I just want to preface this by saying a few things. First off:

OH. MY. BAJESUS.

THIS TOOK SO FREAKING LONG TO WRITE! THE STORY (not counting this extra crap) IS 40,365 WORDS LONG.

I would put the screenshot in to show you but Wattpad kicked me out of my own book everytime I tried -w- .

This is actually the first one shot I've ever written, and I thought it was only going to be around 5,000 words. Apparently not...

I actually had to copy most of the one shot (which took like ten minutes to copy btw, 100% serious), and then paste it in a Google doc to continue writing it, becuase the sheer amount of words had turned Wattpad into a power point slide.

Anyway, the prompt for this mini story was created by Kohai_Karma. Without their amazing idea, and permission to use it, this story would not exist. Go check out their work, especially if you like what's here. They somehow managed to write a Crossmare oneshot that is over 60K WORDS LONG, aswell as many other one shots. Trust me when I say that their writing is top notch. They also have an awesome art book which I also recommend lovers of Crossmare check out.

Karma, thanks again for giving me permission to make this one shot.

I also want to mention __Purple_Fluffball__ for being the sole reason I was introduced to Crossmare at all. It was their phenomenal stories that converted the closest thing I have to a religion. No introduction is necessary, but if you haven't heard of this author, crawl out from under your rock as I once did and go check out their stories. Good shit. That's all I'm going to say.

Well, I believe it is high time for the story to begin. So without further adieu, please enjoy...

~☆Intergalatic Connections☆~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third Person P.O.V.

There was never a dull moment at the relatively new JAGA institution, but this day in particular was a landmark for the organization.

You see, JAGA was an acronym that stood for Jakei And Gaster Aerospace, and it was the newest organization of its kind. The heads if the company had been hand picked by the new government, which had hoped to create a whole host of new companies in different fields, particularly scientific ones, in order to make new advancements with the help of monster technology. The monsters, who had recently been liberated, had merged their government with the humans, and this was the spark that created the new era of monster-human collaboration advancements.

JAGA was co-owned by Jakei, a human who had aviation and aerodynamic expertise, and Gaster, a monster who was a well known name in businesses of astronomy and space engineering. Together, they had founded the association, and in the span of a couple decades, JAGA had become the most influential and leading organization of its kind.

Being famous for its astronaut programs, satellite deployments, and rover expeditions on foreign planets, this titan led the charge to new methods of space exploration.

However, today was different. Today, something never before seen was going to emerge from the facility and astonish the world in one fell swoop.

Today, the first ever starship would spread its wings and take to the sky.

As part of a top secret government operation, JAGA had been developing a new kind of rocket. This rocket type, called a starship, didn't rely on the highly inefficient mined fuels taken from the Earth's rocky depths. Instead, by creating a dense explosion of dark and normal matter, the ship creates a temporary white hole, using the incredible energy it gives off to travel faster than light. With its advanced quantum navigation computer, even with the previously impossible speed, the computer can still collect data from the ship's estimated path and update the path accordingly ahead of the ship, preventing any collisions or travel through dangerous zones of space. Five years after scientists found out how to harness dark matter, and two years since the problem of creating artificial controlled white holes was solved, a newly built ship lay in wait in a private hanger.

Nothing like this had ever been created. This advanced technology was like nothing the world had ever seen before.

And that was why a certain skeleton was unable to sit still this morning.

Well, that and the fact that his breakfast had consisted of nutella-coated chocolate.

Though the ship was advanced, it still needed a pilot. The skeleton in question had joined the astronaut training program two years ago, and after ending up top of his class on every exam the institution threw at him, and passing every simulation with flying colors, this skeleton, by the name of Cross, had been assigned to pilot the first ever starship.

Cross had gone through an incredibly rigorous training course in order to prepare himself to fly the ship, but it had all been worth it in the end, because today the ship would leave the ground for the first time.

"Well, I gotta say, you've done good for a walking pile of bones." Chara, Cross's best friend said, patting him on the back as Cross

"Thanks, you angsty teen." Cross snickered as he ruffled the human's snow white hair.

"Hey! Don't mess up my hair!" They whined, jerking out of reach while sticking their tongue out of their grinning mouth.

"Mess up your hair? That's litteraly impossible, seeing as it looks like you just woke up no matter what time of day it is."

"You're just salty since you don't have hair. You're baaaaaaaaald~." Chara mocked in a sing-sing tone.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say brat." Cross snickered, each staring in silence at the other until they burst out in peals of laughter.

After they had first met during the orientation at the beginning of astronaut training, the two had become instant best friends. They were completely inseparable, despite nearly half of the teachers giving it their best shot when they misbehaved, which was quite often back in the training camp. They had constantly challenged each other, pushing their limits to best one another, and they constantly got into trouble, though Chara was a much bigger trouble maker than Cross. Cross just usually ended up getting roped into Chara's endeavors one way or another.

"Cross, please report to the briefing room for last mission briefing before takeoff." The robotic voice said over the ceiling speakers.

"Welp, guess it's time to go." Cross said, standing up and heading out, slinging the backpack of not-so-essencials he had been packing before Chara previously invaded his quarters over his shoulder."

"Aw, no fair! I wanna hear super secret mission stuff too!" Chara pouted, crossing their arms.

"Give me a break. There's nothing 'super secret' about these briefings. The whole base knows what's going on, and I always fill you in anyways. Plus, the meetings are super dull." Cross said.

"I still wanna come."

Suddenly, the speakers came back to life, this time with a different voice coming through.

"Oh, and Chara you might as well come too. I know Cross fills you in on the briefings, and I'd rather not have you tear up the cafeteria in a chocolate-induced rage again." A familiar voice said over the speakers.

"Sweet!" Chara exclaimed, pumping their fist in the air.

Cross just rolled his eyes at his rambunctious human friend as they made their way down the brightly lit halls to their destination.

Once they arrived, the automatic doors slid open to show a medium sized room with a large, oval shaped table occupying the middle of the floor. The table was surrounded by comfy looking chairs. The wall to their right was taken up by a large display screen, and the far wall was made of glass, showing a view of the somewhat distant launch pad that would soon be in operation. A rather familiar human sat at the head of the table.

"Cross, there you are! Come on in. And hello there Chara, come in aswell." Jakei said, smiling and beckoning for them to take a seat, which both of them did.

"So I know that you all know exactly what you're supposed to do an hour from now, but unfortunately stupid protocol makes me legally obligated to make you go through it again. So, what is your mission?"

"To test the capabilities of the first Starship." Cross said.

"And how will you do this?"

"By taking a test flight to Saturn and back."

"And what's the most important thing to remember?"

"Don't overload the engine, otherwise the white hole won't disperse soon enough and I'll be shot into space with no hope of ever returning."

"Yup! But most importantly, have fun. It's not every day you get to test out a new spaceship." They grinned, as excited as Cross.

"Absolutely."

"Hey, isn't Egghead also supposed to be here telling us stuff we already know?" Chara piped up.

"Gaster is finishing up some work, and he doesn't need to be here anyway. You know most of his work occurs behind the scenes. Also, I'd advise you not to call him that when in earshot Chara, otherwise he won't have to look any longer for a subject to test his new incapacitator gun on."

"Heh, no promises."

"Alright, on that note I conclude this meeting. Cross, go suit up, and Chara, please try not to harass him too much."

"Affirmative." Cross said, standing up and walking to the door.

"Roger!" Chara said, following Cross's lead.

"Oh, and Cross?"

"Yes Jakei?"

"You know, there's still time to call this off. We both know that this mission, though only a test flight, is dangerous. There are a lot of things that could go wrong, and almost all of them could cost you your life. You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Jakei said in a soft voice.

"I know that this is a bit if a gamble, but I've trained years for this very moment. If I turned back now, I don't think I'd ever forgive myself. Also, who in the right mind would give up a chance to make history?" Cross said, turning back to face the commander.

"Alright, if you are sure. Just be careful out there. Space is a really big, cold, empty place. I'd hate to lose you to it."

"I know. I will, don't worry." Cross said, giving a smile before turning back and walking through the entrance, the doors sliding shut behind him.

+×Timeskip×+

Cross's P.O.V.

I walked down the halls, helmet in hand with Chara by my side. They were unusually silent.

"G-good luck C-Cross." Alphys said, her tone nervous as usual.

She was our dutiful security guard, sitting in her office in front of the giant screen that was divided into sections for each camera feed. For curiosities sake, I took a peak at the cameras. Fell was with the mechanic team, working on the underbelly of a supersonic jet. Sci was in the fuel lab, no suprises there. Dust and Blue were making something in the kitchen. Lust, the secretary, was spinning around on his chair. I looked around on the screens, searching for Gaster since I wondered where he had gone off to.

Ah, there he was, walking out of the Nav Computer Control Room. Everything was as it should be.

I waved goodbye to Alphys, walking into the main lobby. I gave Lust a high five before making my way to the double glass door entrance. On the other side, a transport was waiting for me. I went to climb in, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"You better come back safe, you dork. Nobody else puts up with me, and I have to have my left hand man around to help me annoy the shit out of everyone." They said, in a sincere but still cheeky voice.

"You mean I have to be there to help sort out whatever mess you've managed to make." I smirked.

"Potato potato, but seriously, come back safe, alright?"

"Of course. I have to, otherwise you'll end up sending everyone here to a mental asylum in a week." I said, smiling at them.

They smiled back and made to go back inside but I grabbed their arm and pulled them into a quality bro hug.

"What? Ack! Cross, lemme go you stupid oreo!" Chara screeched, their voice a bit muffled from being pressed face first into my suit.

I complied after a moment, smirking at their hair that had somehow managed to get even messier.

"Don't worry, alright?" I grinned at them.

They smirked back.

"Alright alright. See you in a few hours Cross."

"Copy that."

I then boarded the transport, watching Chara wave at me as it pulled away from the main building.

The ride was short, and soon the small white vehicle pulled up at the side of the takeoff platform. I thanked the driver, Sans, for the lift, him echoing my friendly gesture as he rolled back and turned the transport around, heading back go the facility.

I jumped up the metal steps three at a time, barely able go contain my excitement. Once I reached the top, I stopped to admire the beautiful machine that lay before me.

The rocket truly was a work of art.

It was perfectly smooth, from rounded tip to circular base. The whole exterior shone as the sun glinted happily off the pristine white and silver exterior. The bright, blazing red writing on the side of the ship proudly proclaimed its name. The Dagger. The name was actually an acronym, standing for Dual Accelerating G-force Gauging Eversource Rocket. It was the first of its kind, the most beautiful spaceship I've ever seen, and it was all mine for the test flight.

I gazed at the small, sleek ship in wonder, sort of expecting it to be a mirage. It was too perfect. However, I knew for a fact that this was the real deal.

A black shadow appeared from behind the rocket, curving gracefully in the air as is altered its course towards me. As it grew quickly closer, I could make out the familiar black-winged person.

When she was ten feet from the ground, she flared her wings, swinging upright and landing gracefully in front of me.

"How's the weather looking Star?"

"It's as perfect of a day as your gonna get Cross. The atmosphere is calm, and there's not a cirrus in the sky. Your flight should be as smooth and direct as an arrow's flight." She said, her iridescent blue eyes shining with excitement.

"Great to hear. Is the ship looking good?"

"Good? Have you seen that thing? It looks better than great! Amazing, even. Don't worry, I gave the hull a thrice-over. No nook nor cranny escaped my sight. Took me an hour, but I can say for certain that this bird is ready to fly. Question is, are you?" She said, pretending to look at me in disdain.

"What you doubt me? I'm hurt." I said, feigning a wounded expression.

The small scientist laughed.

"Nah. If anyone can fly this beauty, it's you. Good luck up there Cross." She said, before spreading her wings and rising into the air.

"Oh, and don't forget to bring me a souvenir!" She called as she winged away towards the airfield.

"Okay!" I yelled back at her, having no idea how I was going to manage that.

I shook my head. Star was one of our main meteorologists and astronomers. Because of her flight capabilities, she was the go-to person to get up to date atmospheric readings. Despite all the time spent in the air and in the labs, she still managed to find the time to mess with the crews down at the hangers. They still don't know how their tools ended up on the roof of hanger B-17, or in Blue's pots, or in the ion cannon testing chamber. I would tell them, as the poor guys are absolutely clueless, but I would want Star to do a revenge prank on me.

I remeber that one time Geno ate all the paté Star had put in the fridge. She had later shown me a bunch of pictures of him and Reaper kissing behind the transport garage. At the time, nobody knew they were a thing, so these pictures were worth a million G. How she had gotten those, I will never know. She had said something about sending them to someone called Purple Fluffball, so I assume they were put to good use. I don't think I'll ever understand her motives.

Reaching the base of the rocket, I stopped in front of the almost invisible outline of a door. A small hatch slid open, and the eye of a miniature hidden camera focused on me. After a second, the hatch closed once more and the door slid open silently.

"Greetings, Cross." The female voice of the ship's AI said, greeting me.

"Cool. Facial recognition." I thought aloud.

"Welcome aboard the Dagger. My name is Kohai Karma, Karma for short. I will assist you in the primary test flight of this starship. Please proceed to the cockpit."

Not wasting any time, I pressed a button on the side of the wall. The button lit up blue before the floor beneath me began to rise up. The mini-elevator slowed to a stop flush with the gray floor of the cockpit. It was rather roomy for your average hub, complete with a comfy yet techy looking chair and a complex console in front of it. There were no windows to be seen.

I stepped of the mechanical platform, it sinking back down as a hatch slid over to cover the hole. Approaching the chair, I took a seat, letting out a sign of content at how comfy it felt. I had no time to relax, as the section of previously white wall in front of me lit up, the wall in fact being a giant screen, and switched to a live feed of Ground Control. I could see the faces of Jakei, now joined by Gaster.

"This is Ground Control to the Dagger. You are clear to proceed flight preparation sequence." Gaster's voice said over the radio.

"Copy that. Beginning sequence." I replied.

I buckled myself securely in the chair, making sure to check my straps twice. I then reach out to the console, flicking a few switches to turn on the main parts of the ship. The front screen flickered before changing to a view of the outside. The wall sections beside it gave me different views of the rocket, one maintaining visual connection with Ground Control.

"Sequence completed. Permission to prepare engine?"

"Permission granted. Proceed."

"Affirmative." I said, pressing a red button to my left.

I heard a hum from within the ship as the engine awoke for the first time.

"All thrusters go." I reported, checking the small screen display in front of me.

"Excellent. Initiate launch sequence."

I took a deep breath, flipping a few switches above my head to retract the stabilizers and deploy the rocket's four smooth wings that had been previously stowed beneath the shiny exterior. The gentle hum of the engine began to build as it prepped to fight against Earth's gravity. After a few seconds, it was ready.

"Ship ready for takeoff." Karma announced.

"Permision to launch?" I asked, holding my breath.

"Permission granted."

I pressed the green button to my far right. Karma began to count down.

"Launching in 10...9...8..."

I closed my eyes, inhaling a big gulp of air before exhaling slowly.

"...5...4...3..."

"Well, here goes nothing." I said, opening my eyes and grabbing on to the flight control handles.

"...2...1...Liftoff."

The engine roared as the rocket exploded upwards with terrific force, splitting the air cleanly. I was shoved back in my seat as the G-Force kicked in, pressing down on me. The ship climbed in the sky, hitting speeds faster than any machine had ever managed before. The sky outside grew gradually darker as I left the mesosphere, the air thinning to almost nothing.

After just a minute or so, the roar of the engine died down to a gentle hum. Checking the console, I could see that the rocket was currently floating out of the influence of Earth's gravity. A short beep sounded in the cockpit, and a yellow light blinked in overhead.

"Takeoff successful. Anti gravity initiated." The AI reported.

"Dagger to Ground Control, this is Cross. Takeoff was successful. Permission to proceed with next phase?" I said as the screen housing the Control feed flickered back on, having previously disconnected during takeoff.

"Excellent Cross. Permission granted." Gaster replied, grinning in satisfaction.

"Copy that." I said, taking control of the ship and turning it gently until the display indicated I was pointed at the predetermined destination. The coordinates and base information had already been sent to the ship via the Nav Computer Control Room. The info had been relayed with the warp engine, which would be in charge of creating the white hole, so there was little to no possibility of human or monster error during the warp sequence. All that was left was to press a button.

"Well, this is it guys. Saturn is only a click of a button away. Everyone ready to make history?" I asked the small Ground Control crew.

"Hell yes we are!" A familiar voice exclaimed over the radio.

"Chara? What are you doing in Ground Control? I thought you didn't have the clearance."

"Eh, I pulled a few strings. It seemed only fitting that your best friend gets to see you off." Jakei said with a smile.

"Heh, thanks guys." I smiled.

"As endearing as this all is, I think the world has waited long enough for a new era of space travel. You have permission to proceed with the final phase in part one of the mission." Gaster said.

"Yes sir." I replied, flicking open the glass case thay housed the rather underwhelming sky blue button.

"Saturn, here I come." I said, pressing the button.

"Warp sequence activated. Please strap down." Karma said as I clicked the extra straps into place.

"Insufficinent power for warp. Redirecting power from main lights to warp engine." The AI said as the main lights flickered off, replaced by the dim backup ones.

"Insufficient power? The power supply to the warp engine should provide plenty of energy for a simple planet jump..." Jakei spoke, a bit of worry leaking into their voice.

"The engine may need a bit of extra energy to kick start the first warp. Continue warp sequence." Gaster said, not sounding concerned.

"Copy that..." I said, a little worried.

"Insufficient power. Rerouting power from ventilation to warp engine."

"No, something is definitely wrong." Jakei said, checking some of the screens on the Ground Control display.

"Cross, you have to-" The connection was severed as the screen flickered off.

"Power insufficinent. Redirecting power from communications to warp engine."

"Jakei? Gaster? Chara? Can you hear me?" I asked, worry worming it's way into my soul.

Nothing but silence answered my calls.

"Guys? Anyone?!" I called louder, panic lacing my voice.

Nothing.

"Power requirement met. Initiating warp in 10...9...8...7..."

"No no no! Stop!" I cried desperately, trying to override the sequence, but the computer kept rejecting the cancel command.

"...5...4..."

"NO!"

"...2...1...warp."

And just like that I was thrown back in my seat, the colors of the world blurring before my eyes. Any and all light stretched out then disappeared, plunging my senses into black. Like somone had knocked the world out of focus, reality broke up around me. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't utter a sound.

Time stretched and blended, becoming incomprehensible. Somewhere, somehow through the fog, I could hear something."

"-proch-ng de--i--tion...cr-sh im--nent."

The ship shuddered as light once again appeared, stretched and distorted. Suddenly, I could hear the stretched out wails of sirens, warning of danger. It was both beautiful and terrifying.

Then, with the ear-splitting screech of tearing metal, everything went dark.

+×Timeskip×+

Cross's P.O.V.

I slowly became aware of things. I felt like I was in water, both floating weightless and sinking like a stone at the same time. I tried to swim, or at the very least flail around, but I couldn't move. I felt disconnected, like my mind was out of my body. A dull throbbing of pain was starting to appear to me. Slowly, I felt reality settle in, and the swimming sensation abated.

My eyes shot open.

I was awake. How long had I been out? I wasn't sure. I tried to look around, wanting to know where I was, but all I could see was white. I blinked, shaking my head and forcing myself to focus. This time, when I opened my eyes, I could see straight, and I realized the white in my vision was the now deployed safety shell that encircled me and the chair, which I was still strapped to. Shakily, I lifted my arms and undid all the safety belt clasps. Unfortunately, this led me to fall forwards out of the seat, which I now noticed was tilted forwards quite a bit. I banged my helmet against the wall of the safety shield, sliding down with a groan.

Reaching up and pressing the hidden button beneath the chair's right armrest, I retracted the shield, allowing me to see the rest of the ship.

I couldn't help but let out a gasp at its condition.

All the wall screens were off. The console was sparking in several places, and the chair that I had been previously sitting in had nearly been wrenched out of the floor. Everything, even the secondary lights, was off, and a panel from the roof had fallen, revealing the wired and supports beneath.

I had no idea what had happened, but my first priority was to asses the situation and see how badly the ship was damaged. After all, this was my one ticket home.

Walking up to the console, I tapped a few buttons, allowing a keyboard to appear. I entered in a few commands, hoping they would wake the AI. Karma would be able to asses all the damage, and hopefully tell me what had happened. Now that I was fully awake, I remember the warp engine malfunctioning and shooting the ship off into space. During some point, I had heard something, which I now think was Karma's voice. I was crossing my fingers that the AI was online long enough to get and idea of what went wrong.

Entering the last command, I straightened up.

"Karma? Are you online?" I called out hesitantly.

There was silence for a few moments, but then...

"Reboot successful. Power restored. AI software operational. Greetings Cross." Karma said, sounding a bit glitchy but never the less awake.

Thank the stars for that.

"Karma, what's the status on the Dagger?"

"The Dagger has sustained heavy damage to the hull and intermediate damage to the inner mechanics. Hull integrity is at 68%, and crash shields have been knocked offline. The bow has sustained heavy damage, and one of the wings has been torn off. One of the main thrusters is down, and the fuel line needs reconnecting. Ship status shows that several functions in the cockpit are offline, and the console circuiting has been damaged. The warp engine is currently inoperable."

The ship couldn't fly with this level of damage. I was stranded in space. I had no way home.

"W-what happened?" I stuttered, failing to keep the fear out of my voice.

"The ship crashed on a small terrestrial planet in the Kepler system, known as 17-B, 18 hours since warp sequence was initiated."

"A planet?" I questioned out loud.

"Affirmative. Kepler 17-B was discovered in 20XX by scientists, and has been observed to carry liquid water and exist within its star's habitable zone." Karma elaborated.

"A-alright uh... sample surrounding atmosphere and ground composition."

"Samples being taken..." Karma said as the barely audible sound of the sample tubes being extracted from the hull could be heard.

"Sample gathering complete. Examination in progress..."

As the gas and soil samples were being evaluated, I tried to take everything in. I just woke up after being unconscious for nearly a day. Apparently, the warp engine malfunctioned and brought me to a small star system called the Kepler system, and my ship miraculously crashed on Kepler 17-B and didn't fly off into space. Currently, the ship is totaled, and I am stranded on an alien world that I may not even be able to breathe on with limited supplies and no way to contact Ground Control. Okay maybe don't take that all in at once.

"Sample evaluation complete. The atmosphere of the planet seems to be very similar to that of Earth. The majority of the atmosphere is nitrogen, with some oxygen, methane, and trace amounts of other gases, such as water vapor. The soil samples yeild soft, marshy soil rich in metals and methane. The compounds present should not pose a threat to your health. Conditions indicate life may be present here. Sending data to pod reader now."

