A/N: Heads up for readers: this chapter discusses abuse, although nothing is explicitly done or stated. It's fairly mild for now, and I probably should have put a warning in the last chapter, but just know it will get worse in future chapters.

Boris' day had gone from lovely to not lovely in a matter of minutes. He was listening to banjo-heavy songs, placing his fingers on the strings along with the notes but not playing out loud. He was keeping up with the speed of it fairly well, if he did say so. Only a few mistakes.

And then Mr. Lawrence came bursting into the room with his little buddy sobbing in the man's arms.

The reaction was instinctual – Boris stood immediately and held out his arms as Bendy practically launched himself away from their musician friend. The little demon wasn't whining or crying out like when he was usually upset, only making squelching sounds like stepping in a puddle of ink, and it was unnerving. The wolf looked up in distressed confusion.

"What happened?"

Mr. Lawrence sagged against the doorframe, and Boris noticed he was trembling a little. "Your creator went fucking off the rails is what happened."

"What?"

"We tried playing a scare prank, tried to get him to lighten up. He started yelling and, uh…" he shifted, "really upset your little pal there."

Speaking of the devil, Bendy no longer seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating now that he was in his best friend's arms, but he was still very upset. Ink was dripping down over his head in heavy rivulets. The top half of his face wasn't visible, and dark splatters were coming off of the rest of his body. Mr. Lawrence kept talking, half to himself.

"I didn't realize he was so out of it. I don't think he's been getting any sleep, really. Doesn't excuse the fact that he – Boris?"

The elder toon was slowly sinking back onto his chair, doing his best to clear the thick liquid out of Bendy's eyes. He wasn't very successful.

"Boris."

"Uh, what was that, Mr. Lawrence? I'm sorry."

The musician looked him over and brought two hands to his temples. "God, this is bad. This is really, really bad." He got off the wall and began pacing around the opposite side of the room. Boris kept half his attention on him. The other half was still trying to calm the little toon down. "Just, just what am I supposed to do?"

"…Mr. Lawrence?"

"The signs have been there, you've both been nervous and twitchy, why didn't I…? I didn't think he'd ever –" The man stopped pacing and rubbed his temples again. He sighed and looked sideways at the wolf. "Boris, I've been meaning to talk to you about this, and it's obvious I've put it off for too long. What was going on when I was gone?"

Boris drew his legs up in front of him on the chair, shielding Bendy. He was wide-eyed.

"I – I don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Don't give me that! The entire last month I've been back you tiptoe around Drew like a mouse in a cat's den, and we both know your little friend can't stand to be around him. What's he been doing?"

The older toon shook his head and curled in further, and the demon in his arms curled up with him. Mr. Lawrence let out a long, quiet breath.

"Boris, buddy, you can tell me anything; you know that? I'm not going to be angry at you. Okay?" His voice got lower, softer. "If you're worried Joey might hear us, he's gone, alright? I got him out of the building for probably an hour or so. It's okay."

They stared at each other a moment before the musician sat carefully on the floor across from them. He held his hands out.

"Whatever you say won't leave this room, alright? I just want to make sure you and Bendy are safe. Your creator really scared him – really scared me, and I don't want either of you getting hurt."

The wolf hesitated and risked a glance at the inky mess in his lap. Bendy wasn't crying anymore, just hiccupping, and was completely still where he sat. Only his eyes moved, darting back and forth between them in trepidation.

"Under no circumstances are you to tell Sammy about this. Do you understand?"

Mr. Drew had been talking about the way he made them. He hadn't said that about the other things. So maybe…maybe it was okay to tell Mr. Lawrence about it.

Right?

"He uh…" Boris cleared his throat, tried again. "He just gets real mad sometimes. Is all."

"Is all."

"Yeah, he doesn't…hurt us? How would Mr. Drew hurt us?"

"Has he ever, Christ I don't know, has he ever laid his hands on you? Pulled you too hard? Pushed or hit you?"

"N-no? That…that sounds horrible, Mr. Lawrence! I can't even imagine…"

His music teacher studied his ink-stained hands before making eye contact with Bendy, who flinched and pressed his mouth into a thin line but didn't turn away. Boris made the connection.

"He, he didn't, he didn't hurt Bendy did he?"

"Not physically, I don't think. I don't know. But I'm pretty sure he was going to."

Boris felt sick.

"Which is why I'm asking you now; has Joey done anything that's made you nervous? Anything that doesn't feel right?"

"I…he used to yell, a lot. Before you came, sometimes. He'd get really mad about his work or somethin' outside and he'd come here and yell. Sometimes," he hesitated again until Mr. Lawrence nodded gently, "sometimes he'd punch or kick the walls or throw a chair, and then he'd tell me sorry. He never hit me though."

Mr. Lawrence chewed on his lip and his eyes drifted away, unfocused. "Has he ever broken anything?"

"Yeah, uh, he's made holes in the walls, but he's promised ta fix 'em up." The toon thought about how many holes there were now, barely covered by one or two wooden boards that had been sitting for months now. From the look on the musician's face, he was thinking about it too.

