Daemons

“You did WHAT?!” Nightmare roared as he slammed Killer back into the nearby wall with his tentacles, the others silently watching from the sidelines with a mixture of fear and unease. Horror wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he saw the forlorn look on his brother’s face after their date, but the news that he may have outed himself and Dream to hunters was definitely not it. And upon hearing that news, their leader had promptly flown into a rage, one that none of them wanted to try to stop.

“I-I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean to!” Killer stammered out, uselessly struggling against the tentacles that were increasing their pressure on him.

His response only left their leader in a somehow more furious state, causing him to pull their brother back only to slam him into the wall again. The snake daemon cringed at the sound of Killer’s skull connecting hard with the wall, only now starting to wonder if maybe Nightmare might push things too far in his fury. “Sorry? Sorry?! A fucking apology isn’t going to fix this! You’ve placed a fucking target on Dream’s back because of your stupid actions! My brother is going to be hunted now because of you!”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Killer screamed back, fresh tears starting to fall down his face. “He might be your brother, but he’s my soulmate! Don’t you think this is eating me up inside?! You think I wanted this to happen?!”

“Alright! That’s enough!” Error finally snapped, strings wrapping around both skeletons to physically pull them apart. “Nightmare, I get that you’re pissed, and you have every right to be, but I’m sure that Killer wasn’t openly parading around in his daemon form.”

The octopus growled, threatening to lash out at their strategist as well for getting in his way. Horror almost wished that Reaper was here to help calm things down, but apparently bird brain had gotten a renewed desire to search for his soulmate and had been gone since before Killer came back. That left Error as the only one that had a hope of calming things down since he was the only one with the strength to actually stand up to Nightmare if things got ugly.

Ignoring the thrashing ball of anger tangled in his strings, the spider turned his attention to their sobbing brother. “Killer. I want the truth, what exactly happened? You better not have had any choice but to reveal yourself-”

“Contrary to popular belief, I’m not an idiot,” the younger daemon growled, cutting Error off. “I wasn’t even in my daemon form at the time! Some big, musclebound dick and his annoying Karen of a trophy wife showed up where Dream and I were for part of our date. Their little crotch goblin wanted to play with the animals that I’d essentially rented for Dream to play with, and Karen wouldn’t accept that they had to wait their turn. She ordered her husband to pull Dream out of there, and I got in his way because I wasn’t letting that Scarface reject anywhere near him. So, I... baited him into punching me.” He stopped to gesture to the large bruise on his one cheek before continuing, “Changed my slime from my sockets to be a mild hallucinogenic so that he’d freak out and they’d leave. I would’ve thought nothing of it, but then Karen called me an ‘evil demon’, and the way she said it made me think she meant us instead of a horned fiend. They also kind of heard my last name when the employee was trying to calm them down, and I know that’s on my file, so if they really are hunters then they’d know exactly what I am.”

All of them went silent as they processed Killer’s story, even Nightmare going still to think over what he said. A sigh from Error was what broke the silence, his strings retreating from both daemons in front of them. “Well... guess it’s safe to say you really didn’t have a choice. While it’s possible that she meant it as a classic insult, we’re better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. What did they look like?”

“Well... Karen had your classic asymmetrical dyed bob, platinum blonde. Other than that, she looks like a typical young mother. Scarface has a fresh X-shaped scar across his face, big muscles and dog tags, and their kid-”

“Wait,” Nightmare interrupted, a lot calmer than he’d been a few minutes ago. “That sounds exactly like the guy that was attacking Cross and his brother, in fact Cross gave him one half of that scar and I gave him the other one. He likely doesn’t know that it was me though, I was in my monster form at the time.”

While that was at least some relief, Horror glanced to his brothers to see Fell looking worried while Dust was unnaturally pale at the comment. “Yo Dust, something bugging ya?” He asked, only to get a timid nod in return.

“That woman... Nightmare, was there a red and white wheelchair around that Scarface guy?”

“Yeah... now that you mention it, I guess there was... why?”

“Because that woman sounds like the exact same one that Blue told me about,” the monkey explained, his expression growing more fearful by the minute. “H-He said that after I left his place, some lady was walking past his house with her child in a wheelchair. She made some snarky comment about monsters, but Blue got furious because apparently that wheelchair belonged to his friend, and she’d stolen it from him. Well, to be exact, her husband stole it from Blue’s friend and apparently hospitalized him, but the point is that she saw me leaving Blue’s house! If she’s a hunter, then m-maybe she recognized me o-or they would after running into Killer!”

“Which means that your soulmate is now potentially in danger as well,” Error sighed, rubbing at his one temple as he closed his eyes. “This is bad... guess it’s time for some damage control,” the spider muttered to himself before turning to the others. “Killer, Dust, you two should stick with your soulmates to make sure they aren’t targeted. And since all of our soulmates are friends, it would be best to keep them isolated from each other for a bit. The less the hunters know, the better, and we need to work on discovering whether those two really are a threat or not.”

“Already covered,” Nightmare chimed in with a snicker, his smirk growing wider as he explained himself. “My soulmate is already out for blood; he wants those two dead for what they did to his brother. We take them out and I’ve managed to both placate my soulmate and eliminate a potential threat. How’s that for damage control?”

While Error really didn’t look that impressed with their leader’s bold statement, all of them knew there was no way they’d talk him out of it, especially not with his soulmate being the one wanting it in the first place. “Just be careful, don’t out yourself or any of the others in the process. But if you’re going to deal with them, the sooner the better.” The spider turned to Horror and Fell, noting the cat’s worried expression. “Something to add to this mess Fell?”

Fell jumped as his name was called, looking pretty nervous as he rubbed at his skull and avoided direct eye contact. “W-Well... I-I mean I did have a brief run-in with that Scarface guy, b-but he never saw me! H-He was working security a-at the con... thingy that Sci took me to, a-and he had me in a robot suit f-for it so there’s no way he saw me!”

