Chapter Text
Nightmare frowned as he stared at his messed up attempt at cooking. He hadn't paid enough attention.
He sighed and sat down on a chair in his cramped kitchen. He stared down at his arm, seeing the four sentences written on it.
These were his Soulmarks. Magical marks that appeared on the body of a person. These in particular were the first sentences that his Soulmates would say to him.
Yes. Soulmates. He had four.
On his arm there were four sentences. One was black in colour and in a normal font. "It hurts..."
The other was a vivid red colour with a slightly bigger font. "Who's there?!"
Another was a pale purple- almost grey- colour. "Go away..."
And another was a black outline kind of colour and a small font type. "What are you doing here?"
Nightmare sighed. All those sentences sounded negative. Like his soulmates were in a bad situation or as if Nightmare was going to hurt them.
He'd heard those sentences very often. Each time he had checked if they were one of his soulmates but he'd never found them.
He wasn't sure if he really deserved love anyways...
And with Inky and Dream on his tail he would never be able to keep them safe. They'd be seen as a vulnerability.
But of course, the knowledge that he had a Soulmate hadn't gone unnoticed. As much as he'd tried to hide the marks, on more than one occasion his sleeve had either ridden up or been ripped and revealed his marks.
Of course, being who he was. He'd gotten a lot of backlash.
"He has a Soulmate?"
"I pity his Soulmate."
"I bet he'll lock them away."
"His poor Soulmates. I hope they die before meeting him."
It wasn't easy dealing with all that on top of his usual dosage of pain and hate. But he got stronger with negative emotions. So, win-win?
Nightmare sighed and looked up at his burnt cooking again.
He was starting to hope that he'd never meet his Soulmates. He wouldn't be able to take care of them anyways...
But... he was selfish. He wanted to meet his Soulmates. He wanted to see them. He wanted to find them.
He wanted to.... love them.
Nightmare scoffed to himself at the idea. He couldn't love. And he certainly couldn't be loved. Even his own brother had left him behind. He was not capable of love.
But... He could at least try.
For his Soulmates.
~~~
Killer stared at the blood that was dripping down his arm as he cut into the bone deeply.
He didn't deserve any Soulmate. And certainly not four!
Killer tried to carve out the words on his arm or at least make them unreadable but the magic persisted and didn't go away no matter what he did.
He had killed everyone anyways. He'd killed his Soulmates.
Killer looked at his arm, a mess of cuts and scars and blood. His own blood. His own cuts. His own dust. All by his own hand. His fault.
His fault. His fault. His fault his fault everything was his fault!
Killer screamed loudly in pain and threw the knife away in anger. The knife clattered on the ground, blood and dust coating the blade.
He looked at the knife and then back at his arm where- despite whatever he did- the marks persisted.
Black letters and an elegant yet normal font. "Are you alright?"
Why? Why would anyone ask that? He was the worst. A killer. A beast. No one, not even his Soulmate should ever ask him that.
Vivid red letters with a bigger font. "Hi..."
He'd never met anyone who said that so.... timidly before. Usually in fear. This wasn't real. He didn't have a Soulmate.
Pale purple- an almost a grey tint to it- letters. "Don't come any closer!"
Perfect response. It showed that he had killed his Soulmate long ago. In his insane days. He'd killed them.
Black outline on the letters, a small font. "What do you mean?"
He didn't even know what it meant.
Killer growled in anger.
He'd killed his Soulmates. He was completely sure of it. There was nobody left. He had searched everywhere!
He let out a chuckle. Even if he had found them, he wouldn't ever have been able to love them. He was a heartless murderer.
Another chuckle escaped Killer as he stared at his arm blankly.
As if anyone would ever be willing to love him.
Killer threw his head back and laughed loudly. He laughed at the hilarity if it all. He laughed at the irony of it all.
He laughed. Until his tears began to form and he was crying. He was laughing until his tears began to dry. Until he just couldn't laugh anymore.
He curled up, face to the ground as he continued to laugh silently. It was not funny. Yet he couldn't stop.
He didn't deserve Soulmates. He didn't deserve anything but death. He didn't deserve anything....
~~~
Horror hid in the shadows of the trees as he watched a human. His Soul was pulsing painfully as it demanded food.
He grinned emotionlessly as he held his axe tightly and started at the human with a dimly burning eye light.
He took a few silent steps forward and swung his axe at the human, killing them effectively.
