Core the Apple

Peel back the layers

A/N: I have completed my 132 hours at the ICU and I graduate in 6 days. I'm...??? OKAY.

Though I'm feeling rather content all things considered, THE ANGST MUST GO ON. Dadmare doesn't get a break so NEITHER DO I. Hold on to your feels.

Enjoy(?)

"Has Boss seemed... strange to all of you?"

Killer and Dust were currently settled on either side of the dining room table, Nightmare noticeably absent from his normal spot. Horror was still bustling in the attached kitchen, but with his keen senses, the two knew he had no trouble hearing them. "You have no idea." Dust commented with a faint frown on his face. "He siphoned all the negativity out of me last night and then brushed it off. It was... really strange. He's never done that before." He thought over what he had said to him a moment. "I asked him why he didn't let me sit there and just keep passively generating more negativity, and he said something... really fucking strange."

"Strange how?" Killer questioned with peaked interest. "Without even going into it any further that's pretty fucking strange." He acknowledged with a confused frown.

"What's pretty fucking strange?" Killer looked up as Error carelessly plopped himself in Nightmare's seat at the head of the table. "Just Nightmare's whole deal." Killer replied with a shrug, to which Error nodded in agreement. "Dust says he sucked out all the negativity in him last night."

"Please don't word it that way." Dust remarked as his nasal bridge wrinkled in displeasure. Error ignored the two as he stored this information away for further contemplation later. "Agreed, a little strange, but nothing that sticks out to me any more than his other behaviours lately." He replied after a moment of reflection. "Yeah, but the weirdest part is when I asked him why. He said, 'Do you think I brought you all into my home to feed on your suffering? I could have left you in your worlds if I wanted that,' or something to that degree." He looked to Killer, who looked as confused as Dust felt.

"He told you that?" Error checked with a strangely serious expression on his face. "He said that he didn't keep you here to feed on your negativity?" Dust didn't understand the other's insistence but nodded his head anyway. "I mean he's not wrong. He could have left us all in our separate universes and just called us in whenever he needed us or when he had a job for us. I guess I never really thought about it before because I assumed he just wanted to keep us under his watch and feed on our suffering." The group remained silent for a moment as everyone puzzled over the conversation.

"Do y'... really feel like we've... been suffering here?"

The three turned their heads to Horror, who had settled against the frame connecting the kitchen and the dining room. "We have... moments, but... He doesn't...nn..."

"Take your time." Dust encouraged as Horror struggled to find words for his thoughts. Horror grunted in appreciation as he scraped together his thoughts. "Doesn't... exacerbate." He finally managed with a slight smile on his face. Dust leaned back in the chair with a long sigh and frowned. "You're right about that, I guess. He could definitely do a whole lot to keep us in fear or mentally fuck with us enough to make us suffer. He's smart, he could do that with ease." He stared up at the ceiling as he said this. "He doesn't though. I mean in the beginning, there was the whole 'I am above you I'm your king' thing, but after some time that died down and none of us really cower at his feet anymore. If anything, we push his buttons on a regular basis."