Badboyhalo was pacing his room in distress. Sam had just told him Dream escaped and he had messaged the chat as soon as the call had ended, but he was freaking out now alone in his room with no one to talk to. He had thrown his phone onto his bed and the constant ringing of new messages asking about what he had said was not helping his situation.

"Dream escaped, Dream escaped, Dream escaped and is going to hurt my friends..." His thoughts taunted him, repeating over and over. He slinked back into the shadows feeling guilty and scared and afraid to answer the spam messages that kept ringing.

Until it started to ring as a call, instead of the messages. Out of curiosity, Bad jumped out of the shadow and picked it up slowly. Looking away and putting his thumb over the camera, he clicked the accept button and heard a voice from the other side of the call.

"BAD!?"

It was Sapnap, and he sounded just as worried as Bad felt, but much louder. Bad turned off the camera to hide his face before taking his thumb off and speaking.

"Hey Sapnap..."

"What was that text you sent everyone!? Did he really escape the prison?!" Sapnap questioned, obviously worried and panicky himself too.

"Y-yeah, Sam told me a few minutes ago, and said to get everyone involved to meet at the prison."

"Why weren't you answering the messages? Everyone is freaking out!" Sapnap asked, freaking out quite a bit himself too. The notifications continued, but seemed to have slowed down a little.

"Because I'm terrified, Sapnap! He- he got out! And now him and Eret are on the loose and what if he hurts Skeppy or you or anyone else!" Bad exclaimed himself. Saying it outloud, he realised it was completely true, like, again, and started to breathe more quickly.

Sapnap paused his yelling, and answered in a kinder tone. "Hey Bad, it's-,...it's going to be ok. Everyone's just freaking out and confused." The tone of Sapnap's voice changed very quickly to assure Bad it was going to be ok.

"I am too! Sam just called me, told me he was out, and hung up! What am I supposed to do? What if he finds someone who can't defend themselves or get away?! What if he finds Skeppy or you or-"

"Bad! Relax, I'm ok, and I'm sure Skeppy and everyone else is too." Sapnap noticed he mentioned Skeppy possibly getting hurt twice, but didn't mention it out loud. "If they weren't ok, they would have called us by now. I think we should meet up like Sam said, and discuss what to do with everyone. I'll text the chat again." Sapnap said. There was a pause of silence as he typed out the message and sent it.

"Thanks Sapnap." Bad said, taking a shaky breath of his own to calm down. "For calming me down. I'll see you there in a few minutes?"

"Yeah dude, it's going to be ok." He assured again. "See ya there." Sapnap said, hanging up slowly, making sure Bad had nothing else to say.

Bad took a slow breath when he heard the line go short to steady himself. "Sapnap's right, if Skeppy saw Dream he'd have called me like he did last time-"

The scene flashed in front of his eyes. Last time Skeppy called Bad, he still wasn't able to get there in time, and by the sound of it he had hardly been able to call. What if this time he wasn't able to call at all and-

No, Bad wasn't going to think like that. Skeppy was ok, and so was everyone else. He just had to get the prison quickly to see everyone and make sure.....

He grabbed a few extra things before dashing out of the door, and stuffed them in the void. An extra throwing knife, a muffin, a machine gun, and a new pair of gloves since the ones he'd been wearing for the past few days were pretty scuffed. Just the normal stuff.

He raced out of the house, and contemplated whether he should shadow travel or not. "I might be tired, but it's just as tiring as running and no one will see me. Especially Dream." He decided for it, and jumped into the nearest shadow. Going at a normal pace so he wouldn't tire himself out too much when he jumped out, he let himself relax a little. The shadows were safe, no one could find or attack him in them, and they felt comforting and freeing. He was ok.

By the time Bad had made it to the prison, Sapnap was already there, standing alone. Bad jumped out of the shadows a few feet away so as to not startle Sapnap and waved hi as he walked. He felt sort of tired after jumping out, but shrugged it off. That'd probably be the easiest thing he would do today anyway, with both Dream and Eret to deal with.

"Hey Sapnap."

"Hey Bad." Sapnap said with a sigh. He glanced towards Bad and gave a weak smile before going back to staring off into the distance.

The air hung heavy between them, both having fully realised this was real, and not just- for no other words, -a dream. They knew that they couldn't just leave him to wreak havoc on Earth with whatever he was trying to do, but neither really wanted to face him again either. Sapnap had been pushed off a moving train over a cliff, and Bad was left to watch his best friend bleed out in front of him. Worst of all, Dream was possessed, and didn't know, or couldn't control what he was doing. That meant they couldn't just kill him and get it over with; He was their friend. At least this second time through, more people could help them out, but the whole situation was still nerve racking.

"So we just, like, wait for everyone to show up?" Sapnap asked. He was already looking around more for people, keeping his voice down while he talked. It was a slow day, and no one came near the prison usually either, but it was still better to keep as low a profile as they could.

"Yeah pretty much." Bad said with a sigh. "I don't know if we can really plan anything before more people show up."

He jumped into the shadow made by the prison walls and kept looking around. The darkness was comforting and made him feel safe even in the presence of the intimidating structure right behind him. He could run or hide ever so easily in there, or just sit peacefully.

