FULL SUMMARY:

It's 2017 and Dani had gone to the studio with three of her friends. Unfortunately while they escaped, she fell through the floor and that was only the beginning.

With monsters around every corner, she'll have to fight to survive and maybe befriend some of the 'monsters' too if she ever wants to escape.

But, as she goes deeper and deeper down below the surface, she learns more about the studio's dark past. She's down this far, so... maybe she should at least TRY to help the ones she thought were just monsters. She soon realizes they are just lost and trapped souls. Making her heart break hearing them cry and beg for freedom and how they just want to go home.

After all, what are the chances she'll make it back upstairs in one piece anyway? If she dies, then well, at least she died trying to set them free.

NOTE:

This is basically 'A Different Tune' 2.0.

With chapter 4 released, I decided to rewrite this fic! There shouldn't be any spoilers for that chapter but if you haven't seen it, better to not read and be safe than sorry.

Some parts will be the same, others will be different. Maybe even a new ending too?

My ask blog on Tumblr for the original fic will remain the same. Too much work to change it lol. That blog is askbatimmodernau.

Enjoy!

There was an old animation studio nearby. And there were rumors. A lot of them. Mainly how the place was haunted. That if you went in, you wouldn't come back out. And so on…

What is true, however, is that a lot of people went missing a very long time ago. No one ever found their bodies.

The one connection? That they worked, in some way or another, at the studio. But the police couldn't find any of them. At that point, there wasn't a dead Boris on the first floor so they didn't find anything suspicious on the accessible floors.

But the only way you could get down to where they all were, at first before some managed to get upstairs, was through a secret staircase or using a trick with the elevator.

Eventually, the owner himself, Joey Drew, went missing. Somehow, he or someone using his name, was still paying for the building. So it still belongs to 'him' and not the city. Hence why it was never torn down.

The co-owner, Henry, who had left long before anyone went missing, had no clue what was going on in the studio. He claims he left for 'creative differences' with Joey and eventually got drafted in World War 2.

It hurt him, knowing all of his friends were likely gone. That no one, not their friends nor family, would get closure.

What was even weirder is that one day in the 40s, before he left for war, Henry received a letter.

"THE CREATOR LIED TO US!"

Was what the letter stated. But had no return address or signature so he wasn't sure where it came from.

Eventually in the 70s, he received a letter from 'Joey Drew' but he figured it was a joke at first before curiosity got the best of him and he decided to go back and try to find answers. Since he never received closure or answers before.

Then he too, disappeared and was put on the missing persons list. No one ever heard from him again.

It is now 2017 and Halloween. A young lady will find the answers that Henry was hoping to receive before he disappeared. But first, she has quite a journey to make… and has to survive it all first, before those answers could come to light.

Will she do it? Or will she become a 'lost one' and succumb to the studio and the monsters that roam around in it? There's only one way to find out… hehe.

- Date: October 31, 2017. Time: 6:00 P.M. -

Dani stepped out of the impala with three others. They had heard about an old, abandoned studio that was said to be cursed or haunted. Of course, being the dumb young adults and college kids that they were, they decided to check it out.

And when is better than Halloween night?

"Shit." The other female in the group cursed.

"What?" James asked, turning towards her.

"There's no service here! And I doubt this place has wifi!" Bella whined.

"Of course it wouldn't." Dani rolled her eyes. "It's an old building that's been abandoned for like 70 years or something."

"Are we even sure that it's safe?" Bella asked.

"Doubt it but it'll make things all the more fun!" Dani giggled, heading up the stairs and to the door.

"We'll just go in, check the place out, then leave." Mark said, trying the door and being genuinely surprised that it was unlocked.

"Huh. Thought we would've had to break in." James laughed. "Well, our lives just got easier."

"This is so creepy…" Bella muttered as they walked down the short hall, looking at the posters and the projector pointed towards the wall. "And why is that thing on? Are you sure we're alone?"

"Who else would be here?" James asked, a bit unsure himself. "Though it is odd that the place seems to have power. I honestly thought we'd have to use our phones."

"Good question." Dani said, "Let's hope we don't meet them. And hey, at least our phones' battery is safe." She then turned off the projector.

"Nothing down this way." Mark said coming from the left. "Just a old desk and what seems to be a room for animators."

