Chapter 5: Closing ink
Ventus and Borris continued to run, both trying to escape Vanitas yet the evil keyblade wielder was right on their tail. The two reach the end of the hallway, prompting Ventus to quickly turn around and get into a fighting pose while telling Borris,
"Go, I'll cover you!"
"..."
Borris was silent as he didn't want Ventus to be on his own, facing this threat that is neither an ink creature or a heartless.
As Vanitas closed the distance, he swung his keyblade and clashed onto Ventus's keyblade.
As the two were on a blade lock, Ventus was giving it his all to be on equal footing with the evil keyblade wielder though Vanitas was somehow having the upper hand in the blade clash.
"What do you think you can do? Without your friends, you are nothing."
"They are still with me, Vanitas! We are still connected!"
"Hahaha! We shall see!"
Vanitas pushed his opponent back before continuing his swing attacks towards Ventus, forcing him on the defense.
As Ventus was using everything he had to block away Vanitas's attacks, Borris remained on the sidelines and could only watch as his friend was being cornered.
This made Borris eventually take action by looking around to see what he could use, prompting him to go towards the right hallway to investigate if there's something he can find to assist Ventus in his fight.
While he left the battlefield, Vanitas caught this which prompted him to say:
"Seems like your new friend has abandoned you, brother."
"..."
Ventus had noticed Borris heading off, not really thinking anything negative of it but as the only way to keep him out of danger.
"As long as he's safe, that's all that matters!"
As he shouted this, he continued to block away Vanitas's attacks until the evil keyblade wielder managed to disarm him with a swift attack that caught Ventus off guard.
As Ventus attempted to re-summon his keyblade, Vanitas pointed his right towards his chest area while being a few inches away.
"Now, let us join bodies once again, brother."
"Never!"
Before either keyblade wielder could act, a sudden chair hit the back of Vanitas's head which distracted him long enough for Ventus to hit away Vanitas's keyblade before throwing a barrage of his own attacks.
This pushed Vanitas back enough to force him to summon some unversed to back him up.
The moment he did this, a few ink creatures also popped out of nowhere and started attacking everyone.
Borris was cornered by these ink creatures as they were rapidly approaching him, ready to attack him.
Ventus saw this and quickly threw his keyblade directly at a few of the ink creatures, managing to give Borris an opening to make a run for it.
As this happened, Ventus quickly jumped away from the attacks thrown towards him by Vanitas.
The evil keyblade wielder pointed his keyblade right towards his opponent's direction before firing three fireballs at once.
Ventus was able to avoid one of them with a dodge before avoiding the two others by jumping back.
As he jumped, he noticed Vanitas already sending a follow up attack with another set of fireballs though these were colored dark purple rather than the usual color.
This prompted Ventus to quickly pull out his keyblade to block away the attacks.
As he managed this, the ink creatures started to attack him the moment Ventus landed his feet on the ground.
He noticed this and quickly began to eliminate the ink creatures around him with a simple Aero.
This wind surrounded him as he was able to send the ink creatures around him flying off.
With an opening, Borris grabbed onto the boy's hand to pull him towards the other hallway.
"Huh?"
As Ventus was pulled away towards the other hallway Borris hadn't gone to, the two realized that they were in a deadend.
Ventus turned around and noticed Vanitas charging at them, prompting him to point his keyblade right at the door.
As he did this, the door suddenly had a keyhole appear with a dark glow to it.
Ventus's tip of his keyblade fired a beam of light right onto the keyhole which had caused an unlock sound to be heard before the door was able to open.
Right when this happened, Ventus quickly turned around to block away Vanitas's incoming attack which resulted in the two being in another blade lock.
In this particular blade lock, Vanitas could sense that the ink creatures had consumed his unversed into the ink as they were also approaching them.
"Seems like we will have to split paths once again. I will see you again soon, brother."
Vanitas pushed Ventus back before snapping his fingers.
"Wait, Vanitas!"
The moment Ventus tried to do something, a dark barrier had suddenly blocked the way to enter the hallway they came from.
"Why would Vanitas...? Borris, are you okay?"
Borris nodded before checking on Ventus, noticing that the boy had cut himself during the fight on his right arm.
