Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Karl crawled out of the hatch in his library’s floor. He had just finished another tale. It was a happy ending, he thinks. He was grinning at his success.

It must have been a couple of days since he’d gotten pulled through time. Quackity was probably still out on that work trip for his secret project, and Sapnap had gone to visit- to visit… Dream? Karl hoped that his fiancés weren’t too worried about his sudden disappearance.

Karl closed the hatch behind him. He pushed the plant pot back on top of it. He tilted his head. It was… bigger than he remembered. Did Sapnap replace it? Did he notice the trapdoor? Did he open it?

Karl didn’t think that his secret room looked tampered with. Everything was exactly where he left it…. Right? Well, Sapnap knew better anyway. They were all allowed their individual secrets. Karl thought of the surprise Quackity liked to pretend wasn’t meant for them. Sapnap probably hadn’t realized yet, but Karl mused over his adorably sweet moonshine.

Karl brushed through the aisles of bookcases, each carefully organized albeit a little dusty. There were a lot of books Karl didn’t recognize, but Foolish had mentioned adding to the collection the next time he came by. Karl didn’t think Foolish would add so many, though.

He quickened his pace to the floor, simply happy to be home after being thrown into an alien civilization. He gripped the doorknob and pushed the door open and–

Karl briefly wondered how Foolish managed to get such a large tree in the center of Kinoko, but it could easily be explained with magic and Foolish’s whole size-changing thing.

Karl looked around. There were a lot of buildings. Foolish was a demigod, but there’s no way he could have built this much in a couple of days.

Maybe… Maybe Karl had been gone a little bit longer than he thought? Maybe he’d been gone for a week or two. Sapnap must be panicking. Karl got lost when exploring sometimes, but two weeks was still a long time to get lost. Way back when they’d first gotten together, he’d gotten turned around for a whole month trying to find the perfect wood for the Tower.

Karl really needed to know what the date was. He could ask someone, but there wasn’t anybody… anywhere, really. It was like a ghost town. Construction sights always have that weird feeling to them, though. It was even worse since the place seemed finished for the most part.

Karl carefully closed the library door behind him. Something was wrong.

Something was wrong.

Something was wrong.

“Karl?”

Karl felt like he’s jumped out of his own skin. He could feel his human illusion falter a little as he turned to face a familiar face.

Karl knew this person. Brown hair, fluff-covered horns, and impish complexion— they were acquaintances once. They met a long time ago. They briefly met before Karl joined the SMP.

“Tina?”

Tina tilted her head with a pursed frown. “I haven’t seen you in ages,” she said. “Where were you?”

Karl blinked. “I’ve been here?” Karl noticed the cute mushroom pattern on Tina’s skirt. She matched Kinoko’s aesthetic.

“I’ve been trying to find you! George hasn’t woken up once, and I don’t know what to do! I haven’t seen you in weeks!”

“Weeks?” Karl echoed. “No, I– There’s no way I’ve been gone for weeks . I was only gone for like a week at most. Where’s Sapnap?”

Tina’s expression crumbled. “Karl…” she began. “What’s today’s date?”

“I- I haven’t checked a calendar recently,” Karl stammered. “It’s February… right?”

Tina shook her head. She looked more confused than distraught. “Karl, it’s November.”

“It’s November?!” Karl couldn’t breathe. “There’s no way I was gone for… for nine months! That’s more than a couple of weeks!”

“Yeah. The last time I saw you was last month,” Tina explained. “Karl, what happened to you?”

Karl’s entire vision started to blur, his hands shaking. “I don’t- I don’t know! How do I know you’re not lying to me!”

Tina stepped back. “Why would I lie to you?! We’re best friends!”

“We’ve only talked like twice before this SMP even spawned into existence!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Tina screamed. “I’ve been helping you and Sapnap run Kinoko Kingdom for the past year!”

“What are you talking about!” Karl snapped back. “These buildings didn’t even exist in February!”

Tina froze. Karl waited for her to yell back. The choking silence settled around both of them.

A Realization struck them both.

“You-“ Tina started. “Karl, I joined the SMP in October of ‘21.”

Karl couldn’t breathe. The world was shaking where he stood. He couldn’t think. “Is it not still ‘21?”

Tina shook her head. “Today is November 16 of ‘22. It’s been almost one year since Dream escaped prison. It’s been almost a year since Sapnap ran off to hunt him down. There were more citizens, but they evacuated a month ago ever since… Ever since.”

“Ever since what?” Karl pushed.

Tina‘s brows furrowed together as she tried to decide her following words. “Ever since Dream’s revenge.”

Karl wanted to cry. He didn’t understand. Karl felt like a glass jar jittering against the bubbles in a pot. It was loud and confusing and getting worse as the more questions arose. The flame was growing hotter.

“What about Quackity? Is he okay?”

Tina started at Karl for one long indecipherable moment.

“Why do you care about that asshole?”

Karl cocked his head. “I know that Q’s kind of a cockroach, but he is my fiancé. Of course I care about him.”

Tina blinked then took a deep breath. “I’m pretty sure Sapnap was your fiancé.”

“We’re in a poly relationship? I know Q would be away on his work trip for awhile, but- but Sapnap and I would have waited for him forever before getting married.” Karl’s expression twisted. “Where’s Sapnap?”

Tina, for some reason, looked more heartbroken than Karl felt. Something had happened. Something too complicated to explain, that hurt too much to even say. Like a pot boiling and rattling glass, Karl could feel the dread building up within him.

Karl rarely time travelled within his own lifetime. He could count the number of times it happened on one hand, and even then, they were still tales that the In-Between had sent him on. This wasn’t a tale to witness and write down. This was the moment in time that was recognized as Home.

Now, that begged the question: which Karl was this home to?

Was this a timeline that was advanced by nearly two years and Karl was the one displaced? Or was Karl forgetting something?

Karl hoped to Prime that he was just displaced, that one day he’d wake up between his fiancés and they’d spend the rest of their life together, happy.

“I’ll take you to Las Nevadas,” Tina suddenly said without any room for argument. “It’s across the river to the north. When we get there, you have to stick close to me and follow everything I say. Las Nevadas a den of sin and corruption, and the people there will scam you out of everything you have, including your own life.”

“Why are we going there?” Karl hesitantly asked. “That sounds horrible.”

Tina grimaced. “Quackity is the owner of Las Nevadas. He built it from the ground up.”

The glass cracked.

Chapter Text

“Quackity, two people are here to see you.”

Foolish dodged the knife that soared where his head just was.

“I’m not taking any meetings!” Quackity’s wings puffed up aggressively as he readied another knife.

“They’re not here about work,” Foolish sighed. “Big Q, trust me. I think you’ll want to see them.”

Quackity bared his teeth before twisting into a pleasantly aggressive smile. He straightened out his shirt and readjusted the gold lapels on his collar.

“Have them meet me in the Hydrangea Room.”

Foolish looked over his shoulder to relay the order to the nearest staff.

“So,” Quackity continued as he pulled on his gloves. He barely glanced at the burn scars long healed. “Are you going to tell me who’s here?”

Foolish pursed his lips in thought. “They’re from Kinoko.”

Quackity’s hand hovered over his knife again. It was an immediate reaction, one that he only learned recently was unwarranted. It was just over a month ago that he learned Kinoko was as much a gift to Quackity as Las Nevadas was once, in another lifetime, a gift to lost lovers.

“I’m trusting your judgment, Foolish, but if this goes wrong—“

Foolish smiled warily. “I’ll risk it.”

The response was a rough mix of a scoff and a petty laugh. It was familiar and broken. “Fine. Fine.”

“Let’s go, Big Q.”

“To meet my guests.”

Quackity could only guess at a handful of people from Kinoko. It ranged anywhere from Lil Nas X offering to perform in the central square to Callahan updating on the state of the Kinoko refugees. Foolish said that it wasn’t work-related, though, so loathe as he was to admit it, the guests could really only be there for one thing.

Fingers subconsciously twisted around the chain under his shirt, fiddling with the rings that hadn’t seen the light of day in well over a year.

Fear and anticipation filled him in equal parts. Quackity wished he knew what to expect.

He didn’t think he could handle news about Karl’s death. He’d fall apart.

Maybe he should be optimistic. Maybe they found Sapnap. Quackity let out a wet chuckle at the thought. Optimistic. Sure.

Foolish glanced over at him in worry.

“We’re here.”

Quackity tried to slow his breaths in an attempt to calm his racing heart. He was calm. He was perfectly cool and collected. Nothing could faze him.

Not even the teary eyes of his sparkling ex-fiancé.

“Moonshine?”

Karl’s voice was small and filled with so much grief.

Fuck. Not once did Quackity even deign to acknowledge This as a possibility.

Quackity felt as though his heart was melting in his chest. By the time Sapnap finally reached out to him and explained Karl’s outburst way back then, Sapnap had already given up trying to jog Karl’s memories. While understandable, Quackity had already chosen to let them go.

