AN: Just another little something for my Ink Falls AU. This is Pacifica's (Who basically takes the role of Susie in this au) point of view. Enjoy!
Maybe I don't Have to be Perfect
Susica Northbell always had to be perfect. Her parents had drilled this into her ever since she was old enough to crawl. She needed to walk perfect, look perfect, and always be perfect. She wasn't allowed to interact with kids her age, all time spent instead on lessons. Of course, she only had the best teachers and had to excel in every lesson. She was a Northbell, they had a reputation to uphold after all. They couldn't have a daughter that was everything less than the best. She, of course, worked hard to live up to her parents' expectations, determined to make them proud. But not even she could keep up with their demands. The quiet times she had to herself within her room, Susica would often cry to herself as the pressure weighed on her. She had no escape of any kind.
But then, during one of their rare family outings, they went to the movies. Susica was fascinated by film and especially the animated shorts. The characters were so lively and seemed so free… she was immediately drawn in. It took her a while, but she was able to convince her parents to let her pursue a career in voice acting. They agreed, albeit a little reluctantly and under the condition that if she didn't make it big, she become a real actor.
Susica was ecstatic, though she was careful not to show it, and eventually got a job at the growing Twins Pines Studios. Sure, she was only doing background characters at first, but she was living her dream. Then she got to voice Alice Angel, a new character that was going to be a new regular on the show. It was a lot of work and things only got harder after the head animator walked out, but she didn't care. For the first time in a long time, she felt happy.
But then came the day, the one later referred to as the "Inkcident", that brought everything crumbling down. Susica couldn't remember much about what happened that day, very little of the studio's inhabitants could remember anything at all, but she remembered feeling panicked and terrified as she was pulled into the ink. She was trapped in a dark void with many voices screaming and in pain. She had to get out!
Somehow she did escape, but she was disgusting! She was a slimy shapeless slug! How could she expected to live like this! Her misery didn't last long though as something came, which she would late learn to fear greatly, killed her and sent her back into the ink. It took her a lot longer to escape this time, but when she did… she was an angel!
But she wasn't perfect… and she had to be perfect! Nothing would stop her from being perfect…
She doesn't remember exactly how she learned that harvesting ink from other creatures, but it gave her purpose. It did disgust her at first, but she was desperate and would do anything to survive in this place. And after killing a few dozen times, she became numb to it. Besides, it wasn't like she was doing any permeant harm. Her victims would just be returned to ink and would emerge eventually…
She hunted endlessly, especially those that were close to perfect themselves. The twins became a fixation for her, especially the girl that shared her image. Unfortunately, they were clever and would often slip away from her and the others after them. But one day she got lucky. They had just escaped Gideon's minions, the Butcher Gang, and ended up running right into her. She was quick to drag them back to her lair where she eagerly cut into the girl. She was so ecstatic for the amazing ink that she accidentally let the little devil escape.
She wasn't too concerned at first, as she got the ink from the little angel as she wanted, but the little devil became even more paranoid and protective of his sister once she finally emerged from the ink. It became impossible to get her hands on them again. But then that man came into the studio, the one with the same face as the one who created this nightmare. He managed to lure the twins from their hiding place with promises of freedom. She eagerly took control of the situation and kept them running around while she got everything ready.
She couldn't help but hum in delight as she approached the twisted remains of the elevator. Her prey was distracted, trying to revive the man that had lead them to their fate. She easily swooped in and snagged them, holding them off the ground so they couldn't escape.
"With your ink, I'll finally be perfect," Susica grinned, staring at the little angel as she gripped her throat. In her moment of victory, she didn't see that the man had risen he delivered a powerful punch to her face. She stumbled back and she lost her grip on the twins. They immediately scrambled to the man's side.
"No one hurts my Inklings!" The man growled, glaring at her as he stood protectively in front of the twins. "You can drop me down a 100 elevators, but I will always be here to keep these kids safe!"
Susica could only stare in shock at his fierce determination and cower a little under his glare. They eventually left her and went further into the studio, but still, she sat there. All this time… she had been determined to be perfect… but for what? No one had ever cared for her as that man did for the twins… No one was willing to face down danger for her… Not even her parents came looking for her when she got trapped here… What was the point of being perfect if no one cared for her? Maybe being perfect wasn't worth it… Maybe she could find people to care about her as that man cared about the twins… People that cared about her for herself… not the perfect doll she had been groomed to be…
Maybe she didn't have to be perfect after all…
