Inktobertale 2022 : Compilation of novels

30th of October : Nest

As emotions flooded back into Ink's body, so did his powers. But more unusual, was a memory which reappeared with this. A shock. The kind of thing you had tied to a trauma. 

Ink coughed, and vomited the colors he had just drank.

"*cough* *cough* Okay... never all at once, noted."

He knew he shouldn't experiment so carelessly, but his fascination for this paint, which had freed him from an eternal torture, a condemnation to forever be emotionless, was stronger than any sense of caution he possessed. He sighed, and looked at the large brush next to him. "...did you know that would happen ? You came with those colors, after all."

There was no answer.

"Giving off the silent treatment ? That's okay, I don't think I'd be a very good listener anyway."

He grabbed the brush, and inspected it. "It's funny. You're just like me in a way. Out of nowhere, you find yourself here, lost and confused with no name or memories previous to this."

He smiled. "But then again, why should we wait for someone to give us names, when we could choose them ourselves ?"

Anti-Ink flew through the Doodle Sphere, as Ink, more radiant than ever, emerged from the portal he had just sent his enemy through. "Why do you want to do it ? What is there to win, at erasing every universe, when they have so much more to offer ?" asked the guardian. The concerned person didn't answer, and once again, simply got back up and charged again. He aimed the sharp tip of his staff at Ink, and multiple shots of a white goo shot out of it. Ink simply summoned a wall of ink, and watched as the liquid carved its way through it like acid.

"You know, I once was like you, unable to understand the purpose of this, all of this..." he said, as he showed the hundreds of universes around them. "My mistake was to think someone would come and give me answers."

He bent over, and summoned a large amount of acrylic paint, which assembled into a large blob and stuck the White Ink to the ground. The skeleton immediately started tearing through the thick matter with his Eraser.

Meanwhile, Ink's memory kept progressing in his head.

It was the first time Ink had ever seen a universe from the inside. Its name was Undertale. It was filled with multiple people of different races and origins, and some of them looked a lot like him. Ink kept learning about the course of the universe, only stopping to refill his vials from time to time. He saw the secret friendship between Sans and Toriel. The sacrifice of the first fallen human for the prince of monsters. The hope in the eye sockets of Papyrus. Whenever he thought he'd seen the most beautiful things the multiverse had to offer, something would surpass all of his previous experiences. Ink cried a lot during that time. Both tears of happiness, sadness, and even anger. The mixed feelings caused by the beauty of  this world, the knowledge of knowing he would never know anything like this, and the thought that someone had probably wanted it to be this way.

"I was jealous. Furious. But at the same time, seeing that beauty, so perfect that I couldn't achieve it, made me realize I was actually meant to preserve it. You don't have to hang onto this hate !"

The opponent ignored his words, dodged both of his hits, then took him by surprise by not using his staff, and instead grabbing Ink's skull between his hands. A loud, booming voice resonated in the protector's head.

𝕀𝕋'𝕊 𝕄𝕐 ℙ𝕌ℝℙ𝕆𝕊𝔼.

He then took advantage of Ink's surprise, and lifted him into the air, before smashing his skul against the ground. Before Ink could even get up, White!Ink placed his foot on his back, and pressed hard to keep him from doing so, as he lifted his Eraser Pen into the air.

Ink was in disbelief, still lost between that memory which wouldn't stop unraveling, and his enemy's reply. What was it all meant to be ? He thought he could convince White!Ink to do the right thing, but it had horribly backfired. What lesson was there to learn ?

Was he just that useless ?

The black, glitchy skeleton had a cackled laugh, which transformed into a painful cough due to his injuries. Ink, who wasn't in a better state, was laying on the ground in front of him. None of the two could even move one bit after the extreme battle they had just went through. 

"What's so funny ?!" Asked Ink, frustrated to not have been able to neutralize this threat.

"Oh... nothing it's just..." He had another chuckle. 

"WHAT IS IT ?!" Furiously yelled Ink.

"It's just that..." for a moment, a hint of gratitude flashed in his opponent's eyes. "No one had been able to stop me until now."

"UNO !" screamed Ink as he slammed his card on the pile.

"Hey ! That's not fair, the rules say you can't put a +2 on a +2 ! You cannot ignore the rules that the makers of this intricate puzzle went through the effort of making !" complained Blue.

"Argh, who  gives a fuck about the rules !" screamed Fell as he put down a +4. "RED ! Now let's see if your happy ass is so smiley now !" he added to Ink.

"Ugh, Fell, I had a +2 for Ink..." sighed Dream as he put down his card. "If you hate this game so much, why do you even bother playing it with us ?"

"Well, 'cause someone's gotta make sure that the three... how is it again... Moon Sanses don't get their ass kicked by the first baddie that comes around !" proudly said Fell.

"What does this even have to do with UNO ?"

"Ha !" screamed Ink as he revealed his last card : a red. Everyone whined and yelled in disbelief, while Ink started boasting about how he had tricked them all.

"Hey, you still awake ?" asked Aster to Ink, who was looking at the night sky through the window of the tower. There was no response. Aster simply sat next to Ink, and they enjoyed the view together.

Ink suddenly flung Broomie, and diverted the trajectory of the pen with its handle, but not before the blade took a good chunk of Broomie's wood out.

"No."

Ink did a 360 on the ground, and took White!Ink's feet off of the ground.

"This is not about doing the right thing. 

It's about finding your place."

For the first time, White!Ink grunted.

"I thought I was being showed what convinced me to be a protector of AUs.

But it was actually what kept me going." Said Ink.

"When I started this journey, I was bitter, sad, lost. But I met wonderful people. I thought I would never manage to be honest, to be loved, to have friends... I was wrong. I thought I would never have a home, and that's true. 

But I managed to build myself a nest. A safe place with people who care for me, and for who I care. And look where leaving it got me.

I was wrong to treat you like a simple enemy, whoever you might be.

Truth is...

You're just an artist, like me.

But artists don't have fights, do they ?

They have contests."