The Enemies Maid (Ink x The Bad Guys)

A Hopeless Norm

This was supposed to be published in between 'The Pain of Love' and 'Finding A Fix' but I forgot to publish it :(

So here it is now! Enjoy!

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Cross leaned against the couch, throwing his shoes off and being so happy that he could finally rest. Ink wasn't screaming in pain at the moment, which wasn't very helpful, but at least he wasn't actively in excruciating pain. Killer sighed, picking up the bag filled with stuff they gathered from the mission they all just got back from. He wished he could rest, but he had to get them to Nightmare before he could pass out against one of his friends or the couch. Cross, Horror, Dust, and Error were all much luckier than him though and they immediately all flopped down on the many couches they had set up in the living room.

Dust almost immediately fell asleep, the second he hit the couch he was out like a light. Horror wanted to pass out as well, but he was hungry as hell and despite the fact that he was not getting back up from the couch he was not going to fall asleep without some food. Error also refused to fall asleep, though more because he knew he sleeps for a long time and the second they were all conscious enough to function they would vandalise his unconscious body. Though even as he fought to stay awake he found himself drifting into unconsciousness until he joined Dust in slumber. Cross understood, he was fighting unconsciousness himself. He waited for Killer to return though, and he forced himself to his feet and fixed some food for Horror. He didn't want to move, but he had a habit of putting everyone's needs before his own. So he waited for Killer to see if he needed anything before he let himself even think about sleeping.

Thankfully Killer had returned eventually, and he fell onto the only one of his friends that was still awake and promptly passed out. Cross sighed and leaned back on the couch, a passed out Killer in his arms. He almost let himself fall asleep before the screaming started. He jumped and was forced back into delirious consciousness when he heard Ink screaming once again. Cross tried to block out the noise, his hands pushing so harshly against his ear holes that he may have even left bruises. It hurt, hearing someone he loved so dearly, and cared for so much in so much pain. He was powerless, which was even worse than anything else. Cross hated being powerless, not being able to do anything to help him other than stand aside and do whatever Nightmare said.

He jumped when he felt hands grabbing his wrists and carefully pulling them away from his skull. He knew they were Nightmare's hands, they were too gentle to be anyone else's, and even then, they were all completely passed out. Cross opened his eyes and looked up at Nightmare. He was carrying a mixture of the things they had just brought him with a tentacle, his face gaunt, heavy bags under his eye. He looked horrible, the worst Cross had ever seen him. Nightmare had looked like this when Dust had such a bad episode he almost killed himself, or when Cross was shot in the chest with Dream's arrow, or when Swap's blue magic had damaged Killer's soul. And now this. Ink screaming his non-existent lungs out, his throat rugged and hoarse.

"It is okay Cross. I will take care of him, alright? Sleep. Rest. You need it." Nightmare said, dropping his hands and petting his skull lovingly.

Cross felt Nightmare's magic flowing through him, and despite the screaming in the distance he accepted it freely. He trusted Nightmare to do what he had to, and he needed the sleep after all. He would take care of it all, and he could take care of him, Cross let him do what he needed.

Nightmare watched him fall asleep and looked around to the rest of his boys. He felt bad for all of this, pushing them to the point that they were this exhausted. He hoped that this would be the end of it, that he had finally found Ink's cure. He himself was sick of the screaming, sick of being powerless, sick of not being able to fix everything for him. All Nightmare wanted was to fix everything for Ink, for all his boys, and he was sick of not being able to care for them in the way they needed.

He walked through the halls, flinching at how at every step he took the screams became louder. Nightmare hated that he had to do this, but Ink was getting worse, and in this situation he had to hurt him in order to help him. He entered Ink's room and approached him despite the painful screams. Nightmare placed his hand against Ink's skull and used his magic to soothe him as much as he could, which was unfortunately not as much as he wanted to. But it was enough that Ink stopped screaming and his pain dulled down substantially.

"Hey Love, are you hungry, do you need anything?" Nightmare asked cautiously, and impossibly kind.

"N-no. I-I'm alright." Ink mumbled, his body still in enough pain that he could barely move, but it wasn't scream-worthy, not after Nightmare used his magic.

"I have anothe-'

"Noo, it w-won't work." Ink groaned, cutting Nightmare off. "It'll just hurt m-more!"

"We have to try. You said there was something Dream and Swap gave you that made it better, we just have to figure out what that was."

"Niiight, it won't work. It'll just hurt more." He announced, throwing his head to the side and refusing to take their newest concoction.

"Please Ink. Just try it. It can not hurt, can it?" He pleaded.

Ink looked back at him and sighed. He forced himself to sit up and-ignoring the pain in his entire body-reached out for the substance. Nightmare handed it to him and watched attentively as he gulped down the entire thing, they both hoped it would offer him some relief. Though as the minutes ticked by with no improvement their hopes were dashed with reality. Nightmare sighed sadly and took the small bowl from his hands and laid him back down on his back, tucking in the covers to make him as comfortable as he could.

"I told you." Ink said, turning on his side, away from Nightmare.

"I am sorry. We will find something. I prom-"

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Ink said, hitting Nightmare's hand off his shoulder when he reached out to him.

"I will keep that promise. I will find something."

"Only Dream and Swap know how to fix it. You won't find anything."

Nightmare immediately thought of something that may work to help him. He leaned down, kissing Ink on the back of his skull before vanishing back up to his office. For the first time in weeks instead of running off and searching desperately for answers he had what he thought was a clear plan. He started planning a mission, one that instead of being solely for murder and destruction-quelling his boys' LV-it was for Dream and Swap.

If they were the only ones who knew how to save him-to help him-then they would do that. He would make them do it, whether they wanted to or not. He would do whatever he wanted to them, torture them until they gave him what they needed to fix their lover.

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1264 words

Have a good day/night and I hope you enjoyed :]