Daemons

Mentions of Suicide

“CC, are you there?”

“Of course I am, where the hell else am I gonna go?” A snarky reply came out of seemingly nowhere as a ghostly image of a small child materialized. His clothes were quite simplistic compared to his companion’s, consisting of a black shirt and shorts, with white boots and a white hoodie on over top. Unruly snow white hair fell down from his forehead and into his eyes, barely concealing his scarred right eye that matched the color of the skeleton’s before him. The golden heart locket around his neck made a slight clinking sound as he faded into existence enough to be seen and heard by Cross, the child looking at the monochrome skeleton with mild interest and annoyance.

Cross turned to face him, sighing as a look of worry became clear on his face. “Can you go and check on Geno for me? He’s being awfully quiet and I don’t want to risk screwing up dinner to do it myself.” Of course that would be what he wanted. Nowadays that seemed to be all Cross cared about, making sure that the weaker skeleton wasn’t dying or having issues. Sure, CC completely understood it and had no trouble checking up on their adopted brother, but that didn’t stop him from worrying about Cross’ health too.

“You know exactly what he’s gonna say to me, right? It’ll be the exact same thing he tells you anytime you start fussing over him for no reason.”

“He’s got a crack in his skull!”

“He’s had worse.” CC’s monotone response didn’t really give Cross a lot of room to argue their case, as they both knew the truth behind that statement. Before either of them could dwell too long on their depressing past, the ghostly child let out a sigh. “I’ll go check on him.”

He left Cross in the kitchen and floated off, going down the hallway and phasing through the door to Geno’s room. It was neat and orderly like always, pretty much the complete opposite of Cross’ room. Even the piles of books that sat on the floor because his bookshelf was too full were tidied up and pressed against the wall to avoid being in the way. The only thing currently messy was his desk that he was currently sitting at, looking extremely focused as he went through a notebook in an almost chaotic fashion. Without even looking up from his work, Geno called out to the ‘empty’ room, “I know you’re there, CC. Why don’t you stop pretending I don’t recognize your presence and give me someone I can talk to?”

That always managed to freak the ghostly child out, how even in this form, where only Cross could see or hear him, Geno always managed to pinpoint his presence and call him out. If he waited too much longer, the scarfed skeleton would probably take a crumpled piece of paper and chuck it directly at him, just to prove he knew exactly where he was. Geno rarely even tried to hide the fact that he wasn’t normal when it was just CC or Cross around, but then again the hovering child been reduced to a mere ghost who shared his soul with a skeleton in order to survive. None of them were exactly normal, probably one of the more pleasant reasons that kept them bonded together as their own sort of weird family.

“You know you could at least pretend sometimes that you can’t detect me. It would make Cross constantly sending me to check on you a hell of a lot more fun,” CC complained as he felt his form solidify. It took a lot more strength and focus to maintain a form that Geno could also see and hear, but he also found the crumpled papers passing through him to be quite annoying and knew the other would keep throwing them at him until he took on his solid form.

Geno looked up from his work for a second, smirking at the child before turning his focus back. “You know I’m fine right? I get that Cross is worried about me but he always is. I don’t get why you always agree to check up on me when I’m completely fine.”

“To be fair, you do have a crack on the side of your skull.”

“And to be fair, we all know I’ve had worse.”

“You think I didn’t mention that?” CC hovered a bit closer, moving around to see the right side of his face that was all bandaged up. The child had watched on as Blue had ran to get the first aid kit, with Sci treating the injury as Cross went to try to talk to Dream and Lust was far too angry to do anything other than pace back and forth to try and relieve some of his negative emotions. Cross wasn’t the only one willing to drop everything because of the scarfed skeleton, even if the rest of his friends didn’t understand how strong he really was. “How is your face, by the way? And don’t give me the ‘I’m fine’ answer you gave Cross.”

