Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Another day, another beautiful AU deterioating before Killer's eye sockets.

He had his fun with this AU he admitted to himself, it was really fun to just KILL every single person he came across a dying AU. So he was just playfully twirling his knife around, taking in his surroundings and smilling maniacally to himself.

Killer had no destination in mind really. If anything, he needed to get to his boss, he didn't want to get his ass kicked again. Pulling out his phone he checked the time, he wasn't really late but, eh, fuck it, he was going there early.

He shortcutted to Nightmare even though he was a good 30 minutes early.

"Hey boss, when are we leaving exactly?" He curiously asked, still fidgeting with his knife making it change colors at times.

Nightmare was uncharacteristically silent. Sure he was usually silent letting Killer and the rest do the dirty work. But he was... Scarily silent? Killer doesn't know, his boss hasn't even faced him so Killer decided to take initiative and walk infront of him.

His eye-sockets widened as he saw the King of Nightmares, holding a CHILD CAREFULLY! Killer couldn't believe his eyes!- Well- you get the point.

"Oho! The big boss is holding fresh prey! It isn't even crying either. Can I have the kill?" Killer once again held his knife out and slid it infront of his teeth. But surprisingly...

Nightmare pushed Killer's knife away with one of his tentacles.

"You will not harm this human here. Do you understand me." Nightmare's corrupted and distorted voice sent shivers down Killer's spine.

Not harm? Wait a minute. This was the leader of their gang. A gang of homicidal outcasts and now he's having a soft spot for a child?-

Honestly Killer was surprised. The only people who came close to Nightmare sharing his affection with was him and the other skeletons in the gang. But a child? Not even a child, a BABY, now that was a surprise.

Soon enough, Axe and Dust met up with Killer and Nightmare. And they were just as flabbergasted. Axe wanted to eat the baby while as Dust wanted to murder it. There was a reason he has 2 nicknames and Nightmare acted the same... Protective.

"Error will be finished with this universe soon. We will now take our leave."

Nightmare had the baby in his arms, one thing unique about this kid is that it had a [PERSERVERANCE soul. Pretty rare in this universe considering this AU was filled with Bravery and Kindness souls.

Dust, Axe, and Killer all looked at each other confused at their boss's behavior.

Nightmare opened a portal to their castle and walked in, baby in his arms. And the rest followed him shortly.

The clean and glistening walls to the castle no longer surprised any of them. Considering they've been living there for who knows how long. But Nightmare was still silent...

Dust finally had the guts to speak up.

"Boss, why're ya keeping that kid? It's just a measly free EXP." He asked, Nightmare looked at Dust, his Cyan eye light looking rather... Timid compared to the murderous and sadistic look in his eyes he usually had.

"I... I don't know..." He paused for a brief moment to look at the kid who he saved from a decaying AU.

"I have a hunch that I see myself in this child. Just wanting to survive yet... doesn't have any hope nor power in them."

His tone was soft and the way he looked at the baby he held in his arms was melancholic.

"If anything I will take care of this child and have them grow into someone powerful." He straightened his back and took a better look at this little kid.

The kid was female, skin as pale as snow, peacefully sleeping in the King's arms, with beautiful amethyst hair. A symbol of the soul trait PERSERVERANCE.

"I'm still confused why'd you take a puny kid like that in, but we support you boss!" Killer said enthusiastically.

"I.. I will.. try... Not to eat..." Horror tried speaking softly but it still came off as a bit intimidating.

"We raisin' this kid to be a murderer? Count me the fuck in." Dust had a very maniacal grin on his face but Nightmare knew he'd take it slow with the kid.

Nightmare doesn't know this feeling. Heck, he isn't familiar with himself or his motives on why he took this kid. But what's done is done. He'll figure out a name for this baby when all is settled.

Chapter Text

Nightmare stared at the little being, still in his arms, sleeping peacefully. What nickname shall he give you? A unique purple SOUL in a universe filled with BRAVERY and KINDNESS? That is quite the rarity indeed.

Killer, Axe, and Dust were also staring at this little bundle of joy that's been passed out the entire time Error was destroying the Universe itself. Sure they were more or less confused of Nightmare's behavior, but if you get raised in their vicinity then you'd follow their morals and their motives. Another Universe and or Serial Killer to add to the family.

"are you sure it's still alive boss? if not Axe can just eat it," Dust simply stated and the shine in Axe's eye light was scary. Nightmare just kept staring at your purple hair, with nothing to say, still contemplating on his decisions on why he saved this child.

All of a sudden you moved. This caught him off guard and made him sit up straight. The three other skeletons ran close to the baby, all their eye lights were now focused on the moving child infront of them.

You slowly opened your eyes and yawned. You saw the skeletons surrounding you and just started smiling. This brought a sense of comfort and disgust to Nightmare. Seeing your little smile accompanied by the pretty white eyes you had comforted him. But then again, positivity always did somehow sicken him to some extent. But your little face smiling at him overcame that icky feeling in him.

"shits so pure its blinding me," Killer sarcastically while poking your cheeks. Then you suddenly just bit him gently, his eyes sockets widened at this and he was tempted to throw you out the fuckin' window like a baseball.

Axe's face didn't seem to scare you, as when Nightmare needed a break from the positivity, he gave you to Axe. He tried to get you to cry but honestly, you just kept giggling. And that made him feel quite bad...

"...Kid... Not.. scared?" He muttered to himself while you just tried reaching his nose with your little baby hands. Dust was the one kept poking your cheeks this time. Interested about the little human in the castle along with murderers.

"dusty if she bites you don't throw her out the window," Dust perked his head up and looked at Killer with a bewildered look. "i'm not suicidal, i ain't lookin' for an easy death wish with the boss if i kill the kid." He said bluntly and that caused Killer to irk at his sarcasm for some reason.

Axe was just playing with you, tickling your nose and making you sneeze adorably. The warmth of your SOUL was comforting indeed. It reminded him of his old Papyrus when they weren't starving in their damn AU. While Dust and Killer were arguing about something, Axe walked away and just took you away with him, to the kitchen he goes. Sure he doesn't know what baby humans eat, but he just thinks its just bottle feeding with milk? Where would he even get a baby bottle?

Although he had milk since he's the one that cooked for all of the gang. He held you in one arm where he keep hearing you babble about something behind him, and soon enough he did turn around to look behind. "What's... wrong?.." The only thing on the table beside him was a cupcake without frosting, he thinks its a muffin but unsure that a muffin would look like that. How old were you anyways?

Axe turned the heat down on bowl containing the milk he was planning to feed you. And picked up the cupcake you were so persistent about. He gave it to you and you just took a bite right in the center. "Ah... Two years... old.." Axe figured out how old you were considering you were already chewing on the cupcake. Axe shrugged and let you lay on his shoulder with your little onesie while you ate the muffin. It was reasonable that you were hungry, you probably haven't eaten for half a day.

Killer and Dust soon teleported in the kitchen, concerned that Axe might have eaten the child. "AXE HAVE YOU- oh. she's eating nicely I see," Killer sighed with relief when he saw your big, innocent eyes just munching on a cupcake. Apparently, Dust and Killer were duking it out so hard that they didn't notice Axe walking away, child in hand, already feeding her with a cupcake. Great.

Axe didn't pay mind to the both of them, as he was focusing on the milk and you at the same time. "Need... Bottle..." He spoke slowly in order not to disturb you, Dust just sighed once again and shortcutted somewhere, came back with around 5-7 baby bottles in hand and tossed one to Axe. Of course he caught it without looking at the bottle and so he turned off the stove and let the milk cool a tad bit.

Your babbles are heard by all three Sanses in the room and you were already finished with your cupcake? Not a single crumb left and Axe was Visibly pleased that you didn't waste a single speck of the cupcake. His chuckle was low, his voice slightly vibrated his shoulder and you giggled once more. The skeleton put the milk into the bottle and shook it beside you to get your attention.

He took you off from his shoulder and made you sit on his arm, "you like the kid Axe?" Dust inquired while he gently gave the bottle to you. Of course you drank with no further words and was leaning on him, your warmth made him feel comforted and he nodded to Dust. "Cute..." Killer crossed his arms and grinned, getting close to slightly pinch your cheeks .

"anything you gonna call the kid?" Killer asked, "because i have a nickname already." Axe looked at you once again and he knew exactly what name he wanted to call you, "cupcake... Nickname is... cupcake..." He softly said.

"cupcake aye? well i'm gonna call her Little Ro, or just Ro. short for rowdy," Dust irked at the poor choice of nickname, Killer took notice to this and looked at his skeleton friend. "you got anything better?" Dust shrugged and walked closer to the kid, "i'll just call 'er what the boss calls her."

Killer rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out slightly while watching the cutie of the castle slowly drank the milk that Horror graciously prepared for her.

Oh he wonders what name the boss will give Little Ro.

Chapter Text

Nightmare didn't have conflicting feelings. Most of the time that is.

The sheer positivity you produce was literally quite blinding to him. It leaves him feeling icky... But at the same time he loved seeing that smile of yours. Dust and Error have yet to warm up to you despite living with them for over a year already. But Killer, and Axe already enjoy your company so much to the point that you've slept on the couch with them more than once.

As cute as that was, Nightmare loved the times he served as your father and your teacher the most. You were at the ripe age of three and able to speak, so he kept trying to find more basic and child friendly books from other AUs when he was keeping himself busy.

Although you seemed academically exceptional, you were still a babbling child and so a few infuriating moments here and there. You picked up his lessons quickly but then again, you were a toddler so his patience had to be monitored by Killer.

Baby materials such as diapers, milk, bottles, etc. Were no problem to the King. He would just get someone like Dust to go out and get what you needed. Which was not much as he preferred to steal the materials for convenience. Nightmare had no problem with this and even praised Dust for it as soon as he saw the price of baby materials these days.

What concerned the king a bit was the fact that your SOUL development was quite slow. The SOUL itself was healthy whenever he checked it, but it was incredibly moderate compared to the other SOUL traits. PERSERVERANCE was a powerful and incredibly useful trait, the ability to copy most or all abilities so long as the user wants to was impressive. But taking in the fact that you were no more than 3 years old serves as a good enough answer for your slow SOUL development.

Other than that...

Nightmare found himself calling you "My dear" often. He doesn't exactly know why, and he hasn't given you a name either. But you responded to "human", "cupcake", "glitch", and "little ro". But due to you being "nameless" for the time being, he can't really have you practice how you would write your name. Nor have an appropriate way to call you as a matter of fact.

Though it was a hindrance, it wasn't a big one. He will simply keep calling you what he calls you, he thought it was adorable and so did his subordinates unfortunately.

He was now walking out of his office, he was headed for the library where he would see you trying to get Killer's assistance for a book you want. Or when you just like to draw random pictures and Killer would be on his phone or something.

Once he opened the doors, his eye light immediately spotted you, as he thought you were playing with the crayons he got you. You were also pulling on Killer's sleeve to have him look on what you made, but the skeleton sensed his boss and waved at him, then you noticed him shortly after and wanted to be lifted up. Of course he obliged, he picked you up with this tendrils and you giggled, making Killer smile at Nightmare as well.

"Hello my dear. Having fun as usual I see," your smile was as bright as the sun, if he didn't have any tolerance to it already he'd be blinded. "Night! Night!" You cheerfully called out and his tendrils let you down into his arms. "Yes, yes, it is 'Night', no need to be that excited my dear." He pat your head then headed to the table where Killer was sitting.

"anythin' you need boss?" He asked and Nightmare shook his head, "I simply wanted time with my daughter as all. I had a hunch I'd find you two in here." Nightmare didn't even glance at Killer as he looked at what you were coloring. It was an adorable herd of sheep, it was oddly colored but it still worked. Three of the sheep's fleece were blue, then two black sheep with one of them having blue stripes.

Ah. How adorable, she drew all of them as sheep.

"Night, I drew sheep! Do you like?" You asked, your white eyes staring at him and he smiled. "I love it my dear. Keep drawing for Night, won't you?" Your eyes shimmered as Nightmare settled you on his lap while he sat with his ankle on his knee, assuring your position was comfortable. Then you picked up more crayons then Killer noticed it and he slid another piece of paper under your arms, you then started happily drawing again.

Killer for some reason had a soft spot for you. He would always take care of you, ensure you didn't fall while walking, and made sure to console you if you were crying. He was Nightmare's right hand man when it came to taking care of you, his go to caretaker to say the least. It was odd for him to have such a soft spot for a child he could use for free and easy EXP. But something in him doesn't want to kill you, but rather see you grow up and then test your skills in a sparing session of some sort. He ain't sure of shit but he wanted to see you kick someone's ass in combat.

Nightmare saw this as an opportunity to style your hair a bit, so his tentacles got a brush from a portal he opened and got to work while you were progressing with another piece of art. Speaking of your pieces of art, he always keeps them the moment you gave them to him. None of them went in the trash, he kept it in a folder in his office. If you ever grew up, asking him what he did with your drawings, he'd instantly take the folder out and show you.

He wasn't a perfect dad for you. Heck, he always reminded you that you couldn't call him "dad" unless the two of you were alone. Which was rare but you called him "Night" instead of the usual "Nightmare", that warmed his soul a tad bit.

He got a mirror from the same portal he opened and gently faced it your way. "Do you like what I did to your hair my dear?" You looked at the pigtail braids Nightmare put you in and you clapped your hands. "I do, I do! Thank you Night! Love you!" You spoke out.

Killer and Nightmare both looked at you in surprised. It had been a while since they both heard the word "love" instead of "LOVE". They both smiled at you once more and Nightmare kissed your forehead.

"I love you too my dear."

The night was spent in the library messing around after you were done drawing. Nightmare read you books whereas Killer just sat there and commented on some parts, his comments weren't exactly "child friendly" but you were used to it and just laughed along with Nightmare.

This lasted till you had to be fed by Axe, so the three of you excited the library. Nightmare gave you to Killer and you said your temporary "bye-bye!" to him while he waved one of his tentacles at you. You usually slept beside Nightmare so it was only an hour or two before the two of you would reunite once more.

Nightmare walked through the halls, your little drawings in had and looked at each one as if it was a masterpiece. His personal favorite was when you drew his gang holding hands with yourself in the middle. You were absolutely adorable with your little antics, yet scarily good at understanding Killer's snarky comments while you drew.

"These will be memories that last me my entire lifetime. If only you knew that as much as I did, my dear."

Chapter Text

"i'm sorry boss, i have to what?"

Nightmare sighed as he held you in place with his tentacles. "I need you to take care of her for a bit. Killer and Axe are on high risk missions and you know how Error is with her. High risk being that they might encounter Dream. I don't want him seeing my daughter. And I have errands of my own." He picked you up from the ground while you held a Shuckle plushie Error had made per Nightmare's request.

Dust was a bit irritated that he had to take care of the kid, but who was he to refuse. "fine. how long are you gone exactly?" Nightmare gave you to Dust and pat your head. "I am not sure. It is why you are off duty today. Her food are in the little containers, but she can feed herself most of the time." Nightmare kissed your forehead and the other skeleton holding you was about to throw up.

"Don't be mischievous, my dear. I will be back as soon as I can." You nodded and held the little turtle close to your chest as you watched Nightmare enter a portal then suddenly disappear. Dust looked down at you with a neutral expression.

You were an interesting kid to him. A specimen rather than a person in his eyes, in short, a hindrance. Nightmare has been softer these days, especially when your birthday neared. The last birthday you had, Nightmare didn't even step foot out the castle unless you wanted to. He wasn't jealous, but rather, why did his boss have such feelings for a pesky little human like you? But you were his responsibility for today, and so he just sucked up his pride for today.

"you hungry, human?" He asked, you shook your head and clutched the plushie Error gave you closer. Ah. That's right. Dust and Error were the only two that doesn't have a stable family relationship with you. They were fine with everyone else, but didn't like that a human was in the vicinity.

Dust tried thinking of other things to say to you, but you just motioned to be put down on the ground so he obliged, confused at your behavior.

"It- It's okay if Dusty doesn't wanna play, I won't make a fuss," you timidly said to him and he was shocked. Other than the annoying nickname Killer told you to call him, you were so playful and cheery with the others that he fully expected you to act hyper the the moment you were out of Nightmare's sight. It seems like you like to cooperate... He guesses that's how Nightmare taught you discipline. Cooperate and have a reward, be stubborn and he loses his temper a bit.

Dust scratched the back of his neck trying to think of ways to keep the kid happy per Nightmare's command. "BROTHER! JUST TAKE THE HUMAN OUT FOR A WALK!" The ghost Papyrus in him mentioned. You never really went out of the castle, only a few feet out in the snow and Nightmare would bring you back inside claiming a child as young as you isn't recommended to be out in the cold so often.

"say little human, want to go further out of the castle?" Your eyes showed curiosity. Good sign for Dust. He held out his gloved hand and you took it, you really wanted to go out huh. No hesitation on grabbing his hand in the first place.

Dust picked you up once again, "we have to get you wrapped up first. that shirt and those shorts aren't gonna last ya long little human. any idea where the boss keeps your winter clothing?" You nodded, "Office, in the closet," great, the kid was really cooperative. But she was shy, considering Dust did his best to ignore you and duties involving you, he just shortcutted to Nightmare's office to close off that thought.

He put you down and told you to dress up, he'd wait outside. You agreed and he shut the door softly.

It was strange being in your presence. It was almost like you had the same type of aura that spread as Nightmare had with his negativity, and with Dream had with his positivity. Yet your aura wasn't negativity nor positivity. It damn well isn't DETERMINATION, so he doesn't know what it is, but it was something strong coming from your SOUL. Which was weird and concerning considering Nightmare had mentioned your SOUL was weaker compared to other souls.

It confused him. But it wasn't his concern, nor was it his problem.

But why was he persisting to get an answer?

His thoughts were interrupted by the door being opened, you stepped outside all bundled up in what Nightmare got you for Giftmas. He also noticed he left the plushie you were carrying on your "dad's" desk. He squatted down and you still looked shy and excited at the same time, he smiled at this and stood up properly.

"ready to go?" He asked and you nodded after a while. You took his hand once again and closed your eyes, preparing for shortcut.

Once you heard the little ping at the end, you opened your eyes again.

Every inch of the ground was covered in pure white snow, Dust realized that you had white eyes, and that perfectly matched the snowflakes falling out of the sky. He thought that was a bit cute.

"let's keep going shall we?" He was starting to speak like Nightmare. Goddamn. But you eagerly nodded and Dust led you around the pine trees surrounding the castle. The sky was dark as usual, he liked taking night walks and with you being silent, he was even more comfortable than usual. The Papyrus in his head was surprisingly silent so he was able to enjoy the forest's ambiance to its fullest.

He looked back at you, looking relaxed yet stunned at the same time. He pulled out his phone and checked the time, maybe he could show you one incredible view soon.

Like he thought, your sleep schedule was a bit hindered but Nightmare wasn't around so unless you were truly tired out, you wouldn't be able to sleep anyways. It was close to sunrise in their domain. And Dust loved watching the sun rise.

He doesn't know why exactly, but it had something to do with seeing that big bright ball of light and not having to worry about a RESET. After Nightmare took him in, it was comforting to know that he won't ever need to replay something as horrid as another goddamn RESET.

These thoughts made him compare you to a RESET, but you weren't one, you were more of a refresh more than a RESET. Like how you would refresh a page and it'd load right back up to its regular state.

Ah.

He's figured it out now.

You were Nightmare's refresh button. You were a bright light to his suffocating dark world. It was true that you really resembled him in a way, you resembled him when he was still a prince. A helpless Prince at that. But now he's a King, a King feared by many.

And he was going to make you into a Princess, and then into a Queen that could stand proudly before her subjects.

A Queen that would stand by his side.

His Daughter would become a Queen that he would look at and be proud.

Dust snapped himself out of his trance and looked at the time. It was almost sunrise. Time really did fly past when you were doing something you enjoyed, that usually was killing or torturing but walking in the snow with a little Snowflake beside Dust was nice.

"hey, snowflake, wanna see something cool?" His tone of voice was much softer now, and your facial figures definitely noticed the change of tone. "Yeah!" Dust was delighted to hear this answer from you. "hold on tight alright?"

You held his hand tight as he summoned one of his blasters underneath the two of you. The blaster proceeded to levitate higher than the trees at a reasonable rate. You would stare at the ground and be amazed on by high you were. Not to mention you also noticed the new nickname Dust gave you, you liked it. You liked it a lot.

Then suddenly, the levitating stopped. "just be patient little snowflake. you'll see something cool over there," he pointed to the horizon and you snapped your head from looking at him to the scenery infront of you.

The sun was now rising, and it was a beautiful site to see.

Dust looked at you and your cute expression. The curiosity shifted into pure bliss, heck even he was smiling at the site before him. Although he thought something was in your eye when the sunlight reflected your eyes. He swore it turned purple for a split second but he convinced himself it was his imagination and he continued to focus on the beautiful site infront of him.

"Thank you for showing this to me Dusty!" You looked back at Dust and he pat your head.

"any time Snowflake. any time."

Chapter Text

"little ro~ i'm coming to find you!" Killer cooed while you held in your little giggles inside the closet you were hiding in. You were playing hide and seek with him and he was the seeker.

Nightmare was in his office pretty busy and he kicked you out because he couldn't focus without wanting to play with you and your little stuffed toys. Killer then saw you infront of his boss's door whining about something, he picked you up knowing exactly why you were whining and decided to spend his free time playing games with you. You were the daughter of the King of Nightmares, the King who tortured countless individuals. And yet you were still the same ball of light when the Boss first picked you up.

You didn't hear Killer's footsteps out the door anymore, so you were tempted to walk outside. But knowing the skeleton for so long, you decided against it. Sure you were only 6 years old, but your vocabulary and strategies have been matured by Nightmare to match an adult. Sure your voice was still squeaky as ever but your mind developed quick and therefore you understood most of, if not, all the gang's habits and why did them.

He taught you to wait for the correct situation rather than just charging into battle without a plan. And that enhanced your mental capability to match someone of his caliber. But he did not remove your playfulness and let the child in your still run wild of course, he wasn't planning to have you grow up that quickly.

Looking inside the dark closet that you were currently in, you picked up one of the hoodies that were on the hanger. You took one of them and slowly opened the closet door, peeking around to ensure Killer wasn't in the perimeter. Even looking up was a necessity, but he wasn't there... He could shortcut upwards and stay there for a while, but you sorta doubted he would play dirty.

Walking to the door and pushing it wide open was the easy part. If the noise attracted a certain skeleton's attention then...

"made a little too much noise! little ro!" Killer had shortcutted right infront of you, this was your chance!

