Daemons
Chapter 14

Mild to Severe Violence Warning

Cross looked to the slightly cloudy sky, feeling the crisp winds of fall blow gently by his skull and watching as the leaves were slowly being pulled off of their branches while he walked behind Geno’s chair. The pair were taking a walk through the park per the scarfed skeleton’s request, saying that they needed to get out and enjoy some fresh air before it got too cold, and they could even enjoy the colorful trees while they were at it before the land became buried in snow. While his brother’s health was getting better and he could walk around the apartment by himself with his cane, long distances still required the chair. So it had been a necessary evil for their walk outside.

“Told you this was what we needed,” Geno said, turning a bit to look over at the taller skeleton with a smile. “This fresh air is absolutely great. We really need to fix the circulation in our apartment.”

“Yeah, but stuff like that costs money-”

“Which isn’t a problem and you know it,” the smaller pointed out, earning a sigh from the monochrome skeleton. Geno’s hacking went well beyond what he’d done for Lust, which had turned out exactly as planned. That professor had lost his tenure and been fired by the university after allegations of sexual assault and murder started to circulate, with someone far less racist in the department taking over his classes for the rest of the semester.

No, his brother had seen to it that the two of them were financially secure throughout their degree, operating in a moral grey area by stealing the money from other thieves and criminals. It was tough security, but nothing that could slow the scarfed skeleton down. Still, Cross didn’t like relying on that money and tried to avoid unnecessary expenses so that one day they didn’t bite off more than they could chew. “I know, I know, but you know how I feel about that kind of stuff. I’ve got nothing against who we get it from, but I just don’t want you getting yourself in hot water one of these days. As you’ve told me before, all it takes is one little mistake that you don’t catch and our metaphorical asses are toast.”

“Are you doubting my skills? Honestly, I’m hurt,” the smaller teased, smirking at him. “I know for a fact my other brother doesn’t doubt me, guess that makes him my new favorite.”

As if on cue CC appeared, hovering next to Cross but remaining invisible to everyone except the monochrome skeleton since they weren’t alone in the park. “I’m the favorite? Sweet!”

“Shut up you pest,” he growled, swatting at the ghostly child while Geno only laughed despite being unable to hear CC. “Okay, I’ll think about it, see if I can find a decently priced option that won’t make it so that you have to do some more ‘work’ to pay for it.” That seemed to appease the smaller, the now three brothers wandering in relative silence for a bit and simply enjoying being outside for a bit.

The silence honestly made him think about how uncharacteristically quiet their lives had been recently. Ever since Lust’s dance performance and the party they’d had that night, the brothers had been seeing less and less of their friends. Ink was off with his boyfriend, Dream was bouncing between therapy and Killer, Blue and Sci were both running off with new ‘friends’ that they’d made, and Lust had started hanging out with Horror after meeting up with him to return his jacket. The thing that bothered him was how CC had confirmed three of the five of them to be daemons, with the other two unidentified simply because they hadn’t met them yet.

“Hey Gen, remember those three guys I told you about, the ones that belonged to a certain club?” He asked, speaking in code since they were in public. The last thing they needed was a hunter happening to overhear that they knew about daemons.

“Yeah, I remember. You were wondering why they seemed to be drawn to our friends, right?” He gave a noise of confirmation, the smaller sighing and looking to the sky. “Well... did you by chance consider that it was meant to be?” Another code, this one meaning that Geno was implying they were soulmates.

“Are you serious?!” He blurted out, only to sheepishly laugh as his outburst drew the attention of some onlookers. Deciding that this conversation needed more privacy, he looked around and managed to find a more secluded part of the park where nobody currently was. “Okay, what the hell? You seriously think that our friends could be soulmates for daemons?” He asked incredulously, still keeping his voice low as a precaution despite CC keeping his guard up so that they could have a private conversation.

Geno sighed as he scooted himself out of the chair, Cross helping him to sit on the ground since he clearly wanted out of the contraption for even a little bit. “I don’t know, but it’s the only think I can think of. Think about it. If those three are daemons, then they wouldn’t typically be so openly flirty or protective of any random stranger. They spend their entire lives looking for their soulmates and proceed to devote everything to them afterwards. Horror saving Lust, Killer jumping after Dream, and according to Ink he met Error by getting yanked out of the way of a speeding car.” The scarfed skeleton trailed off, his eyebrows knitted together as something was clearly bugging him.

