ATE!Ink.
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I woke up in a cell - a different cell. This one had metal bars on one side with a metal-barred door, with every other wall being concrete, or something very similar. I sat up, first noticing that I had energy now (that felt better than I would have ever admitted), and second, I noticed that my bones had been healed, strings removed. I must have been out for a while. I looked around, finding that I was lying on a mattress in the corner of the cell, which constituted the only furniture available; it was still better than the other one. I looked outof the cell, finding other cells that looked similar to my own, and I came to a realization: I was in a prison. Well..this was better than the other place. Surprisingly, after only two minutes of being awake, someone came to see me: a Dream, but this Dream was still not Lumen.
"Hello." He greeted, smiling.
"..Hello." I decided that I would be somewhat kind (for a while, at least), since these people did rescue me..I wasn't devoid of manners.
"I guess you're probably wondering about why you're in a prison cell."
"I'm a villain." I replied blankly. "You're undoubtedly a hero. Just because I was trapped and tortured doesn't change who I am; you just did what any hero would do. I'm not surprised."
"Oh..that makes things a bit easier, then!" He chuckled a little.
"So..as much as I love awkward conversation, can we just get to the point? I'm not mentally scarred, and although I doubt I'll be associating with many Errors in the near future, I don't need a pep talk or psychological help. Just tell me what you plan on doing with me; it'll make this easier on everyone involved."
"..Okay." The Dream nodded. "Well, we keep files on every known villain, and, um..you've made yourself rather known; you've had several enemies in the past."
"Your point?"
"We know a lot about you." The Dream admitted. "We know about your empire, your multiversal dealings, and your son."
"Don't involve him in this." I glared.
"We aren't going to!" The Dream quickly assured. "The point..is that we may know a little more than we should.."
"..." I didn't like where this was going.
"You've taken part in several of the major omniversal conflicts within the past decade or so, as well as several smaller ones..you may remember the Error who kidnapped a lot of people, for one, as well as the recent raid on our convention.." The Dream paused, before continuing. "Well, those events, among a few others, prompted our researchers to do a bit of studying, since you seemed to be in so many places..and we've managed to piece together your entire..life?"
"..What." I..what?!
"I really don't know how to put this any other way..we know about your, um, demon."
I glared firmly. "You have no right."
"That doesn't change anything." The Dream shook his skull. "We want to help you..and we're not going to take no for an answer."
"Wow." I scoffed. "And here I thought heroes were supposed to be nice, and friendly, and considerate! But I guess I'm wrong! Heroes are just as bad as everyone else! They just get their little fancy capes and prance around pretending to care! Maybe I like being possessed! Have you ever thought of that?!"
"That's why we're doing this." The Dream turned away from me. "You have one hour."
He left. He left, and I was sitting in a prison cell, awaiting..whatever was to come! I clenched my fists, and if there had been anyone within ten feet of me, they would have felt every ounce of my rage...but there wasn't. I was alone. I was alone, and no one was going to come save me..no one could save me, at this point, could they? No..they couldn't. I let out a long sigh, and I lay down on the mattress, seeing no point in trying to run; they probably would have just done it sooner if I had tried. I had thought that heroes were supposed to be the good guys..that they didn't kill unless it was absolutely necessary. I had thought they would have been smarter. But..they were going to kill Broomie. Broomie, the one being who had never left my side..my mentor..and just because he happened to be a demon..he was going to die. Because he had to die, if they wanted to "help" me..and when it was over, I would thank them, because I wouldn't have been myself anymore..or maybe I would be, and I would hate them for it..I didn't know what would happen. The hour wasn't long, and soon enough, the door to my cell opened, and a few heroes came to escort me. I saw no point in struggling; they undoubtedly had dozens of plans to prevent my escape, and the only thing I could really do was put their hours of brainstorming to waste by not trying at all.
"Come on, it's time to go." A different version of myself came with a few other heroes to escort me.
I sighed, standing up and complying. I walked toward the heroes, letting them handcuff me and do what they pleased. Once they were content with their work, they began to lead me through the halls of the prison. After a few minutes of traversing the stairs and halls of the prison, they brought me to a room, where I was set in a chair that was inside some sort of machine; I didn't want to know what it did, but I had a feeling I would soon find out. I remained silent as I was strapped into the chair, and the heroes outside whispered to eachother, obviously not wanting me to hear what they were talking about. They didn't speak to me, and I didn't try to speak to them; I knew that I didn't want to know what they had planned. After ten minutes (there was a clock in this room), one of them turned to me, an Ink.
"Well, we have everything prepared." He stated. "Do you have anything you'd like to ask or say?"
"..You're ripping away everything in life that means something to me." I said. "But you don't care. You remind me of myself. I do things like this to people. I hope that you feel regret after this day, and that nightmares plague you frequently; I suffer like that because of what I've done. You're doing the same thing. I hope you can never look at a villain the same way again - that you realize that doing this makes you no better than us. And..if you don't feel regret, if you don't suffer or feel guilt, I hope you remember this: you're worse than most of us villains, because we can't do things like this without suffering. I don't know what's going to happen to me; I can only hope that I don't thank you. So go ahead - rip my life from me. That's what you want, isn't it? I can't stop you."
"..." He looked down, before turning to the others in the room. "Let's just get started.."
