Kitten:Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I've updated on stories! Bussyyyy summer! I hope you guys are sure enjoying it! :P
Kitten: See I had my birthday a long time ago and I went on a trip, actually a few trips and most likely I'll take it easy for the rest of the summer! Woo! I'm 14!
Kitten: Anyways hope you guys enjoy this one! Hoping to wrap it up very soon!
Kitten: Enjoy!
~Chapter 13-Confrontation~
A young 7-year-old girl with bright red hair and brown eyes let out a yelp as she was thrown to the ground. Her legs, face and arms were caked with dirt, not to mention bloody scratches, cuts and bruises.
Shaking, she gradually looked up at the 10-year-old bully with midnight hair and navy eyes known as Maria Christine.
Two other girls stood behind her, one at each side.
The girl who had brown hair and green eyes was Jennie Montgomery.
The other with blonde hair and gray eyes was Sabrina Hunter.
"You're such an ugly tomato girl," Maria mocked, pointing at the redhead's hair causing her to flinch in pain.
"Yeah what a freak," Jennie added, cackling.
"Where's your friends? Oh that's right you don't have any!" Sabrina added and the trio laughed as the girl's cheeks heated up.
"It's no wonder," Maria gasped through her laughing. "Who would ever wanna be friends with an ugly little tomato girl freak like her!?" she stated cruelly before kicking her in the face, causing the girl to fall on her stomach.
As she sat up on her knees and felt near her mouth, her eyes widened in horror to see blood on her hand.
Looking back, she immediately whimpered and put her hands over her head as Maria was about to kick her again.
"HEY LEAVE HER ALONE!" A male voice yelled.
Startled, all the girls spun around to see two 7-year-old boys speeding towards them, one having blonde hair and green eyes and the other brown and blue eyes.
The blonde skidded to a halt, standing in front of her protectively while the brunette knelt beside her.
She whimpered as he touched her shoulder, drawing back.
"It's okay I won't hurt you," he smiled comfortingly, "I just wanna help, okay?"
She blushed at him before gradually allowing him to hold and look over her arm.
"I know you two," Jennie said, "You're those cute boys from our math class always making straight A's."
"That's us," The blonde riposted, glaring.
"So tell us what the hell you're doing messing with her!" The brunette demanded angrily.
"She never did anything to you," The blonde added in a snarl, pointing a finger at them.
"So why are you doing this to her!?"
"Oh please,"Maria scoffed, brushing her ebony bangs out of her eyes.
"She's ugly! Worthless! Garbage! Awful looking hair! Nobody wants her! She's always be nothing but a worthless piece of trash" she said, and the girl's eyes filled with tears.
The blonde boy scowled at the fact these cruel bullies were making her cry.
He met eyes with the brunette before turning back to the nasty girls.
"Well we happen to think her hair's pretty!" he exclaimed, startling the trio and even the battered girl.
"She's got pretty hair and she's got a nice personality! She's the exact opposite of ugly! Are you guys sure that she's the worthless piece of garbage here!? Maybe you should look at yourselves before judging others!"
The trio gaped, mouths hanging wide open and the redhead couldn't help but giggle.
"That's right so why don't you do us all a wonderful favor and get the hell out of here, before we do something that'll make you regret ever coming within five inches of her!" The blue-eyed boy yelled.
"How dare you!" Maria exclaimed still shocked. "You wouldn't fight a couple of girls!"
"Maybe not," The blonde growled, and the girls gulped. "But we would get them into a lot of trouble. So you may as well scram."
The trio still stood there, but as the blonde took a step toward them they all yelped and ran off.
The green-eyed boy snickered and walked back toward the other two.
The redhead giggled. "You guys were amazing."
"Thanks," The blonde grinned but his smile quickly dropped. "You sure you're okay?"
"Just a few cuts and bruises," she shrugged as the brown haired helped her stand, biting back a whimper. "It's not like I haven't gotten these before."
"How long have they bullied you?" The brunette frowned.
