"Paige, Paige where are you?" Bendy called out as he raced through the corridors, trying to find the girl who was behind him, holding onto his hand one minute and then the next she had vanished "if you can hear me, say something" there was complete silence and the little toon became more worried, he had promised the kid that he wasn't going to let anything happen to her whilst she was down here and now she had completely disappeared.
"Come on Paige, where are ya kiddo?" he muttered just before he heard the sound of footsteps approaching and thinking it would be a threat, he stood in a defensive posture, clenching his fists "who's there, if you're a big scary monster then please back away slowly and go away" the footsteps grew nearer and Bendy let out a squeak of fear, bracing himself for what was approaching him, clenching his eyes shut whilst remaining in a defensive pose and he remained in that position until he heard a familiar voice.
"What the heck are you doing?" Bendy slowly opened his eyes to see Boris and Alice standing in front of him and he let out a sigh of relief.
"Sorry I thought you was a threat" he replied "anyway what are you guys doing here, I thought you were busy distracting my evil impostor."
"We lost track of them" Boris replied before noticing that Paige wasn't with Bendy "hey, where's the girl?"
"I don't know, one minute she was holding my hand whilst we were running and then the next she just disappeared" the little toon replied "I think she may have slipped down an open vent in the floor or something because she said that her hand was sweaty and that she was having some difficulty breathing from all the smoke in that area, she may have passed out and that may be what caused her to fall into an open vent."
"Well, what are we standing around here for, we need to find her before the evil Bendy does" Alice pointed out "who knows what it could do if it finds her."
"But where do we start, she could be anywhere and the studio's a pretty big place" Boris said and Bendy just shrugged, he wasn't too sure where the little girl could be, hopefully she may be hiding somewhere, waiting for them to find her.
"I think we should try looking in the place where you got separated" Alice suggested "there may be a chance she could still be there, you said that you reckon she must have fallen into an open vent right?" Bendy nodded "so maybe if we try looking in any open vents, maybe she'll still be in one of them, waiting, what do you say, wanna give it a try, see if she's in any of them?"
"Okay, I guess it could be worth a shot" he replied "she's the daughter of one of my old friends and I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to her." The three toons then headed back to the area where Bendy had lost Paige, looking around for any open vents that she may have possibly fallen into and even tried calling out to her to see if would answer back but they got nothing, it was like she had completely disappeared into thin air.
"Well this is going to be tough, she doesn't seem to anyway around here" Boris said "unless she hit her head and got knocked out if she did fall into a vent in the ground."
"Good point" Alice replied before she turned her attention to Bendy who seemed to be genuinely worried about Paige "okay,can you remember exactly where you where when she disappeared?"
"I think it was a little further down here" Bendy replied, pointing a little further down the corridor, but it was too difficult to see anything with all the smoke that filled the area "I think that's where I saw her last, before she vanished." Despite the smoke being too thick for them to see anything, the three headed to the area that Bendy had pointed too, looking for an open vent in the ground anywhere but it was too difficult to see with all the smoke that billowed from the pipes around the walls.
"How can we possibly find this open vent in the ground with all this smoke everywhere" Boris pointed out as he paced around "I mean, it's impossible to see anything at all and..." he suddenly disappeared into the ground, like he had fallen down a hole"uh guys, I think I've found the open vent we've been looking for." Bendy and Alice raced over to where Boris had fallen and through all the smoke, managed to find a vent which was pretty large enough for anyone to fall through, even a small child like Paige.
"Can you see Paige down there anywhere?" Bendy called out.
"There ain't nobody down here except me" Boris replied.
"Well we could try looking down there" Alice suggested before jumping in, followed shortly by Bendy and the three found themselves in a darkened room with no sign of Paige anywhere.
"Woah, were are we?" Bendy asked "I've never been this far down before, I usually tend to hang around in the upper levels of the studio, Joey would never allow me to go beyond the ground floor."
"I think we may have gone under the studio itself" Boris pointed out "It looks like it's all tunnels and stuff, maybe Paige could have wondered off somewhere down here, let's go see." Bendy and his two friends headed into one of the tunnels, calling out to Paige but they still got no response from the young girl, giving them the indication that she wasn't down here either.
"She's not down here neither, now what?" Alice questioned "a little girl has gone missing and there's an Ink Monster on the loose also."
"We just need to keep looking, hopefully she hasn't gone too far" Bendy replied, looking around to find what appeared to be a tunnel leading possibly back up to the studio "oh looky, there's a tunnel that must lead back up into the studio" he walked over to it as the other two followed "if she did fall down here, then maybe she could have climbed up this tunnel and back into the studio,maybe she's looking for us too, come on." He went to climb up but immediately stopped when he heard a small snorted chuckle from Boris so he slowly turned round, giving him a pretty annoyed look"and what's so amusing?"
"Nothing, just seeing you acting all detective, I can't help imagining you in some kind of Sherlock holmes get up" Boris chuckled as he pictured Bendy wearing the hat and cloak worn by Sherlock holmes with a smoking pipe in his mouth and if this wasn't a serious situation, Bendy would have probably found it amusing.
"This ain't the time Bo, we've got a little girl to find" he replied "she's lost and we need to find her."
"You're right, I shouldn't be joking around at a time like this" Boris said apologetically "let's go find the girl before something else does."
