Chapter 10
It was uncomfortably quiet as the staring contest continued. All of the hundred plushes stood still on their shelves and Alice stared back from the doorway. OKAY, DON'T MAKE A SOUND. ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS SET THE PLUSH DOWN AND BACK OUT OF THE ROOM. JUST-
"If you guys are an army than you are by far the cutest one there is."
She had to fight not to facepalm at the other side's words. The plushies all started to whisper little squeaks to each other while keeping their eyes on her. The whole room became bustling with the whispers and a sense of suspension and panic seemed to be coming over them. YOU JUST HAD TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH DIDN'T YOU.
As the panic from them seemed to be spreading from shelf to shelf, Alice Jr started to squirm. It wiggled around in her arms and squeaked to get attention. It gathered Alice's and some plushies nearby's.
"What's the matter Jr?"
She carefully set the tiny angel down only for it to squeak very clearly upset in response. It grabbed onto her leg and squeaked more in haste. She bent down to get closer to the clingy little thing. It squeaked up at her in response. Not knowing exactly what it wanted Alice just started petting its head again. That seemed to be what it wanted for it stopped squeaking and calmed down. STOP PETTING IT. WE NEED TO LEAVE BEFORE THINGS GET TO CRAZY. Things are already crazy.
It was then Alice noticed a few of the other plushes had moved closer to her. The four of them stood about a footway and we're watching her rub Jr's head. The others' whispers still filled the room around them. One of them looked at its friends before stepping forward. It slowly and cautiously got closer to Alice Jr.
"Aw, Do you want some attention too?"
She reached out and touched its head. It flinched at the sudden contact, but relaxed after its hair started to get ruffled. Soon, happy sounds were coming from both of them and the others drew a little closer.
"Okay, so we have Alice Jr and now this cute little thing as well. Should we name her Angelia?"
"WE'RE NOT NAMING ANYMORE OF THEM. WE NEED TO LEAVE."
The plushies came closer and she patted their heads as well.
"Your name will be Angelia, and you,"
She pointed to another plush.
"You'll be Alex."
She pointed to another plush to her left.
"You can be Autumn."
She looked at the last one she was petting.
"And you'll be….What other A names do you know?"
"STOP NAMING THEM."
"Fine, be like that."
She patted the nameless one's head some more.
"I got it! You can be Aurora."
She petted Angelia's head again and noticed how quiet everything was. She looked up from the little group and noticed all of the angels had stopped talking. All of them stared at her and she felt a little uncomfortable under their gazes. It was then she noticed that their eyes were painted and gave them a dead blank stare. Feeling all of the eyes on her, she grew a bit nervous as well. I TOLD YOU THAT WE SHOULD LEAVE, BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO. WE HAD TO STAY AND PET THESE THINGS. It's not that bad, I mean it's like they can hurt us anyway. There's so tiny. THEY MAY BE TINY, BUT THERE'S ONE OF US AND A HUNDRED OF THEM.
She gulped at the thought of being overwhelmed by them and being attacked. Of them crawling over her and dragging her back into the darkness, the darkness she had worked so far to avoid. STARTING TO GET THE PICTURE. She stopped petting Alice Jr and slowly stood up. She chuckled nervously at their many blank eyes. Okay, we should go. FINALLY. She slowly reached over to grab the door handle to close the door behind her, when one grabbed her leg. Then another, all five of the named ones grabbed her and held on tight. Oh, god. Oh god. IT'S OFFICIAL WE'RE SCREWED.
She watched an Angel on a high shelf stand up from it's sitting position and start, in its own squeaky language, barking orders. The ones that were holding onto Alice's legs let out begrudging squeaks and one by one let go. Except for Alice Jr, who didn't say a word and instead tightened its grip. The little leader angel grew upset and angrily squealed something. Angelia, Alex, Aurora, and Autumn all looked at each other with a regret. They all let our little signs before grabbing Jr and trying to pry it off Alice's leg.
Jr was not the least bit happy with that and let out horrid cries of protest. Leaving Alice completely torn. Both parts wanted to leave. But to do that would involve letting the plushies get the angel off of her. She could just go back to her room and focus on finding more swollen one's ink and be done with all of this. Yet one little part of her, that she didn't know belonged to who didn't like the thought of the others being mean to the tiny little thing. Perhaps it was because somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered feeling helpless and picked on. Maybe that happened to her, maybe it didn't, but whatever the reason she decided she didn't like it. So without giving it much thought, she reached down and scooped the plush up again.
The room was filled with many surprised squeaks and the leader looked slightly appalled at the action. As it opened its mouth to yell something else, it was cut off by Alice Jr's quick desperate shouts. While it yelled something it pointed over to the corner of the room. Alice glanced over at it to notice a pile of boards and nails all over the floor. A hammer laid near it as well. WHY IS THAT HERE? Don't know...Do you think they're the ones putting up the boards in the halls? MAYBE, I GUESS IF ENOUGH OF THEM WORKED TOGETHER THAN THEY COULD. I wonder why they do it? If they are of course.
