+ ((( Rainbow in the Dark ))) +

To Hide a Divide (Part 2/4)

Oh look, a chapter.

Have some more words, I have plenty to give.

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Purple

I am a seeker in a world of shadows,

Chasing the elusive truth that taunts me.

The mystery deepens, the questions multiply,

As I journey deeper into the unknown.

.......................................

As Purple crept through the vents, he wondered about what Blue had said. He wasn't terribly surprised when he heard that the Rainbow Friends all had other friends once. He supposed that they couldn't remember everything, after all.

But it was a little weird, wasn't it? Weren't friends supposed to stay close? Because whoever they were, they must have left a long time ago, and not returned yet.

Purple wondered if that made them friends, still. Or if they came back, would the Rainbow Friends even recognize them? Maybe that was a part of being friends, growing apart. Did that mean the Rainbow Friends would grow apart?

Was there a difference between friendship and family?

Purple found himself puzzled by all of the questions spinning in his head. He wanted answers, but he didn't want to run around making a big deal out of it. Maybe there was a way to discreetly get answers to his question, without anyone knowing.

He figured that it wouldn't be so hard, with such a quiet monster as himself being able to crawl through the ventilation shafts, he wouldn't have many problems snooping around.

He turned right at the next turn in the ventilation system and peeked out of the vent. It was in the top corner of the room. He looked down and saw that it was the vent in Orange's cave.

Purple saw Orange eating from his food machine. He didn't want to surprise the lizard-like monster and accidentally cause him to choke, so he just watched. He briefly wondered if the collar was interfering with his eating, but decided that it was probably fine.

When Orange was done, Purple saw him tug at the collar, growling softly to himself. From where he was watching Orange, he slightly tilted his head.

He considered revealing himself to Orange, but decided not to. Orange looked like he needed a moment to himself.

Without a single word to his friend, he turned around. That's when a thought struck him.

Would a good friend try to comfort him?

He thought about what Blue had done for him moments earlier. Blue always seemed willing to help out, offer supportive words, and do what he could to make things better. Did it make Purple a bad friend if he didn't do the same?

After a moment of consideration, he thought about what it would be like if he were Orange. Purple didn't really understand what was going on, but maybe Orange didn't want to talk to anyone yet.

Purple knew that he sometimes needed some time alone to think about things before talking to anyone. He hesitated for a moment, then continued crawling away, hoping that he had made the right decision by not revealing himself to Orange.

He continued to wander through the vents, thinking to himself. He didn't want to cause any trouble for anyone. Things were already crazy enough as it was, and he hoped that it could settle down again, just as long as he didn't do anything rash...

But Purple couldn't resist. He was naturally a curious monster, and he had questions. He was going to figure this out Purple style.

He turned back around and took a left at the previous turn, crawling towards the end of the vent and peeking through the steel bars.

Inside the room was an office. All it had were cabinets in the room, as well as a desk with a very outdated computer and papers scattered everywhere. In the corner of the room was a very disgusting looking mattress, stained with who knows what, and Purple hoped that no one had still been using it.

It looked mostly normal, but Purple knew better. Many times he had seen that the inside of the white cabinet held a large amount of sorted files. What was inside the files, he didn't know, but Red was always putting more in and taking some out.

While Yellow was correct, and there was no reason to snoop around like a creep, Purple was also naturally a creep, so of course he was going to steal some of the files.

He wanted to know what the deal was with Orange's collar. He seemed very upset about it, and Purple couldn't muster up the courage to directly confront the smaller monster about it, so he assumed this would work.

He waited for a good five minutes to make sure that no one was nearby before slowly reaching his hand out of the vent.

He reached up and felt the loose screws, he couldn't see them from where he was, but he had done this enough times before to slide them out pretty easily without having any problems or making any noise.

Purple quietly swung open the vent grate, wincing as it squeaked slightly. He waited for a few more seconds before he slid out, his long thin limbs easily able to squeeze through the small entrance.

He stepped out and onto the floor, trying to avoid bumping into anything. Despite his efforts, some papers still flew off of the desk, getting scattered. Purple ignored them and quickly snatched the keys from the doorway.

He fumbled with them for a second. It was hard to grip just one key, as he rarely needed to hold anything so small. He finally managed to get one key in between his fingers, letting the rest dangle from the keychain as he jammed it into the lock on the cabinet.

The keys jingled a little bit, and clanged against the metal of the cabinet door as Purple turned the key, but no one came to see what was going on, so Purple assumed he was safe for a while.

As far as he knew, Orange was in his cave, Green and Blue in the theater, Red in his lab, and Cyan and Yellow in the park. Perhaps he didn't need to be quite so sneaky.

Purple opened the file cabinet and saw all the files neatly arranged, with dividers in between separating them in alphabetical order. He didn't say a word as he started flipping through the files, looking for anything of interest.

As he flipped through them, he grew less hopeful as he saw that none of them had anything to do with any of the Rainbow Friends, let alone anything about the collar that Purple was certain had been forced onto Orange.

He sighed as he stepped back, shutting the last drawer halfheartedly. He had hoped that he could have some sort of major breakthrough, but it seemed that he would not be able to find anything of interest.

He turned back around to climb back into the vent when he remembered the papers he had knocked down. He stooped down to gather them up, not wanting to leave the room in a worse mess than it was when he came down.

As Purple looked at the papers, he stopped flipping through them as he saw a sketch on one page. It was hard to make out in the lighting, but looked like the collar that Orange was wearing. His eyes widened in surprise.

He quickly skimmed the page, trying to read the handwriting next to it, but he could only make out a few words. The few words that he could read were plenty for him to be able to figure out what he needed to know.

He grabbed the page, leaving all the others strewn about, and quickly climbed back into the vent, shutting it behind him.

Purple now knew exactly what was going on, and dashed through the vents to go confront Orange.

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And that's all for today, next chapter we'll have some good ol' miscommunication-

ANYWAY

Have a good day/night reader!

Next Chapter: To Hide A Divide (Part 3/4)