Chapter 22// Packing Up (Part One)
(This is a super big chapter so I decided to split it in two. Each little section is a different person or small group of people with the last little bit of preparation they have to do. Glad it's almost over, because I want to get to the action stuff!)
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Keralis dropped his hands from his face with wide eyes and his tongue sticking out.
"bLeH!"
The little kid tried not to giggle, keeping his arm perfectly still, and Joe finished up by putting a bandaid on his arm over the tiny prick of blood. He rolled his sleeve back down and the kid brought his attention back to Joe.
"Wow, I didn't even feel it!" The kid grinned, lifting his sleeve to look at the neon yellow bandaid.
"You did incredible!" Joe complimented, while Keralis helped him hop down from the slightly too tall chair. The kids mother, who Joe now noticed was carrying a battle axe on her back, thanked them and nodded, getting the kids hand and walking out of the door.
"You two are pretty good at this!" Puffy smiled from the wall. "I trust you to take over for me while I'm gone, which hopefully won't be too long."
"We're happy to help!" Keralis said.
Callahan stepped into the room without a word and nodded at Puffy, slightly smiling at the two hermits as well.
"Callahan is always here to help if you need, and here's my number if a single thing goes wrong, ok?" She handed Joe a slip of paper who nodded and pocketed it in his new, slightly-the-wrong-size, lab coat.
"Thank you both so much. It honestly helps me so much." She said, turning to look over the room and make sure everything was in order.
"Relax a little Captain, everything will be fine, we have a bit of experience in this sorta thing anyway." Joe said, noticing her worry. She gave him a halfhearted smile and let her muscles relax.
She looked to Callahan, who gave her a nod and held up a piece of paper that read
'We'll be fine, stop worrying. Grab first aid supplies from storage'
"Oh that's a good idea, thanks Callahan."
He just nodded and pocketed the note.
Puffy glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Oh shoot I gotta go!" She walked to the door and reached for the handle, opening the door a crack before turning back.
"Thank you all so much again."
"You're welcome, but hurry up already!" Joe said.
"Go have fun on your adventure!" Keralis urged.
Callahan smiled and nodded at her, now holding a new piece of paper.
'Go kick that green man's ass.'
"How does he know-"
Puffy wanted to question how he knew about Dream, but realized she didn't have time as she shrugged it off and walked out the door with a final smile. It was probably just a Callahan thing.
"Whatever, I don't have time to ask."
She sped walked through the hallway to get to the storage room quickly, trying to be respectful of the others working there. Thankfully it was a slow time of the year so she didn't have to worry about bumping into people that much, and before she knew it, she had found the storage room.
Quickly turning the key and walking in, she saw the lights flicker on from the motion detectors and quickly scanned the labels on the cabinets.
"Casts, vials, stickers....." She mumbled to herself as she read them.
"Aha! Bandages! I have a feeling we're going to need a ton of these." She chuckled, stuffing more than enough into her bag. "Annnnnd, cleaning wipes, cotton balls, rubbing alcohol for cuts, I guess simple bandaids could come in handy." She talked quietly as she shoved stuff into her bag, thanking her past self for cleaning the junk out earlier. She was thinking of investing in a bag of holding for work. She had a backpack one that would work for the trip at home, but it wasn't that convenient for day to day stuff.
She looked towards the travel sized stitching kits and averted her gaze.
"We won't need that."
"Uhm, I guess I can grab a potion or two, but I think some of the others are getting those." Puffy mumbled, just grabbing one health and one fast regen potion. She put them in her bag more carefully before looking back at the rest of the cabinets.
Puffy looked over her supplies and was satisfied. She started to walk towards the door, ready to go home, pack up, and be on her way to the portal when a feeling nagged at her stomach. She looked at the cabinets a little annoyed and made a quiet grunting noise.
"Better safe than dead." She mumbled, quickly grabbing one of the stitching kits, stuffing it in her bag, and getting out of the room before she could look back.
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He had the stupid bag of holding clutched sloppily in one hand, not really caring if he dropped it or not at this point. George probably should've been taking better care of it and he knew it, especially since he was borrowing it from Antfrost and would have to return it after all of this, but he couldn't seem to make himself care.
Magic just didn't make any sense. Like- the bag was bigger on the inside than the outside, how did that even work!? George had tried to figure out the engineering to it before, resulting in nothing but more unanswered questions and confusion. He found it better to just ignore it for himself and stick to things that made sense, like the tech he was packing for the trip.
That was the reason he needed the bag, it wouldn't all fit in a normal backpack, and clothes and food were also a problem with trying to carry all of it around everywhere. It made no sense, but the bags made everything lighter.
"Screw physics I guess." He shrugged.
"Alright," He said, realizing how British he sounded with one word. "Dream and Sapnap would mock me if they heard that," He chuckled to himself.
