Chains of Negativity

Chapter 16

TW: Blood, torture, things like that

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*steals right shoe* >:◇

Ink smiled happily, lying on his stomach and kicking his legs behind him as he coloured with the crayons Nightmare had given him. He wanted to do something with the paints, but he wasn't trusted enough to not make a mess of the floor. Nightmare didn't allow him to use them inside his room, but he begrudgingly told him that he'd find a room to do his crafts in.

"So, Ink? You've decided to stay, correct?" Nightmare asked

"I guess." ink shrugged in response. "I don't wanna go back to Dream."

"Well there's something we have to do first," He explained slowly and held his hand out for Ink to grab.

Ink slowly reached out and grabbed Nightmare's hand, who picked him up and held him at his side, like a parent would hold a toddler. They went through many hallways until they got to a room Ink had never seen before. It had pillows, shackles, metal sticks on the wall and a fireplace. Ink looked around the room in confusion, but smiled happily when he saw Cross standing there. Nightmare sat him down in the pillows that sat on the floor and Cross kneeled down next to him.

He smiled sadly and took Ink's hand before slowly guiding him into the restraints that chained him to the floor. Ink didn't mind, and he went along with his every movement, he knew Cross wouldn't do anything bad to him. So even as he was tied down and his shirt was taken off he didn't really care.

Cross then grabbed two huge straps and placed them snugly over Ink's chest, keeping the part in place. Ink then noticed the smell of something and looked to Nightmare. He sighed in relief when he saw Nightmare fanning the flames in the wood stove. He put one of the metal sticks inside the flames, but Ink still didn't clue in.

Nightmare then put on heavy, thick gloves and pulled out the metal stick, glowing red hot from the flames. The metal stick glowed the same red as the flames, and Ink could see a small amount of smoke that it was giving off. He knew it was hot, but still had no idea what he was going to do with it. Cross took his hand and reassured him with quiet words as Nightmare approached the two and stood over them menacingly.

"Wh-what's going on?" Ink finally asked, looking between the two skeletons.

"Don't worry Ink, it'll be over before you know it," Cross said, though Ink still had no idea what was going on. "It won't hurt that much, trust me."

Ink looked up to Nightmare, hoping for an actual answer. But he also didn't tell him what was going on, he didn't actually say anything at all. Nightmare held the pole in his hands and used one of his tentacles to leave a small mark on Ink's chet using the cold substance that covered his body. It only served to confuse him more, and he still had no idea what was happening; even as Nightmare lined up the small glowing moon pattern on the end of the pole with the mark he just made with his tentacle.

Though the second the glowing pattern of a moon was forced into his chest he knew what was going on. A scream ripped its way out of his throat and Cross held his hand tightly. Tears forced themselves out of his eye sockets, but just as quickly as it started, Nightmare pulled it away. Ink panted, chest heaving, and his entire body was in excruciating pain. Nightmare placed the still glowing rod back in the fireplace and leaned down to inspect his work. He wanted to see how the lines looked, and how perfect he was able to make it.

Though despite Ink's struggling and screams it was quite perfect. But he had done this four times before-every member of the Bad Sanses other than Error had one of these moons on their sternum before-so it made sense that he was good at it.

Ink's head fell to the side and he looked up at Cross, his vision blurred from the tears. He muttered a small 'why' to him before his eyes fell heavy. He could barely keep them open, probably from the pain coursing through his chest. Cross understood, he also passed out after when he was given his brand, and he soothed Ink to sleep with loving words and quiet apologies.

"Thank you for making it so quick for him." Cross said.

"I did nothing different for him than I did for any of you." Nightmare responses, taking the branding iron out of the fire and back where he got it from.

"What do you want to do with him now?"

"Take him to my room, let him rest." Nightmare leaned down and traced the outline of the brand. "Make sure to bandage this up first."

"Why can't you do it?"

"I have things to attend to. Don't question me Cross." he said, walking out of the room and leaving Cross to clean up after him.

He sighed and carefully picked Ink up. He left his shirt on the floor to be collected later and carried him up to Nightmare's room. Cross placed him on Nightmare's bed. He grabbed the first roll of bandages he could see, which was easy since Ink needed to be bandaged almost constantly. He wrapped them around Ink's sternum and a few of the ribs that were closest to the brand before covering him in the blankets on top of Nightmare's bed and leaving the room.

Ink awoke in the bed in a lot of pain. The brand in his chest hurt, but the shock collar around his neck was the thing that woke him up. He groaned from the pain and struggled to try and pull the collar off his neck despite how it was definitely not coming off. He knew that, but he still struggled. Ink fell from the bed to the floor and heard a small chuckle from above him. He looked up and saw Nightmare hiding the small smile on his face under a hand. The collar turned off, giving Ink a moment to breathe under Nightmare's command.

"N-Nightmare?" Ink whimpered out through his pants.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm just going to have some fun with you. Just like usual." He said, shoving the control to the collar in his pocket.

"B-but you alread-" Ink started, getting interrupted.

"That brand was just the start of what is going to happen to you tonight."

He grabbed Ink and pulled him to his feet, holding him at his side and helping him walk over to the desk. He sat down on Nightmare's chair and his hands were guided so they were flat against the desk. He looked up at him with tired confusion.

"What are you gonna do?" Ink asked quietly.

He got no response, only a sinister smile on his face. He tried to pull his hands back into his lap, but Nightmare's tentacles wrapped around his wrists and held them against the desk. Ink's struggles were short-lived, especially when Nightmare slammed a hammer down into the back of his hand.

Ink let out a screech of pain, tears immediately flowing down his face as his hand cracked apart. The blood pooled out of the cracks and onto the desk below him. His body collapsed and his head fell forward and hit his chest. Ink begged for mercy and apologised for whatever he did wrong, though it didn't appeal to any 'humanity' Nightmare had left in him. He smirked and smashed the hammer down into his other hand, making him scream in pain yet again. It caused similar damage to the first hand, though maybe the cracks were a little worse.

"So disrespectful, passing out when I take time out of my day to do something for you. I made sure Dream would never touch you ever again. I made sure that anyone who sees you will know you're mine, and you throw away my efforts?" Nightmare said, chuckling sadistically. "So I took away something important to you. I bet you won't be able to draw in that state."

Ink sobbed, unable to process any of his words with the pain shooting through his hands. Nightmare shushed him and used his tentacles to bandage his hands. Though he made sure to make them just a little too tight, just to hurt him more. He then grabbed Ink and laid him down in blanket palace to sleep, even though with all that pain he probably wasn't going to be able to sleep any time soon. Nightmare left him alone in the room to cry until he passed out, which-after another few hours-he did end up doing.