When the Stars Die

Chapter 5

(I really can't remember if I mentioned her last chapter, but in my AUs, Betty is part of Nightmare's gang.)

Nightmare's castle had been quiet for a while.

Ever since they had agreed to that stupid plan of the Star Sanses', they'd cut back on their usual antics. The Star Sanses had claimed it was for some balance in the Multiverse, whatever that meant. The Murder Trio didn't believe that such a thing existed, but it seemed as though Error and Nightmare had some sort of idea about it. It had been an awkward thirty minutes of Blue, Dust, Horror, Killer, and Cross standing in the throne room while the other four discussed things further in the council room. Especially since it had only been a week or so after Blue found out Dust was cheating on him with Horror.

The Murder Trio was still up to their usual shenanigans, but it was so much less fun without Nightmare tagging along. It was true that they could always drag Crescent or Bete Noire along, but for some reason the boss wasn't too fond of them leaving the castle. It very easily could've been due to Crescent being his son, but Killer had said that they both wanted him to get stronger and be more than capable of defending himself. They had no clue what the deal with Betty was, though.

Betty wasn't a human, though she looked like one, but she wasn't a monster either. Metaphorically speaking she was, but she wasn't part of the species. When they'd asked her a bunch of questions about who she was and where she came from, she gave an explanation that didn't really make sense at all. Apparently she was a physical manifestation of the FEAR soul, and she only had her name, colors, and magic because of the other spell put on it.

She wasn't entirely trustworthy, given her agenda to make sure there was never peace between humans and monsters, and how she was more than willing to wipe out all monsters to achieve that goal. And everyone in Nightmare's gang was a monster. Not to mention how she'd consumed an entire vial of HATE. While her power was nowhere near Nightmare's in terms of souls or magic enhancers, HATE was still a messy and dangerous substance to be playing games with.

But hey, at least she and Crescent got along pretty well.

Speaking the two unlikely friends, they were hanging out again today. The two walked into one of the several hundred living rooms in the castle, chatting about trivial matters. Their conversation was interrupted, however, when a loud groan of displeasure and aggravation came from the two sulking skeletons on the couch.

"What's their problem?" Betty asked, gesturing over to them.

"Hell if I know. They're probably just bored like the rest of us," Crescent replied with a shrug. "They're just itching to kill someone."

"You get your ass we are," Dust grumbled. "Ever since the boss agreed to those Star Fucks' plan, we haven't had a lick of fun!"

"Heeeeeey, don't talk about Uncle Dream like that." He frowned. "They had a good reason."

"You mean that stupid balance shit they were going on about?" Horror scoffed.

"Shut the hell up, you two."

Horror and Dust sat up on the couch, startled by the input of the new voice. Crescent turned his head to look at the approaching figure, blinking slowly. Betty leaned forward to look around him, giving a small wave. Crescent narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest as his tentacles flicked.

Nightmare walked into the room with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. He gave Crescent and Betty a look of acknowledgement before he turned his attention over to the two psychotic murderers in the room. Horror and Dust gave each other a sideways glance, smiling nervously. Nightmare's blank expression turned to a glare.