Star Inkbright (Ink!): Puddles of Ink

[I have no idea what Fabi has planned, I have no idea where I'm going, I have no idea what I'm doing, I have no idea what the plot is, I have no idea who all the characters are, I have no idea where we are . . . ALRIGHT, I MAY BE EXAGGERATING. XD Whatever. I'm just going to sit here and write, and you're all going to look at it afterwards and go WTH what is that rubbish and I'm just going to shrug and say I WARNED YA]

Fabi. She needed to find Fabi.

Star had been awake . . . she didn't know how long, but it was not long. Her legs were still shaky and she'd been laughing at the image of crisps made of apples a minute ago. Wait, so she woke up over a minute ago? That could possibly be worth knowing.
Her inky blood neutralised most potions and drugs and the like after a while though, so maybe not long if she'd kept being drugged or something.
She moved along with one hand flat againt the wall to steady her. Effie had betrayed them. Star tried to feel surprised. She just felt annoyed at them for trusting her.
Maybe she shouldn't trust Fabi either. It was hardly like she wasn't going to betray her as well. But she'd stand more chance of getting out of here with Fabi, so Fabi it was.
Fabi wasn't in the room, however. Unless she was hallucinating, which was a strong possibility as of course evil people wanted to mess with people's minds.
So Ink was heading to another door, which was nearby and had to lead somewhere or it would be there.
She reached it and pulled down on the handle. It opened.

Wow.

Through the door was a room. Which may sound stupid, but it could have been a corridor or the outside or something. The room was lined with shelves, and the shelves were filled with bottles of stuff and stuff.
But the thing that caught her attention immediately was the screaming.
Star creeped forward as best she could with not being able to walk too well. She hoped the screaming wasn't Fabi.
Then the screaming stopped, and scuffling sounds followed. A moment later Star heard Fabi's voice, singing . . . something.
Okayyyyyyyyy?
Well, she was alive.
Ink hurried forward quicker, hoping the singing would mask her noise. But the singing stopped all too soon.
Fabi got killed? Fabi got unconscioused? Fabi just decided to stop singing? In the middle of a word, though . . .
Then footsteps. One pair. Walking away from her. But in the background, there was more scuffling that Star hadn't noticed . . .
Fabi killed an enemy and was walking off to rejoin their allies that had made a sudden appearance?
Their allies hadn't helped in the fighting?
They only just arrived and Fabi was handling it?
What allies? Ember and Mara would still be waiting outside, right?
Dammit. No allies. Star carried on creeping forward, her legs working correctly now, and backtracked her thoughts, thinking out new scenearios.
Then she realised the snarling.
Dogs?
That wasn't dog. Vampires.
Ink quickened her pace.
Enemy killed/knocked out Fabi and was going to walk into a vampire trap? Good.
Enemy was going to walk to his/her vampire allies? Not good.
The former was probably the truth, though. People didn't ally with vampires easy.
Hey, if Star saved Enemy's life from the vampires, she'd get another half-ally-ish, maybe. Maybe just one less person unwilling to hurt/kill her. Maybe nothing. Maybe less than nothing. Worth a try. The vampires would attack her soon anyway.
But she hesitated, inevitably. Go on three. One, two, three, NOW!
Ink ran forward, dodging through a gap in the shelves and ending up behind Enemy, who was spinning around. Enemy was holding Fabi's body.
Okay. Enemy was actually an Enemy, then.
Star chucked her emergency knife at Enemy's face, and missed. But she hit her in the shoulder. Yusssssssssss. If anybody asked, Star'd planned that all along.
Enemy dropped Fabi, her head hitting the floor nastily. Ouch.
Enemy yanked the knife out - it hadn't penetrated very far, not a good angle - and leapt over Fabi's body, coming towards Ink.
And Ink was weaponless.
Fabulous.
Star flung her hands out in front of her just in time, and Enemy got hit by a jet of ink in the face. Star had got her aim exactly right this time. More practise.
Enemy stayed standing, didn't even stagger, but her hands moved up to her eyes and Ink knew she was blinded. Yay, she's finally done something right.
Star jumped a few times in a multitude of directions, her final landing making her closer to Enemy. Hopefully, Enemy wouldn't realise how near she was. Star swept her leg against Enemy's, hoping to trip her up, but Enemy's foot, reaching out to kick Ink, was quicker. Ah, she did know where Ink was, goddammit.
Ink fell backwards and turned into a puddle of ink. Enemy, now able to seeish, blinked her eyes open and looked around. She frowned. There was already ink on the floor from Ink's jet, so Star mingled with it nicely and was for all intents and purposes invisible.
Enemy thought Star had disappeared straight into thin air or something, and she was confused. If puddles of ink could grin, Ink would be doing it.

Enemy stayed there for a bit, puzzling. Excellant. Now walk off like a good little enemy and leave us alone.
Ink heard her walking off, but then she heard her picking Fabi up. No no no no no. NO, GODDAMMIT, YOU'RE NOT MEANT TO DO THAT! ARGH! IT'S GOING ALL WRONG!
Star rematerialised again, picking up her knife and dematerialising before Enemy had a chance to attack her.
Enemy probably thought she was a Teleporter by now. Yay. Star rematerialised right in front of her a jabbed the knife in her stomach before she had time to react before dematerialising. She heard Fabi being dropped again - ouch, sorry Fabi - and then Ink rematerialised, created tons of ink, and made the ink carry Fabi along the corridor in a sort of ink chair. Her toes were dragging on the ground, but she'd survive.
Ink ran just in front of the ink chair, suddenly exhausted. She was hot and her vision was going all light and funny. Ink was going to faint, she just knew it. She'd used too much energy.
Seeing as she was creating an ink chair already, it would cost her less energy to stop running and hop on it, so she extended the ink chair and did that. Their ink chair whizzzed them out of the secret room, before collapsing into a puddle of ink and dropping her and Fabi.
Whoops. Star felt a bit guilty and hoped she hadn't given Fabi brain damage with all this dropping.

Ink jumped up to lock the door, then remembered she didn't have a key. Dammit. She walked over, not being able to force her legs to go any faster, and picked up her sword. Hang on, wasn't this a pansy? Never mind. She'd hug it and have a proper reunion later.
Ink walked back over to the door, shut it, and tried to us her sword tip as a key and turn it in the lock.

It failed. Obviously. Her emergency dagger would be better at this, but that was hopefully still in Enemy's stomach.
Then she remembered. Oh, right, she could manipulate nonmagical locks. The ones that kept most sorcerers out. Hah.
Ink coaxed some of the ink on the floor into her hand, then poured it into the lock and made it turn. It took a few tries, but then the lock made a locking sound.
Star curled her body into a crouch, leant against the wall, and focused on recovering slightly. Hopefully they wouldn't be able to get through the door.

Hopefully.