Inky visited Madelina the evening before she went back to school.

She had mostly recovered. Most of her wounds had healed or would fully heal soon, and life came back to her eyes. She just looked more alive.

Madelina was lying on the bed when he met her.

"Are you glad you can finally get back to living outside of this fucking place?"

Madelina didn't respond for a few minutes.

"Can I tell you something personal, Inky?"

Inky went from a bubblegum pink to a baby pink. He knew something was wrong, and he was scared.

"What is it?'

"I'm scared about going back to school. If one schoolmate is willing to kill me, who's to say another one won't."

Inky wasn't sure what to say. He had to say something, but what?

So he patted her back.

"Is-is this helping?"

Madelina held back a snigger.

"It's the thought that counts, Inky."

Inky floated about for a while, getting annoyed with Madelina's persistent silence.

"Will I ever go back to being normal?"

Inky's ears twitched. "Normal? Since when were you normal?"

Madelina rolled her eyes. "When I can trust my schoolmates to not kill me. Remember that?"

"I remember, yeah.

I think that bitch's an outlier though. Most people wouldn't dare to even insult you."

Madelina smiled. "Thanks, Inky."

"I try."