Y/N POV
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Rasp has his arms around me as I rock him back and forth. He's trembling violently and tears are streaming down his face. Bush has Bell in her hands, trying to get the small child to sleep. The front door opens, and Rash whirls around, only to let out a sob when he realizes it's just the people who went to the Gathering.
"Rasp?" Dream rushes over to Rasp and me, and Nightmare follows, but he seems more interested in me than Rasp. "Rasp, what's wrong?"
"They took him." Rasp whispers, his voice shaking.
"Who took who?"
"Ash took Shattered." He lets out another sob and digs his fingers into my shoulder. He pulls away with a snarl, his eye lights smoking. "I'm gonna kill him."
"Rasp, wait." Dream keeps him from getting up, then sits beside him and I. "We'll get him back."
Nightmare looks like he'd rather leave the Martyrdom warrior with Ash, but he says nothing. I set Rasp down and walk over to him, wrapping my arms around him. He leads me upstairs once he knows Bell is sleeping and that Benevolence is watching over her. We sit down on my bed in our room as he shuts the door.
"We shouldn't be wasting our strength to save a stupid warrior from Martyrdom." Nightmare grumbles.
"That 'stupid warrior' saved Bell's life." I stand up and look at him defiantly, which makes his eye socket widen in surprise. "He was willing to lay his life down to protect her. If he had just sat there, Ash might have Bell instead."
"...He came for Bell...?" Nightmare whispers, seeming less angry and more scared.
I nod. "I don't know why."
His tendrils bristle behind him. "That bastard."
"Nightmare." I walk up to him and put a hand on his sternum. "Can you do something for me?"
"What?"
"Can you try to... Not hate Shattered?"
"Y/N-"
"Please." I hug him. "He's done nothing wrong. I know he's a little... Hotheaded... But... He hasn't done anything bad." I look up at him and smile. "Besides, I think he's trying to change."
"Why would he want to change?" He narrows his eye socket.
"For Rasp."
"...I have a hard time believing Shattered would change for anyone."
"You'd believe me if you saw the way he held Bell."
"You let him hold her?" Anger flares in his eye light, and I hug him tighter.
"Bush was right there, and I wouldn't have let anything happen to her." I sigh. "Nightmare, he didn't hurt her. He was so gentle..." I look up at him again. "He said you were a good father."
His eye light narrows even more. "I don't want him anywhere near Bell again."
"Nightmare-"
"I don't trust him, Y/N." He pulls away from me. "He's never liked me. Why would he change just for Rasp? I just don't trust him."
"You two are so similar, Nightmare." I say, and he freezes. "You're cold-hearted and violent until you find someone you love, and you might be a little closed off with them, but you just want to be the best person you can be for them. I've seen the way he looks at Rasp, how he takes care of him..."
"We are nothing alike." Nightmare snaps, then leaves the room.
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Shattered POV
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I'm thankful for Radio, who's been my only ally among Ash's gang. They aren't too talkative, which is good, because whatever Phantom has in those bottles makes me scream so loud my voice hardly works anymore. The pain I've been in the past few days- maybe hours, maybe weeks, I don't know- has been unbearable. I've never felt anything so excruciating. I almost wish he would kill me already.
Radio makes it better, though. They keep me from dying, and whether that's good or bad, I haven't decided. They make sure I get fed and have enough to drink, and they make sure I'm comfortable so I can sleep whenever someone isn't torturing me.
Unfortunately, they torture me a lot. Diamonas has already taken my arm off, reattached it, taken it again, taken my leg, cut my tendrils in half, and almost took my head. Nightmare wasn't kidding when he called Diamonas a demon. The man is unhinged.
"Get up, brat." Phantom mutters, grabbing my injured arm harshly. I hold back a wince and just snarl at him as he drags me over to the large circle of rogues. He kicks me into the middle of the circle, and I scramble up as best as I can, hissing. Ash points his gun at me, and I freeze.
"Sit still, or I'll put a hole through that head of yours." Ash growls. He gestures to the ground with his gun, and I sit reluctantly. "Good."
"What do you want?" My snarl comes out hoarse, and I cough. A few rogues snicker at my pathetic state.
"I want information." Ash drapes an arm over his knee, fiddling with the trigger of his gun as he stares at me. "At first, I was just gonna keep you here so Diamonas could have something to play with, but if you cooperate and give me what I want, I'll let you go."