You threw the hood of the jacket right at his face and then grabber hold of the sleeves while running to his side. Killer being confused about why his eyesight went dark all of a sudden, was now waving his arms in a random manner trying to get free. You tied the sleeves of the jacket into a knot that was difficult to untie, Nightmare mentioned what the name of the knot was but honestly you forgot. Only then did you let the skeleton go, he was now flailing around with no idea of the surroundings around him.

"Sorry Killer! Had to tie you up so you would 'KNOT' get me!" You shouted before running off to find Axe, and it was a terrible pun. If you wanted to win a game with him then you needed to get to another skeleton while he was occupied with his "dilemma".

You memorized the halls of the castle and just ran through every corner in order to reach the kitchen. It was really hard to run in socks though... You shook your head and tried to move as quick as you could. Axe or Dust would do, you just needed to meet with another person in the castle! You were almost positive Killer knew how to untie the knot you put on him and gave you shivers just thinking about what would happen if he caught you.

Occupying yourself with your thought was a bad idea when you tried to turn hard right into the entrance of the kitchen and ended up rolling and making more noise by diving into the pots. Thankfully Axe was there though. "cupcake.. what wrong?.." He spoke softly while you reached your arms up and he carried you effortlessly. "I win... Take that Killer!" You didn't make much movement, heck you only said 5 words and Axe understood that you were playing with Killer.

His chuckle was low and he rubbed your head, slightly ruining your hair that Nightmare styled for you but it was already messed up when you crashed into the pots.

"want to... eat? with me..?" You nodded at Axe and he took you and his plate out of the kitchen so that you could eat in the dinning room. You were simply humming as you poked the hole in Axe's skull. He didn't mind it being poked or even his eye being taken out, as long as you put it back when he says so. But you were curious on why he had that hole in the first place.

You also had the same question with Killer's eye sockets, Dust's eye light color, Error's weird black tint and blue string cheese tears. And you wanted to know the reason why your dad was so... Different compared to the others. He was goopy and had tentacles. But they all had the same answer, "we'll tell you when you're older" or "you're too young to know". But you just shook that thought off for now as Axe settled you on the couch.

He smiled at you and you smiled back, his grin was always so adorable, his bony cheeks always had that little bit of bright red tint on them. You never knew why skeletons could blush but you just shrugged it off as a universal thing, you didn't understand that yet so you would leave it for future you.

You and Axe just enjoyed your time munching on the chocolate treats he made. His cooking was always the best and he promised you that he would teach you how to cook once you've reached the stove. You were always excited to grow up just because of that.

Your ears picked up on a familiar shortcut sound, but Killer's presence was different from Dust's, so you looked back from the couch and waved at him.

"hi snowflake, heard you duped Killer real good in your little game." Dust settled himself on the couch beside you. You nodded excitedly and proceeded to explain how you duked Killer so hard. Dust sure was enjoying himself, laughing his bony ass off that a serial Killer like him was fooled by a 6 year old child. Letting out a few giggles with him, you offered him a chocolate but he politely declined.

Another shortcut sound.

You looked back again and you saw a very grumpy Killer. He walked over and plopped to Dust's side instead of Axe's to make sure he was steer clear of you. Meanwhile Dust was still chuckling because the look on his face told him that everything you said was true. In addition to his knife being out and blue pieces of tattered and torn clothing was everywhere on him.

"looks like little ro outsmarted ya," Dust tried to tease, "shut it Dusty. i'm not in the mood for your ass games." Holy shit his mood was so bad. "suit yourself Killer, help yourself to a chocolate for a full sweet defeat from little snowflake." Even Axe chuckled at this and you were doing your best holding in your giggles. Sure you felt a bit bad for the maneuver you pulled on him, but at the same time you pulled it off so well that you were so proud.

"Don't be like that Killer! A fair game is a fair game!" You stated, "well if i knew a certain SOMEONE was too smart for her own good, i woulda had ya." Killer was pouting, and at this point so were you. So you got off from your original seat, stood infront of Killer, and just hugged him.

"Just forgive me already! C'mon!" Killer opened one of his eye sockets to look at you, "well i'm a 'frayed knot', little ro." You stared at him dumbfounded. Flabbergasted. Did he really act so bitchy just for a trash pun like that. But after your guard was down, he swooped you up and nuzzled your neck. "got 'cha little ro!" You were duped! You were now being tickled by Killer and now laughing endlessly, begging the man for mercy to stop tickling you.

Axe and Dust just smiled at the site being held beside them.

They knew Killer couldn't and wouldn't stay made at you of all people. You were smart and strategic, Nightmare taught you to be that way in any situation. Adding the element of surprise to attacks was Killer's thing, not Nightmare's. So he was quite overjoyed when you used the tactics he always used. The war was over between the both of you, but you remained on his lap in order to pay back for the hoodie he trashed. You told him it was his problem but he disagreed with you, not an issue though, you liked being held.

Nightmare soon came out of his office and saw you and Killer, sound asleep after the roughousing you did. And his other subordinates were taking pictures.

Needless to say he joined in the fun with his own phone.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Nightmare had a dilemma. A HUGE. Dilemma.

Another fight against Dream was coming up, considering his brother's taste in strategy, he knew exactly where to cut them off. Unfortunately for him though... He can't exactly leave YOU alone in the castle. You've never been left alone unless you were in the bathroom, or getting ready to sleep.

On the other hand, you were maturing generally nicely. You're smarts rival Axe, Killer, and Dust combined, that was Nightmare's influence of course. And you understood Nightmare's motives for his crave of negativity, and general sadism towards AUs. Heck, you know all the reasons on why your family was so batshit crazy with outsiders. Killer and Dust taught you how to properly torture someone but that's not the point.

What was he gonna do? Dream was someone who tries to take advantage of Nightmare without killing a soul. It irks him, but that means if Dream somehow spots you, he will take you from Nightmare and try to reason with him. Why were you a big interference? Because Nightmare was still your dad, and you were still his daughter. He'd be enraged and held in a state of panic if you were ever to be in Dream's presence.

Not to mention your SOUL was still visibly weak. That scared him even more.

He hasn't taught you how to fight as he was waiting for your soul to mature. And yet, the latest maturing SOUL age for a child was 6 years old, you were 8. Killer and Dust might have SHOWN you how to do things, but they didn't TEACH you what you needed to know.

Everyone needed to be in this fight for tactical advantage reasons, and Ink always pulls something out of his bony ass.

He reviewed his notes once more.

Dream would always be targeted by Nightmare and Killer, then Blue would take on Axe and Dust, Error will handle Ink. With the addition of the royal guards in that AU... Yeah. He was running out of options.

And even if Nightmare stayed on the sidelines to protect you, Dream would notice it being a bit suspicious and therefore always go for him instead of his subordinate. The vice versa is true if Killer is the one of babysit you. But that was better than leaving you in the castle and have the risk of Error and Ink dueling it out and finding you.

What was he supposed to do?

How was he going to keep you safe?

He had limited time before they could strike the "Star Sanses" at their most vulnerable moment. He had no choice, he was going to have Killer babysit you like he always has, but this time, if Killer fails.

All bets were off for Nightmare.

Nightmare exited his office with your a mini-jacket he tailored himself for you, it was a black jacket with similar fluff to Killer's hoodie. Killer, Axe, Dust, and Error were all in the living room waiting for the big boss to give his judgement. You were sitting in between Killer and Dust, knowing how risky their situation was as a whole was scary. And you've felt pure fear infront of your face whenever your dad lost patience.

"how are we gonna do this, boss?" Killer asked Nightmare as he pet your head. You were too tense to even react at his movement, and yet you still looked at your dad with unsure eyes. Nightmare sighed and tossed your jacket to you, of course you caught it with relative ease and put it on but... Knowing why he gave you the jacket, knowing you were coming alone for the mission. It sent shivers down your spine.

"You're on babysitter duty as usual, Killer. If you fail me-" you cut your dad off, "I'll behave! I swear I'll follow Killer everywhere! Just- if he does lose me, don't do anything to him. Please dad!" You begged infront of him. If he finished that sentence... Then the moment Killer loses sight of you, he'd be- unable to battle to say the least.

Everyone in that room stared at you, Killer's eye lights focusing directly on your eyes. Then he laughed, and once he looked at you again, his soul changed from a heart with two rings, to a target. His eye lights were gone now. Oh he was serious about this.

"don't 'cha worry little ro! killer's got you!" He stood up and held his hand, you took it without hesitation, and that gave Nightmare the confidence to keep with his original plan and opened a portal to the AU they were going to destroy.

Error barely hesitated when he sent his strings before himself into the portal. Bringing chaos to anything, and everything there. Dust ran in as soon as Error stepped foot in the portal, and Axe followed slowly. Killer held your hand tightly as you both entered the portal everyone got in first, Nightmare was right behind you as you felt the negativity of your home disappear. That made you whine a bit but you weren't uncomfortable in this AU.

"little ro, up for a piggy back ride? promise i won't get any blood on ya!" Killer offered excitedly, and you wrapped your arms around his neck(?) then wrapped your legs around his waist as he stood up properly.

"Counting on you to keep her safe, Killer." Nightmare stood infront of Killer as the skeleton saluted to his boss. Nightmare kissed your forehead before heading off to do this job.

To bring despair to the AU they were in.

While the big boss was doing his job, you were holding onto Killer particularly well while he sliced and diced anyone and everyone who came across his way. You were Killer's compass, pointing to who you wanted to see dead. Yeah you've seen every single one of your family members kill someone. It was no big deal actually, you waited for the day your dad allowed you to wield a weapon of your own and mince your enemies to pieces.

Then a portal opened from the sky.

Positivity shimmered out of it and Killer felt you shiver. "ya okay little ro?" You buried your head in his fluff, "Nightmare's related to that? Eugh... I'm rethinking about meeting my uncle..." Killer laughed at you while Dream, Blue and Ink stepped out of the portal.

You generally knew what they looked like, but you didn't know what they were capable of. Usually Killer would be rushing to slice Dream's skull off his neck, yet he wasn't moving, his eye light returned and his soul reverted back, he put you down and got into a defensive position. This wasn't like him, but he was playing it safe for once...

"Nightmare's causing a huge block of trou-BLE-!" The skeleton named Ink could barely finish his sentence before he was dragged by Error's strings and Gaster blasted into oblivion. Dust jumped out along with Axe to take on and overwhelm Blue while the royal guard was still on their asses.

You let out a little giggle once you saw your family having fun, unfortunately though... That single brink of positivity caused Dream to look your way. His yellow positive glow almost blinded you, you were used to your dad's dark menacing aura.

"Get away from that child Killer!" He aimed his bow at you and Killer picked you up then ran for it. Wherever Killer dragged you off too, Dream would follow. Fortunately, Killer carried you in a way where you could see Dream's movements and patting his back to give him signals of wear to move. Too risky shortcut for the main reason your soul always acted weirdly to a shortcut.

"gotta get ya to boss little ro, mind me using a little blue on that soul of yours?" He asked you but honestly you weren't sure. It was to get away from dream though so- "KILLER GO! THROW ME!" You shouted as Dream unleashed a bigger arrow and was slowly catching up.

Killer's magic squeezed your SOUL and you tried tanking through it. He launched you all the way over to Nightmare who was standing on a building terrorizing people. Killer's blue magic faded after a while of flying and you called out to your dad, his head snapped in your direction and he caught you with his tentacles, ensuring a soft landing.

"What's wrong my dear? Did Dream find you?" You nodded and pointed in Dream's direction. Killer was doing a stellar job of holding Dream off so Nightmare smirked and held you close. "Stand close to me, my dear. Killer has done a stellar job, has he not?" One of Nightmare's tentacles held you close to you and you softly nodded at his question. Eyes shimmering at the beauty of destruction presented before you.

"Dad... When will I be able to go on missions with you all? When will my soul feel better?" You asked him as he rubbed your shoulder, you were clutching on his waist. "Kids... Have different maturing rates. Your soul is as close to a very late maturing rate. But I will figure out when your soul will mature, I promise you that." Nightmare told you softly, it wasn't a lie, he was going to try his absolute best with this conundrum of his.

The soft moment you had between the two of you when Ink was thrown across a portal by Error. He barely missed Nightmare and your dad's tendrils went chaotic for a bit. Ink gained composure pretty easily though, "wh- nightmare you really steeped that low to kidnap a child?!" Ink's eye lights were flashing different colors as he blinked. And something in you wanted to try to read all the combos and coordination connecting to his emotion.

"YOU SSS-TUPID RAINBOW GLITCH!" Error's glitchy voice spoke while blasting more bones at Ink. The colors of the blasts and counter attacks had always astonished you in such a way that you wanted to be in the middle of that. Yes it was deadly but you were curious. You were never going to do it though. Nightmare was still agitated at the careless movement of his subordinate and began scolding him.

A shortcut sound caught your attention, you instinctively looked back, expecting Axe or Dust.

Then someone took a hold of you. Lifted you up and then jumped back.

"WH-WHA-" you stuttered, stammered and struggled to get free from Blue. "WOWIE! A SMALL HUMAN! HOW DARE YOU FIENDS TAKE AN INNOCENT HUMAN BEING CAPTIVE INTO YOUR EVIL GRASPS! YOU WILL PAY." Blue stated with stars in his eyes. You were hyperventilating a bit, you weren't with Nightmare. You didn't like this much positive energy.

"Let me go!" You tried reaching to Nightmare but Dream joined in the chaos with Killer as Ink opened a portal for Blue. Nightmare was struggling to multitask as his brother and his daughter was in the same place, at the same time. This stupid royal guard just wouldn't budge! But being so overwhelmed with what was happening, you couldn't find the words to speak out! Your soul hurts. It hurts-it hurts-it hurts-it hurts-it hurts-it hurts. It H U R T S.

Your eyes were watering when Blue stepped foot on the portal, "We'll be taking this poor child with us." Dream stated as he followed into the portal. Nightmare was going haywire at this point and Error was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

Then tears started running down your face.

"LET GO OF HER!"

Nightmare demanded once he saw your face and struck his tentacles directly towards the portal. Dream told Blue that the AU was no more as they got there too late. But the objective changed as Blue, Ink, and Dream all saw you. Rescue you from Nightmare's grasp.

"DAD HELP ME PLEASE!"

You screamed before the portal closed and Nightmare's tendrils went haywire once more once that portal with you in it disappeared into god knows what AU.

"FIND HER! RESCUE HER- DO WHAT FUCKING IT TAKES TO GET MY DAUGHTER BACK!" Nightmare growled at his subordinates. Rage filled his mind, the worst-case scenario happened and it was HIS fault! He should have been with you and Killer the entire time. He wasn't having it. His stupid shit-show of a brother kidnapped you! He was going to leave this AU to waste eventually, you were his priority.

And he was going to do everything in his power to get you back.

Chapter Text

You were still weeping when you got pulled into the portal then it suddenly closed. Dream, Ink, and Blue all tried to comfort your sobbing fit, but you just swatted them off and acted bratty. You didn't want to be "saved" yet you were forced to come with the Star Sanses regardless of your decision. You stopped crying after a while though, you simply stopped talking and buried yourself in the hoodie you were wearing.

Although you weren't going to cooperate with them. You were going to take this time to observe where you were.

Outertale. One of Error's favorite AUs. A space inspired AU, its skies were beautiful and the ambience was nice. But Nightmare's castle was better. It was better in more ways that one as a matter of fact! The castle had Axe, Dust, Killer, and most importantly, your Dad, Nightmare. Outertale had none of that and therefore you refused to even look at the sky.

"I don't think she's going to talk, Dream. Did Nightmare brainwash her?" Ink asked, "My brother has brainwashed plenty of people... Monsters included..." Dream had his hand on his chin. They knew nothing about Nightmare. Making stupid baseless assumptions about your Dad. He doesn't LIKE brainwashing people.

He simply liked collecting broken toys.

Your Dad gave you all a home, good food to eat, and a purpose to serve. He defied fate for those he loved, and he destroyed the fate of those who gave LOVE. For those who want to hurt his family, to hurt his subordinates, he would make sure that their purpose would be to die a painful death generously given by none other than the King of Nightmare's they all feared.

"SHUT UP!" You shouted at them, standing up you gained your confidence to speak.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NIGHTMARE! YOU'VE BEEN SO DISCONNECTED FROM REALITY FOR SO LONG THAT YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT IF I WANTED HELP! YOU THREE ARE THE BAD GUYS HERE! Saving people that don't want or even NEED to be saved- what if someone wanted to commit suicide huh? HUH?! Some people don't want to be rescued like useless pieces of shit by the likes of you three."

Catching your breath, you clutched your chest to make sure you weren't going to collapse on yourself.

"I WANNA BE WITH MY DAD! I WANNA BE WITH KILLER, AXE, DUST, AND EVEN ERROR! ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN STAYING WITH THE DISGUSTING LIKES OF YOU!"

Your tears were welling up in your eyes again. Dream and Ink had mixed and confused expressions on their faces. It was like they were reality slapped so hard that they were rethinking their life decisions. You mentioned suicide, suicide is death caused by injuring oneself with the intent to die. And you knew you made your point clear. And yet... It looked like the last member of theirs wasn't even taking you seriously.

"MWEHE! CHEER UP HUMAN! YOU AREN'T IN THOSE HORRIBLE PEOPLE'S GRASP ANYMORE! YOU'RE SAFE WITH US!" Blue pat your shoulder's as he tried to cheer you up. But you nudged him away and kept your face hidden in the dark space of your hoodie. They didn't even bother to speak with you without treating you like a child. At that point you just kept silent and ignored all of them.

Then a familiar sensation went over you. You cautiously looked up at your surroundings, you were now in this beautiful golden world. Thousands of pieces of paper floating around in the golden abyss. In contrast to the AUs you've been too, this place had your soul at ease. The papers were all floating and rotating at their own rates... Were these what they called AUs?..

Blue and Dream had other duties to attend to so they entrusted Ink to get you to talk. Considering if he talks enough to annoy you, you would eventually speak. Ink noticed your gaze, "Interested in AUs little human?" He called you out with a smile. His yellow star and blue circle eyes were his usual eye lights. It represented happiness you presumed, but you ignored his attempts to get you to talk.

"What's your name eh?" Ink asked you, sitting beside you on the rock while you fiddled with the strings of your jacket. A name? Not a nickname? All Nightmare and his gang had called you were nicknames... You responded to them all sure but... You... You didn't have a name. Nightmare never gave you one as a matter of fact.

Ink became aware of your expression, confused but accepting of the situation at hand.

"Nightmare didn't give ya a name, did he?" He asked, expecting your reaction to be huge, and to his enjoyment, it was a huge reaction.

"YOU-! YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" You screamed, pointing fingers at him. And to your dismay he laughed, you had realized he was trying to provoke you. And you completely fell for it... Your cheeks heated up at the realization at he had succeeded in his mission into getting you to talk.

So Ink just initiated more and more conversations involving Nightmare or some other member and you'd immediately defend them. He kept on triggering your angry switch while he stockpiled information about you and the others who took care of you. Sure he already knew a lot of information about Nightmare's gang, and everything you told him he almost knew. But it was funnier this way.

It unfortunately ended up with you getting tired from all the stress and pressure you've been in. Ink was curious on why you clutched your chest when your actions became sluggish, Ink took this as a sign that you should get some rest. Ink couldn't teleport like Nightmare, but he used his portals to get around, and in this case... He brought in an extra bean bag for you to lay on.

You were skeptical. Very skeptical. What if he moved you the moment you fell asleep on that bean bag? Nightmare would have less chances of finding you then. But Ink reassured you he had no plans to do anything whatsoever. Dream and Blue were going to take initiative of you once they had come back to their duties as guardians. So you just settled yourself on the bag and slept facing away from Ink.

Dreaming about Nightmare's castle made you restless in your sleep. The bean bag was comfortable, it was even color purple, but you just missed your Dad's embrace when you had a nightmare. He would absorb the negativity and then try and comfort you as best as he could. Till this day, he was still learning how to properly comfort a child. At least he was trying.

When you groggily woke up from your rough sleep, imagine your surprise when you were gently being lifted by strings. Your eyes adjusted to the bright golden light of the realm and looked up. Error was pulling you up, the background from his portal was a pure white, was he taking you to his anti-void?

You looked below you and saw Ink just sketching infront of where you were sleeping. Not paying attention that you were already being truly rescued. Making sure not to squirm to make it easier for Error was easy. And Error's plan was going very smoothly, at this pace, you were going to be back in Nightmare's arms in a few minutes.

Except that... This was getting too easy. So the universe decided to FUCK you over.

Dream and Blue came out of a portal and you tugged on Error's strings trying not to be loud. Error soon got the signal and started to pull quicker.

Then an arrow barely shot past you.

"INK THE HUMAN IS BEING KIDNAPPED BY ERROR!" Blue and Dream said in unison. Ink looked up from his drawing spot and immediately acted. He was oblivious but he was quick- Ink made strings of his own ink and aimed at Error. Fortunately you were able to get up before Ink's strings got to you. But that doesn't mean Error got off with an easy rescue...

Ink had scored a bullseye and was now pulling Error downwards towards the golden void. You acted in panic and grabbed onto Error's strings, you were now playing a game of tug of war with the Star Sanses.

The portal's outer glitches served as a wall for you to gain resistance to their pulling, but you were losing your grip on the blue strings that wrapped around your body before.

"OI GGLL-ITCH! JUST LET GO! I'LL BE FINE OVER HHH-ERE!" Error's corrupted voice spoke to you. But you shook your head.

"NO! YOU RESCUED ME! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE!"

Your purple soul illuminated the blank void that Error threw you in. You copied Error's strings and was now trying to get back one of your family members from the Star Sanses. You were basically playing tug of war with them, Ink used Error's remaining strings in addition to his own to pull him downwards, while you were using your own strings to pull Error up. Your eyes had a strong tint of purple glowing on them, like a Sans who would use their abilities on a PLAYER in a genocide route.

Knowing you have the power to save your family, it fills you with PERSERVERANCE.

Error kept the portal open while his hands were restrained from using his strings. Ink, Blue, and Dream were losing to an 8 year old child. Sure said child was receiving a soul buff but still. You were defeating the guardians in a tug of war battle.

"Human we are trying to protect you-!" Dream shouted, and you simply glared at them. "No! Error is my family! You are not taking him or me away! I REFUSE!" You were being stubborn and combined with your soul trait, it made you stronger.

Error's strings were a dark blue color, but even then, those strings turned into purple strings in your control. Error's eye lights were looking at the strings transforming from a painful blue tug, to a comfortable state of calm and strength. But even then. You were only a child, so once your grip started to slip again, you had trouble gaining back the control you had earlier.

