Ruru's code did what it could to fight off the artist's hacking. For every change, it would counter it with a firewall. For every tweak in memory, it restored the appropriate memory file. At every turn it would block the tampering with various measures.

IT HURT SO MUCH!!!

Ruru eventually crashed, his body unable to handle the pain.

It seemed that Ruru couldn't hear the others when they came to help him; Error was doing his best to help Ruru's defenses.

Ink simply continued the invisible onslaught, however.

Ruru woke up in the middle of the next day. His head pounded, and his body temperature was high. He was still fighting against Ink's tampering, but...

He couldn't hold on much longer.

His darkened sockets filled with tears. He didn't want to forget Inky.

After many hours of pressing, Ink finally decided to end his manipulation; he wanted to focus his attention on his son, who had woken up not long ago. He was currently making lunch for himself and Inky.

Ruru slipped off the bed he was in, falling into a hastily made portal back to his multiverse - his home in the white place.

Inky wandered into the kitchen, rubbing his sockets. The buzzing in his head was gone now.

"Hi, Daddy..." Inky says sleepily. The word fell off his tongue naturally. Of course it did.

{WHÝ WØŰĽĐŇ'Ť ÏȚ?}

"Hello, Inky!" Ink greeted, stirring a pot. "Did you sleep well?"

Inky nodded and walked over to Ink. He held his hands up, wanting to be picked up. Ink obliged, picking up his son with one hand and continuing to stir the pot with the other.

"I hope you like chicken noodle soup." Ink smiled.

"What's that?" Inky asked, leaning over to look in the pot.

"It's chicken, noodles, carrots, potatoes, and celery all in a soup; you'll love it!" Ink assured.

"Okay!" Inky smiled. He believed his daddy. He would never lie to him, so soup must be good.

"Do you want to stir the pot?"

Inky nodded, reaching for the spoon. "Yeah!"

He managed to only splash soup out twice, and only a little. Ink chuckled as his son did his best to stir the pot; he was so proud of him! Soon, the soup was ready to eat, and he filled two bowls with it, putting them on the table. Inky went to pick his bowl up to drink the soup as if the bowl were a big cup.

"Here, Inky." Ink picked up a spoon and handed it to his son. "Try to use this."

Inky looked at the spoon in his hand in confusion. He watched his Daddy to see how to use it and copied him. Since his grip on it was awkward, the soup fell off the spoon most of the time. After a few more tries, he was able to keep the food on the spoon and finish his soup. It was really good soup, but when he was done, Inky wanted to go outside and play. Ink gathered up the dishes as he gave his son permission to go outside, telling him that he would be out in a minute. Inky ran out the door and went straight for the slide. He tried to climb it the wrong way up, but he ended up sliding back down. He giggled, trying again and again. He only got halfway up before slipping and going back down; he thought it was funny. When he was bored of that, he went to the swing. There was a puddle of water under it.

"Ink! Don't you dare jump in there. You'll get hurt."

Inky blinked, the stray memory leaving as quickly as it came. He stepped forward and hopped on the swing. His feet were all muddy now, but he didn't care. He kicked his legs and swung back and forth, having fun. Ink smiled as he watched his son play, walking outside to spend some more time with him.

Inky looked up and smiled. "Daddy! Come swing with me! I bet I can go higher than you!"

"All right!" Ink ran over to the swingset, beginning to swing next to his son.

Inky kicked his feet, trying to go higher than Ink. He wanted to win!

But his hand slipped, and he almost tumbled off the swing. "Whoa!"

Ink grabbed his son's arm quickly to make sure he wouldn't fall off.

"You wanna swing with me?" He offered.

Inky nodded, jumping off his swing and splashing the puddles below. He went to Ink and started climbing into his lap. Ink smiled, using one hand to hold Inky close and the other to hold onto the swing. He began to swing as high as he could. Inky giggled - he higher they went, the louder his laughter.

When they went high in the air, he stuck his hands up. "Higher!"

Ink laughed alongside his son, swinging higher while using his magic to ensure that nothing bad happened. Inky soon got an idea: he wanted to try jumping off. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, he tried to move Ink's hand as they got higher, and Ink didn't notice the slight movements. On their next swing up, Inky moved the hand and jumped. The air rushed past him, as if he were flying!

He landed on his feet and rolled into a summersault, popping back up and throwing his arms in the air. "Yeah!" He turepnee around and grinned at his daddy. "Did you see that? I flew!"

