Chapter 25: Hidden Messages


Linda couldn't leave Henry's side as she had nestled beside his body and her heart was torn. Even Boris couldn't do anything to comfort her so he just sat patiently at her side, leaning into the side of her leg every now and then when Linda would let out a sob.

Finally, she wiped her remaining tears to the best of her ability since they continued to fall no matter what she did, and kissed Henry's cheek before stepping away from him. Boris nearly fell over from the sudden action, but seemed hopeful they would finally leave the fallen angel's lair and stood up.

"We need to move on." Linda sniffled. "I can't stand being here any longer, and it's what Henry would've wanted..."

Boris nodded in agreement and followed her over to the hallway.

Placing her hand on the wall and focusing on making the sentient ink on her bend to her will to form an ink portal, Linda offered one last look at Henry. Her heart nearly stopped as his body was no longer on the table, leaving behind a large ink stain.

He's gone.

As she looked around for any sign of him, Linda felt the ink from the newly formed portal grip on to her and roughly pull her in. Boris charged in after her, but stopped to see they were in the ink well and Linda was unharmed.

Ink flowed around them a bit closer than usual, lapping at their arms and legs as Linda lead Boris towards the light at the other end. The light was more dim, but it continued to shine through the dark ink.

None of these seemed like good signs.

Once they reached the end, Linda heard multiple voices filling her head, causing her to stop as she recognized them to be Henry's.

She couldn't make out what he was saying; each of his sentences would overlap one another and he sounded as if he was talking backwards, which made his voice sound more of a jumbled mess.

Having enough of the madness, Linda quickly left the well of ink only to find the voices were still there. They were louder this time as Henry sounded to be in pain before letting out screams every now and then.

Linda could feel anger and sorrow consume her more and more with each screaming outburst from her late husband. She gripped her head and fell to her knees.

Boris was the last thing she saw when she began to black out.


When Linda had woke up some time later, she had learned the Butcher Gang had helped Boris bring her to their new safe house. She wasn't sure what went on between the gang and the toon wolf, but she was glad to see there was some form of truce whenever they went out to get more bacon soup as well as other supplies.

After making their makeshift beds, Linda had noticed the Butcher Gang going through her purse. She walked over to them to see they had pulled out her wedding photo. The three gang members looked up at her as she carefully took the photo from 'Edgar's' hand.

"You should always ask for permission before going through a lady's purse." Linda scolded with a frown, reminding her of when Ink Demon had done the same thing. Were all toons like children? She supposed it made sense as the Bendy cartoons were generally family friendly despite Bendy being a demon. She wondered if the Butcher Gang were going through her purse to try to entertain themselves.

Linda looked at the photo and then back at the three deformed toons with a smile.

"Would you like to hear a story?"

'Charley', 'Barley', 'Edgar' and Boris sat around Linda as she told them the story how her and Henry first met; fortunately it made her feel better talking about the fond memory and it made her smile to see the toons were interested in hearing it.

Linda and Henry were high school sweethearts, though it did take Henry forever to ask her out. It wasn't until the end of their junior year they started dating. If Linda had to be honest, if she hadn't had asked in for a dance at a Valentine's Day themed dance, they probably wouldn't have gotten married.

Henry was a bit awkward and a loner in high school, but Linda always knew he had liked her. She could tell from the way he would look at her whenever they passed by each other in the hall. Linda liked him too once she became one of the few to get him to open up, he was a sweet and considerate young man. When they started dating, Henry became more confident in himself and around her and even started to show Linda his drawings.

Even back then they were amazing to her; being a mix of various art styles. Each image had a personality to it like it harbored a soul, which made Henry's non-realistic drawings to be more appealing to her and becoming her favorite style of his.

Linda chuckled when she told her small group of toons how she remembered when she found a drawing of her in Henry's sketchbook and how his face turned beet red in embarrassment from her discovery. No matter how many times she tried to assure him she thought it was sweet and how much she loved it, Henry would still blush about it. Even when they were married and Linda had the drawing of her framed and hung it above her side of the bed, Henry tried to offer drawing up another image of her, but she refused and told him that no other drawings of her would compare to that one.

