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.

14. Ch13: The Heretic

Hey all! Sorry for being kind of AWOL for a good while, going through a lot of major life changes that have been biting into a lot of my free time. Still very much working on this story, and eager to get into this given that it's a lot of slowing down compared to the craziness that was the last arc. Things are still going to be very much happening, especially in these next few chapters, but hey, least these guys won't be afraid for their lives anymore, right?

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The Heretic:

Boris's ears rang as the cacophony around him faded, leaving the wolf huddled on the concrete with shakes faintly reverberating through his arms. He felt frozen, unwilling to breathe never mind move just in case some new horror should rear its ugly head.

What snapped the wolf out of this paralytic freeze was the feeling of wind blowing through his fur, the sensation of moving air more than enough to get Boris's attention in his hyper-aware state. There was also something else, a slow rush of smells that crashed in on Boris's nose that felt exceptionally jarring given that for the longest time all he'd been able to smell was ink and old wood.

Though fear was still a prevalent emotional factor, the difference couldn't help teasing out some strange sort of wonder, Boris uncurling as he looked around. The immediate surroundings were not encouraging, the desolate buildings that were boarded up, the pieces of the studio lying all around them, and the large hole on the left where the studio had once been making the wolf feel very small.

But then Boris looked up, and he switched from feeling small to feeling downright miniscule at the sight of the sky sprawling above him. A massive black expanse dotted with so many stars the wolf hardly had a hope of counting them all.

The sky seemed to go on forever, Boris's head slowly turning this way and that so he could try to take it all in.

Though, as he moved, the more he couldn't help noticing the rather limp weight pressed to his front, the wolf automatically looking down and immediately noticing how Bendy's head was lolling, limbs dangling from the body in Boris's hold.

"Bendy?" The name rolled off Boris's tongue before the wolf was really able to take in the state of his friend, see the almost ghostly pale sheen to the white face. Immediately the sight caused something to tighten in Boris's chest, his already dry throat feeling like it was closing up.

"Ben, please, l-look at…please Ben, th-this isn' funny, wake up…"

He wasn't moving, he was too pale, why wasn't he moving…? The answer came in the form of something wet soaking through the little devil's jacket. Boris felt his heart skip, briefly feeling the spot just to be sure that it wasn't just some of the mess from inside the studio.

But the coat was dry, so this had to be new.

And Bendy still hadn't moved, the small toon's body completely limp in the wolf's arms.

"Boris…" Tom slurred, the other wolf coming close to see what the matter was. His fingers shook a little as his flesh and ink hand touched Bendy's face, though the little devil remained as limp and unresponsive as before.

Worry grew into a firestorm of panic, Boris belatedly remembering that they were outside now, so there had to be people around, right? He didn't feel nearly steady enough to get up, but he could talk, meaning he could also try to call for help.

"H-Help…!" Boris tried to yell, but didn't seem like his voice was carrying, he was too weak, too worn out, he couldn't call for help, he couldn't save Bendy-

"HELP!" A much louder voice boomed from behind, making all three jump before they remembered the last of their little group. Dewey still sat by Henry, and though the inkwell toon's face was dripping with its own tears, he still hollered as loud as he could.

"HELP!" Dewey shrieked, eyes squeezed shut as the tears continued to run. Boris could see the way Buddy sat in the much-bigger toon's arms, the small mitten-gloves patting at Dewey's front in an effort to calm the inkwell down. Boris had the detached thought that he should do something, say something to help, but for the moment all he could feel was the dead weight that was Bendy in his arms, and the crackling burn in his own throat as he tried to speak.

Useless, useless, bad wolf…

"Hello?"

The answering cry wasn't nearly as frantic as Dewey's, but it still caused the inkwell to fall silent with a terrified gasp. All four of the conscious toons turned to see a shape approach out of the darkness, even the more night-geared vision of Boris and Tom able to make out only the most general features. Tall, clearly a man, smelled of dust and machine grease…

"Are you alright?" The man called again, coming closer and appearing to fumble with something, the reason for which became clear a few moments later when a beam of light clicked on, traveling across the cracked concrete for a moment before finding the group and shining over each of them as the man holding the flashlight appeared to take them all in.

Even though the man hadn't spoken again, and may have been more than a little gob smacked by the presence of a bunch of the same toons that the studio had showcased, Boris took the offered, tentative help, voice crackling as he tried to speak.

"P-Please, we n-need help…"

The sight seemed to snap the man out of his stupor, his feet carrying him to the group as he knelt down next to Boris, homing in on Bendy first.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He, he's bleedin', sir, please help…"

"Alright, alright, set him down and let me see…" The man directed, probably a good thing to do given that Boris's arms hadn't stopped shaking since the studio came down. Doing his best to be careful, the wolf placed the little devil on the hard asphalt, whimpering out apologies under his breath.

Thankfully, the man's hands were calm and steady, gently untying the ragged coat from Bendy's midsection and shining the light over the wound.

"Alright, it's open, but not seeping, is anyone else injured?" The toons collectively jumped at the last question though Tom was the one that recovered the fastest, and indicated the comatose angel still nestled in his arms.

"I'm coming over, you," the man said to Boris, making the wolf flinch. "Just put pressure on it, like this."

The hands were rough, but with that same careful focus, gently grasping Boris's hands and directing them to wad up and press the jacket against Bendy's injured front. Once it was in place, and the wolf's hands were where they needed to be, the man rested a hand on Boris's shoulder, giving the trembling toon a few parting words before he was off.

"Alright, just stay like that, let me know if he gets worse. And take a few deep breaths, okay? It's gonna be alright."

"It's gonna be alright…" Boris echoed, a little breathlessly as it was only just now setting in just how winded his panic was making him. The light wasn't quite in the right place to properly see, but Boris could swear that he caught sight of a crooked grin somewhere in a five o'clock shadow.

"Exactly, keep telling yourself that, and holler if something changes. Be right back."

And the warm hands were gone, Boris left holding the coat as the man moved on to Tom. Boris could passively follow the conversation happening between the man and the other wolf, about what exactly was wrong, where was the injury. But for the moment he could only stare down at Bendy's completely still form, his night vision able to see how slack the little devil's frame was. There was no shine showing that Bendy's eyes were open, not even a slit. Even though it felt like a somewhat desperate, hopeless wish, the wolf couldn't help thinking please, please just open your eyes, please, just give me some sign you're okay, anything…

But there was nothing. Not a twitch, not even the faintest shine in between Bendy's eyelids. The small toon remained limp as a sack of potatoes, and Boris was still pressing the worn, ink-stained jacket to the injury on the little devil's chest. Maybe he could feel a small thump against his fingers, but it was hard to really tell. He couldn't even hear anything from Alice, or Henry, the thought making the wolf feel very cold and unsure.

If there was something seriously wrong, what could they even do? Where could they go? Bendy hadn't mentioned any friends, and it wasn't like the little devil was conscious to ask.

There was a scuffling from behind Boris, the wolf twisting a little to see the source of the noise. The man had apparently finished with Alice, moving on to check up on Henry who was still prone in the road. Boris watched, eyes growing wet again as the man went through the motions of checking for a heartbeat and listening to Henry breathe. Part of doing that involved the man gently tilting Henry's head back, a faint grimace flashing over his face as he touched the animator's matted hair.

"Alright, they're all breathin', even him. Gonna grab something for her back and then I'm gonna run and call an ambulance. You all stay put, you hear?"

Even though Boris wasn't sure that the man could see in the dark nearly as well as he could, he couldn't quite make himself do more than give a nod. The next few minutes went as a blur, the man coming and going again as he gave something to Tom for Alice's back. Boris dully watched as the other wolf did his best to bind up the injuries, even as his own arms wrapped just a little tighter around the little devil.

The minutes crawled by like years, wind faintly stirring the dust on the ground enough that someone, probably Buddy, let out a small squeak of a sneeze. For a moment Boris thought it was Bendy, glancing down with hope before the sight of the little devil looking as still as ever registered. He couldn't even hide the disheartened slump then, though a shuffling from behind quickly got the lanky wolf toon's attention. He jerked up to see Tom's figure in the darkness, the stockier wolf edging carefully closer with the limp form of Alice in his arms. Boris didn't need to ask what Tom was doing, a part of him somehow knowing that coming together was so much more sure, and safer, than being alone.

Boris managed to snag Dewey's arm, gently tugging the inkwell to join the huddle. However, the closer they got, the more he was aware of the trembles that were shivering through the taller, almost hard-shelled frame, Dewey's breathing faintly hitching with stops and starts. The inkwell's arms were held close to his front, presumably to keep Buddy there, but that didn't stop Boris and Tom from pressing in on both sides. Neither really felt able to offer any reassuring words, but what they could offer was their presence, and the simple contact of a not-complete hug as their arms were weighed down by more than just the physical bodies they held.

The moment came to a grinding halt as Boris let his eyes open, staring dully at the street around them before something occurred to him. Or more rather, he remembered something that he'd seen from the old cartoons that had been made in the studio. The one that now lay around them in pieces.

"W-We shouldn' be in the street…"

His voice was croaky, and far too quiet, but given that there was only the yawning silence of the debris-littered street around them, it was easy enough that even Buddy and Dewey could hear him. Tom of course did given that his hearing was very much the same as the lanky wolf toon's, and he had enough of his wits about him to actually get the group collectively up onto the sidewalk. The last to be moved was the prone and still very silent Henry, Tom doing his best to be careful as Boris found himself watching with wide eyes. Not that he thought Tom would hurt Henry on purpose, but the man looked so frail…

After a worrying few minutes, they were all gathered together on the asphalt, Boris's eyes wandering over the cracked and decimated street, the ruined buildings. It felt like it could have been hours or minutes that had passed since the man left, was he coming back? Hopefully he was, with help, it didn't seem like anyone else was around.

Or at least, no one was around in yelling range. There was a faint hum of some kind, but it sounded like it was coming from very far away. And going to get help would involve leaving the unconscious members of the group, Boris's arms tightening around Bendy at the very thought. In lieu of anything else to do, he looked up, eyes scanning the expanse above. It still seemed pretty big, and it still made the wolf feel so very small.

The sight briefly knocked out Boris's fear, his ears slowly rising off his head as he looked up and stared and stared at it all. He'd nearly forgotten about the others when Tom spoke up with a slight slur in his voice.

"Boris…?"

Immediately the lankier toon slammed back to the reality, frame huddling in on itself as he stammered out an answer.

"N-Nothin', it's nothin', I'm okay…"

Tom didn't seem totally convinced, but his only real response was to slide a little closer, the group taking solace in each other's company once again. Whether it was hours or minutes later, no one could say, but eventually there was the collective realization that it had been a long while since the man had left, and there was no sign he or anyone else was coming for them. Tom shifting around, ears upright as he peeked at their surroundings, caused Dewey and Buddy to look at each other with clear nerves, something that Boris easily saw even in the low light.

Even still he couldn't find anything to say that would truly make things better, at least not without it feeling like a horrible lie. The only thing he felt he could do was to recreate that huddle they'd been gathered in in the street, it being a true testament of how unsettled Dewey was that he hardly needed any encouragement before shuffling in closer. Tom gave Boris a tiredly blank look before accepting the invitation to join, scooting in close and settling down with a sigh.

Time melted away, the world feeling strangely muted around them as they simply sat there on the cracked sidewalk and waited.

The wolves were the ones to hear it first, Dewey and Buddy jumping a little and looking around as the low rumble of a car engine started to come up the road. The dust-covered truck was still sitting there, blocking the immediate view of a white van rolling up with flashing lights. It didn't take long for someone to get out of the van, but at the sight of the completely bizarre group, the man's head of steam faltered.

Another man, similarly dressed in a dark jumpsuit, got out from the other side, coming around and also stopping dead at the sight of the toons. The stand-off went on for a few moments, before Boris spotted the familiar cross on the men's clothing.

"Please…" The lanky wolf whined, scooting away and holding out Bendy's prone form. Boris's eyes were already starting to run over again, but right now he hardly had the mind to care. "P-Please help him…"

The sight did provoke a reaction from one of the EMTs, something in the man's face softening as he edged closer. At the same time, his partner caught sight of the prone Henry lying on the asphalt, and his training kicked in.

"You see if you can find out what's wrong there, I've got him."

Not that the EMT seemed to know just what was wrong, as unlike his partner, he didn't have the benefit of being familiar with his patient's physiology. Gingerly he approached the wolf and devil, hands hovering for a moment before he tried to go through the motions of checking for vitals. Unfortunately, the makeshift bandage around Bendy's torso was another obstacle.

"Is the coat there for a reason?"

"H-He's hurt there," Boris stammered out, following the EMT's gesturing to lay Bendy down on the asphalt. Very carefully the EMT wound off the coat, face taking on a noticeably strained quality at the sight of the open injury. Even though Boris only had eyes for what was happening, his hands moved to automatically take the coat.

"Well, it's not really spurting, but it does seem like it's seeping…What is that?"

"I-Ink. We have ink, i-instead'a-" Boris couldn't finish the thought, hurriedly wiping at his eyes in an effort to be somewhat composed. He had to be, the man obviously had questions, and the wolf was the only one here to provide the answers.

"Alright, we'll have to clean this." The EMT was reaching into his bag when he seemed to remember something and drew his hands back out. "…Have you ever used peroxide wipes before?"

"W-What're those?" Boris asked, and though he didn't get an answer he seemed to convey something to the EMT given that the man put the bag down and called to his partner.

"I need to get some water, hold on."

Before Boris could blink the EMT went straight back to the truck, returning what seemed like seconds later with the aforementioned water and a few clean cloths. Immediately he went to work wiping down the loose ink on Bendy's front. Much to Boris's dismay, it didn't seem like this was helping the injury, as it seemed like the more the ink was wiped away, there was still a little bit more ready to take its place. The medic didn't seem overtly bothered though, which was one of the few things helping keep the poor wolf from tumbling off the deep end.

In fact, he looked like he was trying to finish the job, digging some clean-looking bandages out of his bag. Boris watched in a partial daze as some whitish looking -cloth? Was it cloth?- was folded into a sort of cushion against Bendy's front, and held there by something that Boris recognized as bandages.

There was a feeling of relief as the injury was taken care of, though the sight stirred something in Boris's memory, and made him wonder why Tom hadn't spoken up yet given that he was still had Alice.

Maybe he couldn't though. Didn't the…the star person say they had just fixed Tom's voice? He'd been talking before.

Though Tom might not have been able to use it so well yet, the thought causing Boris to take a steadying breath of air before he spoke up.

"Th-There's someone else. Who needs help."

The EMT straightened at the mention of another person, pointing his flashlight at Tom as Boris tried to gesture in the other wolf's direction. The stockier wolf toon flinched away from the light, ears lowering to his head as he squinted, though apart from turning away a little Tom didn't resist. And the EMT did get a glimpse of the prone Alice in Tom's arms.

Immediately the angel was laid down on the asphalt, the EMT's movements a little more sure as he gently checked over what he could. When it came to actually looking over the injuries to Alice's shoulders, he was a little stymied by her dress being partially in the way. The sight of a pair of scissors coming out did make Tom flinch, Boris starting too before realizing that the man was using it to cut away the fabric of Alice's dress in the back.

