"Ink-- the Protector of the AUs-- took a belly flop off the Mt. Ebott in Underfell holding a suicide note."

Nightmare made his announcement with a bit of a joyful tone to it, something he only ever had when he was either scaring the shit out of someone or spreading his influence. His signature grin was displayed, though it was more of a smirk than a grin at the moment. It showed all of his malicious nature in its purest form, as well as all of his disliking for the Star Sans. The announcement seemed to shock everyone in the room. Error, who had just been making a doll of said protector, seemed to tighten his grip on the thing. Cross's eyes were filled with horror, a gasp escaping him.

"Oh my Asgore, is he dead!?"

"Just some broken bones!" Nightmare's tentacles flicked dismissively, the master shrugging. "Just another worthless geek trying to imitate the people who actually matter and failing miserably..."

Cross's grip tightened as he tried to quell his bubbling anger. But his grip had become so tight that the chocolate bar he'd been eating got crushed in it, chunks of chocolate flying everywhere. Nightmare, who could sense his anger, snickered at his reaction to the news. Shaking his head, the survivor of X-Tale dismissed himself from the table wordlessly. Leaving the two out-coded skeleton monsters to their silence, with Error contemplating whether or not to follow him (but ultimately deciding Ink [probably] wouldn't want to see him anyway), and Nightmare filing the sharp ends of his fingers.

Cross knew where Ink would've been taken if he was in critical condition. Ink was soulless-- a secret that only he and a few others knew-- and technically couldn't die, but he could still suffer and become crippled. It didn't make him immune to everything. But he knew that he would've been taken to the Omega Timeline, as CORE!Frisk had offered the Star Sanses a safe space in their world. Blueberry and Dream practically lived there, neither of them really having a world to call their home anymore, and they'd take Ink there if he needed a lot of healing.

Cross pulled out his phone, calling Dream as he headed to the front of the castle. The phone ringed a few times, with Cross silently pleading he would pick up. The other end did respond to the call, but it wasn't the person he'd been hoping for.

"Hello?"

"I need to talk to Dream," Cross said. "Or Blueberry. Or even CORE!Frisk."

"This is the magnificent Blue speaking!" He responded with a laugh. "Hey, I thought I said to not call me Blueberry if its serious."

"Nevermind that!" He snapped, gritting his teeth. "Look-- Nightmare told us about what happened. Is he with you and Dream?"

"O-Oh.... y-yeah.... Dream's healing him right now," he confirmed. "But he's not looking too good... even if we know his secret, the only people who know how to kill him are Reaper and himself..."

"Can you make it so I can come there?" Cross asked. "Please... I know I haven't been the best to him, especially ever since everything with--"

"It's okay, Cross. I know you care about him," he chuckled. "I'll go tell Dream."

"Thank you."

Cross pulled the phone away, pressing the button to end the call. Shoving the cellular device back into his pocket, he pushed through the double doors to the castle. He took a running start, jumping off from the top of the steps and landing on his feet perfectly. His training in the Royal Guard paid off very well nowadays, even if he didn't agree with all the things Nightmare had him do. Did anyone have a good set of morals these days?

As Cross was running, he felt a chill go down his spine. It wasn't one from the cold climate of Nightmare's Realm, that was a feeling he'd gotten use to. This one was like someone was watching him or following him. This unsettling feeling only intensified when he heard two familiar voices trailing behind him. They were getting closer, too.

"Yo, boy..."

The voices of the deceased Chara and Frisk from his world chorused together, having an eerie effect. He shuddered as he felt their hands on his back, their ghostly state making them give off an icy chill. It felt like his very soul was starting to freeze up. The unpleasantness of it only intensified as their palms pressed up against him, their short fingernails digging into the fabric of his clothes. He refused to look at them. He'd killed one of them and he had a lot of experience and history with the other one.

"Keep it together. I knew you would go far...."

Cross shook his head, picking up a little more speed to get away from the painful reminders of everything he'd lost already.

"Now you're truly a Bad Sans. Smell how GANGSTA you are!"

A portal had opened up ahead, with Blueberry standing there, waiting for him. The survivor of Underswap gave him a small smile, his eyes offering his best sympathies. Words were never needed from him to know that he cared. Cross returned the smile, hoping his company would discourage the brothers' approach.

"Don't run and be quiet," Blueberry told him. "Dream's using a lot of energy to heal some of Ink's injuries. He's taking a rest right now-- both of them are-- and he has a migraine."

Cross nodded, biting the inside of his cheek. As Blueberry led him through the portal, he heard the mumbles and complaints of the brothers fading away with the howling wind. He let out a silent breath of relief, though the other skeleton still glanced at him oddly. Dream and Blueberry lived in a normal sized, normal-looking house. There were no flamboyant colors or decorations, despite what he and the others in Nightmare's gang assumed and joked about.