Horror was about the only one out of their little group that knew of Fell’s nerdy side, having been sworn to secrecy long ago. So, he didn’t comment on the shorter daemon’s poor attempt at covering where exactly he was, instead turning to Error to keep anyone from asking. “So that’s a good thing, right? That means that Fell and his soulmate are safe for now.”

“Maybe, but that’s still too close of a call for my liking. Both of you should stick with your soulmates too and keep them away from Blue and Dream so that these potential hunters don’t make any sort of jump in logic. If you see those two though, do not engage them in any way! Leave them to Nightmare to deal with and focus on keeping them from possibly identifying your soulmates.” Both daemons nodded at their strategist’s instructions, all of them knowing to never go against Error when he was creating a plan. “I’ll be doing the same thing with Ink to try and keep him safe. Honestly, Reaper’s almost lucky that he hasn’t found his yet, that means there’s no way for them to be in danger.”

“What do you wanna bet that Reaper’s the only one out of all of us to get a girl for a soulmate?” Dust piped up, still clearly shaken by the revelation of the potential danger to his soulmate but at least making an attempt to lighten everyone’s mood.

Killer was the one to take him up on his little joke, chuckling as he shook his head. “Mr. Dramatic? There’s no way he won’t turn out to be gay!”

“I’m with Killer on this one,” Horror added, grinning as Fell nodded in agreement. “Fate already has a fucked-up sense of humor with all the shit going on between Nightmare and Killer’s soulmates, it’s not gonna make an even worse joke with Reaper’s sexuality.”

“Thank you for bringing up how my soulmate is the reason my brother’s suicidal,” Nightmare grumbled sarcastically, killing the joking mood instantly. “You idiots all have your instructions, so get to it! Just be thankful that you get to stick with your soulmates instead of ghosting them in order to keep them safe.” The octopus promptly stormed out of the room, grumbling the entire way before vanishing from view.

An uneasy silence hung in the air between the remaining daemons, Error coughing to try and break some of the tension. “Nightmare’s right, we should all head out and keep an eye on our soulmates. I’m sure that so long as we keep them happy, they won’t even realize what we’re doing.”

While Horror was all for protecting Lust, the thought of keeping his little flower away from all of his friends didn’t quite sit right with him. He’d seen just how helpful and supportive they all were during the night they met, and any time he chatted with the dancer they always ended up talking about his friends at least once. They were a big part of Lust’s life, and it felt wrong to isolate him from them. Still, in a battle of happiness versus safety, Lust’s safety would always be his top priority. Hopefully Error was right, and the purple skeleton wouldn’t notice what he was trying to do, but that didn’t change the premature guilt he could already feel welling up inside him.

The daemons all left to get ready to be away from their home for what would likely be a while, grabbing anything they might need before heading off with their own separate stories of why they suddenly wanted to stay with their respective partners. The snake daemon made sure to pack his axe as well as some of his nicer clothes, throwing in spare head bandages after wrapping up his skull in case the first ones got damaged. Beyond that he snuck off to the kitchen and snagged a few boxes of snacks, resisting the temptation to dig into anything until he was sure that it wouldn’t result in him getting lectured.

Once he was all packed up and on his way, the daemon pulled out his phone, hovering over Lust’s contact for a moment before reluctantly calling him. Planning ahead was never really his style, so he was completely making up his story as he waited for the purple skeleton to pick up the call. The thought of lying to his flower made his soul ache, so he tried to think of a way to explain himself that was as close to the truth as possible.

"Oh, hey Horror! What’s up?" Lust’s musical voice piped up on the phone, startling the snake and almost making him fumble the device as he was ripped from his thoughts. “Horror? Helloooo? You there? Did you butt dial me without even having a butt?”

“I-I’m here! I’m here, sorry. Um... this is gonna be really random and kind of forward, but do you think I could stay with you for a few days? My brothers kicked me out of the house.” There, not quite the truth, but not exactly a lie either. Hopefully it would be enough of an explanation to work.

The other end of the line was quiet, enough that Horror actually pulled his phone away from his head to make sure that he hadn’t lost the call while walking through the forest. “U-Um...” The dancer’s voice eventually came through before Horror could consider asking if he was still there, though he was instantly worried by the suddenly timid tone of voice he heard. ”I-I guess you can... if you’ve really got nowhere else to stay. I don’t have a ton of room, but you can sleep on the couch if that’s okay.”

“Fine by me! It’ll take me about half an hour to get there I think, thanks for helping me out Lusty.”

“N-No problem... I-I’ll see you soon I g-guess," Lust stuttered out, lacking the usual confidence to his voice as the call ended. The daemon looked at the screen with a frown, sighing as he pocketed the device and kept going. Something was definitely not right with his soulmate, and he felt like he had a really good idea what the cause was.

Ever since the... incident that brought the two of them together, Horror had been slowly watching Lust’s beautiful confidence melt away, leaving a timid and fearful shell of the beauty he saw dancing on that stage. Everything had seemed fine at first, with the purple skeleton appearing to have brushed the event off by claiming he was ‘fine since nothing really happened’. If his friends had seen through the lie, they hadn’t said anything, allowing him to keep pretending that he was fine. Not knowing the dancer very well himself, the snake was content to follow their lead, but now he was starting to wonder if that had been a mistake. The cracks in Lust’s façade were slowly growing, more signs of something being wrong appearing by the day, and Horror didn’t know what to do to help.

Maybe this period of just him and his soulmate would be exactly what he needed to work on things though, especially since it would be just the two of them and he wouldn’t be able to hide behind his friends that kept buying his lies, or at least were pretending to. The thought of being able to snack without anyone judging or snapping at him popped into his head as well, though he quickly shook the thought away. This time needed to be spent on his little flower, not his stomach, and he didn’t want to disgust his soulmate either by being a pig.