"About a year and a half," she confessed sheepishly, "but I sincerely doubt they'll come mess with me again thanks to you guys. I owe you one."
"Naw it's no sweat," The blonde grinned.
"Glad we could help," The other boy chuckled.
"BOYS!"
The two turned to see a woman and a man waving in the distance.
"Come on it's time to go!" The woman called.
"Whoops," The blonde grinned sheepishly as they turned back. "Looks like it's time for us to head out."
He put a hand on her shoulder. "Heal up fast, kay?" she nodded and he ran off.
"Umm…" The brunette uttered and the two met eyes. "I uh…noticed you were running the other day and I saw you drop…"
he dug in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a golden expensive-looking heart shaped locket with a rose next to the letter 'H' in the middle of the locket. "…this."
She gasped whilst carefully taking it out of his grasp, "My locket! You found it!" she cheered and put it around her neck.
The redhead then smiled sheepishly, "I-I mean…thanks. M-My dad got it for me on my birthday when I was just a baby. All I remember is growing up always wearing it, growing a sentimental attachment to the thing. It's really important to me."
"That's cool," The brunette grinned, looking just as sheepish. "Glad I found it then."
"Mmm…me too."
They stood there for a second, looking at each other before blushing, looking away with an embarrassed smile.
"Yo, Hen!" They heard the blonde yell. "Come on, we've gotta go!"
"Coming!" The brunette yelled back before looking at her. "Well see ya!" He said, holding out his fist to her.
She looked at it, confused at first. Until realization hit her and she giggled, bumping hers with his.
"Bye!" He grinned before running off.
"Bye…" She chuckled to herself, watching the brunette catch up with his friend and the blonde grab him in a head lock, messing up his hair, much to the latter's protest.
She smiled one last time before walking over to her dad in the distance who ran over with a concerned expression.
"You sure you're up to going to the park today?" Her mother, Candy asked with a frown. "We can just go to Auntie's house if you want to, Harmony."
Candy said and ran a hand through her daughter's red hair that was down, reaching the middle of her back.
"Yeah it's just around the corner," Harmony's father, Shane added.
"No I'm okay," Harmony riposted, pulling away from her mom. "I'd rather hang out here today."
/Besides,/ she thought. /This is the place where I see those two boys run off to each day./
"Well alright then," Candy sighed. "Take it easy sweetie."
"And be careful." Shane added.
"I will," Harmony quickly riposted, leaning over and giving both a quick peck on the cheek before swiftly getting out of the slick black Mercedes.
She watched them drive off before sighing and looking back to the park.
Harmony was wearing black jeans, red sneakers, a bright pink tank top and a white sweater over it covering the straps. Most importantly, the locket was of course around her neck like always, hitting her chest. She also wore visible blue sapphire studs.
The redhead immediately began looking around for the two 7-year-olds.
Her eyes lit up when she noticed the two familiar figures up by the big oak tree; the blonde was lying down and the brunette was leaning against the tree with what looked like a big sketchbook and a pencil in his hand.
The brown haired boy was wearing a navy blue T-Shirt with black shorts and green sneakers while the blonde was wearing a Black T-Shirt with black jeans and white sneakers.
She grinned and took off.
"Alright," The brunette said, showing his friend his drawing. "What about this one?"
The blonde glanced up and grinned. "Even better than the last." He answered.
The latter grinned as well and continued his sketching, but both boys looked up when a shadow fell over them.
"You guys are sure hard to track down," Came a female voice.
"It's you," The blonde said startled, sitting up. "The girl we stood up for last week."
"How'd you find us?" Asked the other boy.
Harmony shrugged, "Instinct?" She answered honestly before sitting down in front of them.
"It's great to see you but what are you doing here?" The brunette asked.
"I never really got to find out who you guys are," Harmony riposted, smiling. "My name's Harmony O'Neil."
"Joey Drew," The blonde said.
"Henry Griffin," The brunette added.
"Not to be rude but is it really true?" Henry asked. "Do you really not have any friends?"
