Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The night was always quiet.

Not even a cricket or a car passing by.

It just made the woman’s footsteps loud through the alleyway, the ones followed by the near silent footsteps.

The woman startled at the sudden hand on her shoulder. She turned her head with a nervous smile, every instinct telling her to run. “Can I.. Can I help y-you?”

Her nerves started to jumble her nerves. The person holding her shoulder, they were an average size, but she couldn’t confirm a gender. They were wearing a high collar, it covering their mouth and part of their nose. It seemed connected to the hoodie they were wearing, the hood and hair covering any other features that could have possibly helped her.

Her other hand itched towards her pocket, where she kept a thing of pepper spray as a defense. She audibly gulped the longer the person didn’t say anything, leaning back as their face got closer, their fingers slightly digging into her shoulder.

She saw their other hand come up and lower their collar, giving a glimpse of their mouth, but not fully exposing the bottom of their face. Her hand rested on the pepper spray, her mind racing as she tried to determine if it needed to be used.

She watched the ends of their mouth quirk up before it opened and started to speak.

“Drop dead.”

Ah.. It was a guy’s voice, soft and smooth..

The drop of her body echoed throughout the alleyway as the person pulled his collar back up and walked away from the dead woman.

Footsteps silent the whole way as the faint glow of blue disappeared.

“Why is it that you’re always our first customer? We literally just opened!”

You gave a playful smirk as you pointed to the menu item you wanted to order. It was a coffee with espresso, which tended to be bitter sometimes, yet somehow there were some minty undertones. You suspected that the recipe had mint of sorts in the coffee. Either way, it was still good, it was nice and warm and it woke you up in the mornings. You wrote quickly on the little notepad you carried with you in public, not everyone knew sign. [I tend to wake up early, and this place is the closest to where I live. It’s good coffee :)]

The barista waved a hand, her hair pulled into a low ponytail. “Oh don’t start you flatterer. I’ll go get your drink ready, Mint.” She turned away as you give a soft smile at the nickname.

You had given her your name the first time you came to the café but the more you started ordering from there, the quicker you became a regular, she quickly dropped your name and started using a nickname. A nickname that always changed every few times you came in. Yet always something food related. You suspected that she was going based off ingredients in the drinks and treats. The last two nicknames had been “Bean” and “Sugar”. They were cute in a way and it didn’t bother you so you hadn’t tried to correct her.

You sat down at an empty table, though all the tables were empty right now, it was only 5 am, the place had literally just opened. You stared out the window, watching few cars pass by and some birds fly around. It was still a little dark out but sunrise was starting. You could see the bare slivers of the sun peaking up.

It just made the whole environment so peaceful..

So quiet and serene, birds starting to wake up more, their songs beginning.

It was so beautiful…

You flinched at the sound of your nickname, you not missing the little laughter from the barista as she had watched you jump. You had a little blush on your face as you stood up and collected your cup, dutifully paying the amount needed. The barista still had an amused smile on her face, while you, an embarrassed one. You let out a little playful huff as you dropped in tip money in the tip jar, pointedly not looking at her.

She let out a little giggle as you made your way back to your booth. You hid a little smile with a sip of your coffee, letting out a pleased sigh at the taste. It was so good, nice and warm. The mint taste wasn’t overwhelming, it was a nice aftertaste.

If you had to compare it, you’d say that it was probably similar to hot cocoa when someone puts a peppermint stick in it. Obviously different, but the taste of mint reminded you of it.

Your head stayed tilted towards the window you were sitting next to, leaning in your seat as you watched the sunrise, sipping at your drink as you did so.

People started entering the café as the sky turned from dark to pinks, oranges, and blues.

There weren’t that many clouds out right now. You took a photo of the sunrise through the window with your phone, nodding in satisfaction with the result. You may not be a professional photographer, but you could take decent enough pictures.

Decent enough for your standards anyway.

You swiped through your phone’s photo gallery, smiling softly at the puppy photos you had saved from a message thread with one of your coworkers. They had a pretty cute golden retriever that just turned one, so he had just shared cute pictures of her.

God puppies were adorable.

Your swiping landed you on photos you had taken of some stray kittens you fed sometimes (sometimes because there were times where they weren’t in their normal place and you couldn’t find them). Kittens were even cuter.

You appreciated both of course, kittens though.

Kittens were cute.

You heard the sound of the café increase as the day began and the sky get brighter. Time for you to leave then. You took your drink with you, there was still half left after all. You walked past the short line that was starting to form, the barista noticing you leaving. “Bye! Have a good rest of your day, Mint!” She called after you. You gave her a two-fingered salute without you looking back, the little bell on the door chiming as you left.

Almost immediately, you shook your head slightly, having not expected the breeze. It was a good thing you never left the house without a hoodie.

You got cold easily, even in hot weather. It was kind of strange honestly, but you grew up like it, so you were used to it. You were just glad the area you lived in didn’t have drastic temperature changes, they were gradual.

You started walking through the town (it was kind of city like but it was still small, so in your opinion, it classified as a town), finishing the rest of your drink, tossing it in a trashcan you passed.

Birds were singing.

Flowers were blooming.

The breeze was nice and cool.

There were little to no clouds in the sky, just people walking around peacefully.

Your town was just… so peaceful, hardly any complications.

There was hardly any trouble where you lived.

The residents were kind and nice to each other, it was a nice community.

Nothing ever happened.

Chapter Text

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

A peaceful day.

Did nature really have to turn against you and start raining??

You were glad you were able to get back inside your house before it did, but it was still rude. You weren’t even able to do your rounds on seeing the stray kitties!

Poor kitties.

Hopefully they found shelter.

A ding alerted you to an email on you phone and you picked it up, staring at it with an annoyed tilt of your mouth. What did he want now, you already did your shift, were you seriously getting called in for overtime??

Your boss, while kind, could be extremely focused on work sometimes. You wondered if it was because he was slow in nature sometimes, so if he focused on something, it was really the only time he could get stuff done. He could be tough skinned at times.

Heh.

Tough skinned.

Goddammit, you shouldn’t be making jokes inside your head just because he was a tortoise monster.

It was a bad joke anyway.

You let out a sigh as you read through the email. You were indeed getting called in for overtime. Dammit, you wanted to get a nap in. Oh well.

You glanced out the window, seeing the continuing rainfall. Yep you were going to need to bring a jacket. It was going to get cold. An umbrella would be brought as well.

You grabbed a thin jacket from your closet and quickly put it on, pulling the hoodie up, making sure you had sneakers on as well as pants. If you were wearing shorts it would completely defeat the purpose of the jacket. You put your phone and keychain into your hoodie pocket, grabbing your small umbrella, locking the door behind you.

Honestly, you were glad you lived in an apartment complex for times like these. It was easier to leave when there was bad weather. You gave a salute to the bunny receptionist as you left, opening the umbrella once you were out of the sliding doors. Once your head was covered the umbrella (and technically from your hood) you walked out into the rain, hearing the pitter patter of the drops hit your umbrella.

Pitter patter, pitter patter the sound went.

You listened as your footsteps sounded against the puddles on the pavement. You noticed how a lot more people seemed to be walking about right now.

Funny how the rain came when the most people seemed busiest.

Kind rude now that you thought about it.

You entered the building your boss owned and flashed your id to the receptionist, a Temmie by the looks of it. They were a little annoying, loud more than not. “oKII!! HEd up!!” They looked like cats though, so you tolerated them.

You nod at the monster and head up in the elevator.

Basic elevator music, but a pretty fast ride. Guess your boss didn’t have any other visitors today.

Your arrival came with a beep and you started walking down the hall to your boss’s office. You gave three rapid knocks and heard the firm response to come on in. You did so.

Your boss was sitting in his chair, looking incredibly pale. It was a little concerning. Your gaze shifted to the monster sitting on one of the couches, spinning a knife. They were a skeleton monster, with black sockets, black liquid running down their cheekbones(?). There was a target floating in front of them. It kind of glowed.

You looked back to your boss with a questioning look and he cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming on short notice Spitfire,” he greeted you, ignoring the snicker from the skeleton. You continued looking at your boss, giving a responding nod. “I’m sure you noticed our.. guest.. His name is Killer, his boss is an associate of sort,” he continued, giving your name in turn to the skeleton.

“so your name isn’t spitfire?” Killer asked with amusement in his tone.

You glanced at him before looking back at your boss and quickly signing. “Why is he here?”

Killer still had his look of amusement on his skull, not looking annoyed that you ignored him. Your boss let out an exhale of air, looking like he aged within seconds. “His boss wanted him to.. check up on our company. See if we were doing well.”

You raised a brow, totally believing his words. You glanced back at the skeleton, eyeing the knife he was spinning for a moment before looking back at your boss. He looked terribly offput by the presence of the skeleton. You raised your hands again, quickly signing, almost becoming blurred. But you boss knew you well, he got accustomed to reading your hands whenever you signed quickly. He didn’t have much difficulty doing so anymore.

His head inclined ever so slightly after seeing what you said.

That was all you needed.

You turned to the skeleton with an easy smile, gaining his attention. “your boss pretty much explained it sweet cheeks. he’s being a little uncooperative though.” The last statement was said with a look towards the tortoise.

You took a step closer and held out your hand for a greeting handshake, a friendly smile on your face. The skeleton looked momentarily surprised by took your hand, the tips of his fingers slightly digging into your skin. His other hand kept spinning the knife.

“what’s your deal sweet cheeks?”

The man was choking.

Choking on his spit or his blood, the hooded figure wasn’t sure.

It didn’t really matter.

The man was desperately trying to get air, the figure could tell, the way the man tried to pull himself to grab the killer’s ankle, it was stupid either way.

The killer was ruffling through papers in the man’s desk, finding the documents he was looking for.

Satisfied, he stepped over the man’s body, tugging his collar back into place over his lips. He put the documents into an inside hoodie pocket as he started leaving the room, the sounds coming from the man faltering and staggering as they slowly quieted.

He got what he came here for.

Chapter Text

Screams surrounded the skeletons as Dust, Horror, and Killer attacked the citizens.

Killer was enjoying himself, enjoying the struggles as whoever he targets tries to fight back. They don’t succeed though.

Just bodies and dust falling to the ground.

There was one thing that confused Killer however.

He looked towards his boss, who appeared to be looking for something from where he was standing. “ey boss! remind us why we’re attacking this au again?” He called out, wanting clarification. Sure, he wouldn’t say no to attacking aus since it fed Nightmare well, but there was also the risk of getting attacked by the Star Sanses.

Which was annoying.

Nightmare barely spared Killer a glance as he stayed where he was standing, staring at the scene in front of him. “we’re looking for someone. an asset that could help us.”

“is this really necessary though? couldn’t one of us just kidnapped whoever you’re looking for?”

“for once i agree with killer,” Dust commented with an annoyed tone. Sounded like he annoyed himself by agreeing with Killer. The thought made him giggle.

Nightmare let out a huff and turned his body to face the skeletons. Horror was somewhere else in the town, probably looking for some food. “tell me killer,” he started, said skeleton perking up at the sound of his name. “what do you remember of yesterday?”

Killer tilted his head in confusion, spinning his knife to not get distracted. “whatcha mean boss?”

“exactly as i said. what do you remember of yesterday?”

“i went to an au to do a job for you didn’t i? then i came home.”

Nightmare looked annoyed by what he said. “killer… this is the au that i sent you to yesterday.”

Killer paused, staring at Nightmare with a blank smile. “… sorry?”

Dust let out a snicker as he strolled up to Killer. “awww did someone get amnesia?”

Killer scratched his skull with the blunt of his knife. “no..?”

“wrong.”

Killer let out a nervous giggle. “whoops? why don’t i remember this au then though??” He questioned, looking at the ground with a frown.

“that would be the fault of who we’re looking for. most likely.”

Dust raised a brow, looking unconvinced. “most likely? you don’t seem confident there, nightmare.”

Killer let out a shrug, glancing at one of the surrounding buildings. Completely ignoring the bodies of humans and dust of monsters that surrounded them in the intersection. “do you at least have the details of who we’re looking for boss?”

“do not question me, killer,” Nightmare growled out, also looking at one of the buildings. “i will be back. find horror and collect whatever supplies you find. food included,” he ordered before disappearing, leaving the two skeletons alone.

Dust let out a short sigh while Killer snorted. “hey dusty, you think criss-cross is gonna be sad he missed this mission?”

Dust leveled a glare at Killer before shaking his head. “what have i told you about calling me that… no i don’t think he’d be sad, you know how he is about who he deems as innocents.”

Killer let out a long defeated sigh. “the poor boy, trapped from a life as a guard,” he drawled out dramatically, partially falling to the ground.

Dust rolled his eye-lights at the sight. “such a drama queen,” he muttered under his breath. “come on killer, we need to find horror,” he reminded before disappearing.

Killer groaned before disappearing as well.

Nightmare appeared before Horror and the other two skeletons about 30 minutes later, holding something in his tentacles behind his back. “are you three finished?”

Horror nodded, as did Dust while Killer just looked at his tentacles curiously. “whatcha holdin there boss?”

“you shall see back at the castle.” He opened a portal, the view of his office visible and Dust walked right on in, holding a bag of stuff. Horror followed after the shorter skeleton, holding what Nightmare presumed to be a bag of food. Killer continued staring at Nightmare’s tentacles, causing him to let out a growl. “get in, killer.”

Killer raised his hands and hopped through the portal, Nightmare following, the portal closing after him.

Nightmare looked at Horror and Dust. “horror, go put away the food you grabbed. dust, you go put away whatever you grabbed. try to be somewhat organized,” he commanded, said skeletons nodding and doing what their task. The dark skeleton looked at Killer (who was still staring curiously at his tentacles) with a complex look. “killer… go get cross then help horror.”

Killer let out a whine. “aww c’mon boss, i wanna see what you grabbeddd.”

Nightmare glared at him. “now killer. do not make me repeat myself.”

Killer let out a defeated sigh, disappearing from the office.

Not even a moment later, he reappeared with a startled Cross then disappeared again, hopefully doing what he was told.

Cross just blinked and pointed at what Nightmare was holding within his tendrils, them having started to move to remove themselves. “uh, nightmare, why do you have a human with you?”

Nightmare’s tendrils removed themselves from the human, however still leaving the tentacle around the human’s mouth. “an asset to help us. a powerful one. almost too powerful,” Nightmare explained.

Cross looked from the human to Nightmare, noticing how the human was staring at Nightmare with tired eyes. His hand seemed to be twitching though. Cross noticed something calculating flicker between his eyes. “how.. how is he supposed to help us?” He was skeptical, there was an edge in the human’s eyes that seemed familiar.

A tentacle struck and trapped the human’s twitching arm behind his back, Nightmare sending a glare to the kneeling human. “do not attempt to attack me, it will not end well,” he growled out, a wince coming over the human’s features as Nightmare’s grip tightened.

Cross relaxed slightly as the human was more restrained. Nightmare looked back at Cross with an annoyed look, though Cross felt that the annoyance was at the audacity of the human. He was about to speak before they were interrupted by a rapid tapping of the floor. Both skeletons looked at the restrained human, who was using his other hand to get their attention. He then made slow, one-handed movements of his hand. Cross recognized the movement, recognizing the spellings of the alphabet. “he’s.. asking if you’re killer’s boss,” Cross translated, looking back to Nightmare.

Nightmare made a noise of some emotion that Cross couldn’t get. “correct. were you the one who disrupted his job yesterday?”

The human paused then raised his hand and tapped on the tentacle surrounding his mouth. His eyes had a questioning light to them. “are you going to speak?”

Cross watched the human, seeing a light blue flicker in his eyes. He couldn’t determine if it was a trick of his eyes before he saw it happen again. “he’s going to use magic,” he determined, body turning defensive as he frowned at the human. Human’s eyes don’t just change colors. In his experience anyway. There’s usually magic involved.

The human’s eyes narrowed, glaring at Cross. Nightmare glanced at Cross before starting to unravel the tentacle around his mouth. “we can easily stop any incantation or movements cross.”

Cross didn’t believe that. He wasn’t questioning Nightmare, he wouldn’t, but… the human didn’t act like a hostage honestly.

It was suspicious.

You raised your free hand and rubbed at your mouth, slightly scratching where the tentacle had been against your skin. It was an odd texture, not one you’re sure you liked. You then slowly massaged your throat, eye twitching as the skeleton’s grip on your restrained arm tightened once more.

“do not waste our time. if you are going to speak, then speak,” the one restraining you commanded.

You frowned glancing from him to the white skeleton. He looked to be on the defense, which was smart in your opinion.

Well if they wanted to hear you speak.

“Sleep.”

The skeletons collapsed as they fell asleep.

Unfortunately for you, the dark skeleton’s grip on your arm didn’t loosen. If anything it got tighter.

Dammit. You should’ve told him to let you go first. Good going dumbass. You were smarter than this.

Actually no, you weren’t fully sure that would have worked anyway. The only times you spoke were when you were on jobs and those were just when you finished the job.

You knew the words spoken could easily kill, you weren’t sure if it could completely command like a puppeteer however. You spoke shortly, not fully sentences.

Full sentences could be a thing that doesn’t work with your… magic.

At most, you realized, you spoke two words, that was your max. You were unsure if it was an instinctual thing, since you can’t remember wanting to try to speak for longer anyway.

If you made your words short… you could command movements like a puppeteer right?

You were brought out of your thoughts by a knife flying past you, you dodging at the last minute. You stared up at the skeleton who threw it, eyes filled with recognition.

Killer had a grin on his face. “are you the someone boss there was lookin for?” His head tilted, as if just seeing what the skeletons were doing. “why is he…” He paused before cupping his hands around his mouth. “hey boss wake-”

You threw the knife he threw at you back at him, cutting him off. You glared at him. “Quiet,” you hissed. “Sleep.”

He too dropped to the floor.

The dark skeleton stirred. Dammit. He must have been a light sleeper. Your throat was already starting too hurt, starting to get scratchy from speaking. Guess those are the results from only speaking (even then only like a word or two) on jobs then being silent for everything else.

Ignore the fact that you were silent for 5 years before you even started going on jobs.

You were surprised that the dark skeleton didn’t seem irritated with the fact that he was just waking up. Annoyed, sure, but not irritated.

In fact, he even had a grin on his face, his cyan eye-light practically glowing.

“oh, so that’s what you can do.”

Chapter Text

Okay, you still had no idea what was going on.

After the dark skeleton uttered those words (with a feral glint to his eye might you add), you were dropped into an empty room.

Quite literally.

He dropped you onto a bare bed (only sheets) that was in an incredibly bare room with the use of some kind of portal then disappeared. You had simply been told to stay. Like some kind of dog.

You weren’t a dog.

But you also weren’t an idiot, you would have been dead much quicker if you were.

You were going to keep your ass in the room.

You didn’t know where you were, you had no contact, and you weren’t one to kill innocents.

..Well. Non targets. It was clear that these skeletons weren’t quite innocent.

You weren’t thinking like you would at your job. Even if it was clear you were at a risk.

There wasn’t anything saying that they were targets, thus they weren’t treated as such.

It was a bit of a dilemma honestly.

…

The dark one had interrupted your nap when he first grabbed you in your apartment.

The bed was bare, but the mattress wasn’t that stiff.

Screw this, you were taking a nap.

You fixed your body so you were laying on your side, back to the door. You used your hoodie as a blanket of sorts and somewhat curled under it, using a sleeve as a pillow. Didn’t really work as one but the thought of it kind of made you more comfortable for some reason. You let out a little sigh, having your hands under your hoodie, keeping a hand on a knife just in case. You were mildly surprised you hadn’t been searched and stripped of weapons, but hey, you got to keep your self defense.

Your throat felt like shit just from speaking so little earlier, so it was likely you weren’t going to say much for the rest of the day anyway.

The realization caused a quiet bitter laugh towards yourself about how pathetic it was. You only spoke three times and your throat feels like its on fire. How pathetic was that. Look at how weak you were.

You were laying on your side, closing your eyes as you eased your breathing. God you were tired. You didn’t quite remember the last time you slept more than 2 hours, and you certainly didn’t remember the last time you slept well.

Maybe when you were a kid? Before they died?

You were slowly dozing off, hand still tightly on a knife under your hoodie. It was just some light dozing and you weren’t sure how much time passed. You hadn’t been given a time frame on how long you would be stuck in the room.

The dark skeleton had apparently been looking for you.

An asset he called you.

Useful to them.

How?

How did he know about you as well as your magic? The skeleton, Killer, wouldn’t have been able to tell him, you had erased his memory about the encounter. That was still effective, that had been clear when he had barged into the room while his boss slept. He hadn’t recognized you.

So where did the dark skeleton get his information?

For a moment you thought that maybe a past target of yours had been an associate of his. But that didn’t seem likely.

Most of your targets were humans anyway (surprisingly) and you would have remembered if you dusted a skeleton. Though that was just a prediction that the dark skeleton only associated with other skeletons, his underlings were skeletons at least.

Tch, the phrase ‘dark skeleton’ was getting annoying in your mind. What had the other skeleton (Cross, was it?) called him?

Nightmare.

Honestly, fitting in a way, if not a little morbid.

Though that seemed to be a theme. I mean, come on; Horror, Killer, and Dust? The names were a little morbid. You hadn’t seen the ones named Horror and Dust (you had been staring at the ground, your eyes had occasionally been closed when you were restrained and captured) but you had a feeling the names would fit them.

You let out a quiet huff and slightly shifted, mainly adjusting your legs a little as you continued lightly dozing. You already knew it wasn’t going to be a good nap.

The same as usual then.

The air shifted, a quiet step.

You were getting stared at as you feigned sleep.

“are you actually sleeping right now, or are you faking?”

You opened your eyes, staring at the same skeleton from earlier. He looked a little annoyed.

You sat up slowly, subtly putting your knife back in its place as you put your hoodie back on. It wasn’t the one you wore during your job, just a normal hoodie, so your face was fully exposed. You stared at Cross for a moment before shrugging lightly.

The skeleton let out an annoyed sigh. “nightmare told me to bring you back to his office to meet the others. do not use your magic,” he stressed out the warning. He seemed prepared for you to argue the demand but you just easily nodded.

Which seemed to have surprised him, which internally amused you, you weren’t going to lie. He didn’t say anything about it though, even if it looked like he wanted to, just grabbed you by the shoulder and you two disappeared from the empty room and ended up appearing in the office.

Some kind of teleportation, you mused. Seemed like something skeletons did.

Speaking of skeletons, they were staring at you. 4 of them to be exact. Actually no, Nightmare seemed to be staring at Cross, who let go of you and headed over to him, words coming out in low murmurs.

Killer and the other two, Horror and Dust (though you weren’t sure which was which) were staring straight at you. You blinked at them as you waited for someone to say something.

You let out a sigh, rubbing at your face at the continued silence, getting the attention of Cross and Nightmare, them now looking over to you. You stared at Cross before giving a look at Nightmare, hands raising. “Who is who, I only know Killer,” you signed with a small frown.

Cross looked from you to the other skeletons, who looked a little on edge from your signing. Seems like they didn’t know what it was and probably mistook it for something threatening. “horror, dust,” he introduced shortly, pointing to the skeletons in turn.

Killer gave a point, looking at Cross. “aw criss-cross how come ya didn’t introduce me huh?”

“he said he already knew you.”

“huh, how so?” Killer looked at you, appearing closer and you willed yourself to not take a step back or flinch from the close distance. “i’m sure i would have remembered a pretty face as yours.”

You blinked at him, processing his words before your brows pinched in confusion. Okay weird. He seemed amused by your reaction.

“killer.” Both you and Killer looked over to Nightmare, the gazes of Horror and Dust still on you. “remember how i said that the au we just raided was the one i sent you to yesterday?”

“yeahhh?”

“as well as how you couldn’t remember it and that it was due to who we were looking for?”

Realization seemed to have dawned onto Killer. “ohh!” He looked back to you with a grin. “so you’re who made me forget it? and you in turn?”

You gave a quick nod before looking at Nightmare. “I’d still like to know why exactly I’ve been kidnapped.”

Cross relayed your words as Killer stayed next to you. Your body was tense due to the close proximity, the skeleton clearly being very much aware of that fact. He did not seem to care, if anything he seemed to enjoy your discomfort. Nightmare showed what you considered a ‘business smile’, one like you were a salesman or something. “don’t consider it kidnapping, consider it… recruitment,” he corrected you.

“Recruitment doesn’t involve getting restrained and taken from my home,” you deadpanned. Killer snickered at your expression and the sigh Nightmare made when Cross translated.

“if you had been kidnapped you would be struggling and trying to escape right now, wouldn’t you?”

Cross looked a little judgmental by the response, considering before you were dropped in the empty room, you had technically tried to escape. You just hadn’t counted for Nightmare’s tightening grip. Nightmare continued. “you’d also be in a cell.” He shrugged. “you’re very much not.”

“so much not a cell that he was pretending to sleep when i got there,” Cross muttered under his breath, though it was still loud enough for the others to hear, including you.

Killer looked to be holding in laughs as Nightmare looked at you. “you were pretending to sleep?” Killer asked, amused by the whole ordeal.

“Only started pretending when Cross entered the room. Was lightly dozing before that.”

Cross stared at you with surprise. “wait, you were actually sleeping before i got there??” Killer burst out laughing at the shocked look on Cross’s skull and you could hear some snickering come from Dust.

You gave a shrug before providing a response even if the question seemed a little rhetorical. “Nightmare interrupted my nap when he grabbed me. Figured I could try to resume it.”

Cross held his skull in his hands, having not translated the past few sentences, though by his reactions the others seemed to get the gist of it. He looked back at you with some form of bewilderment. “how is that- why is that a priority for you??”

“what’d he say cross?” Dust asked as Killer was still laughing.

“he said that nightmare interrupted his nap when he got captured so he figured he could resume it,” he groaned out.

You couldn’t really see Dust’s eyes but you had a feeling he blinked at that. “that’s.. a bit stupid dude,” he directed at you.

You shrugged, not even bothering to give a response to that.

There was a tired sounding sigh come from Nightmare and you looked back at him. “ignoring.. that whole thing, i would like to address something. i am aware i told cross to warn you, however i am a little surprised that you are not even trying to speak.”

Cross gave a nod at that, clearly agreeing with the notion.

“I’m not stupid,” you signed, shooting a look at Dust before quickly looking back at Nightmare. “I’m quite aware of the disadvantage I have. It would be idiotic to try.”

Cross relayed your signs to Nightmare who let out a thoughtful hum. “care to expand on your disadvantage?” He offered, though it dimly sounded like a command.

You crossed your arms, clearly not going to answer. Your eye twitched slightly as Killer threw an arm around you, some of his fingers grabbed onto the fabric of your hoodie. Which essentially trapped you. You could see his grin from the corner of your eye as you kept staring at Nightmare, as if daring him to force you to elaborate. “ey boss, this is recruitment isn’t it? the poor guy hasn’t had anything to eat since he came here, shouldn’t that be something he should do?” Killer asked cheerfully.

Nightmare seemed to know what Killer meant and gave a slow nod. “you do make sense killer-”

You started shaking your head, not noticing the frown of Horror as you did so. You weren’t hungry. You ate earlier, you weren’t very hungry. “come on now, don’ be shy sweets, everyone needs food,” Killer tried to convince you, his grip on your hoodie fabric tightening a little. There was a small frown on your face as you shook your head again.

Heavy footsteps sounded as Horror walked up to you, a frown on his skull. You looked up at him, the skeleton being the tallest of the group. He pointed at the door. “kitchen. now,” he ordered.

Your face scrunched slightly with confusion as you continued staring at him. You shook your head again, the frown deepening on your own face. Why was this skeleton wanting you to eat? Horror’s expression seemed to harden as he just crossed his arms and stared at you.

(It almost reminded you of your childhood when your friend got stubborn whenever you were busy playing with something and they wanted you to pay attention to them and you wouldn’t cause you were just that focused on the toys. They then just stared at you, their gaze burning into your skin until you looked at them. They were always pouting then. You always immediately gave in then apologized. It happened often.)

You knew Killer was about to say something before you dropped your head and gave a defeated nod. Killer let out a snicker, probably at your response as Horror walked away, out of the office. Killer’s grip tightened as he started to drag you out of the office, your feet stumbling over each other before you started walking normally, giving him a confused expression. “let’s go watch horror cook! he’s an amazing cook, you’ll love his food,” he said cheerfully as the two of you left the office. You heard footsteps follow you two and you glanced back, seeing Dust follow. Cross and Nightmare were still in the office.

“i would say you’re exaggerating, killer, but honestly you’re not. horror’s a pretty good cook,” Dust agreed with a nod as he followed you two.

You just settled for an uncertain nod as Killer started to ramble about Horror’s cooking, you being able to give much of a response since neither of them knew sign.

Killer kind of sounded like a foodie.

Chapter Text

Okay, Killer and Dust weren’t wrong about Horror’s cooking.

He had made spaghetti with little pieces of meat in them. You would have said meatballs, but they weren’t standard meatballs, so just little chunks of meat. It was still good either way. Horror had stared at you until you had taken a plate so you took one, though it was smaller than the others’ portions.

Best homecooked meal you’ve had in years.

Your stomach had lowly growled appreciatingly at the food, which you ignored the smirk Killer sent you for it. You ate quickly, something you were used to, before you stood from the table. The other three were still eating when you did so, Cross and Nightmare just now coming into the kitchen, just as you slunk out of the kitchen. You caught Cross’ gaze and you quickly made a few signs before turning to go back to the room that you were dropped in.

Becoming aware that you had no idea where it was.

Well shit.

You let out a quiet sigh before leaning against the wall adjacent to the kitchen. You’d have to ask Cross when he came back out. You had forgotten that you didn’t know where it was or you would have asked Cross when you asked him to thank Horror for the food for you.

“oh yeah, horror, the human said thanks for the food.”

Nice to hear that Cross actually went through with it. You weren’t fully expecting him to. You just leaned against the wall with your arms crossed as you waited, just listening to the ongoing conversation going on.

“huh. human’s got manners then.”

“he’s cute.”

“killer do not kill him.”

“hey! i wasn’t gonna,” you heard Killer protest, hearing some low level of offense in his tone.

It was quiet for a few minutes aside from silverware being used.

“can i at least spar with ‘im?”

Nightmare gave a sigh. “fine. you cannot use that as an excuse to kill him however.”

“hey what do you take me as?? i know sparing etiquette.”

“killer, you fight dirty.”

“so do you, dusty, what’s your point?”

“you’re not supposed to fight dirty in spars. i fight dirty in actual fights, you fight dirty in spars as well.”

“ehh what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

You heard what suspiciously sounded like Dust snicker. “what?” Killer asked.

“he has been waiting outside the kitchen, listening.”

Okay well fuck you too then. You knew that it was likely Nightmare knew you were still there, but he didn’t need to call you out. Quick footsteps came closer and you opened your eyes in time to see Killer leave the kitchen and stand in front of you. It seemed like he always had a grin on his skull when you saw him. “whatcha doin just waiting here?”

You tapped your finger just below your eye, dragging it for a minute under it before you took your hand away. Killer watched the motion with close attention, quiet for a moment, probably trying to translate the movement before straightening. He leaned back to peer into the kitchen. “ey criss-cross, sweet cheeks wants ya.” Good, he got what you meant.

There was a low grumble from said skeleton before he walked out of the kitchen and stared at you. “what.”

You had a light unimpressed look on your expression before you cleared it, signing the question of where the room you were in earlier was. Cross paused for a moment before a look of realization popped onto his face. “oh yeah, i used a shortcut to grab you.” He shook his head as if to clear his mind and looked at Killer. “can you take him to his room? its the third empty room next to yours.”

Killer looked ecstatic by the suggestion and threw an arm around your neck, you tensing from the contact, shoving the flinch down. “sure thing criss-cross! what’s the real reason you’re asking me?” He pushed with a smirk.

Cross just looked annoyed by the question. “i’m not finished eating, you know how horror gets,” he deadpanned.

Killer snickered. “good reason.” His attention turned towards you. “lets get going then sweets,” he said, turning and tugging you along with him as he started walking to the room.

You had no choice but to follow but you quickly fixed your walking so you weren’t stumbling along. Seriously, what was with him and pulling you along walking. It’s almost like he wanted you to fall.

You made sure to keep your eye on the way there so you wouldn’t have to have an escort (Killer) take you there. Would be otherwise inefficient. It also gave you some mental directions of the place incase you were in a state to where your last choice was to try to escape.

Correct, you meant ‘incase’.

You were not thinking about escaping right now. Currently, you had no reason to.

Sure, you were kidnapped, but this has been the most pleasant kidnapping you’ve ever been in, you were given a nice room and you were fed. You weren’t in a cell somewhere (though you were sure if you had been much more unpleasant, that’s where you would have ended up) and you weren’t being tortured right now. Aside from the uncomfortable closeness that is Killer. But you could deal with that, you’ve dealt with uncomfortable touches your whole life. Crowds of people were annoying.

Overall, you didn’t see this as such a bad deal. Sure, only one person could understand you (which kind of made you start to miss your boss, you hoped he wasn’t in danger, or if he was, then you hoped he passed peacefully), but that was perfectly fine with you. It didn’t bother you. Honestly worked more with you since if Cross wasn’t around to talk to or translate your responses then you didn’t need to communicate!

Killer pointed to one of the doors to the rooms, you following his gesture and staring at the door. “that’s my room. feel free to come in anytime, i’m always up for conversing late,” he explained cheerfully.

You sent him a dull look before looking away, eyeing the doors near his room. Cross said it was the third empty room right? Killer seemed to have noticed your gaze and started walking again, you walking in turn. He stopped in front of the third door to the left, giving you a pat on your shoulder, making you jolt slightly. “here’s your room then!” He froze for a moment, glancing at the doors between your door and his room before he started breaking out into giggles. “you wanna know a little secret?” He asked, turning to you. His voice turned hush as he leaned slightly closer. “the rooms between ours aren’t rooms at all! they’re just doors!” You must have had your confusion displaying on your face because he expanded on what he meant. “dusty wanted to play a little prank, so he somehow convinced boss to pretend he ‘redecorated’ to explain the new doors. crossy thinks they’re real rooms and we’ve all just been pretending they’re storage rooms.”

That was a little funny to hear. Surprise flickered through your eyes, Killer catching the emotion as he giggled again. “to be honest, i’m surprised he hasn’t noticed yet. there is the thought that he did already notice, but he still refers to them as rooms so we’re not sure.” He gave a light shrug before letting go of you and taking a step forward and opening the door to the room.

He casually walked into the room and you were to see the same empty room that you were in earlier. The directions wouldn’t be wrong then. You followed Killer into the room, not bothering to close the door until Killer was gone. Speaking of, he seemed to stare at your room with disappointment. “man i knew he said it was one of the empty rooms but i didn’t expect it to be this empty.” Killer looked at you then nodded towards the bare bed. “how were ya napping without a pillow or a blanket?”

You were a little surprised that he remembered what Cross translated earlier in Nightmare’s office (you were assuming it was his office anyway, it looked very office-y). You thought for a minute about how to charade your response before just simply tugging at the end of your hoodie. It was the most simple way you could think of. You didn’t have the notepad you usually brought when you went in public to write out your response anyway.

“ah. well that’s inconvenient.” He seemed to look at the bed with distaste before looking back at you with a sharp grin. “sleep well sweet cheeks!” He exclaimed cheerfully before disappearing.

You blinked before your brows furrowed. That was a complete flip of the two statements. You shook your head for a moment and went ahead to close the door to the room.

A little ominous as well, but that appeared to be Killer’s whole thing. His behavior and attitude seemed playful, but also quickly changing at times. There were definitely some times where his words held an edge to them, a noted threat. Something to watch then.

You stretched your arms with a groan, hearing cracks from your elbows and spine, god it felt so good to get those out. You sat on the bed with a small frown. There wasn’t anything here that you could do your nightly routine (of sorts, sometimes it happened, sometimes it didn’t) with. You hadn’t spied any toothbrush or paste or anything in the small bathroom connected to the room. A little surprising that there was even a bathroom since they were all skeletons, but okay. You weren’t going to question anything.

Those questions were probably just going to remain untouched anyway. You let out a small sigh as you licked your teeth, your tongue dislodging any small meat chunks from dinner before laying back onto the sheets of the bed. You curled up in the middle of the bed, not bothering to take off your hoodie this time, just making sure you don’t accidently stab yourself with any of your hidden knives. You pulled your hoodie up so it provided some form of cushion between your head and the bed, curling up further (a way to protect vital points) as you stared from the bed to the wall.

You gave a short exhale as you forced your breathing to even out. Might as well try to get some sleep since you couldn’t nap earlier. You closed your eyes, using one of your hands to cover your face, a way to block everything out. You hadn’t bothered to turn off any of the lights in the room, which wasn’t many to begin with, just a lamp, which made sense since it was an empty room.

You briefly wondered how Nightmare wanted to use you. Why Killer wanted to spar with you. Why Horror was wanting you to eat when you were just essentially an intruder to the space. Why Nightmare thought using you was a good idea.

