Ups and Downs

by Blackmoondragon1415

'Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year' A what-if plot based around the Henry and the Ink Machine AU on Tumblr by thelostmoongazer.

10. Ch9: Swing You Sinners

Oh boy, this is running a bit late, isn't it? Sorry about that. Initially I'd had another sort of idea but the way the novel panned out I ended up changing it. Didn't really alter too much of the story's path, I've had this in mind for a while now, but perhaps it's added something extra.

Anyway, won't ramble on too much. As always, Bendy and the Ink Machine is the property of themeatly, the HATIM AU is from the lovely mind of thelostmoongazer on Tumblr. Thank you all for clicking, reading, continuing to read, and sticking with me this long! Hope you enjoy!

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Swing You Sinners:

The fight to keep his footsteps both light and quick was one that Tom knew well, though the fact that he now had two tagalongs to keep out of trouble was new. Granted Bendy hardly seemed primed to put up a fuss or cause a problem, though the wolf's sharp ears could pick out the third and lightest patter of feet, Buddy's. They were already the hardest to hear, but as the trio passed through a doorway, the sound turned into a stumble, and then a soft dragging.

"Buddy-!" Bendy hissed, the tone making something sink in Tom's chest as he turned around to look. The tiny toon had fallen, face mired with a sheen of perspiration as the minute frame took in heaving lungfuls of air. Bendy was pulling Buddy up to kneel, hands gently feeling over the bandage wrapped around the minute devil's eyes. The bandage which, as Tom could see over Bendy's shoulder, was starting to seep little spots of ink.

Looking around just to be sure that they were alone, Tom's attention turned to Buddy, reading the tiny toon's worn-out body language with a tension intermingling with hurried re-planning. This was going to be harder than he'd initially thought, but at least Buddy was so small. There was an obvious solution to this.

Bendy, meanwhile, had finished his check of the tiny toon's bandages, not finding anything horribly wrong but the weakness was still a concern. In an effort to keep the shivering and upset to a minimum the little devil pulled Buddy into a hug, a hand rubbing up and down the tiny frame's back as he murmured soothing nonsense. It handled Buddy's frenetic emotions, but as for the weakness and lack of stamina…

Bendy caught sight of Tom's arm first, his eyes jerking up to look the wolf in the face and hopefully reading the quiet instruction that Tom had been trying to get across. Well, Bendy seemed to at any rate, given that he didn't stop the wolf from picking Buddy up and holding the tiny toon against his shoulder. Buddy himself had no problems with the arrangement, given that once he figured out where he was, the minute devil quickly burrowed right into the crook of Tom's neck.

That…did throw the wolf, but he chalked it up to not having much experience carrying anyone smaller than him and he hurriedly snapped back into his earlier mindset. They needed to keep moving. Thankfully Bendy was looking his way, so he didn't have to work too hard to convey what he wanted the little devil to do. Taking the smaller hand once it was proffered, and leaving the other to hold the seeing tool, Tom steered it to close over the tough fabric of his pocket. It wasn't great, but given that the wolf needed at least one hand free, it would have to do for now. Bendy caught on pretty quickly, giving a wavery but affirming grin, settling into the new rhythm. Though, Tom knew what was down this way, and while he and Allison had already been able to make the path as transverse-able as possible, that didn't necessarily mean that it was safe. It was a thing that Bendy seemed to sense too, given that the little devil pressed close at the sight of the flooded hallway with only some planks set above the dark liquid as a means of staying out of the ink.

Moving carefully, Tom did his best to be as quiet as possible as he slid a foot out onto the first plank, testing it before edging further. His left side led the stilted charge, metallic hand raising his axe as he both listened for any noise ahead, or any sign of distress from behind. The air felt humid, cloyingly heavy as the small procession inched further and further forward. The hallway turned to the right, the arranged planks curving along with it and avoiding the partial shadow of a bedframe sitting in the mire. Tom could feel Bendy's hand clenching onto his pocket now, the little devil growing tense as the moment carried.

Only to explode with a smattering of noise as an inky shape threw itself up from the murk. The monster gave a gurgling groan, the sound not enough to cover the strangled shriek that rang out from behind.

Tom's ears flipped back even as his hand automatically brought the axe down. The half-formed figure hardly stood a chance. But, judging from the fact that he could definitely feel Bendy shaking, some damage had definitely been done.

Alright, hell with it. This hallway was a deathtrap anyway.

Still inching his feet ahead to test the boards, Tom tried his best to hurry things along, rounding the corner and heading down the stretch to dry ground and another archway. Bendy, thankfully, had not let go, though the little devil made moving a difficult ordeal given how close he was to Tom's legs. Buddy was a little easier to manage, simply curling up where he'd huddled in, though Tom was more than relieved to finally make it to the other side.

Bendy, for his part, peered around Tom's legs, trying to make heads or tails of what he was looking at. He…wasn't sure he'd seen anything like this, at least not in real life. Maybe in a book somewhere, which kept him from being totally lost.

The wolf had led them into what looked like some sort of…there was a word for this, but for the moment all Bendy's mind could come up with was 'slope', slanting down into a space that went into what looked like a tunnel. Sitting at the top of the slope, was a sort of…not quite a vehicle, it didn't have tires or anything.

But there was a paddle wheel at the back, which helped orientate the little devil, though for the life of him he couldn't quite figure out why there was a paddleboat of all things down here, not unless there was...

Following along in Tom's shadow helped answer the question, as the wolf's path led Bendy up to a railing where he could see something that almost looked like a proper harbor. Almost, if it weren't for the fact that the toons were surrounded by the walls of a cavern, and the 'water' below them wasn't a familiar, dark slurry. He didn't get long to take it in before Tom's hand tapped on his shoulder, drawing Bendy's eyeline to the wolf's face. The taller toon made sure that the devil was paying attention before he started to gesture, pointing for Bendy to take Buddy.

This Bendy did easily, though he struggled with the apparent second part of these instructions. Tom was pointing to his own eyes, the little devil himself, and then at the door. Well, Bendy would hope that the wolf didn't want the little devil to take his eyes too, but what could this mean? He wanted to…watch Bendy go to the doorway again?

Growing a little impatient with the confusion that he was seeing, Tom bodily turned Bendy back towards the doorway, tapping on the side of the small, behorned head and pointing at the hall.

Bendy was a little embarrassed that comprehension only dawned when the wolf started to nudge him in the direction of the aforementioned hallway. If his hands weren't occupied with Buddy and the magnifying glass thing, he might've rested his head in them out of humiliation.

"You want me t'keep watch. Right, I can do that," He mumbled, Tom easily picking up on the sound given that the place was pretty quiet apart from the gentle slosh of ink. The wolf gave the little devil an affirming nod, expression practically screaming 'yes, finally, you get it' before nudging Bendy's shoulder again to hurry him along. Not that Bendy needed much encouragement after that, easily moving to peer down the flooded hallway as Tom crept over to the paddleboat.

Though, it left the little devil wondering that, if something did show up, how on earth would he defend himself, or Buddy who was still wavering on his feet? Letting the tiny toon clamber up to throw his arms around Bendy's nonexistent neck, the little devil hefted the minute frame up as he tried to weigh his options. The magnifying glass looked like it might have some clout to it, but it honestly wasn't too heavy. If anything, any monster that he tried to hit with it might brush it off, though, now that he looked a little more carefully at the thing, the bulbs flowing with electricity could be something useful. 'Course, electrocuting something with this thing was a one-shot type deal, and it might be better if he kept it intact.

Well, there was still the tried and true option of running…

The noise of a mechanism releasing got Bendy to whirl around with his heart in his nonexistent throat, though it was only the sound of Tom pulling a lever and letting the paddleboat ease down towards the ink. Kicking himself a little as it became clear that he'd scared himself for nothing, Bendy was about to turn back to the doorway to keep watch, when he spotted an odd flicker of glowing color coming from just a bit below his waist. Oh, right, the looking lens thing…

Though now that he did remember it, and given that there was apparently something there to see, the little devil peered at the space in between him and the paddleboat. Scrawled across the earthen floor was a smattering of words that made him tense all over again.

THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER

"Well, that's…great." Bendy murmured, face pulling into a very unamused frown as he lowered the glowing lens from his eyes. Another clunking noise got his attention, the little devil looking up just in time to see Tom pulling the lever again, the paddleboat slipping the rest of the way down. The sight had Bendy glancing between the spot where the message was and their apparent means of transport, growing a little more frantic as it became more and more clear what was about to happen. As Tom straightened up, gesturing for the little devil to come, Bendy blurted out a loud squawk of 'Wait-!'.

The sound echoed off the walls, both devils freezing on the spot and the wolf completely halting before hurrying over as quietly as he could, arms waving in an emphatic effort to tell Bendy to stop making noise.

"I know, I know, I'm, I'm sorry, it's just, I-." The little devil tried, stumbling over himself to explain why he'd nearly jeopardized their head start. Eventually he just gave in to gesturing, motioning for Tom to come then handing the wolf the magnifying glass and indicating the spot on the floor. It took Tom another moment to find what Bendy was talking about, though the fact that the canid features pulled in a tight frown did not leave the small toon feeling good about their new prospects. Buddy's arms tightening around him did snap Bendy out of his anxiety, the little devil only just then realizing that the tiny toon likely had no idea of what was happening.

Trying to mitigate what fallout he could from their newfound situation, Bendy gently rubbed up and down the minute devil's back, looking on as Tom brought the lens away from his face and appeared to think. Very agitatedly, with a hand scrubbing through the fur on his head and further mussing it. Gritting his teeth, the wolf looked between the hallway they had just come from, and the boat, before coming to an apparent decision. Which was to start steering both toon devils to the boat that Bendy was very sure they'd just established would take them to something probably really, really bad.

Pulling away, the little devil hefted Buddy to a more secure position in his arms as he hissed at Tom.

"What're you doin'?! I just showed you-!"

He ended up cutting himself off with a startled yelp as Tom abruptly leaned down, reaching for his head though Bendy quickly discovered that all the wolf wanted to do was write out a word against his skull. That word being a very not happy 'WHERE'.

"Wh-What do you mean 'where'?! I think 'in the water' is pretty clear 'bout 'where'!"

Though in response Tom started scribbling more, in somewhat of a hurry though Bendy could make out what was being said.

'WHERE CAN WE GO'

And, just to emphasize his point, Tom jerked a thumb at the boat as he also pointed back in the direction of the hallway. Where 'Sammy', if he was deciding to obey the laws of reality, was going to likely come from.

Feeling the irritation deflate back into something tense and small, Bendy's shadowed eyes roved about before refocusing on Tom. The wolf gave a soft sigh of his own, immediate anger flickering down as he reached out with his right, flesh and ink hand, a silent question in his eyes that mixed and merged with the tense lines in the canid face. But the little devil's mind had a question all its own.

Why are you even still here, you dead weight?

"Sorry." Bendy whispered, eyes drifting sullenly downward as he managed to move Buddy's slight weight to an arm, reaching out with his newly freed hand and placing it in the one proffered to him. At the very least, Tom's hand didn't feel like Boris's, being wider across and a fair bit tougher underneath the glove. Not to mention the wolf immediately broke the moment with a mechanical finger poking right at the devil's face, getting Bendy's attention right before pointing it back at himself.

"Alright, I gotcha," The small toon replied with a wane grin that matched the one on Tom's own face, though his couldn't help falling back into tense worry as they went to the paddleboat. Tom lifted the pair over the wooden borders, handing Bendy back the magnifying glass and heading to the front where there was a pedestal with a button and a switch. Not exactly the steering wheel that Bendy had been expecting, but maybe the water wasn't deep enough for all the bells and whistles. Not to mention the tunnel looked close enough for them to push off the wall if they really needed to change direction.

Though he was quickly realizing that, with as close as the walls of the tunnel were, there was really no space for them to turn around. The observation made Bendy huddle down in the boat as much as possible, trying his best to watch the inky slurry for movement. In a flash of inspiration, he tried to check what he could of the tunnel for any more messages, but there was nothing glimmering on the walls. The only thing the little devil could see were occasional bubbles of gold drifting above the surface. Ordinarily he might've been a bit more curious, but the fear of what might be to come was doing an excellent job of smothering that.

There was a click as Tom pressed the button and pulled the switch, the sound of a small motor gently humming off the stone walls as they eased into the tunnel. Bendy's thoughts were momentarily distracted as Buddy ducked under his coat again, though come to think of it the somewhat moving 'floor' under their feet was probably more than a little worrying for the sightless toon.

Trying to force a softer smile, even though he knew Buddy couldn't see it, Bendy rested a hand on the minute devil's bandaged head, ruffling the fur that wasn't stuck to the scalp. The feeling did get some of the tension to loosen up in Buddy's frame, though the faint bit of relief was dashed as the paddleboat pulled out into a more open space…and came to a halt with a stuck sort of gurgling noise. Though Bendy was nearly ready to start panicking, Tom hardly seemed worried, letting the lever slip back into the resting position and heading to the paddlewheel.

Glancing at what he could, Bendy noticed small inky globs jammed in between the wooden paddles. The observation both helped him fill in the blanks as to why they had stopped, and eased him down somewhere close to relief as it became clear that the problem was not going to keep them from continuing, or worse sink them.

The intrepid little group did not have long to really relax, as the sounds of ink bubbling off to their right started to echo off the walls. All turned in the direction of the noise, though only Tom and Bendy saw the source. From behind what looked like the abandoned remains of another paddleboat, a malformed, toony hand arose from the inky floods, fumbling about before its fingers landed on the broken shell and sucked the entire thing under with its weight. It only took a few seconds, both the derelict boat and the monstrous limb vanishing in the dark mires.

The sight left Bendy feeling cold and shivery, the originally calming hand on Buddy's head turning into a tense hug around the tiny toon's shoulders. Realizing that his breathing was coming shallow and far too quick, the little devil tried to slow it down. Behind him, he could hear Tom immediately going to work on the blockage stopping up the paddlewheel. Just as the last glob of ink fell away, there was another noise, the sound of something surfacing barely more than a few feet behind the boat.

Bendy only had to glance back to the dripping, malformed shape of the cartoony arm to feel his heartrate triple.

The little devil, working entirely on adrenaline, reeled over to the lever and yanked it down. The boat lurched forward under their feet, steaming ahead and away from the giant hand that slammed into the area of flooded tunnel they'd just been sitting in. Feeling Buddy tremble under his coat, Bendy let a drip of ink slide down his face as he fought between looking back and keeping his eyes facing forward to avoid crashing. Not that the boat seemed to need much by way of steering, the bow automatically turning to where the tunnel continued, off to their left.

As the opening slid past, a creak heralded Tom's return to the controls, Bendy more than ready to hand them over as he quaveringly turned towards the wolf. But as they drifted all the way into the new stretch of tunnel there was another squelch, the boat listing to another sickening halt.