Lost in thought, the snake just managed to get far enough into the city that he reached the outmost transit stop, the one that he and his brothers usually used to move throughout the city since it was the closest to the slightly isolate mansion that they lived in. He was so lost in thought however that he never paid attention to the fact that his bus to get to Lust’s apartment was pulling away, only noticing and beginning to run when it was too late to catch it. The skeleton huffed and cursed under his breath practically slamming his bag down on a bench in front of the bus stop before grumpily taking a seat himself. Now he’d be far later than he told Lust, all because he was busy daydreaming about... well, Lust. While that was an acceptable thing to be distracted by, he wasn’t at all happy about the delay in his schedule, grumbling incoherently to himself as he crossed his arms over his chest. The display at least kept anyone from bothering him as nobody wanted to approach the monster that looked ready to snap at someone.

Eventually the next bus came, fifteen minutes after the last one. The daemon got on, taking a seat in the back and glaring out the window as he tried to adjust which transfers he could take to arrive a little less late. As he tried to work this out, he never noticed the family approaching the back of the bus as well. “Hey buddy, move your bag so others can sit!” A gruff male voice called out, causing the skeleton to look up with a glare.

That glare faltered the minute he caught sight of who was speaking to him, his voice stuck as he made out the fresh x-shaped scar across the man’s face. Behind him was a woman wearing too much floral perfume and as huffy as he’d been a minute ago, yapping on the phone partially hidden by her platinum blonde bob while a little boy held onto her other arm. When the man snapped at him again, he frantically reached over and pulled his bag into his lap, mumbling an apology as he did so.

Crap, crap, crap! They were right there! What the fuck was he supposed to do?! Thankfully his most distinguishable feature, his head injury, was covered by both bandages and his hat right now, but that didn’t change how uneasy he felt as they took the seats right next to him. Killer said the lady was a total Karen, why couldn’t she be the kind that sat up front in the handicap spots?!

At that moment, the only thing he could think to do was text Error for help, turning his face and body towards the window as the bus pulled out and any hope of escaping at the cost of being later vanished. Error! SOS!!! Suspected hunters sitting next to me on bus! Wtf do I do?!

The response only took a couple minutes to come, yet each of those minutes dragged on painfully slowly as he tried to distract himself with the scenery whizzing by. Remain calm, don’t let them see you panicking, or they’ll get suspicious. They see your face? Head hole?

Yes to the face, no to the hole.

Ok... get off a few stops before your transfer and just walk there. You’ll probably miss your bus, but it should separate them from you.

He sent back a message to confirm that he would follow the plan before trying to calm down. It didn’t stop him from fiddling with his clothes however, the snake attempting to hide just a bit more from the family beside him. Unfortunately for him, the possible hunters had a little boy with them that had no respect for personal space. As he was adjusting his collar, the child reached over and tugged on his hat, ripping the article of clothing right off of his head.

Before he had a chance to say anything in response to the invasion of his privacy, the kid simply pointed at his skull as he turned to his parents. “Mommy, that man’s head is all funny.”

“H-Hey! Give me back my hat!” He demanded, reaching out to grab it only for the brat to run over and hide behind his mother.

This action only seemed to infuriate the entitled mother; an ugly snarl being directed at him as she went off. “How dare you try to attack my son, you disgusting monster?! All of your kind are so violent and aggressive, it’s utterly disgusting that you would try to attack a child! Driver?! Driver!”

What surprised the daemon however was when her husband jumped in to calm her down. “Easy Noel, there’s no need to get the driver involved honey. Look at this guy, pretty sure the reason why he attacked is because there’s something wrong with his head.” That particular wording struck a chord with the daemon, wondering if his head injury was visible through the bandages or if they were simply guessing... either that, or they really were hunters and they’d already pegged his identity.

“Hmph, he better have a hole in his head or something, otherwise there’s no excuse for threatening our baby.” That sentence caused him to yank on the cord next to him used to signal that he wanted off, Horror shooting to his feet shortly after. He didn’t even want the hat back anymore, he just wanted out of here and away from them. There were so many eyes on him as he practically ran to the back doors, barely waiting for them to open before pushing his way out and onto the sidewalk.

Not wanting anyone to think he was up to something, the daemon immediately started walking along the same direction that the bus travelled, trying to make his way to the stop he’d originally wanted. While it hadn’t been his intention to get off this early, having planned to get off only a couple stops early rather than half a dozen, but it was better than being stuck to that family. The first thought in his mind was to call Error, their strategist needing to hear what he went through and either confirm or deny his fears.

As he called up the spider, the phone picked up on the second ring. “I’m gonna take this phone call as a sign that something went wrong,” Error said with a sigh before he could even say anything, causing him to cringe at the disappointment in his tone.

“Yeah... um... I think I’ve been made.”

“What?! Not you too!”

“I swear it’s not my fault! Their brat stole my hat, and as I tried to get it back, the guy made comments about something being wrong with my skull-”

“Horror, your skull is covered in bandages, of course they’re going to think something’s wrong with it!”

“Are bandages enough of a reason to explicitly say ‘hole in the head’?” That little tidbit caused the line to go silent, making it clear that the seemingly pointless detail was, in fact, crucial.

“You heard them say that?” Error clarified, sighing once he got confirmation. “Fucking shit, I tell you guys to avoid three humans, and what happens? They walk right into you!” He was cut off before he could even begin to defend himself, his brother’s voice saying exactly what he was going to. “I know it’s not your fault, it’s just our really shitty luck rearing its head again. Did you at least manage to ditch them?”

