The moment we made it back to the Doodle Sphere, before the portal even finished closing, Dream walked off.
"dream!" He paused at my call, not bothering to turn. "what on earth just happened? why'd nightmare single you out? and was that stone? how, why?! are you ok?" I asked in a rush. But, when he didn't answer—"are you alright?" He resumed walking again.
"Thanks for saving me, Serif…" he said quietly, opening a portal in front of him. "I'm gonna… I'll be back later." And with that, he stepped through the swirl of light. I threw a concerned and confused look at Ink, who was still holding his shoulder, staring at the empty space Dream disappeared into.
"is he ok?" I asked, wings sagging tiredly.
"No," Ink answered. "But he will be."
"you gonna tell me what's going on?" I pressed.
"Not likely," Ink admitted. "It's not my story to tell." He frowned, but I sensed it wasn't because of my question.
"and you?" I asked. "are you ok?" He nodded. Glancing down at his hurt shoulder, he blinked confusedly at the liquid rainbow slowly beginning to slip from between his fingers, and murmured—"How did…?"
"you gonna heal that?" I prompted, trying to jog his memory without recounting the entire battle.
Ink blinked again, his eye lights flickering nervously through symbols; a red asterisk and a purple swirl, an up-side-down exclamation mark and a jagged lightning bolt, then various types of scattered triangles and dots. hmm, I noted, those are new. Ink seemed to remember something.
"Oh, yeah. Dream…" he murmured incoherently. "Well… there was a tree." He started to pace, but ended up staggering around aimlessly. "Lots of apples. Apples, apples, apples… Yellow and gold, purple and black. Black and black, gold and blue… Grey. And red, red too." He sounded out of breath, despite the fact he silently gasped for air between every few words. "Apples, then there was… tree. All gone, broken crowns… white and grey…"
"ink, calm down!" I exclaimed, hurrying after him. "what are you going on about?" he murmured something about memory-bells and I put the pieces together. "you're talking about dream? it's fine, you don't have to explain! and stop hyperventilating, you don't even need to breathe!" Ink didn't answer. "what is up with you two today?" I muttered in exasperation, letting him wander a few more feet on his own, deciding to watch for a while. Surely he'd go back to his usual self soon.
Suddenly, Ink froze. He twitched for a few seconds, went rigid, and barfed a torrent of ink. Normally, I'd not pay this any mind; it happened a lot. But, normally, the ink was black—not rainbow. I frowned. that's also new. After a long display of artworks, the torrent stopped. Ink appeared to do the equivalent of a human hiccup.
"Colors…?" he murmured, looking exceedingly confused. "So many…" He noticed the trickle of rainbow by his mouth that hadn't evaporated yet. Pulling the back of his sleeve across his face, he gazed at it blankly. A flinch. The light in the air flickered. something's wrong.
"ink?" He turned to look at me distractedly; his face was flushed rainbow. "what's wrong?" I demanded, frightened. He blinked through a few confused shapes before answering.
"i think…" he whispered, unbelievably quiet. "i think i'll just t-take a nap…" He slowly sank to the ground, sat—stared ahead for a few seconds, eyes faltering—and suddenly collapsed to the floor.
I was by his side in a flash teleport.
"ink?!" I exclaimed, shaking him lightly. "oh my goodness, answer me!" Nothing. "please, you're scaring me. wake up! you can nap later, just tell me you're okay now!" Nothing.
Rolling him from his side to his back, I balked at the amount of rainbow now soaking the front of his shirt. His shoulder still wasn't healed, and his HP was dropping at an alarming rate.
"dream, help!" I cried. Silence. "dream! where are you?!" Usually, he came running whenever I needed him. But not this time. The light flickered again, going from white to grey. Looking back to Ink, I saw him flinch slightly as his vague HP bar swooped from the yellow warning range into the red danger zone. He needed to be healed, now! I was exhausted from battle, I couldn't do this alone... but i gotta try.
Right as my magic reached out to find his soul, I remembered he didn't have one; all that could kill him was complete destruction or corruption of body. The paint vials kept him alive, gave him his emotions. Perhaps I could ping them instead? Deciding to give it a try, I glanced down to the sash to where the bottles were attached. But to my horror, I realized that, not only were they un-pingable, but they were losing their color. The tips of the glass hearts were turning grey.
There was no time. It was Save or Dust.
I'd only ever practiced soul-based healing. I'd never tried magic-to-monster healing. I only knew it in theory, not application… Time to wing it. here goes nothing. Planting my hands over his injured shoulder, I summoned magic.
At first, it was just normal, heatless blue flame. Not good. I concentrated harder. The glow flickered, seemingly debating whether or not to just snuff out, let alone obey my wishes. heal, please, heal… I could feel the rainbow slowly seeping between my fingers, instilling me with dread. Would he dust, or turn into a colorful puddle? I didn't want to find out. I called for Dream again. Nothing. The air in the Doodle Sphere went dark grey for a few seconds, the windows and wigglers momentarily freezing. Gritting my teeth, I let go of my last energy reserve and gave it all I had.
