Cross could hear some shuffling when he was suddenly pulled from his slumber, him shifting slightly on the thin blanket on the floor.

Alphys had generously donated her bed to them before they declined, them insisting that they were guests and would just sleep on some blankets on the floor. She had a few extra's in the other room, and gave them to the victims. They had the slight stench of chemicals, but she was a scientist in a small home, so that was expected.

When he peeled open his eye sockets, he almost screamed.

Because there was a tall spider women standing above the small and frail skeleton.

She was tall and lean, with six long, slender arms all wrapped in front of her torso. Her skin was a light purple, a few bruises and dried dirt spots littering her body. Fingers with long, sharp nails that could rip his bones apart were taping impatiently against her skill as she had been watching him sleep. Five large black eyes were on her forehead, all of them focused on him and him alone. She had short black hair that was pulled into two twin tails, and when she licked her lips, he could see pointed teeth in her mouth.

"Hello Deary~" She giggled, moving one of her hands to rest it on her cheek.

"Who a-are you?" Cross stuttered, backing away.

"Muffet, hehe," She giggled again, her voice confident and playful, like a spider playing with it's prey.

He sat up more and tried to back up, his back bumping into a wall.

Of course there was a wall there.

Because he had slept next to the wall like a genius.

"Your response is very funny, Ahuhuhuhu," She giggled at his response of fear, kneeling down and resting her arms on her hips.

He could see her outfit now, which was a unusual outfit. One that was worn, but still in good shape compared to everyone else's. The pants were round, the edges frilled and curled. There was a large, uneven bow on her chest, the edges dangling downwards.

"..." Cross stayed silent, quickly looking to his left and his right to find an escape, only finding that there were unfortunately none.

"I think I could make a fine bone pastry with you, perhaps something bone of soul flavored!" She giggled lightly.

"Alphys? Flowey?" Cross called out in fear, hoping for an escape from his situation in the only two monsters he knew with their magic intact.

But no one came.

"Alphys and Flowey went out scavenging, since you both have no magic they knew you both won't be able to do any harm," The intruder said, one of her hands grabbing the bottom of his skull and pushing it up, investigating the part of his rib cage that she could see, "A bit scrawny, but if we save it we could have two days worth of food."

"Get o-off of me!" Cross tried to sound demanding, but it came out as a whimper.

Not very demanding and fear-inducing on his part, but could you blame him? He wasn't terrified of spiders, but he didn't love them, either. And the thought of being eaten by a spider did not sit well with him.

He wanted out, now.

With a swift kick upwards, he managed to hit Muffet square in the way, her screeching and falling backwards onto her back with a quick thud, all of her hands moving to hold the injured part of her body. He used the opening to scramble onto his legs, the bare bones of his feet scraping against the floor.

He didn't want to kill her, he knew that she was just trying to feed people as well. It wasn't the first time people had turned to cannibalism against monsters and humans, monster dust did had magic infused with it and could keep someone alive just as long as normal food. And you didn't need to cook it just to eat it, unlike humans.

But only a few were desperate enough to become cannibals, most managed to stay sane and full enough not to go that far.

But some were not that lucky.

Once he had seen someone offer to dust themselves so their child could live on longer, and it was heartbreaking to watch the discussion. They never ended up doing it, since Cross had gave them the food he had managed to scavenge from leftovers on a plate and kept them both going. He didn't mind being hungry another day that week, but he hoped that they were the only ones who had ran over the possibility of sacrificing one of them.

Ink was awake by then, his pupils dim and more colder than before. He figured that Ink was running on the last bits of the medicine, clinging onto whatever he had left. Ink had explained it to him the night before, that when he woke up he had around five to ten minutes of the medications wearing off before he went empty. And he said that he wanted to apologize for anything rude or cold he might say while he's emotionless.

Cross couldn't understand how he felt, so he swore to never blame Ink for anything he did without emotions.

"Um, we should... uh... stop her...somehow," Ink said in a dazed state, blinking a few times as he gripped his chest.

"I don't want to dust her though..." The servant said in a panic, looking back.

So, it turned out he wasn't a faster runner than a spider, because she was barreling at him by using all of her arms and legs to propel her forward. Cross screamed when she launched herself onto him, Cross not having enough time to dodge. Two of her hands gripped his neck while two more and her legs pinned him against the floor, his skull aching from hitting the wood too hard. Her last two arms were fighting back Ink, who was trying to intervene to help Cross.

Then, suddenly, Ink escaped from his view, the two hands reaching down to help try to tear Cross limb for limb, him screaming in pair ad she dislocated his right arm completely. Pain shot through his bones as his fear spiked upwards, filling him with adrenaline as he tried to figure out, in a panicked state, why Ink suddenly left him.

But what if his emotions wore off? What if he had stopped helping Cross and left him to die while Ink made a dash for the exit? What if he didn't care about Cross all that time, and tricked him last night so he could throw him in as a distraction?

All of his doubts about Ink were quickly demolished when Muffet was knocked off of him with a metal chair, her collapsing next to him as she went unconscious. Ink was sitting next to him on the bed where he had been sleeping for that morning, breathing from the sudden activity as he tossed the now useless chair next to him before offering out a helpful hand to Cross, who took it eagerly (with his left arm) and stood up, both of them looking at the monster on the floor to the right.

That blow definitely had knocked her out, that was for sure.

"Thanks," Cross huffed.

"Anytime," Ink said uneasily, taking in Cross' dislocated arm, "You're hurt."

"Worth seeing a crippled skeleton still kick butt," Cross said, chuckling to himself to lighten the mood.

Ink suddenly grasped his dislocated right arm, Cross hissing from the pain as he clenched his left wrist into a fist. Then, without a warning, he had shoved it back into place, Cross emitting another scream before he managed to calm down.

"Sorry," Ink grumbled, making sure that Cross was lacking any other injuries before taking a sigh of relief.

"Looks life we'll need to figure out what to do with her now."

《》《》《》

If you're confused on what happened with Muffet, here's the explanation:

Basically she was planning on stealing some chemicals from Alphys while she and Flowey went out for some more supplies from a secret hiding place they have nearby, then saw that there were two monsters she could use for food who didn't have their magic. She went for Cross first, since Ink's legs are too injured to walk on, but he woke up and fought back. Alphys had gave Ink the bed before she went out, so he was awake when Cross had ran into the room, since he wasn't tired. Then, he couldn't do much with his hands and no legs when Cross was being attacked, so he crawled to the other side of the bed, grabbed the chair that Alphys had brought in from the other room, and used his arm strength for it.

Basically that's what happened.

And sorry for the late update again, my grades have been dropping a bit and I'm trying to get them back up!