Chapter Text
Cross flinched dully as a nightmare of sorts encroached into his less than peaceful slumber, a dark negativity dusting the thickening air as a hazy scene set in a damp, stone dungeon with a singular figure present filtered into his skull.
The former Royal guard had been no stranger to bad dreams, in fact, joining the mishaps group Nightmare called his ‘gang’ had even made the nightly routine worse, though this was an odd occurrence to Cross.
Usually, his night terrors were all uniformly predictable, landing him back in his old, long gone AU during one of the happiest points of his life, and ending with X-Gaster as the main character, although this was far different, not even remotely similar.
Cross snarled as he took a silent step towards the foggy, shaded figure, annoyed he was unable to wake up even after recognizing that what he was seeing was a scenario crafted solely from his own imagination. Maybe the switch from Royal guard to mass-multiversal murderer was taking a toll on him?
Eventually, albeit it only being a minute or two, Cross made it close enough to the shaded figure that he was able to define who it was, or rather what it was. The figure, or rather statue, stood painfully still with a distressed expression on its matte face. The monochromatic skeleton flinched around observing the unmoving object as if he was expecting some kind of movement.
But no movement came..
Cross’ examination of the statue came to a stop when he noticed a shiny, golden circlet adorning the object’s skull, the curiosity once again peaking inside the former guard's split soul. What was such a darling ornament doing on top of a statue? A dull, frightened one at that.
Was the statue depicting a prince? One that’s bride ran off before he was titled king, or maybe one that’s crafter abandoned them in a dampened dungeon to rot away? Cross was getting carried away as his mismatched eyelights refocused on the adorning circlet, his hand reaching out for it in want and greed.
How precious would such a circlet, golden and polished at that, look sat upon his dresser. He stole from AU’s all of the time, what was one more? Though as soon as his boney hand rested itself onto the golden object, he was cast back into the real world, a quick and unsteady awakening.
Cross’ breath hitched as he sat up in one swift movement, his hand that he could swear was just resting upon a cool to the touch golden craftery now sat vertically on his damp forehead. Of course, it had just been a night terror, or something of the sorts. He had gotten too whisked away in the enchanting statue that he had forgotten all along that nothing was real, just a dream, his imagination.
A groan mused its way out of the half awake skeleton as he forced himself up out of bed, the mattress now feeling uncomfortably lumpy and his blankets too warm for comfort. The scene was nothing too unfamiliar, having night terrors and nightmares alike wake him up almost every night since he had arrived to live with Nightmare being nothing new.
Though, trudging out of bed every ‘morning’, if one in the morning actually counted as morning, wasn’t just as worse as staying in the now uncomfortable bed.
Pulling on his familiar black and white clad hoodie and slipping on some sweatpants, Cross made his way through the incredibly confusing castle corridors and to the kitchen, hopefully to help himself alone to a hot chocolate if they had any packets left, which he was almost certain there were.
The kitchen light was on illuminating the hallway Cross was coming from, giving him the heads up that somebody else was also awake. It wasn’t uncommon for at least one skeleton to be awake at all times in the castle, but it was still a let down to Cross’ hopes that he would be alone to make his drink. He could only hope that it wasn’t Killer who was awake, as he was the most chatty and unstable of the other gang members.
Cross had only been part of Nightmares gang for around two weeks now, maybe three if he counted properly, but it wasn’t hard to quickly integrate himself within the gang of misfits. Despite their all vastly different personalities and backgrounds, everyone, besides Nightmare, was easy to get to know, or at least understand.
Killer, as mentioned before, was a talkative, if not chaotic, guy, always having something to say to with his unsteady soul and always ready for a mission if requested of him. If Cross didn’t know better, he would assume that Killer was Nightmares right hand man. Though, he did know better, knowing that Nightmare didn’t like anybody and only tolerated the gang to do his dirty work for free housing and food, with other minuscule benefits sprinkled in.
At least.. that’s the impression he got. Maybe.. that was just how Nightmare treated him.
