The child nextdoor

Chapter 35

third pov

dust sighed softly while placing his head against the cold wall of his new room, for now at least. Ever since dream and ink found where they were hiding, nightmare has been making him, killer, cross and the new guy who had just popped up out of nowhere move all over the dam place, it wouldn't have bothered dust so much if it weren't for the new guy, Error was it? he kept complaining about the moving around a lot, tired of having to talk to different people, tired of walking around, it was frustrating not only dust, but nightmare as well. 

dust laid against the mattress he laid on the floor for tonight, he thought about what he'd like to do with autumn next time they saw each other. baking? pick more flowers?  whatever choice the kid makes, he'll do it...just for her...just like papyrus. A soft knock on his door broke him from his thoughts, making him sit up on his bed with an annoyed grunt. " what?" he snapped while the intruder made himself known; it was cross who had poked walked inside dust's room. Cross gave him a soft wave before sitting next to him on the mattress he called a bed, leaning back whilst he closed his. dust crossed his arms over his chest, starring at the skeleton beside him, this is becoming an annoyance, this silence. " what do you want cross?" 

" just curious..."

" about?"

The moody skeletons peered at dust with that smirk dust hated so much, that same smirks Chara made whenever they decided to overtake frisk's body to commit a genocide before dust himself took control himself. " Come on dust, you know what I'm talkin about" dust looked away from cross, he did, he just didn't want to acknowledge it, this only made cross smirk wider. " the girl..." 

" you already know the reason why im attached to her" 

" yeah, but it's making you go soft..remeber the last time couple of times this happened?"

of course, he remembers, the first time this happened, was when killer of all people fell for a human, A HUMAN. of course that didn't last long. once nightmare found out about this that human was no longer around anymore, an ' accident' had happened which resulted in the death of said human,  the second incident was the situation involving red, which might be surprising for some hearing red use to be a part of nightmares crew, but after a few years, the fell monster fell soft for a human as well, just like the last, nightmare ended up killing her, right in front of red, which resulted in him leaving and joining up with the softies. dust felt a little bit of pity for red, that situation made red's soul crack a bit, so dust had to take a guess and say red has trust issues to this day about falling in love again. The last time someone went soft was Horror, which apparently, he goes by spice now. He fell for a woman, don't really remember her name but she was pretty cute, beautiful red hair which was always pulled back in either a messy bun or a ponytail. a lot of flowery dresses and skirts, weird hairpins too. That situation was a bit different; horror did leave just like red, but that woman he was with was nowhere to be found, not even nightmare knows where she went off to. maybe she's still in town maybe not, either way despite what nightmare thought about her, dust kinda thought she was nice....for a human at least. all of those situations, different people but all the same, dust's situation though...it was different. Autumn was like a lost daughter, he doesn't quite understand why just yet, but the more he studies it the better he'll understand. 

one of these days....

cross snapped his fingers in front of dust's face, snapping him from his thoughts. dust gave the x skeleton a blank stare, the two of them kept that stare for a moment, before dust held up his hands. " look, i ain't goin soft ok....she's just some stupid experiment im studying ok?" it was a lie of course, but he had to say something otherwise cross will tell nightmare dust is slowly going soft for a human, which will result in the death of the innocent child. There must be something he can do to keep her safe. while dust went back to his thoughts, cross gave out a soft sigh, standing to his feet while he reached up in to a big stretch. " listen dust, im not an idiot, i know caring when i see it, and you-" he pointed to dust " have caring written on your face" dust made his face drop back to a neutral expression, turning his head to the side with a scoff. " look dude, i understood it with horror and red, they aren't evil like us...." he grimaced at his own words, them making him turn away with disgust written on his boney face. " but you, killer, my....myself even....we just can't...same with nightmare...can you imagine what might happen if nightmare fell in love? or even went soft enough to adopt a kid that even his own" cross paused for a moment, waiting for any remarks dust might make, seeing none were thrown to him. He continues with his rant : She's a human...the very thing YOU of all people despise..." 

" let her go dust...it's safer for her...and for you.." 

silence broke out once more between the two of them, none of them could look at each other before cross finally left the room. dust heard what cross said, and he was right. If dust continued to see autumn...she could end getting hurt or worse....but dust has a plan. Getting up from his bed he rustled in his room, collecting all that he would, once he had what he needed he took out a small, yellow piece of notebook paper, a phone number was scribbled lazily on it. once he dialed the number her wait as it rang on the other side, after the third ring, someone picked up. 

" glad to see you's gave us a call dusty, how can we help ya's?"

" i need that favor you owe me...."

" oh yeah? what's that then?"

" there's a girl i need you to watch over"