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Sapnap wanted one day to take a break and think.
He went out fishing, near the prison, still trying to get used to the sight. He sat on a bridge and stared at it as if the ominous building could give him some answers as to what to think about what had happened. He thought about his friend, being trapped inside, and how he couldn’t help but feel relief.
He didn’t even notice when it started to get dark before he heard a skeleton in a nearby forest and decided it was probably for the best to head back.
SMP was oddly quiet as he walked down the Prime Path. There wasn’t anyone in sight. Only the lights in the construction area were on which probably meant Awesamdude was still working. Sapnap sighed. He was really underpaid for the work he put into the hotel, wasn’t he? The man worked ungodly hours for what seemed like nothing. And not without any difficulties either. Sapnap remembered hearing they were having some troubles with Crimson and now that he was thinking about it, there was a lot of it around the construction centre. He shivered slightly seeing how the path which he was sure he saw Tommy clearing up earlier was once again covered by it on the edges.
It took him a few more minutes to get to his, Quackity’s and Karl’s shared house and just as he expected, it was already dark inside. Last time he saw Quackity was in the morning and he said he was tired even then, so it was no surprise that he went to bed early. Previous night they have been waiting for a few hours for Karl to come back to no avail. Neither of them brought that up yet, but Sapnap was sure they were both thinking the same thing. Something must’ve happened. That was the only explanation. Quackity once jokingly said, not too long after they got engaged, that Karl reminded him sometimes of a stray cat. He disappeared, sometimes for a few days, but he always returned home when he got hungry. But Karl has never been missing for that long.
Something seemed off as soon as he approached the house. The door was left slightly ajar, and as much as there wasn’t a serial killer walking around the SMP, Sapnap didn’t believe Quackity would leave it open like that. He reached to his inventory and soon had a familiar weight of his axe in his hand. He approached the entrance on high alert and slowly opened the door.
It was dark inside, but when he flicked a small lever to turn the redstone lamps on, he saw blood drops all over the floor and at the end of the track a small figure lying on the ground. A figure, in which he recognized his fiancé.
“Quackity!” he screamed, dropping the axe and rushing towards him. Quackity was clenching his stomach with blood soaking his sweatshirt. Sapnap’s instincts screamed at him when he examined his fiancé’s face. He checked Quackity’s pulse, trying very hard to calm down. He let out a deep breath. His fiancé was still alive. “Quackity? Can you hear me?” he cupped Quackity’s face in his hands, but the latter didn’t respond.
Sapnap shook his head slightly and tried to get up but when he was about to let go of Quackity’s face he felt a strong grip holding him. When he looked down, he was met with an unfocused gaze and bloodshot eyes.
“Don’t go” the injured man murmured pleadingly.
“I’m not going. What happened?” Sapnap whispered.
“Bad tried to kill me because I wouldn’t join his fucking cult,” Quackity hissed. He tried to sit up but groaned in pain and Sapnap held him down.
“Don’t move. I’ll go get some bandages.”
His hands were shaking as he searched the chests for anything useful. They still had problems with organizing them as in no one made an actual effort to keep any kind of order in them. He saw some golden apples but dismissed the thought. As useful as they were, one should not eat them in a weakened state. Consequences could possibly prove fatal.
“Where’s Karl?” he heard from behind him and felt his heart sink.
“I don’t know. He hasn’t come back yet.” Sapnap picked up some healing potions, a basic first aid kit, and turned around to see his fiancé half-sitting and leaning against the nearest crafting table. “I told you not to move.”
“I miss him,” Quackity said as he crouched down next to him. He gently moved Quackity’s arm to see the wound properly and took a deep breath. It looked a lot worse than he expected. The cut, probably from a sword, was deep and still bleeding. But what worried him more, were the dark veins all around it, and some sort of black fluid mixing with the blood. The sword must’ve been poisoned. When he looked closer, he could swear he saw the veins spreading. Sapnap didn’t know the first thing about poisons acting like that. “Is it b-bad?” Quackity’s voice broke a little and when Sapnap looked up he noticed that his fiancé was crying. He looked as if he had tried not to show it, but tears started rolling down his cheeks.
