Bendy seemed to be moving aimlessly, without purpose or reason. His search, at the very least, was segmented by floor, though he moved through the rooms out of order. You knew he had to be combing the halls for something- or someone.
As he clenched his fists and surveyed an empty office, you asked. "Is it Joey? Are we looking for Joey?"
Bendy's horns perked up and he shook aggressively. There was just barely restrained rage beneath the surface of his muddled, meatless bones. He had a plan, and he intended to complete it no matter how long it took to find the bastard.
"That's a yes. Well... what are you even planning to do? Bendy, he's probably already gone home. He hasn't been coming into work as often anymore. He could be having dinner right about now."
He soaked the statement in a moment, allowing it to influence his thoughts, before turning to hobble through the portal again. You sighed and went along after him. He'd taken the two of you down to the next level. This was your floor. You followed behind sluggishly as he moved through the halls, occasionally peeking into open doors for any sign of his target.
Bendy had grown restless, and so had you. There was no denying that time was running thin, the horrid clock counting down the seconds until somebody broke. Sammy had been the first, you thought, and watching Bendy rip limply through the studio brought you to consider Bendy the was the second. And you? You didn't know what to do with your hands, their ink-freckled skin itching uncomfortably over the wet bone.
You didn't want Mr. Drew to be hurt. But no doubt, Bendy was ready to move this right along, to break script like Joey had broke him. Maybe you'd try to stop him, or maybe you'd stand back and watch as he found his mark. With any luck, Bendy would just spook Joey into being a better man. But you knew better than that.
Corner him, he had to corner him, he had to confront him and wring the answers and rueful apologies from his blasphemous windpipe. He had to snuff out any figment of grand imagination Joey still held within his putrid mind and replace it with the promise of slow death, of his teeth, of your vengeful eyes. Nothing drove Bendy's path but pure animal instinct.
He stopped suddenly and looked back over his shoulder, his neck craning unnaturally.
You slowed and gave a funny look. "What."
Just reminding himself that you were there. The two of you moved on then stopped at your office, where he gently ran his fingers over the closed door's knob, as if it could shatter. You stood in silence and stared blankly. Then he twisted it, and peeked inside curiously.
"It's dark," you whispered. "turn on the light."
Bendy ignored the advice and stumbled on through the shadow, letting the hall light his feet. He kept in the middle of the room and examined its dim features, as if forgetting what he had been doing just before. Joey could wait a few more minutes, he supposed. Though if he stood minutes or hours he was unaware, unable to process passage of time in the way that he had used to. However, he was painfully aware of all the faces staring back at him. So many little faces. It felt like a fun house, its mirrors all making uncertain eye contact, unsure of who was looking at who, and who was looking through who. Regardless, he was searching for something specific, his gaze cast to the floor.
You leaned against the frame and observed. "It's way past time for me to go home, you know."
Bendy grunted and squatted.
"But it... sorta reminds me when you drug me around everywhere after hours," you chuckled fondly, pretending that night had not opened up a can of terrible, terrible worms. "You make a habit of enticing me to just wander around. I feel like such a delinquent. Say, what are you doing?"
He stood, the boney protrusions of his spine twitching and catching the yellows of the light beyond the door. When he came back to you he was squeezing a stuffed Bendy between his uneven hands. That was the doll from earlier.
"Of course," you rolled your eyes.
Bendy shoved it against your chest excitedly, pressing the wind from your lungs in the process. You coughed and grimaced, grasping the stuffed animal.
"A little easier next time," you rubbed the sore spot on your sternum. "You don't know your own strength."
He purred, obviously sorry, and dropped his head to nuzzle yours. You forgave instantly and tucked the doll safely into your purse, punctuating your forgiveness with a pat to Bendy's cheek.
"So, are we done wandering for today? Can I go home?"
He lifted and looked both ways, feeling along the walls and the squirming ink. No feet, no voices, no Joey. Joey! He was looking for Joey! Again his anger and determination came rushing back, and he shivered. A new portal was opened on the further wall, and he shuffled past you to move on through. Bendy was tired of this game. He had to keep searching, he knew Joey was hiding away somewhere. He had to be.
You groaned and kept at his feet. Bendy had not taken you far, as the two of you were spat back up in the storyboarding department, just some ways down the hall. It was, naturally, just as deserted as this morning. Empty chairs, abandoned drawings.
Bendy walked around, glancing at the scattered papers and pens and lifeless chairs. He ran his gloved hand along the wood of one of the light tables. A few sheets dislodged and drifted to the floor. He stilled a moment, listening to the flutter, then listening for any human sound outside of your quiet breath. The way his head turned meticulously, horns pricking up like a diligent cat's ears, was endearing. Even if he was possibly planning something... unsavory.
Eventually you averted your eyes and commented. "There's no one here. Let's go."
He grumbled in reply, but obeyed reluctantly and opened a new portal. The two of you kept moving, kept exploring and probing for life among the studio. You'd never seen the demon so single minded before; at least it gave him some purpose.
