Return to Bendyland Chapter 10: The Smile Falters
Bendy's frame took up more than the doorway. His lurking monstrous form bulged at the walls, ink dragging behind him like a cape, drowning anything and everything it came into contact with. His arms and legs sagged into it, broken wood, pipes, and metal all jutting out like spikes. He swelled with ink, enormous, and when he stepped into the ink machine room and straightened, his elongated horns nearly touched the ceiling high above them. Easily over seven feet. His eyes and smiles were all covered by ink now, free to twist into whatever expression it wanted. And it chose a constant snarl.
Behind Bendy, in the wake of where he walked, attached to his ink like glue, hundreds of glowing golden eyes all swept around the room like small spotlights. All victims that had become one with him now. Occasionally they could make out an arm, a limb, among the chaos, but it never lasted long. It was just a glowing mass, a chaotic shape constantly shifting.
Linda's breath hitched in her throat, the only sound before silence swept over the room.
Henry swallowed. He could hear his own heart beating in his chest. The ink machine behind him, pulsing ink, was like an echo of that sound.
Ba-dump.
Tha-thump.
Ba-dump.
Tha-thump.
His hands clenched into fists. He tried to swallow again. Failed, catching in his throat. Or maybe it was a scream he had stifled. He wasn't sure.
Bendy took another step closer, and Audrey screamed. When she screamed, Bendy tilted his head toward the ceiling and roared. The very walls pulled back, and the ceiling boards lifted, spreading wider and wider and circling closer to him. Ink dripped around them, pooling and tangling in their hair and faces.
"What do we do?!" Tom shouted over the noise. "We can't destroy the ink machine! It will kill Allison!"
"NO!" Allison said sharply. "You destroy that damn thing Tom, I don't care what it does to me, don't you DARE doom me a second time," she said, weakly smacking his arm.
Tom ignored her.
Henry searched for answers. Looked around the room. But his eyes kept getting pulled back to Bendy. His thoughts too. Everything returned there.
Bendy stalked toward Henry again, dragging the whole weight of the park behind him. His snarl turned to a grin. He had locked eyes with Henry, and Henry could swear he heard thousands, millions of whispers and voices all pulling at his mind. Screams and cries, all dragging around him, drowning him, thousands of voices all telling him that this was his fault. He had made this thing. Not Joey. Not anyone else. He was the one who put ink to paper. Who dreamed up the idea of a dancing little demon to pass the time.
Bendy lifted up his hand, wood stretched out like claws, and swiped it down to Henry. Henry couldn't move, but Linda barreled into him and sent them both crashing to the side. Bendy's claws dug into the floor, pulling up pipe and wood. Steam burst out of one of the pipes, and Bendy roared in surprise, rearing back.
Henry looked down at his wife in shock, but Linda looked back up at him through the loose hairs covering her face in rage.
"Henry Stein, don't you dare give up on me now," she snapped. "We have been through too much. You have been through too much. Do you hear me?!" She grabbed Henry by his shirt and hoisted him off the ground and up to her face. "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! FIX THIS!"
Bendy continued to roar behind them, wiping at his eyes as hot steam continued to blast forward, but Henry's gaze was locked on Linda. "I...you...but I..."
"But NOTHING," Linda said. "I know this is hard. I know it has always been hard for you, Henry. But sooner or later, you have to face the mess you put yourself in, regardless of whether or not it's your fault. Wake UP Henry!"
Another roar, this time ending in a screech as Bendy tore up another huge part of the floor, the steam trickling down and blowing elsewhere. He shook his large horned head and turned back to them with a snarl.
Henry swallowed, and then took a deep breath. "TOM!" he shouted.
"Yeah?!"
"How many of those steam pipes run through this room?!" Henry asked. Bendy lunged for him, but Henry grabbed Linda's hand and pulled her aside, ducking under his wide swing and running back to the other side of the room. They knocked over candles in their wake, instantly swallowed up by the ink. The footsteps splashed in inky puddles, soaking through their shoes and into their socks.
"Geez, I mean...the ink machine room is pretty close to the water main...gotta be at least four of those pipes!" Tom shouted back, looking around the ground and trying to remember the blueprints he'd once had so carefully memorized.
