A/N: oh wow. chapter 2 is gonna take a lot longer than i thought….

don't worry. we're getting to the fun stuff.

EDIT: oh my god i'm so osrry i left you all hanging

The worst part about this is I actually had this chapter completely finished before I went on summer break. I just didn't have time to upload it. On one hand, this is good for you- I can just post this and run. On the other hand… I did write… somewhat… of the next chapter while in a concussed state… but then left it on a device that I currently don't have access to. In other words- it's done but not within reach. So another chapter may take a while. However, as soon as I've got it done, it'll be up- and I can begin working on the next few chapters.

Thanks to DeadLyokoBrony, Jose Adrian Araux Sanchez, and RainFlight31039 for faving/following/reviewing. (Rain- I'm sure he will if he gets back up to the surface. Of course, the ones he's wearing are probably dyed black permanently... all his clothes, as a matter of fact. He came in wearing a couple of colors and whites, now he looks like he walked in a tar pit haha)

Enjoy.

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They were made of ink. But they moved- and took the form of people.

Joey walked to Sammy's office, eyes slightly glazed. He nearly ran into a wall once or twice, but managed to not trip. He barely noticed the infirmary was filled with ink.

And then there was the thing that had been on the first floor- and then Boris.

Something had gone seriously wrong.

He stopped, groaning when he saw the area in front of the music director's door was flooded- and ink continued to spill from an overhead pipe. It looked a little too dangerous to go through… meaning he'd need to find a way to shut off the ink here.

As he turned around, though, he spotted another tape. Wally was written on a piece of tape towards the top. Quietly, he pressed play.

"So I go to get my dustpan from the hall closet the other day, and guess what? I can't find my stupid keys. It's like they disappeared into thin air or something. All I can think of is that they must have fallen into one of the garbage cans as I was making my rounds last week. I just hope nobody tells Sammy. Because if he finds out I lost my keys again, I'm out of here."

And that was how Joey Drew found himself digging through all the trash cans in the department.

So far, he had no other real leads- and it was possible there was something helpful in the closet. Like maybe a scuba mask, so he could just walk through the ink. Or something.

After walking all the way into the projection booth, he managed to find the damn things- how did they get all the way up here- before noticing a tape. He clicked it on.

"Every day the same strange thing happens. I'll be up here in my booth, the band will be swinging, and suddenly Sammy Lawrence just comes marching in and shuts the whole thing down. Tells us all to wait in the hall. Then I hear him. He starts up my projector, and he dashes down from the projection booth and down to the recording studio like the little devil himself was chasing behind. Few seconds later, the projector turns off. But Sammy, oh no, he doesn't come out for a long time. This man is weird. Crazy weird. I got half a mind to talk to Henry about all this, I really do. But Henry has his own problems to deal with."

Joey made his way back to the closet. Upon opening it, he was met with a couple cans of bacon soup- and a tape. He clicked play.

"Every artistic person needs a sanctuary. Joey Drew had his and I have mine. To enter, you only need know my favorite song. The banjo playfully clucks. The piano delicately calls. The violin shudders with a piercing voice. The drum thunders in triumph. Sing my song and my sanctuary will open to you." The tape clicked off.

Joey headed to the orchestra pit, taking a can of soup as he went.

When he walked in, it was almost creepy- nobody was there. It brought back the feeling of wrong- something he was growing to hate. Quickly, he shrugged it off, hurrying to play the instruments needed…

But nothing happened.

He looked around some more- maybe he'd missed something. He found a metal gate- and then another cassette tape, near the piano. He noticed the name on it- Susie. He pressed play.

"It may only be my second month working for Joey Drew, but I can already tell I'm going to love it here! People really seem to enjoy my Alice Angel voice. Sammy says she may be as popular as Bendy some day. These past few weeks, I have voiced everything from talking chairs to dancing chickens. But this is the first character I really felt a connection with. Like she's a part of me. Alice and I, we are going places."

Okay, so that wasn't helping…

Just then, he remembered Norman's tape- and sighed, heading upstairs to the projector booth. Seemed the projector had to play at the same time as the music...

As soon as he managed to switch the projector on, he scrambled down the stairs and hurried to play the instruments needed- but the projector turned off before he could finish. Groaning, he slowly made his way back upstairs- then looked down into the seats and stopped.

A Bendy cutout stood there, innocently- even though he was sure it hadn't been there a minute ago.

Joey, however, decided to leave that be for a minute. He had to get this damn sanctuary open- might have something useful in it. Maybe. Like a hidden exit or something.

The more he failed to play the instruments in time, the more cutouts appeared when he went back to the booth- he'd racked up five before he finally managed to finish playing the instruments before the projector flicked off.

And, finally, the damned metal gate across the room opened.

Panting, Joey walked in, noting the crazy amount of dust and cobwebs that had filled the hall, glancing at the instruments there. He turned the corner, noting the valve labelled FLOW- and the circle, the lit candle, and the writing on the wall.

