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"Aw... it's closed."
Cross frowned at the sign on the gate. He'd planned a day taking Nightmare to the orchard and picking apples together, but he didn't realize it would be closed. He didn't even know why; it wasn't a holiday, and it had been open when he came here just a week ago.
"Too bad."
There was no disappointment in Nightmare's tone. When Cross turned to face him, his teal eyelight had a glimmer of mischief.
"...Sweetheart, what are you planning-"
"Just because it's closed doesn't mean we have to stay out," Nightmare said with a grin.
"Are you suggesting we break in?" Cross blinked at him. "We can't do that! It's illegal!"
Nightmare gripped the top of the fence with a couple of tentacles. "So? We've done tons of things more illegal than this before and never gotten caught."
"I- well, yeah, but-"
The tentacles receded, and a sad look came over Nightmare's face. "Unless you really want to travel all the way home with no reward..."
Cross sighed. He knew the sadness was fake, but he couldn't say no to that look. Besides, it had been a while since he did anything a bit crazy. He wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but he did miss the rush.
"Alright, fine. We'll go in. Just... let's try and not get caught."
Nightmare chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it, dear."
He grabbed the fence with his tentacles again and heaved himself over. A tentacle wrapped around Cross and lifted him over the fence then set him gently on the ground.
"Time to start apple picking," Nightmare hummed, slinking into the lines of trees.
Cross followed though he walked a bit slowly. He knew the place was closed, but it was too quiet. The last time he'd been there, there was a lot of chatter and noise from people, but animals like birds, too. There should at least be some twittering and chirping, right?
With a sigh, Cross shook off the thought. He was probably just being paranoid. It was time to enjoy a nice evening with Nightmare.
The other skeleton was already reaching into the trees, each tentacle finding an apple and picking it. He hummed as he inspected one before setting it and the others in a basket at his feet.
Cross smiled as he watched Nightmare work. It was funny to think that hours ago, he'd been annoyed at the thought of visiting somewhere as cheerful-sounding as an orchard, but now here he was, sneaking in and enjoying himself. Chuckling, Cross picked a nearby apple and wiped it on his shirt before taking a bite. Then again, he thought, perhaps the silence made Nightmare more excited about it. The lack of sound beyond what he and Nightmare made continued to unnerve Cross. He tried again to shrug off the feeling as he crunched on his apple, but it refused to leave.
"Be careful, love," Cross called, jolted out of his thoughts by Nightmare lifting himself into a tree. "What are you doing?"
"Reaching the higher apples," Nightmare returned, unbothered by his new location on top of a tree.
"...You know they have ladders, right?"
"Pfft- we don't need ladders! Ladders are for boring humans."
Cross let out a mix of a sigh and a chuckle but didn't protest. Nightmare was always so adamant about these things. He found it cute, in a way. Finishing off his apple, Cross tossed the core to the side and stepped over to another tree. He started to reach for an apple, then hesitated before deciding to join Nightmare. The branches shook as he grabbed one and swung himself up into the tree.
Nightmare grinned at him from his tree. "See? This is much more fun than a ladder."
"I guess so," Cross chuckled.
An hour passed. They talked, laughed, joked around, and did arguably property damaging things.
But nobody came.
Surely, someone would've heard them or seen them by now. But it remained empty and silent. Even Nightmare began to get mildly creeped out; it seemed wrong that a place like this would be so deathly quiet. He didn't complain, though. After all, better this than the noise of a crowd of disgusting humans, right?
Then Cross started getting slower, almost weaker, and Nightmare worried. He asked, but Cross just shrugged and said he was tired. Maybe he was a Sans, but Cross didn't tend to show the tiredness that many Sanses had. Something was wrong.
"It's time we head home," Nightmare said, concern lacing his authoritative tone as he watched Cross stumble and lean against a tree to support himself.
"Wh... why?" Cross murmured.