"You think you can tell me when I'm standing on one?" Henry asked, turning back up to face Bendy.
Tom, picking up what was going on, nodded. "Yeah, I got you! How's that gonna help beat him though?"
Henry glanced over at the others. Audrey was cowering behind the ink machine. Tom was sitting up, eyes locked onto the battle. And Allison...
He nodded. "Trust me. We can do this."
"Alright Henry. In that case, move a foot to the right!" Tom shouted.
Henry did so. "Linda, go back with Audrey," he said. "Bendy's only interested in me."
Linda's grip around his hand tightened. She glanced over at him and smiled. "No way. Someone has to keep you from spacing out like a deer in headlights. Remember that time we tried to go up to my parents and almost hit that deer?"
Bendy jerked his fist back and slammed it toward them, but again, Henry pulled him and Linda away. Bendy's fist hit the ground and scorching hot steam once again burst toward his face, causing more roars and tantrums as he bat at the ground and swung his arms around. They had to duck his frantic and crazed movements.
"Y-yes," Henry said. "I remember. Thing stood in the road just staring at us..."
"Yeah. That was you a second ago," Linda said, this time pulling Henry down to the ground as Bendy's massive hands whisked above them. "Totally just staring into the jaws of death."
"Does that make you the driver swerving out of the way?" Henry asked. Somehow, despite everything, he had a smile on his face, remembering his other near-death experience. Something as real as deer seemed so...hilarious now. It was a real threat, a real danger at the time, But this story made him want to burst out laughing all of the sudden. It was just so ridiculous, the fact that his wife was bringing it up now, while they were running for their lives, out of breath, covered in ink and splinters. Bendy slammed both hands down at them again, this time digging his claws in deep. Another pipe, more frantic movements. They ran forward, ducking under his arms and legs and sliding back in front of the ink machine. The almost got too close to the inky mass that Bendy dragged behind him, the arms of the Lost Ones reaching out, grabbing at their ankles and tearing at their skin. Linda kicked them away, her foot sinking into their heads and arms like mud. It made her want to gag. But still, they escaped, and pressed on.
"Nope," Linda said. "I'm the lady deer in the forest shouting MOVE YOUR ASS!"
Henry laughed, he couldn't help it, even as his heart raced and tears propped up in the corners of his eyes.
"One pipe left!" Tom shouted. "It's to the left of you, right by Linda's foot!"
"Got it," Henry said.
Bendy spun around, swinging again, but this time when Henry and Linda went to dodge, Bendy had finally learned. His clenched fist opened, lifted up to snatch at them. Henry shoved Linda to the ground, right as ink and wood crashed into him, lifting him off of the ground and into the air. Force and weight pressed in at him from all sides, and he struggled to breath. Bendy lifted him up, right to his face, and roared. He could hear the voices of all those Bendy had absorbed, all joining the scream, their anger and desperation suffocating.
He could faintly hear Tom, Linda, and Audrey shouting from the ground, but they were so hard to hear over the sounds of Bendy's breath, over his own blood rushing through his ears as he was crushed tighter and tighter. He gasped for breath, wincing when he found he couldn't even do that well anymore, his own lungs squeezed inside of him.
"Be...n...dy..." he gasped. "Let...m...go..."
NO MORE ORDERS
Bendy's voice in Henry's head was enough to make him want to scream, the mere volume drowning out his own thoughts, even his own pain. He couldn't even suck in enough air to scream.
CREATORS LIED TO US. LIED TO ME!
"I...kn...ow..." Henry wheezed out.
HENRY LEFT ME! WITH JOEY! ALONE!
"I..." The air and whatever sound Henry was trying to make turned into nothing but a weak gasp. He felt himself growing cold. Turning blue. His thoughts fogging and slowing as everything started to blur. Bendy's horrifying face, the rotten smell of the ink and whatever else was lying inside of it, those were to be his last thoughts, his last memories.
There was a loud clang that cut through Henry's thoughts. He and Bendy both looked behind him at the ink machine.