He had more important things to do, more ambitions to follow through, than to chase after of a man whose mind was deteriorating by the day and despised him while at it. Their relationship had already fallen apart, albeit unwittingly, so there was no point trying. Sapnap was more than willing to bear the burden for as long as he had.

The regret that spawned from that decision clung to his conscience like a leech.

Quackity wasn’t willing to put in the work. He didn’t deserve to try again.

Karl’s eyes lit up. He tilted forward as though he wanted to jump up and run towards Quackity, but he stayed put in his chair. Quackity noticed Tina rest her hand on Karl’s shoulder before she stood up and followed Foolish out.

“Long story short,” Karl began. “But I woke up today thinking it was still February of ‘21. Tina only explained a couple of things on the way here, like Dream escaping prison a year ago and you running this place. Um, I think she called it Las Nevadas?”

“Yeah, Las Nevadas,” Quackity breathlessly confirmed. “What do you remember about- about me?”

The stars under Karl’s skin seemed to shine a bit brighter as his human form wavered. Was that a bad sign? Quackity couldn’t remember.

Karl held out his hand and started to list each point he deemed important.

“You were on a work trip, so you weren’t at El Rapids when it got griefed. I had to move my library away from the mainland, so I was going to let you know where Sapnap and I were moving to but… I got lost. When I got back to Kinoko, Tina came up to me and told me that it’s November.” Karl hummed. “And the most important thing: you’re my fiancé!”

“Yeah, we were engaged.” Quackity chuckled lightly.

Karl’s smile tightened. “Are we not anymore?”

Quackity shook his head. “I guess it’s because I was away for so long, but you eventually forgot me. You never told me about Kinoko.”

“Did you think we abandoned you?” Karl whispered. “Even if I forgot you, Sapnap would have gone to the ends of the overworld to make sure you knew.”

“Sapnap was under the impression you did tell me. He was waiting for me for months.” Quackity rubbed his arms, the scars underneath the tight cotton itching slightly. “He was so sweet when we reunited, so excited to show me what you both had made for yourself while I was gone… But when you saw me, you called me your murderer. You only remembered the sacrifice for El Rapids’ independence but none of the context. You didn’t remember our history, so I left.”

Karl’s eyes welled up with a galaxy. Quackity always thought Karl was a pretty crier, especially when the tear streaks melted the human illusion to reveal the pink glow below. Quackity reached out to hold Karl’s cheeks in the palms of his hands.

“I’m sorry,” Karl murmured. “I’m so sorry.”

Quackity squished Karl’s cheeks. Karl turned his face to nuzzle into his angel’s wrist.

“It’s not your fault,” Quackity reassured in the softest voice he could muster. “You couldn’t control it. You’re here now, though, and I’ll be by your side.”

 ‘They both heard the unspoken ‘because I wasn’t before.’ 

Chapter Text

For a moment, all was well. Karl was curled up in Quackity’s lap, dozing off to gloved hands petting his head and gently poking his cheek every so often. (Karl never really understood Quackity’s fascination with his gummy anatomy.)

“Amado mio, you’re so pretty,” Quackity finally whispered.

Karl looked up. He hadn’t taken a good look at this future Quackity.

The tear that ran up his lip and tore through Quackity’s face was the worst of the scarring, but after two years — prime, it has been two years — the fatal wound has healed rather well. It blended into his face rather than sticking out like a red sore. Karl fussed over it for ages when Quackity suddenly respawned in their house with one less canon life.

Quackity used to hate it, said that it was a permanent reminder that he lost- that he failed . It seemed like somewhere down the line, he changed his mind. The gold tooth, the glass eye, even the way Quackity’s styled his hair— it all accentuated that scar.

There were more scars than Karl remembered because, of course, there were. There was a scratch under Quackity’s good eye that looked disturbingly like human nails, while under his chin were the remains of burnt blisters from popping lava bubbles. (How Karl knew that and how Quackity received them were things he didn’t want to dwell on.)

Karl tugged on Quackity’s hand to put it over his face. Quackity’s hand was as small as he remembered, barely a fraction of his own. Once, perhaps as far back as the Manberg, Karl could have described Quackity’s hands as dainty. Even through the gloves, however, Karl could feel the rough callouses underneath.

“Take a picture. It’ll last longer.”

“A picture could never capture your beauty, hot stuff.”

“Smooth.”

Karl grinned, showing off his pearly whites. The sweet smile Quackity gave in return was tinged with a bit of sadness. Quackity leaned forward to rest their foreheads together.

“I missed you,” Quackity continued. “I missed you so much, mi cariño.”

Karl lifted his arms to wrap around Quackity’s neck. Of their trio, none of them were prone to crying. Nevertheless, Karl felt a slight dampness from where Quackity had buried his face in the side of Karl’s neck.

“What’s wrong, moonshine?” Karl asked.

“You’re not very warm, you know,” Quackity murmured. “You’re as bright as the vast expanse of the night sky, but you’re just as cold too.”

“Sapnap is our personal furnace,” Karl attempted to joke. He was only mildly surprised when Quackity’s shoulders started to shake a little harder.

Something happened. Death and heartbreak seemed to bleed from every soul Karl had passed in the few hours he was in this time. Karl knew a lot about time. A lot could happen in two years, but just as much could happen in two months.

Whatever caused the grief that just poured out of Quackity, it was something only time could make easier. It was something that Karl couldn’t understand until someone told him.

Karl held Quackity close.

“Where’s Sapnap?”

With a heavy heart, the answer was: “I don’t know.”

They stayed curled up into each other until the sun outside dipped below the horizon. They untangled when the solar lamps flicked on.

Quackity was the first to pull back, but he kept his grip on Karl’s sleeves. Karl was the one to let go with a reassuring pat on the hand.

“I need to talk to Tina,” Karl decided. “I think she knows more than she’s letting on.”

Quackity nodded in agreement. “She’s been an integral part of Kinoko for the past year. She knows it just as well as its founders do- well, did. I’d say that right now, Tina knows more than anyone.”

“What should we even ask her, though?”

Karl watched as Quackity fiddled with the fabric of his shirt. Karl glanced down at his own hands. Passively, he wondered where their engagement rings were.

“I guess we can just ask her what she’s willing to tell us,” Quackity suggested. “We can work from there.”

Gently albeit reluctantly, Quackity nudged Karl off of the couch. Karl stumbled, nowhere near as graceful as the avian. (Karl had to squash down the urge to refer to Quackity as his fiancé.)

Quackity didn’t wait for Karl to follow as he made his for the door. He almost didn’t notice how Karl stood in the middle of the room with glazed eyes. Quackity turned back, confused.

Karl pursed his lips, then looked Quackity dead in the eyes. The expression was haunting.

“Q, about my memories….” Karl paused as he tried to gather up his courage. “I think- Q, I think I- no, but what if….”

“What about your memories?”

Quackity stepped closer. Karl stepped back, the back of his legs hitting the couch. He just barely kept himself upright. He kept his gaze down to his feet.

“I think I just need to wrap my head around it still. Let’s go talk to Tina.”

“Later then.”

“Later,” Karl conceded.

Quackity held his hand out. Karl slowly approached, human illusion shimmering slightly as he extended his arm to take Quackity’s hand. Quackity reassuringly squeezed Karl’s fingers.

Chapter Text

Quackity stopped at the doors that led into the main hall of the casino.

Karl had gone through there earlier. It was only a minute or so, but time seemed to slow down as he and Tina weaved through the dense crowds and past the gambling tables.

It was toxic and addicting all at once. It suited Quackity perfectly, in his opinion.

Quackity was far more spice than sugar. He was a spotlight pulling all eyes to him. He was a full moon twisting minds with insanity. He pulled Karl into his orbit. He was a guiltless illicit affair.

As Quackity dropped Karl’s hand to throw the doors wide open, Karl couldn’t look away. The way the casino owner captured everyone’s attention was a spectacle to behold.

“Beautiful,” Karl murmured. If Quackity heard, he didn’t show it. Although, judging by how his feathers ruffled just the slightest bit, Karl would bet he did.

Quackity motioned for the closest waitstaff. He whispered something into their ear, and immediately, they took off to scour the entire hall. Quackity watched them go. He then motioned for the casino goers to resume their activities.

Instantly, the noise swelled up.

Barely a minute later, Tina and Foolish emerged from the crowd. The doors to the main hall shut behind them.

Skepticism was plain as day on Tina’s face. She eyed the way Karl brushed against Quackity and the way Quackity kept pace with Karl’s spontaneity.

Foolish bent in Tina’s direction. (‘Did he shrink?’ Tina wondered.)

“I’ve never seen Quackity like this,” he said.

Tina hummed in a flat tone. “Karl is being cautious. He’s testing boundaries.”

“They used to be engaged when I joined the SMP,” Foolish said.

“I only found out about that today.” Tina crossed her arms and pouted. She looked up to Foolish. “What were they like?”

Foolish shrugged. “I didn’t really know them, but their wedding was supposed to be a big thing. Talk of their wedding kinda fell through after… Hm… I think I stopped hearing about it when Soot came back.”

