster. It was a ritual torture, and the fear it instilled in her never quite faded. After so much time, even Canary Yellow's optimistic hope had grown dim.

"How much longer will this go on? Surely someday this has to end! Although whether it ends in rescue or it ends in something worse...I just don't know anymore."

--==OOO==--

Patty O'Green buried her nose and mouth in her cupped hands and tried not to breathe. Her captor's new nest smelled worse than all the rest had put together. She had the horrible feeling that this nest, unlike those that had been constructed of the remains of trees and bushes and logs, was at its heart composed of the remains of once-living creatures. The outside was the same mesh of sticks that were balanced high above the ground on a few spindly trees. But the inside was sickly soft and seemed thicker beneath the layer of dead brush that still scratched her ever-bleeding knees.

"How many nests have we gone through now? I think I've lost track."

A cry in the distance told the Color Kid that her dreaded keeper was returned from wherever it went. The grotesque thing, a strangely winged nightmare of a frog, had proven itself to be continually terrifying, even after all this time, frightening anew after each long absence. It seemed to have a sixth-sense about her in particular – every time Patty felt sudden courage or hope warm her chest, every time she had the slightest inclination to try to climb down from her prison, the creature would appear. Patty had spent what seemed like forever shrinking back from the hulking monster, its smell, its wicked teeth, its malevolent eyes quashing every whisper of strength her poor heart dared grow. With a lurch, the thing landed, causing the shakily-balanced nest to sway wildly in the cold air.

"Stop it! You'll tip us over!"

Patty latched onto a thick branch as the narrow tree beneath them whipped weirdly sideways. Of all the nests, this was the most precariously constructed. Most of them had been placed on high outcroppings of rock, or at least on top of wide, dense trees. This nest seemed especially built to sway in the wind, to half-freeze the Color Kid as it left her exposed to the rough air, while it rocked back and forth, causing a thrill of fear through her every time it seemed she might fall. Once, only once, had Patty jumped out of a nest, in the hope that she might escape. The feeling of her captor's scaly, alien feet clutched around her as it caught her in midair and returned her to her prison, the fact that the monster had actually taken her in its wide, terrifying mouth and seemed to contemplate eating her before spitting her back out, had convinced Patty that almost nothing was worth the risk of repeating the experience.

"What is that?"

All at once, Patty saw light, real light, blossom in the sky near where the river met what had once been the Color Caves. At the same moment, she felt a surge of something inside her heart, something almost hot with its power. The connection she shared with the other Color Kids burned, and she suddenly felt a swell of hope ignited within them all.

"The Color Belt! Someone's found the Color Belt!"

--==OOO==--

Buddy Blue jumped to his feet, excitement building within. He put a hand on his chest, thrilling in the feeling that was filling him from the inside out. His heart thrummed in rhythm with six other hearts, six other Kids who felt themselves coming to life again.

"We're going to make it! It's finally over!"

The Color Kid looked around at his surroundings and suppressed a shudder. He would be just as glad to leave this prison, assuming whoever had found the Color Belt could free him. The choking, smoky heat of the air had burned his throat raw long ago – he was now nearly numb to it all. The rock on which he had found himself had shrunk over time, from a space once wide enough for him to pace restlessly back and forth, to a narrow lump scarcely large enough for him to lie down on without falling off. And falling into the lava pit that bubbled around him was definitely not something Buddy wanted.

The sky above seemed a touch lighter now, just a little, but enough for the Color Kid to notice. How long had he sat, his eyes turned upwards, longing to restore his vibrant color to the world's dire sky? For the sky was hope, was promise, was the reminder of a journey not yet decided and not yet completed, and Buddy had clung to that reminder every moment of his imprisonment. The fire that surrounded him, so much better suited to a different Color Kid, had steadily drained him of his usually cool head and solid optimism. The lava flows that now riddled the land pooled in one place, forming a lake both wide and deep and filled with the deadly, burning stuff. Here, alone in the center with no companion but the fire, Buddy had endured.

"If someone's earned the right to wear the Color Belt, that means whoever they are can get us all out of here and stop the Evil One once and for all. But how will they know where to look for us? What if they don't even know we exist?"

