A portal opens up just inside the tree line. Dust hops out and snaps it closed right behind him. He grumbles to himself and shuffles out of the trees. The last thing that Dust wants to deal with is a feral monster kid.

The AU that Dust calls home is abandoned by normal monsters. If it was ever once inhabited, those residents were killed off long before Dust was recruited. Dust hasn't even seen most of the place. All he ever visits is the one large building on this property. The stone and wood building is a cross somewhere between a large mansion and a small castle. Dust opened a portal outside since Nightmare doesn't like when they pop up inside the building. Nightmare has always been a little jumpy. Even though he can recognize the emotional aura of anyone who enters the AU, Nightmare still insists on this rule. It's not enough of an issue for Dust to protest it. Almost nothing seems to be worth the energy to him these days.

Dust doesn't bother to knock before he shoves open one of the heavy doors. The ornate entryway is dim. It's much later in the night here than it was in the AU Dust has just left. The fake, electric powered torches are dim on either side of the hall. Dust shuts the door as quietly as possible and creeps forwards. There are two big arches on either of him that he has to sneak past in order to get to the stairs that lead to the second floor where Dust's room is. As he's walking by, eyes bore into the back of his head.

"Dust?" The single, quiet word makes the murder freeze in his tracks. Dust jerks his head around to meet the gaze of none other than Nightmare himself. He's standing in a shadowy corner and would completely blend in if not for his bright blue eye. Dust can't help but be reminded of the similar color of the stray monster kid. "Come here," Nightmare says once the other has stopped.

Hesitating for only a moment, Dust quickly gives in and walks over. Years ago when the bad Sanses were first getting together, Nightmare's word was law. It wasn't uncommon for Nightmare to punish anyone who didn't fall in line. That kind of strict intolerance ended years ago, but Nightmare still holds a high level of respect. Dust stills sees Nightmare as the one person who cared enough to get him out of his AU. That won't change even as everything else is shifting.

Nightmare grabs one of Dust's hands to inspect the damage. Rather then directly touching Dust, Nightmare grabs onto Dust's upper arm where a coat covers up bare bone. The cracks in Dust's hands are caked in dried blood. Nightmare knows that Dust is injured based on his emotions, but Dust's hands are unlikely to be the only damaged spots. Dust is unlikely to appreciate if Nightmare is too pushy about it. He decides to focus on the painful looking cracks since it's likely to hurt any time Dust moves his fingers. With limited skill in healing magic, Nightmare slowly starts to use green magic to seal the cracks. He hovers a hand over Dust's broken ones.

The slow progress and silence annoys Dust. He sighs and looks at anything else but Nightmare's focused expression. One of the King's tendrils is raised up higher in the air than the others. The end is curled and holding up a small bundle. Vestige opens one eye to meet Dust's gaze as if the little creature senses the look. It's unclear if Vestige actually sleeps. He tends to mimic things that he sees others do. One thing that Vestige can't seem to figure out is what's edible. He eats bits of random items through his 'skin'. Nightmare can't even get Vestige to wear clothes without him slowly eating holes in them. The clothes that Vestige appears to be wearing are created by his body to mimic the clothes that everyone else wears. Dust just feels lucky that Vestige has never tried to eat anything alive. It's takes Nightmare almost ten minutes to fix the worst of the damage on both hands. Dust flexes his fingers afterwards to test them out.

"Try not to use you hands for a few days," Nightmare instructs, "I won't tell you to stop, but I will say that you need to take better care of yourself." Nightmare is not stupid. He knows exactly where Dust goes and what he is doing. Nightmare also knows that he can't push Dust into changing anything if he's not ready. Nightmare himself is still realing over the existence of the little demon in his grip that's pretending to sleep. One issue that is worth pushing is Dust's health. It's not very obvious for skeleton monsters, but Nightmare can tell that Dust has lost weight. He looks tired and wears a dazed expression.

"I'm fine," Dust mumbles. He pulls away from Nightmare, and when the other makes no move to stop him, Dust turns away and continues towards the stairs. The steps are illuminated by the lights in the upstairs hallway. The lights are usually on, and the hall is bright when Dust steps onto the landing and starts down the hall. The upper floor is laid out with two long hallways that both turn and create two 'L' shapes. When he was fresh out of his AU and paranoid about every new thing around him, Dust insisted on a room all the way down the hall and farthest from the stairs. It takes almost a full minute to speed walk from the manor entrance to his room. That distance gives Dust plenty of reaction time.

The hallways seems to be empty and quiet. Dust believes that he's alone until he rounds the corner of the hallway before his room. He freezes in place for a moment while his presence is still unknown. This shorter hall only has a few doors on either side. Someone is standing in front of Dust's door. Cross has a strange expression on his face as he stands in front of the door. Dust hasn't seen much of Cross lately. As the most adaptable, mild mannered, and least intimidating of the bad Sanses, Cross is easily liked by new people. He's the most approachable member of the group to those who are curious about new rumors surrounding the decreasing number of attacks and Ink's silence on the matter.

"What are you doing?" Dust asks abruptly. Cross actually jumps. He's getting sloppy if Dust can sneak up so easily.

"O-Oh, Dust, hey," Cross stutters. As he turns, Dust notices the rectangular case that Cross is carrying. "It's so late that I thought you would be in your room!"

"I just came back from a different AU." Dust's voice is flat and monotone. He's never been one to express many emotions, but despite his facade of disinterest, Dust isn't bothered by Cross's presence. Most people do bother Dust. Most people make Dust want to rip their arms off. Dust doesn't quite know anymore what it means to care about people, but he does know that he doesn't want to slice Cross up into itty bitty pieces. Few can claim that compliment from Dust.

"I, um, wanted to give you something." Cross holds out the black case by its handle. "I saw it today and thought you might like. I...... I saw you reading sheet music once, and just thought.....," Cross looks away and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. He's never gotten a gift for someone before, and Dust isn't exactly the easiest person to read.

"Okay." Dust's attention is locked onto the rectangular case. It takes all his willpower not to react. There's a reason that he doesn't keep any sort of instrument even though he can indeed read sheet music quite well. Dust knows that Cross is probably expecting some gratitude or excitement, but Dust can't manage it. He just takes the case and walks up to his bedroom door. Cross is forced to step back as Dust opens the door and quickly closes it again without a word.

The black case is dropped onto the floor in the corner of the room. Dust doesn't want to look at it. As long as he doesn't open it, he can pretend that there isn't a violin inside.