This came as a surprise to me. While the Kepler system has been observed to have Earth-like planets, scientists never found anything like this. Sure, the nitrogen in the atmosphere was old news, and that alone had pleased scientists. However, water vapor was another story. Due to the trinary star system, scientists speculated that liquid water or water vapor could not exist on any of the planets, as the heat from the stars would have completely melted any water-carrying meteors before they managed to hit the planet's surface. Apparently, the planets didn't seem to abide by our hypotheses, and this one had a breathable atmosphere. And the fact that there may be alien life here? That definitely took me for a loop. I had to investigate this.

"Karma, deploy surveillance drones. I want to take a closer look at the planet." I called to the AI.

"Negative. The crash jammed the drone doors shut, and the ship is unable to receive any data from external sources due to the damage." Karma pointed out.

Damn. This ship had never been intended to touch down on a planet, so it was I'll equipped to survey the surface of 17-B. Usually, our ships were armed with portable rovers, along with the drones and exterior samplers. Unfortunately, the Dagger had a noticeable lack of romote rovers, so the only way I would be able to get any more information on the planet would be to go outside myself. I was less than fond of the idea, as it was common knowledge that 99% of all the planet's we've observed from our telescopes and satellites are hostile in one way or another to the creatures of Earth. Unfortunately, it wasn't like I had much of a choice. Most likely, I was stuck here, and the only way I would be able to survive would be to utilize the materials on this planet. My choices were limited to going outside and facing whatever the planet had in store for me, or curling up in a ball like the scaredy cat I am and wasting away.

The latter option was quite tempting, I must admit.

However, if I just rolled over and accepted death, I would be letting down everyone who are waiting for me back home, and Chara would probably enter the afterlife just to kick my sorry ass. It was decided then. I was going on an impromptu jaunt on alien terrain.

On shaky legs, I made my way through the now out-of-order cockpit elevator tube, soon finding myself standing in front of the small yet imposing exit door. It was the only thing between me and the outside world. I quickly checked my suit and helmet, making sure there were no scratches or holes in the material. I also made sure that my pod reader, a small device on my wrist that looked a lot like a fancy iPod, was working. Thankfully both the suit and the reader were in more or less peak condition. That would be my only solace out there. Even Karma wouldn't be able to help me, as the AI was bound to the ship. Taking a deep breath, I called out to the AI one last time.

"Karma, open the door." I asked.

"Opening exit door." Karma responded.

I held my breath as the door slowly slid open, rattling a bit due to the crash, slowly reveling the world behind it. I couldn't help but stare in awe.

The ship had crash landed in a massive marsh.

Carefully stepping outside, taking one step after the other with painstakingly slow speed, I made my way to a little grassy patch that stood like an island among the muddy ground. From there, I observed my surroundings.

The ground around me was covered in slimy mud that seemed in the strange sunlight cast by the three suns in the cloudy sky. The ground was full of rounded holes of all sizes that bubbled and spat some gross viscous liquid that was a very dark shade of green, nearly black. Every time a bubble popped, it released a small yellow-tinted pocket of gas that rose up sluggishly skyward. I didn't dare remove my helmet in fear whatever noxious gas those pits were giving off was poisonous.

Scattered around the ground were small grassy islands like the one I stood apon. They were made of a rather normal looking moist soil, and the patches of grass-like plants that grew on top of them were an odd lavender color. Perhaps the pigment protected the leaves from the UV rays of the stars. Looking out, I could spy a strange looking forest in the distance to my right. The strange looking trees were dark, and the whole forest looked menacing. I really didn't want to step foot in there.

Turning around to face the ship, I just stared with wide eyes at its condition. The ship was lying on its side in the mud, and a third of it was submerged in a large vat of the writing greenish-black goop. The once pristine, sparkling hull was adorned with several large gashes, as well as countless scratches and dents from the crash. From what I could see of the nose, as most of it was in the pit, the crash had crumpled it like a used soda can. The only thing that had saved me from meeting a similar fate was the airtight exterior of the ship, the generous crumple zone, and the incredibly strong inner supports. I could have easily been crushed without those life saving devices. Not a welcoming thought.

Several meters from the ship, I could see the wing that had been torn off. It lay twisted and broken in the ooze. At the back of the ship, one of the main thrusters was hanging out too far, and was bent at an odd angle, obviously indicating it was broken. A missive ditch lay behind the ship, no doubt carved out by the crash. The whole ship looked beaten and defeated, like a bird with clipped wings. Just another reminder that home was farther away then ever.

With some difficult, I tore my eyes away from the ship and looked around me once more. If I wanted any chance of survival, I needed to scope out the are for useful resources before the suns set. I shivered, my imagination running wild with speculations of what creatures could crawl out of hiding during the dark. I knew for certain that I would have to hold up in the ship during the night, and judging my the suns positions in the sky, I was running low on time. I had maybe a few hours at most to take a look around.

"Well, this ship isn't going anywhere any time soon, so I best get ready for the longest vacation of my life." I uttered aloud sadly.

Faintly able to hear the gross squelching noise my boots made in the mud through my helmet, I turned my back on the only hope for survival I had left and walked across the alien marsh. Using my pod reader, I scanned the surrounding earth. Just like Karma had said, the soil was rich in several different metals, including iron. Perhaps there were metal deposits somewhere beneath the soil. That was actually really good, since I had a chance of fixing the ship if I had the proper materials on hand. The liquid in the pits turned out to be a mix of liquid methane and some other unidentifiable substance. The methane was in liquid state thanks to the hot spots at the bottom of the pits, and it evaporated when it bubbled to the surface, releasing with it clouds of sulferous gases. So basically eternally farting death saunas. Lovely.

After scanning the majority of the marshland around the ship, I ventured towards the edge of the sinister forest. The roots of the ash-gray and coal black trees stretched out from the forest, delving into the soft soils of the marsh. They snaked towards the pits, twisting around them as they grew, since the churning liquid within would boil the roots. I explored among the tangled mess, scanning the bark present each root. Up close, I could see the texture of the wood resembled that of large rounded scales.

As I put my foot down to continue advancing, I was met with a piercing hiss, and what I thought was a root wriggle out from under my boot. Skittering to the top the root in which it had previously hidden, the creature turned to face me, allowing me to get a good look at what I nearly stepped on.

It looked like a cross between a snake and a lizard. It's thin, scaly body was the same color as the roots below. It had six legs in total, each armed with three toes tipped with sharp looking black claws. It's head was triangular, like a snake, and it's slitted eyes burned bright orange. It's long tail ended in a small bulb.

The creature thrashed its tail, hissing fiercely at me. I had frozen, not knowing whether or not to make a run for it. While weighing my options, I noticed the creatures tail bulb was swelling up, going from the size of a pea to that of a small lemon. Without warning, the creature let out a ear splitting screech and launched at me, arching its tail back like a scorpion as the bulb shot a spray of neon green liquid at me.

I screamed, stumbling back and just barely managing to dodge the creature as it landed. I made a break for it, desperately jumping over roots in my haste to escape the creature. The green liquid splattered around me dangerously close, starting to sizzle as soon as it made contact with the ground. Realizing the creature had just shot acid at me made me redouble my efforts to gtfo. Only, the creature wasn't leaving any time soon. It was very fast, weaving its way through the roots with ease. I shrieked in fear as I looked back to see it only a few feet away.

Taking a sharp turn, I ran into the forest. As horrible as it looked, the trees would give me more cover, and I would be able to run faster in there than here between roots and muck. The creature hissed fiercely, not giving up chase as I dashed for the tree line.

Barreling into the shadows, I shielded my face from the twigs that clawed at my face. I crashed through the undergrowth, barely acknowledging the multitude of obstacles that opposed me. The screeches of the creature grew shrill with anger and frustration as the bramble-like bushes slowed its progress. I did not rest yet, the fear of the unknown still fresh in my mind, and the panic coursing through my soul. The only things that crossed my mind were the fact that I was surrounded my unknown dangers, and the fact that I had lost the direction of the ship some time ago.

It was only then, when I randomly focused on the sound of my boots crunching on the mat if dried leaves covering the forest floor, that I realized the creature was no longer perusing me. Upon realizing this, I snapped out of my fear-induced sprint and regained conscious control of my actions. It wasn't for the best however, as my pace faltered, and my foot caught on an obtrusive root.

My momentum carried me forward, and I had no time to brace myself and I flew headfirst into a large florescent plant at the base of a dark tree. I cried out in pain as the impact jarred my neck and spine. I heard the sharp noise as the glass of my helmet cracked, breaking the previous airtight seal my suit was designed to maintain. At the same time, the plant I had landed on, something that resembled a massive marroon plate mushroom with glowing yellow spots, extruded a cloud of orange spores. Breathless from my desperate sprint and lacking the protective seal of my suit, I couldn't help inhaling some of the spores as I desperately gulped for air.

I crawled to my knees at the sharp pangs in my back started to fade to a steady throb. My body tingled and my sight grew fuzzy and blurred. My thoughts, already muddled, grew almost indecipherable. I had been running from something, but why? I needed to go back somewhere? Why was everything spinning?

Pushed by the hazy desire to return somewhere, I pushed myself up into standing position. Big mistake. As soon as I stood on both feet, I was met with extreme vertigo. The world slid out of focus as lights became painfully bright. Without really realizing it, I found myself on my side, laying still on the forest floor. I tried to move my arms, but they wouldn't respond. Darkness tugged at the back of my mind, and I sleepily grappled with it, but in one fell swoop it took hold of my conscious and dragged it into its depths. I don't remeber anything after that.

3rd Person P.O.V.

The small, snow white skeleton lay at the foot of the large gray tree, unmoving. Undisturbed by the forest around him, he slept. He did not hear the distant, almost inaudible footsteps coming towards him. He did not see the yellow eye appear through the gloom and reguard him with curiosity. He didn't even feel the thick, slimy black tentacle that snaked out of the brush slowly curl around his thin waste and drag him slowly into the shadows.

+×Time skip×+

"I still think we should kill him."

"No we're not going to kill him. He could prove useful to us."

"Well he could also prove harmful..."

"Exactly! We shouldn't risk the colony like this!"

"The leaders orders were clear; no harm comes to him until we know for certain he is a danger to us. Besides, Scab said he won't pose a threat to us physically."

"Yeah. His bones aren't as durable as ours, and he lacks any other protective layers. He is unable to shift his form like we can, and he is less physically developed than any of us. He also lacks appendages."

"Because he is a different species! This is what I've been saying! He's too valuable to simply dispose of."

"Maybe he's just defective like you."

"Watch yourself Venom. It would be foolish of you to make an enemy out of me."

The bickering between the four individuals continued, each arguing for the others to support their own idea for what to do with their newest prisoner. The fifth, who had brought the skeleton to their doorstep, simply watched, knowing that saying his own piece might very well make him a few rather powerful enemies.

In the room beside them, the person in question layed still on the cold white floor. When the scout had found Cross, he had immediately brought him to the nearest nest, which just so happened to be he colony's capital. He had immediately alerted the leader via mindlink, and soon four of the colony's most influential members had appeared at the investigation lab that the leader had instructed Cross was brought to. He had then waited silently for the colony members to decide what was to be done about the strange creature that had been found on their planet. However, he could wait no longer, as while the members were to busy arguing with each other, he was aware enough to notice the white skeleton in the next room was beginning to stir.

"With all due respect, we ought to stop this foolishness. The leaders orders were clear, and everyone knows the consequences of disobeying his will. Besides, the subject is stirring. The duskshrooms influence doesn't last long, as he will wake shortly. We must decide what to do once he wakes." The scout pointed out, getting the attention of the now silent party.

"Agreed. I propose we observe the specimen for a while after it wakes, then we can plan accordingly from there." The more scientific member of the group said.

"Fine. We shall see what the specimen does." Another member agreed grudgingly.

All five individuals turned their attention to the one-way window that took up most of the wall connecting the cell to the viewing room. They watched silently as Cross shivered, still asleep but only just.

"Once we have concluded watching him, I say we have Slink interrogate him."

The whole party nodded their heads in agreement. So it would be.

Cross's P.O.V.

Slowly but surely, I woke up. At first, my eyes refused to open, and I couldn't move my limbs. It didn't concern me much, as I felt to sleepy to care. I simply let myself lay still and waited until I felt the urge to move.

As time passed, my the stuffy feeling in my mind cleared, and feelings like worry, fear, and confusion started to gnaw at my thoughts. Opening my eye, I was met with a swirling picture of white.

I whimpered, curling up to the best of my ability and scrunching my eye sockets tightly shut. My body felt cumbersome and heavy, and even simple movements felt difficult or beyond my reach. My head swam, and a massive migraine hit me like a truck. This was the second time since I left home that I'd woken up feeling like I drank half a bar's worth of alcohol.

Wait... I was in space, not on Earth. Last thing I remember, I was running for all it was worth through a death forest to escape an oversized lizard. Then I slammed into a tree and lost consciousness shortly after... Was I dead?

I opened my eyes, doing my best to ignore the pounding in my skull. I squinted in the bright light as I looked at my surroundings. I was in some sort of empty, white room. The room, from what I could tell, was a cube, and each wall, the ceiling, and the floor were identical. Everything was white, and the room was bathed in bright light illuminated from... somewhere. I couldn't see an obvious light source.

Trying to shake the jello feeling out of my bones, I used my arms to slowly push myself up into sitting position. I fought the urge to throw up as the room spun before my eyes. I swallowed shakily, shutting my eyes once more as I steadied myself. I didn't want to puke in my suit.

I opened my eyes again only to realize I wasn't wearing my space suit anymore. My normal clothes that I had worn beneath it were gone aswell. Instead, I was wearing what could best be described as a feather gray hospital gown. If was made of a thick yet light material that was smooth to the touch. It felt slightly cold against my bones, and the garmet hung loosely on my frame.

Realizing what this meant made me freeze. Something, or rather someone had found me. They had rescued me from the forest and dressed me in these clothes, then put me in this strange room. Something intelligent lived here. It had helped me, so maybe it was friendly? Deciding I had nothing to lose, I called out.

"H-hello?" I said, the voice cracking.

"Is anyone there?" I called again when nobody answered me.

I looked around, both hoping and dreading for someone to walk through a hidden door and help me. I had no idea what I was up against.

At first, I thought there nobody would come, but them a barely audible sliding noise came to my attention. I whipped around to see a section of the wall behind me sinking in. The section, which was an oval the size of a large doorway, stopped, then slid smoothly to the side. I could only stare in terror as a creature stepped into the newly opened doorway.

The most familiar characteristic I could point out about the creature was that they seemed to be skeleton. Everything else about it was completely alien. The creature was covered head to toe in a black tar-like substance that flowed slowly down its body. Four long tentacles grew out of its back, and they wiggled in the air like live snakes waiting for prey to come within range. The creature only had one visible eye, but the vertical eyelight was akin to that of an animal, and it burned bright yellow. The creatures gaze was locked onto me.

At that moment, when I had fully taken in the monstrosity that had walked through the door, the creature took a step forward, uttering a low growl. My brain seemed to finally catch up with reality, and I let out a fearful scream.

??? P.O.V.

The small skeleton being awoke soon after we had all crowded around the viewing window. Contrary to some of the group's beliefs, the subject didn't immediately freak out and try to attack the nearest object. Instead, it slowly let the effects of the spores fade enough to allow for proper movement. It had then looked around and sat up with some difficulty, seeming to have realized that it wasn't in the forest. Looking more alert, the specimen had them proceeded to notice the change of clothes we gave it, and had started calling out in a strange squeaky language. Despite how nonsensical the noises sounded, Amnesia assured me that the sounds were too structured to be random, and that this being was intelligent enough to poses a spoken language.

Exactly how intelligent it was, the group seemed to be impatient to find out, so they urged me to begin the interrogation.

I had opened the cell door and stepped into the doorway, allowing the subject to see that something was entering its cell and hopefully stop it from freaking out.

I was able to get my first good look at the skeleton being since I found him in the forest. Unlike my race, this specimen possessed white bones. It had two eye sockets instead of one, and each had a different colored eyelight in it. His left eyelight was white like his bones, and the right was a bright red, the same color as the thin, jagged scar that lay beneath the aforementioned socket. He was significantly shorter than me, my estimation putting him at a little less than a head shorter. The lack of slime and tentacles was rather disturbing. How he had managed to protect his bones from fractures or cracks was behind me. It certainly didn't take a genius to see he wasn't one of us.

It all seemed to be going well at first. The small skeleton observed me silently, though it's expression was one of fear and suprized.

"I won't harm you." I said, taking a step forward in attempts to reassure it.

That was apparently the wrong move, as the subject let out a high pitch screech, perhaps it's version of a warning, and hurriedly scooted up against the far wall.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to ask you some questions." I said slowly and clearly, making sure to take on a passive stance as I tried to get the subject to calm down.

The subject resited my attempts and kept making high pitched noises at me. This was beginning to annoy me. More attempts to reassure the creature that I wasn't going to harm or though words and body language did nothing to calm him down, so I eventually wrapped a tentacle around the specimen's mouth to shut him up, letting loose a small growl of frustration as I did so.

"Listen to me. Stop making those pathetic noises and shut up." I growled lowly at him.

The skeleton did stop screeching, but he whimpered quietly, shivering under my grip as a few tears rolled down his face. It looked rather pathetic to be honest, but there was no mistaking that look in its eyes. The way it regarded me; the way it had reacted in a coordinated fashion; the way I could now hear the structures in its "words". There was no doubt that this creature was intelligent.

Releasing it, I backed away a few steps. The subject didn't begin to make noise again, but it stayed completely silent and presses itself as far as it could into the wall. Obviously, I had scared it, and I wasn't going to get any more information out of him at this point. I turned around and left, closing the cell door behind me.

As expected, the small party was eagerly waiting for my return. The possibility of them not having watched the previous interaction didn't even cross my mind.

"Well?"

"Well nothing. The subject is intelligent, but we still have a major problem: it doesn't understand us, nor do we understand it. Currently, the subject is terrified of me, and I doubt it will think better of any other member of our species. We won't be able to have any meaningful interactions with it unless it can understand us." I responded, looking back at the still fearfilled specimen.

One of the party closed their eyes, remaining silent for a long moment as he contacted the leader to update him on the project. We all waited patiently, curious as to what the leader's verdict would be, and what it would entail.

"The leader has spoken. The specimen is obviously not one of us. They are a member of a different and unknown species, but since no other highly intelligent species live on this planet, this being is foreign and an alien. In order to have made it to this star system, which we all know harbors no other intelligent life, he must have come from an advanced civilization much like our own. If one of their members have come here, chances are more will follow, and we will need an ambassador of sorts in the event that our two civilizations meet. As there are several of us and only one of him, we will teach him our language, as well as any other skills he will need to be an ambassador on Oreon. All of us, apart from Slink as he is just a scout, are in charge of teaching him. We are to begin at the next sunrise and report to the leader at dusk."

Several members of the party grumbled at this rather unexpected news, but we would all obey the word of the leader, for the strength of the colony, and for the possibility of future interactions with the first intelligent alien species we have ever encountered.

3rd Person P.O.V.

Cross remained glued to the wall for around an hour in fear that the terrifying alien would return to finish him off. He had thought it was all over when the alien wrapped one of its slimy tentacles around his mouth, but strangely enough the monster had merely stared at me for a few agonizingly long seconds, then it let me go and left.

I was honestly just trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had survived an alien encounter. I had a feeling that I wasn't done with those nightmarish creatures, or rather they weren't done with me.

The lights in my room began to dim slowly, reminding me how exhausted I was. In just one day, I had woken up to find my ship reduced to scrap metal, explored the surface of an alien planet, got chased into a death forest by an acid-wielding lizard, and came face to face with what could best be described as a living nightmare.

I slumped against the wall, curling in on myself in an effort to get in a comfortable position. Somehow, I managed to start falling asleep despite the rather dire situation. As my thoughts became less and less constructed, I wondered what I was going to call the alien, or aliens if there were more of them.

+×Timeskip×+

Third Person P.O.V.

Cross awoke to the sound of the cell door sliding open again. The lights of the cell had nearly reached their brightest mode, signifying that the suns had nearly finished rising as the light levels were set to mimic that of the outside world.

Blearily, he turned his attention to the door, his sleepy mental state making him temporarily forget what had happened last time the door had opened.

He didn't forget for long as a nightmare, as he had decided to call the aliens, stepped through the door. Cross pressed himself against the wall once more, fearing that the alien from yesterday had come to finish him off. The thought of dying terrified him, so he once more found himself hoping the wall would swallow him whole and shield the nightmare from his sight. However, after a second, be realized this nightmare looked different from the previous one. This individual had a purple eyelight instead of a yellow one, and it's face held an expression of distaste, rather than a neutral face that the yellow-eyed nightmare held.

The new nightmare held his curious yet trembling gaze for a moment, it's eyes flicking across his body, observing exactly what it had been sent to attend to. The alien wasn't impressed.

"Let's just get this over with. Right, my name is Disgust and I have been assigned to educate you in Kilian so you can understand us." Disgust said.

Disgust's words would have been perfectly clear to any other Kalamarian, but to Cross it just sounded like a series of growls and clicks. Thinking Disgust was aggravated at him, Cross somehow pressed himself farther into the wall.

Disgust frowned at this.

"Come here." He said, his tentacles twitching with impatience.

Cross made no move to approach.

"Come here." Disgust growled again, motioning for Cross to approach him.

"Does it...want me to come closer?" Cross wondered, recognizing the hand gesture for what it was.

He leaned a bit off the wall, but he still made no move to approach.

"If you won't come over here yourself, fine. I'll do it for you." Disgust growled, lashing out a tentacle and wrapping it around Cross's waist.

Cross squeaked in suprized and fear, struggling as the tentacle dragged him forward unwillingly. Disgust just rolled his eyes, dropping the small skeleton back on his feet and regarding him with a displeased expression. Cross stared at him in confusion, Disgust's harmless action having thrown him for a loop.

Cross had assumed, based on their ghastly appearances, that the aliens were like animals: not intelligent compared to himself or other humans. Thinking about it now, he realized this creature was very likely to be intelligent, possibly even more so than him. It had entered the sliding door with no suprized whatsoever, indicating such technology is common place to it. One of the nightmares probably brought him here, which would explain how he managed to get in this blank room. Even the strange noises they made, thinking about it now, sort of sounded like speech. Just really, really strange speech.

"If you're done staring at me, then let's begin the lesson." Disgust said.

This time, Cross didn't jump back in fear, but rather stuck around and waited for Disgust to do something.

"We will begin by practicing the sounds of the characters of the Kilian language. Repeat after me: au." Disgust instructed, staring back at Cross as he waited for a response.

Cross simply stared in confusion at the alien. He could tell that it was waiting for something, but he wasn't sure what it wanted him to do. The nightmare was staring at him expectantly, but without any gestures or clues as to what it wanted, Cross had no idea what Disgust had said.