CC noticed it too, taking a solid form that Geno could see and hear him since they were alone. “Yo, Gen, what’s up? You look like you just imagined someone shitting in your cereal.”

“Seriously?” Cross looked to his brother in disgust, his lips curling back a bit at the mental image. “Did you seriously just say that? What is wrong with you?”

“Many things, do you want that list alphabetized or ordered from least to most disturbing?”

“Forget it,” he grumbled, ignoring the victorious smirk on the ghost’s face as he turned to face Geno. “Horrible analogy aside, he’s right. What’s bugging you?”

The scarfed skeleton looked to the two of them for a bit before sighing, returning his gaze to the grass he was absentmindedly pulling out of the ground. “It’s... that Error guy. Something about him, it just doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t know what it is, but...”

“Maybe it’s because he’s a glitch like you?” He offered, having noticed the subtle glitch pattern on the other skeleton. Glitches, like daemons, were a rare breed of monster hunted to the verge of extinction. The one strength the race had was that they were notoriously hard to identify, even more so than daemons. It was how the few surviving of their numbers had hidden, with their characteristic glitching often being difficult to tell apart from aesthetic or birth defects to most. Cross was only able to notice it because Geno had taught him how to identify a glitch, which is probably how the glitched daemon had no fear of walking about in his monster form. Those ERROR signs floating around him, just like Geno’s eye glitch, were actually the marks of their nature as glitches rather than simple aesthetic effects.

His knowledge of glitches told them that, like daemons in a way, they had two states; stable and unstable. Stable glitches were nearly impossible to identify as their glitches wouldn’t move or change, making them seem like a part of their usual structure. It was when a glitch became unstable that their bodies would begin to shift and change in response to the stimulus that triggered the instability. While they were most noticeable in their unstable state though, it was when glitches were at their strongest, their bodies no longer responding to the rules of nature properly and instantaneously adapting to try to survive whatever situation they were in that destabilized them. The rules of nature that were defied were different for each glitch, being dependent on the first stimulus that caused them to destabilize, their trigger.

“Maybe.” Geno’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and back to reality, looking to see the smaller skeleton typing notes into his phone to write down later. “After all, a daemon glitch hybrid has the potential to be incredibly dangerous, though it’s all dependent on what his trigger was.”

CC flipped himself upside down in midair, his hair falling out of his eyes for once. “Well, isn’t that a good thing in a way? I mean if he’s Ink’s soulmate, then that means that whatever insane strength the guy must have would be used to keep him safe and take care of him. I mean he feels pretty powerful to me, not on the same level as the guy from the forest but fairly close.”

“Have you caught any trace of that guy since then?” Geno asked, earning a shake of the ghost’s head. “Probably for the best honestly. We really don’t need someone that strong getting involved in things if it can be helped. But you do have a point, Ink would be safe with Error from practically anything, but that doesn’t change my fears that our friend is getting a giant target painted on his back because of who his boyfriend is.”

The scarfed skeleton had a fair point as any daemon’s biggest weakness was their soulmate, earning a sigh from Cross. “So much for a relaxing trip to the park, sorry for bringing it up,” he half joked.

“Don’t worry about it, you knew that we were gonna end up talking about it at some point. At least here I can relax in the shade and lie in the grass for a bit.” As he said that, Geno carefully leaned back into the shade a nearby tree was throwing, the leaves crunching underneath as he waved his feet around a bit while folding his arms up under his head and closing his eye. “One thing that I can’t help but wonder is if they’re all part of the same group of daemons. Horror and Error clearly are, and I think Killer is likely with them too since there seemed to be a familiarity between him and Horror.”

“That would mean that forest guy is part of the group too, right? Since I felt him right around Killer when we were heading to Dream,” CC piped up with that little tidbit, earning a groan from Cross.

“Well, that’s just great. The one guy we wanted to avoid dealing with is wrapped up with the soulmates of three of our friends.”

“You act like our luck is typically good or something,” CC countered, earning a snort from their scarfed brother. Before Cross could come up with something to say back, the ghost went rigid as his head suddenly looked on a particular direction. “Heads up, a couple humans heading our way. Normies I think.” Following his warning, CC’s physical form vanished, preventing the approaching humans from seeing him.

