Protag POV

The feelings of having the floor break apart underneath my feet and the weightlessness of falling down into a pit I couldn't climb out of were two things I was praying wouldn't happen, but even with all of my foresight, I still found myself being subjected to both of those things. Strangely enough, I didn't scream as the floor gave way and I felt myself falling into a place I had never hoped to be in, but rather, I was more stunned with shock than anything else. My body frozen with shock, powerless to do anything but let myself succumb to the will of gravity. Only for a few seconds though, as soon after, the shock that enveloped me would instantly be replaced with the feeling of crashing into the sea of ink that flooded the room below me. The sudden shift was radically different enough to snap the tense out of my joints, and I quickly pulled my head out of the lake it had sunk under, spitting out the ink I had nearly inadvertently swallowed. It wasn't a surprise that it tasted disgusting, almost like I was drinking rubber, while at the same time struggling to catch my breath. Not helping was the fact that the ink only reached up to my waist, so while it did help break my fall somewhat, I still hit the ground hard on my stomach when I landed, feeling like I was about to throw up, but that was the least of my concerns at the moment. With a bit of effort, I forced myself back up onto my feet, clutching the pain on my chest and feeling my mind racing with questions. That cloaked guy… what were they doing here? They must have been the one to turn on the ink machine, but why? What reason would they have to do that? My mind also jumped back to the last time I saw them, back at Freddy's. They sent the robots after us. Did they put up that invisible wall at the end of the hall, or was that always there? Could they… could they be trying to kill us? I didn't know, but I didn't have much time to think about it, as my thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of screaming, quickly getting louder by the second. Wait a second, those sound familiar. I looked up towards the source of the sound, and instantly realized who they belonged to.

"WOAH!" I yelped, and threw myself backwards as fast as I was able to, just to find the girls also fell down from the pit into the ink. I probably would have wondered why they also fell down here with me, but right now I was too concerned with their safety. Without a second thought, I pushed myself back through to where they landed, just as the girls' heads started bursting out from the ink. They were all covered with ink, spitting it out of their mouths, just like I was earlier. I noticed Monika first, and quickly held my hand out for her to grab. She wiped the ink out from her eyes and looked up to me, taking my hand as I helped her back up to her feet. Her other hand though, was rubbing her forehead. I guess that's what she hit the ground on. I quickly then did the same with Natsuki, who I saw next. By the time I had helped her though, both Yuri and Sayori had already helped each other up as well.

"Are you guys alright?" I asked concerningly. The girls all took a moment to catch their breath and tried to wipe the ink off their faces after what just happened. I noticed Sayori quickly perked up, as if she just remembered something. She yelped in fear, and after frantically looking around and splashing her hands around dove back down into the ink, soon coming back up with an ink covered Hat Kid in her arms, who was coughing up ink and looking incredibly weak. That's right, I forgot she couldn't swim, and the ink level was higher than her head, but thankfully she seemed okay.

"Yeah… I think so…" Monika responded after taking a few moments to compose herself, though not entirely sure of her answer.

"Alright, what the hell just happened?!" She questioned, rapid-firing questions in a panic. " Where are we?! What the hell was that thing?! Who the hell was that guy?!"

"Natsuki, please." Yuri said. "Let's just… try to calm down a bit, okay? I'm sure Protag will be able to explain everything."

"Not exactly." I admitted. "I'm still not sure who that guy standing at the end of the hall was or why they were here, but… the creature chasing us… That was Bendy, the ink demon." Everyone looked at me with a combination of shock and confusion.

"Wait, I thought he was the cute looking guy on the posters." Sayori said.

"He's supposed to be, but he was turned into a monster from the ink machine." I continued. "That's the reason why I was so worried about it turning on. I was hoping… maybe if we could avoid having him appear, we could make it through this place without any issues, but now with that cloaked guy here…" I felt my voice trail off.

"...Perhaps it's one of those moments of inevitability." Yuri pondered. "Something that will always find a means of occurring, regardless of our attempts to prevent it."

"...Maybe." I agreed, not knowing any other options. I crossed my arms. We all thought to ourselves for a moment, trying to come to terms with this situation. At this point, we all had mostly composed ourselves after barely escaping Bendy earlier. Hat Kid shook her hat to try and get the ink off, but to no avail, while Sayori helped wipe the ink out from her face.

"So what do we do now?" Monika asked me. Without having an immediate answer for her, I started looking around the room we landed in. Besides the excessive amounts of ink we were standing in that came up to our waist, the walls looked identical to the ones upstairs, there was a oversized dresser leaning against the wall, a set of shelves with a broken cassette tape player on it, and an valve connected to a large drainage pipe resting in a corner. With no other options, I pushed myself through the ink over towards it and cranked the valve until it couldn't turn anymore. Thankfully, as a result, the ink began to drain, freeing our legs from the liquid.

"Thank god. That stuff is cold." I heard Natsuki say, as she shook some leftover ink off her leggings. To our left laid an open door frame. I turned back over towards the rest of the group.

