A/N: Hey guys. Sorry this one took a while...life has been keeping me busy. Namely, trying to find another (full-time) job and, hopefully, earn enough money to rent an apartment and get away from the people who are hosting me. They're nice enough, but they're an older couple...and quite conservative, shall we say...

Also, there was my birthday on May 21st. We spent the night before with a friend of theirs, I got to go to the St. Louis Zoo, and when we came back the day after, we stopped for lunch at Cheddar's, and I even got a nice big slice of chocolate cake. So not too bad...in spite of the fact that I'm older now. Yay.

Oh, and we had a tornado scare the night after. We weren't hit, and even if the tornado HAD ended up coming our way, my room is in the basement, so I would've been safe either way, but still pretty scary. Finally, I finally ended up caving and creating a new RP blog on Tumblr last night. I plan to roleplay BATIM and FNAF (yes, the FNAF VR dragged me back into the fandom X'D) right now, and I may add other characters/fandoms somewhere down the line, but for now, I'm only going to be roleplaying on the weekends.

So yeah...there's been a lot going on. Anyway, that's enough of that-this chapter...I don't quite know how to feel about it. I edited it as best as I could, so yeah...hope it's okay.

Guest: Glad you liked Dice's background! To answer your question, the Devil has King Dice on a pretty tight leash right now; so there's not a whole lot he can do. He WILL reach his breaking point though, you can count on that.

Valeriyah: Well, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and characters, especially since you're not much of a Cuphead fan! Guess that means I'm doing something right!

Disclaimer: I don't own BATIM or Cuphead...if anything, they (mostly BATIM) own ME :')

The Devil looked down at the portrait, an uncharacteristically sad look on his face.

It had been years since he'd seen his wife…well, ex-wife now, he supposed. Truthfully, he didn't know what had attracted him to Charlotte in the first place—for starters, she wasn't even a demoness, she was human; and on top of that, one of the most sickeningly sweet humans imaginable.

Maybe, part of him thought, that was what attracted him to her in the first place. He wanted the challenge, to see if he could corrupt her, send her down the wrong path. Ultimately, though, his efforts proved fruitless—not only did she never give into temptation, even the fact that he was the Devil didn't faze her; once he revealed who and what he really was, Charlotte made it her mission to try and 'redeem' him. And, as much as he hated to admit it…he loved it. He loved her.

Which was why he had made sure to keep the casino secret from her both before and after they married. He didn't do a good enough job, as it turned out, and once Charlotte found out that he was coercing people to bet and gamble their souls away…and that he was going to groom their son to do the same as he grew up, she packed her bags and left.

The Devil's eyes went from the image of Charlotte in the picture to the squealing infant Bendy in her arms. He looked so tiny, so…innocent. The Devil had long suspected that it was because of his mother that Bendy didn't act like a 'real' demon…technically, he wasn't one; he was half-human due to Charlotte's DNA. And what was more, he seemed to have inherited his mother's pure heart and kind nature.

Sickening.

But maybe, maybe not hopeless…Bendy did still have demon blood after all, which meant that he had a demonic nature. He just had to keep pushing until it came out…and the Devil would see to it that it did.

"Soon, my son." He traced a claw over the infant Bendy in the picture, before setting it down and turning a little in his seat. "Soon."


"Well, that was intense." Cuphead grumbled, rubbing his sore arm. The boys didn't have to go far to meet the Baroness…but she was more…unhinged than they had expected. She didn't believe them when they told her their plan, and the boys had ended up having to fight her after all.

"I'm never eating candy again…" Mugman moaned. Bendy looked between the brothers, concerned.

"Gee, you guys don't look so hot!" Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he snapped his fingers together. "I think there's a shop around here—wait right here, I'll see if I can find something to help you!" The little demon hurried off, and Cuphead watched around to make sure he was out of sight and earshot before turning to his brother.

"Mugs, we need to ditch him."

"Huh? Why?!" Mugman asked, alarmed. "I thought you liked him!"

