Trente-et-un[It's time to believe.]

/

"Henry?"

"Sammy?"

The ink man frowned from the piano bench, fingers drumming a beat only he knew. "Can you think of anything else we might need to do?"

The cartoonist pondered it, hazel eyes downcast. "No. That worries me."

"Why does it worry you, my little sheep?"

"It feels like we are missing something, but I can't think of what."

"Maybe-" the ink man paused and offered a curious smirk- "the missing thing is finally getting out?"

"... maybe. It all just feels too easy."

Sammy chuckled. "Too easy? Easy isn't a bad thing. I'd take easy over this trial of ink any day."

"What I don't get, if everything is how it should be? Why wasn't last loop it?"

The fingers of his left hand tapped out a tango. "I mean… you died. Bertrum smacked you into next week." The ink man shrugged. "Been a while since you've done that. Maybe this is the loop where we make sure everything sticks, you staying alive included."

He cracked his neck and hefted the axe. "Let's look around to be sure what we've done stuck. That sound good to you?"

Sammy stood, not the fluid roll of a body made of ink, but of one more human and boned. "If it eases your mind, why not?" He held his hand out, palm up and fingers lax.

The cartoonist took the hand and walked on. "Okay. Let's check on Jack first."

They stood before the boarded up tunnel, finding the far-less-melted Jack waiting and smiling tiredly their way.

"Jack. How are you feeling?" Sammy asked the searcher.

The searcher gargled firmly and gave his best thumbs-up. He then pointed to the two men to ask them the same thing.

"We're doing fine. Can you… if you feel you can…" Sammy was still working on being gentle with others. Henry was forgiving, but Jack was still fragile. "Come to the docs? We think this might be the loop where we-"

But Henry interrupted. "We're not sure, but-"

Sammy frowned and gave Henry's hand a squeeze. "Jack. Just meet us at the docks."

The searcher shrugged and nodded, then slimed away back into the tunnels.

The ink man shot Henry a look. "Henry, don't do that."

"I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea. We don't know if this is it-"

A blink. "I mean interrupting me, my little sheep."

"... right."

The quickened pulse from Henry's hand had the ink man give it a squeeze. "Let's get to Buddy. I'm sure he'll be eager to get going."

\

Once again, they opted not to stay the night with Buddy. The friendly wolf smiled all the same and grabbed his light hat once the two men explained what they were up to. The wolf seemed excited, more bounce in his step, a little more speed to his loping gait.

Buddy gave a salute and split off when they entered the Heavenly Toys section, heading to find Norman as he had grown to do. His new pattern after Susie stopped messing with them and got bored.

"Henry," Sammy's voice grew curious as they headed down into the center of the room. "I'm wondering something. A silly thing, I suppose."

"What is it?"

He smirked, golden eyes downcast. "I never have asked what music you like. Other than my banjo and I, I mean."

The cartoonist smiled, feeling his cheeks warm and his pulse slow. He didn't realize it'd been racing to start with. "Well… I can say that music has changed a lot. So has many things. But music? I'm good with anything that's not… aggressive."

"Aggressive?"

"What was that song you played to get the ink demon away from me? You came back with a head full of memories?"

Sammy blinked. "The Cuckoo is too aggressive for you?"

"No, no! That's my limit!" He chuckled as he drew closer to the elevator. "Okay, well… maybe anything on the louder end of Elvis."

The ink man squinted, lips pursed the way they did when he knew he was missing something important. "Who's Elvis?"

The man shook his head with a bright smile. "I'll show you when we get out." He pressed the button to take them down to Bendy-Land. "Got a couple of his records in my collection."

Sammy cocked a brow. "So you do have a record player?"

"Yup."

"What brand?" At the baffled smile Henry gave him, the ink man flustered. "There's a difference between a Victrola and an Emerson!"

The cartoonist shook his head. "Zenith. Nice one, too. Has a built in radio."

"Fantastic." He'd learned a little more about his little sheep and distracted the anxious man from overthinking freedom. A win in any book or play.

/

Sammy hurled the baseball at the bottles, knocking the tower to the ground with a satisfying clatter. "What happened after the studio? You had to have done-" he grunted and hurled another ball, taking down the second tower- "something after that besides being a field medic."

