Inkwhumptobertale 2024

Day One

Ink - Race Against the Clock, Search Party, Panic Attack, "If only we could hold on." 

Note that not every Whumptober prompt for each day will be used as it may clash with the plot I have, but I'll do my best to use all of them if applicable.

Trigger warnings: Something that may resemble a panic attack, mentions of starvation. 

Today is warm-up day. There is much warming up to do. (Obvious warm-up is obvious warm-up lol)

Comments are welcome and appreciated! 

Please enjoy!

~~~~~

Everything had gone so wrong so fast. 

Blue had been kidnapped two days ago (Blue was always the one who was kidnapped - Ink and Dream were meant to protect him!) and held hostage in exchange for something only Ink could offer: a change in the trajectory of an AU's plot. Ink was typically firmly against such requests, as, if he gave in to every demand, the multiverse would have been a much less interesting place. Every AU would have asked for a happy ending - something that just wasn't in the cards for many universes. But, of course, with Blue's life on the line, Ink hadn't had much of a choice; he had given in and changed the course of the requested AU. The judge who had made the initial request had been pleased, judging by his expression, but Ink had only had one thing on his mind.

"I did what you asked; now where's Blue?" Ink questioned. 

"..Somewhere." The judge shrugged. "I forgot."

"..You what?!" 

The altercation that had ensued hadn't garnered any answers. Ink had only been able to figure out that the judge had hidden his friend in a different AU - one of the trillions of AUs in the multiverse! And Blue was tied up, unable to use his magic; that had been information available from the start. 

Blue was restrained in an unknown AU, and no one knew which. 

Blue was a mortal.

In the few hours following the conflict with the judge, Ink had gathered several others to form search parties to sweep the multiverse, but he was afraid it wouldn't be enough - they had to sweep trillions of AUs, after all, and they were on a time limit! Ink wished he knew more about mortals. How long did it take for them to starve to death? Did mortals respawn, as he did? He didn't think they did; that was what made them mortal, right? What if Blue had already been hungry when he had been kidnapped? What if he had been starving already when he had been kidnapped?! What if he was already dust?! Ink should have watched him closer; he should have been a better friend! He and Dream were both immortals; Ink should have kept a close eyelight on the Star Sanses' one mortal member! How could he have just let someone take Blue?

How could he have lived with himself if something bad had happened? If something happened..it would have been all his fault. 

He needed to find his friend..he needed to find him now!

He split from the search party he had been leading; he could search faster on his own. The team could search through more universes if there were more groups. Ink counted as a group on his own; he was holding the operation back by sticking with others. He needed to find Blue. 

He needed to find Blue.

"Ink!" A voice called out to him amid his search.

Ink blinked, his focus turning to figuring out who was talking to him rather than centering on his failures and duties. He saw golden eyelights..he knew someone with golden eyelights, right?

"Ink, can you hear me?" The other asked.

"I..hear you." Ink nodded slowly. 

"Good. We found him, Ink; he's okay. He was in a copy of the universe of the people who took him..but he's okay now. You don't have to worry anymore."

"He's okay?" Ink felt..relief. With that, he determined that the other was Dream - of course it was Dream! Very few people could find Ink on a whim like that.

"He's doing just fine; he's going to be well enough to join us again in no time."

"..Good." Ink nodded, giving a small smile. "Is he eating?"

"Eating?" Dream tilted his skull. "Oh, right! Yes, he's eating - he's just fine."

Ink was just overreacting.