Tina scrunched her nose at the mention of the zombified rat man. She wasn’t familiar with him in the slightest, nor did she want to be. He was apparently better now than before, or so Tina was told.

Foolish and Tina were not as quiet as they thought they were. Quackity glanced away from where his focus had been on Karl.

“Don’t you fucking dare bring up that deadbeat,” Quackity snarled. “That slimy bastard is banned from my Las Nevadas.”

“Was Wilbur revived?” Karl suddenly asked.

Suddenly reminded of exactly when Karl’s memory was lost, the entire room fell into an awkward silence.

Quackity nervously laughed. “Yeah, Dream brought him back. He wasn’t bullshitting about having the revived book.”

“Wait, Schlatt had the real deal?” Karl gasped. “How the honk did he get it?”

Quackity stared intently at the celestial being. “You knew he had the revived book?”

“Obviously? He bragged about it all the time, but I didn’t think it was real.” Karl looked down thoughtfully for a moment. “Now that I think about it, I think he only avoided the topic whenever you were in the room. Something about you being too ambitious.”

Quackity nervously fiddled with the edge of his gloves. He laughed blankly. “Yeah, that’s- that was a valid concern.”

Karl almost missed the disgust coming from Tina and the discomfort from Foolish.

Tina huffed and sped towards the private room just a few meters ahead. Without any hesitation, she changed the topic. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Quackity gestured for her to take a seat. She ignored it.

Karl nervously twisted his fingers into each other. “Do you know what happened to Sapnap?”

Tina tried to keep a neutral expression. She took a deep breath.

“When Dream escaped prison, the first thing Sapnap did was make sure that all of the evacuation routes in Kinoko were secure. Sapnap was constantly on edge, so sure that Dream would hunt him down for his armor — the Nightmare set, I think he called it. I thought Sapnap was overreacting, especially after almost a year would pass with nothing happening.

“But one day, the emergency sirens went off. Everyone treated it like a test evacuation, but they followed the process regardless. I also thought it was a false alarm or an unauthorized test, so I stayed behind to make sure everything was ready for when the citizens come back.

“The entire kingdom was emptied by the time Dream showed up with stacks of TNT. He didn’t get very far when Sapnap confronted him. I was just out of earshot, checking over the stasis chamber hall. I didn’t catch what they were saying, but something must have happened because right in the middle of their fight, Sapnap suddenly made a run for it. Dream followed.

“I hid in the stasis hall for an hour when the enderpearl in Sapnap’s stasis chamber suddenly popped. I ran to his house, expecting him to respawn there, but he didn’t. It wouldn’t be hard for Sapnap to have changed his spawn point, but….” Tina grimaced. “But I still don’t know. A death message didn’t show up on my communicator, so I still have hope. Surely, he hadn’t gone too far that he was out of range, right?”

—

He was in The Clock again.

Sometimes, he felt like he was in The Clock more often than he was in the present. In this timeless space, perhaps he was.

The door to the Inbetween beckoned him. The door to the Otherside taunted him.

He ignored both.

He sat there, stuck in an eternal stalemate.

(Pick a side, the god urged.)

—

Foolish escorted Tina out of the casino. Tina insisted on returning to Kinoko rather than staying in a local hotel. As she had been for the past month, Tina was once again the sole resident of Kinoko.

Karl looked at his hands. Where were his rings?

“There’s something I wanted to ask her,” Quackity stated. “Maybe Sapnap kept it from her, or maybe she’d lie, but Las Nevadas knows about it. Sapnap owned something called the Book of Death. From what Foolish told me, writing a name in it kills both person named and the person who wrote the name.”

Karl trilled his fingers against the back of Quackity’s hand. “Maybe it just wasn’t relevant. Dream owns the Book of Life — that’s the revive book, by the way — so it wouldn’t work on Dream anyway.” Karl hummed. “Unless Dream isn’t the owner anymore, and it did work. In which case, Dream’s death guarantees Sapnap’s.”

“I hope we find out, but… How do you know this?”

“I’ve been alive for quite a while, you know. I’ve seen myths in action and learned legends before they died.” Karl’s sly smile suddenly dropped. “Q, where was I during all of this?”

Quackity regretfully shook his head. “I wish I knew. I cut off all ties with you after you tried to kill me the second time—“

“I, what?”

“And Sapnap was too occupied with Dream’s escape. I found out Sapnap went missing after confronting Dream through rumors.” Quackity let out a soulless laugh. “He always seemed so invincible.”

Karl lightly squeezed his beloved’s hand. They were going to talk more about Karl’s faults later.

Chapter Text

Quackity wanted to give a tour of Las Nevadas. Midnight was the best time to see the bright city-state at the height of its glory.

Through it all, Karl listened to Quackity ramble with a dopey smile. He could spend eternity admiring Quackity as the avian talked of his life’s work.

After being guided around the crowded streets, Quackity brought them to the tower. It looked so much like Sapnap and Karl’s engagement Tower before it had burned down so many years ago. (Even to the Karl, whose memories skipped from the past, it was such a long time ago) It was much bigger, though, with its own modern spin.

Quackity brought Karl to his living space at the top of the tower and pushed open the balcony doors.

“This is the best place to see the Las Nevadas lights!” Quackity exclaimed. “You came at a great time too. We just got the daylight sensors fixed just the other day. There was a collapse in the redstone tunnels, and a heavy rain seeped in and broke the wiring there. Took a whole month to figure out what the problem was.”

Karl awed. “Like a city of stars… I’m glad I get to see it in all its glory.”

Quackity suddenly squeezed Karl’s hand. Karl glanced over to find Quackity painfully trying to keep up his proud facade.

“Sapnap never saw the completed lights,” Quackity admitted. “We were still figuring out the wiring when Sapnap- when he stopped visiting.”

“He would love it,” Karl reassured, not questioning why Sapnap stopped visiting. “It’s like everlasting day. Sapnap loved when huge fires outshone the stars.”

Quackity grinned fondly at that memory.

“Kinoko is beautiful at night, too,” he said. “At night, the streets are lined with soul fire lamps. It’s like walking through moonlight.”

Karl felt his heart warm. Of course, it did.

—

Why was he here again?

He just wanted to go home.

Where was home again?

He couldn’t remember.

A thousand moments in human history were still a mere fraction of the faintest impression of a speck in the infinite span of time.

He was but a speck along the endlessly expanding timeline. He was a speck getting smaller and smaller

and smaller

and—

(The clock ticked on.)

—

Quackity clapped his hands. He drew the attention of the meeting to himself.

“Has anyone made any progress on Dream’s location?”

Silence.

Quackity sighed. “Okay, how about dead ends?”

Eret cleared their throat. “As you know, we captured Punz three months ago. He has been in detainment in the castle basement while we attempted to interrogate him. He recently admitted that he used to meet Dream once a week in an undisclosed location, but that is obviously no longer the case. He did, however, also admit that Dream planned to relocate his base in the event of Punz’s allegiances being revealed.”

“Great,” Quackity groaned. “So unless he’s lying, Punz is officially useless.”

Eret shrugged. “We’ll see what we can do, but that’s my dead end.”

A few seats from Eret’s left, Ranboo raised his hand. Quackity almost flinched at how Tubbo glowered at him when he glanced in the Snowchester assembly’s direction.

The whole meeting continued like a bomb tied together with paper and twine. Somehow, they always just barely held each other back from another war.

It was better in the past months than it was before. Prime knew that a year ago, they couldn’t even look in each other’ directions without risking at least one life lost— never mind gathering like this. It was… productive, to say the least.

With Kinoko in a temporary state of abandonment, the other nation leaders were more willing to be amenable.

Eret straightened out their notes once the topic crossed the room. “Does anyone else have anything to share or ask?”

Phil decided to look over to where Tina was substituting for said country’s leaders.

Despite this being her first time joining, she did her best to blend into the walls. Sometimes leaders of younger countries just popped up into the meetings without much contribution, so no one had questioned it at first.

“Since Tina is here, is there any news on Kinoko’s leaders?” Phil asked.

Surprised at the confrontation, she and Quackity tensed up. Tubbo zeroed in on the inconspicuous change in posture.

“What are you hiding, Big Q?” Tubbo pressed.

Quackity’s wings ruffled for all that he tried to play it off with a dramatic sigh. He hated how Tubbo tried to antagonize him at every turn.

“Tina brought Karl to Las Nevadas the other day,” he answered after a tense nod of approval from Tina. “Karl lost his memories, so- so he’s not in exactly a bearer of useful information. Tina is now the official regent of Kinoko Kingdom.”

Eret raised their head curiously. “That would have been good to know from the beginning.”

“There’s not exactly much of a kingdom to be regent of,” Tina bitterly replied.

Phil leaned forward. His beady eyes were so much like those judging crows of his. “Is there a reason you haven’t recalled your citizens back to a Kinoko?”

Tina huffed. “Dream apparently left TNT somewhere in Kinoko. It’s a bit hard to find by myself, if there is any at all, and I don’t want to risk repopulation until the threat’s been neutralized.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Quackity accused.

