Word spread like wildfire that a child inside Joey Drew Studios was sent by the Ink Demon, and countless Searchers and Lost Ones were eager to see if the rumors were true. Sure enough, there was a young boy born from the ink of Bendy living in the village. Intrigued, each soul trapped in the studio was insistent to meet Ben, believing that the prophecy of "He will set us free" was Bendy giving a sign by bringing a child into existence.

Ben knew how much despair a group like the Lost Ones have endured, which is why he felt it was his responsibility to uplift them with some good ol' positivity! Ben knew humans were always supposed to be lively and upbeat, so maybe for them, there's still a chance to help.

But despite the strong beliefs, almost everyone but Sammy was willing to comply.

The music director leaned against his boarded doorway, watching a small group of Lost Ones gathered to partake in a game of baseball. Slowly shaking his head, Sammy could only huff in amusement as Ben seemed to be having a difficult time in getting the group to cooperate. They weren't standing in their places, and some of them were overcome with emotion that they'd bawl out of the thin blue. As for the others, they were beginning to fall asleep from standing and waiting so long.

Despite the hardships, Ben could tell Sammy was watching and was determined to not give up.

"Okay, look," Ben stated as he guided a Lost One to the spot that'd serve as third base. "You gotta stand and wait until I hit the ball. Then, like everybody else, you're gonna try and catch the ball to get me and my team out, understand?"

The Lost One blinked in confusion, and from the constant blinking, Ben sighed with defeat.

"Please tell me you understand?" Ben slumped.

"Yes." the Lost One responded.

Ben beamed with joy, ultimately excited that they could now officially begin the game.

"Really?! So you know what to do!"

"Why, yes," the ink human responded confidently, "I understand that if I am to just stand here and wait, I will forever be humbly blessed by the loving embrace of our almighty savior!"

Ben's retained grin changed to an immediate frown when the Lost One shut his eyes and softly mumbled a prayer. The rest of the group followed, with some falling to their knees and others even going as far as to sob with joy.

Since they've been trying to partake in this game all day, Ben sighed and gave the Lost One a nervous smile, trying to remain optimistic.

"You know what, we can just save the game for another day. Baseball's boring anyway."

"Larry! Darrel!" Ben greeted as he walked past two Lost Ones sitting on a wooden crate, "Beautiful mornin' huh?"

The child placed his hands to his hips and stood proudly. The Lost Ones faced each other and tilted their heads before turning back to Ben. "Oh, don't worry, I doubt those are your names, but that's what I'll call you. Consider it as a token of gratitude from yours truly!"

Blinking once, Ben nearly screamed as the two Lost Ones suddenly appeared before him, crawling and bowing before the child to emit their cries of joy. One even went as far as to cling himself onto the child's leg.

"Bless you Ben!"

"Thank you!"

"Bless you and our savior!"

"THANK YOU!"

Ben's retained gaze changed to an immediate growl of annoyance.

Having not received any sleep, Ben couldn't help but succumb to a nap inside an open crate. Those Lost Ones wore him out with their ignorant ethics, almost as if they only seemed to care about their "lord" more than him.

"Ben! Ben!" a man's voice rang out.

"Where are you?" a woman hollered.

Ben slowly raised an eyelid and frowned. Now they wanted him? Why hadn't they given him their attention before? No, Ben was tired now and wouldn't partake in anything else until he got some rest. Closing his eyes, the boy forced himself back to sleep, but the voices only grew louder, and more Lost Ones joined the hunt.

"Where is Ben?"

"Has he left us!?"

"BEEEEEEEENNNNNN! Come out, you cute little inkling, you!"

"It's time for your blessing!"

"Bless us Ben! We need you so that our lord may come!"

Ben growled and squinted his eyes shut to try and ignore them. He knew these cries meant nothing but them wanting to take advantage. When their voices finally ceased to a halt, Ben caught up with two minutes of sleep before screaming awake when the crate shook. He then gazed up to see several heads of both the Lost Ones and Searchers peering down at him.

"There you are!" a male Lost One chuffed before he, along with the others, slowly began reaching for him.

"No, no!" Ben pleaded before the hands gripped onto him, "Just five more minutes! Five more minutes!"

Ben was happily enjoying his time in the middle of the Harbor, tossing a ball in the air and chuckling upon each catch. However, his peaceful moment of entertainment was quickly interrupted when a male's voice rang out from somewhere above the village.

"Praise the Ink Demon! Praise him! PRAISE HIM!" A male Lost One rejoiced from one of the top decks.

Oh no…

"Praise our almighty lord and savior!" A female shouted exuberantly.

