1. Purple

King really, really, wished he could go back in time and help Purple beat the shit out of Navy.

Because he was not ready for the aftermath.

Following Purple's brief comatose state after their return to the Great Above, they had quickly learned that peace was almost non-existent.

The city was in ruins following Navy's shit show of a portal opening that had half the damn city sucked into the Great Above,his neighborhood was a complete disaster, and Purple's mental health...well, King wasn't too sure about that.

But he knew it was as big a shit show as the entire debacle they had just gone through.

And it was not a fun thing.

The major bright side of the aftermath was Purple's visions weren't happening. He was sleeping through the night again, and King was grateful for that.

The chances of him waking up from a nightmare in the middle of the night remained as high as King's senses, however.

Luckily, with the death of Navy, it felt as if Purple had gone back to the way he was before Navy even showed up in the first place.

It was a breath of fresh air for the both of them.

If only the city could feel the same way.

If King could tell you everything Purple was thinking about, the one thing he wouldn't be able to tell you was that Purple had to be bottling something up.

A week after they had returned from the Great Above, Purple had started going with Gold and the others and volunteering to help rebuild the city, while King stayed behind, helping nurse others back to health.

The joys of being a father. He'd missed being able to actually care for someone.

Seeing as the child he was caring for ended up in danger every month or so, because his biological family was both complicated as hell, and didn't understand the wonderful meaning of "die and stay dead", even if they were held at gunpoint in a dungeon right at the core of the Earth.

Thank God Purple got it into their heads...after royally beating the shit out of them.

King had to admit, he was very proud of Purple for standing up to his family like that.

"Good fucking luck."

"You fucking brat!"

"Your decision, not mine!"

"Might not have to use my powers on you after all, Navy Ribbon-Rose."

"You will regret disrespecting your father like that."

"You? My father? Please. The only father I have is King, right down there, watching me kick your ass."

"That is your father?! Can't even protect Gold. What makes you think he can protect you!?"

"The fact that I mean more to him than you will EVER MEAN TO ME!"

"And that means, you will no longer exist to me. Nothing is going to stop me from killing you ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

If only Purple would just let himself relish in that feeling of sweet relief that there was no chance of Navy returning.

Purple totally wasn't bottling up his emotions to keep King from worrying about him.

He totally wasn't.

...Okay, maybe he was.

But what else could he do? He didn't want King to worry about him again.

Especially after Purple had almost gotten himself killed enough times in another dimension trying to keep King from that exact fate.

And he knew exactly how that felt.

And he hated how that felt. The feelings that he felt when they all had learned Orchid had killed off the rest of their group were the exact things he wanted to bottle up and suppress for the rest of his life. And future lives.

If those existed. He kind of wished they did.

But on the other hand, the thought is his family being reincarnated as different people scared him.

What if they started remembering their past lives?

What if they remembered him?

What if-

"Hey! Purple!"

Oh yeah, King was there.

"You good?"

"..Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Purple-"

"I'm fine."

King flinched.

"I promise. I'm fine."

King knew he wasn't fine.

He just didn't know how to approach Purple on the subject he knew damn well the kid was going to avoid.

He hated the thought of hurting Purple on accident because of attempting to talk things out, but he didn't know what else to do.

He could tell Purple was hurting...a lot. And he wanted to fix it.

That was his kid. His child.

And his child was hurt.

Purple's fine.

He really is.

...Okay, no he isn't.

He wants to be fine. He wants to be happy.

He just can't.

He really can't.

And he doesn't know why.

He just wants to be happy again.

Navy had to go and fucking ruin everything, didn't he?

He walked into his life after he'd worked so hard to get rid of the influence he'd had on him, and then taken everything he'd worked so hard to bring back and smash it all into a million little pieces.

Everything.

And he wanted that moment before that happened back.

He wanted it to be fixed.

Navy went and ruined everything.

And he fucking hated it.

"Purple?"

It had been quiet.

Too quiet.

King's paternal instincts had kicked in...again.

God, he'd missed them.

And he was sure Purple had, too.

Purple needed them.

Purple needed him.

"You okay?"

It's a tone he's used before, but not in a while. Worry, concern, and buried fear of losing another child all thrown into one package.

"...No...not right now..."

It doesn't take much for King to pull him close. Purple melts into the embrace.

"You will be, little flower. You will be. I promise."

2. Dark

"That's it!"

"What's it?" Purple had another energy ball at the ready.

"We need someone to get through to her! Someone close!"

"Like me?!"

"It was one of Yellow's leading theories! Brainwashed people can register people close to them! Like you and King! You register his voice when your brainwashed! I think that might work with Orchid, too!"

"I don't think I'll be able to get through to her. Navy or Night Shade might, but I don't think I can!"

Chosen's plan fell apart in his head. Purple had a point. Brainwashed or not, Orchid and Purple hadn't had a decent conversation on years. Chosen highly doubted Purple would be able to do much of anything, except put himself on a suicide list.

