I’m not sure if I shared this before but a lovely creator seasmoked on Tik Tok created this edit for my story and I was just reminiscing on how flattered I am and how awesome the edit is! Wanted to share, and shout-out the creator who took the time to make it 💞
This is a snippet from near the end of my very self-indulgent "A Debt Repaid" story. Which I still need to finish writing the first chapter for.
"A Debt Repaid" is a sequel to "A Debt To Pay", which can be found here.
============================================
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Fiona asked as she trailed Audrey down the stairs to Wilson’s lab.
“I…I just want to hear him out,” Audrey replied. “If we don’t like what he has to say, we don’t have to go along with it. But I…I want to hear his plan.”
“Alright…”
The two of them descended further into the lab, surrounded by tubes of what appeared to be vibrantly colored ink. Audrey winced as they passed them, trying not to look.
Eventually, they came to a set of doors splattered in color, which opened automatically upon them approaching. Beyond that there was another set of doors, which also opened as they drew nearer.
And there was the lab. They could see it behind a glass window, sealed off from the little alcove area they now found themselves in with a single hydraulic door. There were lockers to their left which Fiona had to stop herself from searching, as well as another of the ink wells that Audrey could apparently now travel through.
“Audrey!” Wilson’s voice crackled through the PA system. “You made it. And you brought your little friend. Good! Come inside, my dear! We have much to discuss. But make sure you’re ready. Where we’re going, there will be no return until we’ve accomplished our mission.”
“So, we’re doing this?” Fiona asked, looking at Audrey.
Audrey nodded with grim determination, tightening her grip on her pipe.
Together, the two women stepped into the lab. Wilson stood before them, hunched over a table littered with blueprints and vials of what they assumed were ink. Further into the lab were various machines and pipes and boilers, none of which the women knew the purpose of. Fiona moved a bit closer to Audrey.
“Thank you for coming all this way,” Wilson said, turning to face them.
“I wanted to hear what your plan to destroy the Ink Demon was,” Audrey responded flatly.
Although externally she seemed cold and detached, internally she was terrified. She wanted to believe Wilson was going to fix everything and help her get home, but the words of both Fiona and Sammy had shaken her faith in him. He had brought her here in the first place. She’d just…She’d needed something to believe in. But Wilson might not have been the best choice.
“Of course.” Wilson nodded. “The Ink Demon is a formidable foe. To truly destroy such a monster, he must be dethroned. Humiliated.”
“Are you sure you need to destroy him?” Fiona asked. “I’m sure he could be talked to if you approached it the right way.” Granted, Wilson talking to the Ink Demon probably wouldn’t work, but she and Audrey certainly had a chance.
“Oh, my dear.” Wilson gave her a patronizing smile. “If only all problems could be solved so simply.” He patted her head as one would that of a child, then continued, ignoring the way Fiona’s hands formed into shaking fists. “For months now I’ve been working on something that will do exactly that. Cast out the demon and put a new deity in his place.” He began to walk, leading them to a large cylinder in the back left corner of the lab. “Stronger, more powerful, and controllable. Together, we just need to unleash our ultimate weapon. Come. Let me show you my creation.” He stepped aside as the tube opened, revealing a drawing on an easel.
The drawing was of a cherubic little cartoon boy with blond hair and chubby red cheeks. He was wearing what looked like a sailor’s uniform, standing in front of a blue ocean and a palm tree, with a little crab by his feet. The drawing was labelled “Shipahoy Dudley”.
“Isn’t he beautiful?” Wilson asked. “Simple, but elegant. A treasure. Powerful beyond anyone. The Ink Demon will fall, and we can have peace at last.”
“He is pretty cute,” Fiona begrudgingly conceded.
“It could work…” Audrey admitted. “But it sounds risky,” she added. “How will we control him? We don’t want to repeat Joey’s mistake.”
“Control him?!” Fiona sputtered. “He’s not some kind of puppet for you to jerk around on a string! If you bring him to life, you need to treat him like a human being! That was Joey’s mistake!”
Audrey shot Fiona a warning look. Poking the bear wouldn’t do them any good. They needed to hear Wilson’s full plan. Fiona shrunk a bit under Audrey’s gaze, but she was clearly still extremely upset.
“No. We don’t,” Wilson agreed, completely ignoring Fiona’s outburst. “All of the factors must be perfect.” As he spoke, the tube slid closed, beginning to rotate. “The right design, the right science, and…” The tube slid open again, revealing what appeared to be a person sized chamber. “The right soul.” Suddenly, sawblades appeared from slats in the tube, causing both Audrey and Fiona to stumble back.
“What?” Audrey’s eyes went wide.