Tom hurried back to the paddlewheel, the axe in the wolf's hands scraping at the new ink blockage. Though the faint splattering noise was not enough to cover the low rush of something rising from the ink behind their modest little vessel. Trying to not show the panic that felt like it was strangling the life from his insides, Bendy edged back to the controls, his head swiveled to track both Tom's progress and that of the malformed hand right at their heels. Buddy's quivering, tiny form was practically pinned to his side as the little devil's head spun.

It could come down. It could lunge forward and decide to get them at any moment. They couldn't move, were dead in the water, they were going to DROWN and DIE…

Tom reared back from the paddle, Bendy taking that as his cue to yank the lever into the 'on' position. Immediately the boat reeled ahead, away from the malformed hand which plunged into the ink right where they'd just been. Feeling a yelp turn into a solid lump in his throat, Bendy tried to swallow while keeping his hand on the lever, willing it to stay in the on position. The paddleboat practically crawled through the ink, passing rung after rung of the tunnel as the sounds of sloshing fluid echoed all around. It felt like every nerve in Bendy's body was on fire, taking in every iota of sensation for some warning of what was to come, to find some direction for all this terrified energy building inside of him.

Then, just as they started to round a corner, the paddle came to another clunking halt and made Bendy nearly leap a foot in the air out of sheer panic. But while Tom was already back at the paddlewheel, and already taking swings at the ink clogging up the mechanisms, the sound of something rising from the ink behind them was pretty quick to kill that small bit of relief.

Bendy stared over the wolf's head, to where the light had just enough reach to show the malformed fingers of the giant hand as they lingered in the air. Every little bit of movement felt like a final motion, the little devil flinching as the digits bobbed, twitching with regularity as Tom worked.

But the wolf's single-minded focus paid off, the paddlewheel unblocking with a roar and Bendy's hand roughly shoving the switch into the on position. The boat pitched forward, just out of the range of the hand as it slammed down again. Feeling his breath whistle out through clenched teeth and his pulse in his ears, Bendy turned his head to look forward while battling the hazy, dizzy feeling that panic left in its wake. The faint few lights ahead did not give a hint as to how far the tunnel went, or if it would end smoothly. For all he knew, they could be heading for a sheer drop.

Though it didn't seem likely that a boat would be made to get through if it was a dead end. It had to go somewhere. The possible and metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel kept Bendy from outright curling up on the floor, though he could still feel ink running in rivets down his forehead in time with the sensation of his heart pounding away under his ribcage. Next to him, Buddy huddled in close, pressing his face to the taller devil's side as he quivered.

Keeping the tiny toon pressed under a hug, Bendy tried to keep his hand from shaking on the lever, the paddleboat inching forward under his feet. It went along with the feeling of minutes crawling by like years, the sensation only breaking up with another gurgling death rattle as the paddlewheel became clogged yet again. A despairing cry turned into a shiver, Bendy hearing both the sounds of Tom trying to clear the ink mixing with the noise of something rising above the floods behind. Not now! They were so close, please, just this once, let something go right…!

Please, don't let us die…!

Someone might've been listening, or Tom's reflexes simply might've become honed from the past couple of times, but after an agonizingly long minute the engine started again. Bendy's hand already moved the instant he registered the noise, the boat lurching forward once more.

But, instead of continuing down more tunnel, the next few feet carried them through what looked like a gateway, the sight of what was beyond emerging from the semi-darkness.

It was hard to tell at first what they were looking at, though the more Bendy looked, the more he was recognizing certain things. There was definitely a pier, along with what looked like buildings lining the walls of the cavern they'd found themselves in. A space in the center reminded the little devil of a town square, and a brief glance to the left assured him that the place was occupied. One of the inky, humanoid figures was sitting up on the deck of a house on stilts, a fishing pole in its hands.

And, even though the slime-coated features were hard to read, Bendy had the unsettling sense that the figure was looking right at him. It immediately brought to mind what had happened when he, Buddy, and Boris had met a crowd of the things, and sent Bendy's thoughts skittering.

His hands seized his scarf, pulling it to wrap around his head as much as possible. Thankfully Tom clued in on what the little devil was doing, hurrying over to keep the boat heading out of the tunnel as well as blocking Bendy from sight. Buddy had edged away once Bendy had started to move, though from the manner in which the tiny toon was cowering against Tom's leg the little devil could guess that he'd figured out that something was wrong.

By the time the trio pulled up to the pier, Bendy's head was wrapped up like a shoddy mummy. He'd left a slit in front of his eyes, but even with the covering he couldn't totally relax. He felt so horribly exposed, and the fact that he had two other people to worry about just put him all the more on edge.

Well, Buddy at least, Tom probably could take care of himself. Still, with the memory of Boris on the other side of a barrier in mind Bendy could easily say that he didn't want anything happening to the stocky, one-armed wolf toon, even if they hadn't known each other for very long.

Tom got out of the boat first, reaching from the pier to help both devils onto dry land. Bendy nearly missed grabbing the wolf's hand as he stared around, trying to see if there were any attacks or ambushes coming. When Tom gloved fingers latched a little too firmly around his arm, Bendy's eyeline flew back to meet the wolf's sternly reprimanding features, the message in them plain as day.

Pay attention.

"Sorry," The little devil whispered. Immediately he tried to be marginally more helpful by turning his attention to Buddy, pulling the minute devil close to his side. A faint smile creased his features as the tiny toon readily tucked himself under Bendy's ragged old coat, the elder devil himself sparing a moment for a brief, cautious ruffle of the ink-matted fur on Buddy's head.

The pair stayed in Tom's shadow as the wolf crept up the pier, crossing planks and docks as they made their way up to what seemed like the main meeting area of this little village. To his right, Bendy spied another monolith lookalike of himself, somewhat glad that the scarf hid the nervous flinch he made. Next to it was a somewhat familiar scrawling on some wooden boards, reading DOWN HERE WE'RE ALL SINNERS.

Cheery crowd, for sure.

Glancing to the opposite end of the little square, Bendy caught sight of a ray of light beaming out from under what looked like a door. Though the sign of life would normally be somewhat encouraging, he could readily say that he didn't want to find out what might be behind it. Especially seeing as right above the little devil could see the familiar scrawling of IT'S TIME TO BELIEVE. Looking up at Tom, Bendy tried to see if either the wolf knew where they should go, or if they were in any more danger than he'd initially thought.

Judging from how Tom was looking around, body language tense but controlled, Bendy could guess that the answer was 'not great, but not as awful as we could be'. Though, now that he was looking too, Bendy found that he was utterly confused as to how they'd get out of here. There weren't any doors, not that he could see, everything taken up by makeshift, ragged building after makeshift, ragged building. He was a little hesitant to try the doors, especially after his line of sight drifted up enough that he caught sight of a familiar message; HE WILL SET US FREE.

But, Bendy thought as he took stock and realized that one of his hands was still clenched around the handle of a certain overlarge magnifying glass, the way out might not be so obvious. Besides, if whoever was leaving the gold messages had been nice enough to warn them before, who's to say they couldn't help in some way again?

So, with something of a renewed sense of hope, Bendy tried to lift the glass to his eye without jostling Buddy too much, peering through the wrappings covering his head as he tried to discern any hint or message that might be about.

And there, on a nearby wall built of repurposed plywood, was a very obvious scribbling of gold that Bendy could read from even a few feet away.

YOU BRING DEATH. With a thematically appropriate little skull in place of the 'o'. If it didn't feel like such a slap in the face Bendy might've been a little more impressed by the extra flourish.

As such, he was more stuck with wondering if by being here he was about to make some big mistake. Or get drawn into some new mess. Create more problems. It seemed more likely than anything else at this point. Though before the lens of the magnifying glass could fully swing towards the floor, another glimmer of glowing yellow caught his eye across the way, atop a boarded-up building with bits of paper stuck to the front. Without the presence of the glass, Bendy could read the words on the top as 'NOT MONSTERS', the message seemingly backed by the multiple, three-fingered handprints plastered to every scrap of paper stuck to the front.

But, with the presence of the glass, the message was a little different: ONCE PEOPLE NOW FALLEN INTO DESPAIR.

Well, that part was fairly obvious, but why would that sort of a thing need to be written out like this? Was the writer describing the figures of ink? Adding onto their message?

Though if these were truly people, or had once been people, Bendy could easily say that he didn't want to stay here any longer than he had to. Not with the thought of that first hidden message still hanging over his head like a finely-honed sword point.

Joey's monster…

Squeezing faintly at Tom's hand, Bendy tried to catch the wolf's eye. He didn't want to risk talking, but he hoped something in his demeanor got through to Tom, that he really, really didn't think they should linger.

Not that Tom himself seemed to have any desire to take up residency in this shantytown, the wolf moving as quietly as he could alongside the left side of the square. Bendy did his best to huddle close, keeping Buddy tucked under his coat. The little devil could feel more ink trickling down the sides of his face, but he didn't dare try to wipe it away.

As they neared what looked like the last proper building before the shrine, Bendy caught sight of another message scrawled in against a darker bit of metal, a familiar moniker of THE CREATOR LIED TO US. Head revolving, Bendy's eyes caught sight of a new bit of writing on the opposite end of the shrine, partially tucked out of sight behind the nearby building.

WHAT AM I?

A faint gurgling broke through the silence, Bendy jolting as his eyes refocused on an ink spot that hadn't been where he'd been looking just a moment ago. Tom's hand clenched hard over the little devil's, though it didn't do much to dim the panic as a half-formed ink monster pulled itself up from the dark.

"Lord…" It groaned, pulling itself across the floor. It didn't quite cover the sound of Tom's metallic hand clinking against the axe handle, nor the separate gurgling noises as at least five more puddles appeared helter-skelter throughout the square. All of which were disgorging a new, half-formed ink monsters.

"Lord…"

"It is him…"

"Save us, lord, please…!"

It was only through sheer dumb luck that Bendy managed to keep ahold of Buddy as Tom yanked him off the ground, the wolf outright carrying both devils in an arm as he raised the axe in his free hand.

Not that the show of aggression stopped the half-formed monsters, the first of the group pulling itself right into range of Tom's axe. Bendy found himself wincing despite himself, instinctively shielding Buddy as the inky creature splattered apart into nothing. But that certainly didn't dissuade the rest, the other four crawling closer on the heels of their fallen fellow with freakish whispers aplenty. Leaning into Tom, Bendy found panic starting to claw at his nonexistent throat as the wolf tried to keep the monsters at bay. One did meet the same, messy fate as the first, though the second came in from the side and forced Tom to move back and further into the small space. Managing to catch the wilier, second monster in the shoulder, Tom had to hurriedly draw the axe back to avoid getting clawed by yet another half-formed creature. This one had the idea to appeal to Bendy directly, the little devil flinching away as the hissing of 'Lord, lord' turned more beseeching, a hand reaching out to his feet right before Tom was able to get it.

But, even with that, there were still about two more, Bendy wincing as he caught sight of one trying to grab at the axe as Tom drew back. The wolf compensated by putting his foot through it, though that threw him off balance just long enough that he was forced to give ground.

"Lord…?"

"He's here?"

"Please, Lord, we need you…"

And they'd just gained more company. In the form of a few lanky ink figures. Bendy felt his ink freeze in his veins as he caught sight of them approaching. They could have appeared out of the ground like the half-formed monsters for all he knew, but right now he was too stuck on how human they were, how human they sounded, it's him they want, they're coming for him…

"I'm sorry…" Bendy gasped out, distantly feeling Buddy's frame shake like jello in an earthquake, the tiny toon hugged desperately between the little devil and Tom. Out of the three of them, Tom was the only one that was remotely steady, but with so many Bendy knew that the wolf's stubborn determination would only hold for so long. Especially given that, as the initial group of inky figures started to make their way over, at least five more could be seen on their heels. Tom was just dispatching the last of the half-formed monsters when the first inky figure reeled in, one hand grabbing at the axe and the other reaching for the two devils. All Bendy really felt able to do in the moment was shield Buddy, Tom taking a more direct route and ramming the wooden handle of the axe right into the melting, dark face. A gurgling cry of pain rang out as the figure hit the ground, the shout joined by the others hollering in seeming sympathetic agony.

"LORD…!"

"Please, Lord, don't abandon us again…!"

"HELP US…!"

I can't, Bendy wanted to scream, his arms and frame shaking around Buddy as he both protected and clung to the tiny devil. Though his jaw was clenched tightly shut, muted, reedy wails leaked through, smothered pleas of I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't help you, I can't, please just leave us alone, please rattling against his teeth.

He could feel Tom landing blow after blow, trying to get the three of them out of the corner they'd been boxed into, but it never seemed to do much more than keep the once-people a few paces away. The wolf would get tired, he couldn't keep this up, there were too many, and when Tom couldn't fight anymore…

But there was another noise, a distinct squelching and splattering that seemed independent from Tom's efforts at defense. Bendy didn't quite register the sound as something separate, at least not until he heard one of the ink-people give an infuriated holler.

"YOU! TRAITOR, THIEF!"

That had been jarring enough, but the fact that a familiar, gurgling roar cut the shout off was enough to pry Bendy's head away from where it had pressed against Tom's shoulder. Just in time to see a figure of ink that stood apart from the rest, looking far more like an actual body and not some spindly ink-covered skeleton. Dark globs of liquid rose off the figure's back as it punched at the oncoming half-formed ink monsters and glowing-eyed humanoids, overlarge hands and arms sending whatever they made contact with flying back to splatter against the floor.

It took a moment for the image to click, but Bendy was immediately reminded of his somewhat hazy recollection of what had happened after the elevator went down.

Henry. The realization came with a surge of relief, and at the same time a sense of terror, frantic energy dictating that hehad to do something. If Henry died, if something else happened because of him…!

"Told you we'd find you!" A voice called, Bendy briefly thrown by the sudden, feminine tones and Tom jerking to the side like he'd been bumped into. The source was Allison, the angel covering Tom's occupied arm as she cut down another figure of ink.

The swinging of her sword sent some ink flying back, Bendy flinching away from the spray. But there was another spectacle joining the fray; a group of about five of the half-formed ink monsters, all of them wearing, projectors?

No, Bendy realized, they were wearing hats, hard-hats, like the kind you'd expect on miners or construction workers. Were these people that Joey had digging out these lower parts of the studio?

And now they were doomed to stay. Forever.

Not that Bendy really had much time to dwell on the fact, seeing as they were pretty markedly making a beeline for the four of them. Henry met them first, though it seemed as though these were made of sterner stuff. The hits that had splattered the previous waves merely knocked these ones back, Bendy's fear growing anew as he realized that the animator could be overrun. Allison noticed this too, the angel darting into the fray. Tom nearly leapt to join her, before the weight in his arm reasserted itself and reminded him of who he was with. Still, the wolf hefted up the axe, ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

The sword Allison was holding did more damage than Henry's fists, the first helmeted monster that she struck immediately melting away, though the second took a few hits. During which a third had come up on her right, reaching out for her legs.