Your thoughts faltered off as you started dozing off into your usual restless sleep, only knowing that you’d be up in a few hours.

Chapter Text

You woke up with a start two hours later, beads of cold sweat dripping down your neck. Your heart was racing as you forced yourself to calm down from your nightmare. You pulled your hoodie sleeves over your hands, adjusting the clothing as you did so, scrubbing at your eyes harshly. You stopped after a moment, just stopping all body movements and being still, your covered hands resting over your eyes as you sat on the bed.

God you hated it so much.

You hated the memories.

You knew how terrible you were, you didn’t need to get reminded.

You let out a slow, controlled exhale as you removed your hands and stared at the wall for a minute. The only ambience being from the lit lamp in the corner. You didn’t know what time it was, not having your phone with you, but you suspected it was late.

You slowly got up from the bed, movements stiff for a moment before you stretched out your limbs. You wanted nothing more than to get good rest, but you know how badly it would work out. You couldn’t even command yourself to sleep with your magic.

You briefly wondered if it was an issue. The lack of sleep. Sure, your max was probably like 4 hours, including naps, but it was still sleep (no matter how shitty it was). Melatonin didn’t help, no matter how high the dosage.

You shook the thought off as you left the room quietly. Nah, you didn’t think it was an issue.

You were still alive after all.

You started walking down the hallway with quiet footsteps, retracing the directions from earlier back to the kitchen. You weren’t quite sure why, but you were kind of hoping you could grab a drink. But if not then just kind of exploring. You weren’t wanting to wake up the other skeletons, if they were sleeping.

You spared a glance to one of the doors you passed, certain that you heard a noise before you continued on into the kitchen. You let out a quiet sigh of relief that you didn’t appear to wake any skeletons. Well, even if you did, none of them come out and confronted you.

The kitchen was quiet and dark and you sat down at the table, facing the doorway, back to the wall. Despite your initial reasoning for coming to the kitchen, you didn’t try to grab a drink. You could still dimly feel the aftereffects of your nightmare, which was frankly annoying. You were used to them, you shouldn’t still be effected by them.

It was pathetic.

You faintly heard the sound of rustling and turned your gaze from the doorway to your right. You saw a black head and a dark blue scarf. They hadn’t appeared to notice you yet so you didn’t announce yourself. It seemed like they were eating something, what exactly, you weren’t sure. You could somewhat smell the scent of chocolate though.

You wondered if this was another skeleton part of Nightmare’s group and if it was necessary for you to know them.

Out of the corner of your eye, near the direction of the eating skeleton, you saw something like goop rise from the ground.

It grew bigger and bigger until it formed into a skeleton.

Huh. So that’s how Nightmare teleports. Interesting.

You sent him a lazy wave of your fingers when his eye-light flicked towards you. He didn’t give you more of a glance before he turned towards the eating skeleton with an annoyed expression on his face. “error…”

The other skeleton jolted and slowly turned to face Nightmare, still not having seen you yet apparently. “h̵e̴y̵ ̸n̵i̶g̵h̶t̸m̴a̴r̷e̷.” You could now see that the skeleton was holding a chocolate bar.

“error, how many times have i told you to stop eating all of the chocolate. the only reason we have it is for cross, not for you,” Nightmare tsked, looking at Error with disapproval.

“f̴u̶c̸k̷ ̵t̴h̵a̵t̸ ̶i̵f̸ ̷i̸ ̶w̴a̷n̵t̸ ̴c̴h̸o̵c̸o̶l̷a̵t̸e̶,̴ ̵i̵'̵m̷ ̴e̴a̸t̵i̷n̶g̶ ̴c̵h̶o̶c̷o̸l̸a̷t̷e̶,” Error sneered.

You silently drummed your fingers against the table before standing up, the sound of the chair scooting back gaining both of their attentions. Error pointed at you before pointing at Nightmare with bewildered expression. “s̴i̴n̷c̷e̴ ̵w̵h̵e̵n̴ ̶a̴r̵e̸ ̶y̷o̷u̸ ̸h̸o̵a̶r̷d̶i̷n̵g̴ ̵h̸u̵m̸a̵n̷s̶?̸?̴” They accused Nightmare.

You stared at them for a minute before shrugging at the unanswered question. You turned and continued walking out of the kitchen.

“wait.” You stopped, glancing back at Nightmare.

The skeleton had restrained the glitchy looking skeleton with his tentacles and was staring at you with an annoyed look. “why were you in the kitchen?”

You had a conflicted expression as you stared back at him. You had nothing to write with and Nightmare didn’t know sign. He seemed to know what your silence was about as he tugged Error to face you. “sign. error will translate,” he ordered of the restrained skeleton. Said skeleton let out a grunt but stared at you.

With hesitance you made your response. “Change of place. Nowhere else to go.” Surprisingly, Error did translate your signings, correctly in fact. Okay, so that was another skeleton that could understand you. Two out of.. what six skeletons? Yeah six sounded right.

“why are you not in your room?”

You gave a slight shrug. “Got bored.”

Nightmare seemed to scan your appearance and your fingers twitched at his calculating gaze. It felt like he knew the real reason you were up. You cleared your face from any outward thoughts, just staring at them with your tired eyes. “Anything else?” You asked, not really wanting to be in the kitchen anymore.

Nightmare seemed to think of something and nodded. “come with me to my office. we’ll discuss your recruitment there.” His words left for no argument so you just nodded and followed him out of the kitchen. You noticed he was dragging Error along. “this is error.” Seemed like he noticed your unsaid question. “he is another asset of ours, similar to what you will be.” That seemed to shock Error even more, but you noticed he was still holding his tongue.

Wait. Did skeletons even have tongues?

Eh who knows. They were magic so they could probably make some.

The walk to the office was fairly quick, not even Error was struggling. He was just laying limp in Nightmare’s tendrils. You wondered if that has happened before. It would make sense since Error seemed more resigned to getting caught and Nightmare had a tone of disapproval when speaking to him. The interaction was definitely a little amusing.

You stayed standing across from Nightmare as he leaned against his desk, Error still restrained. It seemed to be like Error was only being used as a translator right now and you wondered if it was t be some sort of punishment for eating the chocolate. A strange one though. Nightmare stared at you with a calculating eye-light, his cyan light almost glowing from the dim surroundings. There was only a single light on, bright enough to cast some light but also dim enough that there was still plenty of darkness. “first question. limits.”

Well that didn’t really sound like a question but it was easy enough to answer anyway. You held up a hand, holding up three fingers. It was pretty self explanatory in your opinion. It seemed like it took Nightmare a moment to decipher your meaning. “three what? three words?” You nodded. “can it be increased?” You gave a shrug. Nightmare didn’t appear to like your answer. “why do you not know if it can be increased?”

Another easy question. You quickly signed your answer, finally giving Error something to do.

“t4e 0ne who w@s supposed to t3@ch him d!ed,” he translated. You took note of how his glitching words sounded a bit differently than earlier and you were curious how it worked.

“is there anyone else that could have taught you?” You shook your head.

Your magic was a family thing and those that could have taught you were all dead. Even ones that could have just encouraged you.

Nightmare thought for a minute, glancing at Error for a quick second before looking back at you. “is it possible for one of us to teach you?” You thought for a moment before shrugging. You honestly didn’t know.

“Is there anything else?” You asked, Error echoing your words.

Nightmare gave a short nod. “how against are you to killing?”

You tilted your head a little confused. “I’m an assassin?” Error’s translated words didn’t convey the confusion you felt at the question, which honestly you felt a little offended by.

“correction, killing ‘innocents’,” he corrected himself with a slight sneer.

You frowned. “I will only kill targets. Innocents will sleep,” you signed firmly.

Nightmare seemed to stiffen after hearing Error’s translation, staring at you with a bewildered expression. He just stared at you silently, looking like he was trying to find something in your expression. You cocked a brow in return to challenge the silence. You were fine with silence, but this was just a bit awkward. Error seemed to be feeling it as well.

You cleared your throat after the silence grew too long for comfort. That seemed to register Nightmare back to reality. “Can I go back to sleep now?” You asked.

You of course weren’t going to go back to sleep, you just needed an out.

Nightmare gave a nod after a moment, waving you out. You gave a nod back, giving a short wave to Error, who just frowned at you.

You quickly left the office, thoughts trying to figure out what you signed to cause the skeleton to go quiet. Was it because you said you wouldn’t kill innocents?

You weren’t sure.

You were able to make it back to your room without any interruptions, thank god and you immediately collapsed onto the bed after turning off the lamp. It was still on, so you decided to turn it off this time.

You stared up at the ceiling, thoughts whirling. You weren’t going to go back to sleep and you knew that if you did you’d just snap back away.

The question about if the skeletons could teach you to increase your limit sent you into a train of thought about the people who could have been your mentors.

The people that used to be your family.

You entertained the thought that maybe just one of them were still alive.

After all, you were only just a child then.

Chapter Text

You were right in your assumption that you weren’t going to get any more sleep.

You were laying on the bare bed of ‘your’ room, staring up at the tall ceiling, listening to the silence as thoughts and memories swirled through your mind.

Nightmare wanted to use you as an asset, you were well aware of this. However, he wanted you to use your magic? You already did so when you were doing jobs, however that was limited. Was he wanting you to speak normally? Getting somebody to translate for you was probably a hassle for him after all.

But.. normally speaking though..

(Bodies dropped onto the ground, choked out noises echoing through the living room.)

You screwed your eyes shut, a grimace on your face.

(Tears of horror running down your face. Your mother staring up at you with lifeless eyes.)

You pressed the palm of your hands to your eyes as you shook your head, trying to get rid of the memories you hated seeing.

(The last sentence you screamed at them ringing through your ears as fearful realization struck you. The living room no longer having any noise aside from the harsh beating of your heart.

A pained scream escaping you as you collapsed to your knees, holding your mother’s hand tightly, tears streaming down your face.

You didn’t mean it.

You didn’t mean it.)

A wretched breath escaped, almost akin to a sob as you sat up, tremors wrecking your body. You pressed a finger to your neck’s pulse point, feeling your heartbeat as you forced yourself to calm down to ignore the incoming panic attack. You swallowed harshly, your dry throat stinging as you could slowly feel the rising panic attack be put off.

You don’t know how long you stayed like that but you know you snapped out of your daze when you could hear voices outside of the room door. You were still slightly zoned out as you stood up from the bed, your movements slightly sluggish and heavy. You stood a few feet from the door, gazing at it with blank eyes, not quite registering it yet.

The voices outside the door almost sounded familiar, but why?

“hey sweet cheeks, you up?? horror’s makin breakfast and he’ll come after you if you’re late!” One of the voices on the other side of the door warned cheerfully.

The nickname caused your hand to flex.

It sounded so familiar, why was the nickname familiar?

The voice was chattering away to another voice that seemed familiar.

A slow knock sounded on the door, sharpening your gaze onto the door as you cocked your head at it. “hey, you alright in there? horror’s going to scold you for being late.”

“yeah c’mon sweet cheeks! crossy’s probably gonna be sad too!”

… Crossy?

One of your hands grabbed one of the knives you kept on your body, flicking it open as you continued staring at the door with blank eyes.

Screams and sobbing continued to muddle your mind, not registering much recognition.

“what if he’s still sleepin?”

“.. no, he’s awake. he’s.. standing by the door?” The other voice almost sounded confused.

The grip on your knife tightened at the response. You were being watched. But from where? Your gaze hardened on the door, your mind still a little muddled. You drew slightly back, your armed hand raising when the doorknob shook.

“oh, then i’ll just greet him!” The door started to open.

“wait, killer i don’t think-”

The knife immediately left your hand when the door opened wide enough and you saw a figure. There was a sound of shock before your knife was deflected by another knife, this one being held by the figure there. “woah woah woah, sweets-”

You were about to grab another knife before your eyes drew to the glowing red at the figure’s chest. A flicker of recognition appeared in your eyes, causing your hand to lower slowly from where it was about to grab the knife. Your knife went up to the figure’s face, no, to the skeleton’s face and you recognized the black streaks running down his cheekbones.

Dust watched with caution and little apprehension as the human seemed to finally recognize Killer. His hand lowered from where, Dust presumed, he was about to grab another knife to throw at Killer.

The sudden hostility was sudden without context but thanks to his brother, he had a little bit more. A little disappointing that he hadn’t been able to warn Killer in time.

The human’s display almost reminded him whenever one of them got into a killing haze, or when he was in an episode, blocking out everything and not registering anything.

What he didn’t get was what triggered it. Not even Paps was able to get that. He had asked Paps to watch the human in case he tried to make an escape attempt, but it didn’t appear the human was even remotely interested in escaping. Dust was a little disappointed that Paps hadn’t followed the human into Nightmare’s office, so he didn’t really have an idea on what went on in there with Error.

Dust noticed Killer smirking as he prepared himself to attack the human before sighing and smacking Killer’s skull. “no fighting before breakfast, you know this killer,” he reminded with a scowl.

The human blinked at the comment as he turned slightly and looked out the windows, as if seeing them for the first time. Paps, who was still hovering around the human, floated over to Dust, a perplexed expression on his skull.

Killer pouted. “awww but he attacked first!”

The human turned back to stare at Killer blankly, but his eyes were definitely registering more than they were earlier. Dust grabbed the fallen knife and tossed it back to him, him catching it easily. “he’s not aware of the rules yet, you know this killer.” Dust looked back at the human, taking note of the deepened dark circles. “c’mon. horror’s probably a second away from dragging us to the kitchen,” he said before turning and dragging Killer with him to the kitchen.

Killer gave a whine at the tug but didn’t fight back, knowing full well not to challenge Horror during food times.

The human stayed in his room for a moment before Dust could hear the room shut and Paps giving an affirmative that the human was following them. It slightly impressed Dust with how silent the human’s footsteps were.

BROTHER, THE HUMAN DID NOT SLEEP WHEN HE RETURNED BACK TO HIS ROOM AFTER THE MEETING WITH THE BLACK SKELETONS. Paps informed Dust.

Dust let out a low hum in acknowledgement, having figured that out based on how tired he looked. He wasn’t as nosy as Killer was at times, but he was still curious what happened in that office room to cause the earlier blank hostility.

The walk was fairly short, Killer pouting the whole way. No doubt that Killer thought he was going to get that spar this soon.

Everyone else was already eating in the kitchen, Horror frowning at the trio as they walked in. “late,” he said shortly with a low growl.

“killer got impatient and tried to spar the human,” Dust immediately said, an offended noise coming from said skeleton.

Horror pointed to the plate of pancakes on the kitchen counter. “eat,” he said firmly.

Dust wasted no time in dragging Killer over to the food and grabbed some pancakes to put on his plate. From the corner of his eye socket he could see the human sign something to Cross. Cross nodded at whatever the question was and pointed to the coffee pot, some black coffee already in the pot.

The human made his way over to the pot and paused, eyes surveying the counter before looking at Cross and signing another question (Dust assumed it was another question anyway). Cross nodded before swallowing what he was chewing and responded. “yeah. they’re in the cabinet above you.”

Ah, the coffee mugs. Dust and Killer sat back at the table, quickly digging into the pancakes as the human poured himself a cup of coffee. The human turned and leaned against the counter, eyes watching the skeletons as he sipped at the coffee. There was a slight cringe at the initial sip of it but he continued drinking it.

He appeared to be looking for something (probably Error to be honest) before tapping at the counter to get their attention. Every skeleton looked up at the tap except for Killer, who was just enjoying the pancakes. The human set down his coffee and signed something when Cross looked up. Cross looked a bit confused at what he signed, turning towards Nightmare. “he asked where the glitch skeleton was?”

Called it.

Nightmare looked at the human, an odd look in his eye-light. “he has returned back to where he resides.”

The human just nodded at that and returned to his coffee, ignoring the frown from Killer when he looked up. “hey, horror, how come you aren’t demanding the human to eat??” He questioned with a slight whine.

Dust noticed a glare being thrown at Killer by the human before the look disappeared when Horror looked at him. Hands quickly moved and Cross translated. “he said he ate something earlier when he woke up earlier.”

Paps shifted slightly, a frown on his skull. HE DID NOT. HE ONLY SAT IN THE KITCHEN WHILE THE GLITCHY ONE ATE CHOCOLATE. He denied, causing Dust to frown slightly.

He was conflicted if he should reveal what his brother just informed him or see how this plays out. Eh, most of the skeletons didn’t believe him when it came to his brother anyway, so he might as well just see how this played out.

Horror frowned at the human about to say something before the human’s coffee mug was placed on the counter, the ring sounding out. A dull look was on his face as he stared directly at Horror as he signed. “he said he’ll eat later,” Cross translated with a look to Horror.

Horror looked a little displeased by it but relented. “fine.”

The human didn’t sign anything before he just left the kitchen silently, Nightmare watching him. Dust noticed how Nightmare almost looked.. conflicted? Perhaps a little bewildered.

Seriously, what happened when he went into Nightmare’s office??

Chapter Text

"You're... The one from the rumors aren't you? Tell me.. how did it feel?"

“How did it feel to kill them?”

The human Nightmare recruited confused him.

"Innocents will sleep" he had signed.

That confused Nightmare the most. Nightmare had caught the human off guard when he had captured him, but the first word he spoke had caused him and Cross to sleep.

To sleep.

Nightmare knew for a fact that he wasn't innocent. None of his crew were innocent, they've all killed, tortured, and caused pain in some way.

So how the hell was he, in the human's words, innocent?

Unless it was a slip of tongue. Just something to say to display his morals. He was like Cross in that way then. Neither of them would kill who they deemed innocent.

Nightmare knew there was something deeper within the human's answers to his questions the night before. The human was always tense around them, especially around Killer (though that may have just been with how touchy Killer was), but with how rigid he appeared when Nightmare asked about his magic and trainers..

He almost felt like he was edging across one of the human's put up walls.

....

The human hadn't gone back to slept once he was dismissed, that much was clear by the darker circles under his eyes when he came into the kitchen breakfast time.

Nightmare hadn't really expected him to, but the human had also appeared almost zoned out. He noticed how Dust kept a pondering eye-light on the human, how Killer pouted about something. There were light wisps of negativity surrounding the human, almost like remnants of the emotion. He had briefly wondered how the human's negativity would taste.

He only drank coffee that morning, leaning against the counter where he kept sights on all the skeletons. The human was wary, even if it was clear he held no interest in trying to escape. He never spoke, just drank his coffee with a blank expression. The only times he had spoken were when he was using his magic it seemed. His expression stayed blank, aside from the short glare that was thrown Killer's way when the human was called out for not eating. However, even that expression was quickly wiped.

The human became a puzzle.

The human was an asset to be used for their raids.

But how useful was an asset if you couldn't understand how they worked?

The.. human that Nightmare brought was a little odd. Quiet.

He definitely didn’t eat enough. At least, not that Horror’s seen. Granted, he only appeared yesterday. And the only thing he ate since he’s been here was the small portion of the dinner that Horror made and the cup of coffee this morning.

Well, Cross had translated that the human apparently ate when they were up earlier this morning. Horror didn’t believe that. He didn’t have any reason not to believe it, but he didn’t.

Maybe it was because the human was essentially a victim of kidnapping and very much displayed distrust towards them. Horror very much did not think that a victim of kidnapping would willingly eat food by his kidnappers. The human didn’t seem to need much prompting to eat though, based on how easily he had agreed to eat dinner.

The human almost looked.. a little pained when he had agreed though.

Just a little.

The human’s face was essentially blank, if not just displaying exhaustion (not consciously, he just looked exhausted due to his dark circles), but his eyes still displayed some emotions.

His eyes looked like he was remembering something painful when he had agreed to eat the dinner.

…

Horror had known that Error visited earlier that morning.

He could smell the open chocolate bars that Cross liked to eat sometimes. Chocolate that was hidden since Nightmare didn’t like having chocolate in the castle.

Mainly due to Error’s unexpected visits once chocolate was in the castle.

Error was a little annoying once he ate chocolate.

However, the chocolate scent was the only he could smell when he walked in earlier to start breakfast. Unless the human had eaten some of the chocolate, which was incredibly unlikely due to how territorial Error could get over the chocolate. Also, he wasn’t one to share shit.

Which meant that the human had lied about eating earlier.

Which meant he hadn’t eaten.

.. Horror wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that.

Afterall, the human only arrived yesterday.

He was a human.

There was absolutely no reason he should be concerned about a human.

It’s not like Horror would get closer to the human anyway.

“You are.. that child, correct? Well.. you don’t appear to be much of a child anymore.”

…

“I see.. how would you like a job?”

Chapter Text

You blinked in surprise at Nightmare.

To the right of you was Dust and Horror, Cross was on your left, and Killer was behind you.

Unfortunately, he was hugging your waist, his head over your shoulder to still see Nightmare. The contact made you tense but you made no move to shrug him off, knowing that he wouldn’t get off anyway.

You ignored the longing of pleasant contact.

Why exactly he was so touchy with you, you’ll probably never know.

But back to the topic at hand.

“A raid?” You clarified in sign, glancing at Cross before staring at Nightmare in confusion.

Nightmare nodded after he got the translation from Cross before appearing to ponder something. His eye-light zeroed in on you with a thoughtful look. “we’ll need to come up with signals for you to use since you don’t speak right now. it’ll be easier to communicate that way since cross won’t be joining.”

You nodded along as he spoke. It made sense. You looked at Cross and began signing. “What am I to do in the raid? Might I use a writing utensil and paper for a moment?”

Cross translated your first question to Nightmare while he pulled out a small notebook out of.. somewhere. Where exactly did it come from, what the fuck. You glared at Cross with a scrutinizing eye before nodding in thanks for the notebook before turning to Nightmare to hear his response.

“you said you make innocents sleep, correct? are you capable of causing misfortune without the use of your magic?”

You frowned at him, an eyebrow raised at his wording. “Define misfortune.”

Cross answered you instead of translating this time, causing your eyes to snap to him. “negativity. we’ll be spreading negativity into the au to bring a balance. this usually causes for us to cause, in boss’ words, misfortune,” he explained.

“like when we went to pick you up, sweet cheeks! even if it wasn’t necessarily the point, dust and i caused some misfortune. some killing, torture, what not,” Killer spoke up behind you cheerfully. One of his hands let go of your waist and poked you on the nose, causing you to recoil slightly, going a little cross-eyed to stare at the boney finger before it returned to your waist.

You nodded your understanding of Nightmare’s question now before giving your answer. “Not killing innocents. Causing misfortune however, I can do.” You signed with a nod. You thought for a minute before looking up at Nightmare. “Would hand signals or sounds be easier to use?”

“depends on where everyone is.”

Wow, thanks Nightmare, that was completely helpful. You frowned with a slight scowl before lightly smacking at Killer’s hands. Much to your dislike (did you actually dislike it though?), his arms only tightened around your waist. You glared at Cross with a deadpan. Sadly the skeleton just shrugged at your plight.

You let out a low ‘tsk’ before leaning against Killer, your weight completely against Killer’s. Said skeleton flinched, clearly having not expected that to be your next move based on how he didn’t tighten his arms for a moment. You could advantage of his surprise and quickly slipped out of his grip, walking away from the skeletons to lean against one of the desks in Nightmare’s office, keeping an eye on all the skeletons.

Killer pouted once he realized you were out of his grip but you paid no attention to it. You opened the small notebook, ignoring all of their looks as you rubbed at your throat for a minute. A grimace passed your features, thinking about the possible pain that could occur before you started writing down in the notebook.

It took you a minute of writing before you paused and looked up at Nightmare. You frowned for a minute, remembering his words of what kind of signals before going back to writing. It took you another minute before flipping over the notebook and showing it to the skeletons.

Nightmare took the notebook from your hand with one of his tendrils, looking over the words with a calculating eye-light. You could have sworn that there was a flicker of amusement in the teal color before it disappeared. Nightmare made a sound of clearing a throat before beginning to read the signals aloud.

“one long: attention. two short, one long: compromised, could use assistance. three short: get cross. … middle finger: killer, go away.” Nightmare glanced up at you with what appeared to be a pondering look, ignoring the protest that came from Killer at the last signal. “what do you mean by long or short?” He asked you.

A low whistle escaped you. The whistle remained for a few seconds before you paused, then whistled again, this time for a much shorter duration. You ignored the slight tickle in your throat that remained.

Nightmare nodded, glancing back down at the signals written. He looked up at his crew of skeletons. “any objections or additions?”

Nobody made a sound so Nightmare continued. “good. here are your individual missions. horror, you’ll be stealing food, both to cause suspicion as well as for us, since we’ll be staying in the au for a week. dust, you’ll be stalking some monsters during your shifts to create unsettlement. do not directly attack. now killer. you’ll be with the human-”

“yes!”

“-as well as procuring a hideout for us to use during the week.”

You held out your knife, pointing it at Killer with a frown when he decided to come closer, assumingly to give you a hug. You glared at Cross. “Why.”

Cross rolled his eye-lights when you pointed your annoyance towards him before he translated your oh so polite question.

“he can intercept and help you if needed,” he huffed, but you saw his eye-light glance down to your notebook of signals before looking up at you. “as for you, you’ll be attacking them. as a lookout of sorts. if you see them too close to killer or one of the others, then draw them away. however, while monsters tend to have a lot of hp, they can easily die in a single moment to a malicious human. therefore, watch the intent when attacking.” Nightmare informed you. You were already aware of the matter of intent when attacking monsters, your previous boss had already informed you of it.

You gave him a nod, showing him that you fully understood his meaning. He asked for questions from his skeletons and you tapped the desk to get his (and Cross’) attention. Once you got Cross’ eye-lights on you, you began signing. “I have a question. Why are we staying there for a full week?”

Killer took advantage of the fact that your hands were moving and stood next to you, ignoring the frown you sent him. At least he wasn’t holding or touching you anymore. You looked back up at Nightmare when he began to answer your question. “to make a lasting impression. it wouldn’t do for when we leave and the au just returns back to its overly positive nature.”

“Wouldn’t a week be too long though? From what I assume, you guys have enemies. A week can bring attention to your enemies. Negativity can take hold of the mind quickly. Easily. A week is too long, too much of a risk. Three days. Four at the most should be perfectly fine to get a good grip of their emotions,” you signed rapidly.

When you finally stopped moving your hands, Killer let out a low snicker next to you. “damn sweet cheeks, that’s the most i’ve seen you move your hands since coming here,” he commented. You rolled your eyes, not looking amused even if you were slightly surprised yourself.

Nightmare thought for a minute, obviously considering your words. “.. i can see your point. it’s fair reasoning, we don’t need to deal with the attention of dream. instead of seven days, we’ll be staying there for four. if there’s a risk of getting attacked, we’ll leave after the third. however, due to the shortened days, up your activities to create more negativity.” He turned to you. “human, we’ll be using your signals when we’re apart.”

“Christ, just call me something other than human,” you signed with annoyance.

Cross covered what looked like an amused smile as he translated.

“sweet cheeks!”

You didn’t even need to sign, you just flipped Killer off with a deadpan look.

Chapter Text

You immediately cringed when you stepped into the AU. You hadn’t seen anything yet, but the general energy of it, you could sense and it was a little disturbing for you. You saw Nightmare immediately cringe when he stepped through the portal he made, so it was definitely something. A hideout was procured within a few hours after arriving thanks to Killer, so that just meant that the rest of his mission (of what you know of) was to stay by you. Ick.

Despite his easy going attitude, he was actually good at what he was told to do. The hideout was abandoned and hidden in the woods, which was a little strange considering the type of AU this is. The building wasn’t too terribly big, the floorplan one of a single bedroom house. During the sleeping hours, you guys would have to group up and sleep in shifts. Sleeping in shifts wasn’t necessarily important, but just a form of security incase Nightmare’s enemies popped up.

Sneaking a glance at Nightmare confirmed your suspicions of how bad an AU this was for a skeleton like him. The dark skeleton looked like he was practically nauseous, even with him resting in a chair.

You got that the AU’s entire thing was ‘cheerful’ but it was entirely too fucking cheerful. Way too positive for even you, a human.

Once you guys had found the hideout, Nightmare sent out Horror and Dust for their own roles, to begin removing the positivity and to gather food for them. Based on what Nightmare had been reporting to update you and Killer, the two skeletons were doing just fine with their tasks. It intrigued you how Nightmare could keep tabs on his skeletons when they’re a distance from him.

You were sitting on a chair that was near a table while Nightmare sat on the other one, the couch a bit too dusty for him. You looked from Killer to Nightmare, a small frown on your face as you quietly tap the table to get Nightmare’s attention. You scribbled out a quick question in your little notebook and showed it to Nightmare once he looked over. The skeleton looked at the question before glancing at Killer, who was busy paying attention to his knives, presumably getting them ready to stab some monsters. He looked back at you, noticing the questioning tilt of your head.

“i cannot leave the mansion so unprotected for so long. i do not believe any harm would befall it, however it is safer to take precautions, which is why cross stayed behind.”

You understood his reasoning, however, with Cross being the only skeleton (excluding Error) that could understand your signs, it confused you a little how he expected you to communicate efficiently. Yes, you brought your notebook for the purpose of communicating, however it wouldn’t be very helpful if you were locked in a fight. As well as with the signals you had prepared, those were limited. You quickly wrote as such and expressed it to Nightmare with furrowed brows.

Nightmare let out a low hum as he took a minute before speaking. “you’ve only been here for a few days, it makes sense that communication will still be a little… difficult to understand. this is only meant to be one of an introductory mission for you as well, just to see how well you can work with others, since it’s different from your previous work. after this mission, i will be imploring cross and error to teach us sign for you to communicate easier. it’ll be beneficial for all of us,” he explained to you, eye-light trained on Killer, watching him for a moment before flicking it over to you. “if you wish, we can also work on a way for you to be able to speak without your magic, however that is your decision.”

The sudden statement surprised you and your brows furrowed in confusion. He was.. willing to help you speak? Without your magic? Wasn’t he aware how much of a danger that was??

One simple word and he’d be dead.

You didn’t make a move to answer him, thoughts whirling. Nightmare appeared to see your confusion, yet he didn’t make a remark about it. A conflicted look grew on his face however as he looked back at you, ignoring how Killer started to stab the wall in front of him (at least nobody actually lived here). “the.. first time you were in my office. why did you submit myself and killer to unconsciousness?” he asked.

You raised a brow at him and simply wrote four words on the paper, showing it to him with a blank look. He looked at the words, the conflicted look growing displeased as he looked away, his eye-light trained on Killer, who was still entertaining himself.

You left it at that.

Horror and Dust returned without fail, no injuries and with food. Though you thought you could smell some kind of burnt scent from Dust, you waved it off. If he burned anything, then you’d see it tomorrow on your own shift. Which was unfortunately with Killer, but at least you wouldn’t be cooped up. Hopefully Killer wouldn’t bug you too much.

You stayed back as the three skeletons chatted while they ate some of the food Horror snatched, Nightmare watching over them silently, eye-light flickering towards you a few times. You grabbed one of the cinnamon roll looking items (looked almost like a bunny a little) and leaned against the wall as you silently ate. It was almost a little too sweet but it was good and filling. You grimaced slightly at the thought of the sweetness and made a note to yourself to ask Nightmare to take you back to your apartment so you can grab your things. You couldn’t exactly stay with the skeletons if you didn’t have anything, hygiene wise.

You thought you felt Horror’s eye-light on you but whenever you looked at him, he looked back at his food so you didn’t pay it any mind.

Once everyone was finished eating, it was time for some of you to sleep. Surprisingly, the sleeping shift went well. Nightmare had Dust and Horror sleep in the bedroom with you, keeping Killer out in the living room with him. A godsend. Nobody really told you how the sleeping shifts were going to go though, so you stayed awake, leaning against the wall as you watched over the sleeping skeletons. After a few hours, Dust stirred with a frown. He didn’t appear surprised to see your eyes just staring at him, perhaps a little bothered though. He silently walked closer to you, watching how you stiffened the closer he got. He stopped just in front of you, his miscolored eye-lights almost glowing in the dark. He was silent for a moment, before speaking softly, as to not stir Horror. “go get some sleep. i can take on this watch.”

You looked up at him, before tilting your head in a confused manner. Not like you could sign or write the confusion, it was too dark and he didn’t understand sign. Dust gave a soft sigh. “you’ll be dealing with killer tomorrow. you need your sleep,” he insisted quietly.

You thought for a moment before giving an exaggerated nod so Dust could clearly see the movement. You didn’t move though, you just dropped your head and shut your eyes. You could feel Dust still standing in front of you before he sighed and moved away. You could hear the bedroom door creak as Dust left the bedroom. You didn’t care to find out what he was doing but allowed your muscles to relax slightly as you began to lightly doze, the snore coming from Horror acting as a white noise.

…

You blinked awake when the snoring stopped. You turn your head and see Horror slowly sitting up with a grumble, muttering something about food. You held his stare when he noticed you staring at him and the two of you just locked in a gaze. After a few long moments, Horror broke it first, not out of fear, no, but out of deciding what was more important. You watched him leave the bedroom before glancing at one of the shattered windows, seeing it was still dark out. Still night then. Or perhaps early morning? You looked back when Dust walked back into the bedroom, sitting against the wall adjacent from you. “go back to sleep,” he whispered to you. “you still have a few hours before needing to get up.”

You hummed lightly at his statement before dropping your head and shutting your eyes again to go back into your light doze.

You could almost feel a soft gust of wind going through the shattered window and ruffling your hair in a comforting gesture.

The second day was going smoothly. You slept decently and were prepared to deal with Killer today. You poked around the food stash, noticing how it was less than the night before. Must have been what Horror was muttering about earlier that night. You wondered if a midnight snack was a habit for him. You gingerly took a thing of jerky, not bothering to think about what exactly it was made of (gotta love when your mind goes straight to morbid thoughts) and put it in one of your pockets.

You glanced at Nightmare and noticed that he was leading Killer out of the house and you silently followed, not wanting to already provide disappointment. You briefly wondered if the next two days were going to go the same, with Dust and Horror going out tomorrow then the three of you going out the last day (like you were now).

Looking at the way Killer was immediately running to harass some cheerful monsters, you can already feel yourself get more drained. It’s fine. You told yourself that it was just dealing with an excitable dog. One that likes to kill, this was fine.

Apparently, Nightmare had noticed your thoughts, based on the deep (amused?) chuckle you heard from him. “i trust you’ll remember my warning when attacking,” he commented as he watched Killer begin to attack brutally.

You give him a nod, remembering full well to keep your intent in control, which honestly wouldn’t be that hard. They weren’t targets for you. After all, you were just a lookout for Killer currently. Only draw them away if they get too close. You idly sent a glance at Nightmare before looking back at Killer, slightly cringing at the amount of screams. Damn, he really did like to kill painfully.

You gazed at the area around Killer before making a sound of displeasure at the sight of a giant bear monster creeping up on him. Killer had his attention on taunting a few monsters, seemingly unaware of the newcomer.

(Killer totally knew about the monster creeping up on him, he just wanted you closer to him. His situational awareness wasn’t that bad, even when he was focused on other victims.)

You removed one of your knives from a pocket and hurled it at the creeper. The knife soared through the air, catching Killer’s eye, the monsters he was taunting taking the chance to flee. Killer sent you a sharp grin when the knife hit its mark in the bear monster’s shoulder, causing a pained shriek. Killer fully turned to face the monster (you could just make out how the target in the middle of his chest bobbed a little) and launched at him, slicing at them with what you had no doubt was a giggle.

Maniac.

You gave Nightmare a look of drained suffering, the skeleton only rolling his eye-light as he turned away from you, before you began making your way to head closer to Killer. With the way Killer was standing, he was blocking your view of what he was doing but it was obviously painful based on the jerks you could see from the bear’s limbs. You noted how one of the monster’s arms was pinned to the ground with a knife and somehow you felt that the other arm had the same treatment.

You walked closer, tugging your hood to further cover your face as you sent a spare glance to the direction the taunted monsters had run in. Frankly, you were a little disappointed they fled so quickly.

They really had no backbone to defend themselves?

You looked back at Killer, standing near him enough to actually see what he did to the monster and you grimaced slightly at the sight. He.. almost didn’t quite look like a bear anymore. Well he almost did if you ignored the lack of..

Well, the lack of a mouth.

Killer had sliced off the monster’s muzzle. Nose and all. A gruesome thought.

A question struck you as you looked from the detached muzzle to the monster’s crying eyes. How the fuck was the bear not screaming in pain?? Or any sort of noise that indicated that at all??

You knelt closer to him as you grabbed your knife, which was still lodged in the monster’s shoulder before noticing a large gash in his neck, a large gap in the fur. You used your knife to shift the fur around slightly before glancing at Killer questioningly. The skeleton just looked pleased with himself. “lookin awfully curious there, sweets,” he remarked with a smirk. “wanna know what i did??”

You looked back at the bear before rolling your eyes and standing, giving Killer a dismissive wave to deny his question. You got your answer and you could almost hear Killer audibly pout as you began to move throughout the town to keep more of a hidden eye on Killer, yet also away from Killer.

