King still had no idea who this child was, why she was helping them, and how she knew Purple.
He also wanted to know who these "former friends" of Jade's were. That was what made him curious.
Was she forced into this?
Was she trying to help Purple?
Did she get Purple out of there, but couldn't rescue him in time?
He had too many answers, and not enough time to answer them.
Or the energy.
He was way too tired for this. Tired, starving, desperate for any way to find Purple.
Come on, kid.
Please know what you're doing.
A sudden crash. Jade pushed the others back, extending her arms and glaring daggers at the corridor in front of them.
"Stay quiet." He ordered.
King watched the area intently, trying to see whatever Jade saw. He couldn't see much. Just dark shadows.
Or at least, that's what he thought was in there, until red vines lurched out of the darkness.
King groans, holding his head in pain.
God damn, that hurt.
"What the…."
His voice echoes.
"Wha-how-Where am I?!"
Silence. Only his echo greets him back.
King swallows the sobs in his throat and scrambles to his feet.
"PURPLE!"
His hand immediately goes up to his neck, grabbing at the necklace surprisingly still intact.
"PURPLE! COME ON, HONEY, PLEASE!"
Please still be alive, please please PLEASE-
"Purple…? Purple…please…"
King holds the necklace close, tears pricking his eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Purple…I'm so sorry…"
Something splashes behind him, and the voice that fills the voice makes everything stop.
"For what, dad?"
Was that-
King immediately whips his head around, everything moving in slow motion when he sees Purple.
"Sunshine…"
Purple smiles, gently taking his hand. "Hey, dad."
King's heart melts hearing his voice again. He collapses to the ground, pulling Purple into the tightest hug he can muster up. A shaky hand gently runs through his hair.
It's real.
This isn't a dream.
It's really him.
"Purple…Purple, my dearest little sunshine, you're okay…"
Purple freezes for a moment, no doubt caught off guard by the sudden motion, but relaxes and hugs him back anyways. It isn't filled with the love King hugs him with. "You…You still love me…"
"Of course I do, sweetheart." King pulls away, gently cupping both of his cheeks. "I will always love you."
"B-But Luna said-"
"Forget Luna. All she's fed to you was lies and torture. Whatever she told you about me, she was wrong. I never stopped loving you, even after I thought you were dead. I love you so, so much, and I am so sorry I didn't get there in time."
King hopes it means something. If Purple doesn't believe King, he doesn't know what he'll do.
He doesn't know what to do.
"Purple…I don't know if you'll believe me, but I might as well try. Whatever Luna told you while you were stuck there, whatever she brainwashed or manipulated you into believing…it's wrong. Everything she told you was wrong."
Purple stares up at him, eyes clouded with confusion.
It makes King think there's more drugs in his system.
But it's worth a shot.
"I love you. So much more than you will ever know. You mean so much more to me than you will ever know, I…I don't think I could live in a world without someone as wonderful as you. You mean so, so much to me, and I want you to understand that I will always love you. Nothing will ever change how much I love you. Always and forever, remember?"
Purple looks at him for another moment, the cloudiness in his eyes replaced with tears.
"You…You mean that…?"
"Every word."
This time, Purple does hug him back, tighter than he probably expected him to. King returns it, a gentle hand combing through his hair.
"Oh, Purple…"
"Dad…I'm so sorry I let you get captured, I-I thought you were dead, and then she took me away and-"
"I know, I know. It's not your fault. You did what you could, Purple, and I am so proud of how much you did."
Purple curls closer into the embrace. It doesn't matter that they're trapped in a void, unconscious or even dead.
King just cares about the fact that he got a chance to see Purple one last time before what could be the inevitable.
"King! King, wake up!"
Agent grabbed his shoulders, probably harsher than he probably thought to, sending King back into reality.
"Dude!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do it that hard. Are you okay?"
"Where the fuck are we."
"Where we were before the Purple fake threw us into a cell. If I had to guess, Luna's around here too."
"Fuck."
Where was Purple?
Was that all a dream?
"Where's Purple?"
"Still not here yet, but Jade's gone too. Pray for the creations they found each other."
King would take that over anything. Purple having at least someone with him was better than being all alone.
Being alone meant being a bigger target.
Jade being with him would at least lower the threat of being murdered.
…At least, he hoped it did.
Iron doors squeaked open loudly, and the half stiff movements of a figure walked them through the opening and into the room.
King could see Luna more clearly now. The side of her pale blue body that wasn't covered in hunks of metal was darkening, most likely from the burns he knew she had sustained in the fire. The other half was entirely metal, robotic limbs. They were slow as hell, too.
Her mechanical side was stiff, hard to move. But King could only assume it was due to it being a new development.
Purple had only gotten in touch with him maybe yesterday, it didn't surprise him that this was new.
"Luna." Agent snarled. Victim and the others backed away, similar glares mixed into their expressions of shock.