At that point, Tom swarmed in, swinging heavily at the half-formed monster and catching it just at the brim of the helmet. The metals gave a clang as they met, nearly covering the sound of an almighty splattering as the force traveled into the inky creature underneath. But as the helmet flew off, flipped across the square, the wolf was grabbed from behind. For a terrifying instant, Bendy couldn't even see what was happening because of the wrappings around his head, a cry echoing off the walls from his own throat as the little devil felt an inky hand squeeze his makeshift mask, scratching at his head underneath.

The sound rang out over the cacophony of fighting immediately snagged the attention of both the angel and the animator, Henry reeling in the tangle of inky limbs and Allison springing to slice away at the inky leech hanging onto the devil and wolf.

It took a harrowing few minutes, Allison stuck between the inky figure's flailing and Tom's efforts to fight it off. But finally she was able to get in a clear stab. Bendy still felt himself trembling as the grip on his scarf and head loosened, falling away to nothing.

His tremors came back full force when he saw that Henry had reeled around to help, and was slammed into the ground as a helmeted ink creature brought its full weight down onto the animator. The others swept in, arms rising and falling like lead weights as they pummeled Henry into the dirt.

"H-HENRY!" Bendy shrieked, fighting against Tom's grip as he tried to make a break for the animator, to help him, he couldn't lose anyone else no no NO-

A dark shape started to rise out of the mire of ink and stringy limbs, pushing up against the blows still raining down on its back and head. Rising higher and higher, the ink-covered animator's arms pulled free from the tangle, and swung at the helmeted creatures. As they splattered back against the ground and walls of the shanty village, the sounds of fighting echoed off the stone walls and fell away to nothing. It left the group standing in the wake of the adrenaline, eyes turning to each other as they tried to regroup. And, predictably enough, the first person that the still-overwrought little devil saw first was Henry, the animator's ink still frothing on his back and shoulders.

Perhaps he'd wanted to behave like the fear hadn't been there to begin with, like he hadn't just been the object of obsession for a bunch of creepy cultists, but the instant Bendy opened his mouth all he could come up with was a strangled, watery whine that might've been an attempt at Henry's name.

Thankfully, Henry didn't waste much time, hurriedly scooting over and holding an arm out for the little devil. Leaving Buddy in Tom's arm Bendy beelined straight into another hug, knocking Henry back for the second time that day as he did his best to both calm the shakes still rocketing through his frame and not inhale any of the ink that Henry was covered in.

"A-Are you okay?" Bendy was finally able to say, voice hoarse and nearly a whisper though of course Henry still heard, the ink-covered animator giving a noise that sounded like a reassurance. It was then more than ever that Bendy wished he could hear Henry speak, actually be able to tell him outright, but conceded that it was a somewhat selfish wish. This was fine. Henry was here, that was enough.

A gurgling roar cut the moment cold, Bendy only having an instant to register that the noise came from the boarded-up building right before something decently large and very fast burst through. The sound of a car engine echoed off the walls, the source skidding around in the limited space of the city square.

The little devil was swung around, Henry pulling him close as he tried to turn in the direction of the noise. Gasping from both the pressure squeezing his midsection, and the sudden, rapid escalation of danger, Bendy both tried to cling to the slick ink the animator was shrouded in and see what was happening. He could hear Tom scrambling around, Allison also making a noise of surprise and fear though if there were words Bendy didn't catch them.

Then whatever was making that racket roared by them again, Henry throwing both himself and Bendy to the side to avoid being struck. As the thing, a vehicle, came squealing around to partially crash into the ink figures' weird paper building, Bendy finally managed to get a good look.

And then realized that he remembered this…creature.

It was a complete wreck. Like if someone had tried to make a toon but either didn't have all their ducks in a row or simply didn't care enough, and the result was a half-formed, melting, partial glob of an ink blob that only seemed to be just holding onto its shape. But even with the frankly horrifying, liquid exterior, there were little things, such as the boxy frame, the clear suggestion of tires underneath and headlights in the front, that led Bendy to guessing exactly what, or who, this was supposed to be.

It had been maybe the summer following the year that Alice had been made, when Henry had been away for a few weeks. Joey'd sent the whole animation department scrambling to pull together some episodes, all of them featuring various monsters that Bendy had somehow wronged and they were all chasing him, getting into cartoon hijinks along the way.

But, Bendy thought with more than a slight chill of foreboding as he stared down the cartoonish, deformed toon taxi, they'd all had a somewhat mean-spirited sort of air to them. It seemed like Joey had it as part of his animation bible that Bendy was never supposed to win, but even Henry had appeared a little disturbed by the image of the toon devil being outright pummeled, thrown, nearly eaten, and in the case of this taxi, run over multiple times. Heck, Boris had pretty much not wanted Bendy out of his sight for at least a few weeks following that…

And, well, here the taxi was. No silver screen here, or toony antics to save them this time. And judging from the way its engine was roaring, the sound both phlegmy and echoing in the cavern, it probably wasn't about to stand down and make nice.

The noise kicked into high gear as the tires squealed against the ground, Bendy's stomach turning to a solid block of ice and nerves as the taxi raced forward.

The fact that Henry blindly threw both himself and the little devil to the side, nearly crashing into the makeshift houses, also hammered in the realization that the animator still couldn't see.

With that thought in mind, Bendy hurried to find out where the taxi would be coming from next, hoping that he could at the very least be Henry's eyes. Immediately the little devil caught sight of the melted car toon idling across the village square, close to the docks. The malformed taxi gave a groan, the sound cutting through the roar of its engine as the sharp-toothed mouth of a front grill parted, letting loose a torrent of ink. Despite the fact that it had just been trying to run them over, Bendy couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy given that this other toon was clearly in a fair amount of pain, headlight-eyes rolling as it tried to regain equilibrium.

Admittedly, the sympathy was short-lived when someone moved, making a clattering noise and causing the taxi's attention to snap out of its own internal mire, the engine regaining its phlegmy roar as it charged in their direction.

"Henry, Henry! It's comin' straight on! Twelve o'clock!" Bendy hollered, Henry's head swinging from side to the side before making the nearly too-late decision to throw himself to the right. Unfortunately, this sent the animator crashing into a supporting beam, bringing part of an awning down on top of him though he was able to shield the little devil toon. But it had definitely taken a toll, Bendy realizing how much when Henry gave a burbling groan, shakily reeling back upright.

But the animator didn't have time to recover, Bendy's head swiveling in the direction of the melting taxi as its engine continued to roar, the car toon rolling itself around to balefully glare at the both of them.

Tom, Buddy, and Allison were on the other side; they wouldn't be able to make it in time. Not to mention, though both were armed, would a sword and an axe even do any real damage to a car?

Though Henry immediately tried to grab Bendy as the little devil started to pull away, his fingers caught empty air. Grabbing one of the bits of wood from the awning, Bendy raced out to the middle of the village square, shouting to the toon car as he pegged it with his makeshift weapon.

"Hey, HEY! OVER HERE, UGLY!"

Not his most creative, but the melting taxi was definitely looking at just him now so Bendy would take it. Of course, he realized as it started to gun its engine again, that left him with the task of not getting hit.

Taking a chance, Bendy started to run down the length of the village square, heading in the direction of the docks. If he could make it fall into the ink, maybe it would get trapped there.

Of course, the plan was a perfectly rational one when Bendy had the initial head of steam. It was an entirely different thing to pull off when he had an angry, melting taxi bearing down on him. The thing was practically snarling. Bendy could feel the hot, ink-reeking breath on him as he raced to the edge of the square.

Noise, too much noise-

Jump to the side!

-Too much, too much-

Just jump to the side!

-NOISE-!

And suddenly the little devil was knocked to the right. He knew that he'd heard something, some sort of warning from off to his left, but there was still an odd disconnect between the memory he had of running and the feeling of hitting the ground like a rock.

He could still hear the taxi, but there was another sound joining the roaring, phlegmy engine. Detachedly Bendy couldn't help but liken it to an animal, a snarling, very unhappy animal. Maybe a dog…?

The thought was immediately driven from his head when something hauled him off the ground, the little devil's vision swinging around until he was met with the ink-covered face of Henry, the dark slurry bubbling up like it had when the animator faced down 'Alice'. However, despite an apology quavering on his tongue, Bendy quickly realized that he'd probably need a lot more than that. Especially given that Henry's solution was to hold Bendy to him in a grip that stopped just short of vice-like. But as Henry swung Bendy around to avoid giving the little devil a face full of ink, Bendy saw that something else had joined the fray.

The newcomer stood at least a foot over Tom's head, primarily black though there were blotches of white on its legs. It was also holding the toon car, the melting taxi's tires spinning as the figure lifted it into the air.

They struggled, the taxi thrashing about to throw the newcomer off-guard and the newcomer tightening their grip before swinging themselves and the toon car around, flinging it over the docks and into the ink.

There was a terrible, splashing crunch, the sound of the taxi's engine joined by a gurgling cry that sounded more like a distressed wail as the mechanical roar grew more and more waterlogged. And then there was nothing. A final, sucking noise cut the sounds off cold, the echoes ringing off the cavern walls and the ramshackle village.

It gave Bendy the perfect opportunity to take in more about his would-be rescuer. Even though he still felt weak-kneed, he was noticing with some uncomfortable squirming that this creature was reminding him a lot of the one that had grabbed him back up in the toy factory, when he and Boris had been breaking the cutouts. Like Boris but too stretched out, ink dripping so much that it was hard to tell what was slurry and what was fur. It was turned away from him, but Bendy imagined that if he were to see the face, he could probably catch a glimpse of ink-stained, sharp teeth.

But there were little things that made no sense, such as the presence of apparent, ink-stained overalls that he'd initially thought were part of the monster's 'fur'. Not to mention the fact that this version apparently also had gloves, though these were somewhat destroyed by a set of long, sharp claws poking through the fingers and shredding the white fabric.

Suddenly, it all clicked, and Bendy felt himself grow weak at the knees as the possibility became more and more like reality.

"Boris? P-Pal, is that you?"

For Boris, his world was a mix of fiery pain and dripping ink. Internally, he could feel the strings still binding his arms, legs, and mouth, but he also felt the aches in his body from the ink pushing through his skin, mouth, nose, ears, and even his eyes, along with just the strain of being put through such a drastic change. Part of him still reeled from the moment when Joey had seemingly decided that the wolf had needed to leave 'now', cutting his connection to Sammy and sending Boris running through the darkness. There had been an odd moment when he'd run at…something. Something circular and flat that hadn't looked like a door but let him through into where he was now.

Then the wolf had seen the melting, horrible, familiar toon chasing Bendy and his world had gone red. It was like what had gripped him with the ride, a single-minded determination, but about ten times worse, only dissipating when the taxi had crashed into the ink. Even if he knew this toon, remembered him from those awful shorts when Bendy had been hurt over and over again for the smallest things, Boris couldn't say that he'd wanted to really hurt the car.

Certainly didn't want him to die, though what he'd done really only sank in once he'd locked eyes with the taxi, and seen the raw terror and pain in its face as the car dissolved in the ink. That gurgling, distraught wail had been the final nail in his composure, the ink from the wolf's eyes dripping faster as he internally sobbed and cried.

He'd wanted to be sick. But he couldn't look away, not until the whole of the boxy, melting frame was gone in the dark mire, swallowed up as though it had never been. The echoes of its engine were the only remnants, but those were quickly fading too.

Enough that Boris, even in his addled, pain-filled, and mentally-on-ice state, could hear a familiar voice calling his name. But the voice, his best friend's voice, only filled him with a new level of fear. Because it came with…

"Boris? P-Pal, is that you?"

BENDY. BRING HIM. BRING HIM BRING HIM BRING HIM BRING HIM.

No, no he couldn't! Not with the image of the taxi still fresh in his mind, reminding him of that portent of Bendy being sucked under the ink too, the little devil replaced with a grinning, demented doppleganger…

"Boris?"

BRING HIM BRING HIM BRING HIM BRING HIM BRINGBRINGBRINGBRINGBRING…

I DON'T WANNA BE A MONSTER!

For a brief instant, something loosened, enough that Boris felt his limbs work in time with his thoughts, reeling out as he let loose a watery snarl. Underneath it, he could hear a gasp, small shoes and sliding ink pulling away from him.

But it wasn't enough. He'd turned, enough that the sight of a small, monochrome devil toon was visible out of the corner of his eye, the momentary flash enough to make the commanding drone turn into a crescendo. Slamming his hands into his eyes, Boris did his best to push back, any way he could. Tried to tell himself that it had been a cutout, that Bendy wasn't really there, Bendy wasn't there, please, just take him away, I don't want to hurt anyone else, please…

While the addled, ink-logged wolf had done his best to cover his eyes, his ears had been left alone. Enough that he could hear the sounds of further scuffing, distressed tones drawing away until they were too far to hear. But, he wasn't alone, as he could hear something sliding around, dragging and pulling itself until it was very, very close to him, practically in front of him.

Taking a chance, Boris let his fingers fall from his leaking eyes, and immediately recognized the monochrome ink monster. He did have a brief moment where worry flared regarding what exactly had happened to Bendy, given that the monster that had pursued him so relentlessly was here, but the thought was put on hold when Boris saw that it was reaching out to him.

But not to grab, its hands were upraised, palms rising through the air to meet the wolf's slick, ink-cloyed face, the white snout grey with slime.

As contact was made there was a faint buzzing, before a familiar voice spoke up.

…Boris? Can you hear me?

Henry? Boris thought and wanted to say. But he could still feel the bite of the red strings, keeping the words locked inside his mind.

Boris, I know you're in there. It's alright, I'm going to help you-.

Now, now, Henry, that's cheating.

The feeling of the words sliding through his mind made the wolf want to slither out of his skin. But still, Joey kept talking as Boris's arms reached out to pull Henry's hands away from his face, the connection between them cutting with a sizzling squelch of separating ink.

Our little deal only accounted for Bendy, Henry, not Boris. If you wanted the wolf so badly you should have asked. Before. Or did you think he was too far gone to save? Rather good thing Bendy didn't give up so easily, otherwise we might not have been able to get the ball rolling.

Henry didn't think he could be saved? Granted, the reasoning behind the notion was not hard to figure out, given that from what Boris remembered people generally didn't come back from…

-RIPPING, TEARING, PAIN, PAIN, PAIN, JOEY STOP, STOP PLEASE, IT HURTS-

Internally the wolf felt a shivering, disgusted slithering as the memory washed over him, playing into the current, very real sensation of his heart thumping, fighting to work against the ink bogging it down. He shouldn't be here, he should never have come back. He'd gotten people hurt, he'd killed someone, he was going to hurt Bendy-!