The skeleton let out a sigh, his right hand dropping his pen to gingerly touch the soft bandages covering the wound. “I’ll admit it stings a bit, though it’s far from the worst pain I’ve ever felt. Honestly my episodes are more painful than when I hit the table. It was so clear to me by that fact alone that Dream was never trying to hurt me, he just panicked and something went wrong. I really don’t get why everyone lashed out at him the way they did. Couldn’t they see he was screaming for help?” Geno was starting to work himself up, growing frustrated that his friends couldn’t see what was so blatantly obvious to him.

Knowing that getting himself worked up like this would lead to an episode, CC had to calm his brother down. “Easy there Geno, we don’t need you freaking out and getting yourself hurt. You know that you have a talent for reading people and their actions, so I’m not surprised that no one else picked up on that.” That and they were all too concerned over you to even think about worrying over Dream. Knowing that fact would change it from frustration to guilt, so CC decided to keep that thought to himself, continuing to speak to the other in a calm and soothing manner. “And Cross did go talk to Dream to try and get him to come back inside. He picked up on yours concerns at least.”

“Now if only I knew what he said,” Geno grumbled, starting to tap his pen against the notebook in front of him. “I have nearly all the information I need, I just need to put all the pieces together. I’m so close to figuring out what’s wrong with him, then I can figure out how to help.”

CC finally looked at the notebook in front of the scarfed skeleton as he said that, instantly recognizing the bright yellow cover of the book. “Is that why you’re writing in Dream’s journal?” Geno’s ability to pinpoint his friends’ troubles didn’t just come from observation alone. He would always take those observations and write them down in a journal when he got home, with one corresponding to each of his friends. While a bit creepy, it had led to Geno detecting multiple problems among his friends by compiling careful notes on the behaviors and changes with each one, then using those notes to come up with a solution. Since he didn’t have many outside of Cross and CC that he trusted, the child knew that Geno treasured those he’d been willing to befriend, wanting to do everything he could to keep them happy and repay them for their kindness, often even at the cost of his own health. Looking down over the other’s shoulder, CC saw that the pages of Dream’s journal were crammed full of notes, with arrows and symbols drawn everywhere to try and connect the dots, and that was likely only a couple pages dedicated to the current issue, with the important points from the pages before summarized and added on.

“Mind if I take a look at the other ones?” The ghost gestured to the stack of four other nearly identical notebooks, each cover bearing a different color and name. It was always fascinating going through Geno’s thought process, as he was a genius in his own right when it came to this stuff. The quick nod he got as answer was all he needed before grabbing the one at the bottom of the stack, meaning it had gone the longest without any form of update. The notebook he grabbed was an extremely colorful one, with splashes of random bright colors on a black background, though there were so many different colors you could barely see the black. “Ink? He’s not usually at the bottom of the pile.”

“Hard to write updates or changes on someone who’s never here, though I suppose that fact alone merits some notes at some point.” As CC flipped open the book and went to the last page with any writing, it was filled with notes from a conversation with Lust. Apparently their easily distractible friend had found himself a boyfriend to serve as a new distraction. There were notes scribbled to do some further research into relationships, but nothing negative that the child could see. “I’m far from an expert on romance, but according to Lust he seemed really happy with the guy, and his boyfriend didn’t seem dangerous or like he would hurt Ink. I do plan on doing some digging, but if he’s happy then I’ll stay out of it for the most part. Not really any of my business anyways, and he’s not currently a concern.”

The ghost child had to agree, setting down the colorful notebook and grabbing the next. This one had a purple cover, with a bright blue heart in the center. “Okay, since when is Lust, our resident drama queen, in the bottom half of the stack?”

Geno chuckled a bit, not looking up from the notes he’d started writing. “Since he’s acted the most normal... well, normal for him. The only thing of note for him recently has been that he’s come across as more excited, practically running off to his practices. Though, guess I now know why...” Geno trailed off, clearly feeling guilt over the night’s events despite none of it being his fault.

“Geno, there’s no way you could’ve known,” CC started, wanting to help him feel somewhat better but then thinking better of it. Knowing the scarfed skeleton, he’d find some way to turn it around and blame himself, get himself all worked up, and then his soul would act up. Sighing, he set Lust’s notebook down and went for the next one, a bright baby blue notebook with an ocean blue star in the middle. “Okay, what’s new with Blue?” The last page for Blue talked about his sudden lateness, which CC had to admit was pretty weird for the energetic skeleton. Blue was always so excited and hyper, running from place to place and never late because he was so eager to start something as soon as he could. “Yeah, gotta admit the little guy has been a bit weird lately. What’s the current running theory?”