Buddy sat down on the most even part of his rock, the place where he did his exercises every time his muscles felt well enough to manage. Once rough, he had worn his rock smooth over time with repeated movements, strengthening himself and sustaining his mind and body. It was with this inner core of focus that he now reached out, not only to the other Color Kids still held in his heart, but to the Belt he had touched with them so long ago. He knew, perhaps as no one else did, that whoever had found the Color Belt probably would know nothing of them, of their peril. And without the Color Kids to help, to strengthen the powers of light and hope, to bring all their own colors to life in this world, the Evil One could never be defeated. He closed his eyes and looked inward.

"Come on, everyone! We have to help guide whoever found the Belt – we've got to reach them somehow. We've got one chance to ask for their help and give ours in return. It's time for us to rejoin the colors!"

--==OOO==--

Indigo breathed a sigh of relief as the image of a girl wearing the Color Belt faded from her mind. The call from within had drawn her deep into a place in her heart Indigo had come to know was where she remained connected to the other Color Kids, where her own powers of light met those of her friends and the suddenly alight force that was the brilliant heart of the Belt itself. The dire world around her had faded until she was suspended in air, looking down on someone who wore the Color Belt, whose eyes were bright with hope and courage and the will to fight. Their best chance of freeing their world, and themselves, had been standing there, alive and strong.

"Now we've just got to help her find us."

Indigo stood up and walked to the edge of her cage. She had spent what felt like forever bound in a metal prison bone-chillingly cold to the touch. Beyond the hundreds of metal bars that were so close together as to barely permit a hand through them, the grey landscape was entirely featureless. In all this time, Indigo had never known where exactly in her own world she was, with no indication of any particular landmarks besides her own cage, a metal blot on an even plane.

The Color Kid, in spite of her unhappy surroundings, felt like clapping her hands. For the first time since she had woken in this seamless prison, she felt comforted. No longer was she alone, not as she had been. For even though the other Kids had been held in her heart, they had all been separated, isolated, trapped such that not one of them could take any warmth from their surroundings. Indigo shuddered to imagine what her friends had survived, how they had each been tormented and imprisoned, set against precisely that scenario that would most cut at their hearts as she had known the Evil One would do. But they had survived, all of them. Though she had no idea if it had been months or years in this featureless place, though she could well have been on another planet for how well she recognized his place, she was still here. Her mind and heart were intact, and her connection to the other Kids was strong. And now their ordeal could end.

"As long as she can find us and set us free, we'll be able to restore our world. We've got to. I just hope she reaches us before the Evil One finds her – she'll need all our help to defeat him."

A sound in the distance pricked at Indigo's ears, the first sound besides wind and rain and thunder she had heard in forever. Scanning the horizon, she at last could see something moving, growing larger, coming towards her. As it approached, she began to make out the sound of a motor, and a vehicle came into view. Indigo took a step back and clenched her hands in sudden fear.

"Oh, no! It's Murky and Lurky! What are they doing here? What is the Evil One planning now? We're so close to rescue – we can't let them beat us now!"

--==OOO==--

Shy Violet's mind was racing. She had had very little else to do but think in all the time she had been held prisoner here, so she had made the most of it. Crawling to the edge of the roof, she looked down the long way to the ground. The castle that had housed the King of Shadows for so long was as dark as ever, perhaps more than usual now that he was in such a rage. Violet could hear his fury from here.

"Given the strength of his reaction, I would have to surmise that things aren't going as well for them as the Evil One would like. I suppose whoever found the Color Belt is causing him no little difficulty. I'm glad."

The seventh Color Kid felt a satisfied smile spread across her cheeks. For so long she had been here, practically a part of the sky, trapped on the roof of the castle. It was, she supposed, a well-considered manner to contain her. But not well enough. Violet began her periodic check of her surroundings, knowing that she was perhaps in the most difficult position of all the Kids. They had been separated to the seven corners of the land, with Violet herself here at the center. It was clever; whoever found the Color Belt would have to fight their way through the King of Shadows before reaching her, but without freeing all seven Kids first, she would have no chance of defeating him. Therefore, Violet had to make her escape now, before it was too late to lend her help.

