AN: This one is going to be pretty... intense...

Bendy had seen the shadow appear on several other's souls a few times since he had first seen it on Sammy's and each time it was right before they suffered a relapse. But despite Bendy's best efforts, he hadn't been able to learn anything new about the shadows. He hadn't told the others what he had seen either. He didn't want them to worry until he knew for sure it was something to worry about. All he could do is keep an eye out and make sure things don't get any worse.

But today wasn't the time to be worrying about those things. Allison and Tom were coming for a visit and they had lots of fun things planned. Bendy watched eagerly as their car came down the street, hopping down from the window and letting the others know that the two had arrived. As Linda and Henry welcomed Allison and Tom, Bendy's gaze kept being drawn to Tom, or more specifically, Tom's soul. From a glance, Tom's soul didn't look any different from the other ink creatures, but Bendy's senses were nagging at him for some reason.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Bendy pushed everything aside. He wanted to enjoy Allison and Tom's visit after all. But despite Bendy's best efforts he kept finding himself being drawn to Tom's soul as they all talked and played games, stirring up his instincts. His teeth would briefly sharpen, a forked tongue briefly flickering out, and Bendy caught himself several times reaching out to grab Tom with slightly sharpened fingers.

These instances didn't go unnoticed by the others either, though they didn't say anything outright. They just kept giving Bendy concerned glances and asking if he was feeling alright. Bendy did his best to assure them that there was nothing to worry about but he could tell that they, especially Henry, didn't buy it. Bendy could see Henry keeping a close eye on him as the continued with their activities.

Everything came to a head when they were getting ready to go on a picnic together. Bendy was just helping to carry some blankets when he brushed up against Tom. Bendy didn't even think, only reacted, and latched onto Tom's wrist looking up at him with brightly glowing eyes.

"Did you want something Bendy?" Tom asked slowly, unsure if the toon was about to have a relapse or not. The little devil didn't respond because now that he was in contact with Tom's soul, he knew what had been calling him. Unlike all the other ink creatures who were only stained on the surface because of their demonic ink, Tom's soul was actually tainted to the core.

Bendy saw as Tom started to work on the Ink Machine, pulling out walls and putting pipes in. He knew there was something wrong about the ink flowing through the pipes, something sinister, but still, he kept putting in the pipes.

Tom tried to pull his wrist out, but Bendy just held on tightly, his growing claws threating to pierce Tom's skin.

Bendy watched as the first experiments were run, attempting to create living toons. He saw dozen of ink creatures created, all showing some sentience. But because they were little more than blobs of ink, they were all melted down, Tom himself doing the deed himself multiple times. Then Bendy saw his own creation and learned that the only reason he hadn't been melted down was because he had been the closest they had come making a successful toon. But despite that and Bendy's obvious intelligence, Tom only stood by as Bendy was persecuted and locked away.

There were others around now, shouting and trying to pull Bendy off Tom. But Bendy's wings sprang forth, knocking them back before creating a protective shield around him and his prey.

Bendy saw as Tom and the Liar discussed using human sacrifice to give the ink creatures souls. Tom argued against it at first, but eventually gave in and watched as a worker after a worker was brought in and put through the machine. Norman figured what was going on and tried to reason with Tom, attempting to turn him against the Liar only to become the next victim of the machine.

Bendy's other hand moved to his prey's chest, melting across his skinned as he reached past the physical body and to the soul within. A part of the devil argued against what he was doing, calling out that Tom was a friend, part of his family. But how could Bendy care about someone who hurt so many people?

The images were flashing by quickly, only giving Bendy a brief look at the hundreds of people that were fed into the machine, forced into bodies and a world where they would suffer countless times over.

"Why Tom… I never knew you were such a sinner…" the Ink Devil commented. He had a firm grip on the tainted soul and he could almost taste it. All he had to do was pull it free…

"Bendy… Don't do this…"

The voice of his Creator was soft and cut through the other loud voices, making the Ink Devil pause. While he didn't withdraw his hand from around his prey's soul, he did lower his wings enough that he could look at his Creator. Encouraged by Bendy's receptiveness, Henry gently put his hand on the Ink Devil's back, carefully avoiding the various spikes.

"Bendy… Let Tom go…" Henry gently commanded. "He's one of us remember…"

"He is not one of us…" Bendy snarled, his tail whipping back and forth in anger. "He is a sinner with blood on his hands and a tainted soul…"

"What do you mean?" Henry asked. Bendy started explaining everything he learned from his prey's soul. He had to explain why he needed to devour Tom's soul, needed his Creator to understand that this wasn't just some mindless act. The others all looked horrified by what Bendy revealed, several of them having forgotten memories brought to the surface. Not even Allison could hide her shock. But throughout it all, Henry remained calm and neutral.

"Bendy… I knew already that Tom was in large part responsible for the Ink Machine and what Joey did with it, but please spare him," Henry pleaded. "I know he seems like an evil person for everything he helped cause, but please let him explain his side of things. Please, Bendy…"

Bendy hissed in frustration but did as his Creator asked and released Tom's soul. As soon as Bendy removed his hand, Tom fell limply to the floor, causing Allison to run to his side in worry. Bendy ignored them both and stalked to the other side of the room, remaining in his Ink Devil form. Bendy kept a close eye on Tom as the others worried over him as he began to recover, his tail twitching in frustration.

Once Tom was recovered enough and everyone had settled down, the wolfman reluctantly started to share his side of the story. He explained how he had been forced to do Joey's dirty work as the Liar had threatened to kill Allison if he didn't corporate. How, when he refused to go along with it anymore, the Liar just sacrificed him to the ink.

Everyone was quiet after Tom finished his story. Allison and Boris were the first ones to forgive him, but the others weren't nearly as quick to respond. Bendy himself refused to get anywhere near the wolfman, partly because he didn't want to risk ripping out Tom's soul, but mostly because he couldn't forgive him. The atmosphere was still sober when Allison and Tom eventually left and it would be a while before the others were able to get comfortable around Tom again…

If they ever will…