"I guess there's only one way to go." I told them anxiously. The others all nodded in a pinch of hesitation and we all started making our way past the frame and down the hall ahead of us. It was dark, with only a single, flickering light at the far end of the hall to light our way forward, the holes and cracks in the walls not helping in the slightest. The floor creaked as we walked, ink puddles splattered whenever we stepped on them, and despite the 'Danger keep out' hanging above the door frame ahead of us, we had no choice but to head down the stairs and make a right, where we hurried past an ink shower coming from above us and found another set of stairs into another room flooded with ink.

"Oh great…" Natsuki complained, but relented and stepped into the ink with us. Sayori hesitated for a moment, looking down at Hat Kid standing next to her. She seemed nervous about entering the liquid, so Sayori, realizing this, kneeling down for her to climb up onto her shoulder, like a piggyback race. It looked super adorable, but unfortunately, we didn't have time to gaze at them. The next part of the hall featured another valve for us to turn, which dropped the ink even further down, and more set of stairs for us to climb down. We persisted, being careful not to slip on any leftover goo, and continued down the dimly lit, winding path, filled only with wooden barrels and boxes, planks, webs and the chills that filled the air. One more drainage valve late at the end of the last hall finally revealed a door for us to walk through, entering another room with a single, orange light beaming into the middle, '.

"Woah!" Sayori yelped, taken aback by the wall to our left, which was vandalized with large, black text reading, 'THE CREATOR LIED TO US.

"Oh god…" Natsuki said.

"I've seen this same message before." Yuri admitted. "Who is the creator they speak of?"

"Hmm, maybe it could be whoever first made the machine." Monika considered. "Or perhaps the one who made those cartoons. I believe the name was 'Joey Drew', if I recall what Mr. Peterson… said…" Her voice got quiet as her words caught up to her, a heavy feeling having filled the silent air.

"I hope he's alright." Yuri said softly.

"... I do as well." Monika replied after a short pause.

"What do you think happened to him, Protag?" Sayori asked me. I could tell she was hoping for a reassuring answer, but I didn't have any to give her.

"I… don't know." I replied with the truth, sadly killing her optimism. I looked over towards the table and saw an old, dust covered, makeshift axe resting at the corner. I picked it up and looked down at it in my arms.

"Only one thing we can do now." I spoke out loud, turning towards the others. The rest of the group was understandably nervous and concerned, but they knew just as much as I did that there was only one way forward, and nodded in response. Taking a deep breath, I turned around and noticed the other side had a pathway, sloppy boarded by randomly placed wooden planks. Gripping the axe tighty, I stepped over and began chopping open a path for us to walk through, eventually making it to another room. But this one was different from the others…

And something was clearly wrong here…

When we entered through the door, we were surprised to see the room past the wooden arch was only lit up by a few wax candles, surrounding the edges of a large circle drawn with ink on the floor resting in the center. Out of both curiosity and lack of other options, we slowly stepped closer to see what the circle contained. We recognized what it was as soon as we got a better look at it. A pentagram, but rather than a star, the face of Bendy was etched into the center of the circle. Not surprising, of course, Bendy was the ink demon after all, but actually being here, feeling the heat coming from the candles, seeing it with my own eyes rather than behind a screen was a truly horrifying realization. Not to mention what else rested in this room along with us. In the midst of all the other random objects and posters scattered across the room, a series of four, beige coffins were leaning against the walls, completely blank save for one single name each, carved into the fronts of each coffin…

Monika… Yuri… Natsuki… Sayori…

no way…

"Wha-what is this?!" Yuri exclaimed, backing away horrified by what she was seeing.

"Are these… meant for us?" Monika asked hesitantly, coming to the same conclusion I did, placing her hand on the coffin with her letter on it, as if to confirm it was really there.

"What the hell is going on here?" Natsuki stuttered. I could see she was visibly shaking from the sight, trying desperately to keep her composure, her eyes widened with fear as they darted around the room. Sayori gasped, unable to find the words to speak, instead just turning to face me. Her face was filled with dread and fright, her eyes were watering and her hands were clasped together by her chest. Hat Kid, on the other hand, just seemed confused about the whole thing.

"We're not- T-they're not-" Natsuki's voice struggled to speak, panic filling her breath. "We're not gonna die here, are we?!"

"No, w-we won't." Yuri placed her hands on Natsuki's shoulders, attempting to calm her down. "We were never meant to be here. There's no way these can really be for us if we aren't a part of this game…" She herself was hesitant about what she was saying, like she was having a hard time believing her own words.

"What… what's gonna happen to us?" I heard Sayori whimper from behind me.

"I don't know…" A tense Monika responded anxiously, just as nervous as the rest of us. "Who could have done something like this?"

"This… this isn't right." I said, after taking the moment to mentally process what we were seeing. I stepped closer towards the coffins, my voice catching everyone's attention.

"These shouldn't have your names on them." I told them. "These were supposed to be for the employees of the studio."

"So then why the hell do they have our names on them!" Natsuki nervously shouted.