Allison had pulled herself away from Tom, and was standing atop of the ink machine, crowbar in hand. There was another piece of metal in the other. She was gasping for breath, but her eyes never left Bendy. Her sides were dripping ink like blood. "That's right big guy...you want to protect this thing, right? This is the thing keeping freaks like you and me alive..."
"ALLISON!" Tom shouted. "Allison, stop it!" Tom started to climb the machine, but Allison shot a look like daggers down at him.
"Tom, STOP!" she said. He froze. Her icy stare was enough to make a shiver run down his spine.
"...you let this end," she whispered. "...you let ME end."
"Allison," Tom said, his voice breaking.
Bendy, looking between Henry and the machine, let Henry drop from his hands in an instant. Henry struggled to pull himself off of the ground, Linda running over to help get him away from Bendy's war path as he stalked toward Allison.
Her gaze locked onto his and never faltered, both of them staring the other down. An angel and a demon, face to face.
Her heart was beating so quickly. She was so scared. The voices she heard in her head, that calling of the ink, like a siren song, was a scream now, overtaking her, dragging her like chains to hell.
"...that's right freak," Allison said. "You and me. You wanna protect this ink machine, you better get rid of me. Hit this ink machine and me with it. Destroy it all."
Bendy growled and swung at her. She ducked and dodged it, letting his claws did into wood instead. It wouldn't work if he could just snatch her up into the air like he'd done with Henry. No. He needed to swing at her with all the power he had stored up in those brute-like fists of his, and blow this machine to bits.
He moved to swing again.
ALICE ANGEL
"NO," Allison said sharply. She put a hand to her chest. "Allison. Allison Pendle."
Bendy paused, his hand lingering near her.
ALICE AN-
"NO!" Allison shouted again. "NO! My name is Allison Pendle! I am NOT that DAMNED angel! I am ME!"
AL...LISON?
"You hearing this too?" Linda whispered. "It's not just me, right? It's like..."
"Like the ink itself it speaking," Henry said.
"But...Bendy can't talk."
"No. But all the people he's...taken, can."
Allison pointed down to the ground at Tom.
"Tom. Thomas Connor."
BO...RIS?
"No. TOM. Thomas Connor," she said again. She pointed to Henry. "Henry Stein. Linda Stein." She pointed behind the ink machine, where Audrey was peeking around the corner with terrified eyes. Bendy interrupted Allison before she could speak, and his wide mouth stretched into a smile.
AUDREY!
"...right," Allison said. "Not Boris. Not Alice. Not Bendy. Audrey. Audrey Stein. Henry's daughter."
Bendy's face slowly fell. His arm retracted from near Allison and went back to his side. He was quiet. He kept looking between all of them. He lifted his hand back up, and pointed to himself.
...BENDY?
"Yes," Henry said from the ground. Bendy turned to look at him, growling, but Henry continued. "You...you were a creation of mine. I made you. You...you were just a drawing. A cartoon I created. Joey, he found a way to bring you to life. Using this machine. He used ink, and others things I can't even imagine to bring something to life that wasn't ever supposed to be. And I...I'm sorry, Bendy. I'm sorry for leaving. I had no idea that this would happen. That he had made you. I didn't...I didn't know he would do that until it was too late."
"But it's WRONG," Allison said, scowling. "This machine hurts people! YOU hurt people! You drag them here and turn them like you! LOOK!" she pointed behind him, at the sea of lost souls all cowering in his wake, golden eyes tiny pools of light. "They were people too! Norman Polk! Susie Campbell! Sammy Lawrence! All of them!"
Norman had been her friend. He'd been her one companion when Allison had finally decided she wanted to take on the world and bring down Joey Drew Studios. Susie had been just like her, just a girl wanting to make it big, drawn in by Joey's big promises and expectations. And Sammy...Sammy had been different once too. Before this park changed him. Before he lost his mind to the ink, Allison really did believe that he'd been a good person. But this park had taken them all.
"And Joey," Henry said softly. "Joey Drew."
JOEY
Bendy started to growl. The ink on his skin looked like it was crawling and shifting.
JOEY DREW
"Yes," Henry said. "Joey Drew was human too. And you took him too."
NO. JOEY HERE.
Henry's eyes widened. "What?"
