Nightmare And The Babybone Sanses

Brother

//Warning: There is some violence in this part//

The boys' POV

Despite how old this giant house looks; it actually has a lot of stuff in it from the current generation. The design of the rooms and some of the furniture reminds Cross of some of the abandoned houses he and his brothers would find sometimes when they would look for shelter. However, everything else about this place seems new. How long as Nightmare had this house? How old is he? Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's an old man or just a regular adult. He sometimes talks about things like a grandpa would, but then he goes back to acting like a younger adult. It's confusing, but then again, when has he ever not been confusing?

One of the devices in the house that often gets the boys' attention is the TV. Nightmare seems to only use it to watch boring stuff like the news, and he won't let the boys change the channel or turn it on when they want to watch cartoons. He said something about hearing that cartoons are used to brainwash kids or something, but has he ever even watched a cartoon? How could he be sure about something like that if he's never seen it? So, while Nightmare is away from the TV somedays, the boys will sneak into the living room and turn on the TV.

Nightmare was currently in the library, reading as usual, so while he's distracted, the boys are watching cartoons. Cross also got some snacks for them to eat while they watch. Nightmare doesn't keep any junk food in the house, which probably isn't a bad thing, since Cross has been told before that junk food is bad for you, so he got everyone some sliced meat, cheese, and crackers. He also made sure everyone kept their food on paper towels, so it would be easy to quickly clean up any crumbs. If Nightmare found any signs that they brought food in there, then he would know what they've been doing.

They've found a show that seems to entertain everyone, so there's not arguments over what they should watch. The show is about these ninja turtles who fight aliens and other ninja – the turtles are also brothers, learning to work together as a team, so it relates to the skeleton brothers pretty well. How could a show like this brainwash them? It's about protecting the world from evil, so if anything, it could really help them, since the boys have been messed up ever since....that day... Cross' brother's haven't been able to tell right from wrong since then, and even the monochrome skeleton has been affected by it, often finding himself confused and scared.

It seems like it was a long time ago now, but that incident will forever be burned into Cross' memory. It's a big reason why he still isn't sure about whether they can trust Nightmare or not. He still doesn't know if he can believe that he cares. He looked to his brothers as he remembered the things Nightmare said about them being important to him. It's been nearly constantly on his mind ever since it happened, but he's not sure what to think about it.

"Hey, Dust?" Cross spoke up as he tried to think of a way to ask his brother about this.

"Hm?" Dust turned his head slightly towards him, but he kept his eyes on the TV screen.

"...what do you think of Nightmare?"

The question seemed to grab Dust's full attention as he turned to completely look at him now. Anytime Cross ever mentions Nightmare, he would always seem frustrated or angry, but now he just seems confused. "...whatdaya mean?"

"I mean, .... Do you trust him?" Cross was now fiddling with a cracker as he spoke.

Dust's expression was a bit surprised at first, but it quickly shifted to a lazy smirk. "haven't we had this conversation before? Ya know, when you were worrying about if Nightmare was gonna do something to us, and I told ya that if he was then he would've done it already?"

Cross shot him a glare. "And right after that he freaked out at Killer over a dumb crown."

"So? He just got angry and yelled at him like he always does – he didn't hurt anyone. Killer doesn't seem bothered by it all. I don't think he CAN be hurt emotionally. People get angry sometimes, and Nightmare isn't any different, and it's not like we haven't seen angry people before."