SING A HAPPY SONG.

WHISTLE A MERRY TUNE.

WAIT FOR HIS ARRIVAL.

HE'S COMING VERY SOON.

Joey shuddered as a cold chill seemed to suddenly fill the room. He hurried to turn the valve, before quickly turning to leave.

Halfway down the hall, another Bendy cutout popped around the corner- and just as quickly, pulled back. The trick was still jarring, but not as much as before. Joey took a moment to breathe before turning the corner.

And, standing and watching in the section next to the projection booth, was an inky figure- one who was wearing a Bendy mask and overalls. It showed no greetings, just watched silently…

Joey started to walk away, towards the door.

He made it about two steps before all hell broke loose.

Ink puddles, the ones that appeared before the inky figures did- sprung from the floorboards, surrounding the man. He quickly began swinging, ignoring everything that came to mind. Their humanoid appearance, the sounds they made when they melted away…. he shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind.

Eventually, the things stopped coming. One had managed to hit him- and ink had begun trailing along his arm for a moment, and it seemed to grip before melting off. It was short, but it was…. not something he wanted to experience again.

The door to the recording studio popped open, and Joey quickly took the opportunity and bolted, slamming the door shut behind him even though it made no difference. He turned, then noticed something- the Infirmary was no longer flooded. He stopped, before sighing and walking down the ink-stained stairs. The light for the sign above flickered.

Almost instantly upon hitting the bottom step, another inky figure appeared. And just as quickly, the axe cut through it, causing it to collapse.

It was almost reflexive.

Taking a moment to look around, Joey noticed that the next valve was missing. Next to that was a switch for UTILITY ACCESS… with any luck, it could help.

He threw the switch, then headed even further down.

He arrived in time for the metal doors to open- revealing the words written on a far wall. DOWN HERE WE'RE ALL SINNERS.

Cheery.

He walked down the hall, groaning when he noticed the part up ahead was still filled with ink. Slowly, though, he stepped in, scowling at the wet shoes feeling again.

Joey began walking to the left, noting the boards blocking the way- and the ink figure behind them… which was wearing a hat… and holding the valve he needed.

Slowly, trying to not scare it off, Joey tried to get close enough to reach through the boards-

But it sunk into the ink, and popped back out a distance away, making more text on the walls visible- THE SHEEP WILL COME TO SLAUGHTER.

He frowned, and rounded the corner, walking on- and then stopped when he saw the little room set in the wall, with a desk, violin… and another tape. JACK FAIN was scribbled in a scratchy handwriting.

"I love the quiet, and that's hard to come by these busy times. And yeah, sure it might stink to high heavens down here, but it's just perfect for an old lyricist like me. Sammy's songs always got some bounce, but if I didn't get away once in a while, they'd never have any words to go with them. So I'll keep my mind a-singin', and my nose closed."

After stepping back into the ink, he made his way down to a small room, with two cylinders with levers on them on either side- and the figure in the middle. This time, he ran towards it- trying to get there before it could vanish- but it seemed to leave faster than before, reappearing in a different corner of the room.

Instantly, Joey groaned again- because there was probably no easy way to get that valve back.

This might take some work.

After some whining, begging, messing around with the levers, and chasing the figure around, Joey eventually managed to get the valve back. After quelling the small bit of guilt that cropped up- because guilt wasn't something he could indulge in, not here, not yet- he put the valve back on and twisted it, then sighed.

"And that should be it." He shut his eyes, leaning against the wall for a minute- he'd spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to run after the figure, so of course now he was tired. He huffed before standing up and heading back towards Sammy's office.

The pipe had stopped leaking- and the door was unlocked. He opened it, then threw the switch.

His eyes got drawn over to the wall- IT'S TIME TO BELIEVE. Again…

Joey left the office, rubbing his eyes. Once he got up the stairs, out of here, he would probably put the boards back on the door and then collapse in his car. Tomorrow was his day off… technically, he wasn't supposed to be here today, but he'd called in sick once he'd decided to see what was going on here.

All in all, a stupid decision, but it was too late to fix it now.

He turned the corner, already able to see that the stairwell wasn't flooded-

Clang.

Everything flashed white as a pain rippled through Joey's head, and he wasn't able to completely turn around before hitting the floor, everything fading away.

The last thing he saw was the figure that had been next to the projection booth, holding a very familiar dustpan… whispering softly, "Rest your head. It's time for bed."

And then it all went black.

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A/N: did i say we were getting somewhere? ha, ha. heh. no.

so thanks to MsFaust on Ao3, i got a damn idea. As in, BATIM but with Persona 5 poured in. And redemption arcs. And Personas. And i fucking hate them for giving me this idea but i'm gonna mess with it anyways-

on that note, who's prepping for whatever hell Chapter 5 will bring? All I know is that I should be able to figure out what I'm going to do with this AU instantly- change the ending to something different, or keep the original one. We'll see...

so yeah