The Price of Power

1 - Gang

Chapters one and three have been copy-pasted from my Inkwhumptobertale stories, because I made them to fit the plot intentionally. They will have minor edits to fit the plot of this story, though. Chapter two and all other chapters will be entirely new, though!

Comments are welcome and appreciated! 

Please enjoy!

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Life in Nightmare's castle wasn't the greatest, even for Nightmare's most prized fighters: his gang. Everyone who lived in the castle was held to strict rules regarding their lives, and their privileges came only with time, not rank; the ones who had been there for the longest had more privileges, while those who were new had fewer. It had worked like this ever since Nightmare had decided to employ others to work in the castle - maids, guards, and the like. Killer, Horror, and Dust had been there before that, while Cross had come a bit later, but they had all been here for years..and they all knew that they wouldn't be leaving until their deaths. 

Nightmare..was a difficult person to pin down. But one thing was for certain: if he wanted someone on his side, he would get them at any cost. He had wrangled Cross away from the Star Sanses years ago, and Cross had no hopes of returning to his old comrades. Killer, Horror, and Dust had been abducted from their AUs with no hopes of escaping to other ones. Nightmare had his tactics down, though; he knew exactly how to get people to join him. At first, when he made contact, he would act kind, polite, and even a bit shy; he would even tell a sob story about his past, if he deemed it suitable. He would make himself out to be a socially-awkward pushover, and he would keep that front up for as long as he deemed necessary; he had kept it up for over a year with Cross before the monochrome soldier had finally fully fallen for the manipulation. Once the victim was in the castle, there was no going back; Nightmare had full control over magic in his realm, and no one could make portals, use magic attacks, or even teleport without his permission. He dropped his act as soon as he had successfully lured his prey into his castle, and he became the sadistic and cruel tyrant everyone who lived here knew him to be. Cross's first day had been a confusing mess that had only started to make sense when Killer, Horror, and Dust had dragged him into a room and explained everything to him. Most people's first days went like that, except other workers were typically the ones to explain things.

Things had changed a lot since that first day, though; Cross had seniority now, and he could teleport and use magic attacks in the castle, as long as it was only for training. That was the limit for magic privileges in the castle; portals were strictly used for missions. There were other privileges, though, of course: food, clothing, and private quarters..all of those had to be earned. Food was the easiest thing to earn; it was earned simply by doing one's work. It was the only privilege that didn't have any requirements other than money, and everyone in the castle earned a wage that was more than enough for food. There were so many privileges, though, and not even the gang members had gotten all of them; Nightmare was a tyrant, and his standards were high. It was no wonder that people tried endlessly to leave, but after a few years, the attempts typically stopped and the defiance turned into acceptance. There was a limit to how much willpower stretched.

Nightmare knew that well.

"What's for breakfast?" Killer hopped onto one of the barstools by the kitchen's island.

"Pancakes." Horror replied, gesturing to a stack of flapjacks.

"Where'd you get those?" Dust inquired. "I don't recall boss adding pancake mix to the supply lists."

"Stole it on my last mission." Horror let out a low chuckle; he knew exactly how to hide tasty foodstuffs from Nightmare's sharp senses.

"Dude, you're a legend!" Cross praised. "I can't remember the last time I had pancakes!"