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“Wysteria!” End’s voice crackled to life in his earpiece. “Three heroes- Dream, 404, and Sapnap are heading towards yours and Poison’s position right now!” End hurriedly informed him. Wysteria’s eyebrows furrowed, and he turned around to find three blurry figures in the distance heading over to where they were, obscured by the dark of the night.
He looked over to Poison who immediately looked back at him with concern in his eyes. Seem’s like Nether told him too.
“You two need to get out of there, like, now!” End screamed into his ear.
“Primes- fine! We’re going!” he turned to Poison, “We have to-”
“I know, Nether’s also yapping in my ear,” Poison responded, voice distorted through the voice changer installed in his very amazing vigilante suit of a hoodie and some sweatpants. Despite the little jab at Nether, both could feel their heartbeats picking up. They would need to act quickly if they wanted to make it out together.
Wysteria huffed. “Classic.”
“We should probably start running-”
Just then, a spark of green lighting- Dream’s power- bolted toward them, barely giving the two of them enough time to dodge it. The two boys dove in different directions, falling onto the ground from the unbalanced momentum. Dream’s voice boomed behind them and the two boys stumbled to their feet. “As an order of the code of conduct, Vigilantes Wysteria and Poison are required to peacefully give in and allow yourself to be calmly arrested for performing acts of vigilantism- a violation of the law!”
“Yeah, we should really start running!”
“Go!” both End and Nether commanded.
The two of them beelined out of there, running in the opposite direction Dream’s voice had appeared from. Behind them, they heard Dream sigh along with the following spoken words “It was worth a shot.”
“Don’t sulk, you idiot! Chase after them!” 404 voice tore through the air.
Shortly after that, the two boys heard the telltale footsteps of the heroes pursuing them. If Wysteria strained his ears, he could hear the humming of Dream’s power behind him. He gulped.
“Shit-” Poison cursed. Wysteria stayed silent beside him. They were so fucking screwed. They were currently being chased by the #3 top hero PLUS his team! A green bolt of lightning shot at Wysteria’s feet causing him to stumble and lose his balance, but not enough to make him trip.
“LOSE THEM!” Nether roared in Poison’s ear. “YOU CAN’T HAVE THEM FOLLOW YOU HOME!”
Poison nodded and beckoned for Wysteria to follow him. They ran side by side, hopping from building to building with the wind in their hair. Together, the chase had officially begun. And the two weren’t very fond of losing.
“Kids, I’m seriously going to need you to stop!” Dream yelled, voice growing ever nearer.
“NO!” the two of them shouted in unison. “And we’re not kids!” Poison so kindly thought to add. They were totally still kids- all of them sixteen, but Dream didn’t need to know that!
Poison’s power manifested in his hands. Sparks of pure red chaos and energy boiled and bent to his will. An energy that was hot to the touch with a lot of similarities to fire. Wysteria summoned his own, purple glittery sparks of substance and condensed lightning flew out of his hands, a solid material he could bend and manipulate at choice. Raising his hands, Poison’s power shot out in a wall of electrical fire, creating distance between the two of them and the heroes. Poison laughed at the sheer heat of it, admiring his work as the other side went silent. Their celebration was cut short as pure fire was shot at the wall- a result of Sapnap’s power. No matter how strong Poison’s power was, it could easily be combatted with a well-timed hit. Poison took a step back in surprise.
Wysteria looked over at Poison. He turned around to find the wall that separated the heroes from the two boys quickly crumbling. He forced his hands out with his fingers folded in, creating a temporary pathway between the building they were currently standing on and the next. Poison ran first, Wysteria following him as the path crumbled underneath their feet after every taken step. They only hoped it would create some distance between them and the heroes. Behind them, they heard Sapnap cuss.
“Give up already! We’re going to catch you anyway!” Sapnap yelled.
“Fat chance, bozo!” Wysteria responded.
He heard Sapnap scoff. “I am not a bozo!”
“L.”
“Oh, my Primes- just go, hurry up!” Sapnap screamed, shoving Dream forward who was currently grabbing his grappling hook and aiming it at the building Poison and Wysteria were currently traversing. As skilled as Dream was, Sapnap was a pain in his ass that constantly slowed him down.
“Calm down, I’m trying!”
404 groaned in frustration. “You’re literally letting them get away! Hurry up!”
Finally, Dream got the two of them to shut up, and soon enough, they were back in the game. Deep down, however, both Poison and Wysteria knew this wasn’t just a game. If they were caught now, there was a large likelihood that they would never see Nether or End again. The four of them were a team, and they were not going to allow it to dwindle into a measly two. If it meant traversing the rooftops while running from the most dangerous of heroes to ever encounter…
So be it.
Unfortunately for Wysteria and Poison, there was another large gap between the buildings they were currently nearing the edge of and the next they needed to get to. Oh, and Dream, 404, and Sapnap were currently gaining on them. Rather quickly too, should it be mentioned?
“Fuck!” Wysteria swore, willing his power to come to life as quickly as possible. He looked at Poison desperately for some sort of assistance, and Poison was there to deliver. Poison held his right hand out, sparks crackling and ready to create chaos.
“Don’t you dare!” Dream roared, skillfully sending out another bolt of green lighting and successfully hitting Poison square in the hand. The bolt burned through Poison’s gloves, and Poison screamed.
“You fucking bitch! Why’d you do that!?” Poison swore, cradling his burnt and injured hand. If Wysteria looked hard enough, he could see tears grouping at the corner of Poison’s eyes. Wysteria quickly focused on building another bridge using the now injured Poison as a motivator, watching it rise from nothing and stabilize itself.
Wysteria quickly shoved Poison onto the bridge. “Run!” he commanded, pushing Poison much farther from him. His action created a rather large gap between the two… which Dream took to his full advantage. The hero in question sent a bolt of lightning directly at the middle of the bridge, shattering the middle and separating the two boys. Wysteria stumbled back to avoid falling off the edge of the shattered platform, freezing in shock. Poison, who had just reached the other building turned around with fear in his eyes.
“Wysteria!? What’s happening!? Why aren’t you responding!?” End screeched.
“Poison!? What was that shatter!? Answer me, for fucks sake!” Nether cried.
Wysteria slowly turned around just in time to watch Dream dive for him and suddenly he was falling.
…How could he lose so easily? What had gone wrong? Maybe he should have been faster and stronger, but alas, he wasn’t and he was paying the price for it. Would he ever see his family again? His place of security? His home with the weird carpet stains and his roommates that served as brothers?
“WYSTERIA!!” Poison screamed after him.
“KEEP RUNNING!” he yelled.
Did he want Poison to keep running? He wanted Poison to be safe, but he also wanted to be safe. Would he ever know safety again?
“Wysteria!? Wysteria!! Answer me! Purpled! Please!”
Dream disconnected Purpled’s earpiece, taking it out of Purpled’s ear and crushing it in his palm. Purpled struggled to attempt to get out of Dream’s hold, but Dream’s grasp was firm.
“Sleep,” Dream whispered into his ear, proceeding to send a shock of lightning through Purpled’s veins. It felt like hellfire internally, but Purpled didn’t have the energy to keep fighting, allowing himself to slip into a state of unconsciousness.
—--
Poison turned around, scared shitless at the thought of being separated from his best friend and unable to do anything. He looked Wysteria in the eyes to see the pure horror flashing through his own purple ones. Wysteria turned around. Poison watched as Dream lunged for him. And suddenly, they plummeted off the building. The purple bridge that once had supported his weight crumbled in seconds. Poison broke out of his state of petrification, rushing to look down where Wysteria had fallen.
“WYSTERIA!!” he cried out.
“KEEP RUNNING!” came his curt response.
A green flash cut through the air, temporarily blinding Poison for a few seconds. Once he cleared his vision, he saw Dream on the ground with a limp Wysteria slung across his shoulders.
“No,” Poison nervously laughed, staggering back from the edge of the building. “No, no no nonono.”
“Tommy! Respond to me, you dipshit!” Tubbo’s voice ripped through his mind, anxiety carefully weaved into the words. “What the fuck happened!” It wasn’t a question. Tubbo was demanding an explanation. One that Tommy didn’t have in himself to deliver.
“P-Purpled’s earpiece cut out- it was destroyed- TOMMY, FUCKING ANSWER ME!”
Tommy shakily rose to his feet, head bent. Raw energy from his rage burst to life in his hands, the heat burning his already injured right hand. A scream tore out of his throat as he launched his energy at the other two heroes standing on the building adjacent to his. His breathing was labored and tears clouded his eyes, but his attack could have hit his targets, had they not been trained heroes who knew how to escape the most precarious of situations. The two of them easily evaded Tommy’s attack. But it had been a distraction, and that was enough for Tommy.
He turned and ran.
“Do we chase after him!?” 404 asked, seemingly contacting Dream through their connected earpieces.
“…No, we got one. We’ll get the other later.”
404 and Sapnap retreated and Tommy almost began to cry. No- he did start crying. Not out of relief, but instead, out of resentment. Out of agony. Out of grief. And out of fear. For he had lost his best friend. His brother. And he didn’t know what to do next. He scrubbed at his face angrily, letting an ugly noise escape from his throat.
“Tommy…” Ranboo had whispered into his earpiece. “They got him, didn’t they?”
Tommy didn’t respond, instead focusing on the wind that rushed on his face- the only thing keeping him grounded, and even that wasn’t working well. Tears continued to drip down his cheeks, causing him to stumble a few times, but he had no reason to care. Not anymore. Not when…
Not when they have Purpled.
And not when Tommy’s going to get him back.
Finally, he reached an area he could safely slide down from the rooftops, the feeling of solid concrete under his feet making his knees weak.
“I want to sit down,” Tommy said into his earpiece, slowing his pace.
“Tommy, you need to come home…” Tubbo whispered.
“I’m coming home alone today,” Tommy laughed bitterly. He heard Tubbo sniffle on the other line, giving Tommy the motivation to continue to drag his feet across the ground and get himself home.
The home that has one less person in it than before.
At last, he had reached his shabby apartment complex, and he slowly climbed up the stairs as all the adrenaline he once had left his body, leaving him just a shell of the person he could have been. He weakly knocked on the door and Ranboo opened it, seeing the tear tracks on Tommy’s face causing Ranboo to finally crack as well. Ranboo turned around to the already crying Tubbo and shook his head, causing Tubbo to erupt into more tears. Upon looking up, Tommy crashed into Ranboo, crying into the abnormally tall teen’s chest as he shakily recounted the events of the night. Tubbo and Ranboo lead Tommy to the couch, where Tommy recounted the events that happened the night prior.
“We’ll get him back,” Ranboo promised.
“We’ll get him back,” Tubbo stated.
“We’ll get him back,” Tommy hoped.
Tommy should probably get his hand healed.
—--
Purpled woke up against cold concrete grounds. He sat up and stretched his sore muscle, cracking his bones and clearing up the fog in his mind.
Where the fuck was he…?
“Oh good, you’re finally awake,” a feminine voice said, startling him out of his thoughts.
Purpled visibly jumped. “HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FU-”
“Calm down! Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you!” the voice said. “Not that I can anyway,” she added in an afterthought.
