Mango sighed as he set his phone down.
Purple had left to go visit the Color Gang and have some adventure or something along those lines, leaving Mango alone to figure out something to do.
Yet he didn't seem motivated to do much of anything. At least unmotivated unless Purple was around.
Mango had been trying his best to give Purple the world, yet he wasn't sure if he had given Purple enough.
The kid had already seen enough trauma, and Mango wasn't sure if he could keep that trauma off Purple's mind for too long.
Or at least give a genuine apology to them.
"Purple! Catch!"
Purple flinched as one of Red's dog bones got close to hitting them directly in the face, catching it just in time.
"Nice reflexes, Purple," Second said as Purple threw him the bone. "Where'd you learn them?"
"Biological dad."
"Oh. That's his new name, is it now?" Green piped up. "I'd say Mangos your adopted dad I guess."
Purple sighed. "We're still figuring that out, Green. Don't jump to that conclusion yet."
"Sorry."
"Hey guys!" Blue shouted from Red's balcony. "Look at my new concotion!"
"What is it?!" Second asked.
"It's uhhhh...Weakness, Harming, and Poison potions all mixed together!"
Red froze. "DON'T POISON MY BIRDS WITH THAT!" He screamed.
"Relax, Red! I've got this under control!" Blue reassured.
"BLUE LOOK OUT!" Purple screamed, right as a bird swooped down at Blue, causing him drop the potion over the fence and down towards the others.
More specifically, Green and Purple.
"GREEN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Second screamed. Green jumped out of the way but wasn't able to take Purple with as the glass bottle shattered in their face before they could do anything.
"Shit-Purple!" Blue ran down the stairs as fast as he could, bursting through the door and hopping into the dog pen.
"Oh, this is bad. This is really bad..." Blue muttered.
Green was helping Purple clean off the dark liquid that spawned onto their face when he turned to look at Blue. "What. Did you do?"
"That potion is seriously dangerous," Blue said, his eyes widening with fear. "It's got all kinds of negative effects in it that could get someone seriously sick."
"Well, did a damn good job of it." Purple said.
"You okay?" Red asked.
"I..." Purple could barely say more than a couple words before they passed out.
"Purple!"
"Oh shit! Someone call Alan!" Blue exclaimed
"Alan's busy doing something! We've got to call some other person who's had experiences with sicknesses." Second shouted.
"Like who, genius?!" Green yelled.
Blue's eyes lit up. "Someone call Mango."
"What?!"
"SOMEONE CALL MANGO!"
Mango was midway through cleaning the chalk drawing off the wall when his phone started ringing.
"Purple? What-"
"MANGOHELPWEHAVEASERIOUSPROBLEM!"
That...wasn't Purple.
From what he could manage from the frantic screaming, he determined Green was calling, and steeled his nerves down a little bit. "Slow down. What happened?"
"Blue made a potion and then he dropped it and now Purple's really sick and we don't know what to do and PLEASE HELP US!"
Mango's heart dropped.
Oh no.
Oh no.
This was bad.
This was really bad.
Mango couldn't think straight with how jumbled his entire head was becoming. "Just...hang on. Keep them stable and watch their temperature. I'll be there as soon as I can."
And with that, Mango sunk to the floor.
This was really bad.
How could he make things up to Purple if they were sick and could possibly be dying of some stupid potion mixture?
After calling Mango and attempting to explain the situation, Green ran into the bathroom and grabbed a thermometer. Racing back to his room, he quickly snagged Purple's temperature while the rest of the group ran around frantically grabbing various items they hoped would come in handy.
Purple's tempersture scraped 103.5, with a chance at rising higher.
"BLUE WHY'S HIS TEMPERATURE SO HIGH!" He screamed at nothing in particular, expecting him to say it was the poison.
Hurry up, Mango.
Suddenly, Mango ran, or rather stumbled, into the room. "What the hell is going on!?"
Green calmed himself down before explaining. "Blue made a potion that's got Harming, weakness, and Poison in it and he accidentally dropped it and it got into Purple's system. AND NONE OF US KNOW WHAT TO DO!"
