Chapter Text
The halls of the studio stood empty, calmed down after the strange event that had happened earlier.
Thinking back on what had happened actually…
Well, he really hoped that Joey could fix this, he had already lied to everyone saying that Sammy and Grant had gone home for the day because they weren’t feeling well, feeling too scared to tell them what had occurred.
It was a temporary fix, but it would do for now. Hopefully Joey’s quick lie wouldn’t spiral out of control if he took too long to solve this mess… They couldn’t do much cartoon wise without their music director and their physical human stopper for Joey’s spending habits.
…
“So… why are we playing hide and seek again?” Henry asked.
“It’s just a lil’ bit of fun Henry! Live a little!” Bendy replied.
“...”
“Alright, alright! I just thought we could do something to take our minds offa Sammy and Grant until Joey finishes his voodoo magic or whatever to get them back!” the toon replied, uncertain.
“I mean, do you guys even wanna play?” the animator asked, turning to Alice and Boris.
“Well, we aren’t really doing anything else are we?” Alice replied.
“It sounds like fun!” Boris added on.
Henry sighed, caving in.
“Alright, but, you’re seeking” he said pointing at Bendy running his other hand down his face.
“What why?”
“This was your idea and I need to get back to those drafts for the next episode after this”
“Alright, alright, you win! I'll countdown now.” Bendy said while turning around covering his eyes with his hands.
“5”
Henry nodded to Alice and Boris as they nodded back. As soon as he did that, he started sprinting the other way as fast as he could considering his age, while seeing the angel and wolf running the opposite way.
He kept running down the halls looking for a place to hide until he spotted Wally’s supply closet.
Perfect!
He carefully crawled into the tight space and slowly closed the door, shutting him off the light from outside and leaving him in total darkness.
The alcoholic scent of cleaning supplies permeated the air of the closet and filled his nose as he sat there awkwardly.
He hoped he wouldn’t have to sit there too long, he wasn’t making a quick excuse when he quipped to Bendy about those drafts.
…
He’d been sitting here for a while now and Bendy hadn’t found him yet. The smell of those cleaning supplies were really getting to him. He was definitely going to get out now, he didn’t care if he got caught at this point.
If he thought about it, maybe Bendy was doing this on purpose. His prankster side just had to come in, in a game of hide and seek..
He reached out to the handle of the closet door, but something strange happened.
His head suddenly ached as his vision blurred an orange tint before readjusting. He blinked a few times but his vision was still an orange hue.
“Huh?” he shouted confused inside the closet.
He looked up and noticed a slit had appeared in the door of the closet. That was weird…
He looked through the rectangular hole seeing the same hall of the studio he had entered from, his vision still altered.
Was it just him or was the wood looking a little more ink stained than usual?
No, everything was probably fine, it had just been a long night.
Yeah, that was it…
Why did he sound unsure?
He grabbed the handle of the closet door again and swung it open. He immediately froze up upon doing so.
Along the walls, inky tendrils had started snaking across the wood, creeping closer and closer until their source became clear.
Henry’s skin paled stark white as he stared in horror at the monstrosity slowly approaching him from down the hall.
Tall and lanky, dripping with ink, a skeletal figure showing through the copious amounts of black thick liquid slopping over its frame limping towards him. When he raised his head higher, more recognisable features became noticeable. A white bowtie hanging loosely on top of its chest and further up, ink dripping from its forehead covering its eyes, if it had any. Below, that same familiar smile he saw everyday, but different.. immensely different.
He could feel the malice emanating from the creature in front of him, completely unlike the little devil he knew. They may have shared some similar features, but Henry’s mind was telling him that wasn’t Bendy in any way shape or form.
It turned its head towards him and his eyes widened, his body still frozen up. He was paralysed from fear as it reached out an inky hand towards him, getting closer and closer until it made contact with him.
He could feel the slimy and cold ink from its hand dripping down his face, some even getting in his mouth as he shivered, its grip tightening on him until his vision itself was completely stained with ink.
Before he could pass out from the terrible metallic smell, to be consumed by the ink, he did the last thing he could think of.
He screamed.
—----------------------------------------------------------------
Bendy wandered through the halls of the studio, Alice and Boris trailing behind him.
“How long have we been looking for the old man again?” he asked.
“I think we’ve been at this for at least 20 minutes, and that's being generous.” Alice replied.
“I never knew Henry was so good at hide and seek!” Boris quipped optimistically.
“Me either! I thought I would find him first! Where could he even be hiding?” he said, a hint of annoyance lacing his tone.
“To be honest I think it made sense that you found Boris first. No offence, but I don’t think behind a potted plant is a good hiding spot for someone as tall as you.” Alice commented.
“I thought it was a good spot…” Boris said, dejected.
“Guys! Fellas! Let’s get back on track here! I need ideas! Theories! Where do you think Henry could possibly be hiding?” he asked, turning to them.
“Maybe he’s hiding under one of the office tables?” Alice offered.