Geno was the first of the two of them to react, sitting up and shifting towards the chair, with the taller skeleton quickly getting the hint and helping him to his feet and back into the wheelchair. Just as they managed to get him situated, a young boy came running right up to them. Since the child seemed to show no fear towards them despite the two of them being monsters, Cross figured it was worth a shot to try talking to him, figuring that the other presence CC felt was either a friend of theirs or more likely a family member that was watching him given how young he looked. “Hey little guy, can we help you with something?”

The child finally pulled his gaze away from the scarfed skeleton to the one that addressed him, staring at him with wide, curious eyes. “Can I have that?” He asked, pointing at the wheelchair. “It looks like fun, I want my mommy to push me around in it.”

The brothers shared a look between each other before Geno gave of a nervous chuckle. “Sorry, but this wheelchair is mine. I need it in order to move around, so I’m afraid you can’t use it.”

“But your legs can move,” the boy pointed out, likely having either noticed Geno getting into the chair or his slight fidgeting. “If your legs can move then you can walk right? So give me that.”

Since his brother being nice clearly wasn’t going to cut it, Cross decided to intervene, stepping between the child and the chair-bound skeleton to make sure that the kid didn’t try to pull anything. “Look kid, he already told you no. Besides, his legs aren’t strong enough to walk around, so he does in fact need the chair. You can’t have it, end of discussion.” Admittedly he was probably a little harsher than he needed to be, but it was successful in getting the whiny brat to run away crying for his mother.

What he wasn’t expecting was for a thin, silvery blond haired woman with an asymmetrical bob haircut to come storming up to them right as Cross was moving to push Geno back onto the main path, the kid following right behind her with an evil smirk. “Oh shit,” he heard CC mutter, the skeleton sharing his brother’s worry as both assumed defensive positions in front of Geno.

“How dare you?!” The woman screeched, coming right up to Cross and jabbing a finger harshly into his chest. “How dare you disgusting monsters lay a hand on my precious angel?! I’ll have you arrested for assaulting my baby!”

The monochrome skeleton backed up a bit before standing his ground, growling at the false accusation. “Lady, I never laid a hand on your brat!”

“Then why the hell did he come screaming to me about the mean monsters?!”

“Look, all I told him was that I wasn’t giving him my brother’s wheelchair that he needs just so he could go for a joyride!” He shouted back, now wishing that they’d managed to get back to the main path before this crazy Karen showed up, as now there was no one around to witness the insanity going on.

“He’s lying Mommy,” the kid whimpered, pulling off an admittedly impressive act complete with tears and everything. “The mean monster said he’d beat me if I didn’t run away, he picked me up off the ground and then dropped me after yelling at me. And the other one just laughed at me and called me names!”

That story only seemed to add to the crazy as the wild Karen started running off on a tangent about how she’d get them both thrown in jail for assault or worse. “But, if you give my child the fancy chair right now, I’ll consider it a decent enough apology to not press charges.”

The look on her face told the two skeletons just how much she thought she’d won, and with normal monsters she might’ve. The justice system was already biased against monsters, and if a human accused a monster of a crime they were almost always found guilty unless concrete evidence was provided that proved otherwise. Thankfully, the two of them weren’t normal monsters, and a quick glance back revealed that the scarfed skeleton was already discreetly working on his phone. Now Cross had to do his part. “Listen,” he started calmly, none of the anger he’d had earlier. “My brother has a medical condition that limits his ability to walk long distances. Before you say that he can move his legs, he can. But his bones are far more frail and brittle than normal and can’t take the stress applied from walking for too long. We bought that wheelchair for him from the hospital after doctor recommendation, and so it’s our property. Therefore I will not simply hand over a medically necessary device simply because your child wants it and you’re threatening to concoct a fake story in order to blackmail us in order to get it for him. So sorry, but no.”

“In other words, fuck off bitch!” CC taunted beside him even though the woman couldn’t hear him. God did Cross wish he could say that, but he had to make sure to be as polite and nonaggressive as possible... though baiting the woman a bit was totally allowed.