Boris couldn't help a slight whimper slipping out at the sight of Alice's back, the holes looking far worse with the contrast of the angel's lighter skin. The EMT didn't seem overly bothered, but then again he was the one that was a doctor-type. All Boris had was just wishful thinking.

The thought had Boris's ears lowering to be flat against his head, fur slicking down like there was some physical threat and he needed to be smaller to avoid being spotted by it. The thought made Boris think of…Susie, Not-Alice, whoever or whatever that was, his whole body tensing as his eyes squeezed closed. The feeling of Bendy in his arms was somewhat good, grounding in that he knew the little devil was near, but almost a problem because it made him think of running through the halls after the elevator had come down, how Bendy had been hurt and Boris was feeling what he now knew was his own self-control sliding away.

"Bo-ris?" Dewey's voice had the lanky wolf snapping out of the almost-reverie, jerking to attention to see what he could of the inkwell's face. At first, the sight of Dewey scrutinizing him was confusing, and even more so when something in Boris's face caused the younger toon to worriedly whimper before looking to each of the EMTs.

"Boris! Help! Help Boris!"

"D-Dewey, it's okay, 'm fine-" But the EMT's flashlight turned away from Alice and looked to the lankier wolf toon instead, Boris left blinking as he faced the first real light he'd seen in hours.

"You're Boris? You alright?"

"I'm oka-"

Dewey though had other thoughts, from how he insistently made a negatory sort of noise and shook his head, the EMT's flashlight following the sound to refocus on him. Though Dewey flinched away from the light at first, the realization that he had the floor made him try to articulate what he was seeing.

"Bad. Wrong! Help Boris?" The stilted words were punctuated by a finger dragging from under Dewey's eye down his face, mirroring the still-drying tear tracks that were already there.

The EMT still seemed confused, turning the flashlight from Dewey to Boris and then back again. Eventually he just decided to try to mollify the inkwell, answering in a calmly even tone.

"Alright, Dewey, we'll try our best to help with that."

"Frank, this guy's breathing but he definitely needs to get to a hospital." The EMT examining Henry spoke up, catching 'Frank's attention and yanking him to the rest of the moment. Glancing over, Boris noticed that the ragged shirt had been opened somewhat, exposing a pale, equally scarred chest. Though the two things that caught the wolf's eye was a metallic glint, like some sort of necklace, and the very prominent scar plastered to Henry's front, sort of mirroring the one that Boris knew lay under his own fur.

The sight made the air rush out of Boris's lungs, the wolf forcibly yanking his eyes away as he tried desperately to think of something else. He ended up squeezing the fabric of Bendy's coat in his hands, passively listening to the conversation around him.

"Alright. I, I'm thinking these guys will need to come too. We have open injuries. Hold onto her." Frank's last words were directed to Tom, the wolf doing his best to keep the angel steady around the new bandages placed on her shoulders. 'Frank' was gone before either of them knew it, heading for the back of the van and getting out a stretcher.

Immediately Henry was loaded up, Boris watching numbly before it clicked that they were in the process of taking the animator away and he jumped to attention.

"P-Please, don't leave, we gotta stay together-!"

The EMTs jolted at the sight of the lanky wolf toon getting to his feet, though as the teary countenance and tone registered their wariness softened. Frank looked between them, Henry on the stretcher, and his own partner before speaking up with a sigh.

"…Dave, let's just squeeze them all in the back. No one's gonna be out here this time of night."

"Alright, somethin' happens it's on you." Dave's response clearly wasn't as accommodating, though the reason was escaping Boris for the moment. But, it didn't matter, they were being allowed in, it was good enough for him. He even tried to soften the irritation with his own promise.

"We'll be good! We won't break anythin', sir, please."

"I-It's alright. Just hop in the back." Frank said, as he and Dave finished loading Henry in and Dave hopped out to go to the front. It thankfully didn't take long to get everyone picked up off the sidewalk, and while Boris was initially worried about getting both Bendy and Alice into the ambulance neither he nor Tom had any trouble clambering up into the back.

The more difficult part was getting Dewey into the ambulance, the inkwell hesitating at the big gap between the road and the bumper with an unsure whine.

"It's okay, Dewey, just grab my hand, okay? I'll pull you up." Boris tried his best to calm the younger toon down, grabbing the edge of the cabinet with one hand as he reached out with his other, trying his best to keep Bendy balanced. A flicker of motion directly on his right caught the wolf's attention, but he pretty quickly realized that Tom had stepped up, reaching out with a free hand to Dewey. Emboldened, the inkwell reached up to grab on, levying himself up the gap and fully into the ambulance.

It took them all a moment to get properly situated, the toons having to shuffle around the stretcher with Frank before taking a seat on the floor at the very back, huddling together to be out of Frank's way. As the doors closed, Boris couldn't help wondering on the man that had been helping them. He'd called for the ambulance, right? Were they going to see him again?

At the moment, it certainly didn't seem so, the feeling of the ambulance's engine beginning to rumble made the toons jump. Though as Boris looked up and realized that Frank was watching them, he quickly did his best to calm Dewey, Buddy, and Tom down.

"I-It's alright, it's okay."

"Mhmm." Frank broke in, turning to Henry. "We're in an ambulance, and going to the hospital. Just stay there, okay? If you get up, you might bump into something."

"Okay…" Boris replied, voice dipping somewhat as he found himself floundering again. His eyes lowered, finding Buddy's gaze. The wolf winced as the tiny toon squeaked out a sneeze before giving a few dry coughs. Boris's ears lowered, as he shifted Bendy around so he could reach out to the littlest toon, but a clatter from Henry and Frank made the wolf look up, just in time to see the EMT hanging a clear bag filled with some kind of liquid, a tube running from the bottom to somewhere on the stretcher.

"…Whu's that?" Tom's speech was still a little slurred, but the wolf's wary curiosity was clear in his face. It only took a moment for Frank to realize what he was being asked about, his gaze darting to the IV before looking back to the toons.

"Oh, that's an IV drip. Your friend here is dehydrated…do you understand what that means?"

"I-I think…?" Boris's unsure tone was more than enough of a giveaway how little he understood regarding the situation, his verbal answer aside. With a quiet sigh, Frank went on.

"Well, people need water, right? If someone's dehydrated, it means they don't have enough."

"Is Henry gonna be okay?" Boris asked, the idea that Henry just didn't have enough water inside him making the poor wolf wonder if the animator was going to crumble into dust there on the stretcher. Frank didn't look bothered, true, but it didn't assuage Boris's worry by much.

"Hen-Oh." Frank started, incomprehension snapping to realization as he glanced to the animator on the stretcher. "I'm guessing he's Henry. Yeah, all things considered, he looks worse than he really is. I'm…concerned, about the state of his legs, as they definitely look atrophied, but right now water and probably rest is the best thing."

"A-Atro-feed?" Dewey abruptly stammered out, grabbing Boris's and Frank's attention though what exactly he was trying to ask slipped them both by. Tom, thankfully, had enough of an idea of what the inkwell was trying to say in order to sigh and stumble through a more expanded version of the question.

"Wh-What, is…atro-phied?"

"Ah, sorry. The muscles have deteriorated. That can happen if a limb is injured and wrapped in something, because it's not being used. It's…a bit hard to say here, because I don't know exactly what happened or if there's any lasting damage, but sometimes it's just a matter of building that strength back up again." Frank's explanation trailed off, before he looked to the toons. "Was, that clear or did you need me to answer something else?"

"…No, we're okay." Granted, as Boris spoke he had the distant realization that he really…wasn't. All things considered, it was better than he'd been, but there was still an achiness in his limbs and a dryness to his throat. That wasn't counting the itchiness to his eyes, and the slight throbbing in his head.

"…Would any of you like water? Can you drink water?" Frank asked, getting Boris's attention.

"Yeah, we can."

"Wa'er?" Dewey asked, looking confused as his eyes turned to Boris. It did give the wolf pause for a moment, the notion that the inkwell was so new he would need everything explained to him. Though before Boris could answer, Dewey frowned and immediately corrected himself. "Wa-ter. What is water?"

"Water is…y-you drink it, it's good for you." Boris knew there was a much better way to explain this, but for the life of him nothing was coming together in that moment. Thankfully, Frank provided a lesson as he handed over a few bottles of water, the presence of a tangible object giving the wolf something to orientate his impromptu lesson around.

Though, even with the world crumbling down around him, Boris did try to thank Frank for the water. Holding it and feeling the condensation soaking into his glove just made him remember just how dry his throat was.

"Thank you," Boris gratefully murmured, taking the water bottle and was about to turn back to Dewey when he heard the inkwell mumble something.

"Tenk you, tank you…" Dewey mumbled, not happy with his attempts as his face furrowed. "Th-Thank you."

"You're welcome." Frank's words briefly confused Dewey, the inkwell's feather flicking as his shoulders slanted to the side in an approximation of a befuddled head tilt. But then Dewey looked to Boris, who nodded, which seemed to convince Dewey that all was well. Besides, a new distraction presented itself in the form of a water bottle, Dewey's gloved fingers closing carefully over the comparatively small object. As the inkwell looked over the water, Boris tried to both keep ahold of Bendy and crack the cap off, easily draining half the bottle in a few gulps. Briefly, the wolf's eyes slipped to look at Bendy's still comatose form, the bottle lowering from his own mouth as he briefly considered his options. Should he try to get Bendy to drink? Would that make him worse?

Don't screw up…

"Is water?" Dewey asked, catching everyone's attention. Boris couldn't help jolting a little, feeling a slight shrinking of guilt as he pulled away from Bendy's predicament and jumped into answering Dewey's question.

"Well, kinda. The water is the wet stuff, it's in a bottle. That's a bottle." Though Dewey's expression turned awed at the relatively simple notion, he didn't stay quiet for long. The inkwell's head flipped around for a moment before he took a hand away from supporting Buddy to poke at the side of the ambulance.

"What is that?"

"That's…a wall." Boris's reply was a little stilted, but he did try to keep up. Not that Dewey stayed on that topic for long.

"Wall." The inkwell's iteration was thoughtful, gaining rapid mastery of the sounds, before his eyes lit on something else and his curiosity got the better of him. "What is that?"

"That's a floor." Frank answered this time, a faint smile on his face as he took in the childlike wonder and curiosity in Dewey's eyes. The inkwell was hardly bothered, gaze turning upwards before he pointed, jostling Buddy a little given that the tiny toon was tucked into his other arm.

"What is that?"

"That's a light," Boris replied, unable to keep a smile off his own face as a blinding grin overtook Dewey's.

"Light!"

"Yep." The wolf's reply was soft, though as Dewey looked straight up at the bright lights of the ambulance and shied away with a squeak and a few squinted blinks Boris found himself dipping back into the role of a guide. "Don't do that too much, okay? You'll hurt your eyes."

Dewey gave an agreeing hum, rubbing at his eyes as he looked back out at the ambulance proper. It was at that point that the inkwell's eyes found Frank again, and another curious look overtook his face before he looked to Boris and pointed at the EMT.

"What is that?"

"That, that's Frank, Dewey. Frank is a man. A human man."

"Hu-man man?"

"Yeah, that's…humans are like one big thing, and man is like a kind of human. A smaller part of a big thing. Does that make sense?"

"Mhmm," Dewey replied with a thoughtful frown, before his eyes lit on something else. "What is that?"

"…That's, that's Frank, Dewey." At first, Boris was a little confused, they'd just gone over this literally just a minute ago. But Dewey's expression furrowed, the inkwell just pointing harder at Frank.

"What is that?"

But while Boris was confused, Frank had noticed exactly what Dewey seemed to be focusing on, poking at his EMT livery.

"I think he means this. This it?"

Immediately the inkwell was all smiles, enthusiastically pointing at the clothing as he spoke up.

"Yeah, this it! What is that?"

"That's a shirt, kid."

Dewey smiled, opened his mouth, and immediately the sound of a car horn filled the back of the ambulance, causing everyone to jump and the inkwell to cover his own mouth with wide eyes. The sound was so abrupt that it caught everyone off guard, Dewey's expression furrowing before he took his hands away from his mouth and spoke again, this time with a bicycle bell.

"Uh, Dewey…" Boris said, as the inkwell looked at him with complete confusion. "Don't, don't say that, okay? That's a bad word."

It was a relatively simple thing to say, but the way Dewey reacted it was like Boris had told Dewey he'd committed murder. Immediately the inkwell's eyes widened, his hands clamping over his mouth with a terrified squeak as he shuddered. The way he was huddling in on himself, Boris was certain that if Dewey had more flexibility he'd be curled up into as small of a ball as he could get, despite being taller than the wolf himself.

"Hey, hey, it's okay…" Boris hummed, unthinkingly shuffling Bendy in his arms as he tried to get closer to the inkwell. "Dewey, here, lookit me, see? You're okay. Everything's okay."

It did seem to be helping, but the fact that Dewey had started to shiver and sniffle tore at Boris's heart a little even as he scooted closer to Boris. Buddy was brought closer too, the tiny toon frowning as he patted at Dewey's front though he looked between the bigger toons like he was hoping one of them could fix the problem.

Thankfully, though, a sort of fix did come, in the form of Frank kneeling in front of the toons and directly addressing Dewey.

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't know you were doing anything wrong, and now you know better, right?"

Though there was a faint sniffle here and there, and a few tears, Dewey brightened a little at the reassurance, passing a small, shy smile around to the rest of the group. Seeing that the inkwell was returning to his old self, Frank patted him on the shoulder.

"There, see? You're okay. Want to try drinking that water now?"

At Dewey's nod, Frank gently guided the inkwell through the process of opening the bottle and taking a few sips. It was a little funny to see Dewey's face go through a whole range of emotions at the very taste of water, going from surprise to curiosity to deep focus as he apparently pondered the taste. Ultimately though the verdict seemed to be that Dewey liked the water, cheerily swallowing and going through about half of the bottle.

Buddy moving against Dewey's front caught the inkwell's attention, the bigger toon looking briefly between the minute devil and the water before simply handing it off to Buddy, who immediately took a few big gulps. Though that left Dewey's hands, and apparently also his curiosity, free to cast about before it caught on something new. Boris felt Dewey nudge at his arm, looking up to meet the inkwell's wide-eyed stare.

"Boris?"

"Yeah, Dewey?"

"Frank is a human man. Henry is a human man?"

"Yeah, that's right, Dewey," Boris replied, feeling a bit unsure all of a sudden as he took in the inkwell's thoughtful expression. Maybe he hadn't been so clear before…

But Dewey merely gave the words a quiet hum, before pointing to himself.

"What is…me? What am I?"

Oh. Maybe Boris should have figured that this would come up sooner rather than later. They didn't exactly look human, after all.

"You're a toon. Like me, Tom, Buddy, B-Bendy, an', Alice…" The mention of the two comatose toons, the wolf's own friends, made the explanation briefly shudder before Boris tried to yank himself back on track, remembering that Dewey was still there and waiting for an answer.

"You're a…" Boris briefly took in the half-hourglass figure, the small feather poking up from Dewey's head, and put together his response. "You're a inkwell toon. I'm a wolf toon, Buddy an' Bendy are devil toons, Alice is an angel toon, an' Tom is…"

Part of the reason he'd trailed off was because, well, he honestly wasn't sure about Tom. The other toon did look like him, kind of, but it still might've been a bad idea to assume anything. Not to mention, there was a very jumpy part of Boris that wasn't sure how to act around Tom.

