"I'm curious, how did you end up here?" Cross had asked them one night. It had been a weirdly quiet night, no explosions in the distance, no dying soldiers crying in pain, no heavy vehicles roaming the woods around them.

"My mother owns" – they had stopped to think for a while – "Let's say business. I've spent my entire life there and it has made me long for something different. I want to help people. That's why I ended up as a nurse here. I want to help as many soldiers as I can, I want to save their lives," they had explained, pulling a blanket over Chara, who had been fast asleep between the two skeletons.

"What kind of business?" Cross had inquired, tilting his skull.

They had blinked a few times, thinking about the answer. "A show business. She's very good at her job and knows how to make beautiful shows, but it's never really been my thing. That's why I don't want to follow in her footsteps."

"Well, we came here to escape our father. He already got two of our brothers killed and probably wants us dead as well.." Cross had answered, looking at Chara. He hadn't understood how they had been sleeping so peacefully despite being in the middle of a war.

"That's horrible.." they had whispered, eyelights full of pity. "How old were you again?" they had hesitatedly asked.

"I'm 15, he's like eight or something, I'm not sure, maybe nine? Back at home it was hard to keep track of time. I barely managed to count my own age," Cross had admitted, furrowing his browbones, a bit unsure. "How old are you then?" he had asked from the other skeleton.

"17, which too is way too young to be here.." they had answered, looking down a bit. They both had fallen silent after that.

Cross had looked up to the clear sky above them where the stars had been shining brightly. "The stars look pretty tonight. They're shining so innocently, maybe they don't know of the horrors this cruel world has prepared for us.." he had said.

They had turned to look at him, blinking for a few times before turning to look at the stars. "The Moon is very beautiful as well. It always reminds me of someone important."

"The night is so peaceful.. Do you think it's the calm before the storm.?" Cross had asked, mapping out constellations with his fingers. He had wanted to ask them more, but the plaintive tone in their voice had told him that there was a story behind it, a story that they weren't ready to tell, and he had decided to respect that, knowing they would tell him one day.

"I wish this peacefulness could last forever, but I'm afraid that you might be right.. The enemy must be planning something, why else would they be this quiet?" They had furrowed their browbones, clearly worried.

"If you get out of here alive, will you go back to where you came from?" Cross had then asked, curious.

"No, I want to move to the city and get a job where I can help more people. I kinda want to become a pediatrician," they had explained, a slight blush on their face.

"I can see that happening," the younger had nodded, agreeing. They had seemed a bit surprised by this. "You would make a good pediatrician," he had continued, still looking at the stars, avoiding eye contact and trying to hide his slightly purple face.

Their face had softened. "Thanks, that means a lot," they had hummed, cheekbones getting more colour. "What do you want to do once you get out?"

"I don't think that we'll be getting out," Cross had answered, shrugging. He had already accepted that fact. They had frowned at that. "But if we do get out, I think we'll move to the city and see what it has to offer for us. Maybe one day we can even get a real family.."

They had wrapped their arms around him. "You'll get out, I promise.." they had whispered, a soft, yet worried and anxious smile on their face.

"Don't make promises you can't keep.." Cross had hummed, burying his face into their shoulder.

"Escaping is always a possibility," they had answered, "We could do that together."

"That's going to be hard."

"We won't know if we don't try!"

Cross had rolled his eyes lights, "Well, we can try if you insist, but I doubt that it will work."

"Oh, it will! One day it will!" They had smiled at him.

-----

     Cross would be lying if he said that he wasn't ashamed of himself. He knew that the Ringmaster was just using him and it wasn't a good idea to give in. But at the same time something in the Ringmaster managed to fill the aching hole in his chest – and something else managed to fill another aching hole in his body.

Cross let his ecto pop into place. His clothes got uncomfortably tight. They hadn't been designed to fit his ecto – especially not the female on –only his bare bones, but at least they could handle the ecto without ripping, or at least that's what he hoped.

He raised his hand and rang the bell. There was no turning back now. He had dug himself a grave and he had to lie in it.

The flap flew open reveling Nightmare. He smirked at the scene before him and let the performer in, closing the flap behind him.

"You seem to like your female ecto, don't you?" He raised a browbone, reaching to run his hand over Cross' chest.

The ex-soldier blushed a bit. He hated to admit it, but after spending months in his female ecto with no breaks, it had gotten way more comfortable than using his male ecto. His magic adjusted to it better.

"Come here," the Ringmaster ordered, making his way to his desk. Cross obeyed, following after him. (And he hated himself for it.) "I have some time before the nightly patrol," Nightmare told, taking a seat.

"Take off your clothes," he commanded, turning his attention to the paperwork on his desk while Cross did as he was told. "Come here and sit," Nightmare continued, freeing his own cock from his trousers.

-----

     Cross sat down on Nightmare's lap, letting the Ringmaster's cyan magic sink deep into his ecto. He leaned into the older, moaning while trying to adjust himself.

"I have paperwork to do, don't be a burden," Nightmare warned, snaking an arm around Cross' middle to pull him into place.

Cross nodded, moving a hand to his teeth to block out all the moans of pleasure. He felt ashamed of himself for doing this, for agreeing to this despite having a choice.

A few minutes of silence went by. The Ringmaster paid no attention to him, instead focusing fully on his paperwork.

"You're making a mess on my chair," he pointed out, running his free hand on Cross' swollen cunt that was dripping his purple fluids onto Nightmare's lap and the chair below them.

