45- The Path of the Demon

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." – Isaiah 43:2

And then two heroes' stories merged into one.

Both of the disciples were now enveloped in an aura both besides their own and yet inspired by them. Two different souls, two different purposes, two different threats. Speed and tone were polar opposite, and yet it was the same force that ran through the pipes and soaked the studio through till it reached its very foundation. It was like a snow globe; something beyond the comprehension of all but one within these walls had gradually sunk just under the surface of the denizens' awareness.

And then Francine and Sammy unknowingly shook this power until it flew back into their faces.

Certainly, something sinister was profoundly unsettled by what they both were looking for.

The very same thing.

With each footstep of her dashing came with it a pound, slam, crack, and burst of ink. It spat in all directions, uncaring about the laws of reality. It spat at her, going full force now that the curse's tampering could no longer hide plain in her sight.

It did, however, hide just behind his as something across the room stole his full attention. He would never notice how the world just behind his feet became disturbed with each step closer to an innocuous object that seemed to call to him, to something deep inside he buried away.

Somewhere beyond his hearing, Francine yelped in panic as a floorboard fell from the ceiling. She jumped back, but the woman was not deterred. As soon as it finished smacking into the inexplicably overflowing river of ink, she hopped over the obstacle and continued to run despite the black that chewed her legs and tried to pull her back, tried to slow her down.

Where was he?! Where was he-

Through flying oily beads against a supernaturally murky backdrop- a place that she was sure wasn't the same hallway that the demon path led out to last time- she saw him- she saw a white flash.

The demon's massive cartoon glove was undeniable as the tip of its fingers slipped to the rightmost path at a T-corner that materialized from nowhere.

And so the game began.

Francine forced herself to focus beyond the fear inside her as she desperately clung to the axe; beyond the immediate bashing and clanging of ink, wood, and the small objects caught up in their fury; and beyond even the rooms themselves as they twisted into a maze. As darkness swallowed every surface- including her own- with moving, swarming shadows, she knew it was his aura. She knew that the worse it got, the closer she was to the truth, and so her eyes searched past distraction to catch hints of the slimy beast.

Crash!

His leg sprinted past the bend.

Rip!

His elbow slipped between a tightening crack in the walls.

Boom!

His grin turned away, a brief burst of white in a room swishing with black.

No matter where he went, he left signs for her to find. It escaped all but one how deeply ironic it was that this time, the demon was the one being chased.

It was an absolute, heart-stopping horror.

Meanwhile, Sammy in a separate world was unaware of the rattling magic nipping at his heels. With each lift of the foot towards something amazing, papers upon the ground shifted- not with his touch, but with winds of upset. At first it was quiet, like a fan turned on low pointed towards the floor, but then they rose higher and higher until quiet shuffling swelled into billowing just over his head.

But he didn't notice even as invisible distress was agitated into tangibility; he was captured not by the sovereignty of the ink demon nor of the machine but merely by the way something sat in a shelf up ahead. It was a normal sight for most but…something about the way it edged just a touch beyond the untidy stacking of books…something about the way shadow fell upon it, its edge haloed with light…

It was a wordless spell that drew him in, and it was only then that someone knew that this thing ahead would show him too much if he grasped it.

This same secrecy had already found Francine, obscuring everything in sight with its dusky mistrust, its violent dread. It indeed was growing violent. The further she pursued the dripping fiend into a labyrinth of someone's nightmare, the more everything seemed to- no… It doubtlessly pushed back. Pipes burst overhead. Holes opened at her feet. Walls emerged where there were none before, right before her very eyes.

The demon couldn't hide his tricks from her, though. A vengeful smirk stretched across her face despite the absolute terror that simultaneously pulled it back; as she caught glimpses of his trail, she also perceived how to avoid its traps.

Just as he ducked, she did, and the thundering splash of a breaking pipe swooped barely over her head.