Of course the stab happy skeleton removed the voice box to prevent screaming.

..

You wondered why though. Going with how Killer appeared to relish the screams earlier, he seemed to enjoy hearing the pain he inflicted on his targets. So why had he rendered this one silent while he tortured him?

Possibly something to look into.

Chapter Text

The third day, you were out with Dust, the others staying at the hideout. Well, you assumed that Horror was out getting food but today you were the lookout with Dust as your focus. A little difficult, since his whole side of the mission was some sneak shit, but better than dealing with Killer. Who deliberately went for some attention from the monsters. You lost count of the amount of times you flipped him off or signed at him with annoyance, a middle finer usually somewhere in those signs. You knew he couldn’t understand them (well, aside from the middle finger), and it hardly made you feel better, but something had put Nightmare in a great mood when you guys returned to the hideout yesterday.

Actually, you had a sneaking suspicion, but you weren’t going to voice it.

Once you and Dust left the hideout and made it to the town, the two of you separated from each other, him going to make his presence known, and you keeping an eye on him from afar, occasionally moving. Today was quieter than yesterday, though after scanning your environment, you noted that there were less monsters outside the buildings. The only monsters you could see were patrolling ones. Based on their armor, they were guards of some sort.

You blinked when you noticed what kind of monsters they were.

Cats.

They were cat guards.

Actually no, there was something that looked like a fish leading them.

Well, that’s one way to screw with the food chain.

It almost put you off slightly when you threw a knife or two near them to attract them when they went a bit too close to Dust. That was another thing you noticed.

.. Some kind of presence followed you. Yet, nothing was there. It was just a strong feeling of you being watched. Which only happened when you were far away from Dust. The watchful presence only ceased whenever you and Dust were near, or at least in proximity of each other.

It was odd, but it didn’t feel too terribly malicious. You didn’t know much about the quirks of these skeletons, so you just chalked it up to some quirk Dust had. It could be some magic bullshit, some magic tracker or something that Dust put on you to watch you.

Which, slightly rude, you could somewhat understand.

Somewhat.

You faltered from where you were about to move, Dust moving further away, hearing yowls come from the cat guards. You turned your head, not expecting to see the group of guards heading your way, the fish leader carrying a blue spear. They looked pissed, which honestly, you were relieved to see after two days of seeing smiles and cheerfulness even after getting attacked.

How did their attention get on you though??

You grit your teeth, cursing at yourself. They must have tracked your scent from the knives.

You did not need this right now.

You glanced around slightly as you left your spot, looking for Dust despite knowing you wouldn’t be able to see him. You needed height to avoid them, the trees being perfect for it. As you ran, you gave three shrill whistles, two short and one long. You were spotted and could use the assistance.

Just as you reached a climbable tree, the fish monster threw their spear at you, the speed of it making you quickly dodge, knowing you would get severely injured if it hit you. When you dodged it, your arm darted out, catching and gripping it by the handle. The momentum of the throw caused you to move back a bit as to not fall, but you hardly noticed that when a hiss of pain escaped you as soon as you grabbed it. You immediately threw your arm to the side, lodging the spear into the tree you were about to climb, as your other hand held your wrist. The hand that held the spear was shaking, pain spiking through it. Your palm almost looked like it had been burned.

By fuck, it was painful.

Damn it, was it some kind of painful touch magic or some shit??

You weren’t given time to even ponder the thought, not given the time to pull yourself from your pained haze when a hand appeared around your throat, becoming restrained by scaly armored arms. You were pinned to the tree, the lodged spear brushing against your leg and you felt like there was fire going through your pants.

As you struggled to move away from the spear, try to get out of the hold, the hand on your throat began to tighten, causing your breath to shorten. Shit. You couldn’t reach your knives, could barely even move the joints in your injured hand without pain, and you doubted kicking would harm the fish guard with the armor it was wearing. You’d probably just hurt yourself doing so.

You don’t need to be any more useless.

You grit your teeth at hearing cheerful yowls around you. You were surrounded by the cat guards while the fish monster choked you, and the cats were cheering at the situation.

.. That’s a fucking morbid twist to this ‘oh so cheerful’ au.

The hand kept squeezing, choking you further. Where the hell was Dust? Did he even hear you?

You weren’t even able to sense the presence that had been watching you.

…

Shit.

..

You didn’t want to die just yet. As the hold tightened, you could feel the edges of your vision blacken. You didn’t want to join them yet.

The cheering around you was grating on your ears and the pain of death flipped more into anger. Like hell you were going to die surrounded by cheering monsters, watched like some spectacle.

(“watch the intent.”)

You missed how some cheering seemed to die down and they turned into screeches, how thuds sounded on the ground.

(“watch the intent. do not kill them.”)

“C-choke-” You gasped out harshly, relishing the breath of air you were given when the fish’s hand slackened. You shoved the monster further away from you, reminding you of the burning pain in your hand.

Your sight was slightly hazy, vision having almost turned black before you were able to gasp out the command, but you thought you saw less cat monsters.

There was no more cheering.

No more laughter.

Just the sounds of choking.

.. You fell to your knees, the cold snow practically burning through your clothing as you grasped at your throat, coughing, trying to get back the air that was stolen from you. The movement agitated your injured hand further, but you didn’t pay attention to it, you just needed to breathe.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

The sudden spike of the fish choking brought your attention back to them as they grasped at its throat. A different panic filled you, memories of unintentional words coming back to your mind.

No, this wasn’t a target. It wasn’t.

Reverse it. You need to take it back.

You faltered when you opened your mouth, a sharp cough escaping you as you tried to push your vocal cord.

.. What were you even supposed to say?

Could you even take it back?

What command would stop them from choking? Would it even work? Would the command just cause them to choke more??

You could hardly speak a command regardless, your throat burning.

Your mind barely registered anything. It barely registered the spiked bones that were scattered in the snowy ground.

You couldn’t think straight as you watched the fish slowly stop choking before they fell limp.

Your mother’s face stared up at you with tears down her face as you cried.

You scrambled back, snow hitting your palms as you shoved your back against the tree, surprisingly avoiding the spear that was embedded into the tree. Was it still there? The question left your mind as quickly as it flew into it as you grabbed your shaking hand, staring at the bright red, feeling the spiking burning sensation, yet you couldn’t tell if the sensation was from your hand or your throat. The shaking in your hand increased, your fingers curled slightly as if to protect the palm. The logical part of your mind told you it needed to get treated, lest it get infected by the snow.

You didn’t listen to it, eyes trained on the body of armor.

(You didn’t hear the sound of your name being called. The sound of someone next to you.)

The dead body.

The body that wasn’t a target.

The body that you killed.

You killed an innocent, a non-target.

Killed like how you killed your family. All you’re really good for is killing isn’t it?

You went against Nightmare’s warning as well.

A liability if you can’t follow orders.

…

No matter how long you stared at the body of the monster, it didn’t move. Didn’t twitch or jerk from the snow.

The longer you stared at it, the longer your injured hand grew numb and the pain in your throat dulled, either your mind blocking it out or the pain subsiding. You couldn’t tell. You didn’t know. You didn’t care.

Some clarity returned to you, the noise of the snow falling coming back to you, the sound of snow crunching beside you. You swung your injured hand into a fist beside you at the sound next to you, hissing when bones caught it. A gentle hold.

You stared at Dust blankly (when did he arrive? had he actually heard your whistle?) as he began to slowly examine your hand, briefly brushing against it. His eye-lights flicked up to you, staring at the hand marks around your neck before clicking… something.

Skeletons don’t(?) have tongues, so you didn’t know.

“we’re done for today. you need to get treated.”

You almost missed his statement before the two of you were suddenly at the hideout, a sheer difference in temperature.

You barely registered Dust saying something to Nightmare, just yanked your hand from his hold as you shakily stood up. You swayed for a minute, missing how Killer (when did he get that close?) held his arms out, as if ready to catch you, before you stabilized yourself and silent made your way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind you with a click.

You didn’t see the kind of look that you were sent by the skeletons.

Chapter Text

Dust looked at the bathroom door once the human closed it, a short sigh escaping him. Killer bounced up to him, a downturned smile on his face, not quite a frown yet not quite a smile either, as he looked questioningly at him. “what’s with sweets? what happened?

Dust thought back to the panic he found the human in, the injuries on his hand and around his throat and the sheer panic in his eyes as he kept staring at the motionless body of the AU’s Undyne. It took him around 15 minutes to check more into reality, only then had he realized that Dust was there. Dust had already gotten rid of the cat guards and had just been focused on the human. Even then, the human was still a little out of it.

“i think..” Dust sent a glance to Nightmare, remembering his warning to the human on watching his intent when attacking. “.. i think he thought that he went against orders not to kill.”

“and he checked out of reality? sheesh.” Killer scoffed, sounding disappointed by the answer, causing Dust to roll his eye-lights.

YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I, THAT THAT IS NOT ALL BROTHER.

‘i know paps,’ Dust thought with a frown.

Nightmare gave a thinking hum before frowning. “did he kill?” He asked, looking straight at Dust.

Dust sent a spare glance to his brother before turning it back to Nightmare. “no. he didn’t. he only knocked her out,” he confirmed.

It had been slightly difficult to tell if the body turned to dust or not, with the snow and metal armor and all. Yet, Paps had noticed that there was still a body, the monster was still alive. Dust wasn’t able to get what happened from Paps since as soon as the human whistled, Paps had left to find Dust, returning with him as the human was getting choked by the cheerful Undyne. The fucking cheers and excited shouts as the human was nearly on the brink of death.

It disgusted Dust.

He had quickly eliminated the cat guards, which caused panicked screeches as he speared them into the ground with his bone attack, watching as the body turned to dust and disappeared into the snow. Just as he was about to remove the Undyne from the human, the monster had let go of him.

She had begun to choke while the human fell to his knees regaining his breath. That’s when it caused a panic to fill in the human’s eyes.

His brother had panicked seeing the human panicked, hovering over him with waving hands, trying to figure out some way to help.

Dust glanced at his brother before back at Nightmare. It was frankly odd how fond his brother was of the human. “he followed your rule,” Dust confirmed to Nightmare with a small nod.

“then what’s sweets checked out for??” Killer questioned with almost a bored look. It didn’t surprise Dust if Killer actually was bored, Nightmare most likely kept the skeleton in the house the whole day. Though, Dust could see the thinly veiled concern that Killer had.

HE WAS PREPARED TO CATCH PIE WHEN HE STUMBLED. Paps reminded him.

Dust paused, an incredulous expression flashing on his face for a moment before it faded. ‘pie? who’s pie?’ He thought. His brother wasn’t wrong though. “i’m not sure,” he answered Killer. “from where he was, i don’t believe he noticed that the monster wasn’t dead.”

PIE. SHORT FOR MAGPIE! I THINK THAT’S WHAT I’LL CALL THE HUMAN.

‘interesting.’

Nightmare gave an acknowledging hum before turning to gaze at the bathroom door. He thought for a minute before sighing. “get the human out here so i can heal his wounds. it would not do for his injuries to get infected,” he commanded.

Killer turned to skip to the bathroom door before it creaked open and the human silently walked out. He looked entirely drained, a twitch in his injured hand and the ring of bruises around his neck.

He looked entirely blank.

He looked straight at Nightmare, moving around Killer and standing in front of him with a tilt of his head. “hand,” Nightmare firmly requested.

The human just raised his hand, not towards Nightmare, but with his palm forward so Nightmare could see the damage. He made no move to get closer to Nightmare.

Nightmare let out a tch at the action but made no word about it, instead just extending his tendrils, wrapping one around the hand as well as his neck. The human stiffened slightly but nothing else.

“what’s got you so down, sweets?” Killer asked, leaning against the table.

The human didn’t say anything, didn’t even glance in Killer’s direction, just stayed still.

Paps had a frown on his skull as he hovered closer to the human, looking closely at him. BROTHER, MAGPIE LOOKS LIKE HE’S IN A HAZE. He informed Dust.

Nightmare twitched after a few minutes of healing Magpie before recoiling back, his tendrils curling, a look of realization on his face. “so that’s why you’re like this,” he muttered, staring at the human with a glint in his cyan eye-light.

Dust didn’t know what Nightmare saw (he had entirely forgotten that Nightmare could see some form of their memories and thoughts whenever he was healing them), but the statement caused Magpie’s finger to twitch, some kind of clarification appearing in his eyes before it disappeared.

The human bowed his head in a form of thanks before leaving the room, this time going into the bedroom.

“well? what’d ya see boss?” Killer asked with a smirk, clearly having not forgotten how Nightmare could see into them when healing.

“killer, that’s not any of our business,” Dust hissed at him. His brother had already separated from him, easily following Magpie into the bedroom, though he knew that Paps would probably try to smack Killer. He wasn’t too terribly fond of the tear smudged skeleton, funnily enough.

“why not? if we know what’s wrong with cheeks then we can prevent it from happening,” Killer responded with a lazy shrug.

“possible but unlikely.” Nightmare cut in, sending a glare to Killer. “refrain from fighting, i do not need a bigger headache from this place. horror is on his way with food, killer, go out and meet up with him.”

“is this a way to just kick me out?”

“if you know then why aren’t you doing it?”

“rodger dodger that boss!” Killer quickly shortcut out of the house.

Nightmare rolled his eye-light before turning to Dust. “you won’t be asking me what i saw, will you?” He asked with an unimpressed look.

Dust shook his head.

Nightmare nodded. “good. i’ll deal with it once we get back,” he stated before dismissing Dust to go elsewhere.

Dust gave a light nod before turning to leave Nightmare alone. It wouldn’t do to annoy him like Killer does, especially not when he has a headache from the positivity of the AU.

If the human seemed as negative as they appeared to be, then his headache should have at least went away for a tick during the healing though.

Dust walked into the bedroom, a little surprised to not see the human in it. The windows were pretty broken, so he could have easily left that way. But where did he go then?

His brother poked his head through one of the windows. BROTHER, MAGPIE IS UP ON THE ROOF.

“thanks bro,” Dust muttered, watching Paps disappear before he shortcut onto the roof of the house.

The human showed no visible reaction towards him suddenly being on the roof, which was probably a good thing considering he was sitting on the edge, staring at the woods. Despite not having a lower body, Paps was hovering next to the human, looking at him instead.

“human.” Dust started, though quickly became aware that he wasn’t being paid attention to. Not even a twitch came from Magpie. Dust dug into his hoodie pockets and pulled out the knives he found on his way to the human after the whistle. He wasn’t sure if the human wanted them back, but if he was anything like Killer, then he would have most likely wanted them. Besides, if the monsters grew a more advancing backbone, then they could get a scent from the knives and find them at the house.

He flipped one of the knives before tossing it at Magpie without a word. The human’s hand immediately moved and grabbed it by the hilt, his head tilting slightly to look at what he just caught.

‘insane reflexes,’ he thought to Paps, his brother agreeing.

Magpie turned his head, finally noticing Dust, though his expression was like the first day he was brought. Or rather.. When he was in the trance the other day and attacked Killer for a moment. Dust kept the thought in his mind, in case the human made a move to attack him, though it didn’t seem likely.

He just stayed sitting on the roof. “found your knives when i was heading your way,” Dust finally spoke, nodding to the other knives in his hand. “wasn’t sure if you wanted them back or not.”

Magpie pocketed the knife in his hand and there was a slight incline of his head towards the others, which indicated to Dust that he did indeed want the rest back. Dust walked across to him and sat next to him, legs off the edge of the roof. He handed the knives to Magpie, hilt first. “here.”

The human’s eyes examined him for a moment before they dropped down to the offered knives. He took them silently and pocketed them as well before turning his head and looking back at the forest.

BROTHER, PIE’S BEING…

‘too quiet paps?’

… YES.

‘does it bother you? he doesn’t normally speak anyway. it’s not like i can understand sign anyway,’ Dust reminded his brother.

Paps looked at his brother for a moment, a frown on his skull but didn’t say anything in return.

Dust watched the human silently, ignoring how he could faintly hear Killer complain about something. He was taking in his features, how he seemed tired, how he looked motionless. If it wasn’t for the reflex of catching the knife, Dust would have said that the human was completely checked out of reality.

“you’re going to need to eat something soon. you can’t stay up here the whole night,” Dust remarked quietly.

There was a small twitch on the corner of Magpie’s mouth but no response.

Dust thought back to the short conversation from earlier about why the human was checked out. He hummed lightly, thinking for a moment before speaking. “she’s not dead y’know.”

A slow turn of Magpie’s head before his eyes were trained onto him. Confusion flickered into his eyes for a moment.

Dust glanced at the human before looking down at the forest. “the fish monster from earlier. she’s still alive.” Dust looked at him, eye-lights flickering. “you didn’t kill her, magpie.”

Something seemed to harden in Magpie’s expression, something flickering through his eyes, something Dust couldn’t fully describe. Dust continued.

“you probably couldn’t tell from where you were positioned, but she didn’t dust. she was only knocked out.”

Magpie looked away from him, some tension slightly bleeding out of his body, though still a little rigid. He looked almost.. confused? He looked conflicted about something.

“just thought you should know,” Dust said after a moment, having had a small hope of getting more of a reaction. Dust stood up on the edge, looking down at Magpie. “c’mon, you need to get something to eat, or i’m setting horror on you,” he thinly threatened.

The threat didn’t really work the way he wanted, if it was used on any of the other skeletons, they would have panicked, knowing full well what would have come their way. It was probably due to how recent Magpie arrived in the group. It was more of a trial base for him, based on what Dust understood.

“i’ll set killer on you.”

Magpie immediately fell forward off the roof at those words, causing an exclamation from Paps as the two skeletons (one ghost) looked over the edge of the roof to see Magpie calmly standing there, looking up at Dust with a blank face.

So that insult works then.

The thought made Dust snicker as he shortcut into the bedroom just as Magpie climbed back in, narrowly avoiding the approaching Killer as he tried to latch onto Magpie. Magpie didn’t seem back to his snarky silent self yet, but he did appear a little better.

Appearances could be deceiving however.

Chapter Text

The rest of the mission went well without any other surprises. Magpie was still completely silent for the rest of it though, though the amount of expressions that crossed his face whenever he got lost in thought was intriguing. Paps was vocal in his curiosity of what Magpie was thinking about, sometimes Pie had a look of regret then quickly turned to a look of annoyance.

If Magpie wasn’t retreating to the roof every chance he got, Dust was sure Killer would quickly ask him questions about his expressions. Dust wanted to ask questions as well, hell, Nightmare asked about it when Magpie wandered in to get a piece of jerky. All he got was a short nod, no words, no signs, no writing, before the human retreated back to the roof.

Either Nightmare gave up on asking after that, or already knew what was going through Magpie’s head.

By the end of the mission, Nightmare looked more like himself and less like he was about to vomit. It was definitely a job well done in those terms.

When everyone was back in the mansion, Magpie immediately went to his room, Dust sending Paps after him. Though, Dust didn’t even really need to say anything, Paps had already been following him. It still confused Dust how Paps got fond of Magpie.

Nightmare called everyone into his office for a mission report, just to go over some points as well as to inform Cross of their progress. Killer complained about Magpie not being there, but Nightmare just waved it off.

Even when the meeting was over and Horror made dinner, Dust didn’t see Magpie, which made Killer pout and Dust noticed a downturn to Horror’s expression when he didn’t see the human. It made Dust internally snort. Looks like there’s another bond waiting to form for Magpie.

Horror was going to motherhen Magpie so much.

It couldn’t hurt to check up on the human once he finished eating though.

You blinked as you watched Dust enter your room, tilting your head in a questioning manner. Your exhaustion was worse, not having slept very well the past few days, sleeping even worse the past two nights.

The nightmares, the memories had come back to you tenfold after you had killed the monster, even though you now knew you hadn’t actually.

The memory of your mother’s vacant eyes staring up at you while you cried… You knew that face in detail.

Dust cleared his throat, a slight twitch of his phalanges catching your attention before you looked up at him, still with a questioning glance. “hey. you uh, you good?” He asked, sounding awkward and a little stiff.

Your brows furrowed slightly, remembering that Nightmare had asked the same thing before they returned to the mansion. You gave Dust a short nod, fingers tapping along the edge of the bed. Dust scoffed at your nod. “don’t give me that. you’ve been looking out of it since that day and you’ve been completely silent. i know you haven’t been sleeping the nights,” he retorted with an annoyed glint to his eye-lights.

A quiet scoff left you at the statement, some bitter amusement filling you. Was he concerned about you? Why?

Why was he concerned about some pathetic human?

One that couldn’t even understand his own thoughts.

Dust came and stood in front of you, a frown on his face as his mismatched eye-lights peered at you. “you going to tell me why you’ve been in a haze since that day or are you just going to continue checking out for killer to mess with you?” He asked, sounding completely serious.

You looked up at him with a blank look, trying to dissect his question. Was he genuinely curious? Or was he just annoyed with your behavior?

“… write something at least? even if its to tell me to fuck off.”

That caused you to shift slightly before a soft exhale left you, grabbing your notebook from your pocket and a pen, flipping to an open, clean page. Once you were actually on the page however, you faltered, unsure of what to write. Should you just tell him to leave you alone?

Or actually tell him what’s been on your mind?

Was it worth it?

… Maybe at least you could try to put your thoughts to rest this way at least. [ didn’t die ]

A look of confusion crossed Dust’s features. “what didn’t?” he asked, wanting clarification.

The pen in your fingers twitched a little at his question, your fingers wanting to fidget. [The monster.]

The confusion stayed on Dust’s face. “yeah? i told you this, you didn’t go against the boss’s orders for you.” It was clear he didn’t understand what you were trying to get at.

You shook your head, a little jerk, at his statement, your lips thinning. [They didn’t die. They should’ve died.] you wrote, underlining the word ‘should’ve’.

Because the monster should have been dust.

Yet they weren’t.

“what’re you talking about?”

[I didn’t give a command. Didn’t give one to cancel the choking. I couldn’t. The monster should’ve died.] The last sentence was written a little messy, slightly scribbled in your haste.

The monster should’ve died.

Why didn’t it die.

There should have been dust.

How are they not dead.

Dust looked slightly conflicted when you glanced up at him. “when you usually give the choking command, does the target usually die?” He asked, surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly) looking curious at the answer, interested by how you would respond.

[Always. Whether human or monster. Yet the monster didn’t die, didn’t dust.]

If the monster didn’t die to my command then why did they?

They should have survived.

Why is one dead but not the other.

“does it really bother you that much?”

You shot Dust with a glare, one emphasized with your dark circles, almost looking ready to kill him. He snickered at your look. “alright, alright, don’t look at me like that,” he said easily with a hint of amusement before quietly sitting next to you, a pondering look on his face. “.. y’know, magic typically forms with intent. you have to have the intent to use the magic and what you’re going to do with it for it to actually work. do you recall anything that was in your head when you made the choking command?” He asked, looking at you.

He sounded almost genuine in his questions, like he actually wanted to help you work through your thoughts.

At his question, you thought for a minute before firmly writing your answer. [Not a target.]

“anything else?”

Nightmare’s warning before the mission began flashed in your mind. [Nightmare’s order not to kill.]

Dust hummed quietly as he considered what you wrote. “that may have played a part. you were adamant on not killing the monsters. magic is typically emotion based, yours could just be tightly woven into your thoughts and emotions. as some type of mechanism or something,” Dust reasoned.

It.. made some sense once you thought about it. Thinking back to when it first manifested though, it just made you annoyed by the thought, a tsk escaping you.

You missed Dust’s questioning look at you before he spoke again, looking at the ground. “.. we can work on controlling your magic. who knows, maybe you can speak without the commands one day,” he offered, sounding slightly awkward.

You looked at him with slight surprise, feeling some amusement at the similarities of his offer to Nightmare’s question back in the office with Error. You watched how Dust’s head tilted slightly for a moment, as if listening to something before it straightened and he spoke again. “forgive me for asking, but how long have you been silent aside from commands?” He asked.

You looked at him, confusion flicking over your face before you wrote down your response and showing it to him. Was it really necessary for him to know? [5 years completely silent]

“completely completely?” He questioned. A look of annoyance crossed his skull at your nod. “damn, no wonder you cough after two words. alright, here’s what’s going to happen, you’re going to become friendly with horror,” he told you with a cheerful tone, though you could hear some sort of bite to it.

You raised a brow, staring at him in confusion. He wanted you to be friends with Horror? The one who kept glaring at you whenever you arrived to the kitchen during breakfast to get some coffee?

… Was that… such a good idea?

“i said what i said, c’mon, let’s go magpie,” Dust said at your look of confusion, standing up from the bed and looking at you with an expectant look. You just barely missed the subtle nod of his head before he straightened.

You looked at him with surprise on your face, writing down a quick question on the paper and showing it to Dust with furrowed brows.

“yep, right now. you’ve barely eaten during the mission and you missed dinner so you need something to eat anyway. i’m going to have horror make a routine for you,” he said, still with the expectant look, though he did sound amused by something.

Your face flattened as you glared at Dust. [routine?]

“your throat needs to heal if we even want to try to control your magic and get you speaking again.”

You frowned at him before setting your notebook aside, staring at him blankly before you reached up for him. Your hand clasped the collar of his hoodie before you pulled him closer to you, completely ignoring his surprise at your actions. “woah, wait, what are you-”

“Sleep.”

Dust jerked at your voice before he became limp, a muttered curse on his teeth as he fell on you.

.. Damn you forgot about that part.

You were now a pillow, wonderful. You shifted back slowly so your back was against the bed and you were no longer sitting. At least it was more comfortable now.

Hopefully when Dust woke up, he’d forget about trying to make a ‘routine’ for you. Whatever that meant.

Chapter Text

As Dust slept on you, you could hear something fill the air, filling your ears. You couldn’t tell what it was, where it was coming from, but it sounded soothing. Comforting.

It almost sounded like a cat’s purr, a low vibrating drumming.

Or maybe.. a heartbeat would be better to describe it.

It felt like it filled your entire being, covering any other sound like a white noise.

You could feel your eyes getting heavier and you glanced down at the skull on your chest before exhaling silently. Might as well try to get some sleep while you were trapped here.

It almost felt… peaceful.

…

A peace that quickly shattered when you sat up sharply with cold sweat down your neck. Your hand reached up to your neck, your fingers digging into your pulse point as you forced your breathing to calm.

You flinched at the feeling of a hand resting on your back and you sharply turned your head to glare at Dust, who was awake. Yet.. he wasn’t? He still appeared to be sleeping, though now he was next to you. After a moment of staring at him suspiciously (noting how his hands weren’t even touching you), you looked around the bed, realizing that you two weren’t near the foot of the bed anymore, You two had somehow shifted up to where your head could rest on a pillow.

Sincerely, how the fuck.

You sighed softly as you relaxed your hand to just be pressed against your pulse points instead of dug into. You could feel your heart rate slow slightly as you laid back down, turning away from Dust as you stared at the wall.

It was almost strange.

Strange how comfortable you felt despite your nerves.

You wondered if it was due to the vibrating sound you heard, which now that you thought of, seemed like it was coming from Dust. Can skeletons purr??

Just basing on the sound you were hearing, it was possible. It sounded like a mix of a purr and heartbeat though.

Was it the sound of their SOUL drumming in them?

If you remembered back, it sounded more accurate. Back when you were with your tortoise monster boss, there were some moments that you were close to him and could hear a heartbeat.

The beat you were listening to now was much louder, it sounded deeper, more vibrating than his did.

It was sound you closed your eyes to, falling back asleep quicker than normal. The sound that calmed your nerves.

You awoke with a groan, sitting up slowly, freezing as you felt a stare on you. You slowly turned and saw Dust staring at you with a glare. “that was a cheap trick magpie.”

You raised a brow at him, looking unimpressed as if you were trying to say ‘really?’. You gave him a brief shit-eating grin before it fell back into a frown as you yawned and rubbed the sleep from your eyes.

You heard Dust scoff before a hand was placed on your shoulder. “don’t forget our little plan.” You could hear the biting cheerfulness and it was the only warning you got before the two of you were gone from your room and in the kitchen in a blink of an eye.

You were startled slightly, blinking and looking around the kitchen, seeing Horror staring at you. It took you half a moment for your mind to catch up before you immediately moved, leaving the kitchen. You missed the mutter from Dust towards Horror as you ran from the kitchen, moving past Cross, who was standing outside a closed door and gave you a confused look.

You were forced to stop at the sudden appearance of Horror in front of you, skidding to a stop. The two of you shared a tense look, Cross looking at the two of you with confusion. After a few long seconds, you opened your mouth to speak before a boney hand covered it. “not so fast magpie, you’re just increasing the wait. it’s going to happen sooner or later. make it sooner,” Dust spoke in your ear, sounding unimpressed with you.

Killer poked his head out of the office door, having heard noises. “i thought i heard dusty! oh and sweet cheeks is here too!” He exclaimed cheerfully, coming out of the office to lean against the wall, watching everything.

You heard a groan from the office, assumedly coming from Nightmare. “killer, we were in the middle of talking.”

Dust spoke to you again, almost sounding impatient. “so? you going to comply or just stall again.”

You huffed, smacking his hand away from your mouth with a small shake of your head. Dust gave a grin. “good. however, i don’t trust you not to escape,” he said with a shrug before nodding at Horror.

You stared at him with narrowed eyes before hissing as you were picked up by Horror, being put over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. A bark of laughter was heard from Killer and you immediately flipped him off, glaring at Dust. Dust just shrugged at you before disappearing.

Horror didn’t disappear like you thought he would, instead just turning and walking towards the kitchen. You were shouting in your head as you were carried before you caught Cross’ eye-light. Your frown flattened as you quickly rose your hands and began signing, maintaining the eye contact with him as your signing got more aggressive, signing angrily at him.

Killer looked from your signs to Cross, looking curious and intrigued by what was going on. “what’re they sayin crossy?”

Cross hesitated, looking conflicted as the translations of your signs flicked through his mind. “i.. do not believe i can repeat half of it.”

Killer gave a snort at the response. “fair enough.”

Your signs became more explicit as you kept your eye contact with Cross’ eye-lights seeing how his cheekbones slowly become more red. Killer noticed this and grew a smirk. “you lookin a little red criss-cross~”

Cross looked conflicted, becoming red the more explicit and aggressive your signs got. “.. i don’t think you can put a cactus in that part of a skeleton-”

“WATCH ME.”

Killer smirked, having no context, but entirely intrigued by the conversation Cross was having with you. “you can put a cactus anywhere you want, sweet cheeks,” he offered smoothly, ignoring the look he got by Cross.

You moved one of your hands into one of the places you put your knives and immediately chucked it at Killer with a threatening glare, having heard his sigh. Unfortunately, Killer dodged it easily and just sighed again, sounding almost wistful before you and Horror disappeared into the kitchen, out of sight.

“he’s so pretty,” Killer sighed wistfully.

Cross leveled him with a look, frown almost ineffective as there were still remnants of red on his cheekbones, though it was slowly disappearing. “are you stupid or something?” He asked, majorly unimpressed.

“generally, yeah, why do you ask?”

Cross stared at him before sighing, rubbing at his nose bridge. “.. nightmare’s still in his office, and he was talking to you remember? better get back in there.”

“sure, sure, but what was sweet cheeks signing about? why was he being carried away by horror?” Killer asked, suddenly closer to Cross with a gleam of curiosity.

Cross frowned. “he got tricked by dust and has to do something. i don’t know what,” he explained shortly before shoving Killer back into Nightmare’s office. “in you go.”

“thank you cross. killer, let us continue.”

You frowned, glaring at Dust as Horror set you on a chair, Dust just smirking at you. “thanks for catching him horror. he probably would have tried to run again.”

Horror gave him a nod. “sure. … why exactly was i to catch him though?” He asked, looking confused.

You just stared at him. He didn’t even know why Dust was forcing you to be here??? That felt like such a strong relationship if Horror didn’t even question Dust honestly.

You ignored the bitter feeling that twinged in your chest.

You turned to look back at Dust with a flat look, raising a brow at him as you waited for him to explain. Dust huffed out an amused sound before beginning. “i was thinking you could give him a diet of some kind.”

You paused and frowned at him. A diet?? You ate enough, you didn’t need some diet.

You missed Horror’s calculating flick of his red eye-light at you before looking at Dust. “what kind of diet?” He sounded almost eager, content to comply with Dust’s request.

It was odd and slight uncomfortable.

“he needs drinks to soothe his throat. paps recommended honey tea.”

Your brows furrowed slightly at the new name (who was Paps?) but Horror didn’t even question it. “you gonna try to get him to talk more?”

Dust inclined his head, not surprised at how quickly Horror got the gist of it. “as well as controlling his magic,” he responded with a glance at you.

The response just made you look at the table with a grimace. It was an uncomfortable thing, the tick at your brain, the thought of controlling your magic, the thought of being able to speak normally.

It was bad tick.

It’s been ten years you know.

Since they died.

You’re ten years too late.

There’s no point in trying to control it.

No reason.

No point in speaking normally.

Not like you have reasons to speak to others normally.

All you know is how to kill others.

You looked down at your hand, completely missing the conversation between Dust and Horror, missing their looks.

Your fingers fidgeted slightly, the urge to grab a knife.

All you knew was how to destroy families.

All you knew…

All you’ve known is how-

You jolted harshly from your thoughts at the sound of a thud, a filled glass being placed on the table. You blinked slowly at it before looking up at Horror, who had placed it there.

He had an odd expression on his face, the same expression Dust currently had, you couldn’t tell what kind of expression was on their skulls, the meaning behind them. Horror looked down at you before nodding at the glass he just set in front of you. “drink.”

You stared at him for a minute before looking down at the glass, grabbing it slowly and looking into it, seeing it filled with something. You could detect a scent of honey, it smelled almost bitter. You glanced up at Dust with a questioning look. “it’s honey tea magpie. it’s good to drink,” he told you.

You silently sighed, looking back in the glass. You looked back up at Horror, who was still standing right next to you, staring at you, his eye-light trained on you, watching you. “drink it,” he repeated, a slow frown forming.

Your lips thinned before giving a short nod. You knew you couldn’t try to deny Horror this. Not when neither of them understood sign, and the fact that Horror apparently held no qualms to picking you up if you tried to escape. You hesitated for a minute before slowly drinking the tea, grimacing at the initial taste, finding it a bit bitter, though the honey did help the aftertaste.

As you drank the tea, you could see Horror slowly relax from the corner of your eye, finding it odd that he was apparently satisfied as you continued drinking it.

It took you a few minutes to finish the glass, having to take a few breaks for you to breathe and to summon up the will to continue drinking the tea. It was odd drinking something all in one go, you were used to just taking a few sips of something before a job and coming back to it later, a single drink taking a few hours to complete.

It was your normal.

This, what you were doing right now, wasn’t normal for you.

When you were finally finished with the tea, you set the glass down with a slight huff, feeling full from the drink, and almost hurting your stomach. Was this a sign you had poor food and drink habits? Probably, but it wasn’t that important. You knew how to get rid of nausea if it came to that.

Strangely, your throat felt, smoother in a way. It felt easier to swallow, not dry and harsh like it usually was. You were pleasantly surprise by that fact.

You looked up at Horror when you heard a satisfied hum from him, him having a pleased smile (Dust also had an approving look on his face). You tensed at seeing one of his hands raise, flinching slightly at the sudden hand on top of your head.

You can feel your mind blank as you stared up at Horror, just barely registering him ruffle your hair. “good,” he hummed out before removing his hand and moving towards Dust, his voice turning into a mutter as he exchanged words with the other skeleton.

You.. missed the feeling of his hand on your head?

Missed the warmth of gentle and kind contact.

Chapter Text

A schedule was formed without your permission.

Made effective by Dust and Horror.

Which you’ve been stalling as much as you could.

Causing them to sleep before fleeing from them.

You continued this for a few days before you were cornered by three skeletons.

You sent a glare to Dust, a bit offended that he got Killer to help him. “c’mon sweets, stop evading the inevitable,” Killer purred with a smug grin, your glare flicking over towards him.

“Why bother continue trying?” You signed with a frown.

“pie, you know we don’t know sign,” Dust remined, taking a step closer, one of his hands raised.

You made a crude gesture at him, ignoring the snickers coming from Killer. “that one we get!” He exclaimed cheerfully.

Dust sent Killer a look before huffing, looking back to you. “look, while i’m glad that you’re speakin to evade, you still need to drink the tea to make the words better,” he told you.

You paused at the beginning of his sentence, head tilting slightly in confusion.

He was…

Glad about your commands?

Even though you were annoying him due to it?

You at most only repeated the command once whenever you came across them, still unable to speak more than three words without minimal pain, so you mostly just hid from them after that.

You glared at the three of them, though it lessened slightly. You thought for a minute before huffing. You felt done with it honestly.

Just..

Exhausted.

Killer grinned at you and looped an arm with yours, ignoring your flinch and tensing. God, you hated it when Killer did that without warning. Dust nodded at you, glancing at Horror as Horror began walking to you.

