---Dusts POV----
I hated this place.
The ash was all over me, coating my clothes and staining my clothes.
So far I had been almost killed by the police, chucked across a river, been at risk of being eaten by snatchers(when u don't know it was a joke) and nearly had every bone in my body snapped by monstrous vines.
What else do I need to check of my
to-do list?
Killer limped over to me, collapsing on the ashy ground next to me. "You good?"
"Perfect." I replied sarcastically.
"Same..."
I scooped up a pile of ash and watched it run through my fingers, the little flakes spiralled down to the ground, before re-connecting once more with the rest of the ash that covered the floor, like a Black Desert.
"Well we should be going soon anyway." Killer said optimistically.
"As soon as Error feels up to walking we can walk the last few minutes to Nightmares elusive haven."
I grunted in response. This place better be worth it after the stuff we went through to get this far.
I'm expecting a palace, mansion or five star hotel at this rate. But the chances of finding one of those in this corrupted land is pretty slim.
I turned at the sound of Error letting out a hiss of discomfort as he shakily pushed himself into a sitting position.
He groaned, lightly clutching his ribs, Nightmare stood up from where he had been sitting next to Cross.
Cross had been lightly snoozing and the movement of Nightmare moving woke him up. He glanced about blearily, probably searching for Nightmare.
Nightmare walked over to Error and held out a hand. Error looked at it for a few seconds before reaching up and grasping the hand.
Nightmare pulled him to his feet, a few sounds of pain escaping the glitched skeleton. Killer also stood up and I was quick to follow, brushing the ash off me once more.
Error stood, semi hunched over, an arm clutching his damaged ribs. Cross groaned and started to slowly get up only to be yanked to his feet by one of Nightmares tentacles.
Cross let out a squeak of surprise, tripping and falling onto Nightmare, clutching his arm so that he didn't fall. Cross' face was dusted with a light shade of purple at the sudden position.
I wold whistled and his blush deepened. Nightmare shot me a glare so fierce that I nearly took a step back. He shifted his arm, causing Cross to loose his grip and collapse back into the ash.
"Savage." Killer muttered. I turned and looked at him grinning. "I know right."
"Let's go." Nightmare growled. Leaving Cross coughing up ash.
Killer walked over holding out a hand witch Cross gratefully took, and pulled him up to his feet, thumping his back as he coughed up the dry flakes.
"C'mon. Let's go." I said, walking after Nightmare and Error. Cross and Killer scrambled after me as we rushed to catch up with the two dark skeletons.
We were walking to the right of the forest, the vines seemed to still be following us, from the shelter of the trees.
"Uh, Nightmare?" I called.
"What."
"Is there forest at your haven?"
"No. It'll end soon."
And he was right. A few minutes later and the trees to the side of us started thinning out, until there were none left.
It was just ash as far as the eye could see.
And there, on the horizon, a silhouette of something. A house?
"Is that-?" Killer asked.
"Yup. That is my 'elusive haven'."
We seemed to speed up, now that our destination was in sight. As we walked closer we could begin to make out more of the building.
It looked massive. Even from this far!
"Maybe you will get that five star hotel." Killer said. I nodded, trying to bring the massive building into focus as we drew steadily closer.
It was a castle, that's the only word I could use to describe it. It was like a mansion but even bigger.
Windows started to come into focus, and the front lawn came into view. It looked overgrown and dieing.
We walked on forward until we reached a large iron gate that led to a wall that surrounded the whole perimeter of the castle mansion.
Nightmare walked up and kicked the gate, it rattled and shook on its hinges, but didn't move. Nightmare sighed before repeating the process, kicking the gate.
It was on the third attempt that the gates flung open with a crash. Nightmare turned to face us before bowing. "Welcome to my house."
We all stood in awe. No way this place was Nightmares. "YOU CALL THIS A HOUSE?!?" Killer yelled. "IT'S A FRICKING CASTLE!"
Nightmare shrugged. "Call it what you want. It doesn't really make a difference."
He walked through the gate and we followed. Looking around at our surroundings. There was a gravel path leading up to the front door. The stones had weeds and plants growing in between them.
The grass was also coated in ash. A poor willow tree stood solemnly in the corner of the lawn. Bent over, like a child that knows they've done something wrong.
It's leaves were a sludgy green, (the colour of dieing leaves) the bark was only just visible through the fonds of the tree. It looked old and decayed.
The house - no, mansion looked alright though. There was ivy choking the black brick walls and the windows were so dusty you couldn't see through them.
But that's not a problem seeing as we want to stay hidden. And I have to say this is probably the best place we've ever hid out at.
It's secluded in a land of ash and death, and anyone who tries to get here via the forest would surely get killed by the vines.
Nightmare walked up to the massive double doors and pulled out a pitch black key from one of his pockets.
"How long have you had that for?"
He looked at me smirking. "The whole time."
"Of course." I muttered.
The key turned cleanly in the lock and Nightmare pushed the door open, he practically had to lean his whole body against the door for it to creak slowly open.
We all peered over his shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of what's inside.
"Your kidding me..." Killer breathed. "You sure this isn't the Queens holiday home or something?"
"Very funny," Nightmare said, continuing to walk forward.
"This isn't real. Seriously, Dust your seeing this place too right?" He asked.
"Yup. I'm seeing it."
We walked into what I'm assuming was the main hallway, but it was so large that I would have mistaken it as a court room. This hallway was bigger than our entire house back in Craitown.
Nightmare stopped us as whispering came from one of the doorways, leading into what looked like a living room.
We crept forward, our shoes making soft tapping sounds as we tiptoed.
"Did you hear that?" Came a voice from the living room.
Nightmare crept to the doorway and stepped out, tentacles positioned threateningly, ready to attack.
No sooner than he had stepped out his tentacles relaxed and fell back down to his side.
"Nightmare?" Said a voice from the living room,
"It's just Horror and Lust." He said. Stepping forward.
We peeked round the corner to see, just as Nightmare had said, Horror and Lust on one of the many sofas in the living room. Lust was sat on Horrors lap, his broken leg propped up on the arm of the sofa.
They looked surprised at our arrival.
"Thank God we thought you had been eaten!" Horror said dramatically.
"Close." I said dryly.
Horror noticed Error limp in and blinked rapidly. "Woah. What happened to you?"
"Don't want to talk about it." Error muttered, slowly sitting himself down on one of the other sofas.
"Hey, um, guys?" Lust called.
We all looked at him.
"Was that crash from upstairs you?"
We all stared at him. "No..." Nightmare said slowly.
Horror and Lust looked at each other, worriedly. "Why...?"
"We heard a crash from upstairs, and then Lust thought he saw something at the top of the stairs." Horror explained.
Nightmare growled and we all turned to face him. He was looking up at the landing at the top of the stairs. I followed his gaze to see a shadow, standing to the side of one of the doorways.
Nightmare suddenly disappeared, reappearing once more at the top of the stairs, marching to whoever was spying on us.
The figure noticed Nightmare and visibly panicked, running back through the doorway that they'd been standing by.
Nightmare stopped, looking at the door.
"Search the house." He called. "It appears we have a stowaway."
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Yay another chap done.
But there's a stowaway....
Who could it be?
Idk...
-Jess-