Work Text:
The characters can perform for themselves. They can sing, dance, act, and the entire studio would rarely have to lift a finger in multiple departments nowadays (which, a paycheck you earn after doing nothing is a dream job for most people). Having the cartoons around really started to move along and get animations out on time. It's like the studio had made one big grand recovery, and the public itself was remarkably impressed by the way Sillyvision was making a comeback. Everyone had missed old Bendy, it seemed.
But Alice didn't like the way Sammy looked at Mari.
The way he would bring her a little too close to him whenever they were chatting, and how his cold, seemingly disgusting hands would touch her own in an attempt to get her attention.
He always said the weirdest things to her too. Mari would tell Alice just about everything he said. But some nights, Alice would just see Sammy staring at Mari from afar, and for some reason, that made a shiver go down her spine.
Sammy was just the musical department director, but...
With the odd ways Bendy had been acting lately, there was more to it.
. . .
"Mind your own business, you feathered freak!"
It was Bendy's very first out break. Joey had nearly jumped out of his seat at the sound of Bendy's loud, booming voice and Sammy sat forward in his seat to watch with interest as Mari, cowering with fear, fell to the floor after Bendy had pushed her hard enough to knock her down.
Immediately, Alice ran up beside her, clasping her shoulder as Bendy took deep breaths, seemingly seething. His fists were clenching and releasing, as he sat there trying to gather himself into one piece again. Alice hadn't even heard them arguing if they were, but Mari was shaking. Inky tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"S...Sorry th-then, Bendy." Mari said quietly, shuffling closer to Alice.
And then, Bendy blinked. Whatever came over him seemingly went away at once. His eyes went wide briefly upon realization of what exactly he had done, and the immediate regret surfaced in his eyes. Bendy was a devil, of course, but he was also a cartoon. And cartoons never hurt their friends like this. It was very out of character.
"Oh ...Mari, I didn't... I didn't mean to..." Bendy tried, unsure of what to do. Mari only shook her head, the tear escaping the corners of her eyes.
"N-No, it's fine."
Mari stood with Alice's help, and Alice had protectively slipped an arm around her waist, keeping distance between her and Bendy. Alice watched as Bendy winced when Mari cringed as he tried to reach out to her again, as if to offer an apologetic hug or even a reassuring touch, but it was clear Mari was too afraid to even let him near her at the moment.
"Oh now, Bendy..." Sammy started, standing up. His voice... lacked sympathy. "You made the little lady cry."
Bendy turned his head toward him with wide eyes and then looked back at Mari.
"I...I didn't mean t'push her, I swear! I don't know what happened. Please don't be mad at me, Mari!"
"You pushed her," Alice snapped. "How could she not be mad at ya right now, Bendy?"
"N-No, it's okay..." Mari said, shuffling out of Alice's hold. "I... I was being annoying, wasn't I?"
"You weren't! You weren't, I swear!"
Bendy was doing and saying everything he could to try and convince her he was being serious about not intentionally hurting her, but Mari was obviously upset by the entire incident.
Mari covered her eyes, wiping away the tears before she turned on her heel and walked quietly out of the room. Bendy called after her, but Sammy stood in his way before he could do anything. Bendy looked up at him with a glare, but all Sammy merely did was reach downward to pat his back.
"I don't think you did anything wrong," Sammy said. "Mari is just exaggerating."
Alice couldn't have heard anything more absurd.
"Exaggeratin'? You think Mari is exaggeratin'? Bendy shoved her to the ground! Of course she's gonna be upset!"
Sammy didn't seem to appreciate her interjection, only merely regarded Alice with a brief glance. He'd never seemed to like her all that much.
"I'll go make sure she's okay then, if you really insist that."
It was sarcastic and Sammy didn't really seem to care what Alice wanted him to do. Sammy stood slowly, and though Alice could barely contain the anger she felt from the way Sammy had so easily sided with Bendy, she couldn't help but notice the look of fear crossing Bendy's face as he stared down at his own hands with a look of disbelief. Bendy seemed to be really convinced he hadn't meant to push her, but even if that was the case, Alice had to admit it was inexcusable what had happened. Alice shook her head, clasping her hands in front of her.
She didn't like that Sammy and Mari were alone.
Sammy always...
Had a slight obsession with her, in the weirdest ways, just like he seemed to have an obsession with Bendy.
. . .
Bendy had come rushing up to Alice and Mari before either of them could realize it.
