We were sitting in the cell, awaiting the inevitable. Papyrus and I confirmed his and Chara's job when we were gone, which would be taking care of Horrortale and keeping an eye on the multiverse; somebody had to do those things after we were out of the picture, and they volunteered for it without haste. They would miss us, but they would get over it; I hoped. Papyrus and I had been through this before; we were seasoned, if that even made sense - I was insane, meaning that it didn't really matter. Paps is the best. I blamed this mess on myself, and I could see that the others were silently blaming themselves as well. I wasn't scared of death, but I could see that the others were, at the very least, discomforted by it; I felt bad for Error the most, since he couldn't die, rather being locked away for the rest of eternity. Nobody deserved that - not even Ink. Paps and Chara would also try to spread negativity when they noticed everybody suddenly getting happy, which meant everything, for the most part, was taken care of; I wasn't scared of my own death, but I was frightened of the others dying. I would accept my fate.

"I'm scared." Killer was crying.

"I know, Killer." Nightmare wrapped his arms around the scared skeleton. "I know.."

"Can I..call you..please?"

"I guess it doesn't matter at this point."

"I love you, Dad.."

"I love you too."

"So when's i' gonna happen?" Horror sighed.

"L-let's not th-think about that.." Cross was lying on the floor. "The t-time we have left i-is what's imp-important."

"They're going to make me watch.." Error was silently weeping.

"Dad?" Killer asked.

"Yes, Killer?" 

"What about Dusty?" 

"Dust? What- oh. Oh my."

"Somethin' wron' with 'im?" Horror was confused.

"I-is Dust okay?" Cross worried.

"I don't think magic deficiencies affect death." Error looked up from his crying. "Do they?"

"Not all of them..." Nightmare looked to me, receiving a small nod; it was as good a time as any to reveal a long kept secret. 

"What do you mean?"

"I can't dust." I sighed.

"Um?" Horror was unsure. "Ain't that impos'ble?"

"It would take too long to explain everything I know about it, but it's true."

"B-but how?" Cross questioned. 

"There's a certain type of magic that produces dust. I lost it. End of story."

"How do you lose that?" Error was curious.

"A severe magic deficiency."

"How exactly did you get that condition, anyway?"

"Can we maybe not talk about that?"

"Sorry."

"Dad?" Killer seemed to be losing control of his emotions again, and they had taken our communicators.

"Yes?" Nightmare noticed.

"Is it gonna hurt?"

"I don't know."

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"If..if we're going to...c-can we say things we've never said..before?"

"You're not planning on swearing, are you?"

"No! Just..stuff like..secrets?" 

"I see. I'm not opposed to it."

"Might get our minds off all this." I pointed out.

"Yeah." Horror didn't mind.

"S-sounds fun!" Cross smiled.

"I'll start." Error volunteered. "I've always loved sewing..and I like playing with puppets!"

"That ain't bad." Horror commented. "Why do ya keep souls in yer void?"

"Those are just in case an AU is somehow restored from a corrupted state, and because they keep me company."

"Ooh!" Killer got an idea. "What if we took turns asking questions, and whoever gets asked has to answer honestly, since we have nothing to lose!"

We agreed to this, and Error got to ask a question first.

"Okay, let's see." Error thought. "Nightmare, what does being covered in goop feel like?"

"It feels weird, like I'm constantly being bathed in slime." Nightmare admitted. "Horror, what is your favorite food?"

"Um..salad, but don't ya dare tell a soul." Horror warned. "Killer, how much knives ya got?"

"I think forty..or fifty.." Killer pondered. "Dusty, who beat ya up when ya got captured?"

"You picked the perfect time, didn't you? It was Ink." I confessed. "Cross, how did your soul get like that?"

"Oh, when Ch-Chara and I j-joined, our s-souls did t-too." Cross looked at Chara for a moment. "Error, h-has there ever been a-any human that w-wanted you to t-take their soul?"

"I don't think so." Error said. "Nightmare, if you could adopt these guys legally, would you?"

"Yes." Nightmare quietly chuckled. "Dust, how long were you in your AU after the resets stopped? If you don't want to answer this, it's fine."

"Uh..all right...Paps?" I looked to Papyrus.

"One decade, one year, eight months, two weeks, five days, eleven hours, and twenty-one minutes." Papyrus answered. "Are you sure you want to reveal this?"

"Yeah. To put it plainly, eleven years and eight months."

"That...that's a lot of..time..." Nightmare was astounded, and the others weren't far behind. "How did you survive that long?!"

"I had Paps." 

"I guess that explains a lot." Error looked a bit shaken.

"I guess. Horror, what is it about salad that attracts you?"

"I dunno, I guess jus' salad in gen'ral." Horror shrugged. "Killer, why d'ya like knives so much?"

"They're just so...cool?" Killer couldn't explain it. "Crossy, where'd ya get your huge knife?"

"Ink g-gave it to m-me..wh-when he made me.." Cross looked sad. "Uh, c-can we do s-something else?"

"Okay!" Killer thought for a moment, then got an idea. "What about stories?"

"Y-yeah!"

"Dad, can ya tell us a story?"

"Okay." Nightmare wouldn't turn Killer down. "Once upon a time, there was a band of merchants, and they traveled around the world, selling their products. They were best friends, and they would do anything for eachother; they would even give their lives. One day, they came across a large canyon, where there was a broken bridge. They didn't know how to build bridges, and they couldn't go around the canyon; they were stuck. They sat and thought for a long time before finally deciding to turn back, but there was an earthquake, and they couldn't escape. The world shook and shook, never stopping, and the merchants fell into the canyon. They weren't sure how to get out, but they knew that there would be other merchants to carry on their legacy, so they were happy, even in the canyon. The end."

