Back at the prison in the security room, the silence wasn't so comfortable. Purpled didn't know what to say and was still in shock from the video, and Sam was contemplating what to do in his head, silently. Ponk knew he should try to do something to ease out of the awkwardness at least a little.

"So uhm-.." Ponk started, with no plan to continue.

"Lets do your idea, check my office for clues." Sam interrupted to Ponk's relief.

He turned to Purpled who was still sitting in the swivel chair.

"Purpled, are you going to be okay on your own?- wait no, not on your own. The Hermits are here- but uh.. Are you going to be okay at the prison or do you want to come along too? The Hermits can take care of this place if you don't want to but-" Sam was tripping over words and thoughts. It seemed like he went from calm and collected to a jumbled mess in seconds. Punz was his friend, and Sam had seen right then and there on the cameras that he had one nothing to stop Dream from escaping. In fact, he actually helped them and went with them! He felt betrayed, and just wanted to shove those emotions to the side for a while at least. Maybe deal with them later if he had time.

Thankfully Purpled interrupted before he could stutter more and get into his own head any longer.

"I'll stay here. I can- show the Hermits the ropes. Ya know?" Purpled said.

"Ok," Sam nodded.

His heart dropped a little, "I trust you." He said with full sincerity in his voice. It hurt after watching Punz go behind his back like that, but he meant it nonetheless.

"If anything goes wrong I'll call you immediately." Purpled said. Sam nodded.

All three of them left the room, and Sam locked it behind him. He handed Purpled the key and led him towards the armory where the other Hermits were.

"Hey guys!" Ponk happily smiled to get their attention.

"Purpled is going to stay here while Ponk and I are gone." Sam explained to them. "We're going to check my office and then head out to prepare and meet up at the Earth gate. Do you guys need anything before we leave?"

"All good here man." Doc said, glancing back to Tango and False who both shot a thumbs up. They were both kitted out with shiny armor and swords and looked way too excited for the boring day that would hopefully ensue. Hopefully that is, that no one else escaped while Sam was gone again.

"Thanks again Doc." Sam said, fistbumping him and turning towards the direction of his office.

"No problem, have fun on your adventure!" Doc waved.

Ponk and Awesamdude made their way to the office. It was a short walk, but an awkward one. The papers were still scattered on the floor, so Sam and Ponk had to step over them and awkwardly around them to get into the room. Sam sighed at the scene. It was a mess.

Ponk didn't say a word, just picking up the poor plant on the ground and putting it upright on the table, and then starting to shuffle the papers on the ground into piles.

"I don't know where these go, but we can just put these in piles for now and deal with them later. Alright Sammy?" Ponk asked. Sam just smiled and nodded, leading down to help scoop papers. He felt a little more relaxed, just him and Ponk cleaning up the room together.

Sam caught sight of a few he knew belonged in the cabinet by his desk and walked around the table to put them in. He would organize the rest later, but getting a bit out of the way now might help at least a little.

"What the-...?" He mumbled, staring at the drawer with splintered dents in them.

"Say something?" Ponk asked, lifting his head up to look over the desk.

"Yeah, the drawer here is all spliterned, but on the camera Ranboo didn't enter with a crowbar or anything like that. Plus the cabinet over here is just unlocked, probably lockpicked, for the trident he walked away with, so why didn't he just lockpick the drawer too then?" Sam wondered out loud, trying to work it through.

Ponk saw a small crumpled sticky note on the ground and picked it up, reading his own handwriting.

How's that for a short thief, Sammy? Thanks for the chocolate! <3

He bit his lip and stuffed the note in his pocket without a second thought. Sam couldn't know. Not after it had inadvertently helped Ranboo free Dream. Sam would freak out and never forgive him.

"Well maybe he was in a rush? Lock-picked the cabinet for the trident and then used the trident to open the drawer quickly?" Ponk offered, fully knowing that wasn't the reason.

"Hmm maybe, I dunno. Still seems a little weird, I have a bad feeling about it." Sam said.

"Well you're just over-worrying as you always do." Ponk said, sweating a little. The note in his pocket felt bluntly obvious, but it wasn't visible on the outside of his pocket.

"Yeah probably." Sam said, putting the papers in the drawer smoothly. He might have to get it replaced after all of this, but for now it still served its purpose.

After a moment of silence, Sam spoke up. "Thanks Ponk, for sticking with me through this."

"Yeah no problem Sammy." Ponk said in a higher than normal tone. He coughed to sort of "reset" his voice, which Sam paid no mind to.

After a few minutes, nothing else important was found and all of the papers and other random things had been put away. Ponk had lovingly looked at the photos on the wall before Sam waved to get his attention as he was standing up to leave. Sam overdramaticaly bowed as he opened the door for Ponk.

"Pssh. Might need to duck a little lower to get through the doorway." Ponk laughed. The doorway was much higher than a normal one, specially built for tall people like Sam, but Ponk still liked to poke fun at his height wherever he could.

Sam rolled his eyes with a smile as Ponk moved past him.

