A/N

Heyo! Welcome back to another chapter of Living Ink Lies. Sorry that it's taken me so long to post another chapter and update, but I've been balancing school, work, color guard, and writing all at once, so it's been a bit stressful. That plus the fact that I'm actually working on a true book doesn't entirely help my practically non existent schedule. Anyway, enough outta me, onto the story. :)

(And thank to the like one person who followed and favorited this fic, it means a lot to know that I'm updating for an audience, even if it is a tiny one :))

Four

It took a good couple hours, but the Chaos Entity managed to explain almost everything that the woman seemed to be enduring, answering any questions to the best of their ability. It was weird. Harley didn't ever think she'd be in a situation such as this, but who would?

The Chaos Entity said that because it had been tasked to Harley by its master, it could no longer leave her unless ultimately commanded by her. The wolf itself couldn't speak, so it had taken to speaking with Harley via what the Entity itself called a Pairing Line. Which, in layman's terms, was basically a communications link that was connected through both their minds.

Chaos was friendly enough with the girl, and now that it had gathered enough energy to stay around in a tangible form, it stuck with its wolf form while the woman wandered around, never truly leaving her side if they could help it.

As of right now, Harley was trying to drain the damned Music Recording Booth so she could go in and see if she couldn't find a way to the heart of the building. She had a feeling that's where her problems were coming from. The Chaos Entity had taken the time to explain what the Ink Machine was and what its power consisted of, which was how she ended up in this bizarre situation of hers in the first place.

After a good couple minutes of looking for the pump that would drain the ink from the Music Department, Harley finally managed to get the ink drained, making her way into the room after it had been depleted enough to properly walk through. The Ink itself stayed connected to the walls and baseboards, but it wasn't enough of a hindrance to bother Harley with trying to drain it more.

The Music Department itself wasn't a very big place, it really only had one room with it, while the rest was an open floor plan, to say the least. Looking up, Harley studied the office that came with the recording room, most likely an actual recording booth as well as someone's office. Sammy's, if Harley had to guess.

Around the rest of the room were little cardboard cutouts of Bendy, along with some music stands that still held sheet music. Harley heard Chaos padding about the room as she walked up to the music stands, picking up one of the pages of sheet music. It was labeled Alice's Tango. It didn't have an author listed on the page.

From what she could see, the music itself looked like it was darker than your average tango music, but it seemed like it would fit in with the happenings of the Animation Studio.

Drawing her eyes away from the sheet music, Harley walked over to the office and started looking for a door. She found one pretty easily, just around the corner from the open room. Chaos followed her into the recording booth, and once she got inside, Harley was glad it had.

As soon as the pair stepped into the office, the same Ink Creatures from before were waiting for them. The Chaos Entity let out a loud growl before practically hurdling over Harley. The woman was forced to duck when an Ink Creature made its way past the Entity, lunging at her. Taking the ax, Harley swung, bringing the blade of the weapon to the neck of the Creature.

The thing dissipated in a hiss of pain, jolting slightly before seeming to pop, turning back into 'normal' ink. Looking around, Harley's eyes found the Chaos Entity, watching as the Inky wolf snapped its jaws around the neck and shoulder of the last Ink Creatures.

Something about the wolf seemed off. It was huffing from the fight, but it almost seemed to be blurry around the edges, a glitching effect coming off its 'fur'. The more she looked at it, the more Harley could tell that the wolf wasn't as… stable as it had been. The wolf seemed to notice Harley's eyes on it, turning its pure gold eyes to the woman, tilting its head in a way that was probably supposed to seem curious, but in reality was just fucking spooky.

Shaking her head, Harley walked further into the office, her mouth left open. The room was huge. It was much bigger than it had seemed outside, and Harley was pretty damned sure she knew how building worked enough to know that when something was small from the outside, it had to be small on the inside.

Harley should've known that the Studio was as far from a normal building as anything could get. The room put her on edge. She could hear whispers coming from the darker and seemingly denser shadows, getting louder when she got near them and their inky abyss.

The Chaos Entity watched as its Bonded walked further into the room, carefully trotting alongside the human. It heard the voices as well, and had been hearing them for as long as it could remember. And it could remember everything from the very first day it had come into existence. It hadn't expected the woman to be able to hear them as well, let alone be able to decipher what they were saying.

The Chaos Entity could hear the whispers, but that didn't mean it could understand what the Ink and its Master were saying to the woman. For the wolf, the sentences were never complete, and information seemed to go missing at the most inopportune times. Whatever it was that the Ink was telling the woman, the Chaos Entity knew it couldn't be good, and did what it was told to do, and kept the human moving, keeping her away from danger.

As the two continued forward, the foreboding feeling in Harley's stomach got more potent, making her want to puke. She had a feeling she wouldn't have been able to under normal circumstances. Normal circumstances didn't exist here, that much she was certain of.

Finally, after a couple of minutes of aimlessly wandering, the duo found another door that had somehow connected to the recording booth. Something told Harley that they had left that part of the Studio the moment they went down this darkened hallway. She could feel the uneasiness of the Chaos Entity next to her, and it put her more on edge than she already was.

Something is not right. Stay here.

Harley raised an eyebrow before stepping forward to follow the wolf. No way in hell was she willing to leave the only creature in this damned building that wasn't willing to immediately kill her. Not when she still didn't know what exactly she was supposed to do, or what was even happening in the first place.

She tried not to think too much about it. It made her head hurt, and she got the distinct feeling that the headache would irritate the wolf.

The Chaos Entity huffed when it sensed the human following behind it. Although, to give her some credit, she was more cautious after the Chaos Entity's warning. The Chaos Entity stood on its previous notion that the human it was tasked with was smarter than the others that had been drawn here.

Shaking its head, the Chaos Entity continued moving forward, never going far enough that their Link was broken. Just in case it needed to Travel with the human. The Chaos Entity vaguely remembered this part of the studio. It tried not to come down here too often. There were too many enemies and not enough allies on this side of the building.

And, this was where Sammy Lawrence loved to herd his "sheep" into his studio to then give as an offering to the Ink Demon, or his "Lord" as the once-human referred to the Demon. The Chaos Entity had a feeling that the remade man would love to have its own human as a sacrifice. Especially when it was the human that the Ink Demon wanted in the first place.

It was strange. The fact that the musician stayed away from his own office. Although, he did tend to lurk around the place, just in case someone wandered in without meaning to. The musician had his own…creative…way of sending his offerings to the Ink Demon, even if the Ink Being never truly seemed to return the favor.

Either way, the Chaos Entity did not want to take the chance that Sammy was anywhere nearby. But, something in the Ink whispered that whatever it was that the musician was planning, the Chaos Entity wouldn't be able to keep the human out of it.

Hey y'all. This is a redo/update for this chapter to try and make everything else flow better together. You may wanna re-read just in case, because some things did change. :)