Thankfully she stupidly fell for it, smirking confidently as she merely laughed at his words. “You seriously think that I’ll listen to some pathetic monster like you? Who will the police believe? A traumatized mother only wanting to protect her little baby, or the two monsters that claim that they’re innocent? We both know that they’ll find you guilty of whatever crimes I accuse you of, so hand over the damn chair before I ruin your lives,” she sneered, turning her gaze directly to Geno. “Besides, what the hell are you gonna do? One of you is a fucking cripple that needs a fucking wheelchair, so it’s not like you’d stand a chance.”

Both sides waited in tense silence for a moment before a burst of laughter that was tinged with a dark tone echoed through the trees. The mother froze at the sound, looking fearfully at the source while Cross only smirked as he glanced back at his laughing brother. “You’re right! I am a fucking cripple!” He yelled out with a smile, the child retreating behind his mother’s leg while starting to genuinely cry. “But, I’m a fucking cripple with a fucking phone.” As he flicked his wrist, the device was revealed with what the taller could see was a video from his close proximity. The scarfed skeleton grinned almost evilly as he pressed the play button, replaying their earlier exchange starting from when the Karen demanded the wheelchair as payment for what they ‘did’ to her child while threatening charges, ending right after she verbally admitted that Geno needed his wheelchair due to his crippled body. “Thanks for openly admitting that I need my chair, I’ll be sure to put that admission to good use when you try to have us arrested.”

The only thing the woman could give in response was a spluttered series of noises as she realized that she’d been had. Not only did she admit to the other skeleton needing the chair, shooting down any potential claims of it being a toy, she also admitted to her story essentially being false. That recording was the exact thing the skeletons needed to get out of whatever story she concocted, and they all knew it.

The child tugged on his mother’s pant leg, grabbing her attention. “You told me I could have it Momma, why aren’t they giving it to me?” He blubbered, the mother trying to console him and assure him that she’d get him his chair.

“You’re not getting it kiddo, your Momma lied to you,” Cross sneered, taking a bit of joy in seeing the kid fully start crying and whining. As he started shifting back to get Geno out of there, the Karen suddenly locked onto them, now demanding the phone with the recording. “Lady, you must be off your rocker if you think we’ll just hand over my brother’s phone,” he said, looking at the lady as if she were crazy.

He honestly wasn’t expecting her to lunge at the scarfed skeleton, screaming for the phone while baring her fake nails like claws. Since the monochrome skeleton was already blocking her path, it took little effort for him to intercept the crazy woman who was still ranting about how she needed the chair, how they were evil, how she’d destroy the phone, etc. Grabbing her wrists, to keep her claws at bay, Cross effortlessly held the woman back, though he had to admit that she was definitely stronger than she looked. Seeing that she wasn’t getting anywhere, she suddenly order her brat to go after Geno and his phone, the child eagerly doing so while the mother smirked. Neither of them realized that their brother had a second defender. “CC!” he called out, startling and confusing the mother.

“On it,” the ghostly child affirmed as he materialized right in the child’s path, sending him flying backwards before scurrying away. Despite having once been human, Cross knew that his brother despised humankind and greatly enjoyed any excuse to scare any of them to death, sometimes literally. While he normally wouldn’t reveal himself like this, CC was clearly going to take full advantage of this exception to their typical rule of staying hidden. His face was twisted into a terrifying grin, taking advantage of his ghostly form to distort his visage into something not even human looking anymore. The boy or course was terrified by the sight, crawling backwards while screaming and crying. “What’s wrong?” CC taunted, floating after the child at a leisurely pace. “Don’t wanna take on someone your own size?”

Between the sight of the twisted ghostly child scaring her son and Cross pinning her wrists, the mother was rendered just as helpless. “Geno, get out of here!” Cross called, wanting to make sure that his vulnerable brother got somewhere safe while they were dealing with these two. From the corner of his eye he saw the scarfed skeleton nod, turning around his wheelchair and wheeling himself away as fast as he could. Geno was actually surprisingly fast in his chair from practice, so it wasn’t long until he was gone from sight despite having to push over fallen leaves and rough terrain.

“Say bye-bye to your chair!” CC taunted the crying brat, snickering and holding his position enough for the child to scramble to his feet and run over to hide behind his mother. With his physical presence not really needed, the ghost’s form dissolved before he hovered over to float next to Cross, ready to step in again if either of them somehow found a way around Cross.