Diamonas growls, which earns a rough nudge from Switch.
"I don't know anything." I grit my teeth, my voice raspy.
"I know you know things." Ash says, pointing the gun at me again. "Just cooperate for me, Shattered. You're young. You have your entire life ahead of you. If you just tell me what you know, you can walk out of here with your life. I'm being serious. I just want information. What are your friends planning?"
"I don't know." I cough harshly.
His voice grows colder. "Shattered..."
"I'm s-serious. We h-had a plan... But it failed."
"What plan?"
"To g-get Dream and Nightmare back-" I cough, and a small amount of my dark gold blood drips from my chin, which makes me worry.
"And you're telling me no one has come up with something else otherwise? It's been a month, Shattered."
"I-If they have, they haven't told me...."
Ash growls, then looks at Phantom. "Tie him up. Let Diamonas do what he pleases."
I let out a weak snarl and thrash as Phantom grabs me and hauls me over to a post. He chains me to it, and Dia walks up, grinning like the psychopath he is. His tendrils writhe behind him as he stalks up to me. He chuckles creepily as he grabs my arm and twists it. I grit my teeth and close my socket as he rips it from its socket. I know it can reattach back to my body- a perk of being a skeleton made of goop- but it still hurts, like someone ripped my flesh off, even though I don't have any.
He slams a hand against my neck, choking me as he crushes my ribs with a tendril. I let out a strangled groan as several ribs snap in half.
"HEY BASTARD!" Rasp's voice comes from above, and my eye socket flies open. Pure fear fills me as I imagine Rasp jumping down and getting himself killed trying to kill me.
Diamonas looks around, confused, and the rest of the rogues look up.
"Go." Ash growls at Owl. He flies up to the beams in the roof, then comes back down.
"There's no one there, Ash." Owl says.
"I'M OVER HERE, BITCHES!" Rasp's voice suddenly comes from the back corner of the barn.
Ash slams the barrel of the gun against my head. "Come out now, or I'll kill Shattered now."
"COME FIGHT ME YOURSELF, COWARD."
Ash hisses and glares at Phantom. "Watch Shattered." He smirks. "I'll bring this stupid apprentice back so Shattered can watch me tear him to bits."
NO! I think, but I'm powerless to do anything. I let out a weak snarl as Ash heads in the direction of Rasp's voice.
"Go back to the mountain, bastards!" Benevolence's voice comes from nearby, but I can't place it.
"Another one?" Phantom growls. "Wolf, go deal with him."
"You all are fools if you think we'll let you get away with this." It's Nightmare.
Why is Nightmare here? I think. I thought he hated me...
"HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?" Phantom readies a bottle of his acid. "COME OUT, COWARDS!"
Suddenly, Ash runs towards the gang. "There's no one there. He isn't in the barn. Check around the territory. They have to be somewhere. I'll stay with Shattered."
The rogues run out of the barn, and Ash glares at me, but he doesn't say a word. I listen to the sound of the Dynamic warriors throwing taunts at the rogues as they run around outside.
A deep chuckle comes from above, and I just barely see a glowing yellow eye light in the dark. That looks like Swad, but... I squint, thankful that Ash is too busy fiddling with his gun. I can't make out the rest of the stranger's appearance. Is it Swad?
"Fool." He sneers, then swoops down. Like a bird, he grabs me in his arms and whizzes by Ash's head. Laughter comes from the beams, and I see another unfamiliar rogue swing out of the barn with a chain. She lands on the back of the stranger who grabbed me. He grunts under her weight, but he flies north as the rogues snarl at us. The rogue on his back is laughing and shooting glowing yellow knives at Ash's gang as we get farther and farther away.
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I grunt as the strange rogue lands outside of a cave. A firepit sits inside, and two mossy mats are located at the back.
"Aw man, that was amazing." The female rogue says as he hops off the other's back. "I've always wanted to piss Ash off after that shitty night he gave me." She cracks her knuckles. "I love payback~"
"W-Who are you-?" I cough.
"Wow, I almost forgot about you." The girl laughs. "I'm Valient. You're welcome for saving your life, by the way."
"Valient..." I whisper. "Y-You're the one who... Who told the others where Ash was..."
"Mmm, yeah, but I was never rewarded for giving out that information." She clicks her tongue and snaps her fingers. "Maybe you could give me a reward, d-"
"Valient.." The other sighs. "Stop being a pervert and help me get this stupid alternate me inside."
