"Hazel slow down!"
"Catch me if you can!" The eight year old skeleton girl giggled, spinning around to look back at her parents with a little wave before continuing to skip down the pathed path through the local park.
Killer groaned loudly, watching with an anxious expression as his kid hopped over all the gnarled tree roots that had broke through the path.
"Killer relax. She's a Demi-God, not your average kid."
The taller glanced to the side, looking down at his small golden lover. "Yeah I know Dream, but she'll still break down into tears when she trips over. It's in every child's nature, programmed into them."
Dream snorted, looking up at him in amusement. "Sure."
"I'm telling you, you just wait till she trips and falls."
"She won't."
"She might."
"But she won't."
"But she might."
"Killer."
"Yes love?" He flashed him a grin, sliding next to him and wrapping an arm around his waist.
He huffed, looking away quickly and blushing softly. "Never mind."
"Okay." He smirked, rubbing his side softly. "Whatever you say babe."
"What did I tell you about nicknames?" He muttered, pulling his jacket further over his shoulders in embarrassment.
"You wanted me to shower you in them through every second of our living lives?"
"What? N-No! I said no nicknames!" He squeaked, shoving his weakly to the side so that the mortal stumbled, nearly falling side on onto a bush.
"You nearly killed me!"
"But I didn't!" He stuck his tongue out cheekily and winked at him before dashing off after Dream, leaving his fiancé yelling out in fake anger behind him.
Hazel laughed in delight as Dream grabbed her hand and pulled her along, trying to keep up with her dad's longer strides. "Catch us if you can silly!"
Killer let out a cry from behind, groaning to himself as he jumped up to his feet and scrambled after the two. "I'm gonna get you!"
Dream glanced briefly back over his shoulder, panting softly as he saw that Killer was gaining on them rapidly. As he'd said many times before, he was a man of short distance sprints.
Within ten seconds he was right behind them. He let out a yell of triumph as he lunged forwards and slammed his body into Dream's, wrapping his arms around his waist.
The God let out a shriek, instinctively dragging Hazel to his chest as he tumbled down to the grassy floor.
The three collided with the ground in a tangle of limbs, Hazel shrieking with laughter, Dream with terror, and Killer with surprise.
They fell to the ground with an oof, all groaning and shifting a bit before bursting into hysteric laughter.
Killer reached round, tickling the sides of Hazel's waist and sending her squealing with laughter. "I caught you!"
"Nooooo!" She squirmed laughing until she was out of breath and too tired to continue trying to escape. She lay limply in between the two, a few stray giggles occasionally escaping her.
Dream sighed loudly, looking up through the green leaves of the trees around them and up to where a few small patches of blue could be seen. "What are you going to do now that you've caught us, oh great demon?"
Killer snorted and closed his eyes momentarily as he thought, a sly smirk forming on his face. "I think I'll eat both of you."
Hazel let out a scream, struggling in his grip as Killer promptly dragged her onto his chest and started to 'eat her'. That consisted of him simply nuzzling his face into her neck and make fake biting sounds.
"Dad help me!" She gasped, reaching out dramatically to Dream while still giggling hysterically at the same time as Killer attacked her sides with tickles.
The God watched in amusement, weakly grabbing onto his daughter's hands and trying to pull her free of 'the evil monster's' grip. "You shall not eat my daughter today!"
Killer let out a fake cry as Dream hit his arm, falling limp on the ground and letting Hazel roll out of his grip. He was playing dead.
"Aha!" Hazel stumbled drunkly to her feet, stumbling into Dream's chest and clutching onto him tightly as she stared back at the dead monster. "You can't defeat us!"
Dream smiled, situating himself on his knees so Hazel could plop herself onto his lap. "I'd never let any monster take you sweetheart."
"Like that goopy guy you told me not to talk to when he came round last month? He was really cool! I talked to him!"
Dream face palmed, rubbing her shoulders. "Of course you did."
"His wife? Waifu? I think he called him that, was very nice to me as well! And I really liked their kid um, Inc...Incu-something." She smiled happily up at him.
"That's lovely sweetheart, but he's around ten years older than you."
"And?"
"Oh god she's too young to have this talk-–" Killer opened an eye, staring up at the two.
Hazel frowned head butting Dream's chest softly. "But you're ages older than daddd..."
Dream went poker faced, his mouth open to say something yet no words came out. "I um-–"
Killer realised where the situation was going, so decided to solve it. He lunged at the two, tackling them down to the ground once more. "The monster is sTILL ALIVE-–"
——————
Nightmare sat still on his throne, grinning as he watched his two best fighters slowly tire out Horror, sending his axe flying away and skidding in the bloodied sand before spinning to a stop.
The older of the two stepped forwards, pointing a burning red knife down at Horror's throat and grinning. "Give up?"
"Fine!" He groaned, pushing the red tip of the blade away before rolling to the side and away from him slightly. "You win, mortal."
