"How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just doing what comes naturally
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just following my-"
The song abruptly cut off as his earbuds fell out. He cursed. 'Skeleton-friendly design' his foot. As he walked past an alleyway, fumbling to pause the song, untangle his earbuds, and call them enough names to fill a phonebook at the same time, he heard the unmistakable sound of bones rattling.
He froze.
Glancing around, he found nothing but himself and the dark alley in sight.
He peered in cautiously, but couldn't see what was making that sound- or whether they were friend or foe. Was it some kind of trap?
Snow crunched under his shoes as he stepped into the shadows. "This is such a terrible idea," he muttered, knowing his brother would agree. He almost backed out. He could keep walking home, and no one would know this ever happened.
The rattling continued, seeming to louden as the wind picked up. If there really was a skeleton there, alone in the cold...
For a moment, the snow clinging to his hands became a different powder.
He took a deep breath as he brushed the silvery flakes off, eyelights sparking with determination.
He had to find out.
He crept forward with a hand on his knife, shoving the mp3 player and his treacherous earbuds in his pocket. They would only get more tangled, but he had bigger things to worry about right now.
...Like the two unconscious children in the back of the alley, holding each other tightly as the snow piled around them.
One of them was clearly the source of the noise, shivering violently in nothing but a t-shirt and thin-looking pants. Next to them was a pile of dark, ragged clothing. The skeleton wearing it, barely visible in the shadows, was as still as the grave. Despite their shorts and torn jacket, they seemed unaffected by the weather... or so close to death that they no longer felt it.
He thought about what he knew of hypothermia, and sped up.
The first thing he did was take off his jacket and drape it over them. It almost completely covered both kids, only their skulls and shoes poking out, and the sight made them look even smaller. He was patting his pockets to find his phone when he noticed movement. One of them was stirring, and it wasn't the one he had expected.
He hesitated for a moment, not sure whether speaking would startle or reassure them, but a moment was enough. Their sockets flew open and they jumped to their feet, swaying a little as they took a defensive stance. Their body glitched like it was trying to tear itself apart.
"$t4y BaCk-Ck-Ck!" Their eyelights were large and unfocused, but he felt like they knew exactly where he was. He had the sudden urge to run, like the tiny skeleton in front of him had been replaced by a snarling tiger.
He shook the feeling away.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he promised, holding out his empty hands. The kid jolted, seeming to finally see him.
"Du$t?"
The pure confusion and hope in their tone, like they hadn't thought they would see him but really wanted to, almost startled him more than knowing his name did.
Then their eyelights met his face, and the joy shining through them died as the kid seemed to remember something. They tore their gaze away, looking suddenly like they were about to cry.
"That's me," he agreed after a pause. "You're safe." Eyeing the still-unconscious skeleton behind them, he added, "Um, after you and the other kid get out of the cold."
"K-k1d?" They turned to look, emotions forgotten, and their sockets widened. "BlUe!" They fell to their knees, frantically shaking their friend. "BlUe, w4k3 uP!"
The other skeleton- Blue- didn't react to the rough movement, even as the first kid's panicked shouts turned into quiet pleas. Dust remembered how dire of a situation this was. "We need to go," he said quietly.
The kid didn't respond, gripping their friend's sleeve tightly.
"The storm's gonna get worse soon," Dust tried again. "We need to find somewhere warm."
They stared despondently at their shaking hands.
"I can help them."
That seemed to snap them out of their thoughts. They glanced up at him, face unreadable in the darkness, before nodding. He took that as his cue to step forward, crouching down and gathering Blue into his arms. The other kid yanked their hand away before he could brush it, only latching onto their friend again once Blue was securely in his arms.
Blue's clothes were cold and wet, and Dust frowned as he wrapped his jacket around them. Dust was starting to shiver too. The wind tore through his thick white shirt like it was paper.
He shifted Blue to one side so he could pull out his phone, trying to unlock it. The kid watched his motions intently. "I'm going to call 911," Dust explained. "They'll take you guys to the hospital where you can-"
"No Ho$p1t4l," the kid interrupted vehemently, suddenly alert. "We'Re FiNe." They looked like they were about to pull Blue out of his arms and run, both hands clutching their friend's clothing through the impromptu blanket.
