AN: Prepare for a long angsty chapter filled with personal theories and headcanons with just a dash of fluff.
Nightmares were, unfortunately, a regular occurrence for those now living in the Stein household. After everything they had been through in the studio, it was to be completely expected. Barely a night went by when someone didn't wake up screaming or whimpering in fright as memories of their torture would resurface. Everyone had their own ways of calming themselves down after nightmares.
The butcher gang would often touch or examine their scars, reminding themselves that they were healing. Allison and Tom would comfort each other, knowing they still had each other's backs. Norman would talk quietly to himself, taking comfort that he could finally voice his thoughts and feelings. Sammy would listen to the radio, happy to hear anything that wasn't from the studio. Boris would have to mess with his hands, either shuffling a deck of cards or tinkering with something broken. Alice would stare at the mirror and run her hands over her restored face, remembering that she's whole and in control of her own body now. Henry would, of course, cling to Linda, feeling that she was real and that he was with her.
Bendy would usually find Henry, often curling up in bed with him and just taking comfort that his Creator truly cared from him. But on the worst nights, the ones that would force Bendy into his Ink Demon form for hours until he could calm down, Bendy would spend that time alone without the others knowing what he was going through. The last thing any of the others needed was to be woken up in the middle of the night to see the Ink Demon standing over them, Henry especially. So Bendy would pace quietly downstairs, letting his shadows out to help him burn off his excess energy before he would finally wear himself out enough that he could go back to sleep.
The memories were hard to live through at night, but they were copping. Then the dreams were starting to change… At first, they just dismissed as the twists of the subconscious like with normal dreams. But they were too vivid… too… real… to just be dreams.
Norman was having flashes of being killed, usually by the Ink Demon ripping his head off. Other times it was Henry shooting him down with a Tommy gun. A few rare instances it was Tom and Boris working together to take him down. Sammy was also getting killed his dreams, first by the Ink Demon's hand then later during a fight with Henry. But he would also have some strangely serine moments in his dreams, such as fishing with the Ink Demon or playing with Boris in the Music Department.
Boris was having nightmares of being ripped opened by Alice so she could take his heart. Now that in itself, wasn't unusual as he knows he had been killed by her many times. What was unusual was that Alice would then turn him into a monster that would fight Henry. Randomly he would also fight and crush Sammy or he'd be fighting and then be killed by Beast Bendy. Allison and Tom had dreams of holding Henry hostage for days, taking a long time to trust him.
Alice was reliving being killed by Allison over and over again. Taunting Henry knowing that he could never save Boris because it was already too late. She also had dreams where she had overthrown the Ink Demon. She had become the new predator of the studio, taking the throne for herself. She even had her own monstrous form.
These dreams didn't seem like just dreams, but how could they be anything else? They knew what had happened in the studio, how Henry was able to get them all out. So why were they remembering the same events going so differently sometimes? While they didn't usually share the details of their dreams and nightmares with each other, they did discuss these strange almost memory-like dreams, trying to figure why events that never happened seemed so real.
When Henry and Bendy heard about what the others were experiencing, they both got strange looks on their faces. The others watched in confusion as Bendy and Henry seemed to have a silent conversation before coming to some sort of agreement.
"We have things we need to tell you and talk about," Henry said seriously, looking at everyone. "It's going to take a while and it will be a lot to process, so let's get comfortable."
The others agreed and they went to the living room. Henry sat on the couch with Linda next to him, holding his hand in silent support. Bendy sat on Henry's lap, curling into Henry's chest while he held Ink Blot in his arms. The others pulled in chairs from around the room and the nearby rooms so they formed a circle around the couch. They sat silently while Henry seemed to be composing himself for what he was about to tell them.
"I know from your perspective, when I came into the studio I was able to convince Bendy to join me and managed to get everyone out in a matter of days," Henry began softly, looking at everyone seriously. "But the truth is I was actually trapped in the studio for several years. Joey had managed to make a… time loop of sorts. A story that Joey had scripted and had control over. One that repeated constantly which I tried to break many times but always failed to."
"That's how you knew Tom's name when we first met…" Allison said in realization. "And that we had barges further down in the studio… You met us and saw it all before… But how come we don't remember any of that but you do?"