You huffed out an unamused sound as you were lifted by your hoodie, dislodging Killer’s grip from you, which you were grateful for honestly. You were a bit more liking of Horror’s grip than Killer’s, Horror grabbed onto your clothing (excluding the head pat) while Killer made sure to make skin contact.

Horror carried you by your hood, almost like a cat would do to a kitten, Dust and Killer flanking the both of you. You knew you were frowning. It was early morning, Horror hadn’t even made breakfast yet.

You internally cringed at seeing Cross and Nightmare sitting in the kitchen. They were both nursing mugs, one of coffee and the other of tea. Nightmare looked at you with a calculating gaze, seeing how you were being carried and set into a chair, Killer sitting immediately next to you.

“good morning,” Nightmare greeted you after a moment.

You looked at him with a small frown before giving an incline of your head in an acknowledging nod.

You leaned back in your seat, not even bothering to try to escape, shutting your eyes as you thought. You could feel the looks towards you before they looked at Horror, who began cooking breakfast and making your tea.

You let your heartrate calm and senses expand, listening to Cross and Killer chat, Nightmare drinking his drink, while Horror and Dust spoke occasionally as Horror cooked.

It was almost domestic.

…

Where…

…

There.

The watching feeling was near Dust.

It wasn’t Dust, but it was near him.

… Ghost?

You couldn’t really deny that they exist when monsters do.

You were pretty sure one of your previous clients had been a ghost too. But they were usually more corporeal.

This.. watcher.. wasn’t. You couldn’t see them.

But you knew it was connected to Dust.

You broke out of your thoughts as a glass was placed in front of you, your eyes opening to see the tea placed in front of you. You looked up at Horror for a moment, his eye-light trained on you, as if expecting a fight, before you lowered your gaze and grabbed the drink, slowly sipping at it.

You missed the satisfied look on Horror’s face, though you stilled at the short pat on your head when you began drinking the tea. You didn’t retaliate towards the head pat, which may have been what the other skeletons were waiting for (minus Dust), based on the loud complaint made by Killer.

“awww, how come you get to pat him!” Killer complained before you felt a hand reaching out towards you.

You immediately grabbed one of your knives and spun it towards Killer, sending him a glare, pointing your knife at Killer’s advancing hand.

He pulled back with a pout on his skull. “how come you’re letting horror pet you?” He whined in question, going back to his plate of food that Horror had passed out.

You didn’t respond as you focused back on your tea, knife still out in warning.

Because frankly, you didn’t know.

It confused you as well.

“magpie.”

You looked up at Dust’s call with a confusion tilt of your head.

“you’re gonna need to talk more often that way the tea’s actually useful,” Dust said to you with a nod of the half empty cup of tea.

You looked down at it with a frown before looking up at Dust with a raised brow, looking unimpressed.

He.. was still aware that you could only speak in commands right?

“dust, he can’t talk you know,” Cross piped up, a confused look on his skull.

Dust sighed softly, about to correct himself before Nightmare spoke up. “no, he can talk, he can just only talk in commands.” He looked at Dust with an inquiring look. “you want him to speak past his command limit?” He asked, causing you to wince.

You could already feel the pain in your throat at that thought.

Unfortunately, Dust nodded his agreement. “his limit’s only three words right now, only because of how bad his throat’s gotten from years without speaking,” he explained. “with the tea to soothe his throat, he could increase that limit, but only if he actually exercised his throat more.” Dust looked towards you at the last part of his sentence, making sure you understood him.

You grimaced at his words, turning back to your cup of tea and opting to drink the rest of it to avoid looking at them, to avoid having to answer.

There was a thoughtful hum coming from Nightmare. “then we can actually communicate with sweets soon??” Killer asked, clearly excited at the prospect.

“not so fast killer,” Nightmare interrupted with a look at him. “he only speaks in commands.”

You set the empty cup on the table, standing up to walk out of the kitchen with a rigidness in your body. You didn’t want to be reminded of your faults, or of how much you’re disappointing.

Horror stopped you at the doorway, holding out a piece of toast. You blinked at it for a minute before slowly taking it with a minute nod, going around Horror and walking down the hallway to your room.

Horror watched you leave while Dust looked back at Nightmare. “he can only speak in commands, for now,” he corrected.

Nightmare looked slightly surprised and curious about Dust’s statement. “you have a plan?”

Dust nodded. “i think i do.”

Nightmare hummed lightly before finishing his breakfast. “take care to do well then.”

Killer perked up with a grin. “hey dusty, you mind if i help ya?”

“i do mind actually, don’t.”

“awww, but you got horror to help ya.”

“you forget that magpie isn’t comfortable around you. if you were around i highly doubt progress would be made,” Dust stated flatly.

Killer frowned, clearly knowing about much you disliked him. “fine,” he relented reluctantly.

“dust, provide me with reports on your progress.”

“yes nightmare.”

Chapter Text

Day 1

“he’s still reluctant to be put on the schedule of drinking some tea and eating three times a day. he’ll mostly evade the food but will drink the tea.”

“horror’s thoughts?”

“horror is.. persistent. he keeps a hand on magpie’s clothing whenever magpie gets a calculating look and appears to open his mouth.”

“not the words you’re wanting him to use them?”

“not quite.”

“i see. anything else?”

“no.”

Day 5

“c’mon, i nearly got sweet cheeks to speak to me!”

“hardly, you almost got a knife to your soul.”

“killer. why must you stir the pot.”

“i can be helpful boss!”

“we both know that he is not fond of you. you’ll only hinder his progress.”

“for the love of everything killer, don’t fuck this shit up.”

“yada yada yada, whatever you say dusty.”

“dust.”

“he’s stopped attempting to evade horror about meals. it’s reluctant, but he’ll at least eat a bite, though he clearly doesn’t like it.”

“looks like he’s not used to it, boss!”

“hm. you may be right, killer. any speaking progress, dust?”

“afraid not. he has started to teach horror and i sign with cross, however.”

“wait! why am i not included in this??”

“neither cross or magpie wanted to deal with you.”

“rude!”

Day 10

“… you felt it didn’t you?”

“i wish to hear it from your words dust.”

“… he lashed out.”

“and?”

“killer.. wasn’t expecting it?”

“inform killer we’ll have to increase his training.”

“alright.”

“anything else?”

“.. error was there.”

“how did the two interact?”

“i think.. magpie regarded him as an enemy. kept error away from horror.”

“in a haze wasn’t he?”

“yes. they fought, though error only used his strings.”

“i see.. carry on dust.”

Week 2

“we’re able to increase his word usage up to five words. seven if he’s pushing it.”

“all commands, i assume.”

“yes.”

“hmm. good.”

“you’re not.. disappointed?”

“no. if he’s been as silent as he’s been, i don’t expect him to suddenly increase his use of words immediately, even with the food and drink schedule horror has him on. especially when he’s conflicted about speaking to begin with.”

“i see. anything you would like us for us to do?”

“… start trying to teach him to try and control the commands. the intention of his words. even if it’s only one word, try to get him to do it without the magic.”

“alright nightmare.”

You still felt conflicted about everything.

The past two weeks were tiring. It was strange and weird having to drink tea everyday and more than one meal. Sometimes you couldn’t even do it, but you still forced yourself to drink the tea.

You weren’t stupid, you knew that your voice was essential to the skeletons. It was the only reason why they kept you and were putting this much work in you.

Dust sat across the couch from you (you could still feel that ghostly presence, if anything, you could feel it more strongly since the past weeks). You had your glass of tea in your hand, Horror having agreed to let you take it with you instead of staying in the kitchen until you drank it all. You still had half of it to finish.

It still felt weird to receive the head pats you got from Horror whenever you finished the tea or ate what he deemed enough.

You didn’t understand it.

You looked up at Dust after taking a sip of your tea, a raised brow on your face as you waited for him to speak.

“we’re going to try something a little different pie.”

You gave a slight nod, just wanting him to get it over with. It was strange to think you could speak more than three words now.

Can you really afford to though?

Who knows when you’re going to mess up again.

When you’re going to kill them too.

“you remember on our last raid when i told you that your magic quite strongly relied on your intentions?” You nodded, remembering quite well. “i thought we could mess with that.”

“How so?”

The boys (minus Killer, you weren’t sure about Nightmare) knew enough sign to not need Cross to translate unless you signed quickly. Or too long.

Dust gave a short hum. “you feeling up to speaking now?” He asked.

You hesitated before slowly nodding, looking down at the tea in your glass. You could.

Did you truly want to though?

“good. you remember nightmare’s order to not kill when we went on that raid?”

Your face soured slightly at the reminder.

“right. i want you to tell me to sleep, however-,” he stressed this when noticing you were opening your mouth to speak, “-with the intention of not making me sleep.”

Uhm.

“What.”

“you heard me.”

He…

Wanted you to contradict your mind?

Your nose wrinkled slightly, just the thought of it confused you.

He wanted you to make him sleep, yet not make him sleep.

That..

Hm.

Your brows furrowed, feeling a bit conflicted. You looked up at Dust with a frown.

“alright, i can tell you’re starting to overthink it. here, just tell me to sleep while thinking that you don’t want me to sleep.”

You already knew it wasn’t going to work.

“Sleep.” You stated, watching with a flat look as Dust dropped face forward onto the couch, almost catching your leg.

You were not surprised, and you were quite unimpressed.

But, you weren’t going to take away the obviously presented break before you. You turned your head as you slowly began to drink the rest of your tea, making no motion or sound to wake Dust back up.

Chapter Text

You continued this type of training with Dust for the next week, not having much progress. It was always the same practice exercise he wanted you to do.

Command him to sleep while having the intent of not letting him sleep.

The complete contradiction of the two statements just completely confused you, and you already knew it wouldn’t work.

But..

It worked on that fish monster didn’t it?

Why would it work then, but not now?

…

The thoughts and fails of the exercise made you feel worse.

You knew you had to get better, had to get useful as to be an asset. It’s not like you could just go to your previous job after all of this. You’d probably just be left with worse feelings honestly.

You’d go back to not speaking unless it was for a job.

But the exercise Dust wanted you to complete?

It was always failing.

You were failing.

You weren’t being useful.

You were just…

Go on. Pretend like you can be useful to these skeletons. Pretend that you’re not as useless as you seem. Like you can’t control your magic, something you’ve had since you were a child.

Something you desperately tried to stop using because of how useless you were.

How idiotic you were.

How you didn’t mind your words.

And killed the only people who could have helped you.

Who could have cared for you.

Who would have loved you.

Yet, they’re gone because of you.

…

The skeletons were kind to you, for some reason. Dust kept helping, even though you knew your lack of progress annoyed him. You knew it frustrated him.

You knew it frustrated Nightmare, the one who saw a use in you. The only reason you were here was because of him.

You needed to step up and actually make an effort to speak.

You needed to get this right.

“we’re going to try something different today pie,” Dust said as a greeting. He was in Magpie’s room, a slight change in location, but needed nonetheless.

Dust could see Magpie’s exhaustion on his face. The human was worn out and frustrated with himself. The past few weeks of working with him, training him, has taught Dust about Pie’s different tells, the different micro-expressions that he would make for a new feeling, yet never fully expressing himself.

BROTHER, MAGPIE LOOKS LIKE HE HASN’T SLEPT. Papy pointed out with a concerned looking expression on his skull. His red gloves wringed with each other, clearly worried about the human that he’s grown fond of.

Dust mentally agreed with his brother. He can clearly see it, yet it looked almost worse than usual. Magpie almost looked like he did when he was in a haze, which was both uncommon yet common (Magpie rarely left his room during a haze unless needed, the skeletons rarely actually saw him, only Papy saw him most of the time. They were quite common according to him, the time it took to get out of one fluctuated). The circles under his eyes were dark and Papy informed him of a flicker of red under his eyes, a sign of crying. There were red marks around his neck, self inflicted, scratching. It always pained Papy whenever he saw Magpie go through his panic, how harsh he was with himself to get out of it.

However, it was clear he was coherent.

Pie’s eyes were trained on Dust before they flicked down to the drink that the skeleton was holding. In a slightly surprising move, the human got out of his bed, walking towards Dust and taking the glass from him with a short nod, turning away and walking back to the bed. He sat on the edge, slightly leaning against one of the bed posts, looking at Dust as he drank his drink.

Dust knew that Horror would definitely be pleased about Magpie’s receptiveness towards the tea, knowing how displeased he was whenever the human showed reluctance towards it. It was good progress on that front, though there were still some issues with the food, from what Dust heard from Horror.

“Try what?” Magpie signed with his hand, other hand holding the cup of tea.

Papy had already floated near Magpie, resting just behind his shoulder, worried gaze completely on Pie’s face. There was a minute twitch in the corner of the human’s mouth that Dust took note of.

Sometimes it almost felt like Magpie could see, or rather, sense his brother.

It almost gave him a hidden hope that someone other than him could see Papy.

Dust shook himself of his thoughts and gave a short sigh, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed across from Magpie, making sure not to be too close. A slight grimace appeared on his skull before he began to speak. “i’m not completely sure how to explain, but think of it as more of a demonstrative practice.” He hesitated briefly before continuing. “you understand how magic is all about the intention of the outcome, right? well, regardless if it’s being actively used, there’s still circulation of magic in one’s body, typically where it’s generally used that way it’s easier for it to happen.”

Dust could see something of recognition appear in Magpie’s eyes as he rested his cup down in his lap to sign with both hands. “You want to see my circulation of magic?” He asked as, unknown to him, Papy flew down to the cup in his lap and peered in it.

After a moment, Papyrus looked up at him with an accusing expression. BROTHER, THIS IS NOT HONEY TEA.

‘yeah, it’s peppermint.’ Dust gave a slow nod to Magpie’s question. “more or less, but..” he hesitated, a frown on his face. He wasn’t an expert in doing this, nor did he very much like to do it. But if he could see the problem, then he could help better.

He hoped this wouldn’t cause one of his LV attacks.

WHERE IS THE HONEY TEA? Papyrus asked with a frown.

“i’ll be using my own magic to feel for it, see the roots, see how it moves with my own magic, possibly adjusting it,” Dust finished. ‘we don’t have an infinite supply of honey tea bro,’ the skeleton thought to his brother.

There was a small frown on Magpie’s face, though Dust knew it wasn’t a disagreeing one, rather just a contemplative one. Thinking over Dust’s words.

“I’ll be feeling your magic then?” He asked before grabbing his cup to take a sip of the liquid.

Dust nodded. “yeah, you’ll feel mine with your own.”

Magpie paused for a moment, brief confliction on his face. “Is it normal to feel your magic?” He asked.

After Dust nodded again, Magpie frowned. Above him, Papyrus fretted, his red gloved hands hovering over the human’s shoulders. BROTHER, DO YOU THINK THAT MAGPIE CAN’T.. FEEL HIS MAGIC?

His brother’s question startled him.

He..

He had never considered that.

“hey, pie, can you feel your magic?”

There was a hesitant shake of Pie’s head and Dust mentally cursed, causing his brother to scold him. “okay, slight change to that then.” Magpie looked up at him, and both skeletons could see the veil of curiosity covering the irritation. Somehow though, they both knew that it wasn’t aimed at Dust. “so, you’ll be feeling my magic in your body. i’m going to use to and trace along where your own magic circulation is, you understand where i’m going with this?”

“So I can feel where my magic resides?”

“yep. hopefully, this will help you feel your own magic without my help.” A sudden thought came to Dust, causing him to frown briefly. His brother voiced out his own thought, the ghostly skeleton curious himself.

YOU REALLY THINK HIS CIRCULATION IS TANGLED?

‘it’s a possibility.’

Dust looked up at Magpie before holding out a hand and resting it on his knee. He knew that the other wasn’t too fond of physical contact (or was he just afraid of it?), interactions between Magpie and Killer had shown him that. However, he wasn’t that disagreeable with it whenever he noticed it was coming, or there was a fabric barrier to it. “i’ll be needing a hand,” he commented when Magpie made no move.

Course, he didn’t absolutely need a hand, however it was much easier to do with contact, though it didn’t need to be skin contact. Luckily for Pie, Dust wore gloves.

Dust in joints was a bitch to get out.

Pie looked conflicted for a moment before resting his empty hand in Dust’s waiting one. The other held onto the glass, periodically taking sips from the drink.

“good. i’m going to ask you to close your eyes. nothing bad will happen if you don’t, but it’s much easier to concentrate with them closed. my own eyes will be closed as well. i’ll begin when you’re ready.”

Of course, he had his brother to tell him if there were any intruders or anything happening.

Magpie stared at him for a minute before slowly nodding and closing his eyes, his head dropping slightly. Dust gave a minute nod to Papyrus before shutting his eyes as well and beginning to gather his magic. “i’ll begin now.”

Holding Dust’s hand almost felt weird.

It wasn’t constricting or uncomfortable, yet there was still a line of discomfort coming from both of you. Dust’s grip on your hand tightened slightly before you began to feel something almost malicious under your skin.

Your own hand tightened onto Dust’s in return, a slight hiss of discomfort escaping you. The malicious feeling continued to travel through your body, not particularly resting anywhere yet. It wasn’t light and comforting, it was almost forceful and heavy.

It almost felt like a warning.

You forced your body to get used to the feeling, the feeling of Dust’s magic, no matter how intrusive it felt.

Was this how all magic felt like?

Your grip on your cup of tea (it was peppermint today) tightened as you felt the heavy feeling gather and rest in your throat.

The feeling made you want to choke, and it almost seemed to make the scratch marks littering your neck flare up in pain. You could almost see red in your mind as you tried to calm down your fight instinct, to get away from the offending magic, to subdue it.

You flinched slightly at the feeling of your hair being ruffled by something light. You were unable to determine if it was your own mind or something else, but you were almost sure you could hear something like a whispered reassurance. Almost like it was an assurance that you were alright. That you weren’t being attacked.

You felt Dust’s magic leave your throat, yet you could still feel something remain. The remaining feeling wasn’t as malicious, but it felt almost familiar.

Was this what Dust meant by feeling your own magic?

A light groan left you as you could feel his magic migrate up to your head. It felt so heavy, you just wanted to let go of everything you were holding on to and just grab your head.

Strangely, the whispered assurances seemed clearer the longer Dust’s magic stayed in your head. You didn’t know why Dust was taking so long, but it felt like he was doing something important.

The more Dust’s magic lingered in your head, the longer it hurt and the louder you could hear the assurances.

IT IS ALRIGHT, MAGPIE, MY BROTHER IS SIMPLY UNRAVELING YOUR CIRCULATION, IT IS ALRIGHT.

You heard the strange reassurances repeat, the gentle ruffling of your hair continuing as the whispers spoke. It was strange, the voice was unfamiliar, yet there hadn’t been anybody else in the room with you and Dust.

Well, besides the presence that always followed Dust, the one that was sometimes near you.

Okay, not sometimes, it was near you a lot.

Now that the whispers had said something, you felt like you could feel something unraveling underneath Dust’s magic. Was that.. was that what he was doing with your throat as well?

Why did it feel stranger near your head?

How did magical circulation even require the need to get ‘unraveled’?

An exhale of relief shortly left you when you finally felt Dust’s magic leave your head. You felt it travel down, almost like it was going along with your bloodstream, your muscles, bones, your entire being.

You felt the heavy presence rest at your hands for a moment before going back to your throat, resting there for a moment before you finally felt it leave through the hand that was in Dust’s.

You slowly opened your eyes, knowing he was finished. You couldn’t feel his magic in you anymore. “feel anything?” Dust asked, voice almost soft, yet definitely tired.

Despite hating how Dust’s magic felt, how malicious it felt, you almost missed the feeling of it. However, now that it was gone, you felt some other magic in you. You gently took your hand from Dust’s grip, curling your fingers into a fist a few times, gaze down at your hand. You could feel your own magic.

It felt so.. familiar.

Familia.

Is this.. what your family’s magic felt like?

It felt almost comforting, like you were coming back home to your mother’s embrace.

You looked up at Dust before giving a slow nod, hand clenching into a fist. Dust looked satisfied by your response before giving a returning nod. You noticed how he looked strained. Was the process of using his magic to feel for yours truly that tiring?

THAT IS WONDERFUL NEWS, ISN’T IT BROTHER? The same whispered reassurances that you heard were no longer directed at you, and they were most certainly no longer whispered, the voice much louder (yet they still almost sounded airy).

The suddenness of it had caused you to tense slightly and you took your remaining sip of tea as if to hide your expression. You lifted your head while you drank, draining the remains of the tea as you glanced at the direction that you heard the voice come from out of the corner of your eyes.

The direction where you felt the ghostly presence.

You blinked once at what you saw staring back at you, your now empty cup resting in your lap.

You heard a sharp inhale come from Dust, and you ignored the urge to look back at him, only staring in front of you, examining what you saw.

“.. magpie?” Dust hesitantly asked. You could hear so much conflicting feelings come from the word.

The expression on the floating skull in front of you flickered between concerned and almost hopeful. The fidgeting of red gloves as the hands seemed to adjust the red scarf floating around the head gave you a sense of tension.

… Magpie..? The ghost seemed to ask, voice quieter than you had heard before.

You turned your head to look back at Dust, seeing the glow of his cyan and red eye-lights from under his hood, an almost agape expression on his skull.

“Who’s the ghost?” You signed questioningly, feeling a bit startled to hear a choked sob behind you.

Dust was similar, just staring at you, looking almost caught off guard. He was silent for the longest time, yet you never pushed him, keeping your hands still, just feeling the flow of your own magic exist in you as you waited.

“… my brother.”

Chapter Text

Papyrus, or Phantom as he offered for you to call him, was chatty.

Very chatty.

And it was quite, very easier to command, you found out.

Your fingers flexed into a fist briefly before you rested your hand on your neck, right where the scratch marks laid. “Heal,” you spoke softly, feeling the flow of your magic go to your neck, feeling it fill until it dispersed and you lowered your hand.

Dust looked curious. “so you can heal injuries then?”

Phantom clapped his gloved hands almost excitedly. OH, YOU CAN HEAL, THAT’S WONDERFUL MAGPIE! I WAS SO WORRIED YOU’D FORGET ABOUT YOUR NECK.

You gave Phantom a brief glance, feeling a bit offput by his concern, before looking at the living skeleton (heh ‘living’ skeleton). You gave a nod. “I can’t bring back the dead though,” you signed.

Injuries, injuries you could heal, those were easy.

To be honest, you had almost forgotten you could though, it’s been awhile since you’ve needed to heal something.

Dust gave a thoughtful hum, though you could see his skull turn into a brief grimace. “Headache?” You asked, eyes flicking from his expression to his body language.

Seems like the ordeal bothered him more than he mentioned.

Dust didn’t respond, looking away with a frown. Phantom tsked, grabbing your attention. MY BROTHER ISN’T SITUATED FOR MAGIC CONTACT LIKE THAT, IT DRAINED HIM MORE THAN USUAL MAGIC DOES. The ghost sounded almost scolding of Dust’s behavior, which admittedly, amused you a bit.

You found yourself wondering how many times Dust had to listen to a scolding from the ghost of his brother. You thought briefly before giving a short sigh, looking down at your hand, clenching it for a moment before you relaxed it. You looked back up at Dust with an almost cautious expression. “Can I try something?” You signed slowly, still hesitant on your own thought process before telling yourself that you wanted to try.

It wouldn’t hurt to try.

Dust had a frown on his face, gaze directed at Phantom in a glare before it turned towards you with a shrug. “why not.”

You gave a minute nod before reaching out with the same hand slowly. You watched Dust’s eye-lights follow your approaching hand before you caused it to pause and retreat, shaking your head. “Sorry,” you signed an apology with a slight grimace.

“what were you going to do?” Dust asked slowly, not at all like the response you were expecting. He sounded curious.

“Was going to rest my hand on your head.” You explained slowly. “Like how I rested my hand on my neck and healed it,” you added quickly after seeing his unimpressed look.

Phantom’s voice next to your ear startled you. COULD YOU FEEL YOUR MAGIC CIRCULATION TO YOUR HANDS MAGPIE? WERE YOU GOING TO HELP MY BROTHER WITH HIS HEADACHE? He asked eagerly.

You looked from Phantom to Dust before going back to Phantom with a nod. “I was going to try at least.”

A short sigh left Dust. “you can try,” he agreed, nodding towards your hand.

You blinked, slightly surprised (Dust had struck you as the kind that detested skin contact, even with warning) before nodding and reaching your hand out again. It approached as slowly, however it didn’t pause, resting gently against the smooth bone above his eye sockets.

The bone was a weird feeling, smooth yet also almost feeling like sandpaper.

It wasn’t a bad texture though.

You began to subtly push Dust back with the hand above his eye sockets, your command coming out softly. “Soothe.” It amazed you how you could now feel your magic leaving yourself and going to Dust. Before Dust could say anything, you released another command. “Sleep.” With the way your hand was gently pushing against him, Dust dropped back instead of forward, back on the bed, asleep.

Even Phantom remained quiet as you silently stood up from the bed and exited the room, making sure to the close the door in a way that wouldn’t cause it to creak.

Phantom remained silent until the two of you were nearing the kitchen, away from your room.

You looked up at the following skull before he noticed your gaze, tilting his head curiously. “How is it that I can see you now?” You asked, feeling like you knew the answer, though you wanted to be sure.

You could see some contemplation on Phantom’s skull before he responded, looking cheerful. I BELIEVE IT HAS TO DO WITH HOW MY BROTHER’S MAGIC WAS IN YOUR HEAD WHEN HE WAS FIXING YOUR CIRCULATION.

You nodded, both in acknowledgement and slight agreement. Yeah, that was pretty much what you thought anyway. You looked back up at Phantom curiously. “So my commands don’t work on you.” There wasn’t really a point in mentioning it, but you found it interesting.

Surprisingly though, Phantom shook his head. THERE IS THE URGE TO FOLLOW ONE OF YOUR COMMANDS, HOWEVER, I CAN IGNORE THAT URGE.

Interesting.

You peaked around cautiously into the kitchen before wincing slightly at seeing Horror in the kitchen.

You weren’t trying to… avoid Horror, but it felt slightly awkward to you. You felt like you did something strange towards him recently, but you weren’t sure what.

(You hardly remembered what you did whenever you were in a ‘haze’. Nor did anybody tell you what they saw of you. You didn’t know that you had attacked Error, seemingly protecting Horror from the glitchy skeleton.

You weren’t seeing Horror in your mind during that time. You didn’t know that you were protecting Horror. You thought you were protecting your childhood friend, one you considered your sibling, from someone you didn’t recognize. From someone who posed a threat to them, disregarding if they were a threat towards you as well.)

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on the perspective, Horror had caught sight of you and appeared to brighten at your appearance. “pie,” he greeted you.

It confused you a bit how the skeletons all (minus Killer) started to call you ‘Magpie’ or ‘Pie’ but hey, it was something.

It was better than ‘sweet cheeks’ at least.

You gave him a nod back in greeting, a frown twitching on your face as you saw Phantom make gestures to usher you into the kitchen. You reluctantly walked into the kitchen, the larger skeleton looking pleased by it.

You looked at the counter, seeing what he was doing and seeing the makings of a sandwich on the counter. Somehow, that surprised you more than it should. Horror noticed your gaze and looked back at you. “want one?” He asked.

You didn’t.

You weren’t hungry.

Were you?

A grumble from your stomach answered for you, though you remained hesitant. Horror was already making motions to make another sandwich while you stared down. Phantom’s skull was right in front of your stomach, staring at it with an intensity.

MAGPIE, WHEN DID YOU EAT A BEAST.

A soft, slightly amused huff left you at the question, causing Horror to look back at you before you signed an agreement to him. “Alright.”

You saw a surprised expression inch on Horror’s skull before it settled into pleased and he focused back onto the sandwich he was making. You made your way to the table and sat down in one of the chairs, hands in your lap as you signed a response to the question. “Not a beast, the noise means I’m hungry.”

Phantom made an awed kind of sound and you nodded your thanks to Horror when he set the plate of food in front of you.

Were you actually hungry?

When was the last time you ate anyway?

When was the last time you actually enjoyed a meal?

You didn’t realize you were just staring out into space until a tap disrupted your thoughts, causing you to look up. Horror was sitting in the seat adjacent to yours, his skull leaning on one of his hands while the other was on the table, his index finger making slow taps on the table. His red eye-light was trained on you, as it tended to be when you were there for food or tea.

Watching.

Waiting for you to eat.

“don’t need to finish it,” he reminded you softly, causing a slight jerk from you.

Right, he tended to say that whenever you looked reluctant to eat something, always feeling like you had to eat the whole thing or it would be a waste. Of course, he always insisted you drank the tea since it helped with your throat, but with food he was a little less persistent on.

That’s not to say he wasn’t persistent, he just went a little easier on you towards food. Maybe he knew how you weren’t used to it, having usually forgotten to eat in the past, always just grabbing something small for the day.

Maybe he knew how you needed to adjust to the increase of nutrients.

You began to slowly eat at his reminder, hearing how his tapping slowed, a sign that he was growing satisfied. You continued to eat in the silence, feeling your stomach begin to protest slightly when you finished half of it.

Would it..

Would it really hurt you if you forced yourself to finish it?

You haven’t completely finished a meal since you got here, only sticking to what felt comfortable before your stomach began to protest. But, wouldn’t it be a good thing if you got yourself to finish the meal?

It was only a sandwich, it wasn’t anything to terribly heavy. With the increase of food intake, you should be able to handle this, shouldn’t you?

You could feel Phantom’s look on you as you slowed down eating in your thinking before you slowly began to finish the rest of the sandwich, feeling your stomach lurch slightly, as if confused by the increased food.

You continued to eat the rest of the sandwich, forcing yourself to not gag as the chewing began to feel almost like a chore. It was a good sandwich, you wouldn’t want to waste it, especially not since you convinced yourself to eat the rest.

Your actions seemed to have made Horror happy as well, his tapping completely stopped as he watched you finish the food. Your gaze went to him when you heard him stand up as you took your last bite, fighting a grimace off your face as you swallowed the bite.

That was.. a bit harder than it probably should have been.

You gave a quick signed thanks to Horror when he handed you a cup of water, you taking slow sips to clear your throat and not choke. It was thoughtful.

“good?” Horror asked, which seemed a bit random to you.

You nodded in response as Horror took your empty (empty!) plate and set it in the sink.

The sandwich was good. Horror’s cooking always was, no matter how small of a portion you took.

You wondered if he was asking if you were good eating that much. It was more than you usually ate for a single meal. The answer was still yes though, for now at least.

It was just a slight increase of food in one sitting, how bad could your stomach possibly protest?

Chapter Text

Actually turned out, your stomach protested badly. It gave you false hope.

Complete betrayal.

When you retired back to your room for the night (Dust was already gone unsurprisingly), it was all fine, you laid in the bed, ready to get some unrestful sleep.

A few hours later, you had a pounding headache, your throat closing, and the need to expel your stomach.

God fuck, you should not be feeling like this from a simple full meal in one sitting. Course, you had taken something small later that day, before you retired, but still.

Expelling the food you previously ate that day hurt, bile burning your throat when your stomach wanted to continue to hurl yet couldn’t bring up anything. It was disgusting.

You flushed the toilet, not wanting to see the upchucked food and leaned against the bath, your cheek resting against the cool surface as you took a minute to breathe. The cool temperature helped slightly with the pounding in your head, though it was only a brief relief.

Why the hell was your head hurting as well?? It shouldn’t be doing that when it was only your stomach that was upset.

Your mind went to Phantom’s explanation about how you were able to see him now due to how Dust’s magic messed with your head. How Dust looked drained after doing it.

If anything, you’d have to guess that there were still some residue of Dust’s magic in your head (it had rested there for a longer time than the other times), and because it wasn’t your own magic, it was flaring up.

Trying to escape.

God, did it have to be this painful during it?

A pained groan left you as your stomach lurched again and you were forced to dry heave into the toilet. You cursed in your head, for crying out loud, it was only a sandwich.

Your stomach really didn’t need to make a fuss over something as small as that!

This is what you got for not eating regularly in years, idiot.

Okay, that may be true.

You flushed the toilet before remaining motionless for a moment, trying to help your stomach calm down for a minute. God, dry heaving hurt, it was so much worse than vomiting.

When you felt like your stomach settled for a moment, you forced yourself to stand up, the movement causing a painful throb in your head.

Fuck.

Fuck, that fucking hurt-

You stayed standing still for a minute, hands clutching at your head, trying to stop the throbbing so you could actually focus. You just wanted to get the taste of bile out of your mouth, jesus.

It took a few minutes, but when you felt like you could finally move without additional pain, or with interruptions from your stomach, you began to slowly brush your teeth, keeping your eyes down. You didn’t want to see how terrible you looked, knowing that you would look worse than usual. Your face was probably pale and clammy, dark circles under your eyes, almost looking like a corpse.

The brief thought made you snicker before you coughed, spitting out the toothpaste so you wouldn’t accidently swallow or choke on it.

You rinsed your mouth before brushing your teeth again, doing it a few more times before you felt a bit more satisfied.

Once you were finished, you slowly left the bathroom and went back on your bed, trying to avoid any movements that could cause you to hurl again. You made sure to grab the small trashcan on your way out, setting it beside your bed as you settled back into it, resting on your side, providing easy access so you wouldn’t need to rush to the bathroom.

You didn’t know what time it was, nor did you really care at the moment.

You just wanted everything to stop.

You thought you heard Phantom’s voice through your painfilled mind but there wasn’t any additional noise aside from the occasional gurgles of your stomach and the pounding in your head.

You felt even more exhausted than you usually did.

How pathetic to be so weak.

Your sleep felt disrupted, but it was gentle.

Your sight was bleary, eyes barely opened as you turned your head to gaze at the interrupting offender with a questioning grumble.

You felt no recognition in your mind, though there was an interesting red glow to them somewhere. You felt no recognition in your mind but your soul flickered with familiarity.

It was someone you knew then. Someone who was safe?

A cool touch brushed against your cheek and a sigh of relief left you, your head shifting to nuzzle against it before you hissed quietly at the reminded throb in your head.

The painful throb was persistent.

The cool contact against your cheek didn’t move and you felt a less cool, slightly damp touch make contact with your forehead, giving soft pressure against your headache. Wait, would it be a migraine now?

Did it matter?

It hurt, that’s all that mattered.

The cool touch (bones) stayed against your cheek and you began to feel something gently caress your cheek.

It felt comforting.

… Yeah.

Whoever this was..

They were safe.

Horror gazed down at Magpie, his hand resting at the human’s cheek, a cold compress against his forehead. He had gone completely slack, just barely nuzzling against the hand that the skeleton kept pressed against his cheek.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he had been expecting when he got asked to check up on the human by Dust, but sick and a bit out of it wasn’t exactly that.

He would’ve asked Dust why he wouldn’t do it himself, but he saw how Dust looked. The clear restraint and fluctuation of his eye-lights, looking a bit paranoid and ready to strike. He was surprised he wasn’t attacked the moment Dust saw him.

But he did understand why Dust couldn’t check on Magpie himself.

Not like he could when he was in this state.

Horror had suggested Nightmare to Dust before heading towards Pie’s room. He had let himself in when there hadn’t been a response, only to see the human sleeping, positioned close to the bed. He had looked to be in a deep sleep, though his breathing seemed a bit labored.

Horror barely had to touch him to feel the heat that was radiating off of Magpie, leaving his room to grab what was needed, returning with a cold compress, some cool water, and monster candy.

When he had returned though, Magpie had noticed, gazing up at him with hazy, half opened eyes. He saw no clarity, no usual alertness in his tired eyes. Magpie’s eyes didn’t track the movement of Horror’s hand like they usually would, no movement being made when Horror gingerly pressed the back of his hand to the human’s cheek. No movement aside from leaning into the touch.

It made Horror remember the heat that was radiating off of the sick human and quickly adjusted the cold compress onto his forehead, the slight crinkle between his eyebrows going away at the relief.

Horror had been concerned (yet also pleased, proud?) when Magpie ate the full sandwich. It was out of his character, something he hasn’t done in the weeks he’s been with them. But he finally did, despite how it clearly hurt to do.

He hadn’t expected that to turn him into this though. Horror had noticed the trashcan, Magpie clearly threw up earlier if he thought to put something next to his bed. In his thinking, he didn’t notice how Magpie had dozed back to sleep, cheek still against his hand, until he looked back at the human, a small frown on his face. After a moment, he adjusted his hand to where he was cupping Pie’s cheek, thumb resting on the pale skin there before his thumb moved in a comforting movement against his skin.

It proved a positive reaction from Magpie, the sick human resting against his hand with a low hum. It was strange to directly touch Magpie, always just going for his clothing since he had seen his reaction towards Killer’s advancements.

Though, to be fair, Killer could be a bit…

Much when it came to touch.

So, he couldn’t fault Magpie for dodging away from it.

The large skeleton looked down at Magpie when he felt a brief movement against his hand. He prepared himself to grab something in case Pie needed something, or needed to get up to hurl.

He was startled to hear a murmur come from the sick, dozing human. “Sa… fe..”