“Hey, it’s okay, everything’s going to be okay, it’s not that bad” He tried to stay calm for the sake of both of them and started to clean the skin around the cut, but he was sure Quackity could tell it was just a façade.
“I’m going to f-fucking die and this fucker isn’t even a-around to see-e it.”
“You’re not going to die. Here, drink this.”
He grabbed a milk bucket from his inventory and helped him drink just a little bit from it to stop whatever that poison was doing to Quackity. He poured the potion of health over one of the bandages and softly applied it on the wound. Judging from Quackity’s groans it hurt a lot. Sapnap hoped it would at least stop the bleeding so he could properly bandage the wound, but, frankly, it didn’t seem to be doing anything. He waited, holding Quackity’s palm reassuringly, but after a while, it became apparent that the potion was not going to work. The blood started to show through the bandage. It was unnatural how much it was still bleeding after the treatment.
“What potion is it?” asked Quackity, looking down at the wound.
“Health II, it should stop the bleeding.”
There was silence for a couple of seconds. The bandage was slowly but visibly being soaked by blood.
“Why is-isn’t it stopping then?”
Sapnap didn’t answer, instead, he inspected the potion closer. Besides the inscription that read “Health II,” it was also shining a bright pink light. It was the right one. Why wasn’t it working?
“Do you have any idea what kind of poison was on the sword?” Quackity shook his head in response, clenching his jaw. “Okay… it’s okay, we’re going to figure something out.”
Think, think. Poison. Not responding to milk. Was it some sort of curse? Sapnap looked up again to meet his fiancé’s gaze. There was something in his eyes that was slightly unfamiliar. Sure, it might have been just because he was tired, but it reminded him of when he saw Antfrost a couple of days ago. He barely even recognized the guy all because of that look in his eyes.
His red eyes. That was it.
“I think it’s something somehow related to Crimson. Bad must have cursed the sword with something.”
Quackity squinted at him.
“How do you know?”
Sapnap let go of his hand and handed him his sword for Quackity to be able to see his reflection. He gestured to his eyes.
“Oh.”
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Sapnap said, pouring more health potion onto a fresh bandage. “I know what helps with Crimson related stuff, Ant told me before… before whatever happened to him happened. We just need to get you some holy water and you’re going to be fine. So I need you-“ he gently but quickly changed the dressing on the wound”- to keep the pressure on the cut, to slow down the bleeding. And I’ll get the water.”
He tried to stand up but was once again held down by Quackity.
“No, don’t- don’t leave me.” He looked so scared and it broke Sapnap’s heart. He took his palm in both of his hands.
“Love, it’s going to take just a moment, I promise I’ll be back soon. Just keep the pressure.”
He picked up his axe on his way to the door and peeked outside. Just as he thought it was clear he noticed a small movement behind one of the trees nearby. His first reaction was a relief. It’s probably Karl. He was about to step out of the house when he spotted something made of metal, reflecting the moonlight. The person was armed.
He retreated inside trying not to make too much noise.
“Okay, new plan. I’m taking you with me. We’re going to sneak out through the back door.” He picked up the rest of the bandages and started wrapping them around Quackity’s stomach to keep the dressing in place. Quackity, who realized what caused the sudden change, paled even more. “I’ll just grab a few things and you text Awesamdude to meet us at the church, say it’s urgent.”
He quickly picked up his armour and his better sword from his ender chest. He also found a splash speed potion but wasn’t sure if splashing it on Quackity in his state would be the best idea, so he just hid it in his inventory.
“I t-think his communicator is off” Quackity cleared his throat, probably to force his voice to stop shaking. “Or he’s just ignoring me.”