Henry pulled the trigger, and a target popped away. "I did animation for a few commercials. Nothing like Bendy or Sillyvision." Another pull and another target popped out of sight. "I loved to draw, but animation lost its luster after how Joey ran things."

The doors to further into Bendy-Land creaked open and the two men walked away from the game booths.

"What did you do?"

"I drew a comic for the Sunday paper. Still going, too…" Unless he'd been gone for the months he felt he'd been trapped in the studio. However time worked, he knew it'd been an eternity for him.

"Ooh, what about?"

"The neighbor's cat, actually. He loved my back yard. Sweet thing, little crazy, but wonderful to draw."

"Huh." The ink man scoured the floors below to search for any clones, only to find nothing trundling about. "I'd… honestly thought you'd go into something medical."

"No. Too many war memories attached, just like animation. I might be okay with slinging the axe, but… I've never been a fighter." He turned and went down the stairs. "I went for field medic because I wasn't expected to hurt people as a medic." An inaudible sigh at the bottom of the stairs. "Didn't know the searchers were people."

Sammy caught up and grasped the man's shoulder, fingers drumming. He'd Pull Henry from any dark thought that passed him by, no matter how many times he had to do it. "Well, no one here has died because of you, as I said long ago."

"Save for me?"

"You don't count. You're a crocus!"

Henry snorted a laugh and turned to smile at the ink man. "Crocus?"

"Because you don't stay dead?"

"I guess. Let's get the switches and check out Bertrum."

"Of course… but Bertrum is whole again. Do you mean-"

"-the ride. Yeah. I'm… I'm getting used to it all." He split off for the left switch, and Sammy wandered off to the right. "Buddy and Norman should show up soon."

"We'll meet them in the haunted house entrance, as before…" Pulling the switch, and pondered it. Why did they still need to start the ride if Buddy were whole and Susie wasn't an enemy at this point? "The way to the lost harbor from here doesn't have to go through the haunted house, you know."

Henry called back, "I know, but Tom and Allison come that way. Have for the last dozen loops."

Brows furrowed, Sammy gave a small head shake and left the alcove. "But we could just skip ahead to the part where we go to the lair."

Henry was waiting for him at the doorway, standing far enough back that he didn't crowd the door. "I don't want to leave anyone out."

Sammy emerged with a sharp frown. "You're stalling."

Henry raised a hand to wave him off. "I'm not."

But Sammy took the hand by the wrist and held it, gold eyes bright and fixed on Henry's own hazel ones. "My little sheep, you've been going slow since we came to this place."

Henry looked away, mouth ticking to the side. "You're the one holding me up right now."

"Because something's bothering you and I need to know what." Sammy's voice took its sharpened edge, not from malice but from worry. His free hand lifted, cautious and slow, before resting at where Henry's neck and shoulder met. The muscle lay coiled and hard under the fabric, and he could just feel Henry's pulse pounding under his fingers. "Just… tell me. Please?"

The cartoonist swallowed, and he blinked slowly. "If this is it, and this loop is the end, then that's good. But Sammy, you can't tell me this is the final loop. You can't tell me the end being this easy is right."

Oh, he figured it was that. "I'm not one for looking gift horses in the mouth." He released the grip on Henry's wrist and lay the hand to mirror the one already up there. "We… if it is that simple, we celebrate it. If it's not? We get back to work."

"I don't wanna let you down."

"You're not. Even if I snap at you or spiral into a fit. We're in this together, aren't we?"

"Yeah." A small nod. "Yeah."

"Good. Now then!" He grinned, teeth aglow. "Let's bother Bertie!"

"You said that wasn't him a minute ago."

Sammy shrugged, palms to the ceiling. "Oh, hush. Let me have my fun!"

Bertrum's room was still smokey as before, lights shining from above and catching the sharp edges and bulbs of the mechanical monster just so. It held the four-armed whirligig, stationary and silent. But nothing happened. No words of wrath and broken dreams. No ominous music or a gasping head, and no swinging arms to slice apart. The octopus ride was just what it should have always been; harmless.

Sammy didn't quite buy it and strode to the desk. The declaration was silent, the desk but a desk and not a place where a fight to survive started. Shooting Henry a look, Sammy cupped a hand around his mouth and shouted, "Hey, Bertie!" and ducked to hide behind the desk.