"Let's get the important stuff first, then the food and clothes." He decided, talking aloud, walking over to the bag of holding that was only halfway filled, despite having way more in it than the actual fabric would allow.
He sorted through them, organizing them so they fit better and were easier to find, and listed them off in his head.
"Night Vision goggles, arm pads, earpieces, extra batteries, the trackers and extra bugs for it, tech gloves, retractable dagger and sword, and the axe for Sapnap." Sure it was a bit extra, but he felt it more comforting to be over the top out with gear when he could be. He stuffed in a few extra contraptions he thought might come in handy and zipped up the pocket of the backpack, opening a different one for the rest of the stuff he needed.
He walked to the kitchen and grabbed the fire extinguisher off of the wall. "Glad I won the bet!" George mumbled with a smile. He didn't bother to pack it in the bag, since he was going to give it to Sapnap when they got to the Earth portal, and just put it by the door so he wouldn't forget it.
George sorted through the food through his cabinets and groaned when he had to get a stool for the high shelves.
"Dream always got the high stuff." He thought with a tinge of sadness. "Stupid human skyscraper had to go and get possessed to avoid helping me." He huffed with a smile to get his mood back up, while he sorted through the snacks he had.
"His stupid smile and stupid laugh that could light up the darkess of rooms. Why the fuck was he the one to get possessed by a fricken void demon? Whatever the hell they even are..."
He noticed the laptop he had left on the counter before any of this adventuring stuff happened, and noticed his gaze linger there a bit longer.
"Tubbo knows more about these void demons than me at least. Maybe he could explain some stuff better." He walked over to the computer and unplugged it from the charging station, smiling at the satisfaction of 100%, something his computers rarely got to see. "I'll bring this for him in case he doesn't have one for the trip." He decided. It wasn't like he was running out of room in it anytime soon with the weird physics defying magic it had.
Last, he put the cape Bdubs had given him folded on the top, nodding to himself as he zipped it closed and checked the thing over again for unzipped pockets or holes.
"How would a hole even work? Would it break the magic or break the fabric of time and space?" He thought for a moment, shuddering and shaking the thought off. Hopefully magic didn't work like that, but it's not like he would know.
His bag was filled with everything he needed he hoped, and despite hating how little it made sense, he was glad it wasn't actually as heavy as all the things he had put in it.
He looked in the mirror and adjusted his clout goggles after shining the lenses on his shirt.
"Let's go get my best friend back." He smiled confidently to himself.
He walked out of the door a few steps before remembering the fire extinguisher he left at the door and running back in for it. Unfortunately, he knew it was probably going to come in handy.
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"So like Dream is possessed, and so is the guy Fundy's afraid of-, and Punz, and-" Tommy hesitated before he said the last name of the list, looking at Tubbo to see if his expression changed.
"Ranboo, yes." Tubbo finished for him. "And I'm the one who has to find a solution to it." Tubbo sighed as he carefully folded up an extra cozy yellow hoodie and put it into the bag of holding Philza had lended him.
They had split off from Philza and Technoblade's house and decided to stick together while they packed. Tubbo's house was closer, so they went to it first. Tommy was laying on a chair incorrectly while Tubbo packed, but the roles would be reversed when they got to Tommy's house so neither argued.
"Is there even a solution really? I mean no one knows anythimg about void demons, fuck, I didn't even know about them before today and-"
"There is a solution. There is a cure for the void demons and I'm going to find it no matter what." Tubbo interrupted, his tone cold.
Tommy stopped talking.
"Damn, that's a lot of pressure..." He said quietly.
"Yeah..." Tubbo said, sitting on the ground with half packed supplies littered on the ground.
"Well you got the furry on your side!" Tomy said enthusiastically, trying to bring light to the conversation. "He might be a dumb messy idiot, but he's still smart. I'm sure he'll have an answer in no time and all you have to do is figure out how to charge a computer wherever we are with a solar power panel or whatever."
"Heh," Tubbo let himself smile a bit. "I really hope so."
He finished with his clothes and stood up, shrugging the bag onto his shoulders. "On the bright side, I got a ton of snacks for the trip in the kitchen!" Tubbo grinned.
Tommy rolled off the chair he was "sitting" on and jumped up next to Tubbo.
"Well what are we waiting for man!"
The two ran into the kitchen and immediately dug through the cabinets to grab what they could find. Tubbo climbed onto the counter to reach the high shelves, throwing down the good stuff he could find.
"Crisps, fruit snacks, granola bars.." Tubbo listed off as he threw them down to Tommy who caught them and threw them in the bag like a video game character.
"Haaaa! Jackpot!" He exclaimed, lifting an extra big bag of jumbo marshmallows over his head.
"You thinking what I'm thinking, big man?" Tommy had a mischievous grin on.
"S'MORES!"
"S'MORES!"