"I'll be alright, no need to be alarmed."
As he said this with a warm smile, Borris couldn't help but accept these words and even patted the boy in the head before turning towards the room they ended up in.
Ventus also turned towards the room they were in, noticing the lights turning on with the sign on top of a few ink statues saying, He Will Set Us Free.
"That's..."
Scary. That was the word Ventus was thinking when seeing what the sign was saying.
This prompted him to just keep on moving along with Borris.
As the two were cautiously walking around the room, a very unnerving melody was heard.
This melody was prompting Ventus to be on guard as he doesn't trust it while Borris was scared.
As they were slowly walking around, the two realized that they were in a library of sorts as they saw a variety of books around.
This made him think back of his world, the land of departure, how there were times Master Eraqus would have him read books to get a better understanding of being a proper keyblade wielder.
'They weren't fun...but at least Terra and Aqua were there to make reading fun.'
As he thought fondly of those memories, he eventually stumbled upon a door that had a sign on top saying Private. This caught the keyblade wielder's curiosity, prompting him to try and open the door through his keyblade only to get no response like the last one.
"That's weird. It usually works." As he put away his keyblade, he began to think: "Okay then, how do I open this door?"
As he asked himself this question, he noticed that one of the books was hanging off the shelves, looking like it was going to fall off. This prompted the keyblade wielder to go and place it back into the shelf.
'There we go.' The boy thought to himself, happy with his deed though he did notice a sudden light above the door turn on.
'Maybe that's how I open the door.' The boy thought as he began to search around the library for books that were not placed correctly.
As he was finding some of these books, he started to feel...nauseous. As if he was recalling something he can't remember.
Suddenly someone appeared in front of him, a girl with long orange hair and white attire. Although this threw Ventus off guard, he didn't view her as a threat.
"Who are...?"
Ventus paused for a second as he felt that this girl was...familiar to him.
As she turned around, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his mind, causing him to collapse to the ground in pain.
"Ahhhh!"
Borris noticed Ventus screaming in pain, prompting him to quickly approach Ventus's position to check on the boy.
As he was with the keyblade wielder's side, he inspected him and stayed with him until Ventus finally calmed down.
The boy wasn't sure what happened there...but all he knows is that he probably should continue his search for finding Aqua and Terra.
He turned towards Borris to tell him:
"I'm okay...thanks for checking up on me."
Borris gives a concerned look before giving the boy a hug, not wanting him to be in pain again.
Ventus returned the hug before getting back up, remembering that to open the door requires all the books to be placed in the shelves correctly.
He explains this to Borris before the two quickly get to work on fixing up the library.
As this took a few minutes, the door opened which allowed the two to continue their journey into the studio.
They walked around a few minutes before noticing that they needed to get across from a large gap.
Fortunately for the pair, Ventus's keyblade can change to a vehicle, allowing him to take Borris and to cross without much trouble.
As the pair make it across, they open a door that leads into a very creepy hallway, one that puts Ventus into guard mode.
The two walked into the hallway though it didn't take long before suddenly Ventus started seeing things again, though this time it was a different person.
An unknown person wearing a silver fox-inspired mask with ears poking through the top of her hood as well as pink garments.
"What...? Who...?"
Once again, he felt a sharp pain in his head, causing him to nearly collapse yet the keyblade wielder was able to resist the pain this time.
He did not wish to worry his friend Borris anymore, especially when his ally was afraid of whatever he was seeing.
As Ventus was able to recover from this, he noticed that this person was gone.
'Am I...seeing things?'
The keyblade wielder questioned this for a moment before just shaking this off as the place just showing him random people to throw him off.
As they both leave the hallway, they arrive at a place where chains were moving around.
"I see you there, my little errand boy."
"Alice..."
Ventus wasn't sure how to feel when hearing Alice's voice. He looked up while Alice Angel continued to speak.
"Your angel is always watching. What is it that keeps you going?"
"My friends." Ventus responded. "My friends keep me going. They are my power."
"Is that right? Are you perhaps looking for a young woman? One with short blue hair?"
"Blue hair...do you mean Aqua?! Have you seen her?!" Ventus's eyes lit up the moment he heard that Alice Angel had encountered one of his missing friends.
