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Henry could immediately tell that there was something off about this place.
The halls were completely empty and bare, there were no cut-outs, posters, tables, and most noticeably, there was no ink. The pipes were empty and there were no splatters on the walls, the studio looked as though it had been completely gutted and polished, the whole atmosphere of the studio was extremely unnerving.
He looked around as he walked down the seemingly endless hallway, calmly but desperately searching for a sign that would tell him that this wasn’t real and that he hadn’t gone completely nuts. The worst part was just how damn quiet it was, there wasn’t even any creaking sounds from the wooden floorboards that he walked upon, no music from the radios, no moaning sounds from the Searchers, only silence.
The older man picked up his pace slightly, the only thing that was good about this situation was the fact that his leg had seemingly managed to magically heal itself, which of course just proved further that this was not reality.
A dream, perhaps?
He honestly couldn’t remember falling asleep, but after everything that he and Bendy had been through these past few…days, weeks? He couldn’t even tell anymore. The older man could hardly blame himself if he had just passed out from sheer exhaustion. Despite his calm demeanour, this whole ordeal was really starting to take it’s toll on him, both mentally and physically.
His hand automatically twitched at the thought of Bendy. It was strange, not having the piece of paper in his hand, it had almost become an instinct to hold onto it, like it was a sort of coping mechanism. He certainly felt more tense without the devil there to help him and keep him motivated. Bendy’s upbeat personality and nature had helped keep him calm on more than one occasion, plus the demon’s monster form had come in very handy in fights, especially now that he had that damn leg injury.
The fact that he didn’t have his axe either just added to his steadily increasing anxiety.
As he kept walking, he was suddenly made aware of something splashing underneath his feet, and looked down to see black liquid seeping through the floorboards, the strong stench of ink that wafted into the area was completely overwhelming.
The walls started to bleed the black gloopy substance, large blobs dripped from the ceiling and ran down the sides of the hallway, but that was the least of his problems.
Moaning sounds suddenly came from all around him, it sounded like Searchers, but he couldn’t see a damn thing, there was only the black abyss of the surrounding ink. Starting to panic, the older man spun around as the moaning and groaning got louder and closer.
Everything went silent as something whispered into his ear from behind.
“Sheep, sheep, sheep. It’s time for sleep…”
Henry quickly turned and raised his fist to punch whatever was behind him, only to stop and lower his arm as his eyes widened in horror.
“…Sammy?” Henry blurted out.
The deranged, ink covered music director stood before him with an axe in his hand, his head tilted at an impossible angle and his face covered by an ink stained Bendy mask, his arms and legs were crooked, the guy looked as though he had just been mowed down by a truck.
“You’re…”Henry swallowed. “Y-you’re…supposed to be…dead…”
He and Bendy had ran into Sammy during their travels around the studio, but the whole situation had ended up being horrible, with Henry getting knocked out and tied up as a sacrifice while Bendy’s page got torn to pieces, fortunately only his leg got caught in the tearing, and the demon had managed to get into his other form to take Sammy out and save Henry before the other 'Bendy’ could show up. Henry had also transferred the toon onto a new page once the whole ordeal was over and had sketched out a new leg for him, so in the end, they had both scraped out of the situation relatively unscathed.
So…why the Hell was Sammy standing right in front of him?
The music director limped forward, his crooked leg made a horrible crunching sound, as if his broken bones were rubbing up against each other.
“Rest your head. It’s time for bed…”
Henry was at a loss of what to do. The ink was starting to flood the corridor, and humanoid shapes were beginning to form out of the black liquid, the moaning sounds started up again, this time even louder than before.
“In the morning you may wake.”
Sammy’s voice became more distorted and garbled, as a large, thin and tall shape rose up from behind him, it’s crooked horns, wide grin and clawed gloved hands were all too familiar. Henry took several steps back, his instincts were screaming at him to run.
Sammy raised his twisted, axe-wielding arm.
“Or in the morning, you’ll be DEAD!”
Henry barely managed to get out of the way as the insane musician swung the axe down, the Searchers moaned and snarled as they crawled towards him, and 'Bendy’ let out a high pitched screech, giving the older man his cue to start running.
Turning on his heels to sprint away, he immediately stopped and stared in surprise as the hallway’s walls started to warp and bend, the wooden panels curved and arched, the ceiling was still dripping and leaking ink, a lot of the liquid had fell onto Henry’s head, making his usually volumized hair pretty flat and matted.
'Okay, this is definitely a dream.’ Henry thought sarcastically to himself, as he tried to process what was in front of him.
