A Kid Again
Error groaned and stretched, looking over at the bed. After sending out the mass text, he settled down on a chair next to Inky's bed and started to knit, waiting for him to wake up. Looking back at his work, he smiled softly and started to cast off, deeming the scarf to be of sufficient length. It was an emerald green color that was very wide and long. He had noticed when walking through the Doodlesphere that Inky's scarf had been torn to pieces; he imagined that Inky destroyed it while destroying the paintings. Hopefully, he liked the replacement, as he knew that Inky had loved his scarf, and probably destroyed it in the heat of the moment.
Hearing stirring from the bed, he looked over at the bed again. Folding up the scarf he sat up, stifling another groan as he moved out of the position he had been in all night. He watched Inky carefully as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Error frowned to himself; was it just him, or had Ink gotten... shorter?
Rubbing his eyes, Inky sat up and yawned widely. Rubbing his skull, he blinked slowly, trying to wake up. He frowned and looked up, meeting Error's eyes. He yelped and dove back under the covers, hoping that what he saw was just his imagination. From the sound of chuckling above him, his hopes were cruelly denied. "Why me?" he thought to himself. He blushed a bright rainbow as he remembered crying on Error the night before. "He probably thinks I'm a crybaby now." he thought, pulling the blanket tighter to himself.
"Inky, I know you're awake. Come on, get out of there. We need to talk." Error said sternly. Inky ignored him and curled up. Maybe if he didn't listen, Error would go away? That was quickly disproven when Error grabbed the blanket and pulled it away, Inky gaping at him in astonishment. "What the heck, Error!" he cried, trying to steal back his blanket. Error smirked and used his magic to put the blanket up out of his reach.
"Come on Error, give it back!" Inky whined, trying to use his magic to pull it back down. Error looked at Ink in confusion. He had definitely gotten shorter. Before, he was only a few inches shorter than Error's 5'8 at about 5'6. But now, he was only about 4' which was a huge reduction of height. And he was acting childish... well, more childish than he did before.
"Error, is something wrong?" Inky asked, looking up at Error in confusion. Error smiled down at him, bending down to his level. Inky frowned; Error had never had to bend down to meet his eyes before. Strangely, he wasn't all that concerned about it. It was as if all his issues about the problem were locked away, where he could deal with it later.
"How are you feeling now?" Error asked Inky, slightly concerned. "Not as bad, I guess. But... I still feel... guilty. I made the AUs like Horrortale and made it impossible for them to get help, I didn't stop creating even when I should have, I hurt you badly, so many times." Inky answered, feeling the tears start coming back. He jumped when Error pulled him over, holding him close. Inky tried to hold them back, but Error's actions made the dam break. Burying his face in Error's neck, he started to cry, but unlike the tears from the night before, these felt... freeing. As if the tears were washing away all the guilt, shame, regret and sadness that he had been feeling ever since he remembered who he used to be.
After a few minutes he calmed down, sniffling a little bit. He pulled away from Error and blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry for-" "Nah, don't worry about it. It's pretty obvious that you're going through a rough time." Error told him, smiling gently. "So... know why you're suddenly so short?" he asked, quirking a brow as he looked Inky over. "No, but I don't feel like I should be concerned. Should I be?" Ink asked worriedly, looking himself over. "No no, if you don't think it's anything to worry about. But... you may want some new clothes." Error chuckled, gesturing to Inky's now overlarge clothes. Inky looked down at himself; his t-shirt now hung baggily off of his small frame, looking more like a nightgown than a t-shirt.
Ink laughed and held his arms out, the neck sliding off his shoulder as he did so. "Wow, I really shrunk. I think I'm even shorter than Blue!" he said, giggling all the while, He slid off of Error's lap and ran over to his dresser, quickly pulling out some things. Error cocked a brow and sat back, waiting to see what Inky would do. Inky grabbed a white t-shirt and some basketball shorts that he didn't really wear anymore, along with a pair of scissors and ran back over to Error. "Can you... make them smaller or something? So I have something to wear before I get new clothes." he explained, holding out the items. Error chuckled softly and took the items from Inky's hands, quickly getting to work.
About half an hour later, the now smaller shirt and shorts were handed back to Inky, who quickly ran off to get changed. Error laughed to himself as he put the scissors away and sat back down, waiting on Inky to come back. He sat back and thought about Inky's behavior. He was acting like a little kid, maybe about Classic Frisk's age, or maybe TK's. He'd have to take Inky to see Medic Sans, just to be sure. "Oy vey, this is not going to go well." he thought to himself, not looking forward to this at all. His thoughts were interrupted when Inky came running back in, grinning widely. The clothes were still a little baggy, but they weren't sliding off of him, so Error didn't really care, especially since they were going to get Inky new clothes anyways. Pulling out the green scarf, he wrapped it around Inky's neck.
