#or when quackity was telling him where he’s building his house and foolish started panicking

[solargeist]

one of my favorite (old) qsmp moments was when elquackity was talking to foolish and foolish was struggling to speak Spanish so much he just started barking

#that whole bit was so funny to me I kept rewatching it 😭 #or when quackity was telling him where he’s building his house and foolish started panicking #while Q danced and celebrated like MI CASA MI CASA!!!!! 😫🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

[collapsingintojupiter]

Lost In Time

Wrote an angsty lil Karl fic. Enjoy.

Characters: Karl, Sapnap, Quackity, and Foolish (briefly)

Relationships: it’s the fiances babey

---

Karl clutched a dandelion between his palms, curled up in the shade of the dragon statue as he looked out over Kinoko Kingdom. His eyes were half-closed, and even though it was hot outside he shivered. The land around him blurred and spun, in his hands was a wither rose; a tulip; a dandelion. 

He wanted to stand up and find Cletus - they were supposed to go fishing today with Charles and Ben, but he felt too dizzy to move. Maybe they’d find him? He hoped so, he didn’t think he could stand alone. Maybe if he called for them...

He looked down, but instead of a mushroom forest and green grass he saw a cheering crowd and hot sand. And - was that John? - he was climbing up towards him, surely he knew Porkius wouldn’t like that (he had a terrible temper). Karl sighed; what an idiot. 

“Karl!”

“John?” He tried to stand up and immediately collapsed, though before he could hit the ground strong arms caught him. He blinked as John hauled him upright. 

“Didn’t think you were so strong,” he mumbled. He looked at John and sighed. “‘m sorry for calling you Ugly.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Karl, it’s me, Sapnap.” 

“You have to fight Jackie next, ‘t says on the schedule. You have to go.” Karl tried to push him back towards the arena, before Porkius came after them both.

“Karl, I’m not fighting anyone.” He felt a hand on his forehead, and saw worried brown eyes staring into his. “You have a fever, what are you doing out here?”

“Mason?” He blinked, and the sun was the same but the sand was different. “Where’s all the others…” he remembered the gunshots and looked away. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Mason?” Karl looked back at him; smiled sadly. 

“You remind me of him.”

“Of who?”

“Sapnap. And Jack...Quackity. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kill you, but I had to.” He slipped, and instead of righting him again Mason picked him up and started carrying him down from the dueling grounds. Was this another timeline? A dream? Had he somehow gone again to take part in the story differently?

“I’m sorry,” he murmured again. 

“Just hang on, Karl.” Mason’s voice was strained, and his eyes fluttered closed again. 

---

Sapnap sat at the foot of Karl’s bed, fidgeting with an old axe. He’d thought Karl was doing better, that his memories had steadied under Kinoko Kingdom’s warm sun, but now he couldn’t even seem to remember who he was. He kept mixing him up with these other people Sapnap had never heard of: someone named James, someone named Mason, and someone named John. 

And Quackity…

He wanted to see him, Karl said. Or...Cletus, or Drew, or Jack. 

So many names. 

Who did they belong to?

Karl woke up again after dark, and in a terrified voice he stumbled out of bed and grabbed Sapnap’s arm. 

“James, we have to hide!” he hissed. “The killer’s gonna get us next!” He yanked open the trapdoor at the foot of his bed and tried to pull Sapnap down to the basement; he picked him up again, bringing his weakly-struggling fiance back to his bed. 

“Karl, you need to rest,” he insisted. “Please, please just calm down.”

“We can’t rest! It...the Red, the Egg! We can’t trust Sir Billiam!” Karl grabbed Sapnap’s arms and he sighed as he shook him. “We have to find Drew before they kill him too!”

Drew. Quackity. Somehow...they were connected.

But Quackity was gone. He’d left for the desert and hadn’t come back.

He’d left them. 

Both of them. 

“Karl, we can’t get Drew,” Sapnap said. “He’s...he’s not here.”

“He’s dead?”

“No-no he’s not dead, he’s just gone. He...left.” Karl sank back into his bed, curling into a ball against the headboard. 

“...not right,” he whispered.

“What’s not right?” Sapnap asked. Karl didn’t answer him. He shivered again, even though there was a fire going in the fireplace for him. 

When Karl did finally fall asleep, it was fitful. He jumped awake in the middle of the night, the name Ranbob tearing from his throat in a panicked scream. Sapnap was by his side in an instant. 