But then, someone suddenly pulled her from behind. Bony arms around her waist, and the liquid hate dripping down his eye sockets. "KILLER! HELP ME DO THIS!" You exclaimed and Killer simply laughed. "we got a real powerhouse here I see!" He pulled along with you, making sure your waist doesn't hurt while you both try and pull Error up.

And eventually...

The game of tug of war ended with Error flying up and diving up to the portal because his old strings, and Ink's threads broke and your cables prevailed. He closed the portal immediately and panted. You were safe. Error was safe. Killer helped in it, heck, he arrived just in time before your SOUL started losing its power.

"You okay Glitchy?" You asked the skeleton who was now laying in his anti-void. Error started to chuckle and it eventually turned into a laugh. His glitchy chuckles surprised both you and Killer.

"COPYING MY STRINGS GLITCH?! NOW THA--AAT'S A MOVE!" Error praised you and brought you in for a hug. Error ruffled your hair as Killer watched you two play with each other. Error was the most distant from you out of all Nightmare's gang, you were happy that he was praising you but a bit confused on why his Haphephobia was ignored. "Screw calling you Glitch. I'm calling you Cipher from now on." You smiled at Error's nickname.

But there was something you needed to do before anything else.

"Dad- WH-I NEED TO GET TO-" Killer held up a finger infront of you, "calm down little ro, your dad is on the way. take a little break. we have a lot of explaining to do concerning your soul." You simply nodded at Killer and Error sat you down on his personal bean bag.

Why do skeletons like bean bags so much-?

"By ttthe way Cipher. Your soul feeling alright?" Error pointed out before handing a chocolate bar to you, which you politely refused as you wanted a heavier meal. "Yeah... Actually, it feels a lot stronger than before." You pulled your soul out of your chest, and noticed that it was glowing bright. Your soul was usually dull, was this the maturing Nightmare talked about?

You looked at your hands and got up from the bean bag. "Killer, can you be my test subject for a bit?" Killer's bone brows raised and he got up, initiating to do whatever you wanted to do with him.

Taking a deep breath, you put your soul back in its rightful place and closed your eyes. You tried to activate your SOUL's power once more.

Wanting to try something new with your acquired power, it fills you with PERSERVERANCE.

Purple string marks started to drip down from your bottom eye-lids until the base of your jawline. You pulled on these strings as Error would pull on his, and captured Killer's SOUL. You opened your eyes and started to play with him sort of like a puppet. It was obvious that Error's string control was something other than just waving his hands around.

"woah! goddamn little ro! you've got talent!" Killer cheered once you set him down, and Error applauded you from his seat. You blushed at this and bowed your head.

"That was a splendid performance, my dear." Your Dad's voice caught your attention and you immediately ran to embrace him. Deactivating your SOUL power in an instant, the purple tears subsided as you hugged Nightmare and he hugged you back even tighter. "I've deeply missed you my dear. I hope my brother didn't subdue you to any positive thoughts of his. And regarding your name-" you cut Nightmare off.

"You can think about my name when I grow up! And my SOUL is all better now Dad! Can I have Killer, Axe, and Dust train me now, PLEASE!" You gave Nightmare puppy dog eyes, and he instantly agreed. "i'm counting on ya keeping up Snowflake. we will go easy on ya," Dust looked at Killer to continue his sentence. "but we will make it challenging!" Axe let out a happy noise. But someone else protested. Someone unexpected cleared their throat and stood up.

"Sorry boys, but I'll be training cipher in magical techniques. She's talented. I'm not letting that stupid Ink blob slip away. Not with Cipher over here." Error pat your shoulder and you heard Dust scoff, "magic techniques are nothing if you don't focus on physical strength as well." Killer nodded and so did Axe. "training... Cupcake physically... nicely..." Axe slowly said.

"If you all put my daughter in danger I'm dusting you all," Nightmare said playfully and everyone whined.

Your SOUL had matured in an adrenaline rush state and it protected you from harm. Even offered up some nice new techniques and battle skill as well. Nightmare and his gang are determined to have you learn from them and eventually get your first ever kill. Of course Nightmare will still monitor your SOUL regularly, but you wouldn't be as restricted anymore as he sees your SOUL is perfectly healthy now.

You were glad to be back with your family.

Chapter Text

"Don't overexert yourself, my dear. No need to master everything all at once," Nightmare softly said while patting you back. On the other hand, Dust was waiting for you to get back up for your to continue your training.

After multiple months of visiting Science Sans and making sure your soul is stable. Then when Nightmare was finally assured that you were going to be alright in battle circumstances, it was finally time for you to start your training. Killer, Axe, Dust, and Error would all take turns in their training times. Killer had his turn, Error was on Duty, Axe was cooking something up, so Dust was willing to train you with your physical activities.

"boss i wonder if you're too soft with her sometimes, the kid's got potential and it shows. let's keep going snowflake, don't wanna kill the momentum." Dust held out his hand and you took it easily. Nightmare sighed and slightly smiled, if that was what you wanted then he'd let it happen. So long that it doesn't harm his daughter, he'll be fine with almost anything.

Dust started explaining on how much power you could exert with just your physical abilities. He taught you how to twist your upper body and swing it the same time as your foot could unleash a powerful kick. It's been a good year since you've began your training, your kicks had insane power while your punches and swings needed a bit more power. Plus, you could go all out here, you were in the anti-void after all.

Dust had high expectations for you and your ability, but that wasn't his station to cover. Error would take care of you when it came to that copycat soul of yours. He truly wondered on how many boundaries the gang could break with all that SOUL power. How many lives you'd be willing to take in order to level up even. You've seen them murder, you had the drive and mental practice to do it yourself as well.

After a good hour or two of practicing your coordination with Dust, you were finished with your daily physical practice.

"Night Night! I did good right?" You enthusiastically exclaimed, you were dripping with sweat and Nightmare wiped a towel on your face. "Getting more powerful by the day, my dear. I'm proud of you." The positivity that emanated from you brought him displeasure but happiness that the same time. The icky feeling in his chest was always overshadowed from that smile of yours any day, so he was fine.

"oi error, you're up," Dust coolly said as he took a seat next to Nightmare.

Error's training was extremely different from the other forms of training the other three skeletons perform. You needed to be ready at every opportunity as he focused on actual combat. What do you do in a real fight? How would you handle it? Etc. He wasn't strict, but he did make it clear that if you took a few hits that he wasn't going to be held fully accountable.

The amethyst radiance in your eyes showed themselves once more as the lavender colored tears dripped from your eyes to your jawline. You were now set for battle.

In the year that Error's been training you with your magical abilities, he's had you learn to copy the bones the gang summons, had you duplicate your own copy of the Gaster Blaster, and especially had you master your own cables. The coordination and knowledge you needed to establish all of your attacks in a single instant... It worried Nightmare actually. Was Error pushing you too far? Probably not, the earlier the age you learn this, the more you'll be able to accomplish as you grow.

Once you had felt a presence nearby, you unleashed your strings and aimed for Error. Fortunately you did catch him and his SOUL, the only thing was that you needed to take him down and pin him down before your training was finished.

Error sent out his blasters and a good amount of his bones, Killer had taught you how to dodge these types of attacks, and Nightmare taught you how to block and parry them. Since one of your hands was busy from restraining Error and his SOUL, you moved your left hand and cut the bones in half. Then you summoned one of your own blasters and countered Error's attack flawlessly.

The few abilities you couldn't copy just yet were the shortcut, and their blue attacks.

Error's strings launched at you and you cut those down with sharpened bones, you then launched yourself up to reach Error. Considering you had restrained him while he was airborne was a misplay and a little problem, nothing you couldn't handle though. Blue strings kept trying to get a hold of your SOUL, and you did your best to parry them with the weapons you could wield. Which were sharpened bones and purple knives. The bones from Dust and the Knives from Killer.

Error noticed that you were closing the distance between them and grunted, he broke free from your strings and was finally able to restrain your own SOUL.

"You're being careless Cipher." His grin annoyed you quite a bit. "Too bad I'm not your prey, Error," he raised a bone brow and you spun your body with great momentum and cut yourself off the strings. You were literally hanging on by a thread, because you didn't let go of Error's blue thread. To Error's surprise, you grabbed his SOUL once more and then pulled him down forcefully. He landed on the ground with a painful sound, and you dropped on him, elbowing his ribs as Dust taught you to do.

He started to glitch after you pulled off that move though, but for good measure. You summoned bones around him and multiple Gaster Blasters on top of everything else. Looking down on him brought you excitement. It brought you a sense of victory. Adrenaline was in your veins and you wanted a total victory.

You smirked at Error, once he started to function again, he saw that menacing look on your face.

His bones started to rattle, your aura was so distinct. Once you had someone cornered, you always made the same threatening expression.

No one had taught you how to intimidate people.

Yet you were so damn good at it.

"Yield."

The way you spoke was so familiar to Nightmare. It was so overwhelming.

"Ugh, you win Cipher." He called the battle off when he knew trouble was close if he didn't yield. But once you did make everything disappear, your aura went back to normal. That cheery and positive attitude was back. When the hell did you even learn to... Never mind... His thoughts derailed once he saw that little smile of yours.

"You good Error?" You asked, while holding a hand out to him. Error took it of course and dusted himself off, "You're skills are maturing nicely. Once you do have a good amount of skill, fight me for real Cipher." Error pat your head and you simply nodded, a bit winded by the mix of tricks you had to practice and pull out in your battle against Error.

Nightmare approached you and offered you the same towel he wiped you with earlier. "Wipe yourself off my dear, you might catch a cold," Nightmare stated and you nodded. Error wrapped everything up and brought everyone in the anti-void back to the castle so that you could properly shower.

"I call first dibs on what Axe is cooking up, I'll be quick." You waved to Error, Nightmare, and Dust and ran off to the bathroom to freshen up.

Silence filled the living room but of course, someone was going to address the Metatton in the room.

"I did not teach my daughter how to handle her aura like that." Error and Dust nodded to this statement. That was the last thing they planned to work on once her fighting style was cultivated into something of her own. "she's a natural at that face of hers. it's not from killer, boss, or error. it's freaky in a way." Dust mentioned as he balanced a sharp bone on his hand.

"Cipher. She has a lot to learn. And yet at the same time, it feels as if she already knows what she needs to do. Even without assistance." Error mentioned, the three of them weren't concerned about this little fact about you. But rather they were curious on how you made such a... scary face.

"It looks like she has more pure potential than we initially thought, do you both agree with me?"

Nightmare was grinning, but honestly, so was Dust and Error.

They were going to make it so that your skill level would be able to top all three guardians that you despise.

Chapter Text

"NIGHTTTT KILLER TOOK MY PHONE AGAIN!" You screamed as Killer has you like a cat chasing him as the mouse. Nightmare was reading from his book and paying no mind to the things you have been doing with Killer recently.

It was a lazy day for all of them and so they simply all stayed in the living room to chill out with each other. "what's wrong little ro? can't catch me?" Killer teased as you two were jumping over the couches for a phone. "killer just give it back to her already," Dust complained, he was getting quite irritated as you have been whining for a good 10 minutes.

Killer shook his skull while you tried to tackle him, he used his blue magic to get you up in the air. "come on though, she bought an OCULUS online." Everyone in the room now that their eyes on you.

You haven't been in the bounty list often, just a singular kill here and there and you were satisfied. Where the hell did you get the gold for a goddamn oculus.

"You-! It's not-!" You summoned your strings and now Killer was the one to be tied up. He dropped your phone and you thankfully caught it, but you didn't drop him. And now he was the one to complain, then Error followed you up by stringing Killer's mouth shut. You fist bumped him and sat beside Nightmare.

"What'chu reading Night?" You plopped your head on his lap, Nightmare adjusted his position in order for you to become more comfortable. "A light novel." He showed you the cover briefly before taking the book back to read it once more. You pouted at the literal one second only view of the book, but you still deduced that he was reading Dazai Osamu's "No Longer Human". A good interesting yet complex book, suits your dad amazingly.

"Ah I forgot to tell you, I've finished the library Night, can you get me more books?" Nightmare looked at you, dumbfounded. "You... You surely don't mean that, do you my dear?" You shook your head and proceeded to open the notepad app on your phone. There revealed that you've been listing every book you have ever read and even rated them one by one.

"Your favorite book is "REAPER"?" Nightmare noticed the bold text you put there after every single rating on your phone. You nodded intensely, "I wish there was actual Russian version! Piotr seems so cool!" Flicking your wrist, you untangled Killer from your strings and deactivated your ability.

Nightmare and his gang have been training and teaching you everything you needed everyday. Physically, mentally, academically, they have guided you through everything you needed in life. And now you were blooming as beautifully as Hydrangeas, maybe that could be your name... Something that describes you, or even how you grow up?

"I will get you more books my dear... In the meantime, how about we think about your name?" Your name hasn't really been a big topic for the gang, but once you step in the outside world, you're going to need one. Or even just a code name for you, a temporary name that you'd also easily respond to.

Your faced looked deep in thought, "My name huh, I dunno. Don't parents usually decide that for their kids? You can decide any name for me Night." Nightmare's eye light expanded, surprised that you didn't want a name for yourself. Heck, you even preferred someone who possibly the worst person to give someone a name. As most of his nicknames, other than yours, were insults.

Dust chimed in, "uhh let's see snowflake, you got color changing eyes,"

Error was next. "Lot's of talent,"

Killer interrupted Error, "insane skills!"

"Cupcake... very sweet..." Axe spoke slowly.

"It seems like you have a number of ideas for your name, my dear. Do you want us to choose one for you? Or shall you choose your own name?"

You chuckled at your family, "Y'all are too sweet, honestly. I'm fine with any name you call me. I'm my own person yeah sure, but my name needs to include all of you in it. After all, you exerted the effort to raise me when you didn't have to. It's really touching that I'm now thirteen, even turning fourteen! So I don't mind what name you all come up for me. I will accept it with pride."

This made everyone almost shed a tear. Then they proceeded to pamper you till the end of the day.

But it looked like that someone was going to join this family once more... Not a human. But another skeleton.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Once Axe, Dust, and Killer heard you shriek with joy and proceed to shake them all while they were simply relaxing. Yeah that spooked them. But all three of them had figured out why you were so overjoyed. Nightmare had approved on your first solo mission. You have full control of who you want to kill, who you'd like to spare, and who you'd like to torture.

"grats little ro! please stop shaking me-" Killer tried to get a hold of your arms but you were just too darn happy. "I-I think I'm actually going to cry tears of joy!" It was true that your eyes were shimmering little too brightly, the lavender glow that your eyes radiated were so bright that Killer had to close his eye sockets.

Killer had been interested with you ever since you were picked up by the big boss, you were only two back then. That interest became genuine love instead of LOVE. Now you're fourteen... It really warmed his soul on how much you've grown.

"nice one, finally convinced the boss of what you're capable of," Dust pat your back and slightly ruffled your hair, of course you also gave him a hug. It felt like you were about to crack his ribs sure, but if you were happy, then Dust was happy. "too tight Snowflake," he mentioned and you let go immediately.

Dust was one of your main mentors, specifically, in the physical field. You have improved so goddamn much these recent years, and even coming in close to beating him in a fully fledged battle. He was excited for that day, the day you finally beat him.

You ran to Axe after your embrace with Dust, and he was the one to lift you up. Axe was the most brotherly of the three, and the first you bonded with. Whenever you had an interaction with Axe, it was always wholesome. So his joy couldn't be contained whenever you were just as cheerful.

"nice job..." You held up a peace sign to Axe and he was grin huge.

Error soon entered through a portal, and you let him observe your expression before ultimately pouncing on the skeleton. He was glitching a bit by the sudden contact you initiated, but knowing the reason on why you were so optimistic today, he did not let a few glitches interfere with your moment. "Assuming you finally convinced that geezer to let you out on your own for once. That's my Cipher!" Error held up his skeletal hand to fist bump you, you returned the gesture without hesitation of course.

Much like Dust, Error was one of the main reasons on why you have immediate and precise control of your abilities. Knowing that he contributed to an amazing fighter and a blooming assassin like you. Oh he swelled with pride.

"You did not let me finish speaking, my dear. I was going to say I had another present for you." You turned to look at your dad, at this point PERSERVERANCE was literally overflowing. And alongside your happiness as well, not like Nightmare wasn't used to this positive output from you. When he saw you bow with respect for the gesture he was about to commit to, it felt like... It felt like he was seeing another part of him...

The reason for Nightmare taking you in was because he saw himself in you. He saw an opportunity just begging to be cultivated into something amazing. He saw Potential. He was curious to see on how much that potential would grow if he tried to help it grow. And now... There you were... His beautiful daughter, standing before him, already fourteen years old.

He would honestly cry if he could right now, but that wasn't the time for such emotions.

"I have... Tailored this for you. Actually, everyone pitched in for your outfit." Nightmare handed you a box. Dust, Axe, Killer, and Error surrounded you to get your immediate reaction to how it looks. It was obvious enough that they put a lot of effort into this gift.

Opening it with excitement, your eyes feasted upon a beautiful dark yet vibrant set of clothing. You manipulated your cables to get a better look at all the pieces, and you were mesmerized by the quality and deeper meaning.

First up was a black vest that had elbow-long sleeves, amethyst ribbon like outlines on the stitches were, and fluff that matched Killer's jacket. Then a dark grey turtleneck tank top that was fit enough for you to showcase your flexibility, Dust was most likely thinking of practicality and style. Next up was the belt, a smooth black leather belt that had specific cases for the weapons you wielded. Such as axes, knives, and soon your newly customized weapon. This was most likely Axe's idea considering he knew his weaponry quite well. Following that, the strings held up a pair of black, flowy, parachute shorts. It was simple and practical, not likely to get stuck in battle and something easy to move around in. Error's idea obviously, the guy was always moving around in battle.

But last but not least...

You held up a high tech gas mask that only covered half of your face. Having your nose and mouth covered while leaving your eyes alone. You kept rotating the device to get a better look at it. It had an automated ventilation system, a light base, and it even glowed a bright magenta...

The Sanses were waiting for your response to all of the gear they got you. Their priority was of course, to get the best materials for you. Nothing less would suffice for them. If it isn't the greatest in the multiverse, it wasn't good enough.

You lifted your head up to reveal that you were crying. Crying tears of pure joy. You were a sniffling mess and everyone was worried that they made something wrong, or something you didn't like. Until you spoke up...

"I-I- Thank you so much! I love you all with all my soul... You mean everything to me you guys!" You happily exclaimed as tears streamed down your cheeks.

Everyone was overjoyed and thankful that you enjoyed your gift.

And you were thankful for Nightmare, Killer, Axe, Dust, and Error to be your family...

Chapter Text

Nightmare had dropped you off into a building that you would be raiding and kidnapping the boss. He told you that it was your decision whether to torture him or not, and then he left you off to be by yourself. It was really scary for him, but honestly, he trusted you to get it over with the moment he came to pick you up.

"Alright. First mission! Don't screw it up!"

You put on the gas mask and then walked straight in the building. It was a new experience walking into enemy territory alone for once. Especially that this was already an Class-A mission according to Error and Dust.

Apparently some real hefty and powerful SOUL bearers, JUSTICE SOULS and PATIENCE SOULS all round. It's quite amazing honestly, on how goddamn powerful people can be, and that's not even mentioning the... Never mind...

Your mind was dwelling on too many different things.

Adjusting your gas mask, you took a deep breath. Then proceeded to bust down the door. This was a mafia AU. So the individuals in there had weaponry of many kinds.

"Who do you think ya are little brat?!" A man screamed while pointing his gun at you. Your eyes remained void with emotion as Killer had taught you. At this point everyone beside or even behind him had a weapon of some kind and they were charging it up with their SOUL energy. Something that you could not master.

"I'd like to speak with your superior, and if you do it peacefully, I will leave you alone." You remained in your standstill position even though everyone was laughing at you. Scoffing at their mistake in even attempting to defy your request.

You shrugged, "Your mistake." You spoke before slitting the man's throat in an instant with the knife Killer gave you. "I gave you a chance. You didn't take it. Now, I regret to say that your lives are of no worth to me." Speaking coldly and acting quickly was the correct move.

They were intimidated.

Good.

Most of them were truly JUSTICE and PATIENCE SOULS. They were not to be underestimated as even with direct training from a group of serial killers, you still had a size and number disadvantage. Dust had taught you to never underestimate your opponent, that came in handy.

The PATIENCE whips were especially annoying to dodge and handle. JUSTICE gauntlets were heavy hitters. So dodging was a must with all of this. Good thing most of what you were trained for made it come easy and flow naturally for you to achieve all of this. Sure you took a few hits here and there, but nothing too serious.

Your costume was amazing for this type of combat, flexibility wise, practicality wise, it was suitable for every situation imaginable.

The bad sanses taught you everything. Yet at the same time, you had your own rhythm. Something similar to a dance, where you can easily get the flow of the rhythm towards your fighting movements. It was unique to your family, it was strange, but somehow it felt natural to you.

To simply move your body to a rhythm. It was exhilarating.

"Come on now, can't even propose a proper challenge? That really sucks."

You kept moving around the battlefield flawlessly and gracefully. Slitting throats wasn't your favorite method though.

Grabbing the chin of one of the few DETERMINATION SOULS in the room, you threatened them with the same knife you've been using all this time. Everyone in the room froze, you hit the bullseye with one of the main leaders of said gang. You smirked. A venomous smirk. One that poisoned the whole room with fear.

"Now. Tell me where your boss resides. And I will let you live." You spoke. But they did not answer.

"Yield. And I shall spare you." You barked. Your voice echoing in the room. No one still answered.

You sighed.

"Fine. You're making me do this the hard way."

Purple strings flowed through your lower eyelids once more up until the base of your jawline. In an instant, every single soul in that room was tied up. The looks of fear on their face as you hardened your grip on their jawline. You forced the man in your grip to look up, his eyes welling up with tears as you further pressed the knife on his neck.

"This is what happens when I don't get what I want. Now look."

Using your other hand, you balled it into a tight fist, and instantaneously shattered their SOULS all at once. The DETERMINATION person started to beg and PLEAD for you to stop, to stop killing his comrades. You laughed in his face, enjoying that look of despair and desperation in his eyes.

"You're a fun toy. I'll save you for later."

You threw him to the side and simply tied him up to get to the big boss. So this was the feeling of excitement when your family goes out for missions. It was amazing. It was the good type of overwhelming. Your emotions were overflowing. It was outstanding.

Other than those emotions...

You had a job to do.

God it was so exciting. You didn't have other words for it.

You were gonna have fun with this, weren't you?

Chapter Text

The mafia Nightmare had sent you to obliterate was the same one that the sans of that AU owns. The big boss, the mafioso, was going to get beat by a 14 year old girl.

