❤️💜5k already and for this mad lad of a chapter💜❤️

"So, how was training?"

Cross paused mid-step, looking up at Horror -who was splayed across one of the many penthouse couches with an apple in his hands - and shrugged. "Okay."

"Okay?" Horror groaned, pushing himself up into a sitting position next to Lust and pointing at the smaller. "I want details, not just okay."

Beside Cross, Nick made a swift exit, waving mockingly to Cross as he went. "I just remembered I need to take my daily medicine, bye!"

"You don't have any daily medicine!" Cross protested.

But Nick was already gone, leaving Cross stuck with telling Horror and Lust how he barely did anything in the training room.

"Come here, darling." Lust called, pointing at the sofa opposite him and his partner.

The smol sighed deeply and tipped his head back while trudging over, his shoes scuffing on the floor before he dropped unceremoniously onto the sofa.

"Now now, there's no need for that attitude. But anyway, tell us how it went."

"There's not much to tell."

Horror rolled his eyes. "Of course you'd say that. Now, did you at least get a look at your opponents and break down their skills?"

"Oh yes, that I did do."

"Oh so you can do something right." He muttered and taking a large bite out of his apple.

"Thanks..."

"Made any possible allies?" Horror asked, narrowing his eyes and chewing. "Because a runt like you will definitely need some sort of powerful ally, that is if Nick isn't sticking with you."

"I don't think he will..." Cross muttered, glancing over at the corridor that lead to his and Nick's rooms.

"Exactly." Horror clapped his hands together and stared directly at him. "So, possible allies?"

Cross frowned, leaning back on the sofa. "I don't think you're going to be impressed."

"Surprise me."

"Blue."

Lust raised a brow, blinking. "The one from District Eleven? The twelve year old?"

"...Yes."

"Oh for Christ's sake Cross." Horror groaned, pushing his face into his hands. "Out of everyone in that training room, out of all twenty-two other tributes you choose the twelve year old?"

"What's wrong with him being twelve?" He said defensively. "He taught me quite a few things about camouflage and climbing, and in return I taught him how to hunt!"

"Alright, Alright." Horror held his hands up in defence. "No need to get loud, that's fine. If you think he'll be a good ally then boom, he's a good ally."

"Good." Cross muttered, looking away and huffing.

Horror stared at him before glancing over at the large grandfather clock that stood by the enormous flat screen TV. "Cross, go get Nick for us, you've got your interviews in front of the Capital in an hour, and your stylists will need to as quoted; Make you look beautiful."

The smol groaned under his breath, but nodded and pushed himself to his feet. "Fine..."

"Drop that grumbly attitude!" Lust called as he walked away. "The Capitalists want someone smily and cute, not slouched and moody!"

He ignored them, muttering to himself as he trudged down the hallway to the two rooms. He stepped past his room, slowing to a stop as he came to Nick's room.

"Nick?" Cross knocked softly on his roommates door, feeling like he was being nosey. "Um, Horror wants us to meet up with the others at our stylist rooms so we can have our interviews."

No answer.

He frowned, gently leaning against the door a bit and twisting the handle to check if it was locked.

To his surprise, it wasn't.

The door swung open slowly, revealing Nick's empty room inside. The bed was half made, the blanket being thrown back to indicate how he'd got out of bed. Everything else seemed neat enough, arranged clearly and accessibly. Not that anything in here was actually his. It was all here already, given by the government.

"Nick...?" Cross slowly stepped in, padding across the cold wooden floor and glancing about. There was no sign of the mysterious boy.

For a moment Cross started considering that he'd maybe tried to escape. He hadn't seemed like the sort of guy that would do that though...

And then the door to the en-suite bathroom opened and the smol jolted, watching as Nick suddenly stepped out.

He obviously had his guard down because for the first time, he saw him without his large hood up. In fact, he didn't have the hoodie on at all.

Upon seeing each other, they both froze.

"Y-You--" Cross stared in shock at the skeleton stood in front of him. He could only see their skull uncovered, but that was all he needed. It was covered in dark black slime, dripping slickly down his skull at a slow pace. One piercing blue eye stared at him, boring into his very soul.

"You're Nigh--" Before he could finish his sentence, the taller had stepped forwards and slapped a hand over his mouth harshly.

"Say another word and I'll snap your neck and play it off as if you tripped down the stairs, you understand?" He hissed, his voice dripping with venom and malice.

The smol whimpered, nodding feverishly.

He growled softly, his intense stare never faltering as he removed his hand from Cross' mouth. "Haven't you ever heard of respecting someone else's privacy?!"

"I-I knocked!" He yelped, instinctively taking a step back.

"I didn't hear you." He muttered, grabbing his hoodie off of his bedside draws and pulling it on. He ignored Cross' gaze, flicking the hood up over his skull and hiding his appearance.

"Y-You're Nightmare..." He breathed. "One of the Joku Brothers!"

He got no response.

"But you're from district one, what on Earth were you doing coming down to twelfth and volunteering?"

Nightmare growled lowly under his breath, whipping round to face Cross and pointing a finger at him. "Listen here, kid. I've trained my whole life to partake in this tournament. Since I was eight I started learning how to kill someone and hold a knife. I was picked out of that bowl and chosen to be a part of this, but my fucking selfish brother stepped in as tribute and stole my place even though he knew how much I've worked for this!"

Cross stumbled back until his back hit a wall, his legs trembling beneath him and eyes wide. "I-I--"

"Of course I tried to volunteer for the next person picked, but they wouldn't let me. I was forced to watch my brother take the place I deserved! Im eighteen, so this is my final chance to get into this thing. Something I've worked so hard for isn't going to be ripped away from me by my greedy smug little shit of a brother. So I devised a plan, everyone knows that the tributes are picked in district order. All the other high districts would notice me immediately, so I ran all the way to your pathetic little mining village because I knew no one cared enough about your people to look into any tributes. You deciding to sacrifice yourself for your wimp of a brother actually helped by the way, so in a way I guess I should thank you."

The smaller gulped, cowering beneath him.

"But if you try spill my little secret..."

"I-I won't!" He gasped, shaking his head. "I-I won't tell anyone I swear!"

Nightmare's eye narrowed as he stared at him, disbelieving. "Why should I trust you?"

"I-I have nothing to gain from telling anyone! Do I? There'd b-be no point!" He looked up at him desperately, attempting to pull the most genuine expression he could while still being scared shitless.

The dark skeleton snorted, stepping away from him. "Fine. Beside, killing you would just raise even more suspicion. I think Dream might be on to me already, and if he exposes me, I'm done for."

Cross breathed out in relief, looking up at him. "What will you do i-if you win? Will you carry on as Nick Smith?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "No. I plan on revealing my identity as soon as we're out in the arena. Then they'll all know who I am and will be able to do absolutely nothing about it. They can't just swoop in and interrupt, can they?"

Cross stayed silent, watching him. He'd really thought this out. And out of everyone he'd met briefly, Nightmare was definitely the number one candidate to win. At first he'd thought Dream was the obvious winner. But now with a vengeful brother added into the mix, things could change...

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mmmMMMMM M M M M AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAGAHAHAHAH

DiD yOu KnOw ThAt NiCk WaS nIgHtMaRe?

Who am I kidding, of course you didn't know

uwu

I feel like I did better at hiding his identity than I have previously tbh so yay me I guess

I found it funny how many of you hated him lmao I quite liked his character personally

And soon enough we'll actually make it to the Hunger Games, not just all this build up stuff :'D

-Jess-