Sapnap cursed under his breath. He wasn’t already asleep, was he? He saw the construction site not longer than twenty minutes ago. When he double-checked if he had everything, he walked up to Quackity. He knew he wasn’t able to carry him the whole way, but he knew his fiancé was in no condition to stand. He crouched, thinking about what to do. Then he remembered.
“Karl’s horse is still here, right?”
Quackity narrowed his eyes for a second but nodded.
“It can’t carry both of us.”
“It doesn’t have to.” He reached to help Quackity up. The latter took his hand tentatively.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I will be just one step behind, don’t worry.”
“Okay.” Quackity sighed, leaning heavily on Sapnap’s arm, standing up. Sapnap could tell he was holding back a groan of pain. He wrapped his arm around Quackity’s shoulder so he could lean on him while walking. He could swear that just as he closed the back door behind them, he heard the front one opening. There was no time to waste.
He got Quackity to half-sit, half-lay on Karl’s horse and quickly led them into the forest. He allowed himself to breathe again when the view of the house disappeared between trees. They needed to take a longer route in order not to bump into whoever (Sapnap bets it was Bad or maybe Antfrost) was looking for them. For the first time, he was glad they didn’t settle further from SMP centre even though he was the one who insisted they did. But Quackity didn’t want to be far from his friends so they settled on something in between. It was quiet there, but it didn’t take long to get to the SMP, or, earlier, L’mamberg before it got destroyed. Sapnap knew Quackity was still taking it all in, and neither Sapnap nor Karl wanted to force him to talk about it but they both knew he was more affected by it than he was letting in on. But lately, before Karl disappeared, he was slowly opening up about it to them. However, Sapnap knew he waited for their fiancé to return from his trip before he was going to come back to the topic.
After a few minutes, Sapnap glanced at Quackity and noticed he was laying with his eyes closed.
“Q?” he asked.
“Yeah?” came a half-whispered response.
“I need you to stay awake for me, all right? Open your eyes.”
Quackity huffed in agreement but when Sapnap checked again his eyes were still closed.
“Why don’t you tell me about your day?” he tried.
“I know what you’re doing” sneered Quackity but turned his head to face his fiancé and sighed. “It was fine. After you went out on your fishing trip, I stayed home. I trained a little and tried to read a book, but it was fucking boring. So, I left a note on the table in case Karl came back when I was gone and went for a walk.”
“What did you write?” asked Sapnap “on the note, that is.”
“You probably wouldn’t like it. I was very upset when I wrote it.” When Sapnap said nothing he continued, quieter “I wrote that if I didn’t return, he shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Oh Q…”
“I know, I know, it was stupid, but I felt so angry and so alone.” Sapnap felt a sudden sting of guilt. He shouldn’t have left him alone. If he didn’t, none of it would have happened, would it? “Anyway, I hang out with Niki, but she seemed to be really stressed about something, so I just wandered around. And then I bumped into Bad. He tried to convince me to join his cult or whatever and he got angry when I made fun of it. Big fucking deal, what a baby.” He chuckled lightly but stopped when it caused him pain. “And we fought but I didn’t bring any of my fucking stuff with me because it was supposed to be fucking safe after Dream got locked up.” Sapnap stiffened a little but Quackity was too lost in his angry rumbling to notice. “So, I lost. I decided it wasn’t worth it to lose a life on that fucker, so I pearled away. But when I got home and when adrenaline went out, I realized how much I was bleeding. I must’ve passed out around then.”
Woods around them became thinner and thinner as Quackity talked, and finally, they stood on the edge of the forest, not too far from the Prime Path. Sapnap felt the anxiety settling in. They didn’t find Bad nor Anfrost in the woods, but he was sure they must have figured out where they were heading and probably went on a different route. The moment they leave the forest they were going to be sitting ducks. Especially on the Prime Path. He squeezed the reins in his hand as they walked out to the open space.
He was gazing toward the church, looking out for any sight of danger so when the horse suddenly turned in the other direction he almost tripped over his feet.
