The second he got home, Sapnap headed to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. The speed potion had done wonders for his energy levels in the moment, but only lasted 10 minutes (he still wished it was 5) and he needed something more stable than that.

Using the void probably wasn't going to be an option until he got some real rest, so he opted to just prepare for sleeping in the woods and getting some food into a bag. All of the Hell gear was in his void, meaning he would have it when he needed it, but for now he could spare to keep it there instead of trying to take it out and sort into the bag Ant and Velvet gave him.

The coffee machine beeped and he perked up, turning his attention towards it quickly.

"Finally! Who knew coffee took so long to brew," He chuckled to himself.

He poured it in a water bottle he could bring on the trip and took a swig of it without even considering the scaling temperature.

Then, he paused and thought about it.

"It didn't burn my tongue?" He thought, giving it an odd look. He poured it into a normal mug and saw the steam rise off of it, pretty clearly showing it was hot, but it felt pretty mediocre when he took another more cautious sip.

"That's trippy. I must be more exhausted than I realise." He mumbled to himself. He shrugged it off, ignoring the fact that if this actually was really hot his tongue would hurt later, and downed the rest of it anyway.

All he had to do was stuff some food and other supplies into his bag, and with the time-saver of not giving a crap if it was organized, it went by pretty quickly!

"Clothes, sleeping bag, tent, flashlight, food, stupid energy drinks for that idiot, oven mitts, George said he was bringing the fire extinsher- good I don't have one. Uhm.... more food I guess? Sure a serrated dagger could come in handy. " He figured, throwing all of it onto his bag as he went.

"Weapons and armor? Well I have the Hell gear, but I guess extra couldn't hurt. Plus dear ole Gogy might've forgotten battle gear." He said the last part in an exaggerated British accent. And with that, he threw in some spare knives, swords, chainmail, an extra shield, some unknown tipped arrows he was too lazy to try to identify, and last but certainly not least, a fire resistance potion. One he was sure he wouldn't be using himself.

He slung his bag over one shoulder and looked back into his house. The clock said he was early, but he didn't particularly mind. Maybe he could get a treat from the cafe nearby if he really had time to spare, but he was mostly focused on getting Dream. They had wasted too much time already and were going to need to make it up somehow when they stepped through the portal.

He just hoped catching up to Dream didn't involve trains again.

That green bastard had gotten away with too much recently, and whether it was his friend or not wasn't a question he was there to answer.

He huffed a little with a little more confidence back into his step and looked out to the direction he needed to head and smiled.

"Oh Dream." He chuckled, "Or dreamon, void demon, whatever the fuck you are-... You messed with the wrong fucking hellspawn."

---------------------------------

"Alright mate, so what are you looking for?"

"Just a guitar to replace my old one. I couldn't find a store that sold any so I thought you could help."

"Years here and you still don't know your way around?"

"It's not like I need to. You and Techno are my sorta-human GPS's, and the cafe is easy enough to remember the directions to."

"You need to get out more mate." Philza sighed and shook his head. Wilbur just hummed in response.

It was a few minutes of casual conversation and heading down an unfamiliar street before they came across an eye-catching window.

"Oh this one looks interesting." Philza stopped walking and turned to the store window.

Wilbur stopped short and looked at the display window. It had trinkets of all kinds, including a simple yellow guitar in the corner.

"I mean it's not a music store-... but if anything that might help with the price?" Wilbur considered.

"Might have to haggle for it by the looks of it," Philza chuckled, reaching for the door handle.

Wilbur scoffed and followed Philza through the door, noticing the little bell on the doorway that made no sound. Even without the ring, the shopkeeper seemed to notice them quickly and turned to them with a smile.

"How may I help you today?"

---------------------------------

Antfrost and Velvet held hands the whole way home, soaking up each other's company. It was still a beautiful day out, and if they weren't chasing down a possessed psychopath then maybe they could've had a picnic.

Velvet pulled away to step ahead and unlock the door, bowing dramatically as he held it for Ant to step through.

They knew they had a good amount of time to spare since all of their camping supplies had never been unpacked, but still felt a sense of urgency telling them they needed to make good time.

"Ok, where should we start?" Ant asked, looking towards his partner.

"Hmmmm, well the bed looks pretty comfy~" Velvet cooed, leaning his face towards Ant with a smirk.

"Pssh," He pushed Velvet's head away and rolled his eyes. "We gotta get to the earth portal soon. We don't have time to cuddle"

"Awww, not even one little cat nap?" Velvet teased him with a cat joke.

