(Let's get a warning. Sorry for forgetting last chapter with the abuse, but we get DreamTale Dream's story, and uh yeah. You can guess what happens based on (probably) nightmare's story of the events.)

~???~

"Hey G̶e̶n̶o̶, want to explore the world?" A skeletal hand reaches out.

"R̶e̶a̶p̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶.̶" The response is obscured.

"Aw, don't be like that. You don't know the meaning of 'cant' so come on. Let's find something new." The hand extends closer, and after a moment, a rapidly glitching hand takes the skeletal hand, a s̶o̶f̶t̶ ̶c̶h̶u̶c̶k̶l̶e̶ noise bouncing around the black realm surrounding them.

~

"A̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶,̶ ̶E̶r̶r̶o̶r̶?̶"

~

Error jolts upright, panting hard, choking back sobs.

What the hell was that? And who were they?

Error looks at the sleeping reaper a few feet away from them.

Reaper? Why do I feel deja vu?

"Good, you woke up." Error jolts, looking at the goopy monster he was laying on.

"I was worried."

"WhY?" Nightmare turns his cyan eyelight down to Error, a tense look on his face.

"Because believe it or not, I care." Error freezes, blue tears welling up.

~

"Why?"

"Because believe it or not, I care about you, G̶e̶n̶."

~

Error blinks, coming back to reality to find both Nightmare and Reaper looking over him worriedly.

"I-I'm GeTtInG mEmOrIeS tHaT aReN't MiNe AnD i'M sCaReD aBoUt WhAt ThIs MeAnS."

Reaper's face betrays a small amount of excitement, but Nightmare's eyelight narrows in thought.

"I'm almost positive it's yours. Error, I could sense if it were foreign. It's not. It's emotional, and you aren't comfortable, but whatever you're remembering is most definitely yours." More tears stream down, Error face-planting into Nightmare, trying to get his tears under control.

"I'm ScArEd ThAt If I'm ReMeMbErInG...tHaT fAtE cAn TaRgEt My FaMiLy AgAiN."

The room freezes, everything going red.

You didn't think you were free, did you, G̶e̶n̶o̶?

~

Lust groans, looking over to Blue.

"Honey, Dream. He conditioned you to accept the treatment. It doesn't help that you are a little naive, and good-natured." Dream is gently sipping some hot cocoa, Ink having been locked out of the room a while ago.

"But if someone treats me bad, then I must have done something to earn that treatment, right?"

Outer's eyes spark with something, Lust catching his attention.

"Outer, do you have something to help?" Outer slowly nods, walking over to Dream and Lust.

"Dream. Imagine that Ink was doing these things to me. Imagine I was and/or am in your place." Dream's whole body tenses. Outer continues with his question: "If I came to you for help, safety, and advice, what would you do?"

"I'd help you get away from Ink. I'd tell you in plain detail you weren't to blame for Ink's treatment of you. Your value isn't determined by what Ink decides is valuable. You don't have to change anything about yourself unless that thing can lead to harm for others or yourself. And if Ink tried to hurt you, or even contact you, I'd keep him away." Lust grins at Outer, his grin turning gentle when he turns his gaze to Dream.

"Dream, honey. You weren't to blame for Ink's treatment of you. Your value isn't determined by anyone but you. You don't have to change yourself for anyone unless something about you can lead to harm for yourself or others." Dream focuses on Lust, tearing up slightly.

Lust releases a soft sigh.

"If I knew how he was treating you, I'd have kicked his ass long ago. I'm like double sorry for being so brutal knowing how he hurt you." Golden tears slowly trickle down Dream's cheeks.

You aren't to blame for Ink's treatment of you.

A small smile begins to cross Dream's face.

Your value isn't determined by anyone but you.

A little chuckle breaks free of Dream.

You don't have to change yourself, unless something can cause harm to you or others.

Sobs begin racking Dream's body.

"I..." The tears stream faster, sobs leaving Dream, forcing the guardian to choke on his words.

"Nobody's ever said that to me."

Lust reaches forward, gently placing a hand on Dream's ulna.

"Even when we lived in the village, my value as a person was determined by how positive I was. How much I healed the village. How many people in the village knew me. How much I ignored what they did to my brother." Dream shivers.

"I wasn't allowed to cuss, or learn about sex. If it wasn't something pure, or innocent, I wasn't supposed to know about it. The village loved me, and that was hell. Their treatment of me was so positive, yet so cruel. They didn't care about who I actually was. They wanted something I wasn't, and didn't take 'no' for an answer. I'm glad Nightmare left already, because he would probably revive them to kill them again if he knew." Dream takes a shaky breath in, before speaking.

"Nightmare wasn't the only one they abused and...raped. They were careful to make sure my markings were hidden. They didn't want to incur the great Negativity Guardian's wrath. They didn't care if I knew about their treatment of him. They...they'd brag about how tight Nightmare was, even as they were having their way with me. They'd brag about how much he screamed. They didn't care if I was tired, or if I needed a break. I was the Guardian of Positivity. Might as well have been a god in their eyes." Dream sighs softly.

"I guess I'm still under their thumb. I still feel like I'm worthless unless I'm helping everyone. I still feel like 'no' is too much to say when I'm uncomfortable. I guess I just...got used to not being treated with respect, so I stopped asking to be respected."

