Work Text:
Notes:
Content notes:
Mostly canonical imprisonment but more mistreatment/physical effects, non-consensual imprint, a panic attack, well-intentionned mind control.
Context:
This was created for Taggle 2026, board 3, with the following tags: Abuse of Power, Apologies, Being Held While Crying, Being Helped with Bathing, Blankets, Bleeding Through Bandages, Blood, Breathing Difficulties, Bruises, Caged, Clinginess, Consumption (Disease), Dehumanisation, Dressing or Undressing Someone, Embroidery, Forehead Touching, Gentle Caretaking, Gentle Touches, Gossip & Rumors, Hair Care, Happy or Hopeful Ending, Hourglasses/Clocks/Watches, Hugs, Left Behind, Memories, Mental Health Issues, Mind Control, Misunderstandings, Muted Colors, Nausea, Non-Human Character(s), Noticeably Unwell Character, Plushies, Princess/Knight, Reluctantly Accepting Comfort, Ropes, Shock/punishment collar, Thorns, Trust Issues, Unreliable Narrator, Whump, Wound Tending, Wrapping Character in Blanket.
Files:
Internet archive - Squidge:
PNG files for download and streaming as well as any other files relevant to this work. See the side of the page ("download options") for the different formats/files.
Embed:
Image description:
A six page greyscale comic drawn on paper with liners and markers.
Splash page. In the center/foreground, a sword crossed with a thorny rose. In the background, undefined figures.
A boy: "Work hard, Mikael! Only the best get to be imperial guards. Nevermind becoming a personal knight!"
Two other homunculi: "With his looks, I bet he'll get picked by a princess." "Lucky him."
The emperor: "How dare you, a mere homunculus, resist the will of your emperor! Put it in the floating prison for a while, until it starts to beg for mercy."
Mikael: "I'd rather die. *cough* I think I'm going to die..."
Black background, two panels. Eve leans down toward the viewer. A guard stands further back. Prison bars behind them.
Mikael: "...What?"
Guard: "Careful, your highness. He bit someone just last week."
Eve: "I don't think he's in a state to do much."
Guard: "Well, he hasn't been fed since, but he's a vicious one for sure."
Mikalel: "*Cough* Urgh... I feel sick. Can't they just let me die in peace?"
A narrower view of the first one, one shade darker.
Mikael: "Why is the seventh princess here...?"
Guard: "You sure you want that one, your highness?"
Eve: "Yes. I'm sure."
Mikael: "Oh fuck. Oh no. No. No..."
Splash page, still the same black background, Mikael is curled up in fetal position on the floor. He's wearing a gag (the same one as in canon) and a bulky collar, his hands are tied by rope in the front and his ankle is chained. He's barefoot and shirtless, his torso bandaged with blood seeping through, dirty and bruised.
Guard: "Your highness, take the remote at least. For the collar."
Eve: "Give me the keys. All of them."
Guard: "You sure, your highness?"
Eve: "Yes. The keys, please. Now."
Still black background, but many panels this time.
Coughing.
Close up on a bandaged but clean hand fisted close. It's resting over wrinkled fabric. A huff.
The hand opens flat. "...What?"
It pinches the fabric between two fingers.
A long horizontal panel, tilted at 90 degrees. Mikael is in a bed, bandaged hand on the mattress. In front of him, a dresser with a mirror, a teddy bear, perfume. A clock above. Looks like a bedroom.
Eve opens the door. "Oh, you're awake! How do you feel?" She's wearing another dress so some time must have passed.
Close up on her eyes, she looks down as if guilty. Mikael: "What happened? What did you do to me?"
Close up on the door. The key is on the outside. "Mikaelis... I'm truly sorry."
She approaches the bed. Mikael sits up. His bandages have been changed, there's no blood anymore. Eve: "They wouldn't let me take you out of that cell if I didn't..."
Close up on her hands. She's clenching them together. "If I didn't... imprint you."
Even tighter panel, all grey. His thoughts and her attempts at talking to him overlap. "Oh no." "Mikaelis." "No. No. No." "It's okay!" "Please. Not that!" "Breathe!" "Not-" "*Wheeze*" "Mikaelis!"
With her hand on his cheek, she yells "Calm down!" It literally cuts through the black background, which turns to white and stays that way for the rest of the comic.
Close up, her forehead against his. Her eyes are shut tightly, his are vacant. She apologizes once more.
Four panels, wonky. She redoes the bandages on his hand, apologizing to him again. Helps him bathe while a maid brushes his hair. Dresses him in a shirt. Covers him with a blanket again. Overlapping, he thinks, "What is happening to me?" She tells him "I promise, this is temporary." When he's in bed in his clean new shirt, she sits at the foot of it and hands him something. It's a handkerchief with his initials embroidered in the corner. He crumples into her arms, sobbing.