Tina side-eyed him. “What? Did you want me to tell you that Dream claimed to have also left TNT under Las Nevadas? Snowchester? What about the Mainland?”

“Yes!” Ranboo squeaked. Tubbo placed a hand on Ranboo’s arm. “That would have been good to know!”

Eret groaned into his hands. The ink from his abandoned pen was left to pool on the table.

Tina pouted. “I didn’t want to cause a panic. Dream was almost certainly bluffing. Plus, Callahan is helping me search the other countries.”

Tubbo made a distressed wheeze. “Great! We didn’t even notice a spy in all of our countries.”

“Callahan is perfectly neutral,” Eret tried to reassure. “We can trust him to do what keeps the server safe.”

“Like how Dream did?” Fundy suddenly spoke up.

The uproar that exploded after almost made Quackity want to cover his ears. Ranboo, still adjusting to his recently revived sensitivities, flinched violently. Tubbo slammed his hands against the table.

“Shut up!” he ordered. “We’re not getting anywhere like this. I’m heading back to Snowchester. Ranboo, stay with Phil.”

Ranboo warbled worriedly. “What? No, I’m not leaving you-“

Tubbo shot him a Look and then marched out of the room. Ranboo stayed in place until Phil shook him lightly and silently guided them out of the room. Fundy followed briskly, and soon enough, the less influential heads also filtered out.

Eret exhaled loudly. He faced Quackity with a tired expression.

“I think you should also head back and figure out that bomb threat,” Eret suggested.

Quackity shook his head. “My engineers just did a full sweep because of some faulty redstone wiring that runs through the entire city. Unless Dream somehow planted TNT in the past three days, my country is clean.”

Eret deflated slightly. “Okay, that’s good. I suppose I’ll have to search my kingdom now.”

“Knowing the mainland, there’s probably TNT still stashed underground from two years ago,” Quackity joked. It was made in poor taste, but Eret laughed anyway. Quackity still grinned awkwardly. “Good luck, your majesty.”

“What did I tell you about calling me that….” Eret shook their head in faux disappointment. “Anyway, good luck to you as well. Hopefully, things work out with you and Karl again.”

Quackity softened at the mention of his… whatever Karl currently was. “Thank you, Eret.”

With a graceful wave of their hand and a broad sweep of their cape, the king left the room. It was just Quackity and Tina.

Quackity glanced cold at the mushroom-clad demoness.

“Is there anything else you have to say?”

Tina avoided his eyes. “They don’t have to worry about TNT.”

Quackity ran a hand over his face and groaned silently. 

Chapter Text

Karl stared at his hands again. He seemed to do this a lot.

Was it just him, or was he fading? He thought he could recognize the back of his hand in a heartbeat, but his hands looked so… so…

The rose gold bracelet Quackity gave him stood out brightly against the cloudy sky that shifted just under the skin of his human hands.

Where were his rings?

“Karl, I’m back!”

Karl blinked. The delicate spiral chain blended nicely into his pink-hued swirls. It suited him well.

Quackity sauntered over to where Karl was still admiring the bracelet. “I’m glad you like the bracelet, mi almo.”

“It’s so pretty,” Karl confirmed.

Quackity nuzzled his face into Karl’s fluffy hair.

“Had it commissioned just for you,” Quackity murmured. “You’re so soft, mi cariño. No quiero dejarte ir.”

Quackity’s voice was muffled, but Karl giggled at the vibrations against his skull.

“You’re so cute,” Karl cooed. He leaned his head back to nuzzle his nose against’s Quackity’s forehead. “I can’t believe I ever let you leave my side.”

Quackity wrapped his arms around Karl and squeezed gently. He pushed his face into the crook of Karl’s neck and simply breathed.

“It was supposed to be a surprise, my proposal gift to both of you. There were plans for two more casinos dedicated in your names, and the hotel was going to be for George.”

Karl whined lowly. “I’m sorry.”

Quackity pulled back to hover over Karl’s face. With both hands squishing Karl’s cheeks, he stressed, “It’s not your fault.”

“I forgot you.”

“You wouldn’t have forgotten me as easily if I hadn’t left for so long.”

“But I called you a murderer- Q, why did I call you that?” Karl’s eyes glistened with tears again. He seemed to cry a lot recently. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re here now.”

Kinoko Kingdom and Las Nevadas were separated by two forests and a wide river. The river was so wide, in fact, that taking a spyglass would only just barely get you a glimpse of the towers on the other side.

Despite being only a couple hours' journey apart, neither Kinoko Kingdom nor Las Nevadas knew of the rise of the other.

Quackity heard of Kinoko Kingdom just outside of Pandora’s Vault. He ran to El Rapids, only to find it abandoned. Every surface was coated in dust, and every valuable was taken away.

Quackity made no move to find Kinoko.

Sapnap stumbled upon Las Nevadas while scouting the area, or so he claimed. Quackity would later learn that he just couldn’t sleep and wandered a bit too far. (Insomnia wasn’t a good look on him.)

“Quackity, come visit Kinoko!” Sapnap said.

Quackity did, albeit reluctantly. Betrayal and heartbreak still coated his every thought, but Sapnap seemed so excited to see him. The pure joy that rang in Sapnap’s voice couldn’t be anything but true.

So he dropped everything and followed Sapnap. Just for the night, he told himself.

It went wrong so quickly.

Quackity ran off. Dream escaped. Purpled betrayed him for a book he didn’t have. Slime disappeared, leaving behind his Legacy.

Quackity buried himself in his work, trying so hard to pretend he wasn’t falling apart at the seams.

Like every little hope hadn’t been violently torn to shreds.

Then Sapnap appeared once more.

His hair was down. It looked like a rat’s nest. His shoulders were hunched forward, hands crossed lightly as he held his axe in a death grip. The bags under his eyes were deeper than Quackity had ever seen them before.

“Am I still welcome here?” Sapnap asked in a voice far too small.

Quackity wordlessly nodded. He stepped back to allow Sapnap in.

“Thank you,” Sapnap mumbled. Quackity closed the door behind him.

“What happened?”

Sapnap vanished his axe and armor back into his inventory. He stood there, completely vulnerable.

“Karl’s memory was getting worse since you last saw him,” he admitted. “It started with not remembering names, or he called them the wrong name. Then he forgot where places were. He got lost trying to find my house even though he used to stop by every day, and then he started to forget things like his favorite foods or that I like pandas, and a few times, he would take off his rings and forget he even had them—“

“Sapnap, breathe,” Quackity cut in once the demon started speaking too fast to keep up with. After some struggle, Sapnap took a deep breath.

“Karl forgot me.”

“What?”

“He disappears every now and again, and when he comes back, he’s forgotten something important.”

Sapnap didn’t wear his rings on his hand. He said it got in the way of fighting, so he kept it on a chain around his neck. Today, however, the rings were on his fingers. Quackity couldn’t help but notice how he twisted the rings until they rubbed his skin raw.

Quackity reached out to stop him. “You’re avoiding the question.”

“I was in the library when he came back.” Sapnap paused. He took another breath. “He said hi, then asked me if I liked the library. I said yes. We talked a bit. He likes to flirt. It was the longest conversation we had in a long time….”

Quackity waited for Sapnap to continue. When he didn’t, he said, “And then?”

“He told me he liked talking to me.” Sapnap hesitated. “He asked me what my name was. I thought: I could work with this. It knew it would happen eventually.”

“Why are you here then?”

Sapnap whimpered. It was a weak sound, one that Quackity swore he would do anything never to hear again.

“Yesterday, he came back from another trip. I was waiting in the library again. He immediately called me an intruder and tried to kill me. I don’t- I don’t know what to do. He’s strong? Like I couldn’t stop him. I just barely escaped.”

Quackity didn’t know what to say.

(Later that week, he went to Kinoko. Just as Sapnap said, Karl was all too willing to draw blood.)

—

Past the trees, across the river, then through more woods lay

Kinoko Kingdom.

Through the woods, across the river, past more trees stood

Las Nevadas.

Two safe havens built in honor of their lovers, just a few hours' journey apart.

They thrived. Alone.

Inside, they crumbled.

“You’ve always been so stubborn,” the god said.

—

Quackity gave a passing glance to the gilded jewelry box on his drawer. It held every ring and bracelet and chain he bought for his fiancés.

Sapnap wasn’t big on loose jewelry, but he had a plethora of piercings. (Quackity’s favorites were his gold stud snakebites.) Quackity commissioned a fair handful of tight hoops and jeweled studs. Some were painstakingly engraved with words of love and promises long broken. They were all bought on a whim (was it a whim if he planned out every detail?) with no intention of the intended recipient ever receiving them.

There was a short period of time, however, when Quackity finally considered gifting them.

Sapnap was in Quackity’s bedroom, sitting nervously on Quackity’s bed. It was a large bed. Quackity stared at that jewelry box with all its hidden presents for far too long.

Next time, he told himself. Next time, he would repeat time and time again.

There was no next time for Sapnap, but Quackity would shower Karl in everything he could give him before he could regret it.