Another screech sounded behind him, making him actually start to run this time. He stumbled slightly as he still had to get used to going at this speed without his injured leg slowing him down, but he quickly adjusted to it and ran down the distorted corridor, leaving the Searchers and Sammy far behind.
But surprisingly enough, 'Bendy’ was hot on his heels.
Glancing back, he noticed that the monster’s usually crooked and bent leg was actually straight and in perfect condition now, making it so much faster than it usually was, and there was no doubt that it’s stamina was limitless, unlike his own.
‘Well this is just freaking fantastic.’ He thought, looking back forward. 'I’m going to die in my own goddamn dream.’
The monster let out a horrifying roar, urging Henry to pick up his pace. He felt his breathing get heavier and heavier, his heart was practically leaping out of his chest at this point, making him clutch at his tightening upper torso.
Why the Hell was his age still a hindrance to him in a dream, of all things?
But his eyes brightened up at the sight of a small glimmer of hope in the distance: there was a door at the end of the hallway. He had no idea where it would lead to, but if he got there quick enough, he could barricade it.
As he practically crashed into the door, he didn’t hesitate to open it, no matter what could have been on the other side, it sure as hell had to have been better than what was behind him. He swiftly got inside, slammed the door shut and looked around for something that could hold it against the monster.
The room was large, almost hall-like, and very dimly lit, so much so that he could hardly make out anything, but he did manage to notice that there were large markings on the walls. There was also a faint….thumping….sound….
His eyes widened in horror as he suddenly realised what room he was in.
This was the place where he got attacked by the other 'Bendy’, it was where his damn leg got shredded.
'This is where Bendy lost control of himself…’ Henry nervously reminded himself.
Looking around the room, he instantly recognised what those large markings on the walls were: pentagrams. There wasn’t just one on the ceiling this time either, there were dozens of them, dotted all around the room. The walls, ceiling and floor all had the black five pointed stars roughly painted on them, and every single one of them had an inky blob pulsating in the middle.
“I… I have to get out of here…” The older man mumbled to himself in a fearful tone.
He was trying his best to keep calm but without his axe or Bendy there with him, he had no way to defend himself. Even if this was a dream, he had no idea if he was actually safe from any harm or not, and he would rather not have to find out the painful way.
As if right on cue, a growl sounded out from behind him.
Henry slowly turned around with a frown, as 'Bendy’ closed the door behind it and gave the man a huge maniacal grin while it flexed it’s gloved claws. The thumping of the pentagram hearts became louder as dozens of Searchers began to form and leak out from the large ink blobs. Some came from the walls, some dropped down from the ceiling, while others rose up from the ground.
They had him surrounded, there was no way in hell he was going to be able to escape this mess. 'Bendy’ let out a deafening screech and lunged for the older man. He managed to barely avoid the monster by jumping back but as he did, a Searcher grabbed his ankles and yanked forward, making him fall onto his back.
He hit the ground with a loud thud, a sharp pain shooting up his spine. Groaning, he tried to sit back up, but as he did, a sharp point of an axe came dangerously close to his neck. Henry tried to scramble back, but the metal tip came even closer, until it touched just under his chin. The older man swallowed and looked up.
“He will hear me…”
Good God, Sammy’s voice sounded so…garbled and demonic. This combined with 'Bendy’s hissing, the Searchers moaning and the constant thumping was making Henry’s head spin, he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.
“He will set us-“
A huge blast suddenly cut Sammy, 'Bendy’ and the Searchers off, an eruption of black ink shot up from the ground and obliterated everything in the room apart from Henry himself. Though the force sent him flying back, making him, once again, crash to the ground.
After a few moments, the ink blast wore off, the remainder of it simply fell back onto the ground, splashing onto the already ink-covered floor. The thumping sounds soon died down as well, and the black star markings faded away, leaving the wooden walls and ceiling with a few black splatters here and there.
Henry just stared ahead in silence, blinking in surprise as he struggled to sit back up.
'What the fuck is going on here…?’ He asked himself, completely dumbfounded.
He didn’t have much time to think about it though, as a small ripple in the ink suddenly caught his attention. Something small and sharp poked out from the black liquid, it looked like a…well, he wasn’t really sure what it looked like. It was curved and cone-shaped, like a fin, of sorts.
Another three popped up from behind the man, startling him slightly, and his eyes widened when they started to close in on him. Henry felt the ink underneath him shift a little, until suddenly, it began to rise upwards, taking him along with it.
“Holy-!” Henry yelped as he felt himself being yanked up, the force of the sudden gravity pushed him onto his back, which didn’t help his already aching body. Fortunately, he managed to get back up into a sitting position and looked around to finally get his bearings.
