"Purple, calm down! It's me! It's King! Listen to me!"

Purple stopped for a moment, his eyes still filled with hatred. "You've got some nerve coming back after you abandoned me!"

"...What? No! We didn't abandon you!"

"You didn't come for me!"

"I thought you were dead! Agent wasn't able to lock you inside the cage in time and the place exploded! We couldn't find you when we went back to search!"

"And you really thought that stopped me?!"

"That explosion killed so many people in seconds, including Silver! I just thought...you'd fallen victim to it as well..."

Something ignited behind the look in the boys eyes. Amist the hatred and lust for revenge, there was something else.

Relief? Pity? Regret?

What was it?

King was easily able to get the kid off of him before he was able to do anything worse. "I'm so sorry, Purple. I tried to find you, I really did, but...there was no trace of you, no matter how hard we tried. Even if you had survived the explosion...Victim said that one of the other monsters released that day would have gotten you before we did."

Purple continued to stare at him.

"Kid, I am so sorry. I didn't want you to think we'd abandoned you. I just-"

Purple tackled him back to the ground in a tight hug.

"...Purple?"

"I'm sorry! Please don't leave me, I-I'm so sorry!"

King returned the hug just as tightly.

"Sweetheart, I'm not leaving you. You don't know how relieved I am to know you're safe."

And Purple breaks down sobbing in his arms.

King grabs Purple from Victim's grasp, gently setting him on the ground.

"Purple! Purple, wake up! Come on, love, wake up!"

Why isn't he waking up?!

He was just fine earlier!

What the hell happened?!

Purple's hand tightens around his own.

"Purple...?"

Please wake up.

Purple's eyes blink open for a brief second.

"Purple?"

"...King..?"

King smiles. "Hey, kid."

Purple leans into the partial embrace King was already holding him in, not wanting to let go.

"King, I'm so sorry.."

"Kid, there's nothing to apologize for. I promise. Don't blame yourself for what we can't control."

"But-"

"Purple."

Purple tried saying something more, but was cut off again.

"Don't. Blame. Yourself."

"King, I know. I-" Purple wiped the tears from his eyes before they could fall. "I'm sorry I had you come and break me out of a family matter."

King cupped Purple's cheeks in his hands. "Love, you're my family, too. If there's something wrong, you can tell me, and I can help you."

"But-"

"Purple, please. You can come to me for help with anything. I'm here to help you. I promise."

Purple stares up at him for a moment before melting back into the embrace.

Purple missed being home.

A lot.

He missed the feeling of having someone else beside him when he needed someone, staring up at the stars, being able to talk to people.

Unfortunately, he hadn't talked to Green and the others yet. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't. Not yet.

He didn't even really know how to. They'd all think he was some weird ghost thing or whatever.

He wanted to talk to them again, but he didn't want them to think he was a ghost, or think he'd faked his death to get away from them, or-

"There you are."

What the-

Oh.

Right.

He's back with King. At home.

"Hey..."

King sits next to him, staring up at the setting sun.

"I missed seeing you up here," He started. "You'd be up here, staring at the stars, and we'd talk about anything and everything we felt like we could talk about."

"Yeah...I missed doing that."

"It was where you first opened up to me about...your family. Remember?"

Purple remembered that day. He didn't have to fill in many of the details before King continued.

"You didn't have to mention much before I started piecing everything together."

Purple remembered that. King had pieced almost everything together before Purple could get farther into the details that was his childhood. He'd hugged him so tight, Purple thought he wouldn't let go.

And he'd broken down crying about the rest of it, all while King just held him and listened.

"You acted like it was just some horrible scene playing over and over in your head, and you wanted it to stop. You...You were crying for so long, and I didn't know what to do."

"King..."

"I wish I had been there to protect you. You didn't deserve for anything like that to happen to you, and I'm so sorry for what I did to continue that."

"King, stop it. It's alright-"

"No, it's not!" King snapped. "Your hurt because of me! Your hurt because I didn't realize that I was hurting you! Your hurt because...because I took so long to realize how much you actually mean to me."

Purple stops trying to keep King calm, and only lets him continue.

King reaches besides him and takes out a small packet of papers. Purple stares at them for a brief moment before it all clicks.

"Certificate of Adoption"

King wanted to-

He was-

"I...I wanted to give you somewhere permanent to live, especially since I'm sure Navy won't ever want anything to do with you, and you have nowhere else you can really go, so I-"

Purple stops him there by tackling him into a hug.

"Purple..."

"Thank you...I love you…I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…so much."

King returns the embrace just as strongly.

"I love you too, sunshine."