12 - Christmas



I had been with Nightmare's gang for three months by the time December came. Apparently the universe where Nightmare kept his house had seasonal weather, and no heaters; it was cold. I wasn't opposed to the cold, but just because skeletons didn't have traditional heat sensors didn't mean we couldn't feel it; in fact, since we didn't have much of anything besides clothing, we probably felt it more. Living in Snowdin helped a little, but not much - actually, it didn't help at all; I was frozen, and Killer wasn't doing too well either. We were currently in the movie room, watching some old black and white movie from my universe; I could quote every line because I had watched it so many times, but Nightmare and Killer were enjoying it, and that was all that mattered. Nightmare was lucky his goop was warm; Killer and I were covered in blankets, which was actually comfortable, but the cold still got through. The movie was actually really good, and it was Christmas themed.


Christmas was coming up soon; a few days, I believed. Nightmare and Killer were really excited for it; I wasn't really too thrilled. It was just another day on the calendar; I had lost all excitement from any holidays during my exile. Paps never lost his childlike spirit, though; he's the best. He even helped me figure out what Nightmare and Killer wanted, since I didn't want to be like the guy in the movie. I had their gifts ready to go, and they no doubt got me something that I didn't need or deserve. It probably would be better if they took my hints and got me nothing; I didn't deserve anything they could have gotten me. For the sake of the 'spirit of Christmas,' I would allow myself to expect nothing and only nothing; if something was there, I would allow myself to be genuinely surprised for once. I thought Nightmare and Killer were starting to get worried about me.


"This movie's pretty fun." Killer commented.


"Shh." Nightmare shushed; he was really into the movie.


The movie eventually ended, and we all went to do whatever we wanted until we had to go out again; Nightmare allowed the balance to tip a little more toward the positive side during the holidays, but we still had to go out sometimes. I decided to do absolutely nothing and lie on the floor; the floor was cold, but it wasn't too bad.


"What're ya doin'?" Killer asked, staring down at me.


"Nothing." I responded.


"Okay. Nightmare wants to put up the tree now; wanna help?"


"Sure."


I lifted myself off the cold, hard floor and stretched a bit before following Killer to the attic. Nightmare had found a large tree, and was lifting it with his appendages. He left the boxes for us, which we carried down to the living room with small difficulty; I wasn't looking forward to walking them back up the stairs when Christmas was over. The rest of the house had been decorated before now, and all that was left was the tree. Getting it up was easy; Nightmare handled that part. The hard part was the ornaments. We had two large boxes of decorations, a tall tree, one ghost, and two short skeletons; Nightmare was taking a break from decorating, opting to read in the library instead. This was going to be difficult.


Killer and I decorated the bottom of the tree, while Paps started at the top; his levitation was getting really good at this point. I had pretty much stopped relying on magic by this point, only using it when I really needed it - which was never - for training, or in fits of utter laziness. There were so many things I could do on my own, and using magic just felt like cheating and ignoring my own abilities. Sure, many believed that magic was part of one's abilities, and I didn't deny that at all, but I'd discovered so many things I could do without magic; I liked to test myself. Papyrus was the best at magic, though. Within an hour, we were finished decorating the tree, and it looked pretty good; we wouldn't get any points for symmetry, but we weren't going for that. When Nightmare walked in, he looked impressed; now the decorating was finally complete, and we could rest. I had no problem with going to my room and falling asleep, which, consequently, I did.


Another nightmare riddled with dust crossed my path, and I didn't feel bothered by it at all. I didn't know why I kept note of that fact, but I guess some part of me thought that if I was ever actually bothered, I might have possibly had a shred of sanity left. Yeah, no; if I was sane, I would have severely questioned all of my motives from day one, and I would probably have gone insane just trying to make sense of anything; my sanity was gone, and I'd live with it. Being insane was more fun anyway. 


A few days passed, and eventually, Christmas arrived. We had to check some calendars from other universes, but we probably pinpointed the date pretty well; I believed we were within a day, so we went to sleep a few hours before it started, and Killer volunteered to be the excited one who would wake the others up. I volunteered to be the one who didn't want to get up. My dream was more exciting than Christmas, with the dust and the screams, but I still had to get up when Killer hurled himself onto my bed, instantly waking me from my dusty nightmare.


