Inkwhumptobertale 2024

Day Twenty-Eight

Panic - Denial, CCTV, Exposure, "They caught me red handed." 

Another installment of the Demon timeline, and the last for this year!

Trigger warnings: referenced child abuse, a bit of verbal abuse, and biting.

Comments are welcome and appreciated! 

Please enjoy!

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Killer's crew had taken in Dream two months ago, and neither Dream nor Demon (or Nightmare, as Dream called him) knew exactly how many times Ink and Blue had attempted to get their "teammate" back. Well, Killer knew; Killer and the others had stopped all twenty-eight of those attempts without letting Dream or Demon know, and they were prepared to defend their little brothers with their lives, if needed. The twins (it was so obvious, now that Dream had started to come out of his shell) spent most of their days together, enjoying being able to spend time together again and learning about eachother, and Demon was really helping Dream to discard his..numerous bad habits. 

Dream had been abused. It had been obvious when he had been in Ink and Blue's care, and it was obvious now..but Killer and the others had never realized the extent of it until now, because Dream had told them. Dream had told them about the villagers who had lived next to the tree that the twins protected, and he recounted how they had always disliked Demon - apparently, to the point of locking him in a cage in the middle of nowhere. And once they had done that, they had enslaved Dream; the little guardian didn't want to use that term, but it was the truth. They had made long lists of rules that had excluded Dream from being a person, convincing him over centuries that his only purpose in life was to serve them, and they had been oh-so-happy to teach him everything he needed to know to do anything they wanted. And they had left marks on the poor boy, both visible and not. It made sense that Dream had jumped at Ink and Blue's offer; they were still abusing him, but not to such an extent as he had experienced before, and that had been too enticing for him to refuse. After Dream had told the family about his experiences, they had all become noticeably more protective of him, and..they couldn't regret it; Dream had been put through so much, and he still had the mind of a child.

And he had those lists of rules burned into his head by those cruel people. There were so many "guardian rules" that they had expected him to follow! There were rules about food, sleep, and clothing, as well as manners and "respectfulness"! They had only fed him once a week, if he was lucky, and they had made him work until he passed out, most days! Dream had mentioned being so overjoyed when Ink and Blue had taken him clothes shopping for the first time (one of the few good things the duo had ever done), because his uniform all those years had been "really itchy and uncomfortable." They had made him smile all day every day, beating him when it dropped for even a second.

Dream still struggled with so many things, and it was hard to figure out how exactly to help him. But Killer knew one thing for sure; he and his brothers would be keeping Dream and Demon for as long as they possibly could, and they would keep them safe from Ink, Blue, and any cruel townspeople who wanted to harm them. They would care for them and give them the life they deserved.

"Can we have cookies?" Demon asked, in the middle of dinner; the family were having spaghetti, and Dream was..trying to eat a little; he took one noodle at a time, slowly getting accustomed to eating without restrictions.

"You ate the last one earlier, though." Dream reminded.

"I can make more." Horror volunteered. "Would you like to help me?" 

"Absolutely!" Dream responded, before blinking; he wasn't supposed to immediately answer those types of questions anymore, was he? "Um..I mean yes?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Cross reminded, gently.