Boris could feel his body moving again, Henry giving a gurgling cry as he tried to reach out to the transfigured wolf. But, before he could move any closer, Joey's voice rang out in Boris's mind again, the wolf internally trembling at the notion of being the studio head's tool, his monster, his personal big bad wolf…

Save your energy, Henry, we'll be moving into the final stage of this little game now. I should hope you'll keep your eyes on the prize. Otherwise, I might get the impression that you don't want Bendy anymore. But not to worry, I'm sure I can find plenty of other uses for him.

Boris didn't see Henry's exact reaction, but he could hear plenty. A defeated splat as Henry's arms dropped to the ground, ink squelching as the animator sagged like a puppet who's strings had been cut. Boris wanted to go back, to tell the man not to give up, that he was sorry, that he never should have listened to Joey, never should have gone with his creator. But his body would not listen, no longer moved to what the wolf wanted.

Instead, he kept walking back through the cavern, heading for the statue that he had sprung from. As he drew near, dark ink started to bubble over the sepia surface, turning the wooden Bendy a familiar, swirling black. Just as he came within a few feet, another watery call sounded out from behind, the cry almost reading like an apology. It felt like a knife twisting in Boris's stomach, triggering thoughts of how Henry shouldn't be sorry, he'd been trying to find Bendy, he'd been working on the shorts, he'd been doing everything to make things right.

Boris had been the one that stayed inside, kept with the music department, and trusted Joey.

The wolf gave a despairing sob as he stepped through the portal that the statue provided, back into whirling, whispering darkness.

---

Bendy felt like the world was spinning away from him again. It probably wasn't a good thing to feel like this so many times in an…hour? Day? At this point he was feeling like it could have been a week. He felt like he'd aged a week, definitely.

Kind of like that one earthquake except this time he actually knew the people getting hurt. That line of thought was actually not very relieving, did not make him feel better, and didn't fix any part of his current situation so he immediately resolved to not think about it.

Allison was saying something. Bendy knew he should pay attention, but, again, it felt like everything and everyone else were a million miles away. Probably for the best, no one could get hurt in the apparent radius of death and disaster that seemed to surround the little devil if they were that far from him.

After all, look what happened to Boris…

The stray thought caused Bendy to curl up tighter as it pierced the dull fog permeating his brain. He knew that the others were still talking, or more rather, Allison was still talking, but for the moment the little devil clung to the fragile daze like a lifeline. He didn't want to fall apart again, it wasn't safe, they'd nearly just been killed by a bunch of raving cultists that were out for his ink, he'd nearly killed them all, look at what happened to Boris…

The feeling of being picked up registered far too late for Bendy to really do much about it, though the little devil still tried to fight his way out of the hands holding onto him. It wasn't until Bendy's chin clunked down onto a familiar, ink-slick shoulder, that the moment caught up to him.

Honestly, he was just thankful that he hadn't tried to bite Henry again. Though Bendy couldn't help but notice how runny the animator's head was. Just as it had been when the little devil had finally figured out who had been chasing him around this hellhole of a studio. Admittedly, Bendy could figure that for now it was for much less happier reasons.

Allison was also rubbing along the little devil's shoulder blades, her words finally crashing into Bendy's ears over the noise of ink frothing and a growing-steadily-louder sound of air hissing through someone's teeth.

"Bendy, Bendy, you need to slow down, take a deep breath." And after a moment, a hand placed itself over his mouth, the sudden obstruction forcing Bendy to breathe through his nose, and causing Henry to give a watery, semi-alarmed gurgle.

But it was alright, Bendy knew where he was, and who was touching him. Also, if he tried to bite Allison he was pretty sure Tom would be ticked so the little devil kept up with breathing through his nose. Slow, easy waves of air that flowed in and out, not washing out the dull haziness or the internal condemnation, but helping gain some distance. Enough that his jaw loosened, the steady flow of ink and tears ebbed, and for the moment it felt like the world wasn't spinning wildly under his feet.

It helped that Henry still had a shadow of living warmth to him, even with the cold ink covering him from head to toe. Despite the cloying slime, it made the physical moment more bearable, even calming as Bendy's eyelids fluttered, the little devil feeling Allison take her hand away as it became clear he was overall steadier on his mental footing. Or at the very least had worn himself out.

Even though Bendy could figure it was coming, it seemed like far too soon the angel was saying that they had to move on, the words causing Henry to lightly jolt and move to be more readily with the group. It took a moment of fumbling, but eventually the little devil managed to wiggle his way to sit on the animator's shoulders, the pair 'standing' at the ready as Tom lead the group to another doorway blocked with a few boards.

Though, when the wolf cleared them, they were all briefly stymied by the fact that the would-be hallway consisted of a plank-bridge running to another door across the way. Tom briefly considered the drop before inching his way out onto the first board, testing the wood before putting his full weight on it and sliding across.

"Be careful Tom." Allison murmured, the wolf not able to look back to her, but he'd definitely heard given how his ears had swept back in her direction. Thankfully he made it to the second section of the plank bridge with no incident, the angel telling Henry to go next.

"Someone should watch the rear."

Sound reasoning, and given that she hadn't given back Buddy yet that left Henry and Bendy to be the middle part of the group.

Moving much more gingerly given his lack of sight, the animator slid his way onto the first plank, reaching out with both oversized arms to brace himself on the wall as his feet shuffled carefully across the wood. Though Bendy wanted to get down, not burden Henry anymore, he knew that if he tried to move now it would throw the whole thing off. It still didn't keep Bendy from glancing at the darkness underneath them, and huddling in closer as the comparison to the cavern with the crank bridge flashed through his mind.

Tom had made it halfway across the second plank, and Henry to the end of the first, when a sudden, alarming creak sounded from under their feet. It was the only warning they had before the support for both planks snapped, sending the trio down into the darkness below. Just as a scream ripped itself from Bendy's throat, he felt himself be grabbed and held tightly on top of something, pressed right next to Tom as they all fell down, down, down, the hallway above growing further and further away…

SPLASH

Bendy's world went dark, his limbs feeling like they were moving through jello before he managed to find the surface and break through with a gasp. He could hear something coming up next to him, the noise making him start before a familiar hand latched onto the back of his coat. Thankfully he didn't try to slip out, as Tom had enough difficulty with the layer of ink sticking to the fabric. But the wolf was able to keep his grip enough to lift Bendy up onto a small, raised part of the floor.

Bendy took in the space they had fallen into, seeing a derelict, narrow space occupied by only the raised part of the floor that he and Tom were now sitting on, and a sunken space filled with ink.

There were probably more little details that the devil toon could have sunk his teeth into, but he was a little more preoccupied by the fact that he distinctly remembered there being one more to their number when they were falling.

"H-Henry? Henry!" Bendy called, feeling his heart stammer in his chest as he nearly leapt back in after the animator. Only to reel back onto his betailed rear as a considerable mass of ink exploded up from the sunken part of the room, the shape's only real defining feature being a somewhat more solidly human look. Reeling, it rushed as best it could to the edge of the raised part of the floor, pulling itself out and collapsing onto its side once it had pulled itself up onto dry land.

"H…Henry?" Bendy asked, the inky blob giving a gurgling groan before lifting a hand, gloopy fingers extended. Five minutes.

Though Bendy hardly wanted to stay idle, instead settling down near Henry's head and trying to paw at the extra ink. If he were being charitable, perhaps the little devil could read the quiet, watery sigh that followed as him doing a good thing. Henry certainly wasn't making it seem like he didn't like the contact. Maybe it was because of the fact that Henry was still…Henry, underneath all the ink. Maybe Bendy getting rid of the gloopier stuff was making things better.

It was a hope that Bendy clung to, finding himself surprisingly desperate for some hint that he wasn't just making things worse for someone. Well, someone else, at this point.

A sudden tapping over his head had Bendy looking up at Tom, a faint shifting signaling that the noise had gotten Henry's attention as well. The wolf was tapping on the wall with his metal arm, pointing up at something on said wall once he'd gotten Bendy's attention. Looking in the direction of the where the metallic finger was pointing, the little devil's eyes narrowed at the sight of a picture. A square with a line running from the underside of it, like a handle. Almost like…

He still had the magnifying glass, surprisingly enough. It did need a bit of a cleaning considering the fall that he, Tom, and Henry had taken, but it was pretty easy to get at least the middle of it clear. Enough that a message could be seen, written over the image.

IT'S INSIDE THE VAULT.

Alright, Bendy thought as he lowered the glass, great to tell them that there was something important around, and even give them a general direction to head in, but weren't there a ton of vaults back up in the Archives? Probably even more in the less animation and music inclined parts of things, where there were finances to keep track of and things like that?

But then Tom tapped again, both Henry and Bendy looking to the wolf as he pointed down at something on the floor. At first, it just looked like more of the usual ink splatter, until Bendy realized that there was indeed a pattern to it, like someone had either stepped in the ink, or stepped out of it, and proceeded to track it across the floor as they went into the other room.

From what little Bendy could tell, the footprints had to have come from a person, but given that that was hardly an indicator as to whether or not the newcomer would be dangerous the little devil was going to stay on his guard, thank you very much.

Tom had managed to maintain ahold of his axe, so, small mercies there at least.

Though, seeing as the wolf couldn't speak, and one of their number needed sound in order to communicate, that left Bendy with the job of relaying what they'd found to Henry. The animator seemed to get the sense that something was going on, reeling to sit up as Bendy turned to him.

"Somebody's been in here. Can't tell if'n it's one'a them up there, somebody else…I dunno. Definitely recent though." The latter being added as the little devil observed Tom kneel and wipe at one of the footprints, his hand coming away with a dark smear. "There's also a message on the wall 'bout somethin' bein' in a vault."

This appeared to have jogged something in Henry's memory, the animator pushing himself back up and hurrying to scrawl something on the wall.

WHERE

Easy enough to figure out what Henry meant; where are we? Little less easy was answering that question, as Bendy was finding it hard to really say himself where they'd ended up. They had to be miles below the studio, at least, but if there was anything that he was coming to understand it was that the place definitely had some tricks to play.

Such as the room right off their little corner of desolation being a semi-cozy, if dusty waiting area, like something you'd see for any office building. Staring around, Bendy caught sight of a placard to his right, a sign that read quite simply: TODAY'S APPOINTMENTS, Sign in at the front desk on arrival. No Appointment, No Access.

Listed underneath that was a chart arranged by time slots, each with a name penned in which Bendy guessed were the people that were making these appointments.

But, the only place that took appointments, at least that he remembered, had been the…

Looking around at it all now, there was plenty that he didn't recognize as a part of the studio he remembered, but there were enough hints for him to fill in the blanks. For instance, the counter set into the wall could be a receptionist's desk. The multiple frames on the far-left wall definitely looked like awards.

And, just to seal the deal, as the three of them crept past the doorway Bendy was able to see that the gate across the room was topped with an image of his own face painted into the wood. Under that was a sign that read 'ADMINISTRATION'.

So, Joey's neck of the woods. That had been in the topmost part of the building last the little devil checked.

…He was going to stop thinking about that part before he completely broke his brain. Instead Bendy tried to focus on the wet tracks that he could still see, leading to the right-hand side of the room beyond the receptionist's desk. He was drawn back into his very much needed role of translator when Henry made a sort of trying-to-be-polite noise as he tapped on the little devil's coat shoulder.

"O-Oh, uh, we're in the Administration offices, 'pparently. Nobody else seems t'be in here. Least not now. Sorry, Henry."

A gentle pat and soft gurgle seemed to say that no harm had been done. Tom spared the scene a glance before sliding around the corner, going after the source of the footprints. Bendy felt caution settle in himself as well as the ink-covered animator at his back, the little devil peering after Tom as he went to a door on the wall, probably one that lead into the receptionist's area.

It was also where the footprints had disappeared to, and judging from the fact that Tom's attempts to turn the knob met with no success Bendy had to conclude that it was locked. Of course.

Tom hardly seemed to pay it more than a glance, strangely enough, instead turning his attention to the other side of the room. Following the wolf's gaze, Bendy found another door sitting across the way, this one with a sign above it saying 'FILM VAULT'.

As Bendy started to move in that direction, a gloopy shuffling at his back both made him jump and reminded him that he wasn't exactly on his own here.

"Think that's the vault the message was talkin' 'bout." At least, it had to be if there were no other vaults down here. Otherwise, what would be the point of leaving a message like that?

Thankfully, that door wasn't locked, though Bendy was a little surprised to see a piping installation across the room. Peering around, it seemed like the actual vault was through another door to the left of that, with a small room on the right.

However, both Tom and Bendy quickly spotted a problem if they were going to continue to the actual vault, that being that the room was flooded with ink. Definitely enough that it'd be up past Bendy's horns, even if they did manage to get the door open.

Tom seemed to have something of an idea about how they could get around that problem, the wolf looking from the door to the piping installation before tapping on Bendy's shoulder to get his attention.

It also drew Bendy's eyes to the fact that the installation was missing some parts to the plumbing, the little devil able to pick out where there should be some connecting bits here and there. At least the majority of it looked intact.

Now, as to what happened next, Bendy knew there had been something. Some noise that had probably got Tom's attention that was just too quiet for his ears to hear, but before he knew it the wolf had run back into the waiting room, dashing straight to the door that had been closed a moment ago but was now just faintly ajar, reaching in and yanking out whatever had been on the other side.

The figure that Tom managed to dislodge was shoved to the ground with a heavy splat, fumbling around in a tangle of limbs as it tried to find some sense of direction. Though Henry and Bendy had both rushed after the wolf, Bendy found himself slowing down as his eyes took in more of the exact shape of the thing.

It had a look very much like the inky figures, long and spindly. There was some sense of an actual body though, kind of like Sammy, though unlike Sammy Bendy could see this one's face, the most striking thing about it being the large blue eyes set into the head.

The figure was also able to see, given the way the eyes zipped from the wolf that had grabbed it to the two approaching. But what Bendy didn't expect was for the blue eyes to widen, and for the figure to suddenly call out.

"Henry?"

It was definitely a male voice, but it sounded young. However, the little devil's brain was stuck on the notion that the figure had reached out to Henry first, before even noticing the small toon that the rest of the studio was fixated on. Henry gave a brief start, before inching his way closer as he reached out to the figure, Tom stepping away from the interaction but with his axe at the ready.

"I-I didn't think I'd see…th-they took you away…" The figure stammered, a hand reaching out to meet Henry's. Though Henry could not respond with words, the noise that he made definitely seemed friendly, the sound punctuated by a bracing hand propping up the figure by the shoulder.

