#anger_is_flawed

Let's give this another go...

This Alternate Universe was a monsterless; there was no war long ago, no monsters sealed underneath a large mountain, and no young human falling down a massive hole to save monsterkind. 

Nope, just boring humans doing boring things. Like receiving another outrageous bill for their discontinued college classes-

“No, you listen here! You were in the room when I signed for a payment plan for these classes! I told you I couldn’t pay this in full!”

“Of course, but we have changed the policy-”

“Policy my ass!” 

The call was cut short and the sound of the mobile phone hitting the wall echoed down the hall. With a sigh, Rea stood and stepped away from her desk to head down the hall and check on her roommate. She knew that Yn was having a difficult time with schooling and other personal issues where they couldn’t continue for the remaining year. While Rea agreed the college wasn’t helping during their rough patch in life, they needed to calm down before they accidentally harmed themself or someone else. 

“Yn,” Rea called their name as she stepped into the room. Yn knelt on the floor where their phone landed and was now stressing over a cracked screen.  She sighed while she heard Yn mourn for their phone; “Did you break it this time?” 

Yn fell back onto their bottom and glanced over to their roommate with such a defeated look. “I did. But, I hadn’t meant to.”  Rea nodded in understanding, her hand held out for her roommate to take. When Yn handed their phone to Rea, confused, she gently took it from their hand and pocketed it. She then held out her hand once more, gesturing for them to take it this time. Yn flushed slightly from embarrassment and reached for their roommate’s hand and was helped up and onto their feet. 

“You get stressed out too easily. Everything will work out in the end. Don’t burn your bridges with the college; you said to yourself that you planned to return, right?” When Yn nodded, Rea continued.  “Then let’s be a little calmer next time.” Yn apologized softly and Rea accepted it; “You should really apologize to the financial aid next time they call.” Yn let out a humorless laugh. “If they call back.” 

While Rea checked over the damages on Yn’s phone, Yn left to retrieve a refreshing soda from the fridge for both themself and their roommate. They reached into the fridge and pulled out two cans before shutting the door- “Shit-!” They jumped from a fright that almost had them dropping the two cans of soda. 

The strange skeleton grabbed at his faux stomach as he laughed at having scared Yn. “Y-You should have seen your face!” He giggled gleefully; Yn flushed from embarrassment and grumbled softly as they turned away from the skeleton and left the kitchen. “Don’t be mad, Yn! I hadn’t meant to scare you!” Ink called out after them and hurried to follow. 

“Ink’s here.” Yn grumbled to their roommate, handing the soda over to them before plopping down on the sofa and cracked open their beverage. Rea thanked Yn with a smile, she handed Yn’s phone back, before opening her own beverage. Yn glanced over their phone, frowning when they saw the damage; “The crack in your phone isn’t bad, you can still use the touch screen well enough.” Rea explained before glancing towards the strange monster. “Hello, Ink. What brings you here?” She asks after taking a sip of her drink. 

Ink, a guardian of the Multiverse, had accidentally fallen into this AU not too long ago and immediately met Yn and Rea. After visiting a few months, he brought along his two friends, Dream and Blue. Both were skeletons as well. Ink was quick to share the stories of the other AU’s and of all the adventures he and his friends always had. 

Protecting the Multiverse from evil and destruction, as well as helping those who were in need! They were known as the Star Sanses, just hearing their names brought hope to those in trouble. Rea and Yn loved listening to their stories when the three of them came over to visit. It was always a good time when they were over. 

“I got bored. Dream got really hurt during our last battle with his brother, so he’s in recovery. Blue stayed home to hang out with his brother and friends.” Ink explained, having to snatch up his scarf to read off the little messages he wrote for himself in case he forgot. “Error is too grumpy to play with right now, so I came to see you two!” He exclaimed and jumped in between them on the sofa with an excited grin. Yn laughed, but told him to be careful. 

“Well, we don’t have anything planned right now.” Yn commented, setting their phone and drink aside before grabbing the remote to the television. “Why don’t we watch a movie or something?” Rea relaxed back into the sofa, smiling softly at the suggestion. “I definitely could use a break from my work.” Ink grinned and made himself more comfortable. “I wanna watch that movie where the little guy creates all sorts of things and saves his universe!” 

