Holy crap, this is the longest chapter for this story yet! But what can I say... This was still a fun thing to do and I hope all of you love it as much as I do!

Henry's mind felt like it was going to shut down soon… He had so many questions at the moment and at the same time he knew he wouldn't be able to get them all now… especially since Bendy… the REAL Bendy… was a cardboard cutout that seemed to have limited writing ink. Or as the demon had put it:

Not enough ink.

Can't write much.

Those were both on two separate times with the same ink. The old animator also knew that he wouldn't be able to get much out of Boris, since the wolf was just as confused as he was on the situation… not only that but he seemed to not remember much from whatever happened these past thirty years.

"Bendy… is there anyway we can get you more ink to... talk?" Henry asked carefully, he wanted to find out just what the hell Joey was doing… but he… he also wanted to talk with the toon demon. The old animator watched as the ink that controlled the cutout moved on the face, making it more expressive then it was supposed to be, especially with the thoughtful look it now had…. And seemed to hold for quite a while.

"B… Ben?" Boris questioned, still a little unsure and weirded out about the whole "My best friend is a cardboard cutout now" situation…. Especially now since Bendy wasn't saying, or rather, writing anything at the moment. Even Henry was getting concerned with how long Bendy seemed to be frozen like that for.

Before Henry could speak up the ink on the cardboard finally shifted, almost making the face look determined and the writing below changed.

Follow me

That's all it said before the ink dropped out of the cutout, startling both animator and wolf as it quickly moved towards the door and only stopped to wait for the two to move their barricade out of the way. Henry seemed to get that idea first as, despite his old tired body slowing him down a little, began to take it down to follow the ink puddle.

"H-Henry wait…" Boris spoke up, placing a gentle hand on Henry's shoulder. The old animator looked up at the wolf. "Let me do it… You should save your energy."

"Boris I-" Henry got cut off by Boris gently pushing him out of the way and began to work a bit quicker than the old man had been. The minute it was down the ink that was once on the Bendy cutout slipped under the door, making both the wolf and animator have to throw the door open in order to follow… and also catch up since it was moving kinda quick down the hall they had just come though.

Both Henry and Boris noticed how much ink stained the halls now from that… thing that chased them before… it also made tracking the moving Ink puddle harder to do and also more tense for Henry, seeing as he had nothing to protect them with if Searchers popped out for them.

Bendy's ink made a quick turn, disappearing from view and worrying the duo for a moment… before another Bendy cutout popped out from the side almost as if it was waving for them to keep up.

The whole chase down the halls to a less ink filled area continued like that… until Bendy's ink disappeared down a hallway and neither Henry or Boris could find it… and there was no cutout to tell them otherwise.

"Bendy? Where'd ya go?" Henry called out, looking around but also feeling his panic and fear of being exposed slowly raising up.

"Ben? Please… Where are you?" Boris's ears lowered as worry started to take over… soon after they both heard footsteps heading their way. Both tensed up a bit but Boris noted rather quickly… these footsteps didn't sound like they were trying to walk through ink pools like the things that chased them did.

Henry however stepped in front of Boris just to be safe. Even though he was unarmed he was fully prepared to use his own fists to protect the tall toon and himself if needed… his tense standing and raised fists lowered as soon as he saw who was coming, while Boris took in a surprised gasp as his expression went up to excited and happy at who it was.

"Alice…"

The toon angel stopped a little ways from the duo, her own wide eyes wondering over them… especially over Henry. The animator took note of the fabric that was wrapped around a few areas on her that were stained with ink, the mismatched fabrics that were sewn together to make an almost empty looking side bag that rested across her body… and the fire ax that was held in her right hand.

"Alice!" Boris called out with pure joy at seeing his fellow toon all right, not noticing much of the torn up fabric wrapped around a few areas on her almost like they were bandages.

"... You're really here…." Alice started quietly, her eyes nearly watering at seeing them both before she dropped the ax down and ran forward. Her arms wrapped around the old animator quickly once she reached him, and from her speed she nearly knocked the old man down. The angel's body shook slightly as she nearly buried her face into Henry's shirt as a tear or two managed to leak out of her eyes.

"You're here… and you're okay!" Alice cried a little louder, enjoying the warmth given to her by the human, who had slowly wrapped his own arms around the toon angel… feeling really bad for her as he got a better look at a lot of the damage she had suffered.

Boris, now that the angel was closer, had also noticed now and was immediately concerned himself.

"Are… Are you okay though?" Boris asked, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on his fellow toon… who flinched from his touch, making both Henry and Boris worry more from that reaction…. But mostly made Boris feel really bad. "S-Sorry… D-Did… Did I do something wrong Alice?"

The angel glanced up to the wolf, guilt immediately filled those pie cut eyes as she saw how upset she had made the wolf.

"No… no I'm… I'm the one who… who should be sorry…" Her voice was quiet, Henry could pick up small bits of pain in her voice and that's all he needed to just hug her closer as if that could take it all away.

Even though she enjoyed the contact of a real living human once again… one who wasn't corrupted by the ink or made into an ink abomination… Alice soon pushed Henry off of her very carefully.

"... You need to leave Henry…" She sounded so tired… so defeated.

"B-But he just got here Al… and Ben!" Boris remembered, they lost track of Bendy's ink just before running into her. "We still gotta find him!"

Alice looked up at Boris with sad eyes for a moment before looking away, muttering something under her breath that neither could pick up...Henry could tell just from that, right down to the small, nearly unnoticeable dark lines under her eyes… just how worn down she really was. The old animator placed a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder.

