From Murder to Dust

ATE - 7 - Bones

I had been Ink's captive for three years and a month, and Ink had just moved me up to step six of his plan; I no longer begged - it wouldn't work. All I could do was hope that it ended soon..and cry. I felt like I was always crying, even when I didn't have to; Ink found that interesting, in his own sick way. When the guards came to hurt me, they were now allowed to use blue magic for ten minutes instead of five; Ink figured that that would speed up the process of reaching his goal. All that was left was for me to lose my hope, and I was scared of that moment; I didn't know what would happen! Maybe Ink would let me go, or maybe he would kill me for the last time; those would have been better endings than what I knew he would do. He would just continue; I knew he would. My pain wouldn't end until somebody rescued me, just like Error's loneliness wouldn't end until somebody rescued him. I would wait, though! I would wait for years if I had to! Papyrus would save me! He's the best, and he would save me! If he rescued Error first, that would be even better! At the moment, Ink was out, and I was sitting next to Fell; he was good at helping me cope with Ink's torture. I had recently been in my universe, too, which meant I could move!

"Hey, it's all right." Fell assured. "You have the support of all of us in the lowers! So what if you reached a meaningless step in a plot? You'll never reach the last one; we'll make sure of it!"

"Really?" I found that reassuring.

"Of course! Now, wanna know what your awesome brother did yesterday?"

"Yeah!"

"He only fought the strongest guard in the entire army and won!"

"Wow! He's so cool! I didn't know that was why he was so mad yesterday!"

"Yep! Your brother's really the coolest! Guess what on top of that!"

"There's more?" That excited me. "What is it?"

"I've been tasked with a special mission to deliver a letter to the resistance!"

"That means.."

"That's right! I'll be able to talk to your brother, if they let me! Is there anything you'd like to tell him?"

"There's so much! I guess to keep it simple, would you tell him I miss him and love him? And that he's the best, of course!"

"I'll be sure to." Fell smiled. "If he gives me a message for you, you will get it."

"Thank you so much!" I hugged Fell; he was the best friend I had in Ink's domain.

"No problem." He hugged me back, giving me some hope.

"Now, the bad news.." I sighed as I sat back against the wall.

"Yeah.."

"Ink's planning another guard training.."

"Oh..great." Everybody hated those. "Any idea when?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, yet. He's planning it for next year, but it'll be massive."

"Thanks for the warning."

"It's the least I can do."

"How's Ink's mood?"

"He'll be happy for a while; I wouldn't do anything reckless, though."

"Right. What about you?"