Chapter Text
It was storming.
Purpled, armor long forgotten, walked through the SMP. Head low, hood up, hands in his hoodie. He looked like an edgy teenager, and truth be told, he kind of was; but his house had just been blown up. Give him a break.
"That's it." Quackity let out a breathy laugh. It wasn't funny. "It's gone."
Purpled stood on the roof of the building. Which one, he wasn't sure. He'd been obsolete from the server for so long he didn't know much about it anymore.
At first, all he could feel was shock. As Quackity kept talking, that turned into an almost blinding rage.
"Your legacy." XD, Purpled wished he would just stop talking. "That's all you had in this goddamn server was that UFO. Purpled, your legacy is gone.
And I've taken it from you."
Purpled wanted to punch his teeth in. No one would know. However, Quackity had something Purpled didn't.
He had friends. He had a family with his fiances. That's something Purpled lost the second his brother became a mercenary. The second his parents abandoned him and sold him to Hypixel.
"That's all you had." Purpled was seriously contemplating murder right now for the umpteenth time that night.
"That was the last piece of evidence that you were ever here."
To be honest, Purpled didn't remember much after Quackity said that. He wasn't in a good headspace. He knew he had almost killed Quackity, and he still wished he did. He remembers Quackity trying to bargain with him, but he couldn't remember what he said. All he knew was that he stalked away the second it all became too much. Quackity called after him. He at least recalled that pretty well.
So here he was now.
His armor was somewhere in his cabin, and while he longed for it, he couldn't be bothered to turn and walk back and get it, especially in the rain. He didn’t care about how exposed he felt without it, at least not right now. It's strange how his mind worked. He’d walk in the rain for hours before he even considered turning around to tailback to his house. He hated that place.
So lost in his head, he didn't even realize he was at the edge of L'manhole, the remnants of Doomsday.
That was another thing he missed entirely.
(Which was fine, actually. He was more so indifferent to L'manburg anyways. He realized Manburg didn't align with his ideals; that's really the only reason he switched sides mid-battle.
He knows Punz watched him burn the shield. He knows his brother probably felt betrayed when he saw it.
Purpled couldn't bring himself to care. Punz left him. If he cared all along, then why didn't he reach out? Why did Ponk? He loved Ponk. Obviously, not in a romantic way, but he was like an odd older brother. He was only a few years older than Purpled, and they had never met before joining the SMP, but he felt more like a brother than Punz ever did. However, it almost feels like anything remotely good for Purpled ends at some point. Ponk started getting busy with the whole Egg ordeal, and Purpled was yet again left in the dust.
And then the unforeseen, raw anger he saw on Ponk's face when he fought against him in the Red Banquet. He gets it, sort of. He'd be pissed too.
But he never expected or could ever prepare for Hannah to be head over heels for the stupid thing too. Fighting against her was one of the hardest things Purpled had to do. He fought her, he had to do his job, but he never aimed for a fatal area.
She did the opposite. Hannah aimed for Purpled's chest, his head, anywhere that would kill him.
He knew she and Ponk were possessed, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
At least Punz wasn't there.)
Realistically, he knew he shouldn't be upset. He had long since abandoned the stupid thing. But Quackity's words cut deeper than Purpled would have liked, and he wasn't ready to start looking into it. The man was right in a way; the UFO was the only thing people remembered him by anymore. (If they had even remembered him at all; if he got a dollar every time someone asked who had built the UFO, he’d be close to being a millionaire.)
A clap of thunder shook him out of his thoughts. There was a sign to his direct left.
Welcome to L'manhole! Please watch your step!
-Captain Puffy
Purpled looked out at the area around him; it was desolate. Glass went further than he could see; the Prime Path was destroyed around the place, and the ground was unkempt from explosions. Water was running down a cliff and soaking into the rocks and dirt. Vines, both green and red, were growing down along with stones. There were a couple of areas along the edge where the glass wasn't yet built into the ground.
Purpled, despite the signs and the obvious hazard, stepped onto the glass.
He didn't know why he did it; he just did.
The rain pattering against the glass was quite nice. Purpled had always felt that storms were calming.