“What the…” he asked searching for what distracted the horse and froze in place. There, on a small rock, admiring the view of the SMP centre, sat his lost fiancé.
“Karl!” he heard Quackity shout before he could stop him. He looked around anxiously but didn’t see anyone who could have heard it.
Karl turned around at the sudden noise and stared at them. Sapnap was too happy to finally see him to notice that there was something off about that stare.
He rushed towards him leading the horse with him.
“Karl, thank God” he trapped him in a tight hug. “We were so worried about you. Don’t ever disappear for that long again, please.” He let him go but still held his hands.
“Where the fuck have you been?” asked Quackity from the horse, glaring at him.
“I… uh…” Karl was visibly very lost, but before any of them could say anything, Sapnap saw in the corner of his vision Bad and Antfrost walking down the Prime Path. They didn’t seem to notice them but that could change any second.
“Karl, focus. Q is hurt very badly, we need to get him to the church, but we will not be able to sneak past them. I need you to go check if Awesamedude is still on the construction site and if he is, bring him here as soon as possible. Tell him it’s the Egg. We’ll try to hide and wait for you. Just, hurry, okay?”
Karl nodded absent-mindedly, still shaken up, which Sapnap blamed on it being the middle of the night. Sapnap then turned around and without further confirmation led the horse back to the edge of woods, before they were spotted.
Meanwhile, Karl looked around trying to figure out what has just happened. He was just wandering around, trying to figure out where or when he was, after waking up in a library. He didn’t remember much what worried him. He read through his journals but the phrase “Don’t forget yourself” wasn’t much of a help when he didn’t know what he forgot. He knew he was a time traveller, he knew he has tried again and again to fix the timeline to prevent… something, from happening. He wasn’t sure what yet.
His journals said something about his loved ones. He didn’t remember who he was referencing when writing that and it brought implications that he wasn’t fully ready to face.
He shook his head. That wasn’t the time, he was probably going to remember everything anyway in a matter of a few hours, or days, he just had to give it some time. It worked before. At least that’s what was written down in his journal. Now, he needed to help like he always did. Not only that, The Egg he recognized all too well, so whatever time it was if there was the Egg it meant trouble.
The person with a bandana asked him to get someone from the construction site. And now when he thought about it, he did go past an unfinished building with a giant poster saying something about construction. And he was fairly sure he remembered where to go.
If he was getting recognized, it meant he was probably in what he considered present point in time. It was a subjective thing as the longer he moved around the more sure he was that present time was more of a concept than an actual thing but it helped him not lose his sanity in all this.
The lights were still on when he approached the building, what he guessed was a good sign. He ignored the warnings and walked inside.
As expected, it looked like a construction site. Scaffoldings were climbing up the walls, and there were materials and torches scattered around the floor. It looked as if they were currently in process of installing the first floor and Karl, in fact, saw someone on a scaffolding placing blocks creating a wall.
“Uh, Awesamdude?” he called out, hoping it was the right person. Things would get very awkward very soon if he failed at blending in that quickly. If he got one actually useful piece of information from his journals it was to wait for the memory to come back and not panic. That included not telling everyone around he was a time traveller. The person turned around and Karl thought he recognized the creeper mask. He couldn’t place from where he recognized him, but he felt like he could trust him.
“Karl? What are you doing here? Isn’t it the middle of the night?”
“I- I need your help, it’s important.”
Awesamdude looked confused but walked down so he could be at the same level. Before he could say anything, Karl continued.
“It’s the Egg, Q-” as he recollected his name was. But it couldn’t be his whole name, right? He hoped he wasn’t overstepping some boundaries by calling him that “-is hurt. Badly.”
Awesamdude’s face darkened. He reached into his inventory for his sword.
“Where is he?” he asked, already walking to the exit.
“They want to get to the church, but they said someone’s going to try to keep them out, so they’re waiting in the area.”
“They?” the taller man questioned.
“Yes, Q and, uh…”
“Oh, Sapnap, right?”
