J - 11 - Heal



It had been a month since I had returned to my family. Ink had been imprisoned, and he was meant to stay imprisoned for the next eighty years; it appeared that ostracism was too kind. As for us, we were back to mostly normal..I wasn't allowed to go out on runs for a while. I wanted to help my family, but they wanted me to just relax for a while after my traumatic experience; I understood. Concerning my scars, they still covered my body; they were..difficult. They reopened at inopportune times, hurt when anything brushed up against them, and ached almost constantly. I also had those bad dreams..I expected that. The first week back was pure pain; in addition to trauma, my clothes touched my wounds..they hurt. When he noticed my condition, Error decided to make me some soft clothes that wouldn't irritate the scars; I told him that he didn't have to, but he insisted, and the result was the softest clothing I had ever felt. I thanked Error whenever I saw him, even if he said I didn't have to; he was a lifesaver. The new clothes lowered the amount of times that my wounds reopened by..a lot. Currently, Error and Horror were out, leaving only Nightmare, Cross, Killer, the ghosts, and me in the house; we were cuddling in the cuddle fort.


"Dad?" Killer addressed.


"Yes, Killer?" Nightmare responded.


"Why won't Dusty's scars go away?"


"We shouldn't talk about this in front of him..he might still be sensitive..I know he is.."


"Oh..sorry.."


"It's okay.." I sighed. "It's a valid question..I'd like to know, too.."


Nightmare hummed in thought. "All right. Dust's tormentor used a sort of magic compound to prolong the life of the scars, presumably forever, but strong healing magic can heal them slowly..it just takes a long time to build up enough magic to deal with them."


"How long will it take to see Dusty again?" Killer wanted to know.


"..." Nightmare frowned. "I don't know. It takes one day to get up the magic and successfully remove one scar; that's 365 scars a year..he has thousands..maybe more than we'd like to know..it may honestly take decades to reverse the damage done..maybe longer.."


"I'm sorry, Dusty!" Killer hugged me tightly, sobbing; it hurt, but I knew he needed to get this out.


"It's okay, Killer." I hugged him back, ignoring the newfound sticky wetness on my bones. "It's okay."


"B-but it's not okay! He hurt ya..h-he hurt ya so bad!"


"Yes, but I'm okay now."


"N-no, ya aren't."


With that, I broke down and hugged Killer closer. As much as I tried to convince them that I was fine, I knew they were right; I wasn't okay. I had thought that it had been bad before; Ink had hurt me a lot the first time he had me at his will, but I had been able to begin to recover. Now..I wasn't so sure. Instead of going through the process of breaking me, which had already been done, he instead wanted me to remember him; the scars were one way he did that. Every time I looked at my body, I saw myself back in that room, with Ink holding a blade. My bad dreams produced the same effect, but they were more real. When I brushed up against something, I was sometimes on the verge of screaming for him to stop, even if he wasn't present. I curled up tightly in Killer's grasp, trying not to cry, but failing miserably. I had cried a lot recently - almost every day - from the memories. People said that once someone got it all out once, they would feel better; they were wrong. I had tried to get my problems out by crying, but it had only resulted in my memories making everything worse. An hour later, I had calmed down; my crying had slowed to almost nothing, and my family were comforting me greatly.


"You're gonna be okay..someday.." Killer hoped. "Just gotta stay strong."


"Y-you guys w-won't l-leave me..r-right?" I didn't want to be left alone.


"Dust, we'll stay with you all the way." Nightmare assured. "You won't have to worry about our leaving anytime soon."


"Th-thank you.." 


"Of course." Nightmare rubbed my skull softly; that felt good.


"W-we'll always be with y-you!" Cross smiled.


"I-I love you guys.." I said.


"We love you too, Dust." They harmonized.


We sat for a while, cuddling together and trying our best to be happy. Before long, Error knocked on the door to the storage room, and we let him in; he sat near me, but he didn't get too close.


"So, I checked your mailbox, since that's totally normal and not weird at all." Error made us laugh a bit. "And I also read a few things that I think may interest you."


"What sort of things?" Nightmare was curious.


"Allow me to read you the one from the Underswap brothers and your brother." Error pulled out a letter and began to read. "Dear Nightmare's gang, we know that we haven't been on the best terms, but due to recent events, we have decided to apologize for your circumstances; it wasn't fair for you to have to go through all that - especially Dust. On the behalf of Dream and a few others, we'd like to request your presence in Underswap, whenever you feel ready; we know that you probably don't trust us after everything you've been through, but we are serious about it. If you decide to come, we have worked with a few others to possibly help out in your time of need. We know that the favor will likely never be returned, but we can't help but feel sorry for you. Nobody should have to deal with your circumstances. Signed, the swap brothers and Dream."


"..." Nightmare looked at me for a moment. "They said that?"


"They wrote it." Error handed Nightmare the letter. "There's a bunch of get-well-soon cards, too."


