The conversation he'd had with Green the previous night hadn't given Second any extra self-comfort either.
And that was far from good.
Second was usually pretty good about being confident, being their self-proclaimed leader of their group of five, but now he had almost no idea.
Were King and Purple really okay, like he'd been trying to get himself to believe?
Or had something happened to them, like Green thought?
He really hoped Green was wrong about this. He really, really hoped King and Purple were okay.
They really had to be.
For some odd reason, they couldn't get through the portal.
Yellow had noticed something was off about the portal when Second had finally decided they would head to the Outernet and make sure they were okay. And when they couldn't go through, they're concerns were confirmed.
"What the hell? What's wrong with it?!" Red shouted.
"I-I don't know!"
Second immediately pulled out his phone to text his two brothers. They had to know something.
They just had to!
Cho
What's wrong with the portal?
It won't let us go through!
What's wrong?
Are you okay?
A part of him knew there was something wrong.
There wouldn't be any other reason for the portal to not be working.
"Green, go check the WiFi widget. Blue, check on the Nether Portal." Second ordered, his eyes staring at his phone intently. Those were the only other two means of transportation into the Outernet.
Although Second didn't know how useful they would be. The widget would just take them to the quarry, and the portal would only take them to King's house.
Green's search came up empty, but Blue discovered the Nether Portal was still working. Second teared his eyes away from his phone long enough to run towards the portal and jump in.
He'd forgotten the cold hard ground of Purple's basement floor, wincing as he crashed into it. But he ignored it. Scrambling to his feet, he ran through the false door and up the ladder, throwing the trapdoor open.
His heart sank as broken bits of wood were launched off the door.
"Purple!"
Ash and rubble greeted him.
Broken pieces of wood littered the floor, the furniture was destroyed, the walls were almost entirely gone, and there was a tint of smoke in the air.
The stench made him gag.
The group fell eerily silent, taking in the scene.
"No…"
Second ran into the hallway, glancing around for any signs of the two. Nothing.
Purple's presents to King lay on the floor. His satchel, with his knives and box cutter were also missing.
"Purple…?" Green called out, his voice heavy with suppressed sobs.
"Fuck, fuck." Second ran out what remained of the front door, stumbling across the deserted street and to another house.
Maroon's house.
He banged on the door, his fists aching from the force. "Mar! Answer! Where are King and Purple?!"
Nothing.
God damn it, where were they?!
"There's nothing that proves there were dead bodies in the house. They're still alive, I just don't know where," Yellow said. The confirmation made Second sigh in relief. Yellow continued. "Have Chosen and Dark texted yet?"
Second pulled his phone out again. Nothing from either sibling.
He was half-tempted to start spam-texting Victim. He would have answers.
…Right?
"We should get to Rocket Corp." Red suggested.
"That's too far! If anything, we could try and get to Cornflower. Or maybe Lilac and the others know what's going on."
"Red's right. We need to get to Rocket Corp. Or at least the quarry. Maybe something happened and they're at the old base."
"Why would they be there?" Yellow asked.
"I don't know, but that's the closest we can probably get to answers. If the portal at their place isn't working, we can always try their old base."
The others looked at him and nodded.
After what felt like an eternity, Second's brilliant idea of checking the quarry seemed to prove fruitless.
As the group flew downwards, the entire thing seemed to be what felt like a massive waste of time. There was nothing for them to go off of.
"Ugh! There's nothing! What the hell?!" Green shouted, throwing a rock into the water below. Second pulled his phone out again, once again groaning at Chosen's lack of response.
"Still nothing?"
"Nope."
"Try Victim. Maybe he knows what's going on." Blue suggested.
Second didn't like the idea very much, but he opened up Victim's contact and started texting.
What's going on?
Purple and King are missing, and Chosen and Dark won't text me back.
Is everything okay?
He really, really hoped nothing terrible had happened-
"GET DOWN!"
Second blinked before ducking as something swiped at him. Second ducked to the ground, before looking back up.
And damn near screamed bloody murder at the face that greeted him.
Bulging, empty eyes, and a wide teeth filled smile, sporting longer limbs and sharp fingers.
Second stared at the creature, paralyzed with fear.
"Second! Get out of there!" Blue shouted as the group behind him frantically tore their inventories apart for weapons.
The creature raised one of its hands, fully intending on tearing him apart. Second braced for the impact, covering his face and waiting for an attack.
…It never came.
The sound of glass shattering caught his attention, and he was pulled away from the creature. Blue shot another splash potion at the creature, cursing when it didn't relent.
"Jesus fuck, what is that thing?!"
"Sounds like a creature Purple beat the shit out of!" Green shouted, pulling Second to his feet. "Blast TNT at it or something!"
They didn't need to. Something flew upwards, weapons in hand, and wrapped a lasso around the creatures neck.
"Is that…"
"Please be him, please be him, please be him-" Green whispered to himself. Second watched intently, realizing who Green was talking about.
It was Purple.
Purple dropped to the ground, struggling against the tall being to pull it back. Green and Second grabbed fishing rods and joined him, grabbing the creature and pulling as hard as they could.
Eventually, the creature stumbled, and Purple flew upwards, lasso in hand, and pulled it towards the water.
"Get back!"
Green pulled Second away just as Yellow shot TNT at the creature. It hit the being square in the back, giving Purple that last bit of strength he needed to pull the thing into the water.