Karl tried to connect the name to the person with the bandana but honestly didn’t have a clue.
“Yeah, yeah, I think.”
Awesamdude slowed down glancing at him.
“You think? Not to be mean, Karl, but you’re acting kind of strange. And now that I think about it,” he fully stopped, clenching his weapon, “Sapnap did say something when I saw him a few days ago, that you were missing. When did you get back?”
Missing? Sure, maybe his last time travel was a little longer than usual, but it couldn’t be that bad. Right?
“I got lost on my way back, that’s why I was gone for so long.” It was the truth and he hoped Awesamdude could see it. “Come on, Q really needs our help.”
“I won’t go until you tell me exactly what has happened.”
Karl knew he needed them both to stay calm. He was so confused but the need to help those people was stronger than him. He knew he was connected to them somehow, just didn’t remember how.
What did he know? He was just sitting there when they approached him. The man who was apparently called Sapnap, and Q who was laying on the horse. He looked hurt and Karl thought he saw some bandages, around his stomach. Sapnap said someone was chasing them. He could really use more specifics right now.
He didn’t want to lie, but he was aware that the truth was too problematic, and they didn’t have time for that.
“I don’t know, I met up with them just a couple of minutes ago, I think Q was stabbed in his stomach. They didn’t tell me why they needed to get to the church they just told me to get you and that someone was after them. Sapnap,” he emphasized the name but it didn’t seem to help, “told me to tell you it’s the Egg.”
“Who is going after them?”
“They didn’t tell me.”
“How was Q-…” he stopped himself, before repeating.” How was Q hurt?”
“I don’t know” Karl answered with frustration.
Awesamdude was staring into the confused man’s eyes looking for something, but it didn’t seem like he found it.
“Karl?”
“Yes?”
“What’s Q’s full name?”
Meanwhile, Sapnap was hiding behind a bush. Bad was smart, he was standing over a dozen meters from the holy land, just enough to stop them if they tried to make a run for it. He didn’t see Antfrost from where he was hidden, but he was sure he was patrolling the area. Where was Karl? He should be there already.
He went back to where he left Quackity. He was still on Karl’s horse. He said it wouldn’t make sense for him to get down but Sapnap saw he couldn’t gather the strength to do so. He didn’t look good. The bandages were soaked, and the healing potions still refused to do anything. He was putting pressure on the dressing but looked like he was going to pass out any minute.
“How are you holding up?” Sapnap asked, worried.
“Fucking wonderful.” He groaned in pain as he tried to sit up a little. “Where’s Karl?”
“He should be here any second now.” Or so he hoped. Quackity looked at him weirdly.
“Didn’t he seem a little bit… off to you?” his voice was quiet as if he himself wasn’t sure. “Almost like he didn’t know what was happening around him.”
Sapnap sighed but nodded.
“A little. I think something happened on his trip. But we’ll ask about it later after we…” he was interrupted by a sound of a branch breaking. He turned around, drawing his sword. “Karl?”
After a moment of tense silence, Antfrost walked out of hiding with his crossbow aimed directly at Quackity. It was glowing and Sapnap was sure it was fully maxed out. He intuitively covered his fiancé by standing in arrow’s way. He reached out his hand in Antfrost’s direction pleadingly.
“Don’t shoot.”
“Drop your weapon.”
Sapnap dropped his sword to the ground obediently.
“Your axe too” demanded Antfrost.
“I don’t have my axe on me” lied Sapnap, but Antfrost just raised his crossbow a little to aim. “Okay, okay, let’s calm down!” he reached to his inventory. His finger lingered hesitantly over his shield but even if he managed to protect himself, Quackity, who still lied out on the horse was too easy of a target. With a curse under his breath, he dropped his axe as well. Antfrost walked up slowly to collect both items, still aiming.
“Now we walk.”
He led them out of the forest. He walked behind them, a little bit to the side, and Sapnap was holding Quackity’s hand with his one hand and reigns with the other. They just needed to get closer to the holy land and they could figure something out from there.
