My Friend Over the Phone

Chapter 37

!WARNING! This chapter contains:

- Brief Physical Torture

Ink's body opened the door, a bright yellow glow coming from their empty eye sockets illuminating the dark path in front of them. His house looked different, now lacking it's friendly(and kind of unsettling) charm. The creak of the door as they closed it again was the only noise that echoed throughout the empty cabin. They hummed an unfamiliar tune as they skipped down the stairs to the basement, now glueing their gaze to the floor as though they were searching for something. It wasn't long before they found it: a metal trapdoor in the ground that camouflaged well with the stone that made up the dungeon. He took out a key and opened the lock, flipping all the right switches and entering the right code into the keypad before it opened, inviting them down to the special room.

The poor, poor god of Positivity, the ancient deity thought with an eye roll. One playing one's part in the grand scheme of things is just so difficult for them, isn't it? They jumped down the last two steps. They hadn't possessed Ink's body in a long time, but it always made them a little playful when they were in a good mood. Fate was in a good mood despite their annoyance, because they finally had a chance to set their puny little Gods straight after millions of years! They were a little disconcerted that their child had fought so valiantly with them to stay in control, but he gave in eventually as always.

In the corner of the small room laid Dream unconscious. His wrists were bound by magic-proof rope and his exposed bones donned scars and lacerations. Dream had yet to wake from his encounter back in his bungalow. It was rather lowly guarded considering how important Dream was. He glared at the guardian in disgust, kicking him and further shattering his skull. He would likely never see again given the current state of his eye sockets. Good.

    Tch, Luck never knew how to discipline their children, Fate thought. It's always up to me to make sure everyone's doing their job. Dream groaned weakly, one of the few fingers he had left twitching as he slowly awoke. Fate grinned at their work. As misleading as Dream tends to be for their special one, Fate is pleased that's it took him this long to truly step out of turn. All they have to do is remind the young God of the rules. That's okay, everyone needs a little reminder every now and then. "Good morning, sunshine." Fate's words came out of Ink's mouth in a combo of both of their voices. "Do you require assistance?" Dream didn't answer. Tears pooled in his eye sockets as the pain settled in. Fate twitched as he cried weakly. "ANSWER ME!" They kicked him again, this time he screamed in pain. "I-Ink?!! Wh-where..?! Who-, what??? W-why can't I see anything?! Ink??! INK?!!!" Fate smiled again, agitated now. "Now dear, you're the Guardian of Positivity, no? Why don't you act like it and stop crying? GET. UP." Dream said nothing, trying to push himself up with broken arms. Shakily he whispered, "c-can I please get some help..?" Fate used magic to get him to sit up. "I always loved your manners, Dream. So polite!"

"Who are you.?" "Oh, nobody~ I've simply been watching you and I haven't agreed with your behaviour as of late. Driving my child to be so reckless? Ink stopped creation because of you, and we can't have that!"

Fate grabbed a sledgehammer off the table beside them. "So here's how this'll work! I say a rule, and you repeat it! If you don't comply..." Fate slammed the sledgehammer into one of Dream's lower ribs, breaking it off completely. Dream screamed as his tied hands flew to the impacted area, protecting it weakly. "Now behave, and that'll never happen again!"

◼️◻️◼️◻️◼️

The atmosphere felt familiar, but Error couldn't quite place a phalange on it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to, however.

Deep down he knew he was dreaming, but that knowledge didn't quite register with him. It never did. The empty space around him was a colour he couldn't quite make out. It didn't really matter. There wasn't any noise at first, but when he listened closely he was greeted with what sounded like a war. He could hear the quick patter of footsteps against gravel and screams of fear and anguish. There was some sobbing, and the sound of attacks materializing.

He didn't notice the figure crawling toward him until they pushed themselves up and leaned against him. He exclaimed as he stumbled back. Ink's eye lights bore into him. The other was bare-boned and bleeding. He could see their strings wrapped around him. They were snaking up to the other's mouth as he tried to speak. "Error, help... please help me......"

"the creators are unhappy with us. it's been too long."

"what can we do?"

"I'm so sorry."

"SSB3YW50IHRvIGhvbGQgeW91IGluIG15IGFybXMgYWdhaW4uLg=="

"UHVsY2hyaXR1ZGlub3VzLg=="

The strings wrapped around Ink's mouth, and more came from the shadows and wrapped around his ankles. Ink was pulled from Error and back into the darkness. Error stared at the markings on the floor left by Ink's phalanges in terror when a voice he could've sworn he heard before boomed.

"It seems you've forgotten who you are."

    "My apologies, UHVsY2hyaXR1ZGlub3VzLg="

What was that?

Before he could ask the question on his mind, he woke up and he was back in his room again and drenched in a cold sweat. He looked up.

And a singular eye light looked back at him.

Error flinched, raising his hands up to his cheekbones, but before he summoned his strings the figure lowered their hood. Oh. It was just Nightmare. "Sorry, Error. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Why are you just standing there watching me sleep?!"

"I needed to talk to you."

"Can't it wait??"

"It's urgent."

"Wake me up then! Geez!!"

"Fine, next time I will," Nightmare scoffed, but Error didn't miss the little smile that was on his face. He sighed, and just like that his smile was gone. "We need to stop Ink." Error groaned. "Didn't I tell you I was on board with your plan already?" Nightmare nodded. "Yes, however he's been spotted in an Outertale variant. It's time we stop this." Error sat up, rubbing his eye sockets. "Wait, now!?" Nightmare nodded, getting a little exasperated. "Yes, now."

"You realize we're basically signing our death warrant, right?"

"Are you backing out?"

"No, I just.. I wanted to see Blue again before I die. Can't we wait a little longer?"

Nightmare sighed, resting a hand on Error's leg in an attempt to comfort him. "I don't know how much longer we can wait, Error. This needs to stop now, and who knows how long it will take before Blue escapes! Please Error, or else there won't be anything left for Blue to come back to." Error looked down at his hands, twiddling his phalanges together. "I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye."

"We can't."

"Wait, why not??"

"..."

"You didn't tell them?!" Error exclaimed. Nightmare shushed him, looking towards the door. "Cross is sleeping!" He whispered.

"Sorry, it's just that- that Cross will be devastated! Killer and Dust will be devastated! Dream especially will be absolutely crushed! You need to tell them!!"

"I know, I know, but what if he tries to stop us? We can't risk it. Besides, Killer is out, looking for Dream."

"So he's missing after all?! Shouldn't we help look for him??"

"Ink took him. I know he did. Killing him will allow Dream to escape."

"But-"

"Stars, will you just stop arguing with me!!" Nightmare's eye light flared blue, and Error's throat felt like it was closing. Although nothing was choking him when he looked, he couldn't breathe. A big pressure was set on him, and all of his concerns washed away. Obey, obey. Nightmare wants you to obey.

He felt like an empty husk as he nodded and followed Nightmare through the deep black portal.