AN: So here you have a one-shot with over 2000 words. This one-shot is cannon to my story 'Living Legacy', at least as how I have that story played out as of right now. I might have to retcon some of it, but hopefully I will not need to. This one-shot was also supposed to be longer, but I cut it down so I could keep some things to reveal in 'Living Legacy'.

So enjoy.

They called him Lust.

Considering the name of his AU it really lacked in creativity. But it was not like anyone asked for Lust's opinion, even when it concerning his own name.

He had reluctantly accepted the name Lust because the only other option given to him had been 'Slut' and he got called that enough times even when it was not his name. That it was the only other option was bad enough.

The name 'Lust' was not much better. It was a constant reminder if the fate the Lust injections doomed his AU to suffer.

Something that no reset can fix. Something that made everyone in his AU remember the resets, somehow.

Something that made everyone in his AU prefer the genocide timelines over the others, at least their deaths gave them reprieve from their suffering. A pause from being slaves to lust and carnal desires.

That's why Lust tried to make them last as long as possible. Even if he was the one that was granted the shortest escape in death out of everyone, except maybe the king and Flowey. Out of those two, one was unaffected by the Lust injections and the other deserved all he got for implementing them in the first place.

It was also why Lust had spent most of his life in the lab trying to find a cure for it, only to fail and fall into depression. He had become as resigned as the rest of the monsters of Underlust, he became a dancer at Grillby's trying to adapt to their reality.

When he found out about the multiverse he had regained a shimmer of hope, maybe his alternativs could help him find a cure.

To bad things don't always turn out the way you hope they will.

Instead of help he was stuck with a nickname taken from the very thing he hated, 'Lust'. They all treated him like some sort of decease, something to be isolated as to not infect others.

In the end nothing really changed, except Lust learned a few truths of reality. Most of which where cruel.

The first truth he learned was that Ink, the one who created his AU as well as all other AUs, did not care for the suffering of his creations. Considering how everyone except Lust and the 'dark' sanses seemed oblivious to that fact, Lust had lost any sort of respect for his alternativs.

The second truth was equally devastating. The effects of the Lust injections where so central to his AU's code that trying to get rid of it would only cause the whole AU to reset itself back to how it was before. In the end it would not make a difference.

The third truth he found out concerned the way in which Ink gained the favor of his alternativs. Apparently, at the five year anniversary of an AU becoming aware of the multiverse (Underlust had only been aware for four years so far) they where granted a wish from the creator. It could consist of anything as long as it did not ask for someone to be raised from the dead or involved changing the code of a AU. From what he heard from his alternativs, most of them had wished for rather selfish things, nothing really worth mentioning.

The fourth and last truth he found out was the only thing that gave him hope. That truth, was the confirmation that there existed a Destroyer of AUs. It was with this truth, this knowledge that he retuned to his AU and told to everyone there (why the other kept the multiverse a secret to others in their AU's, he did not know or understand). Together they formed a plan, but it would be up to Lust to make it happen.

The first step of this plan was to get in contact with the 'dark' sanses. Easier said then done considering it meant he had to also convince them to stop trying to kill him long enough to talk. He had found himself almost getting killed by Killer and Dust on multiple occasions. Considering he had heard Horror was a cannibal he did not even try talking to him and trying to talk to Nightmare was even more terrifying. The last member (that he was not too afraid to try talking to) was Cross, he was rather difficult to track down however as he never seemed to stay in one AU for long.

In the end he did manage to find Cross, and bribe him with enough chocolate for the former royal guard to become willing to hear him out. It had been hard to pull of, especially with what he had to live through to find out Cross had an obsession with chocolate, Lust really wanted to forget about that experience.

The encounter with Cross himself was rather pleasant, if you disregarded the obvious signs that he was incredibly vary of Lust.

Lust could not really fault him for it, he was considered one of the 'dark' sanses and Lust was an outsider. From Cross point of view it was a lot likelier that it would all be a trap.

In the beginning their conversation had been very tense, so much so that Lust did not find a good opening to present his reason for wanting to talk with the ex-royal guard. However as time progress they started to discuss the state of the multiverse, and with Cross Lust did not see any reason to not speak his mind. To say that the other was surprise was an understatement. Never the less, their mutual dislike for Ink made them schedule another meeting.

Lust honestly found himself very much enjoying the time he spent with Cross, he had so much fun that he kept forgetting why he had sought Cross out. His friendship with Cross became the highlight of Lust's existence, it was the first time he had a purely platonic relationship he had since the lust injections.

Was it bad that, just this once, he wished it was not platonic? That it was a romantic one?

