Golden Vision

Henry sighed as he sank into the chair by his drawing desk. It had been a hard week since Bendy's outburst. Though the little Ink Demon was no longer bottling up his feelings, he was still far from okay. He was still struggling to come to terms with what he did, accepting that he willingly ate a soul, and it could still be a long time before he did. Bendy no longer hid behind false smiles, but that meant he was quieter and more reserved than normal. Henry and Linda were worried he was slipping into a depression.

Today was the first time he seemed a bit better. Sure, he wasn't as energetic as he normally was, but it was the first time he'd genuinely smiled since they got back from the whole fiasco. Alice and Boris were determined to cheer up their little devil darling and had spent the morning reminiscing with him about what they could remember of the cartoon show they once had belonged to, saying which once's were their favorites and laughing over some of the ridiculous things they had gotten into. Even the Butcher Gang got in with conversation with their own way of speaking, bringing some freshly made cookies to snack on as well.

Leaving Bendy in the capable hands of his other toons, Henry had decided it was a good time to spend on his other project. He pulled out Joey's spellbook as well as several books on codes and languages he had gotten from the local library and began to once more attempt to figure out what was written in Joey's book.

Henry had been working on this off and on when he could ever since he could, first to make sure everyone's fluctuating forms were stable and now in an attempt to find a way to safely make their forms take on a more permanent state. It was slow going as no only was the text written in several different languages, most of it was in code. Henry also had suspicions there were more texts that Joey had been studying and this book was more of a journal about Joey's personal experiments and attempts in bringing toons to life. He'd had come across various notes and comments of Joey's referencing other sources and what had happened after each adjusted attempt with the various spells and rituals.

Henry groaned and stretched back after spending a few hours hunched over the books. He had made very little progress in the current passage he was working on it was getting discouraging. At this rate, it would be years before he'd finish translating the darn thing let alone understand it enough for him to be able to modify its contents for his own needs. He wasn't going to give up, he couldn't with his family counting on him, but he hated that it'd take so long for him to be able to help his family. If only there was some way for him to just be able to read the words like normal when he looked at the book instead of having to translate ever…

Henry's thoughts paused as he felt some sort of warm pressure start to gather in his eyes. It didn't seem to be effect his view of the ceiling and he blinked a few times to try and get rid of the strange feeling. It didn't seem to affect it, if anything the warmth and pressure only increased, so Henry brought up his hand and rubbed his eyes, he was surprised to feel wetness on his hand and when he looked at it, he found golden ink on his fingers.

Alarmed by the implications, Henry bolted out of his workroom and locked himself in the nearest bathroom, startling several of his toons as he rushed by. Looking in the mirror, Henry found that his eyes were completely gold and swirling as if they were made of ink.

He forced himself to take deep breaths as panicking would not help his situation. He leaned closer, studying his eyes. Even though they were wet to the touch, they seemed solid enough and didn't seem to be affecting his normal vision. Still, he didn't want to look like this forever and tried to will his eyes back to normal. To his immense relief, the gold slowly vanished, leaving behind his normal human eyes. Now curious, he tried to will the gold back and it responded to his mental command. Henry spent several minutes letting the gold fill and drain from his eyes, mesmerized by this development. He couldn't help but wonder what it meant…

"Dad… are you alright?" Alice's worried knock at the bathroom door snapped Henry out of his thoughts. After making sure his eyes were back to normal, Henry opened to door to see all his toons gathered around it with various expressions of worry and curiosity.

"I'm fine," Henry said, giving his toons a reassuring smile. "Just have something I need to work on, but I promise it's nothing to worry about."

Henry chuckled as all his toons sighed or whistled in relief and he allowed himself to be pulled into a group hug. Once all the toons were confident their creator was fine, they went back to solving a puzzle they had started while Henry was working. Henry himself went back into his workroom. Settling into his chair, Henry allowed the golden ink to fill his eyes and looked at Joey's book.

At first, nothing seemed to happen, but slowly the letters and words began to change from their various languages and codes into plain English. Henry couldn't help but stare in wonder before eagerly reading. While the contents of the book were disturbing, especially the cold and detached way Joey described sacrificing people in his ritual attempts, Henry was able to begin to grasp the techniques and magic Joey had been working with. Henry still had a while before he'd feel confident enough to perform a ritual himself on the toons, but now it actually seemed possible.

It was only a matter of time now before he'd be able to help his family.