Chapter 6: Changes

Wally rubbed a little at his head injury. It somehow didn't hurt as much recently, to which he was thankful for… but from how wet the spot felt underneath the black spot left him a little concerned. It really didn't help him feel any better that when some more ink creatures came and tried to kill them, Wally swore that somewhere during that time the pain had shifted somewhere else on his head and split into two parts.

"Uh… guys think we could stop for a moment?" Wally asked the other three. He was smart enough to wait till they weren't around any of the monsters to make this request.

"If it's for the bathroom Franks then wait. We're not even close to one right now ." Sammy stated from his position in front of the group, keeping an eye out for any more ink creatures.

"That's not… I mean that would be really nice yeah. But I uh…" Wally paused trying to think of how to put it so that Sammy wouldn't blow up at him… which in all honesty would probably still happen.

"You not feeling good Wally?" Thomas asked, a slightly concerned look on his face while looking the younger man over. Sammy frowned at this question Thomas had and turned around only to wince a little when he saw the ex janitor.

"Geez when was the last time you got water or food in you Franks?" Sammy asked, getting a confused look from Wally.

"On my break a while back… I mean sure I probably would like to have some dinner soon but… look I don't see what you're all so worried for, I just wanna check on my head ya know."

"Laddie you be whiter than a sheet o' blank paper!" Shawn shouted, gesturing to Wally's really confused face. He knew he was usually pretty pale but no one was ever concerned by how naturally pale he was.

"Uh… I ain't that pale Shawn. Look I just-"

"He means it literally Wally." Thomas stated, pointing to one of the trainees hands for him to look at. Wally gave them a quizzical look before looking at one of his hands.

Instead of the usual pale color he was used to, true to Shawn's words Wally's hand looked like it was as white and colorless as a blanket of freshly fallen snow. Now Wally was just feeling a little concerned before, its just turned into straight up fear.

"Oh my god am I dying?!" Wally screamed, he hadn't ever really seen himself go so pale before. Hell the red haired trainee hadn't really seen anyone go this pale before, for well… anything really.

"If you're able to freak out as much as you are, then the answer is no." Sammy stated in a deadpanned tone as Wally was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Lad, look at me now!" Shawn shouted, snapping his fingers up to make sure Wally would look over at him. As soon as he had the younger man's gaze on him, Shawn finally continued. "I'm gonna level with ya right here and now. Ya aren't dying yet. One day, hopefully in your elderly years and in your sleep yes, but today just going white no. Now I be thinking all you need is a rest and some food."

"If he's feeling light headed that is." Thomas piped up and looking in Wally's direction for confirmation on this point. Wally's eyes shifted a little as he tried to figure out if that's how he felt or not… he was a little too freaked out to really tell. "Okay how about this kid. Did you feel light headed before you started to freak out?"

"N-No not really!" Wally exclaimed, still worrying over the fact he has no idea how he got so pale so quick. It didn't help that the others couldn't think of anything either… nor did the fact that they all heard something coming towards them from the direction they were originally walking to.

"And this is why we keep shouting to a minimum," Sammy muttered more to himself as he held the axe at the ready to swing at whatever was coming towards them. At first expecting more of the inky torsos they had seen… it turned out to be much worse than that. There were at least three of them… and the whole group recognized that they were supposed to be the members of the "Butcher Gang" from the Bendy shorts the studio made… but much more twisted. Barley's head swung on his fishing rod, while Edgar barely looked like himself with only three arms and a to human eye. What was supposed to be Charley however was just as horrifying as the other two.

With it's suit and it's large ears, as well as his more blackened nose being the same, it's face was much more different from its original design. It's lower jaw seemed to be completely dislocated and forced open, making it seem like it was stuck screaming. It's left eye was sewn shut in the form of an X shape while the right eye looked like it had been ripped out, only to be filled with an inky substance that dripped a bit from the socket and followed a scar that trailed from the eye to it's gaping mouth. It's left hand was completely missing while it's right one was gloved, but attached to a far to skinny arm. It's right leg looked like it was replaced by a plunger of all things while it's left looked normal for the toon.

"Why in the hell would ya be using a plunger of all things for a leg?! Do ya even know where that thing has been?!" Shawn shouted, clearly getting over his fear just enough to criticize the twisted toon for something as simple as a plunger for a leg. The twisted Charley seemed to take great offence and rushed forward first, the twisted Edgar following close behind while the Barley seemed to take it's time.

