The Ritual

Bendy whimpered in fear under the Liar's gaze, one of his worst nightmares coming true. He was trapped and at the mercy of the Liar once more, and not even the Creator would be able to help him now. He twisted and tugged trying to get away, but the chains were too strong, leaving him hopelessly trapped. Henry could feel his toon's fear pouring over his link and his thoughts raced as for some way to save his little ink demon.

"Isn't a bit late to be working tonight?" Henry suggested, grasping at straws. "Shouldn't we wait until morning?"

"One should never wait to fulfill one's dreams," Joey laughed, though his eyes turned cold. "After we get our star in shape, we'll be done for the night. I can bring Linda back out here if you still need motivation."

Henry felt his heart skip a beat at Joey's words. The mad man was forcing him to choose between Linda and Bendy, to choose between his wife and his son. How could he ever make such a terrible choice? Henry tried to think of something, anything, to get out of this, but his mind was blank. He couldn't see anyway way out of this. He was going to lose someone he loved and he had to choose which. He couldn't do this… He couldn't… he couldn't!

"…D-dad…" Bendy's stumbled word, snapped Henry out of his spiraling thoughts and racing emotions. Henry turned his gaze to his toon who was staring up at him with determination.

"…It's alright (whistle)…" Bendy continued, forcing himself to speak with a shaky smile. "… I'll (squeak) be fine… Just (whistle) keep mom safe… Everything will (whistle) turn out all right… I trust you…"

While Henry could still feel Bendy's fear, he was also feeling trust, resolve and a spark of hope coming from the toon. As the two stared at each other, Henry saw Bendy glance down at Henry's hand before looking back up. It only took a moment for Henry to realize what the demon was thinking. He was willing to let himself be sacrificed to Joey because he trusted Henry's golden ink would be able to heal him. He believed that no matter what happened, his Creator would be able to bring him back. Henry wasn't sure if he had that much faith in his still relatively unknown powers, but for Bendy's sake, he had to cling to the hope that it could save the toon from whatever Joey had planned. Henry gave his toon a small nod to let him know he understood.

"Well hasn't this been touching," Joey said sarcastically, clapping his hands to bring attention back to him. "But I think this has gone on long enough. Are you ready Henry?"

"Want do you want me to do?" Henry asked in defeat. He would never be ready to do Joey's bidding, especially when it was probably going to harm his toons, but he had no choice. He just had to believe is his golden ink like Bendy believed in him.

"I knew you'd come around," Joey smiled smugly. "And I'm not asking you to do anything difficult, inf act it's what you do best! I need you to draw. Specifically, I need you to draw several drawings of our little devil darling looking and acting perfect, just like you used to. Remember to do your best, as this will affect your "son" after all."

Henry suppressed the urge to snap at Joey for using the word son like an insult. He tore his glare away from Joey as Sammy shoved him over to the drawing desk. Henry sat himself in the chair, picking up the pen and taking a deep breath to steady himself. As much as he hated to do it, he'd follow Joey's command to do his best on the drawings. He couldn't risk something he did hurting Bendy. So he pushed aside all his turbulent thoughts and emotions, his anger and fear about being in this situation, letting himself focus only on the pen in his hand and the paper before him.

It was easier than he expected to push out everything and just lose himself in his drawing. It didn't take long for the pages to be filled with drawings of his little ink demon. He did some expected ones, like a reference sheet and Bendy in various poses from the show. But he also drew some that the real Bendy had done at home, like reading a book and playing with a cat that looked like Ink Blot. Henry doubted Joey would use those drawings, but Henry hoped that if he did, they would help preserve the real Bendy.

Joey took the drawings once he determined that Henry had done enough, looking them over critically. Henry could only watch as he discarded Henry's favorite drawings, the ones that showed his little toon as he knew him, keeping only the standard ones.

"Excellent work as always," Joey praised as he straightened out the small stack of papers. "You're as talented as ever, giving all your drawings a certain spark that no one else could ever truly replicate. With these, we'll finally get out perfect star!"

Henry clenched his fist in anger as Joey approached the circle Bendy was trapped in. Even though Joey was the one that originally brought the toons to life, he never saw them as living things. Even now, he still only saw them as objects, flawed ones at that. He didn't understand that they didn't need to be "perfect" as they were truly amazing just the way they are.

Bendy whimpered in fear as Joey spread out the papers around the circle before forcing himself to stand up from his wheelchair and pulling out a book. Joey flipped through the book before he began to chant from it. Henry couldn't understand the language, but the words seemed to be filled with power. The circle began to glow brighter and Bendy began to panic, tugging at the chains as hard as he could, even when the effort just caused his form to become more unstable. Henry could only watch in horror and sorrow, unable to help his toon as ink seemed to bubble up from the papers around the circle. Bendy started rising in the air as the ink started to swirl around him. He let one last fearful shriek before becoming encased in an inky cocoon.

Joey's chanting became louder and the circle glowed brighter as the cocoon quivered before slowly molding into a familiar shape. Joey exclaimed the final verse, snapping his book shut in triumph. The light faded from the circle and the shaped uncurled, touching down with shiny black shoes. With a rounder body, even horns, and completely black pie cut eyes, Bendy stood in the center of the circle, looking as perfect as if he had walked off the page.