The trembles around Bendy increased, waves forming across his skin. His head pulled back into his neck, mouth stretched wider and wider. He hacked, stomach quivering and pulsing a large frame up out of his throat. With a wretch, an inky form spilled out of his mouth and onto the floor. From the blob, an arm and hand stretched out of the gunk and reached out. He grabbed onto the splintered wood and pulled himself forward.
Joey took a deep breath, his head breaching the ink. He coughed and hacked, ink pouring out of his stomach, his lungs. He gulped in air like he hadn't taken a breath in days. His eyes were bloodshot and bulging out of his head, tainted with ink, yellow at the edges, like he'd been poisoned. Even while he panted like a dog for breath, his eyes still held the same controlled rage that each of them had grown oh so familiar to.
"Holy shit," Tom whispered. "Holy...holy shit..."
"Joey...you're alive," Henry said in disbelief. "Y-you are alive, right?"
Joey wretched one last time, and then slowly pulled himself to his hands and knees, and then carefully to his feet. He wobbled unsteadily. "This park..." He coughed into his shoulder. His voice sounded like a weak old man. But Henry still trembled. "This park...can't kill me...I built this place...I built this place from hell. I am the gatekeeper...I am the one who keeps this place in control! In tact! This park can't kill me..."
"Go to hell," Allison said, crowbar shaking in her hand. She looked like she was ready to throw it at him. "GO TO HELL!"
Henry raised his hand to stop Allison. She bit her lip to stop from cursing at him even more.
"Joey. It's over," Henry said. "Please. Please tell us how to end this."
"It's not over...it isn't over until I SAY IT IS!" Joey spat. "I AM THE ONE IN CONTROL! I OWN THIS PLACE! I OWN BENDY AND I OWN ALL OF YOU! Bendy, GET THEM!"
Bendy growled. He looked between Joey and Henry, and then started to move forward.
Henry looked up at Bendy. He really had been his creation once. A friendly little doodle. Could toons have memories of those days? Or when Bendy was just a thought? Just pen to paper, then suddenly life. For the first time, Henry felt a pang of sorrow in his chest for Bendy. This wasn't what he was meant for. This wasn't what he was supposed to be. Maybe he knew that. Maybe during the day, when he was making people laugh, making people happy, it felt worth it. But what happened at night, what was happening right now, was a constant reminder of the irrationality and unnatural nature of it all.
"Bendy," Henry said. "What...do YOU want?"
The constant bellows and moans of the lost ones consumed inside of Bendy paused. The air grew still. And even the constant humming of the ink machine halted for just a moment.
Henry realized, with a pang, that nobody had ever asked him that before.
The ink around Bendy's face dripped away. It slipped and moved like it was alive. There was that plastic-like smile again. Those eyes peering into him.
He was crying. Bendy was actually crying. Inky tears pooling out of his eyes, dripping down into that terrifying smile.
"ENOUGH!" Joey barked, hobbling to turn to Bendy. "Don't you listen to him! He abandoned you! He abandoned both of us, for what, to go run off with some woman, to go have a family, he went to go be HAPPY without us! But this isn't done yet! We're going to fix this park! We'll put everything back to normal, we'll, we'll come up with even more toons, release a movie on the big screen, get people interested again, we can cover this mess up as an earthquake, we can-"
Henry walked over to Joey and grabbed his shoulders. "JOEY, IT"S DONE!" He shook him violently, Joey's head lulling back and forth like a rag doll, too weak to hold it up. "The whole park is breaking down! People are dying Joey! People have died and suffered and it's your fault!"
"No! It's not my fault, this place is a place where dreams come to life," he said, grabbing onto Henry's arms. His wide eyes stared through Henry entirely, like a mad animal. His disheveled hair covered his eyes in clumps, sticking to his forehead and covering parts of his eyes. His once finely pressed suit was torn, wrinkled, clinging to his skin and stretched taught over ever bone and muscle. "Henry, you, you know that this place isn't evil!" Joey voice broke and cracked like a child on the verge of a tantrum. "This was good! This was for us! This isn't over, we can fix this, we can still fix this, I'm sure-"
"No, Joey," Henry said gently. "We can't."