Dust frowned. "Why not?"
The kid paused. "We... d0n'T h4v3 eNoUgH G..." they said hesitantly, clearly hiding the real reason. The energy they'd summoned seemed to drain out of them at his disbelieving silence.
A glimmer of moonlight broke through the clouds, illuminating the street, and Dust realized the young skeleton was covered in scars. Most of them looked like they had barely stopped bleeding.
He had a sinking suspicion about how they'd ended up almost dusting in the back of a narrow, dead-end alley. Someone either wanted them dead, or wanted them back, and there wouldn't be any second chances if they were caught.
He knew the feeling.
He put his phone away and walked out of the alley. The kid followed.
They walked in silence for a while. Dust scanned each building he passed with careful eyes, knowing they were still a mile away from his home. Finally, he saw what he wanted and began to cross the street.
"Wh4t D1d y0u FiNd?"
"A clothing store," Dust said, glancing at them. He hadn't realized the kid was watching him so closely.
The kid blinked. "HuH?"
"It's too far to the- house." He almost said 'mansion', but he didn't want to raise more questions when the kid barely trusted him as it was. "You guys are soaked, you can't be out in the wind that long. You need dry clothes."
And so do I, he mentally added as he held Blue closer, trying to ignore the snow seeping through his shirt. He was almost an adult monster. He had enough magic to keep himself warm. The two children, on the other hand...
He looked back at the kid, who still wasn't shivering. They gazed into the distance with a somber expression as they stood on the icy sidewalk. "Are you cold?"
Confusion flitted across their face as they met his eyelights. "No."
Dust tried to remember the next stage of hypothermia. "Are you hot?"
The kid looked even more confused, if that was possible. "...No?"
He sighed, relieved but bewildered. "Then I think you'll be okay."
They frowned. Clearly, none of their concern had been for themself. They gripped the edge of his jacket tightly, pointing at Blue. "He'$ g0iNg t0 b3 oKaY t0o." They said it like a fact, but fear caused their words to waver. When Dust didn't respond, they looked up at him. "...RiGhT?"
Dust looked away, unable to answer. He couldn't promise that.
From the kid's pained expression, his silence was enough. They took a deep breath, something sparking in their eyelights, and strode across the street with newfound determination.
They hadn't looked both ways, but Dust didn't comment on it. There hadn't been a car in sight since long before he'd ducked into that alley and saw the kids.
He glanced side to side to be safe, then hurried to catch up.
The kid was standing in front of an automatic door, reaching their hands up to push where a handle would be. He chuckled at their puzzled expression when it didn't open. "It goes sideways," he told them as he walked up. "And it's locked."
The kid frowned like this was a nonsensical concept. "WhY w0uLd 1t b3 LoCk3d? HoW d0 Pe0pLe BuY tHiNg$ w1th0uT g0iNg 1n?"
"They buy from it during the day," Dust said. "It's only locked at night."
He shifted Blue to one arm and took out his emergency lockpicks, crouching next to the keyhole to get a better angle. He felt the kid's eyelights on him as he worked. "YoU'r3 n0t BuYiNg Fr0m 1t," they deduced.
Dust popped the lock. "Definitely not."
He thought the kid would have some sort of comment on that, but aside from the initial confusion, they seemed perfectly at ease as he pulled the door open and stepped inside.
It was a fairly large department store, with clothing of all shapes and sizes. The fluorescent lights buzzed just loud enough for him to hear, flickering almost imperceptibly off the pristine white floor to further irritate his senses.
The kid jumped when the door slid shut behind them, whirling around with an arm up to block an invisible blow. Dust stepped back, wary of being smacked by a tiny fist.
His footsteps echoed sharply through the silence, causing the kid to flinch. They muttered something, closing their sockets tightly as they tried to breathe.
Dust waited, trying to give them space, but the kid's tense posture didn't ease until he started humming a simple, repetitive tune, something he hoped would ground them. Their eyelights darted up to him in surprise. After a few moments, a glitchy, high-pitched voice joined in, singing a melody that harmonized surprisingly well.