Ink chuckled, trying to convince himself that he hadn't been genuinely terrified for his child's life. "Yes, you did!"

Inky ran back and climbed back into Ink's lap. "Again! Again!"

"All right." Ink began to swing again, although he didn't goquiteas high as before, and he used his code manipulation to make the ground a bit softer.

Once they were high again, Inky leaped off Ink's lap, rolling once again and popping up. He repeated this many, many times...

As in, this was his new favorite game, and he wouldn't stop.

All the rolling was starting to make him dizzy, though, and and his landings were becoming less steady.

"Maybe we should stop for now, Ink." Ink suggested. "I actually..have to go to work.."

Inky spun around in a circle,verydizzy after his last jump. "What's work? Is it fun?"

"Not exactly." Ink shook his skull. "It's more like the opposite of fun. The only problem is what to do withyou..I can't take youwithme.."

Inky stopped spinning and pouted. "Why not?"

"Work is for adults, and you're not an adult, so..I need a babysitter." Ink concluded.

"What's a babysitter? What do you need that for?"

"A babysitter is someone who will watch you while I'm gone, to make sure you don't get into any trouble." Ink informed.

Inky smiled innocently, holding his hands folded in front of him. "I would never get into trouble~"

"Ofcoursenot." Ink rolled his eyelights. "My friend Blue will watch over you well, though, and he could even be a friend!"

Inky perked up. "A friend? Yeah! Is he fun? Does he know lots of games? How fast can he run? Is he good at hide and seek? Does he like chocolate?"

"You'll find out!" Ink chuckled. "I'll call him, and he'll be over in a bit, okay?"

Inky nodded. "Okay!"

Ink pulled out his phone and called his friend.

One panic-fueled phone call involving code manipulation later..

"All right, he's coming!" Ink smiled.

Inky jumped up and down eagerly. He couldn't wait! Blue arrived within a minute, and with his new mindset (courtesy of Ink's code manipulation), he was ready to babysit Ink's son!

"Hello, Inky!" Blue greeted. "I'm here to watch you."

Inky ran up to Blue and repeated his questions, plus a few more. "Why are you blue? Are you sad? Are you cold? Does blue make you cold? I once fell in white stuff and it was cold. I thought about blue when I fell, but I wasn't sad, just cold. Do you like playing in white stuff? This other child and me threw it at each other and it was fun. There's no white stuff here, but there is mud. Do you want to throw mud?"

"Yes." Blue answered the last question. "Let's throw mud!"

"Bye, Inky; bye, Blue!" Ink opened a portal to work.

Inky ran up to Ink and gave him a hug. "Bye, Daddy! Have fun at work!"

Ink hugged Inky back before heading off to work.

Inky then ran back to Blue and asked, "Are we going to throw mud now?"

"Yeah!" Blue grinned, picking up some mud.

Inky bent down and scooped up some mud too; he immediately pelted Blue. Blue launched some mud in retaliation; Inky wasn't getting out of this without a thick layer of mud! Inky squealed in delight, dodging the mud and scooping up more ammo to throw at Blue. He threw mud ball after mud ball at Blue. Blue was not merciful in his return attacks; he fought just as hard (but with a bit less strength) as Inky (without hurting him)! Inky was quickly covered in mud. He took cover behind the slide, using it as a shield from which to launch his attacks. Blue took the swingset, balancing on top of it carefully. Inky aimed his attacks high, hitting his target every time. He would duck behind the slide whenever an attack came his way. Blue grinned as he threw his mudballs up in the air, hoping they would fall on Inky's head when they fell down. The mud, did indeed, plop on his head; he screamed happily, running away to find a new hiding place. Blue giggled, hurling more mud at Inky. Inky ducked behind the seesaw. It wasn't much good at this point, because he was already coated in mud - the only clear spot was his face. He scooped more mud and flung it at Blue. Blue continued to lob mud on his side, as well; he was having the time of his life, and he hoped that Inky was, too!

Hours later, they were still lobbing mud at each other and were coated head to toe in mud. Inky giggled; he was having so much fun! After quite some time, Blue decided that it was time to stop; he was tired, and Inky needed a bath. After one last mud ball to the face, he ended the game.

"All right, Inky - time for a bath." He stated, gesturing inside the house.