"What are you doing? Doesn't that take up a bunch of energy?" Sapnap asked, glancing towards the moving shadow.

"Not really. I won't feel any different until I jump out anyway."

"Wait really, that's how that works?" Sapnap asked.

"Yeah!" Bad said a little excitedly, "It takes a bit of effort to jump in and out, but I don't feel any side effects of moving really fast until I get out. Like running, but not feeling terrible until I stop and take and break."

"Well then why don't you stay in the shadows all of the time. You don't get tired until you want to, that seems pretty OP!"

"I can't physically do anything until I jump out." Bad explained. "Can't grab anything or punch muffin heads who swear."

Sapnap laughed a bit and hummed in response. He kept his gaze on the landscape looking for people to show up. It seemed like this was really-hecking-important, so why the hell weren't they showing up faster!?

The silence was increasingly awkward, so Bad tried to start some conversation. "So how was your trip to Hell? Did you and Skeppy have fun?"

"Yeah it was awesome!" Sapnap started with a slight laugh, "Oh I almost forgot!" Sapnap said. Bad gave him a curious look patiently waiting for whatever Sapnap was going to do or say. Sapnap looked like he was focussing really hard on something as he held out his hands in front of him. Suddenly a bunch of stuff appeared in front of him as he grabbed it out of the void all at once. A big pile of gear. Bad raised his eyebrow, and jumped out of the shadows to take a better look at the stuff Sapnap had dropped to the ground.

"Me and Skeppy got a bunch of gear while we were there. It was for catching Eret, but it will work for the Dream quest 2.0 too." Sapnap said proudly.

"Oh wow that's a lot of stuff!" Bad said in awe.

"Yep, and Skeppy has the last little bit of it. Some of it has seen better days but it will do the trick."

"I hope he gets here soon." Bad said, looking off into the distance again. He grabbed out the muffin he packed from the void effortlessly, and ate it. Sapnap noticed how easy it was for him, and felt a pang of jealousy that it was so much harder for him. He shrugged off the feeling and looked into the distance too.

"Yeah me too, but don't worry about it Bad. I'm sure he just slept in." Sapnap assured.

Bad and Sapnap were still looking around for people, so they quickly Saw Antfrost and Redvelvet as they hurried over to the prison. Both of their arms were full with various potions of all sorts. From health, to speed, to slow falling, they practically had it all. Well, all they could reasonably carry.

"Guys is it true!? Did he really-...." Velvet cut himself off as one of the potions slipped and he narrowly caught it. He let out a relieved sigh before speaking again. .

"- ......escape?"

Bad nodded glanced towards the ground, "Yeah." He said weakly. "We're waiting for Sam and everyone else to show up so we can make a plan."

Antfrost nodded, "We brought a bunch of potions from my shop to help. Might need more depending on how many people show up but this was all we could carry."

"Let me help with that." Bad said, walking over a few feet and grabbing a few potions from both of their arms. He slipped them into the void easily and then took the rest so they wouldn't have to hold anything.

"Bad you need to hold off on using too much magic. You don't want to exhaust yourself as much as you did yesterday." Ant scolded. He and Sapnap made eye contact, worrying the same thing. Bad just crossed his arms with a look arguing he was fine.

Before they could continue, George and Tubbo showed up, cutting whatever they wanted to say off. Their conversation was in a hushed tone as they walked together and Tubbo kept glancing around. Both of them waved hi to the small group forming near the prison more slowly than anyone wanted.

"Dream escaped?" George asked to confirm the text. He was the only one to use Dream's name. George didn't even seem doubtful at the idea, just-... accepting.

The quietness and slight nodding of everyone answered the question clearly.

Yes.

"What are we going to do?" Tubbo asked, fiddling with his hands. He had the tracker button clipped on the pocket of his shirt and kept moving it around, obviously very nervous about the whole situation.

"We wait for Sam and anyone else to come, make a plan, and track him down." Sapnap said. He was leaning on the wall of the prison, having gotten tired of standing around, and with his face partially covered by shadows, he looked really intimidating and serious. George just rolled his eyes.

"We're also curing him and getting that Dreamon out of him, dumbass." George said towards Sapnap. Everyone nodded at the importance of this; They weren't going to leave their friend behind no matter how much he tried to kill them.

"Curing him? How?" Tubbo asked. Everyone looked at him, nervously. There was a pause of silence.

"What? Why- why is everyone looking at me?" Tubbo asked, looking at everyone and leaning backwards slightly.

"Wel uh--" Bad started, "You and Fundy are the scientists, we were hoping you guys knew? I mean you guys figured out all of the other stuff, and so maybe....?" His voice trailed off and he avoided the words he didn't want to hear, but it was clear Tubbo got the idea.

"Oh I-I uh-...." Tubbo stuttered, unsure of what to say. It was obvious he didn't know what to say, or rather how to cure Dream, so Ant intervened to save him from more stuttering.

"It's okay if you don't know how yet. We'll have plenty of time to figure it out on the way." Antfrost assured. Tubbo felt a little better, but there was still a lot of pressure on him now. He didn't have any of his data, and even though he knew void demons were real, he still wasn't quite sure exactly what they were. The files hadn't been too clear, and everyone else just called them a legend or a "creature of the void". Whatever that was supposed to mean.