The other grinned, the knife disappearing with a flick of his wrist. "Technically you're supposed to call me your majesty."
"I'll die before that day." Horror grinned, continuing to lay starfished on the ground. "I'll call you my Queen, yeah?"
The monochromatic skeleton gave him a warning glare, the knife reappearing in his grip. "You sure about that?"
"Mm, Maybe?" He laughed dryly before suddenly slamming his leg into the smaller's foot, sending him flying to the ground with a yelp.
"Cross!" The other called, jumping back as Horror suddenly gained repossession of his axe and flung it at him. He hissed, jumping over his stunned parent and unsheathing his two katanas, the slick blades colliding harshly with Horror's bloodied axe.
The Demi-God grinned widely, giving the boy a toothy grin before swinging his axe back round to try collide with his head.
But the younger ducked down, swinging his katanas round to slice deep into his ankles.
Horror immediately let out a howl, collapsing to the ground and clutching his legs.
"Alright! That's enough!" Nightmare called, holding a hand up as he watched the scene unfold. "This is supposed to be training, not actual murdering, son."
"He went for my head!" He yelled, pointing at the fallen skeleton with one of his blades.
"Yeah but he wouldn't have actually killed you, he knows what I'd do if he did." He said, pushing himself to his feet and wrapping his arms around the small sleeping child on his lap.
"Whatever." He huffed, sheathing the blades and walking over to Cross -who was still on the ground- and helping him up. "You okay?"
"Yeah Incubux, I'm fine." He smiled weakly, dusting as much sand as he could off of himself. "Should have seen that coming though."
"You really should have."
Cross turned, looking up at his husband and grinning. "Disappointed in me are you?"
"Nah, just concerned that maybe you and our son might not be champions of my little tournament for the tenth year in a row." He laughed, resting their sleeping child on his hip with one arm so he could pull his lover into a kiss with the other.
The God had calmed down a lot as a person ever since Cross came into his life. He no longer fought with his brother, and he didn't go round trying to terrorise people just for fun anymore. Nineteen years ago he found out Cross was carrying their child, and he immediately focused his life on his family, not his power. Their first son, Incubux, was eighteen now, natural born Demi-God and the new holder of the title - Demi-God of darkness and night. Just like how Killer and Dream's kid was now the Demi-God of sunshine and light.
Then they'd had another kid, NiXss who was born without any God-trait. He's currently fourteen, his rebellious teenager stage just starting to hit. He spent most of his time with the dogs in the castle, trying to train them into doing stupid things they'd never listen to.
And then there was Moonlight, who spent most of his time with NiXss. He looked up to him a lot for some reason, and would forever try and copy what he does, despite being far to shy and timid to actually do some of the dangerous stuff he did.
Finally there was Noah, the two year old sleeping child clinging to Nightmare's hip. He was shy and quiet, but then again he was only two after all.
That was their happy family. So far anyway.
Cross hummed happily, resting his head on Nightmare's chest as he felt the taller wrap his free arm around his waist. He pulled back slowly from the kiss, his eyes sparkling. "There's no need to worry, my king~"
"Of course not~" He grinned, giving his cheek an affectionate peck.
"You know it's sometimes hard to believe you're a psychotic war lord Dad." Incubux said, watching the two with an amused expression on his face.
"Oh he is sweetie." Cross laughed, leaning against his lover. "I just make him melt for me."
"Pff, other way round more like." The God shook his head, snorting. "You act all tough in the arena with your knives but as soon as we're in the bedroom you turn into a begging m--"
"ThATS ENOUGH!!" Cross yelped, his face flushing darkly as he pressed a hand firmly over Nightmare's mouth. "No more needs to be said!"
"Yeah." Incubux rolled his eyes, looking away to the side before pausing as he saw something. "Uh...guys?"
"Yeah?" Nightmare glanced over, having a firm grip on Cross' hand, which he'd pulled away from his face.
"The floor's bubbling--"
That caught both Cross and Nightmare's attention. "What?" They walked over to their son's side to see that the floor was indeed bubbling, a black ink-like stain spreading across the floor in front of them.
Within a few seconds the stain had spread to about the size of a family car, causing the three to step back cautiously. "...the hell?"
And then out of the ink like stain, a figure emerged, two mismatched shining eyes staring directly at them. It was another God, their signature beige scarf somehow flowing out behind him despite the lack of wind in the arena.
"What the hell do you want skittles?" Nightmare asked, glancing distastefully at the God of creativity while adjusting his grip on the sleeping baby on his hip.
Ink stared at all of them, his gaze resting on Cross and narrowing his eyes. That caused Nightmare to growl, pulling the smaller behind him protectively. "I'm here with a message from Reaper."
"Reaper?" Nightmare blinked, tilting his head to the side. "I haven't heard from him for ages... Since that big fight we had hundreds of years ago actually. What's the message?"
Ink closed his eyes momentarily, a slow breath escaping him before he looked directly at the God, his usually colourful pupils going grey and dull.
"War."