I'll Make You Mine

Better Late Than Never: Ribbon

(Content warnings: Drowning, torture, mouth gore, near character death)

The second Ribbon teleported into his room, he ducked and hid under his blankets.

He tried to calm down his shivering and remind himself that yes, he was safe! He picked up as many stuffed animals as he could and hugged them to his chest. He wasn't there, but he could hear the faint blasts of Gaster Blasters and the shing of bones and knives. Or that was all in his head, his messy, dumb little head.

I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Ribbon's thoughts raced. Why are they going through so much effort to take me away? Why does Dream hate me so much? Did I do something wrong? I can't go back, not into that scary hospital . . .

No, Nightmare would never let him be kidnapped and tormented again, he said it himself.

Ribbon clutched Nightmare's oversized jacket tighter. It smelled like him, apple cider, and it was cozy. Ribbon knew that though as he was the one who made it. He kicked his high heels off and laid the chain of flowers aside. He hoped he could still wear it later, once they defeated Dream and could celebrate.

To distract himself, he played with Sprinkles, the bunny plush he took from Epictale. It was one of his favorites, the teddy bear Nightmare gave him. The second was the very first plush he had in his collection. He named it Lumi. It was even one of the animals he painted on his wall.

Ribbon tilted the heads and messed with the paws of his stuffed animals. "Am I overreacting? Is Nightmare going to be okay? Is he in danger? Oh no oh no . ." Ribbon rubbed his bunny's arms against his cheek to pretend it was hugging him. Ribbon nuzzled, but he couldn't stop worrying about Nightmare, Horror, Killer, and himself. Ribbon closed his eyes. If he went to sleep, it would all be over by the time he woke up! It was a perfect plan! He tried his best to drift off. He managed to half-sleep for ten, maybe fifteen minutes.

The doll thought he heard footsteps, but that wasn't possible. There was no one else here! Was Nightmare back already? But it sounded too frantic. Nightmare could be nervous and wanted to get to him quickly.

The doll looked up as a skeleton with a purple jacket broke into his room. He panted with his eye sockets closed. He opened them to reveal a glowing purple eye. He looked around and groaned. "Ugh . . . not this weird ass room again-"

Epic noticed Ribbon cuddled up on his bed. Ribbon scampered backward, muffling a scream. Panic made him forget his battle training. He struggled between deciding to fight or to hide. Epic did a double take and grinned a serial killer smile. "Oh, hey bruh. Aren't you supposed to be getting married right now?"

"Yeah, N- Nighty hid me from the bad guys. We're married!" Ribbon's voice trembled. He stood up and walked to the side of the room with his parasol. He took a deep breath. Pretend Nightmare was here and he was watching, he was going to be proud . . . Ribbon had to protect him and the castle. "Why are you here?"

"I was breaking in with Cross to get that contract Nightmare put you under! Then Killer came out of nowhere and told Cross he 'just wanted to talk'. Cross told me to run and we argued and then he pushed me out. I didn't want to end up here, bruh." Epic stood up. His hand glided to his belt, but then he paused. A smug look covered his face. "I'm not going to hurt you, put the parasol down."

"No!" Ribbon didn't know what he meant by serum. His hand reached up to touch his ruby necklace. He had a bad feeling about that. But Killer was here? He had a backup! Ribbon relaxed a bit. Epic turned around as he heard knives clashing in the hallway. He sighed and offered his hand to Ribbon.

"Look, bruh. I don't know what's going on in your head right now and I get you don't trust me. But this is also seriously messed up. The other guys and I are getting you out of here and to some much-needed therapy. This whole doll and mind control nonsense is finally going to be over." As Epic spoke, he inched toward the door until he entered the hallway. The battle sounds grew louder. Glass shattered.