The kid soon stopped, but Dust continued to hum as they made their way through the store. Despite their soggy slippers, the kid made no sound as they walked gracefully behind him. He had to glance back a couple of times to make sure they were still there.
He led the kid to the toddlers' section and gestured at it, which earned him an affronted look. "1'm n0t 4 b4bYb0n3s," they grumbled.
Dust raised a brow. "How old are you?"
There was a suspicious pause. "...UhH."
He had the feeling they didn't actually know, so he changed the subject. "If those don't fit you, you can look over there while I find something for Blue?" He waved a hand to the childrens' sections.
The kid nodded, then froze. "YoU Kn0w h1s-s NaMe?" Their voice glitched in surprise.
"You said it when you were trying to wake him up," Dust reminded them.
The kid studied him carefully. "Th4t'$ n0t 4 Pr0bLeM? No 0n3 eLs3 i$ c4lLeD tHaT?"
Dust stared at them, thoroughly baffled and a bit concerned. "No...? Even if I knew another Blue, I wouldn't be..." He had no idea what the kid was expecting him to do. "...mad?"
"0h, RiGht." The kid relaxed very purposefully, waving a hand like they were trying to dismiss his concern but had never tried to act unconcerning before and weren't sure how to. "1t'$ f1n3 tHeN. DoN't WoRrY aBoUt 1t."
Dust gave the kid a doubtful look, but dropped the topic. "Go find warm clothes," he said. They relaxed more genuinely, looking relieved as they wandered vaguely in the direction he'd pointed at.
He turned to the toddlers' section, wading through the rows of tiny outfits. He thought he had a rough idea of what happened to the two children, but the kid's reaction raised more questions than he'd expected he would need answers for.
It was... strange. The kid had been tense and wary, like even knowing Blue's name revealed something they didn't want Dust to find out.
Did the kid think he would recognize Blue's name if he heard it, and know who they were?
But they'd said 'anyone else', like sharing a name with someone he might know was an issue...
His hand paused on a shelf of neatly folded clothes as he realized he kind of did know someone. There was a skeleton in one of his classes named Blueberry, who Dust had talked to a few times.
He usually went by Berry, but "Blue" was another way to shorten that, wasn't it?
Did the kid... know Blueberry?
Dust shook his head, dismissing the thought. He could count the number of people who knew Berry's full name on one hand- Dust included. He couldn't think of a reason his bubbly classmate would go by anything else, let alone get wrapped up in whatever shady situation the children had escaped from.
Bits of information swirled around Dust's mind, all of it connected in a way he couldn't begin to guess. He felt like he'd been putting a puzzle together blindfolded and just realized every odd piece was missing.
He didn't know how long he was lost in thought before he bumped into a shelf, breaking his concentration.
He grabbed an orange snowsuit off of it, deciding to make the best of his spatial un-awareness, and Blue's floppy limbs were quickly wrangled into their tubular cloth prison. He sighed in relief once it was finally zipped and he could shake out his tingling hands. Blue's outfit had dried quickly in the warm store air, but the skeleton wearing it was still cold to the touch, sucking the heat out of Dust's fingers.
Without his bones clattering together like they had in the snow, Blue was eerily motionless. He hung limply in Dust's arms like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
The thought was unsettling. He tried to ignore it as he glanced around, surprised when he couldn't spot the other kid. He walked through the shelves of clothing, looking for wet handprints and other signs they had been there.
He was examining a pool of water on the floor when he was startled by a rustling sound. He glanced up just in time to see the kid crawl out like a horror movie creature from inside a rack of clothes, narrowly avoiding the puddle that they (presumably) had made.
Dust let out a huff of laughter. "You almost gave me a SOUL attack! What were you doing in there?"
"CheCk1ng SoMeTh1nG," the kid replied mysteriously.
"...Your clothing size?"
They looked at him, confused, then listed a handful of numbers. "1 aLr3aDy Kn0w Th4t."
Dust blinked. "Is that a small?"
"$m4lLeR tHaN iT u$eD t0 b3."
