DETERMINATION 3 - RUNAWAY QUEEN PART SIX

AFTER A MILLION YEARS A NEW PART HALLELUJAH

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Cross feels awkward and mildly scared, seeing Dust’s expression showing that of horror.

It’s not that bad, just some cuts and bruises. My hands have healed mostly.

“Yes, it’s that bad.”

Cross blinks.

“It’s… just some cut and bruises. I can still use my hands.”

Dust inhales sharply, internally muttering to himself.

Dear god he’s either stupid or not mentally sound. Maybe both.

“Basically, your entire hand is bruised like all hell, on both sides. It goes down to your wrist, and those cuts are less cuts and more just slices. How else do you think they’d produce that much blood? Either that or your bones have broken to the point of a whole lot of bleeding.”

Cross blinks again, confused.

“How… bad is that?”

Dust glares at him.

“Very bad, considering you said your hands are a little numb in places and hurt in others. Also, those cuts are still bleeding, and your skin is most likely broken in a lot of places. How many times have your hands broken?”

Please let it be once or twice, I don’t know what I’ll do if it’s more than four or five.

Cross thinks for a little while.

THAT’S CONCERNING PLEASE GIVE ME AN ANSWER.

Cross narrows his eyes.

Hm… Takes about two to four days for them to get better… Two to four days… and it’s been like… three months? Which is like ninety days… So around forty times? Twenty to twenty-five, I think. Maybe fifteen, if I’m lucky.

“I uh… lost count.”

“Is it more than five?”

Cross thinks for only a few seconds.

“Yes.”

Dust growls a little.

OH FOR-

“Is it… more than ten?”

“Yeah… I stopped counting at around… maybe fifteen.”

Great. Great! So somehow this idiot’s hands fix themselves really quickly, only for them to get broken again right after. And considering they haven’t really been getting better right now, all the damage is adding up. FANTASTIC. This man is crazy.

Dust sighs.

“So… what you’re saying is that they magically fix themselves, then get broken again, then repeat?”

“Yes.”

“So, theoretically, if there is a lot of damage, over time, then it might make it harder to fix themselves, correct?”

Cross frowns.

“It’s possible, probable even. Which…”

Cross’ voice dies in his throat. Dust understands what he is thinking, choosing to finish the thought for him.

“Means that they might take longer and longer each time to fix, until they don’t quickly fix at all.”

“Y-yeah… yeah…”

Dust sighs again.

“We’ll just have to contain the bleeding and wait and see.”

“Okay.”

It takes a few minutes for Dust to wrap Cross’ hands and wrists up again.

I… didn’t know it was that bad.

And that disgusting pile of goop didn’t bother helping. We don’t need him.

About Dream… how long until he starts looking for us?

Don’t worry about it. Just rest for a few nights, then we can run to another AU then.

Okay…

“Done. Now time to go see how Paps and Frisk are doing.”

Cross stands up slowly, his hands shaking.

“Okay. They’re probably trying to find ways to entertain Luna.”

Dust smiles, opening the door. Cross leaves the room first, his footsteps light and hesitant. Dust follows right behind, shutting the door quietly behind them.

Back in Dust’s room, Papyrus and Frisk have struck up some sort of conversation about what the Surface is like, Luna quietly sitting between them, her two little mouth tentacles just flipping about. She stares blankly at them, unsure of what they’re talking about.

Luna Light still follows the conversation, her eyes following the movements Papyrus makes, as well as taking in each and every thing she can hear, smell, see and feel, in the instinctual attempt of distracting herself from the persistent pain and feeling like she’s constantly submerged in water, unable to get out from under it.

Celestial Star sits in her cocoon, wanting to be let out. It feels like forever since she could move. For a split-second, her face shows a flicker of fear as, for some reason, she attempts to move, only to immediately hit the tiny limit of movement she has.

Celest forces her face back into a blank expression, ceasing all movement, although now feeling tighter than ever, especially in her chest. She recognises a sort of fear from the sudden loss of control, not just in movement and action, but emotion and keeping her face neutral. A small bead of sweat rolls down her face, followed by a few more here and there.

The door opens, as Cross and Dust wandering back into the room.

“Hello, brother!”

Frisk waves quietly, a small smile on their face.

“Sup. Your creepy bundle’s gone weird. Like, weirder than it already is, and that’s saying something. How did you father such a strange thing?”