"Oh. I see. You are full of light when hearing about your friends, my little errand.
"Where is she?!" As Ventus shouted this, he and Borris began to run up the stairs, wanting to catch up with Alice. She continued to speak:
"Better hurry, errand boy. Those in the shadows will get her if you aren't fast enough."
Ventus and Borris reached the top floor and onto a room where there was a couch and ink flowing down onto the floor.
There was a door at the other side of the room, prompting Ventus to go and open it, wanting to find Aqua.
The moment he opens the door, he sees the next room is filled with a bunch of ink people with the words on the wall saying No Angels! He will set us free!
"What...happened to them?"
He walked around towards these ink people, seeing them just looking at him, empty shells standing around him and Borris.
As he was looking at these empty shells, he noticed the wall to his right side to see the wall saying He will set us free! as well as underneath this saying It's time to believe. This was just unnerving to the keyblade wielder, causing him to question himself on how he could help these lost souls.
'How can I help them?'
"You can't."
Ventus and Borris were on guard when they heard Vanitas's voice, prompting the two to turn towards the direction of the voice with the keyblade wielder ready for battle. Vanitas looked at his 'brother' for a moment before looking at these ink people.
"Do you know what this place is? It's a prison of sorts."
"..." Ventus remained silent, not necessarily wanting to talk with his opponent. This was something Vanitas noticed though that didn't stop him from continuing to speak:
"A place where dreams go to die. A nice place where darkness can prevail and light expires."
"The light will never go out, Vanitas." Ventus shouted as he prepared to go to attack him. Vanitas smiled evilly while saying to his 'brother':
"Tell that to the one in charge of this place."
As Vanitas said this, he went into a wall just as Borris and Ventus heard a sudden noise from the previous room.
This prompted the two to look and see an ink monster slowly approaching them from the edge of the previous room.
Ventus was prepared to face this ink monster yet Borris started to freak out, knowing full well what the creature charging was.
He pulled Ventus's arm, catching the boy's attention.
As he pulled him near the vents, he pointed at the vent, wanting the keyblade wielder to go in.
"You don't need to worry, I can take that ink creature!"
Borris saw the determination in the boy's eyes though that made it even more worried that Ventus would die a foolish death.
This prompted Borris to beg the boy to listen, not wanting him to die.
The keyblade wielder saw this and wanted to reassure Borris that he'll be alright only for all of his senses to immediately yell at him to run.
Ventus looked back at the creature and seeing it in close range made him realize that this thing isn't something to take lightly.
This forced him to quickly point his keyblade right at the ink monster while shouting:
"Blizzaga!"
A powerful ice attack was immediately sent towards the ink monster, stunning it for a moment.
This attack bought Ventus and Borris enough time to quickly go into the vent to escape the ink monster.
As the two just barely escaped the ink monster, the two went through the vents in search of an exit, avoiding any areas that looked like a death trap with Ventus leading the way.
They go through the vents for a bit until finally reaching a room that seemed to be a safe area.
As they left the vents, Ventus looked around with keyblade at hand as he looked at the Bendy statue.
This made him nervous since viewing the ink version of this little innocent looking Bendy.
Borris patted Ventus's arm, wanting to keep the boy calm as he could tell he was nervous. Ventus noticed this and just gave Borris a smile.
"Thanks."
Borris nodded before the two began to explore the area.
As they walked up the stairs onto the next floor, the wall nearby had ink written Dreams come true.
This made Ventus even more uneasy since he doesn't know whose dream came true as well as who is writing these messages.
Once on the next floor, they noticed a table that had some sort of map of what seemed to be a theme park.
This made Ventus remember the park at Disney town, bringing him some wholesome memories.
He noticed a device on the table where the map was but before he played this device, a sudden door opened which caught Ventus's attention.
He turned towards Borris's direction to see that he had pulled a lever.
The two went to investigate what door had opened to see that it was the one in the previous floor.
As they enter, the pair notice that it was dark for a few seconds before suddenly the lights turned on.
This revealed to both Borris and Ventus a place with a sign called Bendy HELL.
"...Stay close to me."
Borris nodded as the two entered this 'hell' together, with Ventus having a keyblade out. While the two were going in, Vanitas observed from a distance.