"If you keep taunting me like that, I'm gonna claw your eyes out." Ant chuckled.

"Oh you wouldn't dare-" Velvet started, before Ant cut him off with a kiss. His face went as red as his name and he stuttered "I-I uh..."

"Ok now that you're quiet we can start. How about I get the food and you bring the camping supplies to the living room?"

Immediately, Velvet snapped out of it, "Nuh uh! You're just gonna pack fish or mice or something and I'll be stuck eating that junk and trail mix for another trip!"

"Well I'm offended by the mice statement, but fine! I'll do the easy one then~" Ant smiled, walking away from the kitchen as Velvet rolled his eyes.

A few seconds later there was a clatter of noise from the living room as Ant dumped the set of camping supplies they had been using prior to the mission. They had been temporarily stored in some random room and so all he had to do was move it out so they could organize it into their shared bags of holding.

Velvet was turned around towards the cabinets, looking through them, as Antfrost came in behind him.

"So-.... should we get like full meals we can take? Or just a bunch of easy to eat and carry snacks? This is sorta hard to plan, when we don't have an accurate time scale..."

"Maybe just some easy to carry food for a few days. If we really run out we can go to an earthstore or something." Ant replied.

"And rob it." Velvet added with a casual voice

"Velvet."

"Whaaat? I'm just saying!" Velvet defended with a laugh, "Earth prices might've gone up or something, we might not have enough cash."

"The train ticket I got there wasn't higher than normal. We'll be fine."

"I'm keeping the option on the table."

"And I'm pushing it off."

"Ah I see," Velvet chuckled, "Like a cat would."

Antfrost grumbled and turned around with a glare. He grabbed the bag of holding off the table to busy himself with putting the camping supplies into it so he didn't have to talk to Velvet.

"Oh come on baby!" Velvet whined, "Don't leave me for that!" He chuckled as he said it, breaking the act.

Ant shrugged and continued to ignore him, smiling while his back was turned away so Velvet couldn't see it.

"Noooo!!! Antttt don't do this!" Velvet continued, totally giving up on packing to walk over to Ant.

Ant faced him with crossed arms and a subtle smile as Velvet continued to purposely act like a fool. His arms were outstretched loosely, and he dragged his feet forwards dramatically.

A few steps forwards, his foot oddly bent and he tripped and fell, getting a quick rush of adrenaline. Ant rushed forwards and caught his boyfriend in arms quickly.

They stood together for a moment as time froze around the two.

Velvet exhaled and walked forwards, slowly letting go of Ant's arms who was looking at him with wide eyes

"Thanks," He breathed out.

"No problem." Ant said slowly. "What happened there?"

"I just tripped."

"On what?"

"Not sure..." Velvet looked behind him to see if the rug was bent or anything, but found everything looked the same, "Maybe the air is out to get me?" He chuckled.

Ant glanced at Velvet's foot aniouxly, worry written all over his face.

"No no it's fine I promise. I'm just clumsy." Velvet assured him before a word was spoken. Both of them were thinking the same thing: Velvet's foot was still hurt from the blast. Dangerous for a mission like theirs.

"Just take it easy ok." Ant spoke softly.

"I will."

"I'll help you with the food." Ant smiled, changing the topic to Velvet's relief. He quickly smiled and nodded, grabbing Ant's hand and dragging him towards the kitchen to help.

"Let's bring snacks for walking and lunches, and easy meals for breakfast and dinner." Ant decided as he looked through what they had. "Dream seemed to be headed somewhere, somewhere far from the general area the portal is in, so I would assume we at least have a day where we're going to need to eat."

"We should prepare for a few days." Velvet said, grabbing out some trail mix for himself.

"Right."

A few minutes later, they had everything ready and packed up into their bags of holding. Ant brought an extra pair of glasses and some contacts in case those broke, while Velvet really just got extra hoodies for himself.

"Is that all we need to do then cutie?" Velvet asked as he zipped up his bag.

"Not quite." Ant was holding something in his hand carefully, hidden from view.

"Hmm?"

Ant looked Velvet in the eyes and lifted up his hands, pressing a crystal into them.

"Wha- no. no you keep this."

"Red, you're the one that got hurt from Dream."

"But-"

"Listen, Fundy and others got more from the lab, remember? So you take this one, and I'll get one at the Earth portal ok?"

Velvet hesitated, but noticed the stubborn look in Antfrost's eyes and gave in.

