Trigger Warnings:
Mentions of sexual assault/rape
Mentions of abuse/torture
Mentions of past character(child) death
Enjoy!
Within a few hours, the police had marked Midnight's apartment as a crime scene they could return to later, and papers with Midnight's plan had been collected for Detective Cornflower to use as evidence.
Also within that time, Second and the others had gotten Purple's story farther out, putting out missing posters, and footage of the kidnapping the apartment miraculously caught ended up on the news after King had pointed the cameras out.
Within only a day or two, they had made much more progress in the case than they thought, and it sparked King's hopes higher and higher the farther the case took them.
As King and the others stepped inside the house, Green and his friends jumped with excitement.
"Hell yeah! We're making immense progress, and pretty soon, we'll find Purple!" Green exclaimed happily, falling onto the couch.
"Now, now, kid. There's still a lot more we need to figure out. Like how Midnight knows who I am, and why he wants Purple, and how Cornflower's daughter fits into this." King reminded.
"Ah, some of that can wait."
"A lot of it can't, though."
"Damn it, he's right." Green muttered.
"Ha ha. King's right and Green isn't." Blue sang playfully.
"Shut up, nether wart addict!"
King sighed. In just a couple of hours, one small thing had brought their spirits and energy sky-high.
Pretty soon, he'd be able to bring Purple home, and it made him so happy.
"So what's the plan for tomorrow?" Red asked, looking at King.
"Me and Yellow are going to help Detective Cornflower decipher Midnight's plans, and the rest of you are going to help tons of other people locate Purple."
"Aw man!" Green whined. "Why can't we help find out what Midnight's up to?"
"Hey, be happy you'll be the first one to see Purple and not me." King reminded him.
"BET!"
King shook his head, smiling to himself. These kids were so easy to entertain, it was honestly funny.
The next morning, the five teenagers were practically hitting the roof with their excitement to help.
Besides Yellow, who was annoyed that he was stuck in a room with two adults staring at paper for God knows how long.
"Hey, it'll make saving Purple that much faster if his base is somewhere in those plans. Think of that, science guy." Blue said as they parted ways when they got to the station.
"Oh fine. Have fun getting cut by thorns and tree branches!" Yellow called out.
"Fuck you, Yellow!" Green screamed back. King snickered to himself. These kids were hilarious.
Cornflower had already gotten a head start, shoving a piece of paper in his face. "I know how Midnight learned who you were."
"How?" King asked.
"Simple. That night, at the town fair. When your biological son died, he was sitting on a wall, watching the moment unfold. I'm certain the employees there saw him in the aftermath."
Memories of that horrific night filled King's mind. He shook them off. "What else have you discovered?"
"Nothing much. He did seem to do a little research on stuff like which wheels are best for the terrain in the forest, and he did have a van all lined up. You said they had smoke bombs, correct?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, he purchased a couple and combined them into one somehow, which explains why there was so much smoke." Cornflower explained.
"Huh. This guy's rivaling me in intelligence and I hate it so much." King could see the anger radiating off of Yellow, even over something as dumb as Midnight's thought out plans.
"Calm down, Yellow. What's going to make you guys even more upset is what I dug up about his family. Which in turn puts into perspective how much danger Purple is actually in."
"What are you…saying?" King almost didn't want to finish the sentence.
"What I'm saying is…" Cornflower took a deep breath. "His dad's been on probation for domestic violence and rape. I've gotten in touch with the parents, and they seem to understand that the possibility of Purple being severely injured, or even raped, is higher than we might think it is."
"WHAT?!" Yellow almost didn't believe it. "You don't think it rubbed off onto his kid, right?!"
"It's a high chance. We're going to visit the parents today, and then finish piecing the plan together. Just keep in mind that Purple is in much more danger than you guys might think he is, and the chances that Midnight could harm him in severe ways grows higher by the minute, so if we're going to rescue him, we better hurry."
King and Yellow shared a worried glance.
It was then they realized that the severity of Purple's situation was much higher than it had to be.
"Lilac, I think kidnapping this kid was a terrible idea."
Ruby and Lilac were talking just outside the cellar Purple was in, and she sounded desperate about it.
"I made that realization the second I saw him. Why?"
"It's just…" Ruby sighed. "The kid is so young. I can already tell by how he's reacting in this situation that he's seen a lot, and I'm worried that Midnight is going to stack on top of the shit he's gone through. Besides, you heard how angry and terrified his dad was. He's got friends and family. And we stripped him away from them."
"I understand what you mean, Rubs. But…there's no changing his mind. If we're going to help Purple, we're going to have to get the boys on board and have them help. I know we're capable of it, even if it means we die."
"Die?!"
"I'm sure Midnight isn't capable of going that far, but he could do horrible things to all five of us if this goes south."
"If what goes south."
Lilac took a deep breath. "I'm thinking of helping us all escape. If we can all get out of here and get to the police station, we could save more people!"
Ruby looked at her like she was crazy. "Have you lost your mind?!"
"My father is a detective who's been searching for me for over a year! Imagine how he feels!" Lilac reminded her.
"Oh yeah…how Purple's dad must feel…alright, I'll help. And I'll get the boys on board, too."
"Thanks, Ruby."
Sage stepped out. "We know what you're thinking, and we want to help escape too."
"You do?!"
