Daemons

Mild to Severe Violence Warning

“This is so weird, right? Like, this isn’t normal.” Dust whispered over to Killer as the two of them quietly watched Error on the phone. The glitchy skeleton looked... happy. Error never looked happy, he was always grumpy and miserable. Yet ever since he found his soulmate a week ago, the guy wasn’t miserable in the slightest. He wouldn’t stop staring at his phone, always laughing or smiling at whatever messages he received. Could a soulmate really change someone that much?

“Dude, I one hundred percent agree with you right now. Though, we’ll get yelled at less with him not paying attention?” The pair were currently hiding behind one of the large and luxurious sofas in the living room, seeing Error wandering about a room over.

Dust still couldn’t believe the size of this place. This house, or the better term was mansion, was a massive three-story complex on the outskirts of town. Despite Nightmare’s brother technically owning the place, he didn’t live there, saying it was too big and had too many bad memories. So, the seven of them had the place all to themselves, meaning they could safely be in their daemon forms if they wanted.

“Just what are you two doing?” A cold presence could be felt behind the pair mere seconds before two tentacles wrapped around their ankles. The two skeletons were hoisted into the air with a loud screech, turning around to face an unimpressed Nightmare. Out of all of them, he’d been the one to most take advantage of the privacy this place provided them. Their leader hadn’t left his daemon form since they’d arrived here, and they doubted that would change anytime soon.

Killer was currently fumbling for an excuse. “W-well, we were... uh... um... we were...”

“Inspecting the sofas!” Dust blurted out, barely thinking his response through. Killer smacked his hand against his forehead.

Nightmare just gave him a look. “Inspecting the sofas? You sure that’s the answer you want to go with?”

It was clear that he knew what they’d been doing, but Dust knew that backing down now and admitting the truth was a trap. It would only end up getting them in more trouble for lying. “Yup!”

Error had finished his phone call and came in to see Nightmare holding the two skeletons in the air upside down by their ankles. “Do I even want to know?”

Nightmare shot him a sly look. “Oh, it seems these two were ‘inspecting the sofas’.” He made air quotes around that last part.

The two older skeletons shared a devious look before Error poked at Dust. “Oh you were, were you? What were you inspecting them for, hmm?”

“Um... well, you see...” He glanced over at Killer, but his friend would be of no help to get out of this one. “W-well, it’s an old house right? And no one’s lived here in a long time, so... gotta make sure things won’t fall apart on us, right?”

“Ah, I see. So you won’t mind checking all the furniture in the house while I’m on my date, right?”

“Wait, what-”

Reaper’s sudden appearance cut the young upside down skeleton off. “Oho, so you finally managed to get a date?” He was lazily gliding through the air, his wings flapping just enough to keep him aloft.

All four of them were startled by the lazy skeleton’s unexpected presence. “Geez, I just found my soulmate, don’t kill me off with a soul attack!” Error recovered from Reaper’s jump scare, his anger being replaced with a hint of embarrassment. “And yeah I got a date, though I had a bit of help. I’ll have to leave pretty soon to be there on time.”

The raven daemon swooped down to clap a hand on Error’s back, completely ignoring the other’s dislike of physical contact. “Then what are you waiting for, Romeo? Get going! We’ll take care of these two.” As he finished that last sentence, his eerie gaze shifted to the two young skeletons still being held in the air, causing both to flinch.

The spider daemon wandered off, continuing to grumble about Reaper as he left to go spend time with his soulmate. Nightmare unceremoniously dropped the two, Killer falling on his face while Dust managed to catch himself. “Alright you two, best get to work if you’re gonna finish ‘inspecting’ everything before Error comes back.” Nightmare turned to walk away, leaving the two dumbfounded and scrambling for a way out, or at least some help.

“W-wait, you want the two of us to inspect the entire house by ourselves?” Killer screeched, earning another of their leader’s infamous glares.

While the frog daemon shrunk back, his partner felt bold enough to continue on in his place. “Y-yeah, maybe Horror or Fell could help out?”