"Ok."

Antfrost grabbed Velvet's hand and pulled him towards the door.

"Let's go kill Dream together!"

"Woo!" Velvet cheered, pulling Antfrost in for a quick kiss.

"I can't wait to break his foot as payback for mine." 

---------------------------------

The potion had worn off, and Bad was feeling the effects of the exhaustion blanket over his body again. Thankfully he had made it home before he collapsed, but as the door closed behind him, the floor started to look a tiny bit blurrier than it had in the morning. That being said, he decided it was time for a cup of coffee.

Maybe multiple actually.

The shadow demon sulked over to the kitchen and poured the magic beans in, leaning on the table as it brewed. He really wished he'd gotten another potion for at least the walk home, then maybe he would have had the energy to make better time and actually do something while he waited. But right now, as he felt his eyes get heavier by the second, he was useless.

The dinging sound probably saved him from slumber, and Bad shook his head to wake him up enough to grab the cup.

He grabbed an ice cube and plopped it into the steaming liquid to cool it down faster so he could drink it more quickly. After a few seconds of blowing on it, he took a hesitant sip, before melting into the warm drink.

Apparently being sleep deprived makes coffee taste better. (But I do not recommend it because you guys need to sleep! Please! If it's late, sleep!)

He was starting to feel more awake- probably-, so he set the cup on a nearby counter and got to sorting through his supplies. It was boring, quiet and lonely, but he had to get it done.

Unfortunately, boring, quiet, and lonely is the perfect formula for unwanted thoughts.

"Sooooo Dream. We're all going to hunt him down, and catch him again, and force him to tell us how to cure Skeppy. Simple as that, right?" He asked himself, hoping it would have more answers than himself, which didn't make much sense.

"But what if..- NO we aren't even going to start that." He shut down his thoughts quickly before they could manifest into something horrible. He shook his head violently and went back to packing with his eyebrows furrowed to himself focused on the task at hand.

"What if there's nothing to help S- DREAm said he knows a cure. There is one."

"What about him? Is there a cure for Dream and the other possessed people?- uhm..." Bad tried to find a counter for that intrusive thought, shaking his head to try to get rid of it physically.

 "There is a cure. Magic, science, whatever-" He mumbled to himself. "There is a cure for all of them." He decided out loud.

Most of his belongings were packed up tightly and efficiently, and he was so thankful he had gotten a bag of holding instead of trying to stuff all of his stuff into the void or an ordinary bag.

He took another longer sip of coffee and tried to open his eyes wider to wake himself up better. Bad couldn't tell if it was working or not.

"I hope this isn't decaf."

As he was about to turn back to getting his stuff packed up, he noticed his phone light up and a repetitive dinging noise filled the eerily quiet room.

"Huh?"

He walked towards the sound and looked at his phone on the counter, immediately lighting up at the sight of the contact.

Bad picked it up and answered quickly with a smile on his face. His eyes were wider, and he was going to put the credit on the coffee for that one.

"Skeppy?!"

"Hey Badboy!"

"What are you calling for?" Bad asked, letting himself smile at the sound of Skeppy's voice.

"Can't I just call to hear your lovely voice?~" Skeppy asked with a smirk Bad could hear through the phone.

"sKEppy!" He giggled.

"Ok ok!" Skeppy laughed too, "The real reason I called was because I have no idea what to prepare for. I have the gear me and Sapnap got from Hell, a sleeping bag and a water bottle"

"That's all?" Bad scoffed with a laugh.

"Well yeah-, what else do I need? You're the expert."

"I'm not an expert, muffinhead."

"You already chased Dream down once, how hard could it be again?"

"Skeppy it wasn't-...." Bad paused to find the words, "It wasn't that easy..."

Skeppy seemed to notice he hit a soft spot and stopped quickly, changing the subject. "So what would be good for camping supplies?"

Bad smiled at the gesture and stifled a yawn. "Well you have a sleeping bag which is good, but you still need food, a tent, a flashlight with some extra batteries, a cooler if you can fit one, a super cozy blanket and warm clothes to sleep in, uh...." Bad tried to keep listing stuff but fell short. Skeppy didn't seem to mind and somehow was able to keep up too. Bad wasn't really sure how fast he was talking but it did feel like the coffee was kicking in. A little. Maybe? He snapped out of his thoughts when Skeppy spoke.

"Ok I think I got most of that stuff, but I don't have a tent."