"Hm."
Vanitas smiled sinisterly as he slowly followed behind the pair, waiting for the right chance to have his rematch with his 'brother'.
Aqua began to chase down this woman, this angel, down the hallway though the moment she reached the end of the hallway, she noticed it was a dead end.
"Where did you go, angel?"
As she shouted this, Aqua looked at her surroundings as she felt a familiar presence around. This caused her to close her eyes to focus on this feeling before thinking to herself:
'...Ven...'
She could feel Ventus's light, prompting her to look at the door to her left side. She noticed that it was open but at the same time there was a dark barrier blocking the path. This prompted the keyblade master to hold her keyblade with a tight grip before destroying it without hesitation.
Once she cleared the path, the next room made Aqua pause for a second as she began to slowly panic. She saw the ink people statues suddenly become Anti Aquas.
"N-No..."
"What's wrong, Aqua?" One of these Anti Aquas spoke out to the keyblade master, causing her to slowly panic. One of the other Anti Aquas was next to speak:
"What are you even doing here?"
"I-I'm here to find—"
"—Ven and Terra? Again? Why should they be keyblade wielders when they are constantly getting lost."
"Don't bad mouth my friends!" Aqua shouted with anger, not liking the words being said.
"Do you not believe that Terra shouldn't be going into the realm of darkness after what happened to him? After what Xehanort had enslaved him?" One of the Anti Aquas said with another adding in:
"And why bring Ven along? He should be safe. He shouldn't be in a place like this."
"..I-I..."
"You know this, Aqua. As a master, you should know that this place is not for them. Only you should travel to the realm of darkness alone. Just as it has always been."
"No!" Aqua shouted, "Together, we are much stronger."
As she shouted this, the Anti Aquas had disappeared and were just back to ink statues.
Once she saw this, she took a deep breath to calm herself down for a moment before grabbing the wayfinder once again.
Although it hasn't been long since she last grabbed it, she wanted to think of Ventus and Terra.
She felt bad that she didn't trust the two during the time Eraqus was still around.
She opened her eyes after blanking her thoughts for a moment, not wanting to let that guilt fester since that's not something to be bothered by anymore now that everyone but Sora was safe.
'After we find each other, we will find Sora.'
As she was reminded of the overall goal, she continued to walk around, noticing that this room was a library of sorts.
This gave her memories of the Land of Departure, remembering a library Eraqus had for her, Terra, and Ventus to study.
This got her to chuckle a bit, remembering some good memories there before moving on, wanting to find her friends...as well as Henry.
She hasn't forgotten him, someone who isn't a keyblade wielder that had traveled with her into the dangerous studio.
This motivated her to keep going.
She looked around and found a door that was already opened, prompting her to think that perhaps this was the path Ventus had gone to.
As she entered the area to see a large hole that leads to a deep abyss.
This made her back up a bit as she didn't want to be near this darkness.
She looked around to see where Ventus could've gone.
She eventually spotted the door on the other side, a door was left open which led into a hallway.
This alerted the Keyblade Master that Ventus had gone off towards that direction, allowing her to simply jump across with ease before entering this hallway.
As she was crossing, the room suddenly changed her perspective as a few Anti Aquas were attempting to grab her, causing an enormous amount of stress and fear to enter the keyblade master's heart.
'It's not real. It's not real.'
Aqua told herself this in her thoughts, trying to lower her heart rate.
Once she felt herself calming down, she opened her eyes and saw the hallway back to normal.
This gave her a chance to just run across, not wanting to deal with another hallucination like attack though once reaching the other side, she noticed a few stairs heading up into many floors.
She quickly made her way towards the top floor, following Ventus's path until reaching a room that's unnaturally calming for a place like this.
Once there, she noticed a door was already open but could sense that the ink demon from before was around as the ground had a few inky footprints leading towards a vent of sorts on the other side of the next room.
As she approached the vent, she was uncertain on how to feel since something happened in this room.
'Did that creature attack Ven?'
Aqua worried when this question came to mind, knowing that Ventus is strong...but the creature is tenacious.
She looked inside the vents and saw that it led somewhere, prompting her to investigate by entering the vents.
As she crawled around for a moment, she noticed that all the way across from where she had started was an exit though she also could sense the ink demon being there.