It briefly was a picture-perfect moment, almost. Before Bendy felt a hand suddenly land on his shoulder that had him whirling around with a gasp and his heart in his throat. He caught sight of a figure that was heads taller than him, wearing what looked like a sort of makeshift attempt at a long dress, or perhaps a robe, the edges ragged and ink stained.

What was really causing Bendy some anxiety though, was the fact that the figure had a strip of off-white, somewhat dirty cloth wrapped around their head, making it impossible to see their eyes. Another hand latching onto the little devil's shoulder made him yelp, but it was just Tom, the wolf having stepped around the huddle on the floor to grab Bendy and yank him back and behind the taller toon. Which Bendy was entirely thankful for because where in the heck had this person come from?!

"Dot, it's alright, it's just," The blue-eyed figure started, though 'Dot' quickly cut him off.

"I know who it is. The whole studio's whispering about it."

So was she, Bendy noticed, 'Dot's voice never rising higher than a soft undertone. But, somehow even with that her first words had a bit of a bite to them, one that had Bendy flinching away. It felt like a condemnation.

But while it could have been something aimed at the studio overall, Bendy had the uncomfortable feeling that the slight vitriol was being aimed at him. And unfortunately there was no time to really address it as in the next moment the blue-eyed figure gave a nervous glance around, murmuring that they shouldn't be out in the open. Which, Bendy partially agreed with, not going to lie or argue about that, but there was definitely a part of him that felt more than a little strange to be walking with someone who'd just been decidedly unfriendly towards him. Especially to a close-quarters spot like the room with the pipes.

And, just to make things worse, they decided to move things to a little knoll of an office that was partially occupied by a desk, chair, and some barrels and boxes, which made it hard enough to maneuver around but then Bendy had to go and get himself wedged right into the corner, where both newcomers were right in between him and the door. Thankfully Tom was next to him, as while Bendy definitely couldn't say that he knew the wolf all that long he definitely trusted him more than these two, even if one seemed pretty friendly with Henry.

"You shouldn't have brought him down here, it's far too close. The smart thing would've been to separate the lock from the key…" The one with the dress, Dot, was murmuring, making Bendy feel like he wanted to both shrink away and push back against the weird, kinda-sorta accusations.

"We didn't ask t'come down here. We fell."

"Of course, that's what he probably wanted. What they probably want. No one can do anything until you're where you're needed to be."

Alright, now Bendy was just confused. He'd figured out that the 'he' was probably Joey, but who was 'they', and why would they want him anywhere? Was this the whole studio? Someone specific?

Either way, it garnered an interesting enough reaction, with Tom straightening as he turned a sharp look to Dot, and Henry giving a gurgling snort that almost sounded derisive.

"…I think at this point, everyone just wants it over." The blue-eyed one murmured, curling somewhat onto himself. The image, as well as the words, snuffed a lot of irritation on the spot, Bendy feeling cold as the reality of the situation slipped back in.

A clattering right next to him caught Bendy's attention, the little devil's head turning to see Tom picking up a tape deck. Turning it over in his hands, the wolf paused as he flipped it onto it's back, and came face to face with a dusty label reading 'Thomas Connor, GENT Report #4'.

"You can listen to it," Dot spoke up, both Bendy and Tom jumping at the sudden addressing of their find. "He doesn't really say very much. Makes sense though."

Alright, bit of an odd way to lead into that, but seeing as they had permission…

Bendy looked to Tom, the wolf turning his attention back to the tape deck and pressing play.

"Progress report to Gent Home Office, Client: Joey Drew Studios. Although we're making progress, the client's expectations keep changing. What started as a machine to simply mold life-size figures, now seems to be teetering more on the edge of magic more than engineering. Although Mr. Drew remains convinced that they're the same thing. The process of running the cartoon film through the machine for the figures to imprint upon themselves is going well. We've had several near successes. One weird note: though the machine does seem to have basic mechanics intact, there does seem to have been some adjustments made to the insides. It doesn't seem to be affecting the process in anyway, but there have been, some odd things happening in the vicinity of the machine. The client states that neither the equipment nor the machine have been tampered with in any way, will keep you informed."

Well, definitely sounded like Mr. Connor. Though the exact content had Bendy wondering what were the adjustments that the mechanic had noticed, especially if they were noticeable but not interfering with the Machine and what it was supposed to do. And that mention of odd happenings seemed like a really weird thing to bring up and then just not elaborate on.

Was this what Dot had meant? Though that didn't really make much sense, Thomas was saying a lot…sort of. He was saying that the whole problem was with the Machine, that something had been changed, that the Machine had just been made for 'ink figures', which bothered Bendy a little given that he was pretty sure that Joey had made all of the toons, or at least him, Boris, and Alice, with the Ink Machine. And they were definitely a little more than ink figures. The way Joey phrased it, the Machine had been 'looking into and drawing from another world'. Bendy had always assumed he was being theatrical…

But then again, most machines didn't need offerings to keep them going.

Though there were certainly further lines of thought that Bendy could have pursued, his attention was caught by the sight of the fingers of Tom's metal hand tracing the side of the speaker, the wolf's face sinking deeper and deeper into thought by the minute. Nothing very positive musings, judging from the heavy weight settling in on the taller toon's stocky shoulders.

"Everythin' okay?" Bendy finally asked, trying to keep his voice down though really given that he was the only one talking at the moment, it was kind of hard to lend any real privacy to the interaction. Probably why Tom just shrugged the effort off and put the tape deck back where he'd found it. It made Bendy feel all the more self-conscious about putting the wolf on the spot. Still, his apology being met with a shake of the head, the little devil hastened to recover.

"Yeah, we need t'hurry up an' get into the vault-."

"Why?" Dot suddenly asked, Bendy jumping at the noise. He'd completely forgotten that she was in the room. Still he hurried to answer. Even if, the more he thought about it, the crazier the explanation seemed.

"W-Well, we have a, a magnifyin' glass that lets us read these messages that're invisible. An' there's one written out where we came in, sayin' that somethin' was in the vault. It's helped us out before, so this's gotta be important too, right?"

But, Dot didn't flat out say he was crazy, or that what he was saying didn't make sense. Instead, she went quiet, seeming to meet Blue's eyes before simply taking a breath and asking, calm as you please…

"Where did you see this message?"

It was times like this that Bendy really wished he wasn't the only one in their group that could talk.

"U-Uh, it was out in the…in the way we came in, that spot with all the ink…"

That was all Dot seemed to need, turning to leave the small office with Blue-Eyes calling worriedly in her wake.

"I just need to see, Buddy, I'll be right back," Dot replied, Bendy briefly tripping on Blue-Eyes's apparent name before he remembered that Dot would have a hard time seeing the message, and not only because of her voluntary handicap. But by this point Dot had already left the room, was heading through to the waiting room, so it was all Bendy could do to throw himself onto his feet to race after.

He could hear Tom, Henry, and…well, Buddy following along after, but for the moment Bendy was more focused on the inky figure of Dot, heading right out the door to the little flooded thruway where they'd come in. Fighting briefly with his lungs for air, Bendy skidded to a halt next to where Dot was standing facing the wall. If this was what proved their story, convinced her that they weren't lying, then he wanted to be sure it could be revealed in its entirety.

"H-Here, take this, it's right-."

"I can see it." Dot replied shortly, waving off the devil toon's offer of the alit magnifying glass. It was both the rebuke and the implied notion that she could somehow see the glowing letters that made Bendy step back a pace, once again feeling like he was out of his depth. It reminded him uncomfortably of Sammy, back before he'd become a juggernaut of ink death.

There was a faint shifting that gave Bendy a warning before he nearly backed into Tom and Henry. The animator gave a faint gurgling, the little devil reading it as a query into his own well-being.

"'m okay. I'm fine."

"…Is it there, Dot?" Blue-Eyes, or guess it was 'Buddy' now, asked, peering around the doorframe.

"…Yes. 'It's inside the vault'. That's what the message says."

"…Do…" 'Buddy' started, almost sounding like he was fighting with a dry throat. "…Do you think it's talking about…?"

"It has to be. There's nothing else worth seeing there anymore," Dot replied, voice clipped and curt as her head turned towards them. Bendy found himself fidgeting again, having the uncomfortable feeling that she was staring right at him despite the blindfold.

"We'll have to repair the pipes. There's no way to get all of us through otherwise." Dot suddenly said, the move from enigmatic to direct nearly making Bendy's head spin.

"So, wait, you're gonna help us get in?" Bendy blurted out, almost not daring to believe what was happening.

"Of course. Perhaps they're looking to get to you before he does." Though there was the promise of help that the little devil had wanted, the addition was more than enough to make him stall in his tracks.

"Wh-Who's lookin' t'get t'me?"

But strangely, though Dot's answer was a sort of noncommittal hum and 'Buddy' was definitely avoiding his eyes, Henry was the one that actually reached out to the little devil's shoulder, giving a quiet sort of bubbly noise that was probably meant to be comforting. But there seemed to be something else that the animator wanted to say, given that his free hand moved in a few gestures that took Bendy a moment to decipher. Pointing at the message, okay, something about either that or whoever might have written it, and then a bit of fumbling, before Henry pointed to himself?

"You…wrote that?"

Henry's reply was to immediately shake his head, a hand waving as though to clear the notion from the air. Thinking for a bit, the animator tried again, this time pointing to himself, pressing a finger to the side of his head, and then pointing to the spot where the message was.

But it still wasn't clicking. Bendy looked from Henry to the spot where the message was, expression flipping between worried and confused.

"I-I'm sorry, Henry, I really don't get whatcher tryin' t'tell me…" And, when the soft words made the animator slump, Bendy couldn't help but add in a hurried, hushed apology. The quiet utterance made Henry straighten, reaching out to the little devil with an equally quiet gurgling, drawing Bendy close in a half-hug. It made the small toon stiffen up for an instant before relaxing a little into the ink-logged animator's hold.

At least, there was relaxation. It ended up being fleeting considering that 'Buddy's quiet vigil was interrupted as the blue-eyed ink creature cleared his throat, drawing the pair back into the moment. Tom had already noticed that Dot had left the scene, hurrying around the corner and coming out behind the secretary's desk. Peering over the lip of the counter, Bendy watched as the blind-folded, ink-covered woman pulled a switch on the wall, confusing him for a bit before a sudden vibrating drew his attention to the gate he'd noticed earlier, the one with the sign for the Administration Department.

The gate was sliding open, the mechanisms grinding with age as it moved up and behind the sign, including the stock image of the little devil's smiling face situated above.

"We'll have to hurry." Dot said as she came back around. "We won't have much time before he notices that this part's been opened. Or, well, before he finds out through them."

Who 'they' were was revealed as the group peered down the hall, Bendy just catching sight of a familiar, hobbling shape as it limped down an adjacent hallway. Immediately Bendy felt himself shrinking back, Henry giving a soft, worried noise in response as he lifted a hand to keep the little devil from falling backwards. Out of the corner of his eye, Bendy could see Tom tensing up, the wolf lifting the axe, a silent snarl twisting the canid muzzle.

"He pays careful attention to the ones down here." Buddy murmured in the quiet, somehow ringing loud in the waiting room. "If they die, he'll know we're in there."

"And we'll need to go in there." Dot declared with a strange mix of firm faintness. "There are places where we can get ink, and we have an ink maker out here. With that, we can fix the pipes and get through to the vault."

It was a sound plan, but Bendy was seeing far too many problems. He didn't know the layout of the Administration Department here, for one, and Henry couldn't see so he'd have to be led around. Well, there was the thought that the animator could be left behind, but somehow Bendy didn't think that would go over all that well. He still had some pretty strong memories of what had happened in Storage 9…

…Which he immediately shoved to the backburner. No point in thinking on it now, not when he had something important and quite possibly life-threatening to deal with.

The group moved as one to the door, Bendy peering around at all of them from where he was perched on Henry's shoulders. Tom and Dot looked completely confident and capable, Henry certainly felt sure, Buddy might've seemed a little nervous but there were no complaints, no nothing about what danger they might be walking into, hinting that the ink creature could handle himself.

Bendy felt like kind of the outlier here. He really only had the magnifying glass for defense and he didn't want to end up breaking it. But, glancing around, the little devil felt that even if he wasn't sure he could trust this Buddy or Dot, Tom had gotten him more than far enough considering the risks. And Henry, well, Bendy generally felt good about trusting Henry.

He just hoped he wouldn't drag them all down too much.

Their first few steps into the hallways of the Administration floor were halting, a little unsure. Bendy watched as Buddy turned towards the door on their right, the only door in the little entry hallway. But whatever it was they were looking for, the blue-eyed ink creature didn't find it, shaking his head and pointing to another door across from them in an intersecting hallway.

Heading inside, Henry edged his way into the corner, Bendy still on his shoulder with Tom standing between them and Buddy, Dot keeping close to the door though the little devil couldn't tell how she'd be able to tell if something was nearby. Maybe she was hoping to hear whatever might be coming? Then again, she'd been able to see way more than most before…

Peering around the room, Bendy saw that they were in some kind of an old office, with a desk to their right and a table to their left. There was a tape-deck sitting on the table, next to what looked like some kind of grate.

"You can listen to it." 'Buddy' said, having caught sight of where Bendy was looking. "We're in trouble if they see us, but they can't hear for beans."

Well, it was as good of an affirmation as he was going to get, Bendy grabbing the tape deck and pressing play.

"A small memo to all our administration offices! Rumors have begun to fly that we simply cannot tolerate any longer. The idea that the company is in some form of financial difficulty is untrue, and a slanderous lie against us. It's also been known to me that some backroom incompetents are not trusting in my leadership. As a leader, I'm always steering the boat, guiding our destiny. Looking at the big picture. No need for you people to worry about such complicated things. Just do whatever it is you do and trust your leader…which is me."

Well, if Bendy had any sort of opinion regarding how this sounded, Henry making a watery scoffing noise pretty much summed it up for the little devil. Still, he couldn't help adding in a heavy sigh of his own, feeling too worn out to muster up more than a shadow of anger.

"Come on, let's go," Dot murmured, drawing everyone's attention. Bendy caught sight of Tom passing a rather sour look in the direction of the tape deck, though honestly the devil wasn't going to begrudge the wolf that. If anything, he tried his best to put the recording in the back of his mind to think on later. Honestly, he'd probably have to stop doing that, his subconscious definitely had a backlog to go through at this point.

They headed out, Bendy feeling like his senses were electrified. He could definitely hear garbling coming from somewhere ahead, though it sounded far enough away that they would have time to duck into a room. It was especially unnerving that the hallways didn't have much to differentiate themselves from the offices, making the place seem like one big maze. And, seeing as it was a maze with less-than friendly occupants, it made it all the more important not to get lost.