“What happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?” Karl looked at him, tears streaming down his face.

“He stabbed me,” he said softly. “Right here.” He placed his thumb on his chest and sniffed. “I see him in Ranboo’s eyes, but...they are not the same.”

Sapnap didn’t know how to respond to any of that, so he didn’t.

“Sapnap? Are you...are you my Sapnap?” Karl suddenly asked after a long silence. Sapnap nodded and Karl leaned forward, hugging him tightly. 

“Thank God,” he whispered. 

Sapnap somehow fell asleep after that, arms wrapped around Karl.

---

Time rolled around him like waves, tossing him from one moment to the next in a dizzying array of blurred color and sound. Karl twisted and turned in his sleep, trying to stay afloat; his skin burned one moment and felt frozen the next. He felt like he was falling, like time was slipping and there was no one to catch him as he plummeted.

Someone was there with him, but he didn’t know who it was. He clutched the bedsheets in his hands and his heart pounded sharply in his chest, but he still felt like he was falling. Like the world around him could dissolve at any second; leave him floating in nothing. Was that fire? Was the house...or was that just a fireplace? Where was he?

When was he?

Please, not the Inbetween, not again… Karl leaned forward, grabbing his head in his hands. His shirt clung to his skin but he shook with chills; with fear.

“Don’t stray from the path,” he murmured, as the room spun. “Don’t stray from the path.”

Something was grabbing him; he struggled against it. 

“Please!” he cried. “I just want to go home!”

Whatever grabbed him said something, but the voice sounded like it was underwater. He couldn’t understand. 

“Don’t stray from the path,” he repeated, as strong arms once again picked him up. “Don’t stray from the path. Don’t stray from the path.” The garbled voice spoke to him again - he tried to listen, tried to hear what it was saying, but he couldn’t make out any words. He realized suddenly that he wasn’t inside anymore; he pulled his hands away from his face and saw another face; saw darkness behind it. 

“Don’t stray from the path,” he said. The other face said something and he leaned against the person’s chest, gripping their shirt in his hands. His shoulders shook. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Don’t stray from the path. I’m sorry.” I don’t want to lose my memories.

“Just hold on,” he heard the voice say, and tears slipped down his face as he realized he could make out the words. 

“Hold on,” he repeated. “Hold on.”

---

Sapnap struggled to remain upright as the grass beneath his feet gave way to sand, which sank beneath his weight as he carried Karl across it. His fiance continued mumbling in his arms, shaking and shivering and sometimes panicking so violently that he almost pulled both of them to the ground. 

His gut was doing flip flops as it was, and that wasn’t helped by the giant sign that soon appeared atop a dune some distance away. 

Las Nevadas. 

Sapnap hated to think he was coming here now, when he’d honestly rather be anywhere else, but he didn’t know where else to go. Dream was in prison, George was who-knew-where, and he was too scared to ask anybody else to help. 

So, here he was. Going to Quackity.

Who’d left them. Alone. 

But if he still cared about Karl...Quackity was one of the most powerful people around after Dream had been locked away. If there was anybody that could help Karl, it was him.

The question then, Sapnap supposed, was whether or not he would. 

They made it to the sign, but before Sapnap could go any further a golden figure appeared on the road ahead. 

Foolish. The god approached him with narrowed eyes, though they widened slightly when he recognized Sapnap and saw the other he held in his arms. 

“What are you doing out here?” he asked in an even tone. Sapnap glared at him; he didn’t care if Foolish was a god or not. 

“Where the fuck is Quackity?” he demanded. 

“He’s sleeping, I don’t think-”

“Get him, now.” For a second Foolish seemed to consider arguing with him, or perhaps even drawing his axe to fight, though after looking at Karl again he seemed to change his mind and disappeared back into the city. 

A short time later Quackity appeared, jogging down the street to where Sapnap still stood. He looked both worried and angry. 

“What the fuck happened?” he asked sharply.

“He’s got a fever,” Sapnap said. “I don’t know what’s wrong, he’s...he was fine this morning…”

Quackity came closer, making a face at Karl.

“He’s fine,” he grumbled in a low tone. “He needs fucking sleep, not to be dragged around the desert all night. Get out.”

“Quackity, for fuck’s sake,” Sapnap snapped. “Stop being so fucking selfish for two minutes and look at him! I can’t just not do anything!”

