AN: ITT au is mine. ask-joeydrewstudios belongs to cozylittleartblog
Chapter 9:
"So Inky…" Norman began carefully, casually glancing at the toon as he worked on the projector. "Why do you keep staring me like that?"
Norman was with the toons in a spare room, getting ready for an afternoon of watching cartoons. Apparently Inky had mentioned how his studio had stopped making cartoons soon after he was created and the other toons were determined to show Inky what he had missed. So they had found Norman and persuaded him to help them out (it was impossible to resist four sets of cartoon puppy dog eyes). Of course Inky started staring at Norman's face as he normally did whenever he came across Norman. While Norman would normally just let it slide, figuring it had to do with something bad that happened to him in the other studio, he could no longer ignore his curiosity. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, Norman waited for Inky's answer.
"I just never got to see your face from before," Inky replied with a shrug, still staring at Norman as if he was trying to memorize Norman's face.
"But doesn't he live with you at Henry's," Alice asked in confusion as she finished setting up the chairs. Boris eagerly took a seat, helping himself to the popcorn he was holding as his tail wagged in happiness.
"Yeah, but he has a projector for a head now," Inky explained, looking over at Alice and missing how Norman briefly fumbled over his task. "I was chained up before I wandered across him and by the time I had learned to look through the cutouts, the Liar had already sacrificed him for finding out too much."
"That makes sense…" Alice said calmly, forcing a smile on her face. Inky tended to be incredibly blunt about the things that happened in his own world, especially when asked about it. People had been shocked by how he could talk about things like sacrifices and torture as if it was normal until they came to the horrifying conclusion that it was normal where he came from. And as hard as it was to hear sometimes, people didn't want to stop Inky from explaining what he had suffered through. He would never be able to heal otherwise. Instead, everyone would comfort Inky if he needed it and if he didn't they would just act like it wasn't a big deal and move on. (They had learned pretty quickly that showing a big reaction would make Inky reluctant to say anything at all, reverting back to silence and whistles.)
"The cartoon's almost ready," Bendy said easily, dragging Inky to a chair. The toons were naturals a lightening the mood whenever Inky shared the darker parts of his world and helping everyone smile again. (Most of the time they couldn't truly grasp just how terrible Inky's world was, but during the times they did… they always had their Papa to help comfort them.) Inky smiled at Bendy and easily climbed into his seat, swinging his legs in anticipation as he looked up at the screen. Inky loved watching cartoons and was looking forward to these new ones (well… new to him). They all laughed as they watched the animated antics, but then the cartoon ended.
Now, Inky knew that the words "The End" would most likely appear and thought he had prepared himself for it. (It had been a problem for both him and Henry during their first few weeks after escaping the studio, but they were a lot better now.) But seeing those words projected on the screen above him, it became too much of the toon. Memories and phantom pains filled Inky's mind, his heart racing as he experienced his death over and over again. Panic filled the toon and his body responded to his emotions by making his body grow.
Norman and the toons scrambled to the sides of the room, watching as Inky's form became so large it barely fit in the room. A large clawed shot forward and slammed down on the projector, easily smashing it to pieces. A large mouth opened up, showing lots of pointed teeth, and roared in anger and panic. Everyone instinctively flinched back at the noise, but the Beast Bendy didn't pay them even glance at them. Beast Bendy was still consumed by rage, panic, and fear. He had to get away… the others could only watch in shock as Beast Bendy disappeared through an ink portal in the wall.
"Did you know he could do that?" Norman eventually asked the toons, breaking the silence. Whether he was referring to the Beast Bendy form or the fact he could travel through ink portals wasn't clear, but it didn't matter as the toons just shook their heads.
"What are we going to do?" Alice asked in worry, her halo dimming slightly in her distress. "He seemed so upset!"
"We should get Papa Drew and Henry," Bendy immediately suggested, also glancing at the wall Beast Bendy disappeared to in worry. "They'll know what to do."
"Good idea," Norman agreed, glancing around the trashed room with a frown. "With Inky as upset as he is… and in such a giant form… we need to find a way to calm him as soon as possible…"
"At least with him that big… he won't be hard to find!" Bendy attempted to joke, but even his own smile was fake. They knew Inky well enough by now to know he would never hurt anyone on purpose, but he did suffer from relapses or panic attacks occasionally (Henry was able to calm him down pretty quickly before anything happened). Whatever triggered him this time seemed to have caused the biggest panic attack they've ever seen. There's no telling what kind of damage he could end up causing or people he could hurt by accident, especially in this new big form. Norman and the toons hurried out of the room. They had to find Henry and fast. They had to find Inky and stop him before he ended doing something he would regret.
