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…What was wrong with him?
“Bendy…”
He had attacked his already injured friend, he was so close to killing him…
“Bendy.”
He was just a monster like everything else in this place.
“Bendy!”
The little demon shook his head as he was snapped out of his thoughts, he looked up to see Henry looking down at him with a concerned expression.
“How are you holding up?” The man asked, tentatively.Bendy could tell right away that not only was the human concerned, but also seemed a little wary.
Of course, why wouldn’t he be?
“I’m fine…” The cartoon mumbled.
Henry frowned, but seemingly dropped the matter and kept moving, still using his axe as a makeshift crutch.
Bendy was sitting with his knees up to his chest and his arms crossed in a sulking manner, he took this quiet moment to examine Henry, discreetly of course. He didn’t want to make it obvious and make the older man uncomfortable.
‘Geez, you couldn’t make the guy more uncomfortable if ya even tried, numbskull.’ The devil bitterly thought to himself.
Sighing slightly, he looked down towards Henry’s leg first, as that was where the most severe injury was. The rip in the trouser leg was still there, leaving his now bandaged calf a little exposed. Henry had managed to stop the bleeding and had roughly stitched up the wound with a needle and thread.
Bendy shivered slightly at the recent memory, that whole ordeal was so horrible that he couldn’t even bear to watch. All he remembered was hearing Henry’s muffled, pain induced cries, the worst being when he had to apply cleaning alcohol to the wound to keep it from becoming infected.
The small devil noted to make sure that no ink got onto that leg, and to see to that the other “Bendy” never got anywhere near Henry ever again, no matter the cost.
‘Heh…easier said than done.’ Bendy amusedly thought to himself, that monster sure was hard to detect, as it had access to the pipes and could slip in quietly without being noticed, that was how it had managed to sneak up behind Henry and attack him. But he was going to try his darn best to look out for it, for both his sake and especially Henry’s sake.
His line of sight travelled up to Henry’s torso, and he nervously swallowed as he examined the huge black handprint that had been imprinted on his shirt.
He had done that. Him.
Bendy didn’t even fully remember what had happened, only that he was fighting off the Searchers and the other Bendy, trying to protect Henry, and then there was that huge thumping sound in his head and then…nothing. Just…haze. But that didn’t excuse the fact that he had nearly killed someone who had done nothing but look out for him.
And the worst part was that Henry wasn’t even angry at him.
Despite everything that had happened, despite the fact that the man was so close to death at the literal hand of his supposed ‘Friend’. He had just…brushed it off like it was nothing, granted he still looked shaken up from the attack, but he just told the demon that it wasn’t his fault and had swiftly moved on.
Bendy unconsciously put a hand to his forehead, that was how Henry had calmed him down, by doing the head bump. He wasn’t sure why but the simple form of communication just seemed to make him feel so…safe and secure. Like he knew that he wasn’t alone in this place anymore, like he had someone he could fully trust.
The devil looked back down.
'And now you’ve went and tarnished that trust for good…’ Bendy solemnly thought.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, y'know.”
He glanced back up at Henry.
“It honestly wasn’t your fault, bud. It was that…thing, the uh…” The man paused for a moment. “The pentagram.”
Bendy frowned in an annoyed manner.
“But it was me that attacked ya, Henry. I should'a been able to control myself , but I couldn’t.”
“Well…technically you did. You stopped.” Henry contradicted. “I mean, you could have killed me, but you didn’t.”
Bendy was about to retort when a moaning sound suddenly caught their attention. They both looked ahead, only to see that there were Searchers in their way, a horde of them were blocking the path. It seemed as though there was no choice but to face them head on.
“Ah shit, you’ve got to be kidding me…” Henry mumbled as he slowed to a stop.
Bendy frowned worriedly.
Henry needed his axe to help him with walking, what with his injured leg and all, and there was no way he was going to be able to fight with it. Which meant…
“I’m sorry to be the one to ask this but…would you mind giving me a hand with these guys?” Henry asked, with a sheepish look.