Oh no!

"Hail Bendy!" Another jumped in.

No, no, no!

Soon the entire village was chanting Bendy's name, and they threw their hands up to hurry over towards a Bendy statue. Upon the massive stampede suddenly emerging from their homes, and the ground, they paid no heed to the young child in the middle of the village.

"PRAISE OUR LORD!"

"HE WILL SET US FREE!"

Ben could only glare at the people hurrying past him, but that quickly changed when he was nearly impacted by a clueless Lost One. Then another, and another, and another!

"Hey! Watch-"

Ben was interrupted when the last member of the stampede bumped into him, knocking the boy off his feet and having him fall face flat into an ink puddle. Sammy had witnessed this, chuckling "foolish child" under his breath before quietly making his way over towards the boy. Ben slowly lifted his face up from the puddle and growled in annoyance.

The boy could only glare at the Lost Ones and Searchers bowing to the Bendy statue, but he was surprised to see the feet of another stop beside him. Looking up, he saw that it was Sammy Lawrence. Great, Ben wasn't in the mood to deal with any kind of lecturing from him right now. He was rather upset that the Lost Ones were simply not interested in him.

"You are a fool to believe they're bound to listen." Sammy asserted, "All they want is to be saved, can you not see? You think they'll want to spend time with a worthless gnat when all they desire is freedom?"

Ben glared at Sammy, standing to his feet as he wiped the ink from his face. "Oh, yeah? And who says I'm a gnat?"

Sammy sneered down at the pesky child. "You're nothing but a little imbecile that's here to ruin everything! Everyone understands my importance, so I suggest you do the same before you surely regret it!"

"So, tell me how that makes me afraid of you?" Ben replied with a smirk, "You're the last thing I should be scared of."

"Oh, but you very well should. For if the Ink Demon doesn't end you, then I will." Sammy threatened.

Ben raised a brow. "Okay, well, you've tried and failed so many times. Like you'll win this time."

As the child was about to turn the other way, he was stopped short when Sammy grabbed hold of his arm.

"You will die here." he threatened, "And there'll be no chance for you to return."

Ben sneered up at the man and shrugged him off, trying his best to not let Sammy get to him. However, those words coming from his adversary were indeed hurtful, as the boy had a bad feeling it had more meaning than he realized. As much as he wanted to get revenge for Sammy's harsh words, Ben knew he was better off. If this man's sole purpose now was to truly kill him, he'd ultimately regret it if Tom were to ever find out.

"Okay, whatever." Ben said, turning in the direction to head over to the fishing tower, "You don't scare me Sammy, and you never will."

"We shall see about that." he growled, eyeing the boy sauntering away.

A Lost One who enjoyed fishing was surprised when the child his comrades found decided to come sit with him. Instead of seeing Ben's cheerful disposition, and surprised as to how the boy got up here, it was concerning to see him extremely upset.

The Lost One grew concerned, slowly lending a hand to place on the child's shoulder, but he jerked back when the boy threw his hands in the air. "Why does everyone only care about themselves! I try to help them, but nooooo! All they want to do is think about the Ink Demon!"

The Lost One was taken aback by a child complaining about his problems. Situations like these were never any of his business, considering that he just wanted to fish in peace. Ben continued either way before pointing at the village.

"And that idiot Sammy always wants to kill me! He's gotta be jealous of me right? Well, you wanna know how I feel? I don't care! He doesn't scare me anyway! Nothing scares me! I'm Ben! I'm fearless baby!"

Just as the Lost One was about to speak his thoughts on the matter, he was interrupted by Ben once more.

"Does anybody care about me? Does anybody even ask?! No, I always gotta be the one asking, but nobody seems to care about how I'm doing! Oh, and on top of that, I'm only wanted when somebody wants something!" The Lost One lifted a finger to let Ben give him the chance to speak, but the boy was still too oblivious to notice.

"You know what I should do? I should just leave!" Ben exclaimed before scoffing in amusement, "Yeah, I think that's a great idea! Not like anybody's gonna miss me anyway! Why? Cause I'm not wanted for just being me!"

The Lost One really, really, really wanted to express his opinion, but the boy had teleported back to the village before he could utter the first word. The man scratched his head in confusion, but became annoyed upon having just been the victim of a child's tantrum.

Since the barge was not present, and the river of ink would surely be a foul place to die, Ben had no choice but to walk through the boarded up hallway. However, considering that someone was already using the boat, Ben knew he had no other choice but to take this route home.