"That story was sad.." Killer frowned. 

"So, we're merchants now?" I gathered.

"An' this's our canyon." Horror sighed, looking around the cell.

"At least w-we have eachother!" Cross exclaimed.

"Not all of us are going to have that luxury.." Error curled up in a ball.

"Well, we'll be with you in spirit.." Nightmare rubbed Error's spine. "I hope you get out.."

"Yeah.."

"Don't they give last meals on death row or somethin'?" Killer was hungry.

"That's surface prison." Nightmare responded. "I'm not sure if we'll be granted that here; I don't think so."

"Well, this must be the worst birthday ever. Sorry, Dusty."

"It's fine, I've had other birthdays." I huddled closer to Nightmare and Killer.

"Well, I gotcha a knife; not that it matters now.."

"I sewed you a pair of gloves.." Error sighed.

"I was going to give you a copy of part of the book.." Nightmare wrapped one of his arms around me.

"I foun' a cool frame an' filled it with yer fav'rite pict'res." Horror said.

"Y-you said you n-needed a couple m-machine parts, s-so I got y-you everything on y-your list.." Cross stuttered.

"Thank you.." I hugged my family tightly; I loved them so much.

We hugged for a while longer before thinking of letting go; we didn't want to ever release our grips, because if we did, we might never have hugged again. We were awaiting our death, and the rest of the multiverse was expecting it too; we couldn't change the past, and now we couldn't change the future. Our path was set in stone, with no possible way out. We wondered what would happen after we were gone; maybe everything would move on peacefully, and it would have been like nothing ever happened, or maybe everything would have come tumbling down. As much as we wanted to know we made a difference in the multiverse, we also didn't want it to suffer after we were gone; we weren't terrorizing universes because it was fun. We were still hugging when the cell door opened, and the swapped Papyrus walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Am I...interrupting something?" The swapped Papyrus wondered.

"No.." Nightmare sighed, and we released our hug. "What is it?"

"Well, I was sent to find out where you wanted your dust spread."

"Dreamtale."

"Horrortale..Snowdin." Horror stated. 

"Somewhere. I don't care." Killer shrugged.

"Same g-goes for me." Cross joined.

"I want to be buried in my universe, with small samples of dust from my friends." I responded; they had each agreed to let me do that.

"You want us to bury your dust?" The swapped Papyrus was confused. "With the others?"

"..Yeah."

"All right..whatever you say." The swapped Papyrus wrote our requests down in a notebook then opened the door, revealing security measures; this was it.

We were handcuffed for the last time and solemnly trudged out of the cell with only our fate to look forward to. We took different turns through the winding hallways, eventually ending up in what looked to be an obvious execution room, with Ink facing down the door; he probably volunteered to be our executioner. When we looked around, we saw various deadly weapons and a few skeletons who would spectate this to make sure nothing went wrong; at least, we hoped that was why they were here - if they weren't, that was really sick. After we were in the room, Error was locked into a chair in the back of the room - he was to watch us die, which was actual torture - the rest of us were forced to our knees on the ground. We mouthed a few silent goodbyes to eachother before looking up to the one skeleton we didn't want to ever get close to: Ink. He looked proud; how was he proud of this?

"After all this time, I feel sorry that this has to happen." Ink was lying. "It has to be done, though. Let's get this over with, for good."

We were then forced to let our souls leave our bodies, which was rather painful, if the whimpers meant anything. One by one, we were going to be struck down. Cross was the first to go, letting out a yell of pain as he turned to dust. We never imagined that this would happen. Cross was always so kind and forgiving; he would never do anything wrong except his work, and he was one of the most loyal brothers a skeleton could ever hope to have. Error could be heard crying behind us, and I would be lying if I said we weren't crying as well. Cross would have been missed greatly if more people knew him; it was only Error, though.

Horror was the next to fall, obvious from his stifled sob, which was heartbreaking to hear. His dust fell softly on the floor. Horror was just a laid-back skeleton who would only care for his family and take anything pertaining to them seriously; he didn't deserve to go this way. we hoped his brother would take it well, because we weren't taking it well at all. We doubted it; his brother was always so close to him. 

After Horror came Killer, who made no sound to indicate pain, but rather, tried to make us know he was at peace. He was always so eager to make others happy, and he would brighten any day just by being himself; he was that childlike spirit that would keep the others in line, while causing as much chaos as he possibly could. I could practically imagine him jumping on my bed to wake me up or grabbing my wrist to drag me down a hall; I wanted that. I missed that.

Nightmare was struck down next, leaving me for last. He let out a small grunt as he turned to dust, and I was suddenly alone on the floor. Nightmare was the best dad any group of skeletons could wish for, and he knew it, too. He would never turn down a good joke or a sweet story, and he loved everyone that cared to love him; he would be missed. I hoped Dream wouldn't be too heartbroken when he got the news; he still loved his brother dearly, and everybody knew that.

I was last to be executed, and it hurt worse than the reactions of the others could have warned me about. I expected that, though. I felt the magic seeping out from my bones as I let out a sharp scream; it was just as painful as last time, except it was actually finishing. When the magic had fully left my body, my soul shattered, and my lifeless body fell to the floor. I heard a few screams, then they faded away.

Everything went dark after that.

Then I felt something I hadn't experienced in decades.

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Dust bean family die nooooooo

This was painful to write, whyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Thanks for reading my painful writing!

Bye!