“At last, your purpose is revealed, Audrey.” Wilson stepped in front of her. “This is why you’re here! With your soul inside him, my creation will live forever.”
“Stay away from me!” Audrey yelled. “You’re insane!”
“We need to go. We need to go right now.” Fiona tugged on Audrey’s arm, although she was shaking too much to run.
“Come now, Audrey,” Wilson said, voice sickly sweet. “Part of you knew this was your path. Although…” He paused, slowly turning his attention to the panicked Fiona. “If you truly cannot be convinced, perhaps your little friend will do.”
“No! You’re not using either of us!” Audrey snapped, putting herself between Wilson and Fiona.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to use her?” Wilson asked, taking a step toward them. “Think about it. If she provides the soul for my creation, we could rule this place together.”
“I don’t want to rule anything!” Audrey backed away, still placed firmly between Fiona and Wilson.
“Well, then I can send you home.” Wilson shrugged. “You never have to think about this place ever again.”
“I…I thought you said we needed to save your father!” Audrey tried to sound as angry as she had before, but they could all hear how her voice faltered.
Wilson smiled wide. “I lied. My father is beyond hope. Perhaps you know him. Nathan Arch, owner of ArchGate, industrial genius, business tycoon.” As he spoke, his expression soured. “For years, I’ve lived in his reaching shadow. He always had time for the grand creatives of the world, the doers as he called them. He knew only the best! The biggest thinkers! How could his lowly son ever hope to compete with that? But now, thanks to you, I can.”
“Well, that explains a thing or two.” Carmine’s voice came from Fiona’s bag.
Fiona looked on the verge of tears, looking frantically between Audrey and the door.
“What do you say, Audrey?” Wilson asked. “Why not let me use her? After all, you said yourself, she doesn’t understand what you’ve gone through. Wouldn’t you like to teach her a lesson?”
Audrey was silent, genuinely considering Wilson’s proposal. She was so tired of fighting. She was so tired of this awful place. She just wanted to go home.
You could leave this all behind, a small traitorous voice whispered in her mind. Wash your hands of your father’s sins. Move on. She wanted to come here, didn’t she? Let her stay.
Fiona tried to run. She didn’t get very far before Wilson grabbed her wrist and roughly pulled her back.
“Let me go!” Fiona screamed, kicking and attempting to hit Wilson with her free hand. She was starting to cry as she struggled. Wilson held her at arm’s length, keeping her far enough away that she couldn’t reach him with her short arms.
Despite her previous mental turmoil, Audrey knew her choice was clear now. “Leave her alone!” She surged forward, swinging her pipe at Wilson.
Wilson caught her wrist as she swung, halting the pipe’s trajectory. “So, that is your choice,” he said with a smile. He shoved Fiona away, sending her stumbling back to hit her head against the wall and crumple to the ground.
“Let us go!” Audrey tried to hit him with her other hand, but Wilson grabbed that arm and held it too.
“No need to struggle,” he cooed. “My signal prevents you from using those devilish powers of yours…and more importantly, keeps the Ink Demon from getting in. It’s time to die, Audrey…” He began to drag her toward the now whirring saws in the chamber. “And live again…” She tried to struggle against him, but it was no use. He was much stronger than she was. “As a god!”
They were almost at the chamber now. Audrey could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She couldn’t count on Fiona to help her. Not after being shoved into the wall like that. Plus, if Wilson could overpower her, Fiona stood no chance. And it wasn’t like Carmine was going to be any help. He’d already expended a great deal of energy getting them past the Keepers. Audrey had to get free on her own.
Spurred on by adrenaline and desperation, she used her limited mobility to whack the pipe against his head. This did little to stop Wilson from continuing to drag her, but it loosened his grip enough that she was able to get that hand free.
“No!” She ripped her hand away. “Not this time!”
Pulling her arm back, she swung the pipe with all her might, landing a solid enough hit to disorient Wilson and make him let go of her other hand as both of his went up to clutch his head. Not wasting a second, she used to opportunity to push him away. Right into the waiting saws. Wilson screamed. Audrey looked away. The tube slid closed again, a sign behind it lighting up, now reading, “Subject accepted”.
The sweet, metallic scent of blood filled the air.
Fiona let out a small, strangled noise that sounded like something between a sob and a squeak.
“Are you alright?” Audrey asked, turning back to her.
She didn’t want to look at the tube. She couldn’t look at the tube. Killing a human being was so different from killing an ink creature. The ink creatures simply dissolved back to the ink when they died, the only sign they’d ever been there being a small puddle on the ground.
A human remained.
Fiona didn’t answer, still staring at the tube with wide eyes.