He threw his hands over their mouths before they could question him and dragged them off to Wally's storage closet and shut them inside. He was breathing heavily, shaking almost as he tried to gather himself.
Mari had forgiven Bendy for what he had done to her. Mari had given him a hug and told him it was okay, only because she knew he didn't really mean to do what he did. Alice didn't like that Mari had so obviously and easily complied with what Sammy told her was true, but she let it go for now for the sake of the animation studio moving forward and getting back to normal. More often now, Sammy seemed to be stalking Bendy, and on occasion, she could catch him stalking Mari too.
"Listen," Bendy started once he caught his breath. "Somethin's wrong with me."
"You don't have to tell us that." Alice muttered, crossing her arms. Bendy glared at her.
"No, no - I'm being serious. I think - somethin's - I don't feel like myself. At all."
That had caught their attention. Mari tilted her head.
"You're actin' just fine, though."
"No, I'm really not. Think about it! The outburst I had when I shoved ya, the different times I just go completely quiet, and just now, when I looked at Boris, I thought about..."
Bendy stopped talking. He shook his head, reaching upward to grab at his horns as if he could hardly believe what he was about to say.
"...I thought about hurtin' him. I don't know why, and I don't like it. It freaked me out, so I ran to find you two. I can't keep this a secret anymore."
Just like that, Mari tensed up. Hearing him say he felt like hurting Boris without a reason must have reminded her of the previous incident all over again. Alice reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze. She had no doubt in her mind that someone in the studio would have an explanation for this. After all, cartoons don't just come to life by themselves.
Bendy was still shaking.
"Listen, I ain't got a clue about what's goin' on to me. It didn't start happenin' until Sammy started showin' me these weird symbols, started makin' me do these weird things after everyone was gone and you guys are asleep - "
"What?" Alice cut in. She wasn't expecting to have her suspicions confirmed right away, but she always knew there was something shady going on with Sammy. She didn't want to jump to conclusions and say it was him, but hearing it from Bendy directly made her nervous. She debated for a moment whether or not they should tell Joey that Sammy was up to no good with Bendy, but she also had to remember that Joey himself was very... very peculiar. Had no common sense, it seemed. And Alice didn't like that.
Bendy nodded.
"Look, I ain't gonna follow him anymore. He loves it when I spend time with him. It's really creepy, and I don't like it. I thought maybe he was just a real swell happy guy, but... He's gettin' kinda... obsessed with the fact I'm just payin' half of my attention to him."
"Wh...What should we do? Ya don't think he did anythin' bad to you, right?" Mari asked. Bendy could only shrug, and Alice looked toward the ground. If Bendy was going to be honest about this abruptly, then Alice needed to be honest about her suspicion that this studio in general might not be up to any good with all of them in there -
The door to the closet opened, and a confused Wally stood there, jumping back slightly when they looked up at him.
"Gah! Toons in my closet... C'mon, you three! I said don't play in here! Go play with whatever Joey gives ya."
They shuffled out, and Wally ducked inside. Bendy grabbed both of their wrists and drew them closer, just so he didn't have to talk loudly.
"Don't say I told ya anythin'. If ya see Sammy, smile and talk to him like ya would. If he finds out I broke that promise I made to not tell anyone, somethin' tells me a guy like him ain't gonna be too happy about it."
"Of course," Mari said. Alice nodded.
"Thanks, you two. I just... I'm gonna avoid Boris for the rest of the day. I don't want to - do anything bad. Maybe if I stay away from all that stuff Sammy was makin' me look at, then maybe I'll feel better."
"Please, try that." said Mari. Bendy smiled, as if only a little more relieved by the conversation. It was for the best if he stayed away from Sammy over all. His tail swished happily behind him as he began to walk away, so it was good to see that Bendy was already feeling a little better after their chat.
Alice tried to get Mari's attention after he walked away, but Mari's eyes were locked onto something in the distance.
Her eyes were on someone else's.
Alice didn't need to look to see who it was. All she did was gently grab Mari by the elbow and urge her to move along.
They didn't need to raise any eyebrows anyway.
. . .
Mari was shaking in her heels, her own hand clasped over her mouth to try and quiet down her breathing. She'd ran as fast as she could to Wally's closet with the key in her hand, shaking as she locked the closet from the inside and slid down to the ground. Her wings offered little warmth as a blanket as she let them wrap around her shoulders, her body shaking as she tried to bring comfort in clutching the key in her palm. She was shaking, her body unable to move after having run all through the music department to Wally's closet.