Although said sans named "Grey" had suspected something unusual going on, he still proceeded with his own duties and left the problem to his subordinates. Sadly his plan would have never worked in any AU or in any timeline.

He was staring outside his window peacefully when his door was broken down with such force that it barely missed him. But it did crack the window. Grey looked back at the bastard who wanted to pick a fight with him. His eye sockets were surprised when he saw someone no older than 13 or 14 barge into his office with one of his subordinates head in hand.

"what're ya doin' here little brat? ain't ya a little too old to be playing cat n' mouse with someone like me," he taunted. But once again, your eyes held no emotion. It was quite difficult this time considering you were flowing with adrenaline and wanted to let loose right away.

"You've got this wrong, I am the cat, you are the mouse." Letting go of the head you were holding, you raised your hands and curled them slightly to make cat ears. Grey let out an annoyed 'tch' at this gesture of yours. "such a cocky lil' brat." He spoke before disappearing into thin air. It wasn't a surprise to you, your family teleported all the time. But when he appeared without a presence beside you, you were in shock.

"let's settle this like adults. aye?" His eye light was now half-blue and half-yellow. Just like Dust's eye lights but in a different color...

He teleported you outside the building you were in. Once again, being used to these shortcuts, you were not affected in the slightest. Although the place he teleported you too... It came as a not so pleasant welcoming gift for a first mission.

Grey had teleported you to a hanging steel beam over the ocean. Great. Mafia Style negotiation.

You kept your balance on your side of the beam, and Grey kept his. "mind takin' off that fancy lookin' mask of yours?" He pointed out, honestly, it was more or less pointless for you to keep wearing this with solo targets so you simply took it off. Grey's eye sockets widened once more, you took out most, if not, all of his gang. And there you were, having an innocent baby face like that.

"What now hm? I took off my mask, now explain why the hell you even brought me here." Your face truly was void of emotion despite having the mask off, but your words held bark and bite. The bloodlust he was experiencing was insane. And from someone as young as you? Yeah, he was curious of what you've been through. Unreadable expressions, insane amounts of skill, and other factors made him curious about the world you were living in.

Grey sighed, "the name's Grey, you brat. i only got a few questions for ya, and if i hear the answer i want, i'll let ya go easy peasy. capiche?" Grey took off his hat as a response for you taking off your mask. Raising a brow, you crossed your arms and persisted him to continue.

He clapped his gloved hands, "great! now why the hell did ya kill my gang hm?" His eye illuminated the same colors as before. Didn't scare you at all though. "Is my job, that's all." You shrugged as that was a good enough answer for now, saying that you had interest in murder was gonna lead to you falling into the ocean. You wanted to delay that at least a lil bit.

He looked at you with a different expression than usual, but nonetheless, he moved on to the next question. Then the next. Then the next. And you just kept answering as honestly as you could, of course covering stuff here and there, but that was normal for a future assassin. Can't be an open book for people just to read, you barely gave Grey the summary and then hid your book from him once more.

"a future assassin aye? whats your name kiddo?" The change of nickname made you narrow your eyes, "Don't got one yet." Grey held a confused expression, and here he was thinking that you've been in the field for a few months and just went undercover. But no. This was your first ever mission, and so far he was simply stalling his inevitable demise.

"ah, no name. extra question, but do ya know any foreign languages?" You nodded. Nightmare's books provided so many languages that you basically had memorized many of those tongues. "i see." Grey spoke before teleporting away again. That dirty trickster. Quickly putting on your mask once more, you silently activated your strings. You were using Error's power so often these days.

"サヨナラ 無名" Grey spoke before cutting most of the strings that held up the metal beam with sharpened bones. God how predictable they all were. It honestly pissed you off that he even called you "Nameless" in Japanese, "Mumei" to be exact. Whatever, you were now falling with the red beam as Grey stood from the top of the construction unit holding said beam.

You unleashed your strings to reattach the beam with so much momentum that you basically flew up to the same spot where Grey was. Before he could even react, you knocked him out cold with a single string pulling at his SOUL. You sighed.

"申し訳ありませんが、今日死ぬつもりはありません" You spoke as you dragged his body with the same strings you used for the beam. So that was negotiation... Nightmare said it usually lead to failure, and so doing it for the first time was quite the new experience.

The site where you were killing everyone wasn't very far from where Grey teleported you, so you got there in less than 10 minutes. Considering you finished the mission earlier than usual, your allotted "4 hours" wasn't up. You actually had 2 hours and 45 minutes left. You pouted when you checked your phone but then realized there was no signal. So you simply wrapped Grey and the human with the DETERMINATION SOUL up like a cocoon, and sat on a clean chair.

"I got time to kill I guess. Gonna take a quick nap." You set an alarm for 30 minutes on your phone, stretched in your seat, and got in a comfortable enough position where you drifted off to sleep.

When your body clock decided to wake you up instead of your alarm, you were more than surprised to find yourself in an unfamiliar white void. Of course you got up from your seat immediately and assumed combat, this wasn't the anti-void.

Was that water? In an empty void? Where the hell-

Trying to follow the source of the sound was horrendously difficult. But honestly, if someone was in here with you, then that means they can get you out of there.

You were getting closer, and you could see a speck of an individual. Were they also a skeleton? They sure looked like it-

You halted in your steps when you realized this skeleton was heavily wrapped in black and white pieces of clothing. And this one was... crying...

Other than Killer's "liquid hate tears", you've never seen a skeleton cry before. Most of them would just beg and plead in fear, or give up completely. It was a new experience.

"Uhm excuse me." You spoke as softly as you could, the skeleton turned around and wiped his tears immediately after seeing you. He cried purple tears. Your eyes reacted to this a bit, stinging ever so slightly. The skeleton had a red scar on his right cheek, plus his red eye was there but you sensed no magic. Maybe his eyes were like Dust or Nightmare? Magic always present perhaps?

"Who-Who are you-?! How did you get here?!" The skeleton stood up defensively, and you shook your hands, immediately taking off your gas mask.

"I'm not here to cause trouble. I don't even know why I'm here in the first place." Thankful that you had your ability cancel when you slept, the skeleton removed himself from his defensive stance. Your honest eyes were the first thing he noticed, the gas mask made him believe that you were from a Gastale AU, but then he realized you didn't have those tanks along with you.

"I'm- I'm just here to ask if you can get me out of here." You didn't bother taking a step closer and just held your own hands behind your back. Said skeleton didn't seem harmful, but you were still on your guard. Sadly, the skeleton shook his head and you groaned. How were you gonna contact Nightmare now? You didn't even send signs. But you couldn't do anything about your situation right now so you just laid on the floor.

The skeleton sat back down as well, seemingly not warry of what you were doing here. Sure you seemed upset that you had no way out of this hellhole, but you were fine with it? He was confused but nonetheless, you still started another conversation with him.

"What's your name skeleguy?" You didn't even bother looking at him. You had other thoughts going on in your head at the moment, but nothing you could really attempt to try at this current time.

The skeleton seemed slightly offended at the nickname you already gave him. "Cross..." He said hesitantly. "My name is Cross." You looked at him. "Cross, nice name. I don't have a name sadly, so you can make a nickname or something." His eye sockets widened through the multiple layers of clothing. "You... Don't have a name? How old even are you kid?" He asked, quite concerned. "Fourteen and still counting." You tried joking but he didn't laugh at your dark humor. Jeez, Killer rubbed off on you way TOO much.

Silence filled the void after that little exchange with Cross, and your eyelids became heavy once more. And eventually you did succumb to sleep.

...

...

...

You woke up to someone shaking your shoulder, "Mmm... 5 more minutes..." You groggily said until someone smacked your head with a bone.

"OW! WHAT IS-" you looked at the person who actually hit you. It was Killer, you then looked around your surroundings, you were back? That was... strange.

"been tryin' to wake ya up little ro. you just wouldn't budge." He crossed his arms, you apologized to him. Then you saw the other gang cleaning up your mess, the dream though... That's confusing but yeah. Oh well.

You'll just explain everything once you get home.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"you sure made a mess of that building. even brought a new plaything home," Killer spoke as he walked beside you through the halls of the castle. It had been an hour or two after you returned home, but Nightmare did have some errands to run and so he wasn't really home. Fortunately, Killer was willing to keep you company. Wasn't so bad.

"Course, I just need a little break before I start the torturing as all." You replied to him and he stopped moving, "a break little ro? that's your best excuse? i've seen better begging from the puppets in Error's void." Shoving his hands in his pocket, he held a serious expression for once. "I'm fine Killer. Nothing to really worry about," you stated as you walked off.

This made Killer raise his bone-brow. Concerned for the little midget living in the boss's castle, he shortcutted directly infront of you. Showing just enough expression for you to stop in your tracks. You weren't getting out of this conversation.

Shoving his face away from yours, you reluctantly replied. "If you tell dad about this I swear. It's about why I didn't wake up in the building, when I was out for 3 hours." Killer finally put some distance between the two of you and you continued, "I had a dream, heck, it wasn't even a dream. Was more like I got teleported somewhere I didn't want to be... I was in this pure white void hearing drips of water, which is like, confusing. So instead of trying to find a way out, I followed the sound and eventually came across a skeleton."

Listening to your story, Killer had a few skeletons in mind that could teleport you to a white void. Aftertale sans was the biggest answer in his skull, but the guy had not a single reason to want company in that lonely void of his.

"Man was wrapped around in black and white. A snow mountain enveloped in darkness, that sorta aesthetic. Only speaks when spoken to as well, a Royal Guard maybe? I dunno."

Now this was strange. The Boss's new plan and all. The guy you just mentioned was the exact same description Nightmare had of him, he just spoke in formality instead of casually. "Our target is wrapped around in black and white. A snow mountain enveloped in darkness, that describes his personality and his clothing. Only speaks when spoken to as well, a Royal Guard most likely." These words echoed in Killer's skull. Because Nightmare had provided a picture of what said skeleton looked like.

"say little ro, why don't you draw me a picture of what this guy looks like hm?" He suggested and you simply agreed. Did you somehow get teleported to the guy Nightmare was planning to hunt? It doesn't look like you have any idea of the plan that the big boss was leading on?

Nightmare was still secretive about many things. Even to his daughter he wouldn't share the deepest and darkest secrets he had in him. So when you perfectly matched the description of the guy the gang was supposed to hunt... Even matched the wording down to the bone. It honestly pondered Killer's memories way too much.

"not tell 'er? ya sure boss? sounds like she can actually help here just saying." Killer played with the tip of knife while Nightmare ignored his request. "My daughter will not be involved with the likes of this project. She is to be kept safe once we do act. I will not be acting rashly like I did back then." Nightmare's distorted voice never failed to send a shiver down Killer's spine.

"she might figure out. she's a bit oblivious sometimes, but honestly snowflake can piece together clues and figure out the entire puzzle from the get-go." Dust stated. "That is why, no one will be telling her. If a single word about this gets out from any of you I will tear you apart. Understand?" Everyone in the room nodded and Nightmare sighed.

"As easy as it is to protect my daughter, her life is still at great risk every single second. She is connected to us after all." Once Nightmare finished his sentence, he exited the room as quickly as he denied Killer's opinions.

Killer's memory of that conversation was still as clear as day. Nightmare was truly afraid of losing his daughter to the likes of Dream, he was afraid that you'd realize that everything he taught you was not entirely true. He was scared for you to realize that reality was cruel.

Crueler than he and his gang will ever be.

While you scurried around in your room looking for your sketchpad and pencils, Killer stood by the doorway contemplating if you knew more than you led on. You were Nightmare's daughter, one of the member's of their gang, someone who was taught to be cunning in order not to be caught. So you still hold your cards close to your chest.

Whatever. He would deal with that part of you later. For now his focus is what you saw, and ensuring that you didn't know anything about the Boss's orders.

Chapter Text

Killer was astounded.

You truly got teleported to Nightmare's next target.

The question lingering in Killer's head was how?

You never learned to shortcut like any of the sanses you lived with, Nightmare actually was against it in more ways than one. And you somehow pulled this trick off in your sleep? Off guard and simply wanting a rest after a mission? Error said you had talent sure, but how much talent? How much potential did you have to "accidentally" find out their entire plan.

"This is what the guy looked like from what I saw. He looked really defensive and I didn't really want to fight an entity I know nothing about," you tapped your pencil on the sketchbook. Killer took it from your hands and examined the drawing. This was really Cross. Killer wasn't sure if it was a Cross from a different timeline or not...

"did ya get his name? you approached him right?" Killer asked, trying to act as cool as he could. Nightmare was his boss, but you made him want to betray his own superior's word. You were an official member after all, went on your first mission and everything.

"He told me his name was Cross, then after that I told him I didn't have a name. It was a weird exchange honestly."

Shit.

Oh dear god. What could Killer do right now.

Nervousness filled his entire skeletal system. Literally nothing he'd say was going to convince you to keep this topic closed. Considering you held your cards close but he had to cheat by getting a peak at your own deck. His mind was spinning on theories. Killer was not one to think for this long, and if it ever happened, a distraction would always come a few seconds after. As if the universe itself was telling him not to think too deeply.

And the universe was on his side once more. As his phone rang and Nightmare was the caller.

"gimme a second little ro. your dad is on the line," he spoke and you nodded. Killer talked with Nightmare for a few minutes and then ended the call with a sigh. "i gotta leave the premises for a teeny tiny bit little ro. you can hold down the fort yeah?" He handed you back your sketchbook and you saluted like a soldier.

Killer said a brief "bye-bye!" before shortcutting out of the castle. He teleported to Dust first rather than his actual destination, this was way too serious and dangerous to leave it be and tell everyone at the last possible second as a joke.

"DUSTY- WE GOT AN EMERGENCY!" Killer shook his comrade's shoulders in a full panic.

"little ro's met Cross! teleported in his own AU more specifically. in her SLEEP." He kept it as quick and short as possible. Dust's eye sockets widened at the new information presented to him. "snowflake? meet Cross? how in the multiverse... isn't Error the only one who can possibly do that?" Dust emphasized the word "possibly" because Error cannot pin-point the exact location Cross resided in. For the time being... It did take a bit of RNG.

"did you tell Nightmare yet?" He asked and Killer shook his head. Dust did notice that Killer's "SOUL", rather his heart shaped target was wavering and shaking a tad bit. He was genuinely concerned for you and your well-being.

For most years of your life, your SOUL was weak. Extremely weak.

Nightmare had to go through hell and back just to make sure you could run around freely and happily. Then came your SOUL awakening. It happened when you were around 8 years old? Killer wasn't there to see it happen in real time, and Error was too tied up to even focus on your SOUL glowing in his own void. So no one actually knows how it looked or how it happened.

"first of all, are you going to tell her?" Dust asked before making any assumptions. If Snowflake was in danger, and Killer didn't treat it like a game or even "on-field" experience, then it must be serious.

"i honestly don't know. on one hand, she could help. on the other hand, i'm not looking for a quick and easy death." Killer stated while trying to think of a solution.

A dilemma of gaining trust on one side, yet at risk of gaining distrust from the other. The worst part? Both sides are father and daughter, both with the intention of murdering anyone and anything in this god forsaken multiverse that would harm their family in any way.

Even Dust was left pondering but Killer WAS reminded of his assigned job, so sadly the conversation was cut short and Killer was forced to work.

The thought never left his head even though he tortured his victims with an absolute sick maniacal grin. Sure it was the same one he had for very victim he sliced and diced, but it was fun to see them all cower in fear.

But eventually his own mind did divert his attention from his already finished job, to he left you in the castle without food because Horror was out scavenging. Then he realized you always had some spare snacks with you at all times. A few packs of crackers and some candy, the kind that always Horror especially made for you. So you'd probably be fine for another hour or two.

Or just enough time that he'd report it to Nightmare...

That's the line where he was conflicted. Should he tell Nightmare what his own daughter did subconsciously, you'd be ban on missions until the current one was already finished. And that mission of theirs was not going to be completed for a long time, so you'd end up disappointed for a long period of time. No battling, no practice, you'd be banned for using your SOUL for Asgore's sake.

Then if he told you of their plan... There's no telling how you would act.

You were very impulsive at times, and most of the time, that impulse was anger. Due to the fact that you were as irritable as Nightmare. You were friendlier in more ways than one, and less intimidating, but the moment you stepped into the battlefield and experienced bloodlust yourself. You've seemed to be more irritated often. Killer was annoying yes, and he did understand that you were growing up to be mature, but honestly, he expected you to have more patience than the boss at least.

But one thing was clear to Killer. Both of you were influenced by the incident that happened when you were 8. When you both almost lost each other.

The fear of losing someone was new to you, but it was not new to Nightmare. But Killer didn't understand anything else now that he's getting to the "emotional" bits. He's attached to you sure, but he still didn't understand this emotion stuff. Too much effort to understand.

Killer just hopes you didn't give yourself another nap once he got home and checked on you. He has another job to do, but goddamn. He needs to get to the bottom of this before the both of you find out. He's getting his ass kicked if you do.

Killer just hopes you're a bit more understanding than Nightmare...

Chapter Text

"sorry little ro. can't keep my promise to ya after all."

Killer softly said as he smiled then suddenly he turned into dust right in front of you. Only his hoodie remain once he deterioated. 

The hoodie fell in your hands and you looked at it silently. 

If you had been careful.

If you had been quick.

If you had fucking LISTENED.

Killer wouldn't be just dust and a hoodie. 

You had lost EVERYONE. 

Dust's hoodie, Axe's hoodie, Killer's hoodie, Error's scarf, and even Cross's blades. Nightmare wasn't even... He only turned back to the black goop he is...

You had never been so... so....
 
Vengeful. Yet hopeless. 

Not to kill a soul your ass. Dream had brought Abyss and Mecha to your fight, and Mecha had done the dusting.

"I'm sorry. I will make it up to you, Nightmare. I'll play your games, Killer. I'll watch the sunrise with you, Dust. I'll cook for you everday, Axe. I'll watch more of your shows with you, Error. I'll spar with you more, Cross."

"Awe. The baby doesn't have her family anymore? Too bad. We plan on finishing this." The robotic sans spoke and you hissed. 

Letting go of Killer's jacket, you stood up straight. Looking Mecha directly in his sockets, piercing the depths of his SOUL. 

"Taking away my family? That's neat? And I thought you were do gooders? Goody-two shoes maybe? I dunno."

"They... They were your family?.." Abyss softly spoke, slowly approaching. Only having the realization that you were only a child. Though you were 18, you were still in the mental growing stages. 

"Yeah, Nightmare's my Dad." You spoke weakly. Not even having the will to fight. No light in your eyes, no perserverance, no nothing. Just... a void...

"What's your name kid?" Abyss kneeled infront of your figure. Mecha now realized which "family" he murdered... And he was feeling slight remorse.

The star sanses have never seen you so defeated...

You reached for Abyss's hand and softly grabbed his wrist. He let you do this, sensing no ill intent. You held his wrist in a way where his open hand would be attempting to grab your neck.

A tear dropped from your face once you looked up.

"My name is Sirius. Please kill me too."

You forced out a smile as you forced Abyss's hand to just kill you already. The skeleton remained unfazed. Pitiying you if anything.

But eventually you did realize Abyss was a pacifist. So you gently let go of his hand and made your way to Mecha. He was on edge so he pointed his arm blaster at your neck. Which you smiled at.

"Be my guest Tin Can! I'm waiting for the sweet song of DEATH itself!" 

You were sane. You just wanted your family back. 

Please. Just give them back.

You awoke from your deep slumber with cold sweat running down your face. What kind of... That was a nightmare. Although you were thankful that you had awakened before Mecha had the chance to kill you but...

You were still... shaking. 

Whatever. You shook it off. Killer and Dust must be watching TV below, maybe you'd join them after you'd regained your composure. 

"That was just a Nightmare. Don't sweat it. "

You comforted yourself. But Sirius was a damn good codename, you actually might use it for your future missions. Besides, you were only 14 afterall. Not like any of that was going to happen any time soon. 

Not with your dad around. 

Right?

Chapter Text

Hey guys, happy late valentines day~

Shinro here is gay, bi, and fucked

but anyways, for the slow amount of updates, my bad for that one

My laptop's hard drive is screwing me over so bad, so I plan on getting an SSD for my laptop

And I have a little surprise for y'all once I can write again

Anyways, I'm running on like 1 FPS

See y'all when I see y'all

Bye!

 - Shinro

Chapter Text

“Killer, I'm not a baby anymore, I think I can put myself to sleep,” you said as Killer and Dust escorted you to your room. They seemed a bit on edge, for whatever reason, and they seemingly rushed themselves and me as we walked down the hallway.

“oh c’mon little ro! we’re just walkin’ and talkin’ with ya, just like when you were still an itty bitty kiddo.” Killer had his hand on your back and slightly pushed you forward to go faster. This was getting weird, and you wanted to just go to sleep. 

After Killer returned home with Dust, Axe, and Nightmare, all of them had been in an awful rush to get you to just succumb to your own slumber. Even your own father who usually encouraged you to stay up late whenever you can. 

Heck, Killer was the one doing the talking, Dust seemed as tired as you were. Actually scratch that thought, the skeleton looked like he was contemplating. Maybe another relapse or another splitting? Probably one or the other honestly. 

You huffed at trying to analyze the situation, this was Killer after all. “Well… Then I'm going to go to sleep…” You pushed the door into your room and walked in. “...On my own.” You quickly slammed the door and jumped onto the bed with your head in the pillow, not bothering to say anything more to the skeletons. 

God why were Killer and Dust acting so weird… Wait, what time is it? Turning your head to look at your desk clock… it was barely turning 8:30…

Welp, looks like you have half an hour to kill before you go to sleep. 

On the other side of the door, two skeletons stared at each other and nodded at each other. They made their way to their boss's office. If this didn't go well, then at least it would be a quick death. Probably. One can only hope.

Killer opened the door and there revealed a stressed out Nightmare.

Nightmare has been contemplating what Killer said for the last hour, his daughter? Traveling to other AUs? Why he couldn't contemplate the IDEA of you traveling to other places as you please solely due to your trauma. Whatever, the big deal was that you've met the desired target earlier than they'd all like. 

"Come. We have much to discuss." He sure spoke calmly for someone who's tendrils were in absolute distress. 

Both of the skeletons sat down at their respective seats, anxiously wondering what action their boss was going to take. Hell, even Axe was anxious. Error seemed unfazed, impressed actually. 

Nightmare inhaled sharply and everyone got ready for what he was about to say. Killer was praying to any god and deity you told him about that Nightmare wasn't going to "temporarily postpone" your missions. That'd be the worst case scenario-

"My daughter will no longer be put in distress until we recruit Cross. Her missions will be temporarily postponed, and she will be restricted of her SOUL usage. She will not be trained until further notice." 