Inky pulled it away from his neck to look at it and gasped at the color and the softness. "Do you like it?" Error asked, slightly concerned about his reaction. "I love it." Inky whispered softly, snuggling into the warm yarn. "Hey Inky, mind unlocking the Doodlesphere?" Error asked the little skele. Inky nodded and pulled up his portal. After swiping some things, he collapsed it quickly, looking tired. "It's unlocked, but I don't think I should open any portals for a while, that took a lot outta me." Inky said, swaying slightly. Error caught him before he could fall. "I'm not surprised, did you even eat anything this whole time?" "Um, I had some crackers... I think." Inky replied sheepishly. "How long ago was that?" Error asked, raising a brow as he opened up a portal to MedicTale. "Uh... a few days after I destroyed all the paintings." "So, at least 2 weeks ago?" "Yeah, I guess."
Error stepped through with Inky in his arms, glad that this AU tended to be neutral. Looking around, he noticed that Inky pressed himself tighter against Error, trembling slightly. But before he could say anything, someone called his name. "Error! What are you doing here, you don't look injured, and- wait, is that Ink?" Medic asked, looking very confused. Error didn't blame him; after all, it wasn't like it was every day the Destroyer walked in with a miniaturised Creator on his hip. Inky started trembling harder when he heard Medic, burying his face into Error's neck.
"Yes, this is Ink, and no, I don't know what happened to make him shrink. But... well, it's difficult to explain." Error said, bringing his hand up to rub Inky's back soothingly. Medic nodded and looked at Inky worriedly. This was new; normally Ink didn't really care about coming to see Medic. A suspicion forming in his mind, he gestured for Error to follow him, leading the way to his office. Something told him that Ink wouldn't appreciate the normal hospital room he used for examinations.
Arriving at the office, Medic waved Error over to a seat, closing the door behind them. "Let me move these papers off my desk first." Medic said, cleaning the worst of the paperwork off of the large wooden desk. Error sat in the offered chair, still rubbing Inky's back. He felt Inky move his face out of his neck and look around, though he didn't call attention to the action. He knew the moment Medic caught sight of Inky's eyes when he heard him gasp quietly. He locked eyes with Medic and shook his head slightly, letting him know to not make a big deal about the change. "Hey Ink, do you mind if I do a quick checkup, just to see if we can find out why you shrunk?" Medic asked, walking around the desk to stand in front of the two in the chair. Inky shyly nodded, pulling away from Error a little more. Medic smiled softly and proceeded to do the checkup, making certain that Inky knew what was going to happen before he did anything.
About an hour later, Error was snapped out of his dozing state when Medic snapped his fingers next to his skull. He jerked awake, causing Inky to giggle. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up." he grumbled, looking over at Medic. Medic smiled down at Inky and directed him over to the desk with an empty piece of paper and a pencil. "Mind drawing something for me? My walls are a little bare as you can see." he asked kindly. Inky nodded happily and started drawing, his tongue out in concentration. Walking back over to Error, Medic started to talk in a low voice.
"Ok, so his Soul is in good condition, which is odd, since it was away from him for so long. But I think what happened was that in order to protect himself from the backlash, his magic sort of... deaged himself. I imagine that as he grows older, he'll regain more and more control over his powers and emotions again, but I think that this was probably the best thing that could have happened. He can safely get the emotions out without causing a lot of damage to himself or his surroundings. He's going to need supervision definitely, his body and mind are deaged to about a 10 year old. His magic deaged somewhat as well, but it's more along the lines of a teenager's magic. He's slightly malnourished, so make certain to feed him foods with plenty of vitamins and minerals. Take it slow since he hasn't eaten for a while, if he says he's full, don't push it, otherwise his body will just purge it." Medic finished, looking over his notes.
Error sighed and scrubbed his hands against his face, looking over at Inky, then back to Medic. "What do you expect me to do, it's not like I can take him. As it is, what's going to happen when the other AUs find out?" "I can do a controlled release of the information, make certain everyone knows what happened after Inky got his Soul back. But you'll probably have to keep him out of the way, just in case." Medic replied promptly with a smirk. Error sighed, but quickly straightened himself up from his slump when Inky ran over, holding his drawing proudly. Presenting it to Error, he smiled widely, waiting to see what he would say.
Error looked at the drawing. Even at 10, Inky was a hell of an artist. The picture was of a stag, a wolf, and a large dog, with lily flowers surrounding them. Looking over at Medic, he sighed gustily. "Alright. But I'm probably going to bring Blue in on this, he's good with kids. And he can pick up some stuff for Inky too." Error said, handing the drawing over to Medic. Medic smiled smugly, as if he knew that Error would have said yes. "Well then, I suggest you hurry. I'm going to organize this some, then call for a meeting. I expect to see Inky in a few months, for another check up. Got it?" he asked sternly, raising a brow at Error. "Understood. Hey Inky, how do you feel about going to see Blue?" Error asked. Inky grew excited and ran over to Error. "Yeah, I wanna see Blue!!!" he cried excitedly. Error chuckled and picked up the little skeleton, settling him on his hip. Opening a portal, he sighed in preparation.
"Welp, into the breach, I guess."