"I don't know…" It was the only thing I could respond with. I was at a complete loss of words beyond that. An eerie silence fell upon the room, as we all needed to take some time to come to terms about this. First Mr. Peterson and now this? Just what was happening here? Who would put the girls' names on these, and more importantly, why? Bendy maybe? I doubt it. Could it be that cloaked figure again? I wasn't completely sure, but I didn't know enough to say yes or no to anything yet. Once again, nothing was adding up. Every time I think I know what's about to happen, more questions are added to the pile. While I was still in the middle of my thoughts, I heard Sayori speak up again.

"What are we gonna do now?" She asked, her voice still trembling. I took a long, deep breath, looking down at the axe in my hands, knowing they weren't going to like my answer.

"Well…" I started. "There's really only one thing we can do." The others quickly caught on to what I meant.

"You're not seriously telling me we're gonna keep walking towards our own deaths, are you?" Natsuki questioned.

"What other choice do we have?" Monika replied. "Whatever the case may be, we can't stay here. All we can do now is to just keep going for the time being."

"She's right." Yuri admitted, walking over to us. "Whoever did this knows we're here. They're most likely looking for us as we speak. The longer we stay here, the better chance they'll have to find us. It's best we find our way out as soon as we can." Natsuki paused, not having an answer for her, before sighing in defeat and reluctantly followed behind her.

"Oh… okay." Sayori hesitantly agreed last. I could tell she was definitely uncomfortable with the idea however. Her body was still tense and her expression seemed dour. Monika stepping over to her

"Sayori." Monika said to her. "I know you're nervous, but I promise, no matter what happens, I'm not going to let anything bad happen to us, okay?" She gave her a warm smile. Sayori looked down towards the floor for a moment, thinking to herself, before looking back up at her.

"...okay." Sayori replied, returning with a slightly more hopeful grin.

Monika looked over to me with an expression of determination and nodded. Knowing what she meant, I returned the gesture with my own determined expression, and walked over to the door, breaking down the boards that blocked it. I knew they were all still anxious about continuing, but they were right. We really didn't have any other choice, but I did know one thing.

I wasn't going to let anything happen to them.

Another dimly lit corridor awaited us as the door opened, and we all stepped through once again. With no other way to go, we kept moving forward, down the stairs underneath a rusty metal sign that read "Utility Shaft 9", where a plank of wood cracked and fell down from the ceiling, causing us all to jump back in shock. Thankfully, that was it, so we breathed a sigh of relief and stepped over it, where we were greeted by yet another message on the wall.

HE WILL SET US FREE. A cutout of bendy, candles, cans of soup, empty bowls and a banjo rested by it, but I knew exactly who they belonged to.

The next room we came into was much larger than the ones we traveled through earlier, with more random objects scattered around the place and lit up with more candles on the floor.

"What is this place?" I heard Monika ask from behind me, as I walked over towards one of the walls, where a power junction rested, covered in ink dripping from a pipe on the ceiling.

"We should be heading towards the music department right now." I replied.

"Music? Ah, for the cartoons, right?" Yuri said.

"Exactly." I confirmed. "We're not going to be alone though, so we'll need to-." Before I could finish my thought, I was suddenly interrupted by a loud clicking sound of a tape player, turning around to see it was in Sayori's hands. The tape began playing, revealing it was a recording of an older, whispering male voice.

"He appears from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me. The figure of ink that shines in the darkness. I see you, my savior. I pray you hear me. Those old songs, yes, I still sing them. For I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept into your final loving embrace. But, love requires sacrifice. Can I get an amen?"

"Who was that?" Natsuki asked, but before she could get an answer, the voice suddenly rang out again.

"I said, can I get an amen?" This time though, it didn't come from the player. It echoed in the halls, coming from deeper within the studio.

"Ahh! Amen, Amen, Amen!" Sayori yelped repeatedly in an attempt to please the mysterious voice, dropping the player in her hands, which broke upon landing on the floor. The others all gasped along with her, jumping in surprise and looking down the hall ahead of us where the voice rang from. Hat Kid instinctively brought out her umbrella, gripping it tightly in her hand just in case.

"Who was that voice?" Yuri asked. "Is he here?"

"Sammy Lawrence." I answered. The others all looked at me with a confused expression. It took me a second to realize they had no idea who I was talking about.

"The music director." I explained. "He's here in the building with us. He worships Bendy like a god, and he's going to try to sacrifice us to him."

"He's going to what?!" Monika shouted.

"No way!" Natsuki stated, flabbergasted. "Please tell me you don't actually mean that."

"I wish I didn't." I replied, gripping the axe tightly. "But I know when he's going to try it, so I can make sure it doesn't happen." That seemed to help calm them down a bit.

"Alright, at least we're one step ahead of them then." Monika admitted.

"Yeah." Natsuki replied. "That way we can catch them by surprise when they try it."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that." Yuri told us. "In any case, we should keep moving."

"Right." I agreed, and we continued down the single path laid for us. The hall started to get much darker as we took a corner, stepping away from the light source, and we soon found ourselves standing in front of yet another corridor flooded with ink. Begrudgingly, we were forced to step through it.