"Then let's go down there." Dani said, pointing to the other hall.

"You first." Bella said, motioning her to go forward.

Dani looked down that way, back to Bella, then back to the hall before shrugging. Trying to keep her cool and not further freak her friend out by being freaked out herself. Though she'd being lying if she said she wasn't very scared.

DREAMS COME TRUE

"W-What is that?" Bella asked, pointing to the wall.

Slowly, Dani walked up to it and put her finger on one of the letters.

"Looks to be some old fashioned ink." She replied. "It's not wet though."

"So it's been here for a while." James added.

"That's a relief." Mark said and already headed down the dark hallway.

As they walked down the hall, they looked up and saw the Ink Machine sign. Curious, they stepped into the room after walking over a pipe on the ground.

"Here are some batteries." James said, going over and grabbing them. Then putting them in the slots.

The group raised the ink machine, surprising them when it came up completely. They weren't expecting it to be so… massive.

"Looks like it needs to be turned on somehow." Mark said, after a moment.

"Please tell me we aren't going to…" Bella trailed off and Dani gave her a small nod. "What- WHY!?"

"Why not?" She shrugged, heading down the other hallway. "Geez this place is big."

"Why don't we, and I know this might be stupid, but split up? We'll get out of here a lot faster." James suggested.

"Fine." Mark said. "Dani and I will go to the right and you two to the left."

"Deal." James nodded and headed down that right with Bella.

"So… are we going to turn it on?" Dani asked once they were out of earshot.

"Sure. I'm really interested in seeing how it works." Mark said, looking at the cardboard cut out as they walked passed it.

"Oh…my…." Dani couldn't get the last word out as she looked down towards the left and saw a figure on a operating table of sorts.
Without her permission, her feet led her down towards it, mouth open from pure shock and fear. Strangely, she was also a bit curious. Looking at the closest poster, she could tell that the figure was Boris the Wolf.

"That's…odd…" Mark said, unable to find words to describe the situation in front of them.

"Let's… not bring Bella down here. She'll probably scream so loud that the whole city will hear." Dani said and Mark nodded next to her.

"Poor guy though. Who could've done this? Hell, how is he real?" Mark said, trying to figure out how this is possible.

"I don't think I want to know. Let's just turn on the machine and get the Hell out of here." Dani said, knowing that not even a dead cartoon wolf would get Mark out since he is dead set on turning the machine on.

"Agreed." Mark said, quickly heading down the other direction. "Ah this must be how we do it."

"Looks like we need some items maybe?" Dani said, looking at the pictures in the room behind the pedestals.

Once Mark typed the different objects down in his phone, they decided to hurry back to the other two before they could see Boris.

"Hey. We figured out how to turn on the machine." Dani said, meeting them half way."

"We think we did too. We found a flow machine that probably needs to be turned on and this old recording of some guy named Wally Franks." James said. "He mentioned these pedestals and having to donate a object for it."

"How do you know that's his name?" Mark asked.

"His name was on the back." James replied.

"Ah. Well, we found the pedestals and have a list of objects we need to find for them." Mark said. "Why don't you guys look for some of the stuff?"

"I think I saw that wench we need down that way." Dani said, pointing behind them. "We'll grab that, something music related, and the inkwell. You guys can get the plushie, cogwheel, and book."

"Okay." Bella said, wanting to get out of there soon. Kind of like the Wally guy from the recording.

About 20 minutes later, everything was on it's pedestals and unfortunately Bella did see Boris. And she did scream. James was surprised that she didn't wake up all the possible ghosts in the building with how loud she screamed and cried.

"There now-" Mark was cut off.

"I'll run down and tell them that we need to start the flow. I tried texting them but it didn't go through. No service and all." Dani said.

"Okay. Come back once it's started." Mark nodded as she walked away.

A minute later, Dani was standing outside of the room.

"Let's start this ink flow." Dani said as she stood in the doorway, seeing Bella still scared. "You still freaked out?"

"That cardboard thing moved on our way back down!" Bella said, pointing her direction, making Dani turn to her right. "And that projector turned on too! I thought I heard whistling from it! Seriously, these characters are so creepy! Who could've liked them!?"

"Excluding the dead wolf, I personally think they are adorable. I mean, it's not like Boris was dead and had his insides ripped out in the old cartoons, right? Besides, this place is supposedly haunted." Dani said. "Come on, we'll turn the ink machine on and then leave."