For a terrible moment, nothing happened. But then, the blue morphed into gold, the glow began to emit a gentle warmth, and Ink's HP froze. After letting out a strained, high-pitched sigh of relief, I felt my soul's thrumming return to a somewhat normal pace. that was way too close. The rainbow soaking his shirt started evaporating. Glancing at Ink's HP, I watched as, one point at a time, it slowly began to tick up.
About a minute went by without a hitch. But, as the wound healed, his HP slowly stopped increasing. I stared at it. It wasn't even half full! To my absolute horror, it began to drop again. I had no idea what could possibly be causing this, until—Ink flinched, his eyes deliriously drifting open for a few seconds—I saw the glitch boxes. It all snapped into place in my mind. Only one hit, Nightmare suddenly disappearing along with Error, the symbols, the scrambled rainbow colors… Ink had been infected with a virus.
"oh no…" I breathed. Sure enough, Ink literally glitched for a second, pieces of code falling out of and then snapping back into place. I needed Dream!
okay, think, think! alright, dream shows up when called… or when someone is scared or freaking out… what about both? I looked back to Ink as an idea sprouted in my mind. i need to work myself into a panic. Even though he was annoying sometimes, and I was occasionally all but convinced he was loony… even though I knew I'd go home one day and never see him again… I couldn't bear the thought of him dying. Latching on to that conclusion, I milked it for all it was worth.
dying. ink could die. The tiniest pinch in my soul urged me to press on. what would happen to all the alternate universes without their protector? what about the ones he made? could they even survive without him? I could feel my soul fluttering faster. what about dream? and blueberry? and me; he's my friend. i can't let him die but i can't save him. he's gonna die right here and there's nothing i can do! i can't lose him too, i don't want him to die, he can't die, he just can't! he's gonna die, i don't want him to, but if i don't get help fast—ink is going to die! At a peak of panic, I took the biggest breath I could, faced the sky, and screamed—
"DREAM!"
I have never ever seen anyone move so fast.
A few yards away, Dream shot as though from a cannon through a portal and rolled like a tumbleweed for a few feet. Leaping up, he exclaimed—
"Serif! Are you okay?!" The relief was overwhelming.
"i'm fine. ink's not" I summarized. Dream caught glimpse of Ink past the edges of my drooping wings. He came running.
"He's asleep?!" Dream balked, coming to a sliding stop beside me.
"yeah, red flag number one, but that's not the worst part," I explained, and snapped my fingers right beside Ink's head. He flinched slightly, eyes flickering open for a few seconds once more. But that was all Dream needed.
"A virus…" Dream breathed in dismay.
"we gotta heal him, i can hardly keep it up as is," I pointed out. Dream noticed the remaining rainbow stains and the golden glow keeping it from getting worse. His eyes got wider. Gasping, he exclaimed—
"We need to get him somewhere happy!" Dumbfounded, I stared at Dream blankly for a moment. that's his solution? Dream caught my glance and hastily explained—"I need happiness to heal. The happier the place, the stronger the magic!"
"oh, k. when you put it that way… good idea," I hastily agreed. "where to?"
"I… I don't know… Usually UnderSwap's the best universe, but—it's completely empty right now…" For a moment, all was silent. Glancing at Dream, I observed the slight flicker in his eye lights, the distraught expression on his face worsening; he wasn't ready to deal with this. The same conclusion seemed to sink in for Dream. In horror, he whispered—"I should never have left him…"
"dream," I insisted, desperate to clear his head, "in battle, you left him to save me. and just now, you left him to gather your frayed nerves. neither of us knew this'd happen; it's not your fault. but it'll be both our faults if we don't save him now. focus!" Chewing on these words for a moment, he nodded.
"Okay, think, think… happy, peaceful…" He shut his eyes tightly, thinking hard. "OH! That's it! Love!" I shook my head.
"ah, no. we don't want any LOV. bad idea dream. try again."
"No, not Levels Of ViolencE, actual love! HavenTale! 'In this world, it's love and be loved!'" He turned, formed a portal a few yards away, jumped up, locked his arms beneath Ink's, and started pulling. "Come on!" I scrambled to his assistance.
"why do you always open portals so far away?" I challenged.
"It's dangerous not to. No one wants to fall between the floorboards of time and space," he explained, dragging Ink faster, leaving me struggling to keep up. True, we skeletons are pretty light, but Dream had both the easy side and the longer stride. I was short; keeping Ink's feet high enough off the ground was burden enough. Just as we made it to the portal—"Hang on tight."
"why?"
"Without consciousness to keep him on the path, Ink could get ripped away by the current."
"wait, what?! maybe we should figure out a safer way—"
Too late.