A Dangerous Illusion

Chapter 28

     Blueberry coughed, exhausted. Nightmare had seemed to have gotten bored of him, so he was mostly just left in the cell all day, with the exception of one of the gang members bringing him food every once in a while. At least he had made a friend.

     He heard the door to the basement and cells open. Footsteps echoed down into the room. He scrambled backwards, attempting to hide in the shadows, and began shaking. A skeleton wearing a blue sweater with a grey hood approached his cell. Blueberry recognized him as Dust.

     Dust stopped in front of the cell Blue was in before sighing and crouching down, his glowing eye piercing through the darkness to see Blue in the corner. He wordlessly slid a key and a small switchblade into the small space. The items skittered across the floor before coming to a rest at Blueberry's feet.

      "Use them well," Dust said, standing up and leaving. He walked up the short staircase before stopping in the doorway.

     "The base is empty." Without turning back, he walked through the door.

     The sound of the door slamming shut echoed through the basement.

************************************

     Ink heard the door to the police station opening, followed by a familiar voice weakly calling his name. But something seemed...off. Ink turned around to greet his old friend.

     "Blueberry!" he called, smiling. However, the smile quickly morphed into a gasp of horror as he saw the condition the other was in. He was leaning against the open door to stay standing. His clothes bloodied and torn, and he seemed to have multiple cuts and bruises on every part of his body. Some seemed new while others seemed as though they had been inflicted a while ago and were not allowed to heal. To top it all off, he was cradling an arm to his chest that seemed to be broken.

     "Ink..." Blue gasped out again. The artist immediately rushed to his friend's side, helping him move to the couch in the waiting area.

     "Blue! You're hurt! We need to get you to a hospital ASAP!" He fretted. He pulled out his phone to call an ambulance but was stopped by the feeling of Blue weakly tugging on his arm.

     "I need to tell you-" He cut himself off with a fit of coughing, doubling over and clutching his stomach. He quickly righted himself and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I know about some of their plans," He said quietly.

     "Their? Who's their?" Ink asked, putting his concern aside for a moment. He had a feeling this information was important. Blueberry quietly sighed.

     "Nightmare's gang," He started. Ink opened his mouth to ask a question but was stopped when Blue put up a hand. "Questions after I'm done. I a-was- friends with most of them. I would give them advice here and there like I would with you about them. Last time on my visit to them they had somehow figured out I knew you and had given you 'advice'. They locked me up and...this. At one point I learned of one of their plans.

     "Their plan was to send some of the gang to become friends with you. You know them as Glitch and Scythe. Their real names are-" Blueberry broke into another coughing fit. He whispered the names right before he passed out. Ink was sure he misheard. It sounded like the names he had given were... Error and Reaper.