Opposite Ink

Chapter 55 - The Follower

No One's View:
The last thing Error could remember before getting knocked unconscious was the way Ink's soft hand gripped his tightly.

He woke up on a cold stone floor, blinking as he recalled being knocked out with a weapon; his skull was hurting really badly and it took him more than a few minutes to adjust to the ambient obscurity. When he did, he was greeted by the sight of Ink, tied up to the another wall of the cell, much like Ink, his chains gave him enough space to struggle a bit, but not nearly enough for them to get up.

Error tried his best to break free from his shackles, before they captors went to look for them, but it proved a futile endeavor as even when he used the absolute strongest magic he could muster right now, they didn’t break, merely trembled, they were made of some new type of magic, he could feel the imprint within, not only that but whoever this weirdo was had most certainly put them either in their own domain or an extremely magic suppressing AU, to weaken him.

The glitch tried to speak, only for his headache to return at full force, making him wince and getting worried looks from Ink. The artist was getting low on paint, he was worried about running out, both of their emotions did nothing to better the situation but even he couldn’t think of a way to get out of this for once, at the very least they wouldn’t be killed or else whoever this was would have done so when they were defenseless, he hoped it wouldn’t be worse than death.

Before they could talk, their eyes widened as Two TVs turn on for each of them. Error's eyes widened as a video of Ellie and Horror being beaten harshly played. Was this real?!

* HEY! LET THEM GO!!-

* Y-You're hurting them!

The video lasted about 15 minutes...

It wasn't even real...

Ink felt sick, angry, frustrated… terrified.

He had just witnessed his friends get hurt badly. The videos changed into a pink and blue swirl...were they trying to hypnotise them?
His eyelights met Error's, who was still as determined as always, Ink knew he couldn't give in.

The artist bit his tongue as he almost let the spell in by accident, he had to be careful, to stay focused on his task. Whatever this cell was, was making it do that they could close their eyes or sleep...

Ink had to face a second problem however, he would soon start to be low on paint, the vials had been confiscated by someone when he was unconscious and he could feel the consumption rate was abnormally high, probably due to being in an unknown domain as well as the stress of potentially losing himself as well as Error.
He looked at the glitch again, which was enough to avoid losing his focus to the hypnotic swirl, if he had Error, he’d last as long as possible, or until he ran out of paint, if that happened, even if he was hypnotised, he’d be left unable to act anyway, plus his intuition told him whoever this was wanted someone who could actually obey, if he asked for paints, he’d most likely get them.

An hour later...

Ink’s focus was slipping more and more, with only sharp glares from his yet uncorrupted lover along with intent to wake him up for some time, enough he could afford to focus better, Error looked almost okay, he was the most determine of them both, Ink wanted nothing more than to hug him or at least talk to him, but that damn magic was forcing his silence.

Two humans entered the cell upon realising Ink's technique. One whispered something to the other and the next moment, they were standing to the side of Ink, blocking his view completely and hiding Error from him. His nonexistent soul sank in his chest as his only saving grace was taken from him, ripped away at the worst possible moment, when he was exhausted and almost at the point of needing Error's help.

'Just continue looking at the swirl...you're doing so well...let yourself go..'

The praises continued, except they slowly changed, shifting from nonsense “let yourself go" to simply telling him compliments, he could even see the change in their eye colour as they went back to something more akin to what they were normally.

'You’re doing so great!' One said.

'Playing the perfect prisoner for us.' The other insisted as if it was a roleplay.

Ink couldn’t take his eyes off the screen, it was indistinguishable from reality. It was never ending, testing his limits, waiting for the moment the artist slipped up and lost focus, it would happen soon, he couldn’t close his sockets because then he’d only focus on the others voices and it would be worse...he couldn't close them anyways.

Time became meaningless as he couldn’t see anything except the swirl and he could only hear the two humans going on and on about how Error would love to see him when he got back in just five hours. It was weird, he was sure Error was in the same cell as him...but it could have been Ink’s fault, he just had to last longer.

The more the two whispered to him, the more he was starting to believe it himself, he found himself daydreaming about their time together, and how such a play would be rare, but not off the table at all.
The artist couldn’t tell what was real and what was not in their speech, they said everything with so much conviction, not only that but he couldn’t see Error at all, maybe it really was a surprise for him. He fought back against the swirl he assumed to be a toy, maybe, he couldn’t focus enough to remember, simply enjoying the swirl...

That's all that mattered.

The two strangers moved so Error could see Ink fully mesmerised at the TV. The grabbed Error made made him stand up and forcefully look at the swirl and nothing else.

'Give in, it's what Ink would want...'

Error tried to close his eyes but he couldn't, the spell getting harder and harder to resist.

* C'mon Error...give in for me..

That's all he needed to hear...