Nothing.

"Sammy, stop trying to get splattered." But he couldn't fight the smile that tugged his lips.

"Mm. Disappointing. I hoped I'd get a laugh." He popped back onto his boots, heading for the lever that needed pulling. "But your smile will due."

"Jeez."

"It's true. I didn't exactly bring many smiles back in the studio's heyday." Sharp, flighty, particular, rude… the list could fill a pillowcase.

"You got a few out of me back then."

They left the silent octopus for the haunted house ride. No more swinging limbs or terrifying rides.

"Well, looks like Norm and Buddy got the others." If the open doors were any sign.

"Seems so. I wonder when Allison and Tom will show up."

"Wonder, indeed."

Sammy jumped at the voice and spun, stopped only by Henry's warm grip on his near arm.

Susie giggled, hand to her lips. She was crouched under the doors to the haunted ride and stood with a flick of her hair. The halo bobbed limply from where it lay rooted in her skull. "So on edge, prophet."

The ink man growled. "I haven't been the prophet for a while. You know that-"

The twisted angel stepped from the platform and grinned her way down the stairs. She kept well enough back to be out of axe range. "Oh, I know. But getting you riled is just too funny."

Henry peered at her over his glasses. "Do you need something?"

She blinked. "No, not really."

The man quirked a brow. "You sure?"

"What could I need?" She ticked off the list she spun on the claws of one hand. "The filthy little clones are gone. That cursed ride is no more. Your little wolf is safe with the Projectionist, the ink demon hasn't been roaming at all this loop, and my double and her wolf are in your pocket." Her frown deepened. "I couldn't want anything if I tried."

Henry blinked. "Wait. You haven't seen the ink demon at all this loop?"

She scoffed. "I wouldn't risk being out here this long if I'd seen him nearby. But he's nowhere to be found on any of my surveillance systems… for now."

The men looked to each other, and Henry looked back at Susie. "You could… come with us this loop? It might be what kicks off breaking the cycle, I mean." But he didn't know how much he believed it, considering the nagging tug in the back of his mind. Henry was still coming to grips that there may not be a next step, and that this was it.

"I could, but-"

The ticking of reels and the sound of Buddy's boots silenced the group.

Susie blinked and stepped back a step. "Oh… well, I know I can't outrun old light head."

Sammy frowned. "Neither can I."

The Projectionist rounded a corner and fixed his light on the duo, letting Buddy free of his cable.

Buddy ran their way but paused at seeing Susie. He gave her a blink but otherwise stayed still as a statue.

Susie raised her good brow at him.

The wolf blinked again but gave her a timid wave, inching his way to stand behind Henry.

Norman wasn't so shy. Light bouncing between the new trio and the woman on the steps, he opted to go to her. He did, in fact, remember her enough to know he'd overreacted last time they'd been face to bulb. Snapping someone's neck was a hell of an overreaction, really.

Susie stilled, good eye wide but giving a haughty sniff his way. "Come to snap my neck again?"

Norman gave a shake of his projector and reached cautiously for her head. He didn't pause when she flinched, but made contact with the black curtain of hair that shrouded her face. He gave her a pat and let her alone.

Henry chuckled at her befuddled state. "He does that."

"So I see…" she made to say more and instead turned her focus to the haunted house doors. Staying silent, the twisted angel made her way to Norman's side, staying out of arm's reach and watching the doors like a cat would a bird.

Tom burst through the doors a minute later, pipe ready and brows low. His pie-cut eyes flicked to each person standing near the stairs, and he relaxed. He a grunt, he turned and held a door aside for Allison, who came into the room with far less urgency.

"Oh." Allison's wide eyes fell to Susie, who sneered back and folded her arms. But Allison's attention went to Henry and Sammy. "You find anything else that needs doing?"

"No." The cartoonist sighed. "No clones, no Bertrum, and Jack seems to be fine."

"So," the horned woman adjusted her cutlass and smirked. "What's next?"

"Uh… the lair, I guess. I mean, if everything's done and set, why wait?"

Susie blinked and took a step back. "The lair?"

"Yup."

"Have fun with that, errand boy. I'm not going anywhere near that place."