Ben caught the attention of the Lost Ones as he stormed his way through the village, but they didn't understand the child's angry frustration. They then figured something was wrong when the child tried to push the gate open, but when it didn't budge, Ben only expressed his tirade of anger by kicking the gate.

"It's locked bud, did ya need somethin' ?" A Lost One asked curiously as he and another slowly approached.

Ben took a step back from the gate and heaved angrily, not making eye contact with the ink people behind him. "Yea, I'm leaving!"

"L-Leaving?" A second member asked.

"Yeah! I'm gone! I'm going! Skedaddling! Whatever you wanna call it, now let me out!" Ben yelled as he forced his hands back on the gate to pry it open.

"But…it's locked."

"I know!"

"But Ben, you can't leave us! You promised your heart and soul that you'd send your blessing to the Ink Demon so that we can be free!"

Ben stopped and was taken aback for a second. When he finally turned his head, he nearly screamed when the entire village of Lost Ones and Searchers were now standing behind him.

"Heart and soul? Heart and soul?!" Ben asked, outraged.

"Why yes! Your heart and soul are everything we need for our chance to be free!"

"I never said that!" The boy retaliated.

"But it'll be everything our lord and savior will ever need! And then, he'll finally spare our souls for yours!"

"We'll be human again!"

Ben didn't like where this was heading. They hadn't changed! However, it didn't matter, for Ben knew they're probably never going to change their ways, even if he begged them to.

"Stay back!" Ben warned as the ink beings began creeping closer. Though he didn't have a weapon, Ben knew he needed to find an alternate solution quickly. When he stepped back until he bumped against the gate, it finally then loosened. Now, this was the chance to flee! Glancing his eyes towards the dock, Ben couldn't help but point his finger in that direction and shout with glee. "Hey, who's that? Is that Bendy?!"

The ink people immediately turned to where Ben was pointing, but jerked their heads back when the creaking sound of the gate just closed shut before them.

"Hey, he tricked us!"

"That's cheating!"

"Ben, come back!"

Ben was trying his best to pry off the wooden boards blocking the hallway, but upon jerking his head back to the gate slamming open, the boy screamed upon seeing the village people and knew he had to crawl under to escape. He also wasted no time in trying to get across the hallway with the wooden planks, but was having a hard time maintaining his balance upon setting foot on the first one.

"Beeeennnnnn!"

"Don't leave us!"

"It's time to believe!"

Ben turned back and glared before sticking his tongue out. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with these fools! Now, he'll finally get away from these desperate people and return back home to Tom!

Before a Lost One could reach for the boy's arm, the child had gotten far enough to the end of the plank before stepping his way over towards the second one. However, as soon as he set his foot onto the board, it broke underneath and sent the boy screaming and plummeting all the way down until he fell headfirst into a pool of ink.

Groaning in pain, the child slowly rose and took in his surroundings. But he grew agitated upon realizing he was absolutely drenched in ink!

"Oh, great. More ink." He said, sarcastically.

Slowly rising on his feet, Ben gazed his head up to see how far he'd fallen. When he realized how steep that drop was, he released a soft whistle of surprise. Wow, what a fall indeed!

Stepping out of the ink, the child made it to the floor and took a deep breath to absorb the fluid. With a sigh of relief, Ben didn't hesitate to move on to the next room. However, he stopped midway when he saw this was a new location, and hearing the upbeat music playing in the background intrigued his interest more.

"Huh, wonder what's this place?" he said to himself.

Ben continued forward until the signs of Film Vault and Administration, along with more posters of Bendy cartoons, sparked his interest. "Hmmm, film vault and admina – " Ben was unsure of how to pronounce the second room, but however it's said, he was more curious to set foot inside the film vault.

"I hope there's movies I can watch!" Ben beamed as he pressed his face against the glass. He then conjured a frown, "Even if they are just Bendy ones."

The boy opened the door and made his way inside, noticing a large mechanism that was missing some pipes. Figuring it wasn't his responsibility, Ben shrugged before contently making his way over to the film vault door. He then stopped short and was surprised to see that it was flooded with ink on the other side.

"Yeah, no thanks." Ben admitted before slowly turning back the other way.

Frowning, the child stopped to tilt his head at the machine, wondering if he were to acquire the missing pipes, would that be enough to clear the room. Absorbing that much ink would be merely impossible, so he figured it must be the only solution. His eyes then glanced over to the open room on the other side, and tilting his head again, the child immediately hurried to see what was inside.

Cutting around the corner of the desk with a GENT sign at the top, Ben gasped when he saw a tape lying against a chair. He's never seen this before, but as naïve and young as he was, he couldn't help but walk closer to get his hands on it.

