"So, Cross, any advice on how to deal with watching your child die?"

The monochrome skeleton spit out the coffee he was drinking and spun around to face the God of Death, who was leaning against a light pole, looking unfazed by the question he had asked, as if it didn't really matter. He just looked rather bored and unbothered. On his other hand, instead of a cup of coffee, he had a bottle of something stronger.

"I-," Cross choked out, unable to form any words. The emotions pooling from the other were so empty, careless. Yet the question he had asked did not exactly fit those emotions.

"Goth just happened to say goodbye to this world," Reaper hummed, "And so did something else," he added quietly, scoffing.

"I'm sorry..?" Cross whispered, SOUL beating out of his chest. He was scared, scared of how carelessly Reaper was talking about this. He wasn't sure how he should even react, should he offer advice that he didn't have or ask something. He didn't know.

"Well, I killed him," Reaper admitted.

"W-what?" Cross stared at him with wide eye sockets. Even his Chara turned to look towards Reaper, finally paying attention to conversation.

"I have lived for an eternity already. I have had multiple families in the past, all in different timeliness, centuries apart. I have already seen it all, been through it all. I let Goth happened because I loved Geno and he seemed to want it. I loved him, both of them. But now, now I have come to discover that Geno is not as innocent as he seems. He betrayed me, and I have seen that all before, multiple times. There is no use in trying to get him back, might as well let go. There is no point in trying to keep together a family if he lies to me and meets someone behind my back. I am not going to waste any more of my time with him. Goth was only able to survive because we were together and able to care for him. But now he would be deadweight, so he had to go. I will not raise a child with a liar and a cheater. I believe that my son will be better off in the afterlife with a former partner of mine. The God of Life herself is way more capable of taking care of him."

During the whole monologue, not a single emotion flashed on Death's cold face. He just seemed done. It made Cross speechless.

Cross himself would do anything to get his three little sunrays back and yet here he was, listening to Reaper talk about how he had just let his own son die, and he did not even seem upset or regretful about it.

"Finally showing your true colours or something?" Cross spat out, trying his best to hide the disgust in his voice.

Reaper took a sip from the bottle and just rolled his eye lights. "I am the God of Death. I am used to seeing death. When you are immortal, you have to watch all your loved ones die over and over again. This is nothing new.."

"What about Geno? How did he take the death of his son?" Cross dared to ask. The lack of heartbreak in the atmosphere was worrying him. Did Geno already know?

"Eh, I have no idea. He is still asleep, unaware of what has happened. Soon he will wake up and notice that he was not as good of a liar as he though he was. If you worry about him, go check on him. I will not set a foot in that tent ever again," Reaper answered, chuckling dryly before taking another sip.

A hint of numbness flashed through the cold shell and Cross realised that he was hurting, bad, but didn't let anyone see. It made his breath hitch. Maybe the God before him was not a monster, but instead a broken man who had already suffered too much during his life to be able to hide his pain so easily.

"Do what you want to do.. I will go check on Geno.." Cross said, immediately turning around and rushing towards the medical tent.

"This place is a fucking madhouse," Chara sighed, shaking their head.

-----

     Lust cursed as he accidentally cut his finger with fabric shears, immediately slapping a hand over his mouth when he remembered the minor standing by the flap of the tent.

"Please excuse me. That is not suitable language for children, my dear," he apologised to Blue, who just raised a browbone.

"I'm not that young, and many others are way worse. It's nowhere near as bad as the time Ink described a night he had had with someone.. That was... kinda inappropriate.." Blue admitted, cheeks turning blue.

"That son of a bitch does not always know what is appropriate and what is not," Lust sighed softly, shaking his skull. "We all still love him though," he added with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that's how he is," Blue hummed. "But what are you working on?" he asked, tipping his skull.

"The town has their festival in two days. I'm just finishing up everyone's outfit for the final rehearsal we have tomorrow," the designer answered, lifting up the piece he had finished cutting out.

"Right! We have also finished all the props, on time for once," Blue exclaimed excitedly, clapping his hands together. "I'm kinda jealous of you and everyone else going, you'll get to see Cross perform for the first time while the rest of us can't," he sighed with a pout on his face.

Getting new performers was always exciting and obviously everyone was very eager to see how well they performed in the actual shows.

"You'll get to see him perform, eventually," Lust hummed, casting him a soft smile. "The Winter Wonderland is coming later this month," he reminded.

"Ooh, don't remind me! It's so much work!" Blue groaned, throwing his arms in the air.

Lust laughed, "But it's worth it. It looks so stunning when everything is done perfectly," he reminded softly.

"Alright, I can't argue with that," the younger admitted, teeth twitching to a smile. "Honestly I can't wait to see it again," he sighed, enchanted by the memories of the previous years.

"Cannot wait to stay awake for multiple nights to finish everything in time," the design added jokingly. "Oh, wait, did you come here for a reason? I never asked that before, did I?" he suddenly remembered, turning away from his work to see Blue.

"Yeah," Blue hummed, "pockets." He demonstrated by shoving his hand down his pocket and letting it go as down as it could. There was no fabric to stop it, the pocket was clearly missing.

"Once again," Lust sighed, heading towards his spare pocket drawer. "Go wait in the dressing room and give me your trousers, I'll fix them up quickly," he instructed while digging through the drawer.

