King doesn't know if things can get any worse than they already have.
He's been captured, which is a horrible thing, and Purple is mere seconds away from death.
Purple being almost dead is probably an even worse feeling, though.
He's been through enough these past few months, why does he have to die?
Why does this world have it out for the sweetest boy he's ever met?
King watches Victim and the others struggle to find an answer. They don't know what to do, they know less than he does.
He hates this.
He really does.
He misses Purple. Far more than anyone probably should miss their child.
King doesn't care anymore. He just misses Purple. He misses being able to hold him, tell him everything was going to be okay.
"I love you, sunshine."
Fuck this world.
Hurting my son.
Banging his head against the wall, King buried his face in his knees.
Kill me now.
I don't care how, I just want to see my baby again.
Please.
Purple, please come home.
I'm here, I need you.
I love you, I'm sorry.
Please. Please come home.
The promise had already been broken. He wasn't there, he wasn't protecting Purple.
Oh, God, he really was a horrible person, wasn't he?
He shouldn't have left him alone back at the plaza.
He should've been with the two of them, this never would have happened.
What the fuck was wrong with him?!
Was he even fit to be a father?
He'd lost Gold because he couldn't protect him. Now, he'd lost Purple because he couldn't protect him!
He really was a pitiful excuse for a father, wasn't he?
Everyone he loved would die.
Gold was dead. His wife was dead. Purple may as well be dead.
Where he is, or if he's still alive, King may never know.
King is probably going to die down here. Never being able to hear Purple again.
Never being able to see him again.
He should've protected him.
Victim suddenly sat down next to him. "We're going to get out of here. I don't know how, but we will."
"It's not that, and you know it."
"Purple is at least still alive, we know that much."
"And that means something?! He's being sold around to people who will shatter him into millions of little pieces! And I can't do anything to stop them! They'll do what Midnight could only dream of doing! They'll manipulate him, tell him I hated him so much that I let Luna do this to him! A-And he'll believe it! He'll think it's all true and he'll never wanna see me again! And-"
"King." Victim grabbed his shoulders. "How much of what you just said is true?"
King wiped tears falling down his cheeks. "...None of it?"
"So you do love him."
"W-What?"
"You do love Purple."
"I-Of course I do! Of course I love him! More than anything this world could give me! H-He means absolutely everything to me! A world without him is my entire reign of the Nether, and maybe even before that! I…I feel like I was blessed just having him in my life with me. These past few years, they've…they've been the best of my life..all because of him. And I've never been more honored to have spent them with someone like him."
There was a smirk on Victim's face. "See? If you've said that to him, there's no way in hell that Purple will believe anything but what you've told him."
"He won't?"
"Purple knows how much you love him, how much he means to you, how much it means to you that he's in your life. As long as he believes that, then nothing else will matter to him."
And the thing is…King has said that to him.
They were the exact words King had said to him the day he'd adopted Purple into his family.
"Surprise!"
"The surprise was ruined fifteen minutes ago." Purple doesn't even try and hide the smile on his face.
"I know, but...it was still a surprise...at least it was supposed to be."
Purple leans against his shoulder. "Thank you.."
An arm wraps around him tight, and Purple just accepts it. "Anytime, sunshine."
The nickname festers into his head for a moment before he accepts it.
"Kid?"
"Yeah?"
King smiles down at him. "I love you."
Whether it's due to recent circumstances, or the words in general, tears glisten in Purple's eyes. "I-I love you too...dad."
Purple pretty much throws himself into King's arms, nuzzling into his chest. "Thank you...thank you so much..."
King hugs him back, a gentle hand carding through his hair. "Purple...you don't even know how much you really mean to me, do you?"
Purple sniffles, wiping tears falling down his cheeks. "More than anything in the world?"
"Far more than anything that the world could give me. Everything. You mean absolutely everything to me. A world without you...that world might as well not have meaning. The world doesn't deserve to exist. It is an absolute miracle that I was blessed to meet you. The nearly two years I have spent with you have been some of the best of my life, and it was an absolute honor to spend them with someone like you. I-I don't think I've ever met someone as sweet and...amazing as you are."
Tears fall down Purple's cheeks and plop onto the grass below them.
"Never, ever forget that I love you, and that you are the most important thing in the world to me. You aren't useless, or unworthy, or a failure. Your loved, your worthy, and your good enough. And you always will be. There will never be a day where I don't believe that you deserve to have people in your life that will love and cherish you."
Purple knows King isn't done yet, but he's made his point.
King's last sentence breaks the floodgates.
"I love you so, so much, my beloved son. Always and forever."
Purple falls back into his arms, shaking with tears of pure joy.
"I love you, I love you, I love you...I love you too, and...thank you...for accepting me...dad."
King holds him all the tighter. "I will always accept you for who you are, sunshine. No matter what."
Purple doesn't leave his arms. He stays.
King doesn't really mind that.
"You do love him, right?"
"Of course I do."
"Then we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that your sunshine lives another night. Understand?"
King can only smile and nod.