That one time I woke up in prison

Chapter 7

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Quackity fidgeted restlessly. He'd found out nothing about what Dream could've been up to, but he'd definitely heard of Dream's escape.

The beanie-wearing boy remembered passing his ex-lover on the way to the prison.

Actually, that was the reason he had to skip on that day's prison visit; multiple people weren't allowed in the cell with Dream at once.

Why was Karl heading there anyway?

As far as he knew, the boy with the multicoloured jumper didn't really have much of a connection with Dream.

And how long after Karl's visit had Dream escaped?

Quackity hadn't waited for his turn, he'd simply stormed off once he was told there was already a visitor.

Now he wished Sam would just hurry up and tell him about what happened, instead of stalling.

"So," he spoke up, his voice sharp, "just spit it out; what happened? How did you let Dream escape?"

"Techno made withers outside the prison." After the simple statement, the warden was quiet for a bit longer, standing awkwardly as his eyes landed everywhere except his companion's face. Eventually his eyes snapped up to the beanie-wearing man and gulped, "Look, we really, really tried to take down Dream and Techno but we couldn't and I'm so, so sorry Karl got hurt and--"

All of a sudden, the prisoner's escape seemed irrelevant.

"Karl?" His eyes widened, a dangerous glint sparking inside, "What happened to Karl?"

The creeper hybrid hesitated a bit more before rubbing the back of his neck, averting eye contact again, "He was in the cell at the time. The wither shot through the walls and... well, Karl was in the way while Techno was letting Dream out."

Sam didn't even have to complete the story. Quackity knew.

Karl was down to his last canon life.

It shouldn't have hurt; they were ex fiances now.

Karl hadn't participated in the argument, but he was still a main factor of what had caused it.

Despite that, the beanie-wearing boy felt terror crawl up his back, red-hot fury striking through his gut.

" You let Karl die? " The warden flinched at the acid edge on his tone.

"There wasn't much I could do; I called the other guards as soon as I could," he insisted, "and I comforted him when he respawned."

The duck hybrid fought an internal battle.

Sam had let his (ex) fiance lose a canon life. But he also stayed to comfort the respawned boy. However, he let Dream escape by not being out there immediately.

He clenched his fists, but took a few breaths to calm himself down, "Is he okay? How's he doing?"

"You didn't check up on him? You're his fiance, aren't you?" With just those innocent questions, another shard of his soul cracked off.

" Ex -fiance."

The creeper hybrid's eyes widened, and his mouth probably did too, though it was hidden behind a gas mask.

Silence weighed heavy on the pair's shoulders, until it was broken once again by a hesitant warden.

"You still seem concerned about him though, so maybe you should check on him, despite..." He suggested carefully, trailing off at the venomous look that was shot his way.

The duck hybrid eventually sighed, dropping his glare. "Fine. I'll go see him." He turned to leave, talking a few steps before he paused, "But only because I need details about how Dream was acting before the prison break."

The creeper hybrid nodded, though he didn't believe it.

He hoped they could make up, but it didn't seem likely; Big Q was too focused on other things.

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"Sap?" the mercenary called, a bit louder. They'd been standing outside for about half an hour now, waiting for their brother to open up. "C'mon, let me in."

They sighed, "I talked to Karl."

Instantly, the door swung open, so fast Punz had to throw themself backwards, barely missing a face-to-wood meeting with the door.

The mercenary's brother appeared in the entrance, dragging them inside and almost forgetting to close the door behind them.

The bandana-wearing boy climbed back into his bed, wrapping himself into his blanket cocoon. His eyes were red and puffy, with himself being uncharacteristically quiet.

He didn't speak first, so the mercenary cleared their throat. "I don't think Karl is handling it well."

Their brother looked away guiltily.

"And, it's not really my place to say, but," they breathed out heavily, "as your sibling, I'm suggesting you go talk to him. Forget about the fight and just talk to him - I think he really needs the comfort right now."

Finally, the bandana-wearing boy spoke, though his voice was quiet and shaky. "Did something happen to him..?"

The look on Punz's face was enough to cause his heart to drop.

"You see..." the mercenary looked away; they couldn't just casually mention his ex-lover was on his last canon life; but then their attention was stolen by something else. "Why do you have that ?"

A quiet hum of confusion came from the boy, before his eyes landed on the item in question.

A cracked white mask, bearing a certain-someone's signature smiley face, sat on Sapnap's dresser. The ivory plastic had darkened with grime and blood, becoming more of a smokey colour, despite the bandana-wearing boy having tried to wash it clean.

"I took it home during my last visit with Dream; before he escaped," Sap confessed, shrugging even as his voice shook, "before I fought with Q and Karl."

"And you just... left it on the dresser?" their voice raised slightly in exasperation. They quickly lowered it again when their brother tried to shrink back into his nest of blankets. "Sorry, it's just... I imagine it wouldn't have very good memories for you, and I don't think it's a good idea to just have it lying around so close to you. I mean, you've been sleeping in this room for several nights with it."

He nodded miserably, "I know; I guess it has made me a bit more..." he shrugged uncomfortably, " grumpy , lately."

The mercenary leaned against the wall silently; they felt it was maybe a bit more important that their brother knew, but they simply decided to change the topic - their goal was to cheer their brother up, not make him more upset.

"Tell you what, how about I make you some blue pancakes?"

His eyes snapped up to his sibling's, "...Blue food?"

They chuckled, nodding, "Yep, blue food. I can also read you some Percy Jackson while we eat."

Sapnap considered this for a second, before accepting.

The mercenary made a mental note to grab the smiley face mask when their brother wasn't looking.

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"Hey Sam, lookin' good."

The warden looked up, rather irritated with the interruption but sighing when he realised the culprit, "Punz."

"Sorry, I know you're busy with working out how to fix the prison and get Dream back in a cell," they rubbed the pack of their neck, only a tad sheepish before their face turned serious, "but I have something for you to look at."

"What could possibly..." the warden's eyes widened as he looked upon the cracked smiley mask. "Is that really-?"

They simply nodded, "Sap took it during his last visit; when Dream started doing his weird bit." Punz let the creeper hybrid take it from their hands carefully, "I was thinking we could get it repaired and try to use it as a bargaining tool - it has a lot of 'sentimental' value, I believe."

Sam raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "Why do you say it like that?"

"Well, it's probably nothing; he was already off his rocker, but-" the mercenary rambled a bit, "he once told me something. He was insistent that it wasn't just a mask - that it did more than cover his face. But he never actually got around to telling me what it really did," they shrugged a bit, before getting to the point, "so I was thinking it might have some magical properties or something?"

The warden looked at them strangely after processing the new information, like he had just drawn a link between two things.

"Leave the mask here; I have an idea of what to do." the creeper hybrid watched them put it down with a nod, "And I'll definitely consider using it to bargain with him. Thanks."

The mercenary did a sloppy salute and turned on their heel.

Once their footsteps faded away from the foyer, the warden turned to his Communicator.

He quickly started typing a message.

<Awesamdude whispers to Ponk> Could you take a look at something for me?
<Awesamdude whispers to Ponk> We think it might have some magical properties
<Ponk whispers to Awesamdude> ok i'm free now if you're open

The creeper hybrid sighed, hoping this could be started sooner rather than later. He definitely needed to make up for his recent mistakes, and this could possibly help. He hoped so, at least.