The woman grit her teeth and glared daggers at the pair, the glare shifting to be solely on Cross as CC faded away. “You monsters think you’re so clever, don’t you?” She sneered, her mouth perking up a bit at the corner of her mouth before she stopped fighting against the skeleton’s grip. “TYLER! GET THAT BRAT IN THE WHEELCHAIR!”

Cross flinched a bit from the volume and pitch of her voice, his mind trying to figure out what game she was playing at now. Was it a bluff to get him to let go? Even if it was, he could easily outpace the woman if necessary, so what was her plan?

All guessing went out the window as a lumbering shadow began moving through the trees in the direction that Geno went, Cross’ eyes going wide in worry as the shadow started running and the little boy cheerfully piped up from behind his mother’s leg. “Daddy! Daddy! Get me my chair!”

“Cross!” CC called in worry, the monochrome skeleton already letting the woman go only to growl as she turned around and grabbed hold of him. His brother reacted before he could, returning to his physical form and prying her fingers off of him. “Let go you fucking bitch!” He screamed at her before finally managing to loosen her grip enough for Cross to escape.

Cursing the precious time the bitch had cost him, the monochrome skeleton proceeded to run as fast as he could with his brother trailing right behind him as they raced to beat the shadowy figure to Geno. “Help!” The frantic call coming from their brother only made them both push themselves to move faster, knowing that the bastard had gotten to him before they could.

As they cleared a group of trees and found themselves in another secluded clearing in the park, both stopped dead in their tracks at the sight they entered in. Geno was suspended in the air by his neck, his fingers uselessly clawing at the large tan hand holding him there. The man that was apparently the Karen’s husband or boyfriend only smirked at the skeleton that entered the clearing, tightening his hold marginally to elicit a pained squeak from Geno. CC did a quick fly around the man while Cross struggled to figure out what to do, coming back with a look on his face that said he was honestly kind of scared. “Ex-military, Cross be careful.” Honestly the man looked the part, shaved bald and covered in tattoos and scars, wearing dog tags, a tank top and cargo pants, and the guy was built like a tank to top it all off.

But at that moment he could honestly care less. “Let him go now you bastard!” He shouted, feeling his left eye shift to form a target symbol. Reflexively he tried to summon his knives, finding that as usual the anti-magic suppression system kept him from doing so. So he went to his fallback, a real knife hidden within his clothes that he drew without hesitation.

Some humans might’ve been scared to see a monster wielding a weapon, but the large man only laughed. “You want me to put him down? Fine.” With a fluid motion, his arm swung out before his grip on the scarfed skeleton released, Geno sent flying through the air before colliding with a nearby tree with a sickening crunch. Blood burst from his mouth, a strangled gasping noise escaping him before his body limply fell and crumpled to the ground. “I only needed his wheelchair anyways.”

Time seemed to freeze for Cross as he stared at his brother’s body, begging and praying to see some kind of movement from him. Finally, after what felt like forever but was in reality only a few seconds, the smaller skeleton took a shuddering breath, the painful sound of bone scraping against bone making the breath audible despite the distance between them. Releasing a breath of his own that he’d been holding, Cross was moving before he even realized it, his feet carrying him in the direction of the man that had hurt his brother. His body required no thought, acting on instinct as he dodged underneath the man’s arms. The blade in his grip carved upwards, a cold and merciless expression on his face as it bit into the soft flesh of the man’s face, just narrowly missing both eyes on its way from one cheek to the opposite temple. Leaving the man roaring in pain, he used the human’s large frame as a launch point to get to Geno even faster.

It was as if a switch was flipped inside of him and his emotions were suddenly turned back on, tears welling at the edges of his sockets as he carefully turned the broken skeleton over. Blood dripped down the side of his face and from his mouth, several red spots beginning to bloom underneath the smaller’s clothes. “Shit, shit, shit! Geno, please tell me you’re still conscious!” He was panicking a bit as he gently tapped the other’s cheek, carefully scooping him into his arms while trying his best to avoid causing any more pain.

The action seemed to rouse the injured skeleton, Geno slowly opening his eye and looking hazily at the taller. “C-Cross?” He murmured, voice clearly laced with pain. Even the single word was followed by him beginning to cough up blood, the scarfed skeleton whimpering as he closed his eye and turned towards his brother.