Reaper’s voice behind them simply chuckled. “Afraid not, those two are out looking for their soulmates while gathering supplies and intel.” As the two proceeded to look up at the taller with puppy dog eyes, he only laughed again. “Don’t think so boys. I’ve got my own soulmate to hunt down. They might’ve escaped through a cruel twist of fate last time, but this time I will not be thwarted by a common piece of machinery.” With that declaration he practically vanished, leaving the two of them and Nightmare alone.

Before they could even attempt to beg, the goopy skeleton growled, “Don’t even think about it,” before turning the corner and leaving the two alone.

So now the two of them were stuck inspecting the furniture of this three-story mansion that no one’s live in in years.

“Inspecting the sofas,” Killer mocked. “Yeah, that’s totally a great idea.”

“Well, I didn’t see you coming up with anything,” the monkey snapped back. “What was I supposed to say? ‘Oh nothing, we’re just creeping on Error because he’s been acting super weird ever since he found his soulmate.’ How do you think that would’ve gone over?”

“We probably would’ve gotten yelled at again instead of inventing some stupid chore!”

The two skeletons didn’t even really know what they were doing. Both were staring at the furniture, poking and prodding to see if anything fell off.

“This is so dumb,” Dust complained. “Can’t we just say that we did it? It’s not like anyone’s here to know the difference.”

His friend chuckled humorlessly. “Honestly, with our luck? Either there’s something in this house that’ll fall apart if looked at funny, or Reaper’s actually still here and has been secretly watching us this whole time. Both end up with us getting yelled at again, and possibly something worse happening.”

“What could be worse than getting yelled at by Error and Nightmare?”

The frog daemon paused his inspection of the dining chair in front of him and pondered that thought for a minute. “Well, they could keep us here so we can’t find our soulmates.”

Both of them froze at Killer’s words. “T-they c-can’t do that, r-right? They c-couldn’t be t-that cruel!”

Killer shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’m not going to give them an excuse to even think about playing that card. We should get back to work if we’re gonna finish by the time they get back.”

While Killer busied himself with his inspections, Dust remained frozen, contemplating the possibility of being denied even a chance to find his soulmate. He looked about the large house, thinking of being confined here while the others were free. Sure the house was nice, and everything they could ever need was there, but still...

“A gilded cage is still a cage,” he murmured under his breath. His gaze drifted up as the quiet words left his mouth. Not looking for anything in particular, the monkey couldn’t help but notice how the door to the second floor balcony had been left slightly open. He knew from experience that it was relatively easy for him to get to the roof from there, and couldn’t stop his mind from mapping out all the possible routes he could take to reach that door from his current position. Rebellious thought filled his mind, twisting the frown he’d had into a devious smirk. Instead of letting others tell him what to do, he’d take fate into his own hands for once.

“What was that?” The other skeleton looked up when he heard his partner mutter something to find Dust’s face filled with a twisted glee, immediately recognizing the look. “Dust,” he called out, voice stern and full of warning. The other’s gaze met Killer’s, never dropping the smile he wore. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but don’t do it. You know you’ll just get in some serious trouble.”

“Oh come Kills, you telling me you’d seriously rather spend the entire day staring at furniture instead of being outside? Fresh air, sunlight, a light breeze... Those have to sound more appealing than... this.” He made a vague gesture to the chairs currently in front of them.

“If it saves me a lecture, then yeah, I guess I’d rather be here.”

Dust pouted a bit at his best friend’s lack of cooperation, before shrugging it off. He felt himself shifting, his tail slowly poking its way out from underneath his pants. His mind already set, Dust made one last attempt to convince Killer.

“You know you can’t stop me, right? You’ve known me long enough to know that you can throw all the logic you want at me, but it won’t really work. So why not just come with me? At least that way you could keep me out of trouble. What do you say?”

The monkey stood there with his arm outstretched, tail impatiently flicking about. He studied his friend’s reaction, seeing a conflicted mixture of doubt, regret, stubbornness, and frustration on his face. Eventually, Killer shook his head. Dust pulled his hand back, shrugging at his friend’s choice. “Suit yourself.”

Just as he went to turn around and leave, the hairs along the back of his neck felt something. Recognizing the signals, Dust yanked himself to the side as a large ball of black slime raced past his face before sticking to the nearby wall. He whipped his head to find Killer in his daemon form as well, another sticky slime ball already forming. Killer’s eyes were full of frustration and anger as he continued to grow the ball in his hand. “So what? You’ll just leave me here to do all the work while you go running off to who knows where? Don’t you realize we’ll both get in trouble that way? I am not gonna let you get away this time.”

