Chapter 22

Nobody's P.O.V

The true battle had begun. Sharp bones and glowing arrows flew through the air, trying to shatter the souls on either side. Palette manipulated his paint into a thick wall that spat out the bones that pierced it. Horror ran out from cover and swung his axe at Dust. The ghostly magic appeared around Horror and caused an explosion that sent him back to his allies.

Palette emptied more paint onto the ground and jumped into it. He appeared behind Dust and bashed him across the head with a strong stick. Dust hissed and turned. He grabbed Palette by the neck and slammed him into the ground. Palette cried out as his skull cracked a little. Several arrows flew towards Dust but the ghostly magic grabbed the arrows and shot them back at Dream. Dream ducked to dodge, firing more arrows as he hit the ground.

Horror charged at Dust again with his axe above his head. But he was stopped in his tracks when a wall of bones burst from the ground. Horror swung his axe and sliced through the bones, but was met by a barrage of sharp bones. Horror was hit by several bones but he refused to be beaten so easily. He kept running and tackled Dust to the ground.

Dust hissed insane remarks and the ghostly magic came to his aid. It hauled Horror into the air and tossed him far away into the river. Palette shoved Dust to the side and jumped to his feet and swung his stick again. Dust caught the stick and snatched it from Palette's grip. He kicked Palette away and stood up, his grin growing wider.

"Dust, what's wrong with you?" Dream yelled. "Why do you insist on continuing this fight?"

"Oh, so much fun!" Dust sung. "Wouldn't you agree?"

He's gone insane, Dream thought, what did King do to him? The ghostly magic appeared around Dream and he leaped backwards to avoid the explosion. This time Dream loaded a different kind of arrow into his bow, one that glowed red. He shot the arrow and it landed just as Dust's feet. Dust examined it curiously for about three seconds until the arrow exploded. Dust was blasted into the great tree and he howled in agony at the bark stabbed his spine injury from years ago.

Palette jumped into a puddle of paint and appeared next to Dust. He took a bucket of paint and poured it all over Dust. The paint begun to crush Dust and the sickening sound of bones breaking echoed in the night. But then a wave of water washed over Palette and Dust and washed away the paint.

Jenny stood at a distance with jets of water circling her. Dust laughed insanely and shoved a sharp bone into Palette's chest. Palette cried out and was tossed away by more water. Dream managed to catch Palette.

"This is bad," Dream mumbled. "We can't win this."

"W-We have to..." Palette tried to sit up, but the bone in his chest refused to let him stand.

"Don't force yourself." Dream looked up at Jenny and Dust. "We need a new plan..."

Jenny shone the laser pointer at Dream and Palette. Dust's attention was imminently grabbed by the little red light and he charged at the two. Dream pulled the string of his bow, but no arrow appeared in it. Dream realised how tired he felt. I have no more magic, he thought to himself. Dream held Palette close as Dust approached them fast.

Suddenly blue bones shot up from the ground and surrounded Dust. Dust poked one of the bones and a spark of pain made him hiss. Blueberry stepped up beside Dream and Palette.

"What happened to him?" Blueberry asked, his voice cracked from being on the verge of tears.

"He's gone insane." Dream explained. "I'm not entirely sure how, but that general seems to have control of him."

Blueberry went right up to the cage of blue bones. Dust studied Blueberry through the gaps in between the bones like an animal deciding when the best time to strike their prey was.

"Dust, do you recognise me?" Blueberry asked, his voice soft and calm.

Dust smiled like a maniac. "Heheheh! Baby Blue, my ol' pal!"

Blueberry's eye sockets narrowed sadly. "I was more then a pal to you..."

"Of course!" Dust's attitude suddenly turned aggressive. "Now let me out!"

Blueberry flinched at the harshness in Dust's voice. The blue bones retracted back into the ground and Dust attacked Blueberry with a sharp bone of his own. Blueberry stepped to the side and got out of arms reach. Ghostly magic grabbed Blueberry and shoved him back at Dust and Dust threw a punch at him. Blueberry ducked and tried to back away again, but a wall of bones blocked his path. Dust threw another punch and this time he hit Blueberry. Blueberry cried out, but he refused to fight back.

"Dust, please listen to me!" Blueberry yelled, tears running down his cheekbones. "You need to snap out of it!"

"Shut up!" Dust screamed, grabbing a sharp bone and swinging it at Blueberry.

Blueberry ducked under Dust's arm and run behind him. "It's me, Blueberry! You risked your life to save me from that mutant, remember?"

Dust gathered the ghostly magic and thrust his hands at Blueberry and a beam of white fire shot forward.

Blueberry blocked it with a wall of bones. "Dust, you left the safety of the camp for two weeks just to find an old picture of me and my brother! You did that because you loved me!"

"I said shut up!" Dust screamed again.

The white flames broke through the wall of bones and Blueberry was thrown off his feet. The fire burned Blueberry's arms, but he still wouldn't fight back. He stood on his shaky legs and looked Dust directly in the eyes.

"We've been living happily together for nineteen years, Dust..." he muttered.

Dust grabbed Blueberry by his neck and smashed him against the ground, his insane eyes glaring. Dust raised a sharp bone, aiming it where Blueberry's soul resided in his ribcage. Blueberry did that last thing he could come up with, he grabbed Dust by his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. Dust's eye sockets widened and his eye lights flickered.

For what felt like hours, everything was silent and seemingly frozen in time. Tears flowed down Blueberry's cheekbones as he silently prayed that this would be enough to being Dust back. Dust's eye lights were flickering between sane and insane, he looked so confused all of a sudden. Eventually, the flickering stopped and Dust dropped the sharp bone. His hands lowered to Blueberry's cheekbones, cupping them tenderly. Blueberry hummed with relief and the two pulled away and sat up.

"I'm so sorry, Baby Blue..." Dust muttered. "I...I couldn't..."

Blueberry hushed Dust softly. "It's not your fault."

Blueberry stood up, then offered his hand to help Dust up. Dust accepted, a sweeter smile forming across his face. But this moment couldn't last long. The sound of bones shattering echoed under the stars. Blueberry stared in horror at the spike of ice that had impaled Dust, his soul suck in the tip of the spike.

Dust's eye lights turned a dull white, then disappeared completely. He fell to his knees, then to his chest. As soon as hit the ground, his body fell apart and became a pile of grey monster dust. The impaled soul floated slowly and Blueberry cupped it gently in his hands. Then, the soul shattered into pieces that were too small to see. Blueberry's gaze slowly rose to Jenny, who looked back with an emotionless expression.

"If you don't want that to be you, then run away." Jenny said. "Else you can join you friend."

"You...You..." Blueberry's eye lights turned a furious red. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Blueberry slammed his fists into the ground, screaming in rage. As soon as he did, thousands upon thousands of sharp bones shot from the ground in a wave fashion towards Jenny. With absolutely no time to react, Jenny was impaled in every part of her body. She was dead within milliseconds.

Blueberry was silent for a few seconds, then his eye lights flickered back to their usual blue colour, Blueberry had gone over the edge, he had lost everything. His hand clenched around the sharp bone Dust had dropped and he brought it's point to his chest. But before he could shatter his own soul, Dream snatched the bone and threw it away. Dream hugged Blueberry tightly and Blueberry started sobbing.

The battle had been won, but at what cost?