The Stage is Set

What a painful, playful start pt.4

Play Date - Melanie Martinez

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The others follow behind Reaper, most running to catch up as the fragment leads them further into the room, away from the safety of ignorance. The room seems to grow cold, a distant whine rings out; trying to call them back to the door, trying to keep them away. Dream carries Blue in his arms as he flies just under Reaper. Reaper spins into a dive after the soul piece falls from the air. He used to do these barrel rolls fun, a part of the dance he made for Geno. Now he uses them to chase his brother, hoping to be fast enough to catch him before he falls and shatters. He tucks his wings as tight as he can to increase his speed. He has to reach the fragment and save his brother. He has to. He barely pulls away from the floor, missing the fragment by a few inches. His wings brush against the floor, unsettling the ink, as he pulls out of his dive. He watches as the fragment slips under the paint, cursing himself for missing the fragment.

Cross is the first to catch up to Reaper, "Where did it go?"

Reaper holds back a screech of frustration as he turns to Cross. "Gone." He grips Geno's scarf tightly as the weight of all his clothes and bag returns to him.

Cross looks around bewildered before looking back at Reaper. "What? What do you mean 'gone?!'"

Reaper points to the ground, but before he can say anything Dream cuts him off, "Uhh... That doesn't look gone from here." His voice falls onto the others from above.

Dream and Blue watch from above as the soul fragment creates a bubble around itself. They watch as it starts to pulse a soft soulbeat. Blue feels something in him unwind as his soul catches onto the beat. It's familiar, in a calming way. Something tells him that everything will be alright. That he's heard this soulbeat before. Dream pulls Blue's back closer to his chest as he squeezes Blue's rib cage. Something about Blue's feelings curls in Dream's core wrong, and his instincts scream not to let go of Blue. Dream debates on landing, before deciding to hover a bit higher.

Reaper turns to see what Dream is talking about as he hears Killer let out a swear from being startled. Cross gapes at the paint bubble rising from the floor, covering the soul fragment from view before popping. Error lets out a small squeak as he watches the soul glow before making a figure of light, a body, to hide in. He feels the soul fragment send out little pulses of questions and emotions. Error wants nothing more than to wrap the soul fragment in his strings and keep it safe. He wants to hold onto that piece of Ink until everything is okay. He steps forward, only to be stopped by Nightmare's hand.

Lust and Cross warily watch as the figure floats back down to the floor. Dream and Blue land near them, Dream stares at the figure with distrust. It's Ink, but it isn't the one they know, right? The emotions rolling off of the figure are dulled, sluggish. It's hard to read what it is giving off. Something that only happened before Ink had a soul. Dream lets go of Blue, holding his hand instead of trying to hold him down with body weight. Blue stares at the figure, noting how much taller than normal it is. If this is supposed to be Ink, why is it so much taller than him?

Cross starts to walk closer to it before an arm stops him. "Reaper?"

Reaper narrows his sockets at the figure as it slumps over on the paint. "Don't go over there." Something tells him that the figure is just a little too left of right.

Cross jerks in confusion, "What do you mean?" He points at the figure, "It's only a fragment of Ink. He's not going to hurt me!" Reaper doesn't respond and Cross feels himself bristle, "You can't be serious! That's Ink! He won't hurt me!"

Cross moves around Reaper's reach before jogging over to the figure. Reaper misses grabbing Cross's jacket. He hisses as his feathers puff out again. "Cross! Get back here!" He takes a step forward before looking around.

Cross sticks his tongue out at Reaper as he continues getting closer. He grumbles that all of the others chose to distrust this. They all know it's a part of Ink! Why are they so weary? Ink knows them! He wouldn't hurt them! Cross knows that Ink wouldn't hurt him. They are brothers. Ink knows him to be his brother. So he slows down to walk over to the figure. As he gets closer, he can hear the figure crying softly. He falters for a second, he's never heard Ink cry before. Not a sad cry, never one of sadness. Ink's always hidden that from them or cried so quietly that no one noticed. It's different. It almost feels wrong, but he would never say it. His brother has been strong for far too long, it's okay for him to cry. Cross firms his stance and continues forward.

As he steps closer, the figure, glowing a greyed-out blue, turns to look over their shoulder. The figure is Ink, just more human; there's nothing dangerous about it. It is his brother and nothing more. The figure pauses before turning back around. Cross isn't sure if it actually saw him, or something else. He knows that there isn't anything behind him, but now he isn't so sure. As he steps closer, the ground begins to shake. A perfect recreation of Ink's house builds itself around them, and the others watch with worry. Each of them has their hands on their weapons as they watch Cross inspect what looks like a very familiar house. One that the figure sits on the steps of.

Dream is the first to call it, "Holy shit." His grip on his swords loosens, "It's Ink's house. It's a perfect replica."

Blue nods as he shuffles closer toward Cross and the figure, "The question is why. Why did Ink make this? Who is that with Cross?"

Lust vaguely reaches out to slap Blue's shoulder as he watches for anything else that might pop up. "That's more than one question, Blue."

Killer squints as he stares at Cross and the figure, "Is it... Is it crying?"