His (ex) fiance glared at him for a long moment. Then he reached out, putting his hand on Karl’s forehead. He frowned; Karl opened his eyes, reaching out and grabbing his arm. 

“Jack?” he whispered. Quackity’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked up at Sapnap again. 

“What the fuck is going on?” he asked. Karl muttered something about a duel and closed his eyes again.

“I don’t know,” Sapnap hissed through gritted teeth. “That’s why I brought him here!”

“What, does Kinoko Kingdom not offer healthcare?” Quackity asked bitterly.

“What the fuck is your problem?! You’d rather be a selfish prick than give a shit about him?!”

“I fucking built this place for you!” Quackity burst out, his voice suddenly rising to an almost-screech. Sapnap stepped back in surprise, but his eyes remained narrowed (Foolish had wisely chosen to make himself scarce). “All of this shit was for you! For both of you! What the fuck did you think it was for?!”

“For your own selfish gain, just like everything else is with you!” Sapnap felt the anger welling back up inside him, and he let it loose. “You’re the one who disappeared, you’re the one who left us alone to build fuck-all-knows-what out here, you’re the one who didn’t tell us what was happening, who didn’t come by, who abandoned us. We waited for you, we wanted you to come back, but you never did!”

“I wanted you to be safe!” Quackity shouted back. “Because you meant fucking everything to me! But no, you just went off and built your own fucking kingdom for yourselves! Without me! You cast me aside, when I did everything for you!”

“If you couldn’t be bothered enough to even talk to us, then it wasn’t for us,” Sapnap said lowly. “I’ve done everything to help Karl, but he’s only been getting worse - I thought it was better, I thought Kinoko Kingdom had helped with his memories, but it didn’t. He can’t even remember who I am now.”

Quackity was shaking. His chest heaved, his eyes shimmered with tears, and he held his trembling fists tightly at his sides. He looked like he was about to say something, but stopped as Karl let out a shout, shoving Sapnap away and collapsing into the sand while he struggled to regain his balance. His hands also shook. 

“It’s a trap!” he shouted, scrambling to his feet and falling again not far from where Quackity stood. “Please, Cletus - get away from the tree, you’ll die! Don’t listen to the others!” 

“Hey, whoah.” Quackity was by his side in an instant, kneeling bside Karl and putting a hand on his shoulder. Sapnap froze, though he didn’t try and stop him (He knew they had nowhere else to go). “Karl, hey, it’s alright.” Karl reached out, gripping his shoulders. His eyes were full of tears. 

“Don’t stray from the path,” he whispered. “It’ll take your memories, like it took mine.” He sniffed, swiping at his face with a sandy palm. “I just want to see Quackity and Sapnap again...Jack, I know it doesn’t make sense, but you’ve got to help me…”

“Don’t worry, Karl. I’ll help you.” Quackity’s voice was impossibly gentle as he helped Karl up. He used his wings to support them, turning back towards the city. “Foolish!”

The god returned in a flash of golden light, blinking down at Quackity with emerald eyes. “Whatcha need, big Q?”

“Can you take Karl to my quarters?” he asked. “Put him in my bed and get him some water. I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Sure thing.” Foolish gently lifted the delirious boy from Quackity’s arms, and Sapnap watched the god leave before turning to go. He’d check up on Karl tomorrow, he decided.

“Sapnap.”

He stopped, glancing back at Las Nevadas. Quackity hadn’t followed Foolish; instead he remained by the sign, perfectly still except for the wind that ruffled his feathers. 

“Come on,” he said. His voice was strangely quiet. “Karl he...he needs both of us. You can stay here tonight.” Sapnap didn’t movel, keeping his gaze focused on the man he thought he’d known (and loved) once upon a time. After a moment, Quackity looked away. His tense shoulders loosened, and suddenly he seemed so very small in the shadows of his city lights.

“Please,” he whispered. “I-I’m sorry. Just please stay...for him. For both of us.”

The stars shone on a quiet desert; a quiet space that was so small and yet felt like an infinity between them. 

Sapnap let out a tired sigh. He looked at the distant green hills that held Kinoko Kingdom; an empty country made by two sad, empty people. He looked back, at Quackity. At Foolish behind him, cradling Karl in his arms. Another country, built by another empty man.

And perhaps, the walls wouldn’t come down tonight. Or ever.

But...

He started towards Quackity.

Maybe it was worth trying.

#las nevadas #quackity #sapnap #karl jacobs #dsmp #dream smp