To Kill A Killer

Chapter 16: Actions and Consequences

Killer was not happy to be called into the boss' office, and the boss wasn't happy to see him there.

Nightmare watched him from the high-backed chair behind the desk, his cyan gaze cold and unblinking. Killer shifted uncomfortably on his feet, fidgeting with the butterfly knife in his pocket. The sound of the two handles clicking against each other filled the musty silence.

The office was, as far as he could tell, Nightmare's main living quarters, and it showed in the shadows that pooled in every corner, the vantablack stains on the ancient furniture, the oppressive, sickly-sweet atmosphere that settled over his SOUL like lead as soon as he crossed the threshold. It was almost comforting, in the way that 3 AM and a bloodied cut is comforting. The familiar solace of despair. That's what Nightmare's room felt like.

What a fucking edgelord.

He snorted quietly, but his snarky thoughts did not stop his spine from straightening with a stiff crack as Nightmare finally addressed him.

"I have received a complaint about you," his boss began. Despite being seated, he still managed to look down at Killer. "Specifically, about your lack of cooperation with the rest of the team."

Killer shrugged, thumbing the balisong's latch. "Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't get one sooner. I gotta up my game."

"You understand that you are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of any spaces you use in my castle, yes?" Nightmare went on, ignoring his comment. "A responsibility you share with the rest of the team, who have been overextending themselves to pick up your slack?"

"Hey, what about Dust?" Killer objected. "I don't see him doing shit."

"I will be having a discussion with Dust later." There was an edge to Nightmare's words that Killer couldn't place. "However, he is none of your concern. On the other hand, Cross' report of your deliberate obstruction to Horror's housework yesterday is very much your concern, as is your explanation, which I called you here to hear." He steepled his fingers, leaning forward expectantly.

Drawing on many years of bullshitting his way out of trouble with an exasperated Undyne, Killer said the first thing that popped into his head. "I was playing with the cat. Ain't my fault the big guy was cleaning in the same place. Or that Oreo's a snitch."

Honestly, it was a wonder he'd kept his sentry job for so long back Underground. Undyne had probably only tolerated him because of Paps.

Nightmare's tentacles flickered in the shadows behind him, barely visible but for the green-blue iridescence that flashed with the movement. "And what of the allegations that you, for some incomprehensible reason, brought the mess in the training room – which I have been informed was also your doing – to the middle of the lounge room?"

"Cat likes it," Killer shrugged, slipping a finger between the balisong's two handles. "Havin' the time of their life chasing the stuffing around, but the training room was cold as fuck, so I moved us somewhere warmer." Another annoying thing about the castle's antiquity – no electricity meant no heating. There were actual stars-damned fireplaces in most of the rooms, and half of them weren't even lit. "By the way, you should really get some electricity in this place. The fires ain't cutting it. And don't get me started on the lack of Wi-Fi."

Nightmare was silent, but the room's chill seemed to increase in reply. Frost began to creep across the diamond-pane window.

"Uh." Killer's hand tightened reflexively around his butterfly knife. "I mean, yeah. I did all that. I don't see what the big deal is, but if you're gonna punish me or something, just get it over with."