The one time he wanted such a thing, and it was something forever out of his reach. It did not really matter now, even confessing to Cross (if only he had the courage) was meaningless. The people of Underlust had already committed to the plan and disregarding it for something as selfish as love was something Lust found himself incapable of. He had to press on.

That did nothing to prevent him from longing for it however. He might not be brave enough to admit his feelings to the other, but he began to use the lust injections (which he had already told Cross about) as an excuse to cuddle up against his crush. Lust cherished those moments immensely.

And apparently, he was not the only one of them to do so. Just as soon as he started doing it, Cross started to do the same. To have someone greet you with just a warm hug was something foreign ro Lust, but he cherished it just the same.

In the end, he did remember the reason he meet Cross in the first place, and after a short conversation (he did not tell him why he wanted to talk to the Destroyer) he got the location and name of said destroyer.

It seemed his next stop would be the Anti-void. He only hoped his talk with Error would not be a catastrophe.

Lust found himself being surprised by the destroyer, Error was a lot different from what he had heard from Ink and the rest. But considering what he had already seen of Ink and his associates it really should not have come as a surprise.

During their conversation he managed to make the destroyer agree to destroy his AU, which had been the plan, but Error also brought up a problem with the plan. The plan had one fatal flaw.

What if Ink decided to remake their AU? 

Or created others like it?

Dealing with the first part of the flaw was easy, even if it broke Lust on the inside knowing that he would never see Cross again if he used this easy solution.

AU's could not be remade if every piece of code of it was destroyed. Which made the fact that so many resided in the Omni-void, the place for survivors of destroyed AU's all the more bizarre. Not to mention, making Lust even more surprised that others did not notice how twisted Ink was.

The later of the flaws to the plan was harder to solve, at least until Lust remembered that Ink granted a wish for every AU (or more specifically the sans of each AU) five years after it first became aware of the multiverse.

After remembering this Lust could feel himself regaining hope, maybe if he also made Ink promise to not remake his AU he could still stay and spend more time with Cross.

With this in mind, and with the promise from Error to destroy Underlust the day following Ink granting his wish, Lust left the Anti-void to tell the rest of his AU the news.

It was safe to say that everyone in Underlust started to count down the days they had to wait until they where finally free from their existence as slaves to lust.

Even Lust counted down the days, if only because should something go wrong he would only have that many days left to spend with Cross.

Every chance he had he would hunt Cross down, only to spend what time he could in his crush's company. Each time it got easier to find him as Lust got accustom to the others daily routine.

Lust would even admit that he got clingier every time they meet, he wanted to make the moments last longer. Luckily for him, Cross didn't seem to mind. That in itself Lust found strange, Cross was the only one he had ever meet that was so accepting of being touched by Lust, even when counting in the rest of his AU.

It was not until about two weeks before the scheduled destruction of Underlust that Lust gained insight on why that was. Cross had suggested that they go see a movie and have picnic afterwards, and if Lust had not thought so lowly of himself he might have convinced himself that it was a date. As it was however, Lust remained convinced that it was only a friendly outing and throughout the movie and during the beginning of the picnic nothing told him otherwise. After all, by this point it was very common for them to cuddle.

However, as it grew darker around them in the forest clearing they had their picnic in, it became more and more obvious that Cross had intended it to be a date. Lust was caught slightly off-guard as Cross suddenly kissed his forehead while they cuddled together.

It made Lust freeze up, causing Cross to look down worriedly at the other.

Cross ended up concluding that it was the kiss on the forehead that had caused Lust to freeze and jumped to conclusions after that. He quickly and sincerely apologized for the kiss and he was okay with it being just a friendly outing instead of a date if Lust didn't like him that way.

Cross rambled on long enough for Lust to finally progress everything that was going on, and even then he found himself unable to put words to what he was feeling. So he did it the only other way he could, he put his feelings into action and kissed Cross. Their teeth clanked together from the force as Lust followed it up by wrapping his arms around Cross's neck.

It obviously surprised Cross as the action caught him off guard, it was not unwelcomed however. Cross did not let his surprise hinder him from kissing Lust back he wrapped his arms tightly around Lust bringing the other as close as he could.

Cross could not remember the last time he had been so happy, he was certain that if he ever felt as happy as this before it had been before his AU fell into ruin. As they separated for air, Cross could conclude from Lust's smile that the happiness he felt was also shared with the other.

''I love you Lust.''

''I love you too, Crossy.''

They kissed again, and for the first time in his life, Lust let himself succumbed to lust.

If only this could last.

But when had either Lust or Cross been that lucky?