The heroes got to work, and I was put to sleep; I supposed they didn't want me to be awake for the proceedings. I didn't dream, but I felt that very little time had passed before I woke up; I felt exhausted. Nevertheless, I opened my eyesockets, finding myself lying in a bed; I wasn't in prison, anymore. This looked more like a hospital. After determining my location, I decided to do something I somewhat dreaded: I paid attention to my feelings. I felt light; it was as if a weight had been lifted, except that weight had been a manipulative demon who had enslaved me. That part felt nice; I assumed he was dead. Well, that was one change; I knew that I hadn't enjoyed the idea of Broomie's death before, but now...I rather liked it. I was free. I could make my own decisions in life, now. I wanted to go back to sleep; freedom was tiring. I did so. When I woke again, someone was sitting by my bedside, and I felt rather well-rested.
"Good morning." The person next to me greeted, a different version of Blue. "How are you feeling?"
"..I feel all right." I replied.
"That's good. Do you..remember anything?"
"..The fact that you freed me from the cause of all my life's woes doesn't mean I forget them; it doesn't magically change who I am, either. I'm still me..I just have no guide now."
"We can help you."
"No..you've done enough. I want to go to my home; can I do that?"
"..As long as you aren't going to be a villain anymore, of course we can let you go home!"
"And what if I am?"
"Then..we'd have to keep you here.."
"Then I guess I won't be a villain." I lied. "Can I go home now?"
"Sure! Let me just give you back your magic, and..you're good to go!"
"Thanks."
I left the bed and created a portal to my bedroom in my home, and I walked through it, finding myself at home. I sighed, sitting down on my own bed, and before I could gather my thoughts, a different portal opened in front of me, someone familiar running up to hug me.
"Sable!" Lumen hugged me tightly. "You're alive!"
I chuckled slightly; this was a pleasure. "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Where were you?! We couldn't locate you until now!"
"It.." I looked down. "It's a long story."
"I have time."
"..Lumen, I just really don't want to talk about it right now.."
"Did someone hurt you?" Lumen assumed.
"..Yes."
"Who?" Lumen radiated with anger.
"Look..I know how much you care, but..this is something I have to deal with myself.."
"..Are you sure?" Lumen frowned.
I nodded. "Thank you, though."
"..Will you tell us later?"
"Yeah..I promise."
"All right. Do you need anything? You can stay with me or Tenebra for a while, if you don't feel comfortable here! Or we could have a little get-together to just relax and have some fun!"
"..." I contemplated it; that did sound nice.. "Okay."
"Great!" Lumen grinned. "Would you like to stay with me, or should I ask Tenebra, or did you just want to hang out for a while? I'm fine with whatever you're comfortable with!"
"Well..I think a bit of fresh air would do me some good; I've been a bit cooped up, lately.."
"Dreamtale is definitely full of fresh air!" Lumen hugged me again. "Shall I go let Tenebra and the others know?"
"Yes, please."
"All right!"
Lumen opened a portal to his home, and he left me under his tree while he went to alert Tenebra of my return. I noticed that Lumen's brother was present, and he stared at me for an awkward minute, before speaking.
"You feel different." He said.
"How observant." I commented.
"..." He stared at me for another ten seconds. "Your demon died, didn't he?"
"How did you know about him..?" I wondered.
"Dusty said you had a shadow monster; it was the most likely guess."
"..Don't tell anyone about that."
"So I was right?"
"Do you want a trophy?" I rolled my eyelights.
"..Dusty's been really sad since you left."
"I didn't leave; I was kidnapped! I had no choice in the matter!" I..I hoped he hadn't been too sad..
"Either way, he's been sad. He really loves you.."
"..I love him, too."
Nothing else was said. Two minutes later, a portal opened, and the first one through launched himself into my arms.
"Papa!" Dusty hugged me, tears running down his face.
"It's okay, Dusty." I held him tightly, whispering to him and rubbing his skull. "Papa's here; I'm sorry. Everything's going to be okay, now; I'm here, now, and I won't leave again. I love you so much, Dusty."
Dusty refused to let go of me for the rest of the day. Lumen and Tenebra asked small questions about what had happened, but they were understanding when I didn't want to talk about it; they were the best friends I could have ever asked for. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying the outdoors, and when it ended, we fell asleep under Lumen's home, the purple and gold apples shining their soft light onto us as we dreamed. This felt..nice.
I felt loved.
~~~chapter end woot~~~
Ink sausage undergoes..darn what was it called again? Oh! Ink sausage undergoes some sort of weird exorcism!
So, uh, a little note here. Originally, this chapter was supposed to be like: Ink gets demon removed and is magically a new person who is super good! But the more I thought about that, the more I realized that it was stupid. That idea was garbage, and I regret ever having it because it would have made the redemption arc uninteresting and dumb. It would have also been lazy writing. In my brother's words, "that's not an arc - and arc is supposed to be long." So Ink is not magically his old self. Instead, the redeption arc will be long and extended over a period of years as Ink tries to find his way through life without a guide. Ink used to rely on Broomie's guidance for decisions and how to live his life..I wonder how he'll act without that.
Also, yes, the scene in which he is released from the hero medical bay was a bit..rushed. The Blue was a twinkie (those who know, know).
Thanks for reading my redeeming writing!
Bye!