FUCK-

"hold on boss- restricted of her SOUL usage?! that's outrageous!" Dust stole the spotlight with his words, earning a glare from Nightmare. Despite being intimidated, Dust still did not back down. 

Snowflake was someone important to him, a nice RESET rather than a horrible one. No way Dust was going to just take in whatever Nightmare said. Snowflake was as full of bloodlust and battle hungry just as anyone in their group. And then he's suddenly going to take away what made her happy? No way.

"snowflake's entire purpose of getting her SOUL to mature was to get stronger. she wanted to rush herself so badly but she couldn't. now that she's experienced a single mission you're going to strip that away from her? i don't think that's right boss."

Dust even slammed his hand down on Nightmare's desk, if he was going to die. He wanted to die knowing that his snowflake can turn into a snowstorm when the time comes. 

"I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation, Dust. If my daughter has had abilities that we could not see or even detect, she could easily lose control over said abilities and further harm herself."

Nightmare was deflecting. 

"that still doesn't have enough logic for keeping snowflake from learning to protect herself! the sheer passion she gives off for the sake of improving her skills and sharpening her craft can outrival DETERMINATION itself." Dust sighed as he tried to argue with Nightmare. Your safety came first to all of them sure, but your improvement was still important in the argument. 

Error scoffed at Dust's attempts. "Oi, I agree with him you know. Cipher's been training long and hard and you're just gonna pull her strings and pretend like she wouldn't want it, yeah?" While Dust's words struck physically, Error's words struck emotionally. 

Nightmare faced behind them his aura of negativity sending shivers down everyone's spine. 

He's truly terrified. Terrified of losing his daughter. So Nightmare is willing to take any and every way to make sure that no one will lay a hair on his precious daughter. It was going to restrict her in many ways, yes, it would decrease her happiness to a concerning amount, yes, but if that means she would be safe. Then so be it. 

"My word is final. Her SOUL usage will be restricted, her training will be postponed. And she will not be able to leave this castle without one of you by her side. Do you all understand?"

Shit. Shit-shit-shit. Killer was shitting bricks right now. A heated debate is going on and the castle might collapse with the tension being created right now. Dust's words were still incredibly defensive, but Error's statements backed them up and went offensive. 

Dust was defensing Snowflake's rights with his life right now. At any moment, his disobedience can turn him to Dust. But Nightmare wasn't even been defending himself, he was making sure that his word will stay final. With Snowflake's SOUL maturing, everyone has been on edge... No one could relax without the thought of that stupid awakening. Dust's mindset was simply to ensure that Snowflake could defend herself from any situation. Although defense might not be his game, he was also learning from his mistakes when teaching Snowflake. To him, Snowflake's life and well being is worth more than his. She'll serve as a Queen that no one can refuse.

Error on the other hand was getting extremely irritated. Sure he acted like a brat from time to time, but Nightmare was taking it to a whole other level! Cipher was already an adolescent, of course she was going to be at higher risk. All of them understood what she would be dealing with, everyone understood that she WANTED this life. Cipher wants to persevere her own path, a murderous path at that. She's said this to Nightmare and the gang multiple times. Was that not enough to show how much she craved violence? No way was Error going to let up to someone who couldn't see Cipher's true desires. 

Well this was going worse than he thought. Killer didn't share all the details on the phone. He was supposed to tell the whole story to everyone. But that plan ended up shattering infront of him because of Nightmare's sudden announcement. 

He visited Little Ro an hour early before her allotted time ran out. He knows your capabilities, so he figured you would finish early. Once he entered the room all cheery, his smile was stripped from his face when he saw your SOUL out of your body. 

Of course he was concerned, but he didn't panic. He simply approached you and your SOUL with caution. 

Sparks were emerging from the SOUL, sparks that looked like small bolts of electricity... It didn't seem that it hurt you. But it did seem like it would hurt him. He stupidly tried to touch your levitating SOUL, and once his finger came in contact with your SOUL... He took damage. 

More than half of his health, gone in a mere fraction of a second. What the hell was that?! That was your SOUL POWER?! 

He just stared at the SOUL until the sparks disappeared 30 minutes later, he also cleaned up the building and made sure nothing was around you just to be safe. Once he pushed your SOUL back where it belonged, you started to wake up. 

That was the only bit of information he did not share to anyone. Not even his little ro was informed about what was happening with her soul...

And honestly, did he NEED to share it? Dust, and Error were going neck and neck against Nightmare's orders. Sure it was to keep you healthy and moving but did you REALLY need your powers? You could focus on stamina for a while? He didn't know, he just wanted you and the others NOT TO DIE! "you're being irrational boss! she needs the experience! if you keep her sheltered for the rest of her life she's not gonna get any better!" Dust and Error keep arguing with Nightmare and it was starting to get concerning. 

Killer needed to do something. He knew that Axe was just as intimidated as he was, it was getting really heated in their debates. And honestly, Killer knew in his SOUL that he was responsible for those arguments. 

He didn't want to-

Does he have to-?

Should he do this-?

Now isn't the time for thinking! 

In the spur of the moment Killer activated his blue magic on both Error and Dust, sadly it didn't affect Nightmare but it was a big enough of a move for him to take notice. Once all eyes er- eye sockets were on Killer, he calmed down and deactivated his magic. 

"Are you going to disobey my word as well, Killer?" Nightmare's aura was still as menacing as ever, no amount of confidence can stand up to that. And yet, Killer still prevailed, he probably pissed in his shorts but its for little ro!

"i haven't been completely honest with you all. truth is that when i got to where little ro was, she was sleeping in a chair and her SOUL was out. the weird part was that her SOUL had these little sparks around it, when i tried to touch the sparks i lost more than half of my HP. quite shocking but yeah... the two of you have the same fear, boss. it's the fear of losing each other. she's trying to get stronger so her fear wouldn't become reality, she's trying to prove to you that she can handle herself. if you strip that dream away from her then... then there's no telling if her fear disappears or stays. i'm not saying that i'm disobeying you, and i'm really not looking for a quick death. but consider what she would feel if you simply kept her at arms length, she wants to be independent..."

Killer stopped talking for a moment and took a deep breath.

"she wants to protect you one day, boss. and if you want to see that happen, then don't limit on what she can and can't do because of something unknown. her awakening or maturing was rushed yes, we're all concerned for her safety yes. but you have to consider that she's doing this for us! she's doing this for YOU. little ro just wants to make sure that her nightmares never happen, y'know? she really really wants to do this for you. actually that's an understatement, she WILL do this for you. and i think that's enough of a reason not to go with your decision."

Truth be told... Nightmare was astounded by Killer's speech. Nightmare hasn't really spent much time with you at all these past few months... You've been training so much and you'd usually sleep early in order for your body to be in the best shape. You were incredibly dedicated to what you wanted to do, and it looked like you weren't going to half-ass what you started. The incident that happened between you and Nightmare when you were 8 years old affected you both more than he originally thought. Nightmare wanted to be your shield, but he also wanted to see you flourish in your own way... He wanted to see you become an independent person. 

But he still wanted you to lean on him... You grew up too quickly. He taught you at an early age to be mature, but honestly, he was slightly regretting it by now. You were his daughter. His little princess that he wanted to see grow up to be a queen that no one could defy. He wanted to see you kick ass in training, he wanted to see you become who you wanted to be. He was afraid that if he let you go too quickly you'd forget where you came from... He was afraid of losing you emotionally and physically. He's never talked to anyone about this, and yet, he wanted to try and open up to you about this, once you were older of course. 

Nightmare was conflicted... Would he go with what killer said? Or does he stick with the original plan...

What would you want most? What did you want to prioritize? 

What was best for you?

Chapter Text

hey guys looks at last updated date

It has been SO long since I last updated-

Also I was very busy making sure that this bitchass of a girl at school doesn't fuck with me <33 (half-joking)

So that might explain my absence in some way ig... 

For the following chapters of this fanfiction, it will all be lore 

For like 3-5 more chapters, I swear to y'all there will be no fluff

So I recommend you all to BINGE READ the chapters full of fluff

Because I'm not going easy on the angst~

Anywho, thank you all for sticking around for this fic, and I love every single one of you

I want to give you all the best of the best of the stuff I make and so some of them might take some time.

But thank you for bearing with me and the inconsistent updates!

That'll be all for today, see y'all when I see y'all~

- Shinro

Chapter Text

"There is no use arguing in something as pointless as this. My daughter will not be restricted of what she desires, you three will make sure to keep her safe. Train her well."

Everyone in the room celebrated in relief about this win, you- you could still pursue what you wanted! "thank you so much boss! we'll make the best of little ro!" Killer said, DETERMINED to train you to your fullest potential. Dust and Error were super stoked as well, Horror was just glad that all of his teammates were still alive before his eye sockets. 

"However. We are not done. We still have to discuss her power. And what effect that sudden awakening had on her SOUL." Nightmare's distorted voice held authority over everyone. What Nightmare said was true, her SOUL maturing was the start of all of this. It was root of everyone's worry for you. 

How did it happen? Why did it happen? Questions like that lingered in the back of all of their heads. 

Nightmare sat back down and so did everyone else, "First and foremost. Error and Killer were the two closest involved with the SOUL awakening. Did you two see anything special?" 

Error nodded, "Cipher was able to control and manipulate my strings as she wanted. Her SOUL power coated around my ability somehow and made it her own. Let me say that I have seen hundreds and even thousands of PERSEVERANCE SOULS trying to do that. None of them succeeding. Plus, my strings are of my own creation. It wasn't passed down from SOUL to SOUL or skeleton to skeleton. So in theory, it should have been near impossible to create or even control my strings. But Cipher does it subconsciously." 

Axe opened his mouth to speak as well, "Anything... special... Cupcake can replicate," what Axe said made everyone's eyes widened. It was true... 

You had difficulty replicating easy to learn tricks such as the bones, but when it came to the harder, more personalized tricks. You had absolutely no difficultly in learning how they worked. And you even got to the point where you could control their weaknesses. You covered your own blind spots and replaced them with overwhelming strength. 

To all of them, that was terrifying. It took them many years to simply learn the technique that their own pace. You were a prodigy. You came out of your cocoon with multiple talents. You had your own rhythm, your own style, everything was personalized the moment your SOUL hit that awakening. 

A prodigy that came out of nowhere. 

That was what worried them.

"Cupcake told me... Lot's of things...I can tell you." You and Axe were the definition of "soft siblings". When you were tired, Axe would spoil you with healthy food and have you choose the sweet desert you'd want to have after. He'd make sure that you weren't being pushed too hard in training. 

"she tells you what, Axe?" Dust inquired, Axe started to think. "when she uses her SOUL her eyes... heat up... then her power comes out of her hands... Boom." 

Everyone was looking at Axe when he said something that they never knew.

"a new feeling to her... something she wants... it makes her SOUL stronger... not negative or positive... her soul speaks to her."

This sent a shiver down everyone's spine. No one... No one's SOUL can talk to them... Killer is a special case... But a normal human like you..? It can't be...

A SOUL is a representation of your own self. You don't know what a SOUL is. No one has taught you on what it is. They don't teach you what it means because they themselves don't know how to explain it. If your SOUL talks to you like a completely different person... Unlocks your own potential... If you and your SOUL aren't connected in someway... 

Then is it even your SOUL?

"With that information, that means she has a case like Killer, I'm assuming?" Axe shook his head. "different, somehow..."

No.

This couldn't be possible.

Did you truly have someone inside your SOUL... Awakening your abilities... Did the incident you have at the age of 8 awaken something in you that wasn't yourself? You wanted to persevere, you wanted to survive. You wanted to live.

With your power... You succeeded. But you remained oblivious to the beast that was awakened inside you. 

Everyone was living in their own heads... No one knew what to do... No one knew what this was... But fortunately...

Someone broke through.

"boss. i may have an idea." Killer raised his voice once again. 

Nightmare looked at him with interest and signaled for him to continue. 

"State your plan of action." 

Killer inhaled deeply. 

"let little ro meet Cross again."

Killer's eye sockets had his singular white pupil shinning out. And once he finished his sentence, half of that pupil shined a vibrant shade of red. 

No skeleton in the room they were in was sane. And so they all just laughed at Killer's recommendation. It was as if everyone's SOUL's were combined in that very moment. That's what all of them agreed upon. 

"Let's do it." They all spoke in unison.

Chapter Text

UWAAAAAAA FANART'S SO PRETYYYY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT TO THIS FIC! CREDIT TO: errors-kinda-here ON TUMBLR!

What is a nightmare, and what is a dream?

By definition: A nightmare would equal a horrible dream, something scary or spine shivering. While as a dream would always be peaceful, or happy. You've thought about this multiple times, even using your father and technical uncle as examples. Nightmare was a dark being, full of whatever goop he was made off. Calling him intimidating would be an understatement. Allergic to all positivity but drawn to all negativity. While as Dream was a being made of blinding light. He seemed to emit a strange yet comforting golden glow around him that only you and Nightmare could see. Allergic to all negativity but drawn to all positivity. 

Why were you related with these beings? Why could you see the aura around them? And... Why does your SOUL ache every time you get close to Dream's aura? It wasn't because you're used to Nightmare's fairly threatening aura, you were still afraid of your father sometimes when he got mad at his subordinates. But still... You were incredibly curious. But it seemed like books did not have the answer, but honestly, neither does Nightmare. 

Once you started to ask questions about yourself, it was as if another version of you was answering. The answers were incredibly accurate and you simply assumed it was something like a conscience or a second voice. It was always there when you wrote stories or whenever you drew something you loved, so you just let it be. Never did you think that this voice of yours was a problem, you treated it like you would treat yourself. Relying on it when you wanted answers, and even talking to it in your sleep. It seemed like a friend, but in the end, you knew that you were just answering your own questions. But honestly.

What if it wasn't?

What if that one thing that was giving you advice wasn't you in the first place? What if it was a completely different person? What if you had someone else pulling the strings on your SOUL. Would they be compelled to harm you? Would they want to harm you? Why would they in the first place? For most of your life, you had been sheltered from the world outside of the castle. So what motive would they have? What would they want from you. Those were the questions the beast inside you wouldn't answer. You did not know if this was truly you and yourself alone, or someone else entirely. But for now... You simply deemed it as another, deeper version of what was in your SOUL. Something that you couldn't completely understand, but the concept was there, and for now, that was enough for you. 

You rubbed your eyes as you yawned, it was around what? 3 or 4 in the morning? Error and Dust would usually awake you for your morning "walk and watch the sunrise" by now. But strangely, they didn't take initiative this time. You wondered why. It was common that your family would act strange in many ways, they're still deranged lunatics after all. But Dust wouldn't forget what brought him closer to you, not so abruptly. 

Lazily opening your eyelids, you weren't in the castle, rather, you were in a pitch black space. Just the dark abyss surrounding everything and nothing at the same time. What the hell was this? It was in your routine that you'd get up around 3-4 in the morning so you kept note of that time. Standing up, you brushed yourself off and tried to observe where you were. Keyword is "observed".

"Where the hell am I this time? First that white void, now a black abyss?" You tried to walk around but soon stopped because it honestly felt worthless. You couldn't see where you were going, you couldn't feel yourself walking, so why bother? Strangely enough though... You didn't feel any strange intent in the abyss. If felt comforting, it felt nice and warm despite being in total darkness. 

A being of a bright lavender color flames soon emerged from the darkness when you settled down. It was the being you were talking to! You knew it was yourself because of the hair and eye colors, it had the same features as you and even the same bright look on it's face. The flames illuminated part of the darkness and gave you some room to breath in. It's fire was gentle and warm. 

"Hey! Mind telling me why I'm here? You've never really taken me to this place..." You asked it, it rarely ever spoke to you so the silent response it gave you was expected. "Can you at least try and lead me out of this abyss? I like and don't like the feel of it." It nodded.

You couldn't notice. But how could you? How could you notice the flash of amethyst in those pure white eyes of yours? How could you notice the slight change in the environment from black to gray? Truly. How could you?

You weren't a prodigy. So how could you possibly see the slight differences around you? 

That's right... You were no prodigy. You were only human after all. The light leading your way had blinded you, but you didn't notice. How could you notice...

that slight sense of animosity shinning from within that purple flame before you?

Once the being led you to a light source, it was a mirror that lead you to your father's office, thought, it stopped you from entering immediately. "What's wrong bud? I can see the meeting table from here, it's the castle," the being looked at you with a deep look in it's eyes. It engulfed the white mirror in bright purple flames as you watched in awe. Soon after the flames died down, you could hear what was happening in the office. 

"We shall not speak of this any further. That is our mode of action-" 

Nightmare's distorted voice could be clearly heard from the other side of the mirror. His voice was glitchy like it was coming from an old Television Screen. Your companion made a motion to silence you, abiding by it's instructions, you kept listening in.

"goddamnit, i want to go through it, bu- what about little r--"

"Cipher'll be-- Probably for the mo-"

"what do we do if she doesn't-- ag--"

What were they talking about? You were obviously the topic of said conversation... But you didn't know what conversation they were having. So you kept silent, and kept listening in. 

"I assure you-- my daug--- strong."

"true. but--"

Damnit. The signal is getting worse and worse every line they spoke. What was this? An old school play showing on some black and white TV screen?

But one line.

That one stupid line.

Struck you to your core. 

"It's far from possible that my daughter would die, but take caution."

What...

That was Nightmare's voice... 

It couldn't be right? After all, he's the most protective of you. Him taking an action that could possibly lead to your death- was unheard of. He would be the one to simply deny the idea completely. He would be the one to make another plan that doesn't involve you or your life. He would be the one to terminate any idea of even putting a scratch on you. He would be...

"Take me back..." Your head was down. Staring at the shiny mirror before you. Once again... You failed to notice important details that could quite possibly save your life in many aspects. 

That grin. That terrifying and eerie grin of your so called alter ego. It's eyes shifted from snow white to pitch black, the environment turned pitch black once again, and the comforting aura had disappeared. It engulfed you in it's gentle flames and just like you wanted... You were brought back to your room. Wide awake of what just happened. Tears streamed down your face. Those tears weren't anger, frustration, or anything. You didn't know why you were crying. You'd think of tears as pointless, and so you didn't have a reason to cry after you knew the reality of the world around you. Why were you crying? What reason did you have to cry? 

You were sheltered. 

To be honest, you've never been separated from Nightmare for more than a short period of time. 3 days was the longest he had left you alone without his presence. It was honestly really scary without your father. Without that familiar dark aura to keep you comfortable, it was hard not to freak out. 

You didn't know how this world worked.

You didn't know anything. 

But did you realize it? 

Of course not.

Your instincts were powerful, but you were still a kid. You were still oblivious. 

"You didn't know what's happening."  A faint voice spoke. But you didn't hear it. 

You knew nothing.

"You know nothing." 

"You will know nothing."

The tears stopped sooner or later once you felt like you needed to get up. The sun was almost up... No reason to rush without Dust nor Error waking you up. You could stay in bed, or the the Bad Sanses see your tears. Nightmare would sense your sadness if he even came close to your room. So it was best for you to remain where you were. 

Part of it was entertaining. Part of it was disappointing. 

You couldn't look at things as other people with better mentality could. You only knew things in two ways: "Good" or "Bad". It depended on which choice you wanted to choose. Then you'd make even more 50/50 decisions.

Everything was in a gray area for you currently. Nothing was right or wrong. Why couldn't you see it as right or wrong? Why didn't Nightmare teach you this? He had every right and opportunity to step in and recommend to learn how other people acted. You relied on Nightmare.

You wanted to rely on Nightmare

But at the same time, it felt like you only wanted to rely on yourself. 

What could you do? What should you do? You were only 14 damnit. You didn't want to be thinking of these things.

Where was Nightmare? You wanted Nightmare to deal with this... He usually did the things you didn't want to do. 

That was how your world worked. 

But.

"Someone else is controlling your world. And that someone is having fun doing it."

Chapter Text

It's been a solid month since I wrote anything on any of my series and I'd like to apologize for that-

Our school's final semester is coming to an end really soon so I have to focus on my studies more than usual since GRADES EXIST. 

So I will be off with posting on my account for another solid month maybe. Since I'm not exactly sure on when the school year will end

And being abroad a lot sucks a lot. Especially when I don't get to bring my laptop with me.

That said, thank you all so much for the support on this fic, it warms my heart to see people enjoying this little found family(with some angst) in a fandom I enjoy.

So, although I might go on a hiatus for a while, I hope you all have a wonderful month!

See y'all when I see y'all. Bye!

(And yes, I will probably do it again LOLZ)

- Shinro Kami

Chapter Text

Surprisingly... You acted just as you were once you got over your tears. Dust was obviously upset that he got caught up in that heated debate with Nightmare and forgot to take you outside to watch the sunrise, but other than that, the day continued fairly smoothly. When you heard that you were going on a joint mission with Dust and Error, you seemingly forgot why you were so upset earlier this morning.

"Mission? Aw yeah! I'm gonna get dressed right away!" A pitiful attempt of getting away and not listening to the mission's details was easily collapsed by your father. He made sure his tentacles had a firm grip on you but held you far enough so you wouldn't bite. "Oh no you don't. This is a joint effort, my dear. If Error, and Dust are listening to the details, so are you-" the said big boss was cut off by Error untangling you from his grasp with Dust waiting in the Anti-Void. 

"Sorry Night! We're just gonna take Cipher here for a little stroll," Dust let out a short yet hearty laugh, "we haven't spent a lot of time with her, so this is kinda our chance, boss." Pulling yourself up with Error's strings you winked at your clearly irritated yet happy dad. Though he was irritated that you didn't bother listen to the details anymore... He was glad that you knew you were strong and safe with Error and Dust by your side that you had no use for details.

He simply sighed, "Fine. I shall let this slide, once." Nightmare didn't protest or complain. When you lot were this far into your antics, there was no stopping you or everyone would complain endlessly. It was funny to all of you but it was annoying to Nightmare himself. But it was his daily livelihood so he could not complain. 

Once the three of you had a go signal, Error closed the portal and Nightmare let out another sigh, it was time to get down to more serious things. 

"With Error, Dust, and my daughter gone, we shall also go on a trip." Killer sighed from the couch as he didn't even get to say goodbye to Little Ro. "things are heating up now, i get it, but why wouldn't you let me speak to little ro?" It was true, Nightmare did everything in his power to keep Killer from conversing with you. Solely because if he were to spill even a little bit of what they conversed in that debate, the plan they had was going downhill instantly. 

Killer was the most emotionally attached to Little ro other than Nightmare. Killer was playful, and he was the first to want to kill you when you were just a sleeping baby with a PERSERVERANCE SOUL, measly free EXP to him. But then, something in him bloomed. He doesn't know why but, every bone in his body wants you to be safe. It doesn't matter what happens to him afterall, so long that you would be safe and sound with someone he could trust, he'd be happy.  