"I'm not sure…" Henry sighed. "I didn't really remember the loops myself at first and I would still forget sometimes when it restarted, so I don't even know exactly how long I was trapped. But it started slowly, a constant feeling of déjà vu… things that should have scared me didn't… and then I started getting flashes of things that had happened before… then it would just all fall into place… Allison, those hidden messages you found were written by me in previous loops. Trying to warn myself or as a way to express my thoughts as I was forced to go through it again and again without ever being able to change anything. For the longest time, I thought I was the only one that had remembered the loops until Bendy broke his routine during our final confrontation. It was after that we worked together to finally be able to break the loop."
"Bendy… How long did it take you to figure out what was happening?" Linda asked in concern. Henry had told Linda about the loops, but she didn't know about the details and Bendy hadn't mentioned them at all yet. Henry blinked and looked down at his little ink demon. He had never thought to ask that question himself and he felt guilty for not doing so. He tried to help everyone as best as he could, but he knew Bendy still kept a lot to himself.
"It was… a bit different… for me…" Bendy said, struggling to keep his emotions in check so he could talk. His horns drooping and his ink beginning to drip. "The Liar… blamed me for a lot of his failings... Because I was the only Bendy he was able to create and I wasn't anywhere near perfect. Even though I was young and never even got close to hurting someone, even by accident, the Liar had me locked up and chained… He considered me an abomination… a mindless monster… so that's what he forced me to become once he asserted his control over the studio. Even though there wasn't a real story or script to follow… I was still forced into the role of the villain… I… I couldn't fight it at first… just lost in uncontrollable instincts and bloodlust that had been forced upon me and overwhelmed me…"
"It's alright Bendy…" Henry comforted, rubbing the little demon between his horns. "You don't have to continue if you don't want to…"
"It's okay…" Bendy sniffed, wiping a tear away while Ink Blot rubbed against him purring. "You've always said it's better to talk about these things… rather than keep them bottled up… might as well start now… at least a little… I don't know how long I was on the hunting rampage… but I was eventually able to get control over myself somewhat… I would hide out away in sanctuaries, trying to avoid hurting anyone again until the bloodlust forced me to go out and hunt again… I was actually more in control when you first came to the studio Henry… and since the Liar hadn't completed his newest script yet and the changes and hadn't fully set in… I was able to seek you out after initially scaring you away from the Ink Machine and even managed to convince you that I wasn't going to hurt you…"
"I don't remember that…" Henry said in surprise.
"I didn't expect you to…" Bendy assured softly, clinging to Henry's shirt and listening to his heartbeat. "The longer you were there and the farther down we went… the harder it became for me to stay in control and the more you started falling in line with what Joey wanted you to do… eventually… well… the loop was reset… and the pain I felt from being killed kicked my instincts into overdrive and I was lost in them…driven by fear…anger… and the need to survive… It took me a long time to get back in control after that… and for a while… it seemed like we were opposites. You would be forgetting the loops and following the script during the times I was in control and vice versa. I actually gave up on ever being anything other than the villain for a long time before I finally broke down…"
"Oh Bendy…" Henry whispered, holding the toon close as Bendy finally broke down sobbing. Linda hugging both Henry and her little Ink Demon. "You're safe now… you'll never be a villain again and you were never one. You were just another victim of Joey's like the rest of us. You're free now…"
Everyone came forward to help comfort Bendy, though they made sure not to overwhelm him. Soon he calmed down and everyone returned to their seats.
"So the dreams we've been experiencing…" Sammy began once everyone had settled back down. "They're memories from the different loops?"
"Yeah…" Henry confirmed. "I didn't think you were ever going to remember them… I guess I was wrong and I'm sorry for not telling you about them sooner."
"It's alright," Alice assured with a small smile. "You were probably just trying to spare the pain of the of knowing we went through even more suffering then we thought. But we'll be able to deal with it like we always have, by helping each."
"Of course," Henry agreed, returning her smile. "We're in this together after all."
"Always," Bendy confirmed, finally smiling again. They were more than just a group of survivors now. They were a family. And family always looks out for each other.