Thankfully, Dot seemed to know where she was going, heading to another door on their right that was nearly at the point where the hallway bent left. From his vantage point on Henry's shoulders, Bendy could see another desk tucked against the wall, with what looked like another tape deck. However, to the left of these was a fixture that he couldn't quite make out, at least not until they'd opened the door and all piled in.

It almost looked like some kind of fountain, with a sort of industrial look probably given that it was less for the image and more because it had an actual purpose. The purpose of which, while Bendy couldn't quite figure out why someone would want this, was probably to funnel ink given the fact that there was a fair amount of it gushing from the spigot.

Before Bendy could really comment on it, Buddy crossed the room and stuck his hands into the ink, pulling out a glob that immediately reminded Bendy exactly why they'd come in here. Though, upon seeing the little devil watching him, the overlarge, glowing blue eyes crinkled a little at the edges in an apology.

"Sorry, this is the best we can do here. There's other fountains around though. If we get at least two more…"

It was a hopeful sort of trail-off, but Bendy couldn't get himself to put some proper life into returning it with some sort of grin, or any other form of acknowledgement. Instead, the little devil turned his attention to the tape deck sitting on the table, leaning slightly to grab it. Listening for a brief moment to be sure that they weren't about to be snuck up on, Bendy pressed the play button.

"So it turns out it's my lucky day! I got to cleaning some of the offices at around 2AM last night. And what do you think I find one one of the chairs? A big, freaking chocolate cake. Just sitting there! Practically yelling my name! You know? I work hard! I earn my pay. Every darn dollar. But you know what this company's missing? Little, benefiting perks. And this here cake? It's a perk!...Hopefully no one finds out what I saw. Cause if they did, I can tell what would happen. I'm outta here."

…Alright, was more or less Bendy's first thought when he got to the end of the whole tape, though there were plenty of things that leaped out to him in retrospect. For starters, while the recording seemed to keep up the cheery, relatively light-hearted veneer that Wally's audio had had thus far, there were glimmers of things here and there in it that made Bendy wonder if the janitor had been trying to tell people something. Particularly here, with the mention of Wally having 'seen' something. What had Wally seen?

Apparently it was important enough that if someone had found out that he had, they might've fired him. Which had seemed unthinkable to Bendy, but then again, a lot of unthinkable things had been happening lately.

Bendy tried to think back to what he remembered of the janitor, but really it was more of the same things that he'd heard in the tapes. Wally had a sense of humor, for sure, was a little scatterbrained, but overall not a bad person. Wally had definitely put up with more than a few of Bendy's shenanigans. With some complaining, mind, but never to Joey which Bendy had endlessly appreciated.

When would this tape have been from? After he left? Sometime before? Checking for a date did him no good, the tape deck bereft of anything that would place it in that regard.

A slight shifting underneath him reminded Bendy of the fact that he wasn't the only one who had heard the tape's contents.

"Henry…?" The animator straightened at the sound of his name, Bendy pushing on before he could lose his nerve. "Did…when was this recorded, do you know?"

Though, thinking on it, maybe asking Henry might not have been the best idea, as while the animator made a noise that definitely didn't sound like a direct yes or no it wasn't like the animator could collaborate any of this. At least, not in detail. Looking around, Bendy noticed that Dot and Buddy were keeping towards the door, the blue-eyed ink creature nearly glancing back to catch the little devil's eye before hurriedly looking away. Tom, on the other hand, had no trouble showing interest in the tape, even leaning in to press play again.

But running through the whole of the tape one more time didn't jog any parts of Bendy's memory, Tom's silent intrigue falling to frowning as he thought. Though, despite their preoccupation, neither toon had the time to really think on the possibilities of what they'd heard. A slight clearing of the throat from Dot hinted that they had to move on, the tape deck just a bit too big and clunky to safely carry with them.

Bendy's own nerves took another hit as they tried to go down the hall, only to be forced to stop again as another, familiar gurgling echoed from where they were heading. Dot and Buddy rushed them into another room, heading past another fountain and a few doors before stopping near a grate. Through the slates, Bendy could see the hobbling form of one of the zombified toons heading past. But his attention was grabbed when Tom tapped him on the shoulder, the wolf indicating another tape deck sitting on a nearby desk.

Even though Buddy had said that the shambling, toony wrecks couldn't hear, Bendy still couldn't help but feel like he was making a big mistake as he shakily reached to run the tape.

"Listen Tommy, I know you boys over at GENT are doing your best, but I'm paying you for a working machine, not an unreliable hulk of metal! Whatever the cause of those noises it keeps making, you better do something about them soon! I realize that the Machine can get backed up, but imagine if the press caught wind of it! Might scare off investors! And in response to your previous memo: despite what you keep telling me, I can only tell you that the Machine has not been tampered with. I don't know where those 'issues' you keep reporting are coming from, but they're not there when I go down to look!"

Huh. Not quite as troubling as Wally's tape, at least not on the immediate face, but there was that mention of 'issues' with the Ink Machine. The noise being the most obvious thing, and like Bendy remembered, that wasn't exactly a secret. Everyone in the studio knew about it, but, again, those weird problems-that-were-definitely-problems-but-we're-not-going-to-go-into-it-because-reasons. Which, at this point, just irritated Bendy more than anything. Why not just come out and say it?!

It was a sentiment that Tom seemed to share, given the slight huff that followed in the wake of the recording, stony gaze following the tape deck as Bendy set it back down. But neither toon really got the chance to dwell, as Dot and Buddy indicated that they were ready to move on. As they retraced their steps back out to the main hall, Dot grabbed a glob of ink from the fountain. Well, now they had two. If Bendy was remembering right they needed only one more, and then…

…Well, they'd move on and not be here. That was a positive, even if Bendy wasn't sure where to go after that. The notion that there was someone else looking for him, in the film vault of all places, was such a strange and kind of unwelcoming concept after everything he'd dealt with that he was more willing to put it to the back of his mind for now. Cross that bridge when he came to it, even as a part of him whimpered that that was hardly a plan, what if this went wrong too?!

As the little devil's hands tightened on the globby shoulders underneath him, Henry gave a soft, almost humming sort of gurgle, a hand reaching up to rest on one of Bendy's comparatively smaller ones. The contact nearly made Bendy jump, though he tried his best to, at the very least, not fall off the animator.

But the interaction was not allowed to progress more than a soft apology, the group rushing back out to the hall. Bendy's senses immediately spun to high alert, trying to tell where exactly the warped toons had gotten to. One had walked by, but there'd definitely been more than that, so were there likely to be any in wait ahead? He couldn't hear anything…

The group headed up the winding hall, going partially round a corner and immediately into a room on their right, Dot gesturing for them all to hurry up. There wasn't anything in this room, at least nothing of any note. An old, dusty desk in the corner. Maybe this had been an office?

Well, yeah, Bendy thought to himself as he resisted the urge to clap a hand to his forehead, this was the administrative part of the studio. Ergo nothing but offices. Heck, the ink fountain pieces were the strangest thing he'd seen so far in here, the apparent guards notwithstanding.

It didn't feel like it was very long before Dot rushed towards the door, blindfolded head swiveling around as though looking, or perhaps listening. Rushing out, she gestured for the rest of the group to follow, taking a hallway that forked to the right.

Something about this particular part was ringing as familiar to Bendy though. Granted, he and the other toons had lived in the Administrative offices while the studio was running, so maybe that wasn't too remiss a thing. But, this sort of familiarity wasn't the kind that provoked any fonder memories of himself, Boris, or Alice. This felt a little more…wary.

The sight of a larger hallway briefly distracted Bendy, before he caught sight of a more ornate wooden door sitting square in between the two far corners, placed directly across from a small closet.

It wasn't until he was right in front of it that he realized precisely what he was looking at; the door to the office of Joey Drew himself.

And it was closed, the frosted glass seemingly painted over with ink, making Bendy honestly worry for a brief instant that the man himself was indeed in there. Snapping out of his thoughts just in time to see Dot cross the room, the little devil had just enough time to hear a slight exhale from Buddy, the sound not quite permeating his own sense of panic.

But she'd opened the door, carefully stepping over the threshold before hurrying all the way in and indicating that they follow. Given that Bendy was still very much atop Henry it wasn't as though he really had much choice in the matter, though he couldn't help but tense as the animator slipped into the room after Buddy with Tom bringing up the rear.

Even though a quick look around confirmed the place was empty, Bendy still found himself holding his breath as he went from the winding, brighter hallway to the closed, darker quarters of the office. Immediately he noticed a few things that were out of place; the windows were gone. The heavy woolen curtains behind the desk were replaced with a whirring display of film reels, over which was a piece of metal with the studio's name. The large bookcases were gone too, though there was still a dresser in the corner, along with the closet on the opposite end of the room. Also a couch was against the wall now too, apparently. It reminded Bendy of how Joey'd only given Boris some chairs to sleep on because he'd said he couldn't fit anything else into the office.

And straightaway he opted to not think about that given he was pretty sure this could turn sour within a few seconds if he let it, and right now Bendy'd rather not get distracted.

Still, it seemed like the room was determined to throw curveballs his way, starting with the presence of a tape deck sitting in a lone pool of light on the desk cast by a lamp.

Tom was the one that moved to get it this time, Henry and Bendy moving closer as the tape crackled on.

"I know how much this part means to you, Susie. Alice means a lot to me too. All my characters do! In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret. I too really believe that the characters we see on the screen, they're more than just drawings. They're alive. They're part of us. And I want people to know them as well as I do. I want people to be able to shake their hand, spend an afternoon with 'em. Love them… Susie, I'll be straight with you. I'm putting together a small project…a little ceremony. If it works, a lot of dreams will come true. And I want you to be a part of it. …I want you to bring Alice Angel to life once again. What do ya say?"

He'd already known. Or at the very least, he could guess. But hearing it like this from Joey made Bendy want to be sick. The studio head had to have some idea what Susie became. What she'd done. Had that all been on purpose, had he not been able to stop it, why would Joey let that happen, why would he cause it, why why why-?

The feeling of an overlarge, inky hand closing over his leg nearly made Bendy jump out of his skin, though really, it could only be Henry.

"S-Sorry, Henry," The little devil whispered at first, though with his mind still churning more quickly followed. "I-I don't get it, we have an Alice, we already have one, an' she's way better'n what…"

Don't cry, don't cry…

It was a losing battle though. Confusion, tension, and now one solid reminder that his friends were gone all wore down at the little devil's emotions, turning them frayed and miserable. Thankfully Henry hardly needed much prompting to draw Bendy off his shoulders, pulling him in for a careful hug.

But even as Bendy sunk into the animator's hold, trying not to grimace or fidget against the sensation of ink sticking to his fur and jacket, he couldn't help but pay a brief lip service to the pervading thought that he didn't deserve this, he was Joey's monster, all he did was make people hurt, make them suffer in his name, maybe he should've never been created out of that Machine at all…

"Henry?" Buddy suddenly, hesitantly spoke up from the sidelines, the animator's head swinging to look in his direction despite not being able to see. "I'm, I'm sorry. Dot says we're ready to go. There's another fountain right outside. It'll be the last one."

Drawn out of his misery by the news, Bendy briefly locked eyes with Tom, the wolf having been watching from nearby as the moment unfolded. Immediately after meeting each other's gaze, the pair looked awkwardly away, allowing themselves to be swept up again in the act of sneaking through the halls outside.

However, as they got the last glob of ink and started to head off to the right, away from the direction that they'd initially come from, trouble started up in earnest. It began as a soft, familiar gurgling up ahead, Dot easily homing in on the noise and ushering them to a room that was just down on their current path, sitting in a corner next to another door. Easing back, and hopefully out of view, the group watched as a warped toon hobbled past, Bendy catching a glimpse of the three-armed one through a grate on the wall.

Though the excitement wasn't done. Despite Dot ushering them out and back into the hall, their path forward around two more corners was hampered by the sound of more chittering ahead, practically just around the next bend.

It came on so suddenly that Dot practically froze in her tracks, Buddy hurrying to a door on their right and yanking it open, gesturing for them all to get inside.

The group sat just inside the room, the door closed as much as they dared in a bid to keep the zombified toons outside.

But, while there was still a sense of panic, of hiding, there were certain things that were standing out to Bendy, cutting through the panic. Peering around from his perch on Henry's shoulders, he tried to peer around the semi-lit room. And, strangely enough, things were looking very, very familiar.

Bendy felt his world stop on a dime, glancing from space to space as the notion hit home that he knew this room. He knew where he was.

It was covered in dust, and half of it was a mess, but this was his room. His, Boris's, and Alice's room. He could even see old paper stuck to the wall on his side, though the drawings appeared to have been removed. His cot was just the same as he left it, the blankets rumpled and a soft brown. The boxes he'd used to hold onto the few notebooks and books that Joey'd let him keep were still there too, though from the looks of things they were empty. Someone had gone through and likely cleaned it out after he'd run away.

Though the state of his own belongings wasn't what knocked the air from Bendy's lungs, it was how the rest of the room looked.

When Joey had first moved them in here, Boris had been on the far side, with Bendy having his corner. When Alice had been created, the wolf had been moved to the center of the room, with Alice's cot going to where his had been. They'd all sought to decorate their own section in their own way, with Bendy tacking his drawings to the walls, Boris putting up sheets of music that he'd made, Alice doing very much the same but with notations for different instruments and singing.

Bendy's had always been the messiest. Alice had tried a few times to get him to clean up better but gave up after a week. Boris had always been a bit neater, but he still had his own place for things, like Bendy, and it wasn't always in nice, organized places. Alice was the neatest, by far, and it was something that Bendy'd found a little insufferable. At least, until…

-"Alice, are you…?" And, when a relatively gentle touch made the angel's huddled frame give a soft shudder of a sob, "Hey, hey, angel, it's alright, c'mon, c'mere, pal, gimmie a hand…"-

At any rate, there was some level of irony in the angel's side of the room being the most decimated, while Bendy's was pretty much untouched. Boris's bed had been knocked over, the cot a crumpled mess on the floor, but apart from a few ink stains at the foot it was clean if not a bit dusty. There was ink splattered across Alice's blankets, on the floor next to her bed. There was even some on the wall.

Though the splatter there was somewhat more defined, almost looking like a rough handprint that had been smeared.

Could it have been Alice? Bendy wasn't sure, the angle and the way the ink was smudged around made it hard to tell just how big the hand had to have been, but his mind was jumping to the worst of conclusions. Maybe it had been sometime in the night. Alice had been sleeping, Boris had been taken off, already dead, no one looking out for the angel as something stalked closer and closer…

Bendy's hand tightened on Henry's shoulder, the sudden pressure getting the animator to tense and give a worried gurgle as he tried to discern what was the matter. Though there was a part of Bendy that knew that the only way Henry was likely going to figure it out was for the little devil to tell him, he couldn't make the words come. Instead, what came out was a muffled keen, Bendy mashing his hand to his face to avoid letting the sound escape and alert anything nearby.