Sage pulled the girls into the small cellar. Saffron sat by Purple, who somehow looked worse than he did earlier. Maybe cellar life was taking a toll on the poor kid. Lilac felt even more terrible.
"Our parents have worried about us for over a year, and we can't risk Purple becoming another one of those kids. Lilac, I think you should be the one to lead us."
"Her?!" Saffron wasn't entirely too fond of Lilac, and his reaction showed.
"Me?! Why me?!" Lilac asked.
"You're the first person who wanted to help me," Purple's quiet voice filled the answerless void. "I think it's fair."
"I agree with Purple." Sage said. "Your also basically our leader, and I feel you could lead us to freedom."
Ruby sensed something. "I think Lilac should also confront Midnight. The more we know, the better we can protect our new friend."
Lilac smiled. "Let's get Purple out of here."
"PURPLE! ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!" Blue screamed into nothing but trees.
"Blue, you keep that up and the people in this party are going to look at you like a psychopath." Green said snarkily.
"Fuck off, grape." Blue said under his breath.
"Shut up, drug addict." Green shot back with a smirk.
"Guys, quit bickering!" Second grumbled."
"Fine." Green and Blue shot one more glare before splitting up.
"Okay, me and Green will head with one group, and Blue and Red will head with another group, seeing as everyone has split up."
"Got it!" Blue grabbed Red's hand and flew off in a random direction.
"I guess we're going the opposite way then-wait, Green, where'd you go?!"
"Sec, look at these!" Green pulled him down to the ground and pointed at faded tire tracks.
"Those must be the tracks Midnight's truck made." Second said, his eyes widening.
"You think so?" Green asked.
"Well, we'll know when we follow them." Second said, already heading forward, following the tracks.
"Wait up!" Green called, staggering to his feet and chasing after.
"What do you plan on doing to Purple?"
Lilac sat across from Midnight in the tiny area they called the kitchen of the small shack.
"You remember how the four of you became loyal subjects to me, correct?" Midnight asked subtly, barely paying attention and staring out the window.
Lilac thought about the question for a brief moment. She did remember, and she was sure the other three had it etched into their minds by now. "Y-You don't mean you're going to do all of that to him, do you?!"
She knew he did. When Midnight said something, he stuck to it. And this was no exception.
"I do indeed, Lilac." Midnight said, almost to himself and not to her.
Lilac's heart sank. "The abuse and torture is one thing, but sexual assault?! Rape?! His dad is going to kill you!"
"That's if he's still alive by the time I'm done with him. Remember, Purple is younger than you four are. His body won't manage longer than a few months down there, and I'm sure of it.
Lilac stopped herself from growling at him. It hadn't taken much after Purple's kidnapping to convince her that Midnight was an evil person who only wanted people to suffer because he didn't have a chance at being happy and having a good life growing up.
She stopped herself from calling him out about how evil he was for this. She knew it'd be a costly price to pay if she did. Midnight surely wouldn't show mercy to any of them, Purple included, if she didn't stop herself from an outburst.
She wanted so badly to scream and yell about how it would never work. However, she did not want to blow their cover on the plan.
The longer their plan stayed secret, the faster and easier it would be to escape.
As if sensing she was about to say something, Midnight quickly shushed Lilac. "Hush, child. I hear and see something."
From the glance Lilac got of outside the shack before Midnight closed the curtains, she could see an orange hollow-headed stick figure, followed by more duller colored sticks.
"Quickly, run into the cellar and stay there." Midnight ordered. Seeing a chance, Lilac ran downstairs and into the dungeon where the others were.
"What? What happened?" Ruby asked in a quiet whisper.
Lilac took a deep breath before answering. "The shack has been discovered. We have a chance to escape."
"By whom?" Saffron asked.
"People from the city, mostly. I think Purple's friends are in that group as well."
"They should," Ruby muttered. "I highly doubt they would sit around and do nothing, especially Purple's dad."
"His dad's working with Lilac's detective father, whatever his name was." Sage mumbled. "From what I know, at least."
"What about Midnight's parents?" Purple asked.
"Purple makes a point. If anything, Cornflower could head for Midnight's parents, who are technically the source of the problem." Saffron noted.
"How are they the source of the problem?"
"From my knowledge of Midnight's strained family life, either they threw him out or he ran out one night a few years back, which is how he learned of Purple's dad's misfortune, and learned of Purple later on down the line."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"So do we escape or we just wait for them to pass?" Ruby asked.
Sage was already moving to the door.
"Sage, what are you doing?!" Ruby whisper-yelled, having a bad feeling that Midnight was out there.
"Getting us all out of here." Sage grumbled before jumping out of the cellar door in the ceiling and jumping out into the open, ending up being shined by a flashlight. "We're in here!" He yelled.
Nobody got the chance to get their hopes up, before gunshots were fired.
"Midnight." Lilac said under her breath.
Sage quickly fell backwards and tried getting back in the cellar, before Midnight got to it first, firing off a bullet in there before slamming it shut.
Luckily, nobody got hit, and everyone's hearts dropped.
"Oh, shit." Lilac muttered, breaking the eerie silence in the cellar.
Purple chose to shut down, accepting that one of them was most likely going to die that night.
And as the cellar door opened, and Sage's unconscious body was thrown in, he accepted that it might as well be him.
Holy shit long chapter(my poor google docs-)
Anyways, keep running up those hills, dreamchasers! And stay tuned!