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m here,” he assured, trying to soothe him as best as he could while brushing tears away in a comforting gesture. “I’m gonna get you to the hospital, they’ll make the pain go away Gen, I just need you to hold on and stay awake for as long as you can, okay?”

A warning from CC snapped his head up only to see that the human had recovered from his little attack and was now clearly very pissed. “You’re gonna pay for that, you damn monster!” He growled, Cross slowly getting to his feet with Geno in his arms. Every little movement caused his brother to whimper in pain, the more sudden movements causing him to start coughing up blood again. There was no way he could fight with Geno in such a condition, and the man clearly wasn’t going to let him simply run away. Cross’ speed was limited with Geno in his hold, as starting off too fast would only jostle his injuries and make them worse. In other words, he was trapped.

The man continued to advance with a grin that was success mixed with fury, all while Cross continued to backpedal and try to put more space in between them. CC was flying around, trying to find a way to help, but this man wouldn’t be scared as easily as his child had been and the ghost’s physical might was nowhere near enough for a physical confrontation. Maybe he could pass off his knife, but he doubted such a tactic would work twice considering how little the attack to his face seemed to be slowing him down. All that strategy would do is open CC up to attack and leave him possibly injured too, which would only slow Cross down because of their bond.

Eventually the pair of skeletons ran out of places to run to, cornered with the man looming in front of them. Out of options, the monochrome skeleton turned himself to use his body to shield his broken brother as best as he could, prepared to take whatever beating the human planned to dish out and protect Geno from the brunt of the attack. “Any last words, you pathetic monster?” He growled, cracking his knuckles in preparation.

“Funny, I was just about to ask you that.” The voice wasn’t Cross’, coming from somewhere he couldn’t quite see and not sounding familiar in the slightest. It wasn’t long before the owner of that voice was made known, a skeleton leaping into the air and landing on the man’s shoulders. Dark clothes and a jet black hoodie clashed with the golden crown sitting atop their skull, their lavender eye lights locked onto Cross’ mismatched ones before the stranger pulled a seemingly ornate staff out of nowhere. Either end possessed a silver crescent moon, the light glinting off the edges betraying their sharpness.

The stranger’s sudden appearance on the human’s back served to throw the large man off balance, though the skeleton seemed to have no issue maintaining his footing as he spun the staff over his head before driving one of the crescents down into his back. The man howled in pain as the monster leapt down, dragging the staff down and through his back on the way down. Once his feet touched down, the lavender-eyed stranger whipped the staff around, smashing it into the man’s thigh with enough force that Cross was sure that the weapon would break and splinter. Clearly it was made of something sturdier that simple wood, leading him to believe that it was either metal or even something enchanted with enhanced durability.

As the human cried out in pain yet again and struggled to stay on his feet, the stranger moved to position themselves between the man and the other two monsters. Fresh crimson stained the one end of his weapon, reminding him of the dire condition his brother was in and looking down to find Geno’s breathing already significantly weaker compared to what it had been when he’d first been hit. Why the hell had he been so distracted by the random skeleton that jumped to their aid? Geno needed help!

“Go.” As if he could read his thoughts, the other skeleton glanced over his shoulder at the other pair, gesturing for them to get out of there with a tilt of his head. “Get him out of here, I’ll take care of this idiot.”

Ignoring the furious screaming coming from the human, Cross merely nodded his head. “Thank you,” he whispered before spinning on his heel and taking off as quickly as he dared to with Geno frail body in his arms.

“Well, that was convenient,” CC snidely commented, glaring back at where the human and the other skeleton were left behind.

“Just shut up and find me the fastest way to get him to the hospital!” Cross snapped, having absolutely no patience with how stressed and worried about Geno he was.

The ghost rolled his eyes before vanishing even from Cross’ view, the monochromatic skeleton waiting impatiently while trying his best to whisper reassurances to Geno and keep himself from freaking out. He couldn’t even tell if his brother was conscious anymore from how unresponsive he was, meaning that time was definitely not his friend right now.

CC had only materialized for less than a second before his brother’s frantic gaze was locked on him, the ghost sighing before pointing towards the other end of the park. “Police doing an inspection, cruiser sitting nearby. You can make it there in five minutes.”