She made a turn and continued to crawl down the vents until finally reaching an opening.
As she got herself out of the vents, she turned towards her right side and saw the ink demon as an innocent creature.
This annoyed Aqua though her focus was to her left, noticing that the door with a sight saying Storage 9 was open.
This prompted her to walk into the room that had a sign saying Bendy Hell. This made the keyblade Master nervous since this seems like the ink demon's domain.
'Ven...Terra...I hope you two are safe.'
As she thought those words, she entered on her own, determined to find her friends.
As she was looking around the perimeter, she spotted a few carnival games around her.
This instantly brought her back into some good memories at Disney town with Princess Minnie and the others.
Although those memories were nice, she looked around to see just how different this place is compared to Disney town's carnival games.
"I was wondering how long until you arrive."
Aqua had her guard up the moment she heard the angel's voice speak out.
"Where are you?" Aqua questioned with a stern voice.
"No need to be mad. Us ladies should stick together."
"I'm not here to play games. Tell me where my friends are!"
"Straight to the point. I like that. A boy with a creature from here came around. They managed to enter the next area because the room was open. For you to cross and join them, find a way to power the door."
"Where's that?"
"That's for you to find out." The Angel spoke out in a playful manner, which only resulted in annoying Aqua. Right before she lost her composure, the keyblade master took a deep breath to keep herself calm before responding with a stern voice:
"I'm not here to play games. Tell me where's this power is located."
The angel remained silent, not wanting to argue with Aqua but at the same time curious to see what this female warrior will do.
Aqua was losing patience with this angel and was about to shout for it but seeing that it might not go anywhere, the keyblade master began to look for the power.
As she did, a few heartless started to pop up around her which put her on the defensive.
Three soldier type heartless charged right at Aqua first, trying to pin her down only for the keyblade master to easily dispose of them with a simple swing.
As she took these heartless out, the others all charged at her.
A few of these heartless were a few Destroyer types, Gargoyle type, and one Dual Blade type.
Aqua looked at these heartless and waited for the right moment before striking down half of them with a few swings of her keyblade.
As she did this, the Dual Blade heartless swung both its blades at Aqua, forcing the keyblade master to avoid these deadly attacks.
Once Aqua avoided this attack, she took the chance to land a hit on the heartless's chest area, sending it flying a few feet away.
The remaining Destroyer types fired a few lasers at Aqua with the last two Gargoyle types charging right towards her position.
She noticed this and quickly created a barrier to block away these attacks.
The moment the Destroyer heartless had stopped firing, she put away the barrier and quickly struck down the remaining Gargoyle type heartless.
The moment she eliminated these heartless, she threw her keyblade right towards the direction of the Destroyer type heartless.
This worked as her keyblade was able to move and hit all of the remaining Destroyer type heartless before turning her attention to the last heartless, the Dual Blade type.
The heartless tried to take the opportunity to attack the keyblade master right when she was unarmed only for said keyblade master to avoid it's attack by jumping high enough to be out of range.
As she was on the air, she summoned her keyblade and quickly managed to charge right at the Dual Blade heartless.
The second she was within range, she sliced the heartless in half, managing to eliminate it.
As Aqua managed to defeat all the heartless, the angel began to speak:
"You are quite the fighter. I like that."
"..." Aqua looked up at the direction of the voice, noticing that the angel was speaking from a different location. While the keyblade master remained silent, the angel continued to speak:
"Compared to that friend of yours, you are a natural."
Aqua had no emotion when this was said and just continued her search for the power.
She walked around for a good ten minutes until finding a door that was locked.
She was about to open the door through brute force only for the angel to speak out:
"You know, you could play the games to open the door."
"..."
"That is how this place is designed. I know you aren't just some brute."
Aqua was silent for a second before looking at the door, she felt that this one won't be open easily with her keyblade and she doesn't want to cause too much noise that'll attract unwanted attention.
She turned up to ask:
"Did Ven or Terra have to go through this?" She questioned, not wanting to waste any time.
"The boy was lucky, the door was open when that demon suddenly arrived."
'Demon?!' Aqua was on high alert when she heard this. "What happened to him?! Is he okay?!"