"You just had to make it mad didn't you?" Sammy growled as he swung the axe down with all his might, right into "Charley's" head as it got close enough, nearly splitting it in half down the middle. Ink splashed up onto both Sammy's arms and onto the floor, before the ink creature before him melted back into a puddle of the dark liquid.

"Hey! I'm pretty sure you're handling it pretty well!" Shawn pointed out. Sammy wanted to glare at the Irish toy maker but had to get out of the way as "Edgar" tried to strike him with it's extender bar arm. Unlike the quick death of "Charley", "Edgar" seemed to be much quicker despite it's limp and proved to be a little harder to hit. "Barley" seemed to be closing in and Sammy was not prepared to take two twisted toons on. However unlike "Edgar", "Barley" seemed more focused on the others then on Sammy.

"Shit!" Sammy attempted to swing at "Barley" but "Edgar" was about to strike the music director, forcing Sammy to dodge the strike and abandon his attack for a moment. The other men cursed themselves as the twisted sailer got closer, swinging it's head… as well as the sound of a few of the ink torso's making their way down the same hall making the situation all the worse for them.

"Alright that's it! Tom, do ya got something on ya?!" Shawn shouted at the handyman, seeming to square up his shoulders and looked ready to take the ink creature on with his own two fists if he had to.

"I… Haven't checked." Thomas admitted, only to protest a bit when Shawn just started to dig around the small pouch that was attached to his work belt. The short man soon pulled out a wrench, smaller than the ones used for the actual ink pipes, and scowled at the fact it seemed to be the only thing that was in there… but immediately rushed at the twisted toon coming for them with a loud "war" scream. Both Wally and Thomas watching after the toymaker with flabbergasted looks as they watched the shorter man start to beat at the nearly headless creature with nothing but a wrench.

"... How… How did you not notice ya still had a wrench on ya?" Wally had to ask, still in pure surprise… that only grew more when he saw the wrench seemed to be doing actual damage to the ink creature. Even said ink creature seemed a little surprised from what the red haired young man could tell.

"How did you not notice you're as white as a cartoon background?" Thomas asked in return, he honestly was lost on how he missed checking his work belt over on if he still had some of his "Finer Detail" tools. Then again he usually only had smaller tools on his belt for things that weren't part of the Ink Machine. Though now seeing Shawn pretty much beat a corrupted toon to death with a small wrench Thomas was going to have to rethink a few things.

"... Touche." Wally was also now beginning to rethink his view on some of the tools, watching how after Shawn finished beating "Barley" had turned to the on coming ink torsos and looked ready to jump them as well.

When Sammy took care of "Edgar" he did pause to stare at Shawn, but still reached out and stopped the smaller man from charging into the larger group of ink creatures coming towards them.

"Don't go head first into death you moron!" Sammy scolded, holding onto the back of the toymaker's shirt.

"Oh then you be proposing we turn around, hightail it to find some other stairway and get even more lost in finding the exit?"

"I'm okay with that idea!" Wally exclaimed.

"Not now Franks!"

"Not gonna lie, I feel better with that one as well!" Thomas piped up, getting an annoyed groan from Sammy. Shawn even looked at the two unarmed men with an unamused look.

"Ye of little faith you two!"

"Sorry if I don't want my once dislocated arm to get any worse than it already is!"

As Thomas shouted, one of the ink creatures lunged forward at the toymaker and Music Director. Despite the fact they seemed a little distracted, it wasn't enough for them to be completely blindsided by the creature as Sammy just swung the axe at the thing's head, cutting through it as easy as butter.

Surprise spread through the small group at how easy that turned out to be. Shawn almost immediately began to grin evilly, as he held his wrench at the ready. Sammy had to take a moment to look between the axe and the sudden ink puddle, trying to piece together how that ended up being so easy… after all he didn't even swing the axe that hard and even he knew he wasn't that tough. Thomas himself was both happily surprised but also felt really disappointed in how easily these things seemed to fall. Wally was just plain surprised.

"We were scared of these things?" Wally questioned as he watched Shawn pretty much having a hayday with beating these things with nothing but a wrench… and how Sammy just cut through them easily.

"I've never been more disappointed in something that wants to kill me then I am now…" Thomas stated, really just wanting to smoke now and try to forget all the crazy shit that's happened today.