Joey froze. His eyes finally looked at Henry instead of through him. Looked him up and down. Saw the bags under his eyes. The wounds. The scars. The exhaustion. He looked behind Henry. Saw Audrey latched onto Linda's side, sobbing into her. Linda's scornful look burning holes into him.
He didn't look over at Tom or Allison. Just back to Henry.
"...it can't be done yet," Joey whispered. "It can't be, Henry."
"It's over, Joey. We have to end this. I know I left. I know I helped start this, and then didn't finish it. But I'm here now, Joey. We have to stop this, before more people get hurt. Please Joey," Henry said. "Let this end. For everyone."
Joey's gaze left Henry and lifted up to to the ceiling, where the gaping hole Bendy had created stared back at him. "I don't...know if he'll listen to me," Joey whispered. "I don't know how to end this, Henry. I...I never have. From the beginning."
Henry swallowed. He looked up at Bendy. "...he took the ink from Tom to change him back from Boris. I think he can do that to the whole park. If he can put all of that ink back into the ink machine...Tom, could it overload it?"
Tom put a hand under his chin. "That much ink...yeah, I think it might. The ink machine produces ink, but it ain't so well equipped to handle a lot of it coming back to it. If we could dump all the ink from the park into the machine, it'll break. But...but Allison-"
"If Bendy takes all the ink, that means he'll take the ink from me too," Allison said. "So when the ink machine breaks, it shouldn't kill me."
"...your wounds though," Tom said. "From...the gunshots. If my arm didn't heal, then that might not either."
Allison's breath hitched. "...then we'll just have to face that problem when we get to it. But I'm not going to be the only thing standing between this park and the end."
"...okay," Tom said. His voice cracked a little. "Alright."
Allison crawled down from the ink machine and took Tom's hand. "Thank you," she said. Her hands were trembling. Her smile faltering. He could feel her fear like a chill sweeping over him. He pulled her into a hug.
"Please don't die," he whispered.
Allison chuckled. "That's never been the plan, Tom. Hey..." She reached up and touched his cheek. "I never go the chance to tell you. Thank you. For saving me that day."
Tom's breath hitched. "You...don't have to thank me for that."
Allison leaned up and kissed him. "I love you," she whispered. "I have for so long."
"I love you too," he said, and pulled her into another tight hug.
"This is all sweet, but...somebody's going to have to get Bendy to do this. Are we sure he will?" Joey asked. He gestured behind him at the lumbering giant, who was still shuddering and chittering, his mouth widely moving to match the screams and groans still echoing around him. The park still trembled before the demon.
Henry ran a hand through his hair. "He's just...a scared kid, Joey. We're asking him to end this. End himself. Somebody has to stay behind with him or I don't think he'll do it. But when he starts absorbing all of that ink..."
"It will flood the room," Tom said immediately. "Ain't none of us surviving that. Somebody has to stay behind. Somebody has to be willing to die."
The room grew quiet. Audrey came out of her hiding place to grab her father's hand. Her pleading eyes told him all he needed to know. She may not have known exactly what they were talking about, but she wasn't stupid. She knew the severity of the situation. She knew that they were nearing the end. "Daddy...you're not going to stay behind. Right? You're coming with us?"
Henry was silent. He wasn't going to ask anyone here to make that sacrifice. He created Bendy. He should be there when Bendy came to an end.
He felt Linda's grip on his other arm. Silent. Scared. Wordlessly begging him not to go, but not knowing what the alternative was either.
"Miss Audrey," Joey said. Henry stiffened, and Audrey peeked her head around his leg. Joey knelt down to face her. He reeked of all kinds of foul things, and still looked a mess. So she didn't get much closer. "Audrey...have you...had fun at this park?"
Audrey looked up at her father, to Bendy, and then back to Joey. She gave a small smile and a nod. "Yeah...I love this place a lot! I love the rides, and the shows, like Miss Alice Angel! And Bendy too! Bendy...Bendy is my friend. But...Bendy...Bendy is hurting. And scared."
"...so Bendy scares you?" Joey asked.
Bendy peered over Joey's shoulder. He started to reach out his hand, but then pulled it back.
"...yes," Audrey said. "But...Bendy is still my friend. I want Bendy to go back to normal. I want him to be happy."