It didn’t.. sound like anything that could be commanded. He thought he could hear the magic in the word, but the magic had quickly died out in the middle of the word.

did he actually speak his first word without a command?

why?

how?

what caused it?

what did the comment mean?

he was… safe?

who? magpie or himself?

did…

..

did magpie feel safe with him?

You woke up in a rush, nearly crashing onto the floor in your hurry to expel the bile resting in your throat. You were lucky you had half a mind to put a trashcan by the bed.

Saved you from rushing to the bathroom.

God you hated throwing up, it hurt your throat and felt too hot.

You sat on the floor, a hand to your stomach, the other to your throat as you leaned against the bed, feeling the almost angry rumbling in your stomach.

What's with this, it caused you to hurl stomach acid yet it's also being angry you haven't eaten?

The fuck kinda bullshit is that??

A light pained groan left you as you pressed your head against the side of the mattress, trying to alleviate the pressure that had hardly diminished in your head.

You weren't sure how long you stayed in that position, but your mouth felt gross, the smell of the bile in the trashcan was horrible. A creak behind you cut through your heavy mind and you forced yourself to lift your head to look in the direction of it.

A large mass filled your sight and it took you a moment for the recognition of the skeleton to be brought to your mind. You mouthed the name of the skeleton, seeing him look down at you with a resemblance of a nod. "soup?" He asked, seeming to know to keep his voice low.

Though, Horror's voice was always low.

Now that he asked, you noticed the bowl that he was holding in his hand, staring at it for a minute, the question circling your mind. Though that just seemed to make your mind hurt more.

Finally, after what felt like forever to you, you gave a brief incline of a nod to Horror's question, mouth thinning into a tight frown at the throb of your head. You stayed still for a minute before realizing that you should probably move so you could properly take the soup. You turned your body away from facing the trashcan, your body still leaning against the bed as you looked up at Horror with a hand outstretched for the bowl.

Horror seemed to stare at you for a moment before he kneeled down to comfortably hand you the bowl of soup, making sure that you were holding it securely. You could still tell his hands were prepared to catch the bowl if you dropped it. You looked down at the soup, relishing the warmth that was radiating from the bowl, warming your hands. You couldn't quite tell what kind of soup it was but it smelled good.

"chicken noodle."

You looked up at Horror with a questioning sound.

Horror's eye-light moved to the bowl of soup you were holding then back to you. "the soup. it's chicken noodle," he clarified.

"Oh." You didn't see Horror's reaction to your word (you didn't even register that you had spoken), taking a sip of the soup, your shoulders slacking a bit at the sheer relief you felt. It was good.

The liquid was warm throughout your throat. It was a different warmth from the bile that was previously in your throat, a soothing feeling rather than harsh and painful. Yet also different than the soothing feeling you tended to feel whenever you drank the tea that Horror provided.

The soup seemed to provide more relief.

"feeling better?" Horror asked as you were mindlessly chewing on a noodle.

Did you? No. Your head still hurt terribly. Your stomach felt a little better though. Just barely.

The soup felt nice on your stomach. So maybe you did?

You couldn't give a response to Horror, who thankfully didn't push.

The two of you sat in silence for a while, you just drinking your soup slowly, feeling it soothe your stomach, which was a bit ruined by your headache to be honest.

A gentle tap on your knee brought your attention to the silent skeleton in front of you. You only realized after a moment of maintaining eye contact with his eye-light that your bowl was empty aside from some carrot cubes. You stared down at your empty bowl with a slow blink as if trying to comprehend that it was empty.

Had you actually ate the entirety of the soup?

When?

How long were you sitting there eating it?

You blinked down at your empty hands before looking up to see it in Horror's hand. Huh. When had he grabbed it?

You looked up at his face in question, fingers flexing idly now that you registered you weren't holding the bowl anymore.

"gonna wash?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head towards the door to the bathroom.

You looked from his skull to the closed bathroom door. You couldn't remember closing it but you supposed it didn't really matter.

Did you really need to?

Did you want to?

...

.. Yeah, you did, you felt a bit gross.

You sent a glance to the trashcan that had stomach acid in it. You needed to replace that too, though you didn't really see a point to it if you were just going to hurl again.

Horror must have seen some kind of answer in your expression before he got up from the floor, your bowl in his hand. You watched him move as he set the bowl on the dresser before heading towards the bathroom. "stay here," he said before entering the bathroom.

... Where exactly would you go??

Not like you really wanted to move anyway. You stayed leaning against the bed, head resting against the mattress, trying to ignore the throbbing in your head.

A plus, the throbbing seemed to dull a little. A negative, it made the throbbing more persistent.

..

At least you only needed to focus to ignore the pain in your head and not the churning of your stomach anymore. The soup seemed to settle well in your stomach, thank god.

Your eyes shut as you waited for Horror to be done with whatever he was doing. Feeling the consistent ache of your head with a quiet groan.

So weak.

It's just a headache.

Why are you making such a big deal out of it?

A creak of a door caused you to open your eyes and you felt like you could smell the scent of steam. Had Horror started a bath for you?

.. You hadn't realized all the rooms in the castle was soundproofed.

A hand to your shoulder alerted you to Horror's presence and you let him help you stand up, partially leaning against him as you walked to the bathroom. Yeah, that was definitely steam.

The hands that were keeping you steady as you walked left you once you were in the bathroom. "i'll bring you a change of clothes," he seemed to promise you before shutting the door behind him as he left you alone.

It took you a minute for you to register before you shook your head a little (bad idea, it seemed to rattle your head) and undressed, cringing a little at the faint feeling of sweat clinging to the clothing.

You slowly sank into the warm water, a slow exhale leaving you as you felt the warmth against your skin. Different than the soup but almost just as soothing.

It felt nice against your tense body, soaking your skin. You could almost fool yourself that it was soothing your headache.

Almost.

It was nice though.

You couldn't remember the last time you enjoyed a bath like this.

Your last bath was when you were a child.

You hadn't even realized you were dozing off in the steamy, warm water until there was a gentle hand carding through your hair to rest at your cheek. You slowly blinked your eyes, a bit blearily as you looked up at Horror sleepily with a questioning hum.

The red eye-light seemed to move for a moment before it stayed on you. "knocked. you okay?" He asked quietly, his hand moving to place itself against your forehead, seeming to check something before resting back against your cheek.

It felt nice.

You gave an agreeing murmur as you leaned back into the hand. It was a contrast feeling to the warm water, but it felt so nice.

So gentle.

Kind.

Soothing.

There was a still moment to Horror's hand for a moment before he made an acknowledging sound, like he was inviting you to speak. Or speak more? But you hadn't spoken? Had you?

You thought for a minute, trying to remember if you had done anything to provoke that sound.

...

..

You couldn't remember and your head hurt.

A soft tap to the cheek brought your attention back to Horror. "brought clothes. better to fall asleep in your bed than bath," he informed you.

Somehow the statement sounded a little amusing.

You had been about to fall asleep in the bathtub haven't you?

How odd.

".. not too odd." Horror said randomly. You looked up at him with half lidded eyes, feeling the urge to doze back to sleep the longer you stayed in the bathtub. Horror looked away, taking away the gentle touch from your cheek. "need help..?" He asked slowly, as if hesitant to offer.

You looked up at him for a minute before looking at the towel hanging up then looking back at him with a minute nod.

Horror had followed your gaze to the towel and grabbed it and holding a hand out for you. You stared at it before standing up from the tub, water dripping down and off your body as you stepped out, Horror wrapping the towel around you and draining the tub afterword.

You watched his actions, mind not fully registering the movements, mind a little hazy from the dull throb (which had seemed to lighten a little) and urge to sleep. A small yawn left you at the thought of it, your eyes blinking slowly.

You felt more sluggish than early, though you weren't quite sure if that was good or bad. Either way, you wanted to go back to sleep.

A slight tug to the ends of the towel brought your attention to Horror, who was towering over you, though less than he usually did, hands holding part of the towel. Your own hands let him do what he wanted to do, eyes shutting when he moved to pull the towel over your head to dry your hair, being gentle but thorough.

It was nice.

He left the towel around you when he was finished, gently patting your shoulders and arms as if to pat dry them yet also not trying to go past any line. You looked up at him, though you didn't know what your expression looked like. Aside from tired.

His hands dropped from your shoulders and turned, gesturing to the clothing that was placed on the counter next to you. "clothing. don't need to return."

You blinked, a little confused by the second sentence, watching as he left, giving you space to get dressed. A little weird, but kind of him. You dropped the towel with a small grimace at how cold you felt before getting dressed.

The shirt.

The shirt was big.

It felt like a dress.

The sleeves came down to your elbows, but it was clear it was short sleeved.

Had an interesting scent to it, though you couldn't pinpoint it.

Horror was still in the room, waiting for you with his back turned, though he automatically turned when he heard you enter. An odd look appeared on Horror's skull, which you only saw a glimpse of before you looked down at him, your eyes finding similarities between the shirt under his jacket and the shirt you were wearing right now.

Oh.

So that was why he said you didn't need to return.

Strange..

Why would he give you his shirt?

Why is he showing you this kindness?

Did you really deserve this?

Why would he-

"magpie."

His voice was calm but almost sounded concerned when he urged your chin up to look at him with a phalange. "you alright?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

You looked up at him, seeing the gaping hole and crack in his skull, his singular eye-light, his light expression. It may have been horrifying to anyone else but..

It was strange how it calmed your thoughts.

Of course, it would all go away when you were better. He was only acting this way because you were sick right now.

..

Wasn't he?

Your eyes shut for a minute as the same painful thoughts mixed with your headache before you opened them back and nodded.

You were fine.

Another yawn left you with a small groan and that seemed to spur Horror as he moved his finger away, putting his hand against your back as he lead you to your bed. "rest. don't need to wake up early," he said simply.

The way Horror was acting was strange.

You didn't hate it.

You wondered why he was doing it though.

But you honestly didn't want to think about it. You knew you would hardly remember anyway. Your previous thoughts were already fading away, your mind going back into the doze it was in when you fell asleep in the water.

You laid on your side, barely registering the blanket falling over your shoulders despite making no move to adjust it. Your eyes were already blinking shut, every blink becoming longer before they opened again, very much failing the battle of staying awake.

You couldn't bring yourself to open your eyes again, just letting them stay shut this time. You barely remembered that Horror was in your room, thinking he had already left, before something firm pressed against your forehead.

It didn't feel like a hand, or a finger, or anything you would think would have a reason to be against your forehead.

But it felt warm.

(It almost reminded you of a kiss that your mother used to give your forehead in an unspoken wish for you to get better whenever you were sick as a child. Whenever you got better you would return the favor by kissing her forehead in response, whether she were sick or not, just a gesture that you loved her.)

That was all you remembered of it before you succumbed to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Come on big brother! We’ll be late!!”

“Maxieeeeee, how many times do I have to tell you?”

“I know, I know, we aren’t related, but you’re still my big brother!”

You flushed in embarrassment at the statement that Maxie liked to say in response to you, groaning as you flicked her forehead. “I feel so sorry for auntie.”

“Hey!”

You laughed along with your spiritual sister as the two of you ran towards the beach, the best place to watch a sunset, both of your parents walking and talking behind.

You turned at the sound of your name, waving happily to your mom as she grinned at you, taking some pictures before you looked at Maxie, a mischievous smirk on your face. “Think fast, Maxie!” You exclaimed before pushing her into the water.

She shrieked in surprise, flailing in the water until she stood up and began splashing you in retaliation, resulting in a splash battle.

Which had caused colds for both of you the next day.

Your mom took care of you both, Auntie having been working too much to take care of Maxie, which was often. Auntie had worked overtime a lot to provide for your friend.

She was kind though.

She was loving.

It took a few days for you to get better. Horror took care of you the whole time, which you only remembered bits and pieces of. The parts you did remember though, filled you with an emotion you couldn’t describe (an emotion you’ve forgotten you could feel).

It was.. nice though.

Being taken care of.

(You felt like you had a dream the night your headache slowly disappeared. You couldn’t remember what it was though, you could feel some similar emotions that you thought you could feel towards Horror when he took care of you.

You couldn’t remember what they clearly felt like though.

Or what you dreamed.

But..

It hadn’t felt like your usual nightmare.)

On the morning you finally felt your headache dissipate, you finally left your room, venturing down to the kitchen, a little sluggish. You were tired, physically exhausted from being in bed for a few days, only getting up to either bathe, vomit, or brush your teeth. Sometimes in that order.

A yawn left you as you entered the kitchen, seeing Cross sitting at the table eating a piece of toast from the corner of your eye. “… ‘ornin’.” You headed straight to the cabinet and started the coffee pot, covering your yawns with a hand as you blinked blearily, feeling not quite awake just yet.

You needed coffee.

Cross was suspiciously silent and you turned your head to look at him, having been just watching the coffee go into the pot. He was staring at you with something of a gaping look, almost looking a little befuddled.

“What?” You signed, feeling slightly annoyed by the staring. You were just trying to get some coffee, there was no reason for him to stare at you.

He couldn’t be staring at you cause you didn’t greet him, you hardly greet the others, just barely giving them a nod if you see them in the kitchen.

So why the hell-

“.. nevermind,” Cross finally said, sounding a little perplexed.

A look of confusion crossed your face but you turned away, going back to watching the coffee with the patience of a cat prepared to pounce on a bird. You could hear the movements of Cross finishing his toast behind you, but you didn’t care about that right now.

Only coffee.

Cross suddenly spoke up. “horror said you were sick.” He didn’t sound concerned (though you were fairly certain you’ve never heard him sound concerned, so you wouldn’t know anyway), just stating it.

Was he trying to strike a conversation with you?

A little odd, slightly out of character for him.

You turned around and leaned against the counter so you could properly respond to him. “Feeling better.”

“are you?”

You paused for a minute in responding, but only because you heard the coffee finish. You raised your hand in a sign for him to wait has you grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured the black coffee into it, taking a sip from it.

Bitter.

But good enough.

You turned back to look at Cross, who was beginning to look a little impatient. “Don’t tell Horror I’m drinking coffee,” you signed after setting your mug down for a moment to do so.

He raised a bone-brow at you, looking quite unimpressed with your request(?). “should you be drinking it?”

You thought for a minute, pausing and slowly swallowing the mouthful of coffee you had drank. “He.. never said I couldn’t?” You signed slowly, feeling a bit unsure of yourself.

Horror never explicitly said you couldn’t drink coffee.

Neither had Dust.

Sure, they’ve mostly put you on tea and water, but you were never given a clear refusal on coffee?

“so what i’m hearing is that you shouldn’t be drinking it.”

Now he sounded a little amused. Well, he did know the other skeletons better than you did, so he probably knew something you didn’t.

…

Horror probably very much didn’t want you to drink coffee-

You downed the rest of the coffee in your mug and refilled it. “I’m not sick anymore, it’s fine,” you signed, as if that were the issue.

Cross rolled his white eye-lights. “this once. only this once,” he permitted.

You surprised yourself by feeling relief at the verbal agreement that Cross wasn’t going to inform Horror.

He never said anything about Dust though.

You then found it a little suspicious that Cross was agreeing to your request.

You hardly communicated with the skeleton, even less since Horror and Dust began to take up your time training you. You were sure the only time you fully conversed with him was when you were ‘kidnapped’, and that was to give him a command or when he was translating for you.

There wasn’t a need for him to translate for you now, so you didn’t really seek him out to do so.

You narrowed your eyes at him as you took a slow sip of your coffee. “You want something, don’t you?” You asked bluntly.

Cross gave a nod as he finally stood up to put his plate to the sink. Apparently he had some eggs with the toast if the yellow marks of yolk were any indication. “a little chat,” he said when he was done, leaning against the counter adjacent from you, arms crossed.

You raised a brow, a bit surprised at the normal sounding want.

But, then again, this wasn’t Killer. He definitely would’ve taken advantage of your question.

You shrugged. “Alright.”

Cross tilted his head, staring at you with a frown, silent for a minute before he straightened. “you are feeling better, right?” He questioned, like he hadn’t believed your earlier response.

You rolled your eyes at the question. Did you look that terrible that he had to ask again?

I mean, you were rocking heavy dark circles and your face color hadn’t fully returned to normal from when it was flushed.

Then again, you did always look like you were about to drop asleep.

“Not sick anymore,” you repeated, giving a random tap to your head. “My headache broke sometime last night,” you added.

That had to be enough to convince him, right?

“good.” Oh good, it was. “how’s your training going with dust?”

You frowned at him, almost feeling like you were a child answering a doctor’s questions. “Is this some sort of wellness check?”

Cross flinched slightly and looked away in what you considered to be embarrassment. You saw a light color to his cheekbones. “just answer the question-”

“I can feel my magic flow now,” you signed, taking a sip of your slowly growing cold coffee.

His skull immediately flipped back to you, a startled expression filling it. “you..” He swallowed, looking quite perplexed. “you couldn’t before?”

You tilted your head, thinking about it with a short hum. Had you actually been able to before?

Hm…

No, not that you could remember. Same answer you gave Dust then. “No.”

Cross still looked perplexed before you noticed a drop of sweat down his skull. He looked.. almost frightened for a minute before the look cleared and he shook his head. “well, it’s good that you can now.” He looked at you curiously. “has it made speaking any easier?”

He sounded genuinely curious and maybe a little interested.

Odd.

You wondered why.

“I still can’t speak normally though,” you responded with a short shrug. You swirled your coffee cup around, seeing the liquid move before looking up at Cross, faltering slightly at the look on his face.

He looked like he was in absolute disbelief.

Confused, baffled, bewildered, so many different emotions of the same variety displayed on Cross’ face.

You blinked at the heavy sigh that left him, the skeleton holding his head in his hands for a few moments before straightening. “right,” he said flatly.

You frowned. “You sound disbelieving,” you signed. More accurately though, his statement sounded a bit sarcastic despite the flat tone.

Cross hummed lightly before shaking his head. “don’t worry about it.” He sighed, a thoughtful look on his face and you could hear a mutter come from him. “i’ll need to talk to dust about this..”

A sound of realization sounded from you by his mutter of Dust. Come to think of it.. “Where has he been anyway?” You asked.

“dust?”

You nodded. Speaking of, you haven’t seen Phantom around either, which was interesting considering how close he stuck to you.

“nobody told you?” He sounded confused and you frowned.

“Told me what?”

Cross groaned quietly. “guess not.” He pinched his nose ridge, grumbling under his breath while you patiently waited for him to speak. “dust’s in one of his lv attacks,” he finally started, “so it’s best to stay away from him unless you want to get killed.”

You tilted your head, a thoughtful frown on your face. “The others have been near him haven’t they?”

Cross hesitated. “yeah they have but they’re not..” He looked at you with an uneasy expression.

Ah.

They weren’t humans.

Okay, you could accept that reason.

“Alright,” you agreed with a shrug, finishing the rest of your coffee with a slight grimace. Too cold.

That.. kind of made sense then that Phantom wasn’t near you.

Dust probably needed his brother with him as some sort of comfort.

You couldn’t have been more wrong.

..

It was a slightly awkward silence for a moment.

Is this normally how Cross conversed or was it just with you?

You finally remembered something. “What’s with the glitch skeleton?” You asked. “I heard he was an asset but I haven’t seen him since I arrived.”

“oh right.” He responded before faltering. “wait what?” He looked at you, expression confused. “what do you mean?”

“I’ve only seen him once since I’ve arrived here, and that was in the middle of the night,” you explained further, feeling a little confused by his confusion.

“..” Cross looked absolutely confused, mouth a little agape. “magpie, he was here just a while ago.”

You blinked once.

Then twice.

“Was he?”

You hadn’t noticed.

Chapter Text

You had noticed a pattern in the past.

A pattern you probably wouldn’t have even recognized yourself if someone hadn’t pointed it out.

One of your neighbors, before they had moved and before you had been taken by Nightmare, they had asked you something strange before.

“Hey, who was the monster you were with yesterday?”

You had found it strange, because you never remembered being with a monster the day before. You had stayed home the whole day. You had written for the neighbor to clarify what they meant.

“Y’know, the tortoise monster? You two were just standing in front of your front door. I think the monster was saying something, but I couldn’t hear since I was too far away.”

At the monster clarification, you had know that it was your boss, but you still remembered nothing about meeting him. You had no reason to either.

You simply thanked the neighbor, writing politely about how he was your boss. The you had gone inside and began noting down everything.

Every moment.

Every gap in your memory.

Every time skip.

It became a pattern.

You noted how it became more common to happen when you lived through a childhood memory as you slept.

But you could never figure out at one point the memory stops and reality begins.

Did it every really stop and begin?

…

So when Cross told you that Error had indeed been at the mansion, you weren’t shocked.

If anything, it just really annoyed you.

You thought you had broken the pattern.

You never truly broke it, just prolonged it at times.

Cross looked almost concerned though. “you should probably go see nightmare later,” he suggested.

You raised a brow. “What for?” You asked.

“he can explain things better than i can.”

That was his response. It seemed honest to you, but if you had to go to Nightmare to get explained about Error’s visit, then you most likely did something.

Something Cross didn’t wish to tell you about.

… Did you really do something that bad?

You gave Cross a light shrug and nodded your agreement, trying to think of actions that you could have done to need an explanation from Nightmare.

Cross was quiet for a moment before speaking up. “mind if i ask something personal?” He asked.

You could feel a twitch of your lips, almost wanting to pull into a smirk. There it is. That’s what he really wanted to talk about. You cleared your face and tilted your head in curiosity. “Is it something personal where I’ll have to explain shit?” You asked, wanting to gauge how much Cross wanted to know.

Cross hesitated, almost looking reluctant to respond. “possibly..?”

You tsked. “Then follow me, I’d rather not get interrupted by Killer.” You turned around after setting your empty coffee mug into the sink and began leaving the kitchen.

You could hear Cross’ footsteps behind you. “you know what, good idea,” he remarked.

You really didn’t want to get bugged by Killer.

He pushed you too uncomfortably.

You didn’t know you appreciated the contact that Killer gave, he was touchy, something you haven’t dealt with in years.

You didn’t know how to deal with Killer.

How to respond.

How to act.

How to feel.

The two of you walked in a comfortable silence as you led Cross to your room, shutting and locking the door behind you. You gestured for Cross to sit somewhere and he took to the chair that was by your bed (when had that gotten there??). You blinked at the sight of the chair, hadn’t even noticed it was there when you left this morning before sitting across from him on your bed, sitting with a leg up, resting your arm on your knee.

“What’d you want to ask?” You signed, curious.

He jumped like he wasn’t expecting your question, took a breath, and began speaking. “what caused you to go silent?” He asked.

You paused. That.. wasn’t really what you were expecting for him to ask you. Though, to be honest, you weren’t even really sure what you were expecting him to ask. But that didn’t feel like it. “.. What do you mean?” You signed slowly, a small frown on your face.

Cross scratched the back of his skull. “i mean, that according to dust, you’ve been silent for five years. something like that can’t be taken lightly, for that long.” He looked up at you, expression careful, like he knew he was treading on something light. “so what caused it to happen?”

You were tempted.

Oh so tempted to give the skeleton an answer that completely diverted everything.

But, he didn’t deserve that kind of response, did he?

“Is it really necessary to know?” You asked instead, slightly trying to stall.

Cross shrugged. “not necessarily.” He looked nonchalant, but you could see the curiosity in his eye-lights. “but, we both know you’re going to give me some sort of answer, aren’t you?”

..

Yeah you were.

Did that mean you were going to explain everything with detail though?

“Long story short, I killed them all.”

No it did not.

“who?” Cross asked, looking a little startled by the confession. Perhaps he wasn’t expecting you to immediately drop that on him.

“My family. Every last one.” You displayed no emotion on your face as you signed your response.

You forced yourself to not relive that memory.

“and… how old.. were you?”

Not while you had company anyway.

“Maybe.. twelve or thirteen? Don’t fully remember anymore.”

Cross looked almost pained, something going through his eye-lights at your response. Something he didn’t quite like, or perhaps like he was tasting something that bothered his taste buds. He grew more hesitant, more reluctant to ask you any questions. You could almost applaud him for continuing. “can.. i ask how?” He asked.

You thought for a minute, determining the best word to explain. “Misspoke,” you finally signed with a slight shrug.

“oh..” He responded slowly before you watched the realization dawn on him. “oh.”

You let Cross work through his thoughts in silence. You weren’t surprised or annoyed that he needed a few minutes, even with your shortened explanation, it was probably a bit of a bother to dissect.

“i can see why you stayed silent then,” he finally remarked. You were slightly startled by the almost agreeing tone to his statement before nodding in response. You hadn’t quite expected that response. “what caused you to start speaking again?” He asked, looking up at you curiously.

Oh, that was much easier to answer! “Old boss found me. Turns out, he knew of my family. Knew what I did, knew how, and knew that I was just a child. He helped me out and offered me a job.” You responded.

Cross looked surprisingly suspicious by that. “without anything to ask for in return??” He question, gaze tightening.

Your eyes flicked over him as you thought back, though you already knew what your answer was.

“Hey, when I’m ready to leave my shell, kill me, won’t you, Spitfire? I want a painless death at least.”

You shrugged. “Not much. Just wanted my help with something. Nothing big.”

Cross still looked suspicious but he let it go, looking almost thoughtful. You had a thought and slowly signed. “What about you?” You asked.

“what about me what?” He asked, sounding confused.

You gestured to him, to his whole self rather. “I shared, your turn. How’d you get here?” You clarified.

Cross looked conflicted but you waited.

Exchange for exchange.

Questions for questions.

Explanation for an explanation.

It was only fair.

Cross huffed, scratching the back of his skull. “got myself into this. here as in with nightmare and the others right?” You nodded in agreement and he sighed. “i.. needed a means to accomplish my goal. nightmare had provided that for me.”

You raised a brow. “There’s more to it, isn’t there?”

That caused a groan to leave Cross and he nodded. He suddenly looked more exhausted as he pinched his nose ridge. “i’ve.. switched sides for a while. for a certain period of time, i left the group and was with the enemy, thinking they were able to provide me better results in a better way. i soon realized, that wasn’t it at all.”

You internally felt like there was a rant about to appear.

“there was no-! ugh, it was just completely different how it was supposed to be. one of them, ink, is a total piece of work and he can hardly function normally without his vials. there were too many disagreements and they only thought about how to get rid of the negativity in aus! my whole reason for going to them barely got recognized, and i barely got the help i needed!” Cross’ breathing was slightly heavy as he ranted to you, his hands jerking at some portions of his sentences.

You gave a noncommittal hum. “How were you allowed to return?” You asked, finding that part of the story intriguing. You didn’t just leave and rejoin a gang, especially not if you’ve been with the enemy.

Cross faltered. “i.. actually don’t know. i’m quite certain that they haven’t actually forgiven me but..” The skeleton trailed off, growing deeper in thought, a look of confusion on his skull.

You gave a light hum. “Something to think about,” you signed, not trying to push aside his thoughts but acknowledging them.

It would be something to think about.

It did explain the skeleton’s slight distance with the others.

You were a bit surprised that Cross hadn’t thought about it before though.

…

.. You thought you might have some idea as to why he was allowed to rejoin.

Chapter Text

You had spent the next few days thinking about what Cross had suggested, going to Nightmare to speak with him. Which honestly, you weren’t against it. You held nothing against Nightmare.

You probably should, considering he sort of kidnapped you, but was it really kidnapping if you became willing?

As Nightmare said when he took you, it was recruitment.

You couldn’t blame that.

Besides, you were getting better by staying here. You could feel your magic now, maybe soon, you’d be able to speak without causing commands.

…

Finally, at the end of the week, you forced yourself to head to Nightmare’s office. After you were given a low agreement to enter, you walked in and shut the door behind you. Your body felt a little tense, and you felt awkward.

You never really had a one on one with Nightmare since probably your first day at the manor. You weren’t too sure of how he reacted, his personality, and it slightly nerved you.

“magpie. what do i owe the pleasure?”

Another thing, that. Nightmare didn’t seem as.. commanding when he spoke towards you. It was different to how he spoke to Killer or even Error, who was another asset like you.

That confused you.

You shook your head free of thoughts and began to sign. “Cross recommended I come speak to you.”

“ah, about the little fight with error?” He asked, setting aside whatever paper he was working on and gesturing for you to sit on the couch instead of standing.

You paused before walking to the couch and sitting down. “… I fought Error?” You questioned, staring at Nightmare with confusion.

You had fought one of the skeletons?? You knew better than that, why would you even-

“quite. it was an interesting fight to say the least, error only used his strings. although, that may have been because the last time he used a blaster in my home, i was not happy,” Nightmare responded. You could tell he had his attention focused on you, which made one of your fingers twitch.

You almost would’ve preferred it if he kept working on what he was doing a few minutes ago.

You frowned a little. “What exactly happened?” You asked.

Nightmare hummed lowly. “do you remember none of that fight?” He asked, no judgement in his tone, but it definitely sounded like he already knew the answer.

You shook your head, indicating you didn’t.

What had you done for Error to start fighting you??

He gave a small nod before beginning to speak. “you were fairly out of it that whole day. you had stayed in your room for most of the morning before you left it and stayed near horror. you didn’t speak or sign to him, just stayed near him, acting almost docile.” He looked at you to make sure you were following along and you nodded slowly, still a bit confused.

You actively sought out Horror?

“horror and dust kept killer away from you and then error showed up. i believe he had been wanting to snatch some of cross’ chocolates to restock his own,” he gave a scowl at the mention of it. “however, when he showed up, you were no longer docile. for a moment, you had just stayed still, watching error’s every move, but when error went to move past horror to get into the kitchen, you had immediately attacked.”

You flinched as Nightmare explained what had happened, what you had done and you rubbed the bridge of your nose, annoyed with yourself.

“I am so sor-”

“i’m not finished.” He cut you off and you winced slightly, preparing yourself for worse behavior from you. “error responded in kind and the two of you began fighting in the hallway. error only used his strings, which you kept cutting with your knives. you didn’t quite, aggressively attack, you were more so just defending.” He looked at you with something you couldn’t determine glinting in his teal eye-light. “you seemed more focused on keeping error away from horror, rather than actually fighting to kill.”

You grimaced and raised your hands to try and apologize again before Nightmare raised a hand to stop you. “no need for apologies. error does not require one and neither do i. he seemed almost pleased in fact, he mentioned something about adding you to his dolls.”

You faltered, your hands still raised and now you felt slightly concerned. “.. Excuse me?”

Nightmare seemed to have noticed your expression and waved one of his tendrils dismissively. “not you, human you, but making a doll of you. it’s a hobby of his, aside from being absolutely annoying when coming in contact with chocolate,” Nightmare assured you, scoffing at the last part of his sentence.

You paused, feeling like something tickling at your head before your eyes widened a little in realization. “Then the doll in the drawer of my bedstand came from him?” You quickly signed.

Nightmare was silent for a minute, most likely translating your quick signs in his head before nodding. “i hadn’t realized he finished it. but yes, that would be from him, though he doesn’t typically give his dolls to the ones they look like.” You felt like you could hear an almost teasing tone in his next words. “how special you must be to him.”

You scoffed lowly, narrowing your eyes at him. You had a few things you wanted to sign to him, but were a bit unsure if it’d go well with him. He was technically your boss right?

You shook your head, still feeling slightly odd at the idea that someone made a doll of you (though from what you saw of it, it was carefully made and it looked quite good), but having found your answers of what happened with Error, you saw no need to stay. When you made a move to stand up, Nightmare interrupted you.

“ah, magpie, before you get up and leave, there’s something i would like to discuss with you.”

He sounded serious and you looked at him almost warily before settling back on the couch. “What is it?”

He looked conflicted for a few moments and you thought you could see some hint of awkwardness on his skull before the emotions disappeared. “you understand myself as a being of negativity yes?” He waited for your nod before continuing. “aside from needing negative energy to survive ‘healthily’, i can also remove it from someone and see memories.”

See memories.

See memories.

The realization hit you like a train.

He’s seen yours.

You swallowed roughly, your hands slightly shaking as you brought them up to sign. Just because you gave Cross a brief note of why you were silent, didn’t mean you felt comfortable with the idea of Nightmare actually seeing what you did. “Why.. are you mentioning this?” You asked, eyes staring at your shaky hands, not quite willing to look up at Nightmare right this moment.

“you’ve never processed anything.” He responded. “i wish to assist you in that.”

A flick of annoyance filled you and you looked up at Nightmare with a brief scowl. “What, like some kind of therapy?”

Nightmare gave an easygoing shrug. “sure.” He maintained eye contact with you when you failed to provide him with a response. “when you have your days when you can’t remember anything, you are practically drowning in negative energy. i wish to drain that from you as well as to try and help you process.”

“You just want food,” you signed, almost accusingly at Nightmare.

A tendril waved dismissively. “all negative energy fuels me. i’m not doing this to solely get fed with your energy, i do the same to the others. however,” the same tendril jabbed towards your direction, “you need to process and go through your memories.” He was firm in this.

“it was only an accident.”

Nightmare was sitting next to you on the couch, careful to not make any contact with you just yet.

You felt your nerves fill you. This felt like such a bad idea. Nightmare was kind enough to warn you that you’d be seeing your own memories in this way.

You really didn’t want to do this.

But based on what Nightmare had said, it seemed necessary.

The further he explained, the more you started to realize. You never really processed your family’s deaths.

You had pushed it away from your mind.

You never wanted to think about it.

You still don’t.

But..

You gave a slow, measured exhale of air before giving a small nod to Nightmare, looking down at the floor. You didn’t want to look at him, see him get closer to you for him to begin draining your negative energy.

You didn’t want to back out.

You didn’t see his expression but your body gave a slight shiver from the cool touch of his tendrils wrapping around your skin. He had told you that contact was most preferable and easier to drain the negative energy.

( Nightmare had another motive for his reasoning. He didn’t know how badly you would react, or if you would react at all, to your memories being brought out. He didn’t need you to lash out and hurt someone, or yourself, from the replay of your trauma. )

“just relax,” Nightmare murmured lowly. He gave a murmur of your real name, instead of the nickname that you were given. “i’ll go as quick as i can.”

…

You were having a bad time at school.

Some kids had found out about your family's magic line and spread it to the whole school, spreading rumors that you could control them with a single word.

Which, true, but you would never.

You weren’t one to play god, nobody in your family was.

But, your school seemed to think so.

They beat you down, insulting you, taunting you. You’ve gotten a few threats, some notes telling you to just rid the world of your control.

The teachers didn’t help.

They seemed afraid of your magic line as well, but instead of taking action, they remained passive. Watching as you were bullied by the others.

.. It hurt.

You spent the lunch hours of school days crying in an empty classroom, knowing that if you were caught, you’d get berated for crying like a wuss.

You could just imagine the type of insults they would use if they caught you in your weakness.

You tried your best to ignore their actions, their words, their ignorance.

But…

It weighed so heavily on you.

You could feel yourself draining and becoming more exhausted.

Your family noticed. Your mom and dad were concerned, Maxie was worried. But you never said anything.

You didn’t want to worry them further.

You didn’t want them to call you weak for letting this affect you.

The more you were bullied, the more your family noticed, and the more you felt strained.

A comment from a student (one you particularly liked) seemed to just break something in you.

“Why don’t you just take you and your family and leave this world permanently! We don’t need monsters like you controlling.”

You had felt something break in your heart. You’ve heard a few ‘suggestions’ to go die, but you hadn’t thought you’d be considered a monster.

You were just a human with magic.

That didn’t make you a monster.

.. Right?

You hadn’t wanted to go home that evening of school. For some reason, your entire family was there. You saw your cousins, aunts and uncles, and your little niece. You loved seeing them, they were your family, and you loved them, but you felt nothing positive about this visit.

You heard your name gently called by your mom after dinner. “Are you okay baby?”

You gave a minute nod, eyes downcast, mind going over the words that the classmate sneered at you.

You knew she didn’t believe you. “Are you sure? You can tell us anything, you know that right?”

You could feel the gentle breeze of her soft command take hold of you in the middle of her words and you just..

You snapped.

“That! That command, our commands, our magic in general!” You hissed.

Your mom looked at you, surprise and concern mixing in her eyes as you continued to rant, encouraged by her commend.

“Why does it exist?? Why does our line exist?!” You looked up at your mom with pleading eyes. “We shouldn’t be here, we shouldn’t have magic that can take complete control of someone!” You thought back to what you were told that day at school and your hands clenched into fists. “We’re no better than monsters!” You could dimly hear someone trying to cut you off, but you just continued, eyes screwed shut. You could feel your eyes watering. “Our magic shouldn’t exist, it shouldn’t be here, we shouldn’t be here, we should just die!” You yelled out, your breathing heavy as your heart raced. You could feel something of a tear roll down your cheek, but you didn’t dare open your eyes for the scolding you would surely get from your tantrum.

But.. you never got one.

Slowly, you opened your eyes before taking a step back, terror filling you when you saw her. Your mom.. she wasn’t..

Choked sounds came from your mom and, distantly, you could hear the same sounds coming from other rooms in the house. Thuds began to sound throughout the house, tears streaming down your face as your mouth tried to speak words, only choked sobs coming out.