"Are the both of you ready to depart? I'm hesitant on this plan but I'd like to know what kind of 'awakening' her SOUL had. And one of, if not, the only expert in strange awakenings, lies in an AU called: 'Abysstale'." Killer's eye lights dimmed at the mention of that AU. "eugh, we have to strike a deal with him? of all people. i despise the damned midget." Nightmare clearly remembers a long while before they had adopted you in. "don't worry... it'll be fine Killer..."  Horror spoke softly but with a hint of irritation in his voice. Killer not wanting to get Killed, simply shut up.

Killer had sliced off that damn robot sans's arm off before he went off with Abyss. They escaped the castle, and he failed his mission, and old Killer hated failing missions especially since he was so new and heartless. He was so pissed at that time because one, he was called a "new favorite of the boss" by that MIDGET when he was only there for personal-fucking-benefit. He's held a damn grudge ever since. 

Killer snarled at the memory. "whatever. let's get this over with." Killer reluctantly said, shortcutting beside his boss while Axe slowly followed. Nightmare simply snapped his fingers and in a blink of an eye, er, eye-socket, they were in the newly formed Abysstale. Nightmare shivered in the ambiance and atmosphere as it was so positive. It was all so new. It took everything in Nightmare to hold himself back from destroying the whole AU. 

Then he felt someone point a blaster behind his skull. To be fair, the three of them saw it coming.

"Why are you here." Killer decided to fuck with him for a bit.

"ah yes, the infamous, annoying, self-centered, mechanical tin can. how've you been! your arm doin' alright?" Killer's eye lights were as dim as they can be. He didn't like the guy. Playing dirty instead of fighting him head on. Mecha sans obviously took the bait, getting pissed and giving Killer the reaction he wanted. That face when he got so pissed and angry, he was sorta glad that Little Ro wasn't in the mix of this current mess. You'd have to deal with another side with him at that point. 

"Stand down, both of you-" Nightmare tried to separate Mecha and Killer but to no avail. The two of them were neck and neck and honestly, Nightmare wasn't in the mood to deal with Killer's sadistic antics. But thankfully, Axe stepped in and made sure that his comrade didn't draw his apparent 42 knives while negotiation was at play. The goop covered skeleton rubbed his temple, and thankfully, THANKFULLY, Mecha got the message that he wasn't here for chaos or a fight. He would have already done that if he did want one or the other. 

"I suppose you finally got the message, correct? You're not as much as an idiot as Killer says you are no?" Nightmare still serious about business does want to fuck with someone that'll give him a reaction.

"Bah! I ain't no idiot ya hear me?! But anyways, I'm assuming you're not here for me. If you're finding Abyss then I can tell ya he ain't INTERESTED." Mecha tried pointing out while avoiding eye contact with both Killer and Horror. At least Nightmare was decent at eye contact. 

"Believe it or not, this is not for personal benefit. It is for my daughter. And if you can point me to where that small, itty bitty, midget is residing I can get out of your over-oiled and over-gelled hair. Sounds good?" Nightmare wasn't one to beat around the bush or talk in riddles. This was for you, this was for his daughter, he wants to discover what kind of case you had. And since Abyss could travel AUs, he figured that maybe he could give him an answer. 

Mecha took a minute to process his statement. "The king of nightmares... HAS A DAUGHTER?! HOLD ON-" 

"Here we go again..." 

"WHEN?! HOW?! BIOLOGICALLY?!" 

"Around 12 years ago, I picked her up in an AU, and no, adopted. Can I ask three questions now?" Temperament, Nightmare, this is for your daughter, it will be fine. 

A familiar presence was there to curse, Axe, Killer, and Nightmare, and yet blessed Mecha. 

"What is with all the ruckus?" Abyss popped out of a portal and bumped into Horror. He tried to restrain some of his "maniacal" grin because they were here for negotiation, not possible murder. "found the midget, boss." Horror stated, and Killer... Oh he wanted to let loose this instant. But, since it was for little ro... He simply greeted the midget with an irritated "hello". 

Mecha immediately told every bit of information that he heard and Nightmare was getting impatient. It hasn't been that long sure, but honestly, he would rather sit in his office and try and draw with his daug--

"--Daughter?" Abyss repeated with a questioning look in his pupils. "If you are going to ask me something, at least, may I ask a question back? Information for information. And I promise you it is nothing to 'destroy the multiverse'. Like I said, I simply want the best for my daughter." Abyss wanted to force them back into wherever AU they were from. But Abyss... He saw a shimmer of concern in Nightmare's sockets. Blame him for being too empathetic but...

"Where did you get your 'daughter' from?" He asked, "I picked her up from an AU we were supposed to annihilate. And now for my question."

Abyss waited patiently while Mecha stood by to disagree with whatever Nightmare said. Whatever it was, it can't be good. Was he planning to torture the kid? Considering he simply "picked her up" 12 years ago he's probably already done that. If he wanted something to do with harming another SOUL then Mecha and Abyss were sure to disagree-

"Could you help me determine what state my daughter's SOUL is in? I'm quite concerned." Mecha was quick to point him out, "He probably did damage to the kid's SOU-" he was promptly cut off by Nightmare pulling out his cellphone and showing a picture of you all. Heck, you were the one taking the photo. A selfie with your family, everyone seemed so happy. 

"If you don't believe me, then this is my daughter. She's smart, cunning, and above all skilled. Her SOUL had a different awakening. She can manifest special abilities but she struggles with common ones. She wants to get stronger of her own accord and so we provide what she wants with sufficient training. She is 14 years old but remains nameless." Nightmare simply told them the basic information about you.

The two of them seemed shocked that Nightmare even provided pictures... They could endlessly scroll through his whole gallery and see nothing but happy pictures of you and the gang, usually the ones that he took in secret, or the ones you wanted to pose.

"I do not wish for conflict. I do not wish to strike while you are vulnerable. I only wish that you would considering looking at my daughter's SOUL. It is not normal for someone or something that's barely 14 or 15 years old to have mastered something as unique as Error's strings or Killer's knives. I want to ask a favor. But it is your choice whether to help us or not." 

Abyss and Mecha couldn't believe what they were hearing. The King of Nightmares... Asking favors from them of all people...

"don't get it twisted, this is for little ro. not for me, not for Axe, not for the boss, it is for little ro. if ya can understand that much then i'd be happy to work with you." Killer sarcastically said, but it wasn't clear what the sarcastic part was. "Cupcake is... Special to us... We want to help her..." Axe stood by Nightmare's left and Killer stood by Nightmare's right. They looked like bodyguards...

"Now. I've relayed to you what I wanted to relay. It is your choice."

Nightmare hoped for the best in the silence displayed infront of him. Who knew decisions could be so scary...

But, he knows this is for your own good. He knows that this is for you.

If you want to improve your SOUL output...

Then let him deal with all the complicated details.

Chapter Text

Nightmare didn't really fear anything before he met you.

He was so cruel and carefree, not willing to bat an eye to even his so called "comrades".

And yet... When he first saw you in that little abandoned stroller, he didn't have any urge to dust you.

He had the urge to protect you. Give you another chance of life instead of destroying it like he always did.

Why did he feel that way? He doesn't know either.

But he... He decided to act on his gut that one day. And honestly... He had no regrets.

Taking you in was the best thing that he's experienced after thousands of years of emptiness.

A bright light in his dark world.

Then you started to mature... 

Then your SOUL started to develop unnaturally. 

Why'd it... Why did it have to be you?

Why his light. Why his treasure. 

Why did... 

Just why... 

He shook these thoughts off and faced Abyss with no emotion in his aquamarine glowing pupil. He wanted to show no emotion because he didn't want you to become a weakness of his. He's already showcased that and put you in greater risk because of the emotions he's showcased. 

"Once again, if you are not interested, I do not mind. I shall find another Sans or person to look at my daughter's condition if that's the case." Nightmare spoke as gently as he could.

Abyss and Mecha were shocked to say the least. The King of Nightmare's and his men were asking for help from people that absolutely ticked them off. Mecha pulled Abyss away from the trio and Abyss knew what he was going to say.

"An eye for an eye, right? You want them to apologize, right?" Abyss reluctantly said and Mecha nodded.

"This is out chance! We can get them to apologize for what they did to you and even maybe... Just maybe! Stop them from harming any more AUs!" The robot spoke with confidence and hope in his voice. 

Abyss understood what Mecha wanted to do, and honestly, it was a solid plan. But something in him is telling him not to do that... Abyss was always an empathetic person, even when people are cruel. But the Nightmare he was facing now wasn't the same one from years ago... This Nightmare was more gentle, more understand, and most of all... 

More caring. 

He's noticed all sorts of changes from Nightmare's behavior and mannerisms. When Killer was picking a fight with both Mecha and Abyss, Nightmare simply told him to back off instead of harming the skeleton for him to stop. Axe has been speaking more than he usually did and he was hesitating on his grin. As if he wanted to change his expression. Killer has all the bark he had before, but to be honest, this Killer never really had any bite. He knew negotiation was at play, and so he held back for the so called "daughter's" sake. 

"...I think their apology is more than enough... This is the King of Nightmares. If he's willing to apologize to us just for a deal... Then I think that's more than enough proof that he's not here for our skulls."

Abyss walked past a disappointed and upset Mecha. But honestly, the Tin Can kind of agreed with the midget. If they considered who they were talking to at the moment... And consider what they've said so far... It truly does seem like they're here for something other than conflict. 

"If you want a deal, you'll have to do something for us," Abyss spoke gently, but it was obvious it was going to be something of great worth. 

"Alright then, what is it." Nightmare crossed his arms and Killer prepared on surrendering every single knife he had. "if your plan is to get us to stop killing people, that aint gonna happen midge-" 

"Apologize."

All of their eye sockets widened on what Abyss just ordered them to do. 

Apologize?! That's some sick joke! 

Killer wanted to fight, Killer wanted to slice every head he saw infront of him. He's telling HIM, THE LITERAL KING OF NIGHTMARES, and a CANNIBAL, to APOLOGIZE?!

But Killer was the first one to abide anyways. 

He bowed his head infront of the short skeleton, Horror's head followed after Killer's, and Nightmare was the last to bow. 

"I apologize for the way I treated you."

Nightmare was going to hell and back for you. He wasn't going to half-ass anything for his daughter.

"i apologize for making fun of the both of ya. and for the way i belittle you both constantly."

You were always there for Killer. Through thick and thin, and he's willing to sacrifice everything for you, little ro.

"i'm sorry... for the food i served you... it was inedible..."

Axe wanted to cook more for you. He wanted to improve for you, if this was the next step then so be it.

Abyss and Mecha couldn't believe what was happening infront of them. Two of the most prideful people in Nightmare's castle... Admitting defeat and apologizing. 

Mecha wanted to laugh in victory, but he never really did expect all three of them to cough up a sincere apology without a moment of hesitation.

And this was the only thing Abyss wanted to see if they truly wanted to protect that piece of their family. He knows what it's like to lose someone and something of great importance after all. 

"To be completely honest... I didn't think you all would do it... I thought Axe was going to threaten to gauge my eye-lights out, I thought Killer was going to march right off to whatever castle you all are in, and I thought Nightmare was going to scoff and belittle us even further. But seeing you all so soft for a single person... It warms my SOUL. I shall take a look at your daughter, Nightmare. If you're that willing to want to cure whatever curse she has, then I'm willing to work with you." 

For once in his life...

For once after he was deemed the King of Nightmares.

Nightmare felt a warm presence in his SOUL. 

He shed a single happy tear. 

His daughter had the chance of living the life she wanted.

You were going to be able to choose any path you wanted. 

You were finally going to be free of any restriction life put on your SOUL.

And for that... He was glad that Killer and Horror sucked up their pride as well.

If only you knew what effect you had on all of them. 

Once he looked at the skeleton infront of him, his smile was as soft as a cloud in the sky. 

Killer's SOUL was filled with pure excitement once he looked up. 

He jumped and pounced with joy once he heard that their mission was a success. 

Axe didn't jump and bounce like Killer, but he was definitely ecstatic that cupcake was soon going to have a real diagnosis. 

You were going to be okay.

"Thank you, Abyss. I truly appreciate this with every fiber of my SOUL. I shall contact you when the time is right. But for now... We have to leave. Thank you, once again."

Nightmare thanked the duo and left the AU along with Killer and Axe.

"They've changed. Alot." Mecha remarked and Abyss chuckled, "Yeah. They have." 

Silence engulfed the environment they were in. And suddenly... A portal opened up. 



"But so have we."

Chapter Text

You lay there lifeless. Unable to fight any longer. Killer could barely open his eye sockets. Just wanting to take his nap. Axe wasn't hungry. He just wanted rest. Dust just slept. He slept with a weak breath.

Chapter Text

Ello ello! These are just cute scenarios I thought of in skit form! Things have been lore heavy lately, so why not some shenanigans from the gang to lighten a bit of pressure? Hope yall enjoy this little "side-story"! 

_____________________

"Dad, why is Killer on the ceiling" 

"My dear, even I know Killer is not that much of an imbecile-"

"you underestimate me then, boss." 

"OH MY FUCKING GOD KILLER GET DOWN FROM THE CEILLING-!"

_____________________

"Axe, for the love of asgore don't drink the curry."

"yeah... curry is something you enjoy you know-"

"curry is something my body absorbs." 

"Did you just insinuate that curry is a concept..?"

"ONE DINNER. I WANTED ONE DINNER THAT WE DID NOT BRING THIS UP."

_____________________

"are you gay little ro?"

"spits drink WHAT THE FUCK KILLER?!"

"don't lie, Axe was cleaning your room the other night and stumbled upon your phone."

"..."

"not your work phone." 

"I may... or may not like boys and girls."

"YOU LIKE BOTH?! I HAVE TO DEAL WITH 2 CHANCES?!"

"NIGHTMARE?!"

_____________________

Nightmare at 3 am: "When are the four of you going to get some priorities?"

Killer eating out of the fridge: "not anytime soon noot."

Axe almost falling out of the cupboards: "I was hungry okay..."

Dust about to down a whole bottle of alcohol: "when my insides become dust."

Error helping Dust: "Don't expect anything."

"Where is my daughter?"

Killer: opens the freezer door

"WHY ARE YOU IN THE FREEZER?!"

"It was hot okay."

_____________________

"It's my first time baking so I'm sorry it's a bit burnt Axe... I tried my best- OH MY ASGORE WHY ARE YOU CRYING?! IS IT THAT BAD?!"

"No... It makes me happy... You tried..."

"*sigh* Of course, but next time, teach me how to set the damn oven."

"Mm... Axe will help next time..."

_____________________

"you tellin' me you finished the whole library, Snowflake?"

"Yep! Pretty easy if you ask me!"

"...i know what book your dad is currently reading, wanna spoil him?"

"Name and Author. Now."

_____________________

"When are you actually going to get sunlight, Error?"

"The same day Nightmare kicks you out the castle."

"Good luck with that, my dear."

"IT'S SARCASM DAD!"

"That was sarcasm too Cipher."

_____________________

"WHY HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING DATING SIMULATORS?!" 

"I'VE REALIZED PEOPLE ARE HOT OKAY-"

"little ro! what's your ID? i can add friend you no-"

"AND YOU INFLUENCED HER?!"

"IT STARTED WITH DUST BOSS I SWEAR-"

"HE LIKES PEOPLE?!"

_____________________

(Lil movie AU I'm planning on making)

"Why is the script filled with tears, Shinro."

Shinro: "Oh I dunno, maybe you grabbed the wrong one?"

"Why do you make us suffer like this."

Shinro: "It's called: The Road to Character Development". My friend."

"More like the road to sadism." 

"Mhm."

_____________________

That's all from me for today folks! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Chapter Text

The plan was supposed to go a little something like... Nightmare getting Abyss to agree to a deal, and Error and Dust getting you to enter the so called "state" Killer saw you in. But the problem was that, none of them knew if you going in your state was pure luck, or something that always happened. So... If they hypothetically did not get you to enter Cross's dimension, their plan would fail. 

Dust and Error knew that all sorts of things could go wrong, but considering they were one of the major reasons that you still had rights to your own abilities, they took on this responsibility. As both of your mentors are incredibly stubborn. 

"say, snowflake, wanna get yourself a new plaything? the DETERMINATION guy you brought in last time died by accident. sorry, again." Dust apologized as he was the one who accidentally dusted him. You slightly elbowed Dust in his ribs, "Bah! The past the past. Speaking of which... Where are we going?" The skeleton on your left simply chuckled a bit, his glitchy voice being slightly clearer than usual. 

"You'll see when we get there, Cipher." Error put a phalange up to his teeth as a sign that he wasn't going to spill any information. This made you pout and whine while the three of you walked in the anti-void.

The three of you were in no rush with this mission, considering that all of you were know serial killers and you literally had a deity that can destroy an AU in seconds. And so you just walked around for a solid thirty minutes till the three of you had some bloodlust and adrenaline itching to go loose. Putting on your gas mask and tightening it behind your head you looked at the two skeletons beside you. They were waiting for you to get mentally prepared for the said mission you were gonna go on. Though they could not see your mouth, you still smiled at them, the eyes are the entrance to the SOUL of course.

Dust smiled back at you... You still looked as innocent as ever. He was happy and yet, his sockets held a bit of sadness in them. 

He had always told you that you somewhat reminded him of the life he had before he was called: "Dust". His "Frisk" was an innocent lad before they discovered the RESET button. Once they pressed it however, it was as if they were experimenting with each timeline that they created. They spared no emotion for the monsters in the AU after a certain number of resets. The eyes of seeing everything over and over again, that was a look he could never forget. And yet, whenever he stared into your white eyes, it felt like a completely new experience each time. It's probably why he's so dedicated on training you on trying something new every time. 

"let's go snowflake, get ready." Dust had spoken, eye sockets on the glitched portal informing infront of him. Your eyes held a confident look in them this time, it was obvious that you were smirking. Error had been observing the two of your for quite a while now and decided to intervene. 

"Enough softie, puffy, and wholesome moments for now. We have an AU to exterminate." Now Error. Error's grin was full of malice. "You goddamn sadist," you remarked and the skeleton was proud. Dust rolled his eye lights and pat your head, "yeah... we'll continue later." The glitchy skeleton stuck out one of his tongues to show how disgusted he was. You laughed at his expression. 

Moments like these... Moments when he didn't feel suffocated and alone... It was a dream come true for him. 

Well. One of his dreams at least. 

The three of you walked in the portal, and the first thing Dust smelled was smoke.

"Wait a minute... Isn't this MafiaTale? Or something like that," you observed your environment and saw Error's nod. "you haven't really been in a mission in a while, let's relive an old memory and barge in a certain corporation." Dust passed a dagger to you and you caught it with ease. "I'll be dealing with 'outside' matters Cipher, make us proud." Error bid goodbye for now and you waved goodbye. 

"I could use another LV spike. I also want Grey's fedora," while you spoke Dust had already teleported you into the said "corporation". 

Instead of Grey in his office, he was with his gang. 

You hung your gas mask off your neck and you held in a snarl. The adrenaline spiked once all of 'em stood up all worked up. All of them even had weapons in hand... Grey stood up and faced you and Dust. 

"Hey Grey." Your eyes screamed "murder". 

"LET'S GAMBLE!" 

You shouted and instantly threw the dagger Dust gave you and struck one of the SOUL users dead. 

Grey blasted you and Dust out the door and both of you dodged flawlessly. Using Error's strings to bring the whole gang inside the building outside was a good play. As soon as more than half of them were outside, Dust blasted them for the blast earlier and took more than half of their HP down. The two of you were going to play with your food today. It was an absolute mix of SOUL traits in the organization. DETERMINATION, BRAVERY, JUSTICE, KINDNESS, PATIENCE, INTEGRITY, and even... PERSERVERANCE. You flicked on your mask and started to dominate the crowd. Dust was easily letting loose as well, killing with bones blasters, and sparing anyone who kept him entertaining. Error was making quick work of the AU as well, it was slowly deteriorating by the minute. 

Riding your own gaster blaster you rammed a good number of people into a wall and blasted them. You were having such fun, insanity glowing in your eyes, until someone struck you with a bone. And not just any strike, nah, it was a strike that blew you away till the building on the other street. There stood Grey.

Dust looked in your direction, concerned for your well-being. And yet, you still had that deranged smile on your face, you were doing fine. Removing your mask for a a few seconds, you spit on the ground and wiped your face, "Nice strike, but I'm not letting it happen again." You pointed at Grey with your scythe, you spun it a few times to reveal your own personalized and signature weapon. A double-sided scythe. It was as heavy as you were so it'll pack a punch once someone was hit with it. 

Grey spit his cigar out and snapped his fingers. There appeared a DETERMINATION SOUL and... A PERSERVERANCE SOUL. 

Someone like you? That was surprising.

Having the urge to kill your kin... It filled you with PERSERVERANCE. 

"Few mice till the big boss himself? What a warm up." You pierced the DETERMINATION SOUL in an instant but the PERSERVERANCE SOUL stole the blasters you were using and actually got a hit on you. "Nice hit." You praised him. "Wanna see mine?" Your blast easily dominated over the other guy's blast. Considering you've probably trained more than him, it wasn't surprising. What was surprising was when he copied your scythe. Your double-sided scythe. You thought your SOUL trait could only copy magic attacks? Seems like you were mistaken. And yet even with that information... You kept trading blows with the PERSERVERANCE dude. He was incredibly strong until you sliced his head off without using your magic. The amount of EXP those two had was unreal... The LV spike you were experiencing was insane. 

The black hole looking thing looked to be getting bigger by the moment. Dust was doing fine and was even laughing at all the free EXP he was Then your eyes landed on Grey... The LV spike probably helped but... You could feel it. The same sensation you felt when you faced Grey for the first time. The first time you killed someone who WAS Grey. 

"what's your name, kid. i'd like to know." 

Oh.

This was giving deja vu but... 

You knew what to answer this time.

"私は無名です。お会いできて嬉しいです," you spoke and sliced off his neck in an instant. You picked up his fedora and struck your scythe in his rib cage while he still wasn't dust. He hissed in pain and looked up at his killer. Your snow white eyes pierced the depths of his SOUL while his blood trickled down your scythe. 

"Any last words, Grey?" You gave him a chance to speak, and he damn well took it. 

" 私が正しかった。あなたはあの日からあの名もなき子供だった."

And with that, his body became dust, his SOUL shattered, and you received a heavier LV boost than needed. 

Tch. You should've known that this was the same timeline row. It felt too familiar to be different.