Spiral chains and golden flowers, tourmaline and engraved quotes — all of it was for Karl, for his Starlight.

When Karl smiled like the stars above shone just for him, Quackity ignored every fear filtering through the cracks.

Chapter Text

When Quackity left for work, Karl felt useless. He wasn’t contributing anything! He was like a pretty doll just sitting on the side, waiting for Quackity to pay attention to him.

He wanted to help with paperwork, but he couldn’t remember the first thing about running a country (a functional one, that is; he definitely helped run Manberg into the ground). He wanted to cook something, but his fiancés had banned him from the kitchen the moment they met. (It’s not his fault human hybrids had such delicate internal organs!)

He- he could clean, but Quackity barely had anything! Karl tried! He even dusted the ceiling! It took like only two hours to make even the glass sparkle with how clear it was! Even the laundry was currently hanging on the drying line on the balcony.

He was bored again. It wasn’t even noon. He really did feel like a useless housewife sitting on his husband’s bed.

Karl blushed at the thought. Quackity as his husband sounded very appealing. On some level, he was glad he hadn’t forgotten his own wedding, but most of all, he was just sad.

Karl laid sprawled out on Quackity’s bed. It was very soft and very big. There were a lot of pillows. It reminded him of Sapnap’s bed-

Karl blinked at the ceiling.

When did Sapnap have his own bed? They’d shared a bed ever since they got engaged.

Karl sat up.

He looked at his hands. They looked very gray.

It took a week for Karl to muster up the courage to go out in Las Nevadas without Quackity. After that initial fear subsided, he liked to wander around the streets of Las Nevadas.

Most of the places didn’t open until later in the evening, but a couple of shops were open in the morning. Karl’s favorite place was this quaint little basement restaurant. It was supposed to be a health food place, but they also had good burgers of questionable quality. At night, it transformed into a popular bar, but Karl only frequented it during the day.

The cook in the back looked familiar, but Karl couldn’t get a good enough look at them to place a name. The specter at the counter, on the other hand, was exceptionally recognizable.

Glatt recognized Karl immediately the first time Karl walked through the doors. Glatt immediately attempted to strangle Karl, but lucky for Karl, Glatt couldn’t cross the threshold for whatever reason.

(Karl later learned that Quackity had stolen Schlatt’s bones way back when and reburied them in the foundations of Las Nevadas. This restaurant was built right over those bones. It used to be a gym, apparently.)

Karl decided to keep visiting the restaurant despite Glatt’s threats to drag him down to hell for “stealing his man.” Karl only giggled at the reminder. He sure did.

Most of the time, Karl didn’t eat anything from Glatt’s restaurant. He usually ordered a milkshake or a smoothie and watched the other restaurant-goers. He was bored after all, and people were so interesting.

“Ayyy,” Glatt shouted across the dining room. “Look who’s finally deigned to show his face around here.”

Karl peeked out from his booth to see Quackity saunter through the dining hall. The other customers had fallen silent in awe of their nation’s leader. Karl thought it was fucking hot.

Quackity’s eyes swept over the restaurant until they finally made contact with Karl’s.

“Karl, what did I say about coming here?” Quackity scolded. He also shot a glare at Glatt, who continued to leer at his ex-husband’s ass.

Karl unapologetically draped himself over his wonderful… whatever they were now. “I know, but I got bored!”

“There are so many better places in Las Nevadas,” Quackity huffed. Karl let Quackity drag him away from the restaurant, both of them ignoring Glatt’s cat calls.

“The people in those better places aren’t as loose-lipped, though,” Karl defended. “I like to know what’s going on.”

Quackity rolled his eyes. “I know,” he agreed. “That’s why I keep Glatt around. He makes me want to eat my own foot, but he’s got good information.”

“I know!” Karl snuggled up closer against Quackity. The avian wrinkled his nose.

“Get off me. You smell like grease, cigarettes, and protein powder.”

Karl raised his arm to sniff at his sleeve. He thought he was far away enough from the kitchen to avoid the smell sticking.

Quackity stepped back but allowed himself to slip his hand into Karl’s.

“So, did you hear anything worthwhile?”

Karl hummed thoughtfully. “Not really. It’s all just the same things. I guess I heard that XD is torturing mortals again. I wasn’t aware he was active on this server.”

Quackity cringed. It was the only appropriate reaction. After the minute of fear passed, Quackity decided to turn over the information.

“XD must be bored if it’s bothering people again,” Quackity surmised. “I’d say it’s a good time to check up on George.”

Karl perked up only to quickly change his tune to wariness. “What does George have to do with XD?”

Quackity grumbled. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way to Kinoko.”

When they arrived at Kinoko, George was surprisingly awake. Quackity released a tension he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

George’s goggles were pushed up his head to reveal glazed brown and blue eyes. The goggles held back his messy bed hair, grown from a lack of maintenance yet perfect as always. His every move was graceful, even when he was being an idiot.

George tilted his head slowly when Karl and Quackity approached him.

“This is a nice dream,” George said as he watched them wave him over.

“It’s not a dream, Gogy,” Quackity gently corrected. “Kinoko had an emergency evacuation, so it’s empty until they’re allowed to come back.”

George’s lips tensed downwards. It wasn’t quite a frown as much as a light show of displeasure. “You and Karl are holding hands.”

“I have my memories from early in Kinoko’s founding and before,” Karl hesitantly clarified. “I remember my fiancés.”

George hummed. “Sapnap must be overjoyed. Where is he?”

“Chasing Dream,” Quackity half-lied through his teeth. “AKA, the reason for the evacuation.”

George nodded. He took in the pair’s appearances like a man given sight after being blinded for so long.

“That’s a nice bracelet, Karl,” George complimented. “It’s not as tacky as the El Rapids bracelet.”

“It did not look tacky,” Quackity defended.

George stared blankly. “It definitely did.”

“Sapnap said he loved it!”

George raised a single brow. “You trust Sapnap’s judgment in fashion?”

Quackity hesitated. “Yes,” he slowly answered. “Yes, I do.”

Karl giggled. “You both wore sweats every day. I like the suspenders, though, very snazzy.” He leaned into Quackity’s ear. “Very sexy.”

Quackity turned bright red. “You—!”

George snickered at them. His lazy smile was fond.

“Would you like to come inside for tea?”

The couple eagerly accepted.

Along the way, George pointed to notable buildings and locations. Quackity already seemed to have a general knowledge of the place already, so the semi-tour was clearly for Karl’s benefit. Karl was thankful for that.

George led them towards a towering mushroom high-rise. “This is where you and I live and sleep. Sapnap’s house is in the central square, right across the dojo.”

Karl tilted his head as he followed George and Quackity into the building. “Why does Sapnap live separately?”

George shrugged. “Hell, if I know. When Foolish was building, Sapnap claimed the biggest building in the center of the city. You and I decided to stay in the outskirts, although it’s not really on the edge anymore with how much Kinoko expanded.”

Quackity fidgeted off to the side. Both George and Karl looked over at him weirdly. Quackity quickly smoothed out the ruffled feathers in his wings.

“Sapnap said that he wanted a house for the three of us together once we got married,” Quackity quietly admitted. “The tower is nice and all, but, in his words, it’s more like a fancy castle than a home. He wanted something domestic. He wanted a garden and a room for each of us if we ever got sick of each other.”

Karl melted at the description. George continued to stare.

“He’s such a sap,” George said before turning away to lead the other two into the receiving hall. Karl, having a new appreciation for the place, really did think it resembled a castle now.

George left the room to prepare some tea.

Karl and Quackity sat side by side.

“Do you think Dream is dead?” Karl whispered.

“I don’t know,” Quackity replied.

Karl stayed silent for a moment more. When George came back, they pretended.

Just for one afternoon, they could pretend to be content. They could pretend through laughs and old inside jokes. They could catch up as though their time apart was a mere inconvenience, that they had a choice, and time wasn’t cruel.

Eventually, George started to doze off. He headed back up to his bedroom, leaving Quackity and Karl alone in the sudden emptiness of the room.

Karl looked around the room. There was just something wrong with it. As he stared longer, he realized it was the lack of personality.

Technically, it had plenty of personality. It was cute and aesthetically pleasing. The decor was tasteful and carefully arranged. Nostalgia clung to every lovingly leveled picture frame and gleefully won trophies.

That was the problem, wasn’t it?

The room was full of memories, but the room was nothing more than a storage unit for those memories.

It was too perfect. It was all so carefully arranged— not a single piece was out of place. Only the indentation of where they sat proved anyone had been in the room at all.

As the pair readied themselves to head out, everything suddenly faded to grey.

A divine voice rumbled through their heads.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.”

Chapter Text

If a moment could last forever, is that what this feels like?

Time was certainly frozen (although that wasn’t saying much when standing in a room that had stayed unchanged from the day it had been constructed).

Karl looked to his side. Quackity was frozen in place, form tilted when he was walking towards the door. He didn’t blink. Actually, he was mid-blink. It was a funny expression, like a poorly-timed paused in an animation.

Truthfully, it was a bit uncanny.

