Safe With Me (Shatteredmare fic)

Little Nightmare

Once Cross had been taken to whatever place Ink had dragged him to, Cross let out a huff, closing his eyes. He leaned against a nearby tree. They must have gone to some random Underswap universe.

"What were you thinking?!" Ink demanded. Cross opened his eyes halfway lazily, his mouth still covered by his scarf. He rolled the eyelights in his eye sockets with half effort, pulling down his scarf as he stood up fully, using his still-summoned knife to use as something to prop himself against. He crossed his legs and glared at Ink.

"What do you think I was doing? I was trying to figure out where Shattered kept Nightmare, and instead I almost got caught. What's the big deal?" Cross growled. He knew what the big deal was. This would make it all the less likely for Cross to be able to actually kidnap Nightmare if Shattered thought Cross would be coming back. He would upgrade his security measures to make sure of that, Cross knew, but there was also that Shattered knew Cross knew that Shattered would do this... so maybe not. He might wait for longer for Cross to return. So basically, it was a feedback loop that could in turn be good for Cross. Not to mention that Cross was nearly stabbed and killed by Shattered multiple times.

Who knew though.

Shattered was always the "I care but it's only low-key" type of person. Or, at least, in Cross's eyes he was.

"You could have gotten killed, you know," Ink pointed out. "Shattered is not someone to tamper with. You won't get away with what you just tried to pull off, Cross," Ink added. "You do realize I don't approve of what you're trying to pull off, correct?"

Cross nodded. "I know you don't approve of it. Which is surprising, you're usually all about being creative and doing whatever you desire," Cross retorted.

Ink laughed a little, as though that was a joke and not sarcasm. "Cross, I would NOT recommend going back there any time soon... If you want to live, of course."

Cross just rolled his eyelights again. He sighed, unsummoning his knife and standing for himself. "Do you think I'll get away with it?"

"What are you planning on again?" Ink asked, lowering his eyebrow.

"Kidnapping that little 'Nightmare,'" Cross answered.

Ink thought about it, tapping his chin. After a moment of analyzing the situation, Ink looked to Cross grimly and shook his head. "Cross, I don't think it's a good idea to go back there any time soon."

"Shattered probably thinks I have just enough intelligence and I won't come back soon; he'll think that I think he'll up his security because I tried to kidnap Nightmare recently, but he won't do much because he'll wait for me to come later. He thinks I'm not smart enough to be a little more clever. So I'm coming when I was originally planning to try and kidnap Nightmare, which was supposed to be tonight," Cross explained. "If I go back there tonight, Shattered might not even have enough time to up his security or whatever."

Ink tapped his chin again. He paced back and forth in front of Cross. His footprints went over each other in the snow. "Hmm, good point, but..." Ink trailed off. He stopped, stepping forward to Cross. "I don't think this is a good idea. You're going to get killed."

Cross sighed, he turned around halfway, glaring ahead of them and seeing the fence that was usually in all of the routes. Ink continued his rant, despite the obvious fact that Cross was withdrawing from the conversation.

"Do you know what the 'Nightmare' told me?" Ink asked.

Cross looked to Ink. "What did he tell you?" He asked quietly. He wasn't really interested. Nothing Ink would tell him would change his mind, unless Ink was just making conversation. Maybe he was even making conversation to distract Cross from trying to kidnap that little twat tonight.

"Yesterday, I just came to the library to spy on Shattered and see what was up with him, maybe convince you not to sneak off into his castle, but instead I found Nightmare. You know, the tiny one," Ink started. Cross nodded, squinting his eyes, prompting that Ink go on. "You see, we had a little talk, and then when I mentioned Shattered he realized something. He told me that I 'shouldn't be here,' and that I had to leave before Shattered 'went berserk' or something like that. Now I questioned the fact that he was alive in Shattered's castle for obvious reasons, when it's quite clear he doesn't have any real magic, Nightmare was totally unconvinced that Shattered had any plans to hurt him whatsoever. He sounded confused when I told him that. He looked almost shocked, the fact that I even remotely accused Shattered of being, well, a murderer. He just laughed it off!" Ink explained. "It doesn't make any real sense to me, but I sincerely hope that Shattered hasn't done anything to adjust his memory in some way, knowing how he is..."

Cross blinked. He tried to process all that Ink had said. Ink was always one to go off on tangents that were hard to interrupt, maybe tell him to slow down... When Cross eventually managed to understand he simply shrugged. "Look, that doesn't change my mind about anything. Just thought I should let you know," Cross replied.

"Fine. I'm just telling you not to get comfortable with Nightmare," Ink responded, his body drooping a bit in resignment.

Cross then snapped, "What do you mean don't 'get comfortable with Nightmare'?" His voice was loud and demanding. He hoped that the nearby sleeping Papyrus, or whoever could be nearby, didn't hear him.

Ink slapped his forehead and drug it over his eye sockets. "Look, Cross, I know how you are with these kinds of people," Ink said. He lazily tossed the hand that was on his face and turned around. "Just heed my warning. Good luck, Cross." He looked back after he pulled out his paintbrush and slapped some black liquid on the ground in front of them. "Don't get yourself killed, please." Then he hopped into the ink, off to only hell knows where.

Cross growled.

"He doesn't know anything..." he muttered. He pulled his scarf over his mouth and rested on the tree. He let his head fall back. "I just have to wait for the right moment."