Chapter Text
It’s empty, everything was completely erased. There was nothing left besides him, the annoying kid, and this never-ending void. It hurt a bit. The ground was stained every so often from the purple tears that trailed down his face. “crybaby,” he was called. Maybe he was right, but he’d never say it out loud. He was a crybaby. He cried over most things, especially if they hurt him. This? It hurt him to his core. He couldn’t think about anything else, all he could do was cry. How pathetic, right? He knew it well, that wall he had built broke the second he realised it was only him and the kid left.
Another skeleton came along. Colourful, he was. His eyelights seemed to change with each sentence he said. Interesting, not exactly something he was used to seeing. This skeleton was nice and gave him food that he believed was called ‘tacos’ from time to time. It was good, he enjoyed the taste & certainly didn’t mind getting to eat again.
There came a time when this skeleton stopped visiting as much. It got lonely again. All he could hear was the kid pestering him as if he didn’t already do that enough, and the movement of his clothing as he adjusted his position every so often. He was fatigued, incredibly fatigued. His magic was depleting rapidly, and he couldn’t do anything to fix that.
Days passed, he was sure of it. Maybe they had to do something to bring back their world together. Maybe they needed to…
His hands clenched into fists. They were slammed into the white, cold ground below him. Maybe, just maybe, if he were to try to fix this instead of begging the ‘protector’ to help him, he would be able to bring his world back. That so-called protector refused to help him anyway, saying that his world was already gone. It wasn’t, he could save it. He knew he could, he was sure of it.
His train of thought was interrupted by the sound that erupted from behind him. It was sticky, gooey… He couldn’t exactly describe it. He stood up, turning around with as much urgency as he possibly could with how weak and out of shape his body had become.
He saw someone else. Not the protector, — although he was happy about that, he was too upset to face the aforementioned — but instead a skeleton covered in black goop. This skeleton had tentacles & his eye appeared cyan, emphasis on eye.
He stayed cautious, he wouldn’t trust someone so easily after realising what the protector had done to him. “he left you, didn’t he? unfortunate, isn’t it? that’s ok. it’s not like you deserve him, sans.”
“Hello. I do not seek to harm you, I merely come as I have sensed mass amounts of negativity within your soul.” The way this skeleton spoke... It was gentle, almost too gentle. It felt unsafe, there was no way this was something — or, someone... — he could trust.
“What are you? Who are you?” He spat out the two questions with such urgency you would think his entire life depended on this. And, well, maybe it did.
“Nightmare.” Nightmare replied, his tentacles moving passively behind him. “Guardian — or ‘King’ — of Negativity. I believe that I could be of assistance to you, and you could be of assistance to me. I have come here with the intention of striking a deal — a contract, even — with you. A soft hum escaped from Nightmare. “However, I require your name first.”
His head tilted to the side. “man, we should do it. maybe he’d help us get our universe back. the one you destroyed, sans.” He hates to admit it, really, he did, but the kid might be right in this situation. If he were to agree, could this ‘King of Negativity’ revive his world instead?
“Cross. M’name is Cross. Can you explain more about what this contract, or, deal, even is?” Cross’s voice came out a bit more hushed than he intended it to. It didn’t hold the empty tone he usually forced it to during his time in the royal guard.
“Yes, the details.” Nightmare nodded, bringing one of his hands to rest on his chin. “Your main job is to assist with keeping the balance in the multiverse. Both positive and negative feelings are required for balance, so I require you to sprinkle some negativity in other universes from time to time. You will, however, also be required to do chores around the castle, assist with supply runs, and a bit more, but that is the basic requirement. You will, in turn, be provided with proper nutrients, and a safe place to stay. Oh, and of course I promise to protect you to the best of my abilities, like how I protect the ones under my wing currently.”
“ask him about our universe. can he bring it back? can he help you fix the mess you made? you’ve gotta agree, cross. you’ve gotta agree. this is our only chance.” He rubbed one of his temples. The obvious choice was to accept his offer, but what if something went wrong? What if Nightmare couldn’t help with his universe? This would all be for nothing, and he’d be back at square one.
He needed to take the risk.
“I will accept to join you as long as you promise to help me bring my universe back. Otherwise, I will be completely under your command. I will do what you ask of me.” He took a deep inhale after he got that out. His voice came out a bit stronger than before, however with an added bit of rasp. That didn’t matter much to him right now.
“Hm. I cannot promise I will be able to revive your universe, but I will make my attempts to find a way to help.” The guardian studied the (barely) shorter skeleton in front of him. Malnourished & exhausted, he could tell. Little sleep and little to no food, even. “Please keep in mind that there are three others working & living in the castle. You are to be as respectful towards them as you can be.” He paused. He knew how Killer could be, and even Dust (under the influence of Phantom, realistically) may cause some problems. However, Horror was sweet, so there shouldn’t be any problems there. “They can be hard to get along with from time to time. You will adjust, but it will take time. You are required to inform me if any of them take anything too far, Cross.”
Cross nodded as Nightmare spoke. “you better not say anything about anything that happened to any of us. just say you fucked up ‘n that you are the reason our universe is gone, got it?”
He ignored the comment. He wasn’t worried about giving his backstory or even talking about Chara in the first place, so he didn’t feel it was necessary to acknowledge it. “Okay. Then I’ll agree to these terms. I can work under you, Nightmare.”
A small smile formed on Nightmare’s face as he stuck his hand out. “Of course. Shake my hand to solidify the deal. And, please, do keep in mind that I do not make promises just to break them. You’ll sign a contract with more details once we get to my office, okay?”
Cross grabbed the other’s hand with slight hesitation. What if this isn't right? It didn’t feel completely right, but it didn’t feel wrong either. Ink wasn’t going to come back for him anyway, not that he wanted him to. He said nothing in response to Nightmare, shaking his hand instead.
“Wonderful. You will come with me. I will introduce you to the boys and have one of them give you a tour around after we have discussed the contract. Do not worry, you will have time to adjust to living with us before you are sent on missions.” Nightmare stated. Cross didn’t seem to be too opposed to it, nodding to show that he understood and processed Nightmare's words, so he took this chance to teleport the two of them to his castle.
Cross followed Nightmare with his hands at his sides. He was careful not to swing them too far, which he knew he did as a kid. (It was deemed childish, so he made sure to keep himself in check after becoming a part of the royal guard.) Soon, they stopped in front of an open room. Three people were inside the room. Cross would assume it was a living room.. “look at that. they all look worse than you. in the insane way, i mean.” Cross shook his head at the human’s comment.
One skeleton had a gigantic hole in his head, one eyelight was red whilst the other simply wasn’t there. The other had a hood that, comically, but also disturbingly, covered most of his face in a dark shadow. He seemed to look like what Ink had drawn out to be Classic Sans, but with a few differences. The last was a somewhat normal skeleton, just with a very faint amount of black liquid flowing from his eye-sockets. He lacked eyelights, Cross observed.
“Attention, you three. We have a new member, and I expect you all to treat him well. His name is Cross. Please introduce yourselves and be nice to him.” Nightmare stated calmly, crossing his arms on his chest as he leaned against the wall.
“this’ll be interesting, cross. let’s see how ya do.”