"Oh, well this is a wonderful development!" Luna exclaimed happily, clapping her hands in joy. "My most powerful enemies, all in one place!"
Dark spawned in a small energy ball, barely big enough for it to cast an aura of light. "Let us go, fuckwad!"
"Why?"
"So Purple can kick your sorry ass!" Hunter shouted to her.
"Oh, please. Like he would even try! He knows I'll win."
"Didn't seem like it when he nearly burned you alive." King snapped at her.
"Quiet, Clementine."
King snarled at her.
"Oh, please, the whore's a wimp!"
"Call my son a whore one more time, see what fucking happens." King growled at her, balling his hands into fists.
"Oh, come on! You know it's true!"
With sudden, lightning speed, Luna was barely a foot away, lifting him up by the throat, choking him.
"And if you're so confident your precious little sunshine is still alive, he'll come save you, won't he?"
There was one thing that Purple knew by the time he'd gotten to Rocket Corp.
And it was that he had absolutely no fucking idea what he was doing.
They had a straight basis for a plan: Bust in, rescue King and the others, stop whoever was in charge, and run.
That was it.
Purple was completely expecting at least a few random unfortunate developments, but it wouldn't be that big of a mess!
…He hoped it wouldn't, at least.
And then it was the stupidest mess-up known to man.
Purple noticed the massive upward rate of guards at the doors as soon as Maroon got the truck through the front gates. Which was odd.
To be fair, Purple had hot-wired the first car he could get into that could fit six teenagers, and sped off, so it made sense that were were a bunch of guards.
What really scared him was that they weren't gray, like all of Victim's guards.
"That's gonna be a problem." Maroon grumbled. "Sec, it'd be really useful if your powers would wake the fuck up."
"I'm trying!"
"It worked on the forcefield last time, it should work now!"
"Forcefield?"
When the fuck-
"So when Luna trapped you in that forcefield when we fought her the first time, Second obliterated the forcefield with laser eyes."
"So that's what the sudden chaos was."
"Yep!"
Purple facepalmed. "Give him some time. It'll happen when he's ready."
Gunfire broke out. Purple suppressed the flinch that ran through his body and tightened his grip on his satchel.
I'm coming, dad.
Just hang on a little longer.
An explosion directly in front of the car. Purple, in a split moment of decision, pulled up a map of the interior of the building, jumped out of the car, and ran through the closest door he could see while the smoke was still around.
Sure, Green and the others would kill him, but it was easier if they used the smoke to their advantage and got in that way.
Stupid, yes, but much better of a plan.
All he had to do now was find King and the others and get the hell out of-
"Jesus-!"
Purple skidded to a stop, nearly falling at the sudden voice.
"Who in the fuck-"
In an instant, his hand grabbed his switchblade, flicking it open and throwing it out in front of him.
"Hey, hey! Easy, there, kid, I'm on your side, I promise!"
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Jade. Probably already know me, I used to work for The Void, but I'm on your side."
"You work for the drug addicts that almost killed me!"
"Used to, and it was far from a decision in my power. Older sibling forced me to." Jade said, almost unaffected by the fact that the ones she loved had been burned alive, and the building she probably called home had burned to the ground.
"You…Your on my side."
"I have been. I got your father out of here alive…until Luna came and ruined everything."
What.
"Who!?"
"Luna. You know, the psycho bitch in your biological family-"
"I know who it is, I burned her alive!"
"Well…the people who captured your friends and family…they rescued her and turned her into a human-cyborg hybrid…thing. Whatever it is."
Purple facepalmed, another hand running through his hair. "For the love of Alan-"
Why didn't you just stay dead, fuckwad?!
"Yeah. It's a terrible development. But I can promise you that your father is alive."
Probably the most relieving bit of information he'd received that day.
Thank god for that.
"He better be."
The two of them flinched when another explosion rang out, followed by more screaming. "And that's probably Luna, and we should probably stop her."
She grabbed his wrist and they bolted in the direction it had come from. Jade led them through a ladder that Purple had barely realized was there, that led up to the rafters.
"Got you!"
A stick figure Purple almost thought was himself tackled him, nearly throwing them both off of the ladder, if not for Purple narrowly dodging the hole.
"Fucking hell, can't you stay dead?!"
"Uhm…nah, there's people down here who need me."
The girl snarled. "Why you-"
Jade smacked her, pulling the girl off of him. "Turn her off."
"What?!"
"Turn off that hybrid thing before she murders that kid's dad!"
Purple blinked, glancing down at the fight below. It was a relief to know Maroon and the others had made it into the building alive, but then there was Luna, holding King in the air, almost ready to fly up and slam him into the ground.
No, please, no.
"Would love to, but I doubt she's going to."
Purple snarled. "Turn. Her. Off. Now."
"It's just one casualty! It's not that bad!"