Inky perked up, wiping his face off with an equally muddy arm. "Bath?!"

"Yep!" Blue went to pick the child up. "You're pretty dirty!"

Inky let Blue pick him up, bouncing in the adult's arms. "I want bubbles in my bath!"

"All right!"

Blue carried the child into one of Ink's bathrooms and began to fill up the bathtub, making sure to add alotof bubble soap! Inky giggled, watching the tub fill. He leaned over the side, getting mud all over the edge of the tub. Blue didn't mind; he would clean it up later. When the tub was filled, he asked Inky to take his dirty clothes off; he was going to have to find some clean clothes..he hoped Ink had clean clothes. Inky undressed and dropped his heavy clothes on the floor. They were more mud than clothes at this point; he himself was looking more mud than skeleton.

Inky scrambled over the side of the tub and fell into the water, splashing Blue in his haste to play in the bubbles. When he popped back up, he was sporting a lovely bubble wig. Blue giggled at the sight; he wished he had a camera right now. Alas, he did not. Blue contented himself with committing the moment to memory. He began to clean Inky's muddy bones with a soapy rag, hoping that this wouldn't be too difficult.

Inky giggled, squirming away from the rag. "That tickles!"

"Oh,really?"Blue smirked, intending to tickle Inky some more.

Inky scooted around the tub to avoid the tickle attack. He splashed Blue in retaliation. Blue grinned, splashing Inky back; this was fun! Inky gathered bubbles in his hands and blew them at Blue, while Blue blew the bubbles back, making a funny face as he did. Inky laughed as the bubbles landed on his face. Now he had a bubble-stache! Inky played some more in the bath, fully enjoying the experience. The cleaner he got, the dirtier the water. Inky remembered having a bath at the muddy man's house; the black and white skeleton had helped him take one. The water had turned dark there too.

Inky tilted his head in thought. Why had he been at the muddy man's house? Was the muddy man a babysitter? And...

The other child was there.

But Daddy said Inky didn't know the other child.

But he knew Inky's name.

Inky's head was buzzing again. He held a hand to his head and blinked.

"Are you all right?" Blue tilted his skull. "We don't have to keep playing, if you don't want to."

Inky blinked again and stared at Blue blankly. "What?"

"Do you feel all right? You zoned out for a minute, there - should I call Ink? I can call him, if you need him."

Inky thought about that for a moment. He was thinking about something; he couldn't remember what, though. He scrunched his face, trying to bring the thought back. The buzzing increased and he squeezed his sockets shut.

"..I'm calling Ink." Blue pulled out his phone. "I-Ink, Inky's not doing well! Please come back!"

A portal opened in the living room almost instantly.

Inky held his head. He forgot what he was doing, but the buzzing wouldn't stop. Why was it buzzing? Why did he feel so fuzzy?

Ink came into the room and picked up his son, holding him close; he knew what was happening.

"Inky, focus on me." Ink instructed. "I'm here; Daddy's here."

Inky followed his instructions, holding him tight. His little fists grabbing Ink's shirt and refusing to let go. He whimpered, his head feeling funny. "Daddy..."

Inky buried his face in Ink's shoulder. Since that made the buzzing lessen, he pressed further in. After a while, the buzzing subsided, and the fuzziness left his body. Now, he was just tired.

"Thank you." Ink said, sending Blue off.

As for Inky, Ink began to rock him.

Inky whined. He didn't know why he felt like this. He gripped his daddy's shirt tighter. "Daddy..."

"It's okay, Inky." Ink comforted, using his magic to soothe Inky to sleep.

Inky blinked, his sockets getting heavy. Ink hummed a lullaby softly, gudiding Inky to the realm of dreams, and Inky closed his sockets, falling back to sleep. Ink carried his son to bed; he should have known better than to leave him alone when the code changes were so new. Inky clung to Ink in his sleep, subconsciously tightening his hold. Ink tucked his son in, intending to stay by his side until he woke up; he pulled out a book to read while he waited. After some time, Inky stirred in his sleep, blinking up at Ink.

"Hello, sleepyhead." Ink chuckled. "Do you want to get up, now?"

Inky hummed, sitting up. He looked around the room. He was waking up in bed. So that meant-

He smiled up at Ink. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Inky." Ink returned. "Are you ready for another day?"

Inky sat up and grinned. "Yeah!"

