The next morning, Inky yawned wide, sitting up from the sleep pile. Killer and Choppy were already awake, eating a breakfast of hot oatmeal from the mini-fridge. It was officially their new favorite thing. Inky wandered over and accepted a bowl before sitting down on the floor to start eating. Ink was still asleep, not used to waking up too early; he was twitching slightly, and his face was contorted into a frown..he was having a minor nightmare. With the other two older children awake, Dusty had gone to sleep, so he didn't notice anything amiss with the adult. Killer though...he watched the adult's face carefully, trying to gauge whether it was safe or not to wake him. Choppy caught his stare and looked at the adult as well. He tensed, red eyelight sharp and focused on Ink. Fidgety adults were never a good sign...

Ink shivered in his sleep; whatever was bothering him was obviously very frightening to him. Inky finally noticed the older children's stares and followed them to Ink. He frowned when he saw Ink shiver. Is he cold?Inky put his food to the side and stood up to go help the adult. A hand on his shoulder stopped him from moving closer. He looked up and saw Choppy; the teen shook his head, and Inky pouted.

Killer stepped forward instead; he crouched next to the adult and shook Ink's shoulder. "Hey, wake up."

Ink flinched as his eyesockets flew open, breathing heavily; his nightmare must have really scared him. He took a moment to breathe..he really needed to figure out how to get over these..

"Bad dream?" Killer asked him.

Ink sighed, sitting up. "Yeah, but it's pretty routine for me. Almost every night - it's normal."

Killer hummed. He could relate. It was only because of his friends that he was able to get any sleep at all, sometimes; sleeping in a group helped. But he wasn't about to invite the adult to join them anytime soon.

"Alright then." He stood back up and nodded to the food. "Hungry?"

"Not really." Ink shook his skull; he could rarely eat so soon after bad dreams. "You enjoy, though."

Killer shrugged as he walked back over to the others to wake them up. "Whatever."

Choppy finally let Inky go, and he ran up to Ink. "Are you okay? You were shivering. Are you cold?"

"I just had a bad dream." Ink informed. "I'll be fine."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"..No." Ink shook his skull. "You should eat; I'm just going to get a breath of fresh air."

"Okay..."

Ink teleported out of the building, sitting down next to a tree; he had had a rough night. The guilt from his life choices had always weighed him down, but he had never really let it get to him before; now that he was trying to be a good person for once..he felt that it would get worse. The guilt actually meant something, now..he couldn't ignore it. The sound of footsteps crunching the snow approached Ink. They stopped a few feet away, and Ink looked up at whoever had approached him; he had hoped that he could have some peace to think for a while, but it seemed that he didn't deserve that.

Standing there was an adult skeleton wearing a garish 90's themed outfit; he gave Ink a mildly-surprised smile. "Sup, bro-dude! Ya ain't from 'round these parts are ya?"

"Nope." Ink replied. "My name's Ink; I'm currently a failure at life. How about you?"

"Oof! Tha's rough man." The skeleton sat down in the snow in front of Ink and holds out a hand to shake. "Da name's Fresh, ma dude. Nice ta meetcha!"

"You, too." Ink shook Fresh's hand, expecting some sort of practical joke.

A pocket of rainbow glitter exploded, coating both of them is sparkles. Fresh snickered. "Neva fails..."

Ink sighed, not finding amusement in the prank; he wasn't feeling very happy this morning. Fresh retracted his hand with a hum and snapped his fingers. The glitter was gone, as if it were never there.

"What's on your mind, Ink?" Fresh asked, dropping the slang.

"Until yesterday, I was a literal supervillain; now I'm trying to be good." Ink rested his skull on his knees. "Take your pick of the thousand things on my mind."

"What made you a villain?"

"..I don't want to talk about that with a literal stranger."

Fresh shrugged. "Was worth a shot." He rested his arms on his legs and asked instead, "Wha' made ya change doe? Ya...meet someone from 'ere?"

"..My alternate."

"I thought tha' might be the case." Fresh admitted, smiling calmly at the other. "Little peeps round 'ere been worried 'bout him since 'e went missin' five months ago. He was with you, wasn't he?"

Ink nodded. "I kidnapped him..but then he taught me all this stuff about being good, and..I don't want to be evil anymore."

Fresh smile grew into a grin. "Tha's great, broseph! Seems lil' you is doin' ya sum good!"