Purpled looked in the direction the voice had come from, eyes meeting those of a warm chocolatey color. The girl was in another cell adjacent to his own, two sets of bars separated by a hallway in the middle. The girl had disheveled wavey long brunette hair, tangled from days of staying unkempt. She was also wearing an old and torn pink long-sleeved shirt, accompanied by a filthy dark magenta skirt.
“Staring is rude, you know,” the girl stated., breaking Purpled out of his thoughts.
Purpled shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay,” she laughed. “I’m Hannah, by the way,” Hannah introduced herself, gripping her cell bars.
Purpled moved closer to his own. “I’m…” he hesitated. Well, Hannah seemed pretty trustworthy and it appeared that they were the only two here, so what was the harm of telling her his name? “Purpled. I’m Purpled. And uh… where am I? I know it’s a jail of some sort and stuff but…” he trailed off
Hannah pursed her lips. “Yeah, so we’re currently in the basement jail thing the heroes have under their headquarters-“
“WHAT.”
“I’m assuming you were caught and arrested for vigilantism. Surprise! I was too. Apparently, this is where we go and where we’re supposed to stay!” Hannah sarcastically cheered.
Purpled grew nervous and began trying to summon his power.
“Oh, and don’t try using your power unless you want to hurt yourself,” Hannah had informed him. If Purpled looked closely, he could see scars running up from Hannah’s hands to her forearms. Purpled sighed and stored his energy.
“Why here though!? I thought they would take us to at least Pandora’s vault or something!”
“I did too! But they didn’t.”
“Well- why didn’t they?” Purpled inquired.
“Hell if I know!” Hannah responded. “I’ve been stuck here for 8 weeks, and I’ve never heard news of relocation at all! I just- I just want to go home!”
Purpled felt something in his gut clench. “Has- Has it only been you here?”
Hannah fell silent, a pained look flashing across her features. Purpled was beginning to regret asking in fear of awakening something in Hannah he shouldn’t have. “No,” Hannah finally spoke. “There were two more when I first arrived. One's name was Skeppy and the other, Ant.” Hannah said carefully, as though if she spoke at a higher volume, someone would hear.
Little did they know of the figure lurking behind the door, two unconscious guards at either of their sides.
“What happened to them?” Purpled found himself asking. He had no idea whether or not he was crossing a boundary, but either way, he felt compelled to know.
Hannah averted her eyes. “I never figured out,” she said plainly. “One day, this demon hybrid with white trimmings at the end of his black hoodie came and took them away. With him, there were these… weird red vines… That followed him everywhere he went. It freaked me out.” Hannah shuddered.
Purpled listened to everything she said with great interest. “Why weren’t you taken?”
“I- I don’t know. The demon hybrid said something about me ‘not being ready yet.’ Whatever that means…” Hannah trailed off. She then continued. “I got taken in for questioning a day after.” She shuddered. “It was not a fun time. Fucking Siren and his persuasion abilities… And Chronologic and his ability of omnipotence. I felt like I was getting my mind searched and all he was doing was looking into my eyes!”
“Who’s Chronologic?”
“You’ve never heard of him!?” Purpled shook his head. Hannah sighed. “Chronologic is another hero, a bit underground as he never goes out to patrol. He has an ability they call omnipotence. It basically means that as long as he has your name, he can access pretty much anything about your personal information along with your memories.”
Purpled gasped.
“He’s a good person though, genuinely. He doesn’t search for more than he needs, and he always has this sort of guilty look on his face afterward- as though he doesn’t really want to do it.”
Purpled stayed silent as he stared at Hannah, watching as she zoned out with a conflicted gaze stretched across her face. Purpled laid down starfish position on the uncomfortable concrete floor, letting himself fall into a phase of thinking as well. He didn’t get very far, as Hannah brought up another conversation. Purpled didn’t mind, however. It must have been tough for her to have to go for so long without anyone to talk to.
“Tell me a bit about yourself, Purpled. We have nothing better to do to pass the time.”
“I mean.. Okay?” Purpled hesitantly agreed. Whereas he strongly opposed telling people about himself, he agreed with Hannah when she said they had nothing better to do. And besides, it wasn’t like there was anyone listening in on their conversation behind the door.
The hooded figure perked up at the mention of knowing more about the newest addition to the cellar. They opened the door ever so slightly just to be able to hear better.
Purpled sat up straight, inhaling. “I’m Purpled, I just told you that. Uhm… Let’s get this straight- I’m a minor. I’m a vigilante who patrols around District 11 under the name Wysteria if you ever heard of me-”
“I’ve heard of you! I always secretly hoped I ran into you because we both have flower-based names!” Hannah beamed. “I just… did not expect it to be because both of us got arrested!” she nervously laughed.
Purpled looked at her. “You are…?”
“Rosethorn,” she filled in.
“HOLY SHIT! No way! I’ve seen you on the news before! Your power’s so fucking badass!”
Rosethorn had the power to grow and manipulate large flowers, specifically roses, at her will. The vines would entangle around her opponent while the petals had the strength to lift her in the air. They were almost indestructible yet elegant and fragile, and Purpled had only ever seen her use her powers for good.
“Thanks!” Hannah smiled. “I could say the same about yours as well- your energy manipulation is so freaking cool!”
Purpled chuckled. “It’s nothing much, my roommate’s power is much more impressive than mine.”
“I don’t know about that, kid. Your powers are pretty neat. Who’s your roommate?”
“Poison.”
“No way!”
“Yes way!”
“I forgot you guys are patrol buddies! I’ve only ever seen the two of you argue.”
Purpled rolled his eyes. “Poison can be a pain in the ass sometimes.”
Hannah chuckled, a stupid pun forming in her head. “Maybe you could even say he’s a thorn in your side-” she said, bursting out into laughter.
“Woww, reallll clever, Ms. Rosethorn,” Purpled said, giving his own little laugh at the very poor joke.
“Thank you, thank you. I try my best, truly.”
Purpled just rolled his eyes again. Hannah gave him a smile and Purpled returned the gesture.
“Anyway, like I was saying…. How many roommates do you have?”
“Three.”
“Oh wow!”
“We live in a shitty apartment complex… Lots of weird things go down there but it’s all we can afford at the moment. It’s… uh… It’s not that bad, I don’t think,” Purpled informed.
“Are you all kids?”
“Yeah, uhm… I’m the oldest.”
“How- How does that work? Are you allowed to have full ownership of the apartment? Is it costly?” Hannah asked, concerned.
“...The owner of the complex is real nice to us. He cuts down some of the expenses so we have a place to stay. Something about knowing how it is and such.”
“I see. Sound’s like a great man then?”
“Yeah, I’d say. He’s pretty chill. Helps us get by occasionally too.”
“I respect him then.”
“We all do. He keeps us alive, and in turn, we try to keep him safe at night. And others too.”
Hannah nodded. “I feel that. I have two roommates and we turned to vigilantism after someone had mugged my roommate and there were no heroes there to even witness it.”
“Oh, Primes- was she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s actually really good at handling her own. But she had come home with blood dripping down her cheek and demanded that something would be done about how dangerous the streets were. Obviously, my other roommate and I agreed.”
Purpled nodded.
“Nemesis,” Hannah continued. “You might have heard of her. She’s especially active around your district.”
“Yeah! I think she saved one of my roommates from getting his money stolen before we became vigilantes!”
Hannah smiled, happy knowing that what they had all worked hard for benefitted other people.
She went silent for a moment, her smiling falling from grace. She looked down. “I have no doubt they’ve been looking for me for the past 8 weeks. They probably just haven’t had any luck.”
“They don’t seem like the type to leave you on your own,” Purpled pointed out.
“They aren’t. My other roommate- The Captain- has telepathic powers. The first week I went missing, I felt her trying to constantly reach for a connection that wasn’t there.” It hurt Purpled’s heart to hear and he showed this by making a little noise of sympathy. “It had made my head hurt a lot because of the enchantments here. I swear my head felt like it was actively getting cut open.”
“I’m sorry to hear that… But what are the enchantments, anyway?” Purpled inquired.
Hannah sighed. “In this basement, only powers verified as the powers heroes possess are allowed to be activated. Anything else backfires on you,” Hannah cautiously told him. She held her hands up so Purpled could get a better look at the scars on them. “This is a bit graphic, but I had tried reaching for my powers and the vines began twisting themself into my arms. The roses grew attached to my skin and the thorns buried themselves into my arms.
“When Skeppy was here, the diamonds he tried to summon embedded themselves all over his skin. He tried taking one out once and… passed out… from blood loss.” Purpled’s eyes widened at that. Hannah grimaced. “It was not a pretty night. Ant had tried to use his shapeshifting powers, and I don’t know exactly what happened, but he went from standing up fully concentrated to writhing on the ground in pain.”
“That’s fucking terrible!”
“No shit! I don’t know what the heroes think they're doing, but-” Hannah cut herself off, thinking. “It’s not working,” she settled on saying. “They’re doing more harm than good. We may be vigilantes, but we still have lives. We still have friends and we still have roommates. I’m sure your roommates are so, so worried about you right now.”
Purpled looked down. He pictured Tommy running home crying to Tubbo and Ranboo, watching as they all broke down without the fourth of their quartet there. Who would be the one to deadpan when someone said something stupid? Who would be the one to make sarcastic jokes? Who would be the one to cook the popcorn on movie nights? Well… Any one of them could do that, but it was Purpled’s favorite thing to do!
Purpled wiped his cheeks after feeling tears run down them. Hannah sent him a glance, silently asking him if he was alright. Purpled shook his head and laid down.
“I think I’m going to clock out for the night,” he told her.
Hannah nodded in understanding. “Goodnight, Purpled.”
“Goodnight, Hannah.”
—--
Drista stepped back from where she had been listening behind the door. She had to do something. Anything. Why hadn’t she known that this basement had been here the entire time!? She needed to take action, and she needed to do it quickly. There were two people in the basement; Hannah and Purpled. She would get them out of there if it was the last thing she did.
But she needed help. There was no way Drista would be able to pull off a whole operation against the heroes, against her brother on her own. She needed help from someone- or someones. And she knew exactly how to get it.
Drista was a siphon. She had no full powers of her own, but she could draw from others’ energy and temporarily use their ability. With this ability, she so very lovingly borrowed (stole, but who was keeping track?) a bit of Chronologic’s power of omnipotence just to exactly pinpoint Purpled’s address. Which was not weird! You have to resort to wild measures when you want to save people!
She closed her eyes and sifted through the mental files she collected in the time of using Chronologic’s power- which was really only two, but once again, who’s keeping track? She opened Purpled’s and read through what she needed.
Purpled. Last name unbeknownst to himself. Falls under the self-proclaimed last name of Hypixel. 16 years of age. Lives in the GlassEnd apartment complex, run by Conner Epantsat, along with his three roommates- Tommy Innit, Tubbo Underscore, and Ranboo Beloved.
With the Sun, Purpled ‘Hypixel’ works part-time at a bar owned by Quackity Casalex. Rises the Moon, Purpled switches to his altered persona, ‘Wysteria’ as a vigilante. He commonly patrols around District 11 with his partner, Poison, or Tommy. He is guided by End, or Ranboo, and Tommy is guided by Nether, or Tubbo. Purpled has the power to manifest purple-tinted condensed energy.