"Yeah? Well, what if he couldn't go back to normal? What if Bendy was stuck like this, scared, forever? Would you still want to be his friend?" Joey asked.
Audrey looked Bendy up and down. "...I don't know," she admitted. "...I...I think Bendy needs to stop hurting first. Then maybe."
Joey took a deep breath. He pulled himself up off of the ground and grasped the collar of his suit, caked in ink. He puffed out the color, slinging more ink onto his neck. He slicked back his hair, and smoothed out the wrinkles of his jacket and pants. "...well then. If somebody has to show Bendy the way to the end, then it should might as well be the one who stayed by his side the whole time. After all, somebody has to teach this spoiled child his place."
"J-Joey, you-"
Joey held up his hand and cut Henry off. He turned his back to him, turned to face away from Henry. "...you've pushed me too far, Henry. Too far into my own twisted nightmares. Forced me to look at these damned demons I've gone and created. Well. I guess I don't want to look at any of them anymore. You either. So. Go. Get out of here. Go to your family. Get out of this park. There's a ladder, in the back room, that should take you right up to the front. It's made of metal. Emergency exit. Should still be intact. It's the one thing I made sure was built sturdy in this place, in case I ever needed an escape. Claw your way out of hell. And Audrey, don't you forget that this park was good. That you had fun." His next breath was a shaky one. He searched his coat pocket for a cigar, pulling up nothing but soggy, gross remains. He flicked it aside. "...I did this to make people happy once," he whispered.
Allison grit her teeth. Something about his end ticked her off. He should be sobbing. Crying. Wailing and flailing on the ground as his end stared him in the face. But damn him, here he was, staring his own death in the face with that same smugness he'd carried with him like armor. She wanted him to feel the same pain she had, as selfish as it was. She wanted him to grovel and beg for his life. She wanted him to suffer. He didn't deserve to die in comfort.
"Allison, let's go," Tom said, pulling at her arm. "We need to get out of here before it starts. Or before he changes his mind."
"How do we know we can trust you?!" Allison said, yanking her arm away. "After all the other hell you've put us through, how the hell do you expect us to trust you?!"
"...I guess you don't really have a choice, do you Miss Allison? Just like always," Joey said.
"ROT IN HELL YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Allison screamed, and Tom grabbed her before she could make a run at Joey. Tears were pouring down her cheeks. "I HATE YOU SO MUCH! YOU'VE TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM ME! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!"
Joey made no movements. He didn't even turn to look at her. He just kept staring up at Bendy, letting Allison's words roll over him. By the time Tom and Henry had found the escape door that Joey had mentioned, Tom had to pull Allison away kicking and screaming, ugly sobs ripping through her.
"...my condolences. For everything," Joey said, far too quietly for her to hear.
"Get her out of here, Tom," Henry said. Tom nodded, and pushed Allison up the ladder and away. "You go too, Linda. Audrey, go with your mom."
"C-can I say goodbye to Bendy? Please, dad?" Audrey asked.
Henry frowned. "...alright, but don't get too close. Okay?"
Audrey nodded and slowly approached the lumbering beast. He didn't make any moves toward her, and just stared down at her, so small compared to his now massive form. Could he remember when he was smaller? The same size as her, just strong enough to lift her up and spin her around. So close he could hear each giggle bubble out of her chest.
When Audrey was close enough to where she could almost touch him, Bendy took a step back. She took another step forward, and this time, he didn't move.
"We're still friends, right Bendy? I think I made you mad earlier. But are we still friends?
AUDREY. FRIEND.
"Yeah! I want to still be your friend. But you're gonna go away for a while...right? Will you be back?" she asked.
Bendy was quiet.
BENDY...GO AWAY?
"Daddy. Bendy is sick. Right? So he has to go away to get better. But then, maybe someday, things can go back to normal?" Audrey asked.
Henry cleared her throat and nodded. He and Audrey had very different definitions of normal. Bendy being alive was all Audrey had ever known. But things had to change. Bendy couldn't exist anymore. The world had proven that it couldn't handle it. "R-right...things can go back. To how they were before. Before any of this started, before anything got out of hand," Henry lied.