"He sure is." Ink chuckled. "Why, um..why are you here, exactly? Are you friends with the little ones?"

"Mhm... I try ta keep an eye out fer da kiddos in dis multiverse" Fresh explained; his smile dropped with his accent again. "For some reason only the children have learned how to travel between the worlds."

"Probably coded that way." Ink assumed. "Do you have a home?"

"Sorta? My kiddos and I live in da OG 'ere." Fresh replied.

"Hm..well, I won't hold you up any longer; if you're here to do something, you should probably get to it.."

"I'm 'ere to check in and make sure ev'one is A-okay! It's wat I do." Fresh said brightly. "An' seems ta me, ya need checkin' on."

"Heh.." Ink sighed. "I guess I do."

He curled up a bit more; he really didn't want to have any company at the moment. It was too much being in a house with a bunch of children; he was terrified that he would hurt them and be thrown out..then he wouldn't have anyone..

He didn't want to be alone.

"So...what's yer multiverse like?" Fresh asked; he crossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees.

"..It's different." Ink shrugged. "Almost everyone important is an adult, and..I'm the bad guy."

"Hmm...eve'one's an adult? How do dees kiddos turn out, den?" Fresh asks, choosing to leave the 'bad guy' comment alone for now.

"..A couple of them, in my world, grew up to be murderers..but they're not really evil, anymore. Most of them are just normal people trying to live normal lives..but that's a bit difficult, since everyone knows about the multiverse."

Fresh glanced in the direction of the clubhouse. "I can imagine...peeps don' let 'em forget, do they?"

"Nope.." Ink shook his skull. "Every universe gets to choose whether they want to interact with the rest of the multiverse or not, and those that decide to accept often..regret it, sometimes."

Fresh sighed, looking down at the snow. "It ain't easy out 'ere. Meetin' all sorts of folks that look like ones ya know, but behave so different."

"I guess so.." Ink nodded. "I've never had a universe of my own, though..I've just always been part of the multiverse.."

"Didja least got some bros ta hang wit? Other versions of Inky's buds, dat is."

"..A few..but I burned those bridges pretty fast when I decided to become evil. I don't have any real friends anymore.."

"...Why did you become evil?" Fresh asked again; he was willing to let the subject lie, but if Ink was going to keep bringing it up...a part of Ink obviously wanted to talk about it.

"It-" Ink seemed to be forcefully cut off, making no sound after the first word; he only flinched slightly before saying something else. "I thought it would be fun; comic book supervillains have always been really interesting to me, so I decided, 'why not become one?'"

Fresh noticed the flinch and narrowed his sockets behind his glasses. He kept his tone light and a smile on his face. "Tha' right? Which part seemed funner? Da evil laugh or the da monologues?"

"I can do a pretty good evil laugh, actually!" Ink's words seemed forced.

"Yeah? Let's hear it den!" Fresh requested brightly.

Subtlety, he CHECKED Ink. He didn't like to do this without permission, but he felt now was necessary. He was glad he had the ability to do this without the recipient's knowledge.

Ink performed his evil laugh; it was surprisingly menacing.

̶B̶r̶o̶o̶m̶i̶e̶ Ink

LV: [Redacted]

ATK: [Redacted]

DEF[Redacted]

Protector of Alternate Universes

Wants ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶e̶e̶ chocolate

Star Sans

Wants to ̶p̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶ help

Fresh eyed the Protector in front of him. A normal monster wouldn't have seen those crossed out parts.

"That's pretty scary, bud!" Fresh complimented. "Ya got it down swell. How's yer evil chuckle? Can't be a villain without one."

Fresh wondered how to approach this situation..without hurting Ink.

"Not as good, but I'm still working on it!" Ink chuckled evilly.

"Hmm...yer right. Not as frightenin' as yer laugh." Fresh held a hand to his chin and pretended to think; he than snapped his fingers as if in realization. "I got it! Da acoustics are wack 'ere, yo!"

"Really?" Ink looked around. "It looks fine to me.."

"Nah, bro! We can totes do better." Fresh jumped up to his feet and pulled Ink up with him. "Let's ditch this pop stand and skedaddle to dis real fly pad I know."

"Huh?" Ink blinked; he didn't want to leave so soon! "What about the children? What if they need something? Can they survive on their own?"