"It... Huh?"
"Wh4t?"
Dust stared at them for a moment. "...Nevermind."
The kid was wringing out the corner of their jacket as they talked. It looked remarkably dry, despite being made of such a thick material. Dust guessed that was where most of the water came from.
"Did you find something to wear?" he asked.
"1 d0n'T n3eD iT," the kid dismissed. "1 c4n FiX mY cLoTh1nG LaTeR."
"We need to go now, though," Dust said. "Before the snow piles up." He looked at the kid's reluctant expression. They were still gripping their jacket. "You only have to wear it for a bit," he promised. "As soon as we're there, you can put on your old clothes again."
The kid didn't look happy, but one glance at his expression told them he wasn't going to budge. They disappeared back into the clothing racks, returning a few minutes later with a large, dark sweater and an uncomfortable look. They were tugging at the sleeves and collar and scratching their cheek. As Dust turned to find a parka in his size, he thought he saw them pull glowing threads from where their fingers had touched, but when he turned back, there was nothing but a slightly more comfortable child with oddly bright rings of blue along the edges of their sweater.
Dust, with great practice, ignored this.
He pulled on a stolen jacket of his own, wrapping the non-stolen one around Blue again. His old, worn-out hoodie was much warmer than anything in the store could be. It was almost like magic, though if anyone asked, he would tell them the warmth came from something that was a little less illegal to practice unregulatedly.
Of course it wasn't magic. He was an outstanding citizen and would never break the la-
Dust snorted, not even able to finish that thought. The kid glanced at him curiously, but he waved them off. "Just remembered a good joke."
There was silence for a moment. "Wa$ iT y0uR f4c3?"
The usually-snarky question sounded almost genuine, but it was ruined by the smile growing on their face. He laughed. "I set myself up for that one."
"YoU aLw4y$ d0," the kid said, nodding. Dust blinked, about to ask how they would know, but they dove into the clothing racks before he could open his mouth. When Dust caught sight of them again, they were admiring the large display of chocolate by the cash register.
He watched the kid try (and fail) to reach a particularly high bar a few times, their efforts causing the table of sweets to wobble dangerously, before starting to walk towards them.
They glanced up as he approached, smiling sheepishly. "UhH. 1 c4n eXpLa1- h3y Wh4t'$ tHaT 0v3r Th3r3?" They pointed behind him.
Despite himself, Dust turned. There was nothing.
The tallest shelf was missing a bar. He gave the kid, who was hiding a conspicuous chocolate-bar-shaped lump under their sweater, an unimpressed look. They were definitely messing with him on purpose now.
They grinned, revealing their king-sized candy prize. It had a bite taken out of it through the wrapper.
Dust didn't regret waking up that morning, but it was very, very close.
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Welcome to the second Children of Chaos Rewrite! I'll be changing a few things in the (previously rewritten) chapters 1-4, but nothing major. The rest of the chapters will get a full rewrite, besides maybe a couple of the later ones.
I'm so nervous about this, I feel like I really have to put out quality writing and make everything perfect. But I know I'm my own worst critic and I feel like this goes well enough, especially since I haven't properly written in forever.
There is so much detail i want to ramble about this that i'm considering making a side-book just to ramble in detail about specific parts and character aspects because this can't all fit in an A/N
I'm imagining Blue and Error as being very small for a five year old, less than 3 feet tall (and even shorter in Blue's case). Since they're about half the size they used to be, this has some effects on both their physical and magical strength- it's not as noticeable for Error, but Blue will be more affected.
Halfway through writing this I remembered that cameras and stuff exist, but I don't want to figure out how they would wipe the tapes or something so... this store has no cameras. Or any defense other than a really flimsy locked door, really. Not the most secure place.
Some readers may have noticed that I changed this multiverse's US!Sans's name from Swap back to Blueberry. I have Plans for this which will eventually become clear. Probably.
I'm still going with the tried-and-true method of tossing a handful of plot seeds on the chapter and hoping they grow the same way I want to take the story. Too bad I'm so much better at adding them than resolving them.
2982 words (not counting authors notes)