Dust risked a quick glance back to the ball that was still stuck to its point of impact. Ignoring Killer’s logic, he replied, “And I am not cleaning that up.”

His words were like a trigger, causing Killer to fling the ball he currently had at him, instantly replacing in with another as he yelled out in frustration with Dust’s antics. Dust made use of the fine hairs along his body to help predict where the slime would strike next, combining that with his speed and agility to nimbly dodge all of them. Every ball stuck to whatever it hit instead of the flying monkey, making it clear that Killer was using his sticky mucous in hopes of stopping and trapping him.

The room quickly devolved into utter chaos, almost any available surface coated in black slime. Lucky for Dust, a chaotic environment was what he worked best in. His eyes darted about, looking for places to land and jump off of, trusting his senses to keep himself from getting hit. The multiple pathways to the second floor balcony that he’d scoped out earlier were practically outlined in his mind, constantly shifting and adjusting to account for Killer’s attacks. Slowly, his brain whittled away at the various paths until only a single one remained. Grinning, Dust made his move.

The monkey ducked down behind the sofa that started all of this, hearing the dark gooey ball collide into the top of the sofa with a loud splat. Bits of the slime dripped down onto the floor, Dust being careful to avoid getting any on him. Whether it was in his hair or on his bones, about the only one who could properly get it off was Killer himself.

“Dusty, come on out~” his friend called out in a sing-song voice, definitely prepared to strike the second Dust made himself visible.

“And let you turn me into a piece of modern art? No thank you.” As he spoke, he used his voice to cover up any sounds made as he slipped his shoes off, relishing the feeling of freedom as his hand-like toes were freed from their restraints.

He put one sneaker on his right hand and pushed the other to the edge of the sofa, as close as he could manage without Killer seeing it. Turning his back on the shoe, he placed his tail at the heel of it before preparing to jump. Dust waited a few seconds, mentally checking everything to ensure his plan would work, before using his tail to push the toes of the shoe out far enough that his friend could see.

“Aha!” The second he shouted, Dust launched up. The ball of slime collided with the shoe, blasting it back a bit before trapping it in a gooey mess. “Shit, you used the freaking decoy shoe trick?!” Dust could only laugh as he felt his free hand wrap around the post the ceiling fan extruded from. The monkey safely knew from experience that this particular fan was more than capable of holding his weight, as earlier this week he’d wrapped his legs around it and turned it on in an attempt to alleviate his boredom. Needless to say, he got yelled at, but not before making several jokes about dust on ceiling fans.

Knowing his friend well, Dust placed his remaining sneaker in the direct path of the slime ball coming straight at him. The improvised shield served its purpose, allowing the monkey to discard it and chuck it at Killer’s face. As Killer pulled the shoe covered in his own sticky slime off his face, Dust launched over to the railing for the stairs leading to the second floor. A few more jumps, and he was right in front of his ticket out. One last ball of dark goo splashed against the wall right beside him, Dust quickly ducking his head out of the line of fire. “Sorry Kills, better luck next time! Oh, and have fun on your date with the furniture!”

Dust bolted out the open door, flinging himself onto the roof as Killer’s angry shouts faded from the distance. From there, he jumped from tree to tree until he was properly within the city. Dust then switched forms and began running along the rooftops, enjoying the fresh air and the light autumn breeze that greeted him. He didn’t even know where he was going, simply allowing his feet to take him somewhere. With practiced movements he glided along the rooftops of neighboring buildings, moving too fast for anyone to see, let alone try to stop.

When fatigue was finally starting to be felt in his legs, the young skeleton stopped to survey his surroundings. He’d long since abandoned the area of the city he’d started in, now in a bustling commercial district. Cars and trucks raced by on the streets below, the distance turning the pedestrians he could see into tiny insects. He giggled childishly as he pretended to squash a few between his fingertips.