Harmony scowled, folding her arms. "Pfft! Friendship's overrated!" She paused, "But obviously not for you guys. How long have you known each other?"
"2 years." Joey answered.
"Heh. You two seem a lot closer for a duo who's only known each other for 2 years," Harmony said bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck.
Henry shrugged, "What can we say? We're around each other a lot."
"I can see that."
"Why do you say friendship's overrated?" Joey asked, frowning. "It's amazing, fun and awesome to have."
"Maybe for you guys," Harmony sighed. "But you're not the ones who had a group of really close friends at one time only to find out they were only using you to get popular and then turned around and stabbed you in the back, spreading nasty rumors about you. Why do you think I transferred in the first place?"
The duo looked down.
"Friendship can bring joy but it can also bring great pain," Harmony stated. "Just like love."
"Well we don't know about love," Henry said incredulously, "We just know 'bout being there for each other. Plus we'd never turn on one another. 'Specially if it's over a silly little thing like 'popular'."
"Do you have other friends?" Harmony asked.
"'Course we do," Henry retorted, looking at Joey before grinning bashfully.
"Well…his friends are my friends…ouch!" He laughed, rubbing his shoulder where Joey jabbed him with his elbow.
Joey smirked and rolled his eyes. "What he's saying is we're all about devotion and compassion. Not betrayal. Friendship's all about loyalty and caring, leaning on one another and trusting the other will always be there to catch them when they fall, depending on each other. At least that's how it should be, y'know? It just sounds like you depended on the wrong people. But you can't just give up because you've been hurt one time. You won't find the right friends if you do that. Am I right?"
Harmony nodded gradually, startled at first, before smirking while standing up.
"I need to thank you guys properly," she stated. "Summer's coming and it's getting hot. How about I buy you some ice cream?"
"Nah you don't have to do that," Henry uttered.
"It was no problem really," Joey laughed sheepishly.
Harmony's smirk deepened. "It wasn't a request." She said as she grabbed the startled boys and ran off.
"Thanks Harmony," Henry said, licking his ice cream.
Joey nodded and licked his as well.
"It's no p-problem," she said bashfully, licking her strawberry cone.
She became lost in her own thoughts until Joey's conversation with Henry snapped her out of it.
"Hen," Joey started.
"Hmm?" Said boy riposted, looking at him.
"Shouldn't you change into that extra shirt you brought along with you? Your mom's gonna freak if she sees ice cream stains all over it."
"No way man," Henry hissed sheepishly.
"There's a girl here remember?!"
"Oh right."
"I-I'm okay with it," Harmony spoke up.
"R-Really."
"You sure?" Joey asked.
"M-Mmhmm. It's not like he's taking off his pants to boot."
"True," Joey laughed as he pushed Henry, "Go on change quick before any other girls see your body." he joked.
"Shut the hell up!" Henry exclaimed, red in the face as he walked over to his backpack and took off his shirt.
Harmony froze, blushing immensely as she stared at his sun-kissed freckled shoulders and the rest of his solid body, not to mention the way his brown hair swayed in the wind as he bent down and pulled out a red shirt.
He seemed oblivious to her staring at him, throwing glares at Joey now and then who smirked and eventually Henry smirked back unable to stay irritated with him.
She looked away as Henry pulled his shirt on and walked back over, sitting down next to Joey who handed him his cone back.
"Sorry 'bout that," Henry chuckled, "That shirt was brand new…my mom gets weird about those kinds of things, don't ask me why."
"I told you not to wear it," Joey scolded.
"Shut up," Henry smirked.
Harmony giggled sheepishly, "Like I said, no problem."
It was silent for a few minutes until Harmony opened her mouth.
"I was thinking," She started, "We're all friends now right?"
"Who said we weren't?" Joey riposted. "You seem like a cool girl."
Harmony blushed profusely in embarrassment with a grin before continuing.
"Why don't we start like some kind of…company or….business together? You know, when we grow up?" she suggested.