It was obvious the scarfed skeleton recognized the distraction attempt, but seemed to be willing to oblige. “Lust has a pretty solid theory that he met someone, someone that he keeps talking to after class and getting side-tracked by to where he loses track of time. It’s the same theory I’m currently going with to explain why Sci’s also been so scattered.”

“So kinda like Ink huh? You think they might’ve gotten hit by Cupid’s arrow too?”

“I won’t rule it out, but just like Ink they both seem happy so I won’t intervene. Again, it’s a thing to look into once Dream’s all sorted out.”

Nodding his head in agreement, CC set the blue notebook down and looked at the last one. Sci’s notebook, plain white with green equations and symbols for detail, was usually not towards the top. He usually sat towards the bottom ever since his anxiety problem had gotten sorted out. Curious, the ghost child opened the book and flipped to the back, ignoring any of the stuff that was the same as Blue. He thought that would be all there was in there, but something else gave him pause. “You seriously think he’s starting to figure us out?”

“I seriously think he’s trying to.” Geno set his pen down, giving CC his full attention as he pulled the notebook out of the child’s hands. “Sci is curious and is always trying to figure things out. And I know that Cross and I have held his attention for quite some time now. He made that quite obvious after watching us spar. He wants the truth, badly, and it drives him nuts that he can’t have it. So he’s definitely trying to figure out what we’re hiding. Thankfully, I’m positive he doesn’t have all the pieces needed to learn anything dangerous, but I need to remind Cross to be more careful, especially around him. If one of us lets too much slip, Sci will be on to us faster than Cross on chocolate.”

The two shared a laugh as Geno reorganized the notebooks, setting them back into place before turning back to the open one with a sigh. “Think you might be able to give me a hand?” He turned to face the floating child with a smile, tapping the pen against the pages. “I’m missing some pieces myself and I can’t move forward without them, maybe you know what I’m looking for?” The child gave a shrug as an answer, figuring he probably wouldn’t be of any help but it didn’t hurt to try. “Okay, well the biggest piece I’m missing is what happened when Cross ran after Dream. Did you happen to be paying attention to any of that? He came in looking like he’d failed a test and wouldn’t tell me anything about it.”

CC thought about it, trying to recall what he’d paid attention to as he’d found everyone fussing over Geno to be of more interest. That said, his link with Cross did help him stay aware of what the other was up to, meaning that even if he hadn’t been paying attention he still knew some of what happened. “I don’t have all the details of the conversation, but I think Dreamy tried to confess to Cross and got shot down.”

“Shot down? How hard?” Geno seemed seriously worried by that detail, his hand writing new notes as he flipped to another page and summarized his findings.

“Like pretty hard. You know Cross was never one for tact. In fact I think he ended up calling Dream crazy or something like that.”

“What?!” The scarfed skeleton didn’t even wait for an answer, his hand scrawling quickly across the page as his mind worked. Geno began mumbling under his breath, too low and fast for CC to understand what he was saying. And then as suddenly as he’d started, he stopped, staring at the page as if he’d made some sort of breakthrough. And from what the ghostly child could see, it wasn’t good news.

Geno lurched to his feet, his desk chair sliding back harshly as he reached for his cane. “I need to find Dream, I need to-” His frantic words were cut off by a painful gasp, the hand not holding his cane going to clutch at his chest. Before CC could even react, Geno fell to one knee, abandoning his cane to cover his mouth as he started coughing, not making his breathing any easier.

“Cross!” CC shouted out, tugging at their bond to make sure the other came as soon as possible. In the meantime he tried to offer any sort of help to Geno he could, knowing he wasn’t really the best at calming him down when he got worked up like this.