"I…" Cuphead started, then let out a sigh. "Look, he's not really much help; yeah, he's been able to do a few stuff sometimes, but most of the time? He's nothing but dead weight. And aside from that…" He leaned in closer, a serious expression on his face. "There's just something…off about him. King Dice acted weird around him, and did you see what that balloon dog did back when we were talking to Beppi?"

"Well, I mean, he's a demon." Mugman pointed out. "I'm sure there are a lot of…"

"It's more than that." Cuphead interrupted. "There's something about him that just feels wrong to me…if he keeps tagging along with us, I get the feeling that, one way or another, things are going to go wrong."

Suddenly, the brothers' thoughts were interrupted by the sound of

"Help! Help!" Both Cuphead's and Mugman's heads shot up as one…suddenly realizing they were next to a mausoleum.

"You don't think…?" Mugman asked. Cuphead scowled as Bendy returned with some healing potions.

"Ugh, again?!"

"Hey, is that that chalice lady?" Bendy asked, voicing both brothers' opinions. Cuphead didn't answer, grabbing one of the potions and starting to drink it, feeling his wounds healing.

At least Bendy could actually help this time. Though he still wasn't sure how much he wanted him along…

The boys ran inside, once again forced to parry off all the ghosts that were menacing the Legendary Chalice, who was indeed trapped in an urn again. Once all the ghosts were gone, the spirit revealed herself again, giving the boys a grateful smile.

"I knew if I rooted around here, I could find something special for you!" She beamed. "But I didn't know I'd get trapped again!" She looked off to the side awkwardly, and Cuphead crossed his arms.

"How's about you just stay away from mausoleums, huh?"

"Cuphead!" Mugman exclaimed, but the spirit either didn't hear what the elder twin had said, or pretended not to, because she just turned back with a smile.

"Thanks for saving me a second time. Take this magical super art, and I'll see if I can find another." She presented Cuphead and Mugman with the gift, and, Cuphead noticed, she once again didn't have anything for Bendy. The boys started out, Mugman leading the way, and Cuphead noticed the Legendary Chalice floating over to Bendy. He ducked behind a pillar to listen as she whispered to Bendy, who stopped in his tracks.

"Are you really going to keep following them? How long do you think it will take before they find out who…and WHAT, you really are?!" Bendy let out a sigh, probably sick of getting pulled aside and accused at this point.

"Look, I'm not planning anything, if that's what you're thinking. They're my friends, and I just…"

The Legendary Chalice cut him off with a snort that might have been laughter.

"'Friends'? I know what you demons are like—you aren't interested in friendship! You're just trying to tempt them to do bad!" She leaned a little closer, and Cuphead did as well. The Legendary Chalice's next words were quiet, but Cuphead managed to hear them anyway as he leaned in.

"Even if you were all friends, how much longer do you think it will last once they find out that you're the son of the Devil?!"

Bendy gasped, and he wasn't the only one. Cuphead put a hand over his chest, feeling his heart pounding as the words replayed in his head, sinking in.

The Devil's son.

All this time, he and Mugman had been traveling with the son of the Devil.

He didn't even notice he'd gone outside until he ran into Mugman, whose expression quickly went from annoyed to concerned as he saw the shell-shocked expression that must've been on his face.

"Cuphead? What's wrong?" Cuphead swallowed down his apprehension, trying to give Mugman the most serious face he could.

"I was right about Bendy, Mugman! He's…!"

"I'm what?" Bendy asked, coming behind the Cup brothers. Cuphead started a little, swearing internally. What should he do now?! As much as he was tempted to scream out what he had heard, he didn't really have any proof. All the same, he didn't want this DEMON to try doing anything to Mugman…

"Um…" It was all Cuphead could say, and both Bendy and Mugman gave him a confused look.

"…well, we should probably get going." Bendy finally said after a while. He led the way for once, and Mugman followed, with Cuphead eventually following, eyes trained on Bendy.

Better watch your back, Bendy. He thought, gritting his teeth. Because if I catch you doing ANYTHING to slow us down…or hurting Mugman…I'm going to kill you.

A/N: Yep...things are going to boil over really soon...just you guys wait and see. What will happen now? Will the Devil succeed in his attempts to corrupt Bendy? What will Cuphead do with this new information? Stick around to find out, and as always, review!