"We should focus on finding a place to rest first. After we can try to find Bendy, then a way out...I also want to know what happened here Alice…"

Alice was quiet for a bit… she knew she wouldn't be able to leave this place… neither her nor her fellow toons… but she knew just from looking at Henry he wasn't as young as he used to be. He needed some rest.

"... Through that door over there and down the left hall there's a room they can't enter… we can rest there," Alice pointed and a little after she got out of Henry's grip to retrieve the axe. As soon as it was in the palm of her hand, the angel paused as she looked down at it. With a small sigh she motioned both Henry and Boris over to her… and handed Henry the axe.

Henry was surprised to say the least… before he could object to her losing what he thought was her only means of defence she interrupted him.

"You're gonna need that…" The angel then opened her bag up and pulled out a wrench and a hammer and held them out for Boris. "Take your pick… You never know when you're gonna get attacked down here."

Boris's ears and face fell at the thought of having to actually hurt something… it just… didn't sit right with him.

"A-are… are ya sure Al?"

Alice sighed at the wolf's hesitation… but understood it and just shoved the wrench into his hands.

"Better safe than sorry Boris…"

We don't want what happened last time to happen again after all…. Alice thought as she slipped her hand out of the wolf's, leaving the wrench behind in it and began to lead the way. Boris looked down at the tool… and to him it almost felt heavier than it should have been… especially since he saw some dried ink stains on it.

Henry placed a comforting hand on Boris, having noticed the upset look on the tall toon's face… and understanding how he felt about holding a weapon in his hands.

The small group passed through the door and made their way to their destination. Henry took note of how Alice weaved in between a lot of the ink and avoided the larger puddles like the plague… and how she tried to keep Boris from even going into the larger puddles as well.

Something bad must have happened with the ink… or there's… something else…. Henry thought, knowing one other question aside from a few of the main one's he would be asking.

Once they got into the room, the angel closed the door behind them and Henry took in the entire room with a surprised look. It was the old storyboard room, all the papers were surprisingly organized and set away carefully instead of being scattered about like everywhere else he had seen. There seemed to be a very small amount of ink scattered about in the room and even a few, new drawings over on one of the desks… and a pentagram with symbols he hadn't seen anywhere else but in the first room he blacked out in on the door.

"Um… I uh… don't mean to sound rude… or impatient but… when can we look for Bendy?" Boris asked glancing towards the door with a lot of hesitation and his own nerves acting up at seeing the symbol on it… both him and Henry not noticing the ink all pulling itself together and over… right behind Henry. Alice however noticed and rolled her eyes… but kept her lips sealed about it.

"I wanna find Bendy as well bud…" Henry said and as much as he did want to keep going, his old body wasn't agreeing with him at all as he was slowly feeling the aches and pains growing once again through his body. "But I'm not as young as I used to be…"

He hated to admit it… but the old animator really needed to take a seat. He ended up stepping over the ink puddle that was forming, not really intentionally and made way to the closest chair, with the ink following behind a little franticly now.

Alice just held up one of her hands and slowly began to count down from her three main fingers, timing something. Boris was confused at this… before he noticed the large ink puddle that had formed behind Henry, who was resting in the chair with the axe set down next to the table, and that something began to rise and form out of it.

"H-Henry!" Boris exclaimed, worry growing and it was at the same time Alice reached her last finger and then slowly pointed it to the scene with Henry as she waited for the coup de grace of what she knew was coming.

The animator froze and slowly turned and with wide eyes saw a much larger, more demonic looking Bendy that seemed to be a whole head taller than Boris standing over him. The demon seemed to growl low as his ink covered face got right in Henry's, making the old Animator almost scramble onto the drawing desk as a way to put some distance between himself and the tall demon.

Boris nearly ran over in that moment but Alice stopped the wolf and was a little more calm about the situation then both the wolf and poor Henry.

"Give it a moment Boris…"

Henry nearly began to reach for the axe for protection but stopped when he saw the once almost threatening look shifted into a more mischievous smile and some of the ink on the white face seemed to recede with that smile.

"Spooked ya Henry~" Bendy grinned and carefully booped Henry's nose, surprising him a little and letting him process things.

"... Bendy?" Henry knew it was him… who else would get a kick out of playfully "spooking" him? But… the voice was deeper than the Bendy he remembered…. And he just almost needed the confirmation. Bendy's grin almost seemed to get a little bigger, showing off the fangs a little more, but it wasn't threatening at all… not when he lowered down a bit and wrapped his arms around the old animator in a large, goopy hug while nuzzling his head up against the old man.

It wasn't the same from back then… but it was familiar enough for Henry that he relaxed and brought his own arms around the dripping ink demon.

Alice and Boris just watched the scene with different reactions. Alice smiled softly, happy for them… but she also felt sad that Henry would have to leave soon… she wouldn't let another person she cared about fall to corruption here… not if she could do anything about it.

Boris on the other hand was getting a little overwhelmed… first off he was so happy to see that Bendy was happy…. But he was also confused, a little scared and so very worried all at the same time. He had no idea what was going on and he was majorly feeling like he was going to pass out from being overloaded with so many questions and confused feelings.

"I missed you Henry…" Bendy softly spoke as he hugged the old animator.

"I missed you to little buddy… Well, you're not so little anymore now," Henry chuckled softly at the end and he tried to hold back his tears… after all he just got reunited with all his kids. He was just getting a little overwhelmed… but he didn't want to ruin it with tears.

Those could wait for after he got answers… and found a way to get them all out of here.