When Bad noticed them, he started walking in their direction and moving away from Prime Church which probably was a smart move on his part but didn’t benefit their situation.
“How is he?” Bad asked walking up to Quackity, but Sapnap blocked his way.
“Why do you care? So you can finish him off?” he snapped, really wishing he still had his weapons.
“What? Of course not!” Bad placed his hand on Sapnap’s shoulder reassuringly, but the other could only stare at him in confusion. “We’re here to help.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? You were the one who fucking stabbed me!” exclaimed Quackity from behind him, his voice shaking with anger. Bad didn’t seem bothered. He simply gestured towards Antfrost to lower his weapon.
“Language, and yes, I might have done that, but you pearled away before I could help you. You have to believe me it was not in my intention to hurt you, it was an accident.” There was actual regret in his voice, which made a shiver run down Sapnap’s spine.
“Well, the best way you can help us is to let us through,” he said ironically and shrugged Bad’s hand off his shoulder. Bad took a step back.
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. You see, you probably think that this sword-” he took it out and placed it flat on his hand for Sapnap to get a better view. Even though it looked like a simple netherite sword, it emitted a weird red light “-is cursed. That’s why his wound is probably not healing even with the help of health potions. That’s why you try to get to the church. And that is where you’re wrong. My sword is not cursed, it’s blessed.”
“W-what do you mean?” asked Quackity, not believing what he was hearing.
“It’s only hurting you because you won’t accept its gift. We’ll take you to the Egg and it’ll cure you.”
“I’m not joining your fucking c-“
“You’re dying, Quackity.” Bad stated simply crossing his arms over his chest. “You must feel it. The blood leaving your body. How much time do you think you have left? Thirty minutes? Ten? Probably even less than that. You’re on your last life, right? You’ll be gone, just like that. No fireworks, no big duel, just your own stubbornness.” He tried to reach out to grab Quackity’s hand but Sapnap caught his arm with his own. “The Egg will give you pretty much all you want. Just let us help you.”
Sapnap looked up to see his fiancé and his heart dropped. Quackity has clenched his jaw, but his eyes were terrified. He looked as if he was going to tear up any second.
“Love, look at me,” Sapnap asked. Quackity did. “Let’s talk about it.” He turned his head to Bad for a second, letting go of his hand “Can you leave us alone for a minute?”
Bad narrowed his eyes but shrugged.
“Yeah, sure. But keep it quick, we don’t have time.” He walked away and Sapnap immediately turned his whole attention to Quackity, grabbing both his hands with his own.
“I don’t want to die” Quackity whispered, his voice small.
“You’re not going to die. It’s going to be fine. We have to go along with their plan until Karl returns.”
“Why… why do I have a feeling that he won’t?”
“He will, of course, he will.” He stood on his tiptoes to press their foreheads together. “He will.” Quackity pulled away to kiss his hair.
“Are you two done?” asked Bad and if Sapnap didn’t know any better he would say he heard mockery in his voice.
“Yes. Lead us to the Egg.”
“Excellent! Come along then, we need to hurry up.” He gestured to Antfrost who changed his weapon to Sapnap’s axe. They started walking and that’s when Sapnap realized that in order to get to the Egg they would have to go past Prime Church as well. Bad must’ve realized that too because he clenched his sword tighter as they were passing it.
Sapnap tried to stealthily open his inventory, but he immediately felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t,” Antfrost said and Sapnap raised his arms in defeat.
Antfrost suddenly yelped away with a scream and Sapnap without a second thought used the confusion to splash Karl’s horse with a speed potion. He pushed it towards holy land and gently slapped it for it to run. When he turned around, Antfrost was ripping out an arrow from his hand and Bad was already jumping him with his sword. Sapnap raised his hands in defence but before the blade reached him someone was in front of him blocking the attack with a shield.
“Help Quackity!” Karl yelled before drawing his axe. As much as Sapnap wanted to help with fighting he knew without any weapon he couldn’t do much. He turned around and ran instead.
