Ghost Stories (A Sanscest Story)

A Silver Scratch

Later in the night, the mansion gave a quiet rumble. It was subtle and quick. Some objects rattled. Then, came the roaring. It shook the mansion and a little figurine fell off a shelf, shattering. Dream blinked opened his eyes in his bed. Outer had long since disappeared and Dream was alone. He sat up and pushed himself out of the bed. No one else was awake?

He furrowed his brow. What the hell had that been? It sounded like it had come from below. It had been extremely muffled. He stopped. Based on where he thought it was echoing from, he could tell where the source had been. The theater. He rubbed his eyes.

He slowly moved to his door and opened it. He stepped out into the hallway and made his way towards the stairs. As he did, the windows gave a quiet rattle as there was another dull, muffled roaring noise. He stumbled. He came out onto the second floor and paused for a moment.

He was staring at the hallway, which was dark and deserted, the moonlight trickling in through window panes. He paused Nightmare's room, then Dust's. He went to the next set of stairs and climbed down. As soon as he entered into the living room, he could tell something was horribly wrong.

There was a hostile presence. It was shockingly heavy and it felt incredibly angry. Dream furrowed his brow. His hands immediately moved to hook in front of him uneasily. What was going on? He could feel his breath catching in his throat. Another creature from Cross' spirit world, maybe?

He followed the noise down the hallway to the theater. As he drew close, he squeaked and covered his mouth with his hands as he saw someone suddenly get thrown out of the curtains, covering the theater entrance, cracking the wall in.

It was Cross! "Cross!" Dream cried. The other turned to him, his eyes wide. He wondered how no one else was hearing the roaring before he noticed a magic seal on the doorway. A sound suppressor. The same kind all of the Bad Guys had used to torture Sci at school in the hallways.

"Dream! Why're you down here?" Cross said in blatant surprise. There was a muffled, shaking roar from inside the theater. Dream helped him up before he gestured to the curtains uneasily.

"B-Because I heard that." He stated simply. Cross nodded, staring back into the curtains. He took a deep breath and turned to Dream. He took hold of his shoulders and Dream looked up at him in shock. "Cross?"

"Listen, Dream. Another demon is in there. Brought straight from below. It's having a... negative reaction to its new environment. I will show you, but you have to promise me that you'll stay strong though it." Cross said, his voice dead serious. Dream blinked before it set in. ANOTHER demon?! Like Freak?! He stared at Cross in incredulous disbelief.

"Why would you bring ANOTHER demon?!" Dream demanded, more out of shock. Cross didn't answer and Dream continued to demand answers as Cross tugged him through the curtains.

They both ducked as a large, long bony tail swung over them, catching on the wall and sending bits of it showering over them. Dream flinched. As soon as they'd entered through, the sound had kicked up. It was longer suppressed.

Dream stared. This was the new demon?? It towered above him. It looked like a gaster blaster. It wore a large, tattered outfit. A hoodie and shorts. It was gigantic, so Dream could only guess that the clothes had grown with it. It had the head of a gaster blaster and the bony, skeletal body of... a dragon, maybe? A dragon with no wings.

It was on four legs. It snarled as Freak giggled across from it, in his horrifyingly twisted form. It snapped its teeth. Its claws glinted and Dream blinked. Those weren't bone. They were metal.

The claws scraped against the ground, ripping up the already-ruined carpet. The creature's spine glinted in sharp metal as well. "We have to keep it occupied until the Reaper returns." Cross explained.

For a moment, Dream felt bad. The theater was in so much ruin. It was always the place That got abused the most when something went wrong. He would have to repair it. He didn't blame Cross, though. He understood why the other had chosen it, looking at the sheer size of the creature.

As he spoke, the gaster blaster creature turned on them, snarling. It bared metal teeth, sharp and slicing. There were no eyelights in its eyesockets. It seemed to, however, fixate itself on Dream and he froze up, his bones locking in place. A cold chill had gripped his body. The thing lunged at him.

"Dream!" Cross yanked him out of the way at the last second, the thing snarling as it shook its head, having crashed into the ground. It pushed itself up, its metal claws clicking and scraping against one another.

What an ugly sound it was, metal against metal. Its spine seemed to flex as well, the sharp blades poking up and rippling down its back. Dream was tensed.

"Cross." He whispered in quiet horror. Cross gulped behind him, possibly at his tone. "Cross... what..." He knew what Dream was thinking and he cleared his throat before quickly speaking.

"I know. Please trust me." He said, still holding Dream back. Black liquid trickled down the creature's face from its eyesockets. Dream would recognize it anywhere, from any distance away. Cross' words from before slowly sank in and Dream turned to look back at Cross.

"Th-The Reaper?" He asked. He had JUST met the Reaper the other day! This was crazy! Why was the Reaper part of this?? How was this happening?? "Cross, I... I don't know if I can- I don't... I-" He cut himself off, tears threatening to spill from his eyesockets. He was struggling to stand on his own two feet. "Why-"

Cross let him go and knelt in front of him. "He wasn't a good person, Dream. That's how I knew where to look. Of course he's going to have unfinished business! It's you! It was always going to be you! But since he couldn't come back as a spirit..." He glanced behind him and threw up a large, purple wall of magic, the gaster blaster creature hitting it with so much force, it cracked.

Cross flinched, gritting his teeth. He muttered a swear under his breath before continuing to speak, his eyes screwed shut. "He had to come back as something else."

They both winced as Freak tackled the gaster blaster creature and pinned it down with his spindly legs. In the struggle, something thin fell out of Freak's pocket and fluttered to the ground. Dream's eyes followed it shakily.

It landed, revealing it to be a burnt picture of Killer. "Why is he attacking us??" Dream whispered, still a bit too shocked to really react to anything. This was fucking crazy. There was no way that this was... Dream's SOUL was screaming with excitement, yet it was also the most pain he'd ever felt in his life. The pain only worsened as Cross' next words set in.

"He doesn't remember us. He isn't himself. Not yet. That's where the Reaper will come in and he seems to really be taking his sweet time with it!" He growled before raising his head. "Look, I had Freak hunt him down in exchange for a pint of my blood. And the Reaper, conveniently enough, owes me for some bullshit stunt he pulled a while ago." Cross explained this all in a hurried breath.

He seemed to scowl a bit upon mentioning the Reaper, but Dream didn't have the energy or the curiosity to question it. Not when something far more important was at hand. "Why are you doing this? You didn't have to-"

"I REFUSE to let Shattered win. His goal was to destroy you. The essence of positivity. And I have only suffered ONE defeat EVER." Cross cut him off before sighing. "And it KILLED me."

"That bastard thought he won when Freak killed him. Well, we're gonna make sure he's fucking wrong. Everyone needs you, Dream. But they need you, as YOU." Dream stared at him before nodding in shocked understanding.

Cross seemed to falter and closed his eyes. Dream stared at him. "Especially your brother. He probably needs you more than anyone else to balance him out. And I CARE about your brother."

His eyes burned as he formed his blade and pushed himself to his feet. "I don't ever intend on losing again." He held out a hand. "Now STAND UP. And help us control him! Don't you want him back??" Cross demanded almost angrily. There it was. His soldier training coming back.

Dream stared at him before grabbing his hand and pulling himself up. "Y-Yes!! Yes!!" He cried out, turning to look at the creature Freak had pinned. His SOUL was pounding madly and for a moment, Dream actually feared it would break out of his ribcage or jump out of his throat.

He couldn't help but shiver as the pinned creature let out a loud snarl, bearing metal teeth. Dream stared at it. And despite it not having eyelights, Dream felt like it was looking right back at him.