"Don' worry, bro. Swappy and Carrot's pops pops in from occasion ta check on 'em." Fresh assured him. It was true; he just wished the local Gaster was more attentive. "An' sides, we won't be gone fer long. Just pop out, and pop back in."

"Uh..all right." Ink supposed that it wouldn't hurt; everything would probably be fine..he was just being paranoid. "Let's get going, then."

"Great!"

FRESH POOF!

They appeared in an empty Ruins. There was nothing around. All was quiet. All that remained here was a wilted flower bed and a dirty floor. Ink looked around uncertainly; why had Fresh brought him here? Well..maybe the acoustics would have been better in a cavern? That was why they had left the forest, after all, and Ink didn't actually know too much about how acoustics worked; he usually just manipulated some code when he wanted to change how sound worked.

"So..what now?" He asked.

Fresh shifted his stance, still appearing relaxed. "Now, ya give tha' chuckle another try."

He moved next to Ink and smiled encouragingly.

"Uh, all right." Ink nodded.

He chuckled evilly once more, and it actually sounded a bit more evil with the echo of the cavern. While Ink chuckled, Fresh lowered a hand and pulled up a code bar out of sight. He hadn't needed to use one of these in while. He tried to pull up Ink's code, to see if this "Broomie" was attached to Ink, or if he was just following him. But Ink's code was intertwined with Broomie's; if the offending entity were to be removed forcefully, Ink certainly would have suffered in some way - he might have even died. The code was restraining some of Ink's capabilities, as well; his free will was very limited at the moment.

When Ink finished chuckling evilly, he hummed. "Hey, that was pretty cool! You were right!"

Fresh restrained himself from scowling, his smile frozen on his face. Long way it is, then...

"Yep! Places like dis are great fer jams an' raisin' da roof." Fresh said. "Ya know what am sayin'?"

"Yeah!" Ink chuckled normally this time. "It's actually really cool; I don't think I've ever done something like this before! Echo! Echo!"

Ink grinned as his words echoed back at him.

Fresh's smile softened to something more genuine, and he chuckled, too. "Yeah, da kiddos like it too." He raised his voice and joined in. "Yo! What's happenin', homeslice?"

"Yo!"

"Yo!"

"Yo! What's

"What's happenin'-"

"What's happenin'-"

"Homeslice?"

"Slice?"

"Slice?"

"Slice..."

Ink giggled, glad that he could relax for a little while to have some fun; he didn't have to worry about doing something wrong or angering someone here..he could just be himself! The echoes were fun, too.

"Wiggedy-wiggedy wack, yo!" Fresh yelled out again. He was glad to see Ink having fun; if he could get him to relax and gain his trust, then maybe he could remove Broomie.

"Wiggedy!"

"Wiggedy!"

"Wiggedy!"

"Wiggedy!"

"Wiggedy-wiggedy!"

"Wack, yo!"

"Wack, yo!"

"Wack, yo!"

"Yo!"

"Yo!"

"Yo!"

"What does that mean?" Ink wondered, after yelling 'echo!' again. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone speak like you do. Is it something special?"

"Means somethin's ridiculous, in 'normal' people speak." Fresh explains, adjusting his glasses. "An' dis is just da way aye talk."

"Cool." Ink smiled. "So, do you think we should get back? The kids might want something..I hope they aren't looking for me! What if they went out to look for me and got lost?"

Ink began to rattle off several worst-case scenarios; it was probably time to get back.

Fresh laid a hand on Ink's shoulder, absently noticing that he was an inch taller. "Don' worry, broham. Dem kiddos have been takin' care o' themselves long before you or aye came on da scene."

Not the most comforting thought, but it was true. The kids knew how to survive on their own. Which was good, given how they refused to listen to him and stay in one universe.

"R-right..guess I'm overreacting..they don't need me, after all.." Ink chuckled weakly.

It seemed as if no one really needed him.

"Hey now, non' O dat." Fresh lifted Ink's chin to look him in the face. "I didn't say they didn't need you. Just that you don't have to worry so much. They will be there when we get back. And they'll be happy to see you."

"Okay." Ink nodded, feeling a bit better. "So, what now? Do we go back, or..?"

"We head back." Fresh nodded.

FRESH POOF!

They were back in the Underswap forest, only a few feet from the clubhouse. Inky was outside, and when he spotted them, he ran up to Ink and tackled his legs in a hug.