It was the same day Blue had come over. Only midday. But having lived in the Antivoid for so long, Inky didn't notice.

"Let's take it easy today." Ink suggested, pulling a clean outfit out of a dresser for Inky. "How about a few movies?"

Inky got dressed in a dinosaur t-shirt and simple jeans. He skipped the socks, not liking things on his feet. "Okay."

"Come on, then." Ink held his hand out for Inky to hold.

Inky took his Daddy's hand. He didn't feel as energetic as usual. He let Ink lead him to the living room and sat on the couch.

"What do you want to watch, Inky?" Ink asked, sitting down beside his son.

Inky kicked his legs and looked at the selection. "Um...how about the dog movie again?"

"Okay." Ink turned on the dog movie again.

Inky cuddled up to his Daddy asClifford the Big Red Dogplayed. He just wanted to be close to someone right now, and that someone was his Daddy. Ink hugged his son close, intending to comfort him in his time of need. Inky climbed into Ink's lap and curled up. He paid half attention to the movie, playing with Ink's hands. Ink pretended not to notice; he needed time to figure out the quickest way to save Inky's changes for good, lest they were reversed. Inky leaned back into Ink's chest, silently watching the movie. As the movie played, his mind drifted to the glitchy child. He wondered who he was.

Ink continued to plan; perhaps bonding moments would work well..

When his mind drifted to the glitched child for too long, the buzzing would increase. He would whimper and press his face into Ink's shirt. The thoughts would leave him soon after, chased away by his discomfort and the presence of his daddy.

Perhaps some false memories...

Inky sighed. These dizzy spells were making him tired. His sockets were heavy, but he had just woken up; he didn't want to sleep.

Or..he could have just waited it out..but that would have been exhausting.

Inky pulled his daddy's hand closer to him and cuddled it close to his chest.

Maybe a mental coma..

Inky looked up at his daddy's face and asked, "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"Plans for the future." Ink responded. "Enjoying the movie?"

"Yes. What kind of plans?" Inky wasn't interested in the movie anymore. Not really. He wanted a distraction, though, and was curious.

"Plans for you."

"So you won't break the rules, will you?" Ink asked.

Inky shook his head. "No..." He paused and scrunched his brow. "What are the rules?"

"They'll tell you when you get to school; I don't know all of them." Ink shrugged.

"Oh." He fiddled with his fingers. He wasn't so sure about school if there were rules. He'd never had to worry about those before. "What else is there at school?"

"Other kids like you! They'll play with you, if they want to be your friends!"

Inky perked up at that. "Friends? I can make friends there? Yay!"

"Yep!" Ink smiled.

Inky was excited again. "Yeah! I'm gonna make friends with everyone!"

"Great!" Ink approved.

Inky forgot all about rules and punishments. His head now filled with how many friends he was going to have. "What else?"

"A very kind teacher who will teach you things!" Ink included.

"Ohhh...like Ms. Frizzle?" Inky asked, eyelights a yellow star and blue diamond.

"Yep!" Ink confirmed. "Except this one will probably be a monster, not a human."

"Oh... That's what we are!" Inky said, happy to recognize something. "That's what-"

Inky stopped. His memory was supplying the glitchy kid's face. But Daddy said Inky didn't know him-

The buzzing started again. This time Inky didn't fight it. He let it buzz. He didn't let the memory slide either. This was important!

"Inky?" Ink recognized that expression; that expressionalwayscaused more work for him! "Inky, do you know what recess is?"

Inky tried to hold onto the memory while he answered. "Umm...no. What's recess?"

He held the memory. He needed to draw this down so he wouldn't forget. The buzzing got louder.

"It's when all the children go outside into the playground to play!" Ink needed to grab Inky's attention.. "Schools always have slides, and swings, and seesaws! They also have jungle gyms and large fields to run around in!"

Inky perked up; that sounded like fun. Inky loved going up and down the slide. Maybe he could play tag with his new friends at school, and they could go down the-

The memory was slipping...

Inky's sockets widened. He needed to draw it down. Now!

"Ummm...I forgot something!" Inky ran back to his room and shut the door. He pulled out crayons and paper from his inventory before getting down on the floor and starting to draw.

"Inky!"Ink shouted.

Ink ran after his son, following him to his room. The door was unlocked; he opened it, finding the child drawing furiously on a piece of paper.