"How long will it take?" Blue inquired as he backed towards the dressing room.

"Not too long. I'll be ready before you even notice," the designer hummed, smiling softly.

-----

     Geno watched as Nightmare disappeared into the darkness. He let all of his words sink into his head before slowly retreating back to the tent.

Water dripped on the floor, leaving a trail after him. Geno chose to ignore it, for now. He just wanted to go to sleep and forget about all his worries.

Suddenly something emerged from the shadows behind him: a pair of arms wrapped around him. Geno felt his SOUL sink into his stomach.

"Shh, my darling," his lover's voice sang in his ear. It sounded so loving, yet hollow. "Do not say a word. I do not want your excuses. I am sorry that I was not enough for you. It would not be right of me to waste any more of your limited time." Cold teeth pressed against Geno's.

"Just close your eyes and I will be out of your sights before you even notice. You had such a beautiful and pure SOUL, yet you got greedy for love. What a shame." Geno felt his eye sockets slip shut. The voice behind him faded into a muffled whisper. Then he came to realise that he would not hear it ever again.

"I love you, but I cannot have you. I am sorry, but I have to go. This is for the best." The last sentences fell into oblivion as Geno felt the world go silent around him. His legs gave in and the whole world went dark. He was left all alone.

-----

     Geno blinked his eye sockets open. His body felt weird, something was hurting, yet he was not awake enough to place his finger on it. The bed underneath him felt colder than usual, something was missing.

He bolted up, glancing around. The room was empty, not even Goth was there. He rushed to the crib in the corner, breath hitching at the sight of dust covering the blanket.

Geno fell to his knees, gripping tightly the wooden bars of the crib. The warmth of tears filled his eye sockets as he came to the realisation that his baby was dusted. He did not understand why. How could this have happened? And where was his husband? How could he have let this happen?

Then the memories of the previous night flooded his mind. Reaper had left him. That Geno understood, he had deserved that for betraying Reaper like that. But he did not understand how Reaper could have let Goth die. Geno thought he had loved their son. He had prepared for his husband leaving him incase he found out the truth, but nothing could have prepared him for losing both of his children in the process, as now he noticed the lack of a little SOUL in his body.

There was a careful knock on the door. A part of Geno hoped it was Reaper with Goth and all of this was just his misunderstanding, but deep inside he knew that Reaper was not coming back, and neither was Goth.

-----

     Cross felt the exact moment Geno realised. A way too familiar pain cut through the atmosphere, knocking Cross off of his feet. The grief lingered strong in the air. For a second Cross thought about turning around and running, but he knew he could not do that. He had to go help Geno. (Because no one had helped him through it all those years ago.)

He opened the flap to the medical tent and almost suffocated to the pained emotions. Yet he forced his way to the door in the back and knocked carefully.

He felt Geno's emotions shift. There was a hint of hope that faded away as quickly as it had appeared. The grief returned, and Cross came to the conclusion that the medic was not going to open the door for him – he had to do it himself.

     Cross knocked once more before pushing the door open. Geno was slumped on the floor next to the crib. Cross did not dare to look there; he did not want to see the dust.

"Please tell me that this is all just a nightmare.." Geno begged, voice hoarse from crying. He sounded so desperate it hurt Cross.

"I will not lie to you, as much as I would like to right now.." the monochrome skeleton whispered. He stood by the door, keeping a safe distance to give Geno some space.

"This is all my fault, but I– I did not expect... This.." Geno gestured towards the empty crib.

"Sometimes it just happens.. One moment you are watching your child run around all happy... And when you blink, they are suddenly dusting before you..." Cross answered quietly.

"What do you know about it..?" the eternally bleeding skeleton asked numbly. He sounded doubtful, as if he didn't believe that Cross knew what he was talking about.

"More than you would expect me to," the monochrome skeleton hummed. "You are a mess of emotions, you should rest up. It will get better, even if it doesn't seem like it." Carefully he made his way to Geno and helped the grieving skeleton up, walking him to his bed.

"I don't need to..." Geno protested, looking down, embarrassed by the way Cross was treating him. He was perfectly fine to do things by himself, he didn't need help like this.

"Sleep now. I'll be here when you wake up," Cross promised softly. "Take your time, it's not easy, I know that.. Non of them is coming back; the past cannot be changed. You just have to accept it and move on once you're ready," he hummed, sitting on the edge of the bed. (It reminded him of the past, of sitting on their beds and comforting them.)

Geno wanted to protest, but he was tired. The crying had taken away all of his energy. "Please don't leave... Don't wanna be alone..." he mumbled while drifting off to the realm of the ones dreaming.

"I won't; I'll be here," Cross promised.

Words: 2188

[31.10.2023]

Well, it's my birthday today, I'm turning 18– :D And also, Happy Halloween everyone!

Anyways, here's a chapter I wrote like a month ago and finished a few nights ago. I did not reread it, so I have no idea what like 90 % of it is even about– I hope that it actually makes sense and such, I have no idea. I did not read it and probably won't either, not today at least–

But I guess that this chapter was to fix the mistake I made: Afterdeath. Don't get me wrong, I love the ship, but I prefer rare pairs, plus this was a way to cause some more drama and angst– :D