Archive of Our Own ^beta

They felt anxious. They sat next to red- Green Blue and Yellow and were all shoved into the back.

But purple had a front-row seat to the chaos that had ensued. They had originally been concerned about the teacher- but he was long gone and there wasn’t anything that they could do about him now. Then their focus was on Blue and Yellow- Green kept himself entertained, bickering with Red who sat up front… driving the dead teacher down what felt like a never-ending road. The distance looked fuzzy but every time it came into view it was the same.

Grass. Trees. Sky. Road.

They looked back over their shoulder. Trying their best to gauge how they were doing with the most cursory of glances and spared mutual looks.

Red seemed far more on edge- Talking him out of his sudden choice didn’t seem like a good idea at all. They didn’t want to say anything to upset him further. To make him yell.

Purple looked to Blue- headphones jammed into his ears, and you could only lightly hear some of the music. They met eyes for a moment, Blue’s eyes only flicked to check on Red’s state for a moment before falling back to the place they began looking at his lap.

They turned to yellow, he was pressed only slightly against the door of… the door? The teachers side? His… dead body.

Purple felt a chill roll up their spine as they shifted in their seat.

He seemed unhappy, yellow had stopped his small upsetting trance of staring at the window and instead was seemingly just staring ahead into the void that was the back of Red’s chair. Staring straight forward, right in front of them.

They sighed again. Turning back around fully to face the never-ending path to… somewhere.

“Are you alright?”

Purple stiffened- this was the first time that Red had addressed them personally the entire trip. He had yelled at the car as a group but he hadn’t spoken to them. Not since before they got in here.

“Fine. I’m fine.” They fiddled with their hands in their lap, they felt him look over at them but they didn’t want to look back. He felt, intense. Usually he was so laid back and sure he got hotheaded every once in a while but who wouldn’t! The house, the teachers, the world even! It felt like a mad house made just to drive you insane unless you conformed.
But they thought that’s what they had all done. Clearly they were wrong.

“You don’t have anything to do like the other ones.”

“It’s fine, I can just look out the window or, or sleep or something else.” they tapped their hands on their legs a couple of times as they swung back and forth. The motion was peaceful, they did not feel peaceful.

“Red…” They paused, they spared a single look in his directions now that his eyes were focused on the road “...Where are we going?”

“The community.”

Purple did not like that answer. He had given it to everyone else. He had given it to them. They didn’t feel comfortable with it. It was too vague. It felt like nothing. Something that did not exist.

“What community?”

They weren’t stupid. They could hear the deep breath he took in when they pushed further. His hands gripped the wheel a little harder.

“Please just accept the answer.”

They turned a little in their car seat to face him, “Red please. I’m not gonna judge you. I…” They paused clenching their hands in their lap “I will go against my better judgment and I won’t even try and talk you out of it. I just want to keep them safe, I wanna keep you safe.”

Red took a breath again. But he didn’t know what to say. He kept looking forward, he kept his foot on the gas.

“I… were going somewhere. Somewhere better.”

Purple’s head tilted a little, their eyes filled with sadness, with worry. “Red do you know where were going? Is there a community-”

“There IS a community Purple. There HAS to be.” His hands slammed on the wheel when his voice raised.

The three in the back looked up. Seemingly hearing the loudness but not what was actually said. Green looked back to his screen with a quick “hush!” Yellow and Blue shared a look.

Blue took a headphone out of his ear, “Is everything okay?”

The two in the front froze.
“Everything is fine Blue, were just having a discussion.” Purple looked over at him with a smile.

Blue looked between the two skeptically. He definitely didn’t buy whatever they were trying to sell him. Red would not be getting so angry if this was just a casual talk or discussion. Well maybe he would, but he certainly liked purple more now! And even if he liked the rest of them he had stopped yelling at Purple as much as he did with the others- he defended them more if anything else.

Blue paused. “...Okay…” He plugged his headphone back in, he really didn’t believe them or anything, but he also knew based on past experiences that he wouldn’t really be able to do much for them. So it was better sadly to just tune them out with a sigh. He leaned against Yellow when he slumped back, and yellow put his head atop of Blue’s with a sigh of his own as he tried to listen to the faint piano music that could be heard from the outside of Blue’s headphones.

Purple sighed pushing the heels of their hands to rub against their eyes, “Red I just want to know were going to be safe- we never leave the house and I know that sucks but…” they paused looking at him for a brief moment “The last time we left the house was when green died, and then that time we got… kidnapped? I still get chills thinking about what they did to Yellow and Blue- they even tried to mess with you and green! No, they did- they-”

“They messed with you too, I remember how sad you looked there- you certainly weren’t enjoying yourself either.”

Purple wrapped their four arms around themselves. It certainly didn’t feel as nice or as protective as when they lied in bed at night under a blanket- or when Red let them sit in his lap on a particularly overwhelming yet not teacher-filled day. But it was enough. It was all they could have for now.

“It will be safe.”

Purple looked over at him, but he kept his gaze forward as he spoke.

“I’ll make sure it is. For all of us.”

He reached a hand over from the wheel and offered it out to them.