Sapnap and Skeppy took the "shortcut" to the Hell gate. It was a backway behind buildings and through bushes that seemed perfect for sneaking around, if you could that is.

"Dude, are you sure this is a short cut? It seems to be taking forever!" Skeppy whined, trying to carefully walk under a tree and over a prickly bush at the same time. His hoodie caught on one of the thorns from the bush and he had to stop to carefully get unstuck.

"Well it would be if you weren't so slow!" Sapnap said back.

"Well so-rry my almost fatal injury is slowing me down! Moving quickly isn't all so comfortable." Skeppy shot back.

Sapnap sighed, he should've realised the backway was a bit intense for someone not already used to it. Plus the scar might've healed on the outside, but was still sore to the touch or quick jagged movements.

"Ok next time we'll take the normal way." Sapnap sighed, that was sort of his way of saying sorry.

"Wow, thanks! So helpful!" Skeppy said sarcastically. It would've sounded really mean if Sapnap hadn't seen Skeppy smile as he rolled his eyes.

It only took a few more minutes, but when they got a bot closer to the gate, Sapnap stopped Skeppy in his tracks.

"Wha-"

"Shhh!" Sapnap said, glancing around. Skeppy raised an eyebrow.

"Ok..." Sapnap said, seeing no one in hearing distance. "Have you ever been to Hell?"

Skeppy saw it wasn't a place to joke so didn't answer in a snarky remark, "No."

"Ok, a few quick rules before we enter so we don't get you killed." Sapnap said in a slightly hushed tone. Skeppy paid close attention.

"One, don't show off that respawn crystal. No one can know you have that while we visit."

Skeppy raised an eyebrow but didn't interrupt.

"Two, don't tell anyone about the dreamon-"

"Dreamon?"

"It's the code word for-" Sapnap fake coughed and lowered his voice, "The void demon stuff." Skeppy nodded quickly, understanding.

"Don't tell anyone about it. There are some people that believe the fairy-tale and we can't let them know it may or may not be true. Also don't let them see the scar or some random person might recognize it if we're unlucky. Just tuck in your shirt under the hoodie or something."

Skeppy glanced at the bandages with the black lines creeping from them as he tucked in his shirt. The light was normal, and Sapnap had just mentioned that he'd seen them too. Skeppy gulped, fully accepting he hadn't been hallucinating them earlier.

"If the black lines are real, does that mean my fac-" His thought was interrupted by Sapnap continuing the rules.

"Three, don't start any damn fights, but don't look like an easy target either."

"Jeez this place sounds rough, why are we coming here again?" Skeppy asked. He wasn't so sure about tagging along now.

"We're supposed to prepare for tomorrow, and I know a guy in there that can hook us up with some quick gear. You just decided to come too."

"Yeah and I'm rethinking that. Anything else I need to know before we write our death sentences?"

"Don't talk to anyone, make eye contact, or stare at the ground too much. Also don't make it look like this is your first time, so don't look around too much."

"I'll just gauge my eyes out then! Great advice!" Skeppy said sarcastically. For a place that was so chaotic with seemingly no rules, there seemed to be a lot of damn rules.

"Ok follow me," Sapnap said. "Wait-" Sapnap stopped immediately. "You might want to ditch the blue box..."

"What why?!"

"Because it makes you stand out, which if you haven't gotten the hint, isn't a great thing here."

"Fine." Skeppy said with a scowl. "Wait where should I leave it?"

"The voi- oh right... wanna just put it in the bushes over there?" Sapnap asked, pointing to the nearest greenery in the shadows.

Skeppy gave him a look that said: 'seriously?'

"Well we don't have any better options right now. If I had known you were tagging along earlier we could've asked Bad to put it in his void or something. I don't want to waste energy trying to put it in, I need to save it for later."

Skeppy rolled his eyes and put his box in the bush carefully. It was actually pretty well hidden.

"Ok so now what? Do we just waltz in?" Skeppy asked.

"Yeah, pretty much! Getting in's easy, getting out actually has guards."

"Wait, so are we going to have to sneak out or-?..." Skeppy asked, hoping Sapnap would finish it with a better plan.

"You have your guard badge right? That should probably be enough to get us out." Sapnap said casually.

