Hi can we have a Bad sanses trying to raise kid Y/N
bad sanses (Nightmare, Dust, Fell, Horror, Error, and fellswap ((raspberry)) trying to raise Child!Reader
a/n: including a character I don’t normally write for (Raspberry) just for this one-shot because I don’t have to focus on him. his personality is difficult for me to write (and I can’t tell the difference between fellswap and swapfell)
also I wrote y/n about 10 years old.
this also… slightly diverges from canon. I’m kidding it’s super uncanon but this is fanfiction and I can do what I want :)
(tw for death threats, mentions of child death, swearing)
Ink and Dream made a decision to put Nightmare and his lackeys into. . . A rehabilitation, of sorts. Something to force them to be good, and learn responsibility.
They decided to do that by giving them a child.
Ink had saved them from Error’s path of destruction a while back before their truce, and could never find a permanent home for them. Up until now, that is.
the only time any of them had killed children was when they were killing massive amounts of people. They never went out of their way to kill a child, not even Fell or Nightmare.
so, this was probably a solid plan!
“absolutely not,” Nightmare had said. “No. It’s not happening! Don’t you give me that look, Dream, it won’t happen. Are you trying to get that kid killed? Come on.”
“it’s a necessary evil,” Ink chimed in. “To… unevil your evil, I guess.”
“besides, you don’t even have a choice. They’re already inside!” Dream said.
Nightmare flinched hard as a crash came from somewhere behind him, inside his castle, followed by incoherent swearing, probably from Fell, judging by the Brooklyn accent.
he looked, and saw nothing. It must’ve been in another room…
“I’ll talk to you later about this. I have to find out what the hell just happened.”
he turned away and slammed the door with his tentacles, while Ink and Dream created a portal to return home. They had no intentions of waiting for Nightmare to come back, because they knew what happened: Y/N.
Nightmare stormed through the castle, his pace quick as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened.
Nightmare entered his throne room to see, to his horror, that it had been turned over and there was a child atop it, while Horror, Fell, and Raspberry surrounded them in an attempt to get them off. Without hurting them, that is.
the child turned, and when they saw him, they immediately slid off the turned-over throne and began walking towards him.
“I'm guessing you’re Nightmare. Uncle Dream told me about you. I’m y/n!” The child stuck out their hand, supposedly for a handshake.
“uh… huh,” Nightmare ignored their attempt at politeness, desperate to get this kid out of his castle. It was probably futile, though. Ink would come up with some sort of plan to outsmart him and bring the child back. “Okay. Go over there, or something. I don’t really care. Fell, Horror, Raspberry, get your asses over here!”
everyone’s eyelights snapped to Nightmare. Even Fell’s, even though he appeared to have fallen asleep. The child returned to their original position on top of Nightmare’s throne, and he noticed that they had a suitcase with them, that they pulled a notebook and colored pencils out of. courtesy of Ink? probably.
meanwhile, the Sanses that were in the room gathered around Nightmare.
“why in gods name is there a CHILD in our castle?” Raspberry questioned.
“Dream and Ink said we needed ‘rehabilitating’ to ‘unevil our evil’, whatever the hell that means,” Nightmare said.
“heh, they can have fun tryin’,” Fell said. Nightmare nodded.
“but we need something to do with this child. i doubt my brother will be keen on taking them back so soon,” he said.
“we could-“ Horror began.
“NO!” the other three snapped in unison. Nightmare pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“we are not making them into a head dog, Horror. the idea is out of the question,” his tone was slightly calmer this time. Horror’s face sank and he stepped back, slightly behind the others. the child, unbeknownst to Raspberry, Horror and Fell, but visible to Nightmare (as he was facing them) was clearly very sad about the way Horror was being treated. they silently vowed to advocate for him, to make sure he was being treated with proper respect.
“so, what exactly are we plannin’ on doin’?” Fell asked.
“i suppose we will have to care for them until we can find a more permanent solution. we cannot simply drop them into some universe; there would be too many questions. we do not have any proper identification for them or anything else of the sort. when asked where they came from, what would they say? that the Star Sanses have been raising them since Error destroyed their universe? nobody would believe them.”
“with all due respect, Nightmare,” Raspberry said. “that is exactly why it’s a perfect plan. we wouldn’t have to do anything. they could either lie and say they didn’t know, or they could tell the truth and just be seen as a child with an overactive imagination.”
“perhaps, but the risk is simply too great. besides, Blueberry is very active in the ‘policing’ of universes. he would likely be aware of it before we could even leave the universe we drop them into.”
“so, we ain’t got another choice?” Fell asked. “we gotta keep em?”
“yes, Fell. i’m afraid we do,” said Nightmare. Raspberry groaned.
*~* there was a shriek. Error burst into the throne room a few moments later.