SEE AUDREY...AGAIN?
Henry grit his teeth. He hadn't expected this to be so hard. But it was. Even as he was now, Henry could only be so repulsed by Bendy. Some creator spirit still held pride in the little dancing devil.
That thought struck him.
He was proud that he created Bendy. Despite everything. He knew he shouldn't be proud. After all of this death, this chaos, so much suffering, he was still proud. He started crying. He was proud. Proud of himself for creating Bendy, when he was in such a dark place in his life, when he had lost so much of his creativity and talent to the slog of the endless days of working, working under deadlines, under pressure, during a depression that had overtaken the nation, still, he had created something that had captured the hearts of so many. Not Joey. HIM. Henry. Henry Stein had created a figure that had brought so much joy and laughter to so many people, and he was so damned proud of that fact. Even if it was wrong, he didn't care.
"Bendy. I'm...glad that I created you. Thank you. For making people smile. I know...you just did your best," Henry said.
Bendy smiled. And Henry was reminded, one last time, of that first cartoon he'd drawn on his desk, a doodle in the corner of the paper, of an innocent smiling demon, happy to be born into the world for the first time.
Audrey waved goodbye to Bendy. He lifted up his hands, and slowly waved back to her. Like friends who would see each other the next day.
Linda grabbed Henry's arm. "You better be right behind me. Understand?"
Henry smiled. "I will be. I promise."
Linda nodded and turned away, leading Audrey to the ladder. Audrey looked over her shoulder at Bendy one last time, and then was gone.
And then it was just the three of them.
"...well Joey? Are you really going to quit? Are you really going to end this?" Henry asked.
"Yes old friend, I really am. I think it's time I retired."
Henry didn't know what to say. He didn't know if this was Joey finally trying to take accountability and pay for his sins, or if this was just another way for him to run and hide from his problems, avoid cleaning up the messes he's made. Or maybe this was a final gift to Henry, an apology for everything he'd done. He wasn't sure.
"Do you regret coming to work for me?" Joey asked.
"...I regret the people who had to die for our dreams," Henry answered.
"Heh. I guess that's a fair response." Joey turned around to face Henry fully. "...you better get going Henry. Before I change my mind."
"Maybe...you don't have to stay behind. Maybe there's a way to..." He trailed off. He could see already that nothing he said would change Joey's mind anymore. Forced to face his demons in the spotlight, to come face to face with every evil that he had done, Joey had been broken down to nothing but shattered remains of what the man once was. His dreams were scattered about his feet in the debris and shrapnel. The ink that once fueled his passions stained his eyes and was coating his lungs. Joey, like Bendy, was very much empty inside.
"Goodbye Henry," Joey said, and outstruck his hand.
Years ago, Henry had shaken this hand when he accepted the job.
He shook it again now. It felt exactly the same. Stern. Strong. Slightly too much pressure at the fingertips. It lingered too long, with a hint of desperation.
"...bye Joey."
Henry let go, and turned away from his friend one last time. As he made his way to the ladder, he pretended he didn't hear Joey start to cry.
Tom pulled Henry out of the ladder and up into Joey's studio office. Everyone was there, beat up, but still in one piece. Henry looked a wreck, or at least that's what Tom thought, like maybe he'd been cryin'. But far be it Tom to call that out now. They'd all had it rough. Pretty sure they all deserved a good cry, and once they were to safety, Tom thought he'd probably break down into tears himself.
"Let's hurry," Henry said. "Joey will probably only give us a few minutes before it begins. We'll want to get out of here well before then."
Everyone nodded, and they quickly ran through the studio. Much of it had been destroyed at this point, but their path was fairly clear as they headed out into the park. After a few minutes of running, Allison cried out. Tom grabbed her immediately, and everyone watched as the ink surrounding her dripped and drained off of her like rainwater. She gasped for breath, struggled to keep her eyes open amidst the pain.
Tom couldn't look away. He watched in awe as the woman he loved finally returned to him, as the ink dripped away to reveal Allison, REALLY Allison, laying before him.
Maybe he'd really start crying after all.