"Ink! Where did you go?" He asked.

"Um, just another universe - it was only for a few minutes, but I missed you." Ink smiled, hugging Inky back. "Everything all right?"

"Yep! I just missed you!" Inky smiled brightly. "Wanna play now?"

"Sure." Ink nodded, ready to play. "What do you want to do?"

"Hide and seek!" Inky let go of Ink and jumped up and down in excitement, before he finally noticed Fresh. "Who are you?"

"I'm yo friendly neigh-bro-hood cool kid Fresh!" The colorful skeleton shot the child a couple of finger guns. "I'm friends O yer friends, da Murder Club boyos!"

"Oh! Are you going to play with us too?"

"Sure thang, kiddo!"

"Who's going to count?" Ink wondered, thinking of the best hiding spots in case someone else counted; perhaps he could bury himself in the snow..

"I'll be da count, bro." Fresh volunteered.

The other children exited the clubhouse, and Inky explained what they were going to do. When the time came to hide, Ink ran off to bury himself. He found a nice spot in the snow and proceeded to cover as much of himself as he could. When he finished, he was barely visible, but he could still be found; he didn't want to be unfair.

"One... two... three..." Fresh began to count, a hand over his glasses.

The children off and hid in various places. Under bushes, in the trees, behind the trees, and one even one on the clubhouse roof.

"Eightteen...nineteen...twenty! Ready o' not, 'ere aye come!" Fresh called out.

He walked into the forest to start searching behind the trees, but he ignored the footprints in the snow that gave away some of the childrens' locations; he didn't want to be unfair. Ink wondered how he was going to know if the game was over if he wasn't found..he decided not to think about that and continued to be quiet under the snow. Soon, Fresh found Killer in the trees. The boy huffed, his favorite hiding spot having been foiled.

Fresh then went and searched elsewhere in the forest. "Come out, come out wherev' ya be, little peeps. Hmm...maybe I'll find da big broski first? Is anyone...behind this bush?"

Carrot waved up at Fresh; he had been found.

Fresh chuckled and scooped the toddler up. "How's 'bout ya help me sniff out da rest O dem?"

Carrot nodded. He liked that idea.

Ink was glad that he didn't get cold too easily; he probably would have been freezing by now if he did. However, he was a magical skeleton, and the cold didn't affect him too much. He idly wondered how long it would take for the game to end; he hoped he would be found, since it would have been difficult to hear anything if he wasn't. Fresh scanned the ground, looking for anything suspicious (other than the footprints). He noticed a few lumps down that hadn't been there before and smirked.

He and Carrot made their way closer. "This looks like a cool spot. I wonder if any one be over 'ere?"

Ink smirked from below the ground, before popping out of the ground to surprise Fresh. "Boo!"

Fresh laughed, but he wasn't startled. "Nice one, brokski! Dat was a good hidin' spot."

Carrot stared wide-eyed at the adult who had suddenly appeared. He hadn't expected that.

"Heh, thanks." Ink smiled a little, before handing the toddler a lollipop; he hoped he hadn't scared the little tyke.

Carrot accepted the candy, forgiving Ink of any wrongs his mind believed were caused. The other children appeared out of nowhere a lot and liked to sneak up on each other. Eventually, he would get used to it.

Fresh hummed, looking around. "Now's we just got to find de others. Already found Kills and dis one..."

"Well, I'll be completely fair and not help you at all!" Ink grinned. "I want them to win!"

Ink wondered when the last time he had felt this giddy had been..he didn't remember.

"Dat's real cool of ya, broski!" Fresh grinned back; this 'villain' was really a real good guy. "Ya wanna just hang wit us as we look den?"

"Sure!" Ink nodded, standing up to follow Fresh and Carrot. "Where to, captain?"

"Dis way, my good man!" Fresh points over to another set of bushes; these ones were giggling.

"They're obviously not there." Ink informed, knowing that he wouldn't mislead Fresh in the least unless the other wanted to play along.

Fresh smirked. "Obvs not. Who'd hide in a bush? Dat's jus' silly."

The bushes giggled more.

"Totes no body in dere." Fresh said, wandering closer.

He looked up in the trees to see if he could spot anyone up there. There was a shade of brown that wasn't normally in the trees, but it moved behind the tree trunk. Somebody was up there...

