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

Chapter Forty: Water

"X-Chara?" Me, Error, and Dream all echoed.

Ink's red eyes dissipated to his regular ones, "Did I forget to tell you all about that? Oops." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before continuing, "Long story short, I first met Cross after his universe collapsed. He had saved his universe's Chara by absorbing his SOUL, making them the only survivors."

"Unfortunately for him, Chara has memories of all the previous resets so he's gone a little... crazy- to put it lightly. He's sadistic and manipulative as I learned personally. I was making such good progress on helping Cross grieve his universe. I just know Chara put the thought in his head that I could bring it back. They ended up attacking me after I told them there wasn't anyway to bring back a destroyed universe." Ink shivered as he thought back on it.

"..I'm really glad Blade isn't like that." Is all I could muster to say. I was also thinking how could Ink forget to tell us this but I wasn't going to bring that up.

"Me too, even if she's still a pain in the butt." Ink pointedly looked to the side, a teasing tone in his voice as he smiled. A similar smile fell on my lips, were they finally starting to get along?

"And here I thought Dust was just rubbing off on him when I saw him talking to himself." Error shrugged.

"And that's why I was feeling such conflicting emotions from him whenever I was near. In the moments I could get a read from him at all. He's gotten very good at masking them." Dream looked like he had a slight weight off his shoulders.

"All of us had to learn how to mask around Nightmare. Or else he would try and bring you down if you were feeling anything positive, or make you feel worse if you weren't." Error recalled with a small frown.

My head was starting to kill me even more with this new information. A few puzzle pieces had clicked into place. "When he had threatened me, both his eyes had turned red. That's how he's controlling the other Sanses like that.. They're scared of Chara." No wonder he felt so out of character in those moments.

"I don't blame them, I carved a new tattoo just to cover up that gash he left me with." Ink gestured to a place on his ribs that wasn't visible from under his clothes. I, however, knew that spot because of how it stood out, the spiral that was slightly too jagged compared to the rest. I may have.. "studied" Ink's ribcage a few times. Definitely only for research purposes.

Dream glanced at the clock, "We should probably call it for today, I need to check if Night wants anything to eat."

The group began to say their goodbyes as I was lost in my thoughts. My confusion for Cross, the fear for X-Chara, and now my worry for Night were bouncing in my head. It was getting dark behind my eyes. I felt like I was going to vomit.. I blinked a few times as the world looked like it was giving way. Uh oh.

I reached out my hand and tried to stand up despite hardly being able to see. I collapsed into a figure I could tell was Ink just by his stature. I couldn't hear a word, it sounded like he was under water.

Water. Something to do with water was forming in my head, mixing with my thoughts of Cross and Night. I was going to timeline jump and I feared for what I was going to. I clutched onto Ink further as I tried to fight it.

Until I could finally hear him, "It's going go be alright. You can jump, I have you right here, okay? It's just going to strain you trying to fight it. You'll be safe if you go." His voice was soft and soothing. I couldn't fight the jump any longer, his words putting me into a state of ease.

I could smell saltwater in the breeze that ghosted across my face. I opened my eyes and looked around after getting adjusted to the brightness. I could tell immediately I was on a beach during a slightly cloudy day.