"Ya done over there Dusty? I'm done with my hoard," you spoke while skipping happily through multiple rows and columns of dust piles. "been done snowflake, looks like you and Grey had a chat in Japanese. mind tellin' me what he said?" You retracted your scythe to it's original form that could fit in a pringles can and took off your mask. "Hm? Oh it was nothin', something about my name as all." Looking up at the sky, you took off your gas mask to see Error almost done with his fun as well. You pointed to the tall building Error was on and Dust teleported you to him. Error, surprised that the two of you were already done, looked behind him to see you jumping and skipping around like a chinchilla. 

"LV Spike finally hit her?" He asked Dust, and he just nodded. Error didn't mind this as it aligned with their plan after all, "Say Cipher, why not take a little nap in the anti-void? We're basically finished here and our show doesn't come up for another hour, Dust will be with you." You looked at Error and he randomly pat your head, getting his phalanges slightly tangled in your hair. "Hmm, sure, why not, wake me up fifteen minutes before our show starts, okay?! I don't wanna miss it." You were acting tipsy. That made sense considering this was probably your first major LV spike. 

"alright, let's get you a nap snowflake, get the adrenaline calmed down for later," Dust led you to the portal Error had opened and shot the skeleton a side glance. It was about time that their plan went to its climax.

A few minutes of walking later, you settled on your own bean bag while Dust took a seat next to you. It was a big bean bag after all, and you were always willing to share. Once you did relax and let the adrenaline settle down, you were already on the verge of falling asleep. Dust smiled softly at you, "take a rest, snowflake, you deserve it. i'll tell your dad you deserve a reward as well." He gently pressed the tip of your nose and you smiled gently. Finally succumbing to the sleep your body deserves after an intense fight like that. 

Everyone in the gang knew how to handle their adrenaline automatically, but it wasn't so "automatic" with you. After any training session or mission you were on, you would always need an hour or two of sleep for your body to recharge. Though it was obvious to them that the reason was your SOUL had an abnormal awakening and needed more maintenance than a normal SOUL, so sleep must have been the charger for your SOUL. 

Error soon entered the anti-void with Dust sitting beside you, "It's a waiting game now... I hope we get it on the first try." Dust nodded.

He needed sparks to fly from your SOUL. If Killer had walked in on your SOUL having those little sparks fly, that meant they were already present way before he entered the building. 

"we need to be patient sure but... i'd like for her to continue living her life normally now," Error nodded and as Dust finished his sentence. Your SOUL started to rise out of your chest. The two skeletons were flabbergasted at what was happening infront of them. Dust was already taking videos and pictures and sending them to Nightmare in order to show Abyss himself what was happening. They stared at your SOUL for a solid 5 minutes, still denying the situation infront of them... But how long could they deny reality?

"What the hell Cipher... This is weirder than I thought." Dust scoffed and after taking enough pictures and a slightly lengthy video of what was happening with your SOUL. 

"whatever, she's our priority now. and it's now stage two of the plan, our turn to put in some effort." Dust stated and looked at Error, things were finally getting serious. 

Chapter Text

Nightmare dreaded the ring on his phone when he had just sat on his chair. He sluggishly picked it up, expecting it to be another shitty call with someone who wasn't important. 

"Who is this and what do you want," his voice sounded harsh but in reality he was drained because of all the positivity in AbyssTale. It didn't wound him, it just annoyed him. "boss, she's doing it. to be clear, her SOUL is doing the sparky-sparky." Dust answered his "question" and hung up.

It took Nightmare a couple of seconds before he realized... SHIT. HE NEEDS TO CONTACT ABYSS! He clumsily and excitedly fell out of his chair, both happy and tired of this bullshit. He then proceeded to quickly move himself to the living room using his goop, and scooping up Killer and Axe with his tentacles. 

"WE'RE GOING ON A FAMILY TRIP YOU TWO, DON'T QUESTION IT!" Nightmare commanded Axe and Killer and they both mutually agreed. If Nightmare was in this much of a rush, it's either: The plan failed, or your SOUL was in spark mode and they were going to AbyssTale again.

Their boss hurriedly opened a portal and Killer swears he saw one of the most joyful looks on Nightmare's face. It was a mix of relief and ecstatic excitement. It was a kind of emotion that was lacking in their household until you came along. He was...

Hopeful.

Once all three of them got into AbyssTale, Abyss and Mecha were barely a few meters away from the skeletons as they simply walked to a nearby pond of water. 

"hey chibi, don't mind us being carried by Nightmare here, he wants to talk to ya," Killer mentioned and Axe nodded. Nightmare set them down and... for once he felt like he could let his guard down. For once he felt like he could trust someone other than the ones he's already manipulated.

Though the gut feeling he had said otherwise. 

The aura in AbyssTale wasn't the same as when they went in. He had noticed the townspeople had disappeared only a few minutes after they'd left. It's barely been a few minutes after they exited the portal. Killer and Axe seemed to notice the same thing after they were put down on the ground. Unlike the peaceful aura earlier, it felt melancholic now. Killer had his guard up now, though he didn't radiate bloodlust yet, his pupils were back to the black abyss they once were.

Nightmare's senses were impeccable. No matter where he was, he could sense the aura of negativity. No matter the situation, there was always that feeling in the back of his head saying if an AU was painfully positive, or notably negative. And this AU now reeked of negativity. No... It reeked of unease. 

"Oh? Is your daughter going to be inspected now? I can depart right now," Abyss stood up and Mecha's aura just felt... Violent. Abyss's expression was also uneasy. 

Nightmare put his guard back up, "On second thought... I feel as if I will check on my daughter first." Nightmare spoke and tried to snap open a portal. 

Denied.

What the fuck? He was now starting to get agitated. One more time. He tried to open a portal.

Denied. 

Abyss sighed when he saw both attempts at the portal failed. 

"Don't bother with your cellphone either. You're trapped Nightmare. The deal is still ongoing, I will check up on your daughter. It's just that... I apologize for using your desperation as an opportunity."

Three portals opened out of nowhere. Axe and Killer pulled out their weapons and Nightmare got himself ready for an all out brawl. Shit... A pincer attack. 

Mecha put himself infront of Abyss and pointed his blaster at the three sanses. "HEH! NICE TIMING YOU THREE!" Mecha shouted, and speak of the devils... Blue, Dream, and Ink came out of each individual portal.

"boss, they set us UP!", "No shit Killer."

Nightmare weighed his options in his head, but honestly... There was only one move that he was willing to go for. 

"Ready up you two. We're going to rip open their fucking skulls and get to my daughter as soon as possible. Trample them, torture them, do anything so long as we get our fucking way. Spare no mercy, boys. Dust, Error, and Sirius are waiting for us. Let's make this QUICK."

Nightmare growled and his tendrils went haywire. 

"DON'T LET THEM THROUGH! WE CAN OPEN PORTALS BUT WE CAN'T CLOSE THEM!" Mecha commanded as a General would, and it looked like Dream was damn well willing to stop his brother here and now. Too bad.

"I'm going to break every single one of you bastards. My daughter is waiting for me, so fuck off." 

Killer was praying to every deity and god Little ro had shown him in her little books that she'd wait a little longer. Axe was getting hungry for violence, he was already craving to bake Cupcake a cake once everything was over... And Nightmare... Oh Nightmare was enraged. They have the audacity to betray the King of Nightmares? Fat fucking shot. They were going to tear every living being in this goddamn AU if they need to. 

A brawl was beginning, but how is it going to end?

Wait for them... You better fucking wait for them. 

Chapter Text

So I asked myself when I was going to post the next chapter because lowkey, I like this one

And then I realized, it was pride month

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH YOU GAY FUCKS

Expect a chapter from me tonight or this afternoon!

Also for the people asking for some reason... Little Ro's sexuality is Bisexual and her gender is Gender-fluid. This was voted by my friends that helped me make this fic so yeah! That's her sexuality and gender! Best of both worlds if I say so myself.

And yes, Author is a fellow Bi and Genderfluid. I've created a few skits of Little Ro being gay for one of my friend's OCs because lowkey same.

I wasn't planning on posting 'em but... The OCs name is Sen and my description for her is a sexy goddess with long blue hair. 

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"DADDDD! I GOT A DATE!" You barged in the castle with your SOUL swelling up from all the happiness. This blinded Nightmare but nonetheless, this was the first time he'd seen his little girl so happy. "Splendid my dear. What does he look like? Do you have a picture perhaps?"

Chapter Text

Dust and Error were impatiently waiting in the anti-void for any contact from Nightmare. It was hard to say what was going on considering Error couldn't teleport to AbyssTale and there was no visible sign of Ink. Nightmare would damn well do anything to keep his daughter safe and honestly this situation didn't make sense to them. He wouldn't be late for something as important as this...

"Were they captured? Nah, Nightmare would have be done with it by now." Dust sat there beside you, contemplating and praying. He was praying this spark in your SOUL would last longer than they actually anticipated. "they're probably in AbyssTale right now... were they betrayed? but if that's the case then... wouldn't have either Killer or Nightmare have already teleported here?" Error shrugged. 

"All we can do is HOPE to Asgore that they get here before Cipher wakes up. I can put her to sleep longer for a bit but that might affect the spark that's happening right now." Error stated and Dust swore under his breath. 

Dust was weighing his options of either trying to get the coordinates of Cross in your SOUL, or trying to open the portal to AbyssTale and have them all talk in the Anti-Void. Why was this like chess right now... The only difference he had that he couldn't see the board, nor his opponents pieces, and moves. He could only see what he was moving at that time and at that moment. It was scary having to deal with the decision making considering Nightmare gave him this role. He trusted him that he'd make the correct move.

But the question was, what move did he need to make to initiate a checkmate?

On the other hand...

Nightmare was fighting off Mecha and Dream, Killer was on Ink's bony ass right now, and Axe was dealing with Blue's bullshit. 

All three of them were trying to brute force their way into those portals they created, but the Star Sanses and Mecha's defense was basically almost impenetrable. It was like they knew every single move they were going to make. Abyss was simply standing there, that was obvious because he was a pacifist and not a damn bloodthirsty bastard like the 3 of them were.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY BROTHER." Nightmare roared and negative energy spread all around the area, triggering bad memories for every single individual there. Well... Not EVERY single one...

Dream and the Star Sanses were protected by some kind of positive barrier... It was something Abyss or Dream probably summoned, they were taking full advantage of the AU and its positivity. And yet, Nightmare's aura and the shield's aura seemed to mix. To Killer, Axe, Blue, and Mecha they saw a mix of good and bad memories...

It held back Mecha quite a lot considering it was a constant shift of good and bad. It caused the robotic skeleton to have seizures of happiness, excitement, sadness, and regret. Blue was having similar seizures of what he constantly saw in the AUs he couldn't save. And yet he also saw tea time with Dream and Ink in Ink's happy golden void. 

And yet, to Killer and Axe seem to be used to the horrible memories... 

But in the positive void of things, they saw you, they saw little ro and they saw cupcake. All the good memories made them realize on how much you affected them, on how much you cared for them. Little memories like... When they come home from a dreaded mission and you were sleeping on the couch waiting for them it warmed their SOULs. And it was just enough of a boost for Killer to finally take this thing as seriously as he could. 

Positive memories used to be a curse for him and Axe, but in these situations... As cheesy as it may sound... You were their inspiration. You were their goal. 

They wanted to give you the life you wanted. They wanted to see you thrive, they wanted to see you going on your own missions. They simply wanted you to be happy.

One of Killer's memories basically flashed in front of him, it was a memory of you being scared of the lightning and thunder going on outside the castle. Nightmare wasn't in there so you came running to him, tears running down your face and everything. He was surprised to see you this way considering you were already 10 years old at this point... And yet... At that moment... He made his first promise in years to you.

"don't worry little ro... i... i promise. i promise no matter what happens, i'll always be with you."

Goddamnit little ro. You sure knew how to break someone's sadness and regret away. 

Killer's slashes became more powerful with each swing, and his movements because swifter within each second. He was cutting through Ink's abilities like it was all butter to him. Axe was now starting to keep up with Blue's long ranged attacks and he was now starting to close in with his attacks on the little blue midget. He was slow, but he was using his abilities as his own advantage. 

Nightmare was on the other side parrying his brother's arrows with seething rage to par his brother's positivity. Using his tentacles, bones, and trying with his newly discovered ability of expanding his negativity without extending his form. Although it was failing, he was getting to the point where Dream's attacks did almost no damage to him. His technique was working it seems. And one by one, the Star Sanses and Mecha were starting to lose. 

"OI BOSS! SHE'S WAITIN' FOR US, LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH ALREADY!" Killer exclaimed, every single one of the Star Sanses was standing away from their portals and at that moment Abyss realized what their plan was. Nightmare purposely set to be aggressive and negative for the Star Sanses to get the impression that they were there to kill and dust other people. But no, they were trying to get as close to the portals open as quick as possible. Nightmare threw Dream in a nearby ditch that was conveniently near, Killer stabbed Ink and pinned him to the rocky walls, and Axe burried Blue ALIVE in the AUs dirt. And mecha... Oh he was still dealing with the PTSD from those memories. Abyss looked at their plan slowly starting to fall, and yet, he still did not want to attack them himself. He wanted to help, but he also wanted justice for the AUs they had massacred. 

All three of them lined up at a single portal open, no matter what the 5 foes of the Bad Sanses did, they still couldn't defeat 3 of their members. 

"i wanted a kill or two buttttt, the LV spike isn't worth it without little ro here. so toodaloo motherfuckers!" Killer enthusiastically said as his pupils went back to their old white state before the fight. Axe slowly followed Killer as he was a bit tired from running around. Nightmare... Nightmare stayed for a few moments. 

"As much as I'd like to leave you in peace. I'll be taking you for that promise you made." Nightmare's tendrils swiftly wrapped around Abyss and he didn't budge. He had a promise to uphold after all. "See you in hell you piece of tin foil shit." Nightmare waved goodbye to the angry Mecha that was staring him down, he was on the verge of tears and so he couldn't do anything. 

"YOU FUCKER! DON'T YOU DARE TAKE HIM WITH YOU!" Mecha screamed and pointed a blast at Nightmare, but the skeleton barely bat an eye at him and entered through the portal. 

And the moment Nightmare saw what's inside the portal... He was shocked to say the least...

He saw what looked like a mix of the anti-void and doodle sphere all together. Killer and Axe were just as surprised to see what was infront of their eyes. But the first thing Nightmare tried to do was create a portal, and thankfully... It worked. 

Nightmare sighed at what he was willing to do for you, but honestly, he still thinks it's worth to trade his effort, for your happiness. "The things I do for you, my dear... This is truly, hell and back." He stated and Killer looked at him. "yeah... but at least we get to see the heaven that is little ro's smile! oh she's going to be so happy when she gets cured!" He said, wiping the HATE tears off his eye sockets, Axe slowly nodded and grinned happily. "Cupcake... happy cupcake..." Nightmare chuckled a bit at their statements. And Abyss... he stared at them. He sense no negativity, he only sensed HOPE and positivity. He felt... He felt conflicted. 

"You really have changed..." He muttered under his breath, he knew Nightmare heard him, but he didn't give two shits about what he said and went in the portal he created. 

Once they were inside the anti-void, the first thing they noticed was Error and Dust pacing around your SOUL. And lo and behold, your SOUL was doing what they wanted it to do. At least something was going according to plan more than once. Once the three- well- four of them walked closer to you, they saw what Killer described to be: sparks. 

"It truly does act like that, doesn't it." Nightmare suddenly spoke, and considering how on edge the both of them were after waiting a good 30-45 minutes for the three of them to arrive with abyss... Yeah they jumped in surprise.

"WHAT FUCKING TOOK YOU SO LONG NIGHTMARE?! IT'S BEEN DOING THE SPARKY-SPARKY THINGY FOR A SOLID HALF AN HOUR!" If Error had hair, Nightmare was sure he'd be ripping half his scalp off from the stress. Dust was already having a semi-mental breakdown but luckily Axe had his medicine and he was taking it right about now. 

But now. It was time to get to business.

"Now. I don't expect you to escape. But, I'm not letting you out of my sight. Now, uphold the deal, and I will return you earlier than we agreed upon." Abyss nodded, and as Nightmare slowly shifted him from behind his back to your SOUL... Abyss first took a good look at you before your SOUL, a teenage girl, lavender hair, and a strangely natural looking pale face. But once he was faced with your SOUL... Needless to say... Abyss was dismayed.

"This... This is completely impressive and concerning at the exact same time... Though I don't know the name of what's happening with her SOUL... I can tell you that it's extremely unique and a bit harmful to her. I'll call it 'Thunder Syndrome' for now. The reason why it's a tad bit harmful, is because it can easily get her physical and emotional state lost somewhere in the multiverse..." 

Abyss paused to observe her SOUL a little more, and Nightmare put him down to make a full analysis. Every single skeleton in that void was carefully listening to everything Abyss was saying. 

"Think of it like a storm. Thunder can manifest anywhere within the storm clouds, which means..." 

"She can manifest anywhere within the multiverse."

"Correct. And... The more concerning part about this is that. Thunder is commonly paired with lightning, right? Well, thunder is simply a sound effect, the lighting is the problem. The said lightning is the power that can manifest, or the power that has already manifested in her can become a whole different being or person. It could be a hindrance, or a partner... The good thing about her case is that, we can easily, well, I can easily 'kill' the thing manifesting in her and unleash her abilities full-on so she can live without any restriction."

Nightmare's eye sockets widened at all of this. It was true... His daughter could live normally...

"With the teleportation thing you told me about... It's true, if you can pinpoint the exact place her SOUL can manifest in, you can easily identify where she can teleport next through a series of algorithms. But the risky part about it, is that if you catch her in the middle of her SOUL trance with wherever this AU is, it can heavily affect the SOUL and it's teleportation possibilities. Or we could even- rather- you lot can be teleported to a completely new timeline where she's older and has no restrictions, or where you all are already dust. Or in other words..."

"It's a risky plan."

Abyss nodded and looked at Nightmare. It was obvious that he wanted to help out with your case while you were still asleep. Because he knew, he knew that once you woke up, the chance could rarely come again and they might have to wait another while for the small chance.

"So, do I do the process now, or shall we wait for another opportunity. I used you as a possible opportunity, you may use me as a way to cure your daughter of this so called illness of hers. So make the call, Nightmare. It's your choice as her father, and you should know what is best for her."

Nightmare scoffed at the small skeleton. 

"Bold of you to assume I don't have an answer already."

"Well then, out with it."

Nightmare smirked at him, and his answer was...

Chapter Text

Just like the title said: I AM MAKING A SPIN OFF FIC OF OUR LITTLE ASSASSIN! 

But there's a little twist! Little Ro will be interacting with YOUR characters

So, if you do like this fic and want to see a little interaction with Cupcake, please send me a picture of your OC, self-insert, or etc. Including their personalities in my discord, Twitter, or tumblr. 

It'll be a slice of life fic where Snowflake doesn't have her little SOUL problem. So just her everyday life as a toddler to an adult! 

Twitter: @ShinyaOkami

Discord: ShinroKami#1148

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Please send me a PM, DM, or FQ(Friend Request) on any of these if you want your OC included in the little spin off series! You may request a certain scenario with your OC if you'd like as well!

There will be no solid plot to the spin-off and will generally all be wholesome moments with y'all and Cipher. For the people I already know, I will message them about this thing I'm doing.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and see you and your characters in the spin-off.

- ShinroKami

EDIT: TITLE CHANGE BECAUSE "Anything For Our Little Assassin" IS NOW UP! IF YOU ENJOYED THIS FIC OF MINE, PLEASE DO GIVE THE SPIN OFF A LOOKSIE BECAUSE IT'S YALLS INTERACTIONS AND IM SO EXCITED OHSDCOISHDC

Chapter Text

Like the title said, burnout sucks ass mans. So have small skits, might extend the other chapters on a lota shit because I haTE BURNOUT. Anyways, yeah I swear the spin off chaps will be regularly updated and so will this series, just needing a lil bit of time to myself and yeah I'm a lazy fuck LMAO. Anyways, have skits

and btw, there will be mentions of hentai because games and I like reading them and overwatch porn supremacy. Please ignore this if you're under 18 omg 

TL;DR: listen here fuckers I might be tired yet I'm still pumping content unlike others. Take it.

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"Dad what if I get married."

"Unless they don't get scared shitless that your family are mass murderers I severely doubt it my dear."

"BUT LIKE-- WHAT IF?"

"You've been playing too many dating simulators with Dust."

"Says the man who's single."

"I'd like you to know that the King of Nightmares was never single."

"EXCUSE ME?!"

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"why are you a smartass little ro."

"According to all laws of aviation, I have a brain, you don't."

"she got you there, Killer."

"SHUT IT DUST."

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"What you watching, Cipher--? WHY ARE YOU CRYING?!"

"I'M WATCHING HAIKYU!! AND OIKAWA-AH-HAHH-HAHHHHH"

"Oh... You're at THAT season."

"HIS KNEE IS INJURED WHY'D HE HAVE TO JUMP LIKE THAT"

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"Your gay awakening was genshin hentai-?"

"...Don't judge me Cross."

"Nah that's not the reason. You have low standards, KILLER, DUST, GET IN HERE!"

"IF YOU THINK GENSHIN PORN IS GOOD, WE'RE WATCHING OVERWATCH PORN!"

"WHAT ARE YOU SHOWING MY DAUGHTER?!"

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"Have you guys seen Dad? I haven't seen him all afternoon-"

"hush little ro! he's playing honkai star rail-"

"Who is this silver wolf character? Is this her birth name? What is a-"

"Oh my god my dad doesn't know internet. Oh my god."

"What's she saying to me, I don't understand the way she's speaking."

"DUST SHUT UP! DON'T TELL HIM!"

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"be honest little ro, tits, ass, or thighs."

"I'M EATING HERE?! DON'T DISRESPECT AXE'S BEAUTIFUL FOOD!"

"hm..? what do you pick cupcake..?"

"Thighs. Thick thighs save lives."

"I knew it."

"ERROR?!"

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"I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di Da ba dee da ba di-"

"OH MY GOD KILLER SHUT UP!"

"You know you won't succeed Cross. You know you won't succeed."

"I know, owl, I know. He's just so fucking ANNOYING."

"Put the blades down cross."

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"DUST WHY IS YOUR FAVORITE IN DANGANRONPA NAGITO KOMAEDA?!"

"YOU CAN'T TALK SNOWFLAKE! YOU LIKE KOKICHI OUMA, THE FUCKING PANCAKE!"

"You did NOT JUST SAY THAT!"

"GUYS I HAVE NEWS!-"

"SHUT UP MAKI HARUKAWA ENJOYER! LIFE ISSUES MUCH?!"

