TW:
Child Abuse
Character Death

TIME FOR A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE!

You may recognize two of these scenes, as they were mentioned in the first chapter.

Enjoy!

Knowing Ruby is safe in the hospital gives King some peace of mind, but knowing Purple is still in danger worries him more than it needs to.

He knows Lilac and her friends are in there with him, but what Ruby says about his condition is what scares him.

Purple is growing weaker as they speak, and it didn't sound like he was going to make it any longer.

She did reassure he'd survive another two weeks or even three down there, but it's been almost three months since all of this started happening, he was surprised Purple hadn't fully shut down from everything he'd been put through.

God, the poor kid.

When he found Midnight, so help him God…

"Hey! Earth to King!" Second's voice cut through his thought haze.

"You good? You kinda…spaced out a little."

King instantly noticed the headache growing, and tried shaking it off as stress. Not that he'd blame himself. He was stressed, a complete wreck, and worried sick. He wasn't surprised he had a headache.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. Just get some sleep, and we'll head to Midnight's apartment in the morning. Ok?"

"If you're sure you're alright…"

Damn it, he saw right through it.

"I'm not…I'm really worried about Purple." He admitted.

"We can tell. Look, I know you're worried, but don't let that get in the way of helping us out. You are the closest person to Purple between all of us, even Green, so we need your help in finding and rescuing him. And helping does not mean being a worry wart the entire time."

"I can't help it, and you know it!" King snapped unintentionally. "Sorry…it's just, Purple's in the hands of a very dangerous person, and if he hurts Purple…I won't ever forgive myself for it…that kid is all I have left…" He let his eyes wander to the photo of Gold, the sunshine he lost months ago. "I can't lose another kid."

Second stared at the photo, side-eyeing it before realizing something. "Purple means a lot to you, huh?"

"One of the most important people to me, besides you five." King answered quietly. "I'm not about to lose that kid. Not after all he's gone through."

Second smiled. "And we will rescue Purple. No matter what challenges we have to face, we're going to rescue him."

King returned the smile.

There might just be a chance Purple could survive.

King stared out the window, looking at the sunset.

He hoped tomorrow would be brighter than normal.

Purple used to love those days more than any other day.

"Hang on, Purple. I'm gonna rescue you sooner or later."

The next morning, the apartment looked like it did early on in the investigation. Swarming with cops, it was hard for King and the others to actually get into the apartment that morning.

When they finally did, it was mostly empty. The bedding was stripped, most of the furniture was gone, and the entire apartment seemed like a mini ghost town.

Despite the emptiness of the room, King and the others got to work helping. Most of the floor had paper on it anyway that the police had hardly touched, so most of the kids started inspecting them.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Blue asked.

"Anything that could be of any use for Midnight's plan, which we still have a missing paper for," King answered, looking at the shelves near the paper littered desk.

"Got it."

Red's hand landed on a piece of paper, and when he took a closer look, his heart dropped.

"Uhm…guys? I think Midnight might be planning a bigger escape than we think…"

King's attention shot to the small child. "He's doing what now?"

Red showed him the paper. It seemed like a printed map of the seven continents, with a printed map.

"Do you think he might've come from a computer…and that that person might be moving?"

Second looked thoughtful. "We'll take it with us and ask Alan about it later today."

"Good idea, because I found something." King held up a small cube that caught Cornflower's attention.

"What…is that?" Second asked, staring in wonder at the small device in King's hand.

"It looks like…there's a memory or something in it." Red said. "Doesn't that look familiar, King?"

The more King stared at it, the more it did seem familiar. "It's that fair me and my son went to before he died."

Cornflower's eyes widened. "Does this mean Midnight might've saved that as a reminder that he wasn't alone?"

"Midnight said he was taking my happiness when he kidnapped Purple. He might've been jealous of me and Purple.."

"Because he ran out on his parents just because they thought he'd come out like his shitty father…WAIT! We have to talk to his biological father about this!"

"Why in hell would we talk to him?!" King snapped.

"His dad might know something that we don't! There might be a reason behind Midnight's character!" Cornflower said excitedly.

"We don't have time for that! Purple grows weaker by the second, and if we don't do something soon, he will die!" Green said.