“Fiona.” Audrey knelt in front of her, blocking the other woman’s view of the carnage. “Are you alright?”
“I…” Fiona took a shaky breath. “My…My head hurts. But I…I think I’m okay.”
“Good.” Audrey nodded. “We should…We should go.”
She helped Fiona to her feet, gently leading her toward the door that had opened in the back.
Amidst the chaos of positivity in the kitchen, Gears stiffened, his expression souring and a dark sound rising on the air that only those next to Gears could tell was emanating from deep within his chest and would take a moment for anyone to register the sound was actually a threatening growl. Gears suddenly pivoted on his boot clad heel and stalked towards the stairs, growling a bit louder as he paced the bottom of the stairs like a hungry shark. He could sense the dangerous aura approaching, and he’d be damned if he let the owner of said aura lay a finger on anyone. If anyone were hanging out in the hallway up the stairs, they’d probably be quite confused as to why there was an angry steampunk skeleton pacing and looking up the stairs like the house had personally offended him. His growling got louder and louder with each passing second, soon evolving into a full blown feral snarl one would expect to come from a dragon. By now it would be loud enough to be heard loud and clear in the kitchen and up the stairs as the orange fur trim on his jacket hood bristled and stood on end and he bared his fangs “t h e y ’ r e a p p r o a c h i n g” his voice dropped a full octave, nearly rivaling Dante’s normal vocal depth.
“Gears! Get your boney butt back over here and cut that out. You’re gonna scare Roxanne and possibly others.”
"So... do you know what the deal with the posters is?"
"Hm?" Audrey looked back from where she'd been scoping out the hallway in front of them.
"What's the deal with the posters?" Fiona repeated, pointing to one of the posters on the wall.
Audrey glanced briefly at the poster, emblazoned with Wilson's face and the words "Wilson Knows Your Purpose".
"Oh. I don't know," she said, turning her attention back to the hallway. She was pretty sure she could hear some Lost Ones nearby and she needed to figure out how to deal with them.
"Propaganda is my guess," Carmine remarked derisively.
"Aren't you optimistic?" Audrey rolled her eyes. The Lost Ones could wait apparently. She could sense a rant incoming. Carmine seemed the type.
"Optimism gets you killed in places like this," Carmine replied.
"Gee, really?" Audrey asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I wouldn't have guessed."
"Yes, really," Carmine said, either unaware of Audrey's sarcasm or deliberately ignoring it. From the little experience Audrey had had with him so far, she was pretty sure it was the latter.
"What do you think the purpose is?" Fiona suddenly asked, probably trying to avoid a fight.
"I don't know." Audrey allowed some of the tension to leave her. "To be honest, I don't really want to find out. I'd rather focus on getting out of here."
"Oh, uh, yeah, right." Fiona smiled a bit sheepishly. "Sorry. I was just curious."
"No need to apologize for being curious," Carmine reassured her.
"Yeah, it's fine." Audrey gave her a weak smile. "It was just a question."
The group lapsed into silence, with Audrey shifting her focus back to the hallway. The voices of the Lost Ones were fainter now. Maybe they'd moved on?
...God, now she was thinking about it the posters too.
Audrey let out a groan, turning back to Fiona and the shadowy form of Carmine.
"Now I'm thinking about the posters too!" Audrey covered her face with her hands.
"Ah, sorry." Fiona couldn't help but laugh.
"Ugh, this is going to keep bothering me" Audrey let her hands drop. "We need to find some of your Lost One friends to talk to."
"I'll make sure to ask when we find some friendly ones." Fiona's smile widened.
"It's possible they might not even know what the purpose he has in mind is," Carmine pointed out as the group began to start moving again.
"It's worth asking, though," Fiona said.
"I don't know is still an answer," Audrey agreed. "And we could always ask Wilson if we find him."
Fiona stumbled a bit at that suggestion, but quickly caught herself.
"Uh... Yeah..." She said slowly. "I... Guess we can do that."
Audrey's back was to her, so she couldn't see how uncomfortable Fiona looked with the prospect of speaking to Wilson. Carmine did, however. Wilson was going to be trouble. He was sure of that.
But... They would cross that bridge when they came to it. For now, survival was more important.
As soon as Audrey and the Ink Demon smashed through the wall, Joey on one shoulder and Fiona on the other, they were beset by a hoard of Lost Ones.
"Ah! Hey!" Audrey swatted at the Lost Ones with her new monstrous strength.
With one swipe of her enormous hand, the Lost Ones splattered like paint upon the ground. But no matter how many she squashed, more just seemed to rise to take their place.
"Keep moving forward," the Ink Demon urged. "If we are to reset the world, you cannot let them overwhelm you."