"Susie-"

She turned to leave and jerked at being held back. Looking down at her waist, she snarled at the surrounding cable. "Come on!"

But Norman growled from his speaker and lumbered on.

"Fine then!" Susie stumbled forward as the slack in her leash tightened and she had no choice but to follow.

Sammy fought a laugh, glancing at Henry at his side. His smile faded at the distant look the cartoonist wore. He bumped the man with his shoulder. "Let's not keep them waiting."

\

So it went. Down, past the lost harbor, down a hole with more rope than anyone could think to carry, and with the task to set up the right pipes quickly out of the way, the strange band gathered at the edge of the ink river.

And Bendy hadn't been seen once. Another thing that gave Henry a wave of anxiety that was getting harder to stuff down.

But he had a duty to get this loop closed. To set them free. To try one more time. "Well… this is the lair." Motion caught his eye, and he pointed. "And there goes the ink machine."

The machine lowered to its ultimate resting place, perched above the doorway like a crown jewel.

"Mm. A little boring for something so terrible," Susie mumbled from where she stood beside Norman. Buddy stood on the opposite side, gripping a cable tightly.

Tom and Allison stayed in their usual spot, the horned woman's concern growing the longer she watched Henry. "Are you feeling alright?"

"It doesn't… feel any different. It does, but doesn't. Like I forgot to hammer down a nail and if I don't find which one, the whole shed'll collapse." Henry set his jaw and smiled tightly at Sammy. "Can you blame me?"

"Henry, think of it this way." Sammy leaned close, eyes glowing brightly. "The last piece, the missing thing you keep thinking of, is you walking out of here completely unharmed. No death, no pain, no lies, and all those lost to this place aware of you. You will set us free. It's time to make it so."

A sigh. A shake of the head. "Don't put all your faith in me, Sammy." It couldn't be this simple after so much fighting to find the way to freedom.

"It has to be this one. I can feel it. I-if not? We try again next loop!"

Henry shook his head and laced his hands behind it. "I… maybe. If we got everything right and we still can't-"

Inked hands grasped him by his shoulders. "Please don't overthink it, my little sheep." Amber eyes bore into his with a determined scowl. "If we missed something, we'll get it right. You said it yourself, we've figured every other riddle this place has thrown our way."

He grasped Sammy's wrists, thumbs rubbing the tarry skin under them. "If this doesn't work, feel free to, god, I don't know, sacrifice me to Bendy again."

Allison called out, "We're not doing that."

"I might," Susie snarked from where she stood.

Sammy frowned hard. "Nothing is worth hurting you. Nothing." His sharp frown melted into a tense smile. "Now… get to it, my little sheep."

The cartoonist swallowed and gave a nod. "I… okay. Meet up where we always do?"

The ink man shrugged. "We'll see."

Henry turned and sank into the moat around the lair's entry. He cast the group behind him one last glance and steeled himself. So many sets of eyes trained on him, so unsure yet hopeful.

This was it. This had to be it. There was nothing else he could think of to do. But the distinct feeling in his chest that was telling him he'd forgotten something dampened his hopes.

He wasn't one for prayer, but he sent one out to whoever was listening. He didn't know if he could handle another loop.

.

.

Joey, propped on an elbow, extended his hand to the door in the wall. "Henry, come visit the old workshop. There's something I want to show you."

The door to the studio opened wide, ink dripping to the left and a reel playing farther down the hallway. Dulled posters lined the walls, and the hall opened to the left.

Mechanically, unable to stop his path forward, Henry spoke. "Alright Joey. I'm here. Let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see." The door shut behind him on its own. Like always. The spell was broken, and Henry could move on his own once more.

The cartoonist took a breath and fell back against the door. So close. Almost. Not enough. He knew it wouldn't work, so easy to just fight the ink demon in the lair like always and somehow think that'd work out. Of course, another goddamn loop. Another tally for the wall. Another way to let others down. His knees gave out, and he sank down.

It didn't matter how much faith anyone put in him. This was all there could be. Just loops and Joey pointing to the door. Eyes shut tight and fingers knotting his hair, Henry screamed.

/

Dancing with danger. Won't someone let me out of here? The past never changes. A sepia-toned nightmare.