Showtime (A Sanscest Story)

The Granted Mercy

It was only growing worse. Asy clawed weakly at the ground, the liquid having eaten into his pelvis and up his spine, consuming the rest of his femur. He giggled shakily. "Hurts... Ink...y... Hurts..." Ink was trembling. No matter how fast he painted the bones back, the liquid would just consume them again. His paintbrush fell to the ground and he covered his face with a hand. He'd sent Blue away into the Big Top with Dust. Asy didn't understand why the other looked so upset. He reached up to him, his quivering hand emerging from his baggy sleeve.

Ink stared at him with those shape-changing eyes. They didn't seem to be changing color though. Just staying blue. That was okay. Asy liked the color blue. Ink reached out and gently took his hand, Asy giving a pained giggle. He gave it a small squeeze and Ink gave his hand a squeeze back. Water. Water was falling from Ink's sockets and Asy tipped his head. He reached up to dab at the water with his other sleeve and Ink shook his head, whispering that he didn't have to do that.

He glanced down and Asy was barely aware of the burning that was ever so slowly climbing up his side. He didn't look. Asy knew better than to look at his injuries because they would just make him sad. He didn't want to be sad. He smiled up at Ink, who could only manage a weak one in response. "Asy, hey." The other's voice was a little strained. Asy met his gaze and tipped his head. "You're gonna see Reaper, okay?"

Asy blinked. "But I can't move!" He exclaimed plaintively. Ink winced a little and murmured that he knew and he was going to bring Reaper out here. "Okay!" Asy chirped in a hoarse voice. Ink gave his hand one more squeeze before letting go of it. He got up and disappeared into the flap of the tent. Asy twitched on the ground, his bony fingers absentmindedly pulling at the dirt. He stared up at the grey sky, humming a broken tune. It burned.

A bubbling noise interrupted his tune and he rolled over, watching as the black liquid climbed up the hill. He giggled softly. It stopped a little bit away from him, looking like waves against the shore of a beach. He tipped his head and reached out to it with a curious noise.

To his surprise, the black liquid seemed to pull away from his fingers. He giggled softly. "ASY-" He jumped as he heard Reaper yell his name and looked back with wide eyes. Yelling usually meant he was in trouble. He watched as the tent flaps closed on Reaper, the black liquid spiderwebbing its way up the entire tent and blocking the entrance. Asy huffed and laid his head against the ground. He heard more bubbling and lifted his head.

He knew this person! Well, it LOOKED like the person he knew. "Ringmare... Ringmare..." He said softly. They stared at him, unblinking. Asy blinked at him. "Why... crying, Ringmare? Why upset?" He dug his hands into the ground and pulled himself towards him. "Ringmare is hurt?" The closer he got, the more the other backed up. The black liquid pulled away from him. He... really didn't know if this was the Ringmaster. It LOOKED like him a little. "Is hurt?" Slowly, the other nodded and Asy whimpered a little. "Not good if Ringmare hurt!"

He laid on the ground for a moment, becoming tired. "I think... I hurt too. I think I'm... burning...?" Asy said softly. The grass was cool against where he felt burning. There was a soft cracking and Asy flinched. His lower half felt much lighter now. His lower half... didn't feel like it was there anymore. He looked up at the other. That glowing eye was much wider than before. "Is it bad, Ringmare?" Asy's question was soft. "I-It's bad, isn't it?" He didn't know what had happened, but he could only assume it really wasn't good. The burning had moved to the bottom of his spine.

He watched as something that vaguely looked like a hand stretched out to him. Asy giggled and pushed himself up onto his elbows, reaching up and letting his pale hand leave his baggy sleeve again. The other's hand hesitated, pulling away from Asy for a moment. Asy's shoulders sank and he asked softly if Ringmare didn't like him anymore. The figure seemed surprised before shaking its head. Asy blinked as it seemed to kneel down to him. At least, that's what he though it was doing. It looked over and Asy followed its gaze.

There was that huge tree stretching out over the Circus and Asy stared at it, laying his head back down on the ground. "S'pretty. I like it..." He whispered softly. The figure seemed taken back for a moment. The burning was halfway to his ribcage now. The figure continued to stare at him. Asy could only take in the looping branches. Finally, he heard a voice that was breathless and so faint, he assumed it was another in his head.

What would you like, Asylum? Asy blinked and furrowed his brow, having to take a moment to process the question. What did he want? He wanted a lot of things. He wanted everything to be normal again. He wanted the Ringmaster to look normal again. He wanted bandaids and sweet treats. He wanted to perform for Halloween again. He wanted so many things. He wanted the burning to stop. He wanted to...

"Wanna see Paps... Wanna see my brother..." He managed softly. The figure seemed taken back, that glowing, crying eye fixed on him. It finally reached out its hand again and Asy eagerly stretched out his own. He took the figure's hand and the black liquid began to spread down his arm. Asy could barely feel it. He stared up at the other, tears welling in his eyes.

Thank you for your time. The words made him perk up and he let out a weak giggle as his body collapsed to the ground, being corroded away at both ends. He could see his leg laying a bit away from him, being eaten away by the same black stuff spreading up his arm. He rolled over and gave a huge, beaming grin up at the figure, tears running down his face.

"Thank... thank, Ringmare... Thank you..."

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Reaper slowly backed away from the tent flaps. "Reaper? Reaper, what're you doing??" Blue was frantic as he tried to pull at the flaps. Reaper's hands were shaking and he held up his hand. They all jumped as a cracked monster soul appeared in it and all of them went silent. The only thing they could hear was Dream's soft sobbing from the Ring and Killer attempting to comfort him. Blue's sockets immediately began to water. Reaper moved away, silent and with sunken shoulders. He had to take care of Asy's soul.

Everyone jumped as Blue shrieked, yanking his hands away from the tent flap. He'd managed to pry a little bit of it open and the black liquid had immediately burned into his fingers. Dust caught him and knelt down, his magic immediately working to heal Blue. He reached out with his other hand and smoothed the flap back down. Blue was in so much pain and panic, his body shaking. They could see the shadow of the black liquid webbing covering the Big Top. It would start burning in at any minute. They weren't safe. They were no longer safe. They had nowhere else to go.

Everyone seemed to realize this and even Blue couldn't think of anything positive. His fingers felt better, even though he had clear acid burns in his bones. Ink had his eyes squeezed shut and he said something to Error, who immediately said that Ink shouldn't blame himself for that and he hadn't known.

Blue heard Ink's voice raise and he winced. "-uldn't have left him out there!! I should've brought him inside!! I shouldn't have... I CAN'T BELIEVE I LET ANOTHER PERSON DIE!!" He slammed his fist into the metal bleachers, sending a rattling noise through the whole tent to partner with his shriek. Ink's eye shapes were changing so fast that Blue couldn't catch any of them. The artist screwed his eyes shut and buried his face in his hands, hiccuping weakly. He broke down, crying and Error could only sit next to him and rub his back.

A hand gripped the edge of the Ring and Blue watched as Dream heaved himself up, landing in front of Ink. The golden skeleton seemed dismayed, his face tear-stained. He reached out and put a hand on Ink's knee, the artist looking up at him with blue eyes. Dream whimpered softly and pressed his head to his knee. Killer and Lust had climbed up as well, standing behind Dream.

Blue jumped as Dust took him by the hand and he looked up at the other. The hooded skeleton was twitching and he screwed his eyes shut. Blue's shoulders sank and he hugged him tightly. There was a dripping noise and everyone's breath seemed to catch in their throats at once. All around them, there was a faint fizzling noise.