She was positive that it was Ventus the angel was talking about...but on the off chance it was Terra or even Henry, she spoke vaguely.
The angel laughed at this, only resulting in the keyblade master getting a bit frustrated.
"Then at least tell me how to open the door."
"No need to be all mad, just play some games. That'll cool you off."
"..."
Aqua was bothered by this but she crossed her arms as she had noticed a few carnival games around.
Assuming that the angel isn't just messing with her, that could be a clue in how she can get the door open.
She approaches the closest game to her, a firing one with the goal being to use the fake gun to fire at the targets that don't have an X on it.
Aqua felt somewhat uncomfortable holding the fake gun though she wasn't too bad at it. Once she accomplished this, she could hear a clicking sound.
'Was that all?'
Aqua felt that this was...too easy to get a door open which prompted her to turn towards her right side to the next carnival game.
She approached this game and saw three balls right near her while on the three barrels on the other side with each barrel having three bottles.
Two bottles on the top of the barrel with one bottle on top of the two bottles.
Figuring that this is a throwing game, she grabbed the three balls and prepared to throw them.
All three throws she managed to not only knock the three bottles off of their respective barrels but also destroyed the bottles themselves.
As she completed the game, another clicking sound could be heard with a door opening.
This alerted the keyblade master that the deed was done as well as make her skeptical on this.
'This was...too easy.'
As she thought this, the angel came in to say:
"You are a strong one, I'll give you that. But can you save those you care about?"
"What does that supposed to mean?"
As Aqua said this with a sharp tone, the angel stopped responding.
This prompted the keyblade master to quickly go towards the door to enter a room where a switch to turn on the power was located.
Once she switched the power on, she went out of the room and noticed a few cables leading somewhere.
She followed this only to finally notice a power station on the wall with four switches with numbers and a lever on the right side.
Aqua approached the first switch to see if it'll do something.
The moment she pushed it down, she heard a noise that prompted her to go and investigate.
Once she finds another door open, she goes in to check the new area.
As she was in a new room, she looked on the lower floor to the one she was in and noticed a few ink creatures huddled around a fire.
This prompted her to go down the stairs as quietly as possible, trying to avoid an unnecessary fight.
Just as she was passing by the three ink creatures without them noticing her, she prepared to enter a hallway only to sense something trying to attack her.
She quickly summoned her keyblade to strike this attacker down, thinking that it was possibly one of the ink creatures only to see it was a random shadow heartless.
Thanks to this heartless, the ink creatures turned towards her direction before beginning to charge at her with their tools as weapons out and ready for battle. Aqua was annoyed by this yet it was going to happen at some point.
She pointed her keyblade at the first ink creature and casted Fire to easily dispose of it with a fireball.
The two ink creatures noticed this and just quickly picked up the pace to close the gap between them and the keyblade master.
As they were closing in, Aqua blocked their attacks before swinging her keyblade right on the ink creature to her left.
This swing managed to do damage to the ink creature as it stunned it but didn't fully eliminate it.
Aqua noticed this as she blocked the ink creature attack to her right side before managing to land a hit on it as well.
The ink creature to her left side tried to attack her while she was focused on its ally only for the keyblade master to dodge the attack by jumping high up.
While in the air, she pointed her keyblade at the ink creature to her left before casting Blizzard.
This attack landed and ended up freezing the ink creature in place, leaving only one left.
The last ink creature wasn't afraid and just continued to try and land a fatal hit on Aqua only to end up being defeated with one more strong hit.
As she managed to land a hit straight through the ink creature's side, causing it to collapse into a goo of ink while falling to the ground.
Aqua continued to have her guard up as she looked at the frozen ink creature, seeing that it's stuck like that.
She took a look at her surroundings before feeling that she can continue forward in seeing if she can find where Ventus could be at.
As she was entering the hallway she was originally going into without picking a fight, she found herself seeing an ink person on the ground on the other side of a wall that seemed like a prison.
This ink person was crying and looking scared, which caused Aqua to pause herself as she could see herself in this ink person.
She knows how lonely things can be, having traveled the realm of darkness for such a long time.
