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---Cross' POV----

I stood still, in complete shock.

Reaper was still alive.

How?!

Nightmare stepped forwards, his tentacles moving to point at him threateningly. "How the hell are you still alive?!" He hissed, mirroring my thoughts exactly.

Reaper laughed softly. "I wouldn't exactly call myself...alive..."

I blinked in confusion, watching as he summoned his soul.

Nightmare's eye widened and I gasped as we saw it.

It was shattered, almost. The whole thing was heavily cracked, covered in spiderweb-like cracks. There were chips and chunks of it missing, floating round the outside of it. It looked like it was going to completely shatter right this second.

Reaper grimaced, noticing our shock. "Geno may have stabbed me through the soul, but he didn't put all his effort into it. His aim was a little off, and that resulted in my soul only starting to collapse instead of shattering straight away."

Nightmare eyed him warily. "Lucky you..."

Reaper sighed, glancing between both of us, his eyes resting on our intertwined hands. "Look...I know neither of you trust me...and you don't have a reason to. I was a complete dickhead back there...I was consumed by my crave for power...consumed by my own greed. I can't guarantee that I've changed...but I realise what's going on now..."

I blinked, looking him up and down.

"But your dust and cloak is over there. How are you alive?"

Reaper flinched before looking down at the floor. "That dust is from a crew mates body I managed to drag in...and my cloak decoy was just a ripped part of my ships sail..."

Nightmare narrowed his eye, walking over to the decoy.

I stayed put, eyeing Reaper to make sure he wasn't trying to pull something on us.

He looked me up and down before starting to walk over to me slowly.

I immediately tensed, taking a small step back and looking over at Nightmare, who was stood next to the decoy, glaring at Reaper so fiercely that I shivered.

"Don't you dare fucking touch him, Reaper."

Reaper paused in mid-step, looking over at Nightmare. "I'm not going to do anything, calm down."

Nightmare hissed, reaching out a tentacle and wrapping it round my wrist. "Because I'm going to trust you aren't I?"

I yelped as I felt the tentacle tug on my wrist, making me stumble over to him. "W-Wait!"

I tripped, letting out another yelp as the ground rushed towards me, but instead of hitting it, Nightmare caught me, hugging me tightly to his chest.

"Sorry..."

I clung to him. "It's okay..."

Nightmare sighed and I glanced down at Reapers decoy, leaning down to pick up the black fabric.

It was indeed just a ripped part of his sail, not a cloak at all. We'd just assumed on first sight that it was his cloak because of the fact that it was black fabric. Heck it even fooled Geno.

I looked over at Reaper. He was staring at both of us, looking like he wanted to say something.

But before he even had a chance to open his mouth the whole cave jolted and shook, making us stumble and trip, crashing into the ground.

The force of the impact made me cry out, my head ringing. And then everything went black.

/\/\/\/\/

I have no idea how long I'd been unconscious for. But I woke up with a pounding head ache and ringing ears.

I blinked rapidly and shifted, trying to clear my foggy head.

Something brushed over the top of my skull, making me flinch and try to shake it away. It came back again, something brushing lightly over my forehead.

I groaned softly, moving a hand to swat whatever was touching me away.

Instead of succeeding, whatever was brushing over me grabbed onto my hand lightly and squeezed it.

That's when it realised that the thing next to me was a person, and my head was resting in their lap.

I blinked, slowly turning my head to look up at who I was being pet by.

It was Nightmare.

I instantly relaxed, letting out a soft purr this time as he pet me, making him smile.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart..."

I snuggled up to him, the pounding in my head slowly receding. "Mmm..."

Nightmare chuckled, kissing the top of my skull quickly.

"He's awake?" Another voice rang out, making me frown and sit up, looking around for the source.

That's when I realised how dark it was.

The entire cave was practically pitch black, the only light seeming to come from the pedestal over to my right, which looked as if it was glowing.

"W-Who's there?" I called. "A-And why is it so dark?"

Nightmare nuzzled me, pulling me onto his lap gently. "It's just Reaper...don't worry...and as for why it's so dark..." He pointed over at where the entrance once was.

I gasped. The entire thing was blocked off.

Huge boulder-like rocks covered what once was a huge space of open air leading off to the sea.

"Wh-What happened?!"

Nightmare nuzzled me, sighing. "The cave suddenly started collapsing and the whole entrance caved in. You were knocked unconscious for an hour...the pedestal started glowing a while ago. Reaper says there's some sort of message on their, but neither of us have checked it out yet..."

I shivered, shifting off of him and getting to shakily to my feet, my head swimming.

Nightmare got up beside me, holding onto me while I swayed slightly on my feet.

I leant against him slightly as I started to make my way over to the pedestal, taking small, cautious steps, as if one wrong move could make the entire cave collapse.

There were indeed some words carved into it, words that weren't there before.

I blinked, leaning down to see what it said. "I'm gonna read it out...this could be important..."

Nightmare nodded, glancing at Reaper as he started limping over.

I gulped, clearing my throat. "You have ended the curse and shut the chest, now the seas are safe. But you've killed our guardian, something so precious to us. So in return we will take something precious from you.

Two of you must die before you can leave the cave..."

I froze, my eyes widening as I stumbled back. "N-No..."

Nightmare hissed, glancing over at Reaper as he hugged me tightly, letting me whimper and bury my face into his chest.

Reaper growled softly. "So two of us have to die?"

Nightmare nodded, stroking the top of my skull calmingly. "Apparently so..."

"Th-This can't be happening." I stuttered. "Th-This c-can't be happening!"

"It is Crossy..." Nightmare sighed, kissing the top of my skull. "It is..."

"NO!" I cried, clutching him. "NO IT ISNT!"

"Guys..."

I froze, turning my head to look at Reaper.

He was stood by the pedestal, a sad smile on his face. "Please don't try to stop me...I deserve this."

I blinked as he pulled out his sword from his sheath, the cold metal shining dully in the dark cave.

"Reaper what are you doing?" Nightmare asked, his voice laced with panic and concern as Reaper summoned his soul.

"Nothing I won't regret Nightmare...I'm already only a few steps away from deaths door, might as well get it over with."

My eyes widened as he positioned the sword over his soul, giving us another small smile.

"You two figure something out, okay? I know you will..."

"R-Reaper wait!" Nightmare called.

But it was too late.

We both watched, wide eyed as Reaper slashed his sword through his soul, making it shatter completely.

"Heh, the grim reaper reaping himself...how f-fitting..."

And then before he could say another word, he collapsed, dissolving to dust.

----------------------------------------------

AAAAANNNDDDDD NOW REAPER IS REALLY DEAD--

I SWEAR--

PINKY PROMISE--

Okie that's enough :3

FiNalE tOmOrRoW

:'3

-Jess-