True to Chara’s words, Celestial Star’s eyes are shut, showing small hints of them being quite tightly closed, the normally completely straight line bent ever-so-slightly downwards at the edges, obvious that it’s a bit forced.

Her eyes open, a minute glimmer in the corner of one, her eyes trying to convey a plead for freedom to Cross. Cross notices and considers letting her out, before electing to keep her still for a little while longer. He sits down next to Papyrus on the mattress, moving to pick Luna Light up and gently hold her in his arms.

The chatter continues, with Cross sporadically putting a sentence or two into mix. Chara deigns to float around the room, silently spectating, all while watch Celestial Star quietly rock in place, the motions mostly minuscule but still there.

Chara moves closer, to right above Celest, ignoring the talking. They lightly sit in front of her, trying to pet the child’s head with a spectral hand. Celest shows no sign of noticing Chara trying to comfort her.

“This bundle isn’t fairing well with confinement. You should free it soon, so it doesn’t go crazy.”

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I feel like a child suddenly being trapped and unable to move for an unknown period of time, all while experiencing a lot of pain and stress would be just a little claustrophobic. It’s pretty fun seeing how much emotion I can convey with Celest all while keeping up the usual wall of expressionlessness that she usually seems to have with this timeline.

Honestly Imma need to do a lot of thinking about the personalities these kiddos would have in this timeline. All I have is that Celest (especially her corruption) needs a harsh few reminders that she can’t just be all violent and needs to figure out how to be a little tamer. And Luna is just. Just. idfk. She’s been royally deprived of a childhood and appears to be much less of a depraved monster as Celest is. She gets a pass right now. She can vibe. She’ll be chaotic and cause a few problems later.

anyways hnnnnnnnggg credits time

Celestial Star and Luna Light belong to @help-im-a-gay-fish

Dark Cream belongs to @zu-is-here

Cross belongs to Jakei

Dream belongs to Joku

Shattered!Dream belongs to shattereddreamsau AKA galacii/galacii-gallery

Dusttale belongs to askdusttale

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YESSSS! NEW PART I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!

Poor Cross' hands!! Nooooo!

Celest is noooot happy to be bound up. I have a bad feeling that she's gonna punish Cross and luna for this.

I can't wait 😈

Yay! Thanks so much.

DETERMINATION 3 - RUNAWAY QUEEN (Part Four)

EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY TWO PARTS IN ONE DAY WOO POG

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Cross leans back on the mattress. He decided to move Celest and Luna to where he can lay on Dust’s mattress comfortably, the two children swaddled in a mound of blankets next to the mattress.

His head against the soft pillow, Cross closes his eyes, the bags under them very clear. It feels like forever since he had the opportunity to sleep. Despite how tired he was constantly, he forced himself to stay awake, to make sure no big harm came to his children. He knows Dream isn’t above hurting them to make them do what he wants.

It doesn’t take long for Cross to fall asleep, lost in memories. Memories of the good times.

The old Dream. The Dream he loved. Sure, their lives were unstable, and they were forced to constantly move about the multiverse to avoid Nightmare, but they didn’t care. They spread positivity about the multiverse, they were happy. Until it all came crashing down.

I failed. I should’ve stopped him from eating that damn apple. I let him turn into that monster. I ruined him. I should have never left Nightmare from day one. Better than hurting Dream by being there.

The brief period afterwards was hard, filled with tears and pain. But Cross stayed determined that he could get through to Dream. However, it never happened. Dream changed. He became more toxic. Pointing out everything Cross did that was bad, every mistake, every flaw. Saying that by serving Dream, he could make up for his mistakes.

Dream never did anything wrong. Anything that could be interpreted as wrong was denied. “I didn’t mean to.” “I never did anything.” “It’s your fault I did that.” “Why didn’t you help, then?”

Any time Cross brought up the idea of looking for Nightmare to break the curse, Dream met him with threats, yelling. Breaking bones.

Then the twins were spawned. Children of pure evil. Celest was a nightmare, breaking Cross’ hands more times than he could count. They tortured Luna until she broke. The scratches and bruises quickly accumulated.

“I should’ve gotten them out sooner. I should’ve run off with them the moment they were born.”

Cross turns in his sleep, turning away from the wall. His arm is flung very close to Celestial Star and Luna Light. His hand twitches a little as more bad memories come back to him.

