Hiya! It's me :) How are you?

I'm going to the doctor's in a bit but had some time so thought, 'Why not start doing this before I inevitably get distracted later on?'

So here we are lol-

TW: bl@d3 at the end and small mention of drugs in one of the ANs near the beginning

Hope you enjoy :] (I paused for 15 minutes completely forgetting what I was trying to do lul)

"How is there no books on this?" Ponk grunted annoyedly, plopping the book down on the ground with the rest of them.

Ant sighed, taking off his reading glasses(I can do... whatever da frick I want :3(i mean, inside boundaries ofc)AND FRICK WHY AM I IMAGINING IT AND IT'S SO CUTE-). "I mean, it's expected, I doubt a lot of people did experimentation on the egg." Ant rolled his eyes. "Or know how to take it down or they would've done it already."

"No poop(I wanna swear ehhhhh but I can't-)." Ponk grumbled, rubbing his hands against his mask. "Ugh, we've been at this for hours! We don't even have a clue!"

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place." Ant sighed. "There are other libraries across the SMP."

"This is the biggest one that we can access." Ponk groaned. "I doubt Phil would let us into Techno's study."

"He would definitely have something to help, he was smart, prepared and helped against the egg once so..." Ant trailed off, mostly talking to himself. "But yeah..."

"Is there anything else we can do? This is just wasting time." Ponk said, rolling and stretching out his artificial arm.

"Well, maybe there's something else to do but we couldn't think of it because-" Ant started, shooting a look at Red.

"Okay I get it, it's time consuming, I'm just-" Red sighed frustratedly, slamming the book shut, looking up. "I'm just desperate. I lost all my friends before, I don't want it to happen again." Red slumped down on the table. Ant placed a paw on his leg comfortingly. Red tilted his head up at Ant, giving him a small smile as he placed his own hand on top of Ant's.(DUDE IDK WHY BUT THIS IS MAKING ME SO HAPPY- IS THIS WHAT BEING ON DRUGS FEELS LIKE-/j)

"Aw hell nah, I'm not third wheeling here." Ponk said, fake gagging. "Can we go back to business?"

"Wait." Red said, taking Ant's paw and pressing a gentle kiss to it, watching Ant with emerald green eyes. Ant sucked in a shaky breath. Red pulled back, eyes still locked on his own. "Ok, now we can." Ant blushed, facing Ponk again who was watching them with wide eyes.

"Ugh I liked you two better when you were single." Ponk muttered. "Facing the problem?"

"Right. Any ideas on how we can solve the issue?" Red asked.

"Well I have one." Ponk said half heartedly. "Did either of you feel like the egg was lying when it explained why it left?"

"No." Ant said bitterly. "Only the horrible things about... y'know." He felt a hand on his shoulder from Red's side.  

"That was a distraction." Ponk hummed, playing with his thumb as he leaned back in his chair. "I would've helped you defend... y'know who, but something in it's voice felt off. A quiet part."

"Are you sure?" Ant raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I'm experienced at this stuff. I lived with Sam." Ponk scoffed. Ant snickered. "And even the world's best liar can't hide everything."

"Still, egg's a master of manipulation, no offense but it might be your own mind." Red sighed.

"None taken." Ponk shrugged. "I think you have a point. But still, the egg's not at it's old place, I thought we could check there for answers..."

"Not  a bad idea." Red nodded.

"Better than this." Ant added, shoving a book away from him across the table. "Y'know-"

"Shut up you." Red growled, flicking Ant's ear. Ant and Ponk giggled, following Red who stood up and began walking away.

The three left the library in disarray, running to the Omelette Mansion; the renamed mansion as the group still often hung out there after the whole egg ordeal. They entered, heading straight for the basement where the previous egg room was located. As they ran, Ant took time to admire the familiar features of the house. He hasn't been there in a while.

There was a stone wall that they put up there to block off the room, but it currently had a huge crater in it, stone bricks discarded around the hallway. The room was similar to the new one; the same shade of red painted the floor and walls, glowshroom implanted the sides, pools of lava were against the floor. The only difference was the absence of any living presence.

No vines on the surfaces or hanging from the ceilings, no flowers blooming on the ground and no loud ominous thoughts intruding his mind with every step.

Technically I'm still here. The voice reminded at the back of his head, Ant brushing it off.

"Anything?" Red asked from his side of the room. The trio have been searching through the large room for any hints for the past 3 hours.

"It's all barren." Ponk sighed. "Hate to admit it but the egg's good at covering up it's tracks. Can't even find anything for a DNA analysis or something like that."

"It's almost as if it weren't here, besides the crimson of course." Ant muttered just loud enough for the others to hear.

"We'll continue looking for a bit more before calling it a day alright guys?" Red said.

