Mango suddenly hears a giant commotion from outside, followed by a large crash.
Almost without questioning it, he grabs his staff and runs outside, scanning the area for brutes.
Or Purple. Purple would probably be a better person to find.
Pushing down the all-too-familiar parental fear, Mango jumps down from a cliff and nearly barrels into a brute.
"Sir-!"
"Where's Purple, and what happened." Mango immediately demands, and the brute immediately gives a response, either out of knowing to not keep the King waiting, or because he knows for a fact he looks worried.
"They're somewhere over the hill," The brute says, pointing to the hills that Mango knows wasn't there when Purple left. "They got us on the other side, but couldn't get there themselves."
Mango sighs, and starts climbing. "Go get everyone else back to the palace safely. I'm going to find Purple." He orders, and the brute immediately runs back towards the palace.
Mango jumps over the hills, already looking around. He suddenly catches a glance of Purple's elytra flapping.
"Purple!"
Purple stumbles out of the smoke, their clothes covered in dust and dirt and sand, but they are otherwise unharmed.
It doesn't stop Mango's parental instincts from going wild.
"Purple!" Mango is at his side in a moment, checking their arms and face for anything. "You alright?"
Purple tries to gasp out a word, but breaks into a coughing fit soon after.
"Breathe, kid, breathe." Mango keeps a firm grip on their shoulders.
Once the fit subsides, Purple sucks in a couple breaths as Mango lifts their face up for any injuries.
"There we go. You okay?" Mango asked.
"I'm fine."
Mango sighs, releasing the gentle but firm grip on their cheeks before pulling then up. "You sure? You can walk, right?"
"King, I'm fine. I can walk back."
Mango keeps a firm grip on their hand, and starts glancing around. "What happened?"
"We were walking back to the palace, before this...red guy with some weird blade or something slashed the...hill that crashed down, and me and the brutes were separated."
Mango glances at the hill that had collapsed. "...What did they look like?"
Purple thinks for a moment, probably trying to remember their appearance through their scrambled brain. "Probably about my height, maybe a little taller, red, had a hollow head, and they had these...black bands around their wrists."
Mango glances around, already seeing something flying in the sky. "Like that?" He points up to the figure.
Purple follows his gaze, and their eyes widen. "That's them!"
Mango tightens his grip on their hand and starts walking back towards the palace. "Kay, we're gonna get out of here while we still ca-"
Something crashes in front of them, and Mango shoves Purple behind him.
"Where do you think you two are going?"
There he was.
The Dark Lord himself.
Mango could vividly remember the tales of him. He had caused most of his home city to have a massive populating increase, just from this sticks destruction.
It was insane.
"Oh, what do we have here?" Dark spoke softly, staring down at the stick behind Mango.
"Get the hell away from them!" Mango shouted.
Dark spawned in a blade, waiting intently for Mango to make a move to get to Purple.
That wasn't going to happen.
"What's "King Mango" gonna do, huh? Try and stop me?" Dark was intimidating him. Or at least trying to.
"Don't. You. Dare!" Mango screamed, feeling his voice catch.
Don't hurt Purple. PLEASE don't hurt Purple.
Dark smirked evilly, taking his threat as a challenge. Mango grabbed Purple's hand again, walking backwards before breaking out into a full run.
Unfortunately, Dark is faster, and Mango stumbles back when Dark lands in front of them.
Letting go of Purple's hand in the process.
Shit-
Dark smirks, and Mango's heart drops.
No, no, no, NO-
Dark kicks Purple's leg back, and Mango is forced to watch as the man plunges the blade through Purple's chest.
"PURPLE!"
Dark smirked evilly, watching the poor man as he jumped for the child.
"No...no, Purple...no. Please, no!"
"King...help...please..." Purple can hardly speak.
Mangos heart is crushed into a million little pieces. "No no no nononono. Don't die...I need you! I need you and I love you! Please don't do this!"
Mango ignores the tears streaming down his face as he tries to keep Purple from leaving the land of living. Keep Purple from leaving him.
Being left alone again is a fear he'd never wished to have, but got anyway.
"Please don't leave me..."
And within those last few seconds, Purple is gone.
"Purple...Purple! No, you can't do this! Please! You can't do this to me! Not now! Purple! Please!"
They're gone.
You've lost another child.
Your all alone.
"Mango!"
Purple has no idea what wakes them up.
But they want answers.
The house is eerily silent, but it normally is.
But for this time of night? No. That doesn't feel normal.
It feels odd. Very odd.
Sighing, Purple climbed out of bed and stepped into the way. Mango's door was slightly ajar, when he usually kept it shut.
That was what set Purple off.
Stepping further into the hallway, Purple started walking towards the living, their senses heightened out of fear.
Something suddenly crashed into him, and Purple almost screamed before something firm yet comforting grabbed his wrist.
"Hey! Calm down, it's just me."
Oh.
It was just Mango.
"Jesus christ, don't scare me like that." Purple snapped.
Mango let go of their arm. "Sorry, sorry, I just...panicked."
Purple blinked. "You? Panic?"
"Sorry, I just had a bad nightmare and freaked out for a bit."
Now, that was new.
Mango having nightmares and freaking out?
Okay, the nightmares are normal.
But Mango freaking out like this?
That was new.
"You freaked out this bad...over a nightmare?"
Mango had always been so good at staying calm when it came to this.
What had gone wrong now?
Mango was still staring at him.
"Your...your not a ghost, right? I-I'm not going crazy?"
Purple blinked, staring at Mango.
"...No?"
God damn it, was he alright?
Mango jumps at them, holding them close, tears glistening in his eyes. "Oh my god, thank God your okay."
Purple, albeit very confused, hugs him back. "What happened?" They blink at him for a second, tightening his grip ever so slightly. "I'm here. I'm alive, and I'm here."
"Your...your not dead...your alright!"
"Mango, what's wrong?"
"This guy, he...he killed you! You died in my arms and I couldn't do anything!"
"Hey, it's okay. I'm here."
"I'm so sorry I failed you..."
"What?" Purple looked at him, confused. "You didn't fail me."
"But...I didn't protect you. I just let that guy kill you, and I did nothing about it!"
"Mango, it's okay. I'm right here."
"I let him kill you..."
"Please. It's just a dream. I'm right here."
"I'm sorry..."
"Mango, your okay. It's okay."
Purple's comfort started sinking into Mango, finally.
"Your okay?"
"I'm okay."
Mango held Purple tighter. "I'm sorry...I'm just scared it'll come true, and you'll die and I can't protect you..."
Purple held Mango tightly, letting him cry.
"It's okay. You'll always be able to protect me. I promise."
"I know. I'm just scared. "
"Of what?"
"Of losing you!"
Purple blinked.
"I'm so scared that I'll never be be able to protect you, and I'll lose you because of it!" Mango clutched Purple tighter. "I'll lose you forever and I'll never forgive myself. You've been through so much and I can't risk you going through something worse!"
"Mango.."
"I can't risk losing you. Not again. Not after last time."
"Mango, your not losing anyone."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Mango clutches Purple slightly tighter. "I love you, kid."
Mango doesn't care anymore. He loves that kid more than anything. Purple. They were his entire world.
Purple was always going to be his top priority.
"I love you too...dad."
Mango held in the shock of Purple's statement, but let it diffuse as he hugged them.
Purple had finally accepted him.