Chapter Text
Ink was having a hard time figuring it out, why the house was so quiet. It felt like something was missing, like he had just lost something precious and hasn’t yet noticed.
Dream was acting weird. Ink didn’t know how to feel. His memory always felt like it was getting worse, he could remember things only if he saw them every day, and even not seeing something for one day could cause him to forget about it entirely.
It was why he needed Dream to slow down with the work. He didn’t want to forget him too.
“Dream, can’t you take a day off? I miss you!” Ink whined at Dream, trying to get any sort of attention.
Dream wouldn’t look Ink in the eye.
The usually upbeat guardian held a blue handkerchief in his hands, clenched tightly in his phalanges. Ink wondered where he got it, it looked familiar for some reason.
“Hey where’d you get that? Did you help an Underswap? Was it a gift from their Sans?”
Ink rambled off an excessive amount of questions just to have every single one of them met with silence.
“Ink?” Dream interrupted him suddenly. “Do you seriously not know who this belongs to?”
“No….? Am I supposed to?” He was starting to feel a bit guilty. What if it was someone important to Dream and he was being insensitive? He didn’t mean to be rude.
“It belonged to a friend Ink. Don’t you remember Blue?”
Dream put his hands on Ink’s shoulders, like the contact would make him remember, except it wouldn’t. Nothing would.
“We had a friend named Blue…? Was he a from a Swap AU? Was he nice?”
Ink felt bad now. He had a friend with Dream and he didn’t even remember them. Something bad probably happened to them if Dream was acting so weird about it, and that only made it worse.
“What happened to them..?”
Dream looked pained by the question, Ink wasn’t sure if he even wanted to hear the answer anymore. “He left. He ran away.” Tears were welling in the guardian’s eyes.
Ink felt useless as he watched the most positive soul in existence not only look so devastated, but also undeniably guilty. The look of self loathing Dream bore was a dead giveaway to that nature of Blue’s disappearance.
With that in mind, Ink figured he was also a contributing factor. This Blue person was probably mortal, he probably mistreated them. Dream only realized it by the time it was too late and didn’t tell Ink as to not upset him.
He didn’t deserve a friend like him.
Ink couldn’t remember Blue. He only had a lingering feeling of warmth and the memory of reassurance. That wouldn’t stop him from wishing him, wherever he was, the very best. Maybe one day Ink would have a soul again. Then he’d remember everyone, then he’d keep everyone.
He’d get his soul back one day. That way he could be better. Ink wouldn’t be apathetic to anyone’s struggles, or too dependent on paint just to show someone that he cared. He be empathetic, understanding, and kind.
He could tell he had a look on his face from the way Dream was looking at him in concern. Dream was unable to sense his emotions like he could with other monsters and Ink could tell it bothered him.
“Don’t worry Dream! We’ll get him back one day, just you wait and see!”
Dream smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.