Cross whistled happily to himself as he walked down the halls to wake up his teammates. He was in a good mood, and nothing could stop him from feeling absolutely overjoyed.

The last person he woke up was Nix, and as he neared the door, he felt a little nervous. He usually felt this way when he would stalk his senpai, and this deeply troubled him. 'Nix is just a friend...right?', he thought to himself, and knocked on the door.

Nix had felt a troubled presence outside of his room, and realized that it was Cross. 'Why would Cross be troubled? Is there something I didn't see before?', Nix wondered, and decided to talk to Cross about his internal conflict.

Upon opening the door and seeing Cross in his pajamas, he felt his face heat up. Not knowing what it is, he froze, and stared at Cross.

"Um, Nix? You okay, bud?"

The word 'bud' seemed to snap Nix out of his trance, but he felt defeated and lost upon hearing the word. "Y-yeah, I'm fine!," he exclaimed, chuckling as an attempt to shake off his uncomfortable feeling.

Cross smiled, and Nix could feel his SOUL beat.

What the hell was this feeling?

**********************************************************************************

Breakfast was a hit. Horror was acting a bit off, which concerned Killer and Dust, but brushed it off. Everyone was enjoying the fresh food.

"Oh my Stars, this is good!," Dust exclaimed, reaching for another strip of bacon. Error shrugged. "Eh, i-its dec-cent..."," he said, and ate another pancake. Killer gasped mockingly. " Aww, is Error jelly cause the food is better than his?"

"S-shut up-p," Error grumbled, and Nix smirked. " Aw, c'mon Error, he's just eggin ya.," Nix chuckled, and everyone was snickering. " That was awful...," Cross said, and Nix blushed lightly.

**********************************************************************************

Dream, Blue, and Ink were in awe. They arrived at the Darkosphere, and were amazed at how well Nightmare kept the place.

" Okay, Dream, Blue, keep your guard up, we'll need to stealthily infiltrate the castle and see if Nightmare is really uncorrupted...," Ink said, and the two nodded. " Blue, do you have the disguises ready?," Dream asked, and Blue nodded. They were to dress up to infiltrate one of the most feared places in the Multiverse.

Best. Plan. Ever.
**********************************************************************************
Nix suddenly froze up.

" Ey, what's up runt?," Dust asked, picking his teeth with a sharp bone.

" I, uh, need to go..."

Dust suddenly pinned him down with magic. " What. Do. You. Know"

Horror got up. "Let him go Dust."

"Why should I?"

"Trust me"

Dust rolled his eyelights and let Nix go, where he fled to the depths of the castle.

Cross came back into the dining area, noticing that Nix was gone. He felt a wave of worry, and tried to shadow him.

Nix knew that he should've worked out more. By the time he was 80 feet from the dining room, he was already panting and sweating.

He leant against the wall of the corridor, and Cross quickly caught up with Nix with ease.

"Hey, you okay Nix?," Cross asked after trying to get Nix to stop coughing.

"They...*huff* are here...," Nix said, and Cross became increasingly worried.

" Who's they, Nix?"

" The...Star...Sanses...."

Cross was surprised, so to speak. " They're here?! How!?"

" The positive aura must've been really powerful to have gone over the protective shield...," Nix stated, and Cross was surprised by this information.

" How do you know about that? The only two people entrusted with this information is me and Nightmare...," Cross said, narrowing his eyesockets.

Nix suddenly jumped as a slamming sound can be heard from the entry way. " Cross, listen to me, please! I need to hide!," he whispered, and both heard footsteps echo in the foyer.

" Why? What are you hiding?," Cross said suspiciously.

Nix was desperate as the footsteps grew closer. " Cross, please! I really need to hide!," he whisper/yelled.

Cross, looking confused and a bit hurt, but let Nix teleport into his room.

Cross turned towards the footsteps, which had stopped. He decided to investigate the other room.

He saw three skeletons dressed in all black and red, but three things gave away their identity.

One had eyelights that constantly changed colors. Another one was holding a crown similar to Dream's. The last and smallest one had literal star eyelights. All three froze as Cross entered. Now, Cross was aware of who they were, but decided to play dumb to get answers from them.

" And you three are?," he asked boredly. Ink nudged Dream, who stuttered " W-we are the new, uh, recruits!" " Yep! We are the new additions!" Blue piped up, earning a glare from both Ink and Dream, because Blue didn't even bother to disguise his voice.

Cross raised a brow, trying to act convinced, but Dream sensed his aura of sarcasm.

Dream yelled. "LOOK AN EAGLE!," and the three split up and ran. Cross just stood there boredly. " Eh, I'll give em a ten minute headstart...," he muttered, and Chara snickered.