Don't ask why this is short-

Dream watched sadly as Blue closed the door to his house. He felt...guilty, somehow. He knew that was ridiculous, but... He felt as if he could've done something differently to prevent this from happening. He sensed Blue's emotions changing, becoming calmer and more determined. His friend was ready to storm Nightmare's castle at a moment's notice. Dream worried that Blue was letting his grief make him reckless, but he knew that the small skeleton would tell him and Ink first.

"...FRICKEN PARASITE!" Dream turned to see Cross swing his knife at Fresh, who teleported out soon after. Hearing Cross swear angrily into the air made Dream giggle, and full-out laugh when he heard Ink and Error laughing too. He watched them give each other a odd sort of half-smile, like, 'I still want to kill you, but I guess you're alright.'

Dream walked over to Cross, who was still a little freaked out. "Cross, are you alright?" He asked the black-and-white skeleton. Cross looked at Dream with a wide-eyed expression. "Yep. Other than having a freaking HEART ATTACK, I'm doing great." He put his knife away, and looked over at where Dream and Blue had been sitting a few moments before. "Uh, where'd Blue go?" Dream rubbed his arms. "He went inside. I think... well, let's just say very few people have ever seen Blue truly angry." Cross furrowed his bone brow. "What do you mean, 'truly angry?' Haven't you seen him when someone steals his tacos?" Dream nodded grimly. "This will be worse." That scared the crap outta Cross. He glanced back towards Blue's house and cautiously backed away. Dream laughed. "Don't be nervous!" Cross was, surprisingly, still nervous.

(Time skip)

Dream and Ink were back at the Star Sanses hideout waiting for Blue to come back from UnderSwap. Cross was in X-tale, and Error was in the anti-void. Cross and Error were trying to come up with a good plan to save Orange, while Blue was debating whether or not he should ask ether of them for help. He had the beginnings of a plan, but he wondered if Ink and Dream would be enough.

Error wanted to just bust in, grab Orange, and high-tail it out of there, but at the same time he knew that that was really bad idea. For one thing, they'd get caught almost immediately. For another, they might accidentally get Orange killed. He probably wouldn't thank Error for that.

Cross was wondering if maybe he could pretend to bring the Star Sanses in as prisoners, but he wasn't sure Nightmare would be fooled by that after the Taco Incident. He definitely wouldn't trust Error, either. Maybe someone else, already inside, but who? Dust, Horror, and Killer were all loyal to Nightmare.

Blue almost kicked open the door in his excitement, but remembered at the last second that that wasn't a considerate thing to do. Instead, he opened the door so quickly it still banged against the wall, but at least it was still on its hinges. Unlike last time...

Dream and Ink jumped as Blue announced that he had a plan to save Orange. "What is it?" Dream did a double take. "Since when... actually, never mind. I'm not sure I WANT to know where the flamethrowers came from." Ink pat him on the back. "Good choice, pal." Blue shook his head, a smile playing in his face. "IT WAS ACTUALLY CROSS AND ERROR'S IDEA," he admitted, to the surprises looks of the other two. Ink's was just that, although he had had a sneaking suspicion Error was going to do something. Dream wasn't sure if he was just pleasantly surprised, or proud of Error and Cross for doing good. Blue leaned his fiery weapons against the wall and closed the door. "ALRIGHT," he started, "FIRST..."

It was a good plan. It might just work. But they needed to prepare.

"CROSS AND ERROR ARE GOING TO MEET US OUTSIDE NIGHTMARE'S CASTLE TOMORROW AT NOON."

Ink and Dream nodded. "Everyone should hopefully be on their lunch break, so it's the perfect time for a distraction."

"Good. But before that, we'll need a good night's sleep. We can get anything else we might need in the morning," Ink yawned as he said the word 'sleep'. They all had had a rough day.