"Tom is a wolf toon." Said wolf toon spoke up with half a grin, Boris wasn't sure if it was meant to be joking or not but he decided to react like it was.

"Right, right…sorry…" It was said with half a smile and shaky laugh, something that Boris felt in retrospect was not enough given how Tom kind of looked away to consider the wall. Even still, the other wolf did offer an olive branch as he rasped out a few words.

"'S okay."

Frank's attention had turned back to Henry, though he'd been keeping track of how long they'd been in the ambulance, and, judging just on the length of time, he knew they'd be coming to the hospital itself within the next few minutes. He ended up being proven right when he could feel the ambulance grinding to a halt, the toons also starting and looking around at the clinically white walls.

"It's alright. We made it to the hospital. Just stay put for right now and we'll figure out what to do," Frank said, preparing to get Henry situated for the ride into the hospital proper. The news definitely made all of the toons have a moment where they started, Dewey and Buddy looking to Boris with uncertainty, Boris looking up at Frank with worried doubt. Tom's expression was different, quiet and careful, ears lowered to his head as he watched Frank's face.

The other EMT, Dave, came around to help unload Henry, he and Frank getting the comatose animator on the ground before…something happened. In retrospect, Boris wasn't sure if he'd heard someone talking or if he'd heard the slamming shut of another car's doors first, but with the uptick in noise Frank and Dave quickly looked in the direction it was coming from. Briefly, Frank made eye contact with the toons, and as the sounds of other people came closer he pushed the doors closed.

All Boris got was a momentary glimpse of someone in a dark suit coming to stand just outside the ambulance before the door was shut. His ears could still catch the sounds of a conversation happening though it was too muffled to tell if it was a tense one or not. Tom, meanwhile, had tensed next to the lankier wolf toon, and as Boris looked over he could see Tom's eyes roving over the different things around them.

For a moment it left Boris completely confused on top of worried, but as Tom crawled to one of the drawers and opened it, glancing at the doors all the while, the reasoning crashed in like a flood of ink. Tom was expecting a fight, and trying to prepare accordingly.

The notion of fighting hadn't even crossed Boris's mind, but considering that outside that door was Frank, who had done nothing but help them, the lankier wolf was a little adverse to the notion of starting anything that could hurt anyone.

"Tom…!" Boris hissed, immediately catching the stockier wolf toon's attention though apart from an ear flick in Boris's direction there was no answer. Swallowing down his nerves, Boris tried again. "Tom, please, just wait, okay? We, we don' know what's goin' on…"

"'Xactly. We don't." The other wolf's tones were quieter, his voice not like Boris's but there was a hardness to it that made everything feel like it was teetering on a powder keg. Apparently there wasn't anything worthwhile in the drawer, Tom moving on to a cabinet as he poked through the contents in an urgent but ordered manner.

But, before Tom could get into another cabinet or drawer, the door to the ambulance was pulled open again, the stockier wolf toon pulling away and backing up to be in front of the others. Boris was a little relieved to see Frank, though the presence of a new man, wearing a dark suit was making him nervous all over again.

"What's goin' on?" Tom asked, his tone much sharper than Boris would have used as his ears lowered and the fur covering his shoulder and neck started to puff up.

"Hey, it's okay. These guys are going to take you all to a different hospital, alright?" Frank's words were, soundish. But while Boris might've kept his wariness a little more under his metaphorical hat, Tom had no such compulsions, and therefore no shame about prying.

"Why?"

"…There was a mix-up. Initially. We should have met you all at the studio but we were…held up."

Boris didn't need to look at Tom's face to know how the other wolf was taking that, given that his hackles-raised, protective stance did not dissipate an iota.

"Y-You're gonna help Henry?" The lankier wolf toon asked, more to stall for time but after the words were out of his mouth Boris had to admit that it was a pertinent thing to ask. Especially since he could see Tom's head briefly turn, ears swiveling for a moment to consider what the other wolf had said before looking back to Frank and the other man.

The pair seemed to consider the question too, Frank looking over at the man in the suit. The EMT's face was…blank, hard to read, but he seemed to be awaiting a response just as much as the toons were. It was something that Mr. Suit noticed, an equally opaque look being sent Frank's way before he turned his attention back to the toons.

"We'll…try. Just to be sure, who's Henry?"

"You took Henry out. He's, he's on the cot," Boris explained, before his more frenetic thoughts grabbed the reigns. "You won't separate us, right? We gotta stay t'gether…"

"…We'll try not to. And, we'll try to help him."

"Help Benny?" Dewey piped up, flinching as the collective attention of the conversation turned to him. "You… will help, Benny? Yes?"

Boris easily recognized the more halting, warbling tones, edging closer to Dewey given that his arms were still full of the comatose devil toon in question. Bendy's head lolled, the small toon still very much unable to speak for himself, so Boris knew he'd have to shore up his nerve when Mr. Suit asked what was probably a very reasonable question.

"Who is Benny?"

"Bendy. B-Bendy an' Alice 'r hurt, sir." Boris did his best to explain, moving forward just enough that Tom had to shuffle a little to the side, exposing the silent and still Bendy to Mr. Suit's field of view. "Can you help them too? Please?"

Help was good, and Boris was glad that Henry was being helped, but hopefully that would include the rest of them too. He'd remembered when Bendy had run away, with conversations happened in quiet corners when Sammy, Henry, and Wally thought the wolf hadn't been listening. Spoken thoughts about where the little devil might go, how he would take care of himself, would he even survive on his own and for how long considering as far as they were concerned the little devil would be entirely on his own. Would the people who were supposed to be helping them just…not? Because they weren't human? Could they do that?!

But, thankfully for Boris's climbing heartrate, Mr. Suit merely gave the whole thing a somewhat upraised eyebrow and a cursory glance before saying, with a sort of diplomatic care.

"We will certainly try our best. But we can't do anything where we are now. If you'll just follow me, we can get you to a place where your…friends, can be helped."

It took another few minutes to actually get moving, Boris and Tom having to take a moment to help Dewey down from the ambulance. Frank did have a few bits of advice for the pair when it came to their more unconscious cargo, gently advising them on how to best carry Bendy and Alice so as not to accidentally hurt them. Even with the faint cloud of anxiety hanging around the situation, Boris couldn't help looking around a little, noticing how there was less glimmering in this part of the night sky, along with a balmy sort of warmth in the air. They were also in the back of a large building, Boris able to count at least five stories before they were ushered towards what looked like another van, this one much bigger than the ambulance but all black.

The inside of the van was, very different from the ambulance in a lot of respects. For starters, it was bigger, with more space for them to sit along with Henry's stretcher. It still had the same, white-shaded cleanliness to it, but it was less glaring than it was in the sterile ambulance. Part of this could likely be pinned down to the completely black wall at the far back of the car, though there were definitely some darker silver accents that glinted in the light.

Even though the new atmosphere was a little easier on the toons' eyes, they were still hesitant about setting foot inside. But, the men were putting Henry in, so there was nowhere else they could go.

And Mr. Suit was there waiting for them to get in, Tom giving the man a stony look but Boris taking that as his cue to get both Tom and Dewey aboard, along with Bendy, Buddy, and Alice by proxy. Thankfully Tom didn't fight the lankier wolf too hard, though he did give Boris an equally irritated and incredulous stare in those first few seconds.

For a few seconds, after which something in the lankier wolf's face registered and Tom's harder look dropped. He still turned that same brusque, flinty stare to Mr. Suit as he gestured that the toons should get in, even as he helped get them collectively over to the corner of the van and settled down. Henry was loaded in once they were settled, Frank briefly telling them how to make sure the animator was being 'properly hydrated' before he was simply closed away from the scene as Mr. Suit shut the back of the van. It wasn't long after that that Boris felt the engine rumble to life nearby, the feeling of movement making him huddle closer to Tom and Dewey.

And sneak a peek down at Bendy, only to feel even more despondent. The little devil still hadn't moved, and his face was just as wane and worn out as before. The sight almost had Boris pulling Bendy close in a hug out of habit, but as he remembered the bandage still wrapped around the small toon's front, he changed the reflex to shifting the little devil in his arms.

"Hey. Check the top second drawer." The faint, tinny rumble of a voice caused all to start, though only Mr. Suit seemed to understand the meaning behind it.

"Are you sure? Thought you were saving those-"

"It's fine, let 'em have it if they want it." The interruption only got a slight raise of the eyebrow before the man simply shrugged, moved to the indicated drawer, and took out two candy bars.

"Sorry, there's only two..." Came the somewhat sheepish apology, before something occurred to the man. "Can you even eat these?"

For that, neither Tom, Dewey, nor even Buddy had an answer for that, all looking between each other as though the answer would be written on each other's faces. Though, for all their confusion, Boris gave the matter a moment of thought before hesitantly speaking up.

"I, I've had candy before. Me an'-" A quiet swallow, and the wolf continued. "N-Nothin' bad ever happened, we were fine."

The explanation seemed to satisfy the man, who looked between them and the candy bars before finally forking them over. The plastic wrapping crinkled in Tom's hand as he took them, everyone leaning in to read the small lettering of 'Baby Ruth' emblazoned on the front. However, while Tom's metallic hand was fine for holding the treat, opening the wrapper was too fine a task for the clunkier digits.

"H-Here, I can…" Boris murmured, setting down Bendy's coat as he reached up to paw at the candies, Tom handing them over a moment later. Keeping Bendy propped up against him, the lanky toon's fingers only trembled a little as they pried at the wrapper. It took a little bit of finagling, and a somewhat tense moment where Boris was worried he might accidentally drop the whole thing or Bendy, but eventually the wolf was able to hand back the partially unwrapped candy bar with a wane smile. It wasn't until Tom broke it in half that Boris realized he'd accidentally excluded himself, given that Dewey had followed his example and easily got the wrapper open with no help.

Boris accepted the half from Tom with a sheepish smile, Dewey giving a piece of the other candy bar to Buddy. Though Boris had to take a moment to appreciate the tastes of chocolate, peanuts, and nougat, he couldn't help grinning a little as both Dewey and Buddy's faces lit up at the taste. Tom, by contrast, didn't look nearly so thrilled, frowning a little as he looked quizzically at the wrapper.

"Did you like it?" Boris couldn't help asking, trying to keep his voice low.

"'S sweet," Tom mumbled, finally swallowing.

However, now that the distraction of the candy was out of the way, Tom's wary attention turned to the speaker on the ceiling, squinting at the dark box.

"Who're you?"

"…you can just call me Red, kid," the tinny voice replied, more or less unperturbed by the suspicious tone to the wolf's voice.

Tom didn't answer, though it occurred to Boris that if this 'Red' was going to tell them his name, then it was only polite that they respond in kind.

"'m, I'm Boris, an' he's Tom. An' this is Buddy, Dewey, a-an'-" A lump had settled in Boris's throat, a tear or two trickling out though he could've sworn that he'd cried as much as he possibly could. He could feel Dewey and Tom pressing in close on either side, and Buddy's small hands clutching at his arm. It helped him feel a little more grounded, less like there was something bubbling up from inside him, though Boris had the sinking sensation that it was only a matter of time before he'd be swept away again.

"Bendy. Alice. Henry." Tom continued, quietly indicating the owner of each name. Whoever Red was, he seemed to be able to see the inside of the truck, as a moment later he replied back.

"Nice to meet you all. Wish the circumstances could'a been better though."

"We weren't exactly expecting to come back here…" Mr. Suit pointed out.

"Why?" Tom asked, still sounding a little combative, but in a strange switch the one answering was Red.

"Well, the studio's been quiet for thirty years, and suddenly one phone call comes in and the whole thing goes up like a firework." There was a crackling sigh, before Red continued. "And no one's really sure why."

"A-A phone call?" Boris asked though his mind was spinning with other questions. Who called, and what about?

"Someone put in a call to emergency services about a kid wandering into the studio," Mr. Suit spoke up, the toons' eyes turning to him. "Pretty weird as it was, as plenty of people have been trying to get in since the accident, and no matter what they tried they weren't able to. Short of dynamiting a wall down, but, with it being a populated area at the time…"

Boris heard what he was saying, though there was a realization creeping into his mind at the mention of a kid wandering into the studio. Bendy had run away, and seemingly just came back, they were talking about a kid getting shut in the studio, they meant Bendy…

The thought that they were going to blame Bendy for what happened, maybe do something to him or take him away, made Boris draw Bendy close without thinking as his breathing started to grow fast and shallow.

The others didn't seem to notice, Mr. Suit leaning against the wall before continuing to talk.

"There are some pictures that were taken of the inside of the crater. The majority of the material seems to be…melting, but there's posters, certain objects. There was even a huge statue found about halfway down, stuck in the wall."

"A statue?" Red asked, Boris having a strange sort of deja-vu at the notion before Mr. Suit answered.

"Of, well, that one. Bendy, if I'm remembering right."

The fact that Mr. Suit did point to indicate which toon he was talking about didn't really help, given that it made Boris jump and curl around Bendy in a perceived effort at protection.

"Benny…?" Dewey's call was confused, the inkwell looking to the unconscious little devil as though the sense would be forthcoming from there. Given that Boris was holding the small toon so close to his body, it was inevitable that the youngest toon's eyes would eventually drift to the wolf. But what Boris wasn't expecting was for Dewey's eyes to widen, looking more than a little afraid as he whined and scooted closer to the lanky wolf.

"Boris?"

The noise caught Tom's attention, the stockier and less anxious wolf toon looking at his doppelganger with something close to bemusement if not a tighter, more controlled sort of worry. It was then that the wolf happened to look up at Mr. Suit, noticing the man's emotionally detached but keen interest in the proceedings. In an uncomfortable way, it reminded him of Joey, though the stakes felt much, much higher than they had in the studio. Here the punishments devised could be a lot more painful, and perhaps far more permanent, than Boris was alright with knowing.

It was a little startling to him when he realized it, especially since it felt like so long ago and yet so very near in his memory that he hadn't a frame of reference for the horrors he was now considering.

There was a faint crackle from overhead, Boris's eyes immediately being drawn to the black box on the ceiling. Immediately he remembered Red, their mysterious benefactor who had yet to show himself. The lack of a physical presence was even more unnerving, as it hinted to the already-skittish wolf that such benevolence could change on a dime.

He didn't know where the threats were anymore…

"Boris?" Tom asked again, reaching out and touching the other wolf's arm, the mere contact making Boris jump and spurring him to speech.

"It wasn't Bendy's fault!"

The resulting, panicked shout shocked the rest of the passengers quiet, Dewey jumping and Tom almost pulling himself entirely away. Almost, if not for the fact that Boris's eyes had started to run over again, shoulders shaking as he frantically tried to defend the unconscious devil held to his front.

"H-He didn' wanna be a monster, he didn' wanna be ba-ad, Bendy didn'…he didn' wanna h-hurt anyone…he didn', he didn'! It was Joey, Joey…" Boris knew that between the tears and hyperventilating, he was probably nigh unintelligible, but this was important. They couldn't hold this against Bendy, they had to know it wasn't his fault, what happened.