That was all Drista needed. She took a deep breath in, gently shutting the door. Once she was in the clear, she quickly ran up the basement steps, choosing to siphon one of Technoblade’s many powers, being enhanced direction and intuition. Now abnormally aware of everything around her, she took off and ran to the main entrance of the HHQ- or Heroes Head Quarters.
How original. She knew.
Dream, witnessing his little sister making a break for the entrance at around one am in the morning, tried to be a good older brother and stop her from doing something stupid. “Drista! Where the hell are you going!? It’s one am!”
Drista tried to dodge Dream from where he was standing in her path, but Dream was persistent. “Dream! Let me through, I have something important to do!” she yelled.
“At one am!?”
“Yes, at one am!”
“What could possibly be so important that you have to leave at one am in the fucking morning!? It’s so fucking dark out- who knows what can hurt you out there!”
“Something I can’t say! Besides, there are heroes out right now. I’ll be fine! Unless you don’t trust the heroes. Are you saying they can’t do their job properly?” Drista mockingly asked, taking a step back. She knew she was treading into very dangerous territory, but she couldn’t help herself.
Vigilantes do nothing wrong. Wysteria did nothing wrong. Rosethorn did nothing wrong. Skeppy, Ant, they did nothing wrong. All they did was try to protect the districts the heroes wouldn’t. Yet heroes, heroes like her own brother, arrest them for doing the city and their home a service. It was unfair. Unjust. And Drista would be damned if she didn’t do anything about it.
“Drista,” Dream warned.
“Let me go, Dream. I have some business to attend to,” Drista growled, pushing past Dream and running out of the main entrance.
She pretended not to hear the shouts of her brother calling after her or the frustrated string of curses that had torn out of his throat. If he wanted to be upset about it, Drista would let him. But right now, she had something she needed to finish.
As she broke into a sprint, she let Techno’s sense of direction overflood her senses. Setting her destination clearly in her head, a bit of a tugging sensation pulled at her whenever she needed to turn. The streets were dark, lights dim, but that would not stop her. She trusted that there were at least some vigilantes left to save the people the heroes would not.
Quickly, she made a turn into district 11. The streets were deserted, the roads damp. Pipes leaked and creaked, causing Drista to cover her face with her face mask. This place gave her the creeps. She ignored the voice in the back of her head saying that it would quite possibly freak her out less if it was actually patrolled by heroes. That wasn’t what she was here for. The thread at the back of her head tugged and she took a sharp left into a dark alleyway, holding her breath in paranoia. Her footsteps were heavy on the ground, but Techno’s intuition made it clear that no danger was apparent, so she pushed forward. Taking a final right, she had reached her destination.
GlassEnds apartment complex. A somewhat stable but very run down (with love, certainly) apartment complex ran by the one and only Conner Epantsat- that also currently houses the three people she needed to find.
Finally slowing down to catch her breath, she entered the building. The woman sitting at the reception desk eyed her panting and shaking frame.
“Dear, are you lost?” she asked politely.
“No, ma’am. I just got caught up in something. I’m here to visit my friends,” Drista replied.
“I see… And do you know their room number?”
Because of the distance, Techno’s intuition began to fade from her mind. She could no longer guess their room number with accuracy.
“...No, ma’am,” she responded once again, “I had forgotten to ask when they had invited me.”
“Who are your friends, darling?” the kind lady asked, pulling out a sticky note and a pencil.
“Tommy… Tommy Innit and Tubbo Underscore. They room with Purpled Hypixel and Ranboo Beloved?”
“Oh! Oh yes, they’re situated in room 295, floor 2. I didn’t expect they would be having guests this late,” she said, scribbling down the room number on the sticky note.
“I should have come much earlier, but unfortunately I got caught up in something,” Drista carefully explained once more.
Where did she learn to lie so well?
That wasn’t important. The receptionist handed her the sticky note. “You be careful now, little miss! There are a lot of dangers that come out at night, especially in this district!”
“I’m not worried, ma’am! I trust in those that vow to keep us safe,” Drista called, waving the woman goodbye as she headed towards the stairs.
The woman offered her a kind (but strained) smile in return, but as soon as Drista turned around, Drista had dropped the smile from her face. Her expression turned stoic. Careful. Calculated. Whereas Drista may not have a power to call her own, she was smart as hell and she knew that she had no idea what she could be getting herself into as soon as she knocks on that apartment door. She could only hope that Purpled’s roommates were good people.
The elevator dinged, and Drista stepped out into the second floor. She walked down the halls, scanning the numbers presented next to each door, searching for 295. It didn’t take her very long to find it, and soon, she found herself standing outside of room 295, hesitating to knock.
She was unprepared. She didn’t plan this far ahead. What would she do if they turned her away? Drista didn’t think they would, she was sure they’d be desperate to get their friend back too. But what if they weren’t even awake? It was perhaps one forty-five in the morning by now. What would she do if they never opened the door?
Quit spiraling, she told herself, you’re doing this for a reason.
Taking a deep breath, she once again raised her hand and knocked on the door. It was silent on the other side, and she began fidgeting with her fingers.
Nothing.
Drista knocked again and waited for what felt like an eternity. Each second filled with silence caused Drista to second guess everything she had worked for. But the silence weighed heavy on the other side, and Drista was sure the door wouldn’t open. She was about to turn and walk away when suddenly the door opened, revealing a blonde-haired boy with puffy eyes.
“The fuck do you want?” he growled.
Drista almost took a step back. Almost. She did not come all this way to get intimidated by the people she needed help from. “Are you Tommy Innit?” she asked immediately.
The boy looked… taken aback. “Why the fuck are you asking?” he shot defensively.
“I know where Purpled is. And I can help you get him back.”
—--
Tommy’s eyes widened substantially at that phrase. He turned around to find Tubbo and Ranboo in similar states to him. He quickly looked at the green-eyed girl once more, and once his attention was on her, she opened her mouth.
“We can get him back. I believe we can. I just need your help too,” the girl spoke, urgency lacing her tone with every spoken word.
Tommy took a step back, distrust filling his senses. At the same time, Tubbo stepped forward. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who did not feel like the girl had good intentions. “How can we know we can trust you?” Tubbo inquired. “Who’s to say this isn’t a trap?”
The girl sucked in a breath, seemingly thinking as her green eyes angled towards the sky. She stared Tubbo dead in the eye and began forming her response. “Why the hell would I go out of my way to find you at two am in the morning if all I was here for was to capture you? Why would I claim that I would help you get your friend back-”
“For your own sick enjoyment!” Tommy pressed.
“No!? What the fuck!? I would not do that, that’s fucked up as hell!”
“Then why are you offering to help us?” Ranboo asked, sounding distressed and conflicted.
“‘Cause the hero system is fucked up!” the girl yelled, catching the three by surprise. “I don’t understand why the heroes have to arrest those who are just trying to protect the districts that they don’t! It’s like they want the population to dwindle!
Vigilantes are just trying to do their job and get by. It’s so fucking unfair that the heroes just waltz in and act like they have a right to be arresting those who fill in for the things that they never do!? Are you fucking serious!? At this point, I trust in the vigilantes more to keep me safe at night rather than the damn heroes that have full-blown defense and offense training! That’s so fucking stupid!” the girl concluded, her green eyes filled with fury and rage.
The three boys exchanged glances, silently conversing their opinions while the girl stood- rather awkwardly- at their door. Then, to all of their surprise, Ranboo spoke first. “I don’t know, guys… I think we should trust her?”
“Trust her!?” Tubbo turned around to face Ranboo. “Sure, her little main character monologue was convincing, but I still don’t know!?”
Tommy turned to Tubbo. “Tubbo, I think we should trust her.”
“Why!?”
“Because how are we supposed to get Purpled back otherwise!?”
Tubbo opened his mouth, then closed it again, instead glaring at the ground. Then, he looked up. “Do you think it’s possible to break into Pandora’s Vault-”
“Purpled isn’t in Pandora’s Vault.”
The three turned to face her. “What do you mean he’s not there!?” Ranboo asked.
The girl looked side to side before asking if she could come in. Tommy and Ranboo welcomed her in while Tubbo stood with his arms crossed, begrudgingly agreeing to let her in. “Thank you,” she said, voice tinged with concealed sarcasm. “Now listen up. There’s a cellar under the heroes' headquarters that I just found out about today. At the end of it, there’s a heavily guarded hallway with a row of cells that are meant to contain vigilantes. It’s specially enchanted so no magic or abilities- including enhanced abilities- besides those of classified heroes are allowed. Purpled is in there along with another vigilante. Rosethorn.”
“Rosethorn!?” Tommy yelled.
“Rosethorn,” she confirmed. “I want to save them. They are people before they are vigilantes.”
“Is that why she’s been MIA for a while?” Ranboo asked.
“Yes,” she responded. “That’s also why Nemesis has been away as well.”
“NEMESIS WAS CAPTURED!?” Tommy yelled.
“No, you idiot! According to Rosethorn, they’re roommates! They’re probably looking for her instead of patrolling! Same goes with The Captain- who’s Rosethorn’s other roommate.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh,” she mocked, pinching her nose bridge.
Tubbo’s eyes narrowed. “Who the fuck even are you?”
“My name is Drista,” she stated. Then she paused, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in. When Drista opened her eyes, there was a sense of security and trust in them. “Sister of the third top hero in the County, Dream.”
The three boys looked astonished and a silence settled over them like a blanket. Drista’s strong facade quickly faded into one of awkwardness and regret. The three boys kept passing around glances, conflicted on what to do. Tubbo’s glare grew hotter.
“You’re the sister of Dream, and you expect us to trust you!?” he laughed. “If anything, I trust you less-”
“Look, you asshat. I did not get into an argument with my brother nor unconsentually siphon the powers of multiple people to find you only for you to turn me away,” Drista growled. Tubbo’s eyes widened.
“Siphon- you’re a siphon!?” he spluttered.
“Surprise,” Drista scowled, shaking her hands.
“Prove it,” Tommy smirked. It wasn’t with any sort of malicious intent, no. Tommy just wanted to see it. Siphons were exceedingly rare and Tommy never thought he would be able to see one in the flesh. It was rude, sure, but forgive him for just wanting to have some sort of fun.
The three of them ignored the fact that Purpled was a total geek over siphons.
Drista rolled her eyes before agreeing. She closed her eyes and her fingers twitched. At the moment, Tommy felt a minuscule shift in his energy which would otherwise go unnoticed if he wasn’t paying close attention. Drista then opened her eyes and raised her hands, and Tommy’s power crackled to life in them.
“No way,” Ranboo whispered.
“Holy shit,” Tubbo breathed.
Tommy took a step back, breathing heavily.
“WHAT. THE. FUCK.”
“Did I prove it to you yet?” Drista snarled. “Are you going to help me or not!? We’re running out of time here!”
The three boys, once again, exchanged glances. Drista would be lying if she said it wasn’t getting on her nerves. Tommy was the first to step up. “I’m in,” he stated firmly. “We’re getting Purpled back.”
“I’m in too!” Ranboo agreed.
The three turned to Tubbo, he stood with his head down and his arms to his sides. Slowly, he looked up, a smirk present on his face.
“I’m in.”
Drista almost fell over in relief. “Thank fucking Primes- I thought you were going to say no!”
“Honestly, we’d do anything to get our friend back,” Tubbo told her. “Emotions are just high. And you’re very shady.”
