Chapter Text
“…Horror…?”
He shot his eye sockets open, looking at four skeletons standing over him. Ugh, his head was pounding… and not to mention the aching in his bones.
Horror tried to sit up, the pain in his leg becoming apparent. Dust kindly released his magic on him, letting him sit up against a tree
“Horror…?” Nightmare repeated, kneeling beside him and putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
He was still out of breath, but gave Nightmare a small smile “…heya boss…”
“Thank fuck you’re alright…” Nightmare pulled him into a hug, wrapping several tentacles around him.
“Not so tight” Horror winced, but hugged him back. “I’m not going anywhere…”
Nightmare carefully picked up Horror, who protested slightly. “Let’s get home before someone else decides to do this again.”
“I can walk-“ Horror started to speak
“I can see your leg. You certainly aren’t walking at the moment.” Nightmare shot back, using his tentacles to grab Dust, Cross, and Killer too.
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“Horror, what do you remember…? What happened?” Cross asked, putting a bandage on his leg. Thankfully the blaster had only grazed his leg, but it still hurt.
Dust avoided making eye contact with Horror, probably feeling guilty about it. Killer had already gone to bed, and Nightmare was sitting in his chair, listening.
Horror had been sat on the couch, a blanket around him along with some soup. He ate the soup slowly, letting its warmth sooth his aches. “What I remember…? I remember most of it… but some of it was… weird…”
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“Don’t have to tell me twice, boss” Horror grinned, but Nightmare could see the tiredness in his eye. he opened the door and headed out to the woods.
He wandered into a part of the woods he hadn’t entered before, not really paying attention.
After a while, Horror looked around. A thick fog had covered to forest, making it hard to see twenty feet in front of him, and how close to dusk it was.
“I should probably head back now…” he muttered to himself, starting to walk away. He then paused. “…wait… this isn’t the way… is it…?”
“Ugh… whatever, I’ll just send them a text that I’ll be a little late” He pulled out his phone and went to text Nightmare. When he hit send though, a ‘No signal’ popped up. “Crap…”
Horror looked around more, realizing he was lost. “Welllll shit…” his stomach growled, but he jabbed it to stave off the hunger.
After a bit more of searching, he didn’t find a way out.
“Damn fog… can’t see shit.” Horror muttered, stepping into a break in the trees. He looked around a bit. Was this the edge of the forest?
He started walking but stopped when he heard a crunch under his foot. He crouched down and picked up a half broken crystal. “The hell is something like this doin out here…?”
After inspecting it for a moment, he set it back down and stood up, following the tree-line for a moment.
How the hell was he supposed to get back to the castle at this rate!? Horror grumbles under his breath and picks a direction. More trees… so this wasn’t the way out after all.
Horror continued in that direction, a creeping feeling that someone was watching him slowly building. He picked up the pace.
He tried a message again, but still no signal. “Damnit!” Horror let out a frustrated yell, looking around again.
Looking back at his phone, he remembered that Nightmare had made all of them get a SOS app for emergencies.
“I’d consider this a damn emergency…” He muttered before opening the app. Did a twig snap behind him?
Horror was getting a bit paranoid, hitting a button to call the group. He started running in a random direction, hoping to find his way out.
“Damnit cmon pick-“ He coughed, a sort of tingly feeling creeping up his bones. “P-Pick up!”
“What the hell-? When did-“ He coughed more, slowing down. “Damn fog-! Can’t see anything!”
“W-wait-“ Horrors lungs felt like they were on fire, along with his bones. He had to drop the phone, the pain was that bad.
Then he screamed.
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“And that’s when things get… hazy…” Horror looked into his soup
“Hazy?” Cross asked, just finishing bandaging his leg.
“It’s… I was… somewhat aware of everything I was doing, but… I wasn’t in control of it…”
“Like you got booted to the backseat?” Nightmare asked, something indiscernible on his face.
“Yeah, exactly…. How did you-?”
“…it’s nothing. Just a hunch.” He cut Horror off, his eyelight a pale purple before he blinked. Just a trick of the light. Nothing more.
“Uh… okay…?” Horror glanced at Dust “Sorry about that, I…”
“I get it.” Dust gave his head a pat as he got up “I think I’m going to bed. You all should too. It’s almost 4…”
The remaining three agreed, getting up and heading to bed.
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Deep in the forest, in a particularly crystalline clearing, a tall hooded figure carved around the last crystal, a large sac in one hand that he placed the crystal into. He left the clearing bare before disappearing into the dawn.