"Inky.." Ink summoned a code bar. "I know that you're new to thisfamilything, but really..I expectedmore."He typed in a program. "Now, Inky..youwillobey your father. Do I make myselfclear?"

He finalized the script, muting Inky's free will considerably and heightening his submission levels.

Inky paused, processing the words. He didn't understand it, but he felt compelled toobey.To do as he's told. But Daddy hadn't told him to do anything yet. Inky hastily finished his drawing of Ruru and stuffed it in his inventory and did something the glitchy child alwayshated.He stood up and flopped forward, bonking his head.

"Inky, show me your drawing." Ink ignored the fumble.

Inky pushed himself up, and rubbed his head. He looked around, but he didn't see any papers. There was a crayon, but no paper.

He looked up at Ink and asked, genuinely confused, "What drawing?"

"The one in your inventory." Ink was growing impatient.

It was times like this, ignorance was beneficial to Inky. Ruru had taught him many things, but there were some that were bound to fall through the cracks.

"What's an inventory?" He wondered.

Ink clenched his fists; he wassurehe could heal any bruises before anyone saw them..

"Everyone has an inventory to store things with their magic." Ink informed. "You can check what's in yours by thinking about a storage container. Think aboutopeningit."

Inky did as he was told, thinking about where he kept things. He pulled out every drawing he'd ever stored in there. There were...a lot of drawings. At least one hundred. Even some non-drawing items. There was a snowball, a coffee cup with a pun on it, a knife, a sock, someblue strings,a creampuff, and various random objects he had picked from around Ink's house. And one of Blue's gloves.

How he got the glove was anyone's guess.

"Stop.."Ink sighed. "Nevermind. You need to get to school."

Inky perked up, smiling wide. He stuffed all his stuff back in his inventory (He learned a new word today! Maybe he'll even remember it) and did a dance. He didn't remember why Daddy wanted to see all his drawings. But that was okay. He'd show them to Daddy later.

For now, he was excited for school.

He looked around the room, spinning. "What do I need for school?"

"Pencils, notebooks, and a bookbag..I'll get those for you." Ink stated. "You go get dressed in something neat."

Inky went to his dresser from which he had taken his other outfit and pulled each article of clothing out to inspect it. He ended up deciding on a shirt with a kitten playing with yarn and a pair of shorts.

He once again ignored the socks.

Finished getting dressed, Inky went back to his daddy.

"That's good enough." Ink shrugged, handing his son a backpack full of school supplies. "Can you lift this?"

Inky took the bag. He wobbled a bit with the new weight, but he soon steadied. He held the backpack in his arms and looked up to Ink to ask, "What now?"

"Now, I send you off to school." Ink handed Ink the lunchbox he had filled earlier. "I can't come with you, but I'll be waiting when you come home."

Inky took the lunchbox and clutched it to his chest with the backpack. "Okay!"

"Good boy." Ink opened a portal. "Now, you go right through there, and you stick with all the other little kids; you'll be guided to your classroom."

"Okay!" Inky ran through the portal and found himself surrounded by other kids. His sockets widened. "Woah!"

The schoolchildren around him seemed to be energetic and wild, running around jovially as the adults tried to find some semblance of order. Inky's smile grew and he ran into the crowd of children. His backpack and lunchbox went into his inventory, and he squealed in delight as he ran around the room.

"Please calm down, children!" A teacher requested nicely.

Inky ran to the adult and asked, "Why?"

"Because I can't teach you if you don't calm down." The teacher sighed.

Inky made an O face. Well, that wouldn't do; he wanted to learn! Inky ran back into the crowd and started shushing the other children. Surprisingly, the other children decided to quiet down for him, and the adults thanked Inky immensely. One adult began to direct the others, telling them which children were to go to which classrooms. Inky followed the teacher's instructions, curious to see how school worked. Inky was led to a classroom with about twenty other children, and a Toriel was the teacher here; she assigned seats to everyone and told them where to put their bookbags. Inky placed his backpack and lunchbox in the cubby assigned to him and took his seat in the second row. He curiously inspected the inside of the desk and and looked around the room at all the posters on the wall. He didn't know what they said, but some of the pictures were funny. The teacher began talking about the rules; they were common rules, such as no speaking unless spoken to, raising one's hand to ask questions, no fighting, and so forth. When the teacher brought up rules, he tried to pay attention. He really did. He didn't want to be punished. Inky had never had to follow rules before or worry about those sorts of things. He was going to do his very best to follow the rules! When the rules were finished, the teacher allowed all the children to stand up and meet eachother; today was more of an exploring day than a learning day, and she wanted the children to be comfortable as they learned in the coming days.