He only stood a few feet from the edge; he wasn't a complete idiot. The L'manburg flag was down there, and it had been ripped to shreds. The bloodvines had planted themselves on top and through the tattered thing. Purpled wondered why it was still there. He chalked it up to symbolic for now.
Unknowingly and unintentionally, he walked a few more feet out; the edge still wasn’t too far away. He resigned himself to his thoughts again.
He kept walking, the edge of L'manhole becoming further and further away with each step.
And he almost didn't hear the glass cracking with each step.
Almost.
***
Technoblade just wanted to meme on L'manhole with Phil. That's all he wanted to do. Ranboo decided to tag along; something about respect and closure? He wasn't sure what the other was hoping to get out of this.
In his head, the voices were a cacophony of "L'manburg is gone crabrave!" and "Ranbrother," and he could never tune out the "Dadza!!!"
Because Phil and Ranboo were in front of him, talking about cooking. Which apparently, Ranboo was absolutely awful at. It was something that he and Phil teased him relentlessly about. Apparently, he could cook, but it was an enderman’s delicacy- something that has no place being served to anyone else. Upon asking, Ranboo said he couldn’t remember where or when he learned the recipe.
Anyways, they had decided to cut through the forest to avoid people. Most probably wanted him and Phil dead, and some didn’t know Ranboo was living with them. He preferred to keep it that way. He didn’t know a lot about the enderian, but he’s heard him mumble and mutter to himself when he thought no one could hear him. Hell, he was there when Dream called him out in front of a good portion of the server. So yeah, through the woods they go.
He was expecting it to just be a one-off thing; after this, they had no real reason to come back. Techno was not expecting to see a teenager blindly walking on top of the glass.
But he knew that teenager. It was Purpled.
It was Purpled, and the glass was cracking below him with each step he took.
Techno wondered how it hadn’t shattered yet.
“He’s gonna fall,” Ranboo commented beside him, “it’ll break out from under him.”
“I’m aware,” but any added weight will cause it to break much quicker and send two people down with him. “Purpled!” He tried calling out to the purple-clad teen. There was no response, nor was there any sign that the kid even heard him.
“Is he dissociating?” Phil asked.
“No. No, pretty sure he’s just zoned out.” Ranboo took a few steps forward, “I think.”
“Well, is it really our problem if he falls? The kid was dumb enough to walk on glass, for crying out loud.”
“Techno,” Phil warned, “we aren’t leaving him to die.”
“Well, what do you purpose we do? I don’t think he’ll be stopping anytime soon.”
“What about enderpearls?” Ranboo, without looking at the two, was already getting a pearl out.
“Would that work? I didn’t think you could pearl with another person with you.” Phil mused.
Purpled stopped walking suddenly, seemingly blinking back to reality.
Techno immediately realized why. The glass refused to support him anymore. It wasn’t made to walk on, at least not yet. Before anyone could react, the cracks ran below Purpled’s feet and finally broke out from under him.
All the three could do was watch as Purpled fell through the glass, flailing.
His scream broke Phil out of his stupor. He ran before his mind could catch up with what he was doing, and he snatched the enderpearl out of Ranboo’s hand. He dived in straight after Purpled, arm extended so he could grab him.
It took a few attempts to actually get Purpled’s arm secured in his hand. But once he did, he quickly fanned out his wings, slowing the fall.
“Phil… Philza?!” Purpled looked up at the elder, entirely out of breath.
“Yeah, I gotcha, kid. Just hold on.” He swore under his breath when he realized they were too far down to pearl all the way up. Phil scanned the terrain around them. He eventually saw a ledge above them. It looked big enough for the two of them to land on. Quickly forming a plan, he chucked the pearl to it, silently praying that it took Purpled with him. “Hold on to me, okay?”
Purpled gave a quick nod as Phil extended his other arm down, grabbing Purpled’s.
Purple particles clouded his vision, and suddenly, Phil was on the ledge, still holding on to Purpled.
Said teen’s legs were shaking, and it wasn’t too long before they gave out from under him, sending him to the ground. He let go of Phil and hugged himself, and Phil quickly realized that his entire being was shaking. His eyes refused to look at one thing for too long, going from Phil to the ground, to the walls, and then whatever else was around them. He wasn’t breathing right either, but that could be because he was out of breath from screaming.
