Dust was in a dazed state for the rest of the cruise.

It all went by pretty fast. Blue came up to the stage and hugged Edge while Silica, who was also in the back, gave the captain her cigarette to hold before screaming and lunging at the stage, but four other crew members had to hold her back and tell her they couldn't attack another person because they interfered with another ship. But, they couldn't be heard over the music and cheers of most of the employees.

Dust simply breezed by the rest of the cruise, not paying attention to his surroundings. He didn't hear Ink complain about the lack of apple cider, he didn't notice Dream constantly glancing between his brother and Killer, always staring at one of the two, and he also didn't hear the thud as Silica hit the ground from being knocked unconscious for trying to attack a paying customer. He also didn't notice how WingedMiskit kept sneakily throwing bouncy balls at people and could blend into the crowd when they turned, so they didn't figure out it was her. The only thing that he noticed was two things.

The rings on Blue and Edge's fingers.

The rest of the cruise seemed to go on around him in a fast forward motion before they were met with shore once more. And when they docked, he trudged to his car, not even looking up when Error shouted out a goodbye.

His day-no, his week was ruined.

Dust wasn't very good with crushes, since this was the first time he had ever actually allowed himself to grow attached to someone. It was just that Blue had this adorable personality and look to him that made Dust just want to hug him until he dusted away. And since he's never felt this before, he was holding himself back so much. Life was that way, it was kill or be killed, perhaps date or be taken.

Since he didn't get Blue fast enough, Blue was taken by Edge.

And that's it. Dust won't get him.

Dust drove slowly to his house, hating his job more then ever. Why did they force him to grow attached to Blue in only a day, only for his soul to be ripped from his ribcage and shattered in half. If he stuck to his life plan of being strong and cutting his emotions from himself, like he intended, none of this would've affected him like it did.

"It's all my fault, I was too weak..." He grumbled as he drove to his house.

It was an hour drive to his house from the Office, and since the dock was half an hour from the Offices, he was forced to drive an hour and a half to his little shack in a large forest, that he obtained through questionable means.

The road turned from smooth to bumpy as he turned into the long driveway, noting to himself there was a small pile of dust he still had to clean up.

The shack was still in shape for the time being, with white outside walls and black roofing. It was pretty small, a two person shack with a small vegetable garden to the side with a white fence wrapping around it sloppily, some of the paint shipping away. He slowly made his way to park the car next to the house, stepping out before dragging himself inside and throwing himself onto the creaky brown couch.

The furniture was bland and minimum, a simple small stained sofa and small, leaning coffee table in front of it, and that's all that was decorating his living room. Then there was the kitchen, with two pairs of silverware, two plates, two cups, and two bowls. One of the lower cabinets wasn't able to close all the way, so it hung open. And there was a small bathroom with two tooth brushes on the tooth brush holder, one red and one blue, the mirror a bit fogged up. Then there was two bedrooms down a small hallway. One of them was boarded up, while the other was Dust's room, with a simple small bed in the corner with dull purple sheets with a few blood stains scattered across it. On the wall hung a mirror frame with none of the mirror glass inside of the frame, instead the shards were sitting in a pile underneath it with more blood.

Oh right, he had to clean that too. He of the forgot he had to clean up.

Dust pulled himself up, his hand reaching into his ribcage and lightly tapping his scared soul before checking his states.

Dust

H.P. 12

L.V. 69

He growled, his teeth turning down into a frown. This wasn't good, his Level Of VoilencE had went down six numbers from this morning. Just being with Blue for a single day brought his soul closer to reality and emotions.

"Dyrus!" Dust called out into the empty house.

(Dust Papyrus = Dyrus)

And a figment of his imagination responded.

It floated in front of him, the light purple scarf fluttering behind it, transparent. It was a skeleton skull with a scarf and purple pair of gloves under it that simply was floating in air, transparent. Only Dust could see him, and he would talk to him a lot, but he sent Dyrus home because he didn't want to take him on his cruise.

"Dust, you're back!" The static voice cheered, seeming too loud for how close he was, "How was you're cruise?"

"I dunno," Dust muttered, "Look at my stats."

"..."

The floating creation of hallucinations studied his still pulled up stats for a moment before sighing.

"I'm not mad," He said, "Just disappointed."

"I'm sorry Brother," Dust groaned, pulling his hood further over his head, "This is messing up our goal. I'm sorry."

"What caused it to go down?"

"There... There was this guy... I grew a crush on him. Hanging out with him all day must've made my soul glow a bit."

"This will mess up everything, Brother."

"He's getting married in November."

"That's better, don't forget everything we've worked towards. Years of progress will be lost if you stray from our goal."

"Yeah."

"I'm proud of you, we've gotten so far."

His 'brother' flew to Dust, giving him a hug to the best of his ability before floating backwards a few feet.

"...Thanks Dyrus. Do you want me to make us dinner?"

"That would be exceptional to refuel yourself for tonight's tasks."

Dust slowly got up before shuffling into the kitchen, stopping in front of the fridge before he pulled put leftover from last nights dinner.

Two burritos, one half eaten and the other untouched.

He sat down at the small table in the kitchen as he set the half eaten one in front of him and the full one in front of Dyrus, his chair scraping across the floor to create yet another scratch on the poor wooden floor.

Right, he had to replace that.

"Dust, I believe we should discuss tonight's plans for today. I have found a human that should give a good boost of Level Of VoilencE to you."

Dust took a small nibble at his burrito, burring the events of the day into the back of his mind.

"Of course, Brother," He agreed.

~~~~~~

Three hours later, his stats changed.

Dust

H.P. 14

L.V. 78