Inky ran up to a child and grinned. "Hi! I'm Inky. What's your name?"

"I'm Fritz!" A Chara variant grinned and waved.

"Hi, Fritz! Do you want to play?" Inky asked.

"Yeah!" Fritz giggled.

Inky giggled and looked around. "What do we play?"

He spotted some toys in the corner and dragged his new friend over.

"Let's play pirates!" Fritz suggested.

"Yeah!" Inky shouted. "What's a pirate?"

"Pirates sail the seven seas for treasure!" Fritz explained. "And they pillage stuff, and fight bad guys!"

Inky gasped, smiling wide. "Pirates sound so cool! I wanna be a pirate!"

"Me, too! Let's pillage stuff!"

"Yeah!" Inky looked around with a grin. "How do we do that?"

"Umm.." Fritz shrugged. "I dunno!"

Inky hummed in thought. He spotted two foam swords. He didn't know what they were, really, but they looked cool. He picked them up and handed one to Fritz. "Here! We can pillage by...um, poking childs with this."

"Yay!" Fritz accepted his foam sword. "Let's pillage!"

Inky led their attack by running up to another child and poking them with his sword. "Ha! I pillaged you!"

"What's pillaged?" The other child asked.

Inky shrugged. "I don't know. Do you wanna play with us?"

"Okay!' The other agreed.

"Come on!" Inky grabbed the child's hand and dragged them to their next victim. He continued to'pillage'the whole class.

The teacher only spared a glance; as long as no one got hurt, she was fine with the pillaging. Inky was gathering quite the army of pirates. Soon, they were all pillaging each other. Inky giggled; this was fun!

When noon arrived, the teacher put an end to the pillaging and asked the students to grab their lunchboxes if they had brought their own lunches. Inky opened his to see what his daddy had packed for him, and it seemed that Ink had packed his son a delicious bacon sandwich. Inky lifted the bread to inspect the bacon, before pulling a piece out and flopping it around. Inky giggled. It was wiggly! He wiggled it into his mouth like a really flat worm or something.

"All right, those of you who do not have a lunch, please follow me, and we'll go get some." The teacher ordered. "Those of you who do, please eat your lunch."

Inky waswayahead of her. He had already eaten all the bacon and was now munching away at a bread slice. It had mayonnaise on it.

Cheeks full, he looked at his new friend Frtiz. "What do you have?"

"Soup." Fritz replied, showing Inky the contents of his thermos.

Inky hummed. "My Daddy made me chicken noodles soup yesterday. I helped cook it! I think... or was that the spaghetti?"

Inky tried to recall what he helped his daddy cook. He couldn't remember. This was nothing new. Inky's memory had always been terrible. Things came and went without his control.

Except...

Except when he hurt himself. Inky had discovered by accident that if he hurt himself, then he would be able to remember things later. He would forget briefly, but eventually the memory would come back. Stronger than before.

Such as the memory of the glitchy child telling him about the differences between humans and monsters.

Inky needed to find somewhere to hide his picture of the child. He needed to remember him. It was important.

"Cool!" Fritz grinned. "My parents won't let me help them cook stuff like that; they say I'm too little.."

"Really? But you're taller than me!" Inky pointed out. The other child was about half an inch taller.

"Parents are weird like that." Fritz shrugged.

Inky nodded in agreement. He hadn't had a daddy for long (deep down he knew that), but he had determined that adults were weird.

"Do you have a drink?" Fritz wondered.

Inky hummed, looking back in his lunchbox. There was a juice box inside, grape flavored. Inky pulled out the juice box and stared at it in confusion. He wasn't sure what to do with this.

"I'll trade you my tea for your juice!" Fritz offered, holding out a plastic bottle filled with tea.

Inky shrugged and traded the juice for tea. Since the bottle was already open, he took a drink, and his eyelights lit up. "This is good!"

He chugged the tea down.

"Thanks!" Fritz enjoyed the grape juice.

Finished with his tea, Inky smiled. "You're welcome!"

Fritz enjoyed the rest of his meal greatly.

