Unwanted protection

The escape

Fresh and Cross crossed the portal, and Cross immediately started walking fast. Fresh followed him, as the former Guard knew where they needed to go.

Fresh didn't have a problem with admitting when someone was more knowledgeable than him, but he also carefully looked around and memorized the path and the room they just entered, to be able to make a quick escape: Astral had tried his best, but he had only been able to reopen a portal in the same place Error had opened it beforehand, and it wasn't exactly close to where the Stars were being kept.

Frisk had decided that only having him and Cross enter would be best (less people meant less chance of discovery), and that some other members of the Council (the more powerful ones, like Epic) would wait on the other side, should something go wrong.

Fresh looked at Cross, who was extremely tense, and would have pitied him if he could: unlike the monochromatic skeleton, the parasite didn't have any real stakes in this mission. True, he wanted to save Ink, because he was one of the most interesting companions he had had in a while, but he'd always put his own well-being first. If the situation became truly hopeless, he'd bail. He had made that very clear to Frisk, and though they didn't like it, they understood.

Thanks to their stealth, the duo quickly arrived to their destination, and they teleported inside to avoid making noises opening the door.

Cross remained frozen, looking at Dream, but Fresh knew they didn't have time to waste, and approached Ink's bed and went to wake him, mindful of covering his mouth to avoid him crying out loud in surprise. He knew Ink was a very light sleeper, and his soulless nature would make it impossible for Nightmare to notice his shock.

As soon as he touched his face, Ink opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Wazzup, Inkblot?" he whispered.

His friend froze for a second, then tears started gathering in his eyes. Fresh wasn't good at dealing with emotions, so he simply ignored them and kept talking.

"Criss-Cross is here wid me, we gonna getchu out. Imma take away mah hand, don' flip out."
He removed his hand, and Ink shot from the bed to hug him, and he started weeping (quietly, Fresh noted), blubbering a bunch of things that mostly boiled down to how glad Ink was that they were here.

Fresh patted him on the back twice, mimicking something he had seen people do when friends were upset, and then pushed him away slightly.
"Yo Inkblot, dis is rad an' all, but we gotta skedaddle, quick. Can ya wake dese two widout making dem too emotional? Nightlight would notice."

The artist wiped his tears and assumed a serious expression, then shakily said: "We... we s-should wa-a-ake Dream first."
Fresh turned to Cross, who was still immobile (honestly, he was supposed to be a Royal Guard, how embarrassing) and said: "Yo, Criss-Cross, try tah hide, mh? Else ya baby mama is gonna freak."

Cross blinked, and moved to the farthest corner of the room, in between the shadows. Fresh did the same, and saw Ink move to the head of Dream's bed to wake him. The empath woke up quickly, and him and Ink talked for a few moments, too quiet for Fresh to hear. Dream then scrambled to get out of the bed, and locked eyes with them. Fresh noticed Cross took a deep breath (as if he had been underwater) and relaxed his stance completely. The both of them met halfway and kissed, rather deeply. How time-consuming.

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The kiss was everything Dream wanted (needed) and more: he knew they should be thinking of escaping, but whenever he had Cross by his side, Dream felt like he could be selfish, like he could be truly happy, and so he kept kissing his lover. Cross broke the kiss and put their foreheads together.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"
"Don't be. You're here now."

It was so unfair that he had to hide Cross's love for him, and his own love for Cross, but he consoled himself by thinking that they wouldn't need to when they got away. For the moment, Dream grabbed Cross's hand and put it against his chest, letting him feel Lux. The former Guard let out a quiet "oh", and Dream could feel he was very moved.