“What- I am not shady! I had a perfectly good argument and evidence. You’re just paranoid.”
Tubbo rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. I’m just paranoid. Anyways, let’s hit the road-”
“No,” Drista cut him off. “Don’t be foolish, we can’t be acting off of impulse in this situation. We need a plan. We’ll leave by dawn.”
“What- What about Purpled!?”
“Rosethorn survived eight weeks in that damn cellar, Purpled can survive a night.”
All of them knew this was true. Purpled was a very capable and self-reliant person. And although Tommy and Tubbo weren’t fond to admit it, Drista was right. They needed a plan. (Ranboo always thought they needed a plan.)
“But there’s an issue. I siphoned Technoblade’s power of intuition earlier before I left to find you, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sense that something was wrong. Something’s going to happen, and I don’t want to risk it happening to Purpled and Rosethorn.”
Tommy looked over at his roommates before turning back to Drista.
“Alright, Drista. You possibly know the headquarters the best… Give us the plan.”
—--
It wasn’t hard to fall asleep on the concrete ground, no. Purpled would say he was actually quite used to it. But that night, it wasn’t just the ground that was causing him to lose sleep. There was something churning in his gut, something he couldn’t place. Something was terribly amiss. Something was about to go wrong, but he chalked it up to him just being paranoid by being away from his roommates for such a long time, and he shoved his concerns down, throwing himself into a dreamless sleep.
All became apparent when he woke up to screams in the middle of the night.
“-What the hell!? Get the fuck away from me!” someone screamed.
“Language!”
Purpled shot up at the commotion. What the hell was happening!? Nothing was the same as it was the night prior. The room was now dusted in a thick red fog, and there were eerie red vines across the walls and roof that were most definitely not there yesterday. To complete it all, there were multiple people in the room, including a boy with dark hair and a red hoodie, what looked like a cat hybrid with blood-red eyes, and… Oh shit.
The demon hybrid with a black hoodie and white trimmings that Hannah had spoken about prior. Purpled took a closer look at the boy with the dark hair. There were shiny diamonds embedded into his skin.
And the person that screamed was Hannah.
SHIT.
“You’re ready now, Hannah Rose. Do not resist. All will be well!”
Hannah looked at the hybrid with tears in her eyes. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO SKEPPY AND ANT!?” she screamed.
“The egg took them in and gave them their greatest desires in return for their loyal service,” the hybrid explained.
“No, no! That’s fucked up!”
“We can give you everything you’ve ever wanted! All you have to do is swear loyalty to the egg!”
“N-no! I won’t!”
“HANNAH!” Purpled yelled, stumbling to stand up and gripping his cell bars. All eyes turned to him.
“PURPLED!” came Hannah’s response as Hannah pushed past the demon hybrid that was trying to reach for her, rushing out of her open cell door. She was now only inches away from Purpled, the bars now the only thing in between them.
“Get her,” the demon hybrid commanded.
“NO!” Hannah screamed, trying to back away as the demon hybrid’s supposed lackeys pounced on her.
“LET GO OF HER, YOU ASSHATS!” Purpled shouted.
The demon hybrid’s eyes narrowed at his shout, glowing white eyes boring into Purpled’s skin. He stayed still, as though listening to something indirectly. Then a smile spread over the hybrid’s face. “The egg says you are ready, and you’re free to come with us.”
“No, what the hell!? I don’t want to go with you! Let go of Hannah!” Purpled yelled, the screams of Hannah still present in his ears. Hannah was fighting and struggling to break out of their grasp. Good. That would hopefully buy them time.
“You can’t reject an order from the egg,” the hybrid scolded. “Just come with us! Don’t worry, it won’t be painful in the slightest!”
“What the hell is the egg-”
Suddenly, Purpled was cut off by a noise in his head. A presence. A voice.
JOIN US, PURPLED. WE CAN MAKE GREAT USE OUT OF YOUR SKILL.
Purpled took a step back. “What the fuck is that-”
I AM THE EGG.
“Get the fuck out of my head,” Purpled commanded, taking a step back. His eyes flitted around the room, trying to make reason with how this voice was in his head.
“Language!” the demon hybrid shouted, but Purpled opted to ignore him.
DO NOT COMMAND ME. I AM BEING GENEROUS BY LETTING YOU COME WITH US AT SUCH AN EARLY STAGE.
“I DON’T WANT TO GO WITH YOU!” Purpled screamed.
WE CAN GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU’VE EVER WANTED.
“I have everything I want already, thanks!” Purpled tried.
WE CAN GIVE YOU A HOME. A REASON. A PURPOSE. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT? POWER? WE CAN GIVE YOU A POWER HIGHER THAN PHILZA MINECRAFT’S.
Purpled took a step back, unsettled. “That’s a lot to promise. I don’t want it. Get out of my head.”
YOU’RE A STUBBORN BOY, AREN’T YOU?
“Sure, whatever, yeah I am! Don’t fucking touch me!”
…GET HIM.
Purpled’s eyes widened
“PURPLED!” Hannah screamed.
With a flick of a finger, Purpled’s cell door slid open, and vines flooded into the room. Purpled stepped back, back pressed against the wall. He heard Hannah call out for him again, followed by three screams. Hannah had gotten hurt, but so did the other two.
“HANNAH!” Purpled called, rushing out of the room to try to find her. Hannah was only a few paces down the hall, vines swarming her feet as blood dripped onto the floor. There were thorn-covered vines crawling up her arms but not only was it her arm… the hands of her captors were trapped in the vines as well.
Hannah had intentionally summoned her powers to hurt her offenders, recklessly hurting herself in the process. As smart as it was, it was impulsive and would not help her in the long run. In fact, it wouldn’t help her at all.
Purpled felt a cold shoulder on his shoulder and he whipped around to find the hybrid grinning at him. Purpled’s blood ran cold. He tried breaking out of the hybrid’s grasp but tripped over the bloodvines on the ground. He looked back at Hannah to find her losing consciousness in the grasp of her captors.
“Hannah…” he tried calling out.
“Give up, Purpled! It’s no use. The egg needs your service, and you must be there to provide!”
“Get the fuck away from me!” Purpled screamed, charging up his power in his hand. It, however, backfired as his own power shot through his veins, causing white fiery pain to flood his senses and he cried out.
“Language! And stop resisting. It’s only hurting you,” the demon hybrid commanded.
“NO!” Purpled, once again, resisted, trying to stand to his feet. However, the vines immediately pulled him back down.
“Don’t stress, it’ll all be over soon… I’m sorry it had to come to these measures,” the hybrid cooed, kneeling down to be on Purpled’s eye level. Slowly, the demon rested a tight grip on Purpled’s throat, cutting off his oxygen. The hands were cold, misty, even. Purpled’s hands immediately moved to pry the hand out of his throat, however, his efforts proved futile as the strength in his muscles seeped away with every passing second. Purpled’s vision blurred, and his hands went limp at his sides.
YOU WILL BE COMING WITH US, PURPLED.
—--
“Is that clear?” Drista cried, two seconds away from banging her head on the table as the other three boys stared at the notebook in front of them.
“Can you repeat it one more time?” Tommy asked.
Drista slammed her head on the table and groaned in frustration. They had been trying to come up with a plan for two fucking hours, and Drista had underestimated how hard it would be to get the three boys to understand! She had expected them to be smart! At this point, she was sure that the boys were fucking with her. She felt Ranboo’s hand pat her back sympathetically.
“I don’t know what’s so hard about this to understand! We rush into the building, I incapacitate anyone who gets in our way, we get into the cellars and break Purpled and Rosethorn the fuck out of there!”
“Minor flaw there, bossman. There are hella fucking heroes there and four of us,” Tubbo pointed out.
“Tubbo’s right,” Ranboo agreed. “We can’t just walk in guns blazing and expect to make it out of there alive. Even if you are Dream’s sister, you’re still breaking the law. We’re going to get caught.”
Drista lifted her head up, sighing. “I’m sorry. I’ve never had to save anyone from inside the HHQ before.”
“Neither have any of us,” Tommy informed her. “We’re all trying our best.”
“I just… I don’t- I wanted to-”
“We’re going to save them,” Ranboo reassured her.
“I should be the one telling you that!” she cried.
“But we’re all inexperienced,” Tommy blatantly said.
‘We’re going to find a way.”
“We’re not going to find a way in time! We have to leave in, like, thirty minutes! This is the optimal time to make a move with the best chance of succeeding, and we’re going to waste it because we don’t even have a plan!” she yelled.
Ranboo rubbed her back. “Don’t stress yourself out, we’re going to find a way.”
“We’re all stressed,” Tubbo whispered. “We just need to find a way.”
“And we’re going to!” Tommy exclaimed certainly.
Drista wearily rested her head in her hands. “Do you have any ideas?” she asked, voice muffled by her hands.
“I have the power to clone myself,” Ranboo informed her. “Can we do anything with that?”
“That’s cool, but I don’t think so. Magic doesn’t work in the cellars and trying to clone yourself might cause some bad repercussions.”
“I can blow shit up?”
“If you use that in the cellar… I don’t want to think about what could happen to you…” Drista quaked.
Tubbo gulped.
“Is there an emergency exit or literally any entrance beside the main one?” Tommy asked.
Drista thought about it for a moment. “Yes. There’s an underground entrance from the back, but it has to be opened from the inside.”
“Is it guarded?”
“Not heavily around this time.”
Tommy thought for a moment. “Does anyone have invisibility in the HHQ?”
“404 does.”
“Can you siphon multiple people’s powers at once?”
“...Yes.”
Tommy smirked. “Boys- and lady- I’ve come up with a plan.”
“Spit it out,” Tubbo ordered.
“Drista, you’re going to have to do all the heavy work here,” Tommy warned.
“That’s fine.”
“Okay. Drista, you’ll have to siphon both 404 and Tubbo’s powers at the same time. You’re going to have to explode part of the HHQ building, preferably the main entrance. Hopefully, it’ll draw the attention of most in the building.” Drista slowly nodded. “Don’t stop to admire your work, or regret it, depends on how you feel. We’ll be waiting at the secret entrance. You’ll take out any guards that are guarding the entrance and let us in!”
“What next?” Tubbo inquired.
“Well, we break out Purpled and Rosethorn, of course?”
“What if we get caught?” Ranboo asked.
“Then we fight!”
“What if we lose?”
Tommy faltered. “Now, now, settle down with the ‘what if’s,” he chuckled nervously. “In a perfect world, everything will go according to plan.”
“If it was a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to be doing this in the first place,” Drista deadpanned.
Tommy looked at her. “We can try. And hope. And do all we can. I don’t know!”
“Something’s going to go wrong, I can feel it,” Drista shook her head. “But we have nothing else to go off of, so Tommy’s plan it is.”
“Objection!” Tubbo snapped.
“This isn’t court, man!” Tommy yelled.
“Shut up! Anyways, how are we going to let Purpled and Rosethorn anyways!? We have no escape plan!”
“We have an epic fight scene, duh!”
“That’s not going to work!” Ranboo interjected. “And it doesn’t even tell us how to open the cells anyways.”
“We can probably find someone with the key- wait, what time is it?” Drista asked hurriedly.
“4:23, why?”
