(Me: Thank you, Nights, for the inspiration of this chapter's name!
Nights: You're welco-
Me: But, I'm not forgiving you for your interference with the story.
Nights: ........ Fair enough.)

Sans held Cross up and dragged him over to a more stable-looking building and went inside. Maybe there were some medical supplies he could use to patch up this injured bruh? He found a couple of humans cowering behind the cash register on the right of the building, which was presumably a store of some kind. It sold a lot of different products, from kitchen utensils to power tools, clothing and fashion accessories to groceries. He looked back outside to see a sign that read, "General Store." That makes more sense, now. Hopefully, they had some medical wraps or gauze for the skeleton's injuries.

He set Cross down to lean against a wall and approached the cash register and the human employees carefully.
"Heya, bruh, I'm not gonna hurtcha. I just need some stuff ta patch up my bruh over there."

Cross rolled his eyelights.
"No human would willingly help a monster, dipshit. They're practically programmed to hate us."

One of the humans stood up slowly, feeling slightly offended with Cross' unfair judgement on him and his coworker. He decided to help them, even if one of them was being pretty quick with their assumptions. He wasn't racist, or sexist, or quick to judge people too harshly. A lot would have to happen to faze him. He'd worked in customer service long enough to learn how to tell a friendly face to a... not so friendly face, and from what he could tell from the purple skeleton, he wasn't lying. His friend on the opposite side of the room really did need help if that wound in his leg was anything to go by. He smiled a bit, walking out from behind the counter.

"M-my name's Kyle. I think I can help you."

"Aww, thanks, bruh! I owe ya one!"

Kyle chuckled a bit and led Sans down one of the aisles. The other employee, a blonde girl in her twenties, peeked over the edge of the counter at the other skeleton. He noticed her looking, and glared at her. She hid back behind the counter, scared that the skeleton would kill her for her lack of manners. Well, I mean, she had no idea if a monster would be offended by poor manners, but in her situation, she probably should stay on the safe side.

She always prided herself on her cordiality, especially to those who were different from her. She and Kyle got along well because of their similar mindset of judging people unfairly; however, she had caught a glimpse of this same skeleton literally slashing a building in half, causing it collapse just a few blocks away. You can imagine her terror and shock as she felt the ground beneath her tremble from the impact. As the saying goes, "actions speak louder than words," and this skeleton's previous actions told her he was not friendly. She's met quite a few people who were more immediate threats to her than him, and most of the time, she was able to escape the situations gracefully.

Now, she was faced with a choice; continue to hide like a coward, or go out and try to help these... guys. Are they guys? Eh, with skeletons, one might never figure out their gender.

(Personal headcanon, skeleton monsters are gender fluid by default, unless they specify what gender they prefer. The reason for this is because some authors I've seen made them able to summon ecto bodies, either for a dare or.... other reasons. To me, this makes some sense, since how else would they reproduce? I'm a huge logic and biology nut, even though logic isn't supposed to exist in this fandom, but you, my dear readers, can continue to believe and enjoy whatever you want, as long as you aren't hurting anyone. If you don't like how I portray my story and the characters in said story, go find a different story. No sense in sticking around when you clearly don't like it, here. Besides, I'd rather not see people hating me, the author, for putting an element they don't like in the story because I really like how my story is going. Rant about it all you want, but not where I can see it, please. I won't be able to maintain motivation to write this story if people hate on me for it.)

'Ok, Emily,' she thought.
'If Kyle can be friendly to monsters, then so can you. Just gotta be brave.'

She took a deep breath, stood up, and faced the skeleton. Her burst of courage drained from her as she met the skeleton's eyelights, but she refused to turn tail and run. This guy seemed to be injured, so there was little he could do to her besides yell at her if he got mad. Maybe....

"H-hi, my name's Emily. What's yours....?"
She smiled as best she could, but the skeleton's unmoving stare unnerved her. She awkwardly stepped out from behind the counter and glanced at his injured leg. A skeleton can bleed, huh? Makes sense. The bones produce red blood cells, after all.
"How d-did you.... get that wound?"

Cross blinked in surprise. The human was concerned for him? No, they must simply be curious.
"Why do you want to know?"

"Sometimes, it's easier to treat if you know what happened."

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"Yeah. Spider bite. Black Widow. It was really painful, and I barely got to the hospital in time for them to give me the antidote before the venom burned a hole in my leg. The doctor asked me what did that, and I told him it was this huge, black spider in my basement that I didn't notice was on my leg while I was cleaning until it bit me. Now, I've got a scar where they stitched me up. Guess I learned not to wear shorts in my basement, haha!"

"........Lucky. I got stabbed by that asshole, Dream. I've never seen him with daggers before, but now I know for next time. Then, Nightmare decided to fuck me over and leave me alone with- it's taking them awhile. Where is that idiot?"

As if on que, Sans and Kyle came back to the front of the store. In Sans' arms was a shit ton of cookies. Oh, and bandages.
"Sorry it took so long, bruh. I just couldn't resist the cookies!"

(Me: *eating cookies while I write this*
Epic: CoOkIeS?!?!
Me: No! Mine! *hisses like a wild animal*
Epic: B-but, they're my favorite kind!
Me: SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!)

Cross deadpanned, but shrugged. It was probably just a Sans' normal addiction to... whatever food they like. Sans set down his armload of cookies and tended to Cross' leg. Kyle went to stand next to Emily, keeping an eye on the two skeletons.
"Hey, you doing alright?"

"U-uh, yeah, I-I'm fine. Just trying to make small talk, I guess...."

"That's good to hear. At least we're not dead, right? Heh heh.... heh...."

"Y-yeah, hah hah, that's awesome....."

They awkwardly looked away from each other, blushing slightly. Kyle ran a hand through his golden brown hair, and Emily rubbed her arm absentmindedly.

SUDDENLY!

"Ugh, just kiss, already!"
Two voices broke the silence. The two skeletons looked at each other in surprise, Sans' eyelight brightening up.

"Bruh! We're totally in sync rn!"

"Dude, you read my mind!"

They smirked at each other, then Cross got an idea. Sans was somehow thinking the exact same thing. At the same time, they started saying random words that popped into their heads.

"Chocolate!"

"Cookies!"

"Chocolate chip cookies!"

"Hehe," Sans put a hand on Cross' shoulder. "Yer alright, bruh!"

"Not too bad yourself, uh....?"

"Aww, jeez, where are my manners! The name's Epic!Sans. Nice to make your acquaintance, bruh!"

"Pfft, that's not your real name, is it? Don't people just call you 'Sans'?"

"Nope! I got everybody in the underground ta call me Epic!Sans, so that's my name, now. What's yours, bruh?"

"I'm Cross. Can I just call ya Epic?"

"Of course! Ya can call me whatever ya want, cuz I'm just that ✨Epic✨"
He struck a pose, and Cross burst out laughing.

The two humans watched them bond with amusement, deciding this moment could very well make or break a much-needed friendship. Emily knew this well, because she had been the one without friends for a long time before she got the job she had now. Both her and Kyle had forgotten about Cross and Epic's comment, so the silence that fell between them felt comfortable.

"Thanks for the help, bruh! I'll be heading off with my friend now, but I'll be back ta repay ya fer yer kindness! Maybe my bro could set you two up on a date?"

And there goes the comfortable silence.

Cross shook his head at Epic, then turned to the humans.
"Guess I really misjudged you humans. Sorry about that."

"It's totally fine!"
Emily and Kyle said in unison. They looked at each other, blushing more, then looked away in embarrassment.

Epic grabbed a shopping bag for his cookies and put them inside. He helped Cross up and smiled at the two employees.
"Thanks again, bruh! Hope ta cya sometime soon!"

With that, the two skeletons walked - in Cross' case, limped - out of the store.

Cross owed no real loyalty to Nightmare, but he felt betrayed. Why would Nightmare leave him there? Was it because he was wounded? He didn't seem to care about Cross, but Error? What's so special about him? Very suspicious.

They returned to the battlefield to find.... Dream?
Cross tried to draw his knife, but the large weapon was just too cumbersome to wield in his wounded state. Epic noticed this, and opened his eyesocket, indicating he was ready for a fight. He summoned a bone wall around the winged skeleton, his eyelight glowing a dangerous purple.

Dream had come through a portal to the AU with a worrying amount of negativity, hoping to find his brother and the skeleton in his body. What he found instead was a wounded Cross, and a very angry looking skeleton monster he'd never seen before. Before Dream could ask what had happened in this AU, he was trapped inside a wall of purple bones.

"W-wait! Cross, it's me! Guys, I need your help."
Dream stayed still to avoid touching the bones. He wasn't sure what they would do, but he didn't have time to find out. If Cross was here, then Nightmare couldn't have gone far.

Here's where things get a little confusing. Through the portal that Dream had come from, another skeleton, followed by three others, walked out and spotted Cross. His outfit was very similar to Nightmare's, but he wasn't goop-ified. His eyesockets widened as he got a better look at Cross, and looked behind him. He looked back at Cross with a very confused look on his face.

"Hey Cross? I found your long lost twin."

One of the three skeletons stepped out from behind the princely skeleton and stared at Cross. Wow, they certainly did look alike! Cross limped up carefully to the other guy and looked him dead in the eyesockets.

"Do you like chocolate?"

The other skeleton put his hands on Cross' shoulders, returning the stare and matching its intensity.

"Who doesn't?"

... ... ...

They snorted, then burst out laughing from how serious the introductions had been.
'This guy really is my twin,' Cross thought, their laughter dying down.

Epic let Dream go and put his hands in his pockets. At least no one is dying or attacking each other. He walked up to the positive guardian and stuck his hand out.
"Name's Epic, bruh. Sorry about the whole trapping ya in a bone wall thing. What's yer name?"

Dream shook his hand and smiled.
"I'm Dream, and it's alright. I'm... used to it. Nice to meet you! Listen, have you seen a skeleton with a gold crown with a crescent in it, covered in what looks like tar?"

Cross overheard the description, and turned to Dream.
"Your bastard of a brother took off with Error awhile ago. But, didn't I just see you, too? And since when did you grow wings and change your outfit?"

"You must've seen the other version of me. I need to find him and Nightmare. Do you know where they went?"

"So you've got a doppleganger too, huh? I think they said they were headed to Dreamtale. Why?"

'Dreamtale?' Dream thought. 'Why would they need to go to Dreamtale?'

-----------------------------------------------------------

So, if y'all don't already know this, I do not condone racism of any kind. It's sort of the reason I made this chapter the way it is. Cross was racist, but he's seen a better side to humans than he's used to. Please be kind to your fellow human beings. If anything, it won't cause any more unnecessary conflict than there already is in the world, especially when it comes to this particular issue. If you really can't help yourselves, don't do it here. Go be toxic somewhere else.