"Do I really need to repeat myself? Repeat after me: au." Disgust growled, pointing to himself, uttering the simple growl of the letter, and then jabbing his finger at Cross's chest.

Cross was still somewhat confused, but be noticed the nightmare kept repeating a certain sound, and it had pointed to him, so he tried to replicate the noise. Unfortunately, it ended up sounding more like a squawk than a growl.

Disgust hissed angrily, repeating the letter again, putting emphasis on the pitch and length of the pronunciation. Poor Cross tried his best, this time trying to roll an r sound to somewhat replicate the noise Disgust had made, but it wasn't very close. The alien was not pleased.

Disgust lashed out a tentacle and whipped Cross's left arm sharply, leaving an angry purple mark on the once paper-white bone. Cross yelped in suprized and pain, a tear welling up in his socket as he clutched his stinging arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" He cried, looking in dismay at the alien, which was growling angrily at him.

Not being able to understand him, Disgust's rumbling growl grew slightly louder as he dismissed what sounded like useless squeaks.

"Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action. If you don't want to be harmed again, then you will repeat after me. Now: au."

Cross tried his hardest to replicate the growl that Disgust so easily rattled off, but he simply could not make the proper noise. No human or skeleton language had any letters or syllables that resembled whatever the alien was saying. He was simply incapable of copying the specific animalistic sounds Disgust obviously was trying to get him to say.

After several hours of failed pronunciation, Cross hadn't managed to pronounce any of the three letters Disgust threw at him. His arms were covered in painful purple whip marks, some of which were deep enough to bleed, and his sockets watered with the pain. Meanwhile, Disgust was thoroughly pissed at him, and wasn't far away from slaming him into a wall. Such a poor display had never been set before him in all his years of teaching. Even juveniles gave better attempts when starting to learn the language.

"Pathetic. You insult my teaching expertise with your incompetence. I have never failed to educate someone, and as the head of the Education segment, I refuse to let you mar that record. You will learn one way or another, but until you start trying, I believe only one feeding a day instead of two should be a fitting punishment." He hissed angrily, pushing Cross away as he stormed out of the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

Cross picked himself up from the floor and walked over to the far wall. He sank down the wall, crossing his legs and cradling his damaged arms. He hoped with all his soul that this was a one off, that the nightmares wouldn't continue to force him to learn or obey at the expense of his well being.

It was wishful thinking.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

"Wake up. Now." A menacing growl sounded from inside the room.

Cross, having been asleep, was startled awake. He whipped around to face whatever had uttered the noise, suprized and unsettled at the fact he hadn't heard the door open, nor anyone enter the cell. He was met with the burning gaze of a new nightmare. This one, just like the previous aliens, was covered in black slime and had four tentacles, but it appeared to be slightly taller than the other two. It was pretty much impossible for a skeleton to look more muscular than another, but Cross had a sneaking suspicion that if this the nightmare was human, it would be ripped. The alien had a certain angry aura about him. His tentacles writhed angrily, and his sharp orange eye was fixed on Cross's curled up form.

The alien unsettled him. For one, the purple eyed nightmare had been the only one who had come to see him daily, and nobody new had appeared in his cell until now. The purple eyed nightmare had always announced its presence one way or another, waiting for Cross to stand so it could begin the lesson. This alien had purposely snuck in here, and it already seemed to be assessing him. The purple eyed nightmare had always worn an expression of annoyance when looking at him, but Cross had never got overly strong feelings towards himself from the alien. This nightmare, however, looked like it wanted to snap his neck right then and there. In fact, if Cross wasn't mistaken, that's what the alien was staring at.

Getting the feeling that he'd rather not be in such a vulnerable position around this individual, Cross pushed himself up from the cold floor, wincing with the pain that came from his arms, which were more purple than white from the other nightmare's three visits. He stood, not pressing himself to the wall but not making any motion to approach either. He kept an eyelight on the alien's tentacles, waiting to see what it would do next.

"Huh, so you do actually have enough common sense to at least face a challenger and not like there like a sacoon. Well, your going to have to put on a better display than that if you want to get something out of today's excersize.

Disgust told me of your apparent "lingual incompetence" and resistance to teaching, so the leader has instructed me to take a crack at teaching you something different. My name is Venom, not that you can understand me, but I am the capital nest's Defense Captain. I shape even the most hardheaded and disobediant members of the colony into seasoned defenders to protect our nests. Since you seem to be rather underdeveloped, I have been instructed to train you to avoid or dissuade the predators of this planet, since you most likely won't be able to fight them." Venom said, looking at the small skeleton with a disapproving glare.

Indeed, Venom was disapproving of this whole venture. He would much rather end the specimen's pathetically insignificant life and move on with his own. The fact that the leader had ordered him to not only keep this thing alive, but waste his time to train it was infuriating, but he knew well not to mess with the leader's will. Fortunately for him, he was allowed to construct the lessons as he saw fit, so he had prepared quite the hands on curriculum.

"Today, you will try to defeat one of the planet's lesser creatures: the lagarente. Let's see how you fare against it." The alien smirked a bit, reaching one of his tentacles back through the door, which was left open, and dragged a glass cage into the cell.

The creature in the cage hissed fiercely, and Cross stiffened at the sight of it. It was the same snake-lizard thing that had chased him into the forest. The same creature that had six clawed feet to its name and could hurl globs of acid from its bulbed tail. The same creature that had caused the chain of events that landed Cross in the hands of an intelligent alien species that had him at their mercy.

It was safe to say that Cross had an acute fear of this creature.

Venom's smirk widened apon seeing Cross's reaction. He pressed a hidden button on the wall of the cell with a tentacle, causing the room to shudder slightly before every surface began to expand, allowing the room to grow to the size of half a basketball court.

Cross windmilled his arms to keep his balance, once again in awe at the advanced tech of the nightmares. Once the room expanded fully and the walls clicked into place, Venom looked back at Cross with a smirk, resting a tentacle on the top of the cage.

"Your objective is to discourage the lagarente using this." He said, tossing Cross a small object about the size of an orange.

Cross caught the item with both hands, letting it sit in his palm so he could examine it. It seemed to be some sort of small device. It was smooth, and its shape sort of reminded cross of a thin yoyo, minus the string. There was a spot on the object that looked like a light, but it was dark. Cross wondered if that meant he needed to turn the device on somehow. There was no time to mess with it though, as his attention was turned back to the cage. The tip of the alien's tentacle hovered above a notch in the center of the cage.

"The exercise will begin...now." Venom hissed.

In one fluid motion, he jabbed the notch, causing the cage to collapse open, setting the lagarente free. At the same time, he backed into a wall, the slime of his body spreading along the white surface. Before Cross's eyes, the alien melted into the wall, disappearing from sight and leaving him alone with the angry reptilian monster.

The lagarente launched foreward at Cross with the same fury Cross had seen the day he was chased into the forest. Yelping in fear, he pushed off the wall and dodged to the side. He expected the lagarente to slam headfirst into the wall, but the creature twisted in mid air and landed feet first, rebounding off the wall and onto the floor. It hissed loudly, charging at him once more. Cross dashed away, sprinting to the other end of the room, the lagarente in hot pursuit.

He went to run along the other wall to the opposite side of the room to kite the creature, but the lagarente seemed to have caught on and it jumped in front of his intended path, causing Cross the pause just as he was about to take off. Nearly losing his balance, the skeleton backtracked, finding himself at a corner of the room. He was pinned.

Wasting to time, the creature launched foreward, making a beeline for Cross. Remembering the divice that was clutched in his hand, Cross raised it, feeling the weight of the metal.

"I sure hope this works" He though, winding up his arm and lining up his shot.

When the lagarente was five feet from his, he flung the object at it, hoping it would activate and save him. The creature screeched in pain as the item hit it on the top of the head, but the object just bounced off apon impact and skittered away across the smooth floor. The lagarente voiced it's anger with a earpiercing screech, whipping its tail up and shooting a glob of acid at Cross.

He threw himself to the side in a desperate attempt to avoid the spray, but a few droplets of the volatile chemical landed on his leg. Cross let loose a shrill scream of pain, the acid immediately starting to eat into the bone. He fall to the floor, his whole leg on fire.

The lagarente let out a hiss of triumph, charging at the downed skeleton once more and leaping into the air, mouth wide open and small serrated teeth bared. Cross raised an arm in front of his face in a last ditch attempt to defend himself. He scrunched his eyes and braced himself for the feeling on the creature's teeth sinking into his bone.

The feeling never came however, as something black shot out of the wall to Cross's right, extending and smacking the quickly approaching lagarente back to the far wall. The lagarente hit the wall with a thud, falling to the ground where it promptly stood up and screeched in anger, lashing its bulbed tail around.

Cross uncovered his eyes when he heard the creature's enraged screech, and he looked up to see the orange-eyed nightmare litteraly ooze out of the wall and reform. Using a tentacle, it reached across the room and grabbed the yoyo-shaped device, drawing it back and dropping the device in its hands. Grabbing hold of one circular side with each hand, the nightmare twisted the halves in opposite directions, causing the light to flicker on and a low buzzing noise to fill the room.

The noise had no effect on Cross or Venom, but it instantly sent the lagarente into a frenzy. I let out a glass shattering scream and backed as far away from the device as it could, curling into a ball and scratching at its head. The alien slowly walked over to the creature, device in hand. Cross watched in awe at how easily the hissing creature had been subdued. When Venom was right in front of the lagarente, which at this point was thrashing around in apparent pain, he pulled a small flat glassy square out of his pocket and lightly tossed it foreward lightly. The squared hovered in the air above the subdued lagarente for a moment, before it expanded and folded itself into a glass cage, capturing the creature once more. Venom them twisted the device again, shutting it off.

"What...was...THAT!" He roared, turning to face Cross, who was still on the floor, clutching his injured leg.

Cross of course didn't understand what the alien said, but the fury that burned in its eyes was enough to tell him that it was angry, and at him no less.

"When Disgust described his teaching sessions with you, I thought he was exadurating like per usual. But no, that pompous instructor actually had the story right for once. You are completely and utterly USELESS! I picked one of the least threatening crearuew out of the whole damn biosphere, and I gave you, GAVE YOU, the easiest means to defeat it, and yet you still couldn't do it?" Venom ranted, walking over to Cross slowly and deliberately as he did so.

"You not only managed to fail completely, but you even let it hit you! And when it injured you, you just sat down and accepted defeat!" He was right infront of Cross now.

"Well, I won't have you waste my time for this. If you can't learn to subdue, then you're going to learn to be subdued. By force. Let's see how you fair in a short sparring match." The alien hissed, grinning crookedly at Cross as it yanked him harshly.

Cross barely had time to plant his two feet on the ground before the alien lashed a tentacle at him. Yelping, he hooped to the side, narrowly dodging the sharpened slimy spike, which thunked into the wall behind him.

"Why is it attacking me. I messed up, but the other one never tried to kill me before! Did I use up all my chances? Are they finally done with me? How can I escape this?! There's litteraly nothing in here but me and the scariest plate of seafood imaginable!" Cross thought frantically as he dodged a second missile.

"You have no choice but to fight! You can't keep dodging forever. Sooner or later, if you want to keep you soul intact, you'll have to fight me." Venom hissed, launching two tentacles at Cross, who jumped over the first then quickly rolled under the second.

"I'm sorry I messed up, but I can't understand you! I didn't know what you wanted me to do; I don't even know who you are! I know you're angry, but it doesn't have to be like this!" Cross yelled, holding his hands out in a gesture of truce and peace.

Venom growled, not understanding what Cross said but recognizing the sign.

"You really think I'll just give up? No, you need to be taught a lesson. Ignorance and non-complaince will not be tolerated here. In a world of violence, where creatures fight tooth and nail for the top, we have climbed above the rest to rule the planet and shape it as our own. Do you think we did that by running away? No! We fought and struggled as a species until none opposed us. If you cannot race along with the rest, you will die."

Venom redoubled his efforts, lashing all his tentacles at Cross. He narrowly dodged them, the sharpened ends leaving small tears or scratches in his clothes and bone. Venom roared in anger, sensing his tentacles out again.

"How something like you, something so fragile, so pathetic, so vulnerable, managed to survive this long is incomprehensible. Your species should have died off long ago, yet here you are before me. If reality has spared you, then the rest of your home must be crawling with weaker forms of life. Things like you must be purged. It is only because of the will of the colony that you still live." Venom hissed.

His attacks were relentless, speeding up in power and speed as the one-sided battle went on. Every time Cross jumped, ducked, ran, or dodged, a little bit of his energy was eaten away. With the small rations of food he had been getting, he didn't have much to begin with, so it was only a matter of time before Venom got what he wanted.

With a growl of triumph, Venom successfully managed to wrap a monstrous tentacle around the smaller's thin waste. Lifting him up into the air and watching him struggle in vain, he frowned.

"I don't understand you. Even when your life is threatened, you did not fight. You picked the option that, if maintained, would have spared us both. Why? You will never succeed in that way."

Without a warning, he slammed Cross against the wall, smirking a bit at the satisfying crack that came from the back of his skull, a scream of pain following shortly.

"Idiot. You will never amount to anything, and the fact that you don't seem to understand such a simple rule of life appalls me." He hissed lowly, turning on his heel and walking out the door, dragging the cowering lagarente in the cage behind him. The door closed behind him as silently as usual, and the room gave a shudder before beginning to shrink back the its original size and shape. As the walls converged, the holes left by the alien's tentacles filled in and repaired themselves seemingly by magic.

Cross layed in a heap, his head pounding and his vision swimming and flickering before him. He could feel intense pain blossoming from the nasty crack in the back of his skull, but he couldn't muster the energy to move or inspect it. He just layed there, battered and beaten, on the cold floor, silently staring at the door, yet again both hoping and dreading for someone new to come through. He lay in silence for a while, spacing out more and more until his mind gave in to the appealing idea of sleep and his sockets closed.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

As Cross expected, the daily visits continued, but thankfully the red eyed nightmare didn't come back in that time. Instead, the purple eyed one kept trying to teach him the strange language all the nightmares seemed to speak.

Not to say that his routine wasn't still bad. While the slimy alien didn't radiate murderous intent, it still hurt him every time he made a mistake. Now, instead of leaving whip marks, since it had obviously noticed that the punishment wasn't making much of a difference with Cross's success rate, it had started slashing him with its sharp claws. While the cuts were never scarily deep, they were always serious enough to bleed, and they were usual jagged since Cross flinched most of the time, which caused him extra pain. By the end of a lesson, he usual had accumulated over a dozen of them, and with no medical supplies at hand, he always had to wait for them to clot, unable to apply pressure to all the wounds. The repeated blood loss weakened him, as his blood was infused with magic just like many monsters, and the loss of energy made him fatigued.

On top of that, the nightmares had seen it fit to only feed him once a day. Cross had a feeling this may have something to do with his reliable tendency for errors. Sometimes, due to the strange food available on the planet, Cross skipped meals in fear of them making him sick. He would just wait, curled up on the floor, hearing his non-existent stomach begging for food, until the next plate arrived. More than once, he had given in and eaten a dish he had deemed dubious, unwilling to deal with the hunger that would result from another fast. He had gotten sick several times, being submitted to fevers, shivers, nausea, mild seizures, and horrible nightmares.

He could either eat and chance getting sick to lessen the ever-present hunger he felt, or fast and feel his insides call out non stop. Neither option was good, and the pain from lessons was a guarantee. Cross certainly wasn't in the greatest condition.

Occasionally, when he was somewhat incapacitated from eating something nasty, a rather new nightmare would enter his cell. This one was slightly shorter than the others he had seen, but it was still noticeably taller than him. It had a shiny green eye, which was rather fitting as it seemed to be a medic of sorts. When it entered the room, it wouldn't force him to stand to attention, which was a pleasant change.

The medic, whose name was Scab, would always introduce himself before he approach with slight caution. Less experienced in the combat field than most of the colony due to his occupation, Scab was always more wary around strangers than others, but he still got to work to check the subject when he was down.

While the nightmare would evaluate what was wrong with Cross, he would never actually do anything about it. Cross noticed he would just write it down in a small portable screen it kept on its person, and then poke him for a while to check normal things like magic output and bone coloration. Occasionally, the alien would forcefully yank him into a specific position to check something, like his vertebra, which would usual earn him a loud yelp of pain. While it wasn't pleasant, this alien's visits were by far the best, and Cross was thankful for that.

Disgust, begrudgingly accepting that the small white skeleton wasn't going to comply to his wishes any time soon, had switched teaching tactics. Instead of trying to get him to pronounce certain letters, he had been trying to get Cross to recognize their sounds. Using a portable display screen, he would display three different symbols, each of then corresponding to a Kilian letter. Then, he would recite the pronunciation of each.

Cross would have to remeber each sound, as Disgust would repeat one of the letters and try to get Cross to pick the corresponding sign. While this task was easier on him, the results only improved marginally. To a Kalamarian, each letter sounded distinct and different, but to Cross they were very similar, occasionally indistinguishable. With Disgusts ever worsening temper, the scratches kept coming, and every day he was left with more.

Today, while Cross was laying on the floor attempting to conserve what little energy he had, the door opened. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing as his scabs stretched painfully, and looked over to the door, expecting the unimpressed glare of the purple eyed nightmare to meet his tired gaze.

What he actually saw was not at all what he was expecting.

Standing in the doorway was a new alien. Usually, this didn't say much. After all, the only difference Cross had seen between the alien race was eye color and slight height changes. The nightmare that stood before him apparently didn't adhere to this stereotype.

Unlike all the other inky black aliens, this nightmare was pure white.

The slime that covered its body was the color of fresh snow, and it had the same dull shine to it that the other aliens possessed. It was a bit shorter than the orange eyed alien, but taller than all the rest. It had four equally white tentacles that twitched slightly in the air, looking ready to snatch something up. It too only had one eye, but it's pupil was a bright eye-catching crimson.

"Red eye, white body... why does that ring a bell?" Cross briefly wondered, before a lightbulb clicked on in his head.

"Oh! The nightmare must be albino!" He exclaimed to himself mentally.

He was familiar with the term because Chara happened to be a human with albanism. His skin and hair was devoid of pigment, just like all albinos, and if he didn't have his cybernetic eye, which was implanted when a knife attack left him blind, he would still have his pale red eye.

The nightmare stared at Cross with unadulterated curiosity, yet beneath the general interest, Cross saw a colder expression. The expression of someone who wouldn't mind cutting him open to see how he ticked.

"Greetings subject 3, it is a pleasure to at long last meet you face to face. " The alien purred, his actions having a cordial air to them.

"My name is Amnesia. I am the head scientist is the field of biology and ecology. The leader had instructed me to personally educate you about the life of our planet, which I'm sure must be very alien to you. I would have it no other way of course, as I was positively ecstatic to hear the news about a scout capturing an alien being, an intelligent one no less. I know well you do not understand my speech, but with repetition, the language barrier you face shouldn't obstruct my teachings.

I am assuming you may not be very impressed with your current lodgings. In all fact, one of the reasons you are being kept here is because even with the nest's guards, swamp predators still plague us occasionally. If what Venom says about your fighting capabilities is true, then keeping you in these fortified walls is for the best. Now, let us proceed to the lesson." Amnesia said all this while offering a tentacle to Cross, who with some hesitation took hold of it and was hoisted to his feet.

The nightmare reached into a pocket of his hoodie-like clothing, which was also covered in slime, and pulled out a black cube. Touching the top of it, he let it go, allowing the cube to float to a spot roughly in between Cross and Amnesia before unfolding into a net and projecting a floating image of a planet.

"Disgust hasn't been all to happy recently with your conduct, but let's be honest, he's never happy. I'm sure that I can get a better result out of you, because unlike the others, well perhaps not the leader, I can see your potential. You are an intelligent being, and while you may not be able to freely express such around us, I have a feeling I can worm it out of you eventually.

Now, this here is our planet, the very one you stand on. We call it Oreon." The alien said, gesturing to the hologram that was slowly rotating.

"Our planet has three main biomes: swampland, fungal forests, and hilly grasslands. The swamps and forests will be our main focus, due to the fact that the grasslands have been inhabited by us long enough for hostile life to have been eradicated." Amnesia said, tapping the apparently solid hologram.

Cross watched in interest as the image of the planet expanded and zoomed in until it showed a ground view of a fungal forest. He could see the same dark trees, huge mushrooms with dark flesh and bright florescent spots, crawling vines reaching out for something they could choke and squeeze, and so much more.

"As the most important thing for you to learn would be how to avoid harmful forms of life, today we will focus on comparing dangerous and safe species. An example of such a comparison would be the pelean tree and the bosq tree." The alien said, tapping two different types of trees to bring them close up on the screen.

"Visually, the difference is easily recognizable. The bosq tree has smooth, dark bark that cannot harm other creatures, but the bark of the pelean tree is covered in sharp thorns to keep animals from climbing it. These thorns shred through any garmets, and they can cut bone. Now, it's your turn." Amnesia said, dismissing the images of the trees and tapping a couple different types of vines.

The alien waited expectantly as Cross examined the two images. Cross had noticed that the alien's tone had been different while talking about each plant. It had a normal tone when talking about the smooth tree, and a darker tone when talking about the spiky tree. Did it want him to identify the dangerous species out of the pair?

He looked at the pictures of the vines. One of them was smooth and thin with lots of little tendrils coming off of the main sections. The other was thicker and had what looked like small beads every so often along its surface.

"Is this the one?" He asked, knowing the nightmare wouldn't understand.

"Correct. The beaded vine contains puss-filled bubbles on its surface that when popped, cause rashes and infections. Now how about this one?"

The alien had let out a strange chirp-like noise at Cross's answer, and then it proceeded to pull up two images of grass-like plants.

The images of the plants moved around slightly, and Cross could see that while one plant seemed to just sway as if it were under the influence of a breeze, the blades of the other plant rippled, a lot like the tentacles of the aliens. He pointed to the rippling plant, earning another pleased chirp from Amnesia.

"See? It only takes a bit of finesse to teach anything. Yes, snag grass is the more dangerous of the two, though it can only be dangerous if it catches you with something else dangerous nearby, as the plant itself can't inflict any damage. Now, how about this one?" The alien said, pulling up a pair of mushrooms.

Cross looked closely at the images, but to his dismay he couldn't see much of a difference between the two. Both were small capped mushrooms with a similar shape, and they didn't have any defining features that differentiated them from one another. The only thing Cross could see was that one had a longer cap than the other.

He pointed to that one in hopes that luck was on his side, but this time the alien didn't make a sound when he chose his answer.

"Incorrect. The caer shroom is not dangerous and can actually make a nice meal when cooked. The serapen mushroom has vains of toxins on the underside of its cap, which you can see here." The alien said, pointing at the rows of tube-like structures on the underside of one of the mushrooms.

The alien raised its arm and Cross flinched, expecting to be reprimanded, but the alien merely snatched the display out of the air, the small gadget folding back up into a cube.