“I think so,” Horror mumbled only for a familiar smell to hit him. While a snake’s sense of touch was incredibly strong, their sense of smell was strong enough to make them the reptilian equivalent of a bloodhound. There had been many smells on that bus, most of which he’d tuned out and ignored, but there was one he wasn’t able to block out. It was the entitled woman’s perfume, and he could smell it wafting down from the location of the next bus stop along the route he’d been taking. “Scratch that! No, I didn’t!” He whisper-yelled into the phone, ready to freak out at the thought that they’d purposefully gotten off on the next stop. “They’re just ahead of me, I can smell the woman’s perfume coming from the next stop a block away from me. And... I think the scent’s getting stronger.”

“Well, isn’t this just perfect?” Error grumbled sarcastically, immediately starting to bark directions to him that he didn’t hesitate to follow. “Turn and just start heading up the nearest street. Not a back alley though, I don’t want you in a position to get ambushed. Just stay around other people so they don’t try anything if they follow and keep tabs on that scent. I’d send one of the others to help, but they’re all en route to their soulmates so you’re on your own with just phone support.”

“Honestly phone support is better than nothing at this point, I’m seriously freaking out,” he mumbled, following his brother’s instructions and immediately turning right onto a busy street. Attempts to calm himself didn’t work, especially not with his sense of smell and touch focused in on the family and where he suspected them to be. The sheer number of people around him made it difficult to decipher their footsteps from everyone else’s, but his sense of smell was left undisturbed as it focused in on that overly floral perfume. And the smell was continuing to grow stronger. “Yeah, they’re definitely following me.”

Some shuffling could be heard in the background of the phone call before the spider spoke up again. “Don’t panic, you’re in public and they wouldn’t dare cause a scene trying to out you.”

“They caused enough of a scene on the fucking bus for me, for all I know they might try to accuse me of theft or assault or something to turn everyone one in the area against me.”

“... Good point. Okay...” Error paused for a moment, clearly reworking his plan to account for that eventuality. “New plan. Lose them. I don’t care what you have to do, but you have to shake them.”

The snake groaned as he started picking up the pace, letting the vibrations in the ground guide him through the throng of people as he moved faster. “Why couldn’t they chase after Dust? He would be able to lose them in a matter of seconds.”

“Less whining, more running.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got you,” Horror mumbled, continuing to pick up speed in an effort to lose them in the crowd. Unfortunately for him, the smell of perfume never wavered, a growl escaping his throat as he tried to figure out what to do. Speed and agility were more Fell or Dust’s thing, he was used to solving a problem by going through it. “Error, some advice would be super helpful right now.”

"Street address.” The simple instruction was followed as Horror passed by a convenient street sign, giving the location of the intersection that he was now running away from. “Shopping mall, 3 blocks west and 2 blocks north. Head in there and lose them, then take a taxi to Lust’s place. And whatever you do-”

“You think you need to tell me?” He snarled, having already placed Lust’s safety as his top priority. There was no way these freaks would tail him all the way to his little flower’s apartment. The snake daemon turned his focus to the lights coming up, choosing his direction based off which path would give him a walk symbol and allow him to continue running. Maybe he’d even get lucky, and they’d get stuck at one of the intersections, but he wasn’t taking any chances considering how his luck had been going lately.

There was only one intersection, right next to the mall, which made him wait to cross, the skeleton looking over his shoulder almost constantly while tracking the humans chasing him through scent. He hadn’t lost them yet, though it felt like the multiple intersections he’d raced through had at least slowed them down a bit as the smell was a bit fainter.

The moment the light changed, and the walk sign was flashed in front of his face, the daemon took off again. He zoomed past everyone else waiting to cross, heading straight for the mall and ducking into the first store he found in case he was followed even into here. While he was lucky to not have ran straight into a women’s lingerie store or anything like that, there was a bakery right next door that was messing with his sense of smell. The scent of the perfume that he’d been tracking was quickly washed out by the cinnamon goodness that was fresh baked cinnamon buns, his stomach practically begging for him to follow that smell instead.

It took everything the daemon had to hop back on the phone, panting and out of breath as he half-hid behind a mannequin to keep him from being seen right away. “Okay... I’m in a... what looks like one of those skater punk style clothing stores.”

“Can you still track where they are?”

“There’s a Cinnabon right next door, so no I cannot.”

He could practically see the look of disappointment that he was sure Error was making right now, complete with the eyeroll and how he would pinch his nose in frustration. “Have I mentioned how I despise your weakness to food sometimes?”

“Many times. You gonna give me any advice to make up for me losing their trail or do I continue hiding behind mannequins like some freak?”

“Well... your current look is kind of... distinct. Ditch the jacket, get another hat, and maybe a couple other things to disguise yourself.”

“But... but I love my jacket!” He whined only to get snapped at, being told to choose between his jacket or Lust’s safety before his brother hung up on him. Growling at his phone, the daemon proceeded to take his denim jacket off and messily stuff it into his bag. “Like hell I’d pick a jacket over Lust,” he grumbled, standing back up and looking around the various options available to him to craft a disguise from.

He knew that his plaid shirt had to go too, as much as he liked it. It was simply too noticeable, causing him to grab a random graphic tee off the shelf that he wouldn’t hate himself for wearing along with another hat. While he would’ve preferred looking for one that wasn’t a hideous lime green color, a screech outside the store made him dive into the nearest free changing stall. “Cinna buns! Mommy! I want cinna buns!”

“Hush now, Mommy and Daddy are busy,” the distinct voice of the Karen from earlier rang clear as the skeleton changed into the shirt and proceeded to stuff his other one into his bag. Hopefully he wouldn’t get accused of shoplifting, but right now his concern was hiding from that family. The snake focused, trying to once again pick up the scent of the woman’s perfume over the smell of cinnamon buns, and breathed out a sigh of relief as he actually managed to pinpoint her location. Through his sense of smell, he tracked them wandering around the store in search of him, though their screeching child made it pretty easy to guess where approximately they were.