"I hear you, Boris." Red came back, deeper tones rumbling with something like sympathy. "It's gonna be alright. We're gonna help you. Second drawer, Walt."

Walt, Mr. Suit, straightened at the instruction, immediately turning to the indicated drawer and coming up with the tissues that he had been looking for. Boris started for a moment at the unassuming white being held up to him, eyes staring uncomprehendingly at Mr. Suit.

There were some cracks in the earlier noticed stoicism, though it didn't quite take the shocked sting at Mr. Suit's/Walt's next words.

"Here. Try to take some deep breaths, okay?"

It sort of struck Boris that his lungs had been downright heaving with the effort of his earlier emotions, his fear in particular. It was starting to make him light-headed, the wolf muzzily taking the tissues and doing his best to mop up his face with one hand. Even though he felt completely wrung out, again, he couldn't help his own knee-jerk politeness at the kind gesture. Mr. Suit/Walt's "your welcome" was passively registered in the background as a hand, Tom's, came up to rest on Boris's head and steering it to lean on the other wolf's shoulder.

Boris groggily tried to look up at Tom's face, to see what he could there about the other wolf's emotions, or his motivation, but he was at an odd angle. It did help him to calm down though as Tom's hand coming up to knead around his ears, in that way only the other wolf toon could really know would work. Even though he was still sniffling, and his lungs felt like spent bellows, the lanky wolf toon found himself sliding into a momentarily quiet doze.

Tom, for his part, simply kept up the motion until his keen ears registered Boris's slow, softer breathing, recognizing the sign for what it was as he resigned himself to being the other wolf's pillow for the indeterminant future. But, before he could truly settle into his new role, an uneasy shifting on Boris's other side caught his attention. Even though Tom could say that he wasn't looking forward to dealing with yet another emotional quandary, the fact that Dewey clearly looked upset and was passing worried glances at the slumbering Boris and Bendy pretty much ensured that Tom had no choice in the matter.

It didn't help that the inkwell made eye contact, briefly jumping and looking away before latching onto the older toon like Tom was some lifeline for understanding what had happened.

"Boris went bad?"

At first, the language made no sense, though perhaps that was to be expected from a toon that had only been made a scant few hours ago. It still bemused Tom that Dewey knew the word bad enough to say it back in front of the studio, but for now he pushed the mystery aside. He had a more concrete problem to deal with first.

"He's…just a little unwell. Let him sleep, alright?"

"Can help?" Dewey immediately asked, sounding so painfully hopeful that Tom nearly felt guilty about what he was going to say next.

"It can help, but that don't mean it'll just go away. It doesn't just…stop, alright?"

Dewey did seem to get it. But Tom wasn't sure if this was a good thing given how the inkwell's face turned downcast, teary eyes looking at the floor before Dewey blinked and they ran over again. Tom didn't even have it in him to be irritable about it, or really much else. He just kind of mechanically helped mop up the mess, and let Dewey settle back against the wall as his eyelids tiredly fluttered. Boris too felt similarly limp against Tom's shoulder, the stockier wolf toon looking down just to be sure that Bendy wasn't about to slide.

Briefly he glanced down to Buddy, the tiny toon's eyes already closing as he huddled to Dewey's front. At least, Buddy had looked to be before Tom met his gaze, at which the downright miniscule devil pulled himself out of sleep.

It briefly bemused Tom how to even interact with the tiny toon as from what he remembered, Buddy still didn't talk and was almost difficult to read in some respects. Even with eyes, it was a little unclear just what was going through the minute devil's brain. Not that Tom didn't have his own experience with being cut off in terms of communicating, it hadn't been that long ago that he'd been the mute one…

The thought made Tom shift around out of habit, drawing his attention back to the limp weight that occupied his own arms. Though immediately, the sight of the comatose Alice Angel made something in the wolf's chest feel intolerably heavy, and he found himself staring down at her face as he remembered the feel of a familiar form resting against his, before it was flung-

Please move.

That empty feeling was becoming a brewing, desperate storm, heralded in how Tom felt his mechanical arm starting to clench. As he willed himself to calm down, and for his thoughts to still, the wolf couldn't help the brief, somewhat despairing thought that while he'd apparently left his muteness behind, he clearly hadn't ditched all of his problems. In fact, this freedom had added new ones.

It wasn't fair it wasn't fair please move please it wasn't fair it wasn't FAIR I NEED YOU NOW-

The feeling of a tiny mitten glove touching Tom's arm made him jolt, a wild snarl curling his lips before the sight of a confusedly terrified Buddy registered and he cut the reaction as quick as he could.

Now if you could only do something about you…

Shaking his head, Tom nearly made to try to write out a message before remembering that he didn't have to do that anymore. Instead, he uttered a somewhat rough apology, looking up just in time to see Buddy lean away from Dewey. The inkwell had mumbled a little, but hadn't woken up, leaving Tom to see the quiet gamut of emotions run through the tiny toon's face. Something unsure, maybe realization, and finally finishing with a silent, if not a little sad smile and a nod. Though there was something in Tom that rebelled at the notion of anyone pitying him, he forced a somewhat strained half-smile he quickly found didn't fit and probably made him look downright pained. So, shrugging it off, he turned a tired, if not somewhat ironclad look down at the tiny toon.

"Go to sleep, alright?"

Buddy blinked at the prospect, though Tom wasn't sure why the minute devil should look so surprised. He'd been completely ready to sleep a minute ago. Still, while the kid was still something of an enigma the wolf was pretty sure he could read into the reason behind the worried look those blue eyes were flashing up at him.

Though Tom's eyes itched, and he'd definitely had more than his share of reasons to find a corner and hole up there until he'd wanted to leave, there was a part of him that was acutely aware of prying eyes. While Walt was taking something of an interest in Henry's comatose state, Tom knew all about looking busy. They'd taught him plenty about that kind of subterfuge, when talking about the history of the studio.

He could see through it, and he knew better than to trust the man. Throwing Buddy a drily insistent look, Tom nudged the tiny toon's head to rest against Dewey's front.

Go to sleep. I mean it.

Buddy did give the nonverbal order an irritable pout, though tiredness was already creeping in at the edges. Within a few minutes, the tiny toon had joined the rest in Dreamland.

Well, Tom supposed as he passed another look down at Alice, perhaps that was better than being comatose. Though before the wolf could stare too long he caught himself, the shifting Walt made as he pulled away from Henry reminding Tom that they were all being watched.

Don't sleep. You're not safe here. Don't sleep.

And, as though to remind the wolf just how closely he was being watched, another crackle sounded from the speaker above.

"We got another hour before we get to where we're going. You might as well get some z's too."

Tom turned a hard look up at said speaker, just to get across what he thought of that idea. Not that Red seemed deterred, the deep, nonchalant voice not losing an ounce of its calm.

"Alright, Fido. Suit yourself."

Though Tom had no idea what a Fido was, he was fairly sure he was being either belittled or outright insulted. Even though he was still exhausted, the wolf couldn't help turning a glare up at the speaker. There was no answer this time though, perhaps a faint huff of static if he listened hard enough, but no real words. So, in lieu of another distraction, Tom settled in again, quietly staring at Walt as he finished checking over something next to Henry's stretcher.

---

Boris jerked to wakefulness as something thumped underneath him. The van's motor still hummed but the sounds of Mr. Suit moving around were new, pulling him out of his sleep. For a moment, Boris was dazed and more than a little confused, before the memory of the past few days caught up with him and he jolted, immediately looking down at Bendy.

Still asleep, and just as wane and limp as before. Boris felt his heart sink before his brain leapt to the conditions of the others. Tom was sitting next to him, eyes a little dull and tired but no less immutable as they stared back. Alice was still unconscious in Tom's arms. Dewey was leaning against the wall of the truck, asleep with an equally comatose Buddy tucked to his front.

Though as the van made a few bumpy lurches, the inkwell started to come around with a groggy murmur. And before Boris knew it they had rolled to a stop, Mr. Suit moving to the door and opening it. There were multiple voices outside, Boris's ears unable to count how many different people he was hearing and judging from the tension building in Tom, he wasn't having much luck either.

There were faint smells; clean, chemical kind of smells. Again, didn't tell either wolf much, but it was one little hint, along with the hum of voices.

But the talking quieted as the doors were opened, the more awake toons waiting on pins and needles as they tried to get some hint of what was coming.

One thing that Boris realized as he took in the people in white peeking in, it was almost strange to see, well, people. It was another moment of feeling like it had been not that long ago that things were normal at the music department, like it had only been a couple of days since he'd seen the band for the last time and said good night.

But there were all those hazier memories sitting in the back of Boris's mind that said otherwise. That said it had been much, much longer, though he wasn't sure by how much. The notion was startling, but with the distraction of the people climbing into the back of the van Boris didn't have long to dwell on it.

There was a man that actually looked like a younger Norman helping carry Henry's stretcher, along with another man with lighter skin and short, dark hair. The second guy looked like he could have carried the stretcher on his own, but given that doing so might've broken poor Henry so Boris was glad he didn't do that. Between the two of them, they were able to get the stretcher down with minimal rocking of the animator, Boris nervously watching but at the same time not sure if he should get up. He didn't want to scare them…

As the stretcher was lowered down, the man that looked like Norman happened to look up, catching Boris's eye. Immediately the wolf shrank down, ears lowering as his fur slicked close to his frame. He did look away, initially, but when he happened to glance over a moment later the man was looking at him, a grin and a small wave ready for Boris before he had to busy himself with something on Henry's stretcher. The sight of which briefly had Boris start because it looked like they were about to leave, with Henry, and without the toons.

"Hello?"

The voice was new, coming from another young man wearing white that had come up and leaned into the back of the van. There was part of a shelf in the way, but looking around it, Boris could make out the tan skin and very short brown hair.

"Do any of you need help getting out?"

Boris looked from the man's body language to his face, taking in the open desire to help in his eyes. Taking a chance, he looked back at Tom and Dewey, the latter more lost and looking to the older toons for guidance. Tom though was glancing over the man, same as Boris had but with a much less open eye. Albeit, as his gaze met Boris, the stockier wolf toon gave the unsure stare a quiet nod and started to get to his feet. Boris wasn't long in following, a groggy but still nervous Dewey bringing up the rear as he held Buddy like a beloved stuffed animal.

As they came out, Boris saw that the man wasn't the only one there, there were a few other people, a couple men and a few women, all dressed in the same white uniform. He wasn't entirely sure if these were doctors, but they all had that clean, medicine-y sort of smell. But as the wolves exited the van, the man's attention was grabbed by the two, silent forms held to each.

"Think we will be needing that other stretcher…"

It seemed like only seconds later that said stretcher was being brought forward, Tom and Boris staring at it for a good moment before they collectively realized it was for Bendy and Alice. To Tom's credit, while he did have to pause for an instant to distrustfully glare at the people helping them, he did set the angel down. But Boris's ears lowered entirely, curling protectively around Bendy at even the thought of letting the little devil go.

"It's okay, you can-"

"Please don't take him away," Boris yelped out, immediately sorry for interrupting and hoping that wouldn't hurt their chances of making it through this.

"Here, how about this," the man started, letting Tom gently lay Alice down and shuffling the angel's body with an equal amount of care. "You can set him down and walk alongside as we're pushing. Does that seem alright to you, b-kid?"

The stutter did catch Boris's attention but given that there was a rather important matter at hand he quickly let it go, glancing to the soft white of the stretcher, and feeling the limp warmth of the little devil held to his front.

Even though Bendy was still unconscious, and Boris felt like he'd panic if he let the small toon go, he could still feel the softer, distinct material of Bendy's bandages against his fur.

Bandages covering injuries that Boris could be aggravating by keeping the little devil all scrunched up like this.

Boris looked up just in time to see Tom placing Alice down on the stretcher, doing his best to be careful about the injuries on her back. Once the man who'd brought the stretcher realized what all the caution was about, he did try to give pointers, which were met with a stonily blank look from Tom though he did take them. Or at least, Boris assumed so given how he'd adjusted his approach to setting the angel down.

The fact that this was done with no trouble, no malice, and no whisking of the angel away to the great unknown made something tense and coiled in Boris's ribcage start to calm in slow inches. Even though there was a part of the wolf that wanted to keep Bendy right where he could see the little devil, Boris still approached with a quiet shuffle, doing his best to gently lay Bendy down on his back. Alice only took up a little more than half of the stretcher anyway, and she was lying on her side. They could both fit easily.

The softness of the material did make Boris feel a little more sure about this, though he still stayed right next to the stretcher once Bendy was situated, holding the little devil's limp hand as he kept an eye on both Bendy and Alice. Passively, he registered the man asking Buddy if he wanted to ride on the stretcher too, only for the minute devil to emphatically shake his head and press himself to Dewey's front in a hug that looked more like he'd faceplanted into the inkwell. Boris could really only muster up a small smile at the sight, but at least it made the man laugh.

There was a brief hold-up where the people that came to get them and brought the stretchers had to talk to other people, Boris mostly just hearing the hum of voices without really taking in the conversation. Instead, he kept looking, from Bendy, to Alice, even to Henry who was a scant few feet away. The fact that they were still so very worn, injured, even to the point of looking very fragile, had something wind up tighter in Boris's chest.

But, while he distantly registered the feeling, even was a little surprised by it at first, the more he looked around at everything else happening, it made so much sense. Boris was the only one awake, they couldn't speak for themselves if someone wanted to know about…about what had happened. Tom didn't really know them, or at least Boris wasn't sure Tom did, and Buddy and Dewey were young. If anything, they'd need just as much care, the wolf quickly passing a look to the newer toons at the thought. Dewey was raptly staring in the direction of the door everyone had been coming through, these big double doors that each had a small window on the front. Boris could see the lights inside, along with a sort of whiter, cleaner ambiance that made the whole thing feel very…

…Clean, maybe? It smelled clean. Boris wasn't sure about it, really, but he could already tell it was a far cry from the studio. The building itself looked plenty big though, the wolf's ears briefly flipping back as he had the terrifying thought they might be trapped in here next.

But, that was silly. Not every building was the studio. Don't be a stupid coward, get ahold of yourself…

In an effort to distract himself, Boris looked back down, somehow locking gazes with Buddy. The tiny toon had been staring in his direction, apparently having overlooked the newness to seek out the lankier wolf toon. It was a little hard to tell what Buddy was looking for, exactly, though Boris did give the somewhat wide-eyed tiny toon a small smile and a wave.

See? I'm right here. You're okay.

Buddy's stare lost its intensity by inches, the minute devil giving an equally small smile and a wave back.

It was a brief moment but a good one, causing something to lighten in Boris's chest. But it seemed like it was over far too soon, a clatter coming from the door as the people started to roll the stretchers inside. Boris happened to notice that someone new had arrived, a lady that definitely fit the wolf's internal image of what a doctor looked like given a white coat and professional clothing.

She did go to Henry first, but then again he was the first one there, asking questions of the people that had come to get them. The answers were quick, clipped, with her quickly looking over the clear bag of fluid that was still with Henry, quickly checking him over. Then she turned to them, Boris watching with more than a little worry as her face went from calm and collected to completely stunned at the sight of the toons.

