A/N: I figured that since it's a holiday here that I'd update (still basically the weekend, right?)

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Bendy clung to Boris, the toon wolf holding him in his arms in a protective manner.

They were still in the safe box after the scary version of Bendy had come too close to where they were.

Bendy leaned heavily against Boris, suddenly having a flash of being very worn out. It was a similar feeling to the last time that Henry had been away from them. And the last time that had happened, Henry had been hurt in some way. Or it seemed that way, since Bendy had been able to sense that Henry had been hurt. Bendy still wasn't entirely sure how he knew that, since Henry had neither confirmed nor denied it, and had only promised the toons that he would be more careful.

More careful than Henry had been, anyway.

Had something bad happened?

Again?

Bendy and Boris both tensed up as footsteps approached their hiding spot. Neither toon could prevent themselves from flinching when a knock sounded on the outside of it. To Bendy's relief, Henry's voice accompanied a second knock.

"Bendy? Boris? Are you two all right?" Henry greeted the toons, his tone concerned. "The Ink Demon is gone. It's safe to come out."

Boris cautiously opened the door and Bendy squirmed out of the toon wolf's hold. Already, Bendy could sense that there was something wrong. It was...a distracting sensation that lasted long enough that when Bendy came back to the present, he saw that Henry was already checking on Boris' foot paw at the table.

Boris had already sat down in a chair and was pointing to his foot paw, as Henry brought the medical supplies over as he chatted with the toon wolf calmly.

Had the little devil really spaced out for a chunk of time?

Giving his head a little shake, it took Bendy a moment longer to notice the changes in Henry. Bendy took a closer look, as he watched Henry kneel down to better check on Boris' ankle.

But this wasn't what Bendy focused on. His pie-cut eyes had latched onto something else.

A tail.

Henry had a long, thin black tail with a cartoony triangular devil tail at the tip, which swayed back and forth against the ground restlessly.

That tail had not been there before.

The little devil would have noticed it a long time ago, with how often he ducked behind Henry to hide.

Why was that tail there now?

Was it real?

And there was something else that was bothering the toon.

Bendy clambered onto the table and stared at Henry's face intently as the human continued to murmur to Boris. Bendy ignored the words in favor of studying Henry, and that was when Bendy saw it.

His friend's teeth were different too.

But...how had that happened?

Bendy noted with worry that Henry was avoiding his eyes now that the human noticed the toon was staring.

What happened?

The moment Henry finished up with Boris' foot paw, Bendy pounced, landing on Henry's lap. Without asking, Bendy pried open the human's mouth to get a better look at those teeth. They...they almost looked like Bendy's own, though as soon as Bendy prodded, the teeth split open like the Ink Demon's.

Henry let out a surprised splutter.

Bendy stared a moment longer before he let go. Bendy slid off Henry's lap and went behind his friend to give the thin tail an experimental tug.

"Hey, don't tug too hard. That's attached!" Henry protested, as he twisted to look down at Bendy. Henry discreetly attempted to pull the tail out of Bendy's hands but the toon held on.

Bendy saw a pleading look in Henry's eyes and relented by letting go of the tail. But Bendy then clung to his sweater hem instead. He wanted nothing more than for Henry to tell him that everything was okay. That Henry had gotten the medical supplies and come straight back to his friends.

But that couldn't be it.

What Bendy had sensed and experienced before Henry returned...it would be false reassurance.

Something had happened, and Bendy wanted to know what.

Bendy didn't even have to say a word. He must have made some expression to express those thoughts, since Henry's tail went limp on the floor. Bendy watched anxiously as Henry looked away from him with a weary sigh.

"Sorry. I...I didn't see Sammy or the searchers until it was too late. There wasn't anywhere to run and I got cornered." Henry said in a quiet tone.

Bendy let go of Henry's sweater to cross his arms and look away too.

So Henry had been hurt, is what he was implying. Henry hadn't been careful like he promised he'd be. But how had he gotten away?

From Sammy?

The near-formless inky searchers?

And before, his did a Henry get away from the false Butcher Gang members?

Bendy gave an exaggerated jump when he was suddenly enveloped in a loose hug by Henry.

"I know you can't speak, but I figured from that look that you want to know what happened." Henry murmured. "I don't really know the best way to break this kind of news, so I'll just be blunt."

Bendy didn't like he sound of that.

"In this place, if I'm hurt too badly, I...I die."

Bendy gripped the back of Henry's sweater.

What?!

"But I don't stay dead? I get sent to this place where I don't have a solid form. Call it the well of voices, 'cause there's all this whispering...and some screaming. It's a constant stream of voices, all around me. In the well, dark and light swirl around." Henry seemed to subconsciously hold Bendy closer. "It's disorienting, at times. That makes it difficult to find my way back to the studio. Sometimes I don't bother, and get sent back to the beginning."

This was...

"But I didn't give up. I wanted to come back this time. I didn't want to leave you and Boris all alone."

Bendy didn't understand. He wasn't sure he wanted to understand. Bendy didn't want to think of Henry dying.

Repeatedly.

"But, as you can, uh, see, each time I come back from the well... " Henry sighed again. "Well, I'm less myself each time. I only remain who I am on the inside, as my outward appearance changes more and more."