The one that showed and reminded her how Henry saw her through his eyes before they really started getting to know each other. It was innocent and charming.

Linda ended her story as she heard a stomach growl loudly. The three Butcher Gang members looked at Boris with one of annoyance, which made the toon wolf respond with a sheepish grin. He had been doing that a lot lately from what Linda had noticed. She figured Boris was just nervous of the gang as they had been enemies before.

"I'll tell another story once we have dinner." Linda assured as she stood up from the chair she was sitting in to check their closet full of supplies for the cans of bacon soup they had been storing.

There was no soup to be found.

"We're out already?" She asked out loud, causing the Butcher Gang to send another glare towards Boris.

The toon wolf gulped loudly and scooted away from the other three.

"Now you three be nice to Boris." Linda raised her voice and put her hands on her hips as she turned to face the deformed toons. "He had helped us out a lot and deserves some respect."

'Edgar' cowered a bit from Linda's voice while 'Barley' looked over at Boris with a swing of his head. 'Charley' huffed and made grumbling noises.

"We just need to go on a soup run." Linda continued, sounding more calm. "We at least know where to look for cans."

She headed for the door and the small group of toons stood up to follow her once she opened it and stepped out into the hall.

Some areas were a lot darker than others, which terrified Boris but didn't bother the Butcher Gang much as long as they knew the way back. Linda found this out during one of their previous soup runs and 'Edgar' got lost after having a close call with the Ink Demon. Miraculously, 'Edgar' was found by 'Barley' when Linda had formed a search party to look for the poor spider. He clung to Linda for what felt like hours until she was finally able to comfort him. She then gave 'Edgar' a flashlight Boris had found in case another situation happened during their excursion.

Linda searched the halls with Boris following close behind before noticing something shining from the corner of her eye. She looked over to see the glass the other Alice had before being scared away by the Ink Demon.

The lights around the inside of the glass' frame were left on as Linda knelt down to pick it up.

She gasped as she caught a glimpse of golden ink on the wall at the end of the corridor ahead of her, and held the glass up to read it.

I'M ALIVE

COME FIND ME

Linda lowered the glass to see the message disappear before her eyes. She then made her way down the corridor and searched for more messages, finding one on the floor with an arrow pointing to the right.

THIS WAY

She eagerly followed the direction the arrow was pointing before stopping to find yet another message.

WATCH OUT FOR ALICE AND TOM

Linda lowered the glass and flinched as she heard a demanding female voice.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

She looked to see the Alice who owned the glass had turned the corner ahead of her and withdrew a blade she had sheathed at her side. A Boris clone stood behind her with an axe, his features were hard and stiff unlike the friendly Boris.

Tom.

Linda absentmindedly touched her shoulder where she had been wounded by the wolf's axe.

"Wait...I-I know you." Alice said, lowering her sword just a bit as she stared at Linda.

Before more could be said, the sound of loud garbling filled the hall as the Butcher Gang charged forward to attack. Linda panicked as she watched Alice and Tom ready their weapons once again.

"Stop! Don't hurt them!" Linda pleaded as she went to stand in front of the deformed toons to protect them.

Alice gave Linda a look like she was trying to figure her out.

The Butcher Gang and Boris stayed behind Linda; the Butcher Gang garbling out in anger towards Alice and Tom, while Boris cowered quietly.


A/N: Basically, the beginning of the chapter is what happened to Linda from the previous chapter before meeting up with Joey and eventually reuniting with the Butcher Gang.

I also thought it would be a good time to bring in Alice (Allison) and Tom to help move the story along.

Edit: Due to some criticism from portgas d ace forever about the transition to Linda telling the story of her and Henry to the toons, I decided to add a bit more to attempt to make the transition a lot smoother.