"Wait then what were you planning on doing before I tagged along?" Skeppy realised. It seemed like Sapnap didn't really want Skeppy to have caught onto that so quickly.

Sapnap didn't answer and tried to brush it off like it wasn't important. "Eh don't ask.." He said quickly, waving his hand. Skeppy was interrupted from any more questions by Sapnap grabbing his wrist and pulling him closer to the gate.

"Just- act natural, and don't start anything. Bad would kill me if anyone in here landed a finger on you."

"Wow, glad you care so much!" Skeppy said sarcastically again.

"With all that sarcasm I'd be surprised you weren't from here if I didn't know you." Sapnap said. Skeppy just rolled his eyes and followed Sapnap up to the Hell gate.

They walked up to the Hell gate casually, and walked in with no interference at all. The guards really didn't care about who entered Hell it seemed. "Jeez, they're almost as bad of guards as I am!" Skeppy thought to himself, slightly proud for being the worst. But he would never tell Bad that.

The portal didn't exactly make him dizzy walking through, but did have a heavy feel to it, like the weight of the world was on top of him.

"Jeez it's hot here." Skeppy said, taking a deep breath trying to get used to it quickly.

"What did I say about acting natural?" Sapnap sheathed through a fake smile. Skeppy just kept his mouth closed for the rest of the way as he followed Sapnap through the winding crowds of hell. People shoved them around, talked loudly, and Skeppy swore he saw at least 1 fight break out a little too close to him for comfort. He noticed he was lagging behind Sapnap, and afraid to get lost, he picked up the pace.

Sapnap had no trouble weaving in between people, and he blended in pretty well here with the fire aura he had. Skeppy realized he must've stuck out like a sore thumb with his bright blue hoodie, and figured he really needed to stay close to the fire demon ahead of him to stay safe.

After a few minutes of the chaos, they had made it out of the worst of the crowds. There were a few groups of demons hanging around, fighting, or calling others, but at least Skeppy could keep up with Sapnap much more easily. He picked up a conversion of someone on the phone as he walked past them.

"No, I am not stabbing someone on Earth because they called you a bitch." Some demon made of lava said.

A pause. The other line was talking.

"Well she would stab someone for fun!" The guy argued back. That made Skeppy freeze a little.

"Oh no! My phone's melting! I'll have to call you back." He said, holding his non-melted phone in his hand.

There was some muffed rage on the other line before the person in question shut off their phone and put it into the void with seemingly no effort. Sapnap noticed Skeppy hanging around for too long and tapped his shoulder to remind him to keep moving. Skeppy snapped himself out of it and nodded.

"Almost there, he said to meet him somewhere around here." Sapnap said.

"Wait who?"

"The guy that can give us some spare gear."

"Wait- when did you ask him for that?"

"I just texted him on our way through the shortcut."

"Oh." Skeppy said. He was so focused on getting through the "shortcut" he hadn't noticed at all.

They wandered a little deeper before a voice called out, near a wall hidden from the eyes of the crowd. Dark alley in hell with two demons, this was safe, right?!

"Sapnap!? That you?"

"Hey Manifold!" Sapnap said, waving.

"Took you long enough, at the rate you were going, the lava around me was going to get cold sitting out!"

"This guy slowed me down a bit." Sapnap said, pointing to Skeppy with his thumb. Skeppy frowned and shot a quick glare at Sapnap before looking at the new guy.

This "manifold" guy had a buzz cut and glasses with one red and one blue lens, in a square shape. His hoodie was blue and black striped, and had a good number of burns and rips on the ends of it. Were it not for the small orange rods floating around his head, and the metallic robot-ish look of one of his arms peeking through the hoodie Skeppy caught a glance at, he looked almost human.

"Hi." Skeppy waved with one hand. He was immediately unsure if that was the wrong thing to do, before the guy held out his hand for Skeppy to shake. He felt instantly relieved he didn't screw everything up.

"Jack Manifold," He introduced himself with a nod.

"Skeppy!" Skeppy smiled a little nervously. Shaking his hand. This arm looked human at least.

"Here's the gear you asked for, as much as I could find." Jack Manifold said, dropping it all on the ground. There was a loud clatter, but no one near enough to hear paid any mind to them. Must've not been a weird sight here.