"They did all this to two children? Hun, if the villagers were still alive, I'd kill them myself." Dream sighs softly, frowning at Lust's words.

"I've been wallowing in negativity, but I've never felt better. To get this off my chest, and to people I trust. It's nice." Lust chuckles softly.

"Yeah. Sorry for hurting you with the information."

"You couldn't have known how our relationship was. And you had good reason to try and chase me away from Outer." Lust gently pats Dream's skull.

"Dream. Accept the apology without explaining away my actions. No reason is good enough to justify my treatment of someone I didn't know."

"Then I need to offer my own apology. No reason is good enough to justify my treatment of you."

Outer chuckles softly.

"We get it, you two are sorry for hurting each other." Dream and Lust giggle, Outer chuckling.

"You know. If I weren't the guardian of positive emotions and Nightmare the guardian of negative, I'd offer you to be the guardian of both, Lust." Lust blinks, a soft purple blush covering his face.

"W-what? N-no, I could never-"

"Then allow me to explain myself."

~ (This next section features subtle mentions of sexual activity, just to let y'all know.)

Razz pants softly, purring as Black pulls him close, the two cuddling.

"So...uh..." Black releases a soft hum, indicating he is listening. "Does this mean we're a couple? Or that we love each other? I just...don't want to be a one-night-stand, ya know?" Black softly chuckles, turning Razz's skull so the two are looking at each other.

"Razz." Razz focuses, noticing Black's eyelights are very tiny hearts. "Do you remember what I said about sex?"

"That you'd only do it with someone you loved romantically." Black slowly nods, a soft smirk and loving gaze focus as Razz heats up, a purple blush covering his entire face.

"S-so, I guess..." Black hums softly, finishing Razz's hesitant sentence.

"It depends on how you feel about me." Razz's blush gets worse if possible, a soft whisper leaving the purple one.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't get wet dreams involving you, and didn't think about you every minute since I-" Razz cuts himself off, blushing brighter. Black chuckles softly, getting on top of Razz.

"Maybe a round two would be good, if you get wet dreams involving me." Razz's blush gets deeper as Black leans down, planting a soft kiss on the bright purple counterpart.

~

Dust wanders into the kitchen, finding Cross looking far closer to his normal bone color scrubbing every inch of the kitchen. Dust looks around at the kitchen.

25 percent done is pretty good.

Dust focuses on Cross, easily able to tell the latter is extremely exhausted.

Considering he's doing it alone.

Dust walks forward, summoning a blaster that sucks up the water and soap.

And is clearly exhausted.

"Cross." The monochrome and gray-boned skeleton jumps, unable to make his red and white eyelights focus.

"D-dust?" Cross stumbles into Dust's hold, his eyelights still unable to focus.

"Let my blaster clean this up."

"B-but-"

"Cross, you can't focus your eyelights. You might as well be blind. Sure, Boss wants this kitchen clean, but he didn't expect you to do it alone. Nobody has cleaned the kitchen by themselves." Cross tries to push Dust away, but with his current exhaustion level, it might as well be a bug flying at Dust for all the effect it has.

"I-if I can clean it by myself, then surely B-boss will notice how good I am. A-and he won't send me back." Purple tears well up in Cross' sockets, but Dust opts to ignore the tears, ordering his blaster to fire concentrated beams of water and soap, power-washing the kitchen as well as the two skeletons in the kitchen.

Dust gently hovers his fingertips above the red scar, having been curious what the effect of that kind of gesture would have on Cross pretty much ever since he met Cross.

"You always kept your guard up, so I could never see how this will affect you. Do you even know?" With that, Dust lowers his fingertips to the scar, running his fingers along the scar.

The effect is instant, Cross's eyelights softening and vanishing as a mixture of a moan and a groan rips itself from Cross's throat. Dust pauses his touch, the purple tears streaming down as Cross releases a pathetic whine.

"That f-felt good." Dust slowly blushes purple when he sees a similar coloration covering Cross's pleading face.

"Good like Horror, or good like Lust?" Cross releases another whine, laying his face on Dust's chest.

"B-both."

Dust looks over the now clean kitchen, waving his blaster away with a grin.

"How about we go take a shower? Get warm and clean. And maybe have a little fun~" Cross's blush gets deeper if possible as he slowly nods. With that, the two vanish.

Killer teleports a cup and the soda to his hands, chuckling slightly.

"Well, I won't ruin Dust's hard work."

~

Epic glares at Fresh, trying to get out of the taller skeleton's hold.

"Bruh! Ya only normally hold people if ya planning on takin em over! Lemme go!"

"Haha, broseph. Don't you like this radical hug? I would only take you over if you was all up 'n' chill with being possessed for forever, brah." Epic freezes, looking up at Fresh's glasses which read 'TR_UE'.

"Bruh...do you understand consent?"

"Consent is that radical thing Lusty brah preaches. The absence of a 'no' doesn't indicate the presence of a 'yes' right brah?" Epic releases a soft sigh.

"So you don't intend on taking me over without my explicit consent, yea?" Fresh nods.

"Howeva, broski. If you was up 'n' dying, I'd have no choice but to extend your life by perma-merging with ya, okay?"

(1800 words.

D'ya'll got pitchforks? Yea. Probably.

Please give me the delicious anger or tears.

And have a good day.