"Dream's in his room resting, so keep your voice down," Blueberry repeated. "You know how those twins get when they don't get their sleep."

"Hehe... yeah...." Cross nodded. "Um... where is....?"

"Just down the hall. Be careful when opening the door."

Cross nodded again and quietly thanked him. The Star Sans gave him a sad look as he headed up the staircase, probably to go and check on Dream. Cross headed in the direction Blueberry had pointed him in, his soul pounding when he heard a certain beeping. He opened the door carefully like he'd been told to, stepping inside and closing it behind him. 

He'd been expecting something horrible, but this was beyond his imagination's scenarios. He never thought he would see Ink in such a critical state. There were several machine hooked up to Ink's body, letting off a gentle hum and steady beeping. One of his legs and arms were wrapped in thick white casts. Pieces of bone were cracked and chipped off, and his head was tilted at an odd angle. At first, he didn't even think that Ink was breathing. He reached over to feel his face, letting out a breath of relief when he felt gentle breathing. It wasn't perfect, but it at least proved Ink was alive.

Cross dragged himself over to one of the chairs in the room, watching where he was placing his feet and the cords. He sank into the chair, burying his face in his hands. He thought about calling Error or texting him to let him know what was going on, but the thought left as quickly as it came. Part of him said that he shouldn't be taking pictures and that if Error cared, he'd come and see him himself. Another part of him argued that, even if he did care about Ink, he didn't have any right to see him. He was part of what pushed Ink to attempt suicide, he just knew it!

But... then why was he here? He was just as guilty.

"I-I-Ink... I'm so sorry!"

"Yo, boy, feel a bit punchy?"

The sound of Frisk's voice entered his "ears", causing him to gasp and look up from his hands. The dark-haired ghost of the child rose from the cluttered floor, the wounds that his conjured bone attacks left were still dripping translucent blood. The child's eyes were still closed, looking like thick straight lines. From what he remembered, Frisk was the nicer of the two, but it had been so long since they'd ever interacted. Cross drew his legs up from the floor, shifting on the chair, linking his arms around them at the sight of the ghost.

"He's not looking too well...."

Chara's ghost manifested by Cross's side, making the ex-Royal Guard flinch. But the ghost of his other half didn't spend much time acknowledging him, instead walking over to Ink's bedside. He walked through the cords and machines effortlessly, as a ghost could do without consequence. His voice was sympathetic when he said those words, but his eyes were narrowed and a grin was on his face, displaying his true feelings about Ink's attempted suicide.

"Still, you've earned that OVERWRITE Button," a new voice stated.

The tone of the voice was emotionless, but Cross knew who it belonged to. He looked up with wide eyes, not wanting to believe what he was seeing or hearing. A much taller, larger ghost was manifested in front of one of the monitors hooked up to Ink's body. They had large, pointy shoulder pads and white straps across their outfit. Their back was turned, but Cross knew exactly who it was.

"Come, join Gaster in hell!"

Frisk and Chara invited Cross to their world of spirits with that sentence, but their grudges and resentment towards Gaster was evident. Both in their tones and facial expressions. Gaster spun around, his cracked smile spreading from one side of his face to the other. His dark eyes struck fear into Cross's soul, freezing him in place. He extended one of his arms, offering his sharp clawed hand to Cross.

But thankfully, before anything else could happen, the door to the room was opened up again. The ghosts of Frisk, Chara, and Gaster all faded away instantly. Were they not supposed to be viewed by other people? Could others even see them? He didn't want to think about it.

The person who opened up the door was none other than Dream. This surprised Cross a bit, as he was supposed to be resting. He drew in a sharp breath when he saw just how bad Dream looked. There were dark circles under his eyes and his yellow pupils didn't shine as brightly as they normally did. Dream was always a bit sleep-deprived, but he had to have been taking extremely short resting periods.

"Do I look that bad?" Dream asked with a small smile. "Blue said I looked terrible."

"Because you do. You need to rest," Cross said. "How long did you rest just now?"

"For two hours."

"Bullshit, it was ten minutes!"

"Blue, language."

_______________________

Cross had spent the night with Dream and Blueberry.

After learning that Ink had attempted suicide, seeing his critical condition, and reading the note he'd been holding when he did it, he couldn't bring himself to leave. For once, the reason behind him staying with the Star Sanses wasn't because he wanted to spend more time with Dream. He didn't even send a text to anyone in Nightmare's Gang telling them where he was. He didn't care about it, either. But since they were going to run some more healing processes on Ink, he had to go back. He would just get in the way here.

"Bye Dream," Cross said as he gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't push yourself too hard, okay? Blue, keep an eye on him."

"I will!" Blueberry promised with a smile.

"I'm 504 years old," Dream blinked. "I can take care of myself."