Still, Phil wasn’t going to take any chances. He slowly knelt down in front of him and spoke calmly, “Hey, you’re okay, alright? You’re okay. Just take a deep breath.” It wasn’t a panic attack; at least, Phil didn’t think it was. The kid was scared out of his mind, and for very good reason. Phil, from his time with Wilbur and even Tommy, could recognize that this was nowhere as extreme as a panic attack. That said, if he let Purpled continue like this, it could very easily become one.
Phil placed his hands on his shoulders and made the teen face him. “Purpled, look at me, okay? You’re safe now. You’re not falling. Just take a few deep breaths. You’re safe now.”
He had to repeat himself a few times, but eventually, it worked; Phil guessed something clicked in Purpled’s mind, making him realize he was no longer in immediate danger.
“What… what just happened?” Purpled asked after a few moments of silence, still on the ground.
Phil frowned, “I was hoping you could tell me that.”
Purpled opened and closed his mouth a few times before shaking his head and looking away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Phil was about to say something when suddenly one of their communicators started ringing. Phil realized it was his. He swiftly took it out and fastened it around his wrist.
It was Techno, no surprise. Phil knew he was in for an earful.
“Hey Techno-”
“Don’t you ‘hey’ me, Philza Minecraft. What was that?! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, mate. Purpled’s here too.”
“Don’t pull that stunt again. Got it? You scared the crap out of us.”
Despite everything, Phil chuckled. “I don’t even think I knew what I was doing, either.”
“Don’t make it worse!” Ranboo yelled, probably standing right next to Techno.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll be up in a moment. Do me a favor and get some water placed for us?”
“You got it, old man.”
Before Phil could say anything about the name, Techno had already hung up.
“Phil? Did you really do that with no plan?” Save me, went unsaid.
Phil clapped his hand on Purpled’s shoulder, “I’m a quick thinker, don’t sweat it too much.”
Phil stood up, looking at the hole they fell from. They were about one hundred feet or so from the surface. Maybe one-fifty. He could work with that. Phil summoned his trident; it’d work like a charm in the rain.
“Purpled, I’m gonna need you to hold on to me as tight as you can, okay?”
Purpled slowly rose, also looking up, nodding his head.
Phil extended his arm, as if he was pulling the teen into a hug. Purpled clung around Phil’s neck, and Phil moved his arm so he was holding Purpled around his back.
“Whatever you do, do not let go.” Phil ordered.
“Right.” Purpled spoke from where his head rested on Phil’s shoulder.
Phil drew his arm back and then launched it forward, and for mere moments, they flew. Purpled had screwed his eyes shut.
It wasn’t long before they emerged from L'manhole, landing in an ankle-deep puddle of water. Techno and Ranboo standing pretty close by, empty buckets in their hands.
Purpled slowly unattached himself from Phil and staggered back.
“You’re pretty light, you doing well for yourself?” Phil commented as he stretched his arms.
There was no response, and when Phil looked at him, Purpled was swaying on his feet, his eyes were half-lidded, “I- yeah, I…” he trailed off.
Phil blinked, and suddenly, Purpled lost his footing and started falling forward. Thankfully, Ranboo, who was right next to him, caught him. He pulled Purpled’s arm around his shoulders, which, because of Ranboo’s height, caused Purpled to lean into his side awkwardly.
“Um… what do I do with him?” Ranboo asked, most likely feeling uncomfortable.
Phil thought for a moment, “We don’t have a lot of extra space in the cabin. Do you think you can set up a bed for him at your place?”
“Yeah, I can.”
“We’re bringing him back with us?” Techno spoke for the first time since Phil landed.
“Unless you have a better idea?” The avian hybrid raised his eyebrows, “We don’t know where he lives.”
“Phil, this is kidnapping.”
“Do you see Sam anywhere?”
“Uhh, no.”
“Then there you go. Can you carry him?”
“Sure, Ranboo here,”
After about a minute of shuffling, Techno was carrying Purpled piggy-back style. His arms were loosely hanging from around Techno’s neck, and his head rested on the piglin’s shoulder.
“Alright,” Phil started, “let’s go home.”