"You did well today, and the leader will be pleased. Due to your improved error rate, your punishment won't be physical. I will come back in a few days time for a lesson on the planet's predators." Amnesia said, turning and exiting the cell.

Cross stared at the door, suprized that he hadn't been hit for his wrong answer. This was the first time the aliens hadn't punished him. He smiled to himself, sitting down to wait for his food.

Maybe things were going to change.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V

Cross stared at the walls for a few hours, trying to keep himself from falling asleep so he would know exactly when the food arrived. He occupied his time tracing non-existent patterns on the blank walls, turning over the days events in his head. The interaction with the new alien had certainly gone better than he expected. He found himself hoping it would be back tomorrow in the place of the purple eyed nightmare, so it could teach him without injuring him again.

His thoughts were interrupted when the food arrived, phasing through one of the walls in its special high tech container. When the previously hovering plate touched down, the top of the container folded back, revealing the prepped food. The plate appeared to hold lightly steamed slices of some sort of plant. Compared to the previous meal, which Cross had skipped, this food looked almost normal. That was enough for him, as his hunger urged him into taking a bite of the food.

It was spongy, like a mushroom, and didn't have much flavor to it, but Cross savored the food non the less. He paced himself, plucking slices from the plate one at a time before plopping them into his mouth and chewing thoroughly. His hunger slowly abated as he finally ate.

With his recent diet, Cross found himself unable to finish the food, leaving a few slices of the mystery plant on the plate. He flopped sideways, feeling full and tired. A bit of shuteye sounded like just what he needed.

+×Timeskip×+

A few hours later, Cross woke up.

Something was very wrong. His whole body felt like it was being stabbed with red hot needles. His vision was smudged and blurred, and his balance was non existent. His skull was ringing, causing him to shakily clutch it, whimpering at the increasing pain in his gut.

The food must have made him sick. He turned to look at the plate, the discarded slices still sitting on it. Wanting to take a look at the food, he went to stand, but his shaky limbs wouldn't allow it. Groaning in pain, he slowly dragged himself across the floor, unable to do anything else to reach the plate.

Staring at the slices, he waited for his vision to focus so he could get a closer look. He froze in horror at what he saw when the bluriness cleared.

The slices on the plate were indeed from mushrooms. Familiar looking mushrooms with veins under the cap.

At that moment, the internal pain hit its peak, and Cross convulsed, throwing up a great deal of concentrated magic. He tried to get up, to drag himself to the door and call for help, but his body wouldn't let him. He only managed to move a few feet before he collapsed on his side, his breath ragged and his vision spinning.

The feeling of red hot needles digging into him worsened, and a nasty fever began to overtake him. The poor skeleton felt icy cold and burning hot all at once, and he shivered in pain as his soul throbbed from the loss of magic. He wanted to scream, to pass out, for the pain to go away, but he couldn't do anything. His weak and injured body refused to respond to the slur of commands coming from his overactive mind. He just lay their, shaking in pain and whimpering, unable to do anything but wait for it to stop.

Cross didn't know how long he had layed there. It could have been a few hours or a few minutes. His senses were shot from the poisonous plant, so he could only tell that time had passed.

Behind him, he faintly heard the door slide open and someone enter. Through the haze of pain, he felt someone poking him, then they turned him over rather roughly to face them. Cross just let out a whimper, squeezing his sockets shut as the blurry black blob felt his skull. He faintly heard some noises that sounded like growling, but there was no way he could make them out. Soon, the person left and he was alone again.

Scab's P.O.V.

This wasn't working.

The subject's condition wasn't great to begin with, but at this point if it deteriorated any more, the specimen could die.

Never has any creature resisted Venom, Disgust, or Amnesia so stubbornly, not to mention all three of them. We had to be missing something. No member of the colony has ever had this problem assimilating knowledge like this. It's like the subject is incapable of learning, yet it had enough understanding of universal principles to arrive here in its strange pod.

At this point, we had exhausted all our options. The leader must be notified.

Entering my hexcomb, I went to the link chamber, situating myself in the middle of the cold floor. The room was completely dark, allowing for easy focus and long connections. We would probably need a long connection in order to resolve this issue.

Closing my eye, I exhaled slowly, allowing myself to relax.

I opened my eye, seeing a familiar plane of mixed colors. While I certainly wasn't as enthralled with the mind plane as Amnesia was, I always admired how interesting it looked. It was always changing, never looking the same, which made sense as it was created by the combined consciences of those present.

I found myself once more standing in a wide ring, Venom off to my left and Amnesia and Disgust to my right. We all waited, staring at the space that would soon be filled, waiting for the presence that would complete the circle.

The exact moment he appeared can never be determined, but the presence of the leader suddenly hit my senses, and then the meeting began.

"I have been told that you have encountered difficulties educating the subject. Please elaborte."

"Yes. The subject refuses to be taught anything easily. Even the simplest concept, such as mimicking the sounds of letters or matching the written letter to the sound proves to be beyond its abilities. I have never had a problem teaching a colony member the basics of Kilian, so I am honestly not sure what to try at this point." Disgust spoke up first.

"He not only seems to have feebleness of mind, but of body aswell. When faced with one of the least dangerous predators that roams the swamps, and given the device to defeat it, he failed miserably. He not only did he not use the device, but he didn't attempt to fight the lagarente, and the creature managed to burn him. The subject displayed no visible fighting technique whatsoever." Venom pitched in with a growl.

"I also have to partially agree with this. While I managed to get better results out of it by providing examples and starting the tasks at base difficulty, the subject still managed to make a rather bad error. I showed it what it had done wrong, then I left, since it had been resistant to physical punishment thus far. Instead, I instructed the cooks to make its ration out of the same fungus the subject confused, making sure the food would still be recognizable for what it was. However, the subject still didn't recognize it and has been poisoned." Amnesia said.

"And what is the subjects current condition Scab?"

"I regret to inform you that it has deteriorated since the first day of testing, and the subject is currently in danger of death due to lack of latent soul energy, marrow, and due to the poison it ingested. We cannot continue this approach, otherwise there is a high chance the specimen will die." I said, a little on edge as to what the leader's response would be.

To our combined suprize, the leader simply nodded his head.

"I suspected as much. In truth, I called all of you here to confirm my suspicions. As you all know, the contents of the small carrier that the subject had on its person at the time were given to me for examination. While most of the items did not have much importance, a small rather archaic log of sorts did provide some insight to the subjects civilization. It is due to its vastly different culture and life style that we have been unsuccessful in teaching it.

While our civilization is incredibly diligent and advanced, the way we interact with those around us lacks a certain element this creature possesses. It can best be described as a kind of mutual level of vulnerability that its race uses amongst each other as common curtisy. The punishments given to the subject when it failed went against this mutual agreement, preventing more meaningful connections from being made.

I have a rough idea for a new plan of action regarding the subject. While it will be a long shot from the normal ways we use to deal with other members of the colony, from what I have learned from this subject's log, I believe it is the only way.

On that subject, I will be coming to meet the specimen to initiate this new program by trying out something I have learned. I want you all to be present when I arrive."

"You want to see the subject in person?" Disgust asked, his suprize obvious.

"Yes. If it, or rather he is to be an ambassador for us, then I will have to meet him eventually. Better sooner than later, and in the event that the damage has already been done, I want to have the opportunity to see him alive." The leader responded, his gaze set and determined.

"If I may inquire, how did you decipher the specimen's language? I have had no such luck understanding it." Disgust asked, raising a good point.

"I didn't figure out the language actually. The subject just accompanied whatever he wrote with drawings, and they told me enough."

Oh. How strange.

"If nobody has any more to say on the subject, then the meeting is adjourned. I will be arriving at the reasurch facility shortly." The leader announced.

"Yes leader." We all echoed, before the colorful surroundings faded and I opened my eye to find myself back in my chamber.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

The small white skeleton lay in the cell, shuddering as the poison took its course. It wouldn't kill him, but it was an unfortunate fate none the less.

On the other side of the cell wall, looking through the viewing window, was a party of five Kalamarians, their eyes all fixed on the lone being in the cell.

Once he had observed the small subject, the alien who was obviously in charge strode foreward and opened the door, stepping into the cell's threshold.

Cross, who's vision had cleared a bit from the initial onslaught of the mushroom, saw not one but five blurry nightmares enter the cell. He started to shake not only with pain but with fear. Had they come to finish him off? Were they going to hurt him more? Were they going to poison him again?

Fear built up inside him as the leading alien split from the group, slowly approaching him. Through his hazy vision, he could start to make out its features. It was the same height as the red eyed alien, and it was covered in glossy black slime. It's four tentacles were raised behind it, wriggling around, and its eye was a soul-stopping icy blue. All the alien's attention was on Cross, and it was coming for him.

Cross wanted nothing more than to move, to run, to wake up and find himself back home, having never left, but alas it was only a desire and not reality. It was all he could do to curl up into a ball as the tears that were welling in his eye sockets ran silently down his cheeks.

The alien stopped in front of the curled up skeleton and regarded him silently. It was a good deal smaller than him, and it's bones were purest white, though they were pale from the poison. It stared at him in fear, it's eyelight of mismatched colors, small and filled with pain. The leader had never seen any being exhibit this kind of behavior, and while he didn't fully understand the foreign feeling that overtook him at the saddening sight, he was even more sure about his next course of action.

The leader sat down in front of the skeleton, reaching out with his arms and a pair of his tentacles. Cross let out a strangled whimper as he felt the tentacles snake around him and shuddered terribly as the alien firmly grasped his curled form and lifted him up.

Then, against everything Cross expected the intimidating, cold alien to do, it placed him in his lap and pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, and though the words were lost on Cross, the meaning of them stuck home.

Cross burst into tears, pressing himself into the alien and clutching his clothing, desperate for the contact. Finally, after all the confusion, all the fear, all the pain, all the suffering, someone was showing him kindness. Just when he was certain he was going to waste away in the cursed white room, and that all who entered would harm him, a nightmare came through the door and showed him sympathy.

A gentle rumbling noise akin to a purr emanated from the alien as he held Cross. He nuzzled him gently, feeling the tears that stained his face and the warm feverish blush. He rubbed the skeleton's back in slow, soothing circles, following the motions the newfound feeling in his soul urged him to do. Little by little, Cross's shivering calmed, and his sobbing quieted to silent crying. He burried his face in the alien's chest, relishing the warmth he was receiving from its embrace. Cross's grip never faltered as he latched onto the alien's garmets with the hardest grip he could muster. Though it was still very weak, Cross refused to let go of his lifeline.

Around ten minutes later, Cross's tears had subsided completely, and he had at last fallen into a peaceful slumber, curled up in the leader's arms. The room was completely silent save for the still somewhat ragged breathing of the small white skeleton.

"This being is incredibly unique, but very special. That is why I have decided to take an approach as unique as it. Instead of teaching it our language in the routine way, we shall learn from it. I am going to establish a mindlink with him, and I will briefly touch his inner conscience to learn his language. It is high time we understand him." The leader said, looking up at the other Kalamairans, who had been shocked into silence.

"When he wakes and calms down, I expect you all to follow my example as we attempt to teach him again. You will each join the mindlink I will set up shortly after you bond with him." He continued.

"But you are exhibiting weakness! You wish for us to do the same?" Venom exclaimed.

"It is not weakness. It is something that I am unable to put a name to, but there is a difference, and you will respect that." The leader answered calmly, displaying his otherwise hidden emotions through the freezing glare he fixed on the Defender captain.

"Fascinating... Simply incredible..." Amnesia breathed.

"Yes. Yes he is." The leader said, gently placing a finger on the sleeping skeleton's forehead and closing his eyes.

+×Timeskip×+

Cross's P.O.V.

I shifted a bit, trying to get comfortable. My body felt chilled and clammy, so I pressed against the warmth beside me. My bones ached and my head felt hot, causing me to squirm again in search of comfort. The sensations only grew stronger as I regained consciousness, waking up.

I opened my eyes, squinting as I tried to focus on the blackness that dominated my vision. I was comfortable for the most part, so I didn't feel the need to rush myself, but at the same time I felt that my sleepy mind was forgetting something...

"You certainly took you time to wake. Does your kind always sleep for that long?" A deep voice from above asked.

Uncurling myself enough to look up, I was met with the curious expression of a blue eyes alien. Needless to say, I freaked out, screeching something that definitely wasn't English while I pushed myself away from the alien and fell backwards onto the floor, since I had been sitting in his lap. The alien reached towards me but I scooted back.

"No! D-Don't hurt me please!" I exclaimed, before the voice from earlier came back to me and I realized I understood what the alien had said.

"W-wait, did you-"

"I am not going to hurt you. I apologize for how you were treated previously, but I can assure you that it will not happen again." The nightmare said, speaking perfect English.

"I c-can understand you? H-how?" I asked, taken aback.

"I established a private mindlink with you whilst you were asleep. I know that entering another's mind is quite personal, but it was the only way we could teach you and have you understand." It clarified.

"T-teach me?"

"I can see you are confused. I'll explain a general version of what happened to you, then you can ask me questions."

"Okay..." I agreed.

"A scout found you in the forest, passed out due to the inhalation of duskshroom spores. The scout brought you to the research center in this nest on my orders, and we quickly realized you were a member of an unknown intelligent species. Hoping you could act as an ambassador for us to your people, I decided to have the Defence Captain, one of the colony's best teachers, and the head ecologist and biologist teach you about us and this planet, since you would need that knowledge for the job. However, you resisted our efforts to extents never before seen, nearly dying because of it. So I personally came to see you and decided to create a mindlink with you so we could finally understand what the issue was. I believe I sort of grasp the concept that is to blame. Do you have questions?"

"Yes, a-alot actually. U-um... can you understand me properly now?" I asked, still confused on the mindlink thing worked.

"Yes. By establishing a mental connection, I was able to copy your understanding of your language, the English language, and assimilate that knowledge in my own mind. However, the new knowledge is still settling, so to speak, so I may be confused about some things you say."

"These aliens can read minds!?" I screamed internally in slight panic and concern.

"O-okay uh... who and u-um...w-what are you?" I asked cautiously, scared of offending the alien and having it attack me, though it promised that it wouldn't harm me.

"I am a member of the dominant species on Oreon, the name of this planet. Our race is known as the Kalamarians, a completely male skeletal race. Individually, I am the current leader of the colony. My name translates to Nightmare in your language." He explained, musing about his name's English counterpart.

"O-oh... w-what do you mean by colony and nest?" I asked, wincing a bit as I felt a bad headache start to form.

"We call our total population the colony, and we use the term 'nest' in the same way you would use the term 'settlement'".

"Oh, t-that makes sense..." I said, leaning to the side a bit and panting, having trouble keeping myself up

"Are you okay?"

"W-what?" I said, my headache and fever muddling the outside world.

"I asked whether you were okay or not. You have a dazed expression and your aura is fuzzy, radiating pain, discomfort, and confusion. You seem to be having a difficult time understanding me, even though I am speaking proper English, and you also seem to be having trouble focusing and speaking."

"Oh I-I still feel pretty sick f-from the mushrooms I ate e-earlier..."

"Would you like me to hug you again, if that's the proper word?" He asked, though I couldn't detect any concern in his voice.

I hesitated. Truthfully, I did want to be hugged again. You would expect Nightmare's embrace to be cold and slimy, but he was actually very warm, and the slime on his body didn't drip off, presumably because it's part of him. Thanks to him, I was able to finally get some much needed rest. I was still afraid of him, but I guess I did trust him in some level? He didn't attack me, which he could have easily done while I was asleep, and he was trying to help, I think.

I nodded nervously, whimpering at the flair of pain in my skull that the movement caused me.

Nightmare reached out with his tentacles to grab me. I tensed when I felt them make contact, remembering how easily they could spear through me.

"I won't hurt you, not intentionally. I promise." He said, having noticed my sudden change in posture.

"O-ok" I said, forcing myself to relax and wanting nothing more than the aches and pains to go away.

Nightmare wrapped his tentacles around me and gently lifted me into his lap. I couldn't stop myself from immediately snuggling up against him, letting out a small hum of relief as the warmth of his body already began to soothe my fever. The desire to be comforted was simply too overpowering to ignore. He let out what sounded like a mix between a growl and a chuckle at this, which I think was his version of laughter.

"What?"

"Your behavior. It's so absurd, yet very intriguing. You put aside your well deserved fear of me and my kind for the sake of comfort. Not only that, but you relish the contact. It is certainly behavior not seem amongst the Kalamarians. I find it rather...endearing." He mused.

I felt my face heat up more than it already was. I knew well that my signature purple blush was burning across it.

"And you turn purple when embarrassed. That's quite...cute, I think the word would be. Such terms are new to me as of now." He said, chuckling again, lightly booping the bridge of what would be my nose.

I burried my face into his chest with a squeak, my face burning with embarrassment along with the fever. I stayed like that in silence for a few minutes, allowing myself to perk up a bit.

"Feeling better?" Nightmare asked after a while.

"Yes. Thank you." I added, greatful for the relief.

"Do you have any more questions?"

"Yes, actually. If you're the one in charge, why did you tell the other Kalamarians to... harm me?" I asked, still uncertain about that aspect of things.

"Ah yes, well I assume that you saw it as cruelty, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, until recently none of us realized how different your customs were from ours. The way the others tried to teach you was the way we teach all juveniles in the colony, and it's has never failed to produce results. As a people, we pride excellence and dilligence, as it means we are more likely to survive. An education system that makes you less likely to survive by punishing you when you fail makes sense to us, since it pushes to succeed. You, however, come from a safer planet and society, so such social pressures are not seen in the same extremity, and thus the system was viewed by you as a threat. I could have never expected this to be the outcome of the first program, and I never intended this level of harm to come to you.

Regarding your condition, most of the poison has been removed, but we cannot do anything about the little that is left. Scab will come by later with some medicine to soothe the fever and general pain you are experiencing, and he will also attend to your other injuries." Nightmare said.

"Oh, I guess that does make sense. Wait, how did you know what my civilization is like?"

"From your archaic data log. At first, I could only glean any understanding from the pictures, but they were the reason I realized why our method's weren't working with you. Then, when you were asleep and I had forged the mindlink, I went back and read through the text. I admit I didn't understand everything, but I could read most of it." He said, taking my diary out of his pocket.

"Hey! That's private!" I yelped, grabbing for it, but Nightmare kept it out of my reach.

"Private or not, it's the only thing I had to understand you. I'd rather keep it for future reference." Nightmare said, stowing the small book in his pocket despite my disagreement with his reasoning.

"Jerk." I huffed, turning away from him.

"You know, I have yet to decide whether or not you are acting like this on purpose. The others should find you as entertaining as I." Nightmare chuckled as he hugged me tighter.

I shivered at the thought of the other aliens. While I was scared of Nightmare, he hadn't actually hurt me, and he was currently answering my questions and doing what he can to help me feel better. The others hurt me though, and I'm not sure I want so see them again.

"I know you don't trust them, but they aren't bad people. Like I explained, none of us knew we were harming you in such a way. Besides, they are the best candidates to educate you so you may become an ambassador." Nightmare said, looking down at me.

"What is this whole 'ambassador' thing about? I'm still confused on why you want me to learn about your people." I asked, wondering why such an advanced civilization would want to make contact with a technologically inferior one.

"Though we have advanced technology on this planet, we have not yet made any attempt to leave it in search of other worlds. As this is the case, you are the first alien we have ever seen. As your species is intelligent and is capable of space travel, I reasoned there is a high chance of more coming here sooner or later. If you were an ambassador for our kind, then any interplanetary relations should go smoother."

"Huh, I never though about that. I guess thay does make sense..." I said, yawning widely.

"Are you tired?" Nightmare asked.

"Mmhm." I hummed in confirmation, curling up against him.

"Rest then. I will wake you when Scab arrives. Sleeping off the poison will help aswell." Nightmare promised.

"Okay. Thank you for saving me, Nightmare." I mumbled, closing my eyesockets.

"Thank you for not holding it against me. Sleep well, Cross." He replied, stretching out my name as he tried it out.

I hummed in content as I drifted off, listening to the gentle beat of Nightmare's soul.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

I slowly became aware of a gentle buzz in the background. Listening to it, I heard it sharpen in definition and morph into a hum. I slowly acknowledged that it was originating from the thing beside me, and as I woke up, acknowledging that said thing was Nightmare purring.

I uncurled a bit, snuggling into his chest as I still didn't feel all that great.

"Are you awake?" Nightmare asked, his purring subsiding as he rubbed my back.

"Mmm yeah, for the most part. Why did you wake me up?" I asked sleepily.

"Scab is here to heal your injuries."

I opened my eyes and looked around the small cell for the alien, but there was nobody else present. Nightmare seemed to sense my confusion.

"He is waiting outside. I didn't want you to freak out if you woke up to see another Kalamarian present. Are you ready to see him?"

"Yes." I said, still afraid of what he might do to me but willing to give the other Kalamarians the same chance I gave their leader.

Nightmare let out a sharp click that could easily be heard from a large distance. The door then slid open, revealing the green eyed alien who had checked me before. He let out a growl of some sort, looking from Nightmare to me.

"This is Scab, the nest's medic. He said hello." Nightmare informed me.

"Hi Scab." I replied nervously, Nightmare echoing my words in his strange language.

Scab dipped his head before approaching and kneeling down in front of us. He spoke again, pointing to my chest, and then he brought out a bundle of what looked like clothes.

"He said he's going to give you some medicine for your fever first, then he wants you to strip so he can take a look at all your injuries. He has brought you some new clothes per my request for afterwards."

"You want me to take of my clothes i-infront of both of you?!" I exclaimed, blushing.

"It is the only way to properly evaluate you for injuries. Is there a problem with that?" Nightmare asked, a mildly confused look on his face.

"W-Well I mean...someone's body is like their temple, back where I come from... I don't know you very well, and..." I trailed off, not really sure how to explain it to him.

Scab said something to Nightmare in a questioning tone, and Nightmare responded with uncertainty. Scab remained silent for a second, seeming to think about something, then he said something back to Nightmare, causing him to blink in suprize.

"Scab asked what the problem was, and I told him more or less what you told me. He said that you do not need to fear being judged nor stared at by either of us. He knows better than most thay every being has a different form, but this is something that they shouldn't be ashamed of. He also said he will be as respectful and gentle as possible while examining you, and you need not fear exposing yourself if it is the possibility of attack that troubles you. Is that what is bothering you?" Nightmare asked, looking down at me with a suprized look on his face.

"Yeah. That summed it up pretty well. Thank you for that Scab." I said, giving him a small smile.

Nightmare relayed what I said, and Scab echoed my small smile in a gesture of understanding, saying something return.

"He says there is no need to thank him, since he failed to do his job and broke something of yours: your mental temperment. He is just relieved that you are not completely giving up on us."

"Oh." I said, his sincerity surprising me.