The monochrome skeleton came bursting in at CC’s frantic call, freezing for a moment before rushing to Geno’s side. He gently moved the smaller, forcing him to uncurl himself and leaning him against the nearby bedframe. “Easy there Geno, just breathe okay? Deep breaths, as deep as you can manage.” He turned to face the ghostly child who was hovering nearby, leaving Geno to struggle to take deep breaths while Cross kept rubbing his back for comfort. “What happened?”

“Dunno, he was writing in Dream’s journal and trying to figure out what happened at Blue’s, then I told him what you said to Dream and he-”

“Wait, you told him?! Why would you tell him?!”

“He asked! Anyways, I told him, he started writing like crazy, then he said something about finding Dream and here we are.”

Cross frowned at CC’s explanation of events, continuing to calm the scarfed skeleton down through gentle words and comforting gestures while encouraging him to breathe. “Well, what does the book say?” CC stood there for a minute before smacking his head, never even thinking to check what Geno had frantically wrote down. He hovered over, picking up the book and reading through the new notes. He could tell where the new notes started due to how messy Geno’s handwriting had suddenly gotten. But as he got to the end, there was a single word circled multiple times, a word that almost made the child drop the notebook. He wordlessly passed it over to Cross, keeping it open to the correct page to let the skeleton see.

“S-Suicidal?” Cross looked to Geno in shock, the smaller having now calmed down despite still breathing heavily. “Geno, if this is because of what I said-”

“Cross, I love you dearly, but you are such an idiot sometimes,” Geno sighed as he cut him off, looking up tiredly at the other skeleton. “What you said is only a piece of the problem, but I’ll admit it’s a pretty significant one. Dream’s been crushing on you for the past year, and you pretty much called him crazy for having these feelings. He confessed to you when he was already pretty low, and you managed to shoot him down in the most brutal way possible.”

That piece of information seemed to stun the monochrome skeleton into silence, clearly having not been aware of how big his mistake was. “I... I didn’t know...”

“Dude, I honestly don’t know how you never figured it out,” CC scoffed, floating down next to the two of them. “He was so head over heels for you that everyone else could see it except you! Hell, Geno had it pegged in less than a week it was so obvious!”

“This is Geno we’re talking about! Everything is obvious to him when it comes to this kind of stuff!”

“Yeah, but I think we can all agree that you’re completely oblivious to the most basic things!”

“You wanna run that by me again or should I-”

“Enough!” Geno interrupted the squabbling brothers, clearly not in the mood to listen to them bicker back and forth. “What’s done is done. We can’t change the past, so we can only change what happens moving forward.” His expression became even darker, clearly not liking where his train of thought was going. “I think that Dream is in serious danger of hurting himself, or worse, so we need to find him right away. Cross, what direction did he run after you spoke with him?”

“Uh, north, towards the river.” Cross suddenly stood up, pulling out his phone as he did so. “I’ll try to call him, and if he doesn’t answer I’ll call the others to see if they can get a hold of him.” He left the room, leaving CC to watching over Geno and keep him from stressing himself out again. He didn’t really see the point though in trying to call him, since the ghostly child figured that his brother would be the last person Dream would want to speak to right now.

The child turned his attention to Geno, who had also pulled out his phone and was looking at google maps. “What are you doing now?”

“Trying to figure out any possible location he might’ve gone if he was seriously considering taking his own life. If he ran north, then he likely wouldn’t have deviated and suddenly turned south. He’s also pretty likely to run north for as long as he could since he probably wouldn’t really care about where he was going so long as he could run. Based off of that and the time he’s been gone for, I’m trying to map out possible paths he might’ve taken to find out where he’s at right now.” Geno’s eye scanned the screen in front of him, working to map out where the golden skeleton might’ve ran to.

“Journal.” He held out his hand, the other hand still scrolling across the map as CC wordlessly passed the yellow notebook with the sun emblazoned on the front cover to him. “Pen.” Once he had both, the scarfed skeleton started sketching lines across a new page, all originating from a single dot that the child guessed to be Blue’s house, Dream’s last known location.