The breeze whipped up, blowing a handful of colorful leaves straight into the skeleton’s face and bringing a chilly nip to the air. It was moments like this that Dust was glad he’d kept the old blue hoodie he’d had when they all first arrived. Blue was his favorite color, so he’d decided that Horror and Killer could go steal all the new clothes they wanted. His hoodie had also been in the best condition, and was still warm enough that he could easily get away with wearing it for a few more months. He had however opted for a new cream colored sweater and some long dark grey track pants. Far warmer than the ragged old clothes he’d had before. Dust had also snagged some sneakers, but those were now trapped in Killer’s goo, and after the stunt he just pulled he doubted he’d easily get them back.

As the small traces of tiredness began to fade, Dust began to wander aimlessly along the roof. Maybe he could spot one of the guys? Or find something of use that could spare him whatever punishment was waiting for him back home. Home. It was so weird that in such a short time span, Dust and the others had taken to calling that house home. Maybe it was because they knew they’d be staying here for who knows how long, especially with Error already finding his soulmate. They all felt like they had a chance to safely get attached to this place.

Once again he had no idea where his feet were taking him, but this time he felt they were taking him somewhere. Dust couldn’t explain it, this feeling deep in his soul, which grew marginally stronger with each step forward he took. Before he realized it, he was running. Running in some unknown direction, following this sensation he’d never once experienced but wholly trusted to guide him. His soul was hammering in his chest like a drum, every beat driving him forward until finally he found himself perched on some random building in a more unsavory part of town.

The stench of alcohol and cigarettes drifted up from the nearby alley, a choking scent that only served to bring bad memories along with them. Scrunching his nose in disgust, Dust instead scanned the litter filled ground below him to distract himself, not allowing himself to remember. Broken beer bottles and some old used needles could be seen amongst the scattered old food wrappings and other miscellaneous junk. Clearly not somewhere he’d want to linger for long.

This point was only further proved by the presence of a small group of what looked to be gang members, four of them, each armed in various ways. All four were human men, looking to be human elitists if the symbols hastily scrawled on their clothing were any indication. They were the kind of humans that believed monsters had no place among them, that all of monsterkind should either be slaughtered or sealed away. Dust picked out a set of brass knuckles, baseball bat, a crowbar, but what really scared him was the sloppily concealed gun he saw. Man or monster, guns were an effective means of killing.

The group seemed to have a small monster pinned against the wall, the four humans sneering down at him. He couldn’t understand why, but there was something drawing the daemon to this monster. He unconsciously shifted his position on the roof above to be closer, to get a better look. Now he could see they were a skeleton monster, just like him, though with a bright blue scarf tied around their neck and no hoodie.

Everything clicked for him when he met the terrified blue eyes of the monster below. Dust’s soul began to hammer in his chest, feeling as if it were doing literal flips as he felt a splash of purple cover his cheekbones. He just couldn’t look away from those teary eyes. Those sad, scared eyes, they seemed unnatural on the small skeleton’s adorable face. The daemon wanted nothing more than to swoop down and wipe those tears away, see that beautiful face with a bright smile, hear him laugh.

Those humans... they were the reason for their suffering. That skeleton was terrified because them. Rage burned deep within him, finally forcing his soul to stop practicing gymnastics. This anger, this hatred towards humans, was clearly something that he would never forget, no matter how hard he tried. Too many years of ridicule and abuse at their hands had forever scarred the young skeleton’s soul, making it something impossible to abandon, no matter how hard he tried. The anger continued to fester and boil beneath the surface, begging for release.

One of the humans said something, dragging those bright starry eyes that were silently pleading for help away. The second the skeleton looked back at them, the human that spoke immediately threw his fist right at the monster’s cheek. With that single action, Dust’s vision went red. He wanted nothing more at that moment than to rip those humans apart, slowly and painfully. At that moment, a single memory popped into Dust’s mind, of an old nickname he’d earned for his more violent tendencies. Murder.

He felt himself falling and changing at the same time, allowing his more flexible and resilient daemon form to absorb the force of the impact. Considering he fell from the top of a six story building it was no surprise when the surrounding pavement cracked underneath him. It certainly served to startle the four men. Not wanting to risk something going wrong, Dust reverted to his monster form shortly after landing.

“Aw, what’s the matter?” His voice sounded almost foreign to himself, stripped of its usual playfulness and filled with a dangerous sweetness. An insane giggle tore through his throat as he stood up to face the four humans. “You almost seem afraid, like someone dragged the skeletons out of your closet.”