Briefly a slew of possibilities ran through the poor wolf's head, that they would be turned away, that Henry would be taken into the hospital but they would be left behind, that they would just take Alice and Bendy with the rest of the toons left outside to the elements, that they'd all be separated, kept away from each other with no way of knowing what was going on, if anyone was okay…

There was that moment, but then the moment seemed to be there and gone like a ghost, with Boris floundering to keep up as orders were passed to bring all of them inside. But, as the wolf was being pulled along with Bendy and Alice's stretcher, he happened to catch sight of Buddy attempting to squirm around in Dewey's arms as he tried to wave in the direction of the van. They were moving along just a bit too quickly, the group already over the threshold with the doors swinging closed behind them. But in that brief stretch of a second, Boris glimpsed a tall man wearing a long, brown coat that was standing with Walter next to the van. It was hard to really make out much about him in that split second, though the wolf could see his left hand raising up just enough to wave to Buddy.

Perhaps the man was wearing a glove, because from the brief glimpse Boris got his hand looked awfully, well, red. Maybe that was Red, and that was why he'd asked them to call him that.

Boris hoped Red was able to get more candy, he deserved it for sharing with them before.

It was a strange sort of thought, and was immediately swept away in the rush of getting them all into the building. Boris's ears, and his nose, were starting to get overloaded by the sheer number of sounds and smells. Beeping, clattering, clean, chemical…it all felt like a tidal wave after the studio.

The thought of which immediately had Boris shove the notion down, his hand briefly clenching over Bendy's before he caught himself. He didn't want to think about the studio, not now, and not, well, not for a very long while if he could help it.

In an effort to distract himself, the wolf immediately threw his ears into the task of trying to sort through the conversations around him, particularly the one happening between one of the men that had come to get them and the doctor that seemed to be running the show.

"We could try to do two separate rooms, keep them close to each other."

"I would say put them all in the same room." The sentence nearly had Boris's legs give out from sheer relief, though he fought through the dizzy feeling to keep listening. "They all know each other, and we seem to have a mix of injured and healthy. They will all probably be better off together."

They weren't going to be separated, they would be kept together. It was enough to make the whole, horrible thing okay.

Well, at least a little. Though Boris truncated that line of thought before it could come back to anything that had happened in the very recent past.

It was a few moments after they'd apparently stopped at some sort of metal door before Boris realized that they had in fact come to a halt, the wolf briefly looking about with a shy curiosity. The place looked so clean compared to the studio, it was almost eerie.

It wasn't until the doors slid open with an unassuming ding, revealing a closed-in elevator cab, that Boris realized what was going on. And it felt like the temperature had plunged to below zero, the wolf's breathing stuttering in his chest as he clutched Bendy's hand.

"Are you ready to ascend, my little errand boy? The heavens are waiting."

There was a clatter of talking, Henry's stretcher about to push past Boris but he felt a hand nudge against his arm that made him jolt.

"Boris?" Tom asked, catching sight of the hallmark signs that the other wolf was growing undone, even though the cause was eluding him. And Boris hardly felt able to say why, breathing growing rushed as he shrunk away from the still-open elevator.

"It's alright, c'mon in." The man that looked like Norman spoke up, an arm holding the door as he reached out. Immediately Boris tried to pull away, only stopped by the fact that Tom grabbed his arm.

"I wanna take th' stairs," Boris mumbled, half-aware of how rattled he sounded. He was coming close to letting go of Bendy too, the little devil being the only thing at this moment along with Tom that was keeping him from bolting.

"We can't get the stretchers through there. And the word is you all have to stay together." This came from the man, his face showing a mix of sympathy and strain. "It'll be alright, okay? We'll all be right here with you."

It was probably the best reassurance Boris was going to get, but he couldn't stop the fear that curdled inside and frothed into shivers, stilted breathing, and eventually more tears.

"I-It's gonna fall…" It felt so important to say it, even though on some fleetingly logical level, Boris knew that his words made no sense.

"Hey, it's okay…" The man was saying, though Tom leaned in and whispered into the other wolf's ear.

"This isn't the studio. It doesn't look broken and it's not clanking. I barely heard it come. That means it's workin' right."

The stretcher with Bendy was moving a little bit at a time, inching further and further into the elevator proper. And though Tom wasn't outright pulling, he was leaning more and more in that direction too. Dewey and Buddy were also being nudged along, even though the inkwell was making some worried noises as he looked back at Boris.

Even though no one had started shouting, Boris could also hear the dying down of noise, the other people looking to see what the hold-up was. The elevator stood looming, but if he didn't move…what would happen then?!

So, even with his legs feeling like there were weights attached, Boris inched forward one sliding step at a time, until he was over the threshold and in the elevator. He managed to stay standing until the doors closed, the faint humming in the floor driving the shivering, hyperventilating wolf to slide down to sit in a curled-up ball on the floor. Boris's attention was entirely on the vibrating hum underneath him, feeling for any moment of hitching, weakness, or a drop, but his ears passively registered the flurry of conversation happening around him.

"Is he alright?"

"He started getting upset, something about the elevator breaking-"

"Let me handle him." Tom's voice, hard, uncompromising. A brief glance up through watery eyes revealed that the other wolf was standing partially over Boris, looking at the people with his shoulders and stance a tense line. It brought to mind the notion that Tom had been entirely ready to fight with the doctors when they'd first gotten here, Boris knowing in his heart of hearts that it likely wouldn't have helped. Or maybe it would have, he hardly felt sure of much anymore…

Still, while Tom might've been entirely ready for a fight, Boris didn't want anyone fighting right now, especially when he could feel every movement of the elevator underneath him like it was part of his own body. So, in lieu of being able to speak up, the lankier wolf toon reached out, capturing Tom's arm in a pair of trembling hands and holding it close.

The contact immediately made Tom jump, the other wolf's head flipping to look down at Boris. The look there wasn't something that Boris was sure of at first, it looked like something cornered and ready to swing at the slightest hint of trouble.

But after a moment, it softened. Tom slid down to sit next to Boris, an arm wrapping around the other wolf's shoulders like he was trying to hold Boris together. A soft noise on Boris's other side caught his attention, but it was only Dewey, Buddy still held close in the inkwell's arms.

Both of the younger toons were beaming stares of quiet sadness at the scene, not quite understanding but with no small amount of empathy. Dewey did the best he could to huddle in while Buddy patted at what he could reach of Boris's arm.

Granted, it wasn't long before the elevator came to a halt, the floor jerking underneath the toons and making all of them, sans Tom, jump. The doors sliding open was a welcome sight, Boris shakily getting to his feet and doing his best to help Dewey up even with his jittery hands. The cots were immediately wheeled out behind them, the group directed to go to the right and down past a few doors.

Behind the simple wooden door was a somewhat warm-looking room, and relatively idyllic considering where the group had been before. The toons watched from the threshold as the cots were wheeled in, Henry moved onto the bed closest to the window, and with a sense of over-cautiousness the nurses started to consider the two comatose toons. Boris, who had slipped in with Tom after the cots were moved out of the way, quickly scooted over in the small gap between the cot and the wall, gently scooping Bendy up. The wolf had already done a head count, there were only two beds in here. And while Bendy not waking up was worrying, Alice looked even worse in the light. The angel's eyes were sunken and dark, frame thin under the tattered black dress.

It made Boris hold his breath a little as they moved her to the bed next to the door, but thankfully the angel was able to be set down with no trouble. The man that looked a lot like Norman was the one that had done the moving, Boris grateful to see him take careful consideration of Alice's injured back.

"If they're gonna all be staying in this one room, we're gonna need some more beds." One of the others, the one with tan skin, spoke up, the guy that had helped Henry immediately heading out of the room to take care of that. It left the toons standing there, unsure of where to go next, Boris looking down and noticing that he'd still been holding onto Bendy's coat. The thing was downright tiny compared to the wolf's lankier, tall frame, but it and his overalls had one thing in common, both were visibly dirty and partially stained with ink.

In fact the faint reek of ink was very likely coming from them, the realization making Boris's ears lower against his head. His eyes noticed that despite the darker fabric of Tom's overalls, they were in the same condition, Dewey's spats similarly stained and leaving dark marks on the floor as the inkwell had to sidestep the man coming back in with what looked like a few cots. There was a brief bit of shuffling, Two of the cots arranged in between the two beds and two set up in that aisle between the beds and the wall. It was a little tight, but there was enough room to maneuver.

Dewey inched closer to one of the cots, a little transfixed by the soft-looking material. But when the inkwell reached out to touch it, he accidentally left a grayish smear on the light brown blanket, something that immediately made him yelp and pull back. The noise quickly got the attention of the nurses, and the lady doctor that had been in the process of getting Henry properly set up.

"Everything alright?" The tan-skinned man asked, Dewey whimpering and drawing away as his feather lowered to be practically invisible against his head. But, it left the accidental stain wide open for the man to see, comprehension dawning as he caught it.

"Ah, I see. It's okay, we can fix that." The latter was said to the trembling inkwell, Dewey's eyes carefully watching the man's body language as he eased out of his freeze. The larger toon's whole body leaned somewhat like a bemused head tilt, his voice hesitant but he still asked,

"Fix? Fix that?"

"Yep, it can be fixed. But I'm thinking we also need to get you all cleaned up…"

"Cleaned up?" Dewey echoed, looking down at his hand with equal confusion. And, much to Boris's slight shock and worry the inkwell brought his hand up to his face, looking very much like he was about to put his fingers in his mouth. Thankfully, the man quickly spoke up.

"Yep, but don't put that in your mouth, okay? Your hand's, the gloves, they're dirty, they need to be cleaned. Can you take them off?"

Dewey gave a timid noise at the idea before Buddy tapped his front to get his attention. The inkwell couldn't bend to look directly down, but after a moment he figured out he could lift up the minute devil to see what exactly Buddy wanted to show him. Once he had Dewey's full attention, Buddy very slowly and deliberately slid off his mittens, holding up his tiny hands and waggling the fingers. The demonstration made Dewey give a surprised noise, the inkwell following Buddy's nonverbal direction to let the tiny toon sit on his shoulder as he turned his gaze to his own hands. With a thoughtful frown on his face, Dewey flexed his fingers, before delicately taking hold of the glove's cuff and pulling it off.

It caught Boris's eye that there seemed to be small claws on the ends of Dewey's fingers, the inkwell clicking them together as he took in this part of himself. The noise was almost like the sound of bottles clinking against each other, somehow getting the attention of the rest of the people in the room. Dewey was only transfixed for a few more moments before the realization registered that he had pretty much everyone's attention and he jumped with a slight squeak.

The noise seemed to snap everyone out of their staring, the various men and women giving their own variations of 'it's okay' as they tried to get back to whatever they were doing. Whatever they'd been doing with Henry was apparently over and done with, given how the doctor-lady was coming back.

"Alright, there are some showers just down the hall. We'll try to get you some other clothes to wear. You're all on the taller side, we probably have something…" She was saying, Boris's brain sputtering as he tried to keep up. "Oh, before I let you go, does anyone have any other injuries? Does anything hurt, is there any swelling, bleeding…?"

"There might be one here…" One of the men spoke up, who had been gently easing off one of Bendy's gloves only for a drop of ink to come from the devil's fingers. The sight along with the sudden smell of loose ink made Boris's ears lower, the wolf's expression turning panicked. Immediately the doctor homed in on them, directing Boris to lay Bendy down on one of the nearby cots.

She carefully picked up the little devil's hand, turning it over to see his fingertips. The first thing that Boris noticed, that made him a little confused initially, was that Bendy's fingernails looked…longer. Like he'd grown in claws, much like the wolf himself. But the taller toon didn't have much time to absorb that before he spotted the wet ink welling up on Bendy's fingers, as if the little devil had been cut across the pad of each one.

"It's alright, it looks like it tore the scab when his glove was taken off. We can bandage his hand," the doctor reassured as the sight made Boris whine. Immediately she was handed some small bits of gauze, carefully binding up each finger. There was more talking, though for the moment Boris could only watch Bendy's face as the little devil's wounds were treated, taking in the wane and worn features and hoping, desperately, that the eyes would open, something…

"You think the other hand might need fixing too?" The other man, Not-Norman, asked. The question did catch the doctor's attention, though she didn't look away from Bendy as she finished with his new bandages.

"Might be. We'll have to take off the other glove to be sure."

This became a much more daunting process, given that with the possibility of an injury they were trying their best to be as careful as they could while sliding Bendy's other glove off. However, that left Boris's ears able to pick up the audible peeling noise they made as they slowly pulled away from Bendy's maimed fingers. As ink started to well up from the cuts, the little devil's face twitched for the first time since he'd arrived at the hospital, a small whimper of a noise escaping his throat.

"Bendy?" Boris asked, hopeful even in his worry, but by that point the glove was entirely removed and Bendy lapsed back into silence.

Despite the fact that she quickly went to bandage Bendy's fingers, the sight of Boris's face falling back into teary misery did catch the doctor's attention.

"He'll be alright. We'll get him on the mend. Actually, we can start by getting him cleaned up. In fact, let's get all of you cleaned up, there are some showers down the hall, we can walk you down there-" Her head turned immediately to the other toons, Bendy having been taken care of as she moved to address them all.

"Not all at once." Tom abruptly spoke up. "Someone has to stay. Take turns."

It didn't seem like the doctor was understanding, though Boris got it very quickly. He hardly wanted to leave Bendy, Henry, or Alice alone when they were unable to speak for themselves. There was a burgeoning fear in Boris's mind that they might come back and all of the unconscious members of their party would be gone.

It was something that the doctor seemed to understand, given that she nodded and replied as though the request wasn't at all unreasonable.

"That's alright. We can do it in pairs. Who wants to go first?"

Boris admittedly didn't want to leave Bendy, so Tom stood up and glanced over in Buddy and Dewey's direction. The inkwell looked nervous at the notion of leaving, so it didn't surprise Boris too much when the tiny toon gently patted Dewey's arm. Buddy pointed to Boris before looking over at Tom and waving his little arms around to get the wolf toon's attention. Tom understood fairly quickly, though Dewey looked all the more confused and worried.

Tom's ears perked up as the inkwell let out an upset whimper, the stocky wolf toon crossing the room to pick Buddy up, and lead Dewey over to where Boris was sitting.

"Hey, Dewey, look at me." Tom's voice did have a harder firmness to it, but he kept a hand on Dewey's shoulder, leaning in a little as he spoke in a low tone. "I need you to stay with Boris, okay? I'm going with Buddy to the, the bathroom, an' you're gonna go with Boris later. To get cleaned up."

"Fix," Dewey said with a comprehending smile, holding up one of his ungloved hands.

"Yep, 'xactly. We're gonna fix that, an' things'll be good. But stay with Boris, okay? Buddy an' me, we'll be right back."

"Mhm!" Dewey hummed in reply, giving that same rocking bob of his upper body to show he both understood and was okay with the idea. Taking that as a sign that the situation was in hand, Tom stepped away with Buddy in his arms, heading for the door. Dewey settled in next to Boris, the lankier wolf toon making eye contact with his somewhat-counterpart as Tom stepped over the threshold. There was a brief moment where their eyes met, Boris seeing the flintiness in the other wolf's face, but there was also more than a little exhaustion settling in heavily on those broader shoulders.

He was feeling tired too, even with the brief nap he'd had in the car ride here. But he still had to keep watch over Bendy. And Henry, and Alice too now. Boris gave a hard blink, squaring his shoulders as he fought back the itchiness permeating his eyes.