As Geno worked on this, Cross came back in, shaking his head as CC looked to him for an answer. “None of the others have seen or heard from Dream. They’re all trying to get a hold of him now that they know how worried you are, though I didn’t tell them anything about suicide so that they wouldn’t freak out. Hope that was the right call.” The smaller nodded as he continued tracing possible paths, a few being marked with arrow heads while a couple reached different circles. There was one circle though that seemed to have multiple paths connecting to it.

CC wasn’t even sure if Geno was aware of that little detail, his hand moving without his eye seeing what it was doing. “Hey, uh Geno? What’s this dot right here mean? You’ve got an awful lot of lines going into it, is that good?”

The scarfed skeleton seemed to snap out of his trance at the sound of his name, looking down at the notebook to see what the other was talking about. His eye flicked back and forth between his phone and the book for a second before he started typing frantically, already starting to get worked up. Both CC and Cross shared a worried look, knowing just how bad back-to-back episodes were on his fragile soul, with both trying to get him to calm down and relax.

But their efforts proved to be in vain as Geno’s phone tumbled out of his grasp, his breathing picking up and his eyelight shrinking from his realization. “S-Suicide S-Street,” he stuttered, making the other two freeze. Suicide Street was the infamous nickname of an old bridge north of the university area, in a part of the city that had been pretty much written off by the local government. The bridge was in need of such serious repairs that it was almost impossible to cross, either by vehicle or by the pedestrian pathways, and most people didn’t dare go on the bridge for fear of it finally giving out and collapsing underneath them. The only people that ever seemed to go there were people looking to commit suicide by jumping into the river, as the bridge lacked proper safety rails to prevent people from jumping. And despite the number of lives lost on the infamous bridge, the government never seemed to have it in the budget to fix the failing structure, even though they had plenty of room for the mayor’s ridiculous salary.

That bridge seemed to be where most of Geno’s paths ended up, meaning it was the most likely place for him to be. “O-Okay, I-I can run there and stop him from jumping if he’s there!” Cross offered, trying to propose something that would keep everyone, especially the scarfed skeleton, from freaking out.

Tears streamed down Geno’s face as he shook his head. “Too late... we’re too late...” Confused, CC turned to the phone and saw that Geno had used the app to find the time it would take Dream to run from Blue’s house to that bridge. Google was estimating a time of about twenty minutes. Dream had been missing for around an hour.

Any chance for either Cross or CC to worry about Dream’s fate though was suddenly overshadowed by the skeleton in their arms as he started gasping for air. Geno clawed at his chest, the journal flying off his lap as he struggled to breathe. And before either of the other two could intervene to try and help him, the scarfed skeleton started coughing, his hand flying to his mouth on reflex. Cross reacted as quickly as he could, trying to get Geno to breathe deeply as always, but CC’s attention was on the hand clamped over Geno’s mouth. Dread overtook the ghostly child as a dark liquid began slowly seeping between his fingers, alerting CC to the severity of the episode. “I’m going for the kit!” He blurted out, flying off to leave Cross with their brother, knowing that the monochrome skeleton would understand and react appropriately.

Because of the instability of Geno’s health, there was a large medical kit filled with several instruments and medications in cases of emergencies. It was to hopefully limit the amount of time the scarfed skeleton needed to be in a hospital and ensure his health remained somewhat stable if an ambulance was required. Ripping the kit off of the shelf in the bathroom, CC flew back in to find Cross had already moved the smaller skeleton into his bed and had taken off his jacket, exposing his arms enough for them to work.

CC set the kit down on the desk, opening it up and grabbing the required items on reflex. Very first was a sedative that would calm his stressed soul and allow him to rest. The ghostly child handed his counterpart the needle, helping to keep Geno’s left arm still as he injected the drug. While they waited for that to take effect, CC went back to the bathroom to grab the large oxygen tank stored there while Cross set up the breathing mask.

The two worked like clockwork, moving supplies over and using the correct medication over years of experience. With the oxygen set up, Cross helped remove some of the coughed up blood before placing the mask over his mouth and nose, securing it around his skull and leaning him gently down into the bed. CC then focused on getting the soul monitor on, carefully slipping his small hands underneath Geno’s shirt to attach the probe to his broken soul. He didn’t dare look, knowing just how much the scarfed skeleton hated anyone seeing his soul, and instead navigated his chest cavity through touch and memory to secure the monitor without any issue.