"All legal?" Sapnap asked in a serious tone with a raised eyebrow.

After a pause, both of them broke out laughing like Sapnap had told the funniest joke in the world. Skeppy stood there awkwardly.

When they had both caught their breaths, Sapnap spoke. "Ok thanks Jack, I owe you."

"Damn you do, this shit almost cost me an arm and a leg! And I only got 3 more limbs to give!" Jack laughed, raising his arm, which Skeppy could clearly see was metal now. It looked really flexible, and stretched out just a little too far when he raised it.

"Just give me a call when you want to cash it in, see you around dude!" Sapnap nodded.

"Alright, see ya!" Jack said, walking off in another direction. He gave a half- wave with his normal hand and spun on his heel, walking to who knows where in Hell.

"Wow, that's a lot of stuff." Skeppy said, looking at the pile on the ground.

There were a few axes, shields, swords, chest plates and helmets, and a bow and arrow. Some had a glowing purple aura to them even in the shadows, and some had clearly seen better days, but they would all work for what they needed. It was a quick plan anyway, and intimidation was the main tactic they would use against Eret. This gear served that purpose.

"Yep!" Sapnap said. I should be able to put most of it in the void here, but if I get too tired we have to carry some of it.

"Well maybe we should just put on the armor right now and put the weapons and shields in the void so we have less to carry in our hands?"

"Yeah, good idea. The extra protection for getting out of this dumpster fire of a dimension will probably be good too."

They put on the chest plates carefully and Skeppy winced and the weight of it on his scar. The helmet didn't fit on Sapnap with his horns, but Skeppy could sorta put one on.

Sapnap laughed at Skeppy's hair as it fell flat on his face, pushed down by the helmet, and Skeppy couldn't see. He tried to stuff his hair into it to get it off his face, but it didn't really work. so Skeppy just ditched it. There was still a pretty big pile of the stuff on the ground.

"Have fun stuffing that into the void!" Skeppy said.

"Have fun carrying what I can't put in!" Sapnap snapped back with a smile.

Sapnap first got the shield's in first, since those would be annoying to carry, and then the extra armor. After a bit, there were 2 swords left, the bow and arrow, and an axe. Sapnap sighed, and Skeppy could clearly see the exhaustion hidden behind his eyes.

"I think that's all I can do, even here, Bad's way better at this than I am." Sapnap said.

"Well that was a good amount of stuff. I think we can just carry the rest and waltz out of here!" Skeppy said.

"Yeah it might be a bit harder than that. Getting in's easy, but getting out is always harder. Hopefully your guard badge will be enough to pass the guards at this gate."

Skeppy grabbed the two swords and Sapnap grabbed the axe, slinging the quiver over his shoulder with the bow in his hand.

"Lead the way, fire guy!" Skeppy said.

They walked back pretty much the same way, but had an easier time weaving through the crowds the second time through. Something about 2 guys in full armor wielding multiple weapons made people step out of the way a bit more, a few glancing at the blades with suspicion.

The gate didn't have the usual scanner you would expect at most portals, and just two guards instead. They were much taller than Skeppy and Sapnap and wore matching dark cloaks that shadowed their faces.

Skeppy sauntered over to the guards with a confident smile.

"Hello?" One of the guards asked. They were much taller than Skeppy, and looked quite intimidating up close. Skeppy tried to ignore the sinking pit of fear in his stomach, keeping up the confident act.

"I run the Earth gate,-" Skeppy said, grabbing out his badge from his back pocket. "-and I need to get back to it, so if you could just let me through-" He tried to walk through, but was stopped by two swords crossed in front of the portal near his face, blocking his way.

"Ok ok, I see that's not a yes-" He started backing up a little. Sapnap was starting to have doubts in their plans to kinda just- leave...

The second guard grabbed Skeppy's wrist and Sapnap's eyes went wide. Skeppy flinched backward but the guard had a strong grip, that Skeppy could now see had sharp tipped claws on the ends of their fingers. They just peered closer at the badge Skeppy was holding.

"This looks official, but do you have a permit to be taking weapons out of here?" They asked, letting go of Skeppy's wrist. Skeppy recoiled it and rubbed his arm, "Ow that kinda hurt.."