Sammy. She had to hide from Sammy. She had to hide from what she saw. She had to hide from everything. She was never coming out of this closet. Never. She was never leaving. She could never talk about what she saw.
Everyone was doomed. Oh, and she couldn't even save any of them...! What kind of angel was she?
Something wet touched her hand, and she froze.
She didn't need to look down to know it was ink. Tears started to gather in the corners of her eyes. She couldn't save Bendy. Bendy couldn't be saved. And now no one could be saved. All because Bendy kept giving into Sammy and Mari had ignored the way he looked so pained, he was too far gone to be saved now.
Lord, please forgive me.
There was heavy, if not demonic breathing just outside the closet. She sat perfectly still, holding her breath.
Oh Joey - Oh Sammy - what have you done to Bendy?
Mari knew more than she should have. She knew far too much.
And neither Joey or Sammy seemed to want that.
. . .
"Here?"
Henry made sure to keep a tight grip on his ax and to keep a close lookout for any surprises. When he and Boris met up after Boris had saved him from Bendy's chase, Boris had immediately wanted to show Henry something. Though the wolf seemed to be mute, he led Henry down a few halls until they reached a room with a padlock on it. Henry raised the ax and swung downward as hard as he could, easily breaking the metal of the lock. Boris looked at the door nervously, as if silently encouraging Henry to open it, but he didn't have the courage to do it himself.
Henry let the door creak open, and even though it was dark, he could still see inside the room clearly.
There was a familiar angel he'd seen on posters many times advertising the Bendy cartoon - Mari the Angel. She was cute, if anything, and was there to contradict Bendy's bad behavior while Alice Angel acted as a neutral party as the fallen angel, giving in to some of Bendy's bad behavior but longing to have her wings back.
It seems all of the toons had met bad fates. The room was painted up like a set almost, and Mari was strung up on ropes by her wings and neck. The ropes were tied in such a way it forced her to look like her wings were spread in mid-flight. She dangled from the ceiling, and on the wall next to her a message was hastily scribbled out.
"Angels have no place here"
Henry was about to say a silent prayer for the poor girl when he noticed something. He had to stare long and hard for a moment to confirm what he was seeing.
She was moving.
Even if it was barely, her body was squirming. She seemed to be barely awake, barely aware of her situation. The ropes were pulling on her wings so there probably wasn't much she could do without hurting herself. Henry was glad he stopped to look at her for a longer moment.
He had an idea.
"Boris, stand right... about here."
He guided Boris to stand in the spot where her shadow was.
"Be ready to catch her. I'm gonna go get her down."
Boris nodded, albeit he looked nervous as he glanced upward at her dangling body. He didn't seem to like the look of his friends in pain, so Henry was sure to hurry and trace where exactly along the ceiling her body was tied to. It was attached to one of the larger ink pipes, cruelly enough. It wouldn't be easy to reach, but Henry was going to try anyway. Boris stayed still in his spot as Henry walked toward one of the ink pipes, gripped his ax carefully in one hand, and began to climb it.
He definitely had to perform a balancing act, but he was careful as he used the ax to gently saw the ropes tying her to the ink pipe. It snapped almost instantly since the rope was so old and she immediately fell downward. Boris was luckily positioned right so he could catch her with ease, though he stumbled slightly when he did. Henry eased himself downward off of the pipe and rushed toward them.
Mari's eyes weren't open, but she responded to Henry whenever he reached down to tug at the ropes tied at her wings.
"Mari?" Henry tried. "C'mon now, wake up. It's gonna be okay."
Henry used the axe to carefully cut away the tight ropes around her neck and wings, and once she was free, she went completely still for a moment.
Then she opened her mouth. Her voice was so cracked and awful it sounded like she hadn't been screaming her throat raw.
"S...Save Bendy."
Henry raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
"Save... Bendy... P...Please save Bendy..."
Henry didn't even think that was an option at this point. Boris looked at Henry with begging eyes, and Henry realized that Boris had been trying to tell him that too. Henry could only wonder where the rest of the crew was then... meaning Alice Angel. He had only seen her poster and heard from her voice actor a little, but he hadn't seen her in the studio yet.
Did Sammy's death bring everyone back? How were they correlated?
Mari only could continue whispering that one thing.
Henry felt horrifically responsible for all of this somehow. If he stayed at the studio, did that mean he could have stopped all of this somehow?
...He didn't know.