Safe at Last
Despite all of Bendy's attempts to control and contain his darker demonic instincts, he couldn't ignore them completely. As such, there had been several times he had wondered what would happen if he gave in to his desire to consume a soul. Would it give him energy? Would it feel like swallowing a ball of lightning, warm and tingling? Did souls have a taste? If so, would it be as vile as the soul it belonged to? Would it taste good? Would he like it? Would he want more?
Those questions would haunt Bendy late at night, especially if he had encountered a particularly corrupt soul and it had taken all his willpower not to eat it. But never in Bendy's wildest fantasies would have prepared Him for when he finally gave in and ate a soul.
The moment the Liar's soul passed his teeth, warmth started filling the Ink Devil's being. The soul left a pleasant tingling buzzing sensation as it passed down and settled comfortably in his stomach, filling a hunger the Ink Devil didn't even realize he had been so desperate to state. And it did have a taste, somehow both the most savory meal and the sweetest dessert. How could the Ink Devil have gone so long without this?
The Ink Devil was starring off in a daze as he savored the wonderful sensation of his first soul while Tom and Henry were busy with the others. The moment Joey's soul was taken and his body died, the magic keeping the toon's minds enslaved last the source it was meant to be tied to. Without that anchor, the already damaged spell unraveled completely, leaving behind very confused and slightly panicked toons. Henry tried his best to give a short summary of the situation, but most of the toons were either still too dazed by their recent mind control or freaking out about their altered appearance to really grasp what Henry was saying. The only piece of information that got their attention was the fact that the Liar was dead.
The instant they heard that they looked towards Joey's body and all of them sagged with a sense of relief. Toons started hugging each other in happiness and a few even cheered. Tom and Allison shared a passionate kiss and even Henry had to admit he was glad Joey was gone. Henry never thought he'd be glad to see his once friend dead, even after all he went through in the Studio, but now that he was gone and everything he had just put Henry's family through, Henry couldn't deny the sense of comfort and safety he felt. No longer would Joey's shadow be hanging over them, threatening to take away the happiness they'd built. He would never hurt them again.
Henry and Linda embraced, glad that this most recent nightmare was over and giving Henry a chance to look Linda over. She still had a lot of ink on her, though most of it had dripped off and the rest was starting to dry on her. And it seemed that even though the ritual had been interrupted, Linda hadn't escaped completely unchanged. Her skin was incredibly pale, nearly white, and she moved with just a bit more fluidity than was humanly possible. At certain angles, Henry would see a dull yellow glow coming from her eyes, an effect Henry had seen on his own when he looked in a mirror. She was like him now, mostly human with a touch of ink flowing through them. It was too early to say what the full extent of the transformation was, for both of them really, but they would work it out together.
But that would have to wait for later. Right now, everyone was exhausted from this adventure and they all wanted to get out of here. Henry used Joey's phone to leave an anonymous tip that Joey had passed away and Tom quickly took apart and disabled the Ink Machine. Once that was done, Henry snapped Bendy out of his daze to make a portal home. As they were leaving, Henry made the split-second decision to take the spellbook Joey had been using, determining it was better to keep it himself than risking it falling into the wrong hands.
Once everyone was through the portal, they all piled on and around the couch, unwilling to be alone right now. Once everyone was settled, Henry once again explained what happened in more detail. The toons were dismayed to hear they had once again fallen under the Liar's control and were even happier that they never had to worry about it again. They were also concerned by their altered forms, even Moreno when they realized it didn't seem that stable. Faint scars would reappear and the vanish and joints shift from pure rubber hose to something slightly human. Henry couldn't tell if it was the spell wearing off or a side effect of being splashed with fresh ink from the Ink Machine, letting the toons have some in unconscious control over their appearance. Either way, Henry promised to help them find and keep the form they were most comfortable with.
With everyone needing time to process and recover, everyone just started to fall asleep in the living room. They all knew they had a lot to deal with and figure out, but they had all survived. They were completely free of the Liar and they were able to sleep peacefully with that knowledge. The morning was sure to bring more challenges, but they'd deal with as they always do… together.