(Toxic Killer x Nightmare, Nightmare x Cross)
Requested by h0rr0r50r4n5
Tw:
Eating disorders, self harm, depression, suicide, neglectful parenting, and alcohol abuse
Angst Scale:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Third Person POV
If looks could kill, Crescent would've died the moment he was born. Killer couldn't help but glare at the infant on the floor, continuing to drink from his glass. Crescent looked too much like Nightmare, but he was even worse than his father.
Crescent was helpless, a nagging parasite that just took and took and took. Killer didn't want it around at all, just a constant reminder that he was stuck in a loveless marriage and couldn't escape. The baby began crying now, for what seemed like the hundredth time this hour, and Killer groaned. Nightmare wasn't in the castle to shout at him for not taking care of Crescent, so Killer didn't. He just kept drinking his alcohol and contemplated infanticide.
Killer used to love Nightmare, y'know? He used to love Nightmare with all his soul, giving Nightmare everything he had. But Nightmare never stopped demanding and demanding more and more from Killer. He was hardly even a person anymore, just a convenient tool.
If Nightmare told him to kill, Killer did, if Nightmare told him to get in the bed and spread his legs, Killer did without complaining. That didn't mean Killer liked it, he was just trained well enough to know what would happen if he didn't do it. He hardly even knew who Nightmare was anymore! The other used to be a beacon of acceptance and praise, always being so kind when Killer did something right! But now, Nightmare was hardly around. When he was, he was shouting at Killer for not doing this and that, for not being enough. For fucks sake, he should've SEEN this coming! It wasn't like he didn't make it clear previously that he only saw Killer as a convenient tool whenever he'd leave Killer alone to fight an enemy. And once he had been gone for hours, being tracked through an AU and tormented mercilessly. Anytime the denizens of the AU would find him, they'd hurt him, but Nightmare had ordered him not to leave no matter what.
At that moment it should have been clear. Killer was a tool for negativity. But he hadn't seen that.
He just tried harder to make Nightmare happy. And once, he starved himself to the point of hospitalization because of his eating disorder and then desperately sought reassurance. Was he doing something right with this? Did Nightmare regret encouraging this behavior? Did he want Killer to keep going? But he was just met with stony indifference.
And then, the parasite was conceived.
"Hey." Dust said casually as he walked past Killer. Killer watched placidly as Dust crouched down and picked up the infant, comforting him and bringing a bottle of formula to his loud mouth.
"Why don't you just take him?" Killer huffed, slurring his words drunkenly.
"Not exactly parent material here." Dust said.
"Better than I am!" Killer said, laughing brokenly. "I am a fuckin' failure."
Dust didn't say anything back, bouncing the infant lightly as the child drank. Killer did have to admit it was nice to have silence for once. The parasite looked contented now, clutching onto the bottle with pathetically tiny hands.
"Why don't you just go see Color again?" Dust suggested a hint of bitterness in his voice. "He's always good at pulling you out of these depressive episodes."
"You mean my whole life?" Killer said, laughing at his unfunny 'joke'. And then, he finished off the glass and got up. "Sure, I will go see him. Tell Nightmare where I went so he doesn't freak out."