Soon, after enough twitching and barely audible whimpering, Cross’ finger pokes Luna to the point where she wakes up. Her eyes open to show just empty, black voids, with two, albeit very small, silvery eyelights, almost invisible.

She moves a little, as much as she can before she realises, she’s tightly wrapped up. Luna Light whips her head around, feeling scared, until she notices her twin sister is also tightly wrapped up. Celestial Star regards her with a blank expression. Luna turns a little, to notice her dad on a strange, new mattress.

She’s in a completely different place. Wiggling, Luna discovers she cannot move her arms out of the cocoon she is trapped in. She looks up to notice her father is asleep, although his expression isn’t good. He twitches a little here and there, tiny, scared little whimpers escaping his mouth.

Still sleepy, Luna does her best to move, managing to force herself onto the mattress, next to Cross. Wriggling as best as she can, Luna Light curls up against Cross’ chest, slowly falling asleep, listening to his familiar heartbeat.

Staring at her sister, Celest questions why Luna has decided to move to sleep with Cross instead of just staying still. Confused, Celest does the same thing, forcing herself up on the mattress, this time moving to also be against Cross’ chest, partially on top of Luna.

Cross, still unconscious, instinctively wraps his arms around them, turning to lay on his back. Celest stays quiet, feeling…

Calm? Is that the word? Celestial Star recalls the rare times back then when Luna was asleep, and he wasn’t. He would say she was calm. She remembers whenever after Luna would throw a screeching fit; Cross would say she was calm. So, calm might be the correct word to use.

Celest decides to just close her eyes, knowing she still won’t be able to sleep. Despite all the tiredness and the pain, Celestial Star feels calm. Maybe…

Safe?

Slowly, Cross’ twitching and whimpering quieten, soon ceasing altogether.

The trio of Dust, Papyrus and Frisk all march through the snow together, Chara floating behind them.

“I’m tired. Can we sleep yet?”

No answer comes from Frisk.

“Oh yeah, these guys can’t see me. Guess that means you can’t reply yet. Welp!”

A few seconds pass.

“Still tired though.”

Mood.

It isn’t long before they reach the house. Nobody stopped to question the three people walking around town, knowing it was most likely Dust and Papyrus being harmless. Or rather, Papyrus being harmless. Dust and Frisk wouldn’t hesitate to kill if necessary, except they’re bound by the deal they made to resolve all of this.

Ending the loop of genocide once and for all.

Opening the door, Dust tells Papyrus and Frisk to go get something to eat.

“Remember to keep it down, Paps.”

“Got it!”

Walking up the stairs as quietly as he can, Dust looks to see his bedroom door is open. Peeking in, Dust smiles, seeing Cross asleep. Carefully stepping into the room, Dust silently moves forward to get a better look at the sleeping single parent. Pulling out his phone, Dust takes a picture, grinning like a madman while doing it.

Looking down, he wonders if there’s anyone he can send it to. Scrolling through his contacts, Dust is hit with realisation.

I still have Killer’s number. I still have Horror’s number. Error even gave me his number.

Grinning wider, Dust realises just what he has to.

I HAVE TO SEND THIS TO THEM. THEY’RE GONNA DIE OF CUTENESS THIS PIC IS SO ADORABLE. Okay maybe not Error but I can get Horror and Killer.

Deciding to text Killer first, Dust sits down on the floor, his eyes shining with happiness.

Dust – KILLER I KNOW WE HAVEN’T TALKED IN AGES BUT YOU NEED TO SEE THIS RIGHT NOW I SWEAR

It doesn’t take long for Killer to reply.

Killer – what. Kinda busy dude. Also, we haven’t talked in ages for a good reason.

Dust – I KNOW BUT THIS IS TOO GOOD

Killer – Then send it already you idiot.

Dust uploads the picture of Cross fast asleep with his children.

Killer – DUDE TF WHY DOES HE HAVE TWO BUNDLES

Dust – well while we’ve been doing things this man’s got two kids. Makes me wonder what we’ve been doing wrong.

Killer – WAIT HE HAS KIDS WTF

Dust – yeah I had a similar reaction. One of them is creepy and I’ve only seen the other one asleep.

Killer – who the hell is the other parent I need to know NOW.

Dust - …dude that’s kinda a whole thing… are you able to come over for a while?

Killer – can’t bro. I’m caught up in a whole thing, don’t know if I have the time right now. Will tell you once I’m free.