"Easy for you to say!" Audrey snapped, still swiping the Lost Ones away.
"Just keep going," the Ink Demon insisted. There was a strange tenderness to his voice that Audrey had never heard before.
So, Audrey did as she was told. She threw off the Lost Ones clinging to her and charged forward, even as more Lost Ones poured out from the woodwork. She had to keep going forward. She had to reach the end. They were going to reset this world, and then they were going to make everything right.
She was going to make things right.
She could feel Fiona and Joey clinging to the sides of her neck as she thundered through the corridors of the factory, smashing through doors and throwing off Lost Ones. Evidently, it was a bit difficult to try and hold onto a rampaging monster, but they were both doing a surprisingly good job at staying on.
Eventually, though, they ran into a problem.
After rampaging through more rooms than she could count, Audrey found herself cornered in a large room, surrounded by Lost Ones on all sides. On the balconies, coming through the doorways. The only way forward was a door that seemed too thick for her to bash through.
"Well, this doesn't look good," Joey laughed weakly.
"Curses..." The Ink Demon growled, and Audrey could feel the frustration rising up in their shared chest.
"Why can't we just use your power?" Audrey asked. "You have that field that melts things, don't you?"
"My power is... indisposed at the moment," the Ink Demon admitted. "Our fusion is not yet stable enough to make use of it. Not to mention, there is no guarantee it won't melt Drew as well."
Now it was Audrey's turn to growl in frustration.
"What do we do?" Fiona clung a bit tighter to Audrey's neck. "We can't take all of them, can we?"
"I'm thinking," Audrey said, frantically scanning the room for some way to escape.
But it didn't seem like there was anything. She could try to smash through the doors, but that might jostle off Joey and Fiona. And there was a distinct possibility she could tire herself out and fall to the Lost Ones. It really did seem like they were trapped. Panic began to grip Audrey. No no no! This couldn't be happening! It couldn't be over already! She needed to play the End Reel! She needed to fix things!
Suddenly, gunfire ripped through the room, along with a very familiar laugh. Audrey's head whipped in the direction of the sound just in time to see Alice stepping out onto the balcony, carrying her tommy gun and laughing maniacally, flanked by Allison holding her sword.
"Alice! Allison!" Audrey gasped.
"Audrey?" Allison's eyes went wide. "Is that you in there?"
For a moment, Alice looked startled. Then, a smirk pulled at her lips.
"Hey there, honey," she said, putting one hand on her hip. "Need a little help?"
"A little help would certainly be appreciated!" Joey called back.
Alice's expression immediately soured, and she rolled her eyes. "Know I'm doing this for her, not for you," she said, before opening fire on the Lost Ones again.
"You have to keep moving!" Allison said. "We'll cover you." She leaned on the balcony. "Tom! Sammy! Make us some trouble!"
One of the doors was lifted up, revealing an enormous Lost One, its inky body littered with pieces of debris. On its back were Sammy and Tom.
"With pleasure..." Sammy said, eyes narrowing as he hopped down. "Now... Witness the faith of a true believer!"
He fell upon the Lost One hoard, the limbs of his strange spider-like body all working in tandem to rip and tear at his foes as Tom began to pilot the enormous Lost One to smash their enemies.
"Run!" Allison yelled, darting into a control room. The door began to open.
Audrey didn't need to be told twice.
"Thank you!" Fiona called back as they thundered through the now open door. Her voice was lost in the sound of the raging battle.
Alice, Allison, Tom, and Sammy followed them from room to room as best they could, with Alice laying covering fire as Allison accessed the control panels on the upper balconies and Tom and Sammy stuck to the ground floor.
Audrey had to admit, it did feel good to have people at her side. And deep down, the Ink Demon felt it too. Even among the chaos and destruction, there was a feeling of camaraderie, of trust, of everyone working together and trusting one another.
It felt... good.
But she didn't have time to be sentimental right now. She had to keep going. They had to make it to the end.
Henry was waiting for her at the final door, stationed in the control booth to open the door. She heard Joey's breath catch in his throat at the sight of Henry, but he didn't say anything to him.
Henry seemed surprised to see Joey perched on the Ink Demon's shoulder, but he also didn't acknowledge his old friend.
"I found a projector up ahead," he said. "Let's finish this."
The door opened, and Audrey did just that. The projector was in sight. Their friends were gathered all around them. It was time to end things.
Gingerly, Audrey fitted the End Reel into the projector, then picked it up in two clawed fingers
"This will be the beginning of a new cycle," she said, more for the Ink Demon than anyone else. "Things will be better this time. I promise."
"...I hope you are right," the Ink Demon replied.
Then, Audrey turned the projector toward them, the light almost blinding her.