"damn who hurt you today. BUT ANYWAYS! NIGHTMARE'S FAVORITE IS JUNKO-!"

"Oh fuck no."

"why her?"

"I know right."

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"Are you a cat person, or a dog person, owl?"

"I dunno, on one hand, Killer's like a dog, and on the other, Dust is like a cat-"

"Cipher... Did you compare them to animals?"

"What did you want me to call 'em? Furries?"

"Nevermind."

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"My dear, how do you play this Club Penguin game?"

"Oh for fucks sake... KILLER THE FUCKING SKELETON WHY DID YOU SHOW DAD CLUB PENGUIN?!"

"it wasn't me ro! it was Axe!"

"i... i made him play neopets... not club penguin..."

"Then who-?"

"Error..."

"For god's sake... ERROR!"

"SORRY CIPHER HAHAHA!|

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That's it from me for now folks, hope yall will forgive me for the lack of content LMAo.

Chapter Text

"Open the portal." 

Nightmare spoke without hesitating. It was obvious that his final decision was to handle this himself. Abyss had seen that same DETERMINATION in his eyes while he was fighting off the Star Sanses and Mecha. Abyss mentally commended Nightmare's final choice as he slowly made a portal out of your own SOUL spark. 

Once the portal was open, Killer dived right in the portal without knowing what was on the other side. Abyss had expected that, but what he didn't expect is that Dust cannonballed in right after! He knew that the entirety of Nightmare's gang had mental issues but how suicidal were these skeletons?!

Axe slowly followed in right after, and Error carefully let himself down the portal with his strings. Only Nightmare remained in the Anti-Void, and Abyss knew why. 

"You're actually keeping your promise?"

 Abyss questioned, not even bother to look at the skeleton behind him, as he didn't know who he was anymore. He took one more good look at you, and tried to accept the fact that this was a real AU. There was someone in this entire universe that could quell Nightmare's wrath, and make him a father figure of all things. 

Of course, Abyss knew that Nightmare was still bloodlusted and blood thirsty. There was no changing that fact at all, and yet, Nightmare truly has changed... The skeleton that tortured and tormented him was no longer there. He didn't even bother to extend the fight with the Star Sanses. His first priority wasn't other people's suffering, his first priority was his one and only daughter.

"I want my dear to meet the man who set her free. One day, I will let you meet her. You will be spared until that day." Nightmare's voice was calm and collected, and he even wants you to thank Abyss for his work. "And, if my daughter fell for you, I might consider letting you live longer," he chuckled at his own statement. 

"Your daughter? Fall for me? That's certainly a long shot Nightmare." Abyss finally had the courage to face Nightmare. And for once in his life... He saw him smile genuinely. Not out of malice, or victory, but out of pure happiness. 

"But sure, I'll wait for the day you take her to AbyssTale," Abyss turned silent for a few seconds.

"I'm sensing another question, I'll answer this last one. Those guys are waiting for me."  

"What's her name?" 

It was Nightmare's turn to fall silent, but he wasn't one to hesitate for long after all.

"I think it's best if you asked her yourself Abyss."

Abyss nodded and slowly stood up. And when he turned to Nightmare again, he was already gone. Nightmare had already entered the portal. Abyss sighed once again, and he closed the portal. He could leave an opening for Mecha and the others once again, but this wasn't his fight, it was theirs, and he wasn't going to help the Star Sanses this time.

Besides, he wants to know your name.

Nightmare landed as softly as he could in whatever void he was in this time. Killer, Dust, Axe, and Error were all in there, waiting for Nightmare. 

"no offense boss, but you took longer than you normally would," Killer commented but he didn't expect an answer. "We have a major job to do. It does not matter how long it takes. Our only priority is to find Our Little Assassin, this so called 'thunder storm' of a Void is filled with my dear's memories and adjacent AUs. It's a treasure hunt, my daughter is the treasure that we need to find and bring home." 

Nightmare looked above them all and saw all the broken pieces of glass. It reflected different variations of you. It ranged from your childhood, and even your adulthood. Some of them weren't even your memories... Some of them were you in different timelines. In school, on the job, or even in AUs where Nightmare never picked you up. The domain Nightmare was in is a purple gradient, ranging from bright and light colors on the bottom, to dark and dull colors up above. A rusty looking frame wa surrounding the entire "ceiling" of the domain. It was a dulled out golden color, but it still shimmered in the shades of plum up above. 

"we have... a lot of ground to cover..." Axe spoke while looking at the fragments hovering everywhere. He held one of the pieces that hovered close, the memory played on the shard as if it was a tablet. It even had volume. 

Everyone came close to Axe and watched the memory together, Error was teaching you know to knit puppets and you were succeeding at it. 

"I still remember this... She was around ten here, that look of innocence in her eyes... She maintained it, huh?" Error spoke, the nostalgia hit him hard. You were getting older by the moment... But it wasn't time to dilly-dally. After Error spoke, he immediately used his strings to propel himself onto his own Gaster Blaster. 

"As cute as that was, I miss the old Cipher, time to get finding you lot!" Error shouted and smiled. Killer got own his own blaster and went in the opposite direction.

"i agree with glitchy! if we wanna do this quick, we gotta separate the 'little' in the 'little ro'. she's turning fifteen soon, let's get her a grand birthday gift!" 

Everyone else couldn't agree more.

Dust summoned Axe an extra blaster and helped him get on. The four of them went in separate directions in order to cover as much ground as possible. Nightmare used his tentacles to get as many glass memories close to his eye-light. 

It wasn't about how fast they could get the job done, it was about getting the correct you out of your trance. 

As they searched through the endless shards of glass, they saw infinite alternate timelines of you. They scattered through the memories in this dark vibrant void. Comparing memories to timelines, watching endless clips of your own life, and another life. It was truly a beautiful experience, but they had to find their version of you. The original you.

Their Little Assassin. 

Error searched through hundreds and thousands of shards, keeping the ones he wasn't sure about close. If anything, he was the most distant with you out of all of them. It took him six full years to appreciate and even acknowledge your existance. You had to save him before he even started to... See you as something other than a glitch. But now, he wanted to save you. He's fought so hard to give you what you wanted, to give you your freedom. 

Dust was stressing over someone else... He couldn't hear the voice of his Papyrus haunt him like he always would. He could only hear your innocent giggles and laughter through your memories. He wanted to preserve your innocence, your happiness. He wnated to give the person that shut those voices in his head. Like Error, he held many memories he was unsure of close by, but one of them, he was sure is a past memory. It was a memory of you comforting him during a splitting, you were on the verge of tears as well and you still made him laugh. He wanted that memory beside him at all times, he wanted inspiration to keep going even if he was going to betray all common sense. He was going to find you, no matter what. 

Axe wanted to cook with you again. There was no other thought in his mind than that. Sure, he was probably slower than others in most aspects, but he sure never slacked off when it came time to take care of you. You always appreciated him, you were never scared of him. The moment you giggled when he tried to scare you as  a child, was the same moment that he knew he wanted to protect you. He knew that you'd never be afraid of him. He's taught you all sorts of techniques in the kitchen and in battle. He didn't bother to keep any memories he was unsure about close, he knew in the very dephts of his SOUL that, he would see the cupcake he taught how to bake. 

Killer was who you interacted with the most. He teased and taunted you into oblivion and yet you just laughed it off. The Gang was always annoyed at his antics, and yet you, you always played along. And not only that... It was obvious that you cared about him a big deal. Every time he came back injured from a mission you would be the first one to expend your energy to heal him, despite having the weakest healing properties out of everyone. He's had the most fun with you, he's helped you with your training, he's helped you and you've helped him. He was your big brother, your best friend, and you were his everything. You are the reason why Killer hasn't listened to his little "partner" for twelve whole years. He's always followed his own SOUL. He's learned to follow his own SOUL, he's learned to follow his own instincts. He's learned to think for himself. Holding many memories close, he's zooming past multiple dupes of you, he wanted to praise every single memory of you... And yet, he knew he couldn't. He wants to cherish every single second with you. As your best friend and as your brother.

Nightmare was your father. Of course, he would care about you the most. The moment he picked you up in that AU... Was the moment you became his daughter. He's taught you all that you know, he's one of the people that knows you best. He wants you to learn more, he wants you to discover who you are and who you want to be. You didn't need to follow the path he wanted for  you, and yet you still did. You gave Nightmare another oppurtunity to show mercy towards others... After he had eaten that apple, there was no going back to his old life. It was a new life enveloped in pure darkness. A new life to show the entire multiverse what they left to rot. And yet, he couldn't stand to leave you to rot. He's slaughtered many children before you... But he still kept you and raised you as his own. You knew about his past, you knew what he did, and you still followed his path. You still stood behind him, you acted as his shadow.... No, you didn't stand as his shadow, you stood as his light. That bright light that never faultered or flickered, you continue to shine behind him and lit up his entire universe. You forced him to stop looking in the dark, and pulled him into your light. It was amazing, the power you held surprised him, and the best thing he could do right now was give you everything you wanted. Holding multiple memories behind his back, he wasn't going to stop searching this void of broken glass. No matter how atrocious this path may be... He will follow it through it's end. 

After a few hours of searching throught what Nightmare decided to call "Shard Sanctuary",  they all compiled their "unsure" memories and decided to sort through them. There were more than 50 unsure memories and everyone debated on which one was "you". 

"her eyes have more innocence than that," Killer commented on one of them and made it float again. Dust sighed in frustration and Axe was starting to get 

"Nightmare, there's gotta be an easier way to find Cipher. Did Abyss tell ya anything?" Nightmare shook his head as he tried to ponder every possible answer to this. They couldn't leave the domain because they needed to find you and presumably break the shard that you're in. As easy as it  may sound, it's truly what they need to do to get you out of here. But, it is proving to be difficult. 

Through possibly infinite alternate timelines and universes, it would take aeons to find you.

"isn't this whole universe little ro's?" Killer questioned after sitting in silence, everyone thought about it for a second. It was true, every single glass shard was you, they were all your memories. There wasn't really another character in the whole domain. 

"if it's truly little ro's domain, then why doesn't it have the same feel as the shards? heck, i don't even feel little ro in most of the shards. actually, scratch all that, the domain and the shards don't feel like jack shit. they feel... dull, i guess? it's like when i forget to sharpen my knives." Killer mentioned, and it was partially true. 

The aura in your so-called domain was lacking. Unlike you, who had immense control over your precense, the domain simply doesn't have that "you" aspect. And that's partially the reason why they were so unsure over some pieces, because said glass shards had the 14 year old you but had similar to no aura within them. The memories did play-out and they certainly WERE you, but it wasn't the same...

Dust snapped his fingers, "what if it's like a mirror? i mean, there's a literal mirror frame hanging above us right now..." Nightmare gave it some thought, and that would make sense. Sure, a mirror can reflect your movements, but it's simply a reflection. Not the main thing. 

"You're saying that we're on the other side of the mirror? That's why none of these 'memories' feel genuine?" Dust nodded at Error's statement. 

Killer's eye lights suddenly appeared once he made a second realization. 

"boss! it's like that half n' half domain we saw! the one we went through!" Nightmare and Axe's eye lights widened when Killer said that. Though Error and Dust only stared at the three in confusion. 

"To inform the two skeletons that didn't see, once we finished fighting my brother and his lackeys, we entered a strange combination of the Anti-Void and Doodle Sphere. Two sides, combined. A golden domain, and a grayscale void. It is possible that our situation is similar to what we saw earlier." Nightmare simply stated, Error and Dust immediately got up from where they were sitting. 

"If that's the case, let's flip over that big ass frame," Error suggested, already getting on to one of his blasters. Nightmare gave him a look that questioned his sanity. "What? If we flip the damn thing then wouldn't we technically be on the 'other side' of the domain?" Killer stared at Error for a few seconds, contemplating. The only kind of idiot that would say that was him. Did Error take his role?

"i don't appreciate you stealing the stupid bit from me but, it is worth a shot. if we keep on searching for 'empty memories' then we'll accomplish nothing. it's for little ro, let's give it a try boss." Nightmare sighed at this idiotic and impulsive bunch. "I suppose, it is our last chance of seeing my daughter. Error, give me a ride. My tentacles won't stick to these shards nor the wall," Error rolled his eye-lights and stood up on his blaster instead of sitting down to make sure Nightmare didn't accidentally short circuit the skeleton. 

Axe got on Dust's blaster and Killer simply stayed on his own blaster. Once all of them have settled in a stable position, they quickly flew up until the rusted golden color of the mirror was at arms reach. They hovered directly under the mirror frame and realized that it was stuck to the "ceiling". 

"i guess it's not broken like the glass shards, but it is stuck Error," Dust even tried to pull on it with Axe's help, but it was no use. "it's like... it's been shoved on with super glue..." Axe mentioned while he tried to separate the frame and the ceiling with his own axe. 

"Tch. Then think out of the box-" Error put his arm up and hovered the blaster closer to the inside of the mirror frame. Surprisingly, his arm didn't touch the ceiling, but rather it phased his hand out. It acted as a portal. "impulsively stupid is my bit, and i am taking it back. see you all on the other side!" Killer flew his blaster right into the "portal" and he dissapeared completely. 

"good riddance." Dust muttered, but was caught in dissapointment when Killer's skull poked out the portal. But at least, he had good news to bear.

"GUYS HOLY FUCK IT'S LITTLE RO! I SWEAR I'M NOT SAYING SHIT- SHE IS HERE!" Killer screamed before returning to the other side. With those words Error shot his blaster through and so did Dust. But, their blasters dissapated into thin air, making them all faceplant to the ground. Except Nightmare that SOMEHOW managed to slightly turn into goop and cushioned the landing. 

After they all recovered, they looked in front of them... There you were! And surprisingly enough- YOU WERE WITH CROSS?!

Chapter Text

You were happily chatting with Cross. Ever since you were a kid, you were always a social butterfly, but you got along with the sanses of multiple AUs the best. Maybe that had something to do by the fact that your entire family was composed of lunatic versions of the said skeleton... but you were getting comfortable with him.

So comfortable in fact, that you didn't even sense the soft negative energy nearby. It was that, or you've just gotten used to it. Living with serial killers is hard sometimes. Speaking of serial killers- all five members of your family was just watching you interact with the skeleton that looked like cookies and cream. And needless to say- they were furious with the close proximity. Sure, it's only been a few hours, and the two of you have probably talked a lot. But STILL! Your family knew you were friendly to others, especially sanses, but can this one Mount Everest looking ass piss off?

"Your SOUL feels all funky," she mentioned as she pointed to his chest. Cross looked at you, a little baffled that you were able to sense his SOUL, or whichever SOUL you sensed. It was a 50/50 honestly. So, Cross just shrugged as he looked at you again. "I don't know what you mean by 'funky'. But that word..." He shuddered. "It gives me the creeps..." 

You snickered, and that quickly turned into a laugh as she heard him admit this piece of information. "Really? It doesn't sound all that weird but I guess it does have that vibe to it that doesn't sit right with me either..." The moment she lightly tapped his shoulder, was the same moment that Cross had maybe thirteen different things poking at his neck. Also known as- your family drawing the line with the future dog member.

"That is enough interaction, my dear." Nightmare held back a growl as he softened his gaze at you. All four of his tentacles willing to cut off Cross's neck in an instant. 

Killer merely snorted as he chuckled, his knife pointing at the nape of the Oreo colored skeleton with a pissed off expression. "yeah, little ro, ya didn't even give us a glance. that hurt my feelings ya know?" He joked with her as he kept his gaze on Cross. 

"no fair. you missed out on our morning walk thrice this week, and then you give some ice cream sandwich your time? unfair." Dust huffed. Maybe half a dozen of his sharpened bones were floating in close range around Cross. Ready to make him string cheese whenever he please.

Error and Axe remained relatively silent. Suppressing their anger the best. But Error was two seconds away from snapping and erasing the glitch in front of him out of existence. While as Axe, being the good big brother he was, picked you up from the floor and placed you on his shoulders with one hand. What's the other hand doing? Why holding his axe to- you get the point...

"How- how did you all get here?!" You exclaimed, an obvious hint of surprise and confusion in your tone. Didn't you just get teleported outside your mirror domain?! How'd your family get here?! "

"And leave Cross alone you lot! Don't scare him!" You exclaimed with a pout, your shoulders slouched as you huffed. The Bad Sanses all took one look at you as they lowered everything that was pointed at Cross's neck. You shot a glare at all of them, especially at your dad. 

"Pardon my family, Cross. They're a handful..." You sighed as you leaned your head on Axe's skull, which earned you a happy noise from the skeleton. Something in between a happy grunt and a growl. Cross just nodded in nervousness, confusion, and genuine fear at your "family".

"Ye-yeah... I'm not dead yet so that's a relief, right Sirius?" Cross nervously chuckled as the Bad Sanses perked up at the name. Sirius? The assassin name you've been using? You got off Axe's shoulders- much to his displeasure but he didn't make a fuss, landing on the ground with a soft thud. The white void rippling like water at your landing, only you had noticed, but you paid no mind to it.

Immediately taking your place in your family's formation, a position only reserved for you. Being placed between Nightmare and Killer always ensured your safety. Plus, you could always tell if something was off with the two arguably  deadliest skeletons in the bad sanses. 

"sirius? ya mean her assassin name?" Killer scoffed a little, he was about to open his mouth again before he stopped. "kinda forgot you didn't have a name yet, little ro. i've been calling ya little ro for so long that it became your name for me." The skeleton snickered a little, the target on his chest transforming from circular to a monster SOUL shape. You had to smile at the SOUL transformation. 

Nightmare sighed at this realization, but he had more pressing matters to deal with. 

"My dear, I apologize for keeping a secret from you. But this-" Nightmare motioned to Cross condescendingly, which had the skeleton confused again. "This was our "target". The one we said we couldn't mention to you?"

"You mean the dog?" You asked almost immediately. Killer, Error, and Dust burst out laughing, Axe was snickering a bit, and Nightmare was struggling to stay serious, you were his daughter alright. Calling the target a dog without a moment's hesitation, while you were in front of the target, no less. It was true. They had given Cross that nickname, "Dog". Since you loved giving the targets nicknames. "Spark", "Tangerine", "Rat", and etc.

Considering your name was based on nicknames, you've grown used to calling things you like with silly nicknames. All except your family, of course. You think their names match well enough with their personalities. 

"Yes, that's him." Nightmare sighed, getting on a knee so he would be looking up at you. Knowing your dad, you immediately knew this was serious. Why was it serious? You didn't know just yet. "You see, we were supposed to "recruit" him-" The King of Negativity was interrupted by a sudden scoff.

"this all started cause you weren't honest with her, boss. don't sugarcoat it for the girl. she's old enough to know." Dust stated with a glare at Nightmare. 

Cross looked at all of them with uncertainty, what was happening? He was just having a peaceful conversation with you a few moments ago, and know this was happening. The best move was to keep his mouth shut as he observed. He was in an unfamiliar circumstance, he'd be an idiot if he just decided to act and take FIVE unknown skeletons at once. 

Nightmare sighed at Dust's words, he was still unintentionally babying you. And being the slightly doubtful girl you were, you looked at Nightmare with a slightly disappointed and rather confused expression. Your dad had to look away from your eyes momentarily, bracing himself for your reaction once he overlaid the information to you.

You had never given him that look before and that made his very SOUL ache. The look of doubt on your face, the confusion in your eyes, and the slight hurt in your features... he had kept far too many secrets from you. All for the sake of "protecting" you. He had left you in the dark on so many occasions with the careful caution in his every action and word. And he knew that made you doubt him. That's why you always kept your "cards" close to your chest, mimicking your own father whenever the situation came to it. The negativity called doubt that was slowly yet surely eating at your SOUL, he felt it. He could feel it building up. 

"My dear... don't look at me like that." Nightmare thought to himself, his resolve wavering by the moment. 

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. 

The moment you saw his own expression, your own eyes widened as your facial features softened. Trying to oh so desperately focus on the good side of things- you thought that this was just your father! He has his own fair share of secrets. You knew your dad couldn't share absolutely everything with you. Why, your little mind would be traumatized at the information he held in between his phalanges. Right? Your dad wouldn't lie to that extent, right?

Dear Asgore you hoped you were right.

Nightmare let out another dragged out sigh. He raised his skull to look at you once again. Oh he hated this moment so much... 

"My dear," he took a deep breath, he didn't want to continue his words. But at the moment... he needed to drop the fatherly act, and treat you like the assassin you were.

"Pardon me, Sirius." He corrected himself as he got up from his knee, looking down at you with his aquamarine eye-light. You quickly noticed that this wasn't your father talking to you, this was the King of Nightmares talking in your face. Quickly straightening your posture, you looked at him with a neutral expression, waiting for him to continue. You weren't his daughter right now (you had to admit, it hurt quite a bit). 

Nightmare sucked in another breath. He hated this right now. You caught on too quickly for his taste, is that how much you've been wary of him...? To catch onto his very tone? To catch on to the nature of his words and actions? 

"I have an offer to make. I will tell you every detail about all of this. Not a detail will be spared. Every single thing that has happened in the past week. The conversations, the planning, the actions. All of it. The decisions that were made with and without you. Now, would you like that, Sirius?"

His tone... it was cold. So, incredibly cold. The two of you hated it. You were acting like complete strangers at the moment. Like the two of you haven't spent almost thirteen years together as father and daughter. And yet, this was something you had to deal with. You damn well knew that Nightmare wouldn't give you a task that you couldn't accomplish. He'd be stupid to do so. You were his daughter at the end of the day. The child he picked up thirteen years ago, the child he kept and raised as his own. But damnit... you weren't playing house right now. You were playing the dangerous game of murderers, maniacs, assassins. And the mere thought of it made shivers go down your spine. 

"Lay it on me then, boss." Sirius said with the bow of her head.

Nightmare paused... A grin could be seen on his features. 

'I raised you well, my dear.' He thought to himself.

He looked at you with a stern glare and a grin. His expression was... you couldn't explain it. This wasn't your dad, this was your boss.

"Very well then, Sirius. Don't be too surprised now."

Chapter Text

So uh hi LMAO

random ass update since I haven't touched this thing in over a year. Truth be told, I haven't really been involved with anything UNDERTALE fandom-wise?? Just the game

but if yall are still waiting on the newest/any chapter on this thing, I plan on rewriting it

HONESTLY... I didn't have a proper plot when I started writing it around 2022 or 2023 (I don't remember atp.) so I might actually plot something out

I still love UNDERTALE and I still love the concept I came up with

If y'all are down, I could definitely start this thing up again under another name :D

I don't wanna give up on this work ong, so if fate allows me, I'll try and give Our Little Assassin another try

- Sincerely, Shinro
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