Karl pulled his eyes away from the frozen avian to focus on the god hovering across the room.

Karl could have sworn he had never met XD, yet somehow, he recognized the deity immediately.

Gold. There was so much gold. XD was pure light condensed into a relatively solid form. It resembled Dream quite a bit, honestly. That was a mystery Karl did not have the energy to unpack.

“I was not expecting to see you so soon,” the god had said.

Karl wasn’t expecting to see the god at all!

“Have you made your choice?” the god continued, ignoring Karl’s speechlessness.

“Choice?” Karl finally squeaked out. “Choose what?”

The god tilted its head(?).

The god’s magic thrummed through every frozen particles in the room.

“You are not the one I am waiting for.”

The clock began to tick once more.

The king size bed was piled high with pillows and quilts to form a painfully empty nest. In the center of it all, a human-shaped lump was curled tightly into a shivering ball. He was it’s only occupant. The bed never had another.

“I’m afraid,” he cried into the emptiness.

Why? the emptiness whispered back.

His voice shook. His chest was tight, wavering as he tried and failed to calm down by himself. Breathe, he reminded himself. Breathe, he managed through pained whimpers.

“I’m afraid that when I wake up, I’ll still be alone.”

He wrapped the blanket around him tighter, simulating a hold he hadn’t felt in so long. He was forgetting what it was supposed to feel like. He wasn’t certain he hadn’t already forgotten.

“I don’t want to be alone.”

The warmth was artificial, the echo of his own fire absorbed and reflected back by the soft pillows surrounding him.

You’re not alone , the emptiness lied.

Sapnap opened his eyes.

Pale sunlight filtered through the translucent curtains. Distant birdsong filled the silence.

He couldn’t breathe.

A racing heart beat on its own.

He sobbed his soul out until it was empty.

Sapnap laid in that too large bed for far too long, staring at the ash-stained ceiling. Dried tear tracks stained the sides of his face.

His chest heaved up and down. Breathing was such a chore.

“I don’t want to be alone,” he whispered to himself again.

The moon hung low in the sky. It was a bright as the sun and surrounded by the milky rivers of stars. It was a beautiful night.

When the sirens rang across the entire kingdom, citizens were only just preparing for bed. They scrambled to follow evacuation protocol yet remained light-hearted in the illusion of an emergency test. 9:34PM was upsetting but convenient.

Lanterns lit up like a forest fire through the usually dim streets.

Sapnap blankly stared out the window, a piece of toast held limply in his hands. At some point, he had taken a bite out of it. It was tough to chew. (He could have sworn he’d just toasted it.)

The ear-piercing sirens continued to blare around him.

Somehow, Sapnap had a sword in his hand instead of cold toast.

Somehow, Sapnap held his sword against Dream’s neck.

Words were leaving the masked man’s mouth, but Sapnap couldn’t be bothered to hear them. It wasn’t important anyway— just a futile attempt at tugging broken heart strings and manipulating a blurry mind.

“Killing you will end all of our problems,” Sapnap murmured.

Dream tilted his head, neck still solidly held in place by the pinprick point of Sapnap’s sword.

“Oh?” Dream hummed. “If you kill me now, who will stop the TNT I planted under Kinoko Kingdom?

Sapnap scoffed at Dream’s bluff. ”Niki’s city is under Kinoko. There’s nowhere under Kinoko to plant enough TNT to cause any major damage.”

Dream cackled. “Yeah? Then what about the daylight sensors in Las Nevadas?”

Sapnap twitched.

The fog in his mind suddenly cleared all too fast. Sapnap growled, grip tightening painfully around the sword hilt.

“You’re lying.”

Dream laughed. “Are you willing to risk that?”

Dream suddenly kicked Sapnap’s feet out from under him. He lunged for the axe that has been thrown to the side. Sapnap wasn’t fast enough to catch him.

Dream sneered as he pulled out his communicator. Barely dodging Sapnap’s sweeping edge, Dream had already sent out a signal.

“Shouldn’t you be trying to find those daylight sensors instead of fighting me?”

Dream disappeared in a flurry of ender dust.

Sapnap muffled a frustrated scream. He stood still for a scant second before running off. He opened his communicator.

“Callahan!“ he screamed into the starry sky.

The antler-bearing demigod emerged from behind a pillar. In a blaze of visceral fury, Sapnap made his move.

“We need to dismantle Las Nevadas’ daylight sensors!”

The clock was ticking.

Quackity squeezed Karl’s hand.

It was a passing sensation, a vague note among the thousands of thoughts that plagued Karl’s mind.

It was almost enough.

Karl felt small hands caress his the sides of his face. Rough fingers ran through his hand, tracing swirls over his temples. Slowly, Karl focused on dark blue eyes glossy with worry.

”I thought I lost you for a bit there,” Quackity murmured.

Karl pressed further into his moonshine’s hold. “There’s a story here.”

Chapter Text

"There's a story here." 

There was a wrinkle between Quackity's brows. He always looked cute when his face was scrunched in confusion. It was a slightly different look than when he was deep in thought or, even sexier, scheming. 

"Karlos, what story?"

Karl wasn't sure if telling people he was a time traveler was against the rules of time traveling, but he wouldn't know until he tried.

He didn't need to breathe but took a deep breath anyway.

"I'm a time traveler."

The cute wrinkle relaxed as Quackity's raised a brow. Skeptical. Tired. Before Quackity could place the insane tag on his fiancé, Karl rushed to explain himself, only to fumble with his words.

Ever level-headed and recognizing a panic attack in the making, Quackity shushed Karl gently.

"Hey, calm down." Quackity dropped his hands back down to where Karl's own were picking at loose threads in his sleeves. "Cálmate, mi cariño. Take your time to find your words. We have some time."

Karl choked a laugh. "Time is something I have a lot of…."

Karl Jacobs often shifted in and out of the timeline. It came with the whole "inter-dimensional being" thing. He wasn't strictly tied down to the plane of existence everyone else was, so suddenly becoming aware in another timeline was just par for the course. 

Time travel had always been out of his control for his whole life. It was as unexpected as slamming your foot into a table leg shifted just a couple of inches to the left. Time travel was uncontrollable, but it was avoidable if he paid enough attention. 

At the turn of the new year, something changed.

It wasn't immediately apparent, but it was different. It was like a shade of grey had shifted a bit darker or a worn blanket, slightly rougher — not particularly noticeable but uncomfortable all the same.

This, whatever this was, was controlled. 

This newfound purpose was carved into the implications of bones, injected into the galaxies of his veins. Yet, for the life of him, Karl couldn't understand why something that was once pure happenstance was suddenly given meaning.

The urge to write, to record, to  change . 

The times he traveled to were no longer fun and games. Every time he traveled to now had meaning. They became practical lessons to learn from, examples seared into his soul.

The people he met in these times were no longer passersby living their daily lives. Somehow, they'd become pieces upon a massive game board, characters suited to their story.

An unknown, powerful being had taken control of Karl's existence. Not only could it pick and choose where to drop him, but it had also somehow overwritten the fundamental laws of reality. 

Karl could never travel within his own lifetime. He was sure of that. He could go to the distant past of the future, and if he stretched far enough, he could even glimpse into a parallel timeline. But, innately, Karl knew he couldn't travel within his own lifetime — something about avoiding the clashing of identical souls and subsequently ripping the fabric of space-time. 

Therefore, Karl Jacobs, an inter-dimensional time traveler, did not recognize that he was out of his own present.

When he crawled out of his library, his first instinct suggested that he'd lost hold of time dilation. Then as he talked with Tina, amnesia was the next possible reason. 

Karl couldn't fathom losing nearly two years' worth of memories for no apparent reason, especially since he had a relatively clear memory of the past few days. He was looking for Quackity to invite him to Kinoko. While getting lost in the forest, he got sucked into another time, suffered through a tragedy, then spit out back in his library, where he ran into Tina.

Karl tried to rationalize it as amnesia. Perhaps some memories were plucked out of his head in the process, but deep down, he knew it couldn't have been more than that. Two years was a long time, and Karl knew his body well enough to know that he hadn't lived nearly two more years.

It reeked of divine intervention.

XD's appearance only cemented Karl's worries. XD was waiting for Karl's answer, but it was waiting for an answer to a question that had never been asked of  Karl . 

The Karl who XD waited for was not the one who stood in George's living room. The Karl holding Quackity's hand right then did not belong to this time.

"This is all new. I don't really know what I'm supposed to do…." Karl squeezed his eyes shut, terrified.

Quackity took a step back. He considered collapsing on the couch as he tried to process this new information but decided to stay standing as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay," he said.

Karl whined lowly at the curt response. Surely, he fucked up. There's no way Quackity, ever logical and strict, would believe in nonsense like time travel. And even if he did, he wasn't  this  Quackity's Karl. Karl should have just kept it to himself like always and worked through it on his own instead of dragging his beloved fiancé into this. Instead, he was just some old wound forcing itself open.

Quackity's pretty blue eyes shifted from the ground to stare directly into Karl's. He hummed.