He would do it. He'd have to.

With Tom and Buddy gone, the doctor had passed another glance down at Bendy, saying something about sponges that kind of blurred a little in Boris's ears at first. It wasn't until she gently pulled the little devil's shoes away that Boris took more notice, especially when another lady, one wearing white, came forward with a basin of water, with some towels and washcloths draped over her arms.

"What is that?" Dewey murmured to Boris, snapping the wolf out of his thoughts.

"Well, th-that's," Boris started, before taking a breath and trying again. "Those're towels, Dewey. An' that's, that's a bucket. 'S got water in it, they're gonna use it to clean Bendy up."

"Clean up?" The inkwell asked, expression mired between intrigued and still confused.

"It's okay, Dewey," Boris said, trying to put on a smile even though he was fighting a yawn. "Just watch what she's doin'."

Dewey still had a frown on his face, though at Boris's words he looked intently to the nurse as she carefully arranged the towels. Boris couldn't help a more dull-eyed, passive stare, but he still kept an eye on things as the little devil's face and arms were gently washed. A finer touch was applied when washing Bendy's front and hands, the nurse careful of the bandages there.

Given that the towels were a lighter blue, Boris could see how the ink came off in a grayish residue that clung to the fabric. It left Bendy's fur slightly glossy, his face returning to that familiar bright white that Boris remembered from when they were in the studio together. Of course, it came with the addition of the dark circles under Bendy's eyes standing out, all the more prevalent against the brightened white.

The little devil still wasn't moving, either, even as he was gently rolled over so they could clean up his back, legs, and tail. And while there wasn't a huge change, Boris could see that something in the nurse's face was pinching in a frown. But before he could work up the nerve to ask, she glanced up at the wolf and spoke.

"Is he supposed to be this thin?"

The question wasn't one that Boris expected to hear, his head tilting with a tired grunt before he realized that wasn't exactly polite and trying to rework his brain a little.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"There's barely anything to him. Is that…normal?"

Boris wasn't sure how to answer, and eventually just settled on a shrug. He didn't know, wasn't sure. At this point he was just hoping that Tom and Buddy would come back soon, it didn't feel right having them away. Though Dewey's face was still intently watching as the nurse finished, the newly clean Bendy being laid out on his back once again as he slumbered on. If anything, he looked vaguely peaceful now, if not very tired.

The nurse took the towels away and brought a new blanket, wrapping Bendy in what seemed like a cocoon of blue with little red dots. It did seem like a design of some kind but for the moment Boris wasn't sure he had the brain power to remember or figure it out. Especially when a clatter from the hall brought his eyes to Tom and Buddy walking in. Tom's brown overalls had been exchanged for a set of a t-shirt and pants, a hole cut in the back for his tail. Both were glaringly white, similar to the clothes the men were wearing, though the wolf himself looked nearly brand new. There were a few gray spots and lines poking through the white fur on Tom's face, one on the underside of his jaw, one poking through his browline, at least that was all Boris could see from this side.

Buddy was similarly cleaned, the tiny toon's face that same pale white that reminded Boris of those cartoons where the moon was full, standing stark against the dark sky. Then the minute devil looked his way and the wolf felt a tired smile settle in at the corner of his mouth as Buddy immediately grinned, waving at him. The motion drew Boris's eye to a white shirt that the tiny toon was wearing, the garment looking more like a dress on Buddy's frame, and also to the fact that Tom apparently had a bag over his metal arm.

"Tom?" Dewey called, having also spotted the bag. "What is that?"

"'S a bag, t'keep the water off. Not good if this gets real wet," Tom answered, raising said arm so that Dewey could see.

"All clean?" The inkwell asked.

"Yep, all clean. Now you an' Boris gotta go get clean." Tom's words had both Boris and Dewey straightening, the pair looking more than a little nervous at the idea of going off somewhere new. Granted, the reasons differed, Boris immediately looking down at the still-comatose Bendy while Dewey just looked nervous in general.

"C'mon, you both gotta go," Tom started, though as he came near, the other wolf had more to say. "I'll be here watching 'em. If anything goes wrong on your end, you start yellin' an' I'll come get you. Just get cleaned up, come right back."

The words were delivered in an undertone, Boris feeling a little relieved at that implication, the you're not alone, if there's trouble I'll come. Even still, he hoped there'd be no more need for fighting, hiding, or running, he was more than tired and ready for a break from all of that.

There was also the notion of Dewey, and it wasn't fair that the younger toon would have to sit here and be scared and filthy because Boris was too chicken to go.

Too much of a coward…

"Here, Dewey," Boris spoke up, reaching out to the inkwell with what he hoped was a reassuring smile, tiredness aside. "We'll go get cleaned up t'gether, okay?"

Despite the fact that the inkwell stood a good few inches taller that Boris, he still looked every bit the younger toon that he was, his eyes worriedly turning to the wolf and reading the gentle encouragement there. The calmness eased Dewey's fear, frown melting into a smile as he reached out and took Boris's hand, allowing himself to be lead to the door. Even still, Boris couldn't help glancing back, more than a little relieved to see Tom move into place between Bendy and Alice's beds with Buddy still tucked in an arm.

Then the sight was whisked away, Boris and Dewey falling into step behind Not-Norman… actually, now that the wolf thought on it, it was rather rude to keep calling him that. Still, it took the whole walk down the hall for Boris to work up his nerve.

"Uh, sir," he started, fighting the urge to fidget as the man looked his way.

"Yes?"

"Wh-What's your name?"

The question did seem to catch the man off guard for a moment, his hand pausing on the door handle before he smiled and answered.

"It's Lucio. What's yours?"

"Boris," the wolf said, jumping a little as Dewey spoke up next to him.

"Dewey."

"Good to meet the both of you," he replied, an easy smile on his face that reminded Boris of Jack and Wally. The door was opened, Lucio turning back to the toons as he continued. "Alright, the showers are over there, toilets are on that side, the sinks are here. Soap and such's all in the showers. Was there anything else you two needed?"

"No, we should be-" Boris was about to say when something occurred to him. "H-How long were Tom an' Buddy in the shower?"

"I think about twenty minutes, tops. Took us a few minutes to figure out the bag. Why?"

"Oh," Boris hummed, face falling as he mentally did the math. They usually had about ten minutes of warm water in the studio, if things were the same here, then Tom and Buddy went well over that. The other wolf hadn't looked cold though, maybe he was just that tough. He probably had Buddy go first. "D-Dewey, we gotta go quick, okay? The water's not gonna be warm-"

"No, it should be fine. Here, I'll show you." Lucio went through the small dividing wall to where the showers were, the pair following bemusedly in his wake. He went right up to the first stall, pushing the curtain back and showing Boris and Dewey the nozzle and the knobs. "Left for hot, right for cold. Just move the knobs around until you get the temperature you like. The other showers are the same, we can get you set up with one each."

Though Boris could see that Lucio was trying to be helpful, Dewey immediately looked a little nervous at the notion of being in a different stall. Right, the wolf would have to teach the inkwell, he wouldn't know about any of this…

"I-It's okay, we'll just take the one."

"Alright, you both can start handing me shoes and clothes, we'll get them cleaned up if we can. You can just hand me the jacket now if you like." Lucio's gesture to Bendy's ink-stained, by now very ratty coat immediately made Boris flinch before giving it a glum look. He wasn't sure any amount of cleaning was going to fix this, it already looked very beaten-up. Maybe they could do something though…

Boris tried not to be too hopeful though, even as he handed the coat to Lucio. Between the two of them Boris was able to finagle off his and Dewey's shoes, handing those over before he slid off his overalls. As they got ready to take the actual shower Boris couldn't help remembering how people had been a little funny about this sort of thing when Alice arrived. While there hadn't been many complaints about him and Bendy cleaning up at the same time, Jo-the adults, had been very clear that Alice had to do it separately. Something about her being a girl, which everyone seemed to get very embarrassed about explaining.

Well, if anything Dewey wasn't a girl, and he would need help, so this should still be fine. Besides he wasn't wearing clothes, kind of like Bendy, so if anything this was more similar to the little devil which helped ease Boris's nerves.

Granted, he was the one teaching Dewey how to clean up, so maybe Boris might've been a little too optimistic…

Dewey did jump a little as the water turned on, Boris starting with the cold and turning the hot on next. The inkwell then got partially fascinated both by the sheer amount of water and the fact that his feet also made clinking noises when they hit the tile.

"Water!"

"Yep, an' we're gonna use that to get cleaned up. This is the soap, okay, and this I'm guessin' is shampoo…they didn' have that in the studio, think it's just t'get cleaned up better…"

"Soap…" Dewey hummed, looking at the white bar as Boris grabbed it. There were also a few white washcloths sitting next to where the soap and shampoo were, the wolf getting one of those too and trying his best to get started getting Dewey clean. The inkwell jumped at the first touch, Boris jolting a little too before he internally berated himself; Dewey was young, he wouldn't know what was happening, and at the very least the wolf probably should not have started with the younger toon's back. Best that Dewey actually see what he's doing, right? That way he'd understand it.

"Uh, here, turn around," Boris hummed, gently guiding Dewey as he showed the inkwell how to clean off his arm.

"See, just rub this, over here," the wolf started, letting the black material get covered in suds. Passively, Boris couldn't help marveling at how Dewey's 'skin' felt almost like glass, but with a living sort of warmth underneath it. Sort of. Might've been more there because of the warm water.

"An' then you wash it off. Scrub, an' wash off. Just like that."

"Just like that," Dewey echoed, grinning. It was a smile that Boris couldn't help returning, though as he let Dewey wash off his other arm the wolf couldn't help frowning again as he considered what would have to come next.

"Dewey, how far back can y'reach?"

The sheer confusion in the inkwell's face made Boris's confidence stagger a little, though he tried his best to recover.

"Uhh, it's okay! It's okay, just turn around for a second, please?"

Nonplussed, Dewey did so, jumping a little as Boris started cleaning up his shoulders and back. Though after a moment, the inkwell did calm down, letting the wolf work. Boris walked Dewey through scrubbing down his legs, though when they got to the inkwell's head Boris felt his anxiety cranking back up again. At least when Dewey crouched down a little Boris discovered that the inkwell's head didn't have anything like a stopper in it, or a cork. Nothing that could be removed, damaged, or knocked loose.

It kind of almost looked like the inkwell's head just…didn't have a top. Instead it was a smooth black surface, same as the rest of his body. The feather was poking up from there, or more rather it was fused into the rest of the body, and kind of like Bendy's tail, or Boris's, in that it could move on its own. Though the notion of the inkwell having a tail on his head was, well, more than a little silly, the mental comparison to the inkwells that Boris was more familiar with, the objects, immediately had the wolf's mind filling with the image of water, or ink, getting into the younger toon's head, Dewey wouldn't be able to breathe, he could choke and die…

Two things snapped Boris out of his brief, mental stuttering. First was the feeling of something pulling at the fur in the crook of his elbow, the something turning out to be his own hand, and the second was Dewey making a confused noise, probably wondering why the wolf had gone so still. Boris tried to recover, turning his attention back to the younger toon's head.

Right, the feather…

"S-Sorry. We're gonna wash your head, okay, Dewey?"

"Okay!" The inkwell chirped, which left Boris briefly fumbling as he tried to figure out what to do next. Well, this wasn't quite the same as a tail. If anything it might be more like Alice's hair, and while the wolf never helped her with washing it he did help her brush out snarls and knots from time to time, particularly when it looked like the angel was rushing or having a hard go of it. If anything, Boris had learned a very important thing from that: being careful.

"Uh, let me know if I'm pulling too much, okay? Just say 'ow' if it hurts, an' I'll stop."

"Ow?" Dewey asked, trying out the new word.

"Yep, just say ow if it hurts, an' I'll know to stop."

"Okay," the inkwell hummed, turning to face forward again and letting Boris get to work. Thankfully for the wolf's nerves, there wasn't too much of an issue rinsing the feather off, the grime falling away as Boris lightly soaked it with suds and went to clean it.

The real problem came when Boris tried to rinse off the top of Dewey's head, the inkwell tilting his head forward and making the sudsy water run over his own face.

"Ah, no! Don't get the soap in your mouth!" Boris yelped as Dewey sputtered and coughed.

"Bad! Wrong!"

"I-It's okay! It's okay! Don't move around, alright?" The wolf couldn't help some of the shakes reverberating through his hands, though thankfully it didn't take much to get Dewey to keep still. Even still, the inkwell whimpering wasn't making Boris feel much better…

It took a few minutes of rinsing the younger toon's mouth to get him to stop fussing, Boris figuring that, whelp, this was good enough. Dewey definitely looked better, the white arrow on his front practically gleaming and the feather, while damp, was a much brighter shade to match.

Of course, that left Boris, the wolf gently ushering the inkwell to dry off as he got to showering himself. He couldn't help relishing a little in the feeling of the warm water running through his fur, letting it soak into his skin like that would wash away all of the tension he'd been carrying.

Boris was nearly relaxed when his hand brushed against that raised line on his front, the fur slicked down by the shower and making it all the more obvious to the touch. The scar, not to mention the very clear reminder of what he'd been through, made the wolf's ears lower, his shoulders rolling inward as he grabbed another washcloth, rubbing vigorously as though the suds would wash away the evidence of a wound.

It didn't, of course, but it burned off the wolf's nervous energy. His efforts to clean up were a little more melancholic after that, his body robotically going through the motions of washing out his fur. As Boris turned off the water, he happened to hear the sounds of shoes against the tile outside. Initially not that troubling, but the fact that it was the distinct clack-clack of heels made the wolf freeze. While there was that part of him that was hardwired with the notion of 'being presentable' in front of people, the fact that he was in such a state of undress, and presumably there was a lady outside, made that lesson reverberate in his mind a hundredfold.

And it didn't help knowing that he'd given his clothes away before, and therefore had nothing to wear.

Trying to think past his heartbeat, which had started galloping in his chest, Boris let his ears prick up to hear what the group outside was saying.

"Hello! Is your friend finished?"

"F-Fini-?" Dewey started, before Boris managed to leap in, well aware that the younger toon likely would have no idea what to say to these people.

"I, I'm almost done! I'll be out in a second!"

"Alright. I have some clothes here, if you want we can hand them to you and you can get dressed in-"

"Wait." Boris recognized that voice, sounded like the guy from before, Lucio? "He's got a tail; we'll have to cut a hole."

"Oh," the woman spoke up, the wolf carefully inching his way to peek around the curtain, feeling heat climb in his face at the presence of the two strangers. Yep, that was definitely the doctor-lady, and Lucio…

"Alright, hold on, I'll grab something," Lucio hummed, more to himself as he turned to head back out, leaving the toons alone with the lady doctor. Dewey fidgeted a little, looking towards Boris like he wanted the older toon to come out and at least be with him, but…

Boris knew his face was going so very gray right now, but the idea of stepping out there with no clothes on, was more than a little harrowing right now for a variety of reasons. Not only was it something he had drilled into his head as wrong and indecent, which seemed far worse and damning, there was also the matter of the scars. While his fur wasn't exactly sparse, he knew it wouldn't take much to expose the worst of it. In fact, it did remind him that while he usually went with just the overalls, he probably wouldn't be going without a shirt for a good long while…

It was funny to think about, given that he'd been running around since the day he was made with just the overalls, and even in the studio a little while ago he hadn't given it much thought. But, now that he had to deal with other people…

"Boris?" Dewey suddenly called, the inkwell's voice trembling between perturbed and confused. It really did make the wolf want to come out, but…

Even still, while Boris wasn't willing to go to Dewey, Dewey wasn't bound by the same reservations. The inkwell edged back over to the shower curtain, making worried noises in the back of his throat as he gestured between his face and Boris's.