He dragged their bloody corpse into the woods as he chuckled slightly.
Horror cut off their arm and quickly started eating before he had a chance to reconsider.
His sharp teeth cut through the flesh of the human like butter. Blood dripping down from his mouth as he quickly devoured the mouthful of flesh.
He ate quickly, not wanting to waste any drop of precious blood or a sliver of meat. He ate until there was nothing left but the bones. Even then, he bit through the bone to get the precious marrow inside. Chewed the bones and spit out whatever he couldn't digest.
The arm was gone in mere minutes. Horror breathed softly as his Soul finally ceased its painful pulsing. He looked at his blooded clawed hands, face turning in disgust at his own actions.
Horror winced as he saw that his bloody sleeve had ridden up enough to reveal the four sentences on his arm.
One for each of his Soulmates. He couldn't understand why he had even one Soulmate.
He was absolutely disgusting. He had just killed and eaten a human again. He felt sick...
His Soulmates would never love him. He didn't deserve them.
Despite his disgust, he read the sentences.
Black letters with an elegant yet normal font. "Are you okay?"
His Soul hurt at the thought of anyone- even his Soulmate- caring enough to ask. He didn't deserve them.
Another black lettering but this ones in a different font. "Who's that?"
Purple- almost grey- letters. "Um... Sure."
And one with black outline and white letters. "What do you mean?"
He didn't understand them. He didn't understand the words. He just.... didn't understand. Couldn't understand why he had Soulmates. He couldn't understand why a disgusting person like him could have Soulmates.
Horror looked down at the human he had chopped their arm off for food. He grimaced in disgust. He'd never find his Soulmates. And if he did, they'd run away in fear or be repulsed by him.
Or worse. He'd eat them first.
~~~
Snow crunched under his feet as he walked through Snowdin. The chill of the snow more prominent now that there was no light or fire or any bodies to warm the area.
Dust pulled his jacket closer as he walked and stopped in front of the doors to the Ruins.
"Nothing." he mumbled to himself, sad and frustrated. He looked at his arms and growled. Where were they? He was sure he'd killed everyone. Everyone was dead! He'd killed them!
So why couldn't he find his four Soulmates?! Where were they hiding?!
.....where were they?
Dust frowned. Had he already killed them? He'd killed so many...
He glared at the snow and kicked it in annoyance before his eyes were drawn to the four sentences again.
"I don't mean any harm." written in pure black letters and an elegant looking font.
"Want some?" written in vivid red and bold font.
"Put it away." black letters but in a different, more common, font.
"What do you mean?" black outline to the white letters.
Dust frowned as he read them over and over again. Had he missed them? Or were they dead? Where were they?
"Brother..." Dust jolted at the call from his brother Papyrus.
Papyrus floated to look over Dust's shoulder. "Are you still thinking about them?"
"Yes." Dust said and looked away.
"If you ever find them, you have to kill them. Don't forget that LOVE is better than love. You need the LOVE to fix this timeline." Papyrus said.
Dust winced. Papyrus was right but he couldn't help but feel selfish and wish for love anyways.
"Understand, brother?" Papyrus cooed, hands touching Dust's shoulders in a gentle grip.
Dust grimaced as he glared at the snow before nodding. Papyrus was right. He needed DT to fix the timeline. He needed more DT. He needed to kill.
But he just hoped that it wouldn't come to it. That he wouldn't find his Soulmates. That he wouldn't need to kill them. He... loved them. He wanted to love them and he wanted to be loved. But he could only LOVE.
He hoped he'd never find them.
They were safer far away from him.
~~~
Cross stared into the white nothingness of his AU blankly, his eye lights dim and tired.
He hated this.
His eye lights darted around a bit and stopped at the tiny bit of colour that still existed. The Soulmarks on his arm.
"Are you okay?" pure black in elegant font.
"Did you find another one, Boss?" greyish purple.
"Who are you?" black, in a different font than the first.
"Are you hungry?" and vivid red.
Cross blinked as he read over the sentences. So much concern. So much care for someone like him. But he knew they didn't exist anymore. There was no one there after all. Everyone was dead. Everyone was gone.
Cross sighed. He would have loved to meet his Soulmates.
But he didn't deserve to have any. It was his own fault that he'd never meet them...
He'd never meet his Soulmates. Everyone was gone. There was no one left to be his Soulmate.
He deserved to stay here.