For a moment, both Rea and Yn looked at Ink, trying to think of what movie he was talking about. Rea suddenly snapped her fingers, startling Ink and Yn.  “You mean the Lego Movie? Sure, but I think we should watch the second one since you’ve already seen the first.” Ink’s eyes changed shapes and colors in his excitement, Yn remembered to reach for the mini trash bin and placed it in reach of Ink in case he vomited again. “There’s a second one?!” Rea and Yn laughed as Yn found the movie and started to play it. 

-

The afternoon flew by and soon Rea was getting up to begin cooking dinner; it was her turn to cook and she had a good meal planned. She invited Ink to stay, but he politely declined before bidding the two humans goodbye. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out until it was time for bed. 

As they both wished each other a good night's sleep, they separated to their own rooms and settled deep in their beds. Sleep came easy for them tonight, not a worry in the world as they drifted off into dreamland. . . 

The Sun had disappeared beyond the horizon while the Moon began its climb into the sky. In this seemingly peaceful town, there was a terrifying sound that came from the more suburban side of the town. The entire block of houses were destroyed, and underneath the debris were many dead and severely injured humans. Surrounding homes, the people were too afraid to look out their windows in case the attack wasn’t over. 

It wasn’t until the dust from the debris settled and the bombs? Was it even a bombing? Whatever had happened, the attackers had stopped their destruction. Only then the neighbors willed themselves to peek outside. They couldn’t see anything- of course, they missed the three strange figures disappearing from the end of the street. 

The three strangers reappeared further down the street near their targeted house; “Way to go, Dusty! You probably killed them!” Killer snapped, annoyance clear in his tone. “Tch, I’d like to see you do better, ass.” Dust shot back as he readjusted his scarf around his neck. His creepy glowing bicolor eyes peered from the darkness of his hood that hid his face from everyone around him. “Ugh, you’re so creepy, Dust.” Killer commented with a shiver, completely ignoring Horror who began to toss debris from the destroyed house. 

“Stop complaining and help Horror find the human.” Dust simply said, not at all offended by Killer’s comment.  “What? No- you help Horror! What the fuck?! It was your fault that Horror had to dig out the human! What if they’re dead? It’s all your fault!” Dust bit back a snarky remark and instead rolled his eyes once more before using his magic to lift a pile of wood and plaster only to toss it towards Killer, who yelled in surprise before getting buried. “Idiot.” Dust grinned and continued to use his magic to help Horror. 

Between the two skeletons, they were able to uncover the unconscious human, who was still alive yet injured. Horror started to gather them up into his arms just as Killer managed to get himself out from underneath the debris Dust continued to drop on top of him. The skeleton cursed and vented as he marched over to get into Dust’s face. He really wanted to punch him, but Dust stopped him easily;  “Hey, shut up and look. We have the human. Let’s go home.” 

Killer’s rage melted away as soon as he spun around to look at the limp human that was hung over Horror’s shoulder. “Oh, great job, big guy!” Killer grinned and gave Horror a thumbs up. “Just doing my job.” Horror grinned and chuckled as he readjusted the human, all the while Dust fumed; “I helped too, you know.” Killer simply waved his hand in dismissal; “Yeah, yeah. Good job, dusty musty-” Dust couldn’t stop the rage that filled his soul; Killer turned away from him just in time for a bone attack to slam into Killer’s head, knocking the annoying skeleton off his feet and onto the ground. 

Horror laughed, shaking his head at the foolishness. “I’m not carrying him.” He told Dust. With a heavy and annoyed sigh, Dust used his magic to carry Killer’s unconscious skeletal body with them. Horror sent a message to their boss, letting him know the mission was a success and they were ready to come home. Not long after the message was sent, one of Nightmare’s portals opened for the two skeletons to walk through.

-

Nightmare could feel the negativity rising in the AU his boys had just returned from, and it brought a grin of satisfaction to his teeth. The negativity was refreshing after having fought with his brother only a day ago. While Dream had left severely injured, Nightmare was starving for some gloomy emotions. He glanced over each of his subordinates, pleased with their progress with this mission. Or maybe it was because Killer was unconscious and not causing him a headache.