"How much of this stuff does this place even need?" Natsuki questioned as we pushed through the viscous liquid.

"Considering that they're resurrecting cartoons into physical bodies, possibly more than we think." Yuri pondered.

"Even still, they could at least do a better job not getting it all over the place."

"That I don't disagree with." As we grew closer to the blinking fluence light that beamed on the other side of the hall, a shadow began to grow along the wall in front of us, soon revealing itself to a human shaped figure holding yet another bendy cutout. This figure, however, was comprised entirely of ink, save for the torn, beige overalls he wore.

Sammy…

"Hello! Hey, can yo-" Sayori started calling out to him, quickly trying to push herself through the ink towards him. Crap! Sayori, no!

"Wait!" I yelled, instantly throwing my arm in front of her so she couldn't keep going. "That's him!"

"Eep!" Sayori cried, releasing who I meant. I turned back towards the figure, waiting for him to keep walking by, like he did in the game, but something different happened this time. He stopped. Shit. I could only watch as his face, or whatever was left of it, slowly shifted to face us, revealing the wooden bendy mask that served as a replacement for his face. I could feel my body growing tense and the chills running down my back as I was forced to bear witness to the soullessness of his gase, even though he was wearing a mask, it still felt like his eyes, if he even had any, were piercing right through me. It was a horrid feeling.

"Ah, I see… How curious." His voice echoed throughout the hall, staring at us for a moment, before turning back away and continuing on his way. He was gone, but the nerve wracking feeling that washed over me didn't vanish for another moment. What just happened? That wasn't supposed to happen. Why did he stop? Was it because I spoke up? What was he so curious about? Whatever it was, I didn't want to know, but I had a feeling I was going to find out.

"Is… is he gone?" I heard Sayori ask.

"...yeah." I replied. "For now, at least." Forcing myself to regain my composure, I pushed forwards, the girls following close behind, making it out of the ink-filled hallway. Sayori set Hat Kid back down on the floor, and we all glanced down the path Sammy walked down, only to find… the cutout resting on a closed off wall painted with another pentagram, a shelf stocked full of unopened soupcans was the only other thing present, the inky figure having completely vanished from sight.

"What the hell?" Natsuki uttered. "He was just here, right?!"

"Did he… disappear?" Monika asked, baffled by what we were seeing.

"Looks like it." I said. "He'll show up again later, though."

"Well, if it's just some regular ol' guy, we can take him no problem." Natsuki stated confidently.

"Um, guys?" I heard Yuri say, pointing to something behind a corner on the other side of the hall. "You might want to see this." We quickly ran over towards what she was referring to, and what we saw shattered what little morale we had left. The gate that separated us from the rest of the studio… or at least what was left of it. In the game, we were meant to press switches and use the lever next to this gate to open it, but here we were, looking at the massive hole that had mysteriously blown out of the center of it.

"What happened here?" Monika questioned. Yuri stepped closer and held her hand next to the remains.

"...it's warm." She pointed out, turning back towards us. "Whatever it was, it happened recently." I stepped over to her side. She was right, it was still steaming from whatever happened to it. Something had blasted open the gate from this side.

"Do you know what could have done this?" Yuri asked me. I shook my head.

"No clue." I admitted. "Nothing that I can think of ." My gaze moved up towards the path that laid behind the gate.

"Whatever did this… is probably up ahead." I struggled to say. The others I could tell were equally nervous about continuing, but if we were going to get out of here, we had to keep moving. I swallowed my anxiety, and stepped over the remains of the gate, ushering the others to follow. The blast that nearly leveled the gate had also taken out the wooden planks that barricaded the door frame past it, which led us into another open room, which the wall ahead conveniently labeled for us as the music department, complete with music records hanging on said wall.

"It's so dark in here." Sayori stated. "I wonder how far down we are."

"Beats me." Natsuki replied, crossing her arms. "I just hope we don't have to stay here much longer." We all started looking around the empty, open and barely lit room, which split off into multiple directions. Sitting on a shelf near the labeled wall was another abandoned tape player. I took it from the shelf and hit play, curious what message was left behind this time. It was Sammy's voice again. We all stayed silent to hear what it had to say.

"So first, Joey installs this Ink Machine over our heads. Then it begins to leak. Three times last month, we couldn't even get out of our department because the ink had flooded the stairwell.

Joey's solution? An ink pump to drain it periodically.

Now I have this ugly pump switch right in my office.

People in and out all day.

Thanks, Joey. Just what I needed. More distractions.

These stupid cartoon songs don't write themselves, you know."

The tape clicked to signify it shut off, and I placed it back on the shelf where it was before.

"Man, I can't imagine what this ink machine must have been like for the people working here…" Monika said softly. "Then what became of them after. Being turned into monsters against their will… it's just awful." A heavy feeling filled the air, all of us looking away and towards the ground unconformably.

"...I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for them, Monika." Yuri said to her after a moment of silence. "The only thing we can do now is just to keep moving." Monika sighed in defeat.

"...You're right." She sadly admitted. "We should find a way out of here."

"That guy said the stairs were flooded, right?" Natsuki pointed out. "If I had to guess, we're probably going to have to find that switch."