"Fuck."

The only other option Chosen could think of was killing Orchid. It was one less villain, but it would also ruin their chances of bringing the others back.

"We might have to kill her."

Purple's face fell.

"I know, we'll lose the easy way to bring your family back, but it's all I've got. If we can't bring Orchid back to resurrect them herself, we're going to have to kill her."

He watched Purple weigh the options. Chosen didn't even think there was another way to bring King and the others back, unless Purple had some miraculous resurrection abilities, which he didn't remember having.

Hell, he doubted it was Purple who brought them back the first time.

"Do it."

He could tell Purple didn't like the option any better than he did.

Chosen raised a hand, a fireball already forming, and was ready for an attack...

...before a burst of pain went through his side.

He knew that feeling.

And it sucked.

Dark couldn't watch. Orchid was killing his best friend right in front of him.

Second could. And Second did not like it.

Jumping forward, he tried tackling Orchid, who threw Chosen away and went for him.

Dark jumped from their hiding spot and followed Purple to where Chosen had been tossed.

"Cho!"

Not again.

Fucking not again.

The memory of how pained Purple sounded when he told them of Chosen's fate last time echoed in his head.

He wanted it to stop.

If Dark ever wondered how badly Purple was doing after The Great Above, he'd be laughing at how bad Purple had it.

He was pretty sure he had it worse.

After all, he'd gotten a front row seat to his best friends near murder, while Purple was either trying to commit murder for what could've been the tenth time by now, or being thrown around like a doll being swung around by a child with no respect of its limbs.

Not like said child would care. It was a doll.

But anyways.

Dark want to just curl into a ball and die. Everything just swirled around in his head, shouting, screaming, and begging to be let out.

Why did moving on have to be so difficult?

Chosen knew damn well Dark had problems after the Great Above.

They all did. Everyone had gotten out of that battle with something.

Most of them just scars and injuries, everything of the physical aspect.

Others...were mentally affected.

But in the time it had been since the chaos, they had all, somehow, been moving forward. Purple, although finally admitting that he was not okay, was sleeping through the night again, and the visions were now under his control.

But he had King. King was...Chosen didn't know what to think of King.

He'd always thought King as an overprotective worry-wart who wanted to shelter Purple from anything, but Chosen could now clearly see the protective parental instincts stemmed from a fear of losing Purple, the one person he loved and cared about the most.

He wasn't expecting King and Purple just be a-okay after everything that had gone on. He wasn't expecting him and Dark to be, either.

Hell, Dark looked like he wanted to do nothing but go back to the Great Above and just...travel through time and get shot instead of Night Shade(Chosen didn't even know how the mother fucker was still alive).

Chosen, although a little shaken up from almost being murdered...again, was doing just fine.

And he was pretty sure he knew what was up with his hollowhead brother.

"How am I even supposed to approach him on it? I wanna help, but...I don't wanna hurt him."

Having almost no other ideas on how to help Dark, Chosen turned to King for help. King had gotten a lot better at helping Purple through the aftermath of Navy, so, naturally, Chosen went to him for help.

"I just flat out asked if he was okay," King explained, watching Purple, who was sleeping soundly on the couch in the room adjacent to them. "I was half-expecting a full-on mental breakdown, but Purple caved and just admitted it."

"Dark won't work like that." Chosen deadpanned.

"He might," King said. "In the past, Purple's gone into full breakdowns, but this time, he admitted it. With how much this has been happening to us, it wouldn't surprise me if Dark did the same thing."

"Just finally gave up the facade and admitted that he wasn't okay?"

"Exactly."

Chosen watched the sleeping child. It surprised him that Purple hadn't admitted to King sooner that something was bothering him.

But, then again, Dark and Purple were kind of the same. Dark could do the same thing, too.

If would certainly be easier.

"Dark. I need you to be completely honest with me here."

Dark internally groaned. He really should have expected that this conversation was coming.

"Really? We have to be having this conversation. I'm fine-"

"We both know you aren't," Chosen said. "Trust me."

"Your treating me like King treats Purple. Like a child."

"First off, Purple IS a child." Chosen snapped. "And second, Purple isn't as stubborn as you are. He actually admitted there was something wrong. Your downright refusing to do so."

"Because it's stupid."

"Dark, we almost got ourselves killed. Whatever is bothering you isn't stupid."

"...Having nightmares about almost watching you die again isn't stupid?"

Chosen blinked in confusion, watching the red hollowhead with a mixture of shock and bewilderment before his face softened.

"No. Never. You can tell me, and I can help you. I'm here to help you, Dark. I promise."

Dark stared at Chosen for another moment before leaning against him, holding him tight.

"Don't ever try and get yourself killed again, Cho. You mean too much to me."

Chosen stared at the hollowhead for a moment before returning the hug.

"...I love you too, Dark."