Wait... I'm Nightmare!? I Thought I Died!?

•Chapter 23•

They were all called to the throne room after a few days. A few murmurs going around if Nightmare was finally going out on a mission by himself.

And to their luck, he was. So when he was gone, and Dream in his room, the plan came into action.

And this is what led them to crawl in the ventilation shafts of the castle (Yes the castle had vents to filter clear air around). But they were too small for Axe to fit through so the skeleton was forced to find a way to sneak in from the outside.

While crawling through the vents, Killer sneezed behind Cross.

"Killer!" Hissed Cross, "Shut the fuck up!"

"Penguin, please, your worrying too much about this-" Killer started but then Murder cut him off.

"Killer, seriously, shut the fuck up. Vents are annoying and this was your idea so I don't want to hear you say anything as it might as well give me a migraine as well as all of the stuffy air filled with dust and grime in here."

Killer grumbled to himself as he sighed and stopped talking.

Tsking, Cross navigated through the vents with Chara leading him and soon enough, they found Nightmares room. And as Cross made a move to summon his magic knife, his magic sputtered out like a candle that was blown.

"Remember? Magic except boss's doesnt work in here," Killer said, Cross could feel his smirk.

Cross scowled, "Shaddup."

Killer snorted but said nothing else as he tapped Cross's fibula and passed a knife to him. Rolling his eye lights as he said a small and quiet thank you, Cross grabbed the knife and cut an opening through the vent and dropped down.

He coughed as some dust followed him and patted down his clothes. Soon after, Murder and Killer followed after him and Chara spoke, "Axe is here. Open the doors, fast."

Nodding, Cross headed to the doors quickly and quietly, opened them for Axe to see so that he could pass through himself quickly and then when the door promptly shut, noone figuring out that they made it inside the room, the gang all sighed in relief.

"I still think that this is a bad idea!" Whisper yelled Cross and Killer smirked as he made a motion that would have suggested his eye lights rolling if he had any.

"Whatever man, what's life without a little danger? And I'm curious about boss's past and why he's like how he is now. As you know, he basically already knows all of us down to the bone," Killer and the others snickered at the pun while Cross deadpanned at Killer, unamused.

"Well maybe he has a reason for not telling us? You never know Killer!" Cross replied.

"Makes it all the reason to know," Killer said and then added, "Now, let's start."

"Ah..." Spoke up Axe," I talked with Error in the hallways... he knows."All turned to Axe, alarmed, as Axe continued, "He actually didnt care. He said... to go right ahead... said... that there was something we should know... I dont remember. Sorry."

"It's all good, Axe," Killer pats the gentle giants back with a grin as he looked at Cross with a raised brow, sending across a message that irritated Cross.

He said, 'See? Told ya so'.

~~A few hours later~~

"Ugh! It's all a dead end!" Killer pouted and Cross sighed as he shuffled through the few shelves of books in Nightmare's room.

Axe made a small noise of surprise as he took something out of under Nightmares bed.

"A... box?" Murder spoke first as the small box was placed onto the plush bed.

"A pretty one," Added Axe with a nod. The small box was Dark Cyan at the base and the Lid was a lavender color. At the top, there was a tree, green leaves with small apples, one half golden yellow, and the other, shining black apples. At the base of the box, there was a white yellow-ish moon with white stars around it, at the bottom there were hills and what looked like a village. That was the front side, but when looked at the back of the box, there were two masks, one happy and the other sad, like the ones for theatres. The happy one yellow, while the sad one was a lavender purple.

"Interesting design..." Cross trailed off. This reminded him of the story of Dreamtale. Of their boss and Dream.

"Well-" Hurried along Killer," Let's open it!"

Sighing, Cross motioned for Axe to open it. As he did, the rest lightly gasped at what they saw. A beautiful golden, polished circlet made to put on the head. On the top, there was a rectangle and then a cut in shape of a moon. Cross took it into his hands gently and examined it. Despite being made of gold, it was very hard and sturdy and looks well kept. No signs of deterioration. Placing the crown carefully on the bed, he looked at the other contents of the box, a picture of a young skeleton wearing lavender purple with a younger looking Dream beside him...

Is this what Nightmare used to look like? It... seemed so.

"Woaaa, boss used to look so tiny!" Killer gushed and Cross chuckled as Axe and Murder did the same. And as they looked at the contents of the box, Cross couldnt help but feel that this was all. Because sure, they now know his past, maybe how he came to be (Using some hints from the Dreamtale book), but Cross felt like there was something else. Something missing.

He decided to take it upon himself to find this. The only place they didnt search yet was Nightmare's closet, so that's where he went first. He used his phones flashlight as he looked around the place. Only seeing some outfits and the occasional same sweater and jacket with shorts that his boss wore. Only the color of wood made him look back as he was about to leave the big ass closet.

Moving away a few piles of clothes that were on top of where he saw thwe color of brown wood, he gasped when he found a trap door. But... he frowned, slightly guilty. Wasnt this bad? Like- there was a reason that Nightmare kept this from them. But-

He sighed.

He was forced along to far... so... there's no going back now. As he called the others who put the items back into the box and put the box where it previously was, they came to him as he opened the trap door.

~~~~~
I made a small comic of a scene I wrote in here! :DD