The daemon froze as the family approached the changing rooms, quickly checking to make sure nothing visible underneath the door would give away that it was him hiding in here. Thankfully his jeans weren’t nearly as much of a giveaway as his other clothes had been, in fact they looked pretty much like any of the jeans sold in the store here, same with his shoes. So, all he had to do was stay in here and pretend to change clothes until they left.

It looked like he wasn’t the only one wanting them to leave however the attendant near the changing room huffing and walking over to the three of them. “Excuse me, but are any of you planning on buying anything in here?”

“Ugh, no! Why on earth would we subject ourselves to your hideous notion of fashion?” The woman scoffed in response. “We’re in here looking for someone.”

Horror could practically hear the smirk in the attendant’s voice. “I don’t care if you’re looking for someone, if you’re not here to buy, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Your child is disturbing those who actually have a sense of fashion.”

“How dare you?!” She screeched in response, stamping her foot like her toddler was doing. “I want to speak to your manager! I’ll make sure you lose your job for being so rude!”

“Lady, I am the manager.” The skeleton hiding inside the changing room had to hold back a fit of laughter, only able to imagine the stunned look on the Karen’s face. “So, I’m gonna ask you again to leave, and if you refuse then I’ll have no choice but to call security.”

Before the woman could start up again, her partner stepped into the conversation. “Noel, come on, let’s go. It doesn’t look like he’s here anyways, this isn’t the kind of place he’d hide.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she sighed, the daemon breathing a sigh of relief as he continued to wait for them to go. “Come on sweetie, let’s get you a cinnamon bun.” The child’s screams were replaced with cheers of ‘cinna bun’, the woman’s perfume slowly fading as they left the store.

“They’re gone now, you can come out,” the manager’s voice called out, causing Horror to jump as he hesitantly stuck his head out of the changing room. What he hadn’t noticed when he ran in here was that the manager was a monster too, a large reptile whose yellow, slitted eyes were locked onto him while his tail idly swayed back and forth. “Kinda figured that it was you they were looking for considering you ran in here shortly before they showed up. What did you do to piss off a class-A Karen?”

“Heh, their brat stole my hat and I tried to get it back, then she started screaming bloody murder about assault.”

“No shit? Damn, some humans will pick on us for the dumbest shit. Whatever, we monsters gotta stick together anyways.” The guy flashed him a toothy grin, gesturing to the clothes he was wearing. “Can’t help but notice those look nothing like what you walked... well, ran in with. Disguise to keep them off your back?” The skeleton sheepishly nodded, rubbing the back of his skull as the guy laughed. “Then you’re gonna want a couple other things to really sell the look. Come on.” He gestured for Horror to follow, grabbing him a few accessories that honestly made him look completely different than when he walked in.

The last thing the other monster grabbed him were a pair of sunglasses that effectively hid his single red eye light from view, the only thing left that was distinct about his appearance being the multitude of scars littering his exposed arms. “Come on, I’ll ring ya up and you can wear everything out.”

“Thanks man, you have no idea how much this means to me after a really shitty start to my day.”

“Dude, like I said, we gotta stick together. The humans aren’t gonna look out for us, that’s for damn sure.” The manager quickly pulled the tags off the new clothes he was wearing, scanning everything and quickly ringing him through. No accusations of shoplifting, no hassle, nothing. “Take care of yourself dude!” He called as the skeleton made his way out of the store, Horror sending him a wave back as he stepped outside in a complete disguise.

Thankfully the Karen and her family were nowhere in sight, apparently having finished their trip at the Cinnabon next door. It left his stomach crying out for that sweet, glazed goodness, though his mind was rationally saying that he should get going before his disguise failed him. For a moment his gaze flicked between the Cinnabon and the exit, a whine escaping him as he tugged his hat further onto his head and turned back towards the exit. “Lust is my priority,” he reminded himself, heading straight for the first free taxi he could find. Who knows, maybe Lust would have a Cinnabon near his place, or at least within ordering distance.

The taxi driver said nothing about his appearance, simply asking him for the address of where he wanted to go as he hopped in. Giving him the address to Lust’s apartment, the skeleton sank back into the seats as they started to move. He was beyond late thanks to everything, leaving him simply praying that his soulmate wouldn’t freak out when he finally did get there.

One relatively calm taxi ride later and he was standing in front of the building, heading inside and into the elevator to reach the tenth floor where the apartment he wanted was. It only took him a minute to find the exact apartment, knocking on the door before patiently waiting.

The door opened to reveal his beautiful little flower, dressed in an oversized purple hoodie rimmed with blue fur and with a broken upside-down heart in the same shade of blue. Dark, baggy pants partially covered his bare feet, though nothing covered the look of shock and almost fear on his face. “H-Hello?”

“Hey Lust,” Horror greeted, pulling off his glasses only to see a noticeable wave of relief pass through the smaller. “I’m really sorry I’m late, it’s... well it’s a bit of a long and crazy story.”

“Horror... what in the world are you wearing?” The dancer asked, checking him out only to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

“That’s... part of the story. Um... can I come in?” He asked, Lust practically stumbling over himself to scoot out of the way and let him through the door. The moment he was in the room, the door was quickly shut before the lock was turned with an audible clack. Horror tried not to pay any attention to it as he slipped off his shoes and set his bag down, following his soulmate over to the couch where he was gestured to sit down.

“Alright, so what’s this crazy story? You said you’d be here over an hour ago.”

“I know, I’m really sorry.” He rubbed the back of his skull as he thought about how to explain everything, deciding to go with a similar story to what he’d told the manager at the store. Not like I can just blurt out ‘Oh these humans that I think were hunters were chasing me because I’m a daemon’. “When I got on the bus to get here, this entitled family sat down next to me. Their bratty child stole my hat, and when I tried to get it back, his mother tried to accuse me of assaulting her child.”

“Oh my god, that’s awful! I’ve never understood why some people will just throw around accusations like that.”

