God forbid King loses Purple too.
The last time he almost lost him was too close a call.
He could not risk it again.
"Yeah! We did it!" Red cried as he and his friends were thrown from the Nether portal.
"The world is saved!...Right?" Green asked.
Nobody got to answer before the white laser shooting out of the portal dissipated as soon as King Orange was shot out of it.
Just him.
Second and Purple were still yet to be found.
"What...where's...Purple or Second? They're still missing!"
King slowly sat back up, hearing Green's confused question.
"Purple was just...here..."
Everyone was confused by this point. King had just been with Purple barely 5 minutes ago, and now he and Second had gone off the radar.
"What the-Where'd they go?!" Was everyone's question in a second.
"I hate to tell you this, but...I don't think they made it out alive." Herobrine spoke.
"What?! No! They had to have! I'm sure they're just...somewhere out here in the Nether! They've gotta be!"
King was panicking by this point. Green, knowing King hadn't cared about almost anything up until now, was stunned at how quickly the tall stick figure had begun worrying about Purple.
"Please. They have to be alive. Purple has to be alive!" King begged.
"My condolences, King Orange. But I'm certain they are dead. I am very sorry, all of you."
Herobrine clapped his hands, teleporting him and his students, including the newly allied Warden, with him.
Leaving the sticks alone with nothing.
"Do we just...go home?" Blue asked.
"What do we tell Alan?!" Green snapped. "Do we just say 'Hey Alan! So we just narrowly escaped death just now, but Second's dead!' Do we just say that?!"
"Green, relax. It's gonna be fine."
"No! It's not gonna be fine! My two best friends are dead!" He turned on King. "And it's all your fault!"
"Hey! He's just as heartbroken about Purple as you are! Don't turn this on him."
"But it's his fault! King doesn't give two fucks about Purple, I can tell you that much!"
"I cared about him, you stick of celery!" King snapped. "I cared about him more than all of you combined, so don't try and say I didn't put my life on the line to save him!"
Green silenced whatever else he was going to say.
"He's dead...Purple's fucking dead! And it's all my fault!"
Ah yes, the self blame. Green felt guilty for King now.
They were stuck with this, and it was going to suck more than they realized.
Yellow stepped out of the portal first. They'd agreed to take King with them, as much as they didn't want to. They'd have to learn to trust him, which was going to take a while, but they'd manage.
None of them were expecting The Chosen One himself to be on the computer.
"Chosen?! What the-what are you doing here?" Yellow spluttered,, clearly shocked as the others walked out.
"Well, I was coming because I sensed something was wrong with Second. But when I got here, you guys were missing. So I waited until you guys got back to make sure Second was safe." He pointed to the two Minecraft blocks and the discarded staff. "And figure out what those are about."
"Oh...about Second. He's uh...he's dead."
Chosen stared at Red in disbelief. "He's what?!"
"See, those two blocks were originally one not too long ago, and Second was trying to destroy them. Our best guess is he and another friend died while trying to destroy it."
"So he's dead?" Chosen asked.
"Sadly, yes."
"Oh..."
"Yeah, sorry. Where's Alan?"
"Went to bed not too long ago."
"Thank god! More time to try and explain where we've been."
Green sighed. "As if he'll care. We'll all be too busy mourning to give a decent explanation."
"Green. Have some faith. If anything, they're-"
"THEY'RE DEAD AND THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT!" Blue screamed.
King buried his face in his hands, sinking to the floor.
He should've told Purple he loved him while he had the chance.
"Come on, come on, where are you?"
Jesus Christ, why is this place so big?
Okay, sure, it's a fucking organization, but this much for a single stick?
What are they, world domination planners?
Eh, probably.
Rounding another corner, King considers the options.
Silver probably has Purple somewhere, given they had taken him in the first place.
Or, Silver had separated Purple from the others because the others were pretty much viewed as threats. Second and Yellow were, at least.
But why? Silver and Purple were related, that's all he knew, but why take him? The only noteworthy thing Purple had done to warrant this kind of attention was working alongside him to take over Minecraft, and even that hadn't warranted much attention.
Hell, it warranted no attention except for concerned store-workers who wondered why King had spent so much money on microwavable dinners within a short span of time, and they knew of...his unfortunate situation.
But still, Purple hadn't done much except take over a Mac computer and work on a Minecraft domination plot. Nothing too chaotic, but he was a child.
Even in the time it had been since the Nether Battle, Purple hadn't done much. He was fifteen, after all. What could a fifteen-year-old boy do that warrants an entire secret organization to take him captive?
Another corridor. This one felt like a prison. King hadn't been before, but he knew stories of people who had. Almost immediately, King felt the feeling of dread surrounding him grow in strength. The dreary halls lacked any sense of feeling. Almost as if the people who were thrown into those cells never came out alive.
Purple probably would've hated it there. If King knew where he was.
"Come on, King. Your kid is in danger. It's either watch him suffer or prevent more of it."
"Relax. Your kid is fine."
The voice, coming from the second cell to the right, was the voice of Purple, staring at King like he hadn't seen him coming.
"Purple! Thank goodness!"
"Relax, King. I'm unharmed, though Silver almost wasn't."
"Silver? That's the guard that took you away?"
"Yep. And proceeded to bash my loved ones right in my face."
"Wow. Can I bash their loved ones in their face?"
"Don't bother," Purple shrugged. "Bashed everyone they loved right back after they called my mom a whore, then threatened to stab her."
"Yep. That's my boy."
Purple smiled. "Hey, they called my mother a whore and then tried blaming the entire problem with my father on me."
"Wow."
"It wasn't. My father was an asshole who abandoned us for his own gain. Obviously, Silver doesn't understand that."
"More on that later. For now, we're gonna get you out of here...somehow."
"If I had my satchel, I'd have you pick the lock with the paperclip I had in there, but they took it and I'm not sure where it is."
"You had a lockpicker?"
"How do you think I got Yellow and Second out? And yes. I did. Imagine my surprise when I found out too."
"You smart little kid." King smiled.
"Shut up. I'm not a little kid."
"You're not?"
"I'm fifteen, calm down."
"Whatever. Let's just get you out of here."
"How?"
King suddenly stopped. Yeah, that was stopping them. "Good question."
"Hey, King!" A voice shouted from far down the hall.
"Mar!"
"Who?"
"The guy who runs the corn dog stand I was telling you about. I'm good friends with him, and he's across the street."
"Oh, that's cool!"
"Yep."
"I got the others out, and we took out a couple guards. Found Purple's satchel along the way."
"Nice work, Mar!"
"Good job, guys! Hey Purple, think you can teach us how to pick a lock?" Green asked, tossing Purple the bag.
Purple gave him a smile in return. "Hell yeah I can!"
By the time Purple was out of the cell and safe with King, they ran back to the main hall to rescue Chosen, only to almost get attacked by a blue and black rope.
"Jesus! What the hell is going on here?!" King shouted, protectively holding Purple close to him.
"Purple, why's your cousin attacking their boss?" Maroon asked, pointing at the two indeed trying to attack each other.
"Oh, shit."