A Shadow of the Past

Panic at the Castle

Dust was starting to get nervous. He hadn't seen Blueberry for hours, but assumed the little skelly would be safe enough with Error. They had gone to the Anti-Void to watch a movie, or so they said, so they should be fine. Right?

Ah, forget it. He was overprotective of Blueberry, and proud to be so. His past made Blueberry very sensitive, so Dust wanted to shelter him as much as possible. That being said, he still had a hard time resisting the temptation to make the adorable skeleton blush. Flirting with him proved to be an amusing pastime, but Dust has gone to the point of feeling overwhelming happiness whenever Blueberry laughed at his jokes or blushed and hid his face at the flirtatious compliments.

Dust had been trying hard to get Blueberry to even smile at a pun because he wanted him to think he was funny. He didn't know why, it just... bothered him that Blueberry didn't think any of them were funny, not even Nightmare. Then again, he was terrifying af, so anyone who heard the joke would be too scared of him to laugh. At the same time, it was dangerous to make Nightmare angry, so the least Blueberry could do was force a smile, no matter how bad he thought the joke was. Perhaps it just doesn't faze Nightmare as much as Dust thought. However, the dark skeleton did develope a habit of walking away after his attempts at making Blueberry laugh failed, muttering to his amulet and saying it would've laughed.

Wait.

An amulet can laugh?

Eh, Dust couldn't judge. He himself hallucinated about his brother from time to time; still, he was curious about what was so special about this amulet that Nightmare speaks to it on a regular basis. He had tried digging around more in Nightmare's room for any information on the mystery person who gave Nightmare the amulet, but no luck. Not even the diary that Dust had *cough* stolen *cough*- I mean, borrowed showed any indication that the goopy skeleton had had any contact with- uh, let's just call them the owner of the amulet. Maybe the owner doesn't even exist. It could all be in Nightmare's head, but so far, everything he's told the group about the amulet has been true, especially the part where anyone who touched it would suffer agony for a week as the dark magic coursed through their body, aiming to corrupt their soul. It never went that far, but there's always the possibilty.

Dust shuddered at the memory. Nope, never doing that again. Now he was bored, and couldn't help but feel something was amiss. It could be one of the gang was planning a prank. The worst part is, any one of them could be the culprit, since they all enjoy a good laugh. Nightmare was the prime suspect, though, because he was usually the one to instigate the "prank wars" as he called them. The others gave him the title of "Dreamtale's #1 Prankster" after finding out which AU he was from. He rejected the nickname, claiming he should get second place.

Well, I mean, ok I guess.

Anyway, Dust found Killer playing Mario Kart 8. He was trying to beat Bowser's Castle without losing first place, and was doing pretty well. It was his favorite game, after all.

"Hey Killer, ya seen Blueberry anywhere?"

"Heh heh, what? Ya plannin' to prank him? Or are ya gonna do somethin' more fun?~"

"Get yer head outta yer ass, idiot. I just wanna know if you've seen him."

"Nope, sorry. Haven't seen your boyfriend-"

"KILLER, I SWEAR, YOU'RE DEAD!"

Before Dust could skewer him, Killer teleported away, laughing like a maniac. The hooded skeleton stomped off toward the library, fuming. As he turned into the doorway, he spotted a ghostly pair of gloves curl around the side of a bookshelf. Then, a skull popped out from behind said bookshelf. It was comical in a way.

Dust smiled and waved to his brother, feeling just a tad more cheerful. Paps could always brighten his mood.

"Well, brother, you've searched the kitchen, the living room, the arena, the throne room, even Blueberry's bedroom was empty. Why isn't he back yet? Surely we would've heard from him by now, right?"