"Boris is hurt? Boris is not better?"

The words and the gesturing didn't make much sense at first, Boris finding that his thoughts were stalling out as he tried to answer.

"I, I'm not hurt, Dewey. I'm okay."

"Bo-ris…" The younger toons still whined, sweeping his fingers over his face before reaching out to Boris and trying to wipe under the wolf's eyes. Above his nose. Boris, for his part, just tried to keep the curtain between him and the rest of the room, though the gesture was beyond confusing. He didn't have anything on his face, what was Dewey getting so upset about?

"It's alright, Boris is okay," the doctor lady spoke up, making both Dewey and Boris jump. They'd all but forgotten she was there. "He's blushing, I think. That doesn't mean he's hurt."

"B-Blushing?" Dewey stammered, clearly confused as he turned to face the doctor lady. Boris, for his part rubbed at his face, suddenly aware of just how ashamed he felt.

"It can happen if people are embarrassed or upset. Sometimes if they are sick, but I don't think that's why he's blushing now. And I'm sorry about the delay, with the clothes," she spoke up, calling around Dewey to the wolf himself. "Lucio should be back in a moment."

"I, it's okay," Boris blurted out, withdrawing behind the curtain entirely to dry off. He didn't think Dewey would get so bothered by, well, him looking so bothered. He really wasn't trying to cause a problem…

Thankfully for the overwhelmed wolf, the sound of returning footsteps hinted that Lucio had come back, with the altered pants. Boris tried not to look too perturbed as he reached around the curtain to take them, but he couldn't help briefly marveling at the softer fabric. It was the same sort of shade that Tom had been wearing, smelling clean and faintly of flowers as the wolf put it on. He still didn't have a shirt though…

Still, given that he did now have the pants Boris felt a little more sure about drawing back the curtain. Dewey was being helped into his set of pants, Lucio allowing the inkwell to brace himself up on his shoulders as he maneuvered his legs to where they needed to be. Dewey didn't exactly have a lot of flexibility so part of it was done more by feel than by sight, but the younger toon seemed like he was pulling it off.

And, speaking of shirts, Boris spotted a few familiar-looking garments bundled up in the doctor-lady's hands. Even though he was dreading drawing attention to himself, he was saved when she spotted where he was looking, and immediately moved to hand the shirts to each toon.

"Here, you're both a little on the taller side. Hoping we got the right sizes…"

However, the way the doctor put the shirt in Boris's hands had her hand brush up against his front, and the very prominent scar that lay under the fur. The touch made Boris start, the shirt falling to the floor between them as the wolf huddled in on himself, shielding his front.

There was an odd pause after that, during which the wolf hurried to grab the shirt and throw it on, ears and fur close to his scarred body as he tried his best to recover.

But before he could get it fully over his head the doctor spoke up.

"I'm sorry. Here, you can give me that. It's probably gotten wet."

Reluctantly Boris pulled the shirt away, searching her face for any sign, any reaction, from what had just happened. But, if there was anything, it was tucked carefully away behind a calm, gentle smile and a hand outstretched to take the somewhat damp shirt.

"It's alright, I'll be back with another one," she continued, turning to head back to the door. Boris's eyes shyly turned to where Dewey was finishing with getting his own shirt on, the inkwell's expression clouding over as his eyes met the wolf's. Immediately Boris looked away, feeling more than a little…inadequate. Here he was, the oldest out of the two of them, but he kept making mistakes, you stupid mutt, can't you do ANYTHING RIGHT-

The sound of Dewey's feet clacking on the tile floor caught Boris's ears, the wolf jumping a little as he looked up in time to see the younger toon coming to stand next to him.

"Boris?" The inkwell called, eyes beaming a quieter, straightforward sort of worry.

"I-It's okay, Dewey, 'm okay," he started, trying to force the steadiness he definitely did not feel right now into his voice. It didn't seem to convince Dewey that everything was fine, the inkwell's face not losing its worried cast.

But, in a strange switch, the younger toon edged closer, his movements cautious though he still tried to hug Boris to him like he had with Buddy. Boris, for his part, was left staring in surprise, craning his head back to look Dewey in the face. They didn't have that big of a height difference, but it was enough that the act did take some effort. Still, the only thing the wolf could see was the inkwell beaming a soft, kind of innocent smile at him, the younger toon speaking in that same, quieter, soothing tone Boris himself had been using not that long ago.

"Boris is okay. Is alright."

It was such a strange and sudden switch that Boris didn't even have it in him to be more than tiredly relieved. Small as it was, the moment made him feel so much less alone.

"Thank you, Dewey," he finally hummed, once he felt like he'd gotten his own emotions at least somewhat under control. The inkwell just gave back a happy hum, though the pair were startled from their calm by the returning sound of heeled shoes. Even though the doctor had been nothing if not kind, her presence did have them both straightening.

"Here you go," she said in that same calm, warm tone as she handed Boris a new shirt. Immediately the wolf slipped it on, briefly caught by the detail of the clean, flowery smell that saturated the fabric. Before he could get too off track, the doctor lady was directing the pair to follow, the wolf and inkwell falling into step behind her as she went.

However, before they went out the door, Boris couldn't help remembering that he didn't know the doctor's name. Though there was a slight, ashamed sting at the notion, it was one that he tried to correct even though he was still feeling plenty nervous.

"Um, sorry, but…w-what's your name?"

Thankfully the doctor-lady hardly seemed perturbed, giving Boris a soft, inviting smile as she answered.

"You can call me Dr. Sommer. And you're Boris, right?"

"Y-Yes'm. That's me." Even with the lighter tone, the wolf's reply held no end of nervousness. Boris internally tried to dial back on the tension. No one had done anything.

Yet.

He'd…just have to trust that things stayed okay. The thought making him stand a little straighter as he followed her back down the hall, one of Dewey's hands held in his.

---

Tom's gaze had slipped from the door to the beds he was standing in between, Buddy quietly set down on Bendy's given that there was a bit more room. The wolf's ears lowered as he slipped the bag off his arm, his gaze happening to catch the little devil's wane features. Bendy looked like he'd taken a few hits to the face with how dark the circles around his eyes were. Had he looked like that before? It was a little hard to remember, between the fact that even with heightened night vision the lighting in the studio still wasn't that great, and the fact that it looked like Bendy had had a good layer of dirt on him.

Still, it wasn't like Tom could do much about it now. The little devil being asleep was probably the best thing possible for the situation, and he still had plenty to keep an eye on. Like the fact that a few of the people in white were drawing the curtains around Alice's bed, and holding what looked like some kind of bucket with a few towels and some…weird yellow thing. Either way, Tom didn't like that they were essentially taking the angel out of his line of sight, crossing his arms as he spoke up.

"What are you doin'?" He was a little proud that he spoke with barely any catch or slurring to his voice, and that the lady jolted a little as she noticed him there.

"We're just going to clean her up. It'll be fine, we'll be done in a few minutes."

"I wanna be able to see her."

The words, stern and brooking no debate, had the nurses looking between each other before the one on the other side of the bed, a slightly older woman, gave a sigh and spoke up.

"Look, we do need to get her cleaned up, and I don't think it's fair to have the whole room gawking. So, how about this…"

She came around, ushering the younger nurse out of the way as she pulled the curtain to cover a little more than half of the bed. Tom could still see Alice's legs, but the majority of the angel was kept out of sight.

It wasn't perfect, but judging by what he was inferring from the situation, it would have to do. Besides, if they did try to take Alice away, he would see her being moved. Giving the older woman a nod, Tom settled in on Bendy's cot, preparing to basically stand watch throughout the whole process.

Tom passively watched as the shadows of the nurses moved, the sounds of the water being sloshed here and there easily caught by his ears. The sounds of fabric being gently rustled also nabbed his attention, the soft noise nearly causing the wolf's eyes to heavily blink before he snapped himself back to complete wakefulness. Or, well, something close to it. While a part of him really hoped that everyone would just leave, a much larger, gruffer part of him, one that smacked of a certain man that the wolf had grown acquainted with during his life in the studio, said that he had to just wait it out.

"I know it's a mess, kid, but you're smart. You make it work. Alright?"

Alright, Tom thought to himself, rolling his shoulders as he tried to keep settled in without outright dozing off. It definitely helped some that his feet had been left bare, cold tile jolting some life back into the wolf. Though it did also remind him that it'd be best if they got their shoes all back. Just in case. He'd learned the hard way why you didn't walk around the studio barefoot, and while this place certainly looked cleaner, he wasn't about to trust it just yet.

The air of calm was cut by a sudden, sharp buzzing noise coming from Henry's bed across the room, the noise causing Buddy to jump and hide and Tom to jolt and immediately turn to look. The curtain was still drawn, completely hiding the animator from view and it made something clench in Tom's chest. He'd forgotten Henry. Bendy and Alice were fine but he'd forgotten Henry.

The wolf hurried to get to his feet, not quite running but definitely not taking his time crossing the room to peek around the curtain. Henry had already been cleaned up, it seemed, a blue sort of smock taking the place of the ragged button-up and slacks he'd had before. But one of the men that had been helping them before, the one that had helped to move Henry from the van come to think of it, was holding something in his hand. Something that apparently had played a role in making Henry lose about half the hair on his head, the sight making Tom stall entirely as he tried to figure out just what was going on.

"You never seen an electric shaver before?"

The words immediately caught the wolf's attention. Well, that and the feeling of a small body pressing close to his leg, that turning out to be Buddy who had somehow clambered down from the cot to stand next to the wolf and gripping his pant leg with a frightened air. Before Tom could really think about it he'd quickly knelt to pick up the tiny devil, even as he replied with a voice that was much less sure than he'd like.

"No. What is that? What're you doin'?"

"He's got a ton of mats in his hair. Dunno where you've been, but when it's matted this bad the only thing you can really do for it is cut it off. It will grow back, if that's what you're worried about."

Well, apart from the initial shock Tom could say he wasn't…worried exactly. Though Buddy might've been another story, the tiny toon's hands pressed to his mouth, blue eyes wide as he stared at Henry.

"Well, alright, 's long as that's all you're doin'…" Tom muttered, kicking himself a little as he realized that he'd left Alice unattended. Besides, if they tried to take Henry out they'd still have to go past him. From the looks of things, he'd essentially worked himself up for nothing.

But as the wolf made to turn away, Buddy started to squirm in his arms, fighting to keep Henry in view.

"Wha-? He's just fixin'-"

Buddy though would not be consoled, giving an absolutely stricken look at something about this whole situation before turning his eyes back to Tom. Though, in a somewhat hint, the minute devil began patting his face and pointing to Henry, looking increasingly upset as he did so.

Well, to be more accurate, Buddy was patting his own eyes, and giving Henry's own, swollen-shut lids an increasingly frantic look.

It was something that Tom had glossed over on a first look, Henry didn't exactly seem well right now anyway, but now that he was seeing it it bothered him quite a bit too. Not being able to see might really be a problem, especially since Henry didn't have the Ink to protect him out here.

Though before Tom could do more than stare, the man had caught Buddy's semi-frantic gestures, and had correctly guessed why they were happening.

"We're gonna put some ice on his eyes for the swelling. It does look like most of it is inflamed, er, swollen. The ice'll take it down, and, we'll get a better idea of how his eyes look then and what we have to do."

Well, saying it like that made some sense…and it wasn't like there was anything that could be done about it in the here and now. So, even though Buddy didn't exactly look too relieved at the notion Tom forced himself to turn away. He had to keep an eye on things from the door, that way he could hear if there was trouble from Boris and Dewey's end, he could see if they tried to take anyone away. That was the most important place to be, and it had to be priority.

Which led Tom back to Bendy's cot, his eyes briefly darting over the little devil, and what he could see of Alice around the curtain. Everything looked to still be in order, the only real change being that he could see that they had wrangled off Alice's tattered black dress and putting it to the side.

The nurse putting down the dress happened to be the older one that had meted out the compromise, her eyes briefly showing that semi-irritation as she looked Tom in the eye. Though as they drifted down to where Buddy was being held against the wolf toon's front, there was a softening that took some of the edge of her subsequent question.

"Is it okay if they take this to get cleaned up?"

Tom gave a nod in response, letting her be the one to look away first.

As they were taking the dress, Tom happened to overhear a small snippet of conversation from the other nurses outside.

"-feels like silk, doesn't it?"

"Probably don't want to use any harsher chemicals then, it might ruin the fabric entirely…"

"Except this, this one actually feels normal. Well, mostly. I don't think those stains are coming out. We can try though. Definitely looks a little…I don't want to say anything too unkind, but-"

The talking did cut off there, but the pause along with a slight hiss of a sigh hinted that there were definitely some unkind things that could be said about whatever bit of clothing they were talking about. Tentatively, Tom raised his nose a little, drawing in a good lungful of air as his mind went over the different smells. Still that sharp scent, other scents that were, clean-smelling, but a little further away was that familiar reek of ink. Their clothes, probably, though the special consideration almost made Tom curious about which article of clothing they were talking about. Though a part of him did consider going to the door to take a look, he could hear their footsteps continuing on down the hall, taking the inky smells with them.

"It definitely has been through the wringer. Hopefully no one's too attached…"

And hopefully they weren't talking about his overalls because he was very attached to those. Still, Tom had the feeling that they weren't, so for the moment he let it go. They had said his clothes were special, after all. All the toons' clothes were.

He wondered what they'd think when the dress turned out to be perfectly whole, if that did end up happening. Now that'd be a sight.

A few minutes later, Alice's clean-up was finishing, the man who had been cutting Henry's hair having left a little while ago. Tom hadn't heard anything from Boris or Dewey, hopefully that meant the two of them would be back in soon. Buddy had started to doze in the wolf's arms, though he'd jolted up a little as the nurses pushed the curtains back. Tom glanced to Alice's still comatose form, seeing how she'd gone from the tattered black dress and gloves to a lighter hospital gown, sort of like a smaller version of what Henry was wearing, and uncovered hands. He then looked back up at the nurses, watching them as they gathered their things, and keeping his eyes on them until they were heading out the door.

"Wonder what on earth he thought we were going to do…" One of them said as they walked out, prompting Tom to stare after them. He was able to see how the other nurse's head was turning to look back, and while he had the thought to meet her gaze and gesture to his ears – really, you think I can't hear you? – he instead turned his eyes to Alice's bed. No need to give them hints. It gave him an edge and he intended to use it.

The sound of more heels clacking up the hall caught Tom's attention, also because it went in time with a familiar sort of clinking, like glass thunking against a tile floor. And, well, so far he knew of only one person that made that kind of noise when they walked…

The sight of Boris and Dewey poking their heads back in did make something unwind in Tom's chest, though the fact that they came back in with the doctor-lady kept him from giving more than a faint shadow of a grin.