“FUCK, we gotta go! If we don’t go now, Purpled won’t be back another night and we don’t have that time!” Drista said, hurriedly.
“But- our plan!” Ranboo stammered.
“We’ll… figure something out as we go!” Drista began running towards the exit as she gestured for the others to follow.
Tubbo sighed. “This is going to go to shit.”
“We have to try, big man,” Tommy said sadly.
“Then, we’ll try.”
“For Purpled and Rosethorn.”
“For Purpled and Rosethorn.”
“For the greater good of everyone!”
“So be it!”
The rest of them stood up with haste, sprinting out the door following Drista. Their footsteps pounded through the halls and they rushed down the stairs, no time to take the elevator. The kind receptionist called out to them as they ran past
“Hey- Kids! Are you okay? Where are you going at this time!?”
“Sorry, Ms. Clementine! We’re going on a rescue mission!” Ranboo yelled in response.
“Wha- A rescue mission!?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“I- Okay!? Be careful!”
“Thank you! Please don’t worry about us!” Ranboo waved. As she watched them exit the building, Ms. Clementine sunk down in her seat, completely and utterly perplexed.
“Crazy children,” she muttered under her breath with a small smile on her face. “Stay safe and don’t do anything stupid.”
Just outside the building, Tommy sneezed.
“Bless you.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Allergy season?”
“No, I don’t get allergies all that often.”
“Huh.”
“Strange. Oh well! Let’s go save a bitch and an epic girlboss woman!” Tommy yelled, breaking out into a full run now. The other three increased their speeds to keep up.
Ranboo matched Tommy’s pace. “Purpled’s not a bitch?”
“Yeahh, sure he’s not. And Rosethorn isn’t a complete and total girlboss.”
“I’m… not going to ask,” Drista stated tiredly.
“Hah- Wait. Drista, where the hell are we headed to?”
Drista looked around, slowing down. “Shit,” she whispered.
“Are we-“
“No, we are not lost!”
“You didn’t think this far ahead, did you?” Tubbo asked.
“That’s not true!” It totally was true. And it’s been true for the past three hours. “Just- wait here for a moment.”
Silently, Drista reached out as far as she possibly could for Technoblade’s powers. She grasped at strands that wiggled and fell flat but eventually, her awareness sharpened as she opened her eyes with the path to the HHQ engraved in her mind.
“Did you just-“ Ranboo started.
“Yes, I did. Let's get moving!” Drista yelled, taking the lead and sprinting off in the direction that her- or Technoblade’s- intuition guided her to the HHQ.
“Sharp right,” she warned, cutting the corner into yet- you guessed it- another dark alleyway! Behind her, she heard Ranboo momentarily trip over his own legs.
“Drista, I don’t like the look of this alleyway!” Tommy called.
“Nothing bad will happen, trust me!”
“We’re trusting you, alright!” Tubbo yelled. Ironic, seeing as he was the one who trusted her the least in the beginning. Drista rolled her eyes.
“Left!”
The three of them followed her, much more coordinated than the previous attempt. The rest of the run went smoothly, with Drista using Technoblade’s intuition to guide them out of any danger and to the HHQ. With Techno’s enhanced intuition, Drista’s stomach felt queasy and she couldn’t help but feel as though something was wrong. Very, very wrong. So much more wrong than before.
“Drista?” Tubbo asked, resting a hand on her unsteady shoulder. “You okay? You aren’t looking too hot.”
“Fuck you, I’m always hot,” she joked. “No, but seriously. Something’s wrong and I can’t figure out what it is?”
“Shit…” Tommy breathed out.
“Why- What’s wrong!?”
“No- It’s nothing! But if you have Technoblade’s, the absolute king’s, intuition, and you say something’s wrong… Then that’s really not good!”
“Is that supposed to be an understatement?”
“…I sure fucking hope not.”
It went silent. Then Drista sighed. “The HHQ is 5 minutes away, let's get there now and worry about anything else later.”
“We’re severely underprepared,” Tubbo stressed.
“But we’re going to be fine,” Drista pushed.
“…A bit hard to believe, but okay.”
“Don’t forget the whole reason why we are doing this.”
“I would never.”
“I could never,” Ranboo muttered.
Everyone went silent, a seed of a mission planted in their mind, something akin to a ticking time bomb that would test their strength and dedication.
It was a full fucking rescue mission.
And they would be damned if they didn’t rescue some vigilantes.
Or in Tommy’s words, a bitch and an absolute girlboss.
The building came into view and Drista sucked in a deep breath, heart beginning to pump.
“Oh, Primes… I’m not ready,” she whispered.
Tommy placed a hand on her shoulder, eyes fierce. “You are! You know you are!”
“I’m going to defy my own brother!”
“You’re listening to your own heart!”
“We could all get arrested because of this…”
“It’s for the greater good.”
Drista turned to face Tommy, uncertainty flashing through her green eyes. “The greater good?”
“The greater good!” Tubbo chimed in.
“For the greater good!” Ranboo joined as well.
“Y-yeah! For the greater good!” Drista cheered, pumping her fists in the air.
Tommy clapped her back. “There you go! Now let's save our family!”
Drista, finality rushing through her veins, guided the other three boys over to the secret entrance, concealed through bushes and lush greenery.
“Where are the cameras?” Tubbo asked.
“There are none for some strange reason. Everyone just relies on Technoblade.”
“Wouldn’t Technoblade be able to snuff us out then?”
“If he thinks something is wrong, it’ll be the explosion at the entrance.”
“Are you ready?”
“…As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Once the three boys were in position and ready for Drista to allow them in, she got to work. Swiftly, she reached out for 404’s power and tugged at his energy flow, feeling herself become invisible in front of her crime partners.
“Woah,” was all they had to say.
Drista smirked, although none of them could see it, and silently walked over to the main entrance of the building. She pretended not to notice the way her hands physically shook as she mentally dipped into Tubbo’s energy and pulled out his power, fingertips crackling with energy. Slowly, she readied herself, shifting into a wide stance with her fingertips outstretched towards the support beam that supported the whole entrance door.
Here goes everything….
She shot out Tubbo’s combustion power and allowed the volt to lodge itself into the support beam, causing quite a spontaneous explosion. Quickly, she stumbled back in fear of getting squashed under the rubble and fucking up their entire plan. Just like she had suspected, Technoblade was already turning the corner and inspecting the scene, having already sensed the issue before it arose. And just like Tommy had planned, most of the occupants on the first floor, including her brother, were rushing towards the commotion, wondering what the hell that explosion was.
Perfect.
Drista didn’t have any time to feel regret as she rushed past the entrance, flinging bits of rubble here and there to mask her footsteps, and barely registered running past her brother as she booked it to the secret tunnel entrance, letting 404’s power fade from her body. She quickly entered the code and watched the door slide open, revealing the shivering boys outside.
“Fucking finally! It’s freezing out here,” Tommy muttered.
“That explosion was huge!” Tubbo whisper-yelled.
“Shut up unless you wanna get caught!” Drista hissed, beckoning them to follow her.
They sealed their mouths shut, to say the least. Quietly, and very visibly, they made their way to the HHQ cellars. The way to the cellar was void of heroes which lifted up their spirits significantly. They might have a chance!
Drista inhaled sharply, siphoning her brother’s power and flinging the door open. They ran down the steps and Drista flung into action, grabbing the two guards at the entrance at the same time and sending a shock of green electricity through their veins. Tommy, familiarized with the attack, slapped a hand over his mouth and shut his eyes to avoid seeing him be taken again in his mind.
Purpled was on the other side of that door.
Drista bent down and snatched a set of keys from the unconscious guard’s belt. “Well, this should solve our issues with the door.”
“What are you waiting for!? Open it!!” Tommy yelled.
Drista inserted the key into the lock, twisted it, and pulled the door open. They all shuffled in, anticipation filling their bodies.
“Purpled!?” Ranboo shouted.
But nothing was the same.
The door shut behind them.
Drista’s stomach dropped.
A red fog coated the top part of a room, thin yet unsettling. There was no doubt that this fog had covered the entirety of the room no more than an hour ago. Not only that but there were tiny little red vines- were they breathing!?- snaking across the floors in the corner of the room.
But the worst had already happened.
There were two cell doors open.
No one else was there.
Not Purpled, not Rosethorn. They were gone. Disappeared without a trace; besides from the obvious anomalies in the room. It was cold. All eyes turned to Drista, who was currently frozen in shock.
“Drista…?” Ranboo whispered.
“Tubbo stepped forward. “Is this some kind of sick trick!? Did you truly drag us all the way here just to get us captured!?”
“N-no, I would nev-!”
Tubbo stalked towards her slowly. Tommy jumped in to pull him back before he could lunge at Drista. “Then why the FUCK is there no one here!?”
“I-I don’t know!”
“Drista…” Tommy started, uncharacteristic betrayal seeping into his voice. “Did you plan this?”
“No… no! They were just here when I left, they- They went to sleep! And-“
“WE FUCKING TRUSTED YOU!” Tubbo yelled.
Drista stepped back, back bumping against the door. “I never-“
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WOULD TURN YOUR BACK ON US LIKE THIS-“
Drista felt a fiery rage fill her. “Okay, I DID NOT just explode the fucking entrance of MY BROTHER’S workplace just so you can go on and accuse me of tricking you just so we could capture you!” she yelled.
“Don’t forget your brother is the reason why we're here in the first place.”
“Now, now, gents-“ Tommy tried.
Ranboo couldn’t even open his mouth. “Tub-“
Tubbo swirled around in Tommy’s arms, shoving him away. “Why were you and Ranboo so quick to trust her!?”
“I did nothing wrong!?” Drista yelled.
“Oh, shut up!”
Drista was heartbroken. Tommy saw her face, immediately understanding that she was not lying. “Tubbo!” he shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. Tubbo’s eyes widened. “Drista’s telling the truth!”
“What!?”
“Do you remember when we were talking about how we felt that something was going to go wrong!? THIS is that something!” Ranboo walked over to where Drista was standing, mere seconds away from crumbling, and engulfed her in a hug. “Drista did nothing wrong! She tried so fucking hard to save Purpled, we have no right to be yelling at her for trying!
“I’m so sorry…” Drista whispered into Ranboo’s shoulders.
“You tried,” Ranboo reassured her. “What if they escaped by themselves?”
“That’s not it though, is it?”
Ranboo didn’t have the strength to argue.
Tubbo looked at Tommy, anger dying out. “I just-“
“I get it. You miss him. We all do, Tubbo. You needed someone to blame, and Drista was just there at the right time. But you’ve got to understand, it’s not her fault. If anything, I should have tried harder to-“
“Don’t blame yourself,” Drista cut in.
Tommy shut his mouth and dropped his hands back to his side. Tubbo turned around to face Drista. “Look, Drista. I- I just… I don’t know, I’m s-“
“Wait,” Ranboo interrupted. All eyes turned to him. “…Someone’s coming.”
Everyone straightened themselves immediately, rushing away from the door and towards the back of the hallway.
“-swear I heard something down here…” someone muttered to themselves as their footsteps down the stairs echoed into the cellar.
Drista paled. The rest’s eyes widened, and they all turned to Drista. At the look on her face, they knew that this was no trap. They were just screwed.
The door swung open.
And Dream stormed in, powers blazing at his hands.