Dust – k.

Dust debates sending the picture to Horror and Error but decides not to. Instead, he decides to wake Cross up by continuously poking him. Slowly, Cross opens his eyes to see Dust grinning like a crazy man at him.

“What do you want from me.”

“You hungry?”

“No, I’m tired. And my hands both hurt and feel kinda numb.”

Dust’s expression shifts to one of concern at hearing that.

“That’s… not normal. Hands aren’t supposed to do that.”

“I know. I don’t wanna get up though.”

“This is my mattress, not yours.”

“But it’s so soft and comfy.”

“Get up, I’m gonna take a look at your hands and see if something’s wrong with them.”

“Okay, fine.”

Cross sits up before realising where his children are. Blinking, Cross wonders if he can safely unwrap them now.

“Alright, now get off my mattress.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Otherwise I will drag you to my bathroom myself.”

“Why the bathroom?”

Dust inhales.

“I don’t have any sort of medical supply in my room. But the bathroom is a different story. NOW GET UP.”

“Alright, alright, fine. Getting up now.”

Cross stands up, setting his daughters back down on the mattress. Yawning, Cross follows Dust out of his room.

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I SAID SHE WOULD WAKE UP ANY PART NOW AND SHE DID FOR A LITTLE WHILE. Dust doesn’t know Killer is with Nightmare, Killer doesn’t know what happened to Cross and Shattered. No art because I just felt like it. Luna will wake up a little more frequently. Anyways I’m going to put down a bunch of questions I personally have, specifically in regards to Celest since all I do right now is use all of my brain cells and logic.

How would the curse breaking affect her corruption? Would it even be affected? Would being far away from Shattered make the corruption weaker? What makes her corruption stay stronger than her determination code for most of the time? Would shattered positivity strengthen the corruption? Would normal positivity weaken the corruption?

Anyways yeah this family needs some effing therapy.

now for ze creditsss

Celestial Star and Luna Light belong to @help-im-a-gay-fish

Dark Cream belongs to @zu-is-here

Cross belongs to Jakei

Dream belongs to Joku

Shattered!Dream belongs to shattereddreamsau AKA galacii/galacii-gallery

Dusttale belongs to askdusttale

The DETERMINATION Series is an alternate timeline, separate to canon Dark Cream and Gayfish’s timeline with the twins

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Omg! That was seriously so cute. The babys curling up with Cross! Yessssss. It made my heart melt, and luna woke up! Yay.

But lol killer and dust still being bros. That's awesome.!

As for your questions, I'll send an ask about them.

DETERMINATION 3 - RUNAWAY QUEEN (Part Two)

F in the chat for Cross’ hands.

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Dust has no words. All he could do was stare and prompt Cross to tell the story. The story quickly ensnared Dust in fear and awe.

The story of a shattered soul. The soul Cross failed to save. Somehow, Cross’ voice stayed level and clear throughout the whole retelling, even though it was painfully obvious it hurt to relive.

After it is done, Dust is still completely silent, his eyes locked onto the two children. Dust takes a deep breath.

“So, what you’re telling me… Is that the goopiness is some curse, and the only way we can all be safe is to break it?”

“That’s pretty much it. That’s kinda why I need to find Nightmare, since he should know a way to do it.”

“What if there’s no way? What will you do then?”

Cross sighs heavily. It’s clear he’s already thought of what he would have to do.

“Then I’ll take these two and keep running. I’ll raise them on my own if I have to. I mean, I’ve already been doing that.”

Dust considers his next words, deciding to just say it and get it out of the way.

“What… what if you have to kill him?”

Cross flinches slightly, showing he doesn’t want to consider the option.

“I don’t want to… but if it comes down to it, then it might be more of an… an act of generosity than anything else.”

Dust smiles grimly for a moment.

“Anyway, what’s the deal with the kids? I kinda wanna know why one of them is perpetually creepy.”

Cross laughs a little.

“That’s just Celest. She’s… complicated.”

“How so?”

Cross grimaces.

“Most of the time she’s downright evil, scratching… biting…”

Cross’ hands tighten a considerable amount.

“Breaking my hands… but she does have little periods of being sweeter and easier to work with. It’s most likely the corruption being evil.”

“And the other one?”

“Usually… in a bit of pain most of the time, but she’s generally easier to work with. If she can sleep then she sleeps since that’s a relief from it. She does have her moments of screeching and just being violent but it’s easy to handle and deal with. I think it might be lack of sleep.”

