Till Death Do Us Part - Dust Sans x Reader

Chapter 5

A few hours pass and you had cleaned pretty much all the castle, which was impressive considering you rarely ever cleaned your own room. After putting away the supplies back in the closet, you heard a voice from behind you.
"I appreciate you immediately getting to work on cleaning the castle, but I honestly expected you to have started your chores tomorrow."
You spin around, smiling and feeling your stiffness dissipate as you see Nightmare standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, I wanted to at least contribute to living here considering you've all been fairly nice to me, except, you know, when we first met the other day."
He nods slightly.
"I suppose I can be... quite grumpy... you'll find that a lot of the members aren't exactly the most sociable monsters. But, after how they were treated, you can't exactly blame them. They all come from unfortunate circumstances, and, after having gone through some things of my own and understanding how they feel, I took them in. I couldn't just leave them. Especially not to Ink..." 
Cocking your head to the side slightly, you give him a confused look.
"Who's Ink?"
He scowls slightly, tentacles flailing around slightly as he thinks about whoever Ink is. "I'm not going to go into detail, but all I'll say is to stay away from that twat. You think I'm bad? He's worse. At least I can admit that I'm an awful being. Ink can't. Not only does he have too much pride to ever admit such a thing, but he thinks that he's some sort of hero for 'foiling my plans' and 'saving the AU's'."
He takes a deep breath, composing himself as he goes back to his emotionless self. You sigh, not enjoying seeing the goopy skeleton so angry.
"Hey, don't worry. I don't fancy talking to them. Besides, you still have stuff you want to find out about me, and I still want to go home, so I'm not planning on going anywhere, ok?" You say with a smile, putting a hand on his arm.
He offers a smile in return. 
"Take the rest of the day off. If it interests you, there's a library in this castle, and a ballroom with a grand piano inside. There's also the castle garden. So don't be afraid to find something to do as long as you don't intrude in other people's rooms or enter my office without asking."
Nodding, you give Nightmare a small goodbye before heading off, wanting to check out the castle garden. You always enjoyed the outdoors, even if you never actually went out. You made your way to the back, pushing open the large double doors that led into the courtyard. It was huge. You had never seen anything so grand in your entire life. The garden seemed to stretch out for miles, trees and hedges adorning the area, with a large fountain as the centrepiece of the garden. All the leaves and flowers were pitch black, except the odd few witch were the same blue colour as Nightmare's eyes. However, the most beautiful part of the garden was an extremely large tree, similar to an oak tree, on top of a small hill at the very back of the courtyard. It was covered in multiple pitch black apples. It almost looked like the one in the paintings, except the leaves were also black and the golden apples were nowhere to be seen. You make your way towards it, almost being drawn in by the elegance and beauty of it. Standing beneath it, you felt a wave of comfort and tranquility wash over you, bringing a small smile to your face as you gently sat down beneath it, resting your head against the bark. You couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with emotions: sadness, comfort, joy, fear. All at once, causing you to tear up. Somewhere deep down inside you, you realised you would probably never ever find your way back home. There are infinite Alternate Universes that exist, and there was no guarantee that you would find your home before you eventually succumb to old age. You missed your room, your school, your friends. And you missed mom, even if she wasn't around anymore. You stare up at the midnight sky, finding comfort in all the cosmos and stars you can see. The black mixed with the midnight blues and indigos looked stunning, and it helped ease your growing concernes, even for just a little bit. 
"I suppose, even if I never find my way back home, I can at least make the best out of my place here..." you mutter to yourself, aware no one could hear you, but wanting to reaffirm the message to yourself regardless.
You decided to stand up after a while; dusting a few leaves off your clothes before making your way back inside. You stopped, looking at a grandfather clock to see that it was almost time for dinner. You wasn't sure who actually made the food, so you hurried over to Nightmare's office to ask if you could make dinner tonight, even if you had no experience with cooking whatsoever. Upon arriving, you knock on the door a few times, earning a 'come in' from within. 
"Hey Nightmare-" you slowly open the door, noticing he was watering a plant that was in the corner of the room, something you hadn't noticed when you first came in here a few hours ago,"-sorry for intruding, I just wanted to know if I would be able to make dinner tonight?"
He gives you a small, quizzical look. Sitting down at his desk, resting his head on his hands, he watches you closely.
"I personally don't have an issue with it, but Horror will. He makes all the food in the castle; it's a hobby of his. Consider it something that helps keep him relatively sane." 
You pause, thinking about it. You were quite baffled by the idea of someone as strange and animal-like as Horror to have an actual hobby. But, shortly after this thought, you scolded yourself for being so judgemental.
"Would it bother him lots?"
"Yes. And if you are smart, I don't think you'll push your luck and test out how bad his reaction will be. So, if we are done here-" 
"Wait!"
He gives you a small glare, clearly not interested in carrying on the conversation. It seems he could be quite moody at times, and this was definitely one of those times. And even if he wasn't in the mood for talking, you couldn't help your curiosity. 
"What's up with the tree I keep seeing in the paintings around the castle? It looks like the tree in the garden, except the leaves are green and it has golden apples as well as black." 
A pained look flashes across his face for a moment before he recollected his composure.
"I don't wish to talk about it with you as of right now."
"Why not? It's literally just a tree... and I'm going to be here for a while, so surely I'll know eventually-"
"I said I don't want to talk about!" Nightmare hissed out, posture rigid and tense as his tentacles flail around in anger. You had never seen him so pissed, and you couldn't help but notice he looked a little more monstrous, his goop morphing in some places and his mouth ripping apart slightly to look more intimidating. "Now get out of my office..."
You nod, not daring to say a word as you promptly leave and shut the door behind you, exhaling a breath you didn't even know you were holding. You could hear the sound of the castle doors opening, followed by multiple voices laughing and having a good time, meaning Dust and everyone had returned from their individual tasks. Which also meant that Horror would be cooking dinner soon, so you decided to take your seat in the dining room, not having anything else to do but wait. 

You rest your head on your hand, closing your eyes for a moment, only to feel a presence sit down besides you.