Repeating Steps

Endure

The air smelled like buttercups.

It was the first thing Ink noticed, even before opening his eyes. The smell was strong- too strong to actually be buttercups. It was an overwhelming smell, reminding him vividly of the flowers that had been left all over his house. Blue had loved them, so much so that Ink had memorized every detail of them. 

The faintness of the smell was gone, leaving what was a usually comforting smell to instead feel unsettling and wrong.

His eyes opened without another thought, revealing an off-white ceiling, and the strongly coloured couch he was on just in his peripheral. Sitting up, Ink recognized where he was, in a faint, second-hand account kind of way. It was some Sans' house, yet the name of who it might specifically belong to escaped him. 

The smell of buttercups faded, just as Ink realized there wasn't a flower in sight.

"Ink!" A familiar voice exclaimed, causing him to startle and tense up. Ink looked towards the noise- towards the kitchen- and was met with familiar, comforting golden eyes.

Ink stared for only a moment. "Dream" He recognized, staring at the relieved face in front of him.  

Dream's relieved expression morphed into a large smile, before the familiar sensation of Dream's air-tight hugs overcame him. Ink returned it without thinking, ignoring the disconcerting feeling of something being off. Dream didn't seem to notice this, hugging even tighter before letting go.

"You're awake!" Dream spoke, resting his hands on Ink's arms- just slightly too loose to be considered hugging. "Do you have any idea how worried we were? Any longer and Blue would've dragged Sci over here! You can't just do that!" Dream berated, his voice hitting a familiar sharpness it always did whenever he got worried. It usually amused him, or on rare occasions- made him feel unnaturally warm. Now, however, all he could feel was a foreboding sense of wrongness.

Something jagged scratched at his mind as he took in Dream's words, despite nothing appearing wrong with them. The feeling of something just out of reach escaping him.

He couldn't stop the frown from appearing on his face, and it seemed to make Dream pause. "...Can't do what?" He decided to ask, when all other words failed him. A part of him itched to ask other questions, to ask if Dream felt as off-put as Ink did, but something stopped him. Something worryingly unfamiliar.

Dream moved back a bit- surprise colouring his features. "You don't remember?" He asked cautiously, hands tightening with worry. Ink nodded, though he hesitated, slightly confused. Lapses in his memory weren't uncommon, and as much as Dream disliked them, it wasn't the type of thing to cause much worry- not anymore, at least. A deep frown reappeared on his face, "Nothing? What's the last thing you remember?" He questioned, a gloved hand landing on Ink's cheek.

It was surprising, when no answer could come to his mind. He remembered places, of course, and people. He had memories- he could still vividly remember the first time they had met- but trying to remember what had happened more recently was difficult, as if there was a dense fog all over him, and the sense of something being gone only grew heavier.

Ink was silent for too long, clearly, as Dream's frown only grew as he stood up from the couch. "Okay. I don't care what Fell thinks, I'm getting Sci." Dream decided, making it finally click on whose house this was- Why was he in Underfell of all places?- Golden eyes then landed back on Ink, yellow boots landing on the ground a little too hard to be casual. "Blue will be here any minute, okay? I'm sure everything's fine" Dream reassured, though due to Dream's tone, it sounded like he was comforting himself more than anything. 

Dream didn't waste any more time, his short, yellow and blue figure leaving quickly afterwards. Ink stared at the place Dream had teleported from for a few seconds, eyes furrowing.