She'd started talking, Tom more half-heartedly listening now given that his only real thoughts were strongly tilting in the way of how good sleep was sounding.

And, lo and behold, it seemed like he would finally be getting that break. Given that it was apparently after two in the morning, whatever that was, the next order of business would be to let the toons get some shut eye. However, before the doctor was about to walk out, Tom did get in his say about the shoes.

The slightly embarrassing thing was that his voice gave out in a sort of croak at the end that made him need to clear it. If the doctor-lady thought anything negative about that, she thankfully kept it to herself, and just said that she'd also be sure they were given a pitcher of water before they went to bed. Tom…figured that was good, though when it initially showed up before the shoes did it made the wolf wonder if he'd been tricked.

Thankfully for his flagging energy, Lucio showed up a few minutes later, just as Boris was helping Dewey get settled on the cot. Tom was more standing by, given that on one front the lankier wolf toon seemed to have it much more in hand – really though, it made sense he would – though he briefly started when Boris's tone changed from tiredly soothing to a little perturbed.

"Oh, Buddy! You don't hav'ta do that!"

The reason for Boris's words became clear pretty quick, when Tom looked over and found that Buddy had clambered up to settle in right next to Dewey's head, the tiny toon giving all the indication that he was perfectly willing to sleep there. At Boris's exclamation Buddy looked up, face showing a picture-perfect expression of bemusement at the idea. And, really, it didn't seem that important to Tom either. If the kid was comfortable, let him sleep where he wanted.

Besides, Dewey was the one that looked a lot more calmed by the notion of having the tiny toon near, the inkwell's face falling into a perturbed mire as it started to look like he'd be alone on the cot. The sight gave Boris a moment of pause, but before it could get too awkward Lucio showed up with a plastic bin that had all their shoes. Even Alice's, Tom was surprised to note, and the wolf could definitely spot Buddy's little boots in there. Little hard to see, given his, Dewey's, and Boris's shoes, but they were there.

And, thankfully, Lucio wasn't wasting time, quickly bowing out and letting them head on to bed. Though before he left, he stopped at the door, pointing at a small switch on the wall.

"Alright, if you need to turn the lights back on, the switch is right here, okay?"

"W-We can?" Boris started, before catching how his question made Lucio frown and he immediately tried his best to disengage from the conversation. "Uh, we'll remember. Thank you."

Lucio echoed the same sentiment back, and in a few minutes he was gone. A faint click though told Tom that while they had control over the lights, the toons were expected to stay in the room. Or, maybe more accurately, no one else was supposed to come in to see them.

And, well, that was just fine though he'd rather they left the door unlocked, at least.

But, couldn't do much about it now, and he was really looking forward to some actual sleep.

Thankfully everyone else seemed to agree, Tom more supervising as Dewey and Buddy got properly bedded down, and Boris settled in next to Bendy. With nowhere else left to go, Tom took the cot next to Boris's, though first he headed to the light switch, flicking it and plunging the room into dark. Thankfully the frosted window on the door did let in some light, that way it wasn't completely black and Dewey's momentary start at the change was pretty short-lived. Tom could make out Buddy patting the inkwell, the touch soothing the younger toon enough to settle down.

Boris shifted a little too on his cot, peeking up as Tom came back around to lie down. Thankfully it didn't seem like the other wolf would need much calming, as he quickly turned back in Bendy's direction as Tom settled in.

The softness of the cot gently eased Tom's eyes to close, his head lolling on his pillow as he felt his body relax. Though there was a part of him that couldn't help feeling a little tense still, he tried his best to mollify it with what he knew. They were okay for now, there was no noise, he could calm down now, he needed to calm down, he was more than ready to just sleep…

But then a faint noise in the hall caught Tom's attention, the wolf sitting up as quietly as he could. Someone was out there, they'd stopped just outside the door. The question was, were they coming in, and why? It had seemed like they'd be left alone.

And who on earth was out there?

Carefully getting to his feet, Tom threw a glance around at the other toons, making sure that no one else had woken up. No one had moved, it seemed like they'd all dropped off pretty quickly. He was the only one awake right now.

Given that he wasn't wearing his shoes, and he'd had plenty of practice, Tom slipped to the door like a shadow, positioning himself to the side just in case there was some way they could see him through the small, frosted glass window. The light was coming all from the outside, but he knew better than to assume it would all be fine.

And, oddly enough, there was another set of footsteps coming towards the door, these moving a bit slower than the first set. It briefly made Tom wonder if people were just out and about in this place at all hours, and boy wasn't that going to get annoying…but then this new person stopped right in front of the door too, and the both of them were exchanging a quiet set of hellos.

And, funnily enough, Tom was recognizing one of the voices. But for the moment, the other person was asking a question, one that he tried to keep up with given that it seemed to concern, well, them. Everyone currently in the room, anyway.

"Are those the notes for our recent arrivals?"

"Yep, though that's just based on what little I saw. The majority of them are stable, though I think I might've been a bit hasty in saying that some of them are healthy," the doctor-lady, Sommer, was saying, Tom's ears perking up as he tried to listen in. Who was she talking to…?

"What do you mean?" It sounded like a lady. An older lady. But not someone who had spoken before. If Sommer was talking to her though, Tom reasoned, he might be seeing this person later on. He'd have to keep an eye out.

"While I think their biology is tangentially human, and perhaps I would need a veterinarian's perspective to be sure, but the majority of them show some signs of being malnourished. The only one I can't really speak for is the…inkwell, and his particular physiology might be hiding that. There is also the scarring I spotted on each of them. It's hard to tell if the injuries are recent, but given how the one reacted to the elevator I definitely have thoughts about how at least some of the injuries were inflicted."

Yeah, the elevator. Another thing in a long line of things that Tom needed more time to think about. But for the moment he shoved his thoughts aside, forcing himself to pay attention.

"What would you recommend?"

"A full examination for each of them, if possible. I feel we will need to be careful with them in an interview, it's clear to me that there have been some traumatic events. I wonder also about their developmental levels, as it seems like we are either dealing with children, or young adults. Depending on which one we are working with, we will need to tailor our approach. From what Lucio told me, the inkwell did not know what a shower was, or really how to clean himself. One of the wolves, Boris, had to help him." Lucio must've been one of the two men helping them. Tom couldn't remember exactly who had gone with Boris, but he definitely filed the name away for later.

"So the information we get could be incomplete…"

"Between all of them, the perspective could be a lot more balanced. But I would say that the best thing to do right now would be to allow them to rest. If anything, the man who came with them might be more valuable to talk to, once he wakes up."

That was assuming Henry woke up anytime soon though, Tom thought, ears lowering a little more as he thought. With how injured the man was, he might be down for a while longer. What would they do then?

"Any idea who he is?"

Well, that was a stupid question, they'd told them Henry's name…

"I believe they're running the information on his tags. If he's already got some record in the system, it should come up. Alternatively, we could wait for him to wake up and ask him."

The tags, the silver tags that Tom had seen Henry wearing before, when the man had shown up with the flashlight. Incidentally, he didn't remember seeing them after they got here, though as for what the tags would accomplish for finding out who Henry was, well, that was still a mystery…

"That might not be as accurate."

"It might be all we have."

And, Tom fervently, and a little angrily, hoped, that better be good enough.

"Here, I'll walk with you downstairs," Sommer said, the pair heading off down the hallway as their voices and footsteps faded into the distance.

Well, Tom thought briefly, if he was hoping this would be the end of it, it certainly didn't look like they were going to be left alone. At least not like he'd hoped. And it really seemed like the only thing that would get them to back off was for Henry, of all people, to wake up.

Thinking about that saw the wolf carefully heading to the other end of the room, where the animator lay in his own cot. Tom had gotten a glimpse of all the hardware before, what with the clear bag of…stuff, and the line going down to Henry's arm, but he also noticed a screen next to the bed, reading out some sort of zig-zag rhythm in electric green. Henry's head was still very much without hair, or at the very least he had a slight fuzz, the black scars running over the skin, cutting through the unbandaged features of his face and running over his arms. It almost looked like he was made of broken glass.

They'd also put a rather thick-looking bandage on the animator's eyes, Tom ruminated as he eased himself around to be near the weird, beeping screen, the wolf's eyes scanning over what he could. He held an arm in front of Henry's face, just to confirm that the man was still breathing, and out of curiosity Tom let his normal fingers brush against the thick bandage. Cold, but that did make sense. They had said Henry's eyes were swollen.

But it didn't look like the animator would be waking up any time soon.

Glancing around at what he could of the others, Tom leaned in until his head was right in front of Henry's, doing his best to whisper.

"Henry…?"

The softer call of his name did provoke something in the animator's mind, Henry taking in a wheezing breath as his hands moved on the blankets. Tom quickly reached out, worried that he'd somehow caused the animator to wake up before he was ready, but as Henry felt the contact his struggles drew to a close. Tom could see the man's mouth opening, lips forming what looked like a word, or two, but it was hard to tell what it was and before he knew it Henry had gone quiet and still once again.

And these guys were apparently set on talking to the animator…

Tom felt a steady rush of tension settling in his shoulders, traveling down his arms and up his neck into his head. Immediately he tried to take deep breaths, there was no danger here. There was no danger yet. He needed to be ready, but this wasn't the way to do it.

Make it work. Be smart.

But how?!

A noise made Tom jolt, the new sound perking up his ears as he tried to figure out where it was coming from. It had to be right in the room with how clear it had been, but he hadn't heard the door…

Sliding out from in between Henry's bed and the wall, Tom's eyes scanned the partially lit room. Dewey and Buddy looked like they hadn't moved, Alice and Bendy were similarly unchanged, but Boris…

The other wolf hadn't really moved, though from what Tom could see he'd…curled up a little more. His shoulders were hiked up and his tail was tucked against his legs, and his ears and fur were slicked down.

There were also a few smells that gently teased at Tom's nose, fighting past the somewhat smothering sense of cleanliness and sterility that choked the air of the room. Slight hints of ink, and…

Boris's shoulders shook, just as the meaning of the second scent became clear: salt. Salt that was likely from tears. As Tom came around, Boris started at the first signs of motion before it caught up to him what he was seeing.

Even in the semi-darkness Tom could see the shine to Boris's eyes, keeping watch as he went back to sit on his own cot. Tom knew the other wolf was going to be a wreck if he didn't get some sleep. Boris was already looking and acting like one now, practically curled up into a ball and shivering like there was a tangible threat to hide from.

He was going to wake up Buddy and Dewey if he kept that up, not to mention get the attention of anyone that might still be hanging around outside. That was what got Tom moving, getting up as he considered the situation. At the movement, Boris started, ears flattening to his head as he looked over at the stockier wolf.

But the only thing Tom did was push his cot to be right next to Boris's, the faint noise causing a rustle to echo from Dewey's cot. The sight of the inkwell sitting up caused a sigh to come from Tom, though he gestured for the younger pair to come over. Boris mostly watched as Dewey hopped off his cot, Tom finagling it to fit in right next to his own. There was barely enough clearance between his and Alice's beds, but they made it work.

That done, Dewey settled in with a smile, Buddy retucking himself in next to the inkwell's head. Tom, for his part, settled down on his back, keeping his arm where he wasn't liable to roll over and pin it during the night.

As far as things were concerned, Tom was ready to go to bed. Though a quick glance over at Boris revealed that the other wolf was really no better. Lying on his back had the lankier wolf toon squirming and shifting around, his ears lowered and face mired with discomfort.

"You alright?" Tom murmured into the semi-dark, watching as Boris jumped.

"Mhm, 'm fine. Jus', just need a minute."

And, well, seemed sound enough. Though given how Boris seemed to want to lie on his right side while also keeping Bendy in sight, Tom still found the need to speak up.

"I can watch him too, y'know."

It was meant to be a reassurance, though from the way the lankier wolf toon reacted it was like Tom had just shouted at him. Immediately Boris flinched away, ears and fur flattening as his tail tucked close. It didn't seem like the other wolf was at the level of crying again, but Tom could tell he wasn't far.

Damn, he really didn't have much of an idea of what to do, did he…?

After a moment, Boris huddled partially between Tom's cot and his own, sitting right on the border like he was too afraid to come closer. After another moment, Tom let out a sigh and dragged Boris's body near, allowing the lankier wolf to rest his head next to Tom's shoulder. So long as it wasn't cutting off circulation, it should be fine…

The contact did also seem to soothe Boris's nerves, the other wolf faintly sniffling still, but frame starting to sink into the plush material of the cot. Tom moved with some faint, reciprocal muscle memory, flesh-and-ink fingers finding that particular spot just behind Boris's ears as he gently scratched. For a moment, he wasn't sure if he'd even done the right thing given how Boris stiffened, but then the lankier wolf toon relaxed with a quiet sigh and huddled in.

And then Boris ended up completely throwing Tom for a loop as his arms came up to wrap around him, hugging Tom close like a stuffed animal. The fact that Tom stiffened up in response also caught Boris's attention, the lankier wolf drawing back a little as his ears lowered, fur slicking down in an unconscious effort to be smaller.

"Sorry, I won't do it again-"

Though there was a part of Tom that was a little relieved when Boris backed away, it was clear that the hug had been helping, so it wasn't too much of a surprise when he answered back.

"It's okay, don't worry about it."

That seemed to be all the lankier wolf needed to huddle in close again, thankfully not quite hugging like he had before. Given that Boris's head was tucked up right under his own, Tom could easily hear how the other wolf's breathing started to slow in that way that hinted his sliding grasp on the waking world.

But before Tom could fully relax, Boris's arm came up again, wrapping around his chest and staying there. At first Tom couldn't help freezing up again before he just gave an exasperated sigh, more so at himself than the other wolf. He'd just have to get used to this. He'd gotten used to plenty before, how bad could this get?

-A body flying through the air-

The thought made a frown settle in on Tom's face, the fingers on his metallic arm giving a tense twitch. Though Boris seemed to sense something was amiss in his sleep as he gave the stockier wolf a light squeeze. The sudden contact made Tom's brain pause before his flesh and ink hand came up again and scratched around Boris's ears. There was a faint thump-thump as the lankier wolf's tail wagged in his sleep, but overall, there was no change.

And for the moment, no fear.

A thought trickled into Tom's mind, feeling like it was something he'd heard before but for the life of him he couldn't place exactly where.

I don't know if I'm good enough, but for you I'll try.

The sentiment had Tom briefly look up to check on Buddy and Dewey, ears flicking slightly as he looked at the slumbering duo before turning his gaze left and right. Henry hadn't moved, neither had Bendy or Alice. Boris was passed out. The door was closed. There was no sound out in the hall.

It finally had some of the tension running out of the stocky, one-armed wolf toon, Tom taking a deep breath and letting it out as he sank quietly into the mattress.

The room finally began to quiet down, the toons within slumbering as the world slowly turned to dawn.

---

Hope you enjoyed, and to aturgus, sorry for the wait but I did try to deliver. Hope you're still reading and that things are going well!

Wonderful night to everyone, and I'm wondering if anyone was able to guess the cameo back there. Not really gonna be a crossover heavy story, or even really a crossover at all, but considering the setting I couldn't resist slipping that in. Fingers crossed I can get to some other ideas later on down the road, given that those'll kinda help round that out.