“What the fuck?” The one with a baseball bat spoke up. “Where the fuck did you come from? Who the fuck are you?!”

He giggled again at the aggression in their voice. “Oh, you really shouldn’t worry about such unimportant things. What you should worry about, is what I’m going to do to you for hurting that little monster behind you. If you’re smart, you’ll let him go and I might let you off with a few bruises.”

The four looked at each other, clearly uncertain about the situation. Suddenly one of them burst into loud laughter, the other three nervously joining in. Judging from their reactions, Dust pinned him as the leader. He also remembered from his earlier observations that he was the one possessing a gun. “Well, would you look at that, looks like this fucker’s actually got some balls on him! Boys, show em what we do to his kind when they make the mistake of entering our territory!”

The nervousness of the other three were replaced with bravado at their leader’s words, each brandishing their various weapons and stepping forward with dark and twisted grins. The one closest had the brass knuckles, clearly making a show of the simple weapon. Dust merely smirked in response. He didn’t even move, he simply waited for the others for come to him.

The guy with the brass knuckles decided to strike first. Compared to the others, he was physically the biggest there, with lots of muscle to back up his simplistic weapon. He swung his fist in a wide arc, but the movement was so obvious that Dust simply leaned back. The fist sped through the air where his head had been. “Oh wow, so close there buddy! Wanna try again?”

His taunt served to frustrate his attacker more. He threw another couple punches, and yet again Dust dodged by moving his head off to the side, allowing the attack to harmlessly bypass him. He could’ve continued to dodge the ridiculously slow attacks, but the skeleton was starting to grow bored. Instead of dodging, he opted to catch the next one, and was thoroughly surprised by the lack of force behind it. Both Horror and Killer were way stronger whenever they managed to hit him. Honestly, Dust was overall the weakest in a fight out of all of them, relying solely on his speed to have a fighting chance. Weren’t humans supposed to be stronger than monsters? Or were these humans just pathetic?

The three humans in front of him bore expressions of shock and fear, the one caught in his grip trying desperately to escape. “Heh, is this really all you got?” His voice dropped to a low growl, eyes burning with raw violet magic. Dust licked his lips as he said, “My turn~”

Taking the hand in his grasp, Dust placed his other hand right on top of the man’s elbow joint. Pushing with that hand and pulling with the one holding the fist, Dust quickly applied force until a sickening snap echoed throughout the alley, followed shortly by the man’s screams. “Aw did I break my new toy already?” Dust teased the man as he played with the broken arm still in his grasp, eliciting more cries of agony from him. “Man, I guess I need to find a new toy that isn’t so...” He trailed off before driving his foot into the man’s knee, practically feeling the shattering of bone beneath as the knee was hyperextended and bent backwards. Letting go of his victim, Dust watched with a manic grin as the man was rendered unable to stand because of his broken leg, collapsing onto his side as he howled in pain and cradled his broken arm to his chest. “Broken~” he finished as he stepped over the man, a spark of insanity dancing in his eyes as he made sure to step on the broken leg and bring out more fevered screams for help. Sure, he wanted to kill that man, but he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon, and his screams would help to demoralize his companions.

The looks of absolute fear on their faces proved to the skeleton that his plan was successful. The next one to come after him was the one with the baseball bat. He might’ve been dangerous if he’d gone first, when the three had all been full of a false sense of courage. Now though, after what happened to his buddy, the shorter man was clearly hesitant to attack. This hesitation proved to be his undoing.

The man’s swing was slow and clumsy, the path predictable from the first second. Dust stooped down, ducking underneath the bat’s path. As the bat swung harmlessly overhead the man was left unbalanced from his attack, clearly never really using the thing against someone who could fight back. Dust curled his boney fingers around the thick piece of wood, right above where the other was currently holding on. The skeleton was practically laughing as he grabbed hold of the man’s head with his other hand. “Too slow~” he purred into the man’s ear. Surprised, the man didn’t even have time to react before Dust slammed his skull as hard as he could into the nearby brick wall. Bones crunched and a splatter of blood was left at the point of impact. The man’s body instantly went limp, surrendering the weapon he once held to Dust as he collapsed to the ground. “Think I’ll borrow your little toy though, seeing as how you won’t be needing it~” If he wasn’t dead from the impact alone, the blood loss and brain damage would surely kill him.