Henry glanced at Joey before grinning.
"Alright. That seems like a pretty cool idea. And how 'bout this, Joey's gonna own it and be the head."
"Yeah!" Harmony agreed.
"Woah woah," Joey said, "Why do I get to be the head?"
"Because you're the leader," Harmony answered. "So it's only logical you lead the company,"
Joey blushed sheepishly. "Come on…I'd suck at being the leader and you know it."
"If you suck so much how come you've been doing a good job with me?" Henry smirked.
Joey rolled his eyes. "Whatever Hen," he sighed before nodding. "Okay, it's a deal. We'll all build a company together and we'll always stay friends." he grinned.
"Yay!" Harmony giggled and they all fist-bumped before doing a group-hug, each of the red-head's arms around each boy, all wearing grins.
"Oww," Alice whimpered painfully as Henry put pressure on the wound that she had on her leg.
He had taken off his white-buttoned work shirt that had a black short sleeved T-shirt underneath and folded it before using it and wrapping it around her leg.
Henry glanced up at her sympathetically.
"I'm sorry Ally," he apologized. "I won't press so hard I promise."
"Henry," Alice sobbed, tears streaking her cheeks, alarming the young man as his head shot up.
"Y-Yeah?"
"I didn't kill Joey. I would never kill Joey, I-I would never even hurt him. H-He w-was like…h-he wasn't just m-my friend, h-he…he was like…my father. Or at least i-it f-felt t-that w-way because h-he was s-so loving a-and c-caring l-like one, a-and I-I l-loved him. H-He barely g-got a-angry w-with me a-and h-he n-never s-screamed o-or yelled w-when I w-would mess up, o-or fall a-and twist m-my a-ankle on stage…when that happened h-he…wasn't mad at a-all…"
"Alice!" Joey exclaimed with concern as she half-ran, half-limped back stage toward him.
"Are you okay?" he said as he knelt and looked her over.
"I-I'm sorry Joey," Alice apologized tearfully. "I-I f-failed you,"
Joey's frown deepened. "What're you talking about? No you didn't. You did an amazing performance up there." he stated.
"So you messed up a little the last minute," he chuckled softly as he lifted up her chin.
"We've all done it. It's okay Ally. I'm not mad at you. Your safety is more important than a show. You'll just remember to be more careful next time. Right?"
Alice grinned. "Right. Thanks Joey."
Joey chuckled some more. "No problem. Now…let's see that ankle." he said as Alice lifted up her leg.
"I-I just…" Alice sniffled. "I r-really miss him…" she whimpered miserably.
Henry smiled softly. "I know. I loved him too."
he paused, "I'm sorry for screaming at you. That wasn't right. Just…the stress of his death was getting to me and I guess I just needed…someone to blame. But I shouldn't have blamed you. I'm sorry." he apologized, pulling her into a hug, and the angel hugged him back, sobbing into his shoulder.
"Shh…I gotcha…" The young man soothed, stroking her hair and rubbing her back soothingly.
Boris watched the scene with a sad frown.
A while later, Henry and Alice had fallen asleep, the angel resting her head on his chest as it rose and fell evenly, the man holding the cartoon close.
Boris on the other hand was quietly picking the lock to the door like Alice had taught him.
The wolf wasn't abandoning his creator and his angel friend, he just needed some time to think on his own and hopefully not run into Bendy.
Besides he knew how exhausted Henry was. He wouldn't even have known he was gone because by he awakes the wolf knew he would be back.
Swallowing with that thought in his head, he opened the door and quietly shut it behind him.
He quietly walked down the halls, colorlessly gazing at the bland sights around him. At this point the cartoon just felt hopeless. There's no way they can get Bendy back now…
"Boris," came a snarled voice.
Speak of the devil.
Said wolf gradually turned around, his eyes locking with Bendy's.
"What do you want?" The wolf spat, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Have you finally decided to leave those traitors and join me?" Bendy questioned.