He noticed that those small, sharp 'fins’ that he had just seen were actually part of something much bigger. They were actually claws, which were attached to fingers, which were attached to a…
‘I’m….I’m in the middle of a goddamn hand…’ Henry realised as he sat there, trying to digest the whole situation.
But…what was the hand attached to?
A low and deep snarl suddenly sounded out from above him, forcing him to look up. The older man could barely make out a shape in what seemed to be quite a distance as the room was still very dimly lit. But there was one thing that did stand out though, and it was an all too familiar shining white pinprick.
The shape got closer and bigger in size, and as Henry narrowed his eyes, he began to make out more details. It was rounded, with curved horns, a grinning set of white, pointed fangs and a huge ivory, ragged bow tie just underneath it’s dripping chin. Wait, it couldn’t have been…
“…B-Bendy…?” Henry tentatively asked with a horrified expression.
The monster opened his magnificent jaws and hissed in reply, making the man nearly jump out of his skin. What…what was this thing? Henry had seen Bendy in his monster form and his…more crazy form before, but nothing like this. He was so….big, Henry was barely the size of one of his fingers.
But…was he dangerous? This was still just a dream but he had no idea if this was going to somehow an effect on him physically in the real world, it was certainly going to affect him mentally, that was for damn sure.
The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, before Bendy suddenly lowered his head, causing a panicked reaction from Henry, who flung up his arms in defence.
‘It’s just a dream…’ Henry internally reminded himself as he closed his eyes tightly and braced for the attack. 'It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a-’
The older man felt something wet and soft gently rest against the top of his head, and slowly opened his eyes to see that Bendy was actually…nuzzling him.
This enormous, jet black monster with razor sharp fangs, claws and arms that were about the size of fully grown trees…was nuzzling him.
If that wasn’t strange enough, he also started to feel a strong vibration coming from the huge demon, and a deep gurgling sound that almost sounded like purring, he seemed to be mindful of his fangs as well, making sure that they weren’t touching the human as he rubbed his head against Henry’s, being as gentle as he possibly could.
The older man felt his fear melt away slightly as he chuckled at how careful and tentative Bendy seemed to be, despite his sheer size and terrifying appearance, he was actually acting like a bit of a softie.
“H-hey bud…how…how are you doing?” Henry asked while reaching up with a slightly trembling hand to pet the large demon’s head. Despite him being more at ease, he was still pretty nervous about the whole thing, especially after all of the crap that had just happened.
Bendy simply replied with a grunt and a cheerful, toothy grin, before touching his head against Henry’s hand, making the man smile.
“Yeah…it’s me buddy, don’t worry…” He coaxed gently, continuing to pet him.
But his smile wavered slightly as he felt something suddenly overcome him, it was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was…pure raw emotion: happiness, sadness, rage, grief, fear, serenity…but the strongest one that he felt was…trust. It was like a primal instinct that surged through his body, and it was so downright terrifying, that it rendered him immobile.
'What…what is this? The hell is happening to me…?’ He fearfully questioned himself.
He looked up to Bendy, hoping for some kind of answer. The demon was simply watching him, his head still resting against Henry’s hand, he gave the human a thoughtful look, like he knew exactly what was going on.
Henry fell to his knees and clutched his head, he started to tremble as something forced itself into his mind, images started to form, visions that came and went rapidly: a darkened room with a single wheelchair, two dark figures at the ink machine, one was tall with crooked horns, undoubtedly ‘Bendy’, while the other was smaller and…human, it looked like a man.
Was that…Joey? Wait, was he still in the studio?
Henry didn’t have much time to dwell on it as another two visions suddenly came to light, he could barely make out the shapes, but there was a small musical instrument, a clarinet, and a golden ring that shined brilliantly.
As quick as they had came, the visions disappeared, leaving the older man with a pounding head. He collapsed onto his back and breathed heavily, before his vision slowly went to black. The only thing he heard before he completely passed out, was a worried whine.
Henry woke up with a start and shot up into a sitting position, which he instantly regretted.
“Aw Hell…” He muttered under his breath as he put a hand to his head, which was still pretty painful, there also seemed to be a ragged cloth resting on his forehead as well. Henry noticed that his injured leg was aching slightly too, signalling that he must have been back in the real world.
A large, whining Bendy suddenly coming within an inch of his face just confirmed it.
“Hey Bendy…” Henry greeted with a small grin. “You alright? Mind telling me what happened?” He asked, looking around. “We didn’t get attacked by those monsters again, did we?”
Bendy sighed in relief and shook his head, pointing to a cracked wooden beam that laid on the floor not too far away from them. Henry looked down at it for a moment and blinked in confusