How to Establish Your Gang and Take Care of the Children in It

Rule 30: Ink is an Idiot. Try Not to Push his Limits too Much

His hands were shaking. Why were his hands shaking? Was this a panic attack? Was he about to cry? Breathing seemed to have stopped working, so that was no longer an option.

Ah. Wait. Now he was getting lightheaded. So breathing was probably important.

"He'll be fine. Probably."

Did Mare not trust him? Was he sending him on a suicide mission? Was Error doing to kill him? Why had he agreed to this? Maybe he should have let Killer-

"$uch an intere$ting $0UL! Y0u d0n't mind me taking thi$, d0 y0u?"

No. Absolutely not. If Killer were hurt like that-

Cross clenched his fists, watching as Error left through a portal just as glitchy as the destroyer was. Neither Dust nor Horror had stopped his leaving- they'd both heard the basic details of Mare's bet. The former studied Cross with a sharp expression, tracing each and every sign of terror he was feeling, whether it was obvious (It was) or not.

Horror watched him as well, fiddling absently with the golden heart locket around his neck. Cross still occasionally did a double take before remembering That was a gift, a symbol of trust. It was not a way of painting a target on his chest. It was not just a way for X-Gaster to know who to kill.

Horror, too, didn't know exactly what had happened with Error. He had about the same general idea as Killer, and about the same opinion of Error. But unlike Killer, the red-eyed skeleton knew Cross well enough to know how terrified he was.

Cross glanced again at the open portal. Time seemed to have slowed down, but he guessed that he had less than a minute if he wanted to follow Error before it collapsed.

"He'll be fine. Probably."

Did he want to follow Error? When even Nightmare thought he wouldn't be able to? When even the thought of seeing the destroyer again made him want to cry?

Horror stepped forward, taking Cross' hands in his own. "Hey, Cross. It'll be alright. You're just overthinking things." With a small grin, he added, "Killer bet you wouldn't come back without a scratch, so prove him wrong for me, will you? I don't actually have that much gold." The red-eyed skeleton pressed something cold and metallic into his hand with a smile.

"You'll be alright, Cross," Horror repeated softly.

"I... think you're right," Cross said with a nod.

Even though he'd only said it for Horror's benefit, the smile the red-eyed skeleton gave him made the dark pit of terror a shade lighter.

Maybe he would be alright.

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

He was not going to be alright.

Error glared at Cross with irritation, hands on his hips as he studied the monochromatic skeleton sharply. The glitches around him buzzed softly, becoming more and more violent each step Cross took toward him. Finally, the destroyer seemed to decide that was distance enoguh, because he snapped abruptly, "What the fuck are y0u d0ing here?"

Cross' mind, running previously at about a million miles per hour, hit a wall and came to an abrupt halt. Why was he here? There hadn't been a reason when they were talking about Error. None had come up. Why did Nightmare want anyone to follow Error?

There had to be a reason, right? Mare had to have a reason. But for the life of him, Cross just couldn't see why.

"I-I'm here- because-" Cross faltered.

Error barked a laugh. "Y0u d0n't even kn0w?!" He asked incredulously. "Y0u're that much 0f a lapd0g y0u d0n't even a$k bef0re jumping t0 d0 y0ur ma$ter's bidding?"