Once finished with his food, Inky looked around. He wanted to explore a little. He needed a place to hide something. The children who had left with the teacher earlier returned, the teacher entering the classroom behind them. The other children and the ones that stayed greeted each other, allowing Inky the perfect distraction to slide certain pictures under the cubbies. To anyone else, it would look like he was simply putting his lunchbox away. They wouldn't see what he was hiding. Or see him stub his toe on purpose.

Heneededto remember this.

It was important.

Lunchtime ended soon after that, and all the children were ordered to sit at their desks as the teacher began to explain the daily schedule for the year. Inky felt compelled to listen closely. After the daily schedule, the teacher began to talk about this year's planned field trips.

Inky perked up at that. He forgot to raise his hand and asked, "What's a field trip?"

"A field trip is a class outing." The teacher explained. "We will all enter a portal and learn about the universe in question. And please remember to raise your hand to ask questions in the future."

"Oh. Sorry!" Inky smiles. He really did forget. Hopefully that doesn't happen again.

"That's all right." The teacher smiled.

Inky smiled back. He kicked his legs lightly as he listened to the teacher talk more about the field trip. It sounded exciting. When the talk of field trips was over, it was time for the students to go home; the only homework was to draw a picture of their family members. Inky grabbed his backpack and lunchbox, gave the hiding spot a quick glance, and went to wait for his daddy to take him home. He couldn't wait to tell his daddy what he did today! Ink showed up in no time, ready to escort his son back home; he opened a portal after saying hello and hugged the child, carrying Inky through.

"How was school, Inky?" Ink inquired.

"It was fun! Me and Fritz and the other kids played pirates and pillaged everyone!" Inky explained excitedly. "And the teacher says we're going on a field trip one day. That's where they take us somewhere and we learn about there. And I traded my juice for tea. I like tea. Tea tastes good. And the teacher said we have homework. I have to draw a picture of my family. I'm going to draw thevery bestpicture!"

"That soundsgreat,Inky!" Ink smiled. "I have some things to do right now, so I can't play with you; do your homework while you wait for me, okay?"

Inky nodded and wiggled out of Ink's arms. "Okay!"

Inky ran to his room to get started, finding that Ink must have cleaned Inky's room while he was at school; it was cleaner than it had been in the morning. Inky sat down on the clear floor and pulled out paper and colored pencils. He started with a drawing of Ink. As he worked, his mind wandered to a certain child. He drew Ruru next to Ink without even realizing it until he was finished. When he did, he gasped. He had to hide this! He couldn't let Daddy see!

But why? Why did he feel such a strong desire to hide these pictures?

There was a knock at the door. "Inky, what do you want for dinner?"

Inky jumped a little. He replaced the picture with a new paper as quietly as possible and answered. "Um...uh, Fritz had soup for lunch. Can we have soup?"

"Sure!" Ink agreed. "I'll go start it! Come down when you finish your homework!"

"Okay!" Inky called back.

He got to work on a new drawing. This time, he only drew Daddy. There was a slight buzzing in his head. And a fuzzy feeling that...was starting to fade.

Once finished, Inky took his picture downstairs. He made sure to replace the contemplating look on his face with a big smile before entering the kitchen. "Daddy! Look! It's you!"

"Yes, it is!" Ink chuckled. "That's very good! You're a great little artist, Inky!"

"You're an amazing artist, Ink."

Inky worked to keep the smile on his face. "Thank you, Daddy!" He stood on his tiptoes to see the soup on the stove. "Is the food done yet?"

"Not for a while, Inky." Ink shook his skull. "It'll be another half hour."

"Okay." Inky said, before getting an idea. "What If I stare mean at it? It'll cook faster then!"

"Good idea!" Ink supported his child's ideas.

Inky put his picture on the table and dragged a chair over so he could be tall enough to glare at the soup. He gave it his meanest look.

The soup bubbled in fear.

Inky insulted the soup's mother.

The soup was done in an instant.

"Wow." Ink commented.

Inky cheered. "I did it! I'm the meanest monster ever!"

"It would seem so." Ink nodded. "Well, are you ready for soup?"

Inky nodded. "Yeah!"

He pulled the chair back to the table and made sure his picture was out of the way where it wouldn't get dirty.

"All right." Ink chuckled, bowling some soup.

He gave Inky a bowl of soup.

Inky blew on his soup to cool it off - gently this time, so he didn't make another mess. He used the spoon, just like his daddy had showed him. Looking up, he tilted his head at his daddy.

