Chapter Text
"Sammy?" A feminine voice softly said.
I looked up to see a young woman standing in the doorway.
"Susie? What are you doing here?" I asked. "I'm busy, and you should-"
"Shh," Susie hushed, crossing the room towards me. "You can continue writing later. I just have one question."
"What's so important you need to interrupt my work?"
"What's going on between you and that new girl, Sammy?"
"Excuse me?"
"You know exactly who I'm talking about. You were both in the recording booth and you told her she has the most beautiful voice you had ever heard. Who is she?!"
I backed away. "She's just a- a new background singer! No one is as important as you!"
Susie crossed her arms. "Then why did you tell her that she had the most beautiful voice ever? I thought I had the voice of an angel. That's what you told me, Sammy. Did you lie?"
"I- It was just fake motivation! Don't worry about her, Susie. It's all fine."
"Is this true?"
"Yes."
"Then swear it is."
"I swear that you don't need to worry about that new girl, for she is only a background character, and no one is as important as you. I already forgot her name."
Susie smiled slowly. "Good. I'm glad you told me the truth, Sammy. Because you know Alice and I hate liars. Right, Sammy?"
"Right," I agreed. "Are we still on for dinner later?"
"Yes, we are."
"Alright. Just wanted to make sure. I’ll see you later, Susie. Now, please leave me be. I'm busy."
---
I wasn't sure why I remembered that as Alice led Boris and I down the hall. Perhaps I was scared that Susie's threat about Alice hating liars was true. Whatever it was, I didn't need to find out what happens when someone pisses her off.
Suddenly, Alice turned around and stared at me. "You look familiar," she said in her growly voice. "What did you say your name was?"
"That's-" Boris started, but was quickly interrupted by Alice.
"I asked him, not you!" She barked. "Now what's your name?"
"Sammy Lawrence," I cautiously answered.
Her face softened. "I remember now. You're Bendy's plaything."
"His what ?!" I could feel my face heat up.
"Oh, sorry. His 'boyfriend'. I forgot I'm not supposed to call you that to your face, except I did. Whoopsie."
I didn't respond. Did he really call me that to Alice?
"No, he didn't actually. It’s just how he views you; it was so obvious he didn’t even need to say anything. You do realize he just uses you to do whatever he wants, right?"
"I know."
"Really? Because my errand boy told me that you crawled back to him at the first chance you could without him interfering."
"By errand boy, you mean Henry, right?"
"Of course I do. He's running around a few floors to collect some things for me. I'm guessing you want him to bring back to Bendy, right? "
I looked at Boris. He winked again and gave thumbs up.
"No," I answered. I didn't know what was going on with Boris. On one hand, I just saw him try to kill Henry, but on the other, he had hinted at a rescue mission. Who knows?
Alice narrowed her eyes. "I told you so many years ago, Sammy. I hate liars. I'll let it slide for now but remember that."
I didn't remember an Alice running around the studio. Maybe she only stuck around here? But then how could she tell me anything?
Alice turned back around and continued leading us to her "home". "Anyways, since I actually hate Bendy, I'm not going to tell you where Henry is. You'll have to find him for yourself. I'll be very angry if you find him though, since I don't really want to lose my errand boy."
We arrived at the front of her lair and the door automatically opened.
"Wait here," she ordered. She went inside, and the door closed behind her.
I turned to Boris and shrugged. "What the heck did she mean by she told me many years ago? I've never met her before."
"You knew Susie, right?" Boris responded.
"Yes."
"There you go."
"What?! That didn't make sense!"
"Sammy, you forgot. I'm Alice Angel," a voice interjected over the intercom. "Now I'm finally Alice."
I could only stand in shock.
"I've decided that if you want Henry so badly, you could also do some work for me, and then I’ll tell you where he is. You might even run into him while doing said work! How does that sound?"
"We accept," Boris answered before we could discuss it.
"Great! Now, let's see...what has the most probability of you being murdered? Hmm...go down to Level 14 and get some inky hearts for me."
" Why do you need hearts?" I asked.
"Quiet, Sammy. Just go get...let's say five of them for me. "
I cast a glance at Boris. He met my gaze, shrugged, and mouthed "What can we do?". Out loud, he said "Alright, we’ll do it. Let’s go, Sammy."
We made our way to the elevators. Boris pushed the button for Level 14, and the elevator jerked before moving down. It hummed on the way down, and I looked at the floors as we passed them. There were a lot of Searchers, and- was that Bendy?
I squinted, but the elevator had already passed by before I could get a good look. We finally reached Level 14, and the elevator opened to a staircase. At the bottom of the staircase, the floor was flooded with ink.
"She needs inky hearts, right?" I said, mostly to myself. I stepped out of the elevator. "Should we split up to finish the task quicker?"
"She did say something about it being ‘the most likely way of us being murdered’," Boris pointed out. "We should probably stick together then. Although…" The wolf lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. "We could find Henry faster if we split up."
I nodded. "Alright, but for clarification, are we working against Bendy?” I asked.
"Shh! You can’t say that out loud!"
Boris walked past me and down the staircase. He turned to the left and disappeared behind it without ever actually answering m
“Alright, I guess I’ll go to the right then,” I muttered, mostly to myself. I went down and turned to the right. There was an audio log sitting on a table. Cautiously, I pressed play.
Bad idea. I heard ink sloshing as someone- or something- approached. I looked up to see a bright shining light coming from the head of some ink creature approaching, so naturally I abandoned the log in favor of my life and ran up the staircase.
“Aw, Sammy. Are you scared?” I heard Alice tease over the intercoms.
‘Shut up. I don’t need to deal with you right now,’ I thought.
“If you really want to find Henry, you’re not going to find him by hiding in the corner,” Alice tsked.
…Henry would probably be willing to sacrifice his life for me. At least he would have. But we aren’t friends right now. He hates me.
“Sammy, will you please stop complaining? It’s quite annoying to hear you drone on and act like you’re a martyr,” Alice interrupted my thoughts. “Either you collect the damn hearts, or you don’t and go back to the ink demon. We all know you’ll always go back to him.”
I had enough of that damn “angel”. I peeked downstairs to see Boris walking past and ran down to catch up to him.
Boris turned to see me. “Oh. I didn’t realize you went back up there,” he remarked.
“Yes, I, um, had a bit of a scare. I’m fine now,” I answered. “No luck that way?”
“Actually, I already checked everywhere; I was just looking for you. But yeah, no inky hearts.” The wolf started walking back the way I came, and I followed.
“I bet Henry already got them all,” I guessed.
Boris shrugged. “Oh well. Sorry.”
“What? I don’t care about inky hearts.”
“No. Sorry you didn’t find Henry. Now we have no idea where he is.”
“It’s fine,” I lied, pushing the elevator button.
“Are you sure?” Boris asked, most likely sensing the disappointment in my voice.
“Yes, it is. I swear.”
The elevator arrived with a screech. I stepped into it before Boris could say anything else.