Their arms wrapped around him tightly. The flames swallow the forest around them, burning down everything they touch. His nonexistent lungs were filled with smoke and he feels like dying – which he probably was doing anyways.

"We have to run! If we do it now, they'll think we too died in the fire!" Their voice was desperate and their grip around him tightened.

"...But there's nothing left for us outside of this," he whispered, turning to meet their eye lights that glowed brightly in his blurry vision. What a nice colour they were, he thought to himself.

"Please, there's a lot! I'll stay with you! I won't leave!" It was a promise, they had assured many times after that. "Please, get up and run away with me!" they sobbed, carefully attempting to pull him back on his feet.

"Do you even know a way out of this forest..? And how do you know that they won't drop more bombs on us..? We aren't meant to have a future outside of this, -----," he rasped out, reaching to cup their cheekbone. Oh, it felt warm and wet. Must have been the heat and tears.

"We have to give it a shot.!" they begged, body shaking with violent sobs. "Please, we don't have much time if we don't move! You have to get up!" Such desperate demands escaped their mouth. It made his heart ache.

"Hold onto me closely and.. I- I'll shortcut... Us out of here.." he whispered. Their eyes widened, but before they could say anything the heat vanished, and so did the smell and the dusty forest around them.

-----

       Their eye sockets widened as they felt their knees hit concrete instead of moss. They looked around, teeth parting open as a shocked gasp escaped them. Immediately their eye lights snapped towards him.

"That was so irresponsible of you!" they exclaimed, wrapping their arms back around him, tightly. I will never let go, they swore in their mind.

"B-but... We're... W-we escaped..." he rasped out, eye sockets closing. His head hurt and the whole world was spinning, but at least the flames were left behind.

"Yeah.. We're out.." they whispered, raising their gaze to look at the city around them. "We're out.." they repeated with an excited smile on their teeth as tears rolled down their cheekbones.

-----

       Cross' eye sockets snapped open and he shot up. His Chara raised an eyebrow and lowered themselves to his face.

"What's it now?" they asked.

"Just a... Memory," he mumbled, shaking his skull. They stiffed a bit.

"Oh.. So now he's in your dreams as well.. How wonderful," they scoffed, crossing their arms. Now it was Cross' turn to raise a browbone as he asked: "You do know that I've dreamt of him before, many times, don't you?"

"I'm surprised that you still even remember him after fucking Dust and Killer and sucking up to the RiNgMaStEr." Their voice was full of mockery. Cross felt ashamed, cheekbones dusting purple. Yet it hurt.

"I would never forget about him.." he whispered. He had sworn he wouldn't.

"Say whatever you want to, but that doesn't mean that I believe you," they stated coldly.

Cross sighed, sadly, feeling guilty. "That's alright.." he said to them, "I know you don't believe me."

-----

       When Cross finally pushed himself out of the bed and headed towards the flap, he was surprised to find Ink standing outside, reading something from his scarf.

"Ink?" he called out, surprised. The artist immediately snapped his skull towards him and smiled.

"Cross! I was waiting for you!" he exclaimed, turning to face the other fully. "How have you been here?" he asked.

"I've been... Okay," Cross shrugged, a bit bothered. Ink's gaze darkened too.

"This is a place where you can't be fine.. You just learn to accept the fact that we're all fucked with no way out.." Ink looked away. "Heh, soon you come to realise that this is the best you deserve.. Soon you'll know that this is where you belong.. We all do.. We all came here for a reason, didn't we?" He finally raised his gaze to meet Cross' again.

"W-what happens if you try to escape..?" Cross stuttered. His spine shivered at the thought of what it could be.

"The Ringmaster will know the moment you leave his territory," Ink answered, voice as loud as a whisper. "He'll come for you, and so will Hell," he promised, clutching onto his scarf tightly. The atmosphere was heavy, Cross could hardly breath as the dark emotions choked him.

Then, in a blink of an eye, the heaviness disappeared – only to be replaced by weird emptiness around them. Ink shook his skull and looked at him, a bit confused.

"Were we talking about something?" the artist asked, tilting his skull. Then he frowned a bit at Cross' stiff expression, "Is something wrong?"

"No," Cross lied. He didn't want to go back to the previous conversation. "Was there something you wanted to talk about since you were waiting for me?" he asked instead.

"Oh, yeah!" Ink's expression brightened. "I wanted to come see how you're settling in here!"

"I see," Cross mumbled, trying to shake the darkness out of his skull. "And for that you had to come to the newcomers tent at seven in the morning?" he asked, raising a browbone.

"Actually!" Ink chimed in, "I've been here since five!" he announced.

"I.. I don't think that I want to know the reasoning behind that.." Cross manage to stutter out, stunned.

"Well, Dust kicked me out of his tent because I was trying draw him without–," – Ink blinked – "Never mind." He stopped himself before it was too late.

"Anyways! The show is in three days, are you excited to see it?" he asked instead, eye lights changing to different coloured stars.

Three days? That meant Cross would be sleeping with the Ringmaster in three days. The idea was making him feel kinds excited, yet terrified and scared. He didn't know if he really wanted it or not.

"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it," he answered, somehow managing to keep his voice steady.

"How lovely~!" A tentacle landed on his shoulder. Suddenly there was cold negativity around them, and Cross knew who it was from. Ink was staring behind him – and despite not being able to feel it, Cross could tell that he was afraid.

"Our shows are quite enchanting," Nightmare began to tell, gracefully slipping his fingers under Cross' chin and tilting his skull to face him. "Especially the after show," he whispered for Cross, and Cross only.

"Don't you agree, Ink?" The Ringmaster's attention travelled to the artist, who immediately stiffed.