"Exactly." I confirmed her suspicions.

"Do you know where it is?" Sayori asked curiously.

"Uhh…" I placed my hand to my chin as my gaze shifted around the room towards the different paths, my memory failing me. "God, it's been awhile, umm…"

"I hope this doesn't mean we have to split up again…" Sayori said nervously. Monika noticed her concern.

"I agree with Sayori." Monika stated. "It's best we all stick together for the time being."

"I'm in the same boat." Natsuki responded. "Last thing we need is something like last time happening again, especially with that guy walking around."

"Of course." Yuri agreed. "Although it's best we don't stay here for long. With how many different threats there seems to be in this place, it's only a matter of time before they find out we're here."

"Agreed." Monika replied. "We should get going as soon as we can."

"Oh, that's right!" I said, snapping my fingers as my memory suddenly came back to me. I ran over towards the nearest path to our right, containing the flooded staircase, alongside a lever that turned on the power.

"If we flip this switch here…" I started, pulling the lever down, which made a cranking sound. The lights flickered back on in the main room, followed by the loud rumbling of a metal gate opening on the other side. I quickly readied the axe in my hands, remembering what was to happen. "Then…"

…nothing.

"Then what?" Monika asked. Everyone looked confused. Huh, that's weird. Normally, this is when we would get attacked by those inky, blob creatures in the game, right? So why then didn't they…

"Never mind." I told her, shaking my head and letting my arms fall back down to my sides. "Let's keep going." She nodded in agreement, and we all turned and started walking down the new path that opened for us. A somber, old timey trumpet tune started to play from the speakers, which I suppose fit the musical theme of the place, but at the same time, also gave away that we were here. We probably should get moving quick. Continuing forwards, ignoring the branching paths we came across, at the end of the hall rested Sammy's office, the window showing the lever we needed to drain the stairs. Only one problem, the door was blocked by a tide of ink rushing from the ceiling, and the window itself was also boarded up. I tried breaking through with my axe, but nothing happened. I guess that means we can't just climb our way inside then.

"Of course it's never gonna be that easy, huh?" Natsuki stated about our current predicament. Monika and Yuri both noticed yet another message written on the wall inside the office.

"It's time to believe?" Yuri read out loud. "Believe what exactly?"

"I'm not sure." Monika said, thinking to herself. "Protag said this 'Sammy' person treats that ink creature like a god, right? Maybe that's who this is referring to."

"Perhaps." Yuri admitted softly. "Although, I must wonder what would have happened to cause someone to worship an entity like that, especially one they themselves helped to create…"

"Hey guys!" Sayori called out, pointing towards the flooded doorway. "Another one of those tape thingies!" She was right. Another tape player was sitting on a shelf opposite the office. She reached over to grab it, and we all listened in as she played it. This voice was new, however, belonging to a more condensing, annoyed sounding man.

"So I go to get my dust pan from the hall closet the other day and guess what? I can't find my stupid keys. It's like they disappeared into thin air or something.

All I can think of is that they must have fallen into one of the garbage cans as I was making my rounds last week.

I just hope nobody tells Sammy. Because if he finds out I lost my keys again, I'm outta here."

The tape ended, and Sayori placed it back on the shelf.

"Sounds like if we want to get this door open, we're going to have to find those keys." Monika summarized. "Let's double back and see if we missed them somewhere." However, before we had a chance to start looking, Hat Kid suddenly perked up, as if she just realized something, and quickly started rummashing her hands through her pockets, pulling out a pair of rusted, silver keys, taking all of us by surprise.

"Woah! Where did you find those?" Yuri asked.

"Well, that's convenient." Natsuki chuckled. "Not bad, Kid!"

"Good job, Hat Kid!" Sayori cheered. Hat Kid blushed, seeming proud of herself. I'm guessing she noticed them at some point while we weren't looking. I wonder what compelled her to pick them up. She handed the keys to me, which I took and used them on the door to our right… or least, I was going to use them, but strangely enough, the door was already unlocked.

"That doesn't make any sense…" I thought to myself. Confused, curious and nervous, I threw the door open, revealing it to be a storage closet, with more soup cans, a bowl filled with… something, and most importantly, a broken tape player… wait, broken?

"Oh no!" I said distressingly, fumbling with the pieces falling apart in my hands. "Dammit! That's not good!"

"What's wrong?" Monika asked.

"This tape isn't supposed to be broken!" I told them, slowly going into a panic, as I showed them the tape player. "Someone must have come in here and smashed it! It's supposed to tell us the code we need to progress!" The girls all gasped in shock.

"You're kidding!" Natsuki yelled in frustration. "Now what are we supposed to do!?"

"I don't know." I admitted to them. "I guess we're gonna just have to brute force the code then."

"Where were we supposed to put the code into?" Monika asked.

"In the recording area, back by the entrance." I told them, placing the pieces of the tape back inside the closet and stepped back out into the hall.