Dream and Drista locked eyes, even behind Dream’s mask.
Drista stepped back, back against the wall in fear.
“No, nonono, this can’t be happening…”
Tommy turned to look at her. “Drista?”
Dream’s head snapped towards him, aura furious.
“Drista! Who the fuck are these people!?”
“Dream, I-“
“ANSWER ME!” he bellowed, sending a bolt of electricity right next to her head. Carefully calculated to where it wouldn’t be entirely near her, but close enough to let her feel the heat. A warning shot. Drista’s breath hitched in her throat. Ranboo, Tubbo, and Tommy stepped in front of the cowering girl.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“The family of the boy you kidnapped,” Tommy spat.
“Wysteria?”
“Who else, dipshit!?” Tubbo yelled.
“Okay? Then where the fuck is he?” Dream asked, tone icy and stoic. It sent chills down Ranboo’s spine. Even Tubbo wavered, but the passion in Tommy’s eyes was enough to keep them steady.
“I don’t know, Dream. Where the fuck did you put him!?” Tommy demanded.
Dream went silent. “So… You really don’t know where he is?”
“…No,” Ranboo wearily confirmed.
Dream’s head angled towards the small red vines in the corner of the room. “…Shit.”
“What!?”
Dream shook his head. “Fuck- never mind- okay. Look, I have all of you right where I want you. I could easily arrest all of you right now! It would be too easy.” Dream laughed. “But I won't,” the three of them exchanged glances, “Not until I have a talk with my sister.”
Drista was pin-drop silent behind them. Her gaze hardened.
She would not be afraid.
She was following her heart.
It was for the greater good.
“Like hell if we’re letting you through us!” Tubbo shouted.
Dream’s aura grew icy. “Fine then, have it your way.” They were given no time to react before Dream had raised his arms and sent two wide bolts of lighting toward the three. Drista lunged, shoving Tommy out of the way- causing all three of them to fall- and raised her hands up to her side.
“DRISTA!” Tommy screamed.
The lightning conducted towards them, slamming itself into either of her hands. The force of the impact made her slide back. Her hands were smoking, but she had absorbed the lighting, and she remained standing.
Dream tilted his head. “Drista.”
Drista smirked, breathing heavily. “Dream.”
“Why are you doing this!?” he questioned angrily.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you!”
“Drista,” Dream warned, power whirring to life in his hands.”You’re getting ballsy here.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me.”
Dream laughed, a sickening sound that was so unlike the brother she knew. “You’re right. I wouldn’t hurt you, but I would hurt them.”
“NO!-“
But Drista was too late.
Dream had lifted his hands and shot out two bolts of electricity; one directed at Tommy and Ranboo on the left and one at Tubbo on the right. Their agonizing screams pierced through Drista’s ears who was rendered unable to help as the lightning bore through their skin. Drista felt the heat. This type of lightning did not aim to kill but to torture. Drista would not have that.
“Dream, STOP!” she screamed, holding out her right hand and sending her brother’s own power towards him, hitting him straight in the chest. The bolt did not affect him, but it did give enough impact to make him cease fire. The whimpers of her friends in her ears made her turn to her brother in a rage. “What the FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?”
Dream threw his arms out in exasperation. “I should be asking you that!”
“You’re going too far!”
“Oh, I’m going too far!? I’m not the one breaking the fucking laws for some random ass people I’ve never even met in my life before!” Dream’s power crackled to life as he raised his hands again, but Drista was tired of him harming those who did not deserve it.
“STOP!” she roared, sending a bolt of power directly at him. Dream, despite being a top hero, was unable to block it. The lightning directed itself at his face and Drista shrieked after realizing what she had just done.
But the damage had already been committed.
Dream’s mask cracked, slowly breaking apart before falling to the floor in a pile of dust. Drista looked up, horror-filled eyes meeting those of her brother. Instead of being met with rage, anger, and fear, Drista was met with terror and betrayal. Dream stood there, eyes looking down at the shattered mask at his feet before looking at Drista. No one moved. No one breathed. The identity of the third-highest hero was revealed to a bunch of vigilantes at the hands of his own sister.
“D-Dream, I- I didn’t-
“You- I can’t believe you would do this. You would go this far. For what?” There was no anger in Dream’s voice. Just betrayal. Drista’s throat constricted. “After everything we’ve gone through together- after everything I’ve done for you! And what- you were willing to throw all that away for some vigilantes that you didn’t give a damn about before!?”
“No- that’s not!-”
“Drista, I almost threw everything away for you just so you could stay here as a siphon! I would have thrown everything away for you! I fought tooth and nail just so they wouldn’t take you away, only to find out that this is what you do with the power that I had fought to protect,” Dream spat out. Drista allowed tears to fill her eyes. “I always thought I raised you right. I never- I never thought you would go out of your way to destroy the property I devoted my life to and break the laws that we vowed we’d follow! And for what!? Enlighten me, please! What- What was so important that you had to go off and completely throw away everything I gave to you!?”
It was hard to be mad. Drista wanted to be mad- why couldn’t she be mad!?
“I wanted to fix all the wrongs you did! Morally, do you seriously think what you’re doing is right!?-” Dream cut her off.
“I was doing my fucking job!” he cried. “I don’t know what you want from me! I was working, and I was fighting, and I was doing all this shit to give you a better life! Just to bring you food on a table in a nice apartment where we would be living comfortably and you would never need to worry about where you’re going to find your next meal or when your fucking parents were going to come home because I tried to make sure you never had to worry about why you never had a mom or a dad!”
Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo turned away respectively.
Dream bent his head and clenched his fist. “I know it’s wrong. And I know,” he forced out, “that I should just quit. But it’s much more complicated than that. If I leave the hero agency right now, I would put so many people in danger. This includes you and I and G- 404 and Sapnap. Not to mention countless civilians. Does that answer your question?”
Drista’s tears overflowed, and she quickly wiped them away with a brush of her hand. That wasn’t enough to stop them from coming. “I never knew…”
“Of course, you didn’t. There’s a reason why I never told you.”
It went silent between them; an unspoken apology flashing through the air. One that needed to be said and exchanged privately, without an audience.
“I’m… I’m not going to back down though. I’m going to go through with this plan, whether I have to get through you or n-not,” Drista choked.
Dream looked at her, before bowing his head and chuckling. A sad, pain-filled chuckle. A bead of sweat dripped from Drista’s face. Dream looked up with pride in his eyes, taking Drista by surprise. “I knew you wouldn’t stop, no matter what I said, yet it’s only hitting me now.”
“What…”
“We have a lead as to where Skeppy and Ant were taken that night they disappeared from the cellar without a trace.” Drista gasped at the sudden information and Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo were much more attentive. Dream continued, “As soon as I saw the vines in the corner of the room, I had no doubt that Rosethorn and Wysteria were possibly taken to the same place.” Dream drew something out of his pocket and threw it at Drista who caught it in one fluid motion. It was a card with a set of coordinates on it. “Those are the coordinates to the warehouse we tracked down. It might have what you're looking for. Who you're looking for.” Drista’s eyes widened.
“Dream…?” she whispered.
Dream continued. He pushed his cloak to the side, revealing a belt with an assortment of vials that all contained different liquids. He unclipped three vials that contained a bright red liquid. “Take these,” he said, tossing each one to the three boys respectively. “They’re health potions. Drink them and it should undo the damage I- I did to you,” Dream finished.
They looked at the bottles wearily. Drista watched them with anticipation. Tommy was the first to uncork the vial and down it. Suddenly, the burns on his skin- including the one on his hands from the chase- faded, leaving only pink fleshy tissue. Tubbo and Ranboo gingerly followed after that.
“Dream-”
“Drista, we are going to have a major talk when you come back, but for now…” Dream paused in his movements, sucking in a breath. “Go… Go be the person I could never be. I’m counting on you. Sorry I can’t go with you. I believe in you to get the job done”
“Y-you’re not going to turn us in?”
Dream turned to Drista with a sad smile. He bent down to pick up the pieces of his mask- shattered beyond repair. He turned around and began walking towards the exit of the cellar?
“Dream?” Drista prompted one last time.
Dream stopped, but didn’t turn around. “What the corporation doesn’t know won’t hurt them. I’ll buy you enough time to get out of the HHQ. Take a right from the secret entrance and you’ll find a small room with swords.” With those final words, Dream sprinted out of the cellar. Distantly, Drista heard her brother shout something, voice laced with urgency, confusing her as he had sounded so broken in the conversation they just had. There was the sound of shuffling footsteps and something clicked in Drista’s mind.
“Shit- this is what he meant! We have to go now!”
“Oh, fuck-”
They quickly ran out of the basement, running in the opposite direction of the commotion.
“I swear I fucking saw something!” Drista heard her brother scream from the front. She knew he was doing this for her. She knew he did everything for her. Drista stomped down the guilt that arose in her chest
She took the right, the others following. There was a door. It was unguarded, so Drista pushed right past. Inside, just like Dream had said, were a variety of swords. All were different weights and sizes but made with the same material. It was no doubt these were either used to spar or for interns who have not yet mastered the art of fighting. Drista took a long but thin one, weighing it in her hands. Once she deemed it good enough, she moved out of the way so the others could choose theirs. Tubbo chose a sharp cutlass, Tommy a flame-bladed sword, and Ranboo one’s similar to Drista albeit thicker.
They ran out of the room and back to the secret exit. Drista hastily typed in the code with shaky fingers. The door opened and they ran out of the building and into the clearing about 145 paces away from the building. They bent over and rested their hands on their knees, panting. Tommy almost fell down, Tubbo did fall down ironically. The swords were heavy in their grip, but couldn’t have been made with anything better than iron.
“So… That was something,” Tubbo said.
“Still didn’t get Purpled back,” Tommy muttered.
Ranboo stepped forward and placed a hand on Drista’s shoulders. “Drista… Are- Are you okay?”
She looked at him with ten different emotions shining in her eyes. “I wish I was. I am right now, for the sake of the mission, but- When I go home… Fuck… Everything’s going to be so different! Shit- I really screwed this one up-”
“Drista,” Ranboo started, grabbing her shoulders and looking her in the eyes. A comical sight as Ranboo was rather tall in comparison. “Everything’s going to be fine. Family comes first. Dream will come to forgive. Remember what we’re here for now. Your brother is allowing us to do this. He’s letting you go. He loves you, and you have nothing to fear. He even said he would never hurt you!”
Drista stared at the card in her hands before steeling her expression and nodding. “You’re right… Thank you,” she whispered.
Ranboo drew her in for a quick hug.
“Are we ready to hit the road!?” she yelled, catching the attention of Tommy and Tubbo.
She received a chorus of ‘yes!’ in return.
“Alright, who knows how to read coordinates?”
Tubbo smirked. “It’s my fucking time to shine, BABYYY-”
Needless to say, no one knew how exactly, but Tubbo managed to get them there in record time. Yet now, they were standing in front of a warehouse. A really ominous, creepy-ass warehouse. Suddenly, everyone was on guard.
“So Purpled is actually in there?” Ranboo whispered.
“Yup. I can actually feel it this time,” Drista responded.
“This is quite possibly the last thing I expected on my list of places to find Purpled in,” Tubbo deadpanned.
“I don’t know, man. This is pretty high on my list,” Tommy joked, but even that fell flat.