"A-Are you okay?" The keyblade master asked, wanting to see if she can help the ink person but it didn't respond to her question. She looked at him for a few more seconds before looking away, seeing that this ink person won't be listening to anybody. She continues to walk into the room where in one of the walls it says The Creator lied to us.
'The creator?'
Aqua was curious about this, but for now she inspected the area only to find another switch that had a lightning bolt on it. Considering that power is important in order for one to move onto the next location, she flipped the switch.
Once she did this, she began to go back to the previous carnival room. As she entered the room, she had this feeling that she should head towards the power station.
Once she approached the power station, she switched the second switch before hearing a door open. Though as a door was opened, she heard a sudden explosion which prompted her to get her keyblade out.
Having a worried feeling that something might be going on with Ventus, she started to run towards the direction of the noise. As she was approaching the location of the sound, she could tell that a fight was breaking out.
'I'll be right there, Ven.'
Terra and Henry cautiously walked towards the hallway, Terra taking the lead with his keyblade. As they reached the end of the hallway, the two looked around and noticed that the archives area was open.
"I wonder if Aqua's been around..."
"..." Terra was silent as he felt something, as if Aqua or Ventus were around. The two started to walk towards the archives, Terra felt a bit nostalgic as this room reminded him of the library at the land of departure.
'Hm. Good times.'
Terra reflected on those memories for a brief moment before getting his mind back in focus on reality. The two looked and saw a few ink people standing behind the sign saying He Will Set Us Free. Henry stepped back as he was caught off guard by these while Terra remained calm.
"...no need to be frightened by this. They aren't alive."
"How can you tell?"
"I don't sense any darkness here. We should be safe." As Terra said this, Henry remained guarded for a second before seeing that the ink creatures looked more statues than anything. This allowed both him and Terra to have their guards down. While walking around the archives room, the two noticed a tape in the center of the room.
"Hm? I'm curious..."
Henry played the tape and noticed that a voice was speaking out, a recording of sorts. This even caught Terra's attention as they were hearing a female speak:
"They told me I was perfect for the role. Absolutely perfect."
"Susie..."
Henry was aware of her, knowing that she was the voice for Alice Angel. Terra noticed Henry say a name underneath his breath. This prompted him to pay close attention to what was being said in this tape.
"Now Joey's going around...saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell. Now he wants to meet again tomorrow, says he has an "opportunity" for me. I'll hear him out. But if that smooth talker thinks he can double cross an angel and get away with it, well, oh he's got another thing coming. Alice, ooh she doesn't like liars."
Terra turned towards Henry, noticing how disappointed and slightly angry he was when hearing this.
"Damn you...Joey..."
Henry could see just how far his friend had gone...making it painful since the two were friends.
"To be sent here, to this cursed studio after everything."
Henry sighed as he calmed himself down, knowing that getting angry won't solve anything.
Terra set his hand on his shoulder. Henry turned towards Terra for a moment before looking at the tape.
"Thanks." Henry appreciated the feeling before continuing to say: "We should continue to search for your missing friends."
"Yeah."
The two searched around the archives only to find themselves an open door leading into a large room.
The two follow into the darkness to see a large abyss with the other side having an opened door.
"They must've gone that way."
As Terra said this, he quickly carried Henry in order to make it easy for the both of them to cross.
As he leaped across effortlessly, the two entered the next area which was the hallway.
The two walked into the hallway without any problems at first until suddenly Henry was frightened.
"Are you okay?" Terra asked. Henry closed his eyes as he tried to keep himself calm from what he was seeing suddenly.
Once he was able to calm himself, he responded to Terra's question with:
"Yes...just startled a little."
As Henry opened his eyes, it seemed like everything was back to normal.
Terra caught on this, prompting him to look at the hallway closely.
He didn't see anything though Henry was back to normal.
The two leave this hallway and begin to go up the stairs, following a faint trail of light left behind by the keyblade wielder's friends.
Once reaching the top floor, the two enter an oddly peaceful looking room before entering the following room.
In this room, there were a few walls covered with writing.
Stuff the two have already seen before...which was still disturbing to them.
Terra looked around as he sensed that a dark presence was nearby.
As the keyblade wielder was on his guard, Henry inspected the area as he was trying to find an exit.
Henry approaches the vent, having a feeling that this might be the way out only to have Terra quickly shout Fira.