“Oh wait, it gets worse. I got off the bus at the next stop to get away from them and started walking towards the station where my actual transfer was, only to see that they’d gotten off at the next stop and were coming in my direction. I was convinced that they were following me, so I bolted down the nearest street and eventually found myself in a shopping mall where I jumped into the first store I could. It... was where I got these clothes, got them to disguise myself since it turned out that they really were following me and trying to find me. The manager there was cool dude though, plus he was a monster, so he sent them packing by threatening to call security and then helped me get out of there. Then I hopped in a taxi and... well, here I am.”

A look of utter shock and revulsion was on Lust’s face as he processed the story, his fingers fiddling with each other in his lap. “You really weren’t kidding about it being a crazy story... God, I’m so sorry that happened to you! Humans can be so horrible sometimes!”

“Yeah, no kidding,” he muttered, only to be surprised by a hug from his companion. It took him a moment to process the comforting gesture, but then he was quickly hugging back, sighing in relief that he’d finally made it to where he could keep the most important person in the world to him safe. As they pulled away, the taller felt the need to change the conversation, smiling as he gestured to Lust’s clothes. “Your outfit is definitely way better than mine by the way, it’s really nice.”

The compliment apparently caught him off guard, the smaller stuttering a bit as he blushed and asked, “R-Really? Y-You don’t think I’m too... overdressed?”

“No! Not at all! You look really cute in it, honestly.” Horror could feel his own cheeks growing warm as he continued to compliment Lust’s appearance, though that didn’t stop the warning bells going off in his head. Something wasn’t quite right with Lust, the way he was acting just wasn’t right. There wasn’t nearly the confidence he’d seen when the dancer had left him mesmerized on stage, the same thing he’d been noticing off and on for a while now, except it seemed to be worse and almost constant now. But it was clear that whatever it was, he really shouldn’t go asking about it right now. Maybe after he’d spent a bit of time with him he’d be able to ask, but for now he’d leave it be and simply observe to try and figure out what was setting off the warnings in his head.

For now, he figured that he’d try to make the smaller feel as comfortable as possible, since he really didn’t get the sense that Lust was as accepting of his impromptu visit as he said he was. “Are... you sure it’s okay for me to stay with you? If not, I can easily get a hotel room to stay in.”

“N-no! No, it’s okay, it really is! I’m just... n-not used to living with someone else. I’ve always had this apartment all to myself, so it’s just... a little weird to have a temporary roommate. B-But nothing I can’t adjust to, promise!” While that didn’t seem to be the complete truth, Horror wasn’t going to push it. If Lust said that he was fine with him staying here, then he’d take his soulmate’s word on it.

Nodding and smiling in response, the daemon turned his attention to his immediate surroundings, noticing a nearby phone in a bright purple case open to a series of messages. “Were you chatting with someone when I came in?” He asked, hoping that he hadn’t interrupted something important or kept the other from responding to a message.

“Hmm? Oh, oh no... not really,” Lust mumbled, picking up his phone with a sigh. There was such a look of deep regret on his face, making the taller want to reach out and comfort him in some way. “I was... trying to ask a friend of mine for help on something. Do... you remember my friend Dream? The one with yellow eyes and a crown?”

Dream, that was the name of Killer’s soulmate and Nightmare’s brother, the whole reason why he was suddenly staying with his own soulmate. “Yeah, I vaguely remember him.”

“Okay, well... I made him attempt suicide.” The words were so blunt that Horror had to blink a couple times, his eyes going wide as he silently asked for more information. “Before my dance recital, the one we met at, I blew up at him over him losing someone else’s ticket to the show. I was so cruel and harsh, and it only got worse when Dream had a mental breakdown and accidentally injured one of our other friends. I didn’t see what happened for what it really was, I was so blinded by anger at seeing my friend, Geno, hurt. Geno is weak in general and constantly in and out of the hospital, which is why I freaked out at him, but that’s not really an excuse for what I did. And when I found out Dream tried to kill himself after everything that happened that night, I...”

A hiccup escaped the purple skeleton as he started to cry, desperately wiping at the tears. “Hey, you don’t need to tell me anything more if it’s too painful,” the daemon tried to assure, only to be choked by the words he received in response.

“No... I deserve this pain. I put so much more on Dream, hell I pushed him to the brink! And what does he do the next time I see him? The one that apologized first was him! It should’ve been me apologizing, but I couldn’t even get a single word out before Dream... b-before he...” Lust trailed off, quietly sobbing and using his overly long sleeves to soak up the tears. Not wanting to upset him further, the snake remained silent and watched over him worriedly, reasoning that he likely needed to get this all off his chest. It took him a moment, but eventually the smaller pulled himself together enough to continue his depressing tale. “B-By the time I managed to apologize, he waved it off l-like it was nothing, like he d-didn’t blame me for what happened.”

“Well... maybe he really didn’t?”

“But he should!” Lust yelled, the fingers of one hand digging into the other in his frustration and guilt. “I don’t get why he can’t just be mad at me; it would be so much easier to deal with! But instead I’m busy texting Geno while he’s in the hospital, asking him what the hell I’m supposed to do!”

Now it was Horror’s turn to move in for a hug, though he immediately regretted it the moment Lust froze in his hold. “Sorry,” he mumbled, instantly backing off and hoping that he hadn’t upset him or done something seriously wrong. “But... I’m gonna give you my honest opinion despite me not really knowing the whole story. I think you need to forgive yourself Lust. I mean I don’t think that you were solely responsible for what your friend did, you just happened to say the things you did at a bad time. You’re allowed to make mistakes, and if your friend’s already forgiven you, then I think it’s okay to start forgiving yourself.”

The unconvinced look on the smaller’s face left him scratching at his bandaged skull a bit to com =e up with some way to convince his soulmate, finally managing to come up with something after a moment of silence. “Okay, how about this? Your friend survived their attempt, right?”