"Wait, I need one of those?-" He started realising his mistake quickly. "I-I MEAn yep! Of course I have one! Lemmme just talk to my friend, who uhm carrying it for me- one sec!" Skeppy took the opportunity to sort of jump back towards Sapnap and pull him farther away.

"What do they mean by a permit!" Skeppy whispered to Sapnap.

"Well it's not like I've ever had one! Maybe it's a new thing?" Sapnap reasoned.

"Yeah or you just snuck through each time..." Skeppy accused reasonably.

"Don't accuse me of such things!" Sapnap looked fake offended. "Sorry that it's been awhile since I've stopped by, and hey maybe things can change!" Sapnap was almost whisper-screaming and Skeppy was giving him a glare that clearly said shut up. Skeppy looked up and back at the guards waving with a big and clearly fake smile. One guard just raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, well what the heck do we do now?" Skeppy said quietly after ducking back down.

"Maybe I should take the- you know what?- and get killed to get out of Hell? Then get Bad or someone to help get you out too? Bad could take those two out easy for you." Sapnap said a bit more carefully and quieter than he had been.

"Getting killed to get out of Hell, how the turns have tabled-" Skeppy remarked before fully realizing what Sapnap had said. "Wait- What no! Why can't it be me to leave?"

Sapnap didn't answer, only looking in the direction of Skeppy's scar with hesitation in his eyes. Skeppy paused and realized what he was inferring. Sure it was only a slight chance it wouldn't work, but that was enough to completely throw the option off the table.

"Ok I won't die," Skeppy said with a sigh. "But you can't either! If you leave, these guys will kill me on the spot! I'm a fucking sore thumb in this crowd, and more than one person was eying the gear I have on."

"Ok then we find another way." Sapnap said. He looked around, assessing the situation. "How about we just run through the portal, and then it'll just be a home stretch?"

Skeppy nodded, "We just need a distraction."

They lowered their voices to a more careful whisper and constructed a plan in a two person huddle. The two guards had stopped paying attention to them, watching the nearby crowd more instead. Their plan was simple, but stupid, and didn't really allow for error. Not great for a place as chaotic as this.

Haha they were going to get killed.

Skeppy nodded and stood back up fully, turning and walking towards the guards. He took a quick breath before clearing his throat to speak.

"After consulting my assistant, I think I'll be extending my stay here for a while longer," He said, all formal-like. The guards just shrugged like 'ok whatever' and Skeppy started to walk away.

Skeppy smiled at Sapnap, who pulled out a bottle of something alcoholic. He whispered to himself, almost pleading he wouldn't screw it up, and set a toothpick on fire in his hand, dropping it in the container. He quickly shoved the lid on and threw it into the crowd with a war cry.

"MOLOTOV COCKTAIL!"

The crowd yelled, running out of the way and cheered as it blew up! Another person yelled something similar and threw one one into the air too a few seconds after.

"These guys just have these on hand!?" Skeppy thought to himself, looking in terrified awe of the screaming crowd and explosions in the air as the guards left their post to calm down the crowd. Each one that exploded erupted another wave of cheers and screams, and hopefully that was enough to distract the guards for long enough.

Sapnap grabbed Skeppy's arm, the bow looped over his shoulder, and pulled him around in a loop back to the portal.

"Come on dude!" He ushered.

Skeppy picked up the pace, ignoring the weight of the swords in his hands and the growing pain of his side.

They were right next to the portal, and Sapnap wasted no time to jump through as he was a few feet ahead. Skeppy was almost there, when he heard a not-so-nice snitch yell from the crowd.

"Hey those guys are getting through the portal!" Some rando from the crowd yelled, pointing them out. The guards looked furious when they whipped around, and started to run back at top speed towards them.

Skeppy took the hint with eyes wide and jumped through the portal with a sword in each hand.

He was a bit dizzy on the other side, but didn't even bother to shake his head as he kept running as fast as he could to keep the momentum up.

He heard the guards yelling behind him as they stepped through, and starting to chase the two again. Death threats turned out to be a good motivator to run!

The air felt colder and lighter, which would have been refreshing had he not been running for his life. It was also fairly darker now, which meant if they ran behind a building or two they could possibly lose the guards and hide. It was the only plan he could think of.