"Where to now?" Ponk asked, waiting for Sam to lock the door. Thankfully it didn't take him another three tries to do it.

"Well we can grab armor and weapons at the armory quickly, and then stop by my place for other supplies. Anything you need to grab from your house?" Sam said, starting to walk in the direction of the armory.

"Maybe a sleeping bag and some camping supplies? I know I have some spare stuff if you're missing anything." Ponk said as he followed Sam. He had no idea how Sam memorized all the hallways without even thinking. They were long and confusing, and the tall ceilings didn't help the feel of it. The only place he knew how to get to was Sam's office, and even a few feet away from that he would probably get lost.

"Ok, the armory, my house, your house and then we can go to the Earth gate and meet everyone else."

"Wait but what about food? We gotta get lunch!" Ponk raised his eyebrow. It was treason to skip lunch, both of them knew.

"We can make a quick lunch at one of our houses, or get some quick food on our way to the Earth gate if neither of us have anything quick to make."

Ponk nodded and hummed in response, right as they made it to the armory. The Hermits had since gone, wandering the empty halls together to who knows where. No really, who knows? This prison is confusing and it's easy to get lost if you aren't careful.

They both got armor and quick weapons, luckily finding both of their sizes despite how many extra sets had been taken out that day. The armor wasn't super comfortable, but Ponk was sure they wouldn't have to wear it the whole time anyways, just if they got ready for battle or something.

"Want me to put it in the void for you?" Sam asked, "These'll be annoying to carry the whole way in a bag or something."

"It's ok I got it, Sammy." Ponk slipped his in the void with a little more effort than it took Sam, but got it in still.

"Oh I didn't know you could use the void? Or is it something else?" Sam asked, a little curious as to why Ponk had never mentioned it before. Both of them started to walk down the hallway to the side door they could leave in. Ponk staying close to Sam's side so he wouldn't get lost in the winding hallways.

"Eh I don't use it much, not great at it." Ponk shrugged. "I do want to get a magic bag of holding sewn in my hoodie pocket someday though!"

"Oh yeah that's a great idea!" Sam gave a thumbs up. Ponk stuffed his hand in his pockets and felt the note again, tensing up a little.

"You ok Ponky?" Sam asked.

He noticed.

"Yup all good! Just uhm- want to get out of this dark place ya know?" Ponk said as a quick excuse. It worked, since Sam just nodded with understanding and sped up, moving an inch towards Ponk, which was surprisingly comforting.

"Just another hallway in this direction, and we'll be out." Sam assured, pointing forwards.

Ponk nodded and loosened his grip on the sticky note. Seeing the light at the end of the hallway was comforting, even if he knew his eyes would have to drastically adjust when they stepped outside.

Sam bowed again as he opened the door for Ponk. The air was cool and fresh and Sam was just low enough for a tempting little joke. Ponk took the chance he had, grabbing the thin gold crown off Sam's head and dashing away before Sam could even stand up or look at the thief who was gaining ground.

He laughed and smiled. Both of them did.

Everything was fine. It'd be fine. Sam trusted him and he trusted Sam, and one little accident wouldn't change that. I mean it was Ranboo's fault anyway, Ponk just kinda, sorta, maybe, accidentally, helped a little, tiny, really small bit. He'd tell Sam later, right now, he had to play keep away with a man that had much longer legs than him. Was he even going in the right direction? Eh, probably not. But it didn't matter, if there was a golf cart anywhere by the time Sam caught up, they'd have more than enough time to "borrow" it and get wherever they were headed. Together.

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(Little extra bit!)

Sparks flew as Mumbo fiddled with the wires in the circuit board. The green guard guy and his friend in the red mask had already left, and the other Hermits who were temporary guards were starting to wander the halls like uhm- guards... That left him and Impulse to fix up this door, which was in fact, Mumbo's specialty.

"What the heck broke these wires?" He mumbled to himself. The cuts were nothing like he'd seen, and oddly evenly spaced too now that he glanced closer.

"Impulse, I'm not sure we can just fix the wires and call this good; They're too broken up." Mumbo said with his head practically in the wall. He was surprised his voice didn't echo through it, just stopping short when the words came out of his mouth.

"Well what should we do about it?" Impulse said, thinking for a second, "Oh! I could call the other boomers and we could replace the whole thing? It might take a little longer than a few hours, but it might be worth it."

More sparks flew out and the system started to smoke. There was a loud 'thump' noise and a faint "ow" as Mumbo tried to get his head away. Mumbo's goggles were covered in black oil when he stepped away from it, but his expression was still seen through it. The black color matched his moustache perfectly actually.

"Call them."

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Thanks for reading! As a little warning, the next one is either a big one, or leading up to a big one, and since I don't even have a solid outline for either yet, it might be a while before I post it.(plus all of the stupid school work!) Sorry about that, but I hope you enjoyed the little Hermit Short at the end of this one, many more to come! Thanks again for reading, and have a good day or night! (sleep tho if it's night)