….

After finding a good place to actually stop and catch their breath, Allison practically collapsed onto her knees as she felt some of the pain from her shoeless feet settling in. Susie had taken a seat in a chair, her face scrunching up in pain from the deep slashes on her face as well as her injured eye. Norman had leaned against a wall before sliding down it into a seated position with a hand gently rubbing over his ribs where the "Barley"s head had hit him, he wouldn't be surprised if his ribs were at least bruised from the force of that strike.

Both Allison and Norman decided to take their time checking over both their own injured areas but also double checking on Susie. While checking herself over, Allison found that, during their most recent escape she might have stepped onto a broken board or something as the stocking seemed to be ripped a bit on her right foot and under the ink stains, she could make out a bit of red. It wasn't as deep or painful looking as poor Susie's but it was enough to make the newer voice actress want to wrap it up carefully… and also wish she kept her shoes on hand.

Norman found no external injury over his chest, bringing a sense of relief. However even just gently touching the area, Norman winced in pain and found that on at least one side of his chest, a single rib bone felt the slightest bit out of place. Though it could be a trick of his mind due to pain, Norman didn't want to throw caution to the wind at this point.

As soon as Allison made a quick little makeshift bandage for her foot she gingerly stood up, let out a small hiss of pain from her foot and made her way to Susie's side.

"Um… is… are you okay if…" Allison stammered, trying to piece together the right words, while Susie just gave her a small impatient sigh.

"If you check on it?" Susie finished, to tired and in pain to properly fight the shorter woman. Allison nodded slowly and avoided eye contact. "Go on then."

Allison looked up in a bit of surprise and nearly wanted to ask if she was sure, but one look at her fellow voice actresses face and Allison knew Susie just wanted to get this over with. Being very careful, the brunette peeled some of the makeshift bandages away, leaving the one covering Susie's left eye alone, and checking on the slashes. From what it looked like it wasn't much better from the last time she saw them, though they did seem to slow in the bleeding at least.

The two slashes across the actual cheek seemed rather larger than the others though and much deeper. Allison bit at her lower lip, knowing that these would need stitches if it was ever going to properly heal… and even then these would leave scars on Susie's face. The other slashes didn't seem as bad, though then again she hadn't got a better look at the damage to the eye just yet.

"... I'm sorry Ms. Campbell…" Allison muttered, looking so close to crying from the feeling of guilt that just grew in her chest as she started to redress the wounds on the taller woman's face.

"... Sorry? For what?" Susie questioned, there were a few things she could think of that the olive skinned woman in front of her was apologizing for… but she couldn't place what this apology was actually for.

"If… if I hadn't distracted you… if I just… just spoke up…."

Oh… Susie thought with a slight frown, ignoring how the muscle movement in her face just hurt the wound on her cheek more.

"That thing surprised us all. You couldn't have-" Susie started only to be surprisingly cut off quickly by the more timid woman.

"I'm… I'm also… I'm sorry… so sorry for taking the role of Alice from you!" Allison practically belted out, tears starting to crawl down her face. "I just… I just wanted to work with you! I didn't mean… didn't want to hurt you!"

Susie was at a loss as Allison just broke down with her guilt. Susie took a glance over to Norman, hoping he would probably come over and give a hand. The projectionist however seemed to decide to sit out of it and let the girls sort this out themselves. Susie just glanced down to Allison and slowly reached out to give her a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"It's… it's alright. Really. Neither of us… neither of us had a say in what happened after all." Susie quietly responded, the last part was more for herself then it was for Allison. Sure there was still a hint of jealousy for the smaller woman taking her role, but at the same time Susie found it harder to stay mad from how guilt ridden Allison looked about it.

Allison finally looked up, right into Susie's eye with her tears still rolling down her face. Susie couldn't help but notice that her eyes were a pretty shade of pale green. Allison herself noticed how Susie's eye was a shade of hazel that almost seemed to glow in a more golden color with the lighting.

"I-I'm-" Allison started again only to be cut off by Susie gently shushing her.

"I know, you can stop apologizing now."

Allison looked as if she was about to apologize again but cut herself off by rubbing at the tears on her face.

"I… I should get back to… to redressing these." She sniffled and held up the makeshift bandages.