You reached out for your mom, not wanting to believe what was happening, not wanting to believe what you saw. But when your mom looked up at you, you could see the light in her eyes, the life in them, leave her.

Terror filled you when the house grew silent and you stumbled back before running through the house, checking every room where your family was.

Every room.

Every family member.

All dead bodies.

Whoever was in the house, all dead.

Your tears blurred your vision as you stopped your movement, your legs giving out on you, collapsing to your knees.

You hunched over, forehead practically touching the floor as you hugged yourself before your tears turned louder, turning into pained wailing.

You screamed until your throat went raw, until your body ached from how your body was positioned on the ground. You couldn’t stop. It all hurt.

You killed her.

You killed them.

You should’ve been the one-

“enough of that now.” A low voice broke into the memory, stopping you from seeing the rest of that day.

You could no longer see the memory, but you could still feel what you felt that day. Your cheeks felt wet, and you just knew you had tears streaming down your face.

You felt your despair at realizing what you had done.

The self hatred at being the only one alive.

The realization that what your classmates said was ri-

“enough,” the voice repeated again. “they weren’t right. you had no intentions on doing what you did, it was just an accident. you hadn’t expected your magic to spring up at that moment, you can’t be faulted for that.”

“it’s not your fault.” Nightmare repeated.

There were repeated movements against your back, rubbing your back in what felt like reassuring. You could still feel Nightmare’s tendrils wrapped around you. You could still feel the tears down your cheeks, and your hands seemed to clench around what felt like fabric.

Your tears were silent, only choked sobs coming from you occasionally, which appeared to be muffled by fabric. You wanted to say something, anything in regard to the memory that was brought up, but you couldn’t bring yourself to even try.

( Nightmare held you to him as you broke down, silent sobs wracking your body. He didn’t quite have an opinion about the memory he saw, but it did clear up some things. He wanted to question you about some things that didn’t appear to line up, like why you could only speak commands if your first command resulted in the death of your family. That almost seemed like something that would cause you to not use commands.

But, he knew better.

He could hear the little, raspy apologies that he was sure you didn’t even register you were stressing out. So he just held you, doing his best to provide a comfort, one that you desperately needed.

Soft, repeated whispers left him to speak in your ear, reminding you how it wasn’t your fault, how it was just an accident.

And if he took note of the students that caused such hurt to you? Then that was his business.

He’s sure that the others wouldn’t mind going on a little fieldtrip.)

Chapter Text

You slept through the night.

Or at least..

You probably did?

You didn’t actually.. remember. If it happened or not.

But when you got up to leave your room in the morning, you felt slow.

Lethargic?

You felt like you were drained.

You didn’t quite feel like you were real right now. You knew you were though, you knew you existed, you knew you were moving around, yet it felt like the complete opposite.

It almost felt like you were wading through a heavy current and you were just this close to letting it crash over you, consuming you.

“it’s not your fault.”

Every step felt repetitive.

You were going to the kitchen. It was.. breakfast time?

..

Yeah it was breakfast time. Even if you didn’t eat, you were supposed to drink something in the mornings.

.. What was it again?

“it was an accident.”

Tea.

It was tea.

The new flavor.. it was peppermint, right?

… Yeah.. it was. Horror ran out of honey tea a while ago.

“they weren’t right.”

“it was an accident.”

“it wasn’t your fault.”

…

Wasn’t it though?

..

.. Or..

“killer, don’t!”

.. Killer?

..

You were restricted.

You were restricted?

You blinked as you looked down at the skeleton who had their arms wrapped around you. You couldn’t quite.. move. Killer was looking up at you with a cheeky type of grin, as if waiting for something. You looked down at him before looking up at the other skeletons without a word, who all had different degrees of surprised looks.

You tilted your head slightly before you looked towards Horror, who was holding a glass of liquid, slightly outstretched in offering. You assumed it was your tea. Your mouth opened slightly, before you paused and closed it with an almost questioning grimace.

“magpie.”

You looked towards Nightmare’s voice, Killer still hanging onto you, though you ignored his confused expression. You felt Nightmare’s gaze on you, seeing his eye-light take you in. “how are you feeling after yesterday?”

You felt Killer’s skull shift and glanced down to see him look at Nightmare, seeing the same curious looks from the other skeletons. “what happened yesterday boss?”

The mention of yesterday made you feel even more drained.

“it’s not your fault.”

A tired groan quietly left you and you felt your head drop onto a soft material, which appeared to result in some form of choking sound made by someone. The boney hands that were around your back twitched against your clothing, feeling almost uncertain.

Someone sounded like their cleared their throat before Cross spoke. “magpie, you alright?”

He didn’t get a response, of course he didn’t get one, you shouldn’t couldn’t speak. You heard the heavy foot falls of Horror, the ones he makes deliberately to inform you that he’s there. You lifted your head to look up at the larger skeleton, who was holding out the glass. “drink.” You blinked slowly before it seemed to register that you were still restrained. Horror used his other hand and yanked Killer off of you by his hoodie, who complained immediately.

Once you were free, you grabbed the glass without complaint and took a sip, faltering at the new taste. You looked up at Horror in confusion.

This wasn’t tea.

“apple cider,” Horror answered your unasked question.

Cross spoke up. “i suggested you were given something other than tea. despite a different flavor, tea can get boring.”

Your head tilted slightly as you considered it before straightening and continuing to drink your cider. You supposed Cross had a point.

.. It was good.

You barely paid attention to the other skeletons as you drank your cider, idly chewing on a piece of toast that Horror provided for you, your thoughts still stuck on that one train of thought.

“only an accident.”

“not your fault.”

“not a monster.”

not.

your.

fault.

You looked up at Nightmare, having heard him call your name, not your nickname. He gave a slow sigh and just approached you, a tendril reaching out and curling around your neck. “come. no point in standing here being stared at, is there?”

You blinked and glanced around the kitchen, not quite registering the three skeletons staring at you, mixed with some degrees of concern (well, Killer just looked confused). You looked back at Nightmare, and you felt like you missed something.

A short grimace appeared on his skull, a twitch in his tendril as it flexed slightly around your neck. “ah. i wasn’t trying to put your mind into turmoil, i apologize.”

Turmoil?

Was your mind in turmoil?

It didn’t feel like it was.

Perhaps Nightmare was mistaken.

Afterall, why would you be in turmoil?

You still knew your facts, knew what was going on, so why would he say-

“it’s not your fault.”

…

.. Ah.

…

.. Right..

..

.

A cool touch almost seemed to alert you and you found yourself staring into Nightmare’s teal eye-light.

“there you are,” he murmured approvingly, though his hands remained against your cheeks.

An almost staggered questioningly hum left your throat in response, your eyelids dropping as you looked down. You felt even more drained now.

More sluggish.

You felt heavy.

“you checked out for a while after we arrived in my office.” He lifted your head, seeming to peer into your eyes. “you didn’t appear to be in a haze, however you haven’t been alert all day,” Nightmare clarified, though it seemed he was only speaking aloud to himself.

It didn’t really matter though.

You just felt exhausted.

“yes, drawing out memories and emotions can do that to you. for a moment i thought there was something else, but no, you’re just feeling conflicted aren’t you?”

Conflicted?

What would you be feeling conflicted by?

You tried to raise your hands to sign however gave up quickly, just the movement of your hands tiring. You wanted to go back to bed and sleep for a while.

“frankly, i’m surprised you’re still even awake, magpie. usually the others would be passed out for at least half a day,” Nightmare remarked, sounding slightly amused.

A soft, almost strangled sounding noise came from you and there was a soft tut from Nightmare. “easy there, don’t think, don’t try to plan. your mind is going against itself with what you believed in and what i’ve said and proved to you, it’s conflicted.”

What you believed in?

.. with what?

.. Why did Nightmare almost act like he knew what you were thinking right now?

“don’t think, magpie. you’ll remove the progress. just relax, alright? you can rest easy here.”

Your body felt like it shifted at those words, and the cool touch against your cheeks went away before you felt them at your wrists. The coolness felt nice, and you only just noticed how warm you felt. “come now, don’t get yourself sick again,” Nightmare muttered quietly as he situated the both of you on the couch in his office.

There was a lull in the sound for a moment before Nightmare spoke up quietly, just as you were about to drift off. “inform me of something, could you? why do you speak in only commands?”

.. Commands..

You blinked slowly, feeling even more drowsy.

Right, your commands..

What was the reason again..?

It was “..safe”, you knew that..

You shifted slightly with a nonsensical mumble as you felt your heavy exhaustion take its hold on you and drag you down.

..

… Ah.. right..

.. You knew what to expect.. if you spoke in only commands..

You felt safer that way.. because that way.. you knew what to expect, knew that your magic wouldn’t just suddenly appear if you were to speak normally.

Now though.. now you didn’t know if you remembered how to speak without them..

… Could you..?

(“yes you can, magpie. that i can assure you.”)

Chapter Text

You were listless for the following week, though you were much more aware than the first day.

The extent of your exhaustion depended on which memory that Nightmare brought to focus the following days, which usually ended in silent tears from you and a tendril around you as some form of comfort.

In one of the rare moments that you left Nightmare’s side during that time, Killer had made the joke of it being therapy, which you regretfully agreed with him.

It felt like some form of therapy.

A god awful, cruel form of therapy, but therapy nonetheless.

One that you weren’t paying for, which you supposed was some kind of silver lining.

Your eyes always felt itchy after some sessions with Nightmare, a dry itch of red mixing with the purple of the dark circles under your eyes. A conflicting mix.

Nightmare just…

He..

He really knew exactly what hit you to your core.

Unlike what you would’ve expected though, he didn’t exploit those vulnerabilities (unlike what most people would probably do), but he just seemed to genuinely try to help you through the memories.

Nightmare had mentioned, after you drifted back into awareness the first time, that he was wanting you to work through your memories, and your feelings towards them. According to him, that was the most reliable way into helping you speak away from the commands.

And honestly.

He wasn’t wrong, you knew that.

The thing is, you knew why you could only speak in commands, and you were fairly certain on how you were able to stop speaking in commands. It was one of the first things you researched when your old boss picked you up and helped you.

Commands were.. as ironic as it was, safe for you. You knew what to expect when you spoke, because your magic was always highlighting your words and turning them into commands.

It was an anchor in some way, a defense mechanism.

After all, you couldn’t startle yourself with someone doing as you said randomly, if it was done all the time.

It provided a twisted form of security for you.

When you were given the information of intent playing a large part in your magic by Dust after he fixed your magic circulation, it both bothered you yet gave you hope.

You could speak without commands one day.

But..

Did you really want to though?

What if suddenly while you were talking, your magic strung along and made your words absolute?

With the knowledge of intent running in your brain, logically, you now knew it possibly wouldn’t happen unless you meant the words, but it was a heavy thought.

You hadn’t meant the words you yelled at your mother, yet she still died. Wouldn’t that happen again?

The repeated thought caused a tired sigh to leave you, your hand reaching up to rub the bridge of your nose. You were taking a break from Nightmare’s little therapy sessions, which was Nightmare’s suggestion. Too much strain on your mind would hurt more than it would help, according to him.

You were frankly relieved by the idea, it bothered you by how much you’ve been crying in front of the dark skeleton (he was technically your boss, wasn’t he?).

A sudden gasp caused your hand to twitch and you instinctively reached for the knife settled under your pillow, slowing sitting up, preparing yourself to throw your knife.

The sudden shiver around your arms and back caused you to falter, a loud voice in your ear.

MAGPIE! I MISSED YOU. Phantom exclaimed, seeming to do his best to hug you, which was a bit of an uncomfortable feeling.

The ghostly skeleton was cold as hell and he wasn’t exactly giving you physical contact, sometimes going through you, but he was doing his best.

You did your best to ignore the goosebumps across your skin from Phantom’s ghostly attempts at a hug, slowly removing your hand from the knife. “Phantom. It’s been a while,” you signed in greeting, a small smile unconsciously appearing on your face.

You had found yourself missing the ghost during the time he had disappeared. “Where were you?”

WAS WITH MY BROTHER.

“I gathered that. Any particular reason?”

… HELPING WITH HIS ATTACK. Phantom seemed almost hesitant to respond to you, which caused you to look at him suspiciously.

“Phantom…”

A groan sounded from the ghost and he shook his skull quickly, in what would have surely rattled a human being. NOT IMPORTANT.

Yeah right. “It clearly was if you disappeared that long to help him with something,” you pointed out with a frown. Why was he trying to hide this from you? Was it that bothersome? How bad was this ‘attack’? Cross had told you that Dust was dealing with an ‘lv attack’ but you were never given an explanation on what exactly it was.

MAGPIE… There was something akin to a pout on his skull, as he whined the nickname, causing you to sigh.

Fine, if he didn’t wish to explain, then you wouldn’t push. “Just glad you’re alright,” you signed in resignation, not noticing the surprised look displayed on his skull.

YOU.. WERE YOU-

A knock on the room door cut off Phantom, which he seemed to eagerly stop talking. Which was a bit odd.

You sent him a glance before forcing yourself up from the bed, not really wanting to get up, but also not really wanting to invite anyone into the room. So getting up to answer the door seemed like the only answer.

Your eyes narrowed down at Killer, who was on the other side of the door. He didn’t look like his usual cheeky self though, surprisingly, he looked almost shy and hesitant. “What?” You questioned with a raised brow, leaning against the door.

“heh. hey sweet cheeks, nice to see you up and coherent,” he returned cheerfully.

You felt yourself bristle slightly at what felt like a jab. Which, he wasn’t wrong, you weren’t exactly alert after your sessions with Nightmare, you more so just drifted along, not quite a haze, yet also not quite alert.

Which was frankly, embarrassing as hell, and you felt disappointed in yourself for being such an easy target. You surely, most likely would have died if you were ambushed during those times.

“easy, sweets, i’m not making fun of you,” Killer accurately read your expression, hands held up in surrender. At your glare, he gave a shrug. “being honest here. i know better than to poke fun during moments like those.”

Your glare turned skeptical. HE’S TELLING THE TRUTH, PIE. THE CRYING SKELETON DOESN’T POKE FUN WHEN ANY OF THE OTHERS HAVE THEIR MOMENTS. Phantom spoke up, which caused you to internally snicker.

The crying skeleton.

You could see where Phantom got it, but still.

Your narrowed gaze did soften slightly at Phantom’s words though, and you sighed. “Fine. What do you want then?” You asked with a small frown.

Killer perked up when you responded. “i wanted to show you something!”

Suspicious.

“Where?”

“my room.”

“Why?”

Killer scratched the back of his skull, looking a little self-conscious. “.. thought it might cheer you up some. at least provide some form of relaxation?” He responded, a hesitant grimace on his skull, like he was thinking of changing his mind.

You thought about it. Frankly, you still didn’t like Killer, he was pushy, annoying, and just went past your boundaries. However, you did hold some form of trust towards the skeletons in a group, perhaps not complete trust (and it did vary depending on the skeleton), but there was still something for the skeletons.

You were more fond of Horror and Dust, Phantom included with Dust.

You thought about it before sighing. “What are you showing me?” You asked, which caused Killer to perk up.

“it’s a surprise!” He made a gesture for you to follow him. “just c’mon sweet cheeks,” he grinned, going back to his usual cheeky look.

You felt much more at ease with that look than his hesitant actions.

You rolled your eyes, sending a spare glance to Phantom, who nodded at you encouragingly, before looking back at Killer. “Fine.”

He made some kind of cheer sound before grabbing your sleeve, which you took note of with questioning eyes, and beginning to drag you along with him. “come, come!”

If he’s lying and about to kill you in his room, you were haunting his coccyx.

Chapter Text

You blinked at sight you saw on Killer’s bed.

“i wanted to introduce you to them!” Killer remarked cheerfully, sitting on his bed, petting the head of the animal who had seemed to be dozing.

You hesitantly crept closer, your steps quiet as you counted how many animals.

One, two, three, four… You squinted slightly before finding the fifth one, hidden under the tail of one of the adults.

You glanced from Killer to the animals before back at Killer. “… Cats.”

You startled both yourself and Killer with the word, though he seemed to take it in stride. “yep! it’s a family of cats too, come here, come here, lemme introduce you to them,” he grinned.

You tilted your head, trying to ignore the chill you felt at the first word you spoke without a command in years (consciously anyway). You tried to ignore the trembles in your hands, the instinct to reach for one of your knives and fidget with it, as you slowly approached the bed, trying not to startle the cats.

It’s been a long while since you’ve seen actual cats (you didn’t really count cat monsters), and you couldn’t deny the internal excitement you felt.

I mean, they were cats! They were just so adorable!

You stood somewhat awkwardly at the foot of Killer’s bed as he eagerly pointed to each cat with their name. “princess is the mom, sir fluff is the dad,” he pointed to each before moving on.

Your fingers twitched as a curious kitten strayed close to you and sniffed your fingers, you sucking in a breath, trying not to startle the kitten. Killer giggle and scooped up the kitten before dumping it into your hands, startling you into movement to carefully hold the kitten, shooting a glare at Killer. “that’s jingle! he’s a friendly little shit.”

That statement seemed to prove true with how the kitten, Jingle apparently, was now nipping at your fingers. Interesting enough, the nipping at your fingers seemed to begin to soothe the trembling that was present. With a slightly shaky hand, you pat the kitten, getting a bright meow in response, a soft amused huff leaving you.

A strange smack sound caused you to immediately look up from the kitten, staring at Killer with slightly wide eyes, confusion filling you. The skeleton had his hands over his eyes, and if the sound explained anything, he had smacked his hands over his eye sockets. You blinked, glancing down at Jingle in your hands, before looking back at Killer.

The fuck was he doing now?

The confusion turned into sharp amusement as you watched Sir Fluff jump onto Killer’s face, causing a light surprised yelp from the skeleton as his body flailed. Soft snickers left you as you held Jingle in the crook of your arm, your other hand held over your mouth as a way to try and stifle your amusement.

Killer squirmed before his hands finally got out from under the cat and was able to grab the cat to pick him up off his face. An exasperated huff sounded from the skeleton as he sat up, holding Sir Fluff in his lap. “my face is not a lap for you sir fluff,” he scolded with a finger.

The sight of him scolding a cat was entertaining, causing low chuckles from you, a soft smirk on your face as you watched the scene. Sir Fluff did not seem to give a shit, a paw batting out at Killer’s phalange, who waved it disapprovingly.

You put your attention to the pile of cats laying next to Killer, not noticing the faint red on his cheekbones as you kneeled to the foot of the bed, cradling Jingle in your arm, who honestly just seemed content to lay there. You raised your other hand and let Princess sniff it before bumping her head against it with a short purr and you eagerly obliged with the unspoken demand.

You would never deny a cat their pets.

You looked up at Killer with a short gesture to the other two kittens, though you were slightly taken aback by the soft look on his skull, staring right at you.

You didn’t know how to read that expression and it looked a bit different than Killer’s usual expression, and that bothered you.

It’s not like his expression was soft because he was looking at you. Not at all.

You swallowed, your throat feeling dry, as if you just registered what exactly you were doing and where exactly you were. That seemed to snap Killer out of.. whatever he was doing (thinking about?). “oh the other two?” You gave a short nod, your hand returning to the kitten on your arm, giving gentle scratches on his chest fur and under his chin, hearing tiny purrs.

He pointed to the one that was hiding under Princess’ tail. “that’s dumpling. she’s shy, so she mostly stays near princess.” He scooped up the last kitten, cradling it. “and this is soy!”

Your gaze slowly turned judgmental at the name of the kitten as you stared at Killer with a deadpan.

“i did not name her, that was all horror’s doing. he found her in the kitchen one night with soy sauce covering her,” he defended himself, pressing the kitten against his chest with a faux pout.

You raised a brow at that revelation and raised your hand, doing your best to sign with one hand. “Found her? She’s not one of Princess’ kittens?” You asked, doing your best to not jostle Jingle, who had started batting at your signing hand. You poked his nose once you were done, seeing the kitten go cross-eyed from following your finger.

Killer seemed almost disappointed by your signs (for whatever reason), but responded nonetheless, shaking his head. “nah, horror found her. she’s older than dumpling and jingle, but she’s still a kitten.” He began scratching the kitten under the chin as he cooed. “a cute little kitten who likes to sneak into the kitchen at night, the little troublemaker.”

“Dumpling and Jingle?”

Killer nodded. “yep, they’re her kittens. soy may not be one, but she’s still family to them,” he spoke cheerfully, but it almost seemed firm.

Which you could get, you would probably act the same if you had cats.

You gave a soft nod in agreement, looking down at the kitten laying on your arm, scratching his fur and dodging playful bats of his paws.

It had shifted to an easy and surprisingly comfortable silence as the two of you sat, you finally sitting down on the ground in front of the bed instead of kneeling, just chilling with the cats. When Killer had let Soy go, she wandered over to your direction, peering at you before jumping down into your lap, landing partially on Jingle, who reared back with a hiss.

Jingle rolled off your arm and leapt at Soy, the two kittens beginning to play fight on the ground, you leaning against the bed as you watched, feeling content. There was a soft amused expression on your face as you watched the tumble between the kittens. A snicker from Killer informed you that he was amused as well.

You felt the bedding next to you shift and you glanced over, seeing Princess’ face right next to yours. You both blinked before she headbutt your face and began licking your hair. Killer snickered at your disturbed expression. “seems like someone needs a little grooming,” he sing-songed and you just flipped him off with a flat look.

You then used your hand to try to gently push Princess away, gaining a small yowl of what sounded like disapproval in response. Killer offered no help as you did your best to stop the grooming.

She was persistent and you felt slightly offended.

So, you just stood up and took a step back, raising a challenging stare at the mother cat. She seemed almost annoyed with you for moving away, a huff coming from the animal before she dropped to the floor to disrupt the fight between Jingle and Soy.

You glared at Killer. “So helpful, Killer.”

Killer just grinned. “who was i to interrupt a cat in the process of grooming?”

You flipped him off again, getting a cheeky smirk from the skeleton.

“hey it was amusing.” You gave him a flat look and he just laughed. You felt a headbutt to your leg, Jingle looking up at you with a demanding meow.

You easily picked up the cat, scratching under his chin as you hesitated before walking towards Killer without any other indication.

He still looked amused as you walked towards him. “you gonna smother me with another cat?” He joked.

You tilted your head slightly, a small grimace on your face before you slowly breathed out.

Don’t think about it.

Just don’t think about it.

You don’t want to do anything.

Just a simple word.

You stood in front of Killer, in front of his bed and gently put Jingle in the skeleton’s lap. He eagerly began petting the kitten, still looking up at you with a slowly disappearing smirk, confusion growing as you hesitated.

You shook your head slightly to get rid of any thoughts, any magic, and leaned down to where Killer’s ear would most likely be.

“… sweet cheeks?” Killer questioned, confusion lacing his tone.

You slowly exhaled before opening your mouth. “… Thanks..” You muttered, just barely audible, like you were afraid if you spoke any louder, it would be taken as a command.

Just as quickly as the word left your mouth, you straightened and moved away, feeling awkward and a bit uncomfortable. “Bye,” you quickly signed before making your escape out of Killer’s room, not seeing the dumbfounded look on Killer’s skull.

That was too much Killer interaction for today, too much interaction, you were fine now.

You fled back to your room, which wasn’t far considering it was next to Killer’s room (aside from the decoration doors in between the two rooms), immediately laying on your bed. Sleep, it was time to sleep.

Your throat hurt, but it could be worse.

You had chills and your trembling returned, but it could be worse.

You actually spoke without a command.

It was only two words, but you still spoke without a command!

And it shook you.

Chapter Text

You’ve progressed over the months of living with the skeletons. With both your magic and just speaking. You still didn’t speak much but you still spoke more than you did when you first arrived. Your throat still scratched at times, but it felt significantly better. You had Dust and Horror to thank for that, and you were truly grateful, though sometimes it still scared you.

Speaking still scared you sometimes, always unnerved you, but you knew in your mind that you had control. You had control, and that’s all you needed to know.

It’s been… half a year, you believe, since you were brought under Nightmare’s employment (simply speaking, if we disregard the technical kidnapping). Your relationships with the skeletons definitely advanced during that time and you honestly weren’t even sure what to make of it.

Killer was as touchy and loud as he always was, but you noticed after that day with the cats in his room, he had begun to stop crossing your boundaries as much. Sure, he was still touchy and clingy, but he stopped grabbing at your skin, reaching for whatever fabric you were wearing instead. He was clingy, but you found it an upgrade.

Horror didn’t really change much in your opinion. He was still the same food-loving large skeleton that you first saw him as. If anything, he seemed a bit more talkative and just maybe, a bit harder on you about eating. Though, according to Cross, that hadn’t really changed when you first met him. Horror just got more obvious about it apparently. You began to find small snacks in your room though, as time went on, and they reminded you of the large skeleton.

Would it be weird if you assumed that they came from Horror?

You didn’t think so, considering when you went to ask about the snacks, Horror had taken one look at the snacks, flushed a bright red, and shortcut out of the situation. Which had left you and Cross (who had also been in the kitchen at the time) bewildered. But, you felt like that told you exactly who left you the snacks.

Phantom still gave you company everywhere if you weren’t near Dust. It was definitely something to get used to, since you could actually see the ghost (when nobody else could). Phantom was a nice conversational partner, whether it was sign or verbal.

Dust was as quiet as ever, but he was one of the skeletons who liked to stick close to you, almost like a silent comfort. You weren’t going to lie, it was soothing. To have someone near you that just provided a strong root to lean against (whether you meant that literally or not, you weren’t going to confirm).

Nightmare was…

Nightmare was odd.

It wasn’t bad, but just.. weird.

In simplest terms, he was your boss, just like he was the boss of the other skeletons. Yet, were bosses typically… kind to their employees? Sure, your old boss, the tortoise monster, was kind, perhaps maybe borderline sweet, but you knew that there was an underlying fear of you. Of what you could do to him if you deemed so.

Which you never would have done, considering you felt no need to.

You did need to go back to your original universe soon though, and hold up your end of the deal.

Error was interesting.

You were apparently someone that deserved his respect, in which, you weren’t deemed a ‘glitching anomaly’ or whatever he liked to deem the other skeletons. Which was fine, you didn’t really care either way, regardless of whatever he called you.

The two of you mainly conversed at night, whenever your insomnia was acting up (or rather your nightmares woke you up) and you left your room to get a drink from the kitchen. You always found him in the kitchen, snatching whatever chocolate that Cross had snagged for stock. It was a bit amusing to you.

The two of you came to a nonverbal agreement, you would make yourself some hot chocolate, he would grab his chocolate (plus an extra bar), and then the two of you would make your way back to your room.

Sometimes the two of you talked, or rather signed, while other times, Error opened one of his windows to watch whatever was happening on the other side, as some sort of show. It was either what he called Undernovela, which is definitely something interesting, or the universes of one of your solo missions that Nightmare had started to give you.

You never pointed out to Error that he was essentially letting you check the results of your actions in those universes, to make sure there weren’t many issues. Which was good considering sometimes during those watching times, the two of you would notice one of the ‘Star Sanses’ as the group of skeletons called them.

The sight of them, particularly a skeleton with a large paintbrush, made Error grit his teeth in annoyance, to which you would just wordlessly hand him the extra chocolate bar.

He knew what you were doing, you would expect him to, but he still gladly took the bar.

It was actually during one of these nights (though the two of you were watching Undernovela, occasionally making signed comments) that you got a knock on your door.

You and Error shared a look, though he focused back to his window quickly, which didn’t surprise you. You stood up and carefully made your way around Error and opened the door, blinking and slightly furrowing your brows at the sight of Killer on the other side. Something in his jacket wiggled before Jingle leapt out, landing on your chest, your arms quickly raising so the kitten wouldn’t fall. Once the kitten was properly secured, you raised a brow at Killer. “It’s late,” you remarked quietly, fingers idly scratching under Jingle’s chin.

Killer gave a nod at your obvious remark, making no move to take back the cat. The sounds of the ‘show’ that Error was watching seemed to catch Killer’s attention, who peered into your room curiously. “what’s with error sweets?”

You glanced back towards Error, who paid the two of you no mind, trying to find the best way to word it. “.. He comes by sometimes,” you said with a little shrug before looking back at Killer. “And you?” You asked.

Killer stared at Error for another moment, for some reason you couldn’t determine, before lightly shaking his head and looking back at you with a grin. “wanted to ask ya something.”

“This late?”

“jingle heard you head back to your room and wanted to see you,” he responded with a shrug, like that completely answered your question.

..

It didn’t really but you couldn’t really deny seeing Jingle, so you just let it be.

Killer snickered quietly for some reason. “figured i might as well ask you while i brought you the troublemaker.”

You sighed, leveling him with a tired look. “Ask what?”

“there’s this cat cafe i found in one of the universes we’ve been to before and i wanna take you,” he stated in a slight rush of words, his target of a soul bobbing for a moment before it stilled.

You blinked, glancing at his soul before his skull. “… Why?” You asked slowly, head tilting slightly.

He blinked a few times. “.. cats?”

You frowned slightly before nodding. Cats were a good reason. “Tomorrow?”

Killer beamed. “yes! i’ll get you around lunchtime!” He quickly ran back to his room after that statement, a meow drawing your attention back to Jingle in your arms.

You shared eye contact with the unblinking kitten before shutting the door, the kitten still in your arms.

Guess Jingle was staying with you tonight.

You were fine with that.

You settled back to your previous spot, your fingers providing a distraction and petting service for Jingle, trying to soothe the kitten to sleep in your lap as you watched Error’s hands as he caught you back to speed on what was happening.

(The fact that he signed to you rather than spoke to you had nothing to do with you being slightly uncomfortable with speaking at times, it was just easier to be quiet with sign, and sometimes when he spoke, his glitching voice can get loud. It was just an easy solution.)

After Error caught you up to the Undernovela episode, a snicker left him and you looked at him questioningly. He looked down at you with a raised bone brow. “You’re dense, aren’t you.”

You frowned, raising a hand to sign, keeping the other hand on Jingle, before pausing, thinking for a moment on what could’ve provided the statement. Your thoughts went back to what Killer offered and your expression fell flat. “It’s not a date,” you finally signed.

Error snorted. “You actually think it’s not?”

“It isn’t.”

Error looked at you, his gaze going down to the dozing kitten in your lap before back to you, something of a knowing smirk on his face. “Sure.”

“Hey, get me some chocolate while you’re out.”

You raised a brow at Error’s request (though the stiff movements almost made it come out like a demand). He had disappeared when morning came, however returning to your room afterwards. “You have Cross’ chocolate bars.”

He waved a hand, gaze on the doll he made for you, checking it over like he liked to do before looking back at you. “It’s all gone.”

That.. really didn’t surprise you. You tsked, knowing that when Cross found his empty stock, he was going to be a bit irritable. Mostly just upset though.

You.. didn’t really know what would be at a cat cafe though, this would be your first time going to one, despite your love for cats. “Highly doubt there’s chocolate in a place with cats,” you pointed out.

“Places like those tend to be separated from the animals. Safe and all. So bring back chocolate.”

You rolled your eyes, flipping him off as you turned to leave. “Sure, sure..” You muttered under your breath, a measured exhale leaving you as you opened the door, blinking and nodding in acknowledgment at Killer.

“sweets! you ready to go?” He asked cheerfully. You nodded again, closing your room door, cutting off the glitchy call of Error reminding you about his chocolate. A small frown was on Killer’s face. “did.. error stay with you the entire night?” He asked as he walked with you, more so leading you, to Nightmare’s office.

You tilted your head slightly in curiosity, wondering why he wanted to know. You gave a simple nod with a little shrug. You couldn’t be completely sure if he stayed the entire night, you dozed off a few times, but you always made out the tell tale sound of his glitches in your doze, so it was possible.

Killer looked almost.. conflicted about your response, clearly wanting to say something about it before you opened the door to Nightmare’s office, gesturing for him to go in.

“ah, killer, magpie.” You gave a small nod in greeting. He knew why the two of you were there.. right? “as a reminder, killer do not destroy the building,” Nightmare stressed, sharp gaze on Killer, who just grinned in response.

“what about a building?” He responded with a smirk.

“I’m leaving you in the building if you destroy it,” you commented with a deadpan look towards Killer.

The skeleton just pouted at your statement. “fineeeee, no destroying buildings.”

(Of course, Killer didn’t need to know that you wouldn’t actually leave him in a destructing building if he were stuck inside.)

Nightmare rolled his cyan eye-light before one of his tendrils struck at empty air, making a slicing motion to open a portal to the universe. “here. three hours. killer, let me know the location after the time is up so i can open a more pinpointed portal.”

Killer gave a two fingered salute. “aye aye, boss man!” He jumped through the portal with an uncaring grin.

You moved to follow before you felt a gentle tug of your wrist and you looked at Nightmare. “let me know if you wish to leave before that time, magpie.”

A slightly amused smile crossed your face before nodding in agreement. The tendril left your wrist and you went to go through the portal before pausing with a sound of realization. “Cross has no more chocolate bars,” you informed him before passing the portal, sending Nightmare a wave as it closed.

Killer was standing a few feet away, an eager grin on his skull. “c’mon! let’s go sweets!”

Soft, amused chuckles left you as you began to follow Killer, who was eagerly leading you throughout the universe to get to the cat cafe.

ARE YOU STILL ALIVE UNDER THERE, MAGPIE?

A very good question.

..

It was a good thing you weren’t allergic to cats, or else you probably would be very dead right now.

You could hear Killer trying to hold back his laughter as he placed more cats on you, trapping you to the floor with cats completely covering you. You were mildly surprised that the cats were staying put actually.

You carefully slid your hands from under a cat’s body so you had room to move them before signing, not daring to speak as there was a cat curled under your chin. “Fortunately for you, I’m still alive.” It was a response for Phantom, who had somehow followed you into the universe, but it was also a statement for Killer, who apparently couldn’t handle it anymore and just started breaking down laughing.

You glared at him as his laughter startled some of the cats, causing them to bristle before they settled back down on you.

“hahah, g-god pie, god i love this so much,” he cackled out, pretending to wipe a tear. “you look comfortable there sweets, with like ten cats on ya.”

There were a few feet in your ribs, guts, and joints, but other than that, sure, you were fairly comfortable. You gave him a thumbs up, which just caused him to laugh again. You leaned your head back onto the ground with a short sigh, shutting your eyes, the movement causing the cat nestled under your chin to adjust to press more against you.

A sound of a snapshot and you simply raised a hand to flip Killer off, knowing exactly what he did.

Killer snickered, taking another picture of you flipping him off. “totally sending this to the others, you’re just completely smothered by the cats.”

“You put them on me.”

“only some of them, the others were all by themselves.” He sounded smug at his statement.

“Fuck you, you’re lucky I’m comfortable right now.”

PIE, ARE YOU ACTUALLY COMFORTABLE UNDER THIRTEEN CATS?

You just barely inclined your head in a form of a nod to respond to Phantom, who looked both amused yet conflicted. His gloves fidgeted with each other and made a move towards a cat before drawing back.

Yeah… ghosts couldn’t really pet animals, huh.

“oh, hey, sweets, nightmare wants our location.”

A small scowl appeared on your face as you looked up at Killer, who was looming over you. “No. Can’t move a cat, it’s law.”

Killer smirked before going back to his phone and typing, you assumed he was sending what you signed.

You could see Phantom hovering behind Killer, apparently reading the conversation. Suppose that’s a use of being a ghost.

HE’S GETTING YOU EITHER WAY.

You blinked, eyebrows pinching together in confusion. How was he-

“boss man disagrees sweet cheeks,” Killer sang cheerfully as you felt tendrils wrap around your body, disturbing all but one cat from your body, before you went through a falling sensation, landing in Nightmare’s open arms.

You heard Killer land on the ground behind you before the sound of the portal closing. A portal through the ground apparently.

You stared at Nightmare before looking down at the cat that was still latched to your body, small claws poking holes in your clothing. The cat stared at you before slowly blinking, ears flat, before you blinked back and looked up at Nightmare with a small smirk, ignoring his scowl.

“Thanks for the free cat.”

Chapter Text

You unfortunately, did not get to keep the cat.

Nightmare had instantly took it away and tossed it back into the universe it came from (gently. .. probably), which resulted a pout from you.

“killer’s rats are trouble enough.” He had firmly said, which created a complaint from Killer about how his cats weren’t rats and they were angels.

Which.

Was entirely false, however, for your love of cats, you agreed.

No cat was an angel, they were all menaces.

Killer was shooed out of Nightmare’s office after a few minutes too long of his ranting about his cats, Nightmare’s tendrils darting at him to get him to leave, to which he finally did.

You were finally let down from nightmare’s arms a moment after before gestured to his desk and you obediently followed, already knowing what was coming.

You helped with his paperwork from time to time, being one of the only other beings in the group that is stable enough, as well as patient enough, to actually go through the paperwork and do them accurately (or at least, in a way that satisfied Nightmare). The other was Cross, and sometimes Dust, though it was mainly Cross. You had begun helping after you started to slowly speak, it gave you something to do when you weren’t going on missions (aside from sparring).