Fiddling with the device, Ben scoffed in amusement and began poking the buttons. He then accidentally hit play, and the boy paused before a gruff voice made him scream. The tape flew out of his hands, and Ben ran to hide behind the desk as it collapsed to the floor. After the impact, the tape didn't seem broken and continued to play. Ben slowly poked his head out as he trembled with fear, but he became alert when the man began to mention something interesting:

The process of running the cartoon film through the machine for the figures to imprint upon is going well. We've had several near successes…

One weird note, the first figure ever created was a failed attempt in the likeness of the character called Bendy. Since that time, no other attempts of this particular figure have emerged. And the one that did...I dunno, there's just something unworldly about him.

Bendy and the other characters were created by humans from the ink machine? While Ben somewhat knew about the mechanism, he never would've imagined that humans were responsible.

As soon as the tape had cut to an end, Ben was eager to listen to it again. The child came out from hiding and fell to his knees, picking up the device and rapidly motioning his thumbs until he pressed play again.

This time….He listened to every word.

Tom's first instinct in finding Ben was to search the ballroom. No doubt that a child's inquisitive mind would be lured by the haunted house, since it was the only ride that still managed to work after all these years. It wasn't far from home either, so Tom figured his son wouldn't have gone far since he was oblivious of the studio.

The former Gent worker was absolutely not a fan of rides, and was determined to venture off to the ballroom by foot. Pushing the doors open, he wasted no time getting there, but he stopped when the laughter of Alice Angel caused him to stop in his tracks. His eyes then turned into a glare, and he gripped his axe tighter when she spoke through the speakers.

"Well, what have we here? A wolf who's lost his sheep."

Tom didn't know whether she was referring to Ben or Allison, but judging by her sarcasm, he figured she was referring to the latter.

Tom knew that Susie was still a threat in the studio, which was another reason to keep Ben indoors, but she didn't faze him. He never had to deal with her unless it involved Allison, so the fact that Alice caught him making his way to the ballroom surprised him. Tom still continued anyway, ignoring her as best he could.

"I figured that you lost your precious angel, but I'm here to say, you won't find her here."

The wolf continued to ignore her, maintaining his glare as he walked through the attraction.

"Tell me Tom, why do you love her? Is it because of her beauty, her physique, her voice? Or were you just trying to fill that loneliness you've suffered your whole life. Nobody ever liked you. It's no wonder you've always been so tetchy."

Tom didn't care what anyone thought about him. The last thing he wanted to deal with was drama. He was a veteran, and all that commitment paid off when he met the right woman. Although, thanks to their befallen fate, she was the unfortunate one in having lost the memory of her husband.

When Tom finally made it to the doors that lead to the ballroom, he didn't hesitate and pushed them open. However, his eyes widened at what stood on the other side. He didn't get a chance to react since he flew back several feet, landing against the wall. When Tom fell to the ground, Alice was laughing away while Brute Boris roared and began trudging his way towards Tom.

Tom got back on his feet and ran for his axe between them. However, Boris managed to grab hold of the axe first, and he used his other hand to punch Tom and send him flying back several feet again. After landing, Tom lifted his head as Boris continued to stomp towards him, but the ghost mechanic from the tombstone captured their attention as it sensed their presence.

As Boris finally snapped the axe in two, he was instantly met with Tom using the ghost as a weapon to swing it straight at his face. Boris had been caught off-guard and didn't have time to react. Tom continued to strike at the head, and even began circling around him, until it finally broke into pieces.

Alice was screaming for Boris to kill Tom, but the monster wasn't fast enough to keep up in circles. He tried to reach for the wolf, but Tom would just dodge out of the way. Boris finally roared with rage and managed to grab Tom, squeezing him tight in his gloved hand. Though Tom was incapable of speech, his body language was enough to convey that he was in severe pain.

Tom figured that if he were to die today, hopefully the ink would let him keep his memory of Ben. Boris stopped squeezing Tom when Alice appeared, slowly strolling her way towards them.

"Now Boris," she chuckled evilly as she approached Tom and stroked his cheek. "Is that any way to treat our guests?" Tom jerked his head away from her touch, facing towards the wall to avoid her. She scowled at his gesture, but she cleared it with more sinister chuckling, "Don't play so hard to get. I'm sure if Boris here is able to get to you, I can too."

Tom eyed her from the corner of his eyes, and this only made her more angry.

"Strap him up!" she ordered Boris before her voice quickly changed into its more demonic tone, "MAKE HIM SUFFER!"