All that left was the man with the crowbar to deal with, though man might’ve been a stretch. He honestly looked like some kid that had just gotten mixed up in the wrong crowd, but Dust didn’t care. It would’ve been bad enough if he’d simply stood by and watched, but this human had cheered his buddies on, had made a few swings himself. This kid had known exactly what he was doing to the poor little monster they’d captured, so kid or not he would face the same fate.

As his gaze fell on the kid, they visibly flinched. The kid’s entire body was shaking horribly as he saw the murderous intentions of the skeleton before him. Sticking the bat out in front of him, Dust spoke in a sing-song voice, “You’re next~”

Dust watched as the front of the kid’s pants grew darker, a large wet spot radiating out from their crotch. The crowbar practically vibrated out of his tremoring hands, clattering to the ground as the kid went to run. The kid made it about three steps as his legs turned to jelly, going limp underneath him from the fear. The skeleton took a leisurely pace as he approached, stopping only long enough to finally silence the screaming from man he’d left broken earlier.

The daemon towered over the kid’s terrified form, his bat dripping with fresh blood and bits of flesh. A pair of fear filled eyes stared back at him tears streaming down his face, mumbled pleas for mercy escaping his trembling lips. The crazed grin painted across the skeleton’s face finally fell from the cowardly display in front of him.

Mercy... he wanted mercy... after what he’d done, he thought his actions were forgivable? “The only mercy you’ll get from me kid is a quick death.” Before they even had a chance to beg some more or defend themselves, Dust drove the bat straight down, crushing their skull and rendering them instantly lifeless.

“And then there was one.” Dust drew his gaze up from the corpse below only to see that the leader of the group of thugs had drawn his gun and placed it against the temple of the small skeleton he now held in his arms. A look of pure fear and disgust could be seen, the man’s body shaking as Dust began to walk towards him. There were no emotions to be seen on the skeleton. He was simply, cold, empty, void of any mercy or compassion.

“S-stay back, I’m w-w-warning y-you. I-I’ll do it, I’ll p-pull the fu-fucking trigger!” The man could barely speak properly from the amount his teeth were rattling. “I w-will kill him!”

Dust stopped, meeting the terrified gaze of the blue skeleton before him. It was the same look that made him jump into this mess in the first place, his soul crying out to him to do something to comfort them. He cracked a small smile, his eyes softening a bit as Dust tried his best to show him everything was going to be alright. As his gaze drifted upward to his captor, any trace of softness or emotion vanished. “You kill him, and it’ll be a race as to whose body hits the ground first.”

That served to have the gun pointed at him instead, which is exactly what he wanted. Without showing fear, Dust continued to walk closer, his grip tightening on the wooden bat in his hand. The man called another warning, finger vibrating on the trigger. Another step forward, body aching from the tension of holding back.

Bang!

Pain radiated from Dust’s cheekbone where the bullet whizzed by, but it was quickly blocked out by the adrenaline racing through his bones. The second the sound of the gun firing echoed throughout the narrow alley, the skeleton surged forward. He raised the bat, aiming for the hand currently holding the gun. Before the man could even process that he missed and try again, Dust cracked the bat along his fingers, ripping a scream from the man as the gun clattered to the ground. The skeleton in his grip was pushed to the ground as he held his broken hand, screaming profanities.

Dust wasn’t expecting what came next. He’d anticipated the guy to be a bigger coward than the kid, running the second he was disarmed. Instead, the man rushed forward, his face showing equal parts fury and desperation as he brandished a concealed knife. Genuinely surprised, Dust abandoned the bat to bring both of his arms up to defend himself. The blade sliced through the fabric of his sleeves, nicking the bone beneath.

As Dust jumped back, his attacker gave chase, slashing the knife in an unpredictable fashion and pushing the skeleton onto the defensive. “You fucking monster! You and your kind shouldn’t even exist! We humans are the superior race!” He continued to shout elitist garbage as he pursued his target, catching Dust’s arms a couple more times. So much for his jacket being in good condition.