Before he could, he checked her waist. Checked the gunshot wound. But the bullet was gone, and he watched in shock as the final bits of ink receded and a lone bullet clanged to the ground. The hole was still there, but after so many years, it appeared the wound had somehow healed. The ink, like blood, had congealed around it, saving her life.
"Can you walk?" Henry asked her, as other parts of ink around the park started to move.
"She doesn't have to," Tom said, and bent down. He lifted her up with his arm, wishing he had two, but knowing one was enough. If he could get her back, he'd gladly give every limb he had. In his embrace, she was warm. This was the first time, really, he'd been able to hold her like this. Every other time, one of them had been cold. Now was exactly how it was supposed to be.
"I can walk," Allison said.
"No," Tom replied. "Let me...do this. Please. You've been so strong Allison. But one wrong move and those wounds could open back up. You've saved me countless times. Please let me be the hero just once."
Allison chuckled. "Okay."
The group slowly but surely made their way out of the park. As they walked passed holes and rivers of ink, they could see the black liquid pool downward, running up paths like reverse waterfalls toward the studio. Surprisingly, the park was quiet. Tom had expected to see bodies. Victims of this terrible event. But they hadn't seen any yet. There were no people around anymore. There was so much wreckage, he hated to think that there could be people buried underneath, but he couldn't stop to think of that now.
The televisions that once broadcast Joey's smiling faces were cracked, flickering on the ground. Plastic bags blew by, or got sucked up in the river of ink. And as the group continued, it slowly started to rain. The ink stuck to their clothing, their hair, swept off of them and up toward the studio. Allison closed her eyes against the coolness, feeling droplets trace her lips, her tongue. It was the sweetest thing she'd ever tasted.
"HEY! There's more survivors over there!"
Henry turned to see a group of firefighters standing on a roof, with a fallen tree leading up to them. There were other people there too, being escorted down and out of the building.
"Are any of you hurt?!" the man shouted.
"Y-yes," Tom shouted. "We need a medic for her, please!"
The man waved over a paramedic, who carefully carried down a stretcher. They set Allison down, and started to carry her away. "We'll get her to a hospital right away."
"C-Can I come with her in the ambulance? Please?" Tom asked.
"Sir, we only allow immediate family or-"
"Let him," Allison said quickly. "That man's my future husband. Let him."
"Alright," the man said, and Tom quickly followed after them as they carried Allison away. He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Pretty big bluff there, Miss Allison," he said, a smile twisting at the corner of his lips.
"Yeah, well...stay by my side and maybe it's not a bluff at all," she said back.
He smiled, grabbing her hand and tracing her hand with his thumb. Even as he crawled into the back of the ambulance with her, he never let go of her hand.
Henry helped his family up the log, lifted Audrey into the awaiting hands of the firefighters, who started checking each of them over for any other minor wounds. Other people were all there, safe, many wounded, but many alive too.
"When did you guys get here?" Henry asked.
"A little while ago, one of them toons damn started acting crazy, dragging people toward this tree, pulling people out of the crowd to follow him. Pretty soon they started to figure out that he was trying to get them to safety. Not sure where he ran off too though, but he sure saved a lot of people by getting them here, the front gates are all blocked. Now," the firefighter said. "Sir, was there anyone else with you? Were there any other survivors in the studio?"
Henry opened his mouth to speak, but right as he did, an explosion cracked through the sky behind them. Henry spun around to see the entire studio erupt into flames. The ink machine, it seemed, had finally met its end.
He closed his mouth again.
"No sir. If there was anyone else...I don't think they would have made it."
The man nodded. "Understood. We're going to keep checking for survivors, but we're going to ask you and your family to please get to safety."
Henry nodded, a little numbly, and ushered his family down and off of the building. The second his feet hit the sidewalk outside of the park, he felt the weight lift from his shoulders.
"Finally," he whispered, a few tears dripping down his cheeks. "Finally, it's over."
The (very short) final chapter of Welcome to Bendyland, Epilogue, will be released...the day after Christmas!
That's right! Thank you all for your unending patience! Because of it, I have already written the final chapter and will post it in just a couple days on December 26, as well as a final author's note (that nobody is obligated to read lol). The story isn't quite over yet, so stick around for the final chapter! I hope you liked the climax!