He was about ten seconds away from the border when he felt an arrow hitting his leg. He tripped and fell to the ground. When no more shots came, he looked behind his shoulder, to he see Awesamdude ripping the crossbow from Antfrost’s hands. He stood up and kept on running, even if much slower. He saw Karl’s horse not far from the entrance of the Church, and Quackity, trying awkwardly to get down from it.
Sapnap felt the familiar feeling of safety pass through him as he crossed the barrier and only then allowed himself to take a quick look at his leg. He quickly broke the arrow without removing it from his leg and winced at the pain. He hoped it wasn’t “blessed” as well.
He rushed towards Quackity, to help him get down.
“It’s okay now, it’s going to be fine.”
His fiancé murmured something in response, barely keeping his eyes open, so he lifted him and carried him inside. He put him down him on a bench next to the fountain with holy water. He prayed quietly as he dipped the bandages in it.
His hands shook when he unwrapped Quackity’s dressing. As gently as he could he pressed the new bandage to the wound.
At first, it seemed not to do anything, but after a while, Sapnap could see the dark veins slowly fading. Quackity trembled a little under it, but when Sapnap glanced at his face he was smiling. Sapnap smiled back. He searched his inventory for a healing potion, but when he took it out, he realized there wasn’t much left. It would do for the wound when it was already disinfected, but he could really use a…
“This might help?” Sapnap turned to the side and saw Karl handing him a purple potion which he quickly recognized as regeneration.
“Perfect, thank you.”
When the poison seemed to be completely gone, Sapnap quickly changed the bandage to a one with the rest of the healing potion. It stopped bleeding and Sapnap sighed deeply in relief.
“Drink this” he instructed Quackity, helping him sit up. Karl crouched next to them, looking as if he wasn’t sure what to do.
“We scared them off,” said Awesamdude, stepping inside. “They shouldn’t bother you for a while, but you might consider not going off and leaving each other alone for a few days.”
After checking if Quackity was able to sit on his own, Sapnap took care of his own wound. He didn’t have any health potion left, so a simple bandage should be enough for now. He tried standing up. It hurt but it was manageable. He walked over to Awesamdude.
“Sam, thank you. I mean it.”
“Don’t mention it. Always happy to help fight with the Egg. They are kind of getting out of hand lately.” He huffed, crossing his arms.
“Tell me about it.” Sapnap shook his head, chuckling lightly.
“Besides, uh,” he said, lowering his voice, “Quackity might not be your only problem,” he added, with a worried look in his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
Awesamdude gestured towards Quackity and Karl, the second one still crouching awkwardly, looking down at his hands.
“Maybe you ask him.”
Anxiety settled in Sapnap’s stomach. He nodded and after saying one more thank you, returned to his fiancés.
“How are we feeling?”
“Better” Quackity said, smiling. “That regen II stuff is some serious shit, isn’t it?” he looked relaxed, clearly regaining strength.
“You’ll feel the aftermath later” murmured Karl, not looking up. “After it wears off, you’ll be knocked out for 12 hours at least.”
“Well, it’s about time we went home anyway.” Seeing unease in Quackity’s face he added: “I’m going to set up traps all around it, don’t worry, we’ll be safe.” He reached out to help him up and Quackity took his offer, leaning against him as he stood up. Karl stood up as well.
“I think I’m alright to go on my own. Unless you want to carry me the whole way, that is.” Quackity suggested sweetly and Sapnap rolled his eyes but smiled fondly. He gestured towards the entrance and they started walking but Karl stayed still.
“Hon’? You’re coming?”
Karl looked at them sadly and shook his head.
“I don’t think I should go with you.”
They stood in silence. At first, he thought Karl meant not being finished with his trip yet, which seemed ridiculous, but after staring into his eyes he realized what he meant. But why? He felt like he was missing something. Something changed, and he wasn’t around to witness it.
