We're Not Toys

Chapter 2

TW: Drugs, mentions of body mutilation, and Stockholm Syndrome

Ink groaned quietly, the drugs he had been given slowly wearing off and he came to in his hospital bed. His eyes fluttered open, but quickly screwed shut again when they came into contact with the bright hospital lights. He tried to hide himself from the lights with his arm, but as he tried to pull it over his eyes he realised that his wrists were both held down to the bed. He forced his eyes open, squinting his eyes tightly as he looked down at the cuffs holding his arms down.

He struggled to free his wrists from them, still groggy and weak from the drugs through his system. His eyes eventually adjusted to the bright fluorescent lights and he looked around the room in a panic. Ink didn't want to be here, he wanted to go back to Nightmare. He knew that Nightmare would take care of him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Ink fought against them, looking somewhere to find a way to escape from here and back to his home. Though he was never one for escaping, or thinking. He could find no way to escape with his situation, so he did the next thing he could think of. He started screaming his head off, his throat hoarse, so much that he gave himself a headache. People came rushing in to check on him, doctors, a few guards, and Cross. They all checked on him, his vitals, giving him more pain medication, yet he wouldn't stop screaming. He wasn't screaming from pain after all, he was instead hoping that it would offer him an opportunity to get out.

The doctors stepped back after they had done everything they could to attempt to help him. He wouldn't stop screaming, so instead the guards approached him and tried to hold him down while one of the doctors prepared yet another sedative. This one wouldn't put him back to sleep, but it would hopefully calm him down enough to understand what was happening with them. Ink watched as the doctor with the needle approached him and he screamed even louder. He couldn't stop them as the guards held down his arm and the substance was injected into his arm. Ink eyes and body felt heavy and his lungs suddenly felt like they were filled with water. He couldn't breathe, his body was too heavy to move. The guards and doctors backed away from him and Cross instead closed in the distance between the two.

"Hey Ink, what's up, what do you need?" Cross asked as he sat down on the bed next to Ink and ran his hands through his hair.

"I wanna go home..." Ink muttered.

"I know Love, I know." Cross said, sliding his hand down to Ink's cheek.

"I can go home?" Ink asked.

"Of course. We just have to see what we can do to help you with all the things they did to you."

"Then I can go home."

"Yeah, I'll take you and Dream home. I'll make sure you're safe from them."

"From who?" Ink asked curiously, leaning into Cross's hand.

"From Nightmare and Killer, you know, the ones who kidnapped and tortured you?"

"No, I wanna go home with them." Ink insisted. "I want them."

Cross closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He waived his hand and reassured the doctors and guards that he would call them if he needed anything. They left the room, closing the door and giving them privacy for whatever unfortunate conversation they were about to have.

"Ink, please stop with this. They're psychopaths!" He tried to insist.

"Nightmare cares about me! He loves me." Ink responded.

"He doesn't love you. He loves the control he has over you. I love you! Dream loves you! He is manipulating you."

Ink turned his face away from Cross and shoved his hand off his cheek with his shoulder. Cross pulled his hand back to him and hesitantly reached out to Ink again, only to be shoved off every attempt he made. Ink demanded to be left alone, but he stayed by his side even though he didn't want it. Though he did get off the bed and instead pulled up one of the rolly chairs and sat on that instead. He took Ink's hand, something he couldn't fight against as his wrists were both still handcuffed down to the bed.

"I'm sorry Ink. I'm just worried about you. You were kidnapped for over a month and when you came back you were missing limbs, horribly injured, and screaming for the people that did that to you."

"I know you're worried, Cross. Yeah, I know how this looks too. But they took care of me, and they only did this because I tried to run. I deserved it."

"You didn't deserve any of this. You didn't deserve to be hurt like this." Cross said, shuffling closer to him and turning his face back so they could see each other.

"I... I did... I do..." Ink mumbled.

"No my Love. I know you didn't. You didn't deserve this, Dream didn't deserve this, Error didn't deserve what happened to him."

"Well... they didn't but I-"

"None of you deserved what happened to you."

Ink dropped his head to his chest before turning it away from Cross yet again. Though this time it was more because he just didn't really know how to respond rather than anger. He was so tired, his body still so heavy from the drugs they forced into him, and he just wanted to sleep. But at the same time he could barely sit still and he wanted to move his sore muscles around a little. Ink once again turned back to Cross and leaned over to him, nuzzling into his chest. He looked up at him, and my god Cross could not stop himself but think how adorable he looked. He placed his hand on the back of Ink's head and petted him, watching as he closed his eyes and he could feel him leaning up into his hand.

"Cross?" He asked quietly.

"Yes Love?" Cross responded, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"C-can I go for a walk?" Ink asked quietly.

"Oh, uh. Yeah. As long as you don't try to run away, yeah?" Cross asked and Ink nodded back towards him.

He hesitantly grabbed a key from one of the countertops and unlocked the handcuffs holding him down. Ink wrapped his arms around Cross and he picked him up. Ink tried to pull the IV needle that was pumping him full of pain medication out of his arm, but Cross grabbed his wrists and pulled them apart. He quietly chastised Ink, making sure he knew that he couldn't take the thing out, but his words held no real venom behind them. They carefully hobbled their way out of the room, Cross holding Ink's arm-the one that didn't have his IV-in one hand and his other pulling the IV pole and bag along with him. One of Ink's arms was hooked around his neck-the one he was holding.

Cross carried Ink over to one of the nurses and asked her for something to make it a little easier for them to go on a walk. She smiled at them and radioed someone else for a wheelchair. After only a minute or two a nurse wheeled an empty wheelchair to them and Cross carefully sat Ink down in it. He smiled up at Cross and looked around the hallways while he was being taken for the walk he so desperately wanted.

Though unbeknownst to Cross his intentions were not solely innocent. He wanted something more than just to stretch his muscles. If he really wanted to he'd just stretch in his room, a walk wouldn't do much for him, he literally couldn't walk. Ink looked around, searching desperately for a way out of this place. Cross may have been right, he might not have deserved what happened to him, but that didn't mean he didn't still want to go 'home'. Ink wanted out. He wanted to go home again, and to be with Nightmare. And maybe Killer, but mostly Nightmare. He leaned back against the back of the wheelchair, acting small and as if he was glad to be here. But he wasn't. He was just biding his time to escape, just like Dream had the entire time they were kidnapped.

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1418 words

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