Scab said something and handed over what looked like a small fruit.

"Here, eat this. It's a fruit that we have genetically modified to produce a universal antidote to many common poisons along with its juice. It should taste alright." Nightmare said, placing the fruit in my hand.

I popped the oversized grape lookalike in my mouth, chewing it thoroughly. I hummed in enjoyment at the flavor, which was not unlike an orange. It felt cool and refreshing, and I swear that I already felt my fever lessen in intensity.

"Can you stand and take off your clothing?" Nightmare asked, relaying Scab's most recent words to me.

"Y-Yeah, just give me a second." I said.

Nightmare let me go, and I sat on the floor for a moment, taking a few steady breaths. I then shakily pushed myself into a standing position, nearly falling over but Scab reached out a couple tentacles to support me. Nightmare used his tentacles to gently take off my strange hospital gown getup that they had originally put me in. I was a bit embarrassed when I was fully naked, and my posture reflected that, but both Nightmare and Scab reassured me that no harm would come to my body in my exposed state.

Scab then got straight to work, occasionally asking me through Nightmare if it was okay to do something, like to examine my back. True to his word, his touch was nothing but gentle. He attended to my arms first, applying a clear paste to all the whip welts and scratches that I had accumulated. Once the paste had hardened, forming a flexible clear layer, Scab rubbed a tentacle over each patch, leaving slimy residue over the paste. Apparently, according to what Nightmare told me, the slime on their bodies protects them from dangerous outside substances, like a full body shield. Once the slime hardened, it would create a impermeable but still flexible barrier against infection and further injury.

He then moved on to my back. Apparently, I had a network of small cracks on my upper spine and ribs. They were probably from the crash, and it explained why my back was so sore. Scab applied a different paste that filled up and sealed the cracks, and then he also covered them in slime. He also dealt with the crack in the back of my skull from the red eyed Kalamarian.

Lastly, he worked on the acid burn on my leg. He cleaned it with a fluid that stung a bit, and then he wrapped the wound in bandages and yet again applied some slime. When everything was done, I felt much better.

"Thanks a lot Scab. I feel a whole lot better now." I said, examining the rubberlike patches of hardened goop on my arms. Scab replied, and Nightmare gave him a bit of a quizzical look, before relaying what the medic said.

"Scab must understand your physiology better than I do, as he wants you to lay down on your front. He says you'll enjoy what he wants to do. I'm not sure where he's going with this, but I think it is a genuine request." Nightmare said.

"Uh...sure, I can do that." I said, lying on my ribs and craning my neck to look at what Scab was doing. He kneeled down beside me, reaching out to grab my neck, a bottle in one hand. I tensed a bit once I felt his fingers graze the bone. Scab squirted some cream-like stuff in spots on my neck, shoulders, back, and spine. The medic then started to rub up and down my neck, applying pressure at the back and base. The cream felt cool and rejuvenating. He was massaging me.

He extended his reach to my shoulders, rubbing small circles to releive the pressure. I purred as I felt my sore bones relax under his precise touch. He kneeded my shoulder blades, loosening the knots that had accumulated there due to stress, and then went on to my back. He gripped my ribs, rubbing each up and down and down slowly, rubbing the cream into every nook and cranny. I panted as he slowly worked down my back, thoroughly pleasuring every inch of my upper body.

Lastly, he gripped on to my lower spine, pumping it up and down and squeezing it in all the right places.

"Hmmahh~ That feels so good." I panted.

I felt Scab hesitate slightly, asking Nightmare something in a concerned tone. Nightmare replied, chuckling slightly, reassuring Scab on whatever he was concerned about. The medic continued, adding a bit more pressure to each vertebra. More soft noises of content and pleasure fell from my mouth as I practically melted on the floor, the alien's delicate touch doing me in.

By the time he pulled away, I was fighting to stay awake. It had been a long while since I've felt that good. Scab's face came into view, his green eyelight looking into my heterocromatic ones.

"I know you have suffered by the hands of our race, and by me specifically. You had all reason to cut all ties with us, with me, but you found within yourself the resolve to give us a second chance. I hope the massage appropriately showed my gratitude." Scab said.

"I have suffered, but I realize that you meant well, and your acts were out of the good will for your civilization rather than being malicious. What is important is thay you are regretful for your mistake, and you want to fix it. Also, you give the best massages. I forgive you Scab." I said, flashing him a slightly dazed grin, which he returned.

We then both realized, seemingly at the same time, that we had understood each other. We both turned to Nightmare, who grinned mischievously at us.

"I figured that you two were going to bond, and it would be best for you to speak directly to each other rather than have me translate, so I opened Scab to the link and transferred the knowledge of your language right before he spoke. As his brain was forced to assimilate the information, he spoke in English." Nightmare smirked.

"Thank you, leader." Scab said, dipping his head in respect.

"I have other duties to attend to, so I must go. It was nice to meet you properly, and I'm happy that you forgive me. Before I leave, may I know your name?"

"My name is Cross, and it was nice to properly meet you too Scab." I chirped, happy with how things went.

"Well then, til the moon is whole, Cross." He said, before walking out of the room.

"Til the moon is whole?" I asked, curiously turning to Nightmare.

"It's our way of saying goodbye. It is a phrase of deep respect." Nightmare explained, taking a seat against one of the cell's white walls.

"Are you going to dress, or are you content parading around naked like that? Honestly, either way is fine by me." Nightmare said, smirking.

I squeaked loudly, covering myself to the best of my ability before grabbing the pile of clothes Scab had left and quickly putting them on. They consisted of a pair of baggy black shorts, a pair of black and white boots, a thin white t-shirt, and a flowly cloak. The cloak was short, dipping down to just below my tail bone and curving up in the front. It was a beautiful shade of royal purple with edges trimmed in fluffy white fur, and it was fastened at the front with a large crimson jewel. I would have twirled around, but I felt my headache coming back.

I shamelessly walked over and sat in Nightmare's lap, sinking into the hug he gave with a happy sigh.

"That went well. If you had been a Kalamarian, you would have probably demanded his head. You have something our whole race lacks; a certain quality that allows you to treat others with respect and kindness despite what they did to you. I believe I felt the same emotion when I first saw you, and it was the reason I knew how to comfort you. What is it?" Nightmare asked, his blue eye fixed on me, unblinking.

"It's called sympathy. Have you never heard of it?" I asked, a bit suprized.

"No. Such a feeling goes against everything out race lives for, or so I though. Yet, this quality now appears to be very important in my mind. I am hoping you can teach us how to be..." Nightmare paused, frowning at the loss of the proper word.

"Sympathetic?"

"Yes. In a few days time, another of the Kalamarians you encountered will come. Will you show him what you showed me and Scab?" Nightmare asked, the slightest bit of hope leaking into his voice.

"Yes, of course. If you wish for your race to learn how to be sympathetic, then I will happily teach you." I said, wrapping my arms around Nightmare's waist I'm a hug.

"You truly are precious. You came from the stars with the power to remedy and correct our flaws. Already, you have touched me and Scab with your influence. Such a gift the cosmos had sent us. Thank you. For this, and for what you promise to do, I will be forever in your debt, as will any other Kalamarian you speak with. I vow to protect you with my life, and soon many will vow to do the same. If you oblige, then you will not just be our ambassador, but our Queen. What do you say? Will you help bring a new age to the inhabitants of Oreon?"

"I would love nothing more." I breathed, looking up into Nightmares eyelight, which was sparkling like ice dappled with sunlight.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

Today was the day. Scab had really been a trial run, and it was quite easy for Cross to teach him what he had previously lacked. However, the other three would be more of a challenge, and Cross was aware of this. He had requested to hold off on another meeting until he got better from the poison. Cross had happily spent the next few days snuggled up to Nightmare, whispering things to each other about the lives they lead.

Scab had come over a few times to check on Cross's condition, happily reporting that he was recovering well, and that the black slime patches would fall of in a few days and reveal naught but healthy bone. While he was visiting, Cross taught him about other pleasant interactions and actions, such as hugging.

To his suprized, there was no jealousy from Nightmare. He was actually quite happy to share the smol with the colony, seeing how he effected everyone. He also wanted other members to want to protect Cross like he did, so he could leave Cross in good hands if need be.

Scab was confused at first, but soon exposure to Cross's soft and happy aura allowed instincts he didn't know he had to take over, and he was soon petting Cross's skull and nuzzling his neck as he held him in his lap. The small skeleton adored all the attention, and he happily collapsed into any hugs he was given, purring in content.

The lazy days had passed quickly, and Cross had made a full recovery. He now stood confidently, his body rid of all scabs, cracks, and scratches. Gone was the feverish blush that stained his face, occasionally replaced by a light lavender dusting when Nightmare did something thay flustered him, such as when he licked his neck that one time...

Today, Cross waited, buzzing with determined energy but also slight fear of what was to arrise when the next visitor would step through the door. Nightmare, of course, noticed how the smaller bounced excitedly in his lap, and he commented on it with a smile.

"Someone's full of energy." He chuckled.

"Yeah. This is just really cool. I never felt like I made much of an impact back on Earth. I was just a random monster with a dream to see the stars. Here, I actually feel like I'm making a difference, and a positive one at that. Being able to help so many people is amazing." Cross said, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Well, you are our queen now. Never again shall you feel insignificant." Nightmare said, rubbing tender circles into the small skeleton's back, earning his purrs of bliss.

They were interrupted by the faint sound of the door opening, and both turned their heads to look. In the doorway stood a familiar purple eyed Kalamarian, a very uncertain look on his face as he shifted their weight from foot to foot.

"Ah Disgust, right on time. Come in." Nightmare said in Kilian, motioning for the teacher to enter with a wave of his hand.

Disgust complied, though reluctantly, stopping nervously in front of the couple. He stared at their position, both incredulously and curiously, remaining silent.

"I believe Cross is overdue for his next lesson, correct? If that is indeed the case, then I would like you to teach him about the written component of Kilian, and in turn Cross will teach you about sympathy, a new way to interact with those around you." Nightmare said, talking once more to Disgust.

"Ah, yes. I will begin right away..." Disgust said, an unnerved expression on his face.

Much like Amnesia had done, Disgust pulled another cube device from his pocket and tossed in lightly into the air. The cube once again unfolded and a hologram appeared, this time showing 15 different signs.

"These are the characters that make up our language. The characters are split up into three main groups according to the shading, as you can see here." He said, pointing to the three lines with five shapes each as Nightmare acted as a translater again.

Cross nodded, clearly seeing that the shapes in the top line were open, the shapes in the middle line were half shaded in and the shapes in the bottom line were completely shaded in.

"R-right, yes, and each group has five different shapes." Nightmare once again translated the teacher's words.

"Yeah. Each line has a triangle, a square, a pentagon, a hexagon, and a septagon." Cross chirped, Nightmare relaying his words in Kilian.

"T-that is correct... Uh...e-each character has two corresponding vocal sounds. T-the first sound corresponds to the shape, for instance a 'b' sound would be a square. The second sound c-corresponds to the shading, an 'u' sound being an open shape, a-a 'e' sound being a partially shaded shape, and a 'o' sound being a f-fully shaded shape." Disgust stammered, clearly uncomfortable.

"Hey, are you okay? You seem kinda nervous." Cross asked, a bit concerned for the Kalamarian.

"Cross asked if you were okay, and given your current inability to speak properly, I think his question is valid. What is wrong?" Nightmare asked in Kilian, raising a bonebrow at the teacher.

"W-wrong? Um, nothing is wrong. Did I do something wrong? Was I not teaching properly? I-I apologize. I can do better, let me just..." Disgust rambled, wrapping his tentacles around himself subconsciously.

"Hey." Cross said, placing a gently hand on the alien's shoulder.

Disgust looked at him, freezing as he hadn't realized the small skeleton had gotten up.

"It's okay. You're probably nervous, since the first time teaching me didn't go so well, and now you have your leader staring you down. It's okay to be anxious, just take a deep breath and try again. It's okay to make mistakes." Cross said softly, giving the panicked alien a small smile before wrapping his arms around his waist in a hug.

The room was completely silent. No one moved for a while, but then Cross slowly felt Disgust raise his arms up and wrap them around the smaller, returning the hug. Cross looked up to see the purple eyes alien looking back down at him, wanting to speak.

"I...I'm sorry. Until now I've never had a problem teaching anyone. I've always been able to mold juvenials into knowledgeable colony members, but with you... You're special. I tried to force you to do something, and I seriously messed up. When I heard the announcement of you being our new Queen yesterday, I though for sure that I had been summoned here for execution. But you're forgiving me? I'm just...far out of my depth." Disgust confessed.

"That's okay. I'm totally out of my element too. I'm currently walking among a slimy alien race on a foreign planet. You're not alone in that respect. This is pretty confusing for everyone, but we can help each other get through it, together." Cross said with a smile.

"Yeah, okay. That sounds...nice. Thank you, for giving me another chance. I'm really sorry about how I treated you earlier."

"That's the important part. You're sorry, so I have no problem forgiving you. You don't have to worry about your leader either. Considering the fact that he added you to our mind link so we can understand each other, I think you have officially redeemed yourself." Cross said, queing them to both look over at the once again smirking Kalamarian.

"Now, how about we finish the lesson? I'd love to learn how to write in your language."

"Yeah, sounds good." Disgust said, a small smile finding a way onto his face.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

"May I ask what the big deal is?"

"T-the big deal is...is...jdjsjsbdjsbs!" Cross exclaimed, curling into a burning violet ball.

Between meetings, Cross would spend time teaching Nightmare about all things Earth. At this point, Nightmare could be considered an advanced student, and he had begun to experiment with different concepts. Today had been one such occasion when he had been digging around in the information he had gleaned from Cross's mind about the English language. He had come across the idea of nicknames, and after quietly poking around the mindlink, he found that Cross had come up with a nickname for him. Needless to say, Nightmare wasn't one to be left out.

"Come on Crossyyyyy. Don't hide your beautiful face from me." He whined, smirking at the very flustered smol.

"No. Cross isn't here right now. He's in cloak county. Leave a message after the beep. Beeeeep."

"That's a shame. I was really hoping to hear you call me Nighty~." The taller whispered into Cross's non-existent ears.

Cross let out a muffled screech, tackling Nightmare and burying his face into his chest, causing Nightmare to topple onto his back with a suprized exclamation.

Nightmare looked up at Cross in confusion as the smaller glared at him in a mock pout. He grinned, chuckling before leaning up and planting a gentle kiss on the bridge of Cross's non-existent nose. Cross was stunned into silence, his face somehow turning a darker shade of violet. This was the first time he had been kissed. Nightmare just layed there, basking in his victory.

"You're a cheeky ass, aren't you?" Cross said, flopping completely limp onto Nightmare's chest.

"I'm a skeleton. I don't have an ass."

"That's besides the point." Cross said, rolling his head to the side.

"Well I hope your not going to be moody all day." Nightmare chuckled.

"And why do you hope that?"

"Well, for one, it doesn't suit you. You're a bit too cute to be taken seriously. Another reason would be Amnesia is coming over today, and you need to work your magic on him."

"Who's Amnesia?" Cross asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"You'll know him when you see him." Nightmare said, pausing as he got a far-away look in his eye.

"Speaking of the devil, he's here." Nightmare blinked, sitting up so Cross slid off him.

"Whoops." He grinned.

Cross stuck his tongue out at him, though he abandoned his recently gained attitude when Nightmare pulled him into his lap. Cross simply couldn't resist snuggling into the taller. After all the time he had spent with the Kalamarian, any fear he had of him had evaporated. Now, he only saw a caring, admittedly handsome alien who he was glad to have met, despite the original circumstances.

The door once again slid open, and Cross turned his head to see what exactly Nightmare had meant when he said that Cross would 'know him when he saw him'. Upon seeing the Kalamarian who was in the doorway, eyes wide with curiosity, he understood what Nightmare had meant.

It was the albino.

"Fascinating. Simply fascinating." The alien breathed, before shaking his head as if he were shooing away a fly.

"Ah, where are my manners. Greetings Leader. I appologize for the delay, but I was rather caught up in my latest project, and this phase is a rather time sensitive thing. I came as fast as I could, knowing what was at stake. And greetings too, my new Queen. I am greatfull to have the opportunity to have another chance to teach you about our planet's biodiversity. Knowing know that I made a grave error in my previous attempt, I have created a drastically different lesson for today in hopes of perhaps attoning for the wrongs I committed. I have prepared an interactive activity for you, my Queen, that I do think you will enjoy, but of course this all lies on your wishes. What say you?" Amnesia rambled on in Kalamarian, bowing first to Nightmare and then to Cross.

"Uhh... what did he say?" Cross asked, tilting his head up at Nightmare as a look of curiosity took over his features.

"Right, you can't understand me. Nightmare, could you please translate everything I said and inform the Queen?" Amnesia requested.

"He said hi to both of us, and he's sorry that he's late because he was geeking out in his lab for the 476th time. He says he now knows what he did was wrong, he's glad you are okay with him trying to teach you again, and he made a hands on activity for you to try today." Nightmare explained to Cross.

"Did you tell him everything?" Amnesia asked expectantly.

"No."

"But why?"

"Becuase there will be no more room left in Cross's skull for knowledge if you fill it up with your blabbering. I'm not translating a novel every time you open your mouth." Nightmare said, rolling his eye at the eager scientist.

"Alright, I suppose that is a valid point. Regardless, does the queen approve?"

"He wants to know if you are good to go ahead with the lesson." Nightmare asked Cross.

"Yeah. I always liked science, and he was the nicest to me out of the four, so let's give it a shot!" Cross said enthusiastically, ready to change another Kalamarian for the better.

"That's a yes on the lesson." Nightmare confirmed.

"Excellent! Let me go retreive the lesson." Amnesia chirped excitedly as he went back to the door and grabbed something out of the view of Cross and Nightmare.

When the scientist re-enterd the room, he was holding a small cage in his hands. The cage was completely see through, much like the cage that had held the lagarente. Inside, a small creature sat, glancing all around the room.

The creature looked to be the mix of a squirrel and a dragon. It was small, about the size of a small cat. It had the triangular head of a reptile, but the rounded body of a squirrel, and it's long tail was a mix of the two, ending it a tuft. Instead of front limbs, it had bat-like wings with three claws on the main bend acting as the creatures front paws. The creature was covered in soft looking fur that was a pale lavender hue which faded to white on its underbelly and darkened on the tips of its long, rabbit-like ears that stuck out behind its head, and on the edge of its wings and tips of the tail tuft.

Cross eyed the cage warily, his past incidents with alien animals having been not so great, but he had to admit that this creature was just straight up adorable. As if reading his thoughts, which he actually wasn't, Nightmare reassured Cross.

"Don't worry Cross. Unlike lagarentes, wilgons are passive creatures." Nightmare said, nuzzling Cross.

"I don't know what you said, but don't tell the Queen anything about the wilgon. You'll ruin today's lesson.

Now, knowing for experience, sitting and listening to a teacher drone on about a topic can be less than enjoyable. Because of this, instead of me telling you about wilgons, you will be observing this one and taking your own notes based on what you see. I will alter the room to create different situations that will cause the wilgon to behave in certain ways. All you have to do is note down anything of interest, and I will have our world class translator tell me exactly what you have written." Amnesia said, grinning at Nightmare for the last bit as he handed Cross what looked like a techy clipboard and pen.

"Mr. Genius over there said you will be taking notes of the wilgon, and that he will rely on my incredible translating abilities to evaluate the quality of your notes. You can use the stylus to write on the datapad for note taking." Nightmare summarized.

"Okay. Sounds fun." Cross said, taking the stylus our of its holder on the side of the device, causing the screen to turn on automatically.

"Now, without further adeau, let the lesson begin!" The scientist exclaimed, tapping the top of the cage with flair and releasing the wilgon.

The wilgon let out a chirping call, much like a bird, and immediately took to the air, looping around the ceiling. Cross noted down the wilgon's call and it's apparent preference to staying airborne, perhaphs in the presence of strangers.

Cross also took the time to observe it and write all he could about its appearance, particularly how fluffy and 'petable' it appeared to be. The small skeleton even supplemented his notes with a few sketches of the wilgon, managing to get a few drawings of it flying and even one of the creature when it landed on the wall, clinging to it and scrabbling around despite the smooth surface in a very squirrel-like fashion. He also noted that down.

"Now that you have had the time to gather some preliminary data, I will initiate a series of tests, each of which will focus on clarifying one or two aspects to do with the wilgon. It's your job to figure out what each test is looking for and then note it down." Amnesia said, allowing Nightmare to translate his words before he pressed a hidden button in the wall.

The room once more began to change, expanding in size. Not only that, but the pieces of wall making up the corners pulled away, and were replaced by what Cross thought looked like very small samples of different environments. One corner was occupied by a pool of water that was a light green hue. Cross walked closer and found it smelled strongly of metal. Perhaphs it was what the oceans of the planet looked like?

The next corner was all too familiar, resembling a piece of the murky marsh, complete with a small bubbling pit. The third corner was taken up mostly by twisted trees, crawling vines, and ratty weeds. An ode to the dark forest. The last corner was covered in lavender grass, much like the grass that had grown in patches on the marsh. In the middle of the corner grew what looked like a exotic apple tree; the tree having shiny black bark and its crown had a chimera complexion. One side of the tree had lighter green leaves and yellowish, apple shaped berries, while the other side had darker green leaves and apple-like berries of a very dark purple, almost black hue.

The wilgon, after completing a few arial circles to inspect the new aspects of the room, banked to the left and landed gracefully in a bow of the exotic apple tree. Cross immediately took note of this, including his observations about the micro habitat and how the wilgon interacted with it. Meanwhile, the wilgon sang a lilting song and then scratched an x-shaped marking in the bark before properly settling down.

'Huh, that was a pretty decisive action. It looked like the wilgon was marking its territory. Strange way to go about it. I better make a note of that..." Cross thought, scribbling away on the pad.

"He's doing really well. He also seems to be enjoying himself." Nightmare said, smiling a bit as he watched the excited smol wrote non stop as he followed the agile wilgon around.

The warm, fuzzy feeling that he had gotten ever since he first hugged Cross, ever since he started getting it right, had yet to leave, but he wasn't in any rush. Though strange and different at times, it made life more enjoyable, and it opened him up to being able to appreciate seemingly smile and useless interactions such as this.

"Indeed. The Queen is making strides. Let's see how he handles the next test." The scientist replied back in Kilian, pressing another hidden button.

The corners once again separated from the rest of the wall and sunk in. This time, they were replaced by four different pedestals. Each pedestal was three feet tall and four inches in diameter.

The pedestals remained still until the faint hissing of air could be heard. Then, the hatches on the top of each pedestal opened, and out popped a different item, the hatches closing underneath them. One pedestal held a piece of meat. Another a few dead insects. The third held one of the blackish apple berries, and the fourth had a collection of different leaves.