"We can multitask. King, you'll take this memory cube…whatever it is, home with you and the kids, and figure it out there. Me and you will visit Midnight's biological dad after I hunt him down, while the five of you figure out that map, and look at Midnight's old shack."

"Seems like a good plan." Second agreed. "Everyone agrees?"

"Yep!"

Later that night, Yellow examined the cube more closely.

"It does look like it saved a memory, like a memory saver of sorts, but why would Midnight have it?" He asked.

"It kind of looks like it could be a small decoration, like a snow globe, so that could be why." Green suggested from the couch. "And holy shit, people think Moon is behind the entire scheme."

"Who the fuck is Moon?" Second asked.

"Midnight's biological dad. Though I don't get why Cornflower thinks he might have something to do with Midnight's behavior."

"Well, Space did say his dad's been convicted of rape, among other things," Yellow reminded. "Why wouldn't we ask him about that? It could've rubbed off on his kid."

"No shit it rubbed off on his kid." Green muttered to himself.

"Green-"

"Fine, I'll stop."

Yellow suddenly noticed something on the memory cube. "It looks like there's something on it…" He tapped it a few times before it suddenly started glowing.

"YELLOW GET DOWN!" Blue screamed over the loud buzzing noise that filled the room.

It didn't do anything, and in less than a few seconds, Yellow and King were gone.

Yellow groaned as he tried moving his body off the ground.

"What the…what the hell happened?"

He looked around, spotting King's body a few feet away.

"King, King! King, wake up! I think the cube worked!" He exclaimed.

"What-how?" King asked.

"Look around!"

King glanced around, his eyes landing on the bright festival lights first.

"Holy shit, it actually worked." King said to himself.

"Come on, we've gotta find Midnight." Yellow said, helping King to his feet.

Suddenly, they heard a shout from a few blocks away.

"YOU'RE THE WORST PARENTS EVER!"

"Found him." King said.

The dark blue, much younger version of Midnight ran down the block, heading towards the fair.

"Come on, we gotta follow him." Yellow said, running towards the fair.

Yellow was quick to stay on Midnight's trail, seeing as he was one of the darker shades of blue between a lot of the stick figures at the fair.

And although it took a few hours, they finally got him on the roof, where he was staring down at King's son happily playing Minecraft.

King smiled fondly. As much as this memory haunted his nightmares every so often, it was nice to see his son having fun.

Until the alarm starts blaring moments later.

King visibly winces, knowing what is about to happen. Yellow gives him a look of sadness before noticing something.

"Look!" he points to the roof near the giant Minecraft block. A small child is curled up on the roof, covering their ears.

"It's Midnight!" King exclaimed.

"So that's how he knows about you and Purple. He saw your son die!" Yellow is slowly confirming the pieces Midnight has already put together.

Yellow sees parts of his body slowly disappearing, and hears a voice.

"LET MY FRIENDS GO, YOU DUMB CUBE!"

And with that, they're pulled out of the memory.

King and Yellow are shot out of the cube mere seconds later, and Blue jumps to grab Yellow.

Green, Red, and Second grab King and help stabilize him.

"Are you two alright?" Green asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." King answers.

"Yellow, are you okay?!" Blue asks frantically, helping Yellow to his feet.

"Yeah, we're alright."

"Thank Alan. That scared us."

"Well, it isn't everyday your friends are eaten by a memory cube." King said.

"True."

"We were about to ask Alan what the map was about, but we might already have an idea."

"What is it?" Yellow asked.

"Midnight's parents might've come from a Mac, similar to the one Purple was on when Green and Blue first met him, and then escaped. Midnight comes into the picture, King's kid dies, he meets and reconciles with Purple, and things roller coaster from there." Second explained.

"You did coding?" King asked.

"Yellow did most of the work for us, so we knew what we were doing." Blue smirked.

"So, now what?" Second asked.

"Me and Cornflower are off to find Moon within the next couple of days while we wait for the shack to get emptied of wine bottles and other things, and you guys are going to raid his old shack and find anything that can help."

"Got it!"

King stared at the night sky. They must have been in there for a while.

"Hold on, Purple. I'm coming."

Quite proud of this one tbh.

Anyways, keep running up those hills, dreamchasers! And stay tuned!