It wasn’t a complete ‘do it for me’ type of thing, you just helped lighten his load. Sometimes you did it with Cross when the two of you agreed that Nightmare needed a short break. It was the only way you two could think of to get him to take a break.

He was very stubborn.

Of course, he always knew exactly what you two were doing when, at those moments, he went into his office and saw the completed stacks of paperwork.

You honestly weren’t even sure where the hell the paperwork came from, or what exactly he was doing to which he was required to do paperwork, but you didn’t ask questions nor did he give you answers.

Presently, Nightmare lead you to his desk, grabbing a nearby map that was rolled up in one of the bookshelves, and spreading it out as he stood next to you.

It wasn’t a normal map, not a human one at the very least, and it took you a moment to recognize this particular one. It was a universal map that Nightmare came up with, not a typical one, more like a bubble map if you had to be honest. There was no particular order, just small bubbles indicating the different AUs that he has knowledge of. He did have a blank copy of the map, while this particular map held marks on certain bubbles, while some held a differently colored mark.

One color indicated you.

While the second color indicated the Star Sanses, or at least one of them.

A snicker left you as you saw Nightmare use the color of the Star Sanses to mark the universe that you most recently went to on a mission. “They’re quick,” you remarked lightly.

Nightmare hummed thoughtfully. “i’m not surprised honestly, if just a little annoyed.”

You bit your bottom lip in thought before releasing it and gently tapping on two bubbles, universes that you already hit. “Want me to double back?”

Nightmare was silent for a moment, thinking carefully, before he tapped on two different universes. “double back to these two for right now.”

You nodded in agreement. “When do you want me to hit them?”

The skeleton looked at you with a grin. “now?”

Sudden but understandable.

You pulled out one of your knives, spinning it once in your hand before you smiled back. “Give me a target.”

Oh god.

Loud music.

Fuck you forgot to bring your headphones to drown out the music.

Now you were irritated by it.

You were not a fan of clubs and this was why.

People and monsters dancing, mingling, laughing together, full of positivity and life.

You were in the corner of the room, covered by the shadows, just barely seen if someone were to squint to try to see you. The room was dark aside from the LED lights, changing colors like a strobe light.

Your eyes roamed over the dancing humans and monsters before it moved up to the one manning the music, who was dancing to the music with the others.

The DJ.

A celebrity in this AU.

And someone who could easily be rebuilt if killed.

How exactly.. does one kill a robot, however?

Physical wounds are unlikely to do any damage, besides, your knives aren’t quite built to cut through metal (nor were you quite that strong to just ram it through the metal body). A physical attack would alert everyone, which would also call you out and possibly call upon others to fight you.

You would be sure to lose in that regard, and you weren’t quite sure if you would be given a moment to message Nightmare for a portal.

What..

.. What would be the right command to use for this type of monster, for this robot?

You already knew how you were going to get close, you’ve seen the bot lean over the railing to get song requests by patrons, diligently adding them to the song list.

But what word would be right?

Your gaze dropped from the robot, going back to watching the people before the strobing lights caught your gaze, you looking up to see the flickering lights.

They flickered in and out of a color into a new one.

Flickered.. flickering.. into a new color..

The sight of the lights flickering brought the perfect word to your mind on how to kill the robot.

After all, what was a party without a bang?

…

“you exploded him didn’t you?”

Your eye twitched at the question, just barely hearing it. Your ears were still ringing a little. “Can’t.. fully hear you right now..” You grimaced at the feeling of your mouth moving yet not quite hearing your voice before switching to sign. “Was too close to the explosion radius, which was the mistake on my part.”

Yeah, your face hurt. It felt a little burnt too, and you were fairly certain some metal smacked you.

Nightmare sighed, sounding tired, and walked up to you before placing his tendrils on your face and around your head, a hand resting over your eyes after making them shut. He didn’t say anything after causing your eyes to shut, which you appreciated considering everything was a bit ringing.

You hadn’t realized your face was hot until Nightmare’s tendrils felt colder than they usually did. After a moment, Nightmare’s hand left your eyes and you opened them, staring at his frown, his tendrils still touching your face.

He looked disapproving at your actions, but you did what you were told to do, so you didn’t see anything wrong with how you did it.

Besides, the robot died in a crowded room of humans and monsters, so that was bound to bring some heavy mourning. Enough that would attract Nightmare’s brother anyway.

Speaking of..

“Need to hit the other universe,” you reminded him, watching his frown turn into a scowl.

His tendrils pressed against your head in a pointed manner and you rolled your eyes. “My ears will be fine, they’re just ringing a little. In and out for this universe.”

Your gaze went down to Nightmare’s mouth, which opened to make slow words.

“Need.”

“To.”

“Heal.”

You frowned and looked back at Nightmare’s teal eye-light. “Can heal after this one.” Nightmare still seemed displeased with your statement. “In and out,” you repeated.

Nightmare sneered slightly, and you could clearly read the next word from him, not needing to hear it. “Stubborn.”

You just smiled in response.

The ringing in your ears was slightly better when you were back from the second universe and you were immediately trapped on the couch in Nightmare’s office, tendrils wrapping around your head, covering your ears and in addition, your eyes as well.

Well then.

As usual, Nightmare’s tendrils were comfortable to the touch.

You sighed as you leaned back into the couch. “If I fall asleep, it’s your fault,” you signed, despite not being able to see any response. You had a feeling he was amused by it though. “You’re explaining to Horror why I missed dinner if I do.”

A finger flicked your forehead in retaliation.

You had no issues flipping Nightmare off but you decided against it. He was healing you after all. Probably.

He could just be muffling your hearing for when the ringing did stop. You weren’t quite sure, actually.

It felt nice though, the pressure was surprisingly doing something for the ringing sound.

You weren’t sure how long it was, you had been dozing off a little with the pressure and darkness of his tendrils, and you didn’t quite register he was done until you were shook.

(You had gotten far too trusting with the skeletons, to actually doze off without having some form of alertness.)

You groaned as you sat up, tugging experimentally at your ears before your hand was swat at. “don’t hurt your ears again.” Nightmare scowled.

You snorted, releasing your ear. “Was just checking.”

“don’t do it again.”

You eyed Nightmare with a frown, him staring back at you with the same scowl. “.. Needed to check,” you said slowly.

Nightmare’s scowl darkened. “you know what i mean. be more cautious, you could’ve seriously hurt yourself.”

You looked at the ground, scratching your neck self-consciously. “.. I was careless, sure, but my commands are immediate. There wasn’t enough time to get away.”

“what if you were to put a time on it?”

You looked up at Nightmare, seeing a thoughtful look on his skull, feeling confused. “What exactly do you mean?”

“you give a command, however add the application of a time. for instance, sleep in five minutes.”

“I don’t really think..”

“it’s something to try however, isn’t it?”

Chapter Text

He kept walking.

You kept watching.

Phantom was with you, though he was keeping quiet, keeping a watch for you.

(Who knew ghosts could be such a good lookout?)

You were above the skeleton as he walked through the halls. Horror was with him, but you knew he wouldn’t give you away. Not intentionally at least.

Horror knew of this game.

You watched your steps as you crawled through the vents (that was a wonderful discovery after Dust had pointed them out to you), keeping your eyes on the targeted skeleton.

No words could be used, nor would you use them. That would be cheating after all.

You made a gesture with your head at Phantom, and the skull made a nodding motion before floating forward and down towards the skeleton pair.

Phantom moved down to the pair and watched them for a moment before coming back up to you. A KNIFE STRAPPED TO HIS LEG, HIDDEN BY CLOTHING. HORROR AND HIM APPEAR TO BE DISCUSSING SOMETHING ABOUT LUNCH AND KILLER. Phantom informed you, his voice somehow sounding a bit hushed (despite nobody but you and Dust being able to hear him).

You deduced that the conversation had been initiated by Horror, as he was the main cook of the group, to which it was taken over by the other, who was irritated by something Killer did to him. You’d have to ask Killer what he did.

Your knife shifted in your hand and you watched as the pair stopped, though not because they heard you, but rather because Horror stopped them, asking a question. It was such a perfect spot for you.

You didn’t have to hear Phantom’s urged out, NOW!, before you dropped down, dropping onto the skeleton, ignoring his startled cry as you trapped his legs below your own, twisting an arm behind his back as your knife was pointed towards one of his sockets.

“One to me, I believe?” You asked in a low voice, edging into a dangerous tone, as if daring him to disagree.

There was a tense pause before the smaller body under you went limp, defeated. “ugh, fine. one to you, magpie,” Cross grumbled.

You nodded, satisfied, before removing your knife away from his eye socket and getting up from him, offering him a hand to help him up. Despite his defeated attitude, he took your hand graciously and stood up, shaking his skull. “thanks.” He sighed before looking up at you. “how many does that make now?”

“47,” Horror responded for you, his hand settling on top of your head as he pet you.

You’ve gotten used to his petting, you’ve come to like his contact, unconsciously preening under it like a cat.

It felt nice and soothing to feel his phalanges run through your hair.

You ignored how it felt like praise.

Cross smirked a little, looking pleased. “you’re catching up pie. i won’t let you remain that close though, of course.”

You scowled, though the other two (three if you count the ghost floating next to you) could see the playfulness in the expression. (It was a striking difference to when you were first brought to the mansion. It made the skeletons feel good.) “I’m improving on full out fighting, I’ll catch up to you in that regard sooner or later.” You then smirked, tilting your head coyly. “Unless of course, you keep getting caught in my ambushed.”

It was Cross’ turn to scowl, crossing his arms. “we have different skill sets, you with ambushes, and me with full out fighting, i’ll catch up to you in your set soon.”

“Unless I catch up to you first.”

“that won’t happen.”

You spun your knife with a slight hum. “Are you sure about that?”

“of cour-”

“sweets!”

You felt your breath leave your body as Killer collided with your back, jumping up onto you, his arms around your neck as his skull rested on your head. “glad i caught you! dusty made snacks!”

You hardly thought about it before your hands reached up, Cross catching your knife for you, and flipped Killer off of your back, the skeleton landing on the floor with a grunt. You stood over him, thanking Cross for your knife as you stared down at him. “Why’d Dust make snacks?” You asked.

Dust rarely made snacks. Even when he did, it was just for himself when he didn’t really have an appetite for actual food. Which… Horror wasn’t really fond of.

You snuck a glance at Horror and yeah, you were right, Horror had a bit of a displeased look on his face. Though now that you had grown closer to the skeletons, you could see the thinly veiled concern. You nodded to him and he gave you another pat on the head before leaving you, Cross, and Killer.

You paused when Killer didn’t give you an answer and looked back down at him, realization striking you. “Wait, why’d you tell me Dust made snacks, you know he isn’t one to share snacks he made,” you pointed out with a raised brow.

Killer leapt up onto his feet, hands in his pockets with a grin. “horror was hoggin ya,” he responded and you groaned, rolling your eyes.

The closer you got to the skeletons, the more they seemed to get almost jealous of each other, in simplest terms.

It’s because they care about you, you traumatized, attention starved fool.

Cross groaned as well and your mind sent you an idea and you looked at him. “Training room?” You offered.

Cross lit up, ignoring how Killer brightened as well. “of course, i need to win back a point anyway!” He exclaimed, turning to run to his room, calling back to you. “i’ll meet you there!”

You and Killer watched him go, a grin still on Killer’s face. “what’s the score now?” He asked, looking at you curiously.

“50-47,” you responded with a slight peace sign.

Killer beamed, throwing an arm over your shoulder (you no longer tensed up at his contact, though it still surprised you at times). “ayee that’s my sweets! you’re catching up to crossy!!”

You refused to dwell on his wording of the first statement.

It didn’t mean anything.

You forced yourself to give a small chuckle as your mind tried to push away the thought to stop any overthinking. “I’ll get there. He was a royal guard, so it’s understandable I’m not up to his level..”

Your cheeks were grabbed by Killer and he stared at you with his lightless eyes. “are you kidding? sweets, you’ve beaten him 47 times now. doesn’t matter if most of them were from ambushes, you’ve still beaten him without any commands! that’s still amazing without any formal training like cross had gotten, and you’re only getting better!” He exclaimed firmly.

You were a bit put off guard with how scolding Killer sounded. Just as quickly he grabbed your cheeks, he returned back to his arm around your neck and the two of you went back to walking towards the training room. “don’t dwell so much on the defeats, sweet cheeks. focus on the wins and your improvement, kay?”

You could only give a blank nod, which Killer seemed to take, going to start mindless chatter to fill the walk, your mind whirling a bit.

He.. almost sounded proud of you?

Huh..

Chapter Text

The score went up after the spar, though only by two points. Cross got you, before you turned it back onto him. You were still three behind him, which made you frown.

After the spar and after the three of you (Killer having watched the spar and cheer you on, while trying to sabotage Cross) headed back inside to the kitchen, having drawn close to dinner time. Jingle joined you guys sometime during walking and you eyed Killer with a raised brow.

“don’t look at me like that sweets, i keep my door closed.”

“Yet he keeps getting out,” you pointed out, though you made no move to give the kitten back. The soft little kitten was purring up a storm as it kept rubbing its head into your neck, you just rhythmically stroking its back.

“kitten with a mission to get love from you,” Killer teased, though he muttered something under his breath that you couldn’t fully get. All you heard was “rest of us”, which gave you no context or any idea what he meant.

You shook your head with a soft snicker. “Sure, Killer.”

Dust seemed fine that night, and you never really found out what was wrong with him, his attitude normal the next time you saw him.

Actually no, there was a slight change to him. He almost joined Killer with levels of touchy and attention. He was closer to you, yet it also felt like there was a distance.

Phantom wouldn’t tell you anything about it, which explicitly told you that there was indeed something going on. He now looked like there was something he wanted to spill, yet he held himself back.

It frustrated you, but you knew better than to pry.

Everyone had their own things.

Evidently, you did your best to treat Dust as you usually would even with the slight change to himself. You didn’t quite understand it (it almost felt forced?), but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

It was just a bit odd for someone like Dust.

It didn’t take long before you felt some kind of intervention.

In the form of the skeleton known as Horror.

Who had yanked you into the kitchen during one of your nightly visits to get some water. Error wasn’t with you that night, or else you would’ve gotten hot cocoa.

You hissed when you were yanked into the kitchen, hearing the door shut after you were pulled in. “Horror! What the hell??” You questioned, keeping you hiss low, fully aware of the time.

Horror looked guilty for a moment before the expression was wiped from his skull. “need your help,” he responded quietly.

You blinked and looked at the counter when he gestured to it. There was a set of ingredients and some mixing tools sitting on it. You looked back up at the large skeleton with an air of confusion. “You need some help making something?” That was strange, Horror didn’t normally ask for help making anything.

He liked to do it himself, he liked having control on what food is being made.

The little nod that Horror gave you was almost pitiful and you felt something clench in your soul. You sighed shortly. “Yeah, sure. Did this need to happen tonight though?” You asked with a resigned tone as you put on the apron that Horror held out for you.

There was a moment of silence, and you looked up at him to see a conflicted expression on his skull before he nodded a little slowly before it became more firm. “.. yeah.”

You pressed your lips into a fine line before shrugging. Alright then. You couldn’t really argue with that.

“What are we making then?” You asked, taking a look at the ingredients, which really didn’t tell you much. All you could get from them was that it was something that included chocolate. You took a look at the bottle next to them.

And alcohol.

“chocolate tart,” Horror said, mixing the flour and cocoa powder together.

You raised a brow. “Uh huh, and the alcohol?”

Horror blinked and looked at the bottle, as if remembering it was there. He looked at it for a minute, looking down at the mix he was mixing before looking at you. “… chocolate-bourbon tart,” he responded after a moment.

You stared at him for another moment, which seemed to caused a bead of sweat to roll down his skull before you yawned. “Alright,” you relented, to which he let out a sigh of relief.

“preheat oven and grab the pan?” Horror asked as he continued mixing the tart mixture. Which was fair, he was stronger than you that an electric mixer wasn’t needed.

You nodded before pausing. You felt something trying to poke in your head and you frowned. “Don’t… tarts need to be refrigerated for a while before baking?” You asked slowly, glancing up at him.

“preferable, not needed.” Was the short answer.

You hummed noncommittedly before setting the oven to the temperature Horror needed and grabbing the pan, setting it near him. Horror began rolling out the dough, which, while a little sticky, still rolled out into the shape of the pan. He then transferred it into the pan and set parchment paper over the dough, to which you began filling it with the dried beans that he had set out.

There was a beep, indicating the oven was done preheating, so you put the tart in the oven, reminding Horror to set a timer, knowing of his forgetfulness.

There wasn’t really much to do while the two of you waited for the tart in the oven, though you somehow found yourself situated in Horror’s lap as his skull nuzzled into your hair.

You were quite unsure on how to proceed or even act to this action, but just let him do it. It strangely felt nice, though that could’ve just been a tired thought. You weren’t quite sure, but you apparently dozed off during the time, finding yourself startle awake at the beeping of the thirty-minute timer.

You situated Horror’s arms off of you, which alerted him awake, and he stood up with you, removing the tart from the oven, to which it had to cool for a while.

Once that was done cooling, you removed the paper filled with beans and put the shell back in the oven, this time for a short amount of time.

During the time it was in the oven, instead of waiting, you began assisting Horror with the filling of the tart, lightly scolding him when he snuck some pieces of the chopped chocolate, though you took one yourself. Horror added the heated bourbon over the chocolate, to which you began mixing once the butter pieces and eggs were added.

You grimaced slightly at the wear on your arm from beating them into a mix until Horror took over, who did so easily.

You felt slightly offended it was so easy for him, but shook it off. You set the tart shell onto a baking sheet, Horror pouring in the filling. You set the final timer as Horror put the pastry back into the oven, leaning against the counter with a sigh.

You took a moment to get a breath before turning around and beginning to clean up the counter, handing Horror the used materials as he put them in the sink to wash, to which you dried once he was finished washing them.

You finished washing your hands, looking up at Horror, who was staring at you a bit strangely. “.. What?” You questioned after a yawn, feeling a bit more tired after assisting him in baking something.

Which you still didn’t know why he was doing so, but regardless.

Horror didn’t respond to you, though he leaned down, to which you were about to ask him again, before you felt something press against your cheek.

You felt your mind go a bit blank as the something against your cheek moved a bit close to the corner of your lips before Horror straightened, looking awfully satisfied with himself. “had some chocolate on you,” Horror said with a smug looking smirk.

You blinked slowly, your mind trying to process. “.. Right. Thanks.” Your throat felt dry, though it wasn’t like the usual dryness when you hadn’t spoken for years. It felt almost parched.

“go get some sleep pie, i got the rest,” he urged, patting your head as he led you out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind you.

The click of the door shutting seemed to help your brain process what exactly just happened.

Okay, what the FUCK.

Chapter Text

It was morning when the tart became refrigerated enough, cool enough for Horror to allow it to be cut. That was also when he gave you a piece and asked you to bring it to Dust.

It both explained, yet also really didn’t, who he had made the tart for.

You didn’t have a reason to go against it, besides, you figured you could use it to get some answers.

When you arrived at Dust’s room, you knocked and waited without getting a response. You heard some muffled mumbling before Phantom came through the door, giving you a nod, to which you then opened the door.

Dust was sitting up on his bed, appearing to stare at the wall across from him. The walls of his room were bare, nothing being added aside from the furniture that was already in the room.

You held out the tart to Dust. “What’s wrong?” You asked, ignoring Phantom’s almost nervous look.

Dust’s gaze shifted towards you for a moment before he took the tart, gazing down at it until he set it aside on the bedstand next to his bed. “i’m fine,” he shortly responded.

Well, that was a complete lie if you ever heard one.

Yeah, you’re the same way.

You scoffed softly. “You’re being.. odd. Like Killer,” you pointed out.

“… that’s a bit insulting.”

“Then why don’t you tell me why you’re acting like Killer.”

Dust reached out and grasped your hand, gently tugging you to sit on the bed, his gaze on your held hand. It was silent for a moment before he tugged your hand to his teeth, pressing each knuckle to his teeth, in some form of a kiss.

The fingers of the captured hand twitched as your mind registered what he was doing. “Why you too-” You groaned out softly, a hand to your face as you rubbed your nose ridge.

“so the others already came to terms huh..” Dust muttered with an almost disbelieving laugh.

You lowered your other hand, feeling confused by his words. “What do you-” You cut yourself off when Dust’s skull fell forward onto your chest, his hand still holding yours. You could make out the soft movement of his thumb going over your knuckles.

“it hurts. feeling like this. i don’t want to hurt you like i did with the others. i don’t want to kill you,” Dust muttered out.

It was strange. With where Dust’s head was, it felt like he was trying to listen to your heart beat.

You felt a bit offended that Dust wrote you off as so weak.

Could you blame him though?

“I’m not that weak.”

Dust chuckled. “you’re human. killing monsters was easy, killing a child was easy, you think killing another human would be harder?” Dust questioned you, though his skull remained pressed against your chest.

You glanced towards Phantom with a quizzical expression. You mouthed the word ‘child’ at the ghost and said ghost wringed his gloves together, though his expression contradicted his actions, a grin on his skull.

THERE WAS A TRULY MALICIOUS CHILD IN OUR UNDERGROUND, ONE WHO REPEATED THEIR ACTIONS. DUST COATED THE UNDERGROUND MULTIPLE TIMES. NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES SANS KILLED THEM, THEY KEPT COMING BACK, DOING IT AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN- The wringing of his gloves increased, his grin growing tighter, looking pained yet also manic, mirroring an expression that you’ve seen Dust wear from afar.

“Hush,” you directed at the ghost, glad that in his distracted rambling, there was no thinking twice for the option of denying the command, Phantom falling silent.

It appeared to be a good idea, the command appeared to snap Phantom out of his thoughts, his manic grin turning into a more familiar cheesy, apologetic grin. SORRY MAGPIE!

You waved it off and focused back to the skeleton who’s skull was on your chest. You thought for a minute before sighing and placing a hand on Dust’s back, feeling a jolt from the skeleton. “If it bothers you so much, remember that I can stop you. I’m not as weak as any other human you’ve killed.”

With how much you’ve improved with your magic, you were more confident with it.

You could stop the skeletons if you really wanted to.

“you’re not are you?”

“I’m not,” you confirmed.

“you can stop an attack can’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“i can safely feel like this?” You heard something like a tinge of hope, but it also sounded so off with what you knew of Dust.

“Don’t know what you’re feeling,” you sighed, “but yeah, you can. I can protect myself, Dust.”

Dust gave a short thoughtful hum. “good.” He then lifted his head to look up at you, giving you a clear view of his red and cyan eye-lights. “want to know what i’m feeling?” He asked you. Without waiting for a response, he leaned forward, his teeth pressed against your slightly agape lips, having been about to respond to his question. It stayed like that for a moment (though you could have sworn you felt something tickle your lips) before he pulled away, a smirk on his skull. “it’s something like this.”

You felt your mind go blank again before you felt your cheeks heat up as Dust leaned closer to you, his skull tucked into your neck.

“it’s an interesting feeling,” he commented lowly against your neck.

How the fuck-

What the fuck-

Was this-

All three of them??

“five actually, i know cross is interested, and nightmare doesn’t treat just anyone that nicely.”

Crap, you were muttering.

What a wonderful habit to come back once you started talking again.

Wait, five-?!

For the rest of the day, you ignored Dust like the plague.

Well not really ignored, just, avoided him.

And Dust knew this fact.

He very explicitly knew this fact and you knew he was highly amused by it.

That smirk of his when he watched you look away from him told you everything. Well, that and the fact that Phantom took joy in telling you that Dust was enjoying your actions.

You felt a sense of escape when Nightmare had you follow him to his office, a silent breath of relief escaping you.

Nightmare gave you a slightly odd look but said nothing of it, proceeding to go into the reason why you were called. “you’ve got a request.”

You blinked. A.. request? “Pardon?” A request sounded like nothing you did.

“a skeleton by the name of ink wishes to meet you, says you seem interesting. you have after all, been repeatedly causing havoc in universes with a simple kill or two.” Nightmare grinned at you. “you make good kill decisions, good job.”

You wanted to just thank him like you normally would when he told you you did a good job, but your mind went back to what Dust said about Nightmare not being that nice to anyone. Did that mean, he too..?

You finally settled for a simple nod, worrying the bottom of your lip at the thought for a moment before you forced the thought out of your mind, shaking your head. You looked back at Nightmare. “Can I deny this… request?” You asked slowly, still feeling a bit confused by the ‘request’.

Why exactly was a skeleton who was presumably on the opposing side of you wish to meet you?

“i would have preferred it, but regarding the kind of skeleton ink is, i’d rather him not try to come here just to meet you. he’s persistent when he remembers to be,” Nightmare responded with a scowl.

“… Unfortunate,” you muttered with a sigh. “It’s not going to take that long right?”

“three minutes. any more than that and we’ll come straight back here.”

Three’s a bit of an odd number but it was good enough for you. Not too long, not too little.

You agreed, however reluctantly.

That was all Nightmare needed before the two of you headed off to a rather.. blank.. universe. It was more colorful than Error’s anti-void, yet still quite blank.

It was constricting.

You and Nightmare waited for a minute, which seemed to please the dark skeleton for a moment before a skeleton with a giant paintbrush on it’s back suddenly appeared, your hand being roughly shaken with a very enthusiastic handshake. “hello! you must be the human assassin that nightmare contracted with! and the one who’s been messing around in the aus, which isn’t cool by the way-”

You were thankfully taken away with a tendril around your torso just as the skeleton vomited what looked like tar on the ground. “hate when he does that,” Nightmare grumbled. “disgusting.”

You grimaced back. “Nightmare.. what’s with this…” You glanced down at the tar looking substance on the ground. “.. squid?”

The recovering from vomiting skeleton immediately brightened at your question, straightening up. “i see you know error! how did you meet him?? how do you know him?? have you also been to the anti-void?!”

Ugh..

This skeleton is a bit..

You must have shown a face because the tendril around your torso tightened, Nightmare questioning Ink. “this suffices doesn’t it?”

“hm? oh sure! but can’t we chat some-”

“no.” He harshly cut off the other skeleton before dragging you through a shortcut into his room.

“.. That felt too long to be three minutes.” You muttered with a quiet groan.

“fortunately for both of us, it was three minutes, only two minutes of him speaking,” Nightmare scowled before pushing you towards the bathroom. “now. go shower.”

“Hey wai-”

“shower. now. i put up with his stench enough, i will not feel more of it,” he sneered.

“Alright, alright.”

You have to admit, you did feel better after washing off, you felt a bit lighter. When you got changed (into your own clothing, Nightmare must of sent them in while you were washing) you left the bathroom and Nightmare gave you an approving nod.

“now. timed commands,” Nightmare brought up.

You hesitated for a moment, still a little conflicted before nodding. “You want me to try?”

“begin with something simple, like falling asleep.” As Nightmare spoke, you could feel his tendrils resting on your skin. While you knew he needed contact to feed, and possibly needed to feed after dealing with the encounter with Ink, with Dust’s words in mind, it made you begin to question if Nightmare needed this much contact to feed upon your negativity.

You distractedly gave a response when Nightmare hummed, sounding a little impatient. “Right… Sleep in five minutes.” You could feel your magic move as if to carry out the command, but all it appeared to do was settle around Nightmare.

You still felt a bit questioning if Nightmare truly needed this much contact with you to feed, or if it was being done for a different reason. “you’ll allow me to feed tonight, won’t you?” Nightmare asked lowly, a gentle tap of his phalanges resting on your knee.

You glanced at the clock in Nightmare’s room, keeping track of the time before finding yourself nodding.

Nightmare gave a soft chuckle, like he knew something you didn’t. “tell me, has dust done something to offend you?” He asked out of nowhere.

You blinked, feeling startled with the question. “... No…?” You responded uncertainly. You didn’t feel offended, you just.. didn’t know how to proceed.

You don’t know how to deal with affection towards you when the last people who gave you affection were killed by-

(It wasn’t your fault. You hadn’t meant to say it, you hadn’t known. You were okay. You had to come to terms. It was only an accident.)

“i see.” Nightmare’s words sounded amused, though there was a dozing note to it, which caused you to look at him in a hurry, seeing him as his eye socket closed, his body falling limp with sleep.

Success! The timed command seemed to work!

You’ll have to do more experiments with it, but it appears that timing sleep appears to be a solid command.

You were just a bit.. stuck next to Nightmare though, his tendrils almost stuck to your skin, a heavy weight. You slowed your breathing, remembering that Nightmare was a light sleeper, mentally sighing. You didn’t want to waste the command and wake him up to move back to your room.

Besides, you had given him permission to feed.

You were a bit comfortable here anyway.

Chapter Text

Ugh.

This was annoying.

You were having a peaceful day, checking out an AU with Cross, getting some food and what not.

Unfortunately, that was all ruined now. Splendid.

An irritated glare was focused on the three skeletons discussing something a few feet away.

You could feel a few looks sent your way, but you just huffed, crossing your arms, leaning against a tree and waiting for them to either stop and send you back, or to interrogate you.

You weren't sure what universe you were dragged to, but you could make out some sort of town in the distance, just barely making out figures mingling out and about.

The skeletons were three different versions of your skeletons it seemed.

One a bright blue, wearing a bandana.

Another a lighter blue, wearing pink slippers.

The last a golden, wearing a crown.

You were well aware of the last one, of Nightmare's brother. It was definitely a complete difference between the two skeletons.

And the way that Dream was looking all concerned towards you was beginning to piss you off.

"I did not consent to being kidnapped, send me home," you spoke up with a frown. You could just message one of your skeletons to come get you, but you'd rather not risk your phone getting taken or broken.

You were having such a nice time with your skeletons the past months (nearly forgetting about the meeting with Ink) and now you get kidnapped by one of their brothers? Who is directly opposed with your group?

"OH NO, ARE YOU KIDNAPPED, DEAR FRIEND?" The bandana wearing one asked.

You sneered. ".. By you, yes, now send me back. Don't call me your friend." Why was that skeleton acting friendly?? Well, as friendly as one could get in this situation anyway.

The skeleton looked almost hurt by your cutting reply. ".. I SEE.."

"why would you want to go back to them?" The skeleton with pink slippers asked, a very much fake looking grin on his skull.

"It's my home."

Why else would you want to go back?

They were your home.

He looked at Nightmare’s brother, Dream, who was looking extremely conflicted. "dream, you think he's brainwashed?"

"... it's.. possible.."

"Like hell I am, just send me back." You snarled, straightening up, no longer leaning against the tree.

The audacity that they think you were brainwashed!

"WHERE DO YOU WISH TO BE SENT TO?" Bandana wearing skeleton asked.

He seemed like a skeleton who wanted to bring everything into a peaceful resolution.

"Back,“ you repeated again, resisting the urge to grab one of your knives.

Dream sighed. "don't worry, i'll send you back to your proper dimension." He looked tired, almost like there was something he was wrong about that he had to ponder.

Good.

He should have things to think about.

But back to your proper dimension?

"That's not..“ You paused, registering where exactly you would be sent. ”You know what, fine, send me there." You needed to go there anyway.

There was a suspicious look sent your way from your easy submission before Dream shook his head, a portal opening next to him. “i hope you find what you’re looking for.”

You passed them, sharp eyes on the skeletons, watching a bead of sweat drop down the grinning skeleton’s skull. “And I hope you know what you’re doing,” you muttered when you passed Dream, ignoring the look from him as you walked into the portal, watching it close behind you.

A slow exhale left you as you pulled out your phone and sent a message to one of the skeletons, telling them that you’d be out for a while, making sure that Cross knew that you were fine.

You were okay.

You could do this.

The only sound that could be heard were your footsteps against the hard floors of the office and the low whirring of the ceiling fan.

He heard you, he knew you were coming.

You made sure he knew.

Your expression felt lax, you weren't blank, it was almost soft, perhaps gentle.

".. Hey, boss.."

His expression was tired and gentle, a soft smile facing you, gentle wrinkles creasing his snout. "Hey Spitfire. I see you've started talking again."

Your throat suddenly felt tight at that statement, but you managed a nod. ".. Yeah. It's.. been a lot."

A reptilian hand rose in an open offer for you. "Tell me about it?"

You wordlessly took the offer, dragging a spare chair (it was always your chair) to sit across from him.

You felt like a child again, when he was slowly teaching you sign for you to communicate.

As he was then, he was attentive, complete focus on you as you spoke, explaining where you've been, who you met, and how you were.

It was.. a lot.

Your throat clenched with every word, your chest tightening.

You didn't know how long it was, you were completely focused and telling the tortoise monster all about it.

About your job now, how you still went on missions, but now you sometimes went with others.

About the universes you've gone into for said jobs.

About the places you went with the skeletons.

About the skeletons.

Your skeletons.

A soft chuckle interrupted you as you were in the middle of explaining how Killer brought excitement to your life. "Child.. there's no need to cry over me."

You were?

You brought a hand to your face, fingertips coming back lightly wet, and you just now registered the itch on the skin under your eyes.

Your eyes creased at the realization and you roughly scrubbed at your eyes to get rid of the tears, a fake laugh escaping you. "Sorry, I didn't realize- I-" your words faltered and you looked back up at your old boss, a knowing look in his old eyes.

The sight brought the tears back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect this."

You truly hadn't.

You thought this would just be the same as any old job.

Your chest wasn't supposed to hurt.

The same tired, gentle smile answered you as the tortoise held out his arms in invitation.

You almost surprised yourself with how you quickly took his invitation (yet it almost felt so right), scaly arms wrapping around you tightly.

You were struck with a memory of your dad, giving you a warm hug whenever you needed one and a soft huff left you, sounding almost bitter.

At the sound, the tortoise shifted you back so the two of you were looking at each other. There was no change to his expression. "I'm so proud of you Spitfire. Raising you, helping you, was the best part of my life," he said, almost sounding like he was choking up.

You looked down, feeling the urge to cry again, biting your quivering lip.

You..

You wanted to break the deal.

Your heart clenched badly.

Did you..

Did you really have to uphold the deal?

The sound of your name caused you to jolt and you looked up at him, eyes wide, bottom lip bitten. "Thank you for letting me help you those years ago." He sounded so genuine, so unafraid, just accepting, and it made you want to sob.

You were losing another father figure.

You went in for another hug, holding him tightly, which he returned, gently patting you on the back. "Take care of them skeletons, you got it? And make sure they take care of you as well."

It was firm and you nodded into his shoulder before whispering a command in his ear.

You may have imagined it, but you thought you could feel your magic circle him, wash over him like a gentle wind, something soothing and inviting, yet something so fragile and tender.

You could feel his arms grow limp and heavy, before you could no longer feel the arms, removing yourself from previous embrace, dust filling your hands.

A choked sound left your throat at the feeling of your dust coated hands before you let out a measured exhale and stood up, sprinkling some of the dust onto his desk, his chair already full of it.

It was best to make it look like he passed in his sleep. He tended to fall asleep at his desk.

You took a step back when you were done and your heart clenched at the sight of the dust.

You could still feel the dust against your skin.

But you couldn't take it back. You couldn't bring back the dead.

You couldn't bring him back.

You made it just behind the building before you knees gave out, your hands shaking, still littered with dust.

Your sight was blurry, wet with tears, and you felt like something was lost again.

Your head perked up at the familiar sound of a portal ripping open, the very familiar feeling of his magic in the air. Nightmare wasn’t the one that approached you though as the large skeleton leaned down and careful picked you up, cradling you in his arms without a word.

Actions always spoke louder than words with Horror.

Your head leaned onto his shoulder as you were carried back through the portal, silent tears rolling down your cheeks without a word.

Unlike your other jobs, this one felt dirty. Even if it was an already determined job.

You felt cold.

Like the day your family died.

You felt a soft touch to your cheek and you stirred slightly, looking up slowly at Horror’s concerned expression. “cocoa?” He offered quietly, making you realize that the two of you were in the kitchen.

He had already made the cocoa.

It felt warm.

But you still felt cold.

You reached out with a hand to the offered mug before you felt yourself flinch, seeing the dust remnants that decorated your skin. You brought your arm back, not wanting to litter the mug.

Horror gave a low hum before he brought the mug to you, the edge of the mug grazing your lips. “easy,” he murmured, waiting for your lips to open before he slowly tipped the mug, allowing you to feel the warm chocolaty liquid down your throat.

He drew the mug away when needed and you could feel your insides get warm from the warm drink.

It covered up the coldness so easily.

The cold left so easily and it made you want to cry.

You felt warm with one of your skeletons, hardly minding getting taken care of, nor were you in the quite right mind to refuse.

You were here with him.

With them.

And you felt warm being by their side, almost like your heart approved and yearned for them.

Which you knew quite well.

Your head rested on Horror’s shoulder, partially on his chest as you sighed softly.

You had already known about it.

But, perhaps it was nice for your mind to accept it as well.