Sapnap felt Quackity tense up next to him. He glanced to his side to see his fiancé practically shaking with anger.
“Oh no, you don’t get to do this.” He said in a low voice that made Sapnap shiver. Karl averted his gaze, but he didn’t respond. “You don’t get to disappear for weeks without even a word, making us wait and worry and then say this. This is all your fucking fault, you know that, right?”
“Q…” Sapnap tried, but Quackity raised his hand to silence him. Karl looked scared but stayed silent.
“No. It’s the truth. Do you know why it happened? Because you left us, Karl. Because Sapnap couldn’t stand just being at home worried sick and neither could I. That’s why I was alone, that’s why Bad had an advantage over me. You know what that fucker said to me? That the Egg can give me whatever I want, that it could give me power. And my first fucking thought when he said that was, that I don’t give a shit about power, I just want my fucking fiancé back” his voice broke. “And when I ran home, I begged for you to be there and save me. But you weren’t, why would you be. So, I lied there, on the floor, alone, terrified, that I was going to die.” He stepped closer to Karl who took a step back.” And now you’re standing here, telling me, that after all this, you’re not coming back?” He clenched his jaw, gritting through his teeth” then don’t. Not now, not ever. Fuck. You.” Without a second glance, he stormed off outside. Sapnap didn’t try to stop him, knowing very well he needed some space. He still called after him.
“Don’t go beyond the border!”
“I’m not fucking stupid, you asshole!” came the response.
Sapnap sighed. Some selfish part of him wanted very badly to side with Quackity and blame it all on Karl. But Quackity missed one piece of the story. Sure, Karl wasn’t home when he returned but neither was Sapnap. Because he went fishing. Because rather than comforting his fiancé he wanted an escape.
So he couldn’t blame Karl. At least not fully.
When he turned to him, he saw that Karl was crying. Sapnap spread his arms to offer a hug, but Karl shook his head again and stepped back even further.
“I’m sorry, but I-I think it would be best if you left as well.”
Sapnap froze and lowered his arms awkwardly. He didn’t know why that was the thing that set him off, but Karl was never the one to refuse a hug.
“Karl, I don’t know what happened during your trip, but I’m sure we can work through this.” His voice was shaking but he didn’t care. “But you have to talk to us.”
“Look” Karl huffed with frustration that made Sapnap shudder. “I know, that you think you can help, but you just can’t, okay? So go. Please.”
“We can’t just leave without you! Don’t you understand? We’ve been worried sick this past week. We did nothing but waited like we always do when you go on those trips. I won’t put Quackity through this again, not now. Just” he took a deep breath and begged “come and stay with us. Even if it’s just for a few days. Please. We’ll talk through this.”
Karl looked close to becoming hysterical. Sapnap realized he himself started crying as well.
“I can’t. I’m really, really sorry, but I can’t.”
“It can’t just end here. You know Quackity will never forgive himself for this. You know…”
“No!” Karl yelled, putting hands over his ears. “No, I don’t know!”
“But…”
“I don’t remember!”
Silence fell and Sapnap could only stare. Karl was breathing heavily, lowering his arms to hug himself franticly.
“W-what?” Sapnap asked.
“I don’t remember. I don’t remember you nor Quackity nor what happened between us or what is even going on here. But I know I have to go back. If Egg’s here, something is so, so wrong.”
“Karl…”
“No. I’m sorry, but the Karl, that you want to come back with you, is gone. Go. Please.”
He let the words hang between them. He watched the other man just stand there at a loss for words. He expected him to yell, he expected him to argue. But he knew that he saw in Karl’s eyes that he was telling the truth. Karl watched the man leave.
He was left alone.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
Memories hit him like a truck. He fell to his knees, feeling as if he was drowning in them only for the feeling to be gone within half a second.
The day he and Sapnap met, the day they talked with Quackity about how they could make this work, the day he proposed to them only for Sapnap and Quackity to reveal they have already bought engagement rings as well.
He was alone.
What has he done?