"You can hardly stand. You need to rest. Besides, I'm bored of this place." That last bit was a lie--Nightmare wasn't bored, he was scared--but he knew Cross wouldn't want to stay if he was tired of it. Of course, he would also leave if Nightmare said he was scared, but that wasn't something he was willing to admit.
"O-okay."
Then Cross collapsed.
"Cross!"
Nightmare kneeled next to him, hating how his breath sped up in fear. But Cross looked sick and fragile, and it terrified him. Nightmare cursed himself for not taking action when he'd noticed the signs earlier.
"Cross, talk to me. Now. What's going on?" Nightmare growled.
"I... don't know," Cross choked out. "I felt fine e-earlier... I don't know... I don't know what I did..."
Nightmare hissed, his panic rising. He was supposed to feed off negative emotions, not feel them himself!
"What did you touch that would've hurt you?"
"All... all I did was eat an apple."
"Shit."
A tentacle flailed before finding an apple and ripping it off the tree. Nightmare brought it in front of him, searching desperately for something. Then he spotted it: a scratch of almost purple discoloration on the apple's skin. He'd noticed it before but didn't think much of it. He knew apples were supposed to be mainly red, but they could have other colors. Maybe this world's apples had purple! But now that he was looking, Nightmare could subtly feel magic radiating from it, and it wasn't a good kind.
"What... is it?" Cross rasped.
"Poison," Nightmare snapped, tentacles wrapping securely but comfortably around Cross and lifting him. "I'm taking you to the lab."
"Why... there?"
"It's full of former Royal Scientists. Surely they have a cure for poison," Nightmare growled.
Cross didn't say anything else. Struggling to hide his worry and fear, Nightmare double-checked that Cross was safely in his grasp before stepping into a shadow and vanishing.
He reappeared in the lab, and to his surprise, it wasn't an Alphys or even an Undyne to greet him. It was Blue.
"Nightmare? And Cross? Are you two okay?" the Underswap Sans asked, eyes narrowing in concern.
"Cross ate a poisoned apple. I need an antidote," Nightmare said shortly.
"Oh- oh stars- uh, okay! Undyne!"
"Yeah, Sans?" The named fish hurried over, one from Underswap. "Did you find the... Nightmare?"
"Cross needs poison antidote!" Blue explained before Nightmare could even open his mouth. "Do you have any?"
"Oh! Um... let me see. Take them to the beds, please," Undyne requested before hurrying off.
Blue gestured for Nightmare to follow. "This way!"
Nightmare followed, fighting to keep his composure. Cross had become completely limp, eyes closed, and he feared what would happen if he was too late. He should've been more insistent when Cross started looking ill. Nightmare wasn't one for positive feelings, but Cross was one of the few that managed to spark them in him. If Nightmare lost him...
"Put him here," Blue said, sounding worried.
Nightmare just nodded and did as Blue said, lying Cross on one of the beds in front of him. He didn't twitch or give any sign he was aware of what was going on.
"He's unconscious," Blue murmured. "How long has he been like this?"
"He started acting weird earlier, but he said he was just tired," Nightmare growled. His voice lowered, and he pressed a hand to his head. "I'm such an idiot."
"You're not an idiot. How would you have known there was something more than he told you? He probably didn't even know it himself," Blue reassured. "Besides, it'll be okay! Undyne will bring an antidote, and Cross will be back to normal in no time."
Nightmare sighed. "I-"
"About that..."
"Undyne!" Blue glanced over at her hopefully, but he frowned when he noticed she wasn't holding anything. "Did you bring...?" He trailed off as Undyne shook her head.
"No, I'm sorry. I couldn't find any; I don't know where it went. I can make some while Alphys keeps looking, but it'll take a while."
"Do it," Nightmare ordered. "He doesn't have much time."
Nightmare kept his voice firm, but the moment Undyne vanished, he snapped. A hand wandered to Cross's and held it tightly as tears filled his eyes. He wanted to stay strong--what would someone think if they saw him crying? But seeing Cross like this, he couldn't keep his intimidating demeanor. Everything was falling apart as the "what if" scenarios raced through his head. Cross meant the world to him, and he didn't know what he'd do if he lost him.
