Please, Take It.

~Part 9~

"Shawn!"

No reply but still he continued to shout out his name.

"Shawn!"

He couldn't give up; he wouldn't. He was still here which meant that somehow, someway, Shawn was still alive. The thought of Shawn surviving after being dragged and held under thick ink was unbelievable but he held onto hope.
Standing on the elevated platform Dark surveyed what he could see. Stillness but every once in a while a loud booming sound from above would reverberate and cause the streams of ink to move and ripple. The curiosity to know what was causing it all was there but the need and desire to find and see Shawn again was greater.

The recent boom had been the biggest. It had shaken Dark and brought him to his knees. Around him debris from above fell. Looking up he could see beams starting to fall and holes beginning to form. Gripping the edge of the platform he pulled himself closer to the edge. Looking down into the reflective ink he saw himself. The man in the ink looked like him but something was different. Dark lifted a hand to reach down and touch the ink causing his reflection to ripple and disappear.

"Shawn, where are you?" Closing his eyes he tried again to feel out for him. Dark's mind wanted him to give up; to take the extremely rare opportunity and get out of the studio and start the search for a new companion. Yet his heart wanted something different. His heart was the reason he continued shouting out his name and looking for movement of any kind. All he saw were the ripples he created getting wider. Taking his fingertips out of the ink he smeared it across his fingers and palm. The ink was warm and thick. Drips fell to the ground he was kneeling on. Before the attack he had noticed that the ink had clinged onto Shawn. He had done his best to remove some of it but it had appeared to be a challenge. Whereas the ink just dropped off him and his clothes. Sitting up on his knees he looked over the once white jacket he had swiped from Joey Drew's office. Black ink splotched stained the top half while the bottom of the jacket was ombréd gray to black. Dark was about to remove the stained jacked when a sitter noice caught his attention. Whipping his head towards the sound he saw a small cluster of bubbles forming in the ink. Slowly he stood up but never did his eyes look away from the bubbling ink. The urge to jump in was overwhelming but he held back. Jumping in was a risk, anything could be forming those bubbles. Shawn's friend couldn't be the only monster in the studio. He thought back to seeing the Music Director drinking ink and shouting out about a creator coming to set them free.
The ink bubbles grew bigger and were surfacing rapidly. Dark stood watching and hoping for whatever was surfacing wasn't another ink monster.

Breaking through ink he saw the figure of a man. The man cried out as he gasped for air.
"Dark!"

Without any hesitation Dark kept into the ink. He quickly waded his way to Shawn who was flailing his arms around trying his best to regain any kind of balance. Once close enough Dark reached out to grab his hand. A few times he missed but he eventually grabbed hold of Shawn's hand and pulled him into his embrace. Dark felt Shawn dig his fingers into his back, holding on tight to not slip away. Carefully Dark made his way back to the elevated platform.

Dark lifted him up and out of the ink. Shawn fought against Dark; not wanting to let go. But after explaining what he was doing he convinced him to release his grip and Dark positioned him on his side so he could catch his breath. As he promised Shawn as soon as he got himself out of the ink he placed himself in his view.
Looking him over Shawn seemed to be unharmed. His crystal blue eyes looked up at him as if to be seeing him for the first time.

"Shawn," he leaned closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Darling, can you hear me."

With his eyes still fixated on him Shawn blinked.