"You guys check it out! I'm waiting outside!" Bella said, pushing past her.

James pressed the button and both jumped back when ink started pouring out and flooded the room. Once he was out, he told Dani he'll wait outside too and so Dani went back to Mark alone.

Mark then pulled the pump once he saw her and the duo headed to the Ink Machine, surprised to see it boarded up.

"It wasn't like that before… and the other two couldn't of done it…" Dani said, staying back as Mark slowly crept forwards.

"That's so-" Mark screamed and fell backwards as a gloved hand reached out and a black and white face smiled with a huge grin at them before sinking back down into the ink.

"Okay! We really need to go!" Dani said, noticing the whole floor was flooding with ink now.

Mark didn't argue as the two turned to run out of the building. Fortunately they remembered how to get out but Mark was a few feet ahead of her and ran out of the door, accidentally shutting it behind him.

As Dani ran down the short hall, sliding in ink as she did, she was just a few feet from the door before she realized she didn't feel anything below her feet anymore.

"Huh?" Dani then let out a startled yelp as she fell through the floor and down a few levels. "Ow!" She whined once she hit the floor and quickly tried to move so the ink wouldn't completely rain down on her.

Hustling over to a corner, she turned the valve and watched the ink drain. She then looked at herself and cursed, hoping she could get the ink out of her hair.

With her legs still wobbly, she looked up and saw that… thing. Wasn't jumping down after her. Getting her phone out, she tried to tell the others what happened and to get help but all she got was error messages.

"Dammit." She muttered and saw a tape recording. "Hm?"

Slowly, she walked over to it, trying to calm herself down. Picking it up and turning it over, she saw the name Thomas Conner on the back.

"What do you have to say?" She mumbled before pressing play.

"It's dark and it's cold and it's stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees! Who ever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don't, or he's some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this.. are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs. Make no mistake, this place... this... machine... heck, this whole darn thing... it just isn't natural. You can bet, I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew."

"Ha…" Dani laughed sarcastically. "So the ink was causing all sorts of problems back in the day?"

She set the recording down and decided to head through the door since she wasn't going to get back up the way she came.

As she walked down the stairs, she continued to turn the valves in the corners and drain the ink, grimacing from being covered in it.

She walked through the next door and saw the following one was boarded up so we grabbed the nearby ax and started chopping her way through, feeling lucky to have a burst of energy after whatever she encountered upstairs.

By the door on the wall, was another writing in ink.

THE CREATOR LIED TO US

"What the Hell? What did you do, Joey Drew? And what even was that thing? …Bendy? It looked like him… a demented version that is…" She muttered as she walked through the door and down the hall.

She did the same thing and opened the door, surprised to see a pentagram on the floor, candles, and coffins.

"Okay…" She muttered, slowly stepping inside. "What the- urg!"

Dani collapsed to the ground, dropping the ax after getting hit on the head with something.

She barely had the strength to get up, whatever energy she had completely disappearing. Slowly, she closed her eyes as everything went black.

Meanwhile, Mark yelled for James to start the car as he quickly got in and told him to drive.

"Where's Dani?" James asked, starting the car.

"Shit! The monster must of got her!" Mark said, "We have to go to the police about this?"

"Monster!?" Bella sobbed.

"What? No! We'd be in a lot of trouble. Plus, do you think they'll believe you about a monster?" James said, "Maybe….maybe she is okay. Let's give her a day to come back."

"…Alright…" Mark huffed, knowing the police wouldn't consider her missing for 24 hours anyway and knew they wouldn't be believed about that monster either. "I just hope she's okay."

Quickly, the three pulled away. Once they had service again, they tried to text and call but unfortunately, she didn't receive anything. Even if she did, she wouldn't be able to respond without getting error messages.

- Time: 8:00 P.M. -

About two hours later, Dani woke up to someone whispering. But rolled over to find that no one was there.

"Ow my head… what happened?" She muttered to herself, rubbing her aching head.

She tried to make out the words, but couldn't think straight due to her head hurting a little. Whatever it was, it sounded creepy. All she could make out was that it was a male voice.

Getting to her shaky feet, she grabbed the axe and decided there was only one thing to do; press on.