"Come on!" I gestured for them to follow, and we made our back down the hall back into the main area, and headed through the door frame on our left, which led into another large room. This room was wide open, with a high ceiling that even featured a overlooking booth above us to our right, filled with multiple bendy cutouts. To our left was the main stage, filled with some instruments, wooden chairs, stands for music sheets, microphones hanging from the ceiling, and a large screen meant to have something projected on it. In front of us was another small recording area, separated from the rest by a glass frame, above it featured a light sign flashing the word 'recording', and a large painted face of bendy staring down ominously at the entirety of the room.

"So, what do we have to do here?" Sayori asked me, as all of us studied the room surrounding us. My eyes shot between the main stage, the booth, and the gate that blocked where we needed to go, trying to decide how best to go about this.

"Okay…" I said, after taking a moment to think. I turned over to the others, who all looked at me with curiosity in their expressions.

"Here's what we need to do." I announced. "There's a bunch of different instruments on the stage. The code we need to put in is a randomly generated combination of four of those instruments, which can have the same one more than once actually, but it has to be played in a set order. Problem is though… the tape was broken, so we don't know what the code was. The only thing I do know is that the projector up on the upstairs booth needs to be on while we put the code in, but it only stays on for so long."

"So, since we don't know this code, what would we have to do then?" Yuri asked.

"At this point, all we can do is just try every combination until we get it." I unfortunately had to admit.

"That's gonna take forever, though." Natsuki pointed out. "And who knows when that Sammy guy's gonna come back."

"Right, then there's no time for us to waste. We best get this done quickly." Monika stated.

"I'll run up and flick the projector, then holler down to you guys." I told them. "Once I do, just start playing."

"Understood." Yuri said.

"Alright!" Monika declared. "Everyone, grab an instrument!" All the girls hurried to the stage and stood by one of the instruments, but right before I turned around to leave, I felt someone grab my shirt sleeve.

"Wait!" Sayori stopped me. "Are you sure you want to go alone? What if something happens to you?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll bring this along with me just in case." I told her, holding up the axe in my grasp.

"Oh… okay." She said, though still a bit unsure. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will." I promised. She then returned to her spot on the stage, and I turned around and started making a break towards the way we came in from.

"I'll let you know as soon as I get there!" I yelled, looking over my shoulder back towards the group, before turning my attention back to my full sprint, dashing through the path into the main hall, running around the wall toward a flight of stairs on the right side, hurrying up them and into the narrow booth, filled by a number of bendy cutouts. There had to be at least a good dozen or so in here! So many in fact, that they almost completely covered up the window down to see into the recording area, and surrounded the projector I needed to get to. I could have sworn there wasn't supposed to be this many here. There was like, what, five or so at most in the game, and there were also a couple buckets of ink resting on the desk on the other side of the room as well, which I definitely don't recall being there before. Something definitely wasn't adding up here, but I knew I didn't have much time to think about it, nor did I have much choice. In any case, I'll hopefully be able to get out of here before something bad ha-

Monika POV

Seconds of waiting soon turned into minutes, and with each one that passed by, I found myself starting to get more and more worried. Surely it wouldn't have taken Protag this long to reach the booth, right? I looked up towards where they should be for what had to have been the hundredth time in these last few moments, but just like every time beforehand, I was greeted only by the cold, unmoving stares of several wooden cartoon demons, hiding their malice behind their innocent looking grins. I shifted around in the uncomfortably firm chair I sat in, near the piano resting in the corner opposite the main stage. To distract myself, from my ever rising concern, I tried to focus my attention towards the others on said stage. Sayori sat by the banjo, her hands clasped in her lap as her feet swayed. Natsuki leaned against the wall next to the single large drum, her arms crossed and her expression emanating with impatience. Yuri sat in the front row of chairs holding the violin in her arm, reading the sheet music present on the nearby stands. I could tell she was also starting to get nervous, as she then glanced back at me with the same look of uneasiness I wore. Hat Kid, on the other hand, was sitting down, playing with the banjo, which I thought looked absolutely adorable, but sadly wasn't enough to keep my thoughts at bay. Just what was taking Protag so long? Could something have happened to them? I contemplated going out and seeing if I could find them, but I was able to withhold my brash judgment. Perhaps, it was just taking them longer than expected, but I couldn't help but wonder, just how long was too long?

Just then, as if out of nowhere, my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the loud, echoing, piercing sound of the projector clicking on, the light shining above the recording stage onto its designated spot on the wall. I gasped, my heart skipping a beat at the sudden noise. My gaze shot up towards the booth once again, expecting Protag to give us the cue to start playing our instrument, but to my ever rising dread, that cue never came. Instead, the projector clicked again soon after, the light vanishing as quickly as it appeared, and to our surprise, the metal gate straight across from me started to open. We all were frozen for a moment, exchanging glances of confusion, nervousness and concern, but soon all of us quickly ran over towards the newly opened area, looking inside to see a corridor littered with spider webs, multiple banjos, a single violin and a series of empty shelves that almost stretched out all the way down the hall, only broken up by the single wooden pillar on each wall, a giant rusted, vent cover greeting us at the end, along with a light shining from another part of the room to the right near it.