With the soul monitor up and running, Cross gently pet the smaller’s skull to help him calm down, frowning as Geno’s face contorted in pain and he continued to gasp for air and cough up small specks of blood. Pulling away and pulling the covers up on him, he looked sternly at his counterpart. “Administer the painkiller, I’m gonna get a head start on getting to that bridge. Stay here with him as long as you can, then we’ll meet up once I get too far away.” He didn’t even wait for a response before bolting out of the room, leaving the two behind.

CC was vaguely aware of the quick progress Cross was making, but blocked most of it out to focus on Geno. He grabbed another syringe, this one with a high strength painkiller in it that would ensure the weak skeleton got all the rest that he desperately needed in order to stay out of the hospital. “Sorry Geno, looks like I get to stick another one in your arm.” He maneuvered over to inject the medicine in the same arm as the sedatives, earning a subtle whine but minimal resistance. It seemed the sedative was already starting to kick in, the monitor registering the decrease in speed of his soul. He looked over to see Geno staring wearily back at him, fighting the sedative’s effects despite that it was best for him. “Just rest Geno, everything’s gonna be alright. We’re going to find Dream and bring him back here, and then we’ll kick his ass for making you worry like this. But we need you to get some rest and stay out the hospital for once. Can you do that?” He kept his voice calm and soothing, gently rubbing Geno’s arm as he tried to coax his stubborn brother to sleep.

The scarfed skeleton gave him a weak nod, finally seeming to give up fighting the sedative as his eye slipped closed and his head lolled slightly to one side. The ghostly child watched him for a bit, his physical form slipping away now that he didn’t really need it. The monitors weren’t showing anything abnormal or dangerous... well for Geno at least, any other person with readings like this and the doctors would be freaking out and amassing an army of nurses.

Pretty much right on cue, CC felt his bond with Cross pulling him away, sparing one last glance at the now sleeping skeleton to ensure there weren’t any immediate issues before feeling himself fade from existence and reappear in his spectral form next to his counterpart. “Geno’s asleep and nothing seems to be too terribly wrong. Have no idea how he’s gonna be when he wakes up though.”

“Well, we can deal with that later. Right now our priority is finding Dream, otherwise he’s only gonna get worse once he wakes up.” Both of them knew that it would be extremely bad for Geno’s health, downright destructive, if the golden skeleton wasn’t in their apartment by the time he woke up.

CC sighed, racking his brain for ideas as to what to do. “Well, you could always try calling him again.”

“And what would be the point of that?” Cross snapped back, clearly seeing it as nothing but a waste of time.

The ghostly child just rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, you big baby, you can walk and talk at the same time can’t you? It’s been a while since you last tried calling him, so just give it a shot. What have you got to lose?”

Growling, Cross pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Dream’s number, continuing to run as he waited for the phone to either be answered or to go to voicemail. What both of them weren’t expecting was for the phone to be answered, though clearly whoever was on the phone wasn’t the golden skeleton as Cross growled, “Who is this?”

CC listened to the conversation, not one hundred percent sure what was going on since he could only hear half of it. But judging from his brother’s reactions, the stranger that answered the phone had found Dream after he’d jumped into the river and had given the monochrome skeleton directions to where they were, reflected by Cross’ sudden change of course as he dove into the trees. It was quite easy for the ghostly child to keep up with him, considering he passed right through all the trees in his current form. This was a good thing, as his thoughts were a bit too preoccupied with what they might find when they cleared the forest to be dodging branches. Dream had actually jumped off of Suicide Street and survived somehow, but there was no guarantee that he’d be in good condition when they got to him, and that would probably end up being just as bad for Geno as if they found him dead.