Drista gulped. “Well, I suppose there’s no point in delaying the inevitable-”
“Wait, we’re just going to walk through the front door!?” Tubbo screeched.
“I mean… We don’t have a plan?”
“But-” Tubbo stuttered.
Tommy cleared his throat. “We’ll be fine, big man! This time we actually have our powers, plus weapons!”
“Well-” Tubbo sighed. “Allow me.”
He ran over to the entrance door, tugging on the large handle. When it didn’t budge, he felt his palms glowing, the heat of his power running over his skin. He grabbed on the handle once more and blew it to bits. The door swung open easily after that.
“IN! NOW!” he yelled.
The air was dense in the warehouse. A thick red fog dusted over the entire property, obscuring their vision and laboring their breathing. The small vines they had seen in the corner of the cellar were also present, but they were also ten times bigger and definitely moving. Breathing. Alive. They snaked all across the floor, up the walls, and through the ceiling. There was barely anywhere to stand without stepping on one of the vines.
“Who are you?” a voice echoed in front of them. It was almost robotic, too stringy to be authentic. They looked up. It was a boy with dark hair and tan skin. There were shiny blue diamonds in his skin- contrasting with the deep red of his hoodie. The man narrowed his eyes. “BAD! We have intruders!”
Suddenly, a large demon hybrid with glowing white eyes, presumably Bad, walked out from a door leading into the main part of the warehouse. There was a glowing purple axe in his hand.
There was no way this would be settled peacefully.
They raised their weapons as Bad scrutinized them. “Three vigilantes, all with powers,” Bad observed, “and one siphon…”
Drista’s breath hitched.
“I’ll take that one. You and Ant can handle the rest.”
“What-”
Bad ran over the vines like they were nothing, scooping up Drista before hitting her with the blunt part of his axe. Drista was out like a light in Bad’s arms. How had she come so far only to be defeated so easily? Bad ran into a different room.
“DRISTA!!” Tommy screamed.
They were gone in a flash. There was no time to waste as the man with the red hoodie raised up a diamond sword, swinging down on them. Ranboo was quick to parry. Just then, a cat hybrid had entered the room, also wielding a diamond sword.
“Tommy, find Purpled. Tubbo, find Drista! I’ll handle these two,” Ranboo gritted through his teeth, cloning himself and surrounding his enemies.
“Are you sure!?”
“Yes, I can handle this!”
“Right then, bossman! Stay safe!” Tubbo yelled in reply, and Tommy and Tubbo split up. Maybe if they had more time, Tubbo would have insisted on fighting alongside Ranboo, but time was ticking. It was an hourglass, sand slowly trickling to the bottom with each passing second. It was a clock whose hands moved far too quickly. It was a boy who was being pulled away, away, away, from his family. It was a girl who was being held back, back, back, from her friends. And it was their job. Their job to get them back. To break the hourglass. To stop the clock. To get back the boy. And to bring back the girl.
Tommy ran to the main part of the warehouse and Tubbo ran to where Bad had gone. The air was much denser here than it was at the front. The vines were thicker, and it was much hotter. Tommy quickly found the reasoning for this, as in the corner of the warehouse was a giant fucking red egg, pulsing. And by giant, he meant fucking massive. All the vines, Tommy found, were connected to it, as though it was a beating heart and the vines were the arteries. Tommy could throw up.
He looked up to find even more vines on the ceiling. It was so dense that Tommy was sure there was no open room anywhere on the ceiling. Even worse, there was a girl with long, curly, brunette hair strung up by the strings, not unlike a puppet. Tommy paled. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the girl was Rosethorn. The vines curled around her, securing her, as she dangled from the roof, face hidden by her unkempt hair. Tommy wanted to vomit.
“Rosethorn…” he whispered. His words echoed around the room.
“It seems like we have a visitor!” a voice shouted. Tommy froze. He slowly turned to a stack of crates where the voice had projected from and gasped in horror. There, perched at the top of the stack, was Purpled. Purpled’s eyes were red and he had a sadistic smile stretched across his face. His signature purple hoodie was covered in thinner bloodvines- in fact, most of Purpled was covered in bloodvines. It made Tommy’s skin crawl.
That- That was not Purpled.
Was it Purpled?
“Tommy Innit,” Purpled smiled, voice weirdly distorted.
“Purpled.”
“I’m glad you found me, honestly, I was beginning to get worried that I’d have to go out to find you,” he stated, jumping down from the stack and landing in front of Tommy.
Tommy stepped back. “Why- why would you want to go and find me?”
“So you can join me, of course!” Purpled laughed.
“...What?”
“...So you can join me. Yknow, serve the egg with me?”
“The egg- the fuck is the egg!?”
“That,” Purpled pointed to the giant egg in the corner of the room, “is the egg. And you will join and serve it.”
Oh. Tommy should have figured. “No- what the fuck!? I’m not going to join you! Look- look at yourself!”
“I think I look fine.”
“Yeah!? Well, look at Rosethorn!” Tommy yelled, pointing up to the entanglement hanging from the ceiling. “What did you do to her!?”
Purpled looked up, narrowing his red eyes. “She’s… taking a bit longer than normal. Something- or someone, is blocking her connection from the egg.”
“Connection- what?”
“I-”
“Are you being mind-controlled!?”
“What? No. You’re being silly. It’s just that… sometimes, some people need a push in the right direction. Hah, I know I did. I needed many, many pushes. Yet the egg was gracious and patient and gave me all the time I needed to join its side. It will gladly do the same for you, Tommy, just give in.”
“No!”
“No? What do you mean no? Why are you still refusing!? Tommy- The egg can give you anything- everything you ask for! Why would you deny that!?”
“Oh yeah, and so what did the egg offer you that was so great that you had to accept, huh? Money? Power?”
“Well, I admit I was very, very stubborn at first, but quickly, I warmed up to the egg. The egg offered me, like you said, money and power-”
“You never cared about money before.”
“-Not only that but also a family. A place of security. People I can trust to never stab me in the back,” Purpled informed him, mouth twisting into a smile.
Those words pierced Tommy’s chest. He gripped his sword tighter. “What- were we not enough!? We are a family, Purpled! We’ve fought through everything together!”
“Then don’t fight me on this, Tommy! We can be a family like we were before! We’re a community! Me, You, Tubbo, Ranboo, Skeppy, Ant, Hannah, and Bad! We’re all a family! Just accept my offer and we can be a family again!”
Tommy paused in his tracks. Hannah? Who the fuck was-
Rosethorn.
Hannah was Rosethorn. Purpled had just spilled Rosethorn’s identity. That- that’s not Purpled. He would never- He would never give up someone’s identity like that.
“Bitch-”
“Don’t call me a bitch,” Purpled commanded, raising his head high. Okay, yeah. This was not Purpled. The Purpled Tommy knew would call him a bitch back, or some other witty quip. This was… This was not Purpled.
So where was Purpled?
“Just join me. Tommy, please, the egg could give you everything you ever need. Money, power, family, security. Whatever, I’ll give it to you! Just, please, Tommy! Take my hand!” Purpled pleaded, outstretching his hand
Purpled sounded so… desperate. Tommy was conflicted, and he began to breathe heavily.
“Purpled,” he had to remind himself that this was not Purpled, “I-I can’t. What about Tubbo and Ranboo!?”
“We can convince them, together! We can go back to the way things were, the way they’ve always been! Please, just follow me, join the egg!”
Tommy could take his hand and feel the embrace of his brother. Tommy almost took it, hand drifting towards the familiar scarred one of his family. But Tommy would not forget that Purpled- wasn’t… himself.
Tommy swiftly retracted his hand. “No.”
“No- No!?”
“No, I’m not going to join you.”
“W- Tommy-“
“You’re not the real Purpled,” Tommy spat.
“Wha-“
“Save it. This is some sort of sick mind control thing you’re doing. I know this is not MY Purpled. So where the fuck is he!?”
A sick smile spread across Purpled’s face- the egg’s soul, but that was still Purpled’s face. “Aww, what gave it away?” Purpled laughed.
“You act nothing like him,” Tommy scowled. “You’ll never be him.”
Purpled paused, his dumb smile falling off of his face into one of sheer annoyance. “He’s fighting, you know.”
“What…?”
“I can feel him. He’s trying to resist.” The smile crept back onto his face, making Tommy shiver. “It’s a shame he can’t, though. It’s almost like a game of cat and mouse.”
“Stop talking.”
“Fine. You know what? I want to stir the pot a little bit. Here, talk to him.”
There was a sound, and suddenly, Purpled was crashing forward, eyes closed. Tommy moved to catch him before he personally introduced his face to the concrete floors. When Purpled opened his eyes, Tommy gasped when he found out they were normal. Purpled’s expression turned into one of horror. He stabilized himself and gripped both of Tommy’s shoulders.
“Tommy- Tom, get the fuck out of here!” Purpled yelled.
“What-”
“You need to leave! Go! Get out!”
Tommy laughed nervously. “Purpled, I’m not going to leave you.”
Large tears streamed down Purpled’s face, taking Tommy by surprise. “Tommy. I am not myself. You have to leave. I-I could kill you, Tommy, please-”
Tommy hugged Purpled tightly. “I already said, I’m not leaving you!”
Purpled gripped on tightly, sobbing into Tommy’s shoulders. Tommy couldn’t breathe. He had never heard his brother cry like this before. He was distraught. “Please, Tommy, please! I’m begging you, leave! Get Tubbo and Ranboo and fucking get out of here!”
“I can’t, Purpled! We’re not going to leave without you.”
“Tommy- T- Tom- I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to kill you. You have to run. You have to go. Please-”
“No.”
“Tommy!” he cried. “Fucking listen to me! For once in your goddamn life, listen to me!” Purpled broke out of the embrace, gripping Tommy by his shoulders once more. Purpled stared at Tommy through his tears, his purple eyes showing despair and desperation. “Go. Get out. Burn this place to the fucking ground.”
“What about you!?”
“Forget about me. Move on.”
Tommy’s eyes widened, feeling his own tears prick at his eyes. “N-no! You know we can’t do that! Why the fuck are you even suggesting this!?”
“Because I care about you more than I ever cared about myself.”
“Why- why would you say that!? You sound like you believe we’re going to leave you behind! Purpled, this is fucked up! We’re- We’re in this together! If you really had my best interests at heart, you’d know that this would completely break all of us- break me.”
“Any broken heart can heal with time, but you can’t heal if you’re fucking dead.”
“Purpled-”
“TOMMY!” Purpled sobbed. “JUST GO! IT’S COMING BACK! I- I CAN’T-”
“Pur-”
“LEAVE! GET OUT AND DON’T LOOK BACK.”
“I’m not going to leave! I already said-”
Purpled hugged him tightly. “I love you, Tommy. Tell Tubbo and Ranboo that I love them too, and that I’m going to terribly miss you all.”
“ARE YOU GIVING UP!?-”
Purpled shoved Tommy back, hard. He immediately collapsed on his hands and knees, letting out a blood-curdling scream that seemingly shook the walls. Tommy’s tears slid down his face, as Purpled slowly arose with his head bent. When he looked up, it shattered Tommy’s soul. His eyes were red once more.