"I believe that the erosion of the north-west corner should be sufficient now for me to find a hand-hold. I just hope that the rock has continued to degrade as I projected; otherwise, I may run out of climbable wall quite quickly."

Examining the castle's external stonework, Violet was rewarded. The last fit of temper by the King of Shadows had shaken several loose stones from their beds, leaving a pock-marked exterior. The Color Kid carefully lowered herself down the wall, terror quaking at her heart even as her mind continually reevaluated her situation. There was no help for it – no matter how frightened she was, Violet had to get down. Being trapped in the sky would do no good for the other Color Kids, nor for their rescuer. The only way she could be of any use, the only way she could help the other Kids ensure that the powers of the Color Belt were restored in full, was to escape.

But Shy Violet was not the most courageous of her friends, nor the most athletic. She wished for the thousandth time that some other Kid had been considered too dangerous to be left elsewhere in the land and that she, in turn, had not been kept at the castle. Any of the others would probably have had far more success attempting to negotiate this makeshift ladder down the side of the hostile tower. If she fell, if she slipped, it was the end of them all for certain. But if Violet didn't reach the others and the wearer of the Color Belt before the Evil One, it would be the end anyway. As her feet touched a narrow ledge well down the tower, she breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Carefully, gingerly, Violet edged along the ledge to a nearby wide window, spotting within a strange series of contraptions that momentarily distracted her. Her quick mind could not identify all the components, but she could make some good guesses as to what the chamber was for. It seemed that if Murky and Lurky and the King of Shadows actually caught the girl with the Color Belt, they intended to imprison her here, with these machines. Violet hypothesized that the devices would generate something, probably terrifying images, that would slowly break the sanity of whoever was exposed to them, steadily eroding their mind in the face of something horrific and frightening.

"I've got to get out of here and warn her!"

But the door banged open and Murky appeared, Lurky in his wake. Mere seconds later, Shy Violet found herself seated within the machine she had seen, only able to watch helplessly as it was switched on. Hearing the laughter of the Evil One's henchmen as they left her to her fate, the Color Kid drew on all the strength she could find within to steel herself against the fear. If she could approach this rationally, knowing that she was being exposed to something designed to provoke terror, she might stand a chance of overcoming its power and making another attempt at escape. Her scientific mind began a running analyses, looking for weaknesses, hoping against hope that she would still have the fortitude left when an opening appeared to use it.

"I've got to hold on just a little longer until I find a way out. I've got to be ready to help the one who earned the right to wear the Color Belt. I've got to help save our world!"

--==OOO==--

"There's the signal. Come on!"

And so it was that the seven Color Kids, reunited at last, felt their hearts blaze with strength and light and hope and color, spurring them to motion towards the dark tower in the distance. Each carried a wide basket filled to the brim with their respective star sprinkles, the last left in the Caves. They had this one chance to fight, to help strengthen the Color Belt and its wearer, Wisp, against the King of Shadows. Together, as one, if they could reach the castle in time, their powers would fuel the Color Belt to the height of its strength, their will to save and preserve their world giving the Belt the magic and light it alone could command.

It would be up to Wisp, now, to use it. All their hopes, born of their eternity of imprisonment and suffering and fear and pain and loss, all that they could dream or desire for their once-beautiful world, rested on her shoulders. The seven Color Kids, afire with their deepest powers, began the race to the castle, closing in on it and spreading light in their wakes. Their world would be reborn, their colors reignited across the land.

They knew, in the way that they knew that the Color Belt had found its true owner, in the way that they knew they were bound to one another at the level of the soul, that the Evil One's time had ended. They knew. This would be a land of hope and happiness again, as Wisp had said. She had come to make their world beautiful again, and she would never give up until the King of Shadows was defeated. Wisp would save them all.

So together, from the seven corners to one single circle of light, they lent their hearts, their powers, and their hopes, to the hand that had earned their precious Color Belt, and held their breath for the dawn.