Loyalty's Lullaby (A Crossmare Fanfiction)

Dust

Chilling wind swooshed through the wide open wooden doors, sending a cold blanket around the two skeletons. They were the only ones left alive in a ring of fresh, bleeding corpses, puddles of gore slowly forming under their dull, limp bodies. The blow of frosty air rattled the ajar doors, making them rap against the raw, similarly wooden walls on either side in irregular patterns. 

It had cooled down quite a lot now that it was night, in the little, messy shack, which now reeked of metallic blood instead of it's usual mixture of plants, snacks, wood, porcelain, and fabric. Another gust of an unforgivably bitter wind came billowing in, chilling the exhausted duo to the bone. Cross shivered uncontrollably, curling into a ball and hugging his knees to himself, as if keeping all of what little body heat his skeletal self could give into one small space, so that he would be warmer.

He peered up shakily at the pained Nightmare in dismay, the octopus' trembling arms barely keeping himself up as he kneeled on the freezing floor, puking up a brilliant blue, which Nightmare had waved off as just vomit. But Cross knew it looked suspiciously alike to blood, which it most likely was.

The taller's entire body quivered from the energy he was unwillingly using to get all the sick out. He gagged as he felt the disgusting sticky liquid choke its way forcefully up his sore throat, until it came pouring out between his jaws and splatting on the ground in front of him. But not before he got a very good taste of the salty, bitter stuff. Drops of the juice splashed up, landing on him. 

Nightmare inhaled, compelling himself to calm his rapid breathing. He gradually began to take in deep breaths instead of his instinctive quick, shallow gulps of sweet, sweet oxygen. His fatally wounded soul ached unbearable pain. Yet he didn't make any sounds of distress, except for a few hitches in his breath at the start of the odd moments when the excruciating affliction doubled.

He plopped onto his bottom, making no effort whatsoever to hold himself and carry his weight until it reached the support of the cold floor, but rather coming straight down. The wintery temperature of the floorboards that his fingers glided over didn't bother him too much but, still sent a small tremor up his spine.

Cross, on the other hand, was so frigid, that he felt if he touched his outer layer if bones just a bit too hard, he would shatter into millions of frozen pieces. He feared for frostbite. The oreo stared at Nightmare with wide, teary eyes. He'll admit it. He really was worried. And keep in mind, that doesn't mean he didn't still hate the other. 

He was afraid his injured companion would stab him if he tried to get close, or if he was extremely daring, to the point that he didn't care about his own life, heal him. He argued it over in his head, before he came to a tentative conclusion he knew would probably get him killed. It was worth a shot, though, right?

Cross crept a little closer to Nightmare on his knees, his puffy skirt finally being put to use in a reasonable way by cushioning his kneecaps on the hard, gnarled ground. He paused, a bit uncertain if he should come any nearer. He could see the octopus visibly stiffening as he heard Cross' minimal movements. The smol kept his unsure gaze trained on the tol, just in case he lashed out. The petite skeleton slowly inched his way around the other, so that he was facing his front, and so that Nightmare could see him scooting over to him, and wouldn't suddenly attack due to being startled.

Nightmare stared at Cross calmly, a few of his facial features twitching occasionally as he strained to keep from wincing or furrowing his brows, while his tentacles drooped downwards and flicked in pain. The octopus was determined not to show any weakness, even to a comrade. But his appendages didn't like listening, so he'll just have to do with what he had.

 Cross wasn't even trying to hide his concern at all. He didn't notice little things like his expression, being not as sensitive to how he looked to others. He fumbled with his bony fingers, continuing to keep watching the darker to make sure Nightmare was alright with his small little shuffles towards him. The smaller stopped every so often to check how the other teen was fairing with their proximity. He couldn't help but feel proud when he managed to reach Nightmare's side without the taller objecting, other than some flinching when Cross moved a bit too fast for the octopus' tiny comfort zone.

He looked into Nightmare's piercing eye softly, trying to seem as soothing as possible.

"...May I?" Cross asked quietly, reaching up his hands to where the bullet had hit Nightmare's ribcage, right above the center of his blackened life source.

He focused his magic and despite a foggy memory as to how to do this again, his finger tips lit up a warm purple glow. Nightmare growled, looking away agitatedly in embarrassment. Normally, he'd just heal himself, with more than enough magic to perform the tiring feat. But now, using magic might damage his fragile soul even more, and he might actually start dusting. A thought he wasn't too fond of. 

He scoffed dryly, his face flushing a barely noticeable, faint cyan. He ducked his head, looking down at the floor, before deciding it was better to just look Cross in the eye and death glare him witheringly. 

".....Fine." he growled after a moment, his hard gaze piercing into Cross', making the other shiver, due to being   agitated in his weak state.

The fact that he was actually hurt by a darned, tiny little bullet annoyed him. The oreo peered up at the taller uncertainly, before meekly looking away, genuinely afraid that Nightmare's stare was sharp enough to slice him clean in half. He sent waves of healing magic to the palms of his whole hands and the vibrant violet light spread to surround them unreservedly. He muttered a soft 'thank you', which he didn't quite know for what. Maybe because Nightmare hadn't killed him yet. What a strange thing to be warmed by.

"I- I'll um- kind of need you to uh- to-" Cross stammered out, blushing a barely noticeable lavender, and unable to form out the entire awkward sentence without fearing for his life.

The octopus sighed in unamused understanding, pulling his goop covered, once pure white, shirt up, so that his damaged ribcage could be seen, sparing the smol the embarrassment and dread. He felt a sudden rush of cold air as the warm protection of his clothing was lifted away. The monochromatic bean stared at the wound in front of Nightmare's erratically pulsing soul. He visibly cringed, flinching away just a tiny bit at the horrendous sight before him. Cross briefly wondered why and how the other wasn't dead yet.

In front of him, half of Nightmare's ribcage were spiderwebbed with cracks that threatened to split open with a single gentle touch. The parts surrounding the hole seemed to be caked in a dark grey dust, which was starting mix with his goop into a thick, chunky mixture, some of the dust speckled or layered on top. Dark blue, syrupy blood flooded with bits of chipped iff bone, and his chest looked like it had been mangled by a wild predator you could only find behind thickly blocked off areas in zoos, and even so, scarce.

His soul, struggling to keep up with his magic and pulsing desperately to pump the magic he needed to survive through his body looked worse. Sure, it didn't look like more damage had been down. But after all, it was his soul, which effected his entire being in every single way possible. 

Right through Nightmare's soul, was a giant, gaping hole where a sort of blackened, blood-like soul liquid dripped, and the fleshy insides lumping in several raw places. The opening was so wide, that you could barely make out that it even was a soul. To make matters more dire, the hole seemed to be spreading, and the soul was slowly but surely dusting away, starting from the center. At this point, Nightmare was going to faint at any moment, and then, most likely die. Tye little organ gave weak tremors as it overworked itself to keep Nightmare going. But it was going to give out soon.

He was at death's door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted to make this longer, but I need to sleep early tonight for this NBA pre-performance thing tomorrow. Sorry ;-;.

Hey, with the whole virus going on, I wanna ask a question. What's the most eco friendly mask?

Masksksksksksksksks.

—Grace