But the fact that there was a noise at all definitely got the attention of Tom, Buddy, and Dot, the two-former coming a lot sooner into the emotional fray than the latter.

"Bendy? What's…?" Buddy was saying, trailing off as it became clear that the devil was not injured. Bendy could also feel Tom's hand resting on his back and head, trying to discern the same.

But it was Dot that spoke up, hushed voice somehow ringing loud over the muffled crying.

"This was where you used to live. She was here, too."

The few words did seem to spark comprehension in at least Henry, the animator gently easing Bendy down from his shoulders and holding the little devil close. Bendy practically curled up, shivering as his mind spun through image after image of Boris, of Alice, torn apart, warped, monstrous, accusations and hatred in their eyes for him, for what he did, for him not being there, for him being a coward, which he was, he was Joey's monster, it was his fault his fault his fault…

There was someone else touching him, Bendy starting at the realization as he started to fidget and flail. The feeling of a hand pressing to his mouth made him snap, teeth clicking against metal as he tried to dislodge it.

"Bendy, Bendy…" A voice coming from off to the side, joined by another hand grabbing what part of the little devil wasn't covered in an inky bear hug and giving him as brisk a shake as physics allowed. It felt like things came back into focus in shades, with the very strong reek of ink in his nostrils being the first thing that really hit home.

That was Henry. Henry was holding him, the metal covering his mouth was Tom, the wolf also having shaken him just a second ago to get Bendy to stop biting him. Buddy was also close, staring down at him with eyes that were wide but strangely understanding. He had to have been the one that had spoken.

The series of realizations managed to cool down the fidgeting, frenetic emotions that were coiling his insides into knots.

The calming was enough for Tom to remove his hands, Henry loosening his own bear hug as Bendy started to go limp, suddenly feeling very worn down and tired.

"C-Can we get outta here? Please?"

The little devil nearly didn't recognize himself. His voice was a croaky shadow, mirroring the feeling of exhaustion that had taken hold as the fit had run down. It was a little hard to say what had happened next, Buddy had said something, Dot had answered back, but they were moving which was what he'd wanted so beyond registering that Bendy was content to simply just be for a bit.

No thinking, no feeling, nothing other than a pure, blank numbness.

And certainly not dwelling on Boris or Alice. Or anyone else that he'd gotten hurt.

It was a little hard to follow what had happened next. Bendy knew that they'd left the room, gone out into the hall, but maybe there'd been some noise that he'd missed because it felt like seconds later that Dot was rushing them through another door on the other side of the hall. Thankfully, this wasn't any place that Bendy recognized, the room more of an abandoned office that he passively took in as they moved to a door on the other side.

As they exited, Bendy could definitely hear the sounds of something garbling somewhere nearby, his instinctive, fearful reaction to hide smothered under what felt like a thick fog of detachment. Briefly, he had the thought that Henry should put him down, leave him behind. That way they'd be safe, at least for a little while longer. There didn't really seem to be much by way of safe down here, but being in close proximity to Bendy definitely seemed to make things more dicey.

But he didn't say anything (coward), and Henry continued on behind Dot with Bendy in his arms. Cutting through what looked like another office, the little group came out right next to the hallway leading out to the waiting room.

They'd barely gotten over the threshold when they were hit with another nasty surprise, starting with the sudden appearance of some familiar black, shadowy trails whipping about the waiting room. Bendy choked down on a yowl as pain roared into pulsating life behind his eyes, turning everything to a mired blur of motion and sound. There was noise, clattering, Bendy knew he was being carried, but he didn't know where. And it didn't matter, as the throbbing behind his eyes grew to a thunderclap that knocked his conscious mind down into the black.

---

Bendy was starting to really, really hate these. Joey had been doing this for at least a week now, calling the little devil down to his office to help him 'test' things. The things had been different colors of ink, all of which Bendy was more than sure he didn't like. The studio head had told him that it was for the toons' betterment, that he was looking into alternative ways to help heal them if they should ever be low on normal ink, but Bendy was starting to have his doubts. For one, it didn't seem like any of this was helping him.

So far, they'd tried red, blue, green, yellow, white, pink, even orange. Today, Joey wanted to do purple. But, as Bendy stared down at the inkwell in his hand, he couldn't make himself want to drink it, even with his creator staring him down.

"Bendy…" Joey started, the calm, even tone making Bendy jump a little in his seat, his shoulders flinching as his head scrunched down. "…Is everything alright?"

Just do it already, a tired, worn out voice whispered. Joey wants you to, you oughta be less of a pansy. Can't you just do one little thing and it'll all be over and you can forget about it…

I don't like this though, a smaller, almost tearful reply came. I don't like this. I don't like what happened, I don't like what keeps happening, why can't we just stop…

"Bendy." Joey's voice came again, but just a hair louder and with more of a sharp bite behind it, yanking words from the little devil's throat.

"C-Can we maybe skip this one, Joey? Please? I-I don't…I don't feel okay with this…" The last came out as a miserable whimper, Bendy feeling a snap of recrimination at the wetness dribbling from his browline as well as sitting at the edges of his eyes, the little devil not daring to look Joey in the face.

The feeling of his creator's hand moving to grip under his chin made Bendy freeze entirely, his eyes blinking hard as Joey steered him to meet his eyes.

But, surprisingly, Joey's face wasn't the livid mask Bendy thought it would be. It barely looked angry, but seeing that didn't quite calm the little devil down yet. If there was anything he had learned, it was that the studio head's moods could flip on a coin if provoked.

"Bendy, what's wrong?" Joey asked, a finger brushing at some of the stray moisture slipping down the small toon's face. Though there was still a part of the little devil that was tensely wary, waiting for the other shoe to drop, he couldn't help letting his thoughts come through, if only for a minute. It seemed fine, perhaps Joey was in a listening mood today…

"I-I don't like testin' these Joey, I don't think it's helpin'. What happened with the green one, it was…" Freaky, weird, wrong. He hadn't been able to move, nor had he wanted to, just staring dully at Joey as the man tried to ask him questions and even slapped the little devil across the face when talking wasn't provoking a response. It'd worn off, just like they all had, but the memory still loomed large in Bendy's mind.

Along with a memory of blue ink and feeling just a little too much, and Joey rather casually mentioning that he was thinking of putting Henry on permanent leave for his own health… In retrospect Bendy probably should have been more aware that the scenario was a hypothetical, but…it hadn't sounded that way at the time.

"Bendy, you know why we're doing this, right? It's all to help you, Boris, and Alice. I'm trusting you to work with me here."

"I know, I know," The little devil replied, trying to keep the outright miserable tones out of his response. Granted, the fact that he'd spoken up at all was enough to make him flinch, briefly feeling a shadow of old rebukes regarding talking back.

But, thankfully, Joey didn't seem to be taking too much offense to Bendy 'talking back', though that just heaped another layer of anxiety on the small toon. He still had a feeling that the other shoe was going to drop, if not now then very soon. So, could it just happen already?!

"I need your help, Bendy. I can't do this without you. Boris and Alice already keep themselves so busy with things down in the music department…" Joey started, letting go of the little devil's chin as he trailed off. Though, that wasn't all the studio head had to say.

"…Perhaps, if you're not feeling up to this, I can have Boris come up here. He'll help me with this one instead of you."

The notion of Boris having to go through what Bendy'd been going through for this past week made ice settle in the little devil's stomach. And all because Bendy himself agreed to this and then decided he'd had enough. Before he could even think about what he was saying, the small toon hastened to speak up.

"W-Wait, Joey!" Though as his creator's eyes turned to him, Bendy felt his throat suddenly close up. But he still had to finish what he wanted to say, otherwise it might mean Boris would be in here next. "I, I can do it. I just…"

A deep breath. He had to finish his thought, if only for his own peace of mind.

"…how many more'a these do we havt'a do?"

"Just this one. It's the very last one, Bendy, I promise."

The last one. The confirmation was definitely a relief but Bendy couldn't help but feel a flare of anxiety at the idea that he'd be going through this whole thing one more time.

But better he than Boris or Alice. Better he who knew what would likely be coming rather than the angel or wolf who would be taken by surprise.

"Okay." The little devil acquiesced, trying not to make his word sound like too much of a squeak of surrender. Thankfully Joey didn't comment too much, roughly patting the small toon on the head as he turned back to the waiting inkwell on his desk.

"That's my devil. And don't worry, I have black ink on hand like always. I won't let anything happen."

Anything you don't want? Though Bendy's mind slammed that thought closed before it could slip out his mouth. Instead, he simply accepted the colored inkwell as it was handed to him, staring down at the purple ink swirling within.

"Bendy?" Joey asked again, the little devil jolting before peering up at his creator. "Don't you trust me?"

Briefly, Bendy glanced at the purple liquid, eyes flicking back up to Joey before he nodded and shakily drained the inkwell in a few short gulps.

Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, the small toon settled on his chair, trying his best to stay calm. He'd nearly forgotten that Joey was still watching him, at least until the man spoke up.

"Anything?"

Jumping at the slight bark to the question, Bendy did his best to recover, shaking his head.

"N-No. Nothin' yet."

"Let me know if that changes," Joey replied, glancing back at something on the desk. Probably the notebook he'd been writing in. Bendy'd seen it a few times during the last few tests with colored ink. Though there was a momentary flicker of curiosity about what might be written there, as there were certain parts of these tests that the little devil had a hard time really remembering, he didn't dare ask. Instead he let his eyes rove around the rest of the office, looking at all the books set in the bookcases. He could pick out the ones that Joey'd given him to read, titles like Morte D'Arthur, Frankenstein, The Hobbit, The Count of Monte Christo, Macbeth, Beowulf, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Dracula, Christmas Carol, Moby Dick, Midsummer Night's Dream…

All good books, and Bendy'd loved reading them, even if he and Henry had disagreed over the little devil reading Frankenstein, way back when. Even though the argument still stood ironclad in the devil's memory, that he'd been too young, there was a part of him that still rankled a little at being treated like he didn't have any sort of agency. Besides, it wasn't like the story gave him nightmares or anything…

His thoughts were interrupted as a brief, swooping sensation went through his head, making him feel like the room had just buckled under his chair. It was almost like being dizzy, but not quite.

"Bendy? How're you feeling?" Joey's voice sounded from overhead, the little devil registering that it sounded, odd. It felt like he was hearing his creator from much further away than a mere foot, the realization spurring a flicker of fear in his stomach.

"Dizzy, Joey, wanna stop, want the right ink now-."

The small toon might've kept rambling, if it weren't for his decision to look down at himself to be sure the floor was indeed stationary under his chair legs. Instead of a plain, black body, he could see something flickering over his knees, legs, practically every part of his frame he could look at.

They were almost like patches of color. Like if paint had been converted to gaseous form. Bendy lifted up his hands, alit with soft whorls of blue and silver with flickers of deep green and gold, wiggling his fingers as he watched the colors swirl around them.

"Bendy?" Someone asked, the little devil briefly blanking on who exactly was speaking to him before he foggily remembered. He looked up to Joey, and immediately the strange, almost pleasant haze devolved into pure fear.

Because where his creator had been standing was someone, or something, entirely new. It had a human kind of shape, but the colors were so drastically different that Bendy's immediate thought was that it was something dangerous.

The whole thing almost reminded him of when in cartoons someone would get electrocuted and you would momentarily see their skeleton. If the scenes had had color, they would have been these sickly, caustic shades of green and yellow, overlaying a deep scarlet. But these were not the only ones; along the right shoulder and trailing up the side of the head, leeching across the chest of the figure, was a black gouge that was faintly smoking, the other colors almost skittering away from touching it.

The figure also had eyes, and these were definitely a sight in and of themselves. Unlike normal human eyes, or even Bendy's own, they were reversed with black sclera on a white pupil. The pupils themselves were the size of pinpricks, the slight twitching to them making the figure look insane.

So Bendy did what seemed like the logical thing to do and let out an ear-piercing scream, scrambling off his chair. But the floor looked different too. Instead of the brown wood the whole thing was replaced with black, whitish veins snaking across it like the little devil had somehow been transported into the insides of some creature. The walls around him looked similar, though the spots where he knew there had been books faintly buzzed with colors of their own, more monochromatic things that made Bendy think of static. It looked nearly nothing like the room he'd just left behind, the idea that he'd been transported to what seemed like something pretty close to his imagining of an underworld causing his breathing and heart rate to climb.

But then he saw something new, almost appearing a few feet away from him. It was tall, the small toon's head craning up, up, and even higher as he tried to look this thing in the face. The frame was composed of the same sort of black that the other figure had had, though this was more, swirling, with speckles of light like stars, and actually was emanating color rather than repelling it. The haze around it was almost like a rainbow, transfixing if it were not for the little devil looking the new figure in the face. Like the previous one, it did seem to have eyes, though they were much less defined, more white dots set into black, with no such border to tell him where the eye stopped and the face began. The figure's edge was wavering, almost as though it wasn't totally there, but the more he looked at it the more solid it became.

And then the 'eyes' almost, blinked, opening into fully formed, realistic looking eyes, with dark sclera and pale white pupils. There were seven of them, two where a person's eyes would be normally, and then a set both above and below those, crowned by one set into the forehead.

It was too much, Bendy feeling his brain skittering around the terrifying sights as he scooted back. There was a sound behind him, the incoherent devil feeling his back hit something soft. Turning to look just alerted him to the fact that the first figure, that scarred, crazy-eyed one, had come so much closer and was looking down right at him!

Giving another cry of horror and pure terror, the small toon scrambled away until he hit something much more solid, his eyes running with tears as he curled up into a shivering little ball.

"Bendy."

That voice, he knew that voice…

And right now it was the most relieving thing to happen out of this whole sordid nightmare, though as Bendy looked up to the speaker, there were certain things that were sticking out to him as odd.

But for the moment, none of it mattered. Not the weird bands of rainbow color surrounding the man's frame, nor the faint flickers of black hiding in between like smothered smoke. Instead, the little devil just gave a relieved sob as he stumbled to his feet, practically throwing himself into Henry's chest.

Immediately, Bendy felt the earlier fear relax into a blissful calm, the animator's arms folding around him in a warm, encapsulating hug.

Despite the fuzziness to his thoughts Bendy found himself with so many questions. Like how had Henry got in here when he hadn't heard the door, why did his hands feel different, why were there so many weird smells in the air all of a sudden, the reek of ink sharp and strong but there was also some sort of underlying, almost metallic odor with a weird but strong kick.

There was also the soft, but very much there humming under Henry's voice, the rainbow of color that Bendy had noticed before not gone but he wasn't looking at it so closely now so the whorls of light were more transfixing than blinding.

Even though he definitely felt safer, Bendy couldn't help the plaintive mumble that tumbled from his mouth like water, slurring a little on an uncooperative tongue.