“Yeah... no thanks to me.”

While he didn’t like the negativity radiating from that single statement, the daemon continued by asking another question. “You guys know about his mental health problems now?”

“Mhm, he filled us all in on the depression he’s been secretly struggling with all this time... I just don’t know how I never saw it, he always looked so happy.”

“I heard someone say once that the ones that are always smiling are the ones you have to worry about, but that’s not something you should focus on. Is he getting the help he needs?”

“Well he is in therapy now, and we’re all trying to help him a bit more now that we know there’s a problem.”

“And are you going to snap at him again like you did that night?”

“No! God, of course not! There’s no way I’d hurt him like that again!”

While Lust looked almost offended by his question, the taller just smiled as he’d gotten the answers to make his point. “There you go! You’ve learned from your mistake, and you have no plan to ever repeat it. Plus, the other parts of the problem are being taken care of, which should keep your friend from doing anything drastic in the future. So, there’s no reason to worry if you’re keeping an eye on him and offering all the support you can, right?”

The dancer opened his mouth to respond, only to properly process what Horror had said and remain silent. “I... you...” His attempts to speak were replaced by a sigh, his attention quickly drawn to his hands as his companion gently tugged them apart so that he would stop hurting himself. “I guess... you may have a point...”

Ignoring the marks on his hand from his fingers digging in so harshly, the daemon merely smiled to encourage that way of thinking about the problem. It was clear that Lust didn’t completely believe that he should forgive himself just yet, but that would be something that they could work on together while he was staying here. Instead, they clearly needed a change of conversation to something way less stressful or emotional, so he looked around the small apartment he’d be staying in for the next while once again for inspiration. The décor had an almost whimsical feel to it, full of plants and flowers of various colors that mingled with abstract pieces of art and sculptures. While pinks, purples, and blues seemed to be the dominant colors, he could make out almost every color of the rainbow present in the small space. “Your place is... really colorful.”

“I guess that’s one way to described it,” the purple skeleton snorted, chuckling to himself as the tension from the previous topic of conversation melted away. “I went with kind of a fairy theme when I was decorating this place what felt like forever ago. Looked up some old history books on how ancient fairies decorated, and then I threw in some modern flair so that I wasn’t handmaking all my furniture out of tree branches or growing carpets of moss.”

“History books? Why would you look in one of those?” The taller blurted out without thinking, earning a look that he was very familiar with. “I’m being an idiot right now, aren’t I?”

“Well... I was thinking that you were joking personally, but now I realize you were serious... Horror, how much do you know about fairies?” The other skeleton was quiet, pointedly looking away as he absently scratched at his skull. “You... seriously know nothing about fairies?”

“Um... to be completely honest, everything I know about fairies is... from the show I saw you in. I didn’t even think they were real! Just a story told to kids or something!”

Lust sighed once again, though his gaze took on a melancholy appearance as he looked towards nothing in particular. “That performance covered a real moment in history, known as the Last Dance of the Fairies. Fairies were powerful monsters that used to live all over the surface in lands untouched by man’s ambition, but that quickly changed when the war between humans and monsters broke out centuries ago. The humans went after some of the more powerful monsters like fairies first, destroying their lands and their homes in an attempt to exterminate them. Eventually it came down to a final battle where the fairy king led his forces against the humans with everything they had, only to be cut down when on the cusp of victory by one of his own that had sided with the humans. The fairies retreated, their lands taken over and turned into an industrial city as a final insult to the fairies’ more natural lifestyle. Where the king fell, his sword and crown were made as a memorial of human victory, only for the crown to one day vanish. Some write it off as a vandal or thief making off with a valuable piece of history, others take it as a sign that the fairies are still secretly alive somewhere, but no one’s seen or heard of a real fairy ever since.”

The scarred skeleton had listened intently to the impromptu history lesson, surprised that something so cool to watch on the stage had actually happened. “Wow... never would’ve guessed that they were actually real at one point.”

“What I don’t get is how you don’t know this. I was taught the history of the Great War throughout the entirety of my education, like every teacher just couldn’t shut up about it and the many great battles where ‘humans ultimately triumphed over monsters.’”

Horror blinked a couple times before chuckling, realizing that he’d outed his lack of formal education. It wasn’t something that bothered him, but he wasn’t overly proud of it either. “Heh, never went to school so I guess I got to miss a bunch of old humans going on forever about old shit.”

“Wait, never? Like no school at all?”

“Nope, wasn’t an option for me at the time, so all I got are street smarts and survival skills, stuff I’ve had to pick up to survive the life I got stuck living. Gotta admit though, wouldn’t be the worst thing ever if I learned something cool like the fairy dance thing.”

There was a moment of silence before Lust perked up, an adorable smile on his face as he posed a suggestion. “What if I taught you some stuff? I’m far from an expert in a lot of things, but I know enough to teach the basics! And whatever I don’t know, the internet definitely does!”

When his soulmate was being this cute, there was no way that he could even consider refusing him, chuckling as he flashed him a big grin and a thumbs up. “Sure! If you wanna teach me, then I’d be even dumber than I already am to turn down such an amazing offer.”

“Horror, you’re not dumb,” he tried to assure, only to be cut off.

“I have zero formal education Lust, I think I’m technically about as dumb as they come.”

“Well, I guess it’s time to fix that with your first lesson! And it’ll be my specialty!” The purple skeleton jumped to his feet, heart-shaped eyes shimmering as he held out a hand to him. Come on! I’m gonna teach you how to dance!”

“I-I don’t know Lust, dancing’s not really my thiiiiii-!” Before Horror could get his words out, the smaller had reached out and grabbed his hand, yanking him to his feet and dragging him into the middle of the floor. “Lust, I’ve never danced before! I-I’m gonna step on you or something!”