Purpled wiped his tears. Well, the egg wiped Purpled’s tears. “Ugh- you humans are so sentimental. It’s gross. Even when we trying to convert him, he wouldn’t shut the fuck up about how ‘i aLrEaDy hAvE eVeRyThInG i WaNt” and “yOu WiLl nEvEr bE mY fAmiLy.’ That’s why he was so resistant, and that’s why I’m going to punish him,” the egg’s cold voice was back.
“Punish- how?”
“By doing the one thing that he tried preventing, so, so, hard,” Purpled smiled.
Tommy’s stomach dropped as Purpled pulled out a dagger from behind his back. The iron sword he wielded felt heavy in his grip. Purpled began slowly stalking toward him. Tommy raised his weapon.
“You’re not going to hurt him,” Purpled smiled. “You know that. He’s your ‘brother’. Not that I understand that, since he has no family.”
Tommy’s sword shook in his grip, but he stayed silent.
“On the contrary, he has no other choice but to hurt you. He could kill you right now and never forgive himself. As long as I’m in control, he’ll be forced to suffer years and years of pain and a neverending cycle of having your blood on his hands.”
“But it would be your actions!” Tommy objected.
“But it would still be on his hands. I could kill you and immediately give him back control. What do you think would happen? What do you think he’ll say when he approaches Tubbo and Ranboo? What do you think he’ll do to himself?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Tommy snarled.
Purpled only smirked, the knife in his hands gleaming.
“You brought a knife to a sword fight.”
“As I said, you’re not going to hurt him.”
Tommy’s eyes flickered to the egg in the corner of the room. “But I can hurt you.”
Tommy sped towards the egg while Purpled lunged for him, sending both of them tumbling to the ground; Purpled with the high ground. He raised his dagger up and brought it down, giving Tommy barely any time to parry it with his sword. Tommy felt his power coursing through his veins, the adrenaline waking it up. After charging it up, he sent a bolt directly at Purpled’s chest, causing him to fly off of him and crash towards a wall. Horror filled Tommy’s gut as purple filled Purpled’s eyes before turning red again.
“You- You’re a sick bastard-” Tommy stuttered.
“There’s nothing wrong with letting him feel a little pain,” the egg said simply, standing up and dusting himself off.
Tommy felt rage cut into his bones and he sent a bolt of his power toward the egg. Purpled sent his hand out, conducting a wall of material to shield the egg. It exploded on impact once Tommy’s power collided with it. The egg remained unharmed.
Purpled looked at his hand. “Hm, I suppose this power isn’t totally useless after all.”
“It was never useless in the first place!”
Purpled narrowed his eyes, sending a bolt of purple mass towards him. It was so fast that Tommy could barely raise his sword to deflect it. The impact pushed him back, sword smoking and charred.
Out of impulse, Tommy sent a bolt of his own energy at Purpled. He screamed in regret as he realized what he had done. Purpled’s eyes flashed purple, fear evident in his face before he braced himself for the impact. The bolt smashed itself into him and threw him against the wall, and he cried out in pain.
“FUCK!” Tommy yelled.
Purpled stood up, red eyes blazing. “You upset me greatly. And you’ve hurt him terribly.”
“I didn’t-”
“You said you wouldn’t hurt him.”
“I-”
“But you’re impulse got the better of you, as it normally does. I can stop that from happening.”
Tommy steeled himself. “So that’s what this is about. You don’t care about Purpled’s well-being, you just- all you care about is just using him as a pawn to get me to join you!”
“...Yeah. That’s entirely what this is about.”
Tommy grit his teeth and ran towards the egg in all of its pulsing glory. If range hits could be deflected, then Tommy would have to use his sword. Without even realizing it, a bolt of Purpled’s power smashed into his side and he flew against the wall, crumpling on the ground. He dragged himself behind a crate to catch his breath.
“Come on, Tommy! Why are you hiding!? Don’t you want to save your friend?” Purpled’s mocking voice teased from across the room.
“Yeah, well I don’t fucking know how to save him!”
“Then, why don’t you just join him?”
“Mmm, no.”
Purpled scowled as Tommy attempted once more hit the egg. He ran towards the blue-eyed boy, dagger raised and ready to impale. Tommy raised his sword up, blocking Purpled’s blow. Metal upon metal crashed against one another, and if Tommy strained his ears, he could hear explosions in the background. Good. Tubbo must have found Drista.
“Give up, Tommy. You know you’re going to lose.”
Tommy grunted as he pushed Purpled off of him. “No!”
“You humans are so stubborn. It’s getting rather annoying.”
“I thought you said you were going to kill me. Why are you still convincing me to join?”
“At this rate, I might just.”
Purpled raised his dagger, charging toward Tommy. He swung down, cutting open Tommy’s cheek. Tommy stumbled back, dazed.
“Not exactly where I was hoping to strike, but it’ll do for now,” Purpled huffed.
Blood dripped from Tommy’s cheek as he breathed heavily, trying to find his next course of action. He needed to get Purpled as far as he could away from the egg, but how? There was nothing he could use as leverage-
Rosethorn.
Rosethorn was still there.
A plan formed in Tommy’s mind, and he quickly took action. He pushed past Purpled, running towards where Rosethorn- Hannah(?) was hanging from the roof near the exit of the main room- the opposite corner of where the egg was. Purpled was quick to follow. Tommy sent a bolt of energy at Hannah, careful not to actually hit the woman, but instead aiming for the vines that held her. The bloodvines screamed at the blow and retracted, leaving Hannah to fall from the top of the warehouse. Tommy moved to catch her in his arms, making him stumble from the complete drop.
“What the fuck are you doing!?” Purpled bellowed, gaining on him. “She’s not ready!”
“Well, I say she’ll never be ready!”
“And what do you plan to do now, Tommy Innit? Leave? Leave when you clearly stated you would never leave Purpled behind?” Purpled laughed, walking towards him.
Tommy would play by the egg’s rules. “It would be ashamed if you allowed me to leave, don’t you think? I know the coordinates to this warehouse, I could report it to the heroes, I could burn this place to the ground…”
Purpled scowled, entertaining Tommy’s words in his mind. The boy had a point. “So that only leaves the option of killing you and Hannah.”
Tommy let a smirk spread over his face. “Bring it, eggy.”
Purpled, like always, was the first to take offense, rushing toward Tommy. Tommy backed away, setting Hannah down near the exit door before joining the fight. Their weapons clashed against each other, and a grating sound that hurt Tommy’s ears filled the air. Tommy moved to slash Purpled but instead knocked him to the floor with his elbow in a turn of events. Purpled tried rushing to his feet, but Tommy placed an assertive foot on his chest.
He raised his sword up. As expected, Tommy saw purple fill Purpled’s eyes. There was a sense of understanding in them. Acceptance. Tommy hated it. He’d have a talk with Purpled after this whole ordeal was over. Tommy brought his sword down on the boy, but instead of piercing his flesh, he shoved his sword through Purpled’s hoodie and through the wood, successfully pinning the boy in place.
“Haha! It worked. Fuck you, egg boy!” Tommy laughed joyously, jumping up and running towards the egg.
The red was back. Purpled tried getting up, only for Tommy’s sword to keep him pinned on the ground. Purpled looked horrified. “Tommy. Get away from the egg.”
“Fuck you. You’ve used, hurt, and manipulated my brother for too long. Far. Too. Long.”
“Tommy, don’t destroy me.”
“Let Purpled go and I’ll consider it.”
Purpled stopped. Then, he smiled. “No.”
“...Any last words before I turn you into an omelet, eggy?” Tommy asked, power alive in his hands.
Purpled raised his dagger, laughing. Tommy furrowed his eyebrows. “If I can’t have Purpled… Then you can’t either.”
Purpled swung down on himself.
Tommy screamed.
Tommy blew the fucking egg up into smithereens.
There were multiple screams in the distance.
Purpled’s was the most apparent.
Tommy ran towards the scream.
Upon the sight of his best friend, Tommy deflated in relief. Instead of the dagger embedded in his chest, it, instead, was lodged in his upper right thigh. Even though Purpled’s face was screwed up in pain and he was whimpering, Tommy deduced that it was objectively better than not having his chest rise and fall.
“Purpled,” Tommy whispered.
“Tommy,” Purpled forced out, voice tight with pain.
“Open your eyes.”
Purpled did so, purple eyes filled with unshed tears.
Tommy laughed in joy, tears forming in his own eyes. He quickly made his way to free Purpled from his hold by the sword. He drew Purpled in for a long hug on the ground, laughing and crying and doing everything in between while Purpled just cried- although Tommy couldn’t tell if it was in pain or in relief.
“Purpled, you’re back, holy shit- Is it gone?”
“I- I think so? I can’t- feel it inside my mind anymore-” Purpled said, head aching.
“Holy shit, Purpled, I’m so fucking happy we’re alive.”
“Tommy-” Purpled cried.
“It’s fine, Purpled. Let’s find Tubbo and Ranboo.”
“It fucking hurts-”
“I know. Stand up.”
Tommy pulled Purpled to his feet, heavily supporting his weight. Purpled looked up to find Hannah slumped against the floor.
“Hannah…” Purpled whispered.
“She’s alive and fine. We’re getting her out of here and back to Nemesis and The Captain.”
Purpled just looked sad.
Suddenly, there was a bang coming from the main entrance, making the two boys jump. Ranboo came running in from the entrance, somewhat bruised but very bloody. He was panting and frantic.
“Tommy!? What the hell happened!? I was fighting and suddenly they just… Collapsed!? It was so-” his eyes landed on Purpled. He paused.
“Ranboo.”
“PURPLED!!” Ranboo yelled, running towards the two with his arms extending. They braced themselves for the impact, but Ranboo had stopped once he saw the dagger stuck in Purpled’s thigh. “What- What happened!?”
“Mind control,” Purpled spat out. Ranboo furrowed his eyebrows. Pain was laced into Purpled’s words, and Ranboo wanted nothing more than to get them home.
“Ranboo,” Tommy stated, getting his attention. “We need you to carry her.” Tommy pointed to Hannah’s limp body next to the door he had entered from.
Ranboo froze. He turned slowly towards them. “Is that-”
“Yes,” Purpled cut in, “That’s Rosethorn. Now carry her so we can get her back to our apartment.”
Ranboo gulped before nodding. He easily picked Hannah up and slung her over his shoulders securely.
“Where’s Tubbo?” Tommy asked.
“I’M TUBBO!” Tubbo’s voice rang loudly from the door. Two second’s later, he came tumbling in with Drista in his arms.
“Who the FUCK is that!?” Purpled yelled.
“HOLy SHIT- PURPLED! YOU’RE SAFE! Oh- yeah, this is Drista. You’re going to love her once she wakes up and- WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A KNIFE IN YOUR LEG!?”
“I don’t know, Tubbo! Why is there a knife in my leg?”
“That’s why I asked you!?”
Purpled rolled his eyes, wanting nothing more than to get home.
“So… What now?”
“...We go home, I suppose?”
Purpled sighed. “Can we? I am so tired. And… There’s a knife in my leg.”
“Oh yeah.”
“What about Bad, Sleppy, and Ant?”
“They’ll be fine. We can just ask Dream to go get them.”
“Wait-” Purpled yelled. “What!? Dream!?”
“Oh, man, we have so much to tell you.”
“But first, let’s go home.”