The devil was conflicted, he would need to go into his other form to defeat those things, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to risk hurting Henry again. They could turn back but…what was the point? They needed to move forward, and he sure as heck didn’t want them running into the other “Bendy” so soon after the last encounter.
Bendy stood up and nodded silently.
Henry smiled in a grateful manner. “Thank you.”
Being sure not to get too close to the Searchers, Henry carefully set the paper near enough to them that the ink pool around them would soak into the paper, and stood back as the ink started to bubble and rise.
Within a few moments, the monsters were nothing but black splatters across the wall.
Bendy thoroughly examined the area before being completely satisfied that there was nothing left to attack them, for now at the very least.
“Good job, bud. You really don’t mess around with those things, huh?” Henry amusedly praised as he hobbled over to the large ink demon, who gave a low warning growl in return, surprising the older man.
“W-what’s wrong, Bendy?” He questioned, trying his best to hide his nervous tone. “Are you…feeling alright?”
The devil huffed in response and backed away, creating a fair amount of distance between the two. That was when realisation seemed to hit Henry, as he closed his eyes and sighed in a defeated manner.
“Bendy…I already told you that it wasn’t your fault. You shouldn’t be torturing yourself like this.” He said with a sympathetic smile. “We both know that you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose.”
The monster just gave him a slightly annoyed look as he made a rough sounding noise and gestured at himself, like he was trying to get some sort of point across. Henry couldn’t for the life of him make out what the demon was saying, but he did get the general idea.
“You’re not dangerous.” Henry replied in a somewhat more firmer tone. “It was that pentagram that made you go wild, besides…” The man sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “You were out of your page for too long, which was my fault, not yours. I should have kept on top of that…”
This made Bendy throw up his large arms in frustration, resulting in ink being splattered across the walls.
Why wasn’t the human acknowledging the fact the he had almost died? . Didn’t he know how much danger he was in? Why was he so darn…relaxed all the time? He should’ve been terrified!
Henry shook his head in what seemed to be disappointment , which snapped Bendy out of his thoughts for a moment. He tilted his head, curious as to why the man was doing that.
“You’re being pretty selfish, you know that?”
Bendy blinked in surprise. He certainly wasn’t expecting that. “Do you want me to go on alone? Is that it? You do know that I’d probably die, right?” Henry stated in an angrier tone. “Those things are still down here and my leg looks and feels as though it’s been ravaged by a God damn wolf! There’s no way I’d be able to make it!”
Bendy frowned at this outburst. Of course he didn’t want to put Henry in any kind of danger, it was the last thing he wanted! How could he even suggest-
“You accidentally attack me one time and suddenly you just want to give up?”
N-no, of course not. He wouldn’t-
“And leave me alone to face the danger?”
That was the final straw, as Bendy slammed his fist into the ground and snarled at Henry, his face hovering mere inches away from the human’s. The rising ink on his back flared up angrily as the demon narrowed a single eye at him.
The last thing that Bendy wanted was to see his human companion coming to any kind of harm, he wanted to protect him and make sure that he got out of this place! But the guy still had the nerve to call him selfish?! How dare he! Why would he even think-
Bendy’s eye widened slightly when he felt a hand start to affectionately pet the top of his head.
Henry’s angered expression had completely changed into one of a more gentle nature. He smiled as Bendy gave him a very confused look. “See, bud? You can’t even attack me when I insult you to your face, and that’s because you choose not to, with your own free will. You see where I’m getting at?” The man questioned as he pulled his hand away.
The large demon simply tilted his head with the same confused look on his face, making Henry chuckle lightly.
“Despite all those hurtful things I just said, you didn’t attack me, because you don’t want to, am I right?”
Bendy quickly nodded his head.
“And that’s because you’re not like everything else in this place. You’re not under the same influence that made you attack me. Believe it or not, you have a good heart, you’re not the monster that you think you are.” Henry explained with a smile.
The devil slowly smiled back and nodded, but quickly looked back down again with a somewhat sombre frown.