The silence was awkward as none of them knew what to say. Should they start to plan now? Should they assess what they know? Wait for everyone else to come? Start preparing whatever they could? None of them knew what to say, so they all started to look around for more people to avoid talking or making eye contact.

"More people" counted as the other people showing up of course, and Dream or Eret on the loose running around. Better to find them quickly if they showed up than get jumped, and the idea of them showing up unannounced while none of them were prepared yet was lingering in the back of all of their minds.

Niki and Captain Puffy were next to show up, mentioning this seemed more important than work for the day on their arrival. Puffy said had plenty of people to replace her for a short while now that she was involved in this. Wilbur came after them looking more tired than normal, probably having to do with the fact that Niki had closed the cafe for the day and he couldn't get his regular coffee. Fundy, Philza, and Techno were the last to show up together. They had armor and weapons and shields by their sides, looking the most prepared out of anyone and slightly proud of it too. Fundy handed a shield and a thin sword to Tubbo for defence, which sort of freaked him out even though he was grateful. Skeppy and Sam were the only two that hadn't shown up. Everyone was talking in small quiet groups amongst themselves as they waited. Some were planning, some were trying to avoid the topic, and some were just hanging out, here for the rollercoaster of a ride.

"Where is he?" Bad mumbled to himself, scanning the surrounding area. Sapnap and Velvet tried to assure him Skeppy was fine, just late is all, but even they had their doubts, and Bad refused to stop looking.

While Bad was looking to the right of the prison into the far distance, Skeppy was walking from the other direction with the blue box on his head. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his blue hoodie tightly and there was a smudge of color on his sleeve that looked to be rubbed off in a hurry. He was casually walking over at a relaxed pace and looked surprised to see so many people at the meeting place. He just just shrugged it off and continued on his way over to them, not thinking much into it. Antfrost was the first that cared to spot him.

"Bad." Ant nudged Bad's arm and pointed to the direction of Skeppy.

Bad lit up immediately, and ran over to Skeppy as fast as he could, engulfing him in a huge hug and almost toppling him backwards. Bad steadied himself and held on tightly while Skeppy stood there confused, not sure whether to pull back or say something or-?

"Uhm Bad?..." Skeppy started.

Everyone was starting to stare at the two but Bad really didn't want to let go. Skeppy nudged him and Bad reluctantly did so. Before Skeppy could ask what that was all about, Bad started to question him.

"Where were you, you muffin-head?! I've been so worried now that Dream is on the loose and you never answered the group chat and-"

"Wait what?" Skeppy asked. He seemed confused and completely out of the loop to what was happening.

"I asked where were you? Besides Awesamdude you're the last one to arrive!"

"I thought the time was 9? And I didn't think so many people would be here? Sapnap said to meet at the prison and I assumed we just switched locations. What's this about Dream on the loose?!" Skeppy asked a lot of questions quickly.

"Didn't you see my text!? Sam said Dream escaped, and I was worried sick about you!" Bad exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis.

Techno nudged Wilbur from the crowd. "They fight like an old married couple." He said quietly. Wilbur chucked and nodded his head to agree. Honestly it was entertaining.

"He escaped!?" Skeppy practically yelled.

"Yes and keep it down!" Bad hushed pretty loudly, putting his fingering on the box which did absolutely nothing. "We all came here to talk about that. Did you really not see the text in the group chat?"

"Well there were a lot of texts, I didn't feel like scrolling up." Skeppy said, trying to hide a yawn. It didn't work, since the screen on his head literally projected his face expressions onto it and the whole crowd saw it.

Before Bad could argue that that was a stupid excuse- especially to a group chat as important as the one that was hunting down possessed void demons,- Sapnap intervened.

"Well at least you're here now!" He said, trying to stop the pointless argument. "And now we just have to wait for Sam."

As if on cue, Awesamdude and someone else swerved over in front of the crowd in a golf cart. The crowd stepped back to avoid the dust that had been swept up when it skidded to a stop. Sam was in the passenger seat and looky dizzy and alert. He was clutching the bars on the sides as tightly as he could, and his hair was a little frizzy on the top like it had been blowing in the wind too long. He let out a relieved sigh when the vehicle was safely stopped, making it seem like the ride hadn't been all that smooth sailing.

Sam took a dizzy step out and dusted off his armor and hoodie sleeves, patting his hair down as well.

"Hey guys!" He gave a nervous smile and wave.

Everyone was there and ready now, so all they had to do was plan out to take down a possessed - somewhat insane - murder on the loose - friend. Simple!

---------

Sorry this one took much longer than normal. I had an insane amount of work and tests and stuff and had to get that done first. And it did not help that this was sort of a transition chapter making it much harder to write for me and i ended up having to split it up in two because it was too long and it would've been much later if i had to write the whole next chapter, shorten it, and edit the whole thing. Anyway, enough of my ranting, I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading! Just know if you do like these and ever feel like it, a comment or a vote is always appreciated! Have a good day or night!!!