Dusts personality was lame, even saying he had one was pushing it. Cross couldn’t tell if he was shy, which he didn’t seem to be as he chatted Horrors skull off, or if he just didn’t like Cross and Killer. The guy hardly talked to anyone but Horror and when he did talk it was a curt sentence that was needed during a mission or dinner.
Maybe that was a rude perception of Dust, but Cross didn’t care, shrugging it off to himself as he neared the occupied kitchen.
Horror was kind from what Cross could gather with the few interactions the two had. Unlike the rest of the gang, Horror spent a lot of his time in his AU, only coming to the castle to make delicious meals and to talk to Dust. The big guy only wanted the best for his AU, having only come to work with Nightmare in the beginning to feed his brother, though over time Horror had gathered a bond with Dust and stayed.
Cross yawned as he walked into the kitchen, the pungent smell of.. fish? Animal food? Cat food?? Filling his senses. Of course, just his luck, Killer was standing in the middle of the kitchen looking as if he had been caught red handed, which Cross realized that Killer had been caught red handed when he looked down and met eyes with a small, tan colored cat.
The monochromatic skeleton looked back up, locking eyes with Killer whose face was now pale, before cracking a smile which turned into an outright laughing fit in mere seconds. Sure, one of the first rules he was strictly given when moving into the castle was no animals under any circumstance, but come on, how funny was this?
Killer quickly tackled Cross to the hard tiled ground, an oomph echoing out of the former royal guard. Black goop, or whatever the hell came out of Killers eyes, drooped down onto Cross face, making him snarl and gag as he felt the thick liquid seep into his mouth.
“Don’t tell boss about this, promise? She’s not mine, I swear! M’ just taking care of her fur’ a friend, okay?? Why are ya’ up anyway?!” Killer growled, stumbling over his words haphazardly as he threatened Cross.
Cross pushed Killer off with one, hardy push, using the moment of peace to quickly pull himself up back into a standing position, “Stars Killer, it’s not that serious, I don’t care that much. Fuck, your slime— goop?? Got into my mouth, eugh..” Cross took a pause to gag before spitting into a nearby sink and continuing the talk, “I’m awake ‘cause I had a nightmare, or something along those lines. It was weird as fuck, there was some statue or something— Nevermind that, it doesn’t matter”.
Bending back down to the floor, Killer picked the now empty can of cat food before wrapping it in an ungodly amount of paper towel and shoving it deep into a trash can. “Sorry for freakin’ out on ya’, I just can’t have boss finding out bout’ her, he hates animals, especially cats..”
The room filled with silence for a moment before Killer scooped up the tan cat who had been standing nearby, looking Cross dead in the eyes, at least Cross assumed so, given the skeletons sockets were always pitch black.
“Your nightmare, was the statue scared n’ have a gold’n crown?” Killer mused, a now smug expression adorning his skull. Cross’ face twisted into confusion, nodding slightly before having a terrifying thought that Killer could read minds..
..Though that unfortunate thought was quickly shot down when Killer continued, “Yeah, we all get that nightmare, at leas’ everyone but Nightmare, ironic ain’t it? Anyway, I’m surprised ya’ haven’t gotten it sooner. Nobody knows why we get it, probably jus’ some old quirk that came with the castle”.
Cross nodded uncomfortably as he shuffled over to the cabinet to find a hot chocolate packet, remembering why he came to the kitchen in the first place, “That’s.. odd..”, he grabbed a packet, the last one, before walking over to the fridge to grab a jug of milk.
“Mmm, I suppose. G’night Crossy” Killer flatly stated, lazily making his way out of the kitchen and presumably teleporting away to his far off room. Cross continued making his hot chocolate, smiling when he finally was able to drink the thick, chocolatey delightful drink.
It was most likely around two am now, given there were no clocks around, but Cross decided it would be best to try and go back to sleep. The monochromatic clad skeleton gently laid his finished off mug into the sink to wash tomorrow and made his way back through the castle corridors to his lonely bedroom.
Cross slunk back into bed with a creaky flop and splayed out, groaning a huff of relief to be met with a cold bed and quickly dozing back off into a slumber. Little did he know, a small spirit watched over him, the room cooling off a few more degrees.