There was a small silence before Ant spoke up again.

"I miss Hannah." Ant said quietly, pausing in his steps.

Another silence.

"I miss her too." Red sighed. "We'll get her back soon Ant, promise."

"Yeah, hopefully." Ant mumbled. Because I know what being in it's grasps for longer can do.

Don't be like that kitten. You'd be happier for longer.

Don't call me that. Ant growled in his mind.

Aw you're no fun. The egg huffed. Besides, I'm taking good care of your friend, Hannah. I'll make sure she won't get hurt on her missions.

Don't you dare make her do anything! Ant hissed.

As he walked absentmindedly, arguing with the ominous voice in his head, he felt his foot catch against a bump in the ground, throwing himself forward and landing face first on the ground. He let out a small groan, getting back on his knees. As he rubbed his arm painfully, a gleam of light caught his eye.

"ANT! You okay?!" He heard Red yell over to him.

"Yeah!" Ant yelled back, absentmindedly as his eyes were focused at the small gleam in the ground. Looking around, he dug out the red dirt around the shiny object.

"Ant! We're gonna go back soon!" Red called again.

"Yep! Coming!" Ant grunted, continue to prowl through the dirt hurriedly. The soil was rough and hard, getting in between Ant's paws as he dug, making it really annoying for him but he kept going on. He saw a small red-ish orange gem peaking out from under the ground.

Just like the egg's... Ant thought, expecting a remark from the other mind.

Nothing.

"Ant! Are you ok?" Ant turned to see Red and Ponk walking towards him. "We're gonna get going?"

"Uh- yeah." Ant said, scrambling to put the gem in his backpack. I'll show them later. He stood up hurriedly, brushing himself off. "What's the hurry?"

"Velvet got a text from Niki, Puffy's at the one other library we have access to that we forgot about." Ponk hummed. "And honestly, it's the smartest place to have gone. Stupid of Velvet not to think about it when he suggested that boring-"

Red swatted Ponk who dodged it, cackling as the realization slowly hit Ant.

"Bad and Skeppy's library." Ant said, perking up. "Bad collected all books on the egg he could find in the early stages of the Eggpire, in order to prevent anyone from figuring out how to stop us. Of course they'll be in his library." Ant smacked himself on the forehead.

"Yeah, I remembered too and had the same reaction." Ponk sighed.

"Well, we came to a similar place at least." Red said. "Now let's go, Niki's worried for Puffy."

"What?" Ant said confusedly, standing up.

"Let's go." Red sighed, gesturing for the shorter two to follow him.

They ran back up, the small gem in Ant's pouch thumping against his side as he ran.

Another secret from Red hm? Ant, do we have an issue?

Stop. I'll tell him later, we're busy right now.

"Puffy?" Red said cautiously, knocking on the large doors of the library. A silence filled the air, Ant and Ponk exchanging a concerned glance for their friend.

Red glanced back at them, before pushing open the door gently. "Puffy?" He asked again, before they noticed Niki at the corner, beckoning them towards her with a finger over her lips.

"Niki what  happened?" Ponk whispered to her. "Why the secrecy and silence?"

"Puffy... Puffy doesn't-" Niki started.

"Niki I can hear you from here." Puffy called out. "Can you talk quieter or exit the room?"

Ant blinked in surprise.

"Yeah." Niki mouthed. "She hasn't taken a break or anything. And she's getting more and more snappy. She's gone insane from obsessing over Hannah. We miss her too of course but Puffy is going to work herself to death." She whispered under her breath, the three leaning forward and straining to hear her.

"It's only been a day are we sure?" Ponk hissed.

"She's never acted like this so yes." Niki hissed back.

"Puffy..." Ant bit his lip. "Well, what should-" Ant began before Red started walking forward first. "Red...?" Ant questioned, following him behind the bookshelf. 

Suddenly, Ant heard a familiar sound; the violent unsheathing of a sword. As he looked up, his head throbbed as a painful memory tried to creep in, causing him to stumble backwards against the bookshelf.

Still, he opened his eye, trying to suppress the memories and urges as he confirmed the sight in front of him; Red, with wide eyes and paralyzed posture as a diamond blade was held against his neck by none other than...

Puffy.

I just kind of went off the rails with this one tbh. So now it's a free going book with a destination but no path I guess LOL- fine with that-

This was a slightly shorter chapter with way too much fluffy love stuff here but I love it and I had fun and it was me slowly coming to terms that I'm a fan fiction writer with a frigging mind and if I want smth- I can write it idc lol- besides boundaries ofc bc I'm not a sick  person :^

But uhhhh here's the long awaited post, finished early, 12am not bad woo! Hope you enjoyed :] take care y'all, ilysm/p and see you soon!