by neoraichu
We now return to Bendy and the Ink Machine already in progress...
Henry lay on the floor, exhausted and bruised after his long battle with ink blobs and Bendy. Bendy was all but in his face ready to rend and tear with his claws, and only Boris holding his arm back was keeping the human alive.
"Please Bendy," he begged, "Could you let me explain things before you kill me?"
"Yeah Bendy," agreed Boris, "Let him speak for himself."
"FiNe!" growled the Ink Demon, "BuT I sTiLl HaVe EvErY iTeNtIoN oF kIlLiNg YoU!"
"I didn't know what was going on here," Henry pleaded.
"WhAt KiNd Of ExCuSe Is ThAt?! YoU dIdN't CoMe BaCk FoR 30 YeArS, hEnRy!"
"I left because of the draft," he sighed, "For the big war. World War II. The War to End Wars. I went from Boot Camp to North Africa. Morocco to be precise. After a year of pushing the Germans under General Rommel back there, I went over to Italy to battle Mussolini's forces. It took almost 2 years to push into Germany itself. Eventually, we took the country and moved on to the Empire of Japan..."
"WhAt'S yOuR pOiNt, HeNrY?!"
"Well the worst battle... the last battle I was in... was Iwo Jima. I guess I was lucky to avoid... serious injury... up until then."
"What happened?!" asked Boris.
"I was moving from one fox hole to the next..."
"He SaId FoX hOlE," chuckled Bendy.
"Be nice, Bendy!" chided the worf.
Henry sighed before he continued, "An enemy shell landed about 10 yards away from me. I realized what was about to happen so I shielded what I could of my head and chest with my right arm. The blast sent me sprawling several yards away."
"Oh my!"
"They rushed me to the back lines at the field hospital. They did what they could, but they wanted to amputate my right arm at first."
Boris gasp.
"I begged them to try and save it, so they did." Rolling up his right sleeve, he showed the two toons the scars on his right arm running from his wrist past the elbow. Even after all those years, the scars were easy to see. The incisions were long and stitch marks could still be seen.
"ThAt DoEsN't SeEm So BaD," he mused.
"Tell me, Bendy," replied the human, "but what's more useless than a cartoonist who can't draw?"
"WhAt'S tHaT?"
"A broken cartoonist who's been banned from his old studio."
"Why?!" asked Boris.
"I guess Joey never forgave me for putting service to my country above loyalty to Joey Drew Studios," he sighed, "I wrote him as soon as I was able. As soon as I got out of the hospital stateside. The Military... they had no more use for me. I begged Joey to let me come back... to do anything he wanted... I'd help the Janitor if that's what Joey wanted... His reply telegram told me... to just go screw myself."
"So WhAt ChAnGeD?"
"I... don't know," replied Henry slowly, "One day, I just get a telegram from Joey telling me to come back... that he wanted to show me something... I thought that after all these years... he was willing to let me back in... I thought he might want to reboot the studio... and let me help with writing or something... I had no idea what Joey had been up to... no one told me anything..."
"Oh Henry," sniffed Bendy, "I had no idea... I'm so sorry."
"I should be sorry, Bendy," he sobbed softly, "I... should have tried harder... Come back whether Joey wanted me here or not... Can you?.. You and Boris... ever forgive me?"
"I forgive you!" called Bendy as he shrank down to his old cartoon form and rushed up to hug Henry. Boris stepped in and hugged the both of them. They were all crying as they hugged each other.
"Oh Bendy, Boris," he said, "I swear to God that I'll set things right here! I'll get you both out of this hell hole! We'll see the world together!"
"I'd like that so much," replied Bendy as he wiped the ink tears from his eyes, "Creator."