Sweetheart (Errorink)

Unwinnable Games

Ink's POV

"What a STUPID idea!"

I was facing ridicule from Nightmare, who was aggressively wrapping my injuries in bandages in the hospital-like room from before. He was right, of course, it had been a stupid idea, but nobody was giving up any information regarding my Soul so with no other options I decided to follow the one lead I did have.

I'd asked Cross, he claimed that he was busy and that we could talk about it later. That talk never came.

I'd asked Dust, he claimed to only know that Nightmare had experimented a few times prior but didn't know the specifics. No new information there.

I'd asked Horror, he claimed that he knew nothing about it at all. Useless.

I'd tried to ask Error, he told me to put it to the side and focus on getting used to my Soul.

I'd asked Killer, he told me that there was nothing he could tell me that I didn't already know. He'd muttered something about me not deserving so much attention. I'd learnt that he and Nightmare hadn't made up after their argument.

I'd gone to Dream in hopes that I could learn something new. Error had told me to stay away, which obviously meant that it had something to do with Dream. But..

"I'm sorry."

Nightmare rolled his eye and continued to wrap my wounds, muttering profanities to himself.

I hadn't intended to get hurt so much, that part was an accident. Sort of.

"What made you decide to do such a thing? I've given you one rule, Ink. One! Just one and yet you can't stop breaking it." He chastised, his tentacles flaring.

"I-"

"Don't lie to me." He warned.

I remained silent for a moment.

"The morphine.. I hated feeling numb so I.."

"So you got into a fight with Dream and almost died?!"

"Well, dying is a bit of a stretch-"

"No, it isn't!" He yelled, standing up. "I think you've forgotten that you do indeed have a Soul now, Ink. We don't know if you're capable of death!"

I could die? That thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Dream wouldn't have killed me though, he'd have kidnapped me and tried to get me back on his team. There was no danger.

"Hey, Nightmare?"

"What?" He snapped back.

"When I was near Dream.. my Soul, it-"

"Burned? Yeah, everyone's does, it's his aura."

That made no sense. I'd never heard of something like that happening, not from anyone. Besides, my Soul burned normally nowadays, it's just that around Dream it felt.. exponentially worse.

"Why doesn't it burn near you?"

"I don't know, maybe you're used to mine."

He was angry I was asking questions, I could tell. He was hiding something and he could tell that I knew about it, but he wasn't bringing it up. I figured by now he'd have tried to convince me I was going crazy or something, but to my surprise he was just pacing around the room.

"Why did you lie to me?"

He paused and turned towards me. "What?"

"You told me that I made up a conversation before," I began, hopping off of the bed, "the one where you told me that you'd kill Cross if he told people about the Apple Incident."