"Y-you wanted.. M-me.. He-re.." Cross stuttered, trying to hold back his moans as the hand continued to play with his already filled entrance.

"You were the one who seemed to want this." Nightmare raised a browbones. "Tell me: why?" He tilted his skull, curiosity peaking in his eye light.

"Are you just this needy? Or is there something else behind this?" he inquired, moving slightly, making Cross squirm around his length. "Is there something you're trying to hide from me?"

"I– Ah~" Cross couldn't find the words. If there even was something for him to say. There was no way for him to explain, maybe because he wasn't 100% sure about the answer either.

"Tell me," Nightmare ordered, coldly. This was a clear order.

Cross remained silent. He kept gaping his teeth apart, speechless. His face was burning with shame.

The Ringmaster raised a browbone, clearly annoyed at the lack of answers he was getting. "Obeying isn't that hard, now is it?" he scoffed.

"..."

Nightmare sighed, rolling his eye light. "Lets get this over with then."

Before Cross had a chance to react, he was slammed onto the table. And before he could realise he was a moaning mess, dripping purple magic onto Nightmare's paperwork as the latter abused his cunt.

The conversation was done and Nightmare was pretty pissed at him for not giving an answer. The atmosphere was different from before. This time the Ringmaster seemed bored, uninterested.

-----

     "So... How did you end up here again..?" Chara asked, facing away from Cross. They had their back turned to him and refused to turn around for an obvious reason.

"So, the plan didn't work out," Cross admitted. "He definitely sees me as a whore now.." His cheeks dusted purple, embarrassed.

Chara snorted, "Did you learn your lesson?" they mocked.

Cross looked down. His purple ecto was on full display, still dripping Nightmare's cum. His hands were tied to a lamppost. The whole situation was humiliating, but that was the purpose of the punishment.

"I fell too hard into the act... I just wanted information, but when we fucked for the first time.. It just reminded me of.. I thought that maybe the Ringmaster could... But I was wrong.. I let myself get carried away, thinking that maybe I could finally find answers if I got myself close to him, but I was trying too hard.. He wants challenge, not an easy whore. We need a new plan."

"I refuse to believe that that was just an act," Chara announced. "A part of you has actually fallen for him and that still disgust me. You think that the Ringmaster can be what he is, and let yourself forget what you're actually fighting for. Your longing for him is making you weak, and that's why we need to get this over with fast so we can find out what happened. Your emotions are unstable and you need to fix that."

Cross sighed, "I'm really letting myself get desperate, aren't I.?" he chuckled sadly. "I wish everything would just be as it was.."

"Well, any idea how I can get out before someone walks in.?"

"You deserve this for everything you've done."

-----

     "Why are you tied to a lamppost.?" Ccino asked, inserted a pin into the lock, looking away from Cross, pink dusting his cheeks.

"The Ringmaster is a bitch," Cross scoffed, pulling his hands off as the handcuffs fell on the floor. He snapped his ecto out and turned to look for his clothes.

"If I'm being honest, I have to admit that I thought you were Lust for a second. The Ringmaster has done this to him multiple times. I'm not sure about the motives, but whatever they are, they must be twisted.." Ccino sighed, crossing his arms. "Did you do something?"

"The Ringmaster decided that I could be his entertainment for the night, but apparently I wasn't able to provide what he wanted," Cross answered, bending the truth. He wasn't going to admit that he had actually kinda wanted it.

Ccino nodded, pity in his eye lights. That was nothing out of ordinary in the circus.

"Thanks for helping me. Now I have to go find Killer. I'll see you around!" Cross was quick to excuse himself away. He was too embarrassed to look at Ccino for now.

-----

     "Tell me, what's with the performer tied up outside?" There was a hint of curiosity in the man's voice.

Nightmare raised his skull, looking up from his ruined paperwork. "He deserved a punishment for misbehaving," he answered, looking at his visitor.

"Not good enough in bed?" he chucked, gesturing towards the purple papers on the table. On his lap sat another, a bit smaller skeleton, one whose light had been dead for way too long.

"That's not it," Nightmare hummed. The visitor raised a browbone. "He went from interesting to useless as a person. I think he's planning something, but whatever it is, he's not doing a very good job. I want to see what he does now that I've pretended to lose interest. He's an idiot if he thinks that dirty tricks will work on me."

The visitor hummed, running his hands on the soft ecto of his "toy", who didn't react. It made Nightmare's spine shiver. He didn't like what the smaller was like nowadays, what his visitor had turned him into.

"I'd like to meet him," the visitor told him.

"Why are you even here?" Nightmare asked, ignoring his request. There was a cold tone in his voice.

"Can't we visit our favourite cousin?" he chuckled, raising a browbone. "We just wanted to come see how your circus is doing!"

"It's doing well, now get lost," Nightmare growled, narrowing his eye light.

"No, no, no! We still have a lot to see! We just got here!" The visitor smirked, not bothered by Nightmare's anger. "You'll let us stay, won't you, dear cousin?"

Words: 2175

[2.4.2023]

This might be the worst chapter I've ever written– It's a mess, but well, it's only purpose is to turn the course of this story. You see, my brain goes brr and shit goes downhill. It's gone downhill and now I need to fix it–

You can also see that I can't explain things without rambling, which can make some things a bit hard to understand– Like Cross' motives. (Also my lack of English vocabulary doesn't help–)