“I’ll do it in two,” he growled, not waiting for another instruction before taking off. Cross focused, sorting out the two energies within his soul, or rather his and CC’s soul, and locked onto the energy coming from the human’s half. Determination buzzed through his system, setting his bones alight with little prickles of electricity. The power surging through him allowed his strides to be faster, smoother, and more powerful as he covered more ground with each step. He ignored everything that wasn’t an immovable obstacle, plotting his course to avoid trees and taking advantage of pathways while blowing past any human or monster in his way, sidestepping them all without slowing down as he simply couldn’t afford to do so.

CC kept up with him due to his spiritual nature, but clearly wasn’t happy with the massive amount of power he was expending. “You idiot, what the hell are you doing?! You can’t use my determination so recklessly unless you want to end up in a hospital bed right next to him. You know we have limits, and you seem hell-bent on blowing past all of them!”

“I don’t care right now!” The monochromatic skeleton roared in response, gritting his teeth as he kept up the dangerous rate of power consumption despite the strain he could feel it placing on his half of their shared soul. Monsters weren’t meant to possess determination, and those that did would face DT poisoning, characterized by melting and a very painful death. CC’s soul half was the only reason why drawing on the toxic power had no effect on him, though even then the human’s half of their soul could only protect him from DT poisoning for so long, and that time limit greatly decreased the more power he pulled from that source. But he really didn’t care right now. “If melting is what it takes to get him the help he needs, then fuck it I’m melting!”

“Hey asshole! You’re not the only one that would be effected if your body started falling apart at the seams!” The ghost yelled back at him, but seeing that he got no response only made him huff and turn his head away. “You know he’ll be pissed if he wakes up and finds any signs of melting on you.”

“Then don’t let me melt.”

“Easier said than done when you’re being so reckless,” he snapped back, only for his demeanor to change instantly. “Slow down, you’re less than a minute away from the cops.”

“Guess that’s one way to keep from melting,” he sighed as he let go of the extra power he was drawing on, feeling himself almost stumble as he adjusted to the significantly slower speed he was travelling at. Even if it was still faster than most could run, in his mind it wasn’t fast enough, not with Geno’s condition rapidly deteriorating.

The second the cops were in sight he called out to them, panicking as they went to grab their guns at the sight of a monster running towards them. Yet as he got closer he could see their faces changing from looks of fear to confusion as they took note of Geno’s limp and bloody body in his arms. “Please help me, my brother is dying!” He yelled to them, sending out a silent prayer that they wouldn’t turn him away simply because they were monsters. Unable to properly inspect Geno at the time, he really didn’t know if his statement about him dying was an exaggeration or not.

Thankfully, the two officers were monsters as well, one a dragon and another a bunny. “Oh shit that looks bad! Okay, no time for ambulance, we’ll drive you there ourselves!” The bunny cop yelled back, directing the pair to the cop car parked nearby while the other was quick to follow his partner’s lead. Cross practically flew into the opened door to the back seat, being extremely careful as he held Geno to his bloodstained chest.

It wasn’t long before the officers hopped into the front, driving off with sirens blaring as one radioed dispatch to let them know where they were heading and to have an emergency medical team on standby when they got to the hospital. “It’ll be okay Geno, I’m getting you help just like I said I would,” he whispered to his brother, now definitely unconscious from pain and blood loss as the crimson liquid continued to stain his once white clothes the same shade as the smaller’s precious scarf.

Cross’ soul was practically screaming at him for the little stunt he pulled, but since he couldn’t feel any sort of melting anywhere on his body he knew that he’d be fine. He could hear CC grumbling at him from his side of the back seat, but paid little attention as he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Dr. Lang, their personal doctor that was the only one they trusted with the truth behind Geno’s frail condition. Any time his brother had to go to the hospital, they informed Dr. Lang and she would arrive as soon as possible to ensure that his treatment was successful, also ensuring that some nurse that meant well didn’t try to throw out his scarf or even take it off to wash out any blood stains. She was one of the top doctors in the city, so it was easy to get others to listen to her. After texting the name of the hospital that they were going to, having overheard the name thrown around by the cops, he put his phone away and went back to cuddling his brother close, petting his skull to try and provide even some comfort despite his unconscious state.

