Alice sat on a ledge above the ink ocean, her feet dangling just over the side. She almost caught herself swinging her legs to pass the time, but it was hard to be nonchalant when she was facing the ink demon's lair less than 100 yards away.

She watched absently the entrance of the metal amalgamation where Henry had disappeared into. He had been an odd new companion to her small inner circle of two. For the longest time it had only been her and Tom. And she had been fine with that. But when they found him following the death of the twisted angel, there had been something about him. He seemed calm. Too calm. Not even putting up much fight when they eventually put him behind bars. She figured it could've been his age that made him so wise with experience. Or maybe something else...

A distant roar from inside made her tense. She pictured Henry running for his life from the devil himself, covered in ink and sweat and ready to collapse at any moment. The older man tripping and falling over his own feet, only to meet with the ink demon already upon him.

Or maybe he's already dead.

The thought made her tense. She shook the head and sighed, not wanting to admit the possibility. She looked to Tom, hoping he would be able to lighten the mood.

Tom couldn't express himself the same ways she could. He couldn't talk to her about what he was feeling, nor could he share a worried look for their newest companion. Instead, she watched his body language. He was leaning his back against the light post with his head turned down. He was focused on cleaning ink splatters off his mechanical arm with a spare rag. He meticulously picked at dried ink near the outer edges of the metal; shoulders firm with concentration. She knew the act was a ritual Tom had for all his tools. It was his way of clearing his mind and working through things as a process.

The wolf noticed the angel's gaze and returned it with his own. She gave him smile she knew he wouldn't be able to reciprocate.

Alice looked down at the shallow ocean of ink that laid out in front of her. One small puddle of ink was enough to muddle her mind and bring her kicking and screaming back into the well of voices. The thought had always terrified her before; that one misstep would lead to her into hell with no guarantee that she would come out the other side unscathed. Still, despite herself, she stayed hopeful. Somehow, she knew that in this place at this very moment, one way or another, this was the end of the road.

Another roar sounded from somewhere in the machine, followed by a low rumbling.

"That can't be good," she said, her eyes glued to the ink machine as stood from her spot. Tom was at her side in an instant, keeping his good arm in front of her and his metal one outstretched and ready.

What had started as vibrations had turned into an earthquake. The entire cavern began to react as walls cracked and spilled dust from every opening.

A white glow appeared from inside the ink machine. It slowly encroached any and all occupying space, transforming the room into a searing white light that was too powerful to look at. It crept closer, crossing the inky ocean like a tidal wave. She raised a hand to shield her eyes, but it had no effect.

Oh no.

The light was everywhere. Her body began to feel lighter than it ever had; like the weight she carried on her shoulders was fading away.

Fading.

Fading.

Fading...

Alice wasn't sure where she was, but it didn't matter to her. She floated as a weightless consciousness through the void of nothingness, her emotions detached from all thoughts. Memories played out in no particular order. Some we're as vivid as the day she lived them. And some felt like a she we're a passenger in her own body, like watching scenes from a film.

Soon the memories began to slip through the cracks. She'd forget little things at first; things like where she stashed the extra keys to her hideout or the name of pot she used to cook her with soup. Then the bigger things started slipping. She forgot the routes she took to navigate the studio. She forgot what weapon she held by her side almost every day.

Then there was the wolf. The stoic yet compassionate companion she felt the safest with. The one that saved her time and time again through the toughest times in her life.

What was his name again?

Her soul was being wiped clean of all experiences and consequences. Enough time passed to where she was no longer anything. She was a blank slate, ready to be molded into anything that the world deemed necessary. Alice was gone.

"Hi, um... am I in the right place?"

A voice spoke from the nothingness, light and airy. Familiar. Her voice.

My voice.

Another voice answered her. This one was deeper, jovial and hearty.

"Ah! You must be the new voice actor for Alice Angel. I believe we spoke on the telephone."

Alice could see it now. She was in an office; the walls lined with awards for various achievements. A desk with a comfy chair sat in the middle of the room. A man stood in front of her. She held out a hand to him.

"Yes, sir! Thank you so much for the opportunity, Mr. Drew. I won't let you down."

Mr. Drew. Joey Drew. The man behind it all. He let out an approving chuckle and reached out a hand of his own.

In the place of eternal peace, something pulled the pieces of Alice back together from the nothingness. There were memories that overlapped each other. They seemed to be taking place at the same time in her mind. They clashed together, making a kaleidoscope of possibilities. They all existed at once. And they also never happened in the first place. Their hands finally met in a firm handshake.

"Thank you, Ms. Pendle. I look forward to seeing what you'll accomplish here."

Alice awoke with a start, her whole-body tensing at the return of sensations. She was laying on her stomach with her cheek to the dirt, her hair falling haphazardly over her eyes. She laid there dazed for a few moments taking in gulping breaths while she scrambled to collect her thoughts.

The cavern was a wreck. Dust filled the room and created a thick screen that made it hard to see. What she could see was whole sections of wall had fallen away and become steppingstones in the ink ocean. Ink splotches covered every surface imaginable, including the ink machine itself. What had once been a menacing lair for the ink demon was now a mass of ink covered metal with a massive hole in the head.

Tom.

Where was he? She had to find him.

She brought a hand under herself and weakly began to push her body off the ground. She started to a crawling position and tried moving forward. A sharp pain in her foot stopped her in her dead in her tracks. She looked back at lower half and was pained to see a boulder had landed on her ankle. She groaned in frustration and pain as she switched tactics and leaned back to a sitting position.

From there she placed both hands on the side of the rock and pushed. She gasped; the intense shooting pain took her breath as the chunk of rock shifted its weight on her leg. She took a few heaving breathes waiting for the pain to subside, then tried again. The pain was arguably less this time, and she managed to roll the stone off her ankle, giving her a good look at the damage.