"Calm down. We've gotta be able to counter it. Somehow.."
"I'VE GOT IT!"
Blue ran into the room holding four empty glass bottles.
"What's your bright idea this time?!" Green snapped, the stress of the situation beginning to affect his rational thinking and emotional control.
As if Mango's emotional control was any better. He probably could've started crying right then and there.
"We mix Healing, Regeneration, and Strength up in a bottle, and let that flow through Purple's system for a while. That way, the potions can contradict each other!" Blue explained.
Green jumped up to hug Blue. "Oh my gosh, your a genius!"
"Hey Blue! What kinda stuff do you need for those potions?!" Yellow shouted.
"Green, come with me. Mango, stay with Purple." Blue grabbed Green and ran off.
Mango sighed, sitting down next to Purple. "Come on, kid. Your strong. You can fight through this."
"WHICH ITEMS DO YOU NEED, BLUE?!" Green screamed as he rummaged through Blue's chests.
"Uhhh...Glistening Melon, Ghast Tears, and Blaze Powder I think! And then some Netherwart to make the awkward potions!" Blue shouted back.
Green grabbed out the needed items and ran back out to where the others were. "Would these work?"
"Yes. That's perfect!" Blue said gratefully, grabbing the items and tossing them to Yellow.
"Think this'll work?" Green asked.
"Theoretically, yes. The spider eyes should contradict with the glistening melon, and the other two should just help Purple heal faster."
"How do you know they'll contradict?" Red asked, handing Yellow another bottle.
"Because the glistening melon has the instant damage effect when corrupted. They should contradict if we're lucky with that knowledge." Yellow explained.
"Exactly."
"OR we could just find silver and cobalt!" Second said.
"Why in hell would we do that?!" Green snapped.
"To make antidotes and elixirs. It's an option we should definitely consider if this plan goes wrong. But let's just hope they contradict each other or we're gonna have to go hunting for elements." Blue said.
Green grabbed the items from Yellow and ran to the brewing stands.
"Blue, you okay?" Yellow asked.
"God damn it, this is all my fault!" Blue said, hitting himself in the head with his fists.
"Hey, hey!" Yellow grabbed his hand, gently pulling it away. "It's not your fault. It was just an accident. Purple's fine, I promise."
Blue sighed. "You sure."
"I'm sure. Purple's a strong kid. They've handled things twice as problematic as this. I promise, this isn't your fault."
"I shouldn't have dropped that stupid potion!" Blue shouted at himself.
Yellow brought him into a hug. "It's not your fault. I promise you that none of this is your fault."
Mango sighed as he stared out the window, clutching Purple's hand tightly.
He just wanted his kid to wake up. Potions be damned, he wanted his kid to wake up.
"Ugh...Mango...?"
Mango looked up, trying to find the source of the voice before settling on Purple.
"Purple?"
"Mango.."
"Purple! Your okay!"
Purple smiled, albeit weakly.
"What happened..?"
"Blue accidentally hit you with a weakening potion and you've been out since. I've been worried sick!"
Purple looked at him. "You were worried?"
"Of course I was! I thought I lost you because you weren't waking up!"
"Oh.."
Mango looked at them sadly.
"God damn it, Mango. Apologize to them!" The voice in his head snapped.
"Mango? Are you..."
"I'm sorry."
Purple blinked. What?
"What?"
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! For everything...I didn't mean any of what I did to you...I'm so sorry..."
"Hey, hey. It's okay.
"No! It's not! It never was and it never will be!" Mango snapped.
Purple flinched at Mango's unexpected yelling, hiding their face in their hands. Mango could tell they started crying.
"Oh, shit...Purple, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to yell."
Purple looked up at him, their eyes glistening with tears.
"I-I'm sorry, kid, I didn't mean-"
"No, no, it's fine."
Mango subconsciously reached out to grab their hand. "Purple."
"No!"
Mango flinched. "Hey, Purple.."
"Please...don't yell...please..."
Mango felt their heart break.
"Kid...I'm not gonna yell. It's okay.."
Purple looked at him.
"Your not?"