The wilgon let out a high pitch squawk before diving and snatching up the fruit, flaring its wings so it could land on the pedestal and nibble on the berry. The rest of the food was retracted back into the pedestals while the wilgon finished up its snack. Cross added to his notes.

The hissing noise sounded again, causing the wilgon to take to the air, and more food arrived. This time, each pedestal held a different fruit, though one still held a black apple berry. Like before, the wilgon made short work of the berry, and the rest of the food was recovered.

The pedestals hissed for a third time, and four apple berries popped out. Three of them were golden yellow in color, but like in the other trials, one pillar still held a black berry. The wilgon stayed faithful, snatching up the berry without batting an eye at the other three treats.

At this point, Cross was more than sure that the wilgon's diet consisted of only blackish apple berries, and that this test had been designed to prove this to be the truth.

"He has done very well. Only one more test to go." The scientist exclaimed in excited anticipation, feeling that a breakthrough was close at hand.

Pressing yet another hidden button, the corners of the room returned back to their original blank style. This time, the scientist extracted a small sphere out of his pocket and tossed it into the center of the room. The ball stopped its decent and hovered around four feet from the ground, remaining stationary. Cross just stood there, unsure of what was supposed to happen next.

"Tierraboar." Amnesia spoke out loud after a moment of silence.

A light on the small sphere blinked three tines before the very air seemed to fiz around it as a form was built from nothing. In naught but a second, the shape of a massive pig creature with mammoth tusks stood in the center of the room, snorting angrily and digging its hooves at the floor.

The wilgon let out a piercing whistle, which Cross noted down was probably a warning, and then immediately dived to the nearest wall. It landed, planting all four feet on the smooth surface, before its fur seemed to ripple like water and it vanished.

"Woah!" Cross exclaimed, definitely not expecting that.

"Dispell." Amnesia said, causing the monster pig to fade, leaving only the small floating sphere behind.

Upon seeing the creature disappear, the wilgon materialized in the same position it had been when it disappeared, glancing warily at where the monster had stood.

'Amazing. The wilgon can camoflague itself just like a chameleon, but even better. Even if it can't fly, it still has a good shot at evading predators my blending in to its surroundings.' Cross thought to himself, scribbling furiously on the pad.

Once Cross had finished writing and the wilgon had seemingly calmed down from the ordeal, Amnesia gave the orb another command, one that would be all too familiar to Cross.

"Lagarente."

Just like before, the creature materialized out of thin air, letting forth a loud hiss and shaking its tail. Cross took a step back, not completely convinced that he was in no danger. He would much rather not see one of these creatures again.

The wilgon seemed to have other ideas though. Upon seeing the swamp dwelling reptile, it let out a fearsome battle screech, pressing its wings to the sides of its body and falling into a dive. Right before it came within range of the lagarente's mouth or claws, it snapped its wings open, assuming a vertical position. The wilgon lashed its tufted tail foreward, and a small fleet of sharp spines shot out of the fluff. The small projectiles flew through the hologram, as it didn't actually have any substance, and hit the orb, causing the projection to flicker and disappear. The wilgon let out a victorious whistle before pulling of some rather showy arial moves in excitement.

That concludes the test. Now, for the moment of truth I need the Queen's notes. Let us see if this all went according to plan, hmm?" Amnesia asked.

"That's it Cross. You did well. Amnesia just needs to check your notes, and we'll see if this was successful or not." Nightmare said, walking over the Cross with a smile, reaching out for Cross's data pad.

Cross handed over the pad, placing it in Nightmare's outstretched hand. Nightmare placed a light kiss on the smol's cheek in response, as if they had arranged to trade the notes for a kiss. He smirked as he once again saw Cross's signature lavender blush spread across his cheeks, his mismatched pupils sparkling with affection.

Nightmare reflected Cross's emotion with a brief purr of happiness before he turned and handed over the notes to the now rather impatient scientist.

Cross waited at the other end of the room, watching the wilgon swoop around with a chirp here and there out of the corner of his socket. His main attention was focused on the two Kalamarians who were muttering to each other while pointing at the data pad here and there.

Cross didn't know what standards Amnesia had for notes. He had included as many details as he could think of, and he was pretty sure his sketches were okay, but was he supposed to have written down the notes in a certain way? Cross knew some teachers were rather picky about how their students wrote their notes. He remembered being in Alter's life science class back at home. Alter was one of the nicest teachers he had the pleasure of being taught under, always encouraging his students and making classes fun and enjoyable. But so help any unfortunate scholar who turned in notes not written using the graphic organizer. Cross could still vividly remeber that time Swapfell took a walk through the greenhouse that kept carnivorous plants. Though he had never seen it, Cross was sure that the massive pitcher plant near the back had movable tendrils. Otherwise he still had no idea how Swapfell managed to get trapped inside on of the massive pitchers, half submerged in acidic fluid.

"Cross, come here please." Nightmare called, snapping the skeleton out of his flashback.

He obediently walked over to the two aliens, who were now looking up at him. His demeanor was slightly nervous, and he fingered the fluffy trimming of his cloak, waiting for the results of the experiment.

"Cross, after reviewing the notes, we decided they weren't good."

Cross's soul sunk. He'd messed up again. He looked down at his boots, ready to be reprimanded for his failure.

Something touched his jaw and he saw one of Amnesia's tentacles had snaked foreward. The scientist gently tilted his head up so that Cross was staring into Amnesia's ruby red eye.

"They aren't good, they are fantastic. You passed the test with flying colors." Amnesia said in prefect English.

I grin spread across Cross's face, dispelling the nervousness. With a laugh, he jumped foreward, hugging Amnesia and burrying his face into the scientists white coat. Amnesia hugged back, using all four tentacles along with his arms to secure Cross in a pleasantly tight, warm hug. Cross looked up, still smiling to see Amnesia looking down at him with a fond look.

"Simply incredible. So this is what Nightmare was talking about when he said you possessed a special gift. This feeling, this internal warmth, the desire to share that warm fuzzy feeling with others. That's sympathy, and you have shared it with me. Even after I poisoned you, even after I hurt you in an especially awful way, you still found the resolve to change me for the better and give me another chance. I can say naught but thank you, my Queen. I am forever in your debt."

"I also must thank you Amnesia. Even though you did hurt me, you were the nicest to me out of a the others. You encouraged me, tried to help me, even though that went against the unspoken code of your people. Today, you came back and created a fun learning experience for me. So thank you, for keeping an open mind." Cross responded.

"You truly are amazing." Amnesia uttered, a familiar purring noise emanating from his chest.

Cross hummed in appreciation, enjoying the warmth and praise being showered apon him. The hug lasted for a little longer before Amnesia unwrapped his tentacles from the smaller, smiling down at him.

"Well, there is only one thing left to do. While wilgons cannot be trained, they have decided to live along side our kind in harmony. They cannot be ordered around, but if you offer them a treat, they will greet you properly. Take this berry in your right hand and keep you palm flat, and then hold up your left arm like you are shielding yourself from an attack. When the wilgon comes, offer it the berry." Amnesia instructed, placing a black apple berry in Cross's open palm.

Doing as he was told, Cross turned his attention to the wilgon, which was once again flying circles near the ceiling. The wilgon cocked its head, spying the treat in Cross's hand. It chirped, altering its course and gliding down to Cross. Fanning its wings, the wilgon gripped onto Cross forearm with its hind claws and then settled itself.

Cross offered the wilgon the apple berry, and after inspecting the fruit with its orange, snake like eyes, the creature snaked its neck foreward and snatched up the berry, chewing on it with a look of content. Cross cautiously reached out, wanting to feel the wilgon's soft fur. He gently touched the creature's shoulder, holding still for a moment to see what the creature would do, but the wilgon seemed to pay no heed to the skeleton's touch as it ate.

Cross began to slowly stroke the creature, loving the feeling of its soft fur, which was not unlike that of a chinchilla. He moved on to the creature's neck once it had finished eating, smiling as the wilgon began to purr. Cross scratched under the wilgon's jaw, the wilgon, lifting its head up to allow him better access.

After a few minutes full to the brim with petting and purring, Cross pulled his hand away. The wilgon opened its eyes, letting out a happy chirp before leaning over and nuzzling Cross's forehead, earning a giggle from the small skeleton. The wilgon gave one more chirp before it took off, quickly spotting the apple berry Amnesia had placed atop the folded up cage. The wilgon landed to eat the fruit, and the cage unfolded around it, securing the creature once more. Amnesia picked up the cage and turned to Cross.

"Well, I must release this little guy back outside, and my experiments aren't going to conduct themselves. I dare say meeting you changed my life, but all good things must come to an end. It was an honor meeting you, my liege." Amnesia said, bowing low before exiting the room, wilgon in hand and grin on face.

Both me and Nightmare stayed silent for a minute, staring at the door where the strange but interesting individual had made his exit.

"What's the bet he's going to go nerd off to his science friends about this?" I asked Nightmare.

"Oh there's no doubt about it."

+×Temskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"But I don't wanna. He was the worst."

"I know. Believe me, I'm not all that fond of the idea, but if we can change his mind, then I'm sure the rest of the colony can follow suit."

"But I'm too young to be skewered alive!"

"I'll be by your side, ready to protect you just in case anything happens."

"I still don't like it."

"I know, but you are the only one who can do this."

Nightmare and Cross had been discussing today's meeting back and forth for a good hour now. Cross still had his soul set on helping the colony, but the particular Kalamarian he was supposed to meet today was someone he would rather not meet again. The one alien he wasn't sure he could work his magic on. The one alien that honestly had it out for him from the start.

Venom.

Very soon, the intimidating, orange eyed Defense Captain would show up at the door. According to Nightmare, Venom had begrudgingly agreed to give Cross another chance, and today he would be teaching the small skeleton self defense.

"I'm gonna dieeeee." Cross whined, curling up into a ball.

"Oh c'mon, he's not that scary." Nightmare said, regarding the mostly purple ball before him.

"Are you kidding? He looks like Satan and a giant octopus had a child, which was then dropped into the pits of Tartarus, and then crawled out like a burnt marshmallow fleeing a campfire and used the power of sheer anger alone to arrive here. Just you wait, he's going to behead me, use my skull as a bowl for his soup, play Despacito on my ribs like a xylophone, make macaroni art of me being brutally dismembered but using my fingers and toes instead of pasta, use my legs and arms like boomerangs to level an entire city, put my ankles on display so someone will probably steal them, and then feed my soul to those hellspawn acid spitting lizard things."

"Though I have no clue what half of the things you said were, in sure it won't be that bad. Besides, he would be banished if he even layed a finger on you wrongly. Now come on, where's that resolve you had earlier?" Nightmare asked, picking up the purple ball and cradling it.

"Probably being choked to death by anxiety." Cross mumbled.

"Well regardless of what wild speculations you have, he's still coming today, and I don't think being all anxious will help your case any. Remeber, I'll always be beside you, as will others soon. You aren't alone any more." Nightmare said, rubbing Cross's back reassuringly.

Cross buried his face into the taller's chest, relaxing in his warm embrace as he calmed down.

"You okay now?"

"Yeah, I think I'm ready."

+×Timeskip×+

'Not ready not ready so not ready.' Cross though as be looked up at the tall Kalamarian who was glaring down at him.

Cross felt like an egg in a frying pan, Venom's gaze threatening to char him until he was nothing more than a small blackened mass.

"I thought you said the subject's condition had improved. It still looks just as pathetic as it did the first day I saw it." Venom growled, turning his attention to Nightmare.

"That is not the way you should a dress your queen, Venom. Now, I believe you had a lesson planned for today?" Nightmare shot back coldly.

Venom's eyes narrowed at the word queen, but he didn't say anything on the matter.

"That is correct, however teaching someone to fight is very tricky business, as you know. I know that you established a mind like with the subject-"

"Cross."

"-with Cross in order to understand him. I was hoping you would be able to add me to the link so I could better teach, since Cross doesn't seem to be all that great at learning by example." He said, practically spitting out Cross's name.

"While I was hoping to have you bond with Cross before I allowed you access to his language, you do make a point, and I would like this to go smoothly, so I will grant your request." Nightmare said, closing his eye for a second.

Venom's gaze became unfocused, and he stared out into space for a few moments before blinking rapidly and turning his attention back to Cross. A grin spread across his face.

"Good, I was hoping you would be able to understand me for our lesson. After all...

I wAnT tO hEaR yOu BeG fOr MeRcY aS i TeAr YoU aPaRt."

Before anyone could react, Venom collapsed into a puddle of goop on the floor. A tentacle shot out of the slime and wrapped around Cross's waist before it yanked him down into the goop. The last thing Cross heard before his head went under was Nightmare yelling his name.

The darkness that surrounded Cross beared down on him, squeezing and choking him as he was dragged down deeper and deeper. Cross tried to scream, but no sound came out, and instead slime poured into his mouth, choking him. He felt like he was being pulled apart and smashed together at the same time.

Just when Cross thought he was going to be crushed, the darkness expanded, releasing him and sliding off of him and onto the ground. Cross fell on his knees, coughing up slime as he fought the urge to throw up.

When his head finally stopped swimming, Cross noticed that he was standing on unfamiliar ground. Beneath him was some kind of cracked stone, charcoal gray in color. Looking up, he gasped apon seeing the towering walls of an ancient style arena. The entire thing was built of the same charcoal stone that shone dully in the light of the three suns. The pit was large and oval shaped, just like the colosseum in Rome, and it was ringed by a fifteen foot wall. Above the wall, set back a few feet, were rows and rows of stands that sloped upwards to the top. Garnishing the top edge of the stadium walls were four massive obelisks on the places where the wall began to curve. The stone was carved and chiseled, depicting great battles and wars that had sparked throughout history. It was breathtakingly sinister.

Cross stood shakily, looking back down to see the black mass infront of him start to slide away. The puddle darted across the floor of the stadium to the opposite side before it pooled together, reforming into the grinning shape of Venom.

"Finally, I get to correct the error made all those days ago. To let something so weak, so useless, so disgusting stain Orean and it's great race is a crime, and I will not have it continue any longer. From the moment I layed eye on you, I knew you were nothing but a parasite, a wretch that needed to be put out of its misery. But our great and powerful leader saw differently. He decided you were special, and that you could help us. What a fool, entrusting anything to such a mistake.

When I heard the news that you had become the new queen, I couldn't fathom how disgusted I was. You infected the leader with your weakness, and now you have also done the same with Scab, Disgust, and Amnesia. All of them, corrupted, poisoned by your very hand.

Well no longer. I will right the wrong that has been made and purify this race once more by shattering your soul myself. I call upon the third law made in the Pact of the Blood Moons, which gives me the right to challenge the leaders of the colony for control if they have become corrupted. No one will be able to stop me from crushing your skull, not even the Leader, and soon he too shall fall. I'm mere moments, all of Oreon shall bow to me!" Venom cried, raising his arm in the air and laughing maniacally.

After the echoes of his twisted laughter faded away, the Kalamarian fixed his gaze on Cross once more, his eye filled with the desire to kill.

"Now, prepare yourself for death." He said with a sinister grin, and thus the battle began.

Venom raised a tentacle and stabbed it into the ground. Black spiked arose from where the ground had been pierced, shooting up in a line that was quickly approaching Cross. Thinking quickly, he jumped to the side, the large spikes narrowly missing him.

"Please, we don't have to fight!" Cross yelled at Venom, having no desire to fight him.

"Don't waste your breath. The only thing I want to hear are you screams." Venom hissed, melting into the ground.

Cross looked around wildly, hoping to catch a glimpse of inky black before the Kalamrian could get the jump on him. Subtle movement to his right caused Cross to turn and look at the pit wall. A black substance oozed onto the vertical surface. Cross remembered how Venom used a tentacle to strike the lagarente when they had first met, and he jumped away just in time as a sharpened tentacle shot out of the wall. Cross ran beside the wall, hoping to escape Venom, but the slime quickly slid across the smooth stone and shot three slimy spikes outwards. Cross narrowly dodged them, jumping backwards. Unfortunately, he stumbled, and the extra second be took to correct his landing gave Venom enough time to slide back and lash a tentacle at the small skeleton, sending him flying into the middle of the arena with a yell.

He landed on his side, smacking his skull on the cold stone as he slid back. His head throbbed and he was pretty sure a couple of his ribs had been cracked, but Cross gritted his teeth and stood. He looked around the arena, but Venom had once again vanished from sight.

"How amusing it is, watching you scurry around in fear. Even when your life is in danger, you still cannot resist me. Your efforts to escape are futile! I'll toy with you until you finally see what this world really is, how those who are weak cannot have any hope of survival, and then I will snuff you out as easily as one would extinguish a small flame." The aliens voice echoed around the arena.

"It's not like that! Fighting isn't all the world is! There's more to life than a constant struggle. Living in peace and showing kindness is not a weakness! Just let me show you!" Cross yelled, trying to spot the hidden Kalamarian.

"No, let me show you..." Venom's voice echoed again.

Silence replaced the reverberating words. Fearing another attack, Cross backed up until he was directly in the middle of the arena. He brought his arms up, ready to defend himself against another suprize attack. He focused on his hearing and sight, trying to predict Venom's next move. Where would he appear next?

"...exactly what kindness gets you!" A voice said behind Cross.

He whirled around, barely managing to shield himself with his right arm before Venom, who had raised his arm above his head, swiped downwards, slashing deeply into Cross's arm with his sharpened fingers of bone.

Cross screamed in pain as purple blood gushed from the four deep gashes carved into his forearm. He stumbled backwards, clutching his arm, tears in his eyes.

"Why don't you beg again?"

Cross looked up just in time to see a tentacle whip foreward, smacking him back. He flew several feet with a vey before landing shakily on his feet, nearly falling to the ground. Venom kept advancing.

"Did you really think you could persuade me?"

Another tentacle slammed into Cross, sending him back further. He landed on his back as Venom continued to advance.

"How delusional." He hissed darkly, grabbing hold of the front of Cross's cloak as he tried to stand, yanking him up.

Venom wound up before punching Cross in the gut. The small skeleton coughed up blood, crumpling to the ground as Venom released his hold.

The alien regarded the trembling skeleton before him, before his face split into a grin and he wrapped a tentacle around his neck, lifting him into the air. Cross struggled, clawing at the thick slimy appendage that slowly began to tighten its hold.

"And so it comes to and end. The most pathetic monarch in our history shall be disposed of. To this moment, I have no idea what our leader saw in you. I only see a failed species. The thought of more of you coming here and polluting our planet like the parasites you are is simply disgusting. That was your plan all along, right? To corrupt our society, make us weak, so that when more of you show up we would be powerless to stop your takeover. Well, I will make sure this world remains strong. You will die, and if any others dare to set foot on Oreon, they will die. What say you? How do you feel, knowing the fate that meets your race?" Venom growled, looking Cross straight in the eyes.

Finally, the truth came forth. Venom hated Cross because he thought Cross was trying to weaken the Kalamarian race for future invasion. He thought Cross was pretending to help in order to infiltrate the Kalamarians so he could gain power over them. Now, he was seconds away from killing Cross and sealing the promise that would instigate a galactic war. Everything would come crashing down.

He had to do something. He was filled with determination.

Ignoring the pain in his back, the cracks in his ribs, the blood seeping onto the ground, and his fear of the one who held his life in his hands, Cross spoke.

"I understand now, why you hate me, and you cause is noble, but you are wrong. Your people hurt me, frightened me, scarred me, but I wish no harm upon them or upon you. You are wrong. I know that my words mean nothing to you, and that I have nothing else to prove my intentions, but I also know that it's not about proving anymore. No matter what, I cannot let you enact your plan. The consequences would be catastrophic for both of our worlds. You have to be stopped, and if defeating you in battle is the only way to get you to yield, well then..." Cross tapered off, closing his eyes are raising his right arm.

"So be it."

Cross's eyes snapped open, both eye lights burning crimson red. With a flicker of magic, a large blood red knife appeared in Cross's right palm. Gripping it tightly, he raised his arm and slashed down, slicing through Venom's tentacle like butter.

The Kalamarian let out a screech of anger as Cross freed himself, dropping to the ground in a messy crouch. The severed tentacle splatted on the ground, melting into a still puddle of goop. Cross looked up as Venom hissed, retracting the damaged tentacle and looking down at the flat stump. The end wiggled, and before their eyes a new tip grew back, the tentacle regenerating completely.

"You'll pay for that." Venom growled, glaring at Cross in hatred.

The roared, lashing out two tentacles simulatanously. Cross dodged to the side, avoiding one tentacle and he brought his knife down on the other. Venom yelled in anger, jerking back the damaged tentacle. Cross took the opportunity and dashed foreward, aiming to knock the Kalamarian down. Cross didn't want to kill Venom, but incapacitating him was really his only option if he wanted to live. He had to alter his course, jumping away as another tentacle slammed into he ground a hairs width away.

Cross dashed around, charging again in another attempt to catch Venom off guard. He launched forward, slicing in half a tentacle that Venom speared at him. His momentum was stopped once again as two more tentacles shot towards him. Cross sidestepped one but had to put up a bone shield to avoid being speared by the other one. He teleported a few feet back, avoiding the flying splinters of bone from the shattered defense.

This wasn't working. Cross couldn't keep this up for much longer. He needed to defeat Venom in the next minute or so, but every time he saw an opening, it was swiftly blocked by the Kalamarian's tentacles. He would need to take out all four of them at once and then quickly strike Venom before the tentacles regenerated. It would have to be an all out attack, and with what energy he had left, it would be his last. No room for error.

'Well, now or never." Cross thought, taking a deep breath as he looked at the writhing mess of slime and tentacles.

He pushed off the ground, charging straight at Venom, and everything seemed to slow down. Venom roared in challenge, lashing all four of his tentacles at Cross, their aim true. Just as the two were about to clash, Cross lept into the air, narrowly dodging the first tentacle, which thunked deep into the stone. He summoned two blasters in mid air, firing them at the two higher tentacles to burn them away. Using his free hand, Cross summoned three bones, spearing the last tentacle and taking it out of the picture.

Time sped back up to normal as Cross barreled into the suprized Venom, using the flat of his knife to whack his backwards and into the ground. Venom went to pick himself up, but as he sat up, he was met with the point of Cross's knife. The Kalamarian froze, his eye switching between the weapon poised to strike his neck and the two blood red eye lights of the figure standing over him. The fire in his eye died slightly as he realized that he had lost, and would now have to face the consequences.

"Well, you defeated me. I guess that's it then. I won't be in your way any longer. The penalty for a failed Blood Moon Challenge is death, so just get it over with. Then you'll be free to go on with your life..." Venom said, closing his eye and awaiting the stab of Cross's life.

Cross raised his arm...

And the clatter of metal hitting stone echoed around the silent arena.

"No." Cross refused.

"What?" Venom said, opening his eye in confusion.