"A-Alternate you-?" I choke out as he grabs me. I realize he looks like me and Swad. "What..."
"Shattered Swap Dream Sans, nice to meet you." He gives me a grin.
"...Pardon-?"
"Just call him Somnium." Valient says. "I ain't callin' him Shattered Swad whatever the fuck." She waves her hand and pats the moss bed at the back. "You can sleep here for a bit."
"Why did you guys save me?" I cough, and Valient grabs a bottle of water from nearby. She hands it to me, and I take it gratefully.
"To get back at those bastards." Somni sits in front of me, and Valient leans against him, fiddling with her belt. I narrow my eye socket at the items connected to it. "We've had a grudge against Ash for a while."
"Why?"
"Let's just say, they asked us to join their gang, and when we said no, they killed our friend." Valient growls. She forms a glowing yellow knife and glares at it, then shoots it at a poorly drawn photo of Ash on the cave wall. "Hah. Take a knife to the dick, Ass."
"...Thank you." I look at the cup of water and sigh.
"Mmmm," Valient lays down on her stomach and props her head up on her hands, gazing at me with a lustful look in her eyes, "you'd reward me for saving you, wouldn't you?"
"Valient..." Somni growls, hauling her back up. "If you behave, I'll reward you, just keep quiet. He's in no shape to give in to your perverted needs, anyway."
Valient grins and lays her head down on Somni's lap, poking his nose. "You're so sweet~"
Somni mouths 'I hate her' to me, and I can't help but chuckle. If she weren't so flirty and such a pervert, she might remind of Rasp in a way. The fierce side of her makes me long for Rasp, and I sigh again.
"Can you guys help me get back to Dynamic?" I ask. I hate relying on others, but I don't think I could make it back to Dynamic on my own.
"Sure, for a price~" Valient spins a knife on her index finger.
"What would that be?"
"Convince your leader- Dream, was it?- to let us into your clan, even if it's just to get rid of Ash." She says, and I exhale with relief because I thought she was going to ask me to do something stupid.
"Dream isn't my leader."
"He's not-?" She falters. Then who's the leader of Dynamic or whatever?"
"Dream is. I'm not part of Dynamic."
"...Then why do you want to get back there?"
"My partner and I are staying there until we get rid of Ash."
"Oh." She frowns. "Could you convince him anyway?"
"I could try." I mutter. "We need all the help we can get."
"Can't you just get the other clans?" Somni asks, grabbing Valient's wrist and making her stop fiddling with the knife. She huffs, and the knife dissipates. "Like, what about your clan? Can't you get their help? I feel like that would be the first think you'd do."
"I'm not on good terms with my clan, and I don't know if Dream wants the other clans to get hurt." I clench my fists around the cup. "Everything's been silent since Bell was born."
"Bell-?"
"Y/N's daughter. Bellator."
"Oooh, so she gave birth?" Valient smiles. "I bet she's a cutie~"
"Valient, I swear to the Creators above-" Somni smirks.
"What? You know I like cute things."
"Yes, and it drives me nuts." He huffs, swatting her hand away. "Get off of me and quit touching me."
"Stop being so hot and cute and maybe I'll stop, then~" She kisses his cheek, and the amount of affection between them makes me long for Rasp even more.
"So will you help me get home?" I ask.
"Sure." Valient says, her attention never leaving Somni. She wraps her arms around his neck and smirks.
"Get off." Somni growls and puts a hand on her face, trying to push her away. She growls playfully and bites his finger, and he hisses. "I swear-"
"I just want a kiss~"
"Fine." Somni kisses her, then gives her a glare. "Better?"
"Yes~"
"Good." He wraps his arms around her and sets his chin on her head, looking at me. "We need to fix you up. You're a mess."
"I bet I could h-"
"Shut your mouth, Val."
"Tch." Valient rolls her eyes, blushing slightly at the nickname. "Whatever."
Somni sighs and looks over his shoulder. "It's getting late. You get some sleep, Shattered. I'll get to work on those ribs in the morning."
"That's my job, Somni." Valient whines, which earns another glare from Somni.
"Stop being such a pervert in front of our guest." He hisses, then hauls her up and drags her outside. I narrow my eye socket, then lie down. It takes me a while to get comfortable because of my ribs, but when I do, I'm out instantly.
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