“Good job, both of you.” Nightmare commended Horror and Dust. The latter dropped Killer onto the ground with no care for his well being and stuffed his hands into his hoodie. “It was easy.” Dust said. Horror chuckled, blushing at the praise his boss gave them. “It was nothing, boss. Uh, Dusty over here caused enough wreckage that you should be feeling full by now.” 

“Yes,” Nightmare grinned wider, his cyan eye glowing with satisfaction. “It was a delicious meal, thank you.” It wasn’t everyday their boss thanked them. Horror happily accepted the thanks, while Dust shrugged like it was nothing. “No skin off my back, heh.” Dust said with a grin. Nightmare paused and narrowed his eye socket. “.. I will allow the stupid pun this one time.” He must have been in a really good mood to not get grumpy from the pun. 

A groan from Killer alerted the three skeletons, their attention drawn to him as Killer slowly climbed to his feet and studied his surroundings. “Hey, when did we get back? Did we get the human?” Nightmare leveled Killer with a small glare. “Yes, while you were resting, Horror and Dust finished the mission.” Killer choked in his false throat at the accusation of being lazy- “What?! Dust knocked me unconscious!” Killer exclaimed as he pointed his phalange directly at Dust, who simply ignored him. “Because you were being an idiot.” 

Killer looks irritated, his grumbling slowly growing louder, Nightmare cuts him off before he could pick a fight with Dust. “Enough. You three take the human to their room and make sure it’s locked. I don’t want it running around my castle.” Killer was quick to lose his temper and saluted his boss. “Yes sir!” He dramatically spun on his heel and started to march out of the room.  “Come on, guys!” 

Nightmare released a tired sigh; at least he had peace from Killer for a little while… 

-

“What do you think the boss wants with this human?” Killer asked, breaking the silence as the three of them wandered down the many halls of Nightmare’s castle. Nightmare had Cross set up a room just for the human, it only locked from the outside, so they couldn’t escape.  “Bait.” Was Dust’s one word reply. “Heh, yeah. Boss thinks this will get Dream to surrender.” Horror added as he checked on the human once more to make sure they weren’t dead.  “Hehehe, won’t Dreamy be upset when he finds out we have his favorite human~” Killer snickered as he fished out his mobile phone and unlocked it. 

He was quick to check on his followers for his UnderTube, a hobby most of the others thought was silly and a waste of time. Horror and Dust watched as Killer raised his phone, the camera app opened and snapped a selfie with Horror, Dust, and the human in the background while he was in front giving a wink and a peace sign to the camera. Next, the tips of his phalanges tapped at his screen as he added the photo to his profile with the caption; “Mission was a success, we captured the human!” 

By the time he pocketed his phone, they were in the room meant for their new human prisoner. Cross was finishing up a few touches in the room when the three walked in. “Good, you’re still here, Crossy!” Killer grinned, his nickname for the soldier earned him a narrowed glare. “Don’t call me that.” Cross said, but was ignored. “The human is injured, think you can patch them up?” Horror asked as he set the human down on the bed and stepped aside for Cross to check. 

Cross frowned when he saw the cuts and bruises all over the human, but thankfully there weren't any severe injuries. (Their roommate wasn’t so lucky…) “I would ask how you retrieved them, but I don’t really care. At least you brought this one back alive.” 

The last time Nightmare had requested the boys to kidnap a human, it didn’t end very well. “Oh no, Dust! The human we were supposed to protect!” Killer cried out in sarcasm. Dust didn’t much care for the human either and ended their suffering with a sharp bone straight to their soul. “Heh, boss is going to be angy.” Horror snickered.

“Hey, we tried!” Killer told Cross who simply rolled his eyes and got to work healing the human. 

Yn remembered waking when they heard what sounded like a bomb going off? The noise was loud, then came the house crumbling from the impact of it. The house fell apart with Yn and Rea inside. They remembered crying for help, albeit weakly, before darkness caved in on them. 