"I said no. I'm not going to kill you Venom."

"You have stripped me of everything! My life, my cause, even my dignity has been cast aside. It was over the moment you pointed your weapon at my neck. The least you can do is let me die with what little I have left. What more do you want from me!?" Venom exclaimed in anger.

"I want to help you." Cross said, offering a hand to the Kalamarian.

Venom froze, his humiliated and angry expression being replaced by suprize and utter confusion. He looked at the outstretched hand like it was a foreign gesture, making no move to grab it.

"Is this some kind of joke. One last opportunity to kick me while I'm down?" Venom asked, though with more confusion that anger.

"No, quite the opposite. The first time meeting the four aliens was scary and very unpleasant, but one such meeting stood out. When I first met you, I immediately feared you. You looked scary and hostile, and that day's events just reaffirmed my suspicions. Out of all the other Kalamarians, you were the one I wanted to avoid the most.

After Nightmare got through to me, and we slowly started to understand each other, things got better. Nightmare explained that the others didn't know any better, and what I had seen as cruelty, they had seen as progress. We found that we weren't all that different, and both sides had been confused. The others did what they thought was right. They didn't mean me harm.

Knowing this, I took it upon myself to help the other Kalamarians understand. Even though I was scared, I met with each one, and together we worked through the previous fiasco and learned from one another. I was really happy about this since I got to make a positive difference. However, joy and feeling of accomplishment I felt was marred by the thought of trying to meet with you again.

I was afraid. I thought you weren't like the others. I thought you pit me against that crazy creature becuase you wanted to. I thought you enjoyed my pain.

But I was wrong.

Now I understand. You were just doing your job. You wanted to protect your people from all threats that might befall them, and I was understandable a threat. You simply dealt with me like you would any threat, and that attitude paired with the general customs of the Kalamarian race made it seem like you had it out for me for no reason. You aren't malicious, you are noble, and you were just defending your home and your people like you had been trained to do.

I'm sorry for not understanding sooner, and for putting you through this, but I want to make it up to you. I want to prove to you that I truly mean no harm to your kind, and that I only wish to help." Cross said, smiling, his eyes back to their normal heterocromatic appearance.

"I...don't understand. I can't understand. Why would you want to risk your life, nearly meeting your death, to help me? I hurt you. I wanted to kill you, and I nearly succeeded. If what you say is true, then I did the exact opposite of protecting my people. My actions were criminal. I am a threat to the one thing that can change our people for the better. You have everything to gain from killing me, and no Kalamarian would have hesitated to do so. So why?" Venom said, looking up at Cross, his the anger in his expression having dissipated.

"Because I realize now that you aren't a bad person, Venom, and you deserve a second chance. Will you allow me to give you that?"

Venom looked at Cross's hand again, seeming to contemplate what was happening.

"I see now what Nightmare saw in you. I cannot name the quality you posses, but I can feel how it shines within you. Yes, I accept your proposal. I am beyond honored, my Queen." Venom said, a tiny smile making its way onto his face as he gripped Cross's hand.

With a grunt, Cross pulled Venom to his feet, giving him a smile. Venom returned the smile before looking up and surveying the mess of the arena.

"I did not see it before in my rage, but I really made quite a mess. The Leader won't be pleased with me. It would probably be best for the both of us if we returned as soon as possible."

"Yeah..." Cross said, also looking up at the cracked stone and slimy ground.

Suddenly, a sharp jolt of pain shot through Cross, causing him to double over and clutch what would be his stomach. He coughed to the side, a splatter of purple blood and magic landing on the ground.

"You're injured! Right, how could I forget. You need to get to Scab immediately. Can you walk?" Venom asked, supporting Cross with a tentacle as his stance faltered.

Cross shook his head no, coughing up more blood and magic. Venom growled, this time in worry and concern for the smaller. Weighing his options, Venom suddenly scooped Cross up, cradling him bridal style is his arms. Cross gasped in pain, whimpering as his ribs were jostled.

"W-what are you doing?" Cross asked, a wave of dizziness hit him.

"Beginning to atone for the mistakes I've made. I'll get you to Scab." Venom said, looking down at Cross with a spark of resolve in his eye.

Venom began to run, making it to the edge of the arena pit before he lashed out two tentacles, snaring the bleachers above. Jumping, he used the tentacles to pull himself up and over the wall, before he took off again. Running through a stone exit tunnel, he made it to the outside of the arena, stopping momentarily to gauge where he would run two. Then he ran again.

Cross shivered as waves of pain constantly washed over him from the movement. He leaned against Venom's chest, shutting his eyes as the world around him became blurred and blotched. Breathing became more painful and difficult, all rythmn slipping away. Despite the pain, he smiled. He had done it. He had helped someone who he considered unhelpable not too long ago. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the Kalamarian race was also helped.

He opened his eyes, looking out at the grassy plain Venom was crossing. He looked up to see the determined face of an enemy turned friend. Venom looked down, saying something to Cross. Cross didn't hear him, his eyes fluttering closed. He let out a quiet sigh as he relaxed, giving in to the fatigue that pulled at his body.

That's when Venom felt Cross go limp in his arms.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

"Nighty."

"Yes?"

"You know you don't have to do all this."

"I know."

"I'm fine now, honest."

"I know."

"I'm not a baby who constantly needs to be looked after."

"I know my Queen, but you cannot deny how much you're enjoying this."

"... No, I can't." Cross purred, somehow managing to sink even deeper into Nightmare's lap.

Cross's cell was currently both a busy and a very lazy place. It was occupied by Cross, Nightmare, Scab, Disgust, Amnesia and Venom. Everyone was sitting together peacefully, enjoying one another's company like old friends. They had all agreed that after the crazy events of recent past, it was necessary to take a break to relax and soak in all the new developments. Everyone, bar Cross, had mutually agreed on the activity they were to enjoy together to relax. It had been decided that they would all head back to Cross's room, as it was the safest place for the smol, to partake in their relaxation. Now what would this aforementioned activity happen to be?

Simple: pampering Cross.

The small white skeleton was flopped on his belly in Nightmare's lap, and the rest of the Kalamarians had formed a loose semicircle around their queen. Nightmare was gently petting and rubbing Cross's skull, jaw, and neck, grinning at the smol's purring when he rubbed under his jaw. Scab sat roughly behind Cross, his tentacles extended from out behind him. The appendages were slipped under Cross's cloak and shirt, busily massaging his shoulderblades, spine and ribs. Roughly in front of Cross sat Amnesia, who was holding a cup of ice cold water in one of his pure white tentacles while he looked through a small back pack. The alien would occasionally bring the cup to Cross's mouth, allowing the small skeleton to sip up some of the contents. To Amnesia's left sat Venom, who was slowly feeding Cross small bite sized morsals. Lastly, sitting in between Venom and Scab was Disgust, who was emanating deep, relaxing hums as he read through Cross's diary. As for Cross himself, he was in complete and utter bliss. Full on half asleep, non stop purring, 'have I died and gone to heaven?' bliss.

Any rational person would have looked at the scene and thought of it to be very one sided, but in all reality everyone was enjoying themselves. The Kalamarians, being a diligent race, were happy to occupy themselves with small more enjoyable tasks as a form of relaxation.

Nightmare loved to have his queen with him, and the soft noises of pleasure coming from him was music to his ears. While massaging Cross, Scab got the opportunity to examine and experiment with Cross's body. Alien physiology fascinated the medic, and he was enjoying to opportunity to lightly poke and prod the smol to see how he ticked.

Amnesia was more than happy to hold a drink in exchange for the opportunity to go through the bag Cross had brought with him, which is what he was currently doing. The excited scientist would occasionally ask Cross about one of the objects in the bag, and would let fourth an excited chirp upon hearing the half-asleep response. Needless to say, the collapsible data pad Amnesia always kept with him was getting a work out.

Funnily enough, it turns out that there was a completely different side to Venom that had been partially nurtured by his profession. Venom, being analytical and experimentary, had always fancied the idea of cooking. Unfortunately, his full time job got in the way of that, as invading swamp creature didn't care what the Kalamarians were doing at the time. Now that he was taking his first break ever, he had the opportunity to create some savory appetizers to feed to Cross. He had even managed to use ingredients that were completely safe for the small skeleton to eat.

Disgusts peaceful humming was actually a sign of his content. He was currently leafing through Cross's diary, getting first hand understanding of proper alien ettaquet. No longer being in the dark about social dos and don'ts was a huge relief to him.

Everyone was happy. Everything had turned out pretty okay in the end, but much had happened in recent times to bring about such a conclusion, and the past few days had been quite eventful to say the least.

It certainly didn't start out smoothly. After Cross had passed out from blood loss, Venom had full on sprinted all the way to Scab's medical facility. Thankfully, Scab had been there, and he had immediately taken Cross into the operation room for emergency treatment.

He had broken four ribs, and the entire right side if the rib cage was full of cracks. His sternum had nearly been shattered from the punch Venom dealt him, and he had a spider web crack on the left side of his face from when he was thrown in the center if the arena. On top of that, there were four deep gashes in his left arm from Venom's claws.

Apparently, some fragments from his damaged ribs had pierced his soul some time during the fight, which was the reason Cross had coughed up blood and passed out. When his adrenaline faded from the second half of the fight, his body was finally able to register that there was something seriously wrong, and that's when his condition had taken a nose dive.

Thankfully, Scab managed to stabilize the Queen, using a special type of calcium rich glue to fuse the bone fragments back together. Cross's soul had been placed in a special container that fed it a steady flow of latent energy, allowing the soul to patch itself up without spending energy healing the body. Several pastes, two hours, and lots of applied slime later, Cross was in significantly better condition.

Scab had immediately notified Nightmare of Cross's condition. The Leader had sent a message through the small link to notify that the Queen had gone missing, but Scab didn't know Venom was responsible for Cross's condition. Nightmare, on the other hand, was all to aware, and when he arrived at the medical building and saw Venom standing there, he nearly killed the Defense Captain. It was only due to the fact that Nightmare was still plugged in to the mindlink and the fact that Venom didn't fight back or doing anything he normally would have done in response to Nightmare grabbing him with all four of his tentacles and slamming him into the nearest wall. Venom managed to convince him to check Cross's side of the mind link, and though much less active than normal, Nightmare admittedly could tell that Cross wouldn't want the read eyed Kalamarian to be disposed of.

It had taken a while, but between a discussion soon after Cross woke up and many genuine apologies from Venom, he had been pardoned from his wrong doing. Nightmare did actually respect the Captain's motives for doing what he did, so he was more understanding in the end.

A second visit to the emergency room did raise another question though, which tied in to a discussion that had been a long time coming. What was to happen next.

It had been decided that Oreon was unfit for Cross's long term residence, and the safety of the Queen was a paramount concern for the colony. On top of that, the trial run for alien interactions hadn't been great, so it was obvious that a different course of action had to be taken in light of the possibility of more of Cross's kin making their way to the Kepler planet.

Already, advancements had been made. At this point, the entire population of the capital nest had been introduced to the concept of sympathy. Now, a new line of jobs had opened up to keep this change going. New "sympathizers" had been sent out all over the planet to convert the rest of the population. Soon, the entire planet would know what a hug was.

The rate of change was extraordinary, and it was estimated that it would only take a decade at most for the entire colony to adopt this new ideal. However, that was still too much time when concerning the here and now, and it had been agreed that the Kalamarians were simply not prepared to host any more aliens on Orean. However, as soon as Cross had taken his first step on alien soil, new events had been set in motion. It was certain that new attempts at intergalactic exploration on such a scale would occur again in the near future. Despite the initial treatment, Cross's mission had been a success in one aspect, and with something as captivating as the promise of extraterrestrial life, the public's curiosity would overrule their fear. It would only be a matter of time before more took to the stars.

Though the question about what course of action should be taken had taken most of the day to answer (hence why five of the colony's busiest Kalamarian elites were taking their first ever break), they had come to a consensus.

If they couldn't have people meeting them on Orean, they would just have to beat them to the punch. They would have to go to Earth.

"Leader, all preparations have been made. The mission is ready to be undertaken." A magenta eyed Kalamarian said, appearing in the now open doorway and bowing in respect to those inside the cell.

"Thank you. You are dismissed." Nightmare said, the messenger nodding in acknowledgement before they collapsed into a puddle of goop and promptly vanished.

Nightmare turned to his loyal followers, regarding them each in turn.

"Well, it appears the time is apon us. Very soon the first ever starship shall shoot forth from the surface of our great planet and spear the starry sky, tearing the void that separated us from the undiscovered world of the cosmos. Perhaphs for the first time in the history of the universe, two races nurtured under different stars will begin to form a bond that shall carry us into a new era. Gone is the time of simply gazing up at the stars in wonder. Gone s the time we speculate if we are alone on the only rock to ever harbor life. In mere moments in the eyes of time, we shall change the world. For better or worse, I cannot tell. My question to you is: are you ready?"

"Indeed we are...but I'm not all too sure our queen is on board." Amnesia said, snickering slightly.

Nightmare blinked, comprehending the comment before he looked down to see that Cross had fallen asleep. The small skeleton was breathing in and out softly, a faint purr still rumbling in his throught from the copious amounts of affection he had received. A blush of lovely lavender hue dusted his cheeks, and the smallest most adorable smile graced his features.

Nightmare also my felt bad about having to wake him. Almost. He was still only a recenlty changed alien after all.

"Crossyyyyy~. As adorable as you look, it's time to wake. Time is a very impatient thing." Nightmare said, poking Cross's cheek with a tentacle.

"Mmmmmm nuuuh I'm so comfy. Let me sleep Nightyyy!" Cross whined, his voice slurred as he was still mostly asleep.

Nightmare shook his head with a brief chuckle before he grabbed Cross and gently lifted him up into a sitting position. The smaller's eyes fluttered open, revealing his heterocromatic eye lights, hazy with sleep. Nightmare gently enveloped Cross in a hug, rubbing his back before he whispered to him.

"It's time Cross."

Cross pulled back, staring into the taller's eye for any hint of doubt or foolishness, but he only found hints of excitement, mixed with seriousness and love.

"Really?" Cross whispered back, wanting to hear a verbal affirmation.

"Yes my Queen. It's is time to bring you home."

Cross couldn't help but smile. It was really happening. He was going home, to Earth.

All rose in union, each with an expression laced with determination, and walked through the bland door of the cell for the last time.

+×Timeskip×+

3rd Person P.O.V.

The strange procession walked out of the facility together, pausing for a moment to allow Cross to finally see what the capital city looked like.

It was based in a huge lavender expanse of grass. The long leafy blades waved gently in the breeze, shaded by the occasional apple berry tree. Wilgons swooped in and out of the boughts, chirping happily in their airborne dance. Cross noticed that along with lavender hues, there were also an equal number of wilgons bearing a sunny golden pelt.

In the distance, Cross could see what looked like a high tech city. It seemed to be perfectly in tune with nature, the entire city looking like it actually belonged there amongst nature, which was a quality that the cities on Earth sorely lacked. Cross gasped in amazement upon seeing that the city was built around a massive apple berry tree, who's branches shaded the vast majority of the urban land. Cross knew that Kalarians preferred shade or darkness to sunlight, so the relationship with the tree made perfect sense.

"That's our capital, Manzania. As far as nests go, it is our pride and joy." Nightmare said, noticing the direction of my gaze.

"I can see why. It's absolutely stunning. No city back home could compete with it. Is that where we're heading?"

"No. Currently, our plan is on a need-to-know basis, and most of the population doesn't need to know. In other words, since the majority of the Kalamarians don't know most of what's happened in recent time, and they would throw the mother of fits if they found out their Leader was flying away to an alien planet with an alien on an alien vessel the likes of which they had never seen." Nightmare said, smirking a bit at the thought.

"Well when you put it that way then yeah, I could see that happening. Purely out of curiosity, what would they do?" Cross asked, shooting Nightmare a curious look.

"Various 'torture methods' come to mind, but the possibility of them tying me up with my own tentacles stands out."

Cross burst out laughing, imagining a disgruntled Nightmare wiggling pathetically as he attempted to free himself from a hellish knot that encased his entire body.

"Glad to see you are in favor of that method." Nightmare said with mock disappointment.

"Sorry." Cross snickered.

"Like hell you are. Anyway, our destination lies over there." Nightmare said, pointing to a hill who's top was crowned my apple berry trees.

Indeed, it looked like the perfect place to hide a spaceship.

The party continued on their way, taking their time to cross the grassy expanse between the facility and the hill. Cross was constantly looking around, taking in everything from the sky to the very dirt the volumes of grass grew upon. His excitement about the plan fell hand in hand with that of finally getting to see the outside world of Oreon, so the skeleton was pretty enthralled. Amnesia supplemented the walk with some facts about the planet's flora and fauna, while Disgust talked on the topic of urban civilization on Oreon. Cross hung onto every word.

Soon, the group had reached the thin band of trees that encircled the top of the hill. Nightmare nudged Cross foreward, motioning that they would follow behind. Cross nodded excitedly, facing foreward and swiftly makin his way through the trees. The journey wasn't straight forward but is was short, and soon Cross was able to shove the last few leaves in his path out of the way to gaze upon what resided at the peak of the hill.

Cross's audible gasp portrayed his thoughts pretty well.

At the center of the clearing, not a scratch on its gleaming surface, stood the Dagger in all its glory. The ship looked better than brand new. The shiny material on its sides seemed to have been replaced by a more robust metal, but the color was kept the same. The wing that had been torn off was replaced, and all four were unsheithed, a sign that the primary operations of the launch sequence had already been taken care of. The thrusters looked completely different, the design somehow sleeker but appearing more powerful. It looked like the whole ship had been given an upgrade.

"You guys are just full of techy surprises, aren't you." Cross uttered to Nightmare, who had materialized at his side.

"To be honest, we haven't done much. Most of the genius was already there, and we don't know how to build spaceships. We just switched out some of the materials for better ones, fixed the circuitry, upgraded a few of the systems, and replaced the warp engine with one of our own design, since it's more reliable."

"Well, you did a fantastic job. Oh, by the way, did you find out what the issue with the warp engine was that caused me to crash?" Cross asked.

"It appeared that the engine had been overloaded. That's why we scrapped it from the repairs. However, the cause of the overload wasn't the fault of falty technology. It was the navigation system, specifically the coordinates put in there. The coordinates were actually for the Kepler system, so the ship did do its job, but the demand was simply to much for the warp engine." Nightmare explained.

"Wait, the coordinates were for the Kepler system? How can that be? My original mission was just to fly to Saturn, a planet in my solar system, and back. Are you sure the crash didn't mess with the Nav system?"

"Positive. The engineers had thought about the same possibility, so they had crossreferenced the present coordinates with the computer database. If the ship system kept track of all procedures properly, then according to the log the coordinates were changed about ten minutes before launch."

'Ten minutes? But the coordinates should have been locked in by then. Nobody should have had access to the Nav computer controls at that time. The room had been vacated by the order of...'

"Gaster! It was him! He rigged the computer!" I exclaimed, looking up at Nightmare suddenly.

"Who?"

"Gaster. He's the co-owner of the organization that I work for. He would have been the only one with access to the Nav room that close to the launch. I actually saw him walk out of there on one of the security camera screens. I thought nothing of it then, but I realise now that he shouldn't have been in that room at all. He should have reported to Ground Control already."

"Why would he do that though?" Nightmare asked, a look of concern and anger on his face.

"To get what he's been after from the day he joined JAGA: full control of the facility. Gaster never really cared for the public's involvement with scientific advancements. He's always complained that the process of feeding the public samples of our advancements holds the organization back. With full control of the facility, Gaster would finally be able to conduct whatever studies and experiments he wanted without any delays." Cross said, everything falling into place.

"But how does shooting you into space help him achieve that?"

"Because the other co-owner, Jakei, has a soft spot for me. I was an orphan for a large part of my life, living in and out of orphanages. Families would adopt me, decide they didn't like me, and bring me back. Eventually, I did get a permanent foster family, but it was already to late to make any deep familial connections. When I eventually told Jakei about my past, they basically unofficially adopted me. I became their favorite real quick. Losing me would hurt them badly, and they would be unable to go on leading the organization knowing it was them who gave some if the final orders to send me to space. Gaster would be free to resume full control."

"I suppose that's another reason to get back to Earth as fast as possible. I'd like to have a word with this Gaster. I'm sure he would find our history of failed leader assassination attempts and the resulting punishments very interesting." Nightmare said, his face shadowed.

Cross nodded before advancing to the door of the ship. The small door camera was once again revealed, showing that the facial recognition system was still included.

"Greetings Cross. Good to see you back in one piece." The voice of Karma greeted them, opening the door at the same time.

"Interesting response..." Cross uttered out loud, remembering the previous getting the AI had given him.

"Its going to get more interesting in a bit." Nightmare smirked, obviously proud of knowing something Cross didn't.

Cross gave him a searching look before stepping into the doorway with Nightmare by his side. He turned around, looking back at his new friends.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, for now at least. To be completely honest with you, I'm really sad to see you go. Each and every one of you are amazing people in your own right. I may have changed you, but you also changed me. Disgust, you taught me a new language, and while I may have only scratched the surface, I've still learned more than I thought I would be able to given the circumstances. Scab, you cared for me and saved me from the brink of death several times. Amnesia, you fed my curiosity and opened me up to a new world. And Venom, you taught me that you can't read a book by its cover, and that everyone can be a good person, even if you can't immediately tell. Maybe, some time in the future, we shall cross paths again." I said, my gaze full of sorrow.

"Well, about that..." Disgust started to speak.

"Well, you simply can't go on an expedition without scientific backup on standby." Amnesia said.

"And you may get injured, so it wouldn't hurt to come prepared." Scab added.

"And wouldn't it be good to have someone help to bridge cultural differences?" Disgust asked.

"I'm under the impression that not all that awaits you in your home world is good. You need all the allies you can get. I have yet to properly atone for my mistakes, so I was hoping I would suffice as a sort of body guard." Venom admitted.

"You...you guys all want to come with me?"

"To simplify it, yes." Amnesia clarified.

"I...I don't know what to say. I guess all that I should say is thank you!" Cross said, jumping forward and enveloping all four Kalamarians in a group hug.

All four result accepted the affection and purred happily, overjoyed with the fact that they got to stay with their queen.

"Well, if nobody has any more to say, then I believe we have a mission to complete." Nightmare said, drawing the attention of the black and white blob.

"Yeah. Let's go home."

Everyone stepped through the door and onto the now larger elevator. Nightmare pressed the button on the wall, and the platform rose up, smoothly carrying all six people up to the cockpit.

Cross stepped out of the circular platform, gazing around the rehauled command space. It looked bigger, the layout seeming more space efficient. Instead of one chair, there were six; two in the front, with the other four placed in a small v that extended behind. The material of the seat cushions was a different color for each chair, the complete set being green, orange, blue, black, purple and red. The displayed looked more high tech but they still kept the same basic control design, leading Cross to believe that he would still know how to pilot the ship despite the new tech.