"Hm? What's going on?"
"Stay behind me."
As Terra said this, Henry noticed a horde of ink people charging at them.
"Where did they come from?"
"Not sure. They appeared from the other room."
As Terra said this, he created another fireball to eliminate a few more ink creatures approaching him before being forced to fight in close quarters.
He was able to take down a few with a simple swing yet some of the ink people were able to tank the hit.
This prompted the keyblade wielder to be on high alert as these ink creatures were pushing him back. Henry remained behind Terra, knowing that there isn't much he can do against this many, even with his axe.
As he watched the keyblade wielder fight, he turned towards the vent, having a feeling that perhaps this is the way out of their current situation.
"Terra! Follow my lead!"
Terra turned towards Henry's direction for a few seconds, seeing what his ally was doing before turning forward to push back a few of the ink creatures right on his position.
He pushed away some of these ink creatures before entering the vent.
Although it is a bit uncomfortable for him to be in the vents since he's a bit too big, he can still push himself to move around.
As the two make an effort to navigate around the vents, the pair eventually reach an area that seems like a safe zone.
Henry leaves the vents first before Terra attempts to leave only to get stuck halfway.
"Let me help you."
Henry approached Terra and assisted him by pulling him out of the vent with all of their combined strength. Once accomplishing this, Terra looks at the vents, seeing how their effort had caused the hole in the wall to increase.
"Thanks." The keyblade wielder said before looking around, wanting to investigate. Henry turned towards his left side to see a door opened.
"Look. Perhaps we should head over there."
"Let's search around first. We should make sure that we cover everything first."
"Okay."
Trusting in Terra, he follows the young man in looking around the room before going through the door with the sign saying storage 9. While walking around, the two made their way up the stairs to another room. In this room, the two noticed that there looks to be a planned theme park of sorts.
"Bendy land?" Henry questioned, knowing full well that Joey had mentioned an idea like this in the early days of Bendy's creation. As he questioned this, he noticed another tape which caused him to go play it, wanting to know who else did Joey ruined.
"For forty years, I've built attractions that stagger the imagination! Colossal wonders such as the world has never seen! I have earned my legacy with sweat. But right in front of everyone — high level inventors, Wall Street tycoons, the ever tactless Joey Drew introduces me, the great Bertrum Piedmont, as BERTIE!"
Terra tilted his head when hearing this, not exactly sure what's wrong with the nickname Bertie. The only thing he can think of that could be annoying for this Bertrum is if it's related to something professional. Other than that, the keyblade wielder just ignored the man's angry rambles. Henry only chuckled at this, seeing that Joey still addressed people through whatever nickname he came up with on the fly. The two continued to listen:
"Like I was his CHILD! You may be PAYING me, Mister Drew! But you don't OWN me! I build you a park bigger than anything YOU could ever possibly conceive! But before you go taking any bows, Mister Drew, know that this grand achievement will belong to me...and to ME alone."
"Huh..." Henry was a bit lost for words.
"What an...interesting man." Terra said, seeing this Bertrum guy a bit egotistical by the way he was speaking. "Perhaps Joey was trying to take credit for Bertrum's creation."
"Wouldn't be surprised if he did that." Henry said as he shrugged, finding this tape a bit more digestible than the last one. "Though I am impressed he managed to find someone as egotistical as him."
The two looked around the room one last time, seeing that there's nothing more here. The two went back down stairs as Terra can now confirm that there's no indication that Aqua or Ventus were around this area.
As the two backtrack all the way towards the opened door with the sign storage 9, the two noticed a larger sign saying Bendy Hell with a bendy head in the middle of the two words.
"Unnerving."
"Agreed."
As the two prepare to go into the room, they hear explosions.
"What was that?"
"..."
Terra remained silent at first as he wasn't sure what to think until he heard a familiar voice shout:
"Blizzard!"
"Ven!"
As Terra said this, he quickly started running towards the direction of the noise, figuring a fight was happening. Henry followed behind, ready to help the keyblade wielder out with his axe.
Author's note:
Sorry for the long wait on this story, it has been a crazy few months since the last chapter with how busy work was but now that time has freed up, I can finally increase more time on all the stories. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter.