Chapter Text
The wisp of a nightmare floating away, Cross’s eyes opened with a gasp. He blinked a few times, trying to wake up properly and get his eyes adjusted to the room. Not that it mattered much because his room was pretty much pitch black, mostly because of the eternal darkness outside and the heavy curtains that shielded him from what little light managed to slip through the god’s shield around the realm.
Nevertheless he sat up, eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.It didn’t occur much that slept deep enough to have nightmares but it still happened. Rubbing his face with one hand he sighed. ‘It’s a good snack for our king at least.’
Cross had dreamt of them again. Of his family, his old friends. The ones he served before the king. His dream had started out good, he had been having fun with his former family. It brought so much nostalgia that it made him tear up a little in his sleep.
But it didn't last. Of course it didn’t. All because of his X-Gaster’s meddling. It didn’t feel right to call him ‘father’ anymore, he never deserved that title. It wasn’t in that man’s capability to care for anodyne other than himself, a fact he never hid. Sadly, Cross and his loved ones had paid the price for his ‘curiosities’.
Cross let out one more sigh before stretching. He couldn't dwell on what happened.The grief could not pull him under. He had a job to do. He was a little thankful that he had such a deep sleep in the first place. Being a former and current royal guard, he was used to protecting and thus always being alert.
He didn't sleep most nights, so this was a surprise. He shrugged it off, slowly stumbling out of bed and yanking the dark curtains open. It didn’t do much but the room cleared up a little, just enough for him to spot himself in the mirror.
He looked tired . Not exhausted, just tired. He did have light bags under his eyes but it was easy to conceal those with some make-up and magic. His snow-white hair was dishevelled, probably because of how he writhed during his night terrors.
He took a comb, fixing his hair quickly. ‘I’m fine, I'm awake, everything’s okay.’ He sighed, rubbing his face slightly. He couldn't keep moping around all day, he had a job to do. Time to get on with his day. His eyes darted to his uniform.
Being part of Nightmare’s moon guard, he got a special outfit. Most of the clothing was black with grey accents so the person who was wearing them could blend into the shadows. A black turtleneck, grey pants, black boots, a black cape with dark grey fluff around the hood. Along with that he had a brown belt with sheaths for his weapons and a place for Nightmare’s sigil. He called it the moon sigil.
Pretty much everyone of his subjects held one, so they could be identified. Cross wore it with pride, happily showing others that it meant he served their king. Along with all this he wore his locket. It kept him safe and sound most of the time, partially due to Nightmare´s magic.
Because it was often quite cold, black gloves were permitted as long as they didn’t restrict the use of your weapons. The last part of their outfit was a black mouth mask. During attacks it protected the wearer’s senses, but it was mostly to look intimidating.
After putting the last glove on and adjusting the sigil on his belt, Cross gave himself a once over in the mirror for anything that looked out of place. When he found nothing he gave himself a little nod of approval and swiftly exited his room, heading to their grand dining hall.
The halls were dimly lit with blue candlelight, casting an eerie shadow over every nook and cranny in the wall. It made the castle look like a haunted mansion more often than not and new recruits were often plagued with terrors and nightmares. Cross snickered softly.
He could still remember when he entered the castle for the very first time with one of the earliest batches of recruits. He had been absolutely terrified by the vibe the castle gave. So many rumours flowed through the universes about Nightmare’s realm and the place he now called home.
Some people thought it was a monstrously large cave which housed unspeakable creatures that dragged you deeper into the darkness to a slow and painful death. Others thought it was a dungeon, filled with uncanny horrors and inhumane methods of torture. Rumours even reached his universe, X-Gaster being eager to get a piece of the god for his experiments.
When he stood face to face with Nightmare for the first time after their original meeting, he, like many other new recruits, had come close to almost wetting himself. The god had a permanent aura of darkness around him, surrounded by shadows anywhere he went. Nightmare had glanced over to his part of recruits and rested on him for a second with a cold and calculating gaze. He had looked down, not being able to handle the stare.
When he looked back up the god had already moved on. Cross had never felt so intimidated. But at the same time he was in awe. He had barely caught a glimpse of his face due to the shadows but he could never forget that piercing teal eye.
Nowadays he was far from frightened of the happenings in the castle. Sure there were still some odd moments where he felt shivers down his spine but they were few and far between. He had become used to the dark corners and cold hallways. By now he knew the castle and its surrounding areas like the back of his hand. He saw only beauty and grace now. The dark halls gave him some peace of mind. The desolate library allowed him quiet time.
Anyone who said that the dark didn´t hold beauty was full of shit.
But of course as a person with quite some power and responsibility he couldn't go around telling the ones below him that. He had to set a somewhat good example.
Footsteps echoed all around as servants went up and down the hall, making sure they'd make way for one of the moon guard. Cross nodded slightly at some of them, walking through the doors of the dining hall. He made his way over to a table off to the side, humming a soft greeting at the three that were already sat, enjoying their breakfast.
The loudest of the three, Killer, was a short and pretty lazy guy. Someone who seemed like he´d snort cheeto dust for a living. He had flaming red hair, the same as his target soul while black tar tears rolled from his matching black eyes. They had stained his cheeks more and more over the ciclas so he had permanent black stains on his cheeks at this point. But he didn't seem to mind.
Killer always had a smile on his face, either it be a smug one he sported while flirting with anything that had a soulbeat, or a dopey one which grew after telling everyone one of his latest puns. But Cross knew better than to think all of his smiles were brought with good, well good for their standards, meaning.
When causing terror, he got an unsettling wide smirk on his face, enjoying the pain he caused to his victims. Cross would've been unsettled if he wasn't used to it, however it had been natural to see Killer like this whenever he tugged along.
Then there was Horror, the beast as he was called and for very good reasons. Physically he was a giant of a man, height bested by Nightmare only. If you didn't know him personally you would only see the deranged look in his eyes and ragged breaths he puffed out. One of his eyes was pitch black while the other a deep crimson red. He had wild dark grey hair covering most of his head except for one spot. A good chunk of his skin on the left side of his face was burnt and damaged, half of his left ear gone as well. The Undyne of his world had mutilated him as a child, pieces of his sanity disappearing as well as of his skull. When he had first been recruited for Nightmare he had gone through multiple long and brutal surgeries to give him back at least some quality of life.
If you could look past all of that, Horror was different from what everyone imagined. He was essentially a big puppy, enthousiastic, playful and despite the horrors he had conflicted upon so many, he was kind. Cross knew he could always count on Horror for help.
Killer and Horror were part of the terrors. When recruits first entered the castle they were given tests and according to the results, divided into groups. The way it works was if you passed a test, you would continue on to the next test. If you failed, you belonged to the group of the previous test.
While having somehow done most tests successfully, Killer and Horror did not pass the final test to be part of Nightmare´s moon guard. They simply couldn't keep their calm and that factor was crucial when the biggest part of the job was protecting their king. Only a select few got through the final test.
The last of the trio was Dust. He, like Cross, had made it into the moon guard. He was very quiet and reserved to a lot of people, not saying much most of the time. He did open up however when it was just them and some others. Cross suspected Nightmare knew why but he wouldn’t pry, as he too had inner demons he never wanted out.
When he did speak he was sarcastic and had frequent pun-offs with Killer. It led to a lot of late nights where Cross, Horror and a few others were dying laughing at Killer and Dust´s puns. They all knew how to spot his little scoffs of affection and huffs of amusement.
Most of the time Dust has his hood up, obstructing most of his face by the shadows. Part of his face was visible as well as one of his eyes. Cross had gotten a little spooked when he first saw it. The red and blue looked off-putting together, especially when sometimes a light purple smoke appeared from the corner of his eye.
But apart from that no one really knew what he looked like. They respected it seeing as it didn´t deter their order of business. Cross liked working with him under Nightmare´s moon guard.
"Eeeey look who it is, finally decided to join us eh Criss-Cross?" Killer shot him a grin, half leaning against Horror who was eating like it was the last time he'd ever eat. Dust shook his head slightly, giving Cross a small nod as he sat.
Cross huffed softly. "You act as if i´ve been late for hours, it can't have been more than five minutes." He waved at Horror, who waved back while still stuffing his mouth with food. Killer hummed, waving a piece of egg around on his fork. "That may be true, but five minutes is five minutes. Pretty soon it´ll become hours and you´ll be just as lazy as I am."
Horror, after finally having taken a break from stuffing himself, let out a loud snort. "Not gonna happen. Even I know that." It made Killer pout. "Hey! A guy can dream, you know. Besides, would it be so bad of Cross to take that stick out of his ass and be a little more undignified like us rough boys?"
Cross raised a brow. "You know I can hear you right?" Killer sent a lazy wink his way, smile growing wide which only made Cross roll his eyes. "And no, I can´t act a little more undignified. Nothing would get done in this place if we all became like you." Killer clutched where his soul sat. "Oh Crossy, you wound me so. I thought we were the very best of friends."
"We will be if you give me your leftover chocolate." He grinned at him, earning a small huff of amusement from Dust and a roaring laugh from Horror, half of the food He ate barely ten seconds ago flying all over the table. Killer snorted, sliding over the little silver packet. Cross smirked at him. "Your kindness shall be rewarded good sir."It made Killer laugh.
He munched on the chocolate, glancing around the table. "Hey where's Fell? She's not one to miss breakfast." Killer shrugged, eyes darting to Dust for an answer. He hummed before answering. "The lab of course, trying to annoy Sci as usual."
Cross sighed, leaning back into his chair. "Again? One of these days Sci is going to stab her out of sheer frustration." Dust nodded. "We have a bet going on about it." He gestured to Horror, Killer and him. "Care to join?" Cross shook his head, swallowing the last piece of chocolate and standing up. "I need to go wake up his grace."
The mere mention of Nightmare got Killer grinning and wolf-whistling. It ended quickly though as Cross hit him over the head. "Hey! Geeze I can never have any fun around here-" Cross rolled his eyes. "We should add you to the list of people who will inevitably be stabbed someday."
"Oh please, all I did was whistle. Besides, isn't ‘his grace´ a little old to be woken up? He's like…a bazillion ciclas old!" All three, even Horor, stared unimpressed at Killer. "Whatever, you get what I mean. He´s old! He doesn't need his royal babysitter to wake him up everyday."
Cross swiftly turned around. "Odds of you getting stabbed are getting higher by the second Killer, keep it up and soon you might overtake Fell." He marched away, hearing Killer´s cackle echo around the dining hall.
Together with a maid he made his way to Nightmare´s quarters. The maid was by now quite an old lady. She had been in Nightmare´s service since the time she was a little girl so it was no wonder. And all those ciclas she served the king with a kind smile.
The halls of the king's quarters were lined with beautiful navy tapestries. It held no candles as Nightmare thrived in absolute darkness, but they knew where to step and what places to avoid putting their feet. They halted before two heavy tall wooden doors.
Cross raised his hand to knock but paused as dread and numbness washed over him. It didn't affect him. Quite the contrary. It put him at ease as he knew what It meant. A small smile graced his lips as an even darker shadow towered over him and the maid.
"Good morning, your grace."