"Hmm, well I have a really big one, want to share one?" Bad asked.

"Ok great! You can keep it in the void then and neither of us have to carry it!"

"Mmh hm!" Bad said, sorta lying through his teeth while glancing at the coffee cup, but trying to sound cheerful anyway.

"So what type of food should I get?" Skeppy asked. Bad could hear ruffling from the other end that sounded like he was moving around.

"Uhm, stuff you can cook over a fire. And Granola and energy bars and stuff like that, that's easy to carry and doesn't take any preparation." Bad paused to yawn, "And fruit and stuff that doesn't need a microwave would be good." He took another sip of coffee.

"You ok Bad?" Skeppy had concern tracing his voice.

"Yeah yeah," Bad said, glancing at his bandaged hand. "Just a little tired from the heist I guess. It's not a big deal."

"Heist?"

"Oh right! How did the portal and the hermits go?"

"Bad you're avoiding the topic, what did you do and why are you so tired?"

"Oh me and others went to a lab? Yeah that's what it was." Bad started to mumble a little and he could tell his words were slurring a little. He took another sip of coffee and shook his head to wake himself up. "So there was a guard, and we needed his badge, so I knocked him out and Fundy got it. Then we uh-....." His voice faded out while he tried to remember it in chronological order, which was proving a little difficult. At least the coffee seemed to be helping. Kinda? He really really hoped it wasn't decaf. Half-decaf might explain it better, but he still really hoped the real caffeine would kick in soon.

Skeppy waited patiently for him to continue, he wasn't letting Bad drop the topic.

"Go on.."

"Right so uh- Sapnap made fire in his hands. The little muffins getting better at controlling it I think. And Tubbo put his hand in front to make a shadow I could slip through, up the wall, and to the cameras. Way harder than I remember it being..." He mumbled the last part.

"What was that last part?"

"Mhmh..." Bad mumbled.

"Baaaad...."

"It's nothing-"

"Bad. What was so hard about shadow traveling?"

"Going up the wall was really hard, ok! Normal shadows on the ground are fine, but it was worse than I thought it was going to be when I jumped out." He blurted out, immediately feeling guilty after. Before he could apologize, Skeppy started to speak again.

"Hey hey Bad it's ok." Skeppy spoke in a soft voice, "You did great I'm sure, and I'm glad you were there to help them out. Now what happened next."

Bad sighed, "We got to a hallway and I shadowed traveled down in instead of crawling to stay out of view of the windows, then Sapnap tried to melt the circuit but he was stressed and it didn't work, and then two guards came so I stabbed the passcode thing and that somehow worked and I pushed Tubbo and Fundy through the door and me and Sapnap fought the guards." Bad ran on and on, in a way English teachers would probably be ashamed of cough cough.

"Did you win?" Skeppy asks in awe.

"Of course muffinhead," Bad said with a chuckle. "And that's pretty much it, but I'm sorta tired."

"Wait, what were you even trying to get?"

"Oh yeah- respawn crystals."

"Oh that's great!"

"Yeah, I hope there's enough of them. Fundy didn't look too sure when we asked but he didn't count them."

"Oh-"

"No no it's fine, it was worth it, I just need another coffee or two before we leave. I'm not really sure the one I had was right?"

"Ok well thanks for helping me with the packing stuff, are you done yet?"

"No, I'll make another coffee and then I'll finish it up and then meet you at the portal?"

"Ok, see you then Bad." Skeppy nodded.

"Bye Geppy! Love you!"

"Love you Bad, hurry up!"

Skeppy hung up and Badboyhalo set the phone down on the counter, downing the last of the coffee. The label on the box proved it was only half caffeinated which clearly wasn't enough, so he made himself another fully caffeinated one to drink while he walked to the portal.

There was a little pouch he had forgotten on the table and his eyes went wide as he spotted it and remembered what it was. He grabbed it quickly so he wouldn't forget again and used the little strength he had left to put it into the void for safekeeping. 

He thought back to the call and found motivation to keep going. Bad didn't hesitate to use it towards packing, a smile on his face the whole way. Skeppy would be by his side this time around, it would be different.

---------------------------------

This was a big one huh?(well both parts together I guess) I don't love the pacing of some of them and I'm sure they sounded better in my head when I was writing them than they actually sound when reading them, but I hope you still liked it! Don't be afraid to ask any questions you have! And thank you for reading! (and maybe voting too if you really liked it?) Have an amazing day or night! (and again, blame school for the time it took to post this.)