An Inkwell's Stain //BATDR Fanfiction\\ [Male Reader]

Chapter Three [Welcome Home]

(This chapter is just a little transition from one world to another to show how Y/N is feeling. A sort of half chapter, but I'll class it as a full one.)

Your eyes feel heavy. Correction, your entire body feels heavy. Thoughts felt dull and dizzying, and your brain felt confused. Darkness surrounds you, and you couldn't tell whether you were moving or not. Were you in a body of water? Were you floating? ...Are you dead? Are you in heaven? All of those options would probably be better than what is the reality.

Your eyes started to flicker open. Slowly but surely, you were waking up. A horrible and gross feeling had enveloped you, your organs felt as if a strong and thick fluid was slushing around in them, as if your blood was as thick as ink. When your mind suddenly played the events that happened prior to now, your eyes shot open.

You tried to talk, but you could only cough and hack, ink flowing from your mouth. What is happening to me? Sitting up from your position, you lift up your hands in front of your face, only to find a shocking reality. 'Wh... what the hell's wrong with my-' your coughs rang out around the room before you could finish what you were saying. As you stared at your ink covered and now bony hands, you started to hyperventilate, making your hands shake and twitch at your vibrations. 'What's wrong with my hands?!' You cried as another cough of ink came up from your lungs.

You let your hands drop to the ground, making a sloshing sound rather than a bang. A tear of ink started to roll from your eyes down your cheeks as you scrunched up your face, trying hard not to cry. '...What is happening to me...' you mumbled as you tried to make yourself stand. Your legs were weak with exhaustion from stress, all wobbly and unable to hold you steady. With this, you made yourself sit up again and take in your surroundings to calm you down.

Everything wasn't... right. The walls looks as if they were drawn, with posters aligning them. The floorboards are all broken and stained, and a beautiful yellow-orange hue accompanies everything. You matched this rubber hose style world with its colour palette and the fact that it was covered in ink stains and splatters.

While you couldn't see everything different with you, you could see your right hand was completely drenched with the black liquid, and your other hand only partially drowned. Your pant legs were stained at the bottom, completely gone into the darkness of the ink. Above your ankles, there were many flicks and stains of the stuff, but the higher your legs went, the drier your pants were. Your shirt was beige before, but now is the same hue as the rest of this world, with stains everywhere along it. And your shoes.... your black leather shoes... completely drenched.

Even though all of this just proved your predicament worse, it had calmed you down slightly to sit and survey everything. You brought your attention back to the posters on the walls, but you couldn't read them from where you are. Finally, you decided to give standing up a try. The feeling of thick ink moving through your body while you changed your position made you feel nauseous, but you continued to steady yourself with the desk beside you.

Now up on your feet, you could feel just how weird your body now is. The desk beside you held an old piece of paper with some messy handwriting, some books and ink bottles. Picking up the paper and bringing it closer, you read the note. "Every great story begins in mystery. Although things may be dark at the start, the truth will illuminate your way. Don't be afraid of who you are. Fear only what you may become, and banish it away." It was signed by "Your Best Pal" who you could only assume is Wilson so far. You take the note and pocket it with your other belongings.

Your belongings! Quickly you let your hand scurry into your pocket, and you were relieved your notebook was still in there. However, your beloved mechanical pen is now lost from behind your ear. You noticed in the corner of your eye that there was something written on the wall beside you.

"Welcome Home"

Reading it made you feel uneasy, for you knew you had never been here before. What even is here anyway? Is this all just a dream? You hoped you would figure that out eventually. Turning back to the desk, you opened and looked through the assortment of things inside. Two poles of some sort intrigued you, and your hand grabbed them from their positions, holding them up to your face. What am I meant to do with these?

Twisting your body in all directions around the room, you found their purpose. Two rungs were missing from the ladder leading up to a higher floor. Perfect. You rush over as fast as your unsteady legs would allow and inserted them in their spots with a heavy push.

'I guess it's time for a little adventure...' you mutter to yourself, gripping the rungs of the ladder tightly with your eyes scrunched up tight in upset. '...no matter how much I'd rather be back at home.'