“why is there a KID in the hallway?” he half yelled. Nightmare chuckled.
“Aww, are you afraid of a child?” he teased. Error growled, and Nightmare sighed, his face changing from amusement to annoyance. "go tell them to go back to their room. escort them yourself if they cannot find it again."
"but that doesn't explain why they're here." the glitching in his voice, not very prevalent at first, became more noticeable as he got angrier.
Nightmare explained the situation as Error got tenser and tenser. he knew Dream and Ink were extreme, but come on, they know that everyone in this castle has killed before with no remorse, right? That any one of them could kill that child with no hesitation? Error had bickered with Nightmare in an attempt to find some logical reason as to why they should send y/n back, but Nightmare shut each argument down.
both skeleton's voices were beginning to rise when Horror broke into the room. "what do you feed a human?" his voice was calm, in stark contrast to how frantically he slammed the door and how he was out of breath, as though he was running to get an answer, and the emotion on his face matched his name.
Nightmare needed the day off. he thought. honestly, the things he has to deal with! he groaned. "a fucking burger or something. i don't know! i'm not a damn expert on humans!" Horror nodded and left, closing the doors behind him.
"as i was saying-" Nightmare was interrupted again by Horror slamming open the doors again.
"what do humans drink?" Horror asked. Nightmare rolled his eyes.
"water, you imbecile, water! now don't interrupt me again!" Nightmare yelled. Horror nodded his head and left again. Nightmare turned his head back to Error. "we are not getting rid of the human. this is final."
Error lowered his fine. "as you wish," he said as he left the throne room Nightmare sighed. what was he supposed to do?
*~*
"c'mon, kid, come here! you look like free xp," Dust said. the human knew what 'xp' meant.
"hey, what the hell are ya thinkin'? the boss'll turn you into xp if you hurt that kid!" Fell says from behind Dust.
dust turned to face Fell. "you're kidding me, right? you're trying to tell me that he wants a human kid around?"
"no, i'm not kiddin'." Fell sighs. "Dream 'n Ink dropped 'em off this mornin'. somethin' about 'teaching us to be good'. i think it's a whole lotta bull, but the boss doesn't want 'em harmed."
Dust rolled his eye sockets, and turned back to the kid. “alright, i’ll spare ya for now, but if you act up i won’t be so merciful. got it?”
“got it,” the kid said. surprisingly, they weren’t afraid of Dust… or at least they were good at hiding it if they were.
Dust went to his room. Fell turned to leave, too, but stopped to say, “hey, don’t worry about him. he wouldn’t dare go against the boss’s orders. you’ll be safe here, okay? so long as you don’t fuck up too bad.” his tone was filled with a surprising amount of kindness and empathy. the child nodded.
“i know. Uncle Dream and Uncle Ink told me before they dropped me off,” they said.
Fell nodded. “you probably oughta go to your room now, before you piss somebody off. but before you do that, i’ve got a couple words of advice.”
the kids eyes focused on him as they listened.
“when Horror has his axe, don’t go anywhere near him. don’t even let him see you. and if Dust is talking to himself, he’s actually talking to his brother. whether his brother is a spirit that only he can see or a hallucination isn’t entirely clear. and don’t touch Error, he won’t hesitate to kill you. but out of everybody here, Raspberry has the worst temper. best to stay on his good side. got it?”
“yep! thanks!”
Fell nodded again. “i’ll see ya tomorrow.”
then he left.
*~* why the hell was Nightmare yelling? y/n listened in to the conversation going on in the throne room. they couldn’t make out exact words, but Nightmare was yelling, presumable at Horror.
“hey!” they burst in the room, Nightmare, Horror, and Raspberry’s eyes snapped to them. “leave him alone! if you have a problem, TALK IT OUT! yelling doesn’t solve any problems.”
Nightmare sat stunned for a moment. his expression turned angry, but he refrained from doing anything. however, his tone was aggressive when he said, “do not EVER interrupt me again, do you understand me? do not burst into my throne room, and do not speak to me in such a disrespectful manner.”
y/n stood their ground, keeping their head held high with confidence and determination.
“don’t talk to him like that, and we won’t have a problem.”
Nightmare appeared to get angrier, before calming again. “you have confidence. i like that.”
y/n looked past Nightmare to see Raspberry appearing not to care, and Horror, who had a grateful expression.
“i stand up for what’s right,” they said.
“that, however, won’t fly here. now get out!”
y/n nodded and left the throne room, but they stood outside and listened. Nightmares tone was calmer, although still muffled through the door.
they had already started to make a difference here.
how long would it take to fix the gang? who knows.
but they were patient.
they would bring the light into this dark castle.
(sorry this is just a bunch of scenes thrown together lol. i might write more for this later, just to show the skellies character development. i love you all and im sorry this took so long to release)
