ArtistTale: Ink and Adeleine

Final Act: Chapter 22

(Perspective: Ink)

"Adeleine?!" I called out. There was no answer. In the blink of an eye, all of my friends had disappeared. Nothing but an empty void remained. I walked forward as the void around me started to form a scenery. At first, I barely recognized the place, but after a few steps, I recognized the place. It was Cappy Town, except everything was gray and lackluster. Not a single color was in sight. I looked ahead and saw Ribbon flying in place. Her head was tilted down and her eyebrows were low.

"Ribbon?" I said quietly, "What's going on? Where am I?"

"It doesn't matter," Ribbon said coldly, "After all, you're the one who started this whole mess. Maybe you should think twice before lending someone your paintbrush. You're such a kid! You think that everything will be fine, don't you?!" My mouth dropped and eyes widened hearing that.

"No, it's not like that," I said, "Adeleine said that this was good to do. We met because of this incident. I got half of her SOUL, and now it's full."

"As if your Ink vials weren't enough already!" Dream shouted from behind me. I turned around him and saw him clenching his fists.

"It must be great having a SOUL," Dream said, "The one thing I don't have! Even with that SOUL, you're still the Soulless Chaotic Neutral. You will never be lawful good." He summoned his bow and docked an arrow of light.

"What are you doing?" I asked, "I didn't do anything wrong. Please, don't hurt me." Dream pointed the bow at me.

"Goodbye Ink," he said. I quickly dashed towards Dream and tackled him. But as I touched him, his body turned to dust. Filled with confusion and fear, I turned around and saw Ribbon fade away as well. I then started to run while breathing heavily.

"What's going on?" I asked myself. Suddenly, the scenery started to change again, this time to the Peppermint Palace Hotel. I walked inside the chilly building and saw Meta Knight standing at the front desk. His expressionless face stared directly at me.

"How does it feel pretending to be a hero?" Meta Knight asked me coldly, "You're only doing to this to fix your own mistakes. You think you're above consequences, don't you?" The guilt crawled down my back.

"That's not true," I responded, "I protect others. People, monsters, AUs, and creativity." Meta Knight didn't respond.

"Believe what you want," he said, "But we all know that's not true. If you really did care, you wouldn't have made this mistake. Stop pretending that everything's going to be alright! You gotta face reality, kid!" Meta Knight jumped up and pulled out his sword.

"It's time that I give you what you deserve," he said as he pointed his blade at me. He then dashed forward and attempted to slice me in two. I dodged and counterattacked by swinging Broomie at him. Just like Dream and Ribbon, he instantly turned into dust as soon as I hit him. Tears were about to flow, but I tried to hold them back. I turned around and ran outside the building.

"Nothing is making sense!" I said to myself, "Why is everyone being mean to me?!" As the scenery began to change again, I decided to stop and watch it happen. The cold and snowy forest transformed into a wet swamp in the blink of an eye. In front of me stood Daroach, whose face looked as if it had better days as he frowned at me.

"You know, it was fun going on this little adventure of yours, but in the end, none of it was worth the trip," Daroach said, sounding more cold than ever before.

"I don't understand," I said, "We're going to defeat Error and save the rest of the universe."

"But how?" Daroach asked, "You've lost to Error countless times. What makes you think you're going to win this fight? Just because you have a little 'friendship'? That petty stuff wouldn't save a fly from being squashed!"

"That isn't true!" I said, trying not to cry, "Friendship is stronger than anything!" Daroach rolled his eyes.

"You really are just a kid, aren't you?" he said, "It's time you learn what reality is really." He reached for his wand.

"No!" I shouted, "I won't let you do that!" I turned the other way and started running. I was expecting the scenery to change, and it did. But instead of appearing blank and gray, it was filled with bright colors. I was back in Cappy Town near Adeleine's house under a starry night. I walked over to the door and knocked on it.

"Just a minute," Adeleine said from the other side. She opened it and saw the sadness in my eyes.

"There you are," she said in a soft voice, "Come inside. I've made lots of your favorites for dinner." Lost and confused, I reached my hand out to Adeleine to touch her face. She didn't dust.

"Adeleine?" I asked, "Is that really you?"

"You've been seeing the visions too," she answered, "It's the real me. Come on. Let's eat."

"Okay," I said. I walked inside and sat down at the table while Adeleine walked over to the kitchen sink. Lots of food was at the table, including a variety of bread, soups, rice, and punch. I saw PJ and Blue also at the table as well, both with bright smiles on their faces.

"Hi dad!" PJ said as he waved to me. I waved back to him nervously.

"Hey Ink, would you like some bread?" Blue asked me, "I decided to let you pick first." She handed me a basket of assorted bread.

"I'll take this one and this one," I said as I grabbed two white rolls from the basket and put them on my plate. Adeline then walked over to me, gently grabbed my hand, and squirted hand sanitizer on it.

"Remember to wash your hands," she said with a smile.

"Um, thanks?" I said as I rubbed my hands together. Adeleine sat down sat next to me.

"This food looks delicious," Blue said, "Perhaps maybe I should cook next time."

"Maybe you should," Adeleine suggested, "Unlike me, you actually know how to cook. It's just painting for me. Ink, what do you think?" I turned to Adeleine, and then I turned to Blue.

"Um, I don't really care," I said, "I'm fine with either of you cooking. I just want to know what's going on." I took a tiny bite of the bread roll. The tears that I was trying to hold back finally broke free. The smile on Blue's face went away.

"Ink, are you okay?" Adeleine asked me. I continued sobbing.

"I'm so lost," I answered as the tears spilled from my eyes, "Everyone was being mean to me and telling me that I was wrong to do what I did. I was told I wasn't a hero and that didn't care about. It's not going to be okay, is it?" Adeleine stood up and hugged me.

"I'm sick of pretending," she said, "But things will be okay now. I saw the visions as well. I was told that it was my fault for the death of Francisca. I was even told that I was foolish to give half my SOUL to you. But in the end, none of it was real. They were just illusions of things that we would never want to hear."

"I think this is enough," Blue said.

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"Rosie, please stop."