“Oh sweetie, while it’s cute that you’re worried, this won’t be the first or last time that someone steps on my feet,” the dancer giggled, taking hold of one of his hands while guiding the other over to hold Lust’s waist. “We’ll start off with something simple, a box step. It’s the basis of a ballroom waltz, and it’s really not hard to learn. Here, just follow my movements.”

The taller immediately looked down, seeing Lust’s foot step forward and causing him to retreat the foot in front of it. They kept at this for a while, circling around the large open space in the center of the apartment with Horror trying his best to mirror the dancer’s graceful movements as he slowly got the hang of it. And throughout the whole thing, his gaze never left the ground.

“It wouldn’t kill you to occasionally look up,” the smaller chided, the hand resting on the snake’s shoulder shifting over to forcefully tilt his chin upwards. “There, that’s- are you blushing?”

“N-No!” The scarred skeleton blurted out despite the obvious heat in his face. “Okay... maybe a little... I’m just not used to being close to someone as hot as you.” While it was one of the reasons he was getting so flustered, he never thought how his words would interact with his soulmate’s currently more timid demeanor.

Now the smaller was blushing just as the daemon was, a bright purple flooding his cheeks as his mouth fell open in surprise and their movements temporarily stopped. “You... really think that?”

“Well, how could I not? You’re absolutely gorgeous Lust,” he assured, finding himself growing bold enough to take his impromptu lesson and steal the lead from his more experienced partner. While it caught the purple skeleton off guard for a moment, there was barely any hesitance before his feet were back gliding across the floor with little effort, the taller now steering them so that they wouldn’t crash into anything. “Honestly, I don’t know what’s prettier; your looks, your personality, or the way you move. All three of them are so stunning that they leave me wondering what I did right in order to meet someone like you.”

A snort of laughter escaped Lust as he shook his head, his blush never fading though his smile returned. “That was so freaking corny! But... I could tell you really meant it. You’re not like the other guys I’ve tried dating, they just threw empty flattery at me in the hopes of getting in my pants. While they were nice to hear, I always knew that the words were hollow and meant nothing. I don’t get that feeling from you at all though, and it’s... both unnerving and exhilarating. I don’t know what to expect from you or what you really want from me.”

Horror grinned, seeing an opportunity to maybe follow what many of his brothers had been doing with their own soulmates lately. “How about you let me take you on a date and then you can see what I want for yourself?”

A look of surprise crossed the smaller’s face before a mischievous grin appeared, the dancer’s position and movements suddenly changing in a way that the daemon didn’t know how to follow or react to. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself being spun around before being dipped backwards, Lust looming over him with that same grin. “You want to take me on a date? Alright big guy, can’t deny that I’m curious how a date with a country boy like you will go. S-So long as sex is off the t-table, then yes, I-I’ll go on a date with you.” While his confidence wavered towards the end of his answer, it was still more than enough for the scarred skeleton to send him a toothy grin in response, a sense of euphoria filling him as he could now officially take Lust out as his date.

“Got it, no sexy stuff. You can set whatever boundaries or rules you want and I promise that I’ll respect them.”

“My date respecting my opinion and wishes? You just love being different from all the rest, don’t you?” With that, Horror was pulled back up to stand straight, the lithe skeleton pulling away as much of his confidence seemed to fade. “D-Did you like your little dance lesson? You were a pretty q-quick learner, a-and I wouldn’t mind teaching you some more moves if you want.”

Despite his initial reservations, it was obvious to him that Lust was happiest when dancing, more like the confident god he’d seen controlling the stage that night. Plus, it was kind of fun now that he’d gotten over his initial fear of hurting his soulmate, so he saw no reason for them not to continue. “Sure, if you don’t mind teaching me, then I don’t mind learning some more!”

“Well... there is one catch to us continuing.” When the snake cocked his head to the side in confusion, his soulmate merely gestured to his body. “You need to do something about that hideous abomination you’re wearing. You don’t need that stupid disguise anymore, so ditch it and put on that plaid you manage to rock instead.”

“oh yeah, kind of forgot I was wearing this garbage,” he mumbled with a chuckle, plucking at the tacky top before heading over to his bag where his clothes were stashed. After getting the bathroom pointed out to him, Horror promised that he’d be back as soon as he changed into his usual clothes, not complaining about the request in the slightest considering that he preferred his own clothes anyways.

It wasn’t hard to find them since he’d shoved his shirt and jacket into the top of the bag, closing the door before ripping the shirt he was wearing off and the many accessories that he’d been convinced to buy in order to sell the disguise. Once they were gone, Horror pulled out his plaid shirt and slipped it on, ensuring that his many scars were covered and that his head was still well bandaged before putting the hat back on. Hopefully Lust wouldn’t mind that addition despite the color, but he wasn’t quite ready to explain his skull to the dancer. It was only a matter of time considering that he’d be staying here for an indefinite amount of time, but today wasn’t the right day for it with everything else that happened.

All that was left was for him to slip on his jacket to hide the rest of his scarred and damaged bones, though when he went to grab it, something metal and bulky is what he grabbed instead of denim. Growing curious and worried, the daemon pulled whatever it was off his precious jacket, only to pale at the sight of the little device with a blinking red light in the center.

His mind went completely blank at the sight of it, the jacket falling from his grip as he numbly fished his phone out his pocket and dialed the last number he’d called. Error’s familiarly glitchy voice came through, this time more annoyed than last time. “Geez, you just won’t leave me alone today! Ink and I were just about to make out, thanks for interrupting that, you jackass!” The snake didn’t say anything in response for a moment, his heavy breathing being the only thing the phone picked up despite the tremor starting to work its way through his hands. ”Horror, are you there? I swear to god, if you butt-dialed me without even having an ass-”

“Error,” was all he said at first to interrupt him, an uncharacteristic note of fear tinging his voice as his grip tightened on the device in his palm. “I think I know now how those humans were able to follow me so easily. I think... I think those hunters tracked me.”