From Murder to Dust

ATE - 3 - Stones

I had been trapped for four months in Ink's room. My will had broken quite some time ago, and according to his 'plan,' I was on step four. I was scared when he lifted that brush or looked at some paint, and the fact that he called me 'Dusty' just made it worse! It seemed as if Ink had no care whether I lived or died; I knew he didn't. Heck, he could just bring me back to life! I hoped Paps was faring better than I was, because I could barely hear my soulbeats; Ink probably wanted me to die. Paps is the best; he probably already had an amazing plan to rescue Error and possibly me - I didn't expect him to want to rescue me after my blunder. It was currently the afternoon, during one of my scheduled breaks; Ink had to put those in place so I wouldn't pass out as easily. I wasn't sure whether that was good or bad. I wasn't able to move my limbs at this point, and I was pretty sure that I would die for the first time pretty soon; I almost hoped the reset wouldn't work. My break was ending soon, and Ink was eagerly awaiting that time; he was sick.

"Dusty?" Ink looked down at me, making me look up. "Do you want to play with someone else today?

"M-m-maybe.." I didn't usually want any of the higher ranks coming anywhere near me, but Ink had beaten me so much in the morning that I simply wanted to get away from him. Even if the higher ranks were a bit worse occasionally, I wasn't scared of them. I didn't exactly get a choice in the matter, anyway.

"That's good to hear! Two of them wanted to play with you today! One will come in ten minutes, and the other will come around five, giving you ample time with each of them! Your break ends when the first comes; don't forget to enjoy yourself! By the way, do you want to know their names? Perhaps you could get a better understanding if you knew who they were."

"N-" I was cut off.

"You do? Wonderful! Their names are Blue and-" There was a knock on the door. "Huh..he's early..oh well! You'll get to know him soon enough! Have fun!"

Ink stood and answered the door; a guard completely covered by armor walked in. Even if I couldn't see his face, I knew he wasn't going to be nice; the upper rank symbol on his chestplate confirmed that. Ink told him to have a good time and left the two of us alone; the guard then walked over to me and knelt down, as if he were inspecting me. When he had gotten his fill of my condition, he summoned a sole bone and began to beat me with it; he was certainly not nice at all. After he managed to break the bone he had summoned, he made some more, all of which produced cracks. I was screaming loud enough for him; that was made evident by his deep chuckles. I could see why he joined Ink; he was almost as sadistic as the artist, but he wasn't quite there. At the end of his few hours with me, he knelt down to me once more to observe the changes he had made; they were many, and he seemed proud. I was in tears when he finally spoke.

"I thought a Dusttale would be stronger." He chuckled. "I guess Ink is capable of breaking anyone..or maybe you're just weak."

At this, he ended his term and left my sobbing figure on the floor; I was glad when he left, but I couldn't seem to stop crying. I wanted Papyrus. He's the best, and I knew he would comfort me if I needed it. I still felt guilty about Error, but I had experienced more pain in the past four months than I ever had before, and it just seemed to build more and more. I was constantly shaking, my whimpering annoyed Ink to no end, and I cried at unexpected intervals; I wasn't okay. This wasn't something I could simply shake off; this would be in the back of my mind for the rest of my life, even if I was rescued. I could remember every beating I had received and who had given it to me; I could even remember who laughed harder the louder I screamed - Ink was in that category. When the clock hit five, the door was slowly creaked open, and a small Sans with a blue cape entered the room; he sat beside me and..shushed me?