"I'll play along," Quackity finally conceded. "I've dealt with XD's bullshit enough to not completely discard the impossible, so I'll play along. What do we do?"

Karl hesitated. He'd only been time-traveling like this for a month. There were only so many common factors he could have noticed, especially with how his travels tended to end in death recently. 

"Usually, I'm drawn to some unseen force the moment I'm displaced. I think- hm, I think I might need to find out who the key characters are?" After he finished speaking, he realized what he had said. "Not that any of you are characters! It's just that, in the context of my time traveling, I record the events in a fictional storytelling format."

Quackity pat Karl's arm to calm him. "Tina was the first person you saw, right? I guess I am too?"

It was the logical conclusion, but something felt off. Even though the time travel took place in his own life, Karl could still tell the difference between a fateful tale from people living their lives. Sure, he may have been willfully ignorant of the signs, but this was different.

"I think I might have followed you of my own will," Karl admitted. "I don't think I was supposed to stay with you. After Tina left, it felt routine, I guess? Like time wasn't progressing or like fate was in stasis."

Quackity hummed thoughtfully. "Assuming that fate, whatever the fuck that means, has specific story events waiting for you to unveil them, there must be an event you need to discover. If we start with Tina, then- Wait, Karl, you didn't go to the international leader meeting!"

It took a hot second for Karl to remember what Quackity was talking about.

"Oh, right! Tina took my place as the acting leader for that, didn't she?" Karl gasped. "We went on a date right after, and you didn't mention anything big."

Quackity shoved his face into his hands and groaned loudly. "Tina told us that Dream planted TNT under all the major countries. But then, she followed it up by saying it wasn't a problem. I didn't question it since we just did a sweep of our underground because of the daylight sensor thing."

"That definitely sounds like a problem," Karl replied, earning a glare from the other. "When did Dream even tell them that anyway?"

Quackity heaved a sigh.

—

There was no one.

There were many.

There was one many times over.

He wandered these halls in wait. He never escaped. Once. Twice. Infinitely.

He succeeded. He failed.

All at once.

They were waiting for an ending.

There was someone here.

—

Considering Tina was the only resident left in Kinoko (bar George, safe within his god-made dream space), she was surprisingly hard to find.

It was a little late in the day, so she probably hadn't noticed the messages to her comm yet. There were also dozens of high-rise buildings across Kinoko, and the pair didn't even know her address. They couldn't even accost some random citizen for info in the empty city. It was truly a tedious task of manually checking everywhere they could.

"Where the fuck is she," Quackity grumbled under his breath. "Is she even in Kinoko?"

Karl grimaced. "There's no guarantee. I doubt she would go too far... By the way, where did the citizens of Kinoko evacuate to?"

Maybe one of them could tell them where Tina could be. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume Tina, the current acting leader of Kinoko, would keep in contact with the citizens.

"Many of them went to my Las Nevadas," Quackity answered. He crossed his arms as he ran the info through his brain. "Sapnap and I agreed that we could find sanctuary in each others' kingdoms, but I know Tina and Karl had their backup plans for their own factions... I heard that Niki's underground city is also nearby, and she did have a direct trade agreement with Kinoko."

Karl sighed, slouching against a nearby streetlamp. As the sun disappeared below the horizon, the blue glow of the soul lanterns above became more prominent. Quackity's rambling faded as Karl stared, amazed at their surroundings.

The embers from the soul fires drifted over the streets like floating stars.

The beauty of Kinoko's cityscape didn't come to fruition until the moon rose above the skyline. The moon reflected off of every jeweled surface, refracting off the koi lake, and through the blue glow.

"It's like walking through moonlight," Karl murmured.

Chapter Text

The wiring to the daylight sensors in Las Nevadas was extremely complex. Sapnap doubted he could have possibly navigated it on its own. Thankfully, he had Callahan to help.

It was bullshit. Dream was fucking bullshit.

There wasn’t any fucking TNT anywhere! Sapnap was sure he must have broken at least seven redstone lines despite his best attempts to not disturb them. He knew how excited Quackity was for what he called the Outshine Project, and Sapnap hated himself for fucking it up.

Well, there was one stash of TNT stashed near a burger place, but it was so dusty and the gunpowder stale that it couldn’t possibly have been Dream’s. Sapnap was sure it could have dated to before the breakout.

Sapnap wanted to yank out his hair in frustration. Dream tricked him. This didn’t even feel like the kind of trick Dream would pull, either. Either he did rig Las Nevadas, or he wouldn’t have mentioned it at all! The son of a bitch was a manipulative liar, but he was a genius strategist.

This whole thing felt wrong — it felt too cheap. Sapnap hated this. He knew he was tricked, but there was no way it could be as simple as a lie pulled out of the ass of someone with a sword a second away from slitting his neck.

In hindsight, with sudden clarity, Sapnap felt like this was too easy. There was something else going on. Sapnap wanted to scream.

Callahan messaged him on the communicator. Callahan couldn’t find any TNT either.

Fuck! This whole mess was a bust!

Dawn was approaching, and Sapnap wasn’t any closer to figuring out what the fuck was going on. He hated this so much. Mind games just weren’t his forte.

Sapnap bit his tongue. Mind games only made his brain feel like mush, but they were someone else’s specialty. On this entire server, only two people could match Dream’s mind.

Wilbur Soot was completely off the table, but Quackity… Sapnap didn’t want to involve Quackity in this. The further his beloved was from this, the better.

Sapnap wanted to just burrow into the ground and rot. Fuck.

He couldn’t do this on his own. If only it were as easy as locking himself in his room and crying. He could do that. He’d been doing that!

His communicator buzzed again. Sapnap reluctantly checked Callahan’s message.

[Callahan whispered to you : In accordance with the International Treaty of ‘22, we’ll need to inform Quackity]

Sapnap almost slammed his communicator to the floor, but a string of buzzes stopped him.

Tina was the one who messaged him this time. As Sapnap read it, he sorely wished he was illiterate for once in his damned life.

[TinaKitten whispered to you: Karl just told me the emergency sirens were a systems test so where’d you go?]

[TinaKitten whispered to you: also Karl says he can’t reach you. I know you’ve been fighting recently]

[TinaKitten whispered to you: but did you block him or something?]

Sapnap took a deep breath to calm himself. He slowly convinced himself to look at his comm again. As if on autopilot, he quickly texted Callahan.

Why did the emergency sirens go off?

If it were really a test, why was Dream there?

Actually, if it was because of Dream, why an evacuation and not a lockdown? There’s no way there could actually be TNT. Niki’s ridiculous security measures wouldn’t have spared room for such under the kingdom, and a break in would be virtually impossible above ground with the intense security rounds.

This whole thing felt wildly unplanned. Nowadays, Dream only fought if he was absolutely confident he would win. With only one life left, he wasn’t taking chances, and Kinoko was too much of a chance. Sapnap won far too easily then.

Maybe this wasn’t one of Dream’s grand master plans. Maybe someone just happened to spot Dream nearby and panicked. Dream’s hiding skills were great, but they were never perfect, and when the alarms went off, Sapnap caught him off guard.

He prayed so hard for that to be the case.

[Callahan whispered to you : Karl received an anonymous tip of a terrorism attack, so we started preparing for evacuation. Karl was convinced it was about Quackity.]

[Callahan whispered to you : The next day, you came back from Las Nevadas. You locked yourself up in your house, so we didn’t get the chance to tell you.]

[ Callahan whispered to you: Then when the sirens went off, no one thought you would actually find Dream.]

Maybe Sapnap should stop praying. The gods were known to be sadistic… Sapnap was cruelly reminded of the death book.

Still, Sapnap was missing something.

[ You whispered to Quackity: stay inside stay away from Kinoko]

[ You whispered to Quackity: dre]

Sapnap accidentally hit send prematurely. Footsteps were approaching, light and off-balance. Familiar.

“Sapnap, I’ve been looking for you!” Karl called out as quietly as he could. His breathing was erratic as if he’d run too far for too long. “There is an emergency! Why aren’t you protecting Kinoko?!”

The obvious answer was that all the citizens evacuated, so there no one to protect. Besides, Sapnap had left Kinoko. His priorities were towards Las Nevadas now, but just as obviously, he couldn’t tell Karl that. It was best to play along when his memory was scrambled like this. Sapnap still has the scars from the last time he died otherwise.

Internally, Sapnap wanted to sigh so hard that his soul left his body. But, instead, he forced a smile, gripped his axe a little tighter, and lied through his teeth.

Karl thinks Las Nevadas is the problem, right?

“Did something happen in Kinoko?” Sapnap feigned worry. “I was fighting Dream and chased him here, but I lost him….”

Karl’s expression turned sour. “Why were you fighting Dream?! You should stop picking a fight with him when there’s an actual problem!”

It was one of those days, huh? Sapnap facepalmed. He was just repeating an argument that would never have a final conclusion.

Even so, he had standards. “Dream is an actual problem! We put him in prison for a reason! Prime, he threatened to Doomsday Kinoko when he got out! Of course, I would chase him!”