“No, we already checked all of those… somehow..” he said, putting his finger to his chin.
“Maybe… he could be hiding in one of the cupboards?” Boris asked halfheartedly.
“Didn’t we check all of those already?” he asked the two other toons.
Alice immediately remembered something.
“Actually, now that I’m thinking about it… I don’t think we ever checked Wa-”
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
A blood curdling scream cut her off abruptly.
“What was that?!” Boris shouted worryingly but also scared at the intensity of the scream.
“That, that sounded like Henry!” Bendy shouted as well, extreme horror lacing his features.
They all shared terrified looks before dashing off together through the halls, heading to the source of the unnerving noise at an impossibly fast pace.
All they saw was every hall going past in a blur as they turned corner after corner until they reached their destination.
In front of them on the floor was the sprawled out, unconscious and ink-stained body of Henry Stein.
“HENRY!”
The three toons somehow ran even faster as they all rushed to the animator’s limp body lying there.
Bendy dropped to his knees and started shaking Henry by the shoulders while Alice and Boris hovered behind him, just as worried.
“Henry? Are you okay? Henry!” the demon shouted at the man, his efforts proving fruitless.
Tears pricked at the corner of the three’s eyes, their bodies shaking in fear.
But their attention was taken away when they heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them just as Joey rounded the corner in front of them.
“What’s going on? I heard a scream that sounded awfully like Henry and-” Joey started but cut himself off when he saw Henry’s body laying limply on the floor.
“Wha-” he exclaimed with the same look of horror plastered on his face.
“We don’t know what happened okay?! We-we just found him here like this a-and an-and…” Bendy stammered, tears cascading down his face.
“He wasn’t responding Joey! We have to get him to the infirmary!” Alice shouted at the creator, tears pouring down her face as well.
“Ah-”
“NOW!”
“Ah, yes! I'll grab the legs!” Joey stated before running over and indeed, grabbing the legs. Boris juts then snapped out his fearful stupor to grab Henry’s top half as they all rushed off in the direction of the infirmary.
…
“Is Henry really gonna be ok?” Boris asked, concerned, as they all looked at said man’s unconscious body lying on one of the many infirmary beds.
“We’ll have to see in the morning Boris. It-it's been a long day, let’s all get some rest…” Joey said while walking off towards his office.
They all glanced at Henry one more time before silently walking off to their rooms, a melancholy mood filling the air.
They all opened the doors to their respective rooms and then closed them, shutting each other off in silence.
Boris slowly changed into his pyjamas as he climbed into his bed snuggling into his sheets, the prior events fresh in his mind still.
‘I really hope Henry is ok. I guess I can only do what Joey said and wait until the morning…’
And this was his last thought before he fell soundly asleep.
—----------------------------------------------------------------
Grant slowly opened his eyes.
He looked around him.
This was the same office he was in before.
He wished he was kidding.
“Huh?!”
—----------------------------------------------------------------
Sammy had quickly stormed out of there as soon as that thing had called him that stupid name, ‘Prophet’, one more time and had quickly found himself in the so called ‘Administration’ area.
He had also found an axe with his initials on it around for some reason…
He took it anyway, he didn’t know this place he was in at all, despite its similarities to his own studio. But he also had other reasons. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do ok? He needed to vent his frustrations about Joey somehow without it having… legal implications…
Even as he walked around not realising he did so through an open door absentmindedly, he was still muttering a whole rainbow under his breath about Joey. He only stopped when he looked up and didn’t know where he was anymore.
He wasn’t in that same office area from before, instead in front of him was a circular entrance leading to a room filled with a multitude of boxes, large ink splatters everywhere. Especially at the gigantic vault door ripped off its hinges left off to the side of the room like a scrapped sheet of paper.
He shivered at the thought of what could have possibly destroyed something of that magnitude and torn right off its frame. He wouldn’t think that possible if it wasn’t right in front of him.
But his curiosity was also torn to the strange room that had seemed to have been behind that same vault door. The same ink around the door was in a trailing smear as he followed it into the room leading up to a large box, also splattered with again, the same ink.
He kneeled down onto the floor, setting the axe to the side, grabbing the loose lid flaps on top and opening the box.
It’s empty?
Well, he didn’t know what he was expecting…
The whole mess of the place just looked like Bendy had run around stressed and naked, scattering all of his ink everywhere.
That was a hilarious image to think about. He’ll definitely bring that up later.
He chuckled to himself, grabbing the axe, ready to leave the strange room and to try and find out how the hell to get back to his studio, his hands ready to grab Joey by the neck and strangle him until he figured out how to fix him.
2nd time trying to kill Joey the charm, right?
He was on his feet but froze, taken out of his thoughts by a familiar voice.
“Sammy?”
—----------------------------------------------------------------
The inky sewers were silent until a ripple appeared in its centre.
An inky hand popping out, dripping with fresh darkness clinging to its frame.