Every single room was devoid of life. Most all employees had fled upward at this point. You imagined they were still pressed close to the doors, tugging at the handles in hopes at any moment it would finally give. You knew better. When you ended up in the music department, where a lone trombonist had been practicing (the only sign of life anywhere), you'd even tried to warn him about the locked doors above. No amount of reasoning could ease his mind, as with Bendy next to you, your words were as good as sin. The musician had scuttled out in a panic, forgetting his instrument.
The further you sunk into the building the creeper things got. Lights flickered, the walls shuttered with unstable pipes. Occasionally you swore that you could feel the distant thump of the ink machine pumping. You kept close to the undisturbed demon. Somehow, he trudged through it all without so much as a nervous flinch. It gave you little comfort.
This was the testing grounds for the fair Joey hoped to bring to fruition some day. It was dark and cold down here, sheltered within a massive, suffocating cave, and not too far from the river where Bendy had confessed (or refused to confess) his lack of soul. In short, you weren't pleased to be sightseeing here. But Bendy was certain he was closing in on something; as soon as he'd come to this level he felt movement, somewhere, deep inside.
A yawn and glance at your watch prompted you to speak. "Bendy, it really is getting late now. I just don't think Joey is here, and I'm getting sort of hungry. Can't we go back up, for you to unlock the doors?"
He didn't respond, just kept walking.
You re-adjusted your purse and held yourself tightly to retain heat. "Okay, maybe we could just rest? I'm not used to so much walking, I mean, it's an amusement park! A cold and unsettling amusement park."
You thought you heard something move and yelped involuntarily. Scared feet trotted forward and you grabbed Bendy's skinny little arm, staying close.
He halted, his body jostling with a silent laugh. Then he pointed with outstretched arm, drawing your wide eyes towards the dark crevices of an eerily still fair game. Something had moved. You froze and clung on hard, but Bendy did not seem bothered. Your grip felt weak to him, though it was with much of your strength.
"What's that?" You whispered.
In the darkness it was just another void; a blob within a blob. Your eyes tried and failed to strain against the lack of light there, to bring some sanity to it. But finally it moved and looked around, aware it was being watched. Two yellow dots pierced the black. It stood there and stared, and the two of you stared right back.
Quivering fingers loosened their grip. "I think it's one of those."
You hadn't seen one of the ink employees for some time now. They'd all but vanished from the upper floors, seemingly just gone one fine day. At the time you wondered if perhaps they had been returned to the ink, but here one was, hiding among the dark behind the counter of what could have been a ring toss. It looked confused. Like this was the first time it had seen a face in a long, long time.
Clumsily wobbling around the counter, you heard its faint, weak voice ask: "Time... to go home?"
In a panic you pulled Bendy's arm back, attempting to get him to turn and just go. But he was glued to the spot, unwilling to move. "Come on," you rasped. "Come on Bendy! They give me the creeps!"
He ripped his arm from your hands and you stumbled back nervously. As the creature slowly came closer, its arm reaching out for some comfort, the floors shook. All the shoddily cobbled together shacks and prototype rides shuttered painfully, as if in fear. Above something popped, its echo shooting between the rock dome encasing the grounds like a ricocheted bullet. Something about it instilled your heart with ice.
CRACK!
The creature was stopped in its tracks, engulfed by a black, sticky deluge spilling from a snapped pipe directly above in the cave. The pipes here were huge, drilled through the solid rock. And though this fair ground was much less messy than the riverside, rides still needed their ink. God, everything here needed ink. And so the creature went down, screaming. You stood in horror, palms snapping to your ears. That sound!
The demon remained unfazed and watched as it melted, its attempt to push through the thick ooze in vain. A hand reached out from the waterfall, grabbing at nothing, and then out emerged its dripping face right after. The yellow pin points of its sockets were stabbing into your soul, gasping, pleading for someone (anyone!) to help it. It fell to its rickety knees, then to its stomach, the ink in its body sliding off like skin from bone. And indeed, it did leave bone.
Your hands slid from ears to mouth, withholding your own cries. After all the change you'd gone through, your mind was still not at ease with seeing this. There are god damn skeletons in those things. How did it get a skeleton? How? They were supposed to just be lifeless ink! Yes, and so was Alice, and so was Bendy, you thought sickeningly. Joey... what was he doing to your co-workers?
The screams died with it. Bendy finally moved, his perma-smile never faltering. He slowly stuck his hand into the unperturbed gush, his amorphous feet melding into what was once a thing with a voice. He regarded the skull idly; the curve of ribcage and the straight bone of forearm. This thing had been returned to the ocean, to the mingling of minds and sounds and pointless souls. Bendy hadn't killed it, not really, though you may not have seen it that way.
As things settled it became almost... calm. He froze there, drinking in fresh ink, and you glanced down at the bone around his feet. Like it hadn't happened at all.
With a connection and the rush of ink above, Bendy could feel. He tuned himself and heard the horrific desires of everything that had ever mixed into his unholy ink, and then he promptly tuned them out. He felt his heart thumping in the lowest of levels. It pulsed, pushing blood through the building like one great organism.
Bendy grit his teeth. He knew where Joey was.