The Ink Demon wandered mindlessly through the halls. There was no particular destination it strove to reach, but there was a restlessness of sorts to come across something to rip apart.
No one showed.
The inky being continued along until it suddenly came to an abrupt halt. It had sensed an influx of activity elsewhere. A disruption, that took the creature out of its endless prowl. The Ink Demon cocked its head to the side for a moment, its teeth clacking together in agitation.
Ordinarily, it sensed such things much sooner.
The Ink Demon took only a moment longer before it was able to pinpoint the area that the activity was coming from.
It was the Beacon.
The Beacon had made a reappearance.
The Ink Demon resumed moving, directing its limping walk to be a little bit faster as it headed for the nearest wall. It would not let the Beacon slip away again. As soon as the wall was covered in ink, the Ink Demon stepped through, an eagerness taking hold.
It was a peculiar feeling.
An unfamiliar one but one the Ink Demon found that it welcomed. And the closer it got to the source of the human, the more it could sense what was going on.
The Follower was there, with the Beacon.
The Ink Demon moved itself through the ink faster as it let out a low growl at a realization.
The Follower was attacking the Beacon. Or attempting to do so, as the human was resisting the pathetic attack. The Follower dared to try to take the Beacon from it.
The Ink Demon bared its teeth wider. It would not allow the Follower have the human. Emerging from the ink covered wall in a different area of the studio, the Ink Demon let out a furious shriek at the Follower.
The inky being froze up immediately.
The Ink Demon continued to growl. It would not hesitate to tear the Follower apart if they did not back down.
The Follower almost instantly let go of the Beacon, even as the human shoved away in return.
The Ink Demon kept an eye on the human, even if it spared a brief glance in the Follower's direction.
"I...I'm sorry, my lord." The Follower began to cower on the floor, and began to say many more things in too rapid a way for the Ink Demon to even begin to want to try to understand.
The Ink Demon turned its attention to the Beacon.
That almost painful light still emanated from the human, as was usual.
The Ink Demon stepped forward, and found that it had no trouble cornering the Beacon.
That was...odd.
It confused the Ink Demon over how easily it was able to pin the human to the nearby wall.
This was...unappealing.
The Beacon gave in with hardly any fight beneath its clawed right hand.
What interest was there for the Ink Demon if its prey didn't run in fear from it? If its prey didn't attempt to fight back like before?
The Ink Demon growled under its breath as it attempted to reason out why the Beacon hadn't run, or lashed out with an attack, as before.
An unbelievable thought came to mind.
Could the human…not see in the dark? Was the Beacon unable to use his own light to aid his vision?
Well, finding a source of light was no trouble, if that was the problem.
The Ink Demon could sense one further ahead in the darkened corridor. The Ink Demon leaned in close, working its jaw. It longed to tear apart the Beacon that hurt its vision. Destroy the being that had caused it pain in its head from the blunt yet sharp object. Prevent another agonizing kick to its body.
But it didn't do anything.
Teeth parted, but the Ink Demon refrained from biting. The inky creature moved in even closer to the Beacon, and sniffed him, tousling whatever was on top of the human's head. As much as the human radiated the distasteful light, the Beacon smelled remarkably...normal.
Whatever that meant.
The Ink Demon distantly heard the Follower still speaking, though in a more frantic manner, but ignored the other being for now.
The Beacon was of more interest.
The Ink Demon held the human tightly by its tattered coverings, and dragged him away from the wall, toward the light in the other room. The Ink Demon ignored the Beacon's struggling as it limped along. The Ink Demon decided along the way that it wanted a better look at the human before it killed him. The Ink Demon wanted a chase, yes, but first, it would 'see' the human for itself, while he couldn't run away.
There was something bothering the skeletal creature about the Beacon's appearance.
It wanted to know why that was.
The Ink Demon reached the edge of the corridor where light filtered in, which led to a large room. This spacious room was filled with stuffed images of itself, the Wolf, and the Twisted. The Ink Demon pinned the human to the wall firmly again, to ensure that the Bacon couldn't run away prematurely. The Ink Demon leaned in close once more, tilting its head to the side just so.
The Beacon looked uncomfortable. One of his hands was tentatively on its own, as though the human were trying to pry it away.
The Ink Demon wasn't cornered that the Beacon could break its grasp, so it reached up with its left hand. It slowly slid the trailing ink out of its vision to reveal its eyes. The Ink Demon wasn't sure what to make of the human's eyes widening in return.
Did the Beacon not think it had eyes?
While the Ink Demon's face was usually partially covered by ink, that didn't mean it was blind. The Ink Demon merely found that the ink enhanced its vision in dark places. Oddly enough, the Ink Demon found that it could look at the Beacon with its own eyes and didn't see that bright light. Instead, the human looked normal without the light enveloping them constantly.
What did this mean?
Should it not allow the ink to continue to cover its vision? Would the Ink Demon be able to better see in the light of the studio this way?
The Ink Demon's left hand remained up to keep most of the ink out of its vision. Slowly, it then loosened its hold on the Beacon with its other hand. The Ink Demon would test its vision another time. Right now, it was time to give chase. The Ink Demon needed this, for whatever reason, before it felt justified in destroying the Beacon, once it caught up to the human again.
The Beacon didn't seem to understand why he had been allowed to slip free. He didn't run. The human could see again, so why?
Why was there no chase yet?
The Ink Demon's teeth clicked together.
The human...it almost seemed like he wanted to say something, but didn't. Instead, the Beacon regarded the inky creature with an odd expression.
It was an unfamiliar look, but there was no forthcoming violence like before.
That was...different.
No running, and no violence.
Only a steady stare up at the inky creature's exposed eyes.
The Ink Demon gripped its right hand in a fist before it relaxed, flicking its claws out idly. It wasn't sure why it felt...something, when the Beacon looked it in the eyes. It was almost...uncomfortable.
Exposed?
The Ink Demon wasn't sure what to make of the sensations, so it ignored it in favor of one that was familiar.
Chase.
Catch.
Tear apart.
The Ink Demon wondered if the human needed to hear what it wanted him to do.
Was that what was needed for the chase to begin?
Maybe the Ink Demon could let the Beacon know its intentions with spoken words then. It had never tried before, apart from screaming furiously at anything it came across.
Were simple words more effective?
The Ink Demon's jaw worked for a moment. There was a haze in its mind that made grasping speech difficult, but it managed. Then, in an intense show of concentration, the Ink Demon latched onto what it wanted to say. Its teeth parted, and the skeletal being forced out a single, chilling word for the very first time.
R̸̨̢͈̙̣̰͎͙͓͚̀̑̚͜͜Ü̸̼̲̭̖̒Ņ̶͕͌̄͗͛̏̉̈́̈́̿̚.̶̢̨̞̇͒͂͐͐̄̔͌̆"̷̣͔͔̩̄͒
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
A/N: I always wanted to try out that glitchy text (like many others, I'm sure, who've probably used it for batim fics too).
Also. I'm hoping it's obvious that the Ink Demon is becoming more self-aware, instead of just mindlessly chasing down and killing those in the studio. As in, its beginning to think and reason more, even if it has trouble figuring out what some of its thoughts mean.
