By the time I woke up the following day, Tubbo wasn't there. I assumed he was finishing up with the decorations for the festival as it was tomorrow.

I sat up on the edge of the bed, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. I looked down to my shoulder, seeing the dark red bandages instead of their typically white color.

"I should probably change those bandages," I mumbled to myself.

I put my bed back up and sat at one of the chairs by the table, getting out some more bandages and some scissors.

I took the scissors and slowly cut the old bandages off my shoulder, peeling them away revealing the harsh bite mark.

"Dang it," I mumbled, "I'm going to have to wash this."

I grabbed a small canteen from the cabin of the van and a rag slowly dabbing away at the blood coated on my shoulder, letting out small whimpers anytime I pressed a little too hard.

In the middle of cleaning my shoulder, the door to the main cabin opened, making me jump and quickly hide behind the table, fearful it was Shlatt or Quackity. The small curtain that separates the two rooms was gently pushed to the side.

"(Y/N)?" a soft, sweet voice called out.

"Nikki!" I popped up from behind the table.

"Why were you hiding, and what happened to your shoulder?" Nikki asked with concern running up to me.

"Well, I thought you were Shlatt, and my shoulder was from yesterday." I said as she took the damp rag from my hand, pushing me backward to sit on the table again, "I got caught trying to leave to go to Wilbur."

Nikki continued wiping the blood away before she set the rag down and started to bandage the wound tightly.

"Oh no, (Y/N) what's Shlatt going to do?" Nikki's voice showed she was distraught.

"Well, the most he's done so far has been this and questioning me."

"That's good," she sighed, "but he could be waiting to do something."

"True, but tomorrow is the festival, and surely he wouldn't do anything there," I said, "Shlatt wants to keep Manberg's image. He wouldn't do anything to harm it."

"Ya," Nikki mumbled, finishing up bandaging my shoulder, "let's go back to my bakery, get our minds off it."

I pulled a shirt over the bandages, and we walked together to her bakery.

When we made it to the door, she unlocked it as I looked at the storefront, which was in significant disrepair. Windows had been broken, the store sign was no longer lit up like it once was, inside chairs had been broken and pushed over, tables were flipped, and shelves had been torn down.

"Nikki, what happened here?" I asked in disbelief.

"Taxes just kept getting worse," she sighed, going behind the counter, "if I ever say I don't have anything, they do this."

"Why don't you fight back?"

"It would only get worse," she set her keys on the counter, grabbing an apron, "sit down. I'll make you some breakfast."

I sat down at one of the small tables while she went out of vision. I sat there fiddling with my thumbs and staring out the window. I could hear sizzling coming from the kitchen as she cooked. Before long, she came walking out from behind the counter, holding two plates of eggs, bacon, and biscuits. She set one in front of me and the other in front of her seat. I finished my food and stood up, walking over to some of the flipped tables and chairs, and started to fix them.

"(Y/N) what are you doing," Nikki asked me.

"I'm going to fix up your shop!" I exclaimed as my ears perked up and my tail wagged, "it's the least I could do after you helped me."

Nikki let out an airy laugh at my excitement, "okay, thank you, I'll be in the back getting ready for the day."

I continued flipping the tables and chairs back right side up. When I finished flipping them, I went into the back to grab a rag to clean all the tables off.

After a bit, I had finished cleaning the inside. All the glass had been swept up, leaves swept outside, tables cleaned and put back. It looked like how it looked initially. I just had one more thing to do, board the broken windows up.

"Nikki, I'll be right back, okay!" I shouted to the back where Nikki was baking some stuff for the day's sales. Before she could respond, I took off going out to my old house; it was almost in ruins. It had been abandoned since the war for independence. Pushing the old door open, I ran to my old storage room, chests were thrown open, and cobwebs were all over the place. Most chests had been looted, but I ran to the one I kept wood in, knowing some would be left. Luckily enough, there were a few planks untouched. I grabbed them before I ran back to the bakery.

Once I made it back, I started placing the planks over where the windows were broken, hoping it would keep the outside out.

Word count- 870

Ok a longer chapter... and big lore is coming