Disclaimer: I do not own the rights of any of the characters used in this story. This is merely a fan made literature work and the characters belong to "The Meatly".
Summary: During their walk through the old studio, Henry starts to think about his current situation, all of the things he had and took for granted, all of the long lost friends that were transformed into insane monsters, all of it. It saddened him, but he had to continue fighting. He had came here for a reason, and was not going to back down now.
Alternatively: Henry starts doubting himself. But if giant murderous cartoons can be brought to life by demonic rituals, then he can survive a little longer in that old place.
If someone asked, Henry would say that he had a good memory.
He remembered the last time he'd seen the light of day, felt the soft breeze as it hit his skin, ate a nice and warm dinner with his family and friends, read his favorite book beside the fireplace, and breathed some fresh air.
He could also remember when he could recall his days as an animator, drawing and giving live to the ink drabbles on the paper, with nostalgia and joy. Without feeling the horrid dread he felt at that moment, without feeling his heart clenching, without his stomach curling, and a tear treathening to fall from his eyes.
Why? Why did that had to happen?
Henry had to admit that he had fallen in that place for his own foolishness. He did get a very bad feeling about that letter the moment he got his hands on it, but he ignored his intuition for the sake of that man. Joey had never contacted him for all these years, what could be so amazing and he wanted Henry to see that he, Joey Drew, the man that destroyed so many dreams and faked a nice and friendly side just to drag people into his diabolical rituals, would suddenly swallow his pride and contact the 'friend' that he had ignored for over 30 years?
He scoffed at his own innocence. May Joey never know about that, but Henry had, just for a moment, believed that maybe Joey had changed his ways, that the two could make amends. Way back in the past, Henry admired Joey and the entire company to his heart's content, but just a few weeks in the job had proved to him that the world wasn't what he dreamed of. When he was still young, searching for a job, he heard Joey talking about pursuing their dreams and that they could become reality, it had touched him so deeply at the time that he spent almost all of his time working to make his own dream come true, be an animator. That's when he decided to help Joey to start their own company.
And now, he heard a discarded audio record of the words his 'friend' had told him long ago, and Joey himself said that he didn't believe any of the words that came out of his mouth. "Garbage" as he'd called them. The words that made him chase his dreams and goals, were nothing but a bunch of inspirational stuff acted out to help Joey's popularity grow.
Just a propaganda.
His heart stung at the memory, but he had to keep going forward. He had to keep fighting, if he didn't want the ink demon to catch up with him.
The wooden floors groaned at his weight, weakened by the years without maintenance, they threatened to break under his feet. Continue walking, he couldn't stay in one place for too long, it seemed like every creature down there were engaged in a heated competition to see who can kill Henry first. Besides the fact that he needed to get out of that hellhole as soon as possible, these probably spoiled bacon soup cans weren't going to sustain him forever, and he had already been stuck there for God knows how long.
He had to leave. For himself, for his family, and for them...
The people that used to share the studio with him, drawing, building, playing, singing, and giving life to the characters that the children loved so much. Those were actually alive. When he thought back at those monsters, groaning and crawling on the Ink puddles, he couldn't see the light and life behind their eyes, they lacked the expressions, the personalities, everything, they were never alive.
Henry could only imagine what his colleagues would think if they saw all of that. But most of them were also corrupted and twisted by the hellbound ink.
Sammy had always been the cold and collected guy of the group, and thus, the one that they liked to mess with the most. Henry recalled how his browns would furrow, his cheeks flushed in anger and a fire would burn behind the usually emotionless brown eyes.
To them, it seemed like Sammy only had two moods; neutral and murderous. It was either one, or the other, no in-between. He didn't agree with messing with the man at the beginning of his career, actually, Sammy intimidated him to the bone. However after some time he decided to join his co-workers. "Just this once." He'd say. "And if Mr. Drew finds out about this, I was never here, got it?" Turns out they were right, annoying the head of the music department was way more fun than it sounded.
Now, Sammy Lawrence, the one person capable of conducting (even though sometimes he'd yell more than help) an entire orchestral, and somehow organize the perfect music in the last second, that they loved to mess with, but would never let someone hurt them and walk away unharmed; was twisted by the ink, becoming the walking monstrosity that had nearly took the life of his old friend to use as a sacrifice.
Susie had... divided opinions between the workers. To some, she was a beautiful and sweet girl that gave her voice to an equally beautiful angel, but to others, she was a little too obscessed with Alice. Henry had to admit that Susie was a very pretty young woman, but the amout of love she held for the character was a bit unhealthy.
Henry used to say: "That's probably going to become a problem in the future." Of course, everyone just laughed at his words.
The screeching voice that had belonged to the nightmarish monster that Susie had been turned into still soared in his ears, and the memories of the countless lives she took for the sake of being "beautiful" haunted his thoughts.
Fitting his job as a projectionist, Norman had always been behind the scenes and watching from afar. Usually seeking dark places to stay, the company's official introvert would do anything he could to avoid drawing attention to himself. The young man had an habit to seek out dark and silent places where he could stay and not be bothered by anyone, because of that, he had learnt the ins and outs of the studio like the palm of his hand. Norman also had a strange liking to observing everyone from a distance, thus, being the first one to notice of the studio's strange happenings.
Everyone just said that he was looking for trouble, but Henry wished that he had paid more attention to his colleague's complaints. The last time he saw Norman, he was a slumping form made of ink, a projector taking the place of his head. Those dark locks, pale skin, green eyes, awkward smile and that weird groan he made when someone bothered him, were gone, never to be seen again.
Shawn... To tell the truth, no one has ever seen the guy around since Joey nearly skinned him alive because of some crooked smiles he painted on the Bendy toys.
Bertrum was the company's manager and the man that planned and created the ''Bendy Land". He was a... complicated character to deal with, while he personally found the man a gentleman at first, he showed a hate like Henry had never seen before when Joey started taking credit for the "grand achievement" that was the Bendy Land to them.
Now, Bertrum had succumbed in the form of one of the carnival rides he had made himself. Ink leaked from his mouth and bulged eyes twitched in agony as the panels closed and hid his face behind them, forever.
Thomas... Allison...
He raised his gaze from the floor to the two figures in front of him, reminding him what had become of the two. They chatted with eachother, oblivious to Henry's saddened gaze on them, while he was grateful that at least these two somehow managed to keep their sanity after that whole ordeal, he still wished that he could help them somehow. At least the angel and the wolf were able to keep themselves from becoming the horrid creatures that their co-workers had become.
For that, at least, he could smile, and pray to whatever deity is up there to keep these two safe.
Although, now that he thought about it, he was the only employee left that hadn't yet been converted into an ink monster.
Well... Except for... Joey...
... And Wally.
Where in the world was Wally anyway?
"Hopefully a thousand miles away from here..." He thought, after all of the battles he had to face in that darned place, Henry couldn't bear the thought of being forced to kill yet another one of his old friends.
He shook his head, trying to get rid of the dark thoughts. He had came here for a reason, and was not going to back down now. It had been a painful fall, but he was not going to give in, they were going to pull through anything else that the studio threw at them.
He felt his previous sadness and uncertainty fade away and being immediately replaced by determination.
Allison's voice startled him out of his train of thoughts.
"Henry... Why are you here?"
Henry pondered on his answer for a moment, and then, he spoke in a calm, but firm voice.
"The Ink Demon has something that we need... I'm going after it."
Alrighty, finally done :D
A little shorter than the last one, but no less good. (I think, at least. XD)
Just a little drabble of Henry's train of thoughts during the Bendy and the ink machine chapter 5 trailer. I hope you enjoy it~