Henry reached level 11 without incident, but that very well could have been because the Searchers were still grouped together with Sammy. Or so Henry presumed. He was currently acutely aware of the tail he had now, as he swiftly walked away from the stairs.
One hall and a room...
Just about there...
Henry swore and abruptly stopped the moment the Ink Demon came out of the wall, and into his path.
The Ink Demon took a few steps through the ink-flooded floor, its head swiveling to and fro as inky shadows spiraled out across the walls.
Henry distantly heard the slam of a door, signaling that Bendy and Boris had taken shelter in the little miracle station. That meant they would be safe, while Henry, standing out in the hall, most certainly was not. The med kit Henry held was carefully placed on a chair as he slowly stepped back the way he had come.
Not again.
This was getting real old.
The Ink Demon pivoted to the left to face Henry, revealing that it had moved the ink out of its vision once more to reveal those weirdly humanoid eyes. The inky creature let out a snarl and lurched toward Henry with its uneven gait, its left hand outstretched.
Splashes sounded along the hall as Henry ran in the opposite direction.
It was a horrible case of dejavu.
The memory of the demon path with its inky flooded floor rushed through Henry's mind as he ran. Henry heard the Ink Demon closing in, and sprinted for the elevator, regardless of Alice potentially having control of it.
He didn't make it.
One moment Henry saw the open elevator, taunting him with safety. The next, Henry was roughly thrown to the floor, the Ink Demon's teeth snapping near his face. Henry foolishly tried to punch the skeletal being but the gloved hand snapped up to catch him by the wrist. Henry kicked the Ink Demon in retaliation, surprised when its leg bucked and the grasp around his wrist loosened. The ache in Henry's healed over wounds became more noticeable.
That was...concerning.
Henry wriggled out from beneath the Ink Demon, yet instead of running away, like a smart person, Henry clambered onto the creature's back instead. Without hesitation, Henry put the Ink Demon in a choke hold because hey, it did have a neck. Henry's right arm locked across the front of the creature's neck, his left arm coming from the other side of the neck to grasp his other wrist before digging his forearm into the surprisingly soft skin.
The Ink Demon spat out a vicious snarl as it began to try to buck Henry off its upper back, its spines flicking in agitation.
Henry held tight and dug into skin harder as he gave a kick to the side of the ribs. Henry released a shaky laugh, as a thought came to mind.
Did the Ink Demon even need to breathe?
Henry used his legs to lock around the narrow waist, even as he let out a gasp as the Ink Demon suddenly let itself drop to the floor with a hiss.
Not because it was hurt, but because the Ink Demon was still trying to get Henry off.
"Not gonna work." Henry breathed out, clinging to the inky being. "Gonna see if I can choke you out. Maybe I can get a moment of peace and quiet, so long as Sammy doesn't find you passed out."
The Ink Demon issued out a terrifying gurgle.
Laughter.
It was clearly laughter.
That...didn't bode well.
Henry wondered as he did before if the Ink Demon having was getting a sense of self. And not the feral animal sense of awareness that it already had. The idea that it was beginning to understand, and more importantly, speak, would bring far too many questions. A few worrying ones, too, over whether or not the Ink Demon had somehow gained a soul after all of these loops.
The Ink Demon was unable to bite Henry at this angle, but it could grasp at Henry's arms. The creature's claws latched lightly into the fabric in warning.
Why didn't it just force Henry off of it?
The Ink Demon let out another gurgle of laughter before it scared the shit out of Henry by speaking more clearly than before.
"Name?"
"You don't know who I am? After all these loops? And after knowing who, well, created your actual design?" Henry asked incredulously. Better to focus on the word than who was speaking it. Henry's voice dropped into an irritable grumble. "Dammit, Joey, what hell were you thinking? Weren't cartoons good enough for you?"
Obviously not, after exploring the studio countless times.
"Who am I kidding? Joey obviously wasn't thinking clearly if it meant he could keep the franchise going, at the cost of everyone else's well-being." Henry blew out a frustrated breath, which caused the Ink Demon to hiss. Henry's attention went back to it. "C'mon, don't make that sound at me. You had to have heard Alice say my name one of those times. You...you seem to remember me well enough to come after me all the time."
N̵̦̞̬͜͝A̸̢̳̦̭͕͊̉̉M̷̖̻̲͎̰͓̽̈́̉̏̒̚Ę̴̳̭̺͗̈́̎̀͐̂.̴̟͚̝̭̲̫̻̹̽͒̿̀̂̌͝
Impatient.