They floated in the darkness for what seemed like, well… Forever. Eventually, a bright light began to shine before them, but they didn’t need to move. They floated closer until they felt their feet touch solid ground once more and the light consumed them. 

“Yn, don’t fall asleep at the table.” Yn blinked in a daze as they looked around the room; they were seated at their kitchen table. The dining room was so familiar… They turned to look at the woman who had just spoken; she stepped out of the kitchen with a pitcher of freshly made lemonade, her disapproving frown lifting when she met Yn’s alert gaze. “Mom.” 

“Welcome to the land of the living. Did you stay up too late again? I know it’s the weekend, but you still need a good night’s rest.” Their mother lightly lectured them. Yn didn’t respond, they were very confused. Why were they having this dream? They didn’t want to have this dream, it was the last time they ever saw their mother’s loving smile before… 

No. 

They were not going to relive such a tragic memory again. 

The light around them seemed to brighten and suddenly they felt someone touching them. Panic flooded their soul as they forced themselves to wake up. Wake up. Wake. UP!

Yn’s eyes flew open and they released a sharp gasp as they came crashing back to reality. They quickly sat up and began to frantically look around the room, slowly realizing that they were no longer in their home. Home? No, it was destroyed! Then who, what, “Where?!” 

“Hey! You’re awake!” 

Yn shrieked in fright when a strange skeleton was suddenly in their face. “G-Get away!” They yelled and shoved the frightening skeleton from them and scrambled back further on the bed. The skeleton they shoved fell onto the floor with a grunt of pain. Another skeleton stepped to the side of the bed, his hands raised as if he were trying to calm a frightened animal. 

“Calm down, you’re safe here. You don’t have to be scared.” He tried to explain, but a snort caught their attention to another skeleton. This one’s face was hidden under the shadow of his hood, but his eyes glowed within that darkness as he rolled them.  “Seeing Killer’s ugly face first, I’d be scared too.” “Hey!” The one on the floor yelled as he jumped back to his feet and got into the hooded skeleton’s face, both beginning to argue. 

“Heh,” The taller, more ominous looking skeleton stepped closer, grinning wide. “I wouldn’t tell them that, Cross.” Yn glanced between the two skeletons who were before them, while the other two began to struggle in a wrestling match, before the hooded monster shoved “Killer” off and pinned him down with sharpened bones. 

“You’ve been kidnapped, but since you’re important to the boss’s plan, I suppose that does make it where you’re safe.” Horror added as an afterthought. “What? Why have I been kidnapped? What did I do?! Has this anything to do with the college? I-I didn’t mean to be rude-!” 

“Tch,” The hooded skeleton stepped closer as he regarded them with little interest.  “This has nothing to do with that. You’re just unlucky is all.” He explained. Yn shook their head, not quite understanding any of this.  “I’m literally no use to any of you!” Their raising in their panic. “Nah,” The voice came from beside them. It was then they realized the first skeleton managed to escape the bones that pinned him down. He appeared at their right side, sitting on the edge of the bed, body turned towards them. He smirked cruelly.  “You’re here because of your choice in friends. Really, you should pick better friends. Those Stars will just shoot you down~” 

Oh. 

Oh dear. 

"Hey, everyone! I have some great news!" Killer cheered as he regarded his audience. "Boss said I can invite one lucky fan to hang out with us for the day! So!" Killer clapped his skeletal hands together as he grinned wide and neared the camera until all his audience could see was one leaking hate, dark eye socket.  "I'm going to pick a random fan and bring you here!" He backed away to raise his arms and gesture towards their temporary house.  

"It'll be simple! All you have to do is list my best qualities in the chat! Whichever I find to my liking wins! Okay, ready? Start!" 

Killer cackles as he rubs his hands together, watching his chat go feral. All the compliments came piling in, it was a bit difficult to read all of them, but there was one that stood out the most. Killer points and calls out their name. "Congratulations! You get to hang out with me!" Killer turns away for a moment, looking off to the side and raises his voice.  "Boss! Boss! I picked one~!" 