The trees gave way to a pathway, allowing Cross to fully sprint down towards the river’s edge. The second two figures could be seen, one bearing a distinctive gold palette, Cross called out to his friend while completely ignoring the somewhat ominous skeleton with black marks trailing from his voided sockets. As the two talked, CC kept his eyes on the skeleton known as Killer, finding him to be quite interesting. He seemed imposing and dangerous at first glance, his name not helping things, but as they talked he sounded far softer than he looked. Still, looks could be deceiving, and so could first impressions. So CC kept his focus on him, remaining undetectable and prepared to alert Cross the second anything seemed off. It was this strategy that let them keep up with Geno’s insane magic, CC essentially calling out any attack that Cross wouldn’t be able to see and instructing him on how to react. They’d done it for years, having complete faith in each other’s teamwork and ability to respond. It was either that, or have their asses handed to them even faster every time they went up against their brother.

Thankfully at least Dream was miraculously okay. Neither of them had any idea how, with Killer seeming reluctant to part with truthful details, but the golden skeleton was far more important than whatever the truth was. CC just watched on as the monochrome skeleton effortlessly picked him up, cradling the smaller skeleton protectively in his arms as if something else might happen to him tonight.

The ghost child couldn’t keep from letting out a groan though as Cross instantly agreed to let the stranger into their home, making use of the fact that only Cross could hear him in his spectral form to openly complain about the other’s decision. “Seriously? Why the hell did you agree? It’s bad enough that Dream has to be there, but I get why. I don’t care if this guy saved his life, he’s an outsider and he’s dangerous! What if he takes advantage of this to go after Geno? What if he’s secretly a hunter?” There was also the fact that with two strangers in the house, it would be extremely complicated for him to communicate with or help either of his brothers.

Cross sighed, checking over his shoulder to see that the other skeleton was distracted by his phone. Still taking precautions to avoid making a huge mistake, Cross defaulted to mental communication, speaking through his mind using the bond the two shared. It took more focus, meaning he stopped walking in order to respond, but it was better than letting something important slip or at the very least being caught ‘talking to himself’. ”I seriously doubt that he’s a hunter. He doesn’t seem to have the right vibe, and you haven’t noticed anything yet to suggest otherwise. I get your fears, but we owe this guy and you know it. Don’t think I won’t take precautions to keep Geno safe. We can easily lock his room, and if you’re still worried you can stay with him, but I promise I won’t let anything happen to him, not after everything he’s done for us. Now let’s get moving before something else goes wrong."

Finished with their little talk, Cross called for the other to hurry up and began walking up the path again, making it clear that he probably wouldn’t respond to his counterpart again until they got home unless it was an emergency. And to prevent any more unexpected emergencies from popping up, CC kept his guard up and continued to scan the surrounding area, making sure to keep an eye on Killer as well in case his fears were justified.

And because he kept scanning the nearby area, he was alerted to the presence of two other beings in the forest. While not in their immediate vicinity, they were still close enough to give him pause. “Heads up Cross, we’re not alone. Two people are in the forest on your left side, far enough away to not be of immediate concern. One seems pretty weak, but the other is strong, like don’t mess with them without magic strong.” Though there was something off about the powerful being, as if something was trying to conceal him from detection. The skeleton gave the tiniest of nods, almost imperceptible except for CC’s experience in reading his reactions. He also noticed his brother pick up his pace a bit at the comment.

Keeping his focus between the two beings in the forest and Killer below him, the ghostly child could sense that powerful and dangerous presence moving closer to the other, weaker one. Were they allies or teammates? Nope, that was definitely not the case as the weaker presence suddenly vanished, shortly after the stronger one had chased after it. “Okay, weak guy’s dead now.”

And shortly after, the remaining presence went... up? CC whipped his head around in the direction of the entity, and yet found his presence quickly fading away as it moved out of range. “And the other guy’s gone too. Either they were a bird monster of some sort or a human with like a jetpack.” A slight shake of Cross’ head told him his theories were likely wrong, causing him to rethink things. Human with jetpack seemed highly unfeasible given that that kind of technology was extremely limited and would’ve been something they both would’ve heard. And the power he felt was far too strong to be a normal monster, so it was clearly something else, something far more dangerous. But since they were leaving, the ghostly child figured it best to leave the matter be, thinking it over in the back of his mind as he continued to monitor Killer.