Expectant.
The Ink Demon didn't seem to care about being choked as much as getting a name.
"...Henry..." It was very uncomfortable to Henry that the Ink Demon was eerily quiet as it stared at him. Henry wasn't sure he could get away if he let go do the Ink Demon's neck, so he didn't.
"Beacon...Henry." The Ink Demon suddenly ground out.
"Just Henry. I am not a light source."
"Beacon. Look bright."
Henry became distinctly uncomfortable as the Ink Demon's head turned to the right, one of those unsettling eyes meeting his own.
Those teeth were much too close for comfort.
"Not bright...without." The Ink Demon seemed to have trouble finding words, so it raised a hand to its head to indicate the ink that still dripped down from its head.
Wait.
The Ink Demon thought Henry looked bright while ink was in its vision?
That didn't make much sense.
Wouldn't it make it harder to see?
"Maybe that ink isn't good for your vision, then. Being, ah, illuminating, isn't normal for me." Henry couldn't believe he was having a conversation with a creature that normally attempted to kill him. "Humans don't glow."
The Ink Demon stared at Henry silently, but before it could say or do anything more, an affronted voice rang out.
Or rather, it spluttered.
"You! You dare! How are you...how are you still here? You...they...I...I will-"
"Can it, Sammy!" Henry cut in, recognizing the voice. He was not dealing with this shit right now on top of a tail and the Ink Demon's appearance. "I do not need to hear your crazy rambling. It attacked me first. I'm just protecting myself."
"You dare try to take my lord away from us? First his toon form, and now this one too?" Sammy was obviously riled up. He had even removed his mask and set it aside.
Henry wondered if Sammy remembered him punching him in the face.
Sammy fussily made certain the mask was safe, before he stomped across the floor and tackled Henry. Sammy seemed to have no sense of the potential danger, as the music director seemed more intent on attempting to drag Henry away from the Ink Demon.
"Sammy, what the hell? Are you crazy?!" Henry was exasperated. "Don't answer that."
Sammy pulled harder.
Henry clung to the Ink Demon tightly. If Henry let go, the inky skeletal creature would attack them both. Already, Henry could feel and hear it growling.
Most unfortunately, Sammy was still stronger than Henry, and the music director succeeded in breaking Henry's chokehold around the Ink Demon's neck.
"Let go!" Henry struggled within Sammy's grasp, unwittingly smacking the other man with his tail, though Sammy didn't seem to notice. "Idiot! You're going to get us both killed and sent back!"
Sammy didn't say anything, likely too offended by Henry's treatment of the Ink Demon to listen. It was only when Sammy was pinned down to the floor alongside Henry that Sammy seemed to realize his error.
Henry didn't dare move, the clawed right hand of the Ink Demon digging into his sweater and through to his chest, scraping skin. Henry couldn't help but let the tip of his tail nervously tap against the floor. Henry let out a short laugh over the way the Ink Demon growled directly into Sammy's uncovered inky face.
Sammy remained absolutely silent, unwilling or unable to move.
Henry suddenly felt the Ink Demon let go of him, as it directed its growl at him.
"Chase later." The Ink Demon hissed out, before it turned its attention back to Sammy. Its right hand gouged claw marks into the floor next to Sammy's head. This drew a rather high pitched yelp out of the music director.
Henry didn't question the lucky break. He ran away as quickly as he could.
Why, oh why, didn't he have that axe?
Henry really hated to run away.
Again.
The Ink Demon could be heard making a series of loud screeching noises mixed in with some words. It was weirdly funny to picture Sammy being given a scolding by a literal nightmare of a creature.
Henry tuned it out as he picked up the med kit, happy and very relieved that he would soon be back with his toon friends. Henry kept an eye out, just in case a stray Searcher popped up, but nothing came. So preoccupied with what had just happened, Henry temporarily forgot about the tail he now had.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
A/N: Just as an FYI, I finally got the job I've been trying to get for months. So while it is a job where I'll be more or less alone sorting though papers, this means that I will probably have to start to update on weekends only (or when a chapter is ready-I'm getting to the point where there may be more time between chapters).
I'm hoping that since the job involves no phone work or interaction with more than one or two people (and no customers) that I will continue to be able to write without too much interruption. Most jobs tend to be mentally draining to me, so hopefully a quieter job won't affect my motivation to write.