Dark realizes too late that he didn't grab a radio before he escaped.

Meaning they had no way of communicating with King and the others.

"Ugh...there's no reception out here!" Second groaned, almost tossing his phone into the water. "Any luck, Purple?"

"Nothing. No reception. There's no way of communicating with the others."

"Fuck."

Purple stared down into the water. "Really wish that vision thingy would do its thing right now. Maybe it'd give us some Intel on where everyone else is."

"Yellow! He's getting worse!"

Blue's frantic voice shot him back into reality.

Or whatever reality he was seeing.

"Get a Regeneration potion!"

"Come on, Cho. Hold on a bit longer."

"Yellow! Start getting command blocks so we can break down this forcefield!"

Purple stared at what was happening in front of him. Chosen was dying.

Night Shade was standing outside the faint purple forcefield Blue was talking about, and cast a glance in his direction.

Shit.

"Purple!"

A cold and wet feeling washed over his body. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Sorry! You just did that space out vision thingy you do and we got worried." Dark tossed the bucket aside. "Sec, get me a towel."

"Got it."

"Is everyone okay?"

Purple stared at him with blank wide eyes. "Not everyone is."

"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.

"Chosen, please! Don't do this! Not again!"

Dark's hands shook Chosen violently, not caring if the gray spots overtaking his dark body transmitted to him.

He didn't care.

He wanted Chosen to live.

"CHOSEN!"

Dark snapped himself out of the memory, blinking.

Fuck.

Not another one

Dark sighed, returning back to the task at hand. He'd been tasked with keeping tabs on Alan while he was helping fix the city, and he needed to be present and conscious if something went wrong, so he could fix it.

If memories and nightmares weren't fucking with his focus.

Focus, Dark!

Alan needs you if something goes wrong!

"Your fine, Chosen's fine, everything's fine. I promise." He said to himself, moving back to the code he'd set up.

Everything is fine.

Once Alan had logged off for the night, Dark entered his and Chosen's shared loft at the top of the house, and collapsed onto the couch.

"Rough day?" Chosen tossed Dark a blanket, which he gratefully accepted.

"Not exactly rough, I just kept losing focus." Dark threw the blanket over himself, trying to absorb as much of its warmth as he could..

Was he that cold?

Chosen's hand was on his head now. "I get that. Second kept snapping his fingers in my face, and now I keep thinking that it'll show up in my vision when he isn't here."

Dark snorted. "Hah. At least your nightmares don't seep into your memories like a crack in a wine glass."

"You think I'm immune to nightmares?"

"What?! No! I'm just-do your nightmares suddenly replay in front of you when your awake and conscious and watching a cursor so you can yank him out when something goes wrong?"

"No?"

"Huh. Weird. So I'm going crazy. Or I'm dead...or talking to a ghost. Or-"

"Hey. Don't say that."

"Why?!"

"Neither one of us are dead...thankfully." Chosen's hand ruffled Dark's hair and left. Chosen sat down next to him, pulling the red hollowhead onto his lap. "Be grateful."

"I'm just saying! I think I'm going crazy because I keep seeing you die in front of me!"

Chosen blinked, but his hand continued carding through his hair. "Is this in the city or the Great Above?"

"The last one."

"Ah."

Dark snuggled closer into the embrace.

"It'll be okay, Dark. I promise." Chosen whispers, in turn wrapping his arms around Dark when Dark snakes his arms around Chosen's waist.

"It'll be okay, Dark. I promise."

For a brief moment, Dark's mind goes back to when they first returned home.

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."

This wasn't any different, was it?

Dark needed comfort, Chosen gave it.

And Dark was content with that.