"Nightmare?"
"Crap, you're still here," Nightmare muttered.
"I can leave if you want," Blue offered. "But it's okay, Nightmare. You have every reason to react this way when your loved one is like this. It's just natural. I'd be concerned if you weren't upset."
"Yeah, I... yeah," Nightmare mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Uh, stay. Please."
"Of course," Blue said softly.
He moved to stand next to Nightmare and cautiously offered a hand. With a sigh, Nightmare accepted, putting his free hand in Blue's. It felt weird, but it was kind of comforting at the same time. Blue smiled gently and fell silent.
Minutes felt like hours. Maybe it had been hours; Nightmare didn't know. But he waited, watching Cross anxiously. He wasn't dead yet, but his breathing was shallow, and he remained otherwise motionless. Blue never left Nightmare's side and spoke to him now and then, but mostly he acted as silent company and support--something Nightmare greatly appreciated at that moment.
Finally, Undyne burst in. "I've got it!"
"Thank God," Nightmare growled. "Hurry up and give it to him."
"Alright, alright," Undyne said breathlessly, probably from running. "I have to... inject it into his soul, though, since skeletons don't have veins and all."
Nightmare winced, knowing how dangerous that was. It wasn't an ideal situation, but they were running out of time. Cross was barely breathing; he needed an antidote quickly. "Just do it and get it over with."
Undyne nodded. Nightmare watched her as she carefully lifted Cross's soul with magic, and to his alarm purple cracks were beginning to spread over the heart. Noticing this, Undyne worked more quickly, though she remained cautious. She carefully inserted a syringe needle into the soul and injected the antidote, then pulled it out. Cross didn't seem to feel any of it. Undyne sighed as his soul sank back to its place.
"He has it now. Hopefully, he'll start showing signs of recovery."
She didn't say it aloud, but a single thought was shared by those conscious in the room. "Hopefully, it's not too late."
Several more minutes passed by with no change. Then, Cross shifted. His eyes fluttered open, and Nightmare didn't think he'd ever been so happy to see those mismatched eyelights. He blinked once, twice, and his gaze flicked from Undyne to Blue, then settled on Nightmare.
"Babe?" he croaked. "What happened?"
Nightmare didn't respond. Ignoring the other two in the room, he clambered onto the bed with Cross and wrapped his arms and tentacles around him. Cross seemed confused, but he didn't complain, wrapping his arms around Nightmare.
"I'm sorry... I should've paid better attention. I should've realized the apples were poisoned sooner, and-"
Nightmare was cut off by a kiss. He blushed and even more so at Cross's fond smile when he pulled back.
"Don't think like that. The apples weren't supposed to be poisoned. How the hell were you gonna know?"
"The signs..." Nightmare mumbled.
"I saw a couple, and I ignored them too. It isn't your fault. I should've said something when I got a bad feeling," Cross reassured him.
Nightmare sighed and buried his face in Cross's chest. Cross held him and kissed his forehead comfortingly.
"Since Cross seems healthy enough, I gotta get back to work," Undyne said. "I think Cross should stay the night, though, just to be safe."
"Thank you, Undyne," Nightmare mumbled.
She smiled, just barely catching it as she started to leave. "Anytime. I'm glad I could help."
"I figure you gotta get back to what you were doing, too?" Nightmare asked Blue.
"Oh- uh, yeah! If that's okay with you."
"Yeah. Thank you, too, Blue."
Blue grinned. "Of course! If you need anything else, just let me know!"
When Blue and Undyne were gone, Nightmare kissed Cross again. Cross kissed back, and Nightmare realized how much he'd missed the feeling.
"Were you worried?" Cross whispered after they'd pulled apart.
"Very," Nightmare huffed. "Don't ever scare me like that again, dumbass."
Cross laughed lightly. "I don't plan on it, sweetheart."