"H-'nry, I don' feel so good, somethin's wrong wi' me…"

But Henry gently shushed him, a thumb rubbing along Bendy's brow as he continued to speak.

"You will be alright. I am here."

Yes, Henry was here, so things had to be at least heading back to fine. The notion kept Bendy from questioning too much as he started to drift, his eyes sliding closed as his body relaxed, sleep following not long after…

---

As Bendy came to, it felt like his pulse was reverberating throughout his head, his body partially lying on the floor and partially propped up in an arm. Probably Tom's from the lack of give against the back of his coat.

There was also a much larger, sticky hand holding one of his own, the feeling coupled with the sound of soft, almost worried-sounding noises over his head, a fading echo of clattering just leaving his ears. Bendy was about to respond when another voice sounded off, the whispering, feminine quality immediately bringing to mind the speaker; Dot.

"That was far too close for comfort, he definitely knows we're on the move."

"B-But how? We weren't seen, we made sure-."

"We might not have to have been. If he knew where they were, he'll have figured out where they ended up. You forget how much of this place he controls."

Though a lot of the conversation was practically running in one ear and out the other for Bendy, he couldn't help noticing the quietly tense and worried tones intermingling with each other, fighting for space as they tried to make their concerns known. He wanted to interject, figure out what was going on, but all that slid out of his throat was a sort of plaintive groan.

The reaction that Bendy got was darn near immediate, so much so that it made his head spin. The worried gurgling coming from over his head up ticked into something plaintive, the hand underneath the little devil's frame shifting around, holding him up at a somewhat higher angle.

His eyes forced themselves open, at long last, the sight of the canid, toony face swimming into view over his head briefly giving Bendy a small flicker of hope.

"Bor's?"

Though the softly murmured name got a silent frown instead of recognition, or even a verbal answer, Bendy not remembering why that might be until everything caught up with him.

This wasn't Boris. Boris was gone. This was Tom. The wolf himself looked more than a little put out by the mix-up, Bendy murmuring out a quiet apology even as his thoughts grew melancholic with the reminder.

Boris was gone.

The bigger, gloopy hand holding his own gave a slight squeeze, Bendy's memory having been brought up to speed enough that he recognized Henry sitting nearby. Though before he was really allowed to sink, a clatter across the room made the whole party bolt upright.

There was a strange dichotomy in the reactions as Allison walked into the room, Buddy and Dot tensing up with Tom immediately relaxing and nearly getting to his feet, momentarily stymied by the little devil still resting on an arm.

"Tom? Henry?" The angel called, cluing the animator into what was happening, and probably helping his decision to take Bendy away from Tom entirely so that the wolf could go to Allison. Bendy knew that the angel was asking the wolf questions, but a lot of it blurred in his ears as he more or less just rested his head against Henry's ink-coated shoulder.

It felt like everything was catching up to him at once, what happened with Boris, what might have happened to Alice, the horrific state everyone and everything was in. Just, all of it. While there was a part of Bendy that wanted to apologize to everybody, and keep apologizing until his throat was hoarse, he knew it would do no good. An apology here fixed nothing, bought no one back, and did not restore lost years.

It didn't take anything away from the mess he'd made. Nothing would.

Distantly Bendy registered Dot and Buddy telling Allison what they'd been trying to do, and while there was a part of Bendy that felt like he ought to have been the one to do that he couldn't bring himself to move or even make a sound.

It wasn't until he saw Allison and Tom come back, the little devil's eyes picking out the tiny form of Buddy, little Buddy, in the angel's arms, that he started to feel like the world was moving properly again. Too bad he barely had the energy to keep up.

"Henry, is it true?" The angel asked, not really looking to Bendy for the moment and really, that suited the little devil just fine for now. "Was there another message…?"

The animator nodded, pushing himself upright to stand with Bendy still in his arms. As he did, the tiny toon in Allison's wiggled around, mitten gloves reaching out to Henry and Bendy.

"I think our littlest wants you right now." Allison said for the sightless animator's benefit, a brief laugh in her tone. It was mirrored by a slight, gurgling chuckle from Henry as he shakily reached out with his other arm, drawing the minute devil in for a hug.

Though, it didn't take Buddy long to realize that Bendy wasn't feeling up to par, the tiny toon's mitten gloves cautiously padding around before latching onto the bigger devil in as tight a hug as he could muster. It seemed to draw Henry back into the realization of just how quiet Bendy was, the animator giving a low, worried noise as he gently brushed at the side of the little devil's face with an inky finger.

"'m alright, Henry." Bendy replied, the toneless response probably not doing much to not worry anyone but right now it was all he could pull together right now.

Before things could go any further, there was a polite throat clearing from nearby, the small group's attention drawn back to Dot and the taller Buddy, the blindfolded ink creature speaking up almost at once.

"We don't have much time to stand around. It could come back at any moment."

"What could come back?" Allison asked, though Dot was already moving around her to the room with the pipes and office, leaving Tom and Henry to pantomime and Blue-Eyes Buddy to try to explain.

"The message was saying that something was in the vault, we're thinking that they want Bendy to go to them. The Ink was here a little while ago though, we'll need to hurry-."

"The vault?"

"The film vault, it's this way," Blue-Eyes Buddy replied, trying to usher things along as best as he could, not that anyone was inclined to stay with the threat of 'Sammy' possibly coming back.

As they went through, Dot was just putting the last pipe into place, the gurgling rattle of ink the sign that they'd done what they needed to do. The little hallway was clear now, and the path to the vault was unblocked.

Going through the small, slightly damp and sticky space was relatively unremarkable, though the room beyond was definitely a fair bit of a switch. The place was cavernous, though it went much further back. There was also not much inside, apart from a dresser off to the left, the occasional emergency light, and a large, very heavy-looking vault door sitting propped up against the wall on the far-right corner, next to an equally massive, circular doorway. It almost looked like the door had been completely pulled off its hinges, the thought immediately bringing to mind what 'Sammy' had done to the door back in the theme park storage. Was this where he'd come from? If so, then where was their would-be friend that they were visiting?

But, nobody was really reacting to the door. Maybe it'd been like that for a while and someone'd taken up residence in here.

From where he lay in Henry's arms, Bendy couldn't see very much, but that was hardly an indicator that nothing was there. Perhaps whoever 'they' were, they'd tucked themselves out of sight, until they were ready to be seen?

But before they could move too far forward, Dot cleared her throat.

"He should go ahead, Henry. They probably want to see him alone." Though Bendy still hadn't the faintest notion who this 'they' was that Dot kept mentioning, a lot of the earlier fear had been buried under a strong sense of detached listlessness, the little devil murmuring that it was okay before wiggling himself out of Henry's arms. Though the animator gave a slight noise of surprise, he didn't try to pick Bendy up again, instead following him a pace or two behind as they crossed the room.

The open doorway yawned in front of Bendy, making him think of a cave that would hide some terrible monster or a dragon willing to barbeque intruders. As he came closer and closer, his feet started to shuffle and stall against the floor, fear finally permeating through the haze that had gripped the little devil's mind. He stalled for so long that Henry was able to catch up to him, the animator giving a surprised gurgle as he lightly bumped into Bendy from behind.

Though the small toon had both whimpers and apologies on his tongue, Henry gently waved it away, shifting little Buddy around so that the tiny toon was sitting on his shoulders. With Bendy's attention on him, the animator made a few gestures that took Bendy a moment or two to decipher.

Pointing to himself, I, holding up an arm at a ninety-degree angle with the hand flat, swear, pointing to Bendy, you…

The last few gestures Henry didn't seem to really have anything for, so in lieu of that the animator simply wrote out a phrase on the floor with his ink, Bendy managing to figure out the whole sentence as he read.

I swear you will be safe.

It both made him want to cry all over again, and half-heartedly protest because really, in this studio there didn't seem to be such a thing as safe. Henry'd be better off investing his time in less of a trouble magnet.

But to say so would be rude, and definitely detract from the fact that Henry had worked hard trying to get him this far. So, instead Bendy turned back to the open vault, inching closer as he waited for something to happen.

Though nothing did. The little devil was able to come right up to the lip of the door frame, clamber over it, and into the vault itself, very much unmolested. Which both worried and relieved Bendy as he found himself both cautiously hopeful and wondering when the other shoe was going to drop and release a whole new cavalcade of horrors. But, there didn't seem to be anything in the vault, or at the very least no one was about to jump out of some shadowy corner. The place had some wooden boxes scattered about, there was a pipe set in the upper left side of the wall, right up against the ceiling, and some ink stains here and there though that was hardly indicative of much.

In the yawning quiet, he heard Henry and Buddy coming in to join him, along with another round of shuffling that briefly made the little devil twist around, only to see Tom barely a moment behind.

And, in the wolf's non-metallic hand, was the magnifying glass. Bendy figured he'd dropped it when he passed out before. Though, as the lens swung in time with Tom climbing into the vault, Bendy caught a glimpse of something yellow on the floor near Tom's feet.

Hurriedly he gestured for the tool, the wolf easily letting him have it and watching along with Bendy as the little devil held it up to look around the room.

And found glowing yellow on nearly every available surface. The ceiling was decorated with a strange mix of swirls, stylized eyes, stars, but there was scrawling everywhere on the walls, even some on the floor. Bendy was spinning himself in circles trying to keep up with it all. He couldn't say that a lot of it made sense on the first go around, if anything much of it seemed to be in the same category as the ramblings inked into Grant Cohen's office walls.

But, the more he looked at it, the more he could see signs of two different lines of thought happening. One part of the writings seemed to be reserved just for ramblings, and some of it looked like a list. A list of names, on the right-hand wall in columns. Names that the little devil partially recognized, ones like Thomas Connor, Grant Cohen, Bertrum Piedmont…along with others. Jack Fain, Lacie Benton, Johnny Michaels, Shawn Flynn…all of them either crossed out, or in a few rare cases, circled. A few ones that Bendy was noticing in particular were Thomas Connor and Grant Cohen, but there were also some names that it didn't seem like the writer was very sure on. At least one had been entirely scribbled out, then circled.

Though if those were something to think on, then the other scribblings here and there, the seeming ramblings, would definitely keep Bendy busy for a while. For starters, written in next to the veritable list of names were the words 'WE KNOW THEM ALL NOW', followed by 'THEY ARE ALL SO LOUD' underneath that. Barely a few inches away was the somewhat wobblier scrawling of 'TOO MUCH TOO MANY NEVER LEAVE'. On the far wall was a mix of simple drawings and words, Bendy not sure if the whole thing was meant to be one big installation or three smaller ones. For starters, one of the drawings was of a music note next to what looked like a link of chains, one of the links in the middle broken. The other was an inkwell-ish thing, next to what Bendy thought might've been a shield. The last was a real interesting one, a very simplified version of the spell circles that the little devil had seen before. But this was connected, apparently, to an infinity symbol. And, probably a few inches or so away from that, very likely related, was another set of glowing writing, reading 'WAS THIS TRULY WHAT YOU WANTED?'.

Turning away from that, the magnifying glass found another cluster of messages set under the pipe 'CLEVER DANCER' 'SONGSMITH' 'SONGBIRD' 'BRIGHT STAR' 'BRAVE KNIGHT'. Weird, though there was something else written closer to the floor, underneath it all: 'WE DID NOT MAKE THEM FOR YOU TO BREAK THEM'. Were these, supposed to be pseudonyms of some sort? Like something out of a detective novel, now that Bendy was thinking of it, though the last words…they were giving him a chill. Make them? Make who?

Though, considering the circumstances, he was having a sneaking suspicion…

As Bendy's eyes turned, back towards where Henry was still standing, there was something in the corner that he hadn't noticed before, a sort of partially damaged, sad pile of wood that he only realized was once a complete Bendy statue after he'd looked at it for a few moments. Once, because right now it was little more than a partially scratched-up head, the apparent scratch marks in it dark with ink. Turning the magnifying glass on it allowed the little devil to see another few messages scrawled on both the walls, and a bit on the floor.

'WE SEE WHAT SHE SEES'

'WE MISS THE SKY STARS MOON'

'IT CAN'T HOLD US FOREVER…WE WON'T LET IT'

He wasn't sure what any of this really meant, especially when it was all put together, but looking at it just on the surface, the small toon couldn't help but be reminded of some kind of prison, or even a cell. But if that was the case…

The sound of footsteps, as well as something moving closer to the open vault doorway, made Bendy jolt at first, Henry also turning to the noise as Dot practically marched closer with all the purpose of a person on the warpath. Trailing in her wake were Blue-Eyes Buddy and Allison, the latter pair looking much less sure about what was happening here. Unheeding to anyone, Dot easily stepped over the little raised part of the doorframe, practically heading straight into the room without a worry as to what might be present. Bendy was about to offer her the use of the magnifying glass, but remembered nearly an instant after the thought occurred to him that she didn't need it.

"Did, nothing happened?" Blue-Eyes Buddy asked, gaze darting around with a level of hesitance that Bendy did not find reassuring in the least. Though Henry seemed to know what was being talked about given how readily he was responding with a shake of the head.

"What was supposed to happen?" Allison's voice, though hushed, rang out in the yawning quiet and nicely echoed Bendy's own thoughts on the matter.

"They were supposed to be here." Dot didn't sound like she was really trying to reply, though it did add some context for what she and Blue-Eyes Buddy were getting so worked up over. The person that Bendy was supposed to see, the one that wanted to see him, apparently had flown the coop.

Or were taken from it, especially likely considering his earlier thoughts about this being a prison or a cell. Though with the way the little devil's luck had been going, perhaps he should have expected that one.

But, that thought in mind, what on earth were they supposed to do now?

In a seeming answer, pain roared through Bendy's head, a brief glimpse before he doubled over allowing him to catch sight of some familiar inky trails appearing on the far side of the room near the entryway. He could hear Henry giving a concerned noise, inky hands trying to hold onto him right before there was a squelching off to his right and a hand grabbed onto the back of his coat. The low concern turned to franticness, Bendy able to hear through the haze of agony a gurgling cry that quickly choked off into a strained wheeze of a groan.

Though he tried to call out, his mouth would not form more than a wordless cry. The sounds of scuffling, fighting, all washed over him like cold water. Bendy couldn't see much more than flickering shapes, his squinting vision shot through with wavery black.

And, eventually, it stopped. The world was swallowed with quiet punctuated only by the dripping of ink. Bendy faintly knew that he was being carried, his limbs swaying at gravity's whim as he started to move. The pain in his head grew worse and worse, the little devil surrendering to the dark with a sob.

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I'll try not to be so slow with the next one (especially with this cliffhanger, oh boy). In the meantime, just wanted to let you guys know that I also do art on my Tumblr page, www dot nemo-draco dot tumblr dot com, under the tag nemo's art or nemo's arts. It was my first time participating in Inktober this year!