Loyal Servant (Crossmare) (Rewrite)

Undetected

Cross made sure to be mindful of his proximity to the castle. If he got too close, Dream may just sense him. So he hovered high above, sitting upon the skull of his motionless Gaster Blaster. From his vantage point he could hardly make out the dots of the rotating guards below. Already they wore white instead of black. That's what happens when you let them pledge themselves to the throne rather than the individual himself. Cross narrowed his eyes. Their lack of true loyalty disgusted him.

"So, any ideas?"

Cross flinched, nearing tumbling face first off his mount. He had to grab the smooth fangs of its maw in order to regain balance. He looked back over his shoulder and blinked in shock at the king who had appeared behind him so silently. "You startled me. You're lucky the blaster didn't go off," Cross noted, shifting back to his comfortable divot upon the skull's center crease.

"You got upset at the guards down there," Nightmare replied, shuffling forward to peer down at the castle as well. "It gave me enough strength to teleport up."

"Will you be able to get back down on your own?" Cross asked. Nightmare looked away from the castle and paused, staring off at nothing for a long moment. He dipped his head instead of answering, obscuring his face in the collar of his cloak. Cross turned his head away so Nightmare wouldn't catch the way he smiled over his little miscalculation. "I'll teleport you back down once I'm done here," He told him endearingly.

"Are you looking for points of weakness?" Nightmare asked.

"I am," He replied, looking at Nightmare again. Nightmare pointed down towards the Garden. Without question he carefully repositioned his Gaster Blaster to get a better view of the courtyard. Its entire layout had somehow changed within the day they had been gone. It looked a lot more colorful and dreamy now. It must be more tied to the Royals' magic than I initially thought.

"Do you see that shadowy corner?" Nightmare asked. He moved closer to Cross in order to make his guiding gesture more accurate. Instead it just jump started Cross's memory, reminding him of the conversation they had been having moments prior to Dream's cruelly timed escape. Cross pushed it aside in order to focus on the situation at hand.

There was indeed a gloom still hung over one of the Garden's corners, provided by the tallest blossom tree. "I see it."

"I may have made a secret tunnel over there," Nightmare admitted, a sheepish undertone to his voice. Cross narrowed his eyes. Again, he had to remind himself that Nightmare's personality wasn't completely without his magic. Its absence clearly made him dial back on his more aggressive side. "And in that chamber I have a handful of strings."

Cross wasn't exactly impressed. "String?" He repeated numbly. "My lord, what sort of string could possibly warrant a whole secret chamber even I'm not aware of?" He asked in his confusion.

"Because it's string which I may have-" Nightmare cleared his throat "-stolen from Error."

Cross stared at the small skeleton in bewilderment. He knew Nightmare had a tendency of snatching up anything that made him curious, but stealing from the god of destruction himself was a new one. "I'm going to assume he isn't aware you stole anything," He murmured.

"Of course not. I beat him unconscious before I did it," Nightmare replied. He gave his head a shake. "Point is, we can get our hands on that string and use it to our advantage," He began. Cross listened carefully. "In this multiverse, people think up all kinds of creative ways to possess a soul. None of those tactics live up to Error's string however. All we have to do is get our hands on the string, find Dream and take her soul, then force her to stand down," He explained. "If anyone tries to stop us, we can then use her body to fight them off instead of risking our own bones."