Just as he had sprung over a certain puddle on the floor so had she, the pool disintegrating the boards just where her feet were supposed to touch them.

Just as a barrier came in front of her, risen from another existence to block her path, she knew the slim path to the left would still let her out, just as he had turned that way and squeezed beneath a mishmash of boards nailed diagonally across the grim alleyway.

No, she had never been bold enough to call herself clever, but she certainly was resourceful with what this "god" left behind.

With every step, she grew more certain. It was less about asking what "Bendy" knew and more about the confirmation of an idea that clasped her mind and spread like a disease.

Joey

Joey

Joey

As she scurried behind the ink demon like a thread tied to his ankle, stomping through the thundering and unholy glory he left in his wake, Francine was becoming more and more convinced she knew who Joey was.

The demon was right in front of her.

With one more dash around the corner, Francine was fast approaching a long, simple hallway. No other path in sight.

But this only one she had was completely boarded up except for one slit between the planks of wood that crisscrossed, allowing her to marvel the demon's accursed sneer simply staring and pausing in tease.

As if this would stop her.

Suddenly the object she kept uncomfortably close to her chest had a purpose, one that burned in her hands until they set rage off like a firecracker.

"You!"

A hack of the axe into one of the beams.

"STUPID!"

Another, and the plank started to splinter just in front of where she could see his face.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

And with that crescendo of spite, the wood broke open for her with one final swing, and she was left panting…and the demon gone from sight.

Only a loud, harsh groan before she picked her weapon back up and continued her unrelenting hunt amid a relentless universe.

She was going to get to Joey. She had to, and she would.

And Sammy didn't consciously know it, but something was in front of him too as he stopped in front of the shelf and tilted his head up at the object that mesmerized him among all the others. At the same time, someone was only just realizing that this event, too, was something to be afraid of.

Suddenly there were not one but two people that needed to be stopped before they got any closer to what had been kept concealed for almost a century.

Francine was gasping for air by the time she saw one last door up ahead, its immensity calling to her like it was a finish line. "Bendy" glanced over his shoulder at her just as she spotted him in front if it, and he leapt through this large slit of dim light at the end of the hallway.

She realized with somehow even heavier breath that this slit was becoming thinner with every passing second.

Then two things happened at once, two directions pulling the omnipresent authority of the studio and proved that it was nearly infallible.

Nearly.

Sammy's mask faced the object peeking barely from the shelf above, his fingertip lifting to gently pull it into his life once again. Francine made the last dash towards a colossal door like that of Alice's lair that was beginning to make its opening only barely big enough for her- threatening to become even smaller as she came nearer and nearer.

As the curse of the studio needed to make two drastic actions at once to stop the entirely separate yet united forces that endangered it…it failed. Like pulling a piece of gum from end to end, this power finally could not stretch any further…

…until it snapped.

Sammy picked up what had been patiently waiting for him and Francine didn't notice the gate hesitate just a second before she dived through its slim opening.

She landed on her knees in heavy gasps, blood pounding in her ears so boisterously that her eyes were forced shut. One hand on her thigh and the other at her mouth as she coughed, Francine smiled in victory as she met the ink demon, who was merely standing in wait in front of her.

"I-…" Another brief gag before the woman's grin came back even fiercer than ever. "I won…!"

She rose to her feet, still leaning her palms against her own legs for support. Ink-soaked hair shifted back as she now relished the opportunity to look "Bendy" face to face.

"I found you-!"

And as she straightened her back, every last drop of confidence drained from her body. Lips trembled with words stolen from her mouth. Eyes blinked with disbelief. Shoulders shook with a tension that returned tenfold as soon as it had been released.

"J…Joey…-"

As she stood in front of a gate in the middle of an ocean of ink, Francine had looked beyond the ink demon's face and some ways behind him…saw that of another.

Someone that looked as utterly terrified as she.

…Human.

With bright, ginger hair.

"You won," a soft voice admitted with awe.

"Henry won, too."