"We gotta go the shortcut way!" Sapnap yelled to him through the wind. Sapnap was a few feet ahead but didn't plan on slowing down so Skeppy could catch up either. "We have no chance of losing them the normal way."

Skeppy let out an annoyed grumble, but didn't argue. The guards were catching up, and they couldn't outrun them on an open field, still carrying the weapons for long. He agreed, and followed Sapnap through a slight turn in the road, feeling the change of gravel under his feet.

"Wait, shoot- my box!" Skeppy thought. They were almost to the area where he hid it, but Sapnap made a sharp turn around a building to lose a guard. Skeppy kept running forwards.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Sapnap yelled, turning his head around. Skeppy ignored him and kept running until he reached the bush it was hidden in. He ran around it and crouched down to pull it out, dropping one of the swords on the ground to grab it and get it under his arm. He just realised how awkward it would be to run like this, but brushed off the thought, just trying to get up and get away.

He had it out and under his arm, but the guard was close- like, towering over him right now close.

"We should've carried those shields.." He thought to himself as he scrambled backwards to get more space between him and the guard.

He managed to get to his feet, but dropped his box in the process, and now was facing off against a guard much taller than him with only a sword to defend himself.

The other guard was chasing Sapnap who was probably long gone and land weaving through buildings-... until he wasn't?

Skeppy saw Sapnap run up next to him from the side, and the other guard ran to their partner. He didn't know why the second guard didn't just go behind him to block him off, but don't correct your enemies mistakes I guess!

Sapnap threw his bow to the side- he was a bad aim- and held out his axe in a battle stance. Skeppy moved his box out of the way, figuring it would only get in the way for a fight. They were all positioned for battle weapons out and forward, their breaths being the only thing heard in the quiet wind of the evening.

Now the question was who would make the first move.

Guard 2 it was!

The guard that was chasing Sapnap lunged towards him with a curved sword. They hooked it into the blade of the axe, trying to yank it out of Sapnap's grip as Sapnap held his ground and tried to do the same.

Meanwhile Skeppy was face to face with the other guard. He swung his sword, missing by a mile, and then narrowly dodged the attack that came swiftly after. As he ducked down, he felt a pang of pain in the side with the gash. "Oh this is the worst time for that!"

His foot tripped up as he winced, and he quickly lost his balance falling to the ground backwards. The guard swung down their sword onto the vulnerable Skeppy, who reacted just quick enough to block the attack with his sword. He was holding both sides up so the blade wouldn't go down.... onto him.

"Skeppy get up!" Sapnap yelled, throwing a slash at the guard he was fighting. They backed up slightly from that, giving Sapnap a few seconds to move.

He ran up to the guard who was pinning Skeppy on the ground with their sword, and slashed at their side, forcing them to back up or get hit by the blade.

Right before the guard Sapnap was fighting before could land a hit on him from behind, he whipped around and blocked it. Sapnap was holding off both guards while Skeppy took his chance to stand up and get a better grip on his sword. The other guard whipped around back to Skeppy and Skeppy quickly blocked the attack with his sword.

Sapnap was now dealing with the same guard he had been, and Skeppy against the other. They were both on the same side of the backroad they were fighting in, with the guards on the opposite. Sapnap slashed his axe against the hooked sword of the guard he was fighting, trying again to get the weapon away from him, while Skeppy blocked each quick attack the other guard threw at him.

They both paused, tired and glared at each other, no words needed. Sapnap grunting

Skeppy's side felt a burning pain in his side as he tried to stay standing steady. The guard saw their opportunity of Skeppy wobbling, and struck him at an odd angle he had no time to block.

Skeppy's instinted kicked in to protect his head, and his arm whipped up to take the impact instead. He closed his eyes tight, ready for an insane amount of pain strike his arm-

...but nothing came?

He slowly opened his eyes to see a geometric blue shield raised above him a foot from where his arm was. It blocked the guards strike, not even cracking from the full force of the guards sword slashing across it. The guard tried again, in an attempt to break the shield, but it didn't budge.

There was a second of quiet confusion, before the shield expanded in a swift pounding burst, blocking off the second guard, who jumped back to avoid getting hit by it.

It blocked off the path completely, with the guards on one side, and Sapnap and Skeppy on the other. They looked at it in awe and confusion, before Sapnap realized they had a chance to escape now.