"I hope you like it; I put some different things in there to test a new recipe, so if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it." Ink assured.

"I like it." Inky said, nodding his head. He was still looking at Ink with a thoughtful look. "Daddy? If food cooks faster with meanness, why don't you be scary to it? It would be faster!"

"I'mtooscary for it, Inky." Ink informed. "I'd overcook it."

Inky squinted at Ink, giving him a disbelieving look.

"It's true." Ink shrugged; he had, unfortunately, burned things by glaring at them.

"Prove it!" Inky demanded; he had no idea what he was asking. "I don't believe you. You're not scary."

"Are yousure?"Ink wanted to make sure.

Inky crossed his arms stubbornly; hereallyhad no idea what he was asking for. "I don't believe you're scary. You're too nice!"

"All right, but don't say I didn't warn you." Ink hummed.

Ink contorted his facial features into a terrifying scowl; it wasn't his scariest face, but it would have sent some people running.

Inky squeaked, ducking under the table. Sockets wide, he hid under the chair.

That was almost scarier than when-

His head buzzed.

Another memory of the glitchy child came back to him.

"Iiiiiinnnnnnkkkkyyyy! Stop stealing my chocolate!" Screamed an irate child in an oversized black lab coat. He stood surrounded by a white landscape, blue strings hanging from the 'ceiling.'

Inky knew that place. The white place was one place he would never forget. And that child...he knew him.

What was his name again?

"I told you I was scary!" Ink chuckled. "Here, your soup's getting cold."

Inky blinked, trying to recall the child's name. What was it?

His head buzzed louder, making it difficult to hear. He tucked the memory away, keeping it in his mind. The buzzing became louder. Inky did his best to smooth his face and came out of his hiding place; he got back in the chair and went back to eating his food.

The buzzing persisted.

But the fuzziness he had been made unaware of lessoned.

Ink ate his own soup next to his son, completely unaware that anything was happening in Inky's mind.

Inky finished his soup and yawned. He had a busy day, and he was ready to go back to his room. And not just because he was tired. He needed to draw the memory down before he forgot. He swung his legs hard and banged them against the chair; the pain helped clear the fuzziness, strengthening the memory.

"Are you all right?" Ink inquired; that kicking must have hurt; he hoped Inky wasn't a masochist - being a sadist wasmuchmore fun.

Inky smiled brightly. "I'm fine!" He stopped kicking and scrambled out of his chair. "I'm gonna go draw some more!"

"All right, you have fun!" Ink waved a goodbye.

Inky ran off to his room and closed the door behind him. He sat down on floor and leaned against the bed. Pulling out his paper and coloring supplies, he got to work drawing down every memory he could recall of the glitchy child. Every so often he would wince as his head buzzed louder, but he pushed through, drawing until he couldn't handle it any more. When it became too much, Inky put the drawings away in his inventory and crawled into bed, pulling the blanket over his head.

Ink knocked on his door at ten o'clock.

"Inky, are you sleeping?" He asked.

Inky shifted under the blanket. His head hurt. He squeezed his sockets shut.

"I'm coming in!" Ink announced, before entering the room. He walked over to Inky, pulling the covers off him; he immediately noticed that there was some pain. "Oh, Inky, are you all right?"

Inky rolled over, wincing when his head pounded. The buzzing had subsided, but now it hurt. He reached out to Ink, wanting to be comforted.

"Oh, come here, baby.." Ink hugged his son close, wanting to comfort him in his time of need..and strengthen the power of his code manipulation; he didn't need the child breaking free sosoon."Daddy's got you."

Inky buried his face in Ink's shirt, trying to chase away the pain. "Mmm...will you stay here tonight? I don't wanna be alone..."

"I will, honey, I will." Ink assured, finalizing his strengthening changes. "I won't leave you."

The buzzing left, but Inky hugged Ink closer, gripping the adult's shirt.

"I'm here.." Ink soothed, beginning to rock the child. "I'm here.."

Ink rocked his son to sleep, humming a soft lullaby, while Inky's sockets drooped, and he cuddled his daddy. He was asleep fast enough.

Ink laid his son down in bed, and he lay right beside him, falling asleep within a minute.

While the memories of the glitchy child were no longer forgotten, Inky would now always see Ink as his father. To the child who never knew the love of a parent before, this was acceptable.

This was just fine.