It took them about half an hour to make it back home, with Cross taking his time due to the two skeletons with him. Killer was surprisingly helpful, getting the doors for the monochrome skeleton so that he wouldn’t have to shift Dream in the slightest. Once inside the apartment, Cross went straight for his room, gently setting the golden skeleton in his arms down on the bed before pulling the covers over him. Meanwhile Killer seemed to be a bit put off by the chaotic state of Cross’ room, causing CC to snicker quietly.

The two left without a single word, not wanting to disturb the rest that the smaller skeleton definitely needed. As soon as Cross closed the door, he let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging in relief that his friend was alive and safe, and that Geno would be able to rest easy once he learned of this. At the thought of his brother, CC grew anxious to check on him, leaving Cross to direct their other guest to the couch where he’d be able to sleep.

The ghostly child phased through the door, solidifying into his physical form as he saw the scarfed skeleton was still resting peacefully. The stress though had left a red stain arcing across his white t-shirt, his old wound acting up again and beginning to bleed through the thin fabric. There wasn’t much CC could do about it without potentially disturbing his rest, settling for grabbing one of his old shirts that had already been ruined by blood stains and placing it gently over top, hopefully preventing damage to the scarfed skeleton’s bedsheets. He prayed that it wouldn’t bleed though that, otherwise that would mean a trip to the hospital.

After adjusting the covers on Geno to better cover him, CC turned his attention to the other skeletons in the house, focusing on their presences as he inspected all of the equipment in the room. Cross’ presence was familiar of course, feeling like a part of himself that was simply disconnected. And then there was Dream, less familiar but still well-known to the ghostly child due to how much time his counterpart spent in the golden skeleton’s company. He seemed to be weak but stable, his strength returning ever so slowly as he rested. From the feel of it, he probably owed his life to someone as his energy simply felt too weak to have survived the jump on his own.

But then there was the stranger, Killer. His presence was more powerful than he’d initially anticipated, clearly far stronger than he appeared to be. While his power wasn’t the same as the being from the forest, there was something... similar between them, and a familiarity that CC couldn’t place.

It wasn’t long before Cross came into Geno’s room, locking the door behind them to keep their guest from getting nosy. CC had kept himself busy by cleaning up the small mess they’d made earlier, knowing just how much Geno loved his room being perfectly tidy. “Everything seems pretty normal so far. He’s bleeding of course but his readings are stable.”

Even with his counterpart’s report, Cross still seemed to have the need to inspect everything himself before settling down. “Well, hopefully the bleeding stops by morning. He should be fine otherwise.” The monochrome skeleton sighed as he settled down into a chair, rubbing at his eyes in exhaustion from the night’s events. “So, what are your thoughts on our new friend? I’m assuming you’ve done your usual check.”

“Of course I have. What do you take me for, an amateur?” He hovered next to his brother, frowning at the feeling he got from the strange skeleton. “There’s something... off about him. He’s way more powerful than he seems, and that’s only part of it. There’s something the same between him and the one I sensed in the forest, something that I don’t think I like.”

Cross frowned at this information, clearly not liking his decision to let the other stay now. “You think he’s a threat?”

“I think he could be if he wanted to be. He seems pretty docile though, all things considered. If he wanted to hurt us, it would’ve made sense to attack us on the way back while you were occupied with Dream.” The child sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I just can’t shake the feeling that I’ve felt something like him before.”

Seeing the other dive into thought to place the feeling, Cross remained silent to allow his brother to work. It was one of the things CC was honestly best at, given his spiritual nature he was more in tune with energy, especially the energies of a soul. He focused entirely on Killer, trying to discern what power was hidden beneath a layer of protective magic. Then it hit him, his eyes flying open as he remembered feeling the exact same way about the insanely powerful entity from the forest. Now he could clearly remember the powerful and dangerous presence he could sense from the skeleton asleep on their couch, having encountered it plenty of times before in the past. “Oh shit... Whoever that was in the forest, I think they were a daemon. And... I think Killer’s one too.”