They both exclaimed at once, laughing after. Tubbo held up a few chocolate bars for the smores and Tommy found the graham crackers in one of the lower cabinets, putting both into the bag.
"I think I got enough camping stuff for the both of us at my place." Tommy said as Tubbo jumped off the counter using one hand to balance.
"Oh good. Most of my old stuff burned in the fire....." Tubbo looked wistfully away from the camera with a sorrowful expression, the lighting in the room darkening a shadow cast over his face very dramatically.
"You do have to admit the fireworks and Fundy's face were worth it though that night." Tommy said, and all of the special effects disappeared instantly. Tubbo met him with a smile and a laugh.
"Definitely."
"Well we should head to your place now. We're running low on time." Tubbo said. Tommy handed him back his bag and he adjusted it onto his shoulders, happy with how light it felt.
"Don't want to miss out on this adventure!" Tommy laughed, running ahead of Tubbo out of the door while Tubbo paused to lock it.
"Hey wait up!"
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Fundy had made it to his house as quickly as he could, locking the door behind him as his tail flicked around nervously. He had seen the message in the group chat that had screwed over the mission while he was walking back from the Lab, and paranoia was settling in.
"What if Dream or Eret or one of the others finds me to destroy more than just the notes!? I mean- I still remember half of the work, what if-" He stopped his thinking mid sentence. He didn't have time to think like that. He sighed and looked around his house. All Fundy had to do was pack up supplies for a trip, and then he could skip to the Earth portal and be safe around all of his friends.
They had done it. They had infiltrated the Lab and gotten crystals for the group, but at what cost?
Sure they had all gotten out alive, although Bad and Sapnap looked worse for wear, but the guards had seen them in the end, and if they reported it to any official if they remembered, Fundy would surely lose his job the second he stepped foot back there.
"It's fine, it's fine. I'll just prove the void demon theory and they'll have to let me back in with open arms!" He assured himself.
But there was something else nagging at the back of his mind, or rather, someone.
Fundy looked around his house and decided to start packing for the trip. He didn't know much about what it was like the first time a group tried to catch Dream, but he could at least predict there would be a lot of walking, and he would need food and water. The warden said something about a few days if he could recall, meaning they'd probably have to sleep. Something told him it would be hard to fight an overpowered void demon and his new possessed team sleep deprived, but maybe that was just a hunch. He went to his closet to get clothes and a sleeping bag first.
Or rather, rather, multiple someone's.
For one, Eret.
One of his best friends stole and destroyed his work and chased him down a hallway. That was enough to keep his fur on end. The idea that he had teamed up with Dream with even more possessed friends, including Ranboo, sent shivers down his spine. His glowing eyes haunted his nightmares, and he had a feeling it wasn't just coincidence.
Fundy reached over his head to feel for a shelf above him, and felt satisfied when the dusty old flashlight still worked after all this time.
For two, Wilbur.
He was sure that the figure in the nightmare-dream thing was him. Or him as a ghost maybe? It didn't matter, because whatever Wilbur had done to go through the walls at the lab was the same way he looked in his nightmare. Fundy had locked eyes with the transparent person while he was a fox in a box, and the rest of the nightmare had hit him like a train. The running, the glowing eyes swallowing him, the floors cracking, and him falling into nothingness below him. Wilbur was the only person there, and he wasn't sure why.
He had no idea if Wilbur was doing it on purpose or not, but he was planning to ask him sometime during the adventure about it. Maybe he could get an answer on one thing at least.
Fundy tightly rolled up an orange and white sleeping bag and stuffed it in a bag of holding at the bottom before it could explode back to normal.
For three, Dream.
He was going to be on the opposite side of him, which, for multiple reasons, was bad. Fundy had watched a few practice fights between him and others, and the guy had fricken skill. He won against multiple people at once, Illumina himself, and Fundy had a feeling he was able to hold his own on Earth the first time around too. Sapnap had died after all, and if it was anything other than Dream that caused that-.... Well that brought around a-whole-nother load of fears to the table. Meaning, if a void demon had full control over Dream's body to accomplish whatever he wanted, weakness wasn't going to be a problem for it.
It wasn't really new news that the fox liked Dream a bit extra either, as some of his friends picked up on pretty easily, and so the thought of Dream wanting to kill him was enough to make his heart clench in an uncomfortable way.
"Right! The crystals!" He thought to himself, taking a break from packing food. The armor and weapons Techno had let him borrow were already tucked away, and he was thankfully almost done preparing. Maybe once he was around people again he could get his thoughts to take a break from taunting him. He hoped so at least.
The crystals would save him if something were to happen! He sighed with a little relief at the thought, and decided to open up the pouch to count how many they actually had.
He carefully dumped them onto the table to count them and made sure none fell onto the ground.
He winced at the amount he counted, and checked the bag to make sure there were absolutely no holes in it to explain the shortage.
