The Stage is Set

The Sweetest Suffering of a Parent pt. 3

Sorry for the long wait! Life was kicking my butt. Here are the next few chapters! They're a little longer!Derniere Danse - Indila

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That promise turned physical and sits on his hand. That beautiful, blue band that twists with pure tungsten. The moon cut spinel gems that bracket the sapphire. Small vines made of silver frame the gems. It's a beautiful ring. Steeped in symbolism. From the metals to the gems, all of it. The colors, the craft. Everything is beautiful. It sparkles in the sun, stars, and moon, catching everything as a promise. It catches the light, breaking it into fragments that shine on everything. It's polished and buffed. Smoothed and priceless all the same. Swap must have saved up for a long time to get the gems and such for the ring. It's a ring that he's never thought he would wear.

Handmade, Swap had tried his best with the carvings he did, and buffing the deep cuts turned them into dents. It was the labor of love that made Ink swoon. Swap had created something with his own hands, going as far as finding someone to learn from. Ink never cared about the gems or the metals. He never cared for any wealth that Swap could've offered. It was the act of creation, making something for him. For him. Something that meant that Swap wanted him, chose him, to stay with forever. It was the very act of loving him that much that he would ask to marry him.

Something he never thought would be shown to him with a promise of a companion for the rest of their lives. He takes it off. He uses it as an example to carve into his finger, a promise and a reminder. He will never forget his Swap, nor will he ever let this happen again. He will never let anyone he loves be taken away from him again. Not by the creators. He hides the ring, locked away in a bubble of ink, preserved for another time. Preserved and to never be looked at or worn again. Not until his grief is gone. Not until the time is right. Until then, the ring will stay hidden. The one of a matching set sits heavy on his sternum. Sits heavy on its chain. Instead, he takes a look around at the tree he owns. This is his space. He decides the rules here.

He decides what's enough and what's not.

It is enough, it has to be. A thought hits him. The others made him feel like a creation without any meaning other than to be in their stories, but that couldn't be further from the truth. He is a creator too. He has the power to create Sanses too. They gave him that power and never took it away. They gave him that power and made him forget about it. They taught him how to use that power and made him feel as if he could never use it properly. He doesn't need Lea's help.

Ink steps through the tree, landing in the DoodleSphere. He stands there, on the dead field of blue. He doesn't look at the broken island of UnderSwap, the original UnderSwap. Instead, he pushes it away; pushes the island out of sight, hidden away so that no one else can see the failure that he allowed to happen. So no one would see the pain that he endured. He may never have the original back, but he'll make a Swap that will never be under the influence of the Creators. He will make a new Swap Sans, one meant for him. One that he will protect to the end of the Multiverse and back. One he knows will be strong enough to stay alive against the creators themselves. One that will get to see the happy ending that Swap never got to see. Ink sets the scrap down, he stares at the ring that dangles on his chain. He can feel the boosts, the enchantments infused with the ring. The twin of the ring made for Ink, made by Ink, sits there on his chain.

Innocently.

Yet, he knows the magic he infused granting vitality, strength, durability, and minor regeneration. Something that he will infuse into this new Swap. This will be his gift. To make sure that they stay alive. They have to stay alive. They will. He will make sure of it. He will give all he can to make sure that this Swap, this creation, will live. They have to live. He will do everything to make sure they stay alive. Yet, as he stares at the ring on his chain... He decides to put their happiness first. This new Swap, made from him, made by him. He doesn't want to attach those strings to him. He will not string this Swap to him, he will not be merciless. No. He will not be like those creators before him. He will not be like the ones who raised him. He will not make this Swap to be bound to him, he wants love that's natural. A love that he knows he can feel without any fragment of his original soul, without paint.