Elsewhere in the studio, in a small room, in the middle of a pentagram lay a small girl, no older than ten years old, her brown hair tied up in pigtails, shoe wore a dark purple rain jacket and blue skirt, her once white tights where now stained with ink, she was pale and unconscious and there were three figures surrounding her, Inky Bendy, Sammy Lawrence and a possessed Claire.
"So, what happens now my lord?" Sammy asked, looking down at an unconscious Paige who lay in the middle of the pentagram in the middle of the room "will you be giving the little sheep her new inky body whilst she's in an unconscious state?"
"No, I am going to wait until the girl regains consciousness, I am planning to tell her what I have planned" Inky Bendy replied, it's grin growing even wider "I'm sure she'll be quiet interested to hear the fact that I'm planning to give her a new body, make her into a living cartoon, after all, cartoons are what children love so I'm sure she'll be happy to become one." The smaller Inky figure stepped closer to the pentagram and stared at the small unconscious girl in the middle, tilting her head curiously before looking over at the Ink Demon.
"So, you're going to give her what you gave me my lord, a new, inkier body?" the possessed Claire asked, not seeming to remember that the little girl they had captured was her sister "will she become just like us?"
"Indeed she will, once she awakens and I explain what's going to happen then we'll begin the process" Inky Bendy replied just as a wheezy sounding cough came from the center of the room as Paige began to regain consciousness, coughing and slowly curling up on her side.
"Ah, the little sheep finally awakens" Sammy cooed, leaning over the girl as she slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry at first but she could just make out another figure also peering down at her and as her vision became more clearer, her eyes widened in fear when she saw who it was.
"Well look who's finally decided to join us" Inky Bendy chuckled in amusement as the young girl slowly stood up and began to back away, breathing heavily like she was having some kind of panic attack which caused the evil version of her little cartoon friend to tilt it's head in a somewhat curious manner "what's the matter, don't you wanna play?" it made a grab for the girl who quickly jumped out of the way despite her still being short of breath from inhaling the smoke in that corridor underneath the studio and made a run for the door, only to be grabbed by Possessed Claire and Sammy, both of them holding onto her arms.
"There's no use trying to run away this time little sheep, there's three of us now and it looks like you're little goody two shoes Bendy isn't around to save you this time" Sammy taunted as the scared ten year old struggled to free herself "I think you're going to be very interested in what my Lord and saviour has planned for you."
"yes, very interested" Possessed Claire spoke and immediately recognising her voice, Paige turned round to face her and was horrified by what she saw, her older sister was covered from head to toe in Ink and she too wore a cardboard Bendy mask, just like Sammy."
"C-Claire" the child stammered, unable to contain her shock "what happened to you?"
"Now that I can answer, young Paige" Inky Bendy replied as he slowly approached "you see, I've given your precious sister a new, improved, inkier body, she has become, let's say, a living cartoon and I'm certain you would like that too, wouldn't you young Paige, wouldn't you like to be just like your sister, become one of us."
"No I don't" Paige replied, trying to sound brave but she was beyond terrified "I don't want to become one of you, but you'd better let my sister go." There came a serious of laughter from the three, laughing at this small, scared child trying to act brave.
"Foolish child, it's too late for your sister now, once you get a new, inky body, you can never go back to normal" Inky Bendy replied, seemingly amused by the child's attempt to break free from Sammy and Possessed Claire's grasp "you know, maybe you're daddy might also like to become a living cartoon too" Paige looked at the evil Bendy with a confused expression "oh yes, I know who your daddy is, that foolish old animator, what wash is name, oh that's right, Henry, the one who trapped me in that blasted Ink machine along with that little pip squeak who claims itself to be the real Bendy, you know, the one who's been trying to help you find your precious sister and get out of here, thinks he's the real deal huh, hah, don't make me laugh, he's nothing but a child friendly version of myself, brought to life by silly old magic, nothing but a cartoon drawing where as me" he ignored Paige's glare "I'm the true Bendy, the real deal, not that silly little cartoon character."
"Don't talk about him like that, he's my friend" Paige yelled, trying to kick at the Ink Demon who only chuckled some more and grabbed her by the chin.
"You know I could kill you right here if I wanted to, but I wanted to thank you for freeing me from that blasted machine, so this transformation is my way of thanking you for doing so" it implied before turning it's attention to the two still holding her "are we ready, let's take her to the Ink machine mark two. The process will begin from there." As they began to drag her out of the room, Paige fought and kicked until she managed to break free from their grip and wasted no time in running down the dark hallway.
"My lord, the sheep has escaped, do you wish for me to go after her and bring her back?" Sammy asked but the Ink Demon shook it's head, explaining that it will go after Paige themselves this time.
"Will you be able to capture her my lord?" Possessed Claire asked.
"Oh indeed, I'll make it impossible for her to escape this place, no matter what, she won't be getting away" Inky Bendy replied in a sinister manner "I need both of you to wait at the Ink machine mark two, once I've got the girl, I'll meet you both there and then, we can begin the process." Both Sammy and possessed Claire before the Ink demon went in pursuit of Paige who was still running for her life and it was dark where she was but she didn't care, she was too focused on finding the good Bendy, Boris and Alice, also, her chest was still feeling tight and the wheezy cough was still there which made her feel dizzy but she was determined to get far away from the Ink Demon as possible and she also couldn't get her head around the fact that Claire seemed to have joined forces with them.
It must have done something to her to make her like that she thought as she carried on running Claire would never behave like that, she's possessed, I know she is. She continued on running until she bumped into a tall, dark figure which grabbed her and lifted her from the ground, causing the already frightened Child to cry out in terror.