I don't think feet are supposed to bend that way.

With no other option she hobbled her way to one foot, leaving the other to scrape the ground uselessly as she looked for Tom. It didn't take long for her to find him.

Tom's unconscious body lay face down next to the ledge. Way too close to the edge. His right leg and arm dangled limply above the mass of ink. The sight made her stomach turn.

"Tom!"

Alice grunted into action. She hobbled quickly across the ground and almost tripped on a pebble, sending her off course. She regained composure and stopped at his side, falling back to her knees. She grabbed him by the scruff of his overalls and pulled.

"C'mon, Tom," she gritted through her teeth. "You're going to be alright. Just hang on."

She was able to him roll onto his back and far away enough from the ledge that she was satisfied. She crawled her way closer to his head and caressed his face with her hand.

The top of Tom's head had been crushed by a falling rock, the offending chunk laying just a foot away covered in his inky blood. His once straight left ear was bent at an odd angle and sported a nasty gash that leaked ink steadily.

"Tom. Can you hear me?" she started tapping his face lightly to get a reaction. She placed her head on his chest to listen for a heartbeat. A rhythm beat on, but it was low and weak. "Tom, you have to wake. I don't know what's going on and I can't do this alone." Tears began to well-up in her eyes. "Please wake up. Please..."

"Alice!"

Her eyes widened in brief shock, thinking the voice came from Tom at first. When it repeated itself, she followed the sound to the source behind her.

Henry was a distant shape in the warped entryway of the once lair. She watched him jump down the broken stairs and wade through the ink to make his way to the ledge; face etched with worry.

"It's Tom," she spoke just below a shout. "I think he's hurt. Bad."

Henry had reached the drop-off and hoisted himself up from the ink-pool and placed a hand on Alice's shoulder tentatively. "Let me see him."

He leaned over Tom's body and inspected his injuries. He stared long and hard at the ink leaking from Tom's head, shaking his own solemnly.

No.

Henry turned his gaze towards Alice. He didn't say anything, but his eyes told her everything. Sympathy, sadness, resignation.

Don't say it.

Henry opened his mouth to speak-

A silent cough rose from the spot where the wolf lay, a small cloud dust being the only indication that it had happened. Tom's eyes cracked open slightly, revealing the little cut in his pie-cut eyes. Alice let out a gasp as he started to sit upwards by himself. He rubbed his head with his gloved hand and blinked a few times before Alice came into focus. His eyes locked onto her damaged ankle and his body went rigid. He turned his gaze towards her own with concern.

"I'm ok, Tom. Really. As long as I don't put pressure on it, I'll manage," she assured him. Her wincing expression as she stood did wonders at convincing him otherwise. He made a move to stand to with her and nearly fell back to the ground. He crouched dizzily with one hand in front of him to keep him steady; his lolled slightly as he tried to regain his balance.

"Oh, thank god," Alice could hear Henry whisper beside her. He held his head in his hands with his shoulders slumped.

"I wasn't sure what to expect after the explosion," he stared back at the mass metal and ink had once been the ink demon's lair. "I guess just expected the worst."

For the first time Alice saw Henry in a new light. Before he had been bored with his surroundings, almost completely apathetic to them. Now he was man wracked with worry and uncertainty. He carried an insurmountable burden, that much was sure to her now. Just what that burden was, she didn't know yet.

"What happened in there?" she spoke the words softly, as if any louder might send the man over the edge.

"I don't know. Nothing about what happened in there made any sense. I was supposed to take the film reel and defeat the ink demon. I was right there in the throne room and then... something new happened. Something that's never happened before."

Alice and Tom looked at each other questioningly, hoping the other could make sense of Henry's cryptic answer. Then something caught in her mind.

Something that's never happened before.

"Has this happened before?" The words left her mouth almost involuntarily.

Henry's head snapped in her direction. "What?"

She thought back to the kaleidoscope of possibilities. Or were they memories? She always knew she wasn't the Alice Angel that stared in posters that donned the studio walls. She could tell by the splotches on her dress or the lack of halo around her head. She was an imperfect imitation. An imposter. But now something else had creeped into the back of her thoughts. What if she was someone else entirely?

"Alice, what did you just say?" Henry stood waiting for answer, hope sprinkled in his voice.

When he said it, the name almost didn't register with her. Like it was wrong in some way. Like it wasn't her name.

My name isn't Alice.

"Ms. Pendle," she whispered the words as if she was testing them for the first time. "My name is Ms. Pendle."

A looked crossed Henry's eyes that could've passed for a hundred different things. Hope. Fear. Recognition. He swallowed hard and almost choked on the name.

"Allison?"

Something in her mind clicked, and a fog had been lifted.

"Henry-" she started, looking at him with new eyes. "Tell me everything."

(A/N: Hey guys! It's TU365 here! So it's been... Jesus Christ it's been over a year since I've posted anything for this story. I'm not even sure if there's people who really care other than me.

I'll be honest; I really wasn't sure if I'd ever come back to this. I've been struggling with a lot of mental stuff. Not really sure if I'd call it depression without a diagnosis but I didn't really have the drive to do... well, anything if I'm honest. I still don't know if I'll ever complete the whole story. But I swear every time I think I'm done with writing altogether my brain reminds me of the story that I so desperately want to tell and suddenly I'm running through the entire plot in my head over and over. I still feel like I'll never be able to properly put the thoughts into words that I'm completely happy with but for now it won't stop me from trying.

Anyways long ramble aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter typos and all. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns you can leave a comment on this chapter or just dm me. I'm always looking to improve.

I'll see you in the next one [maybe]. BYE BYE!)