"Y-yes, obviously! T-they're really amazing, Ringmaster!" he stuttered, failing to keep his voice steady under the sudden pressure.

"See?" Nightmare tilted his head, turning back to Cross. "You'll definitely enjoy it, and it'll make you want more! But don't worry," – a hand moved to pet his skull – "you'll get to perform in the next one," Nightmare promised.

"But now I have to hurry elsewhere, I'm a busy man after all!" The tentacles and hands slipped off of Cross and he had to do everything he could to not reach for them. "Ink, there's a new consignment of things for the props and gadgets. Go pick it up from the gates," Nightmare said as he crossed his arms behind his back and began walking away as if he was the most important person in the place (And he definitely was).

"Will do!" Ink called out after him, saluting quickly.

-----

       "How much stuff do the props and gadgets need?" Cross asked, raising a browbone as he stared at the five huge boxes that were labelled for Ink and Blue.

"Quite a lot!" Ink chirped, excitedly digging through the first box. "We make a lot of things for all the circus and all the shows. Sometimes we mess up and need more parts to fix our mistakes," he explained while examining two different metal pieces.

"Do you need help moving them?" Cross asked, tilting his head.

Ink thought for a moment, "Yeah!"

Cross picked up a box and watched Ink do the same. He sighed when the artist began looking around, completely clueless about the way to the props and gadgets tent.

"It's this way, I think," Cross supplied his mind, nodding to the direction he thought was the right one. Ink perked up and nodded. Then he started walking to the opposite direction. "Ink! The other way!" Cross called out after him.

"This way?" Ink asked, turning to the right direction.

"Yes," Cross sighed. "How about I just lead you there?" he asked, walking to Ink's side.

"Sure!" Ink hummed.

-----

       "Ink! Where have you been? I've been–," – Blue stopped – "Oh, hey Cross!" he greeted the monochrome skeleton following after the artist. "We got more supplies?" He perked up immediately after seeing the boxes, hurrying to get a look into one.

"Crossy helped me carry them! There's still three boxes left, we have to go get them," Ink explained, placing the box on the ground. Blue immediately tore the top open and began shuffling through the items with excitement, it amused Cross.

"There's so much cool stuff! Ink, we can do so much with these!" Blue cried out excitedly as he pulled out different metal pieces. Cross was a bit doubtful about the statement, but decided to trust the pros who – probably – knew what they were doing.

"Should we go get the remaining boxes?" Cross inquired, gesturing towards the flap.

"Yeah," Ink hummed, pushing himself out through the flap, Cross and Blue following right behind, everyone barely avoiding the metal pole in the middle (expect for Ink, who walked into it).

-----

       "Tell me, my darling~," Nightmare cooed, slipping his finger under Lust's chin, not even bothering to avoid the lavender saliva dripping down it. "Did our dear Kills tell you something?" Nightmare asked, voice like honey filled with poison.

Lust gasped for air and quickly shook his head. "He didn't say anything, Ringmaster! He didn't say anything out of ordinary! I promise, Ringmaster, I promise!" he cried out before Nightmare pulled his skull back between his cyan thighs.

"Are you sure? He looked a bit suspicious coming here to you instead of going to his own tent after running into me," Nightmare hummed, distractedly stroking Lust's skull as the latter sucked what had been pushed into his mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah, don't pull away yet, darling!" he warned, thrusting deeper into the designers mouth as he tried to pull away to answer. More lavender saliva dripped down the designer's chin as he choked on what was pushed deep into his throat. "You're slowly getting to the good part, better not stop before I come into that pretty little, and dirty, mouth of yours!" Nightmare purred, tracing circles on Lust's skull with his silky glove.

"Hum once if Killer said something he shouldn't have, twice if he didn't. And don't lie to me," Nightmare ordered. Lust immediately hummed twice, almost choking as cyan that spilled down his throat. "Are you sure you aren't lying, little whore?" Nightmare tilted his head, pushing Lust back before zipping up his trousers and standing up.

Then he looked down at Lust, "You wouldn't lie to me, would you?" he wondered out loud in a mocking tone.

"He was just being himself.. Trying to tell me how he had fucked Ink," Lust answered quietly, voice a bit raspy. He slowly licked the apple flavour from his teeth, carefully examining the – too familiar – taste.

"Mmh," Nightmare hummed, not quite believing. "For that good job your dirty little mouth did, I'll let it slip, for now," he decided, Lust's eye lights immediately snapping towards him. "But if he does something like that again, you're both in very bad trouble, understood, little whore?" His silky glove was under Lust's chin, forcing the designer to meet his eye light.

"I understand, Ringmaster!" Lust chimed in, lowering himself, trying to show more respect for the man who was worth way more than he was.

"You better," Nightmare answered and straightened himself, stepping away from the designer. He turned towards the flap. "Nothing slips past my notice here. This is my show after all!" He flashed Lust a wide grin. It made the latter's spine shiver.

"Remember to behave and you will be alright," Nightmare reminded before pushing himself out of the tent, leaving Lust behind.

The designer collapsed on the ground, panting. His SOUL was slowly calming down, yet he felt familiar magic pooling around his pelvis. He gritted his teeth, trying to hold back the urge to please himself. He knew that the Ringmaster was waiting for him to do so outside the flap.

"Fuck..." Lust whined as his ecto snapped into place. Looked like he was about to let the Ringmaster hear one more of his sinful little adventures. (Deep inside he hated it).

Words: 2157

[5.9.2022]

Catching up with my updating schedule :D Also, look at my Dream Sans cosplay!

I have quite a lot of motivation for cosplay right now and I'm definitely going to make more Sans cosplays. I need to get the actual face paints for the face and learn how to make it look good though.