"I can't help but feel that this is some sort of sick prank..but if they can truly help.."


"Do you think we should risk it?"


"You and I will go; I don't want to risk Dust."


"All right, then; when do we leave?"


"As soon as he's asleep."


"I'll get ready."


With that, Killer, Cross, and Horror began to calm me enough to send me off to sleep; I was out within two minutes. The hope that I felt while going to sleep warded off a nightmare, leaving only a dreamless wonderland. When I woke, I felt happier, and Nightmare was holding me in his lap; they must have returned already.


"Good night.." I greeted, yawning.


"Good night, Dust." Nightmare smiled at me. 


"What happened?"


"My brother and his friends have something that may be able to heal your scars faster - only if you want to, of course."


"..Is it safe?"


"..I don't know. You don't have to go if you don't want to."


"If it can help..maybe it's worth a try.."


"All right. We'll all be coming with you, then."


"Thank you.."


So we went, but not before everyone got ready; the others wanted to make sure that I was as comfortable as possible, meaning that I was going to have someone to hold onto at all times, and if we had to be separated, Error had given me a few dolls that looked like my family - he was amazing at making them! When that was settled, Nightmare gave an offer to carry me, which I accepted; if this was a trap, I probably would have passed out crying. At the end of our preparations, a portal was opened to the original Underswap, where multiple judges and what seemed to be scientists currently resided. I listened as Nightmare and the others spoke to Dream, wanting to make sure this was perfectly safe.


"So what exactly is this machine supposed to do?" Nightmare questioned. 


"It coats whoever's inside with strong healing magic, hopefully getting rid of any injuries." Dream answered. "We've tested it on quite a few people with large success."


"Will it hurt him?"


"The sensation is described as being wrapped in a warm blanket; it shouldn't hurt him at all."


"Can you turn it off instantly if something goes wrong?"


"Yes, it can stop and start with a simple press of a button, and it has a fail safe, just in case."


"How strong is the healing magic?"


"It's strong enough to be easily converted into liquid form if we need to drain it quickly."


"Then I suppose it's worth a chance." Nightmare looked to me. "Do you want to try it?"


I gave a small nod, wanting to get rid of these scars more than anything else. 


"It's settled, then." Nightmare smiled at me.


At that, I was brought to some sort of small chamber, in which I assumed healing magic would flood my system. I was wary of it, but if Nightmare thought it was safe, I would trust that it was - not to mention the fact that he could turn it off, since the scientists showed Nightmare how to do that. I was sad that I had to be separated from my family, but at least I could hold the dolls that Error gave me; they were soft and comforting. I sat down in the chamber when they told me to, finding myself alone as a transparent wall came down between me and everyone else. Slowly, a sparkling green glow began to fill the air; it smelled like some sort of herb. It tickled slightly when the glow touched my scars, but the pain I was in began to slowly dissipate! I watched in awe as my scars began to slowly close up before yawning..I was tired. Before I knew it, I was sound asleep, clutching the dolls that had been given to me. It wasn't uncommon for people to fall asleep while being worked upon by healing magic; large amounts of it were able to soothe people into a peaceful sleep. When I woke up, I found myself once again in Nightmare's hold, and we were in our cuddle room. My scars were..gone.


"Good night, Dust." Nightmare hugged me; I was surprised that it didn't hurt. "Did you have a pleasant rest?"


"Yeah.." I looked at my bones curiously, finding only small scars and marks. "Did it work?"


"Mostly. A few scars were too deep to heal fully, but by the time the magic ran out, you were fairly healed up. They still won't go away on their own, but I can heal them over time."


"So..everything will be okay now, right?"


"Of course it will, Dusty!" Killer joined the hug.


"Y-yeah!" Cross joined as well.


"Brother, we will keep you safe until the end of the world, and even then, we will continue to keep you safe." Paps assured. 


"Thank you." I smiled, savoring the hug. 


"Imma get in on this." Horror didn't miss his chance to join the hug.


"Don't think you can get away without me!" Error jumped into our hug, causing us to laugh.


So the healing continued. My physical appearance was healed in less than two years, at which point, I had managed to regain my dusty nightmares instead of the cruel ones. My mental state remained as it was for quite some time, unfortunately; I got flashbacks every time something relating to a form of torture occurred, but my family was there for me. At the end of three years, I began to assist my family in spreading negativity once more, despite their assurances that I could wait longer; I didn't want to wait. After a long time, I could still never shake my fear of Ink, who was released after eighty years in prison. He didn't regain his title, of course, and nobody really trusted him, but he was free; I was terrified for a while that he would try something, but he never did. He just wandered AUs every once in a while, not really having a purpose; I felt somewhat bad for him, but my fear kept me from acting on it. In the end, everything was all right, and Nightmare's gang continued to be happy.


Nothing could keep us down forever.


~~~short end woot~~~


Dust bean okay!


Wow what a rushed ending a five-year-old could do better-


Thanks for reading my rushed writing!


Bye!

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