"Mind if I give you a hand… Allison?" Susie asked surprising the mentioned woman with her first name, before a smile started to form on her once crying face.

"Not at all Ms. Campbell!"

"Please, call me Susie."

Meanwhile Norman sat off to the side smiling at how the two seemed to be on much better terms now. Though there was one thing that was scratching at his mind that didn't feel quite right.

We're those scratches really that deep before? Unlike Allison, Norman had originally gotten a better look at the wounds on Susie's face first… He knew her eye was supposed to be the worst out of the rest of those injuries, but from what he could remember the gashes on her cheek weren't that large before.

Both Norman and Allison brushed off the much more pale complexion of Ms. Campbell with the simple thought of it relating to the blood loss she suffered. Even Susie was thinking along the same lines as they were.

….

"I knew that was far to easy!" Lacie shouted as she and Grant sprinted through the cleared halls of the Music Department, followed closely by a large group of multiple Butcher Gang members and assorted ink creatures.

After they drained almost all the ink from the music department and were about to activate the final pump, ink creatures started to pop up out of nowhere and came right after them. Lacie got a long cut on her arm from pushing Grant out of the way of an attack, then practically picked the accountant up and bolted down a hallway with him.

Grant was still trying to process how she seemed to be able to handle him like he was barely anything, but that didn't mean he wasn't trying to think of a way for them to lose their pursuers. The sight of a door opening a bit in front of them was both concerning but also felt welcoming at the same time.

"Lacie! On the right up ahead!" Grant decided, taking a chance seeing as the odds otherwise were not looking in their favor.

"On it Coin man!" Lacie responded as soon as she saw what Grant was talking about. She turned to it as quick as possible and practically flung Grant, as well as herself, through the door and something else in the room seemed to close it behind them. Neither of them noticed right away, to busy catching their breath to really notice, till the sound of some crates or something being pushed in front of the door behind. Turning around quickly, Grant screamed when he saw it was another one of those twisted ink figures with the glowing eyes… Lacie however seemed to be shocked, which prompted Grant to hide behind her.

The ink figure seemed to flinch a little at Grant's scream and backed into a corner after blocking off the door, that was now being pounded on by the other ink creatures on the outside. Lacie caught onto this behavior and taking in a deep breath she took a few steps closer to the figure, even with Grant grabbing onto her arm.

"Are you crazy? It's another of those… those things! What if-" Grant started only to be cut off by Lacie, turning her attention to the figure and speaking out to it.

"Hey there, thanks for giving us a hand." Lacie gave the figure a small smile, ignoring the shocked look on Grant's face in favor of looking at the figure's glowing orange eyes widening a little in surprise.

"You're… uh… you're welcome ma'am." The ink creature responded, it's voice sounding a little more masculine through it's slightly echoed voice. It, or he rubbed at one of his arms and seemed to almost want to go deeper into it's corner to hide. Especially as the banging and a few of the noises increased outside the door.

Grant, not feeling comfortable at all with this looked around the room only to curse his luck that it was very much a dead end. A simple storage room with the only way of escape being blocked off in favor of protection.

"What's your name?" Lacie asked the inky humanoid, still remaining civilized yet taking caution… she's already dealt with an ink creature being docile before it went flying off the deep end, she was determined to not let that happen again.

"August… August Woodhouse ma'am."

"Pleasure to meet you August. Names Lacie Benton, and the suit with no manners is…" Lacie paused to take a quick glance at the mildly offended look on Grant's face, trying to remember his actual name outside of the nickname she was using. "... Grant… Coi- no it was Co something… am I close?"

"Grant Cohen…" Grant corrected, still really uncomfortable but was starting to lower his guard a bit as this… August, wasn't attempting to attack them.

"Yeah that. Thanks. Anyways, I don't think I've heard ya around the lower levels, and Grant clearly never worked with you in finances. Where'd you get placed?" Lacie continued to question, taking a seat on one of the storage crates not blocking the door. August was a little hesitant, but finally decided to answer.

"I work in the music department… I play the trombone when it's needed."

Lacie gave a thoughtful hum while Grant blinked processing what was just told to him.

"Wait a minute… you're an employee here?"

"Hard to tell at the moment, I know." the former trombone player responded, fully aware of how messed up he looked.

Lacie, when August spoke, almost gave Grant a look that read "Are you an idiot" before she just realized… she never told him about how the twisted spider toon she had first met was once an employee as well.