"Okay, so he lost his temper a lot. And then he stopped when I started visiting?"

"Mostly, yeah." Bendy moved out of a fetal position to lean against Boris' legs, watching and listening. His face was visible again and he was no longer dripping. It reminded the wolf of something else.

"After you left again, Mr. Drew worked to make Bendy. But uh, when he came out of the machine, he was all covered in ink like this. And when he got sad or scared. And Mr. Drew was kinda…" he winced but plowed through, "he was kinda rough with him sometimes. He just started getting' angry real easy again. Is all."

"Mm…and you weren't nervous about anything until that point?"

"Mostly, yeah."

"Okay. Okay. Is there anything else, Boris? Anything else that made or makes you nervous?"

A dead child appeared in his mind. "'No Mr. Lawrence, I think…I think that's everything."

The musician leaned back against the wall and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes stayed on the toons. "You'll tell me if that fu– if your creator does something that makes you uncomfortable, right?"

"O-okay. We will," Boris looked down at Bendy, who opened his mouth and gave a confirming squeak. "Or, I guess I will, Mr. Lawrence."

Sammy stood and strode over, placing one hand on the wolf's shoulder and the other slowly on top of the devil's head. He stared Boris dead in the eye.

"Do you promise me?"

"I…" Do you understand? "Yes, Mr. Lawrence. I promise."

When Joey came back some two hours later, he was quiet and apologetic and seemed rather worn down. Bendy refused to be in the same room as him, but Sammy and Boris greeted him back with wary watchfulness and tentative tenderness respectively. The men waited for the toons to occupy themselves elsewhere before Sammy roughly ushered Joey into the nearest room and closed the door behind him.

"You know Drew, I was really trying to stay out of your business as much as possible, because frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about you or your life. But that crossed a line back there."

The animator mutely stared off to his side and didn't respond. Sammy tried again.

"You said yourself that those two out there are crucial to this whole 'fame and fortune' deal. So what was…that?"

"I didn't hurt him…" Joey mumbled, almost dreamily.

"Bullshit you didn't! He was hysterical, Joey! I wouldn't be surprised if there are bruises under that black body!" There was no reply yet again, and Sammy rubbed his eyes with pinched fingers. This wasn't getting them anywhere.

"Okay then, how about why you…did what you did. You haven't been sleeping at all lately. Is that why you snapped? Come to think of it," the musician pondered the man before him, "you have been really jumpy for a while now. Are uh, have you been seeing things?"

Joey puffed out a laugh. "Seeing things," he murmured, and finally made eye contact with Sammy. "Yes, I suppose I have been seeing things." His mouth thinned at the furrowed expression on the other. "But it's truly none of your concern."

"It is when I see a man – one I thought I knew – lay his hands on a child…toon, whatever, with the intent to do him serious harm. We all knew you had a temper back in the day but that was…" Terrifying. Dangerous.

Abusive.

"Look, I won't – I'm not picking a side here, Joey. I'm just worried. About you, and them. I happened to be there to stop things, but I need to know that it won't happen again. Because I might not be there next time if it does. And that wasn't fucking okay. Not even once."

His employer had the decency at least to look ashamed of himself, or the closest Sammy had ever seen him to it. "I am very sorry, Sammy. I assure you that I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. I certainly never intended to cause any harm to either Bendy or Boris."

"Intended or not you still did, Joey Drew. I need your word you won't ever do anything like that again." The musician held up a hand when Joey opened his mouth. "Not physically, not emotionally, not verbally. At all. If you're having a rough day, you keep it out of the studio and away from them. No exceptions. Got that?"

Joey looked at him tiredly for a few seconds, his eyes exhausted but calculating. Finally he held out a hand, which Sammy took.

"You have my word."

A/N: Sorry for leaving that last chapter off for so long. I had a lot of life things going on that took sorting. It's much better now though, and I've got my writing groove back! Yay!

A few things before I end my notes: I do not condone abuse in any form. I'm not going to glorify it or soften it; it's terrible, it's wicked, and if you are in a situation, please know that there are lifelines out there to help you.

This story is dark, and will stay dark. It's only touched on some things thematically so far, but the worst is far from over. If themes like what was covered in this chapter or earlier ones isn't something you're okay with reading about, that's totally fine! I'm just warning you that this is just the beginning.

Finally, pleeeease stop asking if Alice is going to be in this. I'm fascinated by her character in-game, and I know she's very popular among fans, but what you have to realize when reading this story is that I started it when the game's 2nd chapter was barely out. Alice was literally only a poster character at that point, and we didn't have any idea whether she'd be introduced or not. I'm planning to finish my story as if only the first 2 chapters were it for the game, because that's when I got inspiration and I've already had an ending planned long before the 3rd chapter arrived. I can't say if I'm introducing Alice only because that could be a possible spoiler. Thanks for understanding.

And thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, or faved/followed. (Fun fact: I always check out reviews on mobile, which doesn't have the REPLY button, so I had no idea I could do that. I'll be doing it now, that's for sure lol) You're all awesome!