Sapnap quickly picked up the bow and quiver and slung them over his shoulder.

"Come on dude let's go while we can!" Sapnap said, ushering Skeppy to hurry up. Skeppy quickly grabbed the sword he had dropped and tucked his box under his arm, and followed Sapnap behind the nearest building into the shadows.

It hurt to run, but the adrenaline rush was masking some of the pain, making it just bearable.

They figured it was better to hide than keep running, especially because both of them were exhausted and wouldn't be able to outrun them if the guards spotted them again. They could still hear mumbling from the guards on the pathway faintly.

"Should we search for them?"

"Eh we tried, honestly we aren't paid enough to keep going."

"We should probably get back to the gate so no one else gets through."

There was no more talking, but Sapnap and Skeppy heard their footsteps die down in the distance. They held their breath until they knew they were safe and let it out at the same time. Sapnap turned towards Skeppy and his eyes instantly went wide.

"What?" Skeppy asked.

"Y-your face-... it's like, glowing?"

"What!?"

"Dude keep down!" Sapnap hushed, "They could probably still hear us if we yell."

Sapnap handed him the axe to see his reflection in. The tiny freckles on his face from the hospital mirror were much bigger, and looked more like sharp blotches now, still more prominent on the left side of his face. They were glowing a bright blue in the dark, luminating the area around them. Skeppy was at a loss for words.

"Dude, it looks so cool!" Sapnap said, "And how did you make that barrier!? That really saved our skins!"

"I-I-I... I don't know?" Skeppy stuttered. He quickly lifted his hoodie and untucked his shirt to see the scar and the bandages. The lines were branching out farther, peeking out from under the loose bandages now.

"Oh that doesn't look good," Sapnap said quietly.

Skeppy peeked around the building they were hiding behind and looked to where the fight was. The shield had dissipated, with the only indication it ever existed as the dents on the dirt path it had slightly carved. Both of them were still breathing somewhat heavily from everything, and Skeppy leaned against the wall. He put his hand in front of his face, and saw a duller blue reflecting off of it. From what he saw in the axe, it at least seemed to be dying down.

"I think we should call it a night. We got the supplies we needed and we should rest for tomorrow." Sapnap said.

"Yeah," Skeppy breathed out. The excitement and adrenaline was dying down and fear was now being replaced by confusion and unanswered questions swirling in his mind.

"Are you sure you want to come tomorrow?" Sapnap asked, "It's going to be quick and probably not that exciting. They mentioned the person wasn't a hard opponent or anything."

"If I went through all that trouble for those supplies, there's no way I'm missing out on this." Skeppy chuckled.

Sapnap nodded, and laughed a bit too. That was a wild ride for just a few weapons.

"Hey?" Sapnap said, breaking the few seconds of silence.

"Yeah?"

"New magic bros?" Sapnap asked, offering a fistbump.

Skeppy looked more relaxed, "Yeah dude!" He fistbumped.

The glowing on Skeppy's face had subsided slowly, and the blue blotches weren't even noticeable unless you looked closely anymore, which was probably better. Those sorts of things don't make you too hidden in the dark, and they weren't sure if they were still safe from the guards.

They walked together awhile, talking about their mini adventure. They both agreed to remember to brag all about it tomorrow when they handed out the gear. Skeppy took a breath of the fresh air as the sky darkened, imagining sleeping peacefully and rising up to fight tomorrow. Bad would be so impressed with how he handled Hell that he wouldn't mind if Skeppy rushed into battle and it would all be great!

A less comforting thought crossed his mind, of Bad reacting to the new blue blotches on his face. And the shield that appeared right when he needed it, did he conjure that too? He assumed he did; It disappeared when he left, and matched the diamond color on his face, but would Bad think it was weird? Being able to make it from nothing, and without being able to control it either?

"No, Bad isn't like that."

He shook off the thought.

He took a deep breath, and let his limbs finally relax as his shoulders dropped.

Skeppy was tired, but excited and fearless, and that was a great combination of feelings and energy for a great night's sleep!

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The first draft just had them just walk out after a bit of convincing the guards, but I think I like this version more. Hope you enjoyed and are having a good day or night, thanks for reading!

(5151 words!)