“Doomsday?” Karl echoed under his breath. If Sapnap had any worse hearing, he would have missed it. Sapnap hated these days.

“Yeah, Doomsday,” he spat. He was too tired to explain this bullshit. “I even swore to kill him if he broke out of prison, especially after what he did to Tommy.”

“Tommy doesn’t seem to have a problem with Dream,” Karl huffed with his arms crossed.

Sapnap blinked. It took a second for the pure horror to kick in. Oh, Prime, please tell him this isn’t what he thought.

“Karl,” Sapnap carefully enunciated. “Karl, please tell me Tommy isn’t with Dream.“

“Tommy isn’t with Dream,” Karl mocked.

“Jacobs,” Sapnap urged. ”Where is Tommy?”

“I dunno,” Karl answered with genuine annoyance. “Dream said something about planning a beach party with him and Ranboo.”

Sapnap couldn’t snap at Karl. Karl didn’t know better. Karl’s brain was all scrambled, and Sapnap couldn’t do anything about it. Even so, he dug his nails into his palms until they bled.

“Do you remember how long ago this was?”

Karl pouted. “It was this morning. Dream was checking in and offered to help investigate the terrorist thing— Hey, don’t ignore me. Who are you texting?”

“Tina.”

Without another word, Sapnap shoved his communicator in his pocket. He turned around and stiffly walked away.

Karl went to grab him, but Sapnap threw his arm away.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Karl yelled while cradling his hand. It wasn’t injured; he was just being dramatic.

Sapnap couldn’t be bothered to answer as he kept walking away.

Karl chased after him but refrained from reaching out again. “You’re being such a dick. Okay, so Dream was in prison, but everyone knows the prison was inhumane. And he’s gotten better. You’re literally the only one in Kinoko who has anything against Dream.”

This was why Sapnap hated talking to the newer denizens. They didn’t know shit, living their lives free from the fear and memory of tyranny. They all built their pretty little homes without a passing thought that they could turn to ash by morning.

Well, that was the whole point: a peaceful world. Sapnap wouldn’t change that for anything, even if it made him highly uncomfortable. He just wished it wasn’t based on this false piece where everyone lived ignorant of others’ troubles. They all covered their eyes and blocked their ears to the final deaths, saying they deserved it out that it wasn’t as bad as it could be.

Sapnap needed to protect Tommy. He promised the kid that much when Dream escaped.

How did Dream even get his hands on Tommy in the first place? Tommy should’ve been holed up in Tubbo’s old house-turned-bunker and guarded by the entirety of Snowchester like a precious treasure. The kid was far too terrified to even go outside, so Sapnap hadn’t checked in on him.

He knew he should’ve taken Tommy with him to Las Nevadas — Tubbo’s consent be damned.

No, no. That was a bad idea. There was a reason Sapnap was back in Kinoko.

“Where are you going? Kinoko is in the other direction,” Karl cut into Sapnap’s turbulent thoughts.

“Logstedshire.”

“Where’s that?”

Prime, if Sapnap knew. He only visited Logstedshire a handful of times, and that was literally ages ago. He needed to find someone who remembered… If someone like that even existed. The only names that came to mind were either dead or as good as dead.

“Logstedshire,” Karl repeated wistfully. “I think I remember that… Tommy’s vacation place, right? We visited him, all four of us. There was a beach.”

Sapnap’s breath hitched. For once, was Karl’s shitty memory useful?

“Do you remember where it is?”

Karl was doing that pouty thing where he pretended to stubbornly ignore what Sapnap said. It used to be cute, back when the only things they fought over were the color they should paint their walls or whose turn it was to kiss Quackity.

“I can’t deal with you right now,” Sapnap growled.

Maybe he could ask around. Would Sam remember? Did Sam even interact with Tommy back then? Shit, where was Bad when Sapnap actually needed him?

“I think I wrote the coordinates somewhere,” Karl said, finally giving in. He pulled out his communicator and tapped a couple of buttons. “I don’t know why you’re so worried about Tommy. You were the one who banned him from Kinoko.”

“Why do you remember that but literally nothing that matters,” Sapnap muttered under his breath. Karl wasn’t even there when Tommy got dragged through Kinoko by Drista.

Karl either didn’t hear or was willfully ignoring it. “Found it. It’s pretty close to the Anarchist Commune. I’ll send you the coords if you promise to stop by Kinoko first.”

It was a pitiful consensus. Sapnap could easily find a blown up beach and a tower to cloud level with that much information, but Sapnap did need to prepare to attack Dream and save Tommy. Ranboo might be there too. Wandering aimlessly in search for one specific biome as far as the Anarchist Commune would be just as time consuming as preparing.

Hopefully, the kids won’t be too traumatized or, worse, dead. If they were dead, Sapnap couldn’t kill Dream.

His hand felt wet. He was probably bleeding. With only half a mind, Sapnap made a note to replace the bandages.

Would it even matter? If it worked out as planned, Sapnap wouldn’t even exist long enough for a bloody palm to be on his list of worries.

Maybe he should finish writing that will and rewriting the goodbye notes. They’d all be quick ones written in a rush, but they’d still be more up-to-date than the novellas he’d written the day he made that deal with XD.

Sapnap passed a glance at Karl. Why did his life come to this?

Chapter Text

The buzz of a communicator broke the moment.

Quackity pulled his eyes away from Karl to check the message. He typed furiously, then hit send.

"Karl!" Quackity called out. "Callahan responded!"

Karl nearly tripped as he ran back to Quackity's side. "What'd he say?"

"Callahan is on his way here! He thinks he found Sapnap!"

Quackity heart was beating like a hummingbird's. Finally, after a month of dead silence, of dead ends upon dead ends, there was news! Finally! Finally!

"Moonshine?" Karl whispered worriedly.

Quackity choked on a sob. All of his strength focused on the tight grip of his communicator, like a lifeline.

Karl cradled Quackity gently. To Karl, it had only been four days since he last saw Sapnap. Prime, he fucking felt like he was just watching everything blow up from the safety of a window! He couldn't even begin to comprehend the pure grief and fear Quackity had been feeling.

All Karl could do was hold his… whatever they were.

A thousand thoughts fluttered through his head in the meantime.

Where was this time's Karl Jacobs?

What happened to him?

Karl tried to lay out what he knew, the timeline of this tragedy.

Karl did not invite Quackity to Kinoko Kingdom. He even lied about doing so.

Karl disappeared frequently, but he was around often enough to manage Kinoko and befriend Tina.

After months of insecurity, Quackity reunited with his fiancés, only for Karl to call him his murderer.

At some point, Karl forgot Sapnap.

At some point, Karl tried to attack Sapnap.

At some point, Karl tried to kill Quackity. Twice, if Karl remembered right.

Inevitably, Sapnap gave up on Karl and rekindled his relationship with Quackity.

But when did this all begin? How? Why? Could Karl prevent it from happening to himself?

Karl didn't know how his time traveling worked with a god's interference. Was time still linear? Was it still set in stone?

When Karl went back to his present, would his deterioration be inevitable? Would he move on with his life, forgetting the people he loved with every fiber of his existence to the point he would harm them? Would he continue on with his life, ignoring the worsening heat until it all boiled over?

Karl had never been able to change history before, but with all of his heart, he would give anything to change the past 21 months.

Karl tightened his hug on Quackity.

Fuck.

After who knows how long, a communicator buzzed with a message.

Quackity had worn himself out at some point and dozed off. He wearily squirmed in Karl's hold until he could right his hold on his communicator. Karl shifted to see the screen too.

"At Kinoko. Where are you?" Karl read aloud.

Quackity sighed. He rubbed his puffy eyes and straightened himself out. He typed an answer while pushing himself back up to his feet. Karl followed, pulling the illusion back over himself.

Barely a minute later, Callahan popped out from behind a tree and waved.

Karl could never understand what the fuck was going on with Callahan. He speculated Callahan was a demigod of some kind, but he was even more mysterious than Dream, a known godborn. At least Callahan was purely neutral.

"Hi, Callahan," Karl greeted. Quackity also mumbled out his own weary hello.

Callahan lifted his hands, ready to sign something, but he hesitated. Karl and Quackity waited with bated breath for Callahan to figure out what he wanted to say.

Eventually, he said, "Sapnap was kidnapped."

"What?" Quackity gaped. "The fuck do you mean 'kidnapped'? Why would Dream kidnap Sapnap?"

"Correction: Sapnap was kidnapped, but not by Dream."

"Which motherfucker was it? Who the fuck lied to my fucking face at the meeting?" Quackity ranted with all his rage. "Tina seemed like she knew something. Did she know? You two have been working together! Why didn't she tell us?!"

Quackity wanted to grab Callahan by the shoulders and shake him. Karl's hand on his waist prevented him from doing so.

Callahan's whole body drooped for a second — maybe from exasperation.

"Why would anyone even want to kidnap Sapnap?" Karl asked amidst Quackity's attempts at violence.

Callahan stared deadpan. "That's what I would like to ask you.”