"Wake up! 'Tis the season ta get outta bed!" Killer exclaimed.


"Never..." I groaned.


"We can't open the presents unless ya come on!"


"Yes you can. Leave me."


"I won't leave ya behind!"


Killer then pulled me into his arms and ran me to the living room, depositing me on the couch; I guess it could have been worse. The presents were already under the tree, including the ones I got for Nightmare and Killer, meaning Paps probably put them there; he's the best. We all gathered around the tree, ready to exchange presents. I still held to my word to myself and expected nothing, though. Nightmare stood up and cleared his throat...if he had a throat; we couldn't tell with the goop.


"Okay, which one of you wants presents first?" He questioned.


"You can go first." I shrugged, looking at Killer.


"Ya sure?" He wondered, receiving a nod. "Okay!"


"All right, Killer, it looks like you have three gifts." Nightmare handed the ornately wrapped boxes to Killer, who looked more than happy to receive them.


"Thank you!"


Killer opened the first of the gifts, which also happened to be the largest, coated in purple wrapping paper;  this wasn't mine. When he opened it, he pulled out a small dagger, perfect for concealed weaponry; it was obvious that he liked it when he started spouting thanks. He then went to the second largest box, which was mine, surrounded in blue wrapping paper. My gift to him was also a knife - he really liked knives - except mine had a handcarved handle and a delicate engraving with his name on the side; he didn't have to guess who his gifts were from now. He gave me and Nightmare hugs before turning to his last gift: a small box with green wrapping paper. He opened it to find a watch and an earpiece designed for skeletons; he looked rather confused, so Nightmare explained.


"These are designed for communication between AUs so we can more quickly respond to eachother; opening portals and finding eachother can be difficult at times." Nightmare stated. 


"Ooh, how's it work?" Killer asked.


"Talk into the watch and you hear through the earpiece."


"Oh. I probably shoulda guessed that." 


"Dust, you're next, then."


"Oh, it's fine, you can go before me." I smiled.


"Are you sure?"


"Yup."


"If you insist."


Nightmare shrugged and picked up his presents from me and Killer. He only had two presents, since he already got his communicator. He began with a black gift, which was obviously Killer's; he pulled out a pair of reading glasses. He stared at them for a moment, probably trying to figure out if this was implying something, or somebody had noticed that his eyesight was slightly below average. Killer and I both noticed that, but Killer wanted to buy the glasses. He decided to take it as a compliment and smiled thoughtfully. He then went to my gift, which was again blue, and opened it, pulling out a book; I had painstakingly gone through every book in the entire house, including the library and attic, and managed to find one that wasn't here. He seemed overjoyed that there was something he hadn't read before. He hugged us both, and then set me straight up on the couch and shoved three boxes at me.


"Your turn." Nightmare said.


"Yeah, I wanna see what you got!" Killer jumped in his seat.


"All right, all right." I laid my hand on the smallest box.


The tiny green box was exactly like Killer's, and had the same contents. I equipped the devices and let my hand sweep over to the black box that Killer had no doubt wrapped. I opened it, reached inside, and felt a rectangular object. I pulled it out, revealing a camera; did Killer remember that I wanted one? I stared at it for a while before hugging Killer and saying thanks; I actually had my heart set on getting a camera after all the memories I'd made that weren't recorded, like the leaning tower of bread, or the ghost incident. After the hug, I reached over to the last gift, which was purple. I uncovered it, revealing the contents, and found a dagger, like Killer's. I guess Nightmare found a set. After a big group hug, Killer and I compared the daggers, finding that they were exactly alike: a pair, if you will. Now there was only one gift left to give.


"Papyrus's turn." I grinned. Killer and Nightmare looked shocked; I wondered why.


"Brother, I am a ghost! I don't need a gift other than your smile!" Paps laughed.


"Well, look what I've got for you." I held up the gift.


"Is that my old scarf?"


"Your old scarf! You're so smart, Paps. Here, take it!"