Chapter Text

"Remind me why I'm wearing your jacket again?" You questioned with a raised brow, hands in the pockets of the jacket. You weren't complaining, it was comfortable, but Killer had practically demanded you wear it as the two of you scouted the AU known as UnderFell.

"just making something known." His tone was joyous as he wrapped an arm over your shoulders. There was something almost suspicious about what he said, and you could detect a hint of mischievousness.

Honestly, with how touchy Killer can get, you wouldn't be surprised if this was him marking territory.

In a move as swift as the wind, you pressed your lips to the side of Killer's skull before speaking like nothing happened. "Easy, Kills, we're not trying to interact with others anyway." You ignored the stare you got from the skeleton after your chaste kiss. "Who exactly are we looking for again, what's his name?"

"sans."

This little.

"Trip." You replied flatly, watching with amusement as he faceplanted just outside the entrance of Snowdin. You heard a snicker nearby and didn't bother turning, not feeling any malicious intent. "If you don't get up I'm leaving you," you said after a few moments of Killer laying flat.

The skeleton bounced up with enthusiasm, his hands resting on your shoulders, mouth turned down into a pout. "you wouldn't leave me here would ya?"

You didn't bother to give that a response, simply ducking from his hands and beginning to walk away, a small smirk on your face as you heard him fumble behind you to catch up.

Suddenly, he was in front of you, a pout on his face as he grabbed your arm, taking you with him as he shortcut behind a building.

His arms caged you in against the wall, a downturned grin on his skull. “meanie,” he whined playfully.

You leaned forward with a slight smirk, a hand raising towards his face, gently and slowly dragging your fingers to rest on his cheekbone. You felt a little warm by how he leaned into your palm, nuzzling into the skin with a soft smile. You leaned closer, and you could feel him lean towards you as well with a soft murmur of your name before you stopped. “You didn’t answer my question.” You grinned, pushing his face away.

Killer grabbed your wrist with a frown, keeping his cheekbone against your palm. “what question?”

“What do you guys call this guy?”

Killer blinked, perking up with realization. “oh! we either call him red or fell.”

A mean sounding "hah?" cut into the conversation when Killer told you the name. You both turned your heads to look at the newcomer, a skeleton with the same structure as Killer. Said skeleton narrowed their eye sockets upon seeing Killer. "you!"

"heya reddy!" Killer waved, straightening next to you as he ignored the responding sneer.

"Red makes sense," you muttered under your breath, eyes examining his attire. Quite red and perhaps a bit edgy.

"don't call me that killer!" Red snarled.

Familiarity between each other as well it seems.

"relaxxx it's not like i'm fighting ya right now am i?" Killer questioned, looking entirely too relaxed and comfortable. You could feel the tense line in Killer's body as he leaned against you, a hand slipping into the pocket of his hoodie, brushing against your own hand. "although.." He broke into a large, sharp grin. "it sounds like fun!" That was his only warning before he jumped towards Red with a cackle.

Red shortcut out of the way with a tch, appearing next to you for some reason.

The reaction was immediate once Killer turned, seeing the two of you.

His relaxed body grew tense, sockets narrowing, his soul target twisting.

"hey, buddy, i'd step away from him," Killer spoke lowly, just shy of a threat, borderline growling.

Red looked towards you, looking at you up and down slowly, appraising you for a moment.

A moment too long for a certain skeleton.

Killer lunged from the corner of your eye, targeting Red, knife swiping towards Red's eye sockets. "eyes off," he growled, almost akin to one of Horror's.

Red shortcut away from Killer with a sneer, attention towards you. "call off your dog," he scowled.

"i said-"

"Killer." You cut him off, not surprised by the way he immediately looked at you. "Let's get something to eat." A small distraction. You found the skeleton you were looking for, you guys were perfectly good to go back.

If Nightmare wanted, he could easily see the memory of you seeing the skeleton, see what he was looking for. He hadn’t really given specifics on what to do when you two found Red, just to find him.

Killer perked up. "you're hungry? let's go!" It was a quick turn around.

You messaged Nightmare with a request, informing him that you had located Red and he wasn't really hostile. Nightmare seemed to reluctantly send his agreement and a portal opened to your location. "Let's go, I know a place." You held out a hand to Killer, who easily took it, interlocking your fingers as he eagerly led you through the portal, even if he didn't know where the other side would be.

You spared a glance to Red, who was scowling at the two of you, before going through the portal as it closed behind you.

The Underground that you asked Nightmare to send the two of you to was deserted, no monster in sight. Yet it had such warm energy, especially in the place's Grillby's.

“where are we?” Killer asked, looking confused, his hand still interlocked with yours.

You waved your free hand in a ‘look’ gesture. “Grillby’s.”

It looked like any other Grillby’s that you’ve encountered in other universes, perhaps a bit cleaner, the jukebox working, and entirely empty, aside from the two plates of burgers and fries when the two of you approached the bar.

Killer made a motion with his head that made it seem like he was rolling his eyes. “i can see that, but what au? there’s nobody around, yet there’s freshly made food,” he pointed out as the two of you sat on the bar stools.

You shook off his hand, ignoring his disappointed look as you took a fry and popped it in your mouth. “Just somewhere I found on one of my missions for Nightmare. A mysterious AU, but not that interesting.” You shrugged as a drink appeared diagonal to your plate and you took a sip.

Killer gave a pointed look to the randomly appeared drink when you glanced at him and you paused. “Maybe a little interesting,” you relented.

Killer huffed, amused but started to eat his own food. You could feel his gaze on you as the two of you ate, so you looked at him with a raised brow. He paused and pulled out his phone, tugging you to him, his arm around your neck, a wide grin on his face. You just blinked, a fry partially in your mouth as Killer took a picture.

You pulled the rest of the fry in your mouth as you watched him send the picture to the other skeletons with hearts as a caption, rolling your eyes as you pulled away.

The jukebox was playing some song, a soft sound that filled the air as the two of you ate, Killer idly making some commentary, sometimes making hilarious lyrics to go along with the tunes of the music maker which made you chuckle.

He took more pictures, most of you, some of him making stupid faces, and a lot of the two of you together. You could see from the responses of the other skeletons that they were annoyed by the spam of pictures (at least a few of them were), but you could also see the notifications of them saving the pictures.

You ate your last fry before you remembered something that Red said to you and snickered, catching Killer’s attention.

“what’s got you amused sweets?”

“He called you a dog.” You had an amused smile on your face.

There was slight confusion on Killer’s skull before he registered what you meant and smirked. “woof.”

You eyed him for a minute before slightly shaking your head, standing up and stretching. “A dog indeed,” you muttered.

Killer stood up with you, sliding next to you as he wrapped a hand on your hip, tugging you against him with a low hum. “i consider myself a lover, don’t you agree?” He asked with a soft grin, fingers gently drumming against your hip bone after just barely slipping to make contact with the skin.

A breathy laugh left you before you leaned down, pressing your forehead to where his temple would be. A low murmur of agreement from you and Killer tilted his head to brush his teeth against your lips.

A lover indeed.

One you were lucky to have.

Chapter Text

Dust and Horror were planning something. You could tell by their expressions when you and Killer returned home after eating. Phantom was kept away from you, to avoid any leak of their plans.

You weren't worried though, you weren't concerned.

Your little (aside from Horror) skeletons were definitely something, but they wouldn't hurt you. Prank you, perhaps, but not hurt you.

Not intentionally anyway.

You'd be able to protect yourself even if it did happen, though, so you weren't really concerned.

You trusted them.

It took a few days for the planning skeletons to strike, but not in the way you intended.

You were brought to the kitchen, led by an excited ghostly skull. Both Horror and Dust were in there, soft mutters between them that stopped when you appeared.

There was a clutter amount of food, mostly treats and sweets, yet also what would be considered light foods.

An open basket seemed to await them.

You stared at the amount of food before your gaze flickered up to Dust and Horror. “What’s with the food?” You asked with a raised brow.

It seemed a bit late to be snacking, and this didn’t even seem to count as snacking! This seemed like a few whole meals.

“picnic.” Horror replied shortly, his attention on filling the basket.

You blinked slowly, glancing up at the clock, which was just shy of midnight, before looking back at the skeletons. “Who’s going on a picnic this late?”

You saw Dust’s mismatched eye-lights roll. “you, dumbass.” He responded, sounding like his normal bored tone. He snickered, amused at your utterly confused expression.

“.. Pardon?”

“a picnic. with horror and i.”

Horror cut in. “a date.”

Dust nodded in agreement, moving away from the counter he was leaning against and approaching you. “yes, that as well.”

He reached for your wrist, before seeming to change his mind and grabbing your hand instead. He pressed his teeth against the knuckles before the two of you disappeared from the kitchen and somewhere entirely different.

It was a clear field, scattered trees a great distance away, empty as it could be aside from those sights. There was a blanket laid out on the short grass, Dust looking nonchalant as he led you to the blanket and sat down, patting the space beside him.

You only surveyed the horizon more until a familiar crack informed you of Horror’s arrival. He was carrying the basket, which was now (assumingly) packed with the food that had been covering the kitchen’s counters. You shook your head slightly at the, just a little bit, straining not to break picnic basket.

"So, why are we having a picnic date this late at night then?" You asked as you got comfortable on the picnic blanket.

"look up," Dust murmured, unusually soft, like he was awestruck.

You looked at him for a minute before looking up at the dark sky.

Your eyes widened, matching the awe that Dust alluded.

It was..

"Beautiful.." You breathed out.

Starry lights littered the sky, colors dancing like swirling galaxies. It was like nothing you've ever seen before.

It was just marvelous.

"one of the best places to see the stars," Horror remarked softly, handing you a snack from the basket.

You gratefully took it, nibbling on the pastry. Delicious like anything Horror makes.

"You know other places?" You asked, looking up at Horror, who had a content expression on his skull.

Both skeletons' expressions tightened for a moment before responding together. "waterfall."

You tilted your head curiously, looking back up at the glittering stars, seeing some stars shoot across the sky. You've been to Waterfall before. The Waterfall in your original universe at least. Gerson had taken you there before to try to build you a support system. It hadn't worked of course, but you could still close your eyes and remember the flickering sights of the walls and water in Waterfall. You exhaled slowly, a soft smile on your face. "You got that right," you agreed, finishing the pastry that was in your hand, laughing quietly when Horror immediately placed another one in your hand.

You may not have been able to see the stars in the Underground, but the scenery in Waterfall came real damn close. That sight lived in your mind rent free. You were brought out of your musings with a startling pop before your hand immediately clenched (unfortunately around the pastry, squishing it) when you saw who had appeared.

“watcha doin?” The fucking squid asked, like he hadn’t just interrupted something.

You scowled, your hand clenching tighter around the ruined pastry, which, hopefully Horror would forgive you for. “Why are you everywhere.” You deadpanned.

You were not pleased by his arrival.

He was such an annoyance.

Ink shrugged. “dream wants me to make friends.” He swiped some of the food from Horror’s basket, causing a low growl from the larger skeleton.

“fuck off,” Dust sneered.

Ink didn’t seem to mind the tone, his expression brightening, eye-lights changing to a different shape set. “okay!” It was annoyingly cheerful (you fought back the dread of the horrifyingly cheerful au that had caused a few nightmares) as Ink just popped back into nothing, leaving the three of you.

There was a tight frown on your face as you stared at where Ink was.

Dust seemed to read your thoughts from your expression. “i’ll be talking to nightmare about it.” You nodded reluctantly, looking back at Horror, who was silently cleaning your hand free of the ruined pastry.

“.. Sorry.”

“there’s plenty more for you,” Horror responded with ease, though you could tell he was annoyed by the way the squid had taken some.

You gave him a soft pat to the shoulder, leaning against him in unspoken reassurance. “They’re really good, as always Horror.” Your compliment was genuine, and it seemed to thankfully work as Horror perked up.

He chuckled softly as he nuzzled against your hair as a sign of thanks.

Despite the Ink interruption, the rest of the night went smoothly after that. The three of you stayed pressed together, eyes on the night sky as stars fell and flew across blinking lights.

You weren’t sure how long it was, with the sky staying as dark as it was, though the lights seemed to dim some, but it could have been because of your dozing off.

It was late in the night, and you felt safe and secure between two of your skeletons. The pressure they gave when they pressed against your sides was strangely soothing, even with the different heights.

Dust watched Magpie as Horror carried their human to his room. It didn’t surprise him that his human fell asleep, he always had shitty sleeping patterns. This had probably been one of the lucky nights where Error hadn’t arrived to keep him company.

Dust tched as he felt reminded by the interrupted company during their star gazing picnic. He gave a farewell kiss to Magpie via his knuckles, if it was mixed with a ‘sleep well’ intent, then only his brother knew about it.

The skeleton watched Horror carry Magpie for a moment before he shortcut directly into Nightmare’s office, knowing that the boss would be up.

Nightmare looked at him with a gaze that demanded an explanation, one that Dust would easily provide.

“he’s showing up too damn often, nightmare,” Dust greeted with a scowl.

Nightmare stared at him for a few moments before the corners of his mouth downturned. “how irritating.” Nightmare turned the feather that was resting in his hand once before a tendril seemed to stray away from him, approaching his shelving of scrolls, filled with maps of different universes.

The tendril seemed to ponder what scroll to grab before it grabbed one that was laying vertically against a tower of scrolls, bringing it back and dropping it on Nightmare’s desk. Dust always thought that the tendrils resting behind Nightmare could be sentient, this just proved him a little.

Nightmare gently rested the feather aside, which seemed to glimmer a light red before turning back to its blue shimmer. He unraveled the scroll, examining it for a moment until his eye socket narrowed and he nodded to himself.

He pointed to a spot on the map, looking at Dust. “we’ll be going here for a raid.”

Dust looked more closely at the map and where Nightmare was talking about. His eye sockets widened slightly before they narrowed. “hey, boss, isn’t that where-”

“inform the others in the mornings.” Nightmare interrupted.

Dust glanced down at the spot once again before nodding, feeling irritation build at what was about to come.

Chapter Text

A confrontation between the two groups of skeletons was what you were alerted to when you woke up. Words were hardly said about it, they were easy going about it, it was just a little blurb of an announcement of what you guys were doing today.

They were easy going about it, but you knew it would get taken seriously.

Nightmare had called in Error for this, just in case. Like yourself, Error was a useful asset (though you knew now that you weren’t solely an asset).

You recognized the universe that Nightmare brought the group of you to, one of the universes where you kept their negativity in check for Nightmare, a past few solo missions.

Due to this, the universe would have been marked by either Ink or Dream to keep a look on it.

Nightmare stationed each skeleton, as well as yourself, in different places, ones that suited your skills.

You were stationed on a roof, keeping a look out, and watching from above for anything misplaced.

Killer was near the building you were on, while the rest were scattered, different tactics used to terrorize.

It didn’t take long, as you suspected, for the opposite group to arrive, though Blue and Dream were suspiciously missing from the sight.

It was only Red and Ink that came through the portal, the latter cheerfully greeting Error with an enthusiastic wave.

…

.. Something felt off.

You were rudely grabbed by the arm and shortcut away from your skeletons, further away from them, a hand over your mouth to cover your shout. “if i let go of you, will you keep quiet?” The voice, Dream urged.

Well, there’s Dream then.

You grit your jaw, already feeling irritated by this, yet feeling a slight hint of morbid curiosity on what the skeleton wanted.

You nodded slowly, resulting in the gloved hand releasing your mouth. You turned around, arms crossed, waiting (im)patiently for him to speak. “Well?”

“listen, i’m trying to help you!”

His first mistake.

You felt your irritation grow. “You’re disturbing my peaceful life, I don’t need your help.” Your nails dug into your clothing, your crossed arms tense, already knowing you weren’t going to like this conversation.

You didn’t like it to begin with.

Dream looked incredibly befuddled, his arms animated as he spoke his thoughts. “why would you want to stay with my brother??” It disturbed you how genuinely confused he sounded. “why would you want to stay with them??” He threw out his hand to gesture to your skeletons, where they were getting more agitated with the Star Sanses. Red seemed to be taunting your skeletons judging by the body language. Yet they wouldn’t fight without an order from Nightmare. They could, at least, show that kind of hospitality, some slim shot of mercy.

You bristled, feeling insulted at how Dream thought of your skeletons. “Why wouldn’t I?” You questioned with a sneer. Something lighter filled you and your expression softened just barely, certainly not something for Dream. “They brought light to my life,” you muttered genuinely.

You sent a glare at Phantom, quietly willing him to not say a word of this.

If the ghost told Dust what you admitted, you’d hear about it for weeks.

Your gaze snapped back to Dream when you heard a staggered step back, a startled look on his expression, just edging on aghast. “you.. you think you care for them,” he whispered, though it was as loud as an echo.

Your eyes narrowed and you sneered. “I don’t think, I know I do,” you corrected harshly. You took a step forward, a finger jabbing towards him, though not touching him. “I’m not brainwashed, despite what you little crew thinks.” You tilted your head, considering him for a moment before scoffing. “It’s honestly pathetic that you think that of your brother.”

Dream looked offended, but you didn’t pay attention, hearing your name called out by Killer. You looked towards the two groups and scowled, seeing the starting scuffle. Just wonderful.

You looked back to Dream, who also heard the shout, a concerned expression on his skull when he saw the fight. You acted quickly, bracing your foot as it connected with the skull with a roundhouse kick. It did hurt as you expected, kicking bone wasn’t pleasant, but it did do what you wanted, which was knocking Dream out. You could have done it with an easier method but..

You shook your head and turned to go to the fight before pausing and glaring down at the unconscious skeleton. “You failed as a brother,” you muttered harshly before rushing off to join your skeletons, blocking an attack of bones with your knives, covering for Cross. You heard Killer cheer for you and rolled your eyes, just letting instinct fill you as you defended your guys.

“Oi, where the hell is the blue one?!” You threw the question out there, still feeling off put at not seeing him.

“something in his universe i think.” Cross was the one that answered you when the two of you brushed backs.

“Good. Better three than four.” You smirked slightly, sharing Killer’s expression.

They were outnumbering the Stars easily, even with the collision of bones and blasters, especially with Dream out of commission for the moment, so they could have a little fun couldn’t they?

..

There was an alarmed emotion in Ink’s mismatched eye-lights after a while, just now realizing that Dream wasn’t with them. After a moment of looking, he disappeared to where Dream laid, smacking him with the brush end of his paintbrush, waking him up with a rather annoying way.

Dream waved the brush bristles away with a frown and slowly sat up, clutching at the side of his skull before standing, giving a nod to Ink before the both of them joined the fight again.

You sneered as you saw Dream awake, hoping he’d be out for longer.

A hindrance.

You continued to defend and assist, however if your attacks were more aggressive towards Dream, well then that was between you and Phantom.

Nightmare had imposed a rule upon you if you were to ever encounter the Star Sanses.

Don't give a command.

No matter who the command was given to, the cause would have been found out, and you would have been targeted.

It was a rule made from care. That, you did understand. You were willing to listen to the rule, it was one to protect you and would make it easier to help the others.

You would follow the rule.

You were willing to follow the rule.

..

However..

....

Panic filled you as you watched the arrow strike through Nightmare's chest. Who knows, maybe it didn't anything severe, however based on the stagger and the way his tendrils dropped, you thought the worst.

Your distraction costed you, another strike of Ink's brush hitting your shoulder. You didn't know, nor did you care what it was, but it felt like the ink was eating at your clothing like some kind of acid.

Your eyes weren't even on Ink right now, too focused on Nightmare, seeing Cross rush over to block a Gaster Blaster from Red with his own, defending the dark skeleton.

“so distracted!!” Ink laughed as you absentmindedly blocked his next attacked with that paintbrush of his. “what’s got your eye?” He questioned as his next attack just barely grazed the skin next to your eye.

Your eyes narrowed as you ignored the tingling feeling beneath your skin from where the bristles barely grazed. Your mind focused on Ink, thoughts fighting with each other.

Target?

Not a Target.

Attacked Nightmare.

Not a Target.

Attacked your skeleton.

(“do not command the deaths of the star sanses. there would be repercussions.”)

They hurt Nightmare.

Do not kill.

Do not kill.

Do not kill them.

They aren’t a Target.

You grabbed Ink’s wrist when he reared back for another attack, harshly pulling him closer, eyes zeroing in, focused on Ink, ignoring the confused and alarmed eye-lights. “Attack your allies.”

The command took hold and you could see Ink’s eye-lights go white, which was an interesting reaction (one you would want to learn more about, but not during a fight). You immediately let go, seeing for a moment as Ink turned on the Star Sanses.

A confused shout came from Red as he was forced to defend himself from the command-following Ink. “oi, ink, the hell is wrong with you??!”

Red’s attacked were stopped, being forced to turn on the defense of Ink’s attacked. His shout caught Dream’s attention, who moved to assist, a strange look on his face. He caught your eye, as if trying to work something out, trying to see a solution as he worked with Red to defend themselves against Ink.

You weren’t able to watch for long, a blue string wrapping around your waist and tugging you towards your skeletons. You could see similar strings holding them, connecting to Error’s fingers. “t̷̢͖͉̞̾͑̐͋͠i̶̔͒͒͜m̸̨̛͚̻̹͇̂̏̇̈ě̴͕̗͑́̈́ ̶͈̲̇̒̉t̴̛̤̅͘͠ò̵̱̺͎̯ͅ ̶̪͖͈̣̞͊̆͊g̴̩̟̺̝͓̏͆͋̃ǒ̴͍̖̺͋͝,” Error commanded, calling for a retreat. You could hear the agitation through your friend’s voice, not even bothering to hear any complaints from the fight lovers (Killer).

There were none, however.

The haggard breathing coming from Nightmare, the golden arrow lodged in his chest was enough reason for Error to take command, ordering for your group to go back. You could still hear the fighting of the Star Sanses as Error enveloped you guys into a portal, removing your command towards Ink once you guys disappeared from said universe, not bothering to keep it up when you guys weren’t there anymore.

Your attention turned focused onto Nightmare, and you weren’t the only one. Nightmare’s breathing only got harsher after the escape through the portal, the end destination being Nightmare’s room, the dark skeleton laying on his bed. “boss? hey boss, quit playing-” Killer began to say, his voice shaking, a meager tone of hope in his voice.

“killer shut it, it’s not the time,” Dust hissed, his entire body tense.

Killer gave Dust a wobbly smile, nudging you as he went for a playful attitude, though failing. “so stern.” He was trying to lighten the mood, but you hardly noticed.

Cross gazed at you. “magpie, you alright..?” He asked slowly when you gave no response to Killer’s action or words.

You didn’t respond, eyes just on the shaking body of Nightmare, your own breathing slowly picking up, almost like it was trying to match Nightmare’s. Your eyes were focused on the arrow of positivity buried in his chest, where a human’s heart would lay. In a spur of movement, you reached for the arrow, however getting yanked at by Horror, who’s grip turned gentle.

“need to treat the burns,” Horror rumbled, causing you to glance up at him before looking down at Nightmare, ignoring Error’s tsk.

“d̵̢̲͗̐i̷͔̙͂d̴̘̝͗ ̶̮͝t̵͈̫͌ḣ̸̖͎ȩ̵͓̚͠ ̷̪͈̃̾s̸̻͍͠q̷͚̿u̸̠̅͆i̶̘͚͆̓d̵̜͊'̷͕̺̃s̵͇̳̔̒ ̵̜̀̏b̸̖̾͜͝r̶͙̈́̈́u̷͈͑͂s̶̯̏h̵̙̄ ̴̟͙̽t̶̠͛͝o̸̧̅̚u̶̎̌ͅc̸̹͝h̸̭͕͗ ̸͍̂̇y̸̯̮̾ǫ̶̘̚͠u̸̽ͅ?̶͍̫̉͠” He questioned, tugging your body towards him using the string that was still loosely wrapped around your waist.

You took your hand back, ignoring the scrutinizing look that Error gave you. “Heal later, Nightmare’s more important,” you said shortly, eyes back on the arrow.

In human standards, it was better for the arrow to be in the body to stop the blood from escaping.

Nightmare was no human, nor did he bleed, so why was it still in there?

You could heal your burns later, you hardly registered the pain anyway, it was fine. Your skeletons were obvious in their disagreement, but you ignored it until you heard an unusually soft call of your name. Your eyes flicked up to meet Phantom's sockets. YOU'RE SHAKING. You looked back down at your hands, seeing the miniscule trembles. Your hands clasped together tightly, trying to get rid of the shaking under your skin.

You were fine.

But Nightmare wasn't.

Chapter Text

The arrow was removed moments later, after it was clear that you weren't going to focus on yourself. You were as stubborn as your skeletons, if not more, you learned from the best after all. Horror did however, start to dress your wounds himself. Cross examined the wound in Nightmare's chest, as Nightmare's breathing continued to stagger and stutter. "the damage was impactful," Cross remarked, which made you scowl. Maybe the damage wouldn't have been so impactful if they had immediately removed-

"even if the arrow was pulled out sooner, it still would've caused such damage simply due to what nightmare is," Cross added, looking at all of you, though you saw his eye-lights flicker to your eyes specifically.

You tensed slightly when Horror brushed against the wound on your shoulder, wincing slightly. "How do we heal it?" You asked, eyes on Nightmare.

You looked up when nobody responded to you. Error avoided your gaze and you grit your teeth, surging away from Horror, ignoring his small "wait-" as you moved yourself to right next to Nightmare. You placed a hand on the bed to hold yourself as your other hand was placed on the wound. That action caused complaints and warnings from the other skeletons, but you paid them no mind, just focusing on your wounded skeleton. "Heal," you commanded.

You could feel your magic flow from you and into Nightmare. That brought you relief.

Until you could feel only a trim of magic be accepted into Nightmare's body, the rest of it being rejected and returned to you.

That caused your panic to increase.

You could hardly see the original command take place. You ignored the gentle tug at your elbow as you spoke again. "Heal.

The same thing happened.

You tried again, feeling your chest clench.

Again, most of the magic got rejected.

You tried again, getting the same result.

It seemed like the more you tried, the less magic that was accepted into the injury, the more it was blocked.

It felt like something was increasing to block your command, something was stopping the healing from actually happening.

"c̵̨̗̀̅o̸̺̺͌͊r̷̮̓͆r̸̮̗̈́̓ǘ̵͖͠p̷͓̾͘ṭ̸̘͑̚i̷̺̽ó̴̫n̶̝̜̑ ̶̤̑ḏ̶͠ȏ̵̠̱ȅ̴͓͝s̷̩̗͂̈́n̵̝̒'̷͈͑t̴̰̅̐ ̵̦̂͠ḧ̵̝̙́͛e̴̼͐͗á̵̱l̵͙̥̇,̵̬̉̓ ̸͇̃m̸̪̑͑a̷̡̞͐̔ǵ̸͕̾p̴̘̌̚ì̵̭̔e̴͔̔." The glitch of Error's seemed to register in your mind and you took a breath, faltering from the fifth try, looking up at Error.

"n̴̬̏o̶̯͒ ̷͙̒m̴̜͆a̸͖͐t̵̡̓t̶͓̉e̸͇͌r̴̼̄ ̸̗̏w̶͌͜ḫ̶̆ȃ̵̝t̷̢́ ̶̯̒h̶̻͗ē̶̼a̸͈̍l̸̳̇ḯ̶̘n̷̲͠g̶͖̓ ̶͍͒ý̵̨ō̷̗û̶͍ ̴̧̌c̸̠͝a̴͊ͅn̸͇̕ ̷͙̍d̶̡̀o̴̘̚,̴̤̒ ̴̖̓i̷͈̚t̷̻͝ ̸̫̂ẅ̷̞i̶̻͋l̶̞̀l̷̹͊ ̷̱́q̸̪̅u̵̦̚i̵̻͝c̷̻̀k̵̖͐l̵̜̃y̴̯͛ ̷̭̑c̵̹̈́o̶̘͋m̴͚̓ḛ̶̄ ̷̦̂b̴̙̆a̷̼̅c̴͈͋k̸̡̔.̶̭̕ ̷̜̀ṯ̸̀h̴̢̄ẻ̴̱ ̷̠̔ș̶͐a̵̲̐m̴̺͛e̶̞̿ ̵̫͂w̷̞̒o̵̮̾ú̴̻l̷̹͂d̵̘̋ ̷̲͛h̴̜̃ǎ̸̘p̷̤̀p̸̥͑e̵̹̾n̷͍̕ ̵͕̄i̴̜͋f̷͇͘ ̴̰͝d̶̹͊r̸̢̀e̴͈͐a̷͚̎m̶̟̿ ̴̜̃ẉ̸́é̷͚r̶̪̒e̸͚̚ ̶̪̈s̴̱͑t̷̞̍r̸̻͂û̸̱ç̸̂k̵̜̆ ̸̣̍b̶͔̏y̵͖͂ ̷̢͗n̴̠͊i̸̱͊g̶͉͂ȟ̷̙t̴̖̀m̴̮̄a̷̳͆r̶̠̓ē̵͈."

A breath was sucked in by one of the skeletons. "he.. he won't get better then?" You heard Killer ask.

Your hand tightened around Nightmare's jacket.

He won't...

Get better?

You felt something crack in you.

You didn't hear the response that was given to Killer's question, gaze just on Nightmare's pained expression, his rough breathing filling your ears. The longer you kept your hand on his chest, the more you could actually feel the shake of his bones, feel the corruption spread throughout his body. At that realization, you yanked your hand away like you touched something hot.

You staggered a few steps away from the bed, fully aware of your hands shaking this time. When you glanced down, you almost thought you could see some of Nightmare's tar-like residue on your fingers, and that scared you.

Nightmare was...

Nightmare was dying.

You fled.

Your mind didn't, couldn't process the shouts after you as you escaped Nightmare's room, a hand cutting away an outstretched blue string with a knife on instinct. You didn't know exactly where you were running to, but everything felt too heavy.

You needed out.

.. You didn’t know how long you stayed hidden in one of the empty rooms in the mansion, until you felt an urge to leave the room to check on your skeletons. Your body felt sluggish and hungry, telling you it’s been a while.

Once you found one of the skeletons, you would leave to find another until you found and located them all, finding them securely.

All of them except for Nightmare.

The cycle repeated over the days, which was one of the most clear actions you remembered yourself doing during that time.

“he’s in a haze, isn’t he?”

“appears that way.”

“you think he’ll be alright dusty?”

“…”

There was another action you could remember, and actually feel your body doing. Going to Nightmare’s room, standing next to his bedbound body, and trying to heal him. Hours passed during those times as you tried to use different variations to get Nightmare’s body to heal through the injury.

Your exhaustion was clear whenever you were on your rounds to check on your skeletons (making sure they were breathing safely unlike Nightmare), looking worse for wear.

You didn’t have a clear conscious to stop, to breathe, to take a break and think. You just needed to heal Nightmare.

…

You were stopped one night on your way to Nightmare’s room by Dust. Your mind immediately examined him before breathing a silent sigh of relief.

He was alright.

Dust was safe.

You moved to walk past him to continue your routine.

Dust reached out and caught your arm. “why are you doing this?” He questioned you.

You stopped at the grab, about to pull away from him before his question made you pause. You slowly turned your head to stare at Dust. “… What are you talking about?”

“this, magpie!” He sneered, gesturing to your entire being. “what you’re doing right now!”

You blinked slowly. “I’m going to go check on Nightmare,” you informed him.

The grip on your arm tightened slightly. “we both know that’s bullshit pie. you can’t keep doing this.” His voice strangely sounded just shy of pleading.

“Doing.. what exactly?” There was an edge to your voice as you stepped closer to Dust, causing him to loosen his hold on your arm. “What exactly am I doing?”

“you know you’re exhausting yourself, magpie.” He grabbed your shoulders, eye-lights keeping eye contact with your eyes, which made you straighten. “you can’t keep straining yourself!” He exclaimed.

You smacked away Dust’s hands with a shuddered breath, feeling something clench. “What am I supposed to do then, Dust?!” Just let him rot there without trying to find a solution??“ An almost hysterical hushed laugh left your throat, hands raised to your face, like you were about to hold your head. ”I can’t let that happen!“ Your hands didn’t make contact with your face, Dust’s own gloved hands grabbing them and holding them in his own hands.

“there’s nothing we can do!” He pulled you closer to him with your held hands. “corruption doesn’t heal, magpie, no matter how many times you try!”

His voice sounded like he was trying so hard to convince you of this fact.

You didn’t want to be convinced of it.

“I.. Dust..” Your shoulders crumbled and your head dropped. “I can’t just wait and…” You looked at Dust, your brows crinkled together in a grieving expression. “I can’t watch him die, Dust.” Your voice lowered in a hushed out murmur, not wanting to say it aloud, like it would make it actually happen.

Dust released your hands briefly and they immediately dropped to your sides, his hands moving to rest on your back as he pulled you into a secure hug, your head resting on his shoulder. “.. i don’t either magpie. none of us do, but..” His voice faltered for a minute before it continued, sounding almost choked up. “.. there’s nothing we can do..”

You desperately didn’t want to hear those words, but you said nothing, just curving your arms to return the hug tightly, face pressed into his hoodie.

The words did little to comfort you, but the hug helped slightly.

..

Dust’s words circled in your brain as you were sitting next to Nightmare’s bed one night, watching him. You had been forced to stop healing Nightmare by Dust, the others catching wind of it and agreeing. You were only allowed to see Nightmare if you were going into his room with no intentions to try and heal him.

It was failing anyway.

You were failing.

Despite your desire to try again, you could feel a tight strain in your body, something that had grown the more times you continuously used your commands. So you may have strained your magic, which may have been tiring you out.

So what?

“What use is my magic if I can’t even heal him?” You muttered to yourself with a bitter laugh. “If I can’t heal him, fix him, wake him up, then what use is it?”

The fact that Nightmare was on his deathbed was bad.

The fact that you couldn’t do anything to help was worse.

You suddenly paused, Gerson coming to mind, or rather, an old story that he told you when you were younger.

("There was a kid that used to be in the Underground, the one that freed us monsters and allowed us back on the surface. Old age has me forgetting their name, but there was something remarkable about the kid. They could turn back sometimes, before a bad deed was even done. In better terms, they could-")

Reset.

…

..

The kid could Reset.

…

.. What if..?

You were tired, your magic exhausted, you weren't even sure if you could provide a proper working command right now (not that it would have worked on the wound anyway). But what did you have to lose?

You can't bring back the dead. But what if you brought him back before he died?

What if you Reset?

You flexed your hands, stretching them out. You weren't going to wait, it would be best to try now while you were alone with him. You didn't want to watch him die. You wouldn't stand for it.

You reached for your magic, drawing it up, feeling it gather in your SOUL. You strained to keep it in place, feeling too exhausted to even hold it there, forcing it to stay. You couldn't falter, you had to try.

You could feel the patient hum of your magic, the edges of your vision being tinted a light blue as you tried to gather more of it. You didn't know how much you needed to try to pull this off, most of it already exhausted away from repeated hours of trying to heal Nightmare, but you couldn't try with such a measly amount.

("A Determination SOUL that kid had.")

You didn't have such a thing, you knew that, so you needed to draw enough magic to even try.

The longer you forced your magic to gather, the more tinted your vision became. You felt slightly queasy, a hand landing on the bed to keep yourself upright. A harsh cough startled you and you looked towards Nightmare, who looked so sickly, deteriorating away. A barely audible whisper of your name came from the skeleton, not your nickname, your name. A hand twitched closer to your hand on the bed, phalanges just brushing against your fingers before he stilled again, the only sound from him being his ragged breathing.

You saw red.

Determination filled your SOUL as you gently grabbed Nightmare's hand, holding it like a lifeline. You wanted him back. You couldn't let him die, you wouldn't let him die. You wouldn't let him go.

You gripped onto Nightmare's hand, your eyes narrowing, the tint that filled your vision no longer that patient blue that you recognized with your magic. It was as red as the determination you felt to heal him, to make him survive, to go back.

("Memories are hardly kept during a Reset, Spitfire. You ask me if I remembered the kid? Hardly. There was a skeleton in the Underground that remembered the Resets though, only him however. Warned me about them, the dangers the kid caused. I, however, regained only a life's memory of the kid.")

Gerson's words only filled you with Determination.

It was fine.

You didn't need to keep your memories.

If the other skeletons didn't remember either, then that's fine too.

As long as Nightmare lives.

Red filled your vision and you instinctually felt something wanting to be freed.

You gazed back down at Nightmare, a sad, bitter smile on your face as you spoke words he would never hear. "Thank you, for everything Nightmare. I appreciate, and love you, so please. Please survive," you whispered the last part, feeling something roll down your cheek.

You had no time to say anything to your other skeletons. You hoped you could be forgiven for that.

They wouldn’t remember you anyway.

"Rewind."

Something shattered within you.

...

..

Birds were singing.

Flowers were blooming.

The breeze was nice and cool.

There were little to no clouds in the sky, just people walking around peacefully.

Your town was just… so peaceful, hardly any complications.

There was hardly any trouble where you lived.

The residents were kind and nice to each other, it was a nice community.

Nothing ever happened.