Ben didn't know what to incorporate from the tape. He thought if he were to listen to it countless times, he'd be able to understand, but his mind was not obtaining anything from that information. There were so many questions! Mainly on who was the human speaking, and why did they decide to bring Bendy to life?

However, all thoughts aside, Ben was irritated upon the memory of the Lost Ones. He didn't like the feeling of being deceived, and it only infuriated him more. Pacing back and forth inside the lobby, Ben had his hands behind him and was trying to focus on something positive. Nothing seemed to be working though, and the boy couldn't help but vent to himself.

"Stupid Lost Ones, stupid searchers, stupid Sammy!" Ben flung a hand to his forehead and began to hit himself, "Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I be so...dumb!"

Growling, Ben stopped near the ink maker and took one look before kicking the device. He immediately regretted it and winced in pain, lifting his foot in his hands and hopping up and down. Biting his lip, he waited until the pain subsided to glare at the mechanism.

"Yeah? Well, that didn't hurt!" Ben snapped, pointing at the maker before scolding himself, "Great. Now I'm being silly because I sure can't trust humans! Whoop-de-doo!"

His sarcasm wasn't helping, so Ben figured he better knock it off. However, he wasn't quite finished yet, and he knew that what he's to do next was going to be something he'll regret later.

Ben formed his hands into fists and angrily yelled words he learned from Sammy up towards the ceiling. When he finished, he heaved in anger, but he felt much more relieved from having released such language. Last time he accidentally spilled words like this, Tom punished him by pinching his ear and locking him in his room. Since then, Ben hasn't done it again, especially because he hated Tom's ear pinching!

Ben instantly came to regret what he's done. Not because of the foul words, but because the room instantly transitioned for the Ink Demon's presence. Yelping in alarm, the child didn't know where the monster was and began to panic. He needed to find somewhere to hide. Seeing the door behind him, the boy ran to get inside but found that the doorknob was locked. He then tried to run back to the film vault, but he froze midway when Bendy's growls were finally picked up from above.

Gulping, Ben slowly lifted his head and saw the Ink Demon grinning down from the balcony. The boy grinned and laughed anxiously. "H-Hi Bendy! You didn't hear what I said, did you?"

Bendy tilted his head as he continued to fascinate over Ben. Then, he stepped away from the balcony and teleported himself out from the wall behind the child. Ben gasped and attempted to run, but Bendy was quick this time to catch him. He grabbed Ben's arm and yanked the boy towards him. The boy couldn't even scream as the ink from Bendy slowly began absorbing him.

Ben muffled in fear as Bendy continued to absorb him. This was the only way to reclaim the ink he'd lost, and it was the only method to contain Ben. If they were to combine into one, they'd become the most unstoppable force in the studio.

As Bendy was near success, he was disrupted when something thrusted straight into his chest from behind him. This interrupted the process of fusing, and Ben collapsed to the ground as he gasped for air. Upon realizing he was free, Ben scrambled up on his feet to escape, but a mysterious hand reached for his arm and dragged him straight into the little miracle station nearby.

"Hey!" the boy shouted, "What are you doing!"

The hooded stranger said nothing as they both hopped in and shut the door behind them. Ben was immediately irritated with this person's lack of communication. "Hey, what's the big-"

The figure shushed him before they both saw Bendy slowly remove the weapon. It collapsed to the ground before the ink instantly healed his wound. Ben snickered as they saw the monster turning his head in different directions, trying to figure out their location.

"Ha!" Ben laughed, "He doesn't-"

The stranger placed a hand over his mouth as Bendy jerked his head in their direction. Taking a few steps forward, the monster's growls were heard as he now stood before the station. Ben muffled words of anger for being interrupted, and he was trying his best to remove the hand away so he could breathe.

Bendy heard Ben's cries from inside the station, and the boy stopped when the monster responded with a sad growl. Both Ben and the hooded figure were surprised by such behavior from the Ink Demon, especially since he mistakenly took Ben's muffles as cries for help. Bendy desperately wished he could break down the door, but it was merely impossible to do anything else. He didn't want to leave either, but he felt he had no choice.

As the monster kept his frozen grin in their direction, Ben could feel Bendy's determination for next time. After several minutes, the Ink Demon finally left, and the hooded figure removed their hand from Ben's mouth before removing their hood.

"Wow, that was close!"

Ben was taken aback that the figure who rescued him was a lady! She immediately took notice of his reaction and chuckled.

"What's the matter? Never seen a gal like me before?"

"W-Who are you?" Ben asked.

"If it were that simple I'd tell you, but my name's Alice." Allison smiled, "It's Alice. But I'm no angel."