This made Henry concerned as he limped over and put a hand on the ink monster’s arm, he flinched at the human’s contact, but didn’t pull away this time.
“What’s up, bud? You know that I didn’t actually mean any of those horrible things that I said, right? It was just to prove my point that you wouldn’t attack me. I know you wouldn’t leave me. I mean, we both still have to get out of this place after all.” Henry said as he started to slowly hobble down the hallway.
This caught Bendy’s attention as he stopped for a moment to blink, before quickly turning and moving to catch up with the human, looking down at him with a questioning expression as they made their way down the corridor.
Wait, both of them? He knew that Henry had to get out of the studio, but him? The thought had never really crossed his mind, as they had both been too preoccupied with surviving. But…what was he actually going to do once this was all over? Did Henry want to take him to the outside world with him? How would he even fit in? Was he… going to live on a piece of paper for the rest of his life?
Needless to say, he wanted an explanation.
The demon let out a high pitched whine.
“Huh?” The older man looked up at the confused and somewhat worried looking monster. “What’s up?”
Bendy whined again as he pointed at himself, then to Henry, and then proceeded to point upwards, towards the ceiling, before looking back down at the human with a sheepish expression on his face.
Henry gave him a sympathetic smile as he quickly realised what Bendy was asking:
'You want to take me with you?’ The devil’s expression seemed to say.
“Of course you’re coming with me. What, you’d think I’d just leave you here by yourself? Nah, you and me are going to get out of here, and you’re going to enjoy life outside of this damn place.”
He paused as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know how it’s going to work out exactly. If I can get back to that machine, maybe we can use it to get you out of that page and into reality permanently, but I can’t promise anything, of course. But don’t worry, no matter what, we’re sticking together. We’re practically family now, bud.” Henry said, chuckling as he tried to put Bendy at ease.
He slowly stopped when the demon didn’t give him an answer back, and looked up to see if he was alright.
Only to see that Bendy was staring back down at the him with big, jet black, gloopy tears running down his face and a huge, genuinely happy grin. It honestly warmed Henry’s heart to see the demon so joyful, it was nice to see him back to his old self again.
Bendy quickly lowered his head to Henry’s level and nuzzled him affectionately, whining happily as he did. The older man stumbled slightly at the sudden movement, but regained his balance with his axe crutch, and smiled as he petted the spot between the demon’s horns, earning an even happier response from Bendy.
“You’re welcome, bud.”
Henry stepped back and smirked. “Now come on, we’ve got to keep moving. Do you want to go back onto your page?”
Bendy shook his head. No, he wanted to walk with the human a little longer.
He nodded back with a smile. “Alright, I trust you. Now let’s get-“
Henry suddenly hissed in pain as he clutched his leg, earning a panicked look from Bendy, as the demon reached out a hand to support the older man, should he fall over.
“Heh…don’t worry about me.” Henry coaxed, straightening up as lifted his injured leg slightly. “Just put a bit too much pressure on it, that’s all. Give me a minute. I’ll be fine…”
Henry closed his eyes for a moment and breathed, trying to relieve the sudden shot of pain. Bendy watched him with a worried look before his eye widened slightly, a grin spread across his face as an idea came to mind.
Being careful around the injured leg, Bendy wrapped a hand around Henry and lifted him up to his shoulder, setting the human down gently onto it and made sure that he was secure enough so that he wouldn’t fall off.
Henry blinked in surprise. “Bendy what are you-“
Bendy interrupted him with a grunt and pointed at one of his horns, leaning his head towards the man so that he could grab on for support.
“You do know that you don’t actually need to carry-“
He was interrupted again, this time by a low whine.
“I…” Henry sighed and wrapped his hand around the horn to balance himself.
“Alright, I won’t argue with you. You’re the boss.” He said in an amused tone.
Bendy rose up to his full height and turned his head to look at Henry with a proud and somewhat smug grin, before pressing on down the corridor with a confident and swift stride. No matter what, Bendy was going to make sure that he and his family were going to make it through this.
After all, he really wanted to see the outside world and all that it had to offer.