"Join you?!" Boris repeated, startling the demon at the intensity of his glare. "Are you kidding me?! Honestly Bendy for once don't call Henry a "traitor"! He's my friend! And so is Alice! And Joey is-"
Boris froze, choking slightly. "Or…he was…." he whimpered before after a minute regaining his composure.
"Anyway Henry, Joey, Alice, Harmony and all the other workers are my friends! And they were yours too at a certain point in time! I don't know what happened to you but whatever you are going through…it's getting very old! Why can't you just let us go!? Henry's got a lot of injuries and he's losing quite a bit of blood! If he doesn't get to the hospital in the next day or so, he could…die!"
"Isn't that the idea?" Bendy snarled in such a cold voice Boris gaped. "For him to die? Isn't that what we all want?"
"What!?" Boris yelled. "What are you saying!? I don't want him dead! And deep down you know you don't either! You still care about Henry, you still love him otherwise you wouldn't be this angry! Why can't you just admit you still love the guy?!"
"Because I don't love him Boris," Bendy growled. "Not anymore. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever loved him in the first place. Or Joey. Or the workers. And y'know what? They didn't love me either."
"Why…" Boris demanded so quietly, Bendy barely heard him.
"Hmm?"
"WHY!?" He screamed. "Why are you doing this Bendy!? Why do you hate Henry so damn much?!"
"BECAUSE HE LEFT ME! HE LEFT ME BEHIND! LIKE I WAS NOTHING TO HIM, HE JUST GRABBED HIS BAGS AND LEFT!" Bendy finally cracked, screaming angrily in return as ink dripped down his face.
"HE NEVER, EVER CARED ABOUT ME! EVER! NONE OF THEM DID! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ACCEPT THE OBVIOUS FACTS BORIS!? HE. DOESN'T. LOVE. US!"
"No," Boris snarled, ears back. "No you're wrong. Henry loves us, he loves all of us. And so did Joey. He, Joey and everyone…they never stopped loving us. Which is why I can't understand why you're trying to kill the last man alive who created you, the last man who truly loves you as if he were not only your friend but your father. You even once admitted you looked up to him as a fatherly figure! Same with Joey! And as far as my "Death" goes, I don't think it was Joey who killed me."
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Bendy demanded.
"It wasn't Joey who killed me Bendy," Boris repeated, this time his voice softer.
"The fuck it wasn't! You were unconscious, I saw ya! How would ya even know?! And if it wasn't Joey who "killed" ya then who was it?!"
"Sammy"
Bendy blinked, startled. "W-What…?"
"It was Sammy, I know it was," Boris sighed.
"Henry's so weak…Alice is so scared…I didn't want to freak them out even more so I hid the…the journal somewhere in there. The journal…it was…Sammy's. This…all of this…was planned out. Almost like a sick play. Sammy studied…some sort of dark, evil magic…black magic I think. That wasn't the real Joey. It was a clone. Somehow…Sammy used a dark spell to create a clone of Joey and make that clone do what he did to me. He mastered everything when creating that clone. How Joey acted, how he talked, walked…everything. He wanted this to happen…why I have no clue…I'm not sure of his motive, it didn't really say. But I am sure of what his goal was."
"Which was….?" Bendy swallowed.
"You," Boris riposted. "He wanted to get to you, Bendy. For some odd crazy reason…he wanted control of you. For what I don't know. Whatever it was, it probably was anything but good. But he failed and that's all that matters."
"Boris…if what you're saying is true…" Bendy started, his real self coming out.
"Then…Joey's…"
"Alive," Boris nodded. "I still think Sammy did something, but yeah he's alive. And so are Shawn, and Susie, and Wally…everyone is alive."
Bendy swallowed again, silence filling the air.
"I should go Bendy," Boris said, beginning to walk off. "Henry needs me."
"Oh yeah," The wolf said, peering over his shoulder. "About letting us go…please think about it." The cartoon pleaded. "Whether you like it or not, you need Henry."
The cartoon then turned the corner and disappeared, leaving Bendy lost in his thoughts.