A faint exasperated sigh was caught on the audio before Nightmare steps into frame beside Killer. He glares at the camera, looks at Killer and sighs again. "You realize that I was being sarcastic-" "Aw, come on, Boss! This kid won fair and square! It's only for a day!" Nightmare frowns, his one good eye light glaring before he rolls his eye light and turns back to look at the chat. "Whatever, you better not cause me trouble." 

While Nightmare worked on ripping the [un]lucky fan from their universe and to theirs, Killer cheers and grins at his camera for his audience to see.  "We're going to have so much fun!" 

--

"Mm~ cheeseburgers~!" Horror hummed excitedly as he grabbed the two burgers he just finished making before raising one to his mouth and taking a deliciously large bite. Sure, he had just eaten his favorite sandwich not too long ago, and maybe some yummy chips after.  His tummy rumbled, demanding delicious cheeseburgers!  If the others were in the kitchen with him, they would surely call him "fatty" and proceed to tease and mock him for his never ending hunger. 

"Oh- yes~ Now, that hits the spot!" He moans happily, the burger was just so delicious! "Oh!" He paused as he turned towards the fridge, remembering he wanted ketchup on his burgers! He set his burgers down on the counter before pulling open the large fridge- 

As soon as he opened the fridge doors, a human fell out, shivering and teeth chattering. "Huh?! What's a human doing in the fridge?! I didn't put them in there... Did I?" Forgetting the ketchup for the moment, Horror leaned down and picked the shivering up by their shoulders and lifted him above him so he could examine them.  "What were you doing in the fridge, human?" 

The human shivered and shuddered, their voice shaky as they spoke to Horror.  "W-Was pull- pulled through p-portal-! N-Nightmare a-and Kil-Killer..!" 

Well.. That didn't make any sense. Horror hummed in wonder as he remained holding the human, trying to figure out the strange explanation the human gave him-

"Horror!" 

"Huh?" Horror glanced over his shoulder to find Killer rushing into the kitchen; Killer pointed at Horror, no- he pointed at the human.  "That's mine! I had the Boss bring them here! They're supposed to hang out with us today!" Horror hummed in question as he glanced between the human and Killer, before finally looking at the human again. "But, why? We never play with the humans before. We've always killed them." 

"Not this time, Horror! Well, I don't plan to kill them, yet~ hehehe~" Killer giggled and pulled one of his knives out from his jacket to flash it around, threateningly. The human tensed, their gaze focused on the knife Killer waved around, and neared both them and Horror.  "P-Please don't kill me!" Killer snickered once more, waving his free hand towards them in dismissal and putting his knife away.  "I'm not gonna kill you, human. You won fair and square! You get to have lots of fun with us; the Murder Time Trio! I have plenty in store for you before we dispose of you!" 

"That.. Doesn't make me feel any better, you know." The human sighed, their shoulders becoming sore the longer Horror held onto them. "Can you perhaps, put me down now? You're kind of hurting me... Please?" 

"Oh! Oh, yeah! Here you go, friend." Horror said as he sat the human on the counter and patted their head. "You're gonna have a lot of fun with us! We're great- well, I'm pretty great. The others, not so much." Horror boasted while striking a pose and pressing his hand against his ribcage, his grin wide and his eyelights closed. 

It was very strange to see a skeleton closing their.. Eye sockets... Watching them doing it on their stream was just as weird as seeing it in person. The human had the urge to reach out and touch Horror's cheekbones. "Hey!" Killer's snappy voice startled the human. He was suddenly in front of both the human and Horror, his knife in hand again as he pointed the knife at Horror's face.  "I'm the greatest! Besides, the human is apart of my audience! Clearly, they like me better!" 

"Nuh uh!" Horror huffed as he crossed his arms over his ribcage and leaned down to give Killer a threatening glare, ignoring the knife. Killer could try to stab Horror, but Horror would just toss him aside like always. He could lock Killer away in the closet while Horror had fun with the human. "The human clearly likes me more!"  "What?! They literally just told you that you were hurting them! How could they like you if you were hurting them?!"  "It was an accident- besides. If you had them brought here, why were they in the fridge?" 

Killer paused, leaning back propping his balled up fists on his pelvis.  "The human was in the fridge? Are you sure you didn't put them there? There's no way the Boss put them there!" 