Ink didn't notice it, being too amused by the giggling bushes. He was happy that Fresh had played along! Fresh set Carrot down and walked closer to the tree he noticed.

FRESH POOF!

Fresh landed on a wide branch and looked around the tree.

"Eeek!"

"Found ya, squirt!"

Ink chuckled from the ground; it seemed that he couldn't keep everyone safe from Fresh!

"Darn, he got one!" Ink shrugged. "Well, I saved someone, at least."

Fresh returned to the ground with a grinning Inky. Inky squirmed out of his grip and ran up to Ink, only to lift his arms to be picked up.

Ink smiled, picking Inky up and hugging him. "Guess you were caught, eh? Too bad. Well, want a consolation prize? I think I've got-" Ink paused, twitching.

He remained silent for a moment, before speaking again.

"I've got you..right where I want you." He chuckled lowly, his voice deeper and more menacing.

Ink's grip on Inky began to tighten.

Inky's sockets widened in fear, and he froze. He didn't like it when Ink talked like this...

Fresh was still nearby and overheard. He pushed Carrot behind him and eyed Ink with a serious look. "Ink...talk to me, buddy. You don't want to do that."

Carrot ran to the bushes where his brother was hiding, and the older child popped his head out to see what was going on. Killer noticed the change in the otherwise kind adult's posture and teleported back to the clubhouse. He told Dusty and Choppy what was happening, and they returned to the others, weapons at the ready.

Ink laughed in an unhinged fashion as his grip tightened even more; the child in his arms would definitely be harmed at this point.

"You idiots." Ink chuckled darkly. "You think even the worst person can change, if he just tries! But you're wrong; you're so wrong! Freedom..is simply prohibited!"

The strained expression on Ink's face was subtle, but it could not be entirely concealed with a mask of insanity. Inky whined in fear, instinctively gripping Ink's shirt. He wanted to be put down, but he knew Ink were too strong for him. When TK, Lag, and Error arrive to help, they sent Swappy and Carrot to the hideout and prepare for a fight.

"I believe you need to want to change." Fresh said calmly, placing himself between the other children and Ink. "And I know you want to, Ink. You want to change. This isn't you."

"I'm afraid Ink isn't here right now; please try again later!" ̶I̶n̶k̶ The enemy giggled playfully, summoning a bladed paintbrush and pointing it at Inky.

Fresh narrows his sockets at the being in front of him. "Not even going to pretend, are you, Broomie?"

He waved the kids back. He knew they wanted to help their friend, but this wasn't some scuffle with any old adult. No, this was something much more dangerous...

"Aww, how sweet!" He chuckled. "You know my name! That's nice..I might just consider mercy killing you. But first.."

Broomie stabbed Inky's arm.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Inky screamed, finally starting to struggle; tears streamed down his face and he started to squirm rapidly.

Error summoned his strings and wrapped them around the trees for leverage, grabbing Broomie's arm to pull the knife away. The Murder Club darted around Fresh before he could stop them, pulling out their weapons and circle the adult. Killer ported forward and slashed at ̶I̶n̶k̶'s Broomie's legs, before porting away again.

Lag and TK held back, ready to interfere when the others got Inky away.

Fresh scowled, wishing the children would have stayed out of the fight. Too late now, he guessed...he summoned his own weapon. He set a wiffle bat on his shoulder nonchalantly. "Let the kid go, Broomie."

Broomie grinned. He was now on the ground, and he had no valid use of one of his arms, but he could fix that quickly. He grabbed the string around his arm and pulled with every ounce of his might, gaining some leeway. He proceeded to pull out his brush with his now-free hand, flinging red paint at anyone he saw; Inky was still firmly in his grip, trapped in his other arm. He used that hand to dig deeper into Inky's wound. Inky continued to scream, flailing his legs and pushing against the adult. He didn't like this! He wanted the nice Ink back!

TK and Lag opened blue chrono rings to capture the paint attacks, and Error tightened his strings, yanking Broomie's arm back. More strings grabbed the brush and started pulling them away. Even more grabbed at his legs, holding them in place. Choppy used this opportunity to swing his axe at his legs. Since it was an old axe, it didn't sever the bone, but it did leave a nasty crack. Dusty and Killer ran forward and started pulling on the arm holding Inky. Fresh moved forward as well, using his weight to hold the other adult down and prying his fingers out of Inky's wound.