"I done screwed up on that one…" Lacie muttered more to herself as she quietly started to call herself an idiot, while August gave her a confused look… though Grant seemed to be lost in his own mind as he thought back to the first ink creature he encountered… and only now was it registering in his head that it sounded like an employee he would run into a few times when walking through the toy department. Horror started to settle into his mind as that one dawning realization brought about a more horrifying one.

But… But before I encountered that… that thing with his voice I… I saw that man dead! How… oh my god… Grant thought as the horrific conclusion came to him as he stared at August, then slowly stared at the door where the banging against it was starting to lesson.

"They're… they're all dead."

"What?" Lacie asked, not really getting it as Grant seemed to collapse to his knees, and seemed to be having a mental breakdown from what he just realized.

All the while August was now just quietly questioning his own decision for helping these people as he watched the accountant break down and the mechanic go over to try and calm him down.

Maybe when those things outside stop trying to get in I'll just go out and try to figure out what the hell happened to me... Away from these weird people.

….

Joey was both intrigued but also rather crossed at the results of his attempts to see if he could speed things up. Intrigued as after making the white blotches face off against the other beings in the studio, and how most of them now had small amounts of black forming in them. However he was crossed because a majority of them seemed to also fight back, destroying some of his creations and forcing them to reform elsewhere.

"Well, at least none of them are by the exit anymore." Joey sighed to himself and rubbed at his head. Taking one more look over the entire layout one more time he decided it wouldn't hurt to take a brief break from his work, plus that coffee maker he splurged on in the break room was practically calling his name at this point.

….

Hunkered down in, what was pretty much a break room, Wally excused himself to the not far off restroom to check on his head injury. Sure he could have gotten one of the others to check it out, but he damn well wanted to know how bad it actually was for himself… plus he really didn't want to disturb Sammy at the moment. The music director was in one of his "Let me take my goddamned break in peace" moods, and Wally knew better then anyone to just let the guy have his alone time when he was in that mood. The ex-janitor was already having a bad enough day already, thank you very much!

Closing the door behind him, Wally made his way over to the sinks and looked at himself in the mirror. He had to calm himself down a little when he saw his now ghost white skin, and how his freckles had a greyish tint against it and still stuck out quite a bit.

Alright, time to see how bad it really is… Wally thought to himself after taking a deep breath, seeing how much ink was matting down and blacking out his curly red hair around the makeshift bandage. Quietly bracing himself as he slowly undid the knot that held the ripped sleeve in place, Wally slowly began to remove said article of cloth to get a better look at his head injury. Once it was off Wally had to squint a little at it as it seemed to be covered by a blotch of ink, but he could make out a bit of the soon to be scar's shape under it a bit.

I thought Susie cleaned it up a bit? Wally internally questioned before shrugging it off and turning the water on in the sink. He started off by washing his own hands a little before moving onto the cloth that was used to bandage his wound, after all he would have to probably tie it back on and it would do to have it be less sticky and gross.

He started to whistle a tune as he scrubbed at the cloth only to pause when the water running through the makeshift bandage ran more of a distilled black. He was expecting more red but… but there could have just been more ink there then Sammy and Susie thought.

Yeah… Yeah that's all, nothing to worry about. Wally tried to calm the growing panic in his chest as he finally finished getting the ripped sleeve as cleaned as possible and left it to dry so he could get the rest of the ink off himself. As he splashed the water on his face, he let out a hiss of pain when some of it touched his wound, but still pushed on trying to get as much ink off his face and hair as possible.

The red haired man eventually stopped when the pain got to much for him. Looking up again, just to see how much he was able to get off, Wally froze when he saw that the ink over his wound seemed to still be there, looking unfazed by the water at all.

"That… that shouldn't still be there…" Wally breathed, panic coming back much worse when he saw a bit of ink drip down from the spot. Dripping straight from his wound and just above his right eye. As he tried to deny what he was seeing as real, Wally's hands went up to the top of his head, attempting to just grab some of his hair… but instead touching two bumps that were hidden by his hair. Two bumps that were definitely not there before. Two bumps… that almost felt like they had a sharp point to them.

Wally choose that moment to finally scream.

The Chaos Gremlin that is Shawn has become active... and I can now finally get down to a few things I've been looking forward to writing since I began this story~