I bleed for you ~A sequel to I bleed Red | An Ink x Reader~

Chapter Thirty Three: Trade

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~Y/n's POV~

The figure covering my mouth looked a hell of a lot like Ink, but I knew it wasn't him. For starters, both of his eyes had turned DETERMINATION red just like Cross' had. Second, he was sporting a wicked smirk that I knew he wasn't capable of.

"Hello again, Y/n. Been a long time." His voice was almost spiritual sounding, it was echoing and somehow more feminine sounding as well. I wasn't totally naïve anymore, I knew who this was almost immediately.

I pulled myself out of their admittedly weak grasp on me and I bit back a scream. The sound of my slight struggle was caught by Cross, who turned around from the unmoving figure of Horror. His eyes widened at the sight of them but composed himself quickly.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't show up, Ink."

"He wanted to, but I had other plans."

Confusion was on Cross' face, he glanced over to me and concern replaced it. I was frozen in place, probably looking scared out of my mind as my eyes darted between the both of them. "And you... aren't him?"

"I thought you would've recognized an old friend, Cross. Then again, I wouldn't of entirely called us friends. Friends are supposed to support each other but you refused to do that when I tried to kill that one." Ink's possessor pointed to me, malice all over their face.

"Blade, you know my views on causing unnecessary harm." Cross had caught on as easily as I did. He was slowly starting to move backwards, was he afraid of her?

"Unfortunately, I do. And now I have to make an apology due to you, and you know how much I hate making apologies."

"What do you m-"

He was cut off by Blade teleporting to him and giving him a powerful punch to the side of the skull. Cross fell down into the grass with a thud that seemed to echo across the hills. Killer and HL ran from wherever they had been patrolling but froze once they saw the scene. Blade snapped 'her' head towards them and growled like she was some kind of animal. Then, she looked towards me and all of the hate from 'her' face had melted away.

"Run. I'll catch up and get us out of here when I deal with these guys."

She turned back to the two petrified skeletons and started to move towards them, a small limp in her steps that only increased her creepiness. Half of me wanted to take her advice but... I looked to Cross who was standing back up and readying his knife. I couldn't let her harm him or vise versa.

I threw myself in front of Cross, blocking his way. He looked down at me with a mixture of exacerbation and what seemed to be admiration as well. "Y/n, move out of the way."

"I'm not going to let you two fight. I don't give a shit about Killer or HL but-" I was interrupted by the sound of a Gaster Blaster going off. I slightly turned my head to see what had happened, only to see that HL was in a headlock from Blade and at the same time she was deflecting the beam from Killer's Blaster. Upon seeing this, I realized that I was no longer under any confines. I could use my magic too.

I mustered the magic inside of me to summon a floating skeleton hand, but unfortunately I felt tired just from doing that. Cross looked at the wavering magic and sighed, "Don't drain yourself, Y/n. Your SOUL is already using up a lot of magic from your pregnancy. It's harmful to both of you to use it."

I knew he was telling the truth but what choice did I have? I directed the hand to try and quickly unarm Cross from his weapon, only to find out that it wasn't as quick as I wanted it to be. It was painfully slow and Cross had no trouble in flicking the hand away, where it crumbled upon impact. I was feeling some panic set in, I didn't want to resort to hand to hand combat. I didn't even want to fight him anyway.

Cross looked behind my shoulder and immediately started to back away. I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw Blade had dealt with the other two skeletons. They were both banging against a force field of her creation.

"Are we going to be doing this the easy way or the hard way, Cross?" She had a teasing tone to her voice as she let go of my shoulder and strode towards him.

"It was going to be the easy way if you just let Ink come here on his own."

"And let you lure him with your bait? If he gets trapped, I get trapped and I'm not letting that happen."

"I was only going to talk to him about a negotiation."

"I'm the better liar here, Cross."

Cross had no reply and only readied his weapon for a fight. Blade was about to pounce on him when I spoke up, "Don't hurt him."

I hadn't even meant to say it, it just slipped out of my mouth without warning. They both looked over at me like I was insane. I took a deep intake of breath and walked to be beside the both of them.

"Please, we can work this out without anyone being harmed..." I pleaded with them, putting both my hands together with nervousness.

"Y/n, now isn't the time to be a bleeding heart." Blade grumbled, which sounded strange coming from Ink's mouth.

"No. She's right." Cross surprisingly said, desummoning his weapon and taking another step away from Blade. "Let's talk through this instead of going at each other's necks."

"You're only saying that because you know I'd win..." Blade looked over at me to see my begging eyes. She rolled her own and groaned, "Fine. I still have to make it up to Y/n. Sorry for the whole, uh, trying to kill you thing by the way." She didn't look at me as she apologized, barely even sounding sincere. Actions were speaking louder than words, though.

"It's... alright... I kind of understand? Maybe?" I wasn't sure if I actually meant the apology yet but for some reason I didn't want her to feel bad. I remembered how bad her anxiety was in the past.

"Anyway, what do you suggest Cross? You know I'm not going to let you keep her." Blade crossed 'her' arms in an unimpressed way.

"I don't think you would be able to stop me if I tried, but I'm not going to. In exchange for you having her, I only ask for access codes to some universes. That's why I asked for Ink specifically to come."

"Access codes?" Blade repeated in confusion. I was thinking the same thing.

Cross sighed with annoyance, "I can't enter universes I haven't been to without it."

"And why do you want to?"

"That answer isn't part of the trade."

Blade looked conflicted and looked over to the right of her, but there was nothing. I didn't need much time to think this through, "Don't do it."

They both looked at me in bewilderment so I continued, "It hasn't been so bad being captured. I miss Ink so much but... Cross I know you're doing something shady and those access codes are part of it. You have to understand that I can't let you do that." I turned to face him with resolve.

"That's true, but Ink here is making another good point. Cross would just find somebody else to manipulate into giving it to him. At least this way, you're back together. Even if personally I hate how lovey-dovey you two get." Blade made a face of disgust as she thought back to pretty much any time me and Ink were in the same room.

"I would ordinarily find somebody else but Ink's codes are the ones I need. I wouldn't of gone through this much effort otherwise." Cross halfheartedly gestured to me when he said 'effort'. Had he been planning my kidnapping then?

Blade looked back towards the right and I made the connection Ink must be there and talking to her. It was kind of messed up of her to take over Ink's body like this, assuming it probably wasn't with permission. I love Ink but I don't think he could've had the intimidation factor that Blade displayed.

"If you're sure, Ink... We have a deal."

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