"What just happened?" a stunned Natsuki questioned.

"I'm… not sure." Yuri hesitantly responded. "The gate just… opened on its own?"

"But, we didn't even play the instruments!" Sayori pointed out uneasily. "And Protag's not back yet either!"

"Yeah, but…" I agreed, my voice starting to panic. "But this doesn't make any sense! They would have said if the gate was just supposed to open like this, right?"

"Yea, they should have." Natsuki agreed softly. "But that still doesn't explain what's going on here."

"Do you think something might have happened to them?" Yuri asked me.

"I hope not…" I answered nervously, my chest feeling tight with fear. "But we can't just stand here and do nothing either!"

"Then we have to go make sure they're okay!" Sayori declared, albeit she was understandably worried.

"Right!" Yuri and I nodded in agreement.

"Uh, guys?" Natsuki said, taking a step back away from the open passage, pointing down towards something on the floor. My gaze followed where her finger was aimed at to see a puddle of ink… moving across the ground! It splashed and splattered as it slid across the floor, moving like some sort of freakish parasite. I found myself following its trail almost unconsciously, my gaze fixed upon its black matter as it went, eventually reaching the area the light shined from, stopping in front of a series of pipes, one of which was labeled as "Flow", with a valve resting on the one in the middle. This whole area looked like some kind of office. I wonder who worked here. Sammy maybe, but then why would he need to be so far from everyone else?

The ink blot near the pipes began to ripple, and something quickly arose from it from the puddle. It was s-some sort of ink creature! It seemed to resemble a human figure, but it was made entirely of the liquid. Its body was slender, its arms were long and thin, and it only went down to the waist, its legs still trapped within the splatter. The worst of it however, was its face, or lack thereof. Only gaps of where eyes and mouth should be remained, but nothing was there to fill them. It moved irregularly, the sounds of goo splashing and shifting were heard whenever it contorted its body. It was a truly unsettling sight, made only worse when it noticed us watching it.

Within less than a half second, it snapped its neck to look behind itself. That next moment seemed to feel like an eternity. Even with its nonexistent eyes, I could still feel the cold, emptiness of its gaze as we exchanged stares, neither of us willing to make a move. My limbs went stiff, and my chest was beating like crazy. I felt frozen in place, only able to silently pray that the creature wasn't violent. Thankfully, it only lasted for a few moments, as the creature seemed to lose interest, snapping its neck back to face the valve, and bringing its arms up to turn it, the rusted metal creaking as it did so. Then, as soon as it appeared, it sank back down into the ink bolt, which in turn, disappeared into the cracks of the wooden floor below.

"What… was… that?" Natsuki struggled to ask.

"I- I don't know." was Yuri's only response. Before we could say any else, we heard several more splashes coming from behind us, back in the recording area. Could it be more of those creatures, or something else even worse? As much as I was worried of what the source could be, I knew we didn't have a choice, as it was our only way out of here. My eyes turned back towards the wall in front of us, an ominous message awaiting us.

SING A HAPPY SONG

WHISTLE A MERRY TUNE

WAIT FOR HIS ARRIVAL

HE'S COMING VERY SOON

… I didn't like the sound of that.

"We need to get out of here…" I uttered out loud. Without a second thought, we hurried back the way we came, but as soon as we stepped out from the hallways, the gate slammed itself shut.

"Ahh!" We gasped. The room was now covered in ink puddles and wooden outcuts of the Cartoon Demon, globs of ink poured over their faces. My expression turned to one of pure horror, as more of those creatures rose from their ink bolt. They hallowed and roared at us, crawling along the ground with their hands straight for where we stood.

"Hat Kid!" I heard Sayori yell, and I noticed the hat wearing girl standing in front of us, her umbrella held out. She was trying to protect us, but I could tell she was just as terrified as the rest of us. She tried to swing at the creatures, managing to strike a few of them, causing them to collapse, breaking apart into small drops of ink, but every time she was able to knock one down, more would take its place, eventually filling nearly the entire room. My legs began to shake, my breathing became erratic and my heart began to race, as we now found ourselves literally trapped in a corner. That wasn't even the worst of it either, as the many cutouts littered across the room began to shake, the sound of wooden planks breaking apart shot through our ears as they began to move! Their hands, arms, legs and neck all snapping to give themselves joints, and they broke free from their stands, joining the ink creatures surrounding us. They move incredibly unnaturally and disjointed, legs bent, elbow pointed up and hand outstretched, like their ability to move seemed both brand new and well familiar to them at the same time. The terrifying group of monsters grew closer and closer, forcing us back further and further until our backs were touching the wall. We were completely defenseless, nothing we could do but brace for what was to come.

However, it never came. Rather, the monsters stopped, lowered their arms and stepped to the side, creating a sort of path to walk down.

But to my horror, it wasn't for us, for out of the shadows, a figure revealed itself.

Sammy…

Slowly stepping down the newly made path, his figure towered over the creatures that seemingly served him. I felt my heart skipping beats, the air getting sucked from my lungs, and my eyes widening with fright as his imposing figure grew closer and closer. In his hand rested a rusted metal axe. He didn't say a word, but I realized exactly how he got it.

