Expanding the Cast
Joey had Henry work on drawings for the rest of the toons and ink creatures over the next several days, getting them just right for the rituals. Alice and Boris were easy for Henry to draw, as he had designed them originally and he could make their models in his sleep. Both of them were done and "perfected" in the same day. The Butcher Gang were a bit trickier, as they hadn't been designed by him and he was more used to drawing them as they were now rather than their show appearance. It took a day for Henry to get each member's model just right for Joey's approval.
The toons, once they were "perfected", weren't as hollow as Bendy. They were allowed to retain the personalities they had in the show, though they were all completely obedient to Joey. It was weird for Henry to see them interact with each other and himself, as there always something lacking. His real toons all had traits of their show personalities, but they were so much more than that, having grown and developed from both their time in the Studio and their life with Henry. To have them reverted like this made them seem as two-dimensional as they had once been physically.
The human ink creatures were a challenge to get right as Henry had to develop their designs from scratch. Allison and Tom were especially difficult as Henry had only met Tom briefly and Allison was a ways off from being hired by the time he left the studio. He didn't have any memory of what they looked like before becoming ink creatures and had to rely on Joey's descriptions and they few times the couple had mentioned what they had remembered about their past selves.
Joey and Henry often spent hours and even days debating back and forth about how each one should look, with sketch after sketch being drawn as each design was reworked. During one of their debates, Henry was surprised to find himself hit with a wave of nostalgia. Him sitting at a drawing desk debating with Joey about how a character should look reminded him so much of when they had first opened the studio together. Those days had been full of stress and ambition as they tried to find their place in the animation world. He remembered so clearly how proud he had been when he first came up for Bendy's design and had proudly shown it to Joey. Joey had liked Henry's design as well though he had offered several suggestions to try and make him both stand out more and appeal to the audience. Once they came to a design they could both agree on, they had shared a laugh and a handshake at a job well done, both firmly believing that their little dancing demon would lead their small studio into a bright future.
A part of Henry longed for those days when he and Joey had truly been friends and they had shared a dream of making their work known to all the world. But Joey had let his ambition grown too large, corrupting everything and everyone around him. He became so blinded by his goals and wanting more, that he ignored the progress they had made, believing his dream wasn't coming fast enough. Henry couldn't keep up with that, especially as it was beginning to hurt his new marriage with Linda, causing him to walk away. And having gone through the Studio and now this nightmare, Henry knew there was nothing of the former friend he knew, having disappeared a long time ago. Whatever it took, Henry would find someone way to save his family, his toons, his friends, and his little Ink Demon from the control of this mad man.
Speaking of his little Ink Demon, the first few days after being "perfected", Joey kept the devil by his side. Joey claimed it was so he could admire his success at finally creating the perfect toon, but Henry knew it was to rub it in Henry's face that the little demon that had rebelled and sided with Henry to bring down Joeys control was now completely under his thumb. But as the days went on, Joey got more confident and let Bendy stay by Henry every now and then, keeping an eye on Henry along with whatever other toon or ink creature was acting as his guard.
Henry would use these opportunities to try and start bringing back Bendy with his golden ink, gently rubbing Bendy between his horns to apply it. Henry couldn't risk doing the gesture often or more than a few drops at a time, as he had to make sure none of the mind-controlled toons or Joey glimpsed what he was doing. It got a little easier once Joey let Linda come out of their room. She would stay by Henry's side and casually chat with the toon guarding Henry. Linda would keep the guard distracted just enough for Henry to apply even more of his golden ink to Bendy. She would also gently squeeze Henry's shoulder when he needs to stop to keep from getting caught.
There wasn't any response from Bendy at first, not that Henry really expected anything from just a few drops, but just as Henry was beginning to worry his ink wasn't having any effect at all, Bendy reacted to Henry. It was subtle, so much though that if Henry hadn't been looking for it he would have missed it, when Henry rubbed Bendy between his horns, the little devil ever so slightly leaned into Henry's touch. Henry made sure not to react, but his heart filled with hope.
As more and more of Henry's golden ink made its way into his little Ink Demon, Bendy would start to act a little more little more like himself. The way he walked changed, the was the tiniest yellow spark in his pie cut eyes, and Henry swore he even heard a soft purr when he rubbed the devil between his horns. All of these changes were incredibly subtle and it was only because Henry was so familiar with his little Ink Demon that he noticed. And while Henry was so relieved to know that he'd be able to bring his little Ink Demon back, he found himself facing a hard choice. If he continued slowly applying his golden ink, Bendy would show more signs of returning to his old self and Joey was bound to notice long before Henry completely freed his toon. Should he wait until Joey dropped his guard and he had Bendy alone for a while? Or should he keep going as he had been and hope that Bendy's free will came back before his physical changes became too obvious? Before Henry could come to a conclusion, Joey decided to throw a wrench in any plans he could come up with.
"Henry," Joey said with a smile, the day after they had "perfected" the last human ink creature into a toon. "I think it's time we rebuilt the Ink Machine."
