AN: A bit of warning, this chapter contains some... gruesome material. And a cliffhanger.
The doors led to a hallway filled with posters. At the end of the hallway was a bench that Susie (Alice) was able to lay the boy one. With the cat-thing distracted by the kid, she decided to take a look around.
The room beyond the hallway was full of ink statues, glistening underneath bright lights hanging from the ceiling. Many of them were of creatures she knew about: Fishers, Strikers and Pipers. Borises, Searchers, and Lost Ones. There were even ones of the Projectionist and the Ink Demon.
Then there were the ones she knew nothing about. A hulking gorilla-like beast that looked like Bendy... if one squinted. A version of Boris bloated and mutated. A version of herself, with huge slabs for wings and claws and ink pouring down her face. "What on-"
"I call that one Malice Angel," a new voice said. "Joey only used you like that for one cycle, for some reason."
Susie turned around. Standing behind her was what appeared to be a woman made out of glass filled up with ink. She was dressed in a black blouse and skirt that ended at her knees. She had bandages wrapped around her right arm, upon which there were a few ink stains. Her head resembled the top of an ink bottle, with a short quill sticking out of it. The only features on her face were a large pair of cat-eye glasses, with her eyes mounted in the frames.
"Then again," the woman continued. "He was experimenting during the early ones."
"Uh, hello," Susie (Alice) started. "I'm Ali-"
"I know who you are, Susie Campbell," the inkwell woman said. "I remember, even if that name means nothing to you now. I remember everything. As for me, you can call me Dot."
Susie was too shaken to do anything other than nod, her mind a-whirl with questions.
"That being said," the glass woman continued.
Next thing Susie knew, she was lying on the floor, a stinging sensation in her cheek. Looking up, she saw Dot flexing her right hand, a new ink stain spreading at the wrist. "That's for killing my boyfriend every cycle," she added sharply.
The little menace started laughing. "I like her already!" he said.
Dot turned to the pair. "So you are Plagg. I must say, I'm quite a fan," she said.
The cat, Plagg, smirked. "Nice to meet you," he said, holding out a nub.
Shaking it with two fingers, Dot continued speaking. "And this must be Adrien."
"Who's Adrien?" Susie (alice) asked.
"That's me!" the boy on the bench said. "So radiant, so carefree, so dreamy, the fragrance!"
Dot hesitated. "Is he okay?" she asked Susie.
"He's been getting worse and worse," she replied.
"Hhmmm..." Plagg thought a for a moment before laying a paw on the boy. "Catastrophe," he intoned.
A flash of black went across Adrien and he sat up. "What a rush!" he said.
"It wasn't a head injury, it was a curse," Plagg said, rubbing his paws together. "Must have been from whatever magic that had been used to force you to detransform. Dunno what the purpose was, but it's gone now."
"Wait, how did you do that? I thought you only gave me Cataclysm."
Plagg huffed. "Kid, you're Ladybug's equal in every way. Of course you two have the same number of powers. You just never had any reason to use them."
Adrien looked around. "Where are we?" he asked.
"These are the Archives," Dot answered. "A repository containing nearly every piece of media ever produced by Joey Drew Studios. Up to and including recordings of each individual Cycle."
"The Cycle?" Susie asked, a feeling of dread creeping down her spine.
"The studio is caught in a time loop," Dot continued, walking toward a row of shelves. "Created by Joey Drew to punish his former partner for a supposed crime. Henry Stein is cursed to walk for eternity a world where his beloved creations have been turned to nightmares. The poor man chases a nonexistent hope, caught in an endless maze, searching for an exit that is so near yet so far."
"How do you know this?" Plagg asked. "If that is true, you shouldn't remember any..." He trailed off. "Oh, I see. You've been touched by the Dreaming World and the Nowhere."
"Wait, what do with any of this?" Susie asked, reeling from the information she had learned.
"Joey needed characters for his tale," Dot said picking up a reel, appearing to be saddened. "He already had us trapped here, he just needed to mold us to his liking."
"We're trying to find the focus of the spell," Adrien spoke up. "Do you know where they are?"
"I don't know what the focus is," Dot continued, replacing the reel. "But if it is anywhere, it is in the Ink Machine. That is the one place in the studio I have never seen the inside of. All the Cycle reels end just as Henry enters the pool of ink around it. But that is not the problem we should be focusing on. Wilson has captured your friends."
"Who's Wilson?" Susie asked, having never heard that name before.
"I don't know," Dot said. "He appeared a few Cycles ago, and had made his home in one of the levels. He also seems to remember the Cycles as well. Although, that may be the work of his patron. Which, again, I don't know who that may be."
"What's he doing?" Plagg asked.
"From what my sources tell me, he has been conducting experiments with what he calls chromatic ink," Dot said. "Constructs infused with this ink seem to imitate life, but are not truly living. His favorite creature to make are the Keepers."
Dot continued talking, but Susie didn't hear any of it. She was lost in her own head, mouth hanging open at the truth she had just learned.
She wasn't Alice Angel yes she was. She was nothing more than a puppet, used by Joey for his own purpose.
Just like he did with everyone.
All of a sudden, the room shook, the hanging lights swaying above as a horrid screeching filled the room.
"What was that?" Adrien asked.
"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this," Dot said, heading toward a back room. "Follow me. I think I know how to find out."
-MToLaCNBatIM-
Marinette was beginning to worry.
Wilson had the Keepers roll her and Buddy into some kind of workshop. There were tables along the walls filled with papers written in a spidery hand. Vials filled with both black ink and colored ink resting on shelves on the walls. Large machines of unknown purpose were scattered on the floor. The Keepers pushing her table in between two towers that looked like they had come out of a Frankenstein movie. She noticed that a large tank was suspended above her.
Wilson entered the room, followed by a maid carrying a box. The maid looked like a wooden doll, with colorful glowing eyes, slightly leaking colored ink from them.
Tikki stared at the woman. "What have they done to you?" she whispered.
"Cease your talking, spirit," Wilson said. "The poor thing cannot hear you. When I worked on her, I had not yet refined my technique. As such, she can only respond to simple commands. I mostly keep her around as a curiosity."
Tikki glared at Wilson. "You're a monster," she said as he opened the box.
"She was meant to serve as a vessel for my Masters, however, they require a more... consistent form." he continued, pulling a knife from the box. The knife was hard to look at, seeming to blur and exist in more than three dimensions. Marinette was also sure eyeballs weren't supposed to itch.
Wilson looked at her. "You should be honored," he said as he poured a vial of colored ink into a slot on the blade, causing lines etched in it to glow. "Your body shall be the key to them returning to this world."
"Marinette!" Tikki cried, once again bouncing against the walls of the jar she was trapped in.
Wilson stood over her, knife raised up high. "The time has come," he intoned, "and the Old Ones shall rise again."
"NOO!" Tikki cried.
Marinette closed her eyes.
He shoved the knife into her chest.
And there was the sound of breaking glass.
AN: I warned you...