“You monsters are lucky we even allow your pitiful existence. We are stronger, we are determined!” Dust jumped back once more only for his back to collide with the wall. Panic raced through his soul as he realized he was trapped, his assailant right in front of him with the knife raised. The man grinned in victory, deciding to rub his success in the monster’s face. “We are-”

His speech was cut off partway through as the familiar ring of the baseball bat connecting could be heard. Confused, Dust stood there with his back pressed against the wall as the human’s eyes rolled back in his head, their body slumping to the ground. A voice that was somehow sweet yet ice cold said, “You talk too much.” Ripping his attention away from the unfortunately still breathing human, Dust found the source of the voice to be none other than the small blue skeleton. They held the bat with both hands, holding it in such a way that they could strike again if need be. Anger and fear were mixed in their bright blue eyes.

When the gaze of the two skeletons met, the smaller one’s entire body displayed relief, nearly collapsing if not for the other rushing forward to catch them. The two enjoyed the relative peace of the quiet alley, checking each other for injuries. Neither were seriously hurt, though Dust knew that the shallow cuts on his cheek and arms would cause everyone to throw a fit when he got back.

“Why did you save me?” Any trace of the previous venom in his voice was gone, leaving a sound as sweet and pure as an angel.

Dust looked down to the small skeleton wrapped in his protective embrace. He honestly didn’t know the answer to that question himself. It was so out of character for him to risk his life for anyone but his brothers, but something about this beautiful little creature just made him desire to protect them. “Dunno, though I’m glad I did... um...”

“Oh, where are my manners? My name’s Blue!” A bit of sparkle returned to his eyes and voice.

“Really? That’s an awesome name! Blue’s my favorite color! Oh, and my name’s Dust!” Dust too felt himself returning to his more typical personality, completely forgetting about the unconscious man and three dead bodies nearby. He felt himself truly smile as Blue began giggling, joining in shortly after.

A thought pinged in the back of his mind, reminding the taller skeleton where he was. “Say, why don’t we go somewhere a little... safer?” The shorter skeleton nodded, climbing out of the taller’s lap so that they could both stand up.

“Where should we go?”

“Hmm, I don’t know about you, but after all that I could go for some sweets. Wanna go raid some bakery or something?”

“Really?!” Dust was a bit startled by the sudden excitement at the idea, feeling his soul begin to beat furiously at the adorable excited expression the blue skeleton had. Realizing he surprised the other, Blue quickly went to apologize. “Sorry, it’s just that my friends don’t let me have anything too sugary. They say it makes me super hyper, even though I love the stuff.”

The dejected expression he bore pulled at Dust’s soul, making him hug the smaller close before he even realized what he was doing. Blue squeaked a bit at the gesture but quickly relaxed and hugged back. This warmth, this happiness he felt was something Dust had never before experienced. As he wondered how he ended up here, his mind replayed the day’s events backwards. He couldn’t help but stop his own memories as he recalled how he and Killer had contemplated the bizarre changes in Error’s behavior, all because of his soulmate. Did this mean that the little guy that was currently clinging to him was his soulmate? Was that why he’d acted so different?

Shaking the questions from his head, he decided it didn’t really matter right now. He could always ask Reaper later or something, but for now he was quite happy to remain by Blue’s side. He pulled back from the hug, flashing an enormous grin as he tried to clear away the smaller’s worries about sugar. “Don’t worry about the sugar rush, if you enjoy it you should have it! Besides, I’m sure I’ll be able to keep up with you afterwards. We’ll be like sugar rush buddies!”

Blue seemed convinced, quickly grabbing hold of Dust’s hand as the taller led the two out of the unsavory part of town. He tried his best, but no matter what the taller skeleton did he couldn’t suppress the violet blush covering his cheeks at the simple gesture.

“Oh, and Blue?” The smaller hummed in response. “Promise me that you’ll never go into this part of town again, okay?”

The smaller hesitantly agreed, but Dust didn’t push any further as to the reason behind his hesitation. There would be plenty of time to talk later. All that really mattered right now was that the two were safe. Even though there were cuts and bruises to remind them of the event, they would heal and fade with time.

That’s if Nightmare didn’t kill him for this when he got home.