Bendy caught motion and turned his head to see Henry's tail flicking in an agitated way.

"These changes don't happen every loop...but it seems like this time, the transformation is going to happen."

Bendy was trying really hard to understand. He recalled some of this, residually, at least, from hearing Henry hope to see him, back when Bendy had known nothing but darkness before his arrival to the studio. Bendy glanced past Henry's shoulder and looked up at Boris, who was looking away as well, his ears tucked down and back.

The toon wolf looked unhappy.

Wait.

The one sided conversations from before...

Boris had been through this studio before too, hadn't he?

Did that mean Henry and Boris had both been attacked before?

More than once?

Bendy struggled through what he could remember of his time in the studio so far. All of the new things to explore and experience. Bendy wasn't entirely sure what he thought about what this 'loop' meant but from the defeat in Henry's voice...

This had all happened before, minus Bendy's own presence.

This loop thing was why Henry always seemed to know what was going to happen, before it did, apart from when things deviated from normal.

Nothing had been normal since Bendy arrived.

The toon knew that now for certain.

There were differences that were becoming bigger and more noticeable the longer Bendy was there with his friends. Henry seemed to know what was going on in the studio less and less as time went by.

Was that good or bad?

Did it matter?

His friend was hurting and Bendy felt terrible that there didn't seem to be much he could do to make things better. Bendy wriggled out of Henry's grasp and immediately wrapped his arms around Henry's waist, pressing his face into his friend's chest.

A hand gently began to pat his back.

Bendy noticed that he had taken off his backpack at some point. He should remember to bring it with him when they left this area of the studio.

"I was trying to be careful." Henry said quietly. "Sometimes this place just doesn't allow me to take it easy. At times, everything is thrown at me, trying to drag me down."

Bendy remained in place for a time before he finally let go of Henry. Bendy wanted to lift the mood of his friends somehow, and he perked up as an idea came to mind.

Drawing.

Perfect!

Bendy ran over to the table and dragged the drawing supplies out of his backpack and hopped onto the chair. The little devil sent a happy, hopeful grin Henry's way as he laid the items out on the table and slid them to the opposite side.

"Sure, why not?" Henry said after a moment of staring at the paper. "A little doodling sounds like a good idea right now."

It hurt Bendy to see the almost-cartoony smile on Henry's face. But the mood became better, marginally, as Bendy watched Henry began to relax the longer he doodled on the sheets of paper.

Boris leaned over in his chair to watch as well, ears perked up and attentive now.

Bendy looked over all of the doodles before the toon pointed to one in particular. With a smile, Bendy then pointed at himself.

"What? You want a hoodie?" Henry asked.

Bendy nodded, unable to keep his excitement down at the thought. After all, Henry looked like he was comfortable in his clothes, and Bendy was curious to see if clothes would be comfy on him as well.

"Wait." Henry seemed to realize what Bendy really wanted, the human's voice turning incredulous. "Are you saying that if I draw it as big as the page you can...make it come off the page, like that axe from before?"

Bendy eagerly nodded.

"So...can you do that with anything that's drawn? Like if we found an old drawing or Boris drew something?"

Bendy shook his head.

"Just my drawings?"

Bendy grinned.

"I'm flattered? Though I do still wonder how you can make it work..." Henry smiled as he took a fresh page and sketched out a hoodie, with a little pouch for the toon to put his hands in and a bigger hood that would accommodate Bendy's horns.

Bendy was bouncing on his feet in excitement as Henry slid the completed drawing across the table. Bendy didn't even put it up on the wall this time. He just pulled the black and white hoodie out of the paper with an eager grin.

The sight of clothing suddenly appearing drew surprised exclamations from both Henry and Boris, despite both having seen Bendy do this before with the axe.

Bendy wriggled in happiness as he pulled the hoodie on over his head, though the little devil paused as his horns got caught on the fabric. Bendy heard Henry chuckle and then the toon felt hands helping him move the fabric off his horns.

"You pulling actual items off paper is really fascinating, but you look pretty sleepy now, Bendy." Henry adjusted the hoodie. "Is it draining for you to do that?"

Bendy would have waved off the worry but since Henry did try to explain what was happening to him, Bendy decided he would try in return. Bendy held his hand out and gave it a sideways wiggle, before gesturing at himself and offering a shrug.

He was tired.

Drained.

But Bendy knew he would recover with a little rest.

"So you'll be all right?" Henry prompted.

Bendy nodded, before he became distracted by his newly acquired clothing. The hoodie was comfy and loose fitting, falling all the way past his torso to just above his legs. Bendy grinned brightly as he flipped the hood over his head and let out an audible giggle.

Comfy and fun.

"Whoa!" Henry laughed as Bendy suddenly launched himself across the table to give him a great big hug. "Glad you like it."

Boris let out an amused huff.

Bendy just grinned happily.

This friendly atmosphere right now was exactly what he needed after finding out more about what had happened before to his friends in this studio.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N:

Cute Bendy is cute.

Posted a quick doodle on Tumblr just b/c I wanted to doodle Bendy in a hoodie.

(Plot will start to move forward next chapter. Been lingering in chapter 3 of the game for awhile).