AN: Special thanks to Decipher the Cipher FMSKHU whose comment inspired this chapter.

Chapter 22:

"There are so few rules to our rules now," Alice spoke to the group as the entered the elevator. "So little truths. But there is one rule we all know and respect down here. Beware the Ink Demon. Stay out in the open for too long and he will find you. For if you see him, you'd better hide. If you don't, well, I enjoyed our date. Now let us begin our work…"

"Man what a creep," Alya commented, as the doors closed and the elevator began to rise. "I'm glad I didn't meet her in person."

Ladybug, Adrain, and Henry knew what Alya was going for, but they weren't able to appreciate her attempt at lightening the mood. They had met the twisted angel and seen the horrible things she had done. It wasn't something they could really joke about. The elevator ride passed by in silence after that before the doors finally opened on level K.

"Have you met him? The Ink Demon?" Alice once more spoke as Henry stepped out of the elevator. "They say he hears everything. Every creak of the floor. Every rustle of paper. I wouldn't run so fast if I were you. You never know what will draw him in."

None of the group had a chance to really react to Alice's taunting warning as a searcher emerged from a puddle and began crawling towards them. Ladybug stepped forward, swinging her yo-yo in preparation to get rid of it.

"Marinette, wait," Henry ordered quickly, stopping Ladybug from attacking. He quickly stepped forward and began leading the searcher around the room.

"Henry, what are you doing?" Ladybug questioned, unable to get a clear shot because of Henry.

"You're magic fairy thing… Tikki… I think," Henry began as he dodged the searcher lunging at him.

"We're called kwamiis get it right!" Plagg injected having finally come out of Adrian's shirt, but the others ignored him.

"She says that you can purify monsters right?" Henry continued, barely missing the searcher's claws. "Can you try and purify this searcher?"

"Yeah, but Tikki said it probably wouldn't work," Ladybug tried to reason. "Not without the source of the magic. I don't even know if I could purify it with my yo-yo."

"But you can try right," Henry pleaded, finally getting some distance between him the searcher. "Please, Marinette."

"Alright, I'll give it a try." Ladybug agreed, seeing how important this was. She tapped the top of the yo-yo, opening up the hidden panel and revealing it's purifying glow. She began to swing it around while saying, "Time to de-evilize."

She launched her yo-yo at the searcher, easily catching in the yo-yo's string. Since the searcher was too large to be absorbed into the yo-yo, the light brightened instead and covered the searcher in a white glow. It was hard to see what was happening in the light, but it seemed like the searcher was changing. After a few moments passed, the light faded and the yo-yo returned to Ladybug as her transformation ended.

The searcher looked a lot different, though it was still obviously an ink creature. Its ink seemed to be a less drippy and a lot paler, almost a gray color now. It now had legs and a more humanoid looking body all around. It looked around with glowing yellow eyes, obviously both scared and confused.

"What's going on?" The searcher asked with a female voice, trembling and backing into a corner. "It had been so dark… So many voices…"

"Hey… Hey… it's alright…." Henry said calmly, slowly approaching the searcher. "My name is Henry. Do you remember what yours was?"

"It was… Emily… I… was Emily… I used to… work in the toy department…" the searcher, now named Emily, replied slowly before her gaze snapped to Henry's face and her eyes seemed to glow brighter. "You… Henry… You're the Creator…"

"What do you mean?" Henry asked in confusion. Emily didn't answer right away, instead launching herself at Henry and clinging onto his shirt.

"Henry!" The teens shouted in fear, Adrian, and Marinette beginning to run forward to help. Henry waved them off before they could get close as Emily wasn't hurting him.

"Save us, Creator!" Emily begged, practically sobbing in Henry's arms. Her voice also took on an echoing effect, as if several people were talking at once. "Please! Set us Free!"

"Emily please," Henry said, gently putting his hands on her shoulders. "Calm down. We'll find a way to help you and the others. Just what do you mean by calling me the creator? What going here?"

"Please save us…" Emily said as he body began to melt, much to the shock and horror of everyone. "Set us free… Creator…"

Emily's voice completely faded away as her form completely melted away, leaving nothing but a puddle. Henry just stared in shock before sinking to his knees in front of the puddle. After everything he had seen, all the hints and clues, the guesses at what truly happened, there was no way he could deny it now, not with the undeniable proof that had just occurred. Every ink creature, every searcher, every twisted toon, had once been a person. A person who had a future, only to have it ripped away from them. To be stuck in this nightmare all because of Joey Drew. Henry didn't even notice that he had started to cry until the tears had started to land on his hands. Henry hadn't even heard the others approach until they were all gathered around him.

"Uncle Henry…" Adrian said quietly, coming to kneel next to him. "Are you alright?"

"No," Henry replied, wiping the tears from his eyes. "How could Joey have done this? He's hurt so many people, what could he have possibly hoped to accomplish? Nothing could ever justify all this misery."

"We'll make it right somehow," Marinette assured, kneeling on Henry's other side. "We know that my magic does have an effect on these ink creatures. So there has to be a way for us to undo it."

"You just have to find the source of the twisted magic here," Tikki reminded, though she was more confident now after what happened. "Only then will the purification process have a lasting effect."

"But how can we fight these creatures now?" Henry replied, looking at the ink puddle again. "Now that we know for sure that these are people… I don't know if I can hurt them now…"

"Don't worry too much about it," Plagg replied dismissively, though Adrian can tell he was avoiding looking at him. "None of these ink creatures can actually die. Once this twisted magic has someone fully in its claws, it won't let anything go. So go ahead and defend yourself, the abominations will just pop up again somewhere else."

"Alright," Henry said, taking in a deep breath and getting back up. "We should probably get going."