Dust sighs, wondering how Cross has managed to handle them for more than the few days Dust would be capable of.

“So, this curse breaking might just be the best way to help them, right? If the curse extends to them, then it being broken would also extend to them, right?”

“Hopefully. If not…”

Cross shrugs, a defeated sigh coming from him.

“I honestly don’t know what I’ll do.”

Dust shivers, feeling Celestial Star’s ever-present stare.

“Does Celest ever… blink? Or sleep?”

“Sleeping? No, she doesn’t at all. Celest blinks as much as any normal person does, she’s just naturally creepy.”

Dust leans back, forgetting there is nothing behind him as he is just sitting on the floor. Falling back, Dust forces himself back up, yawning.

“How long has it been since Pap left?”

“I don’t know. Is there a reason you need to know?”

Dust looks at Cross in confusion.

“I need to go meet the kid right outside the exit of the Ruins, so I used to time how long it was since Papyrus left for sentry duty on today, September 15, to see when I should go so I don’t have to wait too long.”

Cross blinks, absolutely puzzled. Dust stares at him in equal perplexation.

“What? Did you never have to do this?”

“No… My universe was very different to the normal one… I don’t even think my universe had a ‘Ruins’…”

Was, had… why is he using past tense?

“Your universe is weird. Was there ever a need for some schedule with the new timelines?”

“No. My universe didn’t really have any Resets. I think there was only one.”

“Lucky. Only two timelines, whereas I’ve had… Maybe around six hundred Resets? Seven hundred? I stopped counting after the two hundred mark.”

Dust shrugs, standing up.

“Anyways, I’m just gonna go and wait for Frisk outside the Ruins. You staying or coming?”

“Staying. Remember the deal.”

Dust rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s been ages since I ever killed anyone, anyway. See you soon.”

Cross waves as Dust leaves the room, knowing he most likely wouldn’t be back for a while. Cross’ posture and expression relax more comfortable again the wall.

“Wait. Dust didn’t even tell me where the food is! Such a great host, isn’t he, Celest?”

Celestial Star does not answer. She only looks at him wordlessly. The twins are at an age where they can understand things, although Dream never really taught them how to speak.

Cross stands up, the twins still in his arms. He feels hesitant to leave them alone, worried Celest might find a way out of her cocoon, also worried Luna Light might do the same thing and they attack each other. It’s rare but it does happen. Usually Cross stops them from hurting each other. Dream is never there to help. Nor would he care to.

Cross sets Celest down on the mattress, wrapping her up even more under the blanket. He straightens himself upwards, Luna held out in his hands. Slowly, he feels her slip ever so slightly. Cross is about to adjust her until she silently falls out of his grip.

Panicking, Cross catches Luna with his arms, wrapping them around her. Cursing himself, he quietly looks to see if she has woken up. When Luna Light doesn’t stir, he sets her down next to Celest, his hands shaking.

Cross doesn’t notice parts of his hands, especially closer to his wrists, are a little numb, whereas more his palms and the joints to his fingers hurt a decent amount.

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We just cannot have one part without signifying Cross has developed several problems that will not be great for him in the near future, can we? Also Lemon adding as much interaction and future bro moments between Cross and Dust because they are secretly Crossdust trash even though it probably won’t happen in this series? WAY more likely than you think.

(Even if Luna wasn’t caught she would’ve landed on soft mattress.)

No art this time because life. Tomorrow I’m going to my dad’s for a night or two, so idk if there’ll be any new parts but there might be. Also I do have about a million questions I need answered, that I can only apply basic logic to as I am bad at socialising. ANYWAYS bai for now

~CREDITS TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME~

Celestial Star and Luna Light belong to @help-im-a-gay-fish

Dark Cream belongs to @zu-is-here

Cross belongs to Jakei

Dream belongs to Joku

Shattered!Dream belongs to shattereddreamsau AKA galacii/galacii-gallery

Dusttale belongs to askdusttale

I am in Spain but the S is silent

The DETERMINATION Series is an alternate timeline, separate to canon Dark Cream and Gayfish’ timeline with the twins.

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PREVIOUS

NEXT

Oooooooooooh bruhhh it's so painful. And Cross' hands....oh no. I'm very scared for what is to come. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Also if you have any questions. You can ask them anytime.