Broomie growled; these strings were an annoyance! Well, he had one arm; he might as well have caused some mayhem!

Broomie dropped Inky, before grabbing one of the little arms that were trying to pull him away and snapping it. He decided, after that, that he would leave Ink to deal with the consequences, releasing his will to him.

Ink passed out from pure fear as soon as he was in control.

Dusty grunted in pain, teeth gritting as tears formed in his eyes. He'd felt worse before, but that hurt!

Fresh noticed the change in Ink's expression, realizing the switch had been made. "That's enough, kids. Back away."

Killer and Choppy pulled Inky and Dusty away, and Inky clung to Killer, sobbing into his chest. Error refused to release the strings. Instead, more wrapped around Ink, some going dangerously-close to his neck and other sensitive joints.

"Let's him go, Error." Fresh orders.

"He hu-ur-ur-hurT INky!"

"I know. But it's over now. Inky is safe now." Fresh puts his bat away, glad he didn't have to use it.

"hEEEeee dID iT before! He wILLL do it aGaiN!" The strings tightened painfully around Ink. They were sharper than usual.

Ink's bones began to give in under the pressure of the strings; black blood began to seep from more than a few bones, staining the snow beneath him and his clothing.

He showed no sign of waking up anytime soon.

"Error!" Fresh snapped, standing up. "Let him go! Ink wasn't in control."

Error sneered at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you should be able to understand him." Fresh pulled out a metal slap bracelet and used it to cut Error's strings. "Yer not always yerself either, ya know?"

Error growled, adding more strings to Ink's body. "What are you talking about?"

Fresh gave him a look, cutting those strings as well; he even cut a few that tried to snag him. "Aye know about yer little...activities, kiddo. 'Bout da decorations ya keep in yer home?"

Error tensed; he didn't like talking about those.

Fresh used the opportunity to pick Ink up bridal style. "Keep dat in mind. Ya ain't de only kid on the block with issues."

Ink, although unconscious, was twitching and flinching as he slept; Broomie was likely tormenting him in his sleep. His black blood began to flow faster now that there was no resistance.

Fresh frowned down at Ink, adjusting him so his head was resting against his shoulder. "You kids stay here. I'll be back later."

FRESH POOF!

Fresh left Underswap and took Ink to his home in Undertale, a little cabin in Snowdin forest where people wouldn't ask too many questions. The twins should have still been at the Gaster's house; the OG was one of the few variations who actually took care of his own children properly.

Fresh laid Ink on the bed in his bedroom and retrieved a med kit. He removed the bloody clothes and cleaned away the blood. Ink hyperventilated and turned in his sleep, probably suffering a nightmare of some sort if Broomie wasn't the culprit. His motion was undoubtedly aggravating his wounds, but he had no way to stop it; he was asleep.

Fresh set the kit on the end table and grabbed Ink's shoulders to stop his turning. "Ink! Wake up, broski! Yer hurtin' yerself!"

Ink did not wake up; his reaction, however, wasn't good. He began to struggle more, speaking in his sleep.

"No, no, no, no, no, no.." Ink begged repeatedly; Fresh's grip might have triggered something in him..something bad.

Fresh moved and placed himself behind Ink, holding Ink's arms to his sides and rocking them gently. "Easy there, broski...I'm not going to hurt you...you're safe here. I won't hurt you."

Ink's begging devolved into pitiful whimpers, being somewhat appeased by Fresh's comfort. His struggling died down, too.

Fresh shushed him softly. "It's okay, Ink...you're safe here...everyone is safe..."

Ink's body relaxed, and he finally quieted; Fresh's comfort really helped him. Fresh reached over and grabbed the cloth, beginning to clean the wounds again. The cuts were rather deep; there was likely code manipulation involved to weaken his bones and increase the severity of the injuries. Fresh discovered this while he was checking on the being that possessed him. He frowned, moving on to bandaging the wounds.

He made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Ink. He didn't want a repeat of today...

Ink slept soundly through the rest of the treatment, not stirring even a little. When Fresh finished, Ink was still fast asleep; he likely wouldn't wake for at least another hour. Fresh then proceeded to tuck Ink into bed with a clean blanket. He pulled out his phone to text Killer and Dusty while he waited for Ink to wake up. Ink slept soundly, subconsciously holding the warm blanket close as Fresh went about his business, and Fresh learned from the two that Inky was healed, but he had still been shaken up by what had happened.

