Book 1: The First Fallen Human

The Reluctant Dragon

Ink blinked. "Oh." He said simply, having featured with the rainbow-filled vial. Scooter blinked and fixed her dull gaze on him while Error remained asleep. He had wrapped strings around Scooter and connected them to the ground to create a sort of slanted hammock for him to lay in. "Did you-"

"I let him."

Ink blinked again before nodding. Scooter couldn't get up yet due to being trapped in her sitting form by Error's strings. They'd somewhat sliced into Scooter's side, but she didn't seem to mind. Even with maroon blood running from the side of her mouth.

"Is that it...?"

Ink nodded, holding the vial carefully. He had taken a bit longer due to the fact that he had to put the emotions in a certain order before they could all mix well. He just... hadn't figured out the order beforehand. "Anything INKciting happen while I was gone?" He asked, chuckling softly. Scooter blinked and shrugged.

"Error showed me his SOUL."

Ink's eyes went wide. "He did?? Wow!" He glanced at Error before kneeling in front of her. "Is it still, like, void black?" Scooter's eyebrows twitched again and she nodded.

"Sometimes... it glitches and there's yellow and red..."

Ink's eyes widened. "Really?? It's starting to show COLOR!!" He seemed excited and Scooter tipped her head.

"Did it not glitch before?"

"No, no, it did, but it never showed color!" Ink squealed excitedly. "Oh! I want to study it so bad!" He jumped. "That's not what I'm here for though!" He jumped up, scolding himself. "That is NOT what you're here for!" Scooter blinked and elbowed the bottom of the strings a few times before Error woke and lifted his head. He jumped as Ink got in front of him. "Morning, Glitchy!!"

"SQUID!!" Error yelped as he fell backwards and the strings disappeared. Scooter coughed and her body glitched, repairing the deep laceration from the strings. She helped Error up. Ink smiled cheekily.

"Okay! So..." He trailed off as he held the vial in his skeletal hands. "It's probably stupid to ask, but are you sure you want-" He began to ask quietly.

"Yes."

Scooter stopped him and Ink nodded. "I... figured, I don't know why I asked." He blinked and held the vial out to her, it having some sort of bottlecap lid. Scooter took it and easily uncapped it with her rings. They both blinked in surprise. Ink felt awful. He hasn't actually made this as a way to give her a release from it all, but so she'd stop hurting people. Wasn't he kind of... betraying her?

Scooter blinked and stared down at the translucent mixture. It smelled like paint. She sighed.

"I drink it?"

Ink nodded and Scooter nodded back. She said a quiet thank you and for the first time, they could hear the hope in her voice. God, it broke Ink's heart. He stared at her in dismay as she gulped the vial and its content down. She finished and screwed her eyes shut.

"Tastes like... paint..."

Her voice was somewhat choked up and she coughed. Ink quickly took the vial. Her eyes opened and widened as she continued to cough. They moved back as she got up, holding her throat. Her eyes were flying through several shades and colors, all spiraling dangerously together. Ink was shaking. He shrieked and backed into Error as Scooter leaned down and began to vomit. Huge pools of red were shot up from her throat and spreading across the ground. It glowed violently. She collapsed on her side and her glitching became more furious, her coming in and out of existence as her entire body regained full color. She wheezed, her eyes suddenly lit with pain.

"PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!"

She wailed it shrilly, her voice pained and desperate. Error quickly shot out his strings and pulled out her shaking SOUL. With one last glance with Ink, he closed his eyes and yanked. There was a spine-tingling shattering noise and they watched in shock as the pieces of Scooter's SOUL went flying all over the ground of the Save Screen. Error watched as Scooter's body froze in the middle of glitching. Her eyes faded to a dull green and she slowly relaxed against the ground, her mouth slack and her body limp.

Ink was shaking, his breathing heavy. "Error..." He sounded like he was about to start crying and Error blinked at him in alarm. They watched as Scooter's body fizzled and began to dissipate into small particles. Pixels. It slowly fell apart and the world shook, knocking them both back. She... she was gone...

Ink was dumbfounded. Was she really just...? Had it been that simple all along? He was shaking. "I... had the answer on me... all along...?" He whispered in shock. "I could've ended her suffering at any point..."

"Squid." Error grabbed his shoulders roughly. "It wasn't y-y-your fault. Th-th-th-There's n-n-no w-way y-y-y-you would've kn-kn-kn-known." Ink stared at him, his eyes dark.

"But I could've- If I'd just known sooner... I-" He stammered in a choked voice. Error shook his head firmly.

"I-I-It w-w-wasn't y-y-your fault." He said again, his voice firm. "Y-Y-You did it." Ink stared at him as translucent rainbow tears began to well up in his eyes.

"I... I did it..." He choked out. Error nodded and released him. It was quiet for a few moments. They both sat in silence.

In Ink's eyesockets, the first tears began to spill over and Ink began to laugh weakly. Error blushed and stared at him. "Wh-Wh-What are you-"

"I've never felt so alive! This is the most emotion I've EVER felt!! Oh my STARS, I'm actually CRYING!!" Ink cried, wiping his tears quickly only to have more replace them. He grinned at Error. "Look at me!!"

Error stared at him with an unreadable expression before sighing and nodding. "I-I-I-I am, Squid... I am..." He said quietly.

Ink continued to laugh and cry as the glowing red liquid that Scooter had thrown up rippled. Slowly, the pool was beginning to lengthen and spread. It washed over all the broken pieces of Scooter's soul, sucking them under the surface. It was gradual. Until it had collected every last shard.