Cross chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We all know that you would push yourself until you pass out."

The portal to Nightmare's Realm opened up, and with a final goodbye to Dream and Blueberry, he went through. He casually walked up the steps and to the front doors, but he felt like something was wrong. And no, this time it wasn't the approaching ghosts of Frisk and Chara. He glanced over his shoulder, giving them dirty looks. He pushed open the doors and walked inside. He was immediately cornered by Error and Killer, who both looked pretty ticked off.

"Where have you been?" Error demanded, blocking him off from the stairs.

"Epic has been worried sick! Your friend Red stopped by. He told us everything," Killer explained with a shake of his head.

"Everything?" Cross repeated, his eyes widening.

"Your depression? Your thoughts of suicide?" The glitch listed off. "By Asgore, you and Ink...."

"He even showed us your copy of Moby Dick, bruh!" Epic uttered as he ran over, holding the copy of the book in question.

Cross rudely snatched the book away from him, flipping through the pages of it frantically. There were sticky notes popping out of the sides, and a bunch of notes and writings in pen on it. All of the messages written down were talking about how he could relate to the text, and how much he wanted to die. He twitched a bit when he heard Chara's seemingly innocent laughter, but he knew that it was mocking him.

"He has your handwriting down cold..." Frisk mumbled.

"Please, bruh! Talk to us! Talk to me!" Epic pleaded, reaching out to embrace him in a hug.

"No, you wouldn't understand!" Cross shook his head, backing away.

Oh, how badly he wanted to lash out at the three murmuring ghosts, who seemed to be getting excited about something. How badly he wanted to slap Chara's smug face. How badly he wanted to beat Frisk's secretive smile off. How badly he wanted to bring Gaster down to his level and demand what he knew that he didn't.

"Try me! I've experienced everything that you're going through right now!" Epic cried, clinging to Cross desperately.

He wanted to push his best friend away, despite how much it would've hurt. He wanted to tell him that he didn't. That he didn't know anything about what he was going through. But as he was about to speak, the ghosts of his former companions started talking up a storm again.

"Guess who's right down the block," Frisk started, motioning outside.

"Your problems seem like life and death."

They are, and they always would be. He'd gotten himself involved with so much more than he'd originally intended to. He caused his friend, Ink, to attempt suicide. Thankfully he'd survived and the other two Star Sanses had found him in time, so he could get healed up and stabilized. But where were they supposed to go from there? How could they rekindle their friendship after that? Cross pushed past the three skeleton monsters and ran up the stairs, climbing and tripping over Error's strings as he went.

"Guess who's climbing the stairs!" Chara laughed after him, snickering at the way he was clambering up the staircase.

"I promise, they're not!" Epic called after his friend.

"Guess who's picking your lock?" Gaster grinned maliciously, closing his eyes in delight.

"You don't know what my world looks like!" Cross screamed back at the three, making Epic visibly flinch. ".... I'm sorry."

Cross fled to the bedroom he'd been given when he moved into the castle. He slammed his door shut once he was inside, locking it. But that didn't stop Frisk, Chara, and Gaster from invading his space. Chara had seen his room before, so he wasn't surprised by the mess of things around. Frisk, on the other hand, did glance around with a bit of curiosity. Gaster looked absolutely displeased with the mess in his room, as Cross had always been well-organized and kept his room neat and tidy. Cross didn't pay any mind to them, frantically moving his desk and the chair that went with it to block the door.

"Time's up! Go say your prayers!"

"Cross's running on, running on fumes now. Cross's totally fried!" Frisk yelled out, the volume of his normally quiet voice overpowering Cross's grunts as he wedged the chair under the doorknob.

"Cross's gotta be trippin' on 'schrooms now, thinking that he can hide!" Chara mocked him as he pulled the curtains closed, darkening the room.

"Cross's done for, there's no doubt now-- notify next of kin!"

"Cross is trying to keep him out now...." Frisk trailed off, frantically pointing at the window.

Cross's bones went cold as he realized he'd forgotten to lock the window. Closing the curtains meant nothing, Red could still get inside if it was unlocked. As he ran towards the window, he picked up his baseball bat. Chara and Gaster, as though they found a shared amusement in his pathetic attempt and clumsiness, snickered at his foolishness.

"TOO LATE!" The three of them screamed together.

The window was forced open with a loud bang, making Cross slow to a stop. He stared at the opened window with horror and disbelief, his arms and legs shaking. He dropped the baseball bat, though the sound was muffled by the carpet of the floor.

"He got in...." Frisk sighed, casting a sympathetic look at Cross as they all faded from view.

"Knock! Knock!" Red smirked, sharp fangs flashing. "Sorry for coming in through the window! Dreadful etiquette, I know--"

"GET OUT OF THIS CASTLE!"