"That's my father, you psychopath!" Purple shouted. "The one person I love the most, about to die! So you're telling me you would leave the person you love the most to die?!
The girl flinched, glancing down at the mayhem below.
Purple must have looked desperate, because she finally sighed.
"Fine. Lavender, Blossom, hold off. We're helping."
"WHAT?!"
"Luna has made it very clear. She doesn't need us. She knows we can stop her. And we're going to make that very clear as well. Understood?"
The two girls looked at each other, then at Jade, then at Purple, before sighing.
"Deal."
King gasped for air, the grip on his throat released completely out of nowhere.
It makes him blink in shock.
Did he get killed?
No, God, no, please don't make me leave Purple-
The creature(Hybrid? God, what can he even call Luna) lets out a guttural scream of pain, grating on his ears and shaking the entire building.
So much for being immune and immortal.
"What's the matter?" A female voice said from above.
The entire group whips their heads up, staring intently at the balcony.
A group of five stick figures stands up there, but the aura around the leader is different. Familiar.
Is that-"
"NO!" The pained creature bellows. "I AM IMMUNE! I AM IMMORTAL!"
"Well, sucks to suck, but nobody's immune to pain." The leading stick speaks. And every single bit of worry King had dissipated all at once.
It was Purple!
He was okay!
A sob bubbles in his throat, but he forces it down.
Keep strong.
For Purple.
The group jumps down, tag teaming it into submission. One of them takes their bracelet, blasting the creature with electricity.
It screams once again before she vanished. King knew for a fact that it wasn't dead.
It was only escaping for now.
The room fell silent before everyone melted.
Green moved first, scrambling to his feet and tackling Purple to the ground.
"Green-!"
"You had us scared half to death!"
"I know, I know! I'm sorry!"
Green pulls them both to their feet, an arm still wrapped around Purple's shoulders, but the other five have shown up, crowding around him.
For once, Purple seems fine with it. A genuine smile on his face while the group hugs him.
King can only stand there, frozen in shock.
He's really here.
This is real.
He's alive.
Purple relishes in his friends before they turn on Jade and the others, and he's free from them.
Purple glances around for a minute, his hand hovering over his necklace.
King doesn't have to be at his side to see the look in his eyes.
King takes a few steps forward, gently taking one of his hands. "Purple?"
Purple flinches, immediately glancing at him.
"It's okay, kid. It's okay."
Tears fall down Purple's cheeks, not like he cares. His eyes wide with shock.
"Purple…" King cups the kids cheeks in his hands, wiping away tears. "Purple, baby, I'm here. I'm right here."
Purple stares at him for another moment before the entire mountain of manipulation he'd been injected with comes crashing down.
Purple just breaks down sobbing, sinking to the ground. King's still at his side, holding his hand.
"Purple..."
"She...she was gonna kill you...you were-"
Luna, what did you do to him.
"Purple…Purple, baby, look at me."
Purple glances up at him through the tears in his eyes. King gently swipes away stray tears falling down his cheeks, his other hand gently rubbing circles into his skin.
"It's okay, sweetie. I'm here now."
Purple stares at him for another moment, eyes still full of tears.
"Your...You're really here?"
King gently cups one of his cheeks, pressing their foreheads together.
"I'm here, sunshine."
That was what sent him over the edge.
"Dad!"
Purple lunges at him, arms tightly wrapped around him. King sits there for a second, stunned at the sudden motion, but recovers quickly and hugs him back, tighter than ever.
Purple sobs in his arms, leaning into the embrace and hugging him back just as tight.
"Oh, baby…"
"Dad, dad…please don't leave me…"
King's heart practically shatters. "Purple, sweetheart, I would never, ever, think of leaving you. I'm so, so sorry I didn't get to you in time."
"It's okay, dad, you did what you could.."
Purple pulls away enough where he can look at him. The sweet, innocent smile gracing his face.
King returns it, a gentle kiss to his forehead. "You don't know how relieved I am to see you safe, love, I swear."
"I don't need to know. It's far more than I will ever be able to know."
King smiles at him, pulling him close. "I love you so, so much, my beloved little sunshine."
Purple starts crying all over again, nuzzling into his chest.
King doesn't even care that they're on the verge of possible death.
All he cares about is the child in his arms, safe and alive.
Another sudden explosion. Second and the others flinched. King pulled the kid closer, glancing around.
"Where's Luna?!"
"I don't know, but I don't wanna fuck around and find out!" Hunter shouted, pulling them both to their feet. "I vote on getting the hell out of here!"
"To where?!"
King could clearly see Purple's eyes sparkle.
He had an idea.
"Vic!" Purple shouted over the chaos, turning to the hollowhead. "You still have an area in the mountains where Luna took the base the first time, right?!"
"Yeah!"
"Let's go there!"
Victim stared at him for a moment before nodding.
"Let's get the hell out of here."