On the walls, roughly where the corners would be if the room was square were four blue half globes. The globes suddenly activated, shimmering with blue light before they activated and sent out four blue tinted beams. Right where the beams crossed in the center if the cockpit floor, the hologram of a small human that resembled Chara formed.

"Greetings Cross. Like the new upgrades?" The hologram asked, turning to the suprized white skeleton.

"Karma?" Cross asked incredulously, wondering if the ships AI really just formed a holographic vessel and asked him a question in a very sentient manner.

"Yup. Thanks to your new friends, my AI program was upgraded to such an extent that I gained a form of sentience. They also installed this hologram system, which I greatly appreciate."

"I really need to stop being surprised any all of these things that you do, but wow." Cross said.

"Glad you aren't put off by the fact that this ship is bow technacly able to think for itself. Now, I was already briefed on the mission, so I will be leading you through the sequences, as Ground Control is currently MIA. First order of business would be reporting to your chairs. The chair colors correspond to your eyelights, except for you Cross. You

are taking the black and white chair over there." Karma said, pointing to the the right frontmost chair.

The group sat in there respective chairs, admiring how comfy they were.

"Now, please hold still for the identification process."

We all sat straight and stared forward, expecting something to happen. All was sort for a moment until a small popping noise could be hard from behind each chair. A small circular drone about the size of a large marble had been ejected from the back if each chair. The drones floated to a stop in front of each of the crew members. The glass half of the drones, which was pointing at the chairs, lit up, extending a horizontal beam that slowly traveled down each person, effectively scanning them.

"Identification process complete. Stand by for terminal kick start."

As Karma said that, the small screen pads on the armrests of Disgust's chair lit up, and a holoscreen appeared in front of him. On the screen there seemed to be several star maps, coordinates, and a feed from the Nav computer.

"Welcome, Navigation Officer Disgust."

"Navigation? A bit different than what I'm used to, but I think I can work with this." Disgust said, tapping one of the star maps to enhance the detail.

The touch screens on Scab's chair lit up, and another holoscreen appeared before him. This display showed the ships systems and their conditions.

"Welcome, Stat Overseer Scab."

"I get to take care of the crew and the ship!" The medic exclaimed, seeming excited for the challenge.

Venom's chair was the next to activate, the armrest touch screens switching on and a new holoscreen flashing into existence. This screen had an overview of the Dagger's new weapons system.

"Welcome, Combat Commander Venom."

"I get control of the guns? Hell yes!" Venom said, very enthusiastic about the future possibility of getting to blow things up.

Amnesia followed the red eyed alien, his chair activating like the rest.

"Welcome, Scientific Expert Amnesia."

"I can't lie. I like the sound of that title." Amnesia grinned, pouring over the data on his screen.

Both Cross and Nightmare looked down at the blue accented chair that belonged to the lead Kalamarian as it came to life, soon gaining a holoscreen of its own.

"Welcome, Crew Leader Nightmare."

"Just up my alley. Nice." The Kalamarian grinned.

Finally, Cross's chair lit up, the touch screens activating and the final holoscreen materializing into place.

"And last but certainly not least, welcome Pilot Cross." Karma said, finishing the role call.

"Pilot?" Cross asked.

"It makes sense. None of us know how to fly this thing, apart from you." Amnesia piped up from behind.

"Right. Well, it sounds like the job for me!" Cross chirped, happy that the crew felt he was the right person to fulfill such an important job.

"Speaking of flying, now that your individual tasks have been designated, we are clear to initiate the sequence for the return journey. Permission to proceed, Crew Leader?" Karma asked, looking over to Nightmare.

"Permission granted." Nightmare confirmed, not missing a beat and successfully acting like he'd done this job for years.

"Affirmative. Activating safety measures."

And so it began. The beginning of the end of a adventure packed expedition. On Karma's command, seatbelts popped out of the sides of the chairs and securely fastened their occupants.

"Confirm warp coordinates."

Disgust tapped his holoscreen a few times before entering the info.

"Coordinates confirmed."

"Excellent. Clear to initiate engine firing sequence?"

"Clear. All systems at 100%. Not a scratch to speak of." Scab confirmed.

"Good. Engines online. Warp engine is charged and ready. Trajectory charted. In layman's terms, this ship is ready to go. Just waiting on the order."

Nightmare nodded in confirmation, looking over at Cross. The small skeleton couldn't help but show his mild fear of proceeding. Though everything had turned out alright in the end, that was only because of chance. There was no telling what might happen if the warp went wrong again.

Nightmare reached over and gently squeezed Cross's hand, using his thumb to rub gentle circles on the back. The smaller looked up.

"It's going to be fine, okay? We made sure that nothing like your first flight will happen again. Are you ready?"

Cross paused, seeming to silently mull things over for a few seconds before he nodded, a small spark of determination kindling in his eyes.

"Yeah. Let's do it." He said.

"Right. Karma, to Earth."

"Command received. Initiating launch in 10...9...8..."

Cross and Nightmare looked at each other, silently bidding each other good luck.

"7...6...5..."

With one last squeeze, Nightmare release his grip on Cross's hand, both placing their arms on their armrests.

"4..3...2...1..."

"To Earth then." Cross whispered, looking forward.

"Ignition."

And thus, the Dagger 2.0 room flight, heading home at long last.

+×Timeskip×+

Antivirus's P.O.V

The clicking of computer keys filled my hearing as I worked on the multiple keyboards. My extra arms really came in handy for these routine maintenance checks. What normally took a team of multiple technicians and around an hour took just me with half the time. No wonder JAGA was pretty quick to hire me. Not that I wasn't absolutely blown away when this decision reached me. I was absolutely ecstatic to finally be able to work alongside my boyfriend while doing what I love.

While clearing up some overstuffed files of planetary movements, I saw a window pop up on a monitor to my right.

"Huh, what are you doing there?" I muttered to myself, drag him the window over to my main screen and opening a menu go see what the window was.

"Incoming external contact?" I wondered out loud.

Such a thing wasn't new, as Jakei would usually contact me during maintenance to see if there were any problems. At times, they happened to be outside on the facility grounds checking launch pads or hangers or the like. Such a call wasn't unheard of, but last time I checked Jakei was in a meeting today. They shouldn't have been anywhere near the outside of the facility. Perhaphs the meeting had been taken outside to monitor something on the grounds?

Whatever. It didn't matter anyway. I just needed to answer it before the caller hung up, which was looking more and more likely as I was sitting here wondering about the strange origin of the call instead of actually answering it. I hastily tapped the pop up, opening the audio.

"Ground Control, this is the Dagger, come in." A familiar voice called over the speaker.

I full on fell out of my chair. I was not prepared for that. I knew that voice. There's no possibility of mistaking that voice. But there was no way he was alive! He disappeared weeks ago! In space! After a failed warp sequence! There's no way... I'm just losing it.

"Dagger to Ground Control, do you read me?"

Apparently I'm not losing it. Good to know.

Grabbing the edge of the console with one of my extra clawed appendages, I dragged myself up, landing forward and pressing the button on the small desk microphone, switching it on.

"T-this is Ground Control. We read you loud and clear Dagger. Cross,..is that you?" I asked in disbelief, to shocked to uphold protocol.

There was a pause on the other end of the line before the voice came back through.

"Anti? Yeah, it's me. Can you get Jakei online? I'm going to need a landing code 008 real soon. I'm just entering the space zone right now." Cross said.

"Yeah! Yeah... I'll go get them right now. Just, uh, hold on a sec!"

Jumping up from the console like it was on fire, I made a mad dash out of Ground Control and to the briefing room. Jakei had taken to shutting themselves up there to think, as it was the last time they spoke in person to Cross. His disappearance had been rough on the co-owner, and they had been a wreck for a week after the failed mission. After that, it was like Jakei was replaced by a walking corpse who could do nothing but walk and stare blankly ahead. They blamed nobody but themselves for what happened to Cross. Chara had tried to comfort them, but in truth they had been hit just as hard. Cross was like a brother to them.

Hopefully, this news, though pretty sudden and unbelievable, would drag them out of their despair.

I never slowed my pace, whisking down the hallways. I passed a few co-workers, ignoring their questioning calls and confused stares. I skidded to a stop outside the briefing room door, nearly flying into a wall. The automatic door slid open, and a basically threw myself into the room.

Jakei, who previously had their face in their hands, looked up, their tear-stained and puffy face dawning a look of confusion. Chara, who was by their side, also looked at me in question.

"Anti?" Chara asked, raising an eyebrow.

I planted two clawed limbs on the ground to stabilize myself and I flopped forward, panting and trying to catch my breath. I raised my hand in the air, showing I needed a minute. They waited silently as I greedily gulped down air, focusing on not falling to the ground in an overexcited green puddle.

"I need...you...at Ground Control...it's...urgent." I wheezed.

"Why? What's wrong?" Jakei asked, their voice weak and sad.

"It's Cross..." I said, looking up to see their faces light up with disbelief, as well as a slew of other emotions.

In no time, all three of us were running back to Ground Control. We burst into the room, Jakei quickly taking a seat in the center of the console, me and Chara taking up positions either side.

"Cross?!" Jakei exclaimed, their voice desperate.

We waited, holding our breaths.

"...Jakei? Is that you?" Cross finally responded.

"Yes, yes it's me." Jakei responded, a smile breaking out on their face as a few tears ran down from their eyes.

"I need a pad prepared so I can land the Dagger. Can you organize that?"

"Of course! Stay in orbit and wait or further instruction." They commanded.

"Copy that."

"Anti, radio G and tell him to prep launch pad 4. Chara, get Twist, Alys, Pat, and Bran to wake up the base and let everyone know we're doing a last minute landing. I'm going to get readings on atmospheric conditions from Star." Jakei said, their normal personality shining through once more.

"Right away!" I said with a smile, turning to another microphone and turning it on. I quickly opened up a connection with G's walkie talkie.

"G?"

"Mhm?"

"How fast would you be able to get launch pad 4 ready?"

"10-15 minutes ish. Why?"

"Make it 10 because Cross is back and he needs somewhere to land."

"You're kidding..."

"Nope. Deadly serious."

"Consider it done. I'll radio you when the pad is ready."

"Thanks G." I said, ending the connection.

I looked over to see Jakei radioing Star.

"Star?"

"Jakei?" A surprised voice came over the speaker.

"Are you on break right now?"

"Yeah. I finished getting the latest planetary motion changes noted down about ten minutes ago."

"Please tell me you didn't go off facility grounds for your break."

"No, I'm flying a little ways from hangers at the moment to stretch my wings. Why?"

"I need atmospheric condition readings stat."

"Uh sure, but I though we didn't have any flights planned today?"

"Not planned, but we have a landing. Cross just radioed me a few minutes ago."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah. I need those readings asap for an emergency landing."

"On it! I'll have them in five!" The astronomer said, the sound of rushing air from fast flight in the background.

"Affirmative." Jakei said, ending the connection, Chara doing the same with their connection shortly after.

Jakei closed their eyes and taking a deep breath, digesting what was currently going on. They stayed silent for a few moments, breathing in slowly, before their eyes opened again, a familiar sparkle twinkling within. From their expression, I was pretty sure everything was going to be alright.

Clicking their microphone button again, Jakei reopened the connection with the Dagger.

"Cross, are you still there?" Jakei asked, all technical speech having long been abandoned.

"Yeah. What's the status down there?"

"If all goes well, you should be on the ground in about 15 minutes."

"Nice. I'm dying for some decent chocolate milk." Cross said with a small chuckle.

"It really is you then... Cross...what happened out there? How are you...alive?"

There was a pause on Cross's end, the astronaut having stopped to formulate a response. Both me and Chara leaned in intently, waiting for an answer to the burning question.

"It's...not easy to explain, at least not without you being able to see the fruits of my labors. After the connection was severed back during the warp sequence, I was unable to stop the ship from warping. I got flung into space, but by some cosmic miracle instead of flying through the void of space for all eternity the Dagger crashed on a small planet in the Kepler System."

"If the ship crashed, then how did you get it back into flight-worthy condition?"

"Yeaaaaaah that's the hard part to explain. You see...after escaping the wreckage, I soon discovered that I wasn't exactly...alone on the planet..." Cross tapered off.

"What do you mean?" Jakei asked, as confused as the rest of us.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuh..."

"What my Queen is trying to explain is that he became the first member if his civilization to encounter a Kalamarian. I'd say he did pretty well though." A deep voice suddenly came over the speakers.

Everyone fell dead silent for a few minutes.

"Cross...who was that?" Jakei asked hesitantly.

"That...was an alien by the name of Nightmare. I may or may not have been captured by an alien civilization, become their lab rat, taught all of them what sympathy was, and then become their Queen... Aaaand I may or may not have brought a few back with my as my crew..."

"...W H A T?"

"Jakei?" Star's voice suddenly shocked us out of our utter disbeleif.

"Y-yeah, what's up Star?"

"I've got the atmospheric readings. There's a slight breeze coming from the east, but I don't think it's strong enough to mess with the ship during re-entry, and apart from that there is no other complication to speak of. I dunno how he does it, but Cross always picked the best flight days."

"Okay. Thank you, Star."

"No problem. I'm making my way back to base. I should be there in 10. I'll meet you at launch pad 4."

"Copy that."

My monitor beeped, causing me to turn to see another connection pop up.

"Hello?"

"Anti, pad 4 is ready, and everybody is in position to mediate the landing. All we're waiting in is for the boss's orders." G spoke through the walkie talkie.

"Thanks G. Well, what do you say Jakei? Ready to finally bring the oreo home?" I asked, turning to Jakei, knowing they had heard what G had said.

"Yes indeed." They confirmed, clicking the microphone to talk to Cross once more.

"We can further discuss the finer details of your escapade later, but right now I believe you have a ship to land. You are free to begin re-entry once you orbit into position."

"Affirmative. Orbit position has been reached. Re-entering atmosphere now."

Jakei confirmed the message had been received before they switched off the microphone. I was about to ask what they were doing when they unhooked a radio headset from a hook on the console and placed it on their head.

"I believe it's time to take this show on the road." Jakei said, standing up from their chair.

Both me and Chara nodded before we all ran out of the room, our manner a bit less frantic than it had been the first time we had torn through the halls. As we ran, Jakei pressed a hand to a button on the left side of the headset, sharing a few quick words with someone as we weaved through various hallways. Less than a minute later, we burst out the glass doors of the lobby, after giving Lust a soul attack, and came to a stop outside.

In front of us was Sans, his transport ready to take us to the launch pad. He nodded to us as we clambered in, a serious look having replaced his usual lazy expression. Needing no prompting, Sans stepped on it, the wheels digging into the pavement as the vehicle lurched forward and got going.

We were halfway there when a rumble could be heard from above. Everyone except Sans turned their gazes skyward. Way up high, barely within sight, was a shining point, a trail of bluish-orange color escaping behind it. The speck was quickly growing larger, making a bee line for the surface. An almighty boom sounded as the rocket hit the stratosphere, the denser air being shoved to the side and away from the rockets hull.

We were two thirds of the way there when the rocket, which looked much closer now, swung upright in a controlled motion, the smaller engines blasting out plumes of fire. The rocket was still plunging at an alarmingly fast rate, and for a few moments I was uncertain that the thrusters would slow its decent enough to avoid a crash. However, my fears proved to be unnecessary as the rocket gradually slowed to a very moderate fall, sinking lower and lower until it finally touched down in what would have to be the best landing I've ever seen.

We all whooped in joy at the successful landing, throwing our hands up in the air (apart from Sans), making it look like the transport was a makeshift roller coaster for a few moments. The remainder of the still fast paced ride seemed to take an eternity, but finally we were released from the confines of the small white vehicle.

All of us dashed up the stairs to the surface of the landing platform, finally halting a decent distance away from the ship's door. Each of us held our breath, waiting for the door to open.

After a few seconds, a click eminared from the interior if the ship, and the door opened up, revealing the familiar monochromatic astronaut...and his very unusual crew.

At first, nobody said anything. Cross walked out of the doorway, his crew filing out behind him, with one of the aliens standing by Cross's side. The two parties silently observed each other, the five aliens eyeing us curiously as me, Chara, and Jakei took in the new slimy, tentacly appearances. It was Cross who finally broke the silence.

"Okay, so I maaaay have gone a little bit past Saturn." He said with a small smile.

That was the only trigger necessary to cause both Jakei and Cross to dash forward and envelop the skeleton in a group hug. All three cried tears of happiness as they laughed, all the pent up emotions being released in that moment. I smiled, letting the three have their moment as I looked on to the ship. At this distance, it was more than apparent that it had gotten an upgrade. It looked more advanced and sleek than any of the tech we had here on Earth. I resisted the urge to geek out about it and dash into the metal vessel to examine its guts.

By the time managed to rip my gaze away from the mechanical marvel, the group hug had pulled apart. It seemed that it was time to address the elephant in the room, or rather the give elephants on the launch pad.

Third Person P.O.V.

Cross stared at Jakei. Jakei stared at Nightmare and the other Kalamarians. The Kalamarians stared at Chara. Chara stared at Anti. Anti looked at all us, clearly uncomfortable about not having somone else to stare at.

"So, care to explain how you got from point A to point ET?" Jakei asked, turning their attention to Cross.

"I think it would be best if I told you the unabridged version of the story later, but basically, after I crashed, I soon came into contact with the dominant race on the planet, known as the Kalamarains. At first, it was difficult for everyone involved, as the Kalamarains primary language is Kilian, which is a whole lot different than English, let me tell you. Anyway, after a few touch-and-go moments, the Leader of the Kalamarians forged a connection with me." Cross said, motioning to Nightmare, who nodded and took it as his turn to speak.

"Before it was too late, I connected the dots and realized just how different Cross was to any member of the colony, hence why no progress had been made concerning him. Soon after, using a mindlink, I learned Cross's language and we started understanding each other from there. The other Kalamarians who he had met previously, sent by me in an attempt to figure him out, were called back, and together me and Cross helped them understand what had gone wrong. Because of Cross's benevolent actions towards the colony, as we speak, the entire population is being taught about sympathy and other like things." Nightmare added on.

"Yeah, and while we aren't ready for any kind of contact right now, we are hoping that in the future, our two races will be able to form a bond and create what could very well be the first intergalactic planetary partnership. It would be a monumental step forward, and so many new possibilities would suddenly be available to humans, monsters, and Kalamarians alike. What do you think Jakei?" Cross wrapped up, waiting expectantly for the human's verdict.

"I think...that it's high time the people of Earth turn their gaze a little farther past their own nose. I probably don't have the jurisdiction for this, but nonetheless, welcome to Earth Nightmare and company." Jakei said, walking forward and extending their arm for a handshake.

With a quick explanation on what a handshake was from Cross, Nightmare walked forward and accepted the gesture, firmly shaking Jakei's hand.

"Thank you. Your gesture is much appreciated. Let this seal a new beginning."

They both stepped back, each party breaking out in smiles, hope shining in their eyes or eye respectively.

"Not to ruin the monumental moment, but did anyone call a missile strike upon the vessel?" Scab asked, pointing to a black smudge fast approaching the launch pad.

"Missile strike? We don't have...oh don't worry that's just one of our meteorologists. I sort of forgot that she was coming over here. Speaking of people coming, how exactly are we supposed to tell a space facility of several hundred people that the astronaut who had previously been lost to the endless void of space has managed to bring back not one but five aliens who are not only intelligent but are apparently telepathic and can understand English."

"Just wing it I suppose. Well, Star can be our trial run." Cross snickered with a shrug.

"CROSS YOU'RE ALIVE?!?" Star exclaimed, landing on the metal surface of the launch pad and skidding several feet while she windmilled her arms to remain balanced.

When she had only just stopped herself from toppling over and collected herself, she looked up, silently regarding each individual in turn.

Still panting from the effort it took to fly all the way to pad 4 from her previous location, Star opened her mouth and proceeded to say the first thing that came to mind.

"Did you...bring me...a souvenir?" She said between gulps of air.

"What?" Jakei asked in confusion, caught off guard from the very random response.

"In any other circumstances apart from this one, I would have said no, but it seems you are in luck. Star, I'd like you to meet Amnesia, head scientist of all biologic and ecologic operations on Oreon. Amnesia, this is Star, one of JAGA's numerous scientists." Cross said, motioning for the albino alien to step forward.

Star straightened up as the Kalamarian approached her, tilting her head upwards to meet his gaze.

Being already out of his element, and excited by his first ever opportunity to speak with an alien scientist, Amnesia launched into a very enthusiastic introduction paired with a quick inquiry about the limits of Star's scientific knowledge. Unfortunately, Amnesia said all of this in Kilian, uttering a rushed series of clicks and growls.

"Amnesia, you know she's not going to-"

Nightmare was cut of as Star's eyes widened in surprise before, to the shock the rest of the party, she uttered a similar string of syllables, though with more whistles and hums then growls. Amnesia's eyes widened, his turn for being surprised having been reached, and then both scientists proceeded to launch into a full blown rant. Both of them seemed very enthusiastic and passionate about what they were talking about.

"Incredible. Somehow, whatever language that scientist is speaking is very similarly structured to Kilian. There are a few gaps in understanding, but much of what she is saying is understandable." Disgust piped up, surprise evident in his voice.

"What are they talking about?" Cross asked, turning to Nightmare.

"I would tell you, but I have no clue what a Dyson sphere is. They both seem very excited about it though." Nightmare said, shaking his head and chuckling.

"It's good to know Amnesia finally has someone to nerd out with." Nightmare mused, turning his attention back to the main party.

"Sooo...ignoring...whatever that is, what's the next step?" Jakei asked.

"Well, I think we would need a crystal ball to predict where things will go from here, but it's probably best to just take small steps, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. But first...

We have a scientist to catch."

The End...For now...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you have made it this far, I just want to thank you for reading my first ever one shot. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

A few things before you go:

As you can most likely guess, I expanded upon and added to the original plot. I am staking claim to any additional ideas added on to the original plot. If you want to see the original idea, go to Karma's art book. It's somewhere in there.

Obviously, I don't own Cross, Nightmare, Jakei, X!Gaster, X!Chara, Geno, Reaper, Blue, Dust, Fell, Sci, G, Alter, Lust, Alphys, Sans, or Antivirus. They belong to their respective owners.

However, Disgust, Scab, and Venom do belong to me, and are my original characters.

Amnesia's personality and name were my creations, but the design belongs to Karma.

Btw Karma, what do you think of the name I gave your albino Nightmare? I think it's a keeper.

Lastly, Star is me, so I would say I belong to myself :1

I am thinking of making a sequel, but I do have a few projects I'm working on, I have to get back to my main book, and finals are coming up, so if that does end up happening, it won't be for a while.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment, but with that, I bid you farewell!

^w^