Dust let out a low growl as he sat up. His head hurt as if it got rammed into by a semi. He looked down at his stomach. He'd been poorly bandaged up. If his wound wasn't already infected, it probably would be in a day or so. And that would be a death sentence for him. He didn't pay much mind to the cold cement under him, nor was he concerned by the small size of the cell. The only thing on his mind was getting back to Red. Dust pushed himself up. He was honestly surprised at the prison's quality. He thought Nightmare's dungeons were shitty, but holy damn this place was a real shit hole. His stomach hurt like fucking hell every time he moved. But that didn't matter. That could be fixed later.
This was probably karma for killing Negative, but who the hell cares anymore? Karma doesn't happen to people who actually deserve it. Doubt it's even real. Dust let out a low growl and paced around his cell. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone in the cell across from his. He turned to look at him. Dust looked him up at down. At first he had mistaken him for Nightmare, but now that he had gotten a better look, that's definitely not Nightmare. "Well you're an ugly lookin thing." Dust said bluntly. "What you in for?" The goopy thing growls and looks over at Dust. "Thhee kiinngg iiss aa biittcch."
Dust scoffed. "So that self proclaimed 'King Multiverse' shoved you in here? Quite pathetic honestly." The goopy thing glared at Dust, which made Dust laugh. "Oh wow. You think you're scary, don't ya big guy?" The big goop grumbled and turned away from Dust. For a moment Dust thought that the big goop was just talking to himself, but then he noticed the faint outline of someone in the cell with the goop.
"Who you talking to freak?" Dust sneered, wanting to piss off the goop. "Yyeess ii knnooww. Ii doon'tt thhinkk soo." He looks to Dust then leans against the wall. "Whhaatss yoourr namme." Dust sits up a bit straighter. "My name is Dust, successor to King Nightmare." He said proudly. "And I assume you are called something?" Dust asked, then added, "Besides butt ugly bastard, of course." He smirked. The goop grins at that. There is faint ghostly laughter. Then he drops the grin. "Ccall mmee Maarrooww." Dust holds back another laugh. "Mmmmmaaaaaaarrrrrrooooowwwww." Dust mocks Marrow's voice. Marrow glares for a few seconds before it softens a bit.
Dust looks Marrow up and down for a few moments, before asking a simple question. "Are you a glitch?" Marrow is silent for a few seconds before answering. "Technically yyess." Dust hummed. "I thought so. You're voice is odd and you're talking to a ghost thing, which isn't very common, but this is the second time I've seen ghosts and glitches have some sort of bond."
"Ahh, hiimm. Hheess thhe gllitchh. Iimm juusstt ussiingg hiiss boodyy." Marrow said. Dust's eye narrowed. "So you're more of a parasite." His voice became more hostile. Marrow grins "annd iff ii amm?" Dust glares. "Then you aren't a real monster. You're a beast monster if anything. Makes sense why Multiverse locked you up here. He sees you as a threat." Marrow grins. "But I'm sure that's just an ego boost for you, yeah?" Dust tilted his head, grinning madly. "But I can sense your negativity, so don't get too cocky. Your just a parasite. A leech. You only get your strengh from your host. You are nothing." Marrow just chuckles. Dust looks him right in the eye. "Don't be cocky. You're a parasite of negativity. And believe me, I know how to kill negative entities." Dust summoned his fire magic, just playing with the ball of fire in his hand. Marrow chuckles. "Soo yoouu aaree aa duusstt." Marrow askes. Dust presses the palm of his hand into the cold concrete to extinguish his flame, creating a low sizzling sound and smoke. "No, not really. I'm not from Dusttale." Dust answered. "Exxplaainns thhee siizzee." Marrow sneered. Dust stood up. "Actually go fuck yourself. I was originially planning on helping you out once I got out of here, but no. You can fucking rot here for the rest of your pathetic life. Kill yourself honestly."
Marrow chuckles. "Ppaatheettiicc" Dust growls. "The only thing pathetic is the size of your dick. I hope you enjoy rotting in here beast." Marrow's grin widened. "Ssuuchh aa fraaiill eeggoo poorr thinngg" Marrow said mockingly. "At least I'm in here for a good reason. I bet you just got caught snooping on his land." Dust sat down and took off his shirt and hoodie. He scoffed, being reminded of the shitty bandage work that was done on him.
Dust undoes the bandages and looks at the wound. Fuck. It's very clearly infected. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Dust puts his shirt and hoodie back on and lays down. He felt cold. He's never feared death before, but now, he didn't know why he was afraid. He shouldn't be afraid. He rested his hand on his chest and took deep breaths. His face became hot as tears welled in his eye. His breaths were shaky. I'm not going to die. I lived through worse. God damnit! Why am I shaking so much? What's wrong with me?
Marrow stood up and walked to the bars of his cell. Marrow pried the cell bars open and walked over to the cell Dust is in, doing the same thing. Marrow walks into the cell, towering over Dust. Dust quickly sat up and pushed himself back. He summoned his fire magic. "Get the hell away from me." Marrow groaned and huffed. His goop arms held Dust's arms behind his back, and a ghostly presence gently picked him up. Dust growls. "Let go of me!" Dust's body starts to heat up. Marrow growled as he felt his goop warm up. Smoke started to rise from Dust's body as it got even hotter (if that's even possible 😏😏😏). "LET GO OF ME!" Marrow's goop arms curled around Dust, cradling him. His arms held Dust like a baby. “Sttaayy stttill.” He walked out of the cell with Dust in his arms. Dust grumbled under his breath, but stopped squirming.
Marrow didn't get too far before there was a voice from behind. "Well it seems I need to reinforce the cells."
YOU ARE READING
Malaverse
FantasyThis is a continuation of Maladaptive, but it's in the present instead of the past. Maladaptive is still going on, but this is just if you want to see what's going on currently. Fair warning, this half is currently very depressing from Red's POV. Wa...