With all other vehicles getting out of the way due to the blaring sirens, the brothers were driven to the hospital in no time, the cops taking them straight to the emergency bay that the ambulances used where a small team of doctors and nurses were standing by. The second he stepped out of the car the nurses were carefully transferring the unconscious skeleton to a stretcher, Cross following for as long as he could before simply watching his brother disappear into the hospital. He’d be okay, he was the strongest person Cross knew. After all they’d been through, this wouldn’t be enough to keep him down.

One of the nurses approached him as he was standing there, offering to check him over and asking for details on his brother’s health and the incident leading to the injury. He explained as much as he felt comfortable with, basically saying how the smaller had been thrown into a tree and due to the fragility of his bones several had been broken by the impact and he’d lost a lot of blood. The minute he explained that Dr. Lang would be coming and had all knowledge of his brother’s medical condition and treatment, the nurse was quick to scurry off and confirm what would’ve been most likely seen as an outlandish story. Given how she never came back, he assumed that she found out that he wasn’t making that up.

After the nurse came the cops, wanting to know how his brother had been injured so severely and why they had to clean blood out of their back seat. Even with the two of them being monsters, Cross still didn’t feel right bringing up the other skeleton that had jumped in to let them escape. There was no telling what kind of trouble he might get into if this issue escalated, so he decided to keep all mention of him out to spare him from any repercussions.

“Wait,” the bunny officer cut him off as he was describing the man that attacked Geno, pulling up a photo of the guy on his phone, the name Tyler Reynolds printed along the bottom. “Like, is this the dude that went after you?” The skeleton nodded, earning a sharp whistle from the cop that passed the phone over to his partner. “Dude, like you’re lucky that you’re still in one piece! Do you know who he is?”

“No, should I?” He asked, making a mental note of the man that had dared to hurt his brother. Now to see how much information these cops would give him, how much work they’d save him.

“Ex-military,” the dragon spoke up, clearly not the talkative one of the two. “Not a big fan of monsters either, was part of a unit specializing in dealing with monster insurgent groups. Retired but still a big protestor against monster rights, in other words not good news.”

“Yeah! Like, even as cops we’d have issues with this guy! The captain wouldn’t, as she’s like totally awesome, but you’re not even a cop. How did you even get away from him?” The bunny piped up, stealing the conversation again.

The skeleton merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just fast I guess.” The police officers had a few more questions before they reluctantly asked if he wanted to press charges. On one hand they recommended it as officers, as his brother had suffered life threatening injuries from the man and he’d openly attacked a disabled person. But as monsters they off the books told him that it wouldn’t matter and might only make things worse, as the guy had the connections to ensure that not only was he not found guilty, but the case may be spun around to frame him or Geno. Knowing how true that was, Cross officially stated that he had no desire to press charges, and the cops both wished him and his brother well before driving off to get back to their patrol.

It didn’t matter if the legal system would fail them, because all it took was one look between him and CC to know that the two of them were on the same page. They’d take justice into their own hands and make sure that the bastard paid, one way or another.

But first, Cross needed a break, barely managing to pull himself away from the emergency entrance to the hospital to a nearby bench before collapsing. “This is what you get for ignoring me,” CC sighed, glaring at him as he wheezed slightly from the strain using too much determination had placed on his body.

“Oh shut up, Geno made it to the hospital in time and that’s all that matters.” Cross took a moment to catch his breath, feeling the ache in his soul die down a bit while CC flew around to entertain himself. “Just... don’t tell Geno. You know how pissed he’ll get if he finds out I pushed myself too hard.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before being so reckless, maybe I should tell him just to teach you a lesson. You know that you’ve delayed our vengeance on that bastard and his stupid entitled family because of your recovery time right?”

“It’ll give us time to case them out,” he countered, not wanting to go up against that guy without magic or at least a plan a second time. Physical knives could only do so much in his opinion, as they lacked the versatility and configurability of the ones generated through magic he typically used. “That bastard clearly knows how to fight, especially if he’s ex-military. If we can’t find a way to either disable the anti-magic field or ambush them outside of it, then I want to have the best chance of making him pay.”

The ghostly child scoffed, floating off a ways while muttering, “Yeah, whatever.” A few more moments of silence passed before CC stiffened, suddenly whirling to look down the street. The monochrome skeleton looked up only to grow alarmed from the look of panic on his brother’s face. “Cross, you better pull yourself together, because I just felt the presence of one hell of a strong daemon. And they’re coming right for us.”

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