Jr then took its hands and raised them up to the sides of its head. It let out a growl and made an angry face while giving itself devil horns, well adding onto its horns. All of the other Angel plushies back away in fear and let out slight squeaks of panic. I THINK WE JUST GOT OUR ANSWER. The poor things are scared of Bendy. CAN'T BLAME THEM. Jr then pointed up towards Alice and made some growls and scary expressions. Then went make back to making the devil horns, but this time showed her face in fear.
The other angels looked interested in what the angel had said and they all looked at each other and whispered once more. What's going on? I DON'T KNOW, BUT WHATEVER IT IS IT NOW INVOLVES US. A loud yell came from the leader plush again and all the others quieted down, but some still whispered. HARSH RULER, HUH. She's just as bossy as you. It stared at Alice and looked up and down her for a minute. It then made its way down the shelf and onto the floor. All of the plushes moved out of the way for it and let it through.
It stopped in front of Alice for a second and looked up at her. It narrowed its eyes at her before swiftly turning around and let out a little squeak. The name ones seemed to rejoice and let out a bunch of happy squeals. Some plushes looked unsure and stayed on their shelves, while others quickly moved off theirs to join the others on the floor. Before Alice knew what was happening she surrounded by little squealing angels. Some grabbed onto her leg and pulled her forward more into the room. They shut the door and some of them just circled around her curiously.
"Well, they don't seem to want us dead so that's a good start."
"I CAN AGREE WITH YOU THERE, BUT WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO, NOW?"
"We start thinking of more A names, I guess."
"SERIOUSLY."
All of the plushes loudly chatted and watched her.
"We clearly can't leave right this second and we gotta do something to pass the time until we know what's going on."
"FINE."
Alice started pointing around the room from plush to plush naming some while she went.
"You can be Amanda. And you'll be Alma. Oh, you'll be Alanna."
It was then Alice noticed two plushies standing on the floor. Or would you count them as one plushy? It was two almost completely done Angels however, they were connected at by one's left and the other's right arm.
"Well, aren't you something."
She sat Alice Jr back on the ground, much to its unhappiness, and reached over to pick up the two connected ones. They squealed a little in surprise at that. She carefully held them and petted their heads. The one on the left squealed happily at the attention, while the one on the right seemed grumpy. Alice laughed at that.
"Well aren't you two just opposites huh."
The left one squealed excitedly and the right one huffed.
"Okay, then. Since your all happy and warm your name can be April. As for you since you're all grumpy and a little cold you can be August."
She set them back down and April squeaked in happiness. August just stayed the same and huffed once more while looking away from Alice.
"RUDE MUCH."
"Ah, she'll grow out of it...I hope."
Alice Jr yelled again and grabbed onto Alice's leg. She patted its head and it let out a happy sigh. A few plushies must have figured out that whatever the head patting action was, it was nice. For while she was bending down and rubbing Jr's head, two of them drew closer and yelled at her for attention.
"Hello!"
She ruffled their hair and they squeak.
"You can be Amelia. Your name will be Anna."
"ARE YOU GONNA BE NAMING ALL OF THEM?"
"Yes."
The next twenty minutes was nothing but Alice spitting out A name after A name. She started at the top and went down left to right on every shelf. When she was done, she took a deep breath and prepared herself.
"Okay, so let's go over this."
Each plush let a squeak in response to their name.
"We have Abella, Annabelle, Ailis, Angelina, Annie, Andrea, Abigail, Alaya, Adriana, Allison, Amori, Agatha, Allohi, Ammy, Aileen, Aiko, Alexis, Ali, Agnes, Arianna, Allaire, Ava, Amber, Alicia, Ainne, Aleeza, Ailla, Abby, Aline, Ailis, Adelynn, Aline,
Ariel, Ailish, Amilyn, Alexandra, Akira, Aina, Aura, Auburn, Assyria, Amygdala, Acedia, Aria, Alyssa, and Adela."
She took a deep breath in to catch it. GOD, THAT'S A LOT OF A's. No kidding. Alice let out a sigh and looked around, there was still two shelves of angels left. I don't think I have any names left. SAME FOR MY PATIENCE. WHY THE HECK ARE YOU NAMING THEM ANYWAY? THERE'S NO WAY TO EVEN TELL THEM APART. Well, the names will help. SURE, YEAH. LOOK WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO WASTE ANYMORE, LET'S GO. No! We can't, we haven't named all of them yet. WHO CARES LET'S GO.
She turned her body towards the door, but couldn't move. The other side refused to let them walk away and leave. We can't we-we have to name them. WHY DO YOU CA-Because it's important. WHY! It's...It's nothing. She stopped fighting her and took a step forward for them. Now, she should've just kept walking before the other one put up a fight again. But as their shoulders sagged and she could feel the other's unhappiness she shouldn't bring herself to move anymore.
WHY? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? It's nothing okay, let's just go. She let out a tired breath and turned around towards the plush angels. They looked at her with confusion on their faces at her actions. LOOK, LET'S JUST FINISH NAMING THESE IDIOTS AND GO…...Really. YEAH, HURRY UP THOUGH.
