Journey of the Sanses

Chapter 21: The X-Tale Voyage

Decans woke up to a strange rustling sound that came from nearby. Curious to see what was making the noise, the tiny skeleton got up and quietly walked over towards its source - only to find that Cross was thrashing in his sleep, much like one would do when having a nightmare.

Overly concerned for his black-and-white friend, he raced to where the rest of the children were. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" He exclaimed. Almost immediately the other four children, including Sera, awakened to the panicked shouts of Decans. "What is it, Decans?" Suave asked. "It's Cross," the diminutive skeleton explained. "I think he's having a nightmare!"

Almost instantaneously, the other children followed Decans to where the black-and-white skeleton was sleeping - and he was still moving around in quite an anxious manner whilst being unconscious. Once they saw what was going on they gathered around Cross, ready to calm him down if necessary. "Get ready for him to scream!" Reaper warned, which caused himself and his companions to prepare themselves by covering their nonexistent ears.

But when Cross finally woke up, he didn't scream at all - instead he stayed quiet in pure horrified silence. When the children noticed that, they removed their hands from the sides of their heads and remained silent for a few moments so that their black-and-white friend could calm down. Once the aforementioned skeleton's breathing became relaxed and regular, his friends started to ask him questions.

"What happened, Cross?" Decans asked. "Yes, what was causing you to toss and turn in your sleep?" Suave inquired, with a concerned expression on his face. "I personally thought that you were gonna scream like heck!" Reaper exclaimed. "Guys, one question at a time, please," Geno interjected. "I'm sure that his head is already spinning from whatever it was that he dreamt about, and he doesn't need you guys to further confuse him!"

"Oh, right," the three inquiring skeletons said simultaneously. "Sorry." "It's okay," the red-scarfed skeleton replied. "You were just very worried about him, that's all. Now, why don't you guys go back to sleep while I take care of Cross. Do you understand?" "Okay," all of the other children said, and so they proceeded to walk back to their makeshift beds.

However, Sera hesitated for a few moments but turned around to face Geno. "Should... should I leave too?" She asked. "I mean, I know that I shouldn't ask for exceptions, but..." "You can stay here if you want," the red-scarfed skeleton said. "You said that you had nightmares before, so you could probably help out." "O-oh, yeah, I did say that," she responded, with a blush emerging onto her magenta cheeks.

Now that Cross' mind was clear, he could actually listen to their conversation and infer that the subject of the aforementioned discussion most likely had something to do with them cuddling together every now and then. "I-I-I'm s-sorry," he said in a voice that was shaky with fear of his latest vision. "I-I didn't m-mean to wake anyone u-up."

"It's fine," Geno replied. "Decans just woke us up and told us that you were having a nightmare, because he himself was awakened by the sounds that you were making." "W-wait, I was making s-sounds?!" The black-and-white skeleton exclaimed. "Well, more specifically, you were thrashing around in your sleep," Sera said. "Which reminds me... are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm f-fine," Cross replied. The pink Draconian had the "it didn't seem 'fine' to me" expression on her face, but she didn't ask him any more questions. Geno noticed that and gave her an appreciative smile. "Do you... want to talk about it?" The red-scarfed skeleton asked. "To be honest, I really don't want to," Cross said. "But... I just have this feeling that... if I tell you, everything will be alright. However, if I don't... well, you get the picture."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," the pink Draconian said. "We won't pressure you to do anything that you're not willing to do, and this scenario is no different." Geno nodded in agreement, but Cross had already made his decision. "No... I need to tell you," he said. "Otherwise, I might go insane with the horror of what I saw if I choose to face it alone."

"It was that bad?" The red-scarfed skeleton inquired. "Yes," the black-and-white skeleton replied. "Which is why I need to tell you guys about my dream." And so, he told both Geno and Sera about his visions and what happened in them. All the while, he was careful to not spare any details. When he was absolutely sure that he had told the entire story of his dreams, both the red-scarfed skeleton and the pink Draconian were wide-eyed at his words with both shock and horror at what Cross had undergone.

A few moments of silence passed before Sera spoke up. "So," she said blankly. "That's why Fallacy is so evil." The pink Draconian had a morose expression on her face as her frills dropped down with sadness and understanding. "Geno," she said. "I know that... Fallacy's childhood abuse doesn't justify his actions, but... can I at least give him just one chance at mercy? Please?" Sera uttered her words in a pleading tone of voice.

Cross remembered that, unlike many of the other Draconians, Sera was merciful and never wanting to fight or kill unless it was absolutely necessary. He also knew that she still felt guilty about accidentally killing Drackallia. That was another thing that set her apart from the Draconians - for they never had any remorse for anything, while Sera felt absolutely guilty for what she had done to their Queen despite it being an accident.

In short, the pink Draconian was as conscious and considerate as any other creature - except for the Draconians of course - and had a heart as warm as any human's would be. In fact, it almost felt like an insult to not consider her as a monster of the Multiverse - to him at least.

Geno's response brought Cross out of his contemplation about how Sera was much more like a monster than a Draconian. "Okay," the red-scarfed skeleton said. "I understand." "Thank you, Geno," she said. "Anything for you, Sera," Geno responded, and then turned to Cross.

"How about you go back to bed and sleep close to us?" He asked. "That way, we'll be nearby so that we can help help you out more quickly in case you have a nightmare again?" "I appreciate your offer, Geno," Cross replied. "But I think that I'll be okay by myself." He tried to be as gentle as possible with his response. Fortunately, Geno nodded in understanding.

"Are you sure that you're going to be fine by yourself?" Sera inquired. "Yeah, I doubt that I'm gonna have any more nightmares, so I think that I'll be alright." "Okay, if you say so," the pink Draconian responded. With that, Geno and Sera gave him one last gaze of concern before walking away from him to their makeshift beds. When the lovebirds had completely disappeared from Cross' vision range, he laid back down and allowed himself to once again slip away from consciousness. Hopefully, he would have a peaceful sleep this time.

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Luckily for Cross, he didn't have any more nightmares and had gotten a rather decent amount of sleep last night. When the adults had asked him why he looked slightly exhausted, he'd simply told them that he'd had difficulty going to sleep because he didn't want to get them worried and anxious about his dream. And so, when everyone was ready to proceed with their excursion to the X-Tale Universe, they'd promptly left their temporary resting area.

That was why he was now following his comrades as they trekked through the last outskirts of the shrub-lands, which were almost completely monochromatic but still had the slightest tinge of color. When the group finally entered into a completely monochromatic black-and-white environment, Cross was not surprised at all to see a mostly white castle that was a short distance away from them.

"That must be the X-Tale Universe," he realized. "Finally, I'm in my own domain. And my mother must be waiting for me and my friends to arrive." He knew that Queen Jakei couldn't possibly know that they were coming to visit her, but it was a pleasant sentiment to think about. With that in mind, he and his acquaintances made their way to the white castle that was undoubtedly surrounding the entirety of his Universe.

All the while, he hoped that he would be able to discuss his suspicions about the prophecy - and perhaps determine whether or not they were correct. But little did he know that a stranger was waiting for them, that he would experience much more than what he was hoping for, and that his comrades would be joined by the most unlikely of all people - a former ally of Fallacy.