"It's true, I was sitting at my desk, and the next moment, I was in there." The human said, pointing at the fridge. "To be honest, I didn't think you were being serious. I'm pretty sure this is a fever dream- like, maybe my sandwich was bad and I passed out or something? Maybe I choked on the food and died?" 

Killer and Horror stared at the human, slowly blinking while letting the silence linger for an uncomfortably long ten to fifteen seconds. "Is that what you think happened?" Horror asked slowly.  "Eh, think what you want. As long as you play along! I'm bored, and you're my cure of said boredom!" 

"Well," The human's cheeks blossomed with a reddening blush, feeling silly now.  "L-Like I said, I didn't think you were serious."  Killer narrowed his eye sockets, his knife pointed towards the human now.  "Did you even mean what you said in the chat? Cause I can have the Boss take you back and I can pick someone else!" 

"W-What?! Of course I meant what I said! Killer, you're freaking cool, man. I mean, not as cool as Dust, but-" 

"Dust?! You think Dust is cooler than me?! What the fuck, man!" Killer cried and laid the back of his hand that still held his knife against his forehead, as he dramatically and sarcastically whined about his human guest liking Dusty Musty Rusty better than him! 

"Hehe, that's hilarious. I like 'em. I wanna keep 'em." Horror snickered, before he went back to eating his burgers. He smacked his.. Well, he made chewing smacking noises before he spoke with his mouth full of food.  "Don't send them away, mmmh." Horror chewed some more before swallowing his mouthful of food.  "You're my friend now, wanna burger?" He handed the second burger to the human, who hesitantly reached out to grab the offered burger, before Horror pulled it away.  "Hah! Just kidding! Silly willy~ I never share my food, hah!" 

"What the hell are you two doing in here?" Dust appeared behind Horror, rubbing at his eye sockets and yawned.  "You two are so loud, I just wanted to take my nap.. Why is there a human in the kitchen?" Dust asked and glared at the human guest before turning his glare towards Horror.  "I'm not eating a human for dinner, Horror."  

"What?! They're not for dinner!" Killer snapped, his knife now pointing and making a stabbing motion towards Dust.  "They're here to play with us!" 

"Yeah~ the human won some silly contest Killer made up and actually convinced the Boss to bring them here! Hehe~ They got stuck in the fridge, though." Horror explained in between his chewing.  Dust remained silent, his glaring gaze shifting between Killer and Horror before he shrugged, turning on his heel and trying to make his escape.  "I'm not apart of this-"  "The human likes you better~" Horror snickered, knowing that that might make Dust stay.  "Killer is pretty upset about it, heh." 

That little bit of information did make Dust pause, before he slowly turned back around to look at Killer's fuming glare, then to the embarrassed human who still sat on the counter. Killer was literally about to explode, this was his human! They liked him! That's why they said such wonderful things about him in the chat!   [Annoying and idiotic, stabby, and murderous. Yet, cool.]

"Reeaaallly~?" Dust chuckles as he walks over to the human, shoving Killer aside with a little too much force that was necessary.  "You think I'm cooler than Killer? I suppose that's alright. But, the moment you become annoying, I'm going to kill you and steal your EXP."  

The human tensed and gave Dust an uneasy smile.  "I-I'll try not to be annoying, Dust. For you." 

"Hey!" Killer shouted, startling the human, and catching Dust and Horror's attention.  "You're supposed to like me! You're here for me!" Killer stomped his foot in his little tantrum. The human was startled enough, that they leaned back, scared Killer was going to harm them- only to lay their hand down where they thought the counter would be, but met nothing but the air and fell off of the counter and hit the floor. They hit their face, smashing their nose against the tiled floor and causing them to have a bloodied nose. 

Dust started to cackle and point at the human, laughing at their pain. Horror chuckled past his mouthful of food.  "Hehe, woopsy!"  Killer sighed and shook his head as he teleported beside the fallen human and crouched down. He pushed the human onto their back, earning him a pained groan from the human, before using the back of his knife to lift their chin.  "From here on out, I think it's wise for you to be aware of your surroundings. Or else you're going to be getting hurt quite a bit." Killer grinned and snickered.