Negative Love (A Marenight Story)

A Small Side Story

Okay, so this doesn't have much to do with the regular storyline. I know y'all want some of that Nightcest, and don't worry, it's coming. But I just thought this would be cute and fluffy, so I'm writing it.

Explanation: Dust has schizophrenia, which means he's basically lost terms with reality and sees and hears things that aren't actually there. This is why he can "talk" to Papyrus and see him, when no one else can.
It's different with Cross, by the way. Chara actually exists, because they have the same SOUL. So Chara is actually real, but Dust!Paps isn't.
Basically, in this little one-shot/side story, Night is still just chillin' in his SOUL, and Mare has recruited Horror, Dust, and Cross. Killer and Error are still doing their own things. As soon as Dust gets to the castle, he basically has a panic attack.

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Horror and Cross were playing cards when the new guy came in.

They'd both been here for about a week and a half now, so not much time or anything. But life with Nightmare was pretty chill. Nothing had really happened, but it was eternally better than Horrortale. They even ate multiple times a day, which was like, what how was there even that much food in the world.

"Uno," Cross said calmly, placing down a ten of spades.

"Ah, but you've activated my trap card!" Horror said, turning over an Uno draw-four card.

"Checkmate," Cross countered, drawing a Phase Ten wild card.

"Yahtzee!" Horror revealed his hand of aces and kings.

"... What game are you two playing?" Nightmare asked.

"Checkers," Horror said. "Duh."

"Did you seriously take all the card games I own, combine them into one deck, and call it checkers?" Nightmare asked with annoyance.

Horror nodded. "Yep!"

"I can't tell if you're an idiot or just bored out of your mind. But whatever, I don't have time for this right now. Do either of you two idiots know how to help with a panic attack?"

"I might!" Horror said. "Hands-on learning and whatnot. Why?"

"Because I found another skeleton and brought him back and now he's panicking," Nightmare said.

"Oh, that sounds like a good reason." Horror stood up. "Who's the new guy?"

Nightmare shrugged. "He never told me his name. I've just been calling him Sans or skeleton."

"Well, lead the way to whichever Sans you picked up," Horror said.

~Teny Tem Skep~

The skeleton was in the hall, curled up in a ball and covering his ears(?). He was crying, tears running down his face and dripping onto the floor below. He didn't seem to notice the three Sanses walk in.

Nightmare tipped his head at the skeleton, looking at Horror like see?.

"I won't! I won't I won't I won't!" The skeleton half-screamed half-sobbed. "You can't make me you can't! Stop! Stop it! I won't do it again! I WON'T!"

"Yeesh. Hard case, huh?" Horror walked over to the skeleton and crouched next to him. "Hey... buddy, let's calm down a little bit, okay? I promise no one is going to make you do anything."

"I won't," The skeleton sobbed. "I won't! You can't make me!"

"Hmm. Unresponsive today, are you?" Horror said. He gently shook the skeleton's shoulder a bit to get his attention. "Hey, bud, it's okay. I'm here for you."

It was as though a switch had turned on in the skeleton. He suddenly stopped crying and sat up, staring at Horror. "Wh-what are you?"

"Um... a Sans?" Horror said. "Does the giant hole in my head confuse you? I'm a skeleton, same as you."

"Y-you can't be!" The skeleton cried. "Everyone is dead! I'm the only one left! SHUT UP, PAPYRUS!!"

Horror was startled by his sudden shout. "Um... buddy, there's no Papyrus here."

"Yes there is!" The skeleton sobbed. "He's here and he hates me and I can't stop him and I can't and I won't and YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!"

"Okay, buddy, let's take this slow." Horror pointed to himself. "My name is Horror. What's yours?"

"He's here and they're all here and Chara and Paps and Met and Frisk and stop stop it! No, you can't make me I won't I won't I won't!" The skeleton screamed.

Horror tapped the skeleton's shoulder gently. "Buddy, calm down. I'm here for you." When the skeleton had calmed down infinitesimally, he pointed to himself again. "My name is Horror. Do you understand that? Hor...ror."

"H...Hor...ror..." The skeleton said, confusion overwhelming insanity slightly. "Hor....ror... D-D-D-Dust..."

"Is that your name?" Horror asked. "Dust?"

Dust nodded. 

Horror smiled. "Well, that's a very nice name, Dust."

"N-no it's not," Dust said, both angry and crying somehow. "It's not it's not! It's the name of the person who killed everyone and will kill everyone and I'm dangerous and no no no get away from me!"

"Dust, listen to me," Horror said, gently but firmly. "You are going to be okay. I will make sure of that."

"No you can't! You can't I won't I can't you can't make me! None of any of this is even real!" Dust yelled. "It's all just a sick game that I LOST because of Chara!"

Horror tilted his head. "So you think that none of this is real?"

"Nothing is real anymore," Dust sobbed. "Nothing- nothing matters."

Horror thought for a minute. "Well," He said finally. "I'm real, aren't I?"

"How do you know?" Dust asked angrily. "You can't prove it!"

"I don't actually know!" Horror said with a smile. He held out a hand to Dust. "But I'm sure we could find out together."

Dust hesitated. (Ha, POV change!)

For a second, Papyrus and Horror flickered together, both smiling encouragingly.

Then it was just Horror, and only Horror, and the screams stopped and for the first time in a very long time Dust could say that this was real and Horror was real and he was real.

Dust took Horror's hand. "Together," He agreed.

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A/N:

I know I said small side story but it ended up being seven to eight to nine hundred words. Basically my writing in a nutshell.

Anyway, about the real story, I write really, really fast. Like one to two chapters a day on average fast. It probably helps that I don't have a life and this is my life.

So I'll probably still be updating every other day. But if I end up ever running out of buffer chapters I'll tell you guys.

Good deal? Good deal.

See y'all later!