"Horror. It would be a... shame... if something were to happen to our poor Lust... wouldn't it?" He asked softly. Horror immediately snarled and Nightmare seemed momentarily surprised.

"If you lay a finger on 'em, I'll tear out yer fuckin' throat!!" He growled. Nightmare blinked before chuckling. He seemed amused.

"I never would've thought you were such a tough nut to crack. I just always assumed you enjoyed pain, so you never reacted and I got bored with you." His eye was bright. "This is so much more interesting. You did a good job hiding your real self, Horror. But we both know I have a... tendency... for breaking tough people..."

His eye flashed and Ink gulped. Nightmare leaned down. "Maybe you should play the game, Horror. Right now. You have two choices. Beg me for mercy, like the others. Or you can choose to fight me. Either way is pleasurable enough for me. I like when my prey fights back. It makes me want to remind them how weak they are to me." He hissed the last part and Ink saw Horror tense.

There was a moment of complete silence before Horror twitched and spat at him again, brandishing his axe. Nightmare leaned back up, wiping his face. He smiled. "That's a good boy." He rumbled. Ink felt a chill. That was not good. Oh stars, that was not good.

Horror hunched over into some sort of attack position. Ink ducked behind the bushes, his eyes wide and his body trembling. He could hear a number of noises. Squishing and cracking. The sound of metal meeting bone. He held his head. He shouldn't have been there. He really shouldn't have fucking been there.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a crunch and the sickening cracking of bone. He bolted back up. Horror had landed the axe deep into Nightmare's shoulder. He was fast. Nightmare was down to his last tentacle, but it appeared that was the only one he needed. He'd impaled Horror and his SOUL shone at the end of the sharpened tentacle.

Horror shook and his eye dulled before the wound in his skull began to spread. His body was turning to dust and Ink watched as Horror became nothing more than dusty clothes and a pile of dust on the ground. Nightmare's tentacles were slowly regrowing. He used them to scoop up Horror's clothes and jacket.

Ink sank back down behind the bushes. He sat, trembling before freezing up as he heard Nightmare speak. "It would be... unfortunate... if anyone had witnessed this. If they had... I would really hope they keep their mouth shut or I would have to punish them severely." He heard footsteps move over to him and Ink was sure that, if he had a SOUL, it would've exploded out of his chest.

The footsteps stopped and Ink could feel Nightmare right on the other side of the thick bushes. "I wouldn't want to have to do that..." Nightmare murmured quietly. Ink understood. Ink understood really fucking well. He flinched as he heard what he could only describe as Nightmare yanking the axe out of his shoulder before he heard Nightmare sigh and walk away.

Ink waited until Nightmare's footsteps had completely faded. He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath the whole time Nightmare had been speaking. He let it out and that quickly proved to be a mistake. He gagged and before he knew it, he was on his hands and knees, vomiting up black ink. It spread through the grass and Ink stared at it. He could see his own reflection as tears ran down his face.

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Lust could feel tears streaming down from his eyesockets as well. Ink was shaking next to him. Horror had been getting close to the thing that had cost Lust his legs. He shivered. He knew Horror was a stubborn bastard. He laid his head in his hands, soon breaking down into sobbing.

Lust sank to his knees and he soon felt a hand rub his back. Ink was next to him, trying to be comforting. He seemed just as shaken. Ink usually had a very poor memory. For him to remember an event in such detail, the experience must've etched itself into Ink's mind so he could never forget. Lust hiccuped.

"Where are his clothes?" Lust asked shakily. Ink trembled and responded that Nightmare had burned them. Lust screwed his eyes shut. "And the axe...?"

Ink was quiet before he replied that he was sure a Nightmare still had it somewhere up in his tent. Lust felt himself tremor. He had to get that axe back. He wanted- no, NEEDED something to remember Horror by. He glanced over tearfully at his desk where Horror's words were still etched.

I LUV YOU

Lust felt his SOUL fracture a little and he inhaled painfully. For a moment, he was briefly terrified about how this would affect Cross, but he couldn't stop the wave of emotions once the gates had been opened. He buried his face in his hands. He could practically hear Horror whispering that he loved him in his raspy, breathless voice.

That only made the pain worse. Ink stood up, no doubt sensing that Lust wanted to be alone. His brush sucked up the ink puddle and he apologized again. He opened a portal with his brush and disappeared through it, the portal drying up behind him.

Lust did want to be alone. He wanted to be alone with Horror. He shakily looked over at the desk.

I LUV YOU

Lust gulped shakily before holding his head with one hand, a shaking crumpled mess on the floor of the Costume Tent as he screwed his eyes shut. "I love you too..." He whispered in a strangled voice before he snapped and began to sob, his cries echoing through the tent.

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