Pix glanced at Sausage. "What... what's even in this potion? Are you sure we aren't like- poisoning FWhip or something?" The brunette asked wryly, glancing at the potion in his friend's hand with a disdainful expression.

"I'm suuuuure. Kinda. It's like- a mix of healing, regeneration... uh... What was the other- ohhhh, right, strength! I just kinda- mixed positive potions together?" Sausage added with a shrug.

"Right. And we're sure this won't like- turn him into God?" Pix asked sarcastically, earning himself a light-hearted shove from his friend.

"It'll be fiiiiine. The tricky part is convincing him to drink it." The protector of Sanctuary added wryly.

"Couldn't you turn it into a splash potion and like... throw it at him?" The two turned around to see Oli leaning against the doorframe with a mildly amused expression.

"I- we could do that." Pix glanced at Sausage as Oli walked over.

"I mean- yeah? I guess?" Sausage looked away, trailing off into unintelligible mumblings and walking away as Oli rested his head on Pix's shoulder, yawning.

"You okay?" Pix whispered, watching his friend leave the room before looking back at his boyfriend.

"Hm. Tired." Oli added with a yawn.

"Why are you tired?"

"I stayed up. All night. Putting more end rods in place around the Olipeligo." The blonde mumbled. "I don't won't a repeat of any of the bad things."

"Well- as logical as that is, you need to sleep." Pix said quietly, pulling Oli into a hug. The bard buried his face face in the crook between Pix's neck and shoulder, muttering under his breath. The archeologist blinked. "Acting cute isn't gonna make me forget about you not sleeping."

He heard a muttered, "Damn it,' and laughed as Oli looked up.

"I just- don't want bad things to happen. Again. And bad things come with the stupid- plant- thing- sculk. Yeah." Oli finished lamely, running a finger lightly over one of the scars on Pix's arm that was a result of Oli's attack.

Pix frowned slightly. "You aren't still blaming yourself for that whole- thing, are you?" He asked quietly. When Oli said nothing, the blue eyed man added, "It wasn't your fault."

"It kiiiiinda feels like it was though."

"It wasn't!"

"Was."

"Wasn't-"

"Waaaas."

"Was. Not."

"Fine. It wasn't." Oli muttered, leaning against the taller man again.

"Glad we agree." Pix said with a laugh, humming quietly.

——

Pix frowned slightly, glancing at Sausage. "So... did the potion work?"

The brunette shrugged. "I don't know! I just kinda- threw it at him and ran in case he got mad." Sausage admitted sheepishly.

"So you... threw a potion at FWhip... and ran away?" The archeologist asked wryly.

"Well- basically, yeah! I don't want him to throw something at me if the potion doesn't work!" The protector of Sanctuary protested.

"You know, I'm really glad that that's your biggest concern. I thought it might have been curing the infection, but getting something thrown at you? Yeah, fair." Pix's sarcastic comment resulted in Sausage whacking him over the head with his staff. "I'm just saying-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just go see if it worked." Sausage said, stopping outside the door of the room they had attempted to keep FWhip in. He opened the door slowly, and Pix took a few awkward steps backwards as his friend entered the room. "Heeeey, FWhi- oh wow, that stuff really got rid of the sculk."

Did it work? The brunette walked through the door after Sausage to see FWhip sat on the floor with a mildly confused expression. Sure enough, the sculk vines were no longer wrapped around the goblin- instead the vines were on the ground, shrivelled and dull- and his eyes had returned to their normal shade of blue.

The ruler of the Goblands shot them a mildly confused look. "Why am I... where- why did you throw something at me and run away?" He added to Sausage, who had the decency to let out a mumbled apology before continuing.

"Well- I had to try and cure you, and- oh my- that means it works! WE HAVE A CURE OTHER THAN TRAUMATISING PEOPLE, THIS IS GREAT!" For some reason, his friend's loud proclamation made Pix burst into laughter, and it took a few moments for him to calm himself before speaking.

"We have a cure now, yes. So, theoretically we could make more potions, and... I don't know... throw it at all the infected people?" The blue eyed man suggested lamely.

"Yes! Great plan!" Sausage said brightly, helping FWhip to his feet. "You can go- annoy Jimmy or something, I don't know, you're cured now. Also, make sure to put a bunch of end rods in your empire, they keep sculk at bay." The protector of Sanctuary added to FWhip, who nodded slowly.

"I'm still slightly- confused, but okay, I... will do that." The goblin said slowly.

"Okay! Cool! Bye!" Sausage added brightly as FWhip walked past him and out of the room.

"So... what potions did you say you mixed for the cure?" Pix added to Sausage curiously, determined to memorise whatever was needed.

"Uhhhhh- healing, regeneration and strength. I think. So we're gonna need a whole lot of nether wart, ghast tears, and glistering melons I think. Mostly nether wart, because that's required for all three, but... yeah." The brunette paused before nodding. "Yeah, that's what we need."

"Okay, cool. I think Joel might have some nether wart? He was dabbling in potion making a while back, because he needed to cure some zombified villagers, but like- obviously he couldn't go to Shelby because, you know." Pix made an odd hand gesture, smiling awkwardly. "Sculk."

"Ooo, okay, good point! I need to go drop Hermes off in Stratos anyway, so I'll ask Joel then." Sausage paused thoughtfully before nodding. "Then we can like- set a trap or something and just throw potions at them."

"Ten out of ten plan. Just... throw potions at them."

"YOU LITERALLY SUGGESTED THAT BEFORE, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!"

Wooo update :D

Sorry if this chapter feels a bit all over the place lmao

Anyway woo cure go brrrr

Thank you for 2k reads btw, idk if I said it before :D