The scarf then lifted out of my hands and wrapped itself around Papyrus's head. Nightmare and Killer were looking a little embarrassed, but the reason seemed to escape me; maybe Killer was just sensitive from the scarf and Nightmare was just being himself. Either way, Papyrus was happy with his gift, and that was all that mattered. I was confused as to Nightmare and Killer's reactions, but I wasn't going to pry. Instead, I pulled out the camera and took a picture of their expressions; those were too good to miss. Overall, this was the best Christmas I'd had in over a decade. The reactions of my friends were the best gift of the day, and the only one I really wanted; the camera and dagger were cool, though. I still wasn't sure if the communicator counted as a gift, but in case it did, it looked great as well. I guess I ended up actually enjoying Christmas, contrary to my previous belief that I wouldn't, and I believed Killer and Nightmare enjoyed it too; Nightmare was already reading his new book while wearing his glasses, and Killer was practicing with his new blades. I was taking pictures of anything and everything; a magic camera with infinite storage should not have been wasted.


The rest of the holiday was spent eating cookies and playing games. Nightmare went out once or twice to do something, but he didn't tell us what it was, so we just played until he got back; he did that sometimes, but he had the right to, since it was his house, and he could leave whenever he wanted. Nightmare said he had one more gift for us, but we had to wait until the last few hours of the holiday to see it; Killer kept trying to guess what it was all day, in hopes that Nightmare would give in and tell him, but Nightmare stood firm. We had to wait until the twentieth hour of Christmas to figure out what the surprise was, and we were really excited; due to my promise to myself, I still didn't expect anything, so I would be surprised if it was literally a rubber band. Killer had given up guessing at the eighteenth hour, since it was no use; Nightmare wasn't going to let anything slip.


Killer and I were sitting on the couch when the twentieth hour struck. I was trying to get some sleep at the time, but I guess Killer had other plans. As soon as the hour came, he grabbed my wrist and started dragging me around the house, looking for Nightmare. It took about five minutes to find him - he was in the library - but Killer did find him, and I was simply trying to stay awake. When I was isolated, it was easy to stay awake for days at a time, since I got enough sleep for it, but now I only got as much sleep as I needed, and staying awake for twenty-four hours was out of the question. 


"Is it time already?" Nightmare wondered.


"Yeah! What've ya been hidin'?" Killer questioned.


"Well, come on; I guess I've been keeping the surprise from you for long enough."


"Yes! Onwards!"


Nightmare put his book and glasses down, proceeding to walk out the door, with me and Killer following. Actually, it was more like just Killer following, but he was taking me along; I just wanted to sleep. Nightmare led us to the first floor - the library was on the second floor, with an extra layer, probably because it was so large - and down a hallway. We stopped at the door to the basement, but I was too tired to formulate guesses like Killer was. We followed Nightmare downstairs to the luxurious dungeon, and I was half asleep the entire time.


"I got in a little battle yesterday while you two were doing your independence test, and I got in a rather sticky situation." Nightmare confessed.


"Does that mean.." Killer's expression filled with wonder; of course, I wasn't paying attention.


"Yes. We got our first prisoner; that's fun, right?"


"Oh boy! Dust, didjya hear?"


"No..I'm sleeping." I could barely stay awake, even being dragged through the long corridor.


"Repeat after me: we."


"Mm..we."


"Got."


"Got..sleep."


"Our."


"Our..."


"First."


"Fir-" I yawned. "First.."


"Prisoner."


"Prisoner..."


"Now take it all together."


"Mmm..." My eyesockets shot open. "What?"


"Yep!"


"Seriously?!" I had forgotten about my recent tiredness, bolting up.


"Yes. He's a little..unconscious at the moment, so he's not going to see your face." Nightmare assured - three months in and they were still calling me 'The Tree Guy.'


"So are we gonna guard him and other fun stuff?" Killer asked.


"Indeed; not all the time, since I know you two like to play together, but sometimes. Consider it a lesson in how to treat prisoners."


"Cool!"


We approached the cell where the prisoner was jailed, and peeked inside to see a sleeping skeleton. He looked pretty normal, aside from the fact that part of his skull wasn't there.


"Um..didjya.." Killer started.


"No, he's been that way. He comes from Horrortale. Call him Horror."


~~~chapter end woot~~~


Dust bean has happy holidays.


Thanks for reading my festive writing!


Bye!

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