"Protag…" I mouthed in silence. He finally came to a stop just steps before reaching us. I could only stare as he slowly brought his free hand up in a fist, the ink creatures returning to their places in front of us, crowding us against the wall.

"You may rest easy, my little sheep." He said. "It's time for bed. Now…"

He flicked his fingers towards us.

"...sleep."

HURRRRRRRRAGH!

My vision went black.

{Error} {Error}

I had grown tired of the monotony of these endless halls. The creaking of the floors for every step, the sea of black liquid that surrounded me, coursing and corroding whatever was left of this…thing. The perpetual shade of sepia tone that masked every corner. The sheer state of disarray, seeming as if the very walls could collapse at any moment, and the face of the devil that covered the walls. Just what was this place, and why did I feel like I could have belonged here?

How fitting. I escaped from one maze, only to find myself in another…

I had to focus. I was not here to sightsee, for my goal was still not yet in sight. The path that laid before me continued deeper into this facility. While I admit, it may have seemed foolish to wander aimlessly, I knew someone had followed this path before me. The ink would not still be flowing if this place was truly abandoned, but if there were no humans here, what then filled these halls?

This ink… it filled these halls. It surrounded me, seeping within the cracks of the suit, locking the leg joints, freezing the rotting bones of the man inside, causing pain like which I have not felt in how many years. It was a torturous feeling, I could not stand it! Regardless, I persisted, knowing every agonizing step brought me closer to what I desire. It poured from the metal remains as I brought myself out from the black river, leaving a trail behind as I walked.

That's when I noticed something peculiar. This metal gate was blown open just recently. I was truly not alone here. I continued my path, entering another area of the building. A music department, as stated by the markings on the wall. Music? What for? This demon creature, perhaps? Just what was it? I looked down towards the ground. More trails, leading from another room down towards a flight of stairs. There was something else along with it, a bright yellow piece of cloth, standing out amongst the homogenous colors. Studying it between my fingers, I've seen this before. They were here. She was here. The trail is still fresh, she could not have gotten far.

What? A noise halted me in my tracks. The sound of something struggling to inhale. It came from behind me. I turned to see… two creatures, both made of ink! Human in shape, cut from the waist down, dragging themselves with their frail arms. I reached inside the holes in my chest, and with a grunt of effort, freed the butcher knife from within me. The first creature brought its arm up, hoping to strike me, but I quickly slashed through it, the blade cutting through the creature with little effort, as it split apart, collapsing into droplets pieces that littered the ground. The other howled in anger as it tried to avenge the first, but no later did I drive the knife through its skull, bisecting its head before it too burst into puddles of ink, sinking into the floor below.

Creatures made of ink? Where did they come from? What made them? Their human shape… there must have been workers here before, but none are here anymore. Then, in that case…

This isn't just a gospel. This place is a tomb. The dead being turned into monsters. Death seems to follow me wherever I go. My eyes glanced down towards the blade in my hands, the dried blood stains bringing back memories of incidents from so many years ago. I felt it begin to hunger, craving flesh once more. In time, I will grant it what it desires.

Hmm, perhaps I was meant to come here after all.

Placing the knife back in its resting place, I turned back around to follow the trail, which led down the stairs through another open door, which led to a series of seemingly random corridors. Another path for me to follow, and follow I did. It twisted and turned, dividing into multiple paths, ink pouring from every crevice, and as I walked, the trail began to thin, before ultimately vanishing into a hole in the wall. No matter, I find them soon enough. I began my search for the trail once again, but instead, I found something else. Within one of the many halls, laid a series of large footprints, each of which were at least twice the size of my own. Like with the last trail, these prints were fresh. Something had just come down this way. Without another guide, I followed this new path, coming across a series of broken pipes torn from the walls, ink was rushing in from the open tubes, filling the corridor. I kneeled down near one to get a closer look. Indents on the ends showed that whatever this was had crushed them in their grasp. No person could have done this. Another one of those creatures perhaps? I stood up to continue my search, but as I did, the floor began to creak and bend. The wood underneath me was breaking apart, and before I could realize it, my foot broke through. I attempted to free it, but it was trapped within the ground, and soon enough, the rest of the blackened floor gave way. Beneath me now rested a river of ink, surrounded by giant metallic caverns that led only to darkness. I reached out to grab hold of the ground where I once stood, but it was too late. I did not scream, but rather froze in shock, as I found myself crashing into the sea below. The ink quickly swallowed me, the black liquid invading and enveloping what was left of me. I could flail my arms, trying desperately to escape, but my efforts were in vain. It was this damn suit! Whatever light shined through slowly began to disappear as I sank deeper and deeper, the sea taking hold of me, engulfing the insides of the suit. Soon enough, it was all I felt.

No, I can not let this happen! I must find them! I will find her! I will… not…

The man known as William Afton finally died that day. The pain and torment he caused upon others, after so many years, have now finally been laid to rest.

...

However, this was not the end.

Someone worse… something worse, crawled out from the ink.