There weren't.
And it wasn't enough.
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Skeppy stared at his reflection in the mirror with both confusion and curiosity.
He was back home, and knew he had to hurry packing if he was going to meet Badboyhalo early at the portal, but something kept drawing him back to his reflection.
It looked like the blue had stopped spreading, since it had hardly changed during the whole day since he put the makeup on in the morning, but he still didn't like the look of the blotches. He didn't feel sick to his stomach or anything, but the blue made his thoughts wonder if he was. He planned to ask Puffy sometime on the trip about it, when he and Bad were separated.
It wasn't like he was never going to tell him! It was just that-......
He thought back to what Sapnap had said earlier, when they had all stolen Bad for a still unknown reason.
"Just know, that when you took forever to get to the meeting here today, Bad was worried sick. He cares about you dude."
"I know he does! But would he really still like me with all of this weird stuff! Sapnap said they glowed which is weird as fuck, and now one of my eyes is blue!" He said out loud to himself, throwing his head into his head and groaning.
He lifted his hand up and tried to do the same thing he had done when he and Sapnap were running from the Hell guards. He still didn't know what it was, but it seemed to work like a shield at least. A tiny thought at the back of his mind was telling him that maybe-, just maybe! -If he mastered this power, and could use it on command, maybe he wouldn't hate it so much.
He focused his energy into his hand, something he'd heard Bad say before, and tried to imagine what it looked like.
There wasn't even a glimmer or sparkle of anything even barely resembling magic, and he let his hand fall back to his side in defeat.
Skeppy sighed and looked at the half packed supplies littered around his house. There were the minimal camping things he knew he should bring: Flash light, sleeping bag, some extra hoodies and other clothes, and a water bottle, but procrastination was weighing him down on actually getting them into his bag.
His shirt was discarded on the floor so he could see the scar on his side better earlier, and he was just too lazy to put it back on before he had to. He didn't really like looking at it, but his shirt.... was so far......
The actual wound was healed, definitely from all of the potions from the hospital, but the black lines had spread further up his torso and slightly around his back. Breathing with his whole chest hurt, but he could deal with that enough by taking smaller breaths. Twisting surprisingly didn't hurt much, but putting pressure on the center of it was a different outcome. He winced and pulled his hand away quickly.
"Alright not doing that again." He decided.
While he was thinking back on memories from the past few days, a certain someone visiting his hospital room at night caught his attention. Bad had averted the conversation at the cafe when Skeppy brought it up and he noticed it. Sometime during the trip, he was going to get the answer out of Bad.
He picked up his shirt and glanced down at the black lines, before throwing it back over his head so he couldn't see it anymore.
Skeppy sighed as he looked at the mess of the room again.
"Ok, let's pack and then we can clean this up." He said out loud to no one.
He picked up the Hell gear he had thrown on the couch the night before, and sorted through it. Sapnap had a good chunk of it in the void which he could get at the earth gate when they all met up, but for now he had the two swords, chestpate, and helmet left from it. The chestplate sorta hurt to put on the first time, and no doubt would hurt more now, but he reluctantly put it in the bag of holding for if he had to wear it at some point. It was better than getting hit by another one of those freaky black axes on his other side. He decided the swords could just go on a belt so he could more quickly grab them if he needed to, and they weren't too heavy anyway.
"Ok now for camping supplies right?"
He quickly found a cyan sleeping bag that would probably work. He thought about sleeping under the stars peacefully. Getting to see them on Earth again after such a long time of the empty hub night sky. Maybe they would give him a more peaceful night's sleep too. He had had the same nightmare twice in a row now, with Bad and Dream and the same axe that had hit him the first time. It was predictable the second time, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
"Maybe the stars will help with it." He blissfully thought.
He filled up his water bottle next, reluctantly avoiding the sugary drinks he wanted to fill it with instead, purely because he knew Bad would pester him about it later. Skeppy put them both into his bag.
After that he.....
Had no idea what he was doing.
Skeppy had no idea what he was in for, going to Earth to hunt a group of people that were possessed. Niki had texted him a bit of info after she apparently talked to Techno, but it still wasn't much to go off of really, and nothing useful for packing.
But, maybe someone else he knew at least had an idea of what would happen?
Before he could second guess himself, he pressed the call button on his best friend's contact to ask for help. There was no guarantee that Badboyhalo would know what he was doing either, but it was worth a shot, and Skeppy wanted to hear his voice anyway.
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And thank you so much for reading! like I said at the top, I spilt this into two parts so it wouldn't be over 10k words and also take forever to get out. I actually had most of this done last weekend but school prevented me from editing it all week so absolutely blame it first! Me second I guess, but don't think about that part too much. who's part do you like he best so far? I hate them all equally! it's a love/hate relationship with my writing honestly! anyway thanks again, maybe vote if you really liked it? and have a great day or night!
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