"Yay!"
Some plushes yelled as well at her sudden happiness and others just raised their eyebrows. She glanced around the room quickly. Who should we name next? MAYBE MISS AUTHORITY. On the top of one of the shelves was four other plushies. One of them was the leader plushie, and Alice made her way towards her. When she got closer she realized a few things. Oh. I GUESS THESE ARE THE DEFECTIVE ONES. Don't call them that, they're just special.
One of the plushies was must have found itself in some bleach. For it had everything but was pure white. Light gray lines made up its face. The plush beside it was smaller than the others by one or two inches, because of that its dress was too long and it looked like it might trip over it any second now. Another plush was the right height but was a mix of black and gray clothes for its hair and dress. It must have been an early prototype. The leader plush wasn't normal either, now that she got closer to it. It was missing its halo and its left horn. It narrowed its eyes at her and crossed its arms. The others looked at her curiously.
"Hello, there."
The leader huffed and turned away. THAT LITTLE BRAT! She didn't show her irritation though and kept her voice sweet.
"Aren't you guys something."
The small one tilted its head at her.
"Aww, you're so small and cute! You're gonna be….Acorn."
ACORN? The little thing seemed to accept this though and gave a little smile in return. The leader peaked over its shoulder but quickly looked away. The white angel stepped closer and tilted its head as well.
"Huh, well you remind me of snow. Sooooooooo Arctica."
WHAT. The plush just nodded its head in response. The leader turned around completely at looked at its friend and then at her. It gave her a grumpy pout.
"Are you jealous? Do you want a name too?"
It quickly huffed and turned it's head away. But gave her the honor of keeping eye contact. She's jealous. HEY. What? YOU NAMED THE REST OF THEM, MIND IF I NAME THIS ONE. Really, you want to! YEAH. I knew you'd come around. You can name her whatever you want What's her name?
"YOUR NAME WILL BE ARMY."
What? ARMY, DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? No, I did I was just making sure. What kind of name is that? YOU SAID I COULD NAME HER WHATEVER I WANT. I thought you'd actually give her a real name. LAST TIME I CHECKED ACORN AND ARCTICA WEREN'T REAL PEOPLE NAMES. Well, that's-it's. SEE HER NAME IS ARMY BECAUSE SHE COMMANDS THESE MIDGETS. But that-Are you doing this to annoy me? THAT MIGHT BE PART OF THE REASON. Uggggh. Can't its name be Amy or something? NOPE, BESIDES, WE ALREADY HAVE AN AMY. I guess. Hey, wait! Aww, you were paying attention to my names. SHUT UP.
At that moment some music started playing and she turned to look behind her. A little music player was connected to some screens. All of them had her cartoony face on it and the song just seemed to be starting up. Hey, it's one of our songs. YEAH, IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME. She was about to make her way over towards the nearest screen when desperate squeaks rang out. Alice looked back at the top shelf to see the little-mixed pattern one was making all the noises.
"Oh, sorry. Don't worry you're not forgotten bud. Your name will beeeeeeeee Alice the second."
It squeaked in approval. ALICE THE SECOND? I can't think of any more names, better start with the seconds for the next shelves. All of a sudden loud squeals grew louder and louder along with little footsteps. Army barked out something and the plushies turned off the screens. Through a hole in the wall, another little angel ran in. Fear covered its face and filled its desperate yells. Every plush flew into a blind panic as they ran to their shelves. They pulled themselves up onto them and help others as well.
They were loud and screaming. However, their yells weren't what caught Alice's attention. A familiar weird thumping echoed down the hall into the room. As it grew closer it became clearer and turned into footsteps. Something was coming and whatever it was, it had sent the tiny angels into a panic.
Author's Note- Wow, Honestly when writing this chapter I thought that I was just going to receive at most five or six names that start with A. I received a whopping 61 is with names that have been repeated are only counted once, and the names that I added on my own. So, I've done my best to include every single name in this chapter. With that said I got too acknowledge two people:
Millennium Star Diamond- Even though this wasn't a contest or anything I gotta give you credit for giving me the most names. 49 names to be exact. Great job man. You definitely gave me plenty of options to choose from, and I hope you'll stick with me for the rest of this fanfic. Thanks for all of the names.
Fan of Games- Thank you very much of for the names and your story about how you got into Bendy and the Ink Machine. I'm glad Alice Angel helped you get into it, and I'm also glad to hear that you're enjoying my story. Let's cross our fingers that she doesn't die. Also, sorry to say that I wasn't able to put the name Chibi Alice in this chapter. Not because it technically starts with a C but rather because of time problems. BATIM takes place sometime in the 1950s-60s and I couldn't find out when the word Chibi first came into American culture. So, I wasn't sure if it would fit in here. BUT it was a fitting name, so I have to acknowledge it here.
Thanks to everyone for all the names and thanks for reading. (This is some crazy timing too. Since this chapter is coming out on the same day as Chapter 4 in the game.)