Fury

It had been a week since the downfall of the Liar and things were finally being to feel normal again. Sure, the toons weren't completely stable as scars and eyes still tended to shift and change, but they felt confident that they weren't at risk of falling apart and Henry was trying to figure out how to get their forms settled. But everyone was getting really worried about Bendy.

The little Ink Demon was still trying to act like everything was fine, but they could tell hiss mask was cracking. The toon's turbulent emotions were even starting to affect Sammy and Henry, even with the two men suppressing their link with the devil, making them both irritable and short-tempered. It wouldn't be long before Bendy snapped, and his family could only wait to help him when it happened.

The morning it happened started out fairly normal, the toons discussing what they felt like doing that day while Linda finished up making breakfast. The first sign something was going on was happening was when Henry and Sammy both shouted in anger, the musician slamming his fist on the piano he had been playing and Henry snapping the pen he was holding. Before anyone could react, the room immediately got darker as inky black shadows covered the ceiling with shouts and crashes easily heard from Bendy's room.

"I've never seen him this angry before," Alice commented in fear and worry, staring up at the inky shadows. Bendy had been angry and violent before, they all had, but his fury had never reached the point where his shadows could be seen from several rooms away. She and the other toons couldn't help but hurdle together, their instinctive fear of the Ink Demon making want to hide. Logically, they knew Bendy wouldn't hurt him and they wanted to help him, but their fear was so deeply ingrained from the time from the Studio that they couldn't even budge.

"I'll go see if I can calm him down," Henry said, once he was able to gather himself. The other toons looked at him in fear, knowing he's the only one that could probably reach through to Bendy right now but terrified the demon might hurt their Creator. Linda gave Henry an encouraging nod before turning to the frightened toons, reaching out to comfort them.

Leaving the others in Linda's capable hands, Henry began making his way upstairs. With each step he took, everything got darker as the number of inky shadows grew. Henry could feel his heart begin to race and the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand as fear began to claw its way through him, despite all efforts to push it aside. He hated how his hand shook as he reached out to open the door to Bendy's room. His toon was in pain and needed him. Henry couldn't let fear keep him from helping his son.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Henry opens the door. The room was nearly pitch black with the amount of ink coating the walls and it took a moment for Henry to see what was going on. Bendy was standing in the middle of the room, traces of golden ink illuminating his half transformed state. He was creating objects with his ink and hurling them with all his might against the wall, letting them shatter and reabsorbing the prices just to do it all over again.

"I HATE HIM!" Bendy shouted, his voice deeper and distorted because of his fury and partial transformation, making it hard for Henry to clearly understand what he was saying. "THIS IS ALL FAULT! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! HE'S THE ONE THAT DID THIS TO ME!"

"Bendy, what's going on?" Henry asked calmly, taking a few cautious steps into the room. "Who do you hate?"

"THE LIAR!" Bendy practically roared as he threw one last object at the wall, his breathing ragged, and his form trembling as Henry finished crossing the room and enveloping the toon in a hug. Bendy clutched onto Henry's shirt tightly as he continued in a dark whisper. "I hate him so much. He's the one that caused us so much pain. He made me a monster. He made me kill him!"

"Bendy, you're not a monster," Henry comforted, gently rubbing the toons back. "I know what you did wasn't easy, but you said it yourself. He was hurting us and you were just trying to protect us. You shouldn't feel guilty for wanting to protect your family from an evil man."

"BUT I DON'T" Bendy shouted, shoving away from Henry. "I DON'T FEEL GUILTY! HE NEEDED TO DIE AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN IF I HAD TO! THAT'S WHY I'M A MONSTER!"

"Bendy, it's alright," Henry tried to soothe the poor toon. This situation had no easy answers, but he was going to find a way to comfort Bendy. "You just want to keep us safe. Doing what you have to defend yourself and others doesn't make you a monster. You've worked so hard to embrace your darker tendencies and turn them into something good. Don't let fear and this incident make you lose sight of how far you've come."

"Oh I've embraced them alright," Bendy said quietly and coldly, sending an instinctual shiver down Henry's spine. Bendy's form began to grow, the last traces of golden ink disappearing as he transformed. The form wasn't that of the Ink Devil Henry had become familiar with or even the old Ink Demon, this was something new.

This new form was a deep black that seemed to absorbed the warmth and light from around it, only the barest gleam to show it was still ink and not pure darkness. It was taller than Bendy's previous forms, towering over Henry easily. It was more skeletal looking with long sharp claw-like hands and feet. The wings seemed to have a solid ink structure that faded into whispy shadows. Its tail swayed behind it, it's spaded end far sharper and deadly looking. The only white within this form of darkness was the sharp-toothed smile, stretching far wider across its head than anything even remotely human or toon. While Henry had known for a while Bendy was capable of consuming souls and always felt on some level like a predictor, this new form left no doubt that the demon was not only capable but willing to kill for your soul. Henry couldn't help but take a few fearful steps back, feeling like he was staring into the face of the Grimm Reaper, seeing death itself come to claim him.

"Consuming a soul comes with a price," Bendy continued. "As you can see, I'm truly a demon now."

Something in Bendy's voice nagged at Henry and he forced himself to push back the fear. He took a deep breath and forced himself to really look at Bendy, pushing past the terrifying first impression. It only took Henry a moment to see that Bendy was trembling, not from anger but fear and despair. He could see in the way Bendy's wings were half curled and his tail twitched that the toon was barely holding himself back from curling up into a ball and sobbing. Henry's primal instincts might say that a dangerous monster was in front of him, but his parental instincts were far stronger and they were letting him know that his son was scared and needed comfort.

With that revelation, the last of his fear melted away and Henry confidently walked forward, and placed his hands on the sides of Bendy's head, gently stroking him with his thumbs. Bendy froze for a moment at the contact, before leaning into the comforting touch.

"We should have known eating a soul would have some effect on you," Henry murmured. "Not only on the emotional level but the physical as well. I know you're scared by what this could mean and if it's a sign that you're truly a monster, but you aren't. You're still the same toon I loved since the moment I first sketched you on a page. You've grown a lot since them, but it has changed who you are deep down. This is just a new form and well figure out what it and any new abilities can do. We'll help you figure it out, Bendy. Together just like we always promise each other."

Bendy began to sob at Henry's loving words, his form shrinking until he was once more a toon, curled up in Henry's arms.

"I hate him so much!" Bendy sobbed, clinging onto Henry. "He made me this way! Made me a monster rather than a toon! I killed him, but I don't feel guilty. Why can't I feel guilty?"

"It'll be alright," Henry whispered, rocking the distraught toon. They had a long way to go before Bendy would be able to accept what he did and all the consequences that came with it, but Henry was going to be there every step of the way and he knew the others felt the same. There were no easy answers for situations like this but life is rarely ever easy. They would just have to work through this like every obstinate they've faced so far. They'll figure out Bendy's new form and what it meant.

But for now, Henry was content to keep whispering comforts to his upset toon as Bendy cried in his arms, knowing someday they'll be okay.