AN: Happy New Year everyone!

Chapter 56:

Angelbug was beginning to lose hope that they would ever find the source of the magic. They had been looking for several minutes and each item they found was quickly rejected. Their kwamii's weren't much help either. They could sense that the source was extremely close, but they could not pinpoint its exact location. Not to mention it was getting harder and harder to stay out of Beast Bendy's claws. Outside of a random moment when they had all frozen when they felt something they couldn't describe, Beast Bendy had been fighting them viciously and violently. And just trying to stay ahead of him was exhausting.

Angelbug flipped out of the way of another strike, Beast Bendy's claws slamming into the floor and putting deep gashes into it. The force of the impact shook the entire room and caused Angelbug to fumble her landing, sending her sprawling onto the floor. Beast Bendy, seeing her vulnerability, slashed at her with his other arm.

"Look out Marinette!" Noir shouted in warning, running towards her even though he wouldn't make it in time. Angelbug, seeing that there was no time to escape, covered herself instinctively. But the claws never came down. After a few terrified heartbeats, Angelbug lowered her arms. Beast Bendy was frozen in place, though ink continued to drip off him.

"What happened?" Allison wondered as Noir helped Angelbug to her feet and they stepped away from Bendy. "And what's that?"

Noir and Angelbug looked to where Allison was pointing. There on Beast Bendy's chest, about where his heart would be, a glowing yellow dot began to grow.

"You have it too," Noir observed, seeing the same glow appear on Allison. Noir and Angelbug soon found glowing dots on their own chests. "What the heck?"

"Someone found the source of magic!" Tikki informed joyfully.

"Henry…" Angelbug muttered, gingerly touching the glow. "Henry found it somehow!"

"But how are we going to find him?" Noir wondered. Almost as soon as those words came out of his mouth, Henry emerged from an ink puddle near the throne. Henry coughed slightly as he pulled himself out of the ink, still cradling the heart close to himself. Once he was fully out of the ink, he gently examined his precious cargo. The heart was completely black and dark energy seemed to pour off of it. But underneath it all, Henry could still see the pure spark of light.

"Henry!" The others called, getting his attention immediately.

"Marinette!" Henry said urgently, scrambling to his feet. "This is what you need to purify! This will set everything right!"

"Tikki! Spots on!" Angelbug shouted without hesitation. The kwamii's energy flowed and strengthened the power already in her. Wings of red energy formed on her back and her halo began to shine brightly. As soon as the transformation was complete, Angelbug carefully took the heart in one hand and her yo-yo in the other.

"It's time to end this darkness!" Angelbug declared as the yo-yo opened to reveal it's light. The heart gently sunk into the light and the yo-yo closed. After waiting a few moments, Angelbug tapped the top of the yo-yo and the heart came floating out glowing bright gold. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Angelbug's yo-yo released sparkling red ladybugs which all swirled around the heart. The heart shined brightly before bursting apart in a cloud of now golden ladybugs. The golden ladybugs then came down and swirled around those infected with ink, making the ink melt away and restoring the human body underneath. Once the ladybugs had finished those in the throne room, they spread out and began traveling through the whole studio.

Floor by floor, the sparkling golden ladybugs passed over creatures of ink and returning them to the humans they once were and freeing those that had been trapped. Most of the humans only had the vaguest memories of what had happened, but they all felt overwhelming joy and relief. After so long of pain and suffering… they were finally free… Laughter and shouts of joy began to fill the studio and those within began following the golden ladybugs towards their origin, wondering who had been able to finally end their horrific nightmare…

Adrien smiled in relief at seeing his normal hands… his normal human hands… Glancing over at his Lady, Adrien was even happier to see her return to his normal Ladybug form. It never ceased to amaze him just how powerful she was. Ladybug caught him staring at her and she returned his smile. Both of them were so relieved that they were finally able to fix everything.

"You did it!" Alya cheered as she and Nino came up to them, pulling Ladybug into a hug. "I always knew you could!"

"Never doubted it," Ladybug laughed as the others joined in. Nearby, Adrien could see the restored Allison and Tom sharing a loving embrace, tears streaming down their faces. Looking for Henry, Adrien's grin faltered. Henry was standing in front of Beast Bendy, holding Bendy's head as his inky body melted away.

"I did it, Bendy…" Henry murmured, tears falling freely as Bendy continued to melt away. "I stopped Joey's rein…"

Bendy had melted back down to his Ink Demon form, though his smile seemed far more genuine now. Henry rubbed the ink from Bendy's face, revealing tearful pie-cut eyes

"Thank you… Creator…" Bendy managed to whisper before he melted completely, leaving only a puddle behind…

"I don't understand…" Ladybug whispered in shock at the sad scene. "My ladybugs only make things right…"

"Maybe… it's because he wasn't supposed to be real..?" Alya suggested sadly. The group prepared to go comfort Henry when they noticed the ink pile began to glow…

All throughout the studio, the golden ladybugs had finished restoring everyone and were now converging on the throne room, bringing all the ink with them. Those in the throne room watched in stunned awe as all the ladybugs and ink began to swarm around the glowing ink puddle, Henry backing up to give the ladybugs room to fly. They swarmed together, making a swirling glowing cone that dazzled those watching it. Faster and faster they spun before finally exploding in a shower of sparkles and Marinette finally transformed back, her power completely spent.

Those in the throne room, as well as those slowly gathering in the doorway, stared in shock as the sparkles disappeared to reveal three black and white figures laying on the floor. It was the toons…Bendy, Boris, and Alice… all of them restored to their perfect bodies. The onlookers watched breathlessly as Bendy began to stir…

Bendy let out a small groan and sat up, rubbing his head. His memories were all jumbled up and it was giving him a headache trying to sort it all out. He slowly blinked and went to rub his eyes only to freeze… His hand…his hand looked like it was supposed to… not some sort of clawed ink dripping monstrosity… it had been so long since he had been himself… he had forgotten what it was like… Bendy was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard movement beside him. He whipped his head around and his eyes widened as he saw Alice waking up.

"Alice!" Bendy cheered diving over to hug her.

"Bendy…" Alice said in shock before eagerly returning his hug. "Bendy! You're free! I'm free! But what about..?"

A final groan caught their attention, making them look over as Boris sat up.

"What's going on..?" Boris yawned.

"Boris!" Alice and Bendy cheered, tackling him in a hug.

"Bendy! Alice!" Boris cheered, taking both of them in his arms. "You're alright! We're finally alright!"

Several of the bystanders made soft noises at witnessing the cheerful reunion, making the toons freeze. As one, their three heads snapped to the humans, their eyes widening. For a moment, there was only silence. Then the toons let out terrified screams.

AN: I drew a picture of Angelbug purifying the heart. You can find it on either my Tumblr or Deviantart.