The weakness and Harming potion were really kicking into overdrive. He was far too quiet.
"No...no, why would you think that?"
Purple looked at him. "My dad, he...he would always yell at me...and then he left and I'm...I'm scared you will too."
Oh.
That's why they reacted so badly.
"Kid, I'm not gonna leave you. It's okay."
Was it though?
Was it really?
Mango sighed. It felt like he'd been punched in the gut with guilt for something he had no control over. And just seen his kid crying because of him just made the punch go so much deeper.
Reaching for their hand again, Mango looked at them. "Look, I know you probably still haven't forgiven me for what I did, not that I blame you, but I'm here, and I'm not leaving you alone again.
"You promise?" God, Purple sounded so quiet.
Mango cupped their face in his hands, placing their foreheads together. "I promise."
It didn't take much to get Purple to sleep for the potions to work properly again.
Mango smiled softly. "I love you, Purple."
Mango wasn't entirely sure how long he had fallen asleep for, but it was definitely a while, seeing as Purple was missing, and the sun was shining into his face.
Wait-Purple was missing!
Throwing himself out of the chair, Mango dashed out of the room, almost crashing into Red.
"Where's Purple?!"
"Easy, Mango. Purple's fine. At least now."
"What happened?"
"They threw up at some point in the night and passed out on the couch. Green checked their temperature earlier and it's definitely gone down."
Mango sighed in relief. Thank Alan.
"Are you sure your alright, Purp?"
Mango look down the stairwell to find Green talking to Purple and Blue, who was getting Purple to drink some healing potions.
"Purple!"
Mango ran down the stairs, almost tripping plenty of times, before running into the living room.
"Hey, Mango."
"Is Purple okay?"
"Well, sort of. Their temperature went down a little bit, thankfully. I think the potions are doing their job just fine."
"We sure?" Mango gripped Purple's hand tightly.
"Relax, Mango. I know potions. The potions in that harmful one contradict with the healing one. Trust me, they're doing their job just fine."
Mango smiled. Purple was gonna be fine.
Purple would be fine.
They're gonna be fine.
"Mango?"
Purple's tired voice snapped him back into reality.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just...get some sleep."
"Mango...I know somethings wrong."
Damn it, this kid was smart.
"I'm just worried for you, kid. You weren't sick like this in the Nether."
"There were no stick figures trying to poison me in the Nether."
"Purple, just rest. Please.."
Purple looked at him. God, they looked so exhausted.
"Alright."
"I just don't want these potions doing anything worse to you. I can't lose you.."
"Why?"
"I love you, kid. I can't let anything happen to you."
Purple's eyes widened.
"I..I love you too.."
Their eyes glistened with tears. Mango smiled, brushing Purple's face with his hand.
It didn't take much after that to get Purple to fall asleep.
Mango sighed.
"Mango, you should probably get some sleep, too," Green said. "We don't need you getting sick either."
"Ah, right. I'm just worried for Purple."
"I know. You care about them, albeit maybe a little too much at some points."
Mango looked at him. "Maybe I am a bit overprotective. But they've been through enough. I want them to know there's people out there who do care about them."
Green smiled. "I think your doing a great job of doing that, then."
Mango tightened his hold on Purple's hand. "Thanks, kid."
Green ducked back upstairs to help Blue with making some extra healing potions for when Purple did wake up.
Mango looked back at the sleeping child.
"Thank you for everything, Purple."
Mango wakes up later in the afternoon, after Purple has already been awake for a while.
"Ugh...Purple?"
"Hi, Mango!"
Mango shoots himself awake at Purple's sudden enthusiasm. Purple looked so much better than they did the previous night.
"What happened to you?"
"The healing potions must've done the trick, cause Purple's completely recovered now."
Mango's eyes widened. Purple was alright.
Mango hugged Purple tightly. "Your okay!"
Purple is stunned for a second, but returns the embrace.
Mango glances at Blue for a minute. "Thank you."
Blue smiles back, leaning against Yellow.
"I love you, Purple." Mango says quietly, pressing his forehead to Purple's.
Purple smiles back. "I love you, too."