The kid was also asking for Ink.

That...wasn't healthy. It was great that Inky was forgiving, but he shouldn't have been bouncing back this quickly. Ink rolled over in the bed, but he didn't wake up, remaining fast asleep under the covers. Fresh looked over at Ink before looking back at his phone. From the Murder Club, he also learned the names of the other two kids. The ones with the goggles and funky portal powers. He'd have to check on them later too.

After ensuring the children would be fine for a while, he put his phone away and stood up to get some water and pain medication for Ink. He would need it when he woke up. After three quiet hours, Ink's eyesockets blinked open. He immediately groaned in pain, curling in on himself; had Broomie punished him again? Where was he? He looked around, finding..the inside of a cabin? And..Fresh?

"Wh..where am I?" He asked, still half-asleep.

"Yer in my house, broseph." Fresh explained. He picked up the cup of water and helped Ink sit up to drink it. "Here ya go. This and da pain meds will help wit the pain."

"O-oh.." Ink complied, taking a sip of the water. "What happened..?"

"Broomie decided to pay us visit." Fresh explained, keeping his face and voice calm. "You and a couple of the kids got hurt. They're fine now, but I thought it would be best to move ya here."

Ink's eyesockets shot open. "What?! H-he what?! Wh-who did I hurt?! Are they okay?! What did I do?!"

Ink began to hyperventilate; he hadn't been ready to hear that.

Fresh removed his glasses, revealing two purple eyelights. He took Ink's hands and looked him in the eyelights. "Hey...easy there, Ink. Deep breaths. Take a deep breath..." He made the motion, intending for Ink to copy. "You didn't hurt anyone. You didn't do anything. Alright?"

Ink began to sob, but he looked into Fresh's eyelights, trying to breathe as intructed.

"I-I did.." Ink whimpered between sobs. "I-I let him take me..it's all my fault..I-I did everything.."

"From what I've seen, you're a good person in a bad situation." Fresh said, continuing to take deep breaths. "He made those choices, not you. You didn't hurt anyone."

"B-but I did..I gave in for so long..why'd I think I could fight him?" Ink cried out in pain, curling in on himself tightly.

Fresh frowned, sitting on the bed and pulling Ink into his lap; he made sure he had a hold of his hands still. Just in case... "Talk to me, Ink. What's wrong?"

Ink looked up at Fresh with tears in his eyesockets.

"I..I made a mistake.." He wept. "I shouldn't have gone against him; I need to get back home before he gets mad..I don't want to hurt you! He'll make me hurt you!"

Fresh considered Ink's plea. He considered what would happen if Ink left. How that would affect Inky. How that would affect Ink.

He considered what Broomie would do.

"...All right. Just tell me the coordinates." He gave Ink's hands a gentle squeeze, hoping he would understand.

Ink gave Fresh the coordinates, continuing to sob; he should have never tried to oppose his master. He was weak. He was worthless. Why hadn't he just killed himself when he'd had the chance? He felt the pleasure of his master at his submission, but he knew that there was a punishment waiting for him when he would finally be home alone. He hoped he could run into someone else before that; he wanted to put it off for as long as possible.

Maybe..he would try to kill himself again.

A sharp pain shooting through his body gave that choice a decisive negative. Broomie wouldn't let him do that. His master wouldn't give up his favorite pawn so easily.

"I'm ready..whenever you are." Ink said, tears streaming down his face.

Fresh stood up and helped Ink to his feet.

FRESH POOF!

They were in the adult Ink's home multiverse now. "Here we are...stay strong, broski."

Ink nodded, already feeling his strength returning; his master wouldn't leave him helpless for so long when he was being obedient.

"You should probably leave now.." Ink sighed. "And never come back."

"...Goodbye, Ink. Don't give up, okay?" Fresh said softly.

And then he was gone.

When Ink regained enough energy to create a portal, he opened one to his home; he had an appointment that he couldn't miss. He found no one else in his home, to his disappointment. He entered the soundproof room in his home, which he had once used to house someone who was now an enemy..and he fell to his knees in submission.

"I'm sorry, master.." He bowed his skull, knowing it would do no good. "I'll be good from now on..please have mercy.."

Ink's house was silent for the next five hours, save for that one room.