"Don't let the Ink Demon see you."
Bendy was quiet as he and Mary navigated the few dry, above-ink spots. Mary didn't ask why, or what was on his mind: she knew.
Alice.
It was and wasn't her. The Alice in the cartoons was nicer than that - she could be 'saucy' as her mom said, but she wasn't anything like this. She didn't shriek and pound against glass and scare people half to death. She didn't talk about Bendy like he was a disgusting monster. She didn't…she didn't torture and kill other toons.
But it looked like her. And sometimes it sounded like her.
Neither of them wanted to think about what would have happened if she'd actually noticed Bendy hiding behind Mary.
"Well well well…what's a teensy little girl doing down here? This is certainly no place for children…..I'll tell you what, little girl. Do a few eensy, weensy favors for me, and I'll tell you the way out…"
Mary suppressed another shiver. No, no, don't think about that.
"Hey. Mary."
"Huh?" The little girl looked down at Bendy. She couldn't hold his hand, since the thingamabobber that Alice had given her was so heavy she had to hold it in two arms. So Bendy made up for it by sticking as close to her as possible. "What's wrong, Bendy?"
Bendy's smile looked rueful. Silly question, he wanted to say. "Are you doin' okay?" he asked instead. "You don't have to do anything she says, you know, we can find the exit without–"
Mary quickly shook her head. "No…No, I mean. I don't wanna do what she says but. But she's the only one who knows the way out now." Bendy had thought he did, but even he was taken aback by how different these next floors looked. He'd been in that pipe for too long, it seemed. Nothing looked the same to him anymore. "If…if it's the only way to get you an' Boris out too, then I'll do what she wants."
"It's gonna be scary, you're not gonna like any of it."
"I know, but–"
SPLSH. SPLSH. SPLSH. SPLSH.
The two of them froze. Bendy threw an arm out in front of the child, ushering her back against a wall. They hid quickly as possible, peering around the corner and into the ink flood.
An inky figure was shuffling through the flood. A figure with a projector a head. He swung around, the light passing too close to their hiding spot. Mary and Bendy threw themselves back against the wall and out of sight, holding their breaths.
'Don't let the Ink Demon see you.'
Mary gripped the thingamabobber tightly in her arms, squeezing her eyes shut. 'Please,' she prayed. 'Please please please please–'
The inky figure turned and splish-splashed away. Bendy let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Okay, let's hur–"
But as they ran out, as they began to run along the floorboards, something happened. Several somethings.
Mary dropped the tool Alice had given her, her arms too tired and her movements too quick for balance.
Her foot caught over it in the drop.
And most importantly, she fell into the ink.
Which was too deep for her to stand in.
"BENDY!" she screamed, splashing wildly and struggling to keep her head above the surface. Black liquid sprayed everywhere as she struggled to keep afloat, struggled to get back to 'land.' "BENDY, HELP ME! HELP ME!"
"Mary!"
There was sudden, rapid splashing heard just over the sound of the girl's terrified thrashing and screaming. He was coming.
"Mary, hang on!" Bendy first threw his arm out to grab her, but he was too short to reach. He grabbed the dropped tool and tried to hold it out, but it was too heavy. He had to rest it on the floor and push it as far as he could. "Mary, grab it, hurry!"
"BENDY I'M–" Mary briefly went under, then burst up again, supernatural ink sliding off her terrified face. "I'M SCARED–"
"MARY, PLEASE, GRAB THE–"
click WHIRRRRRRR
A spotlight shone on Mary and Bendy both. The sudden harsh glare made Mary briefly stop moving, and she went under for another second. She broke the surface again, screaming loudly at the sight of the inky figure standing - looming - over her.
"MARY, GRAB IT NOW!" Bendy cried, clearly terrified.
"BEND–!"
The figure reached down.
"LET GO OF–!" Bendy began to shout, but then…
…the figure dipped his hands into the ink flood, and lifted Mary up, hands under her arms. It held her high in the air as Mary coughed and gasped for breath, waiting for her to calm down and breathe normally again, waiting for the strange ink to drip off her.
Then it waded over to where Bendy stood, and lowered her to safety. Mary looked up, still trembling, as the ink creature patted the top of her head almost affectionately.
"Th…ere…there…car…ful now…" it gurgled, and then turned and waded away, as if nothing had happened.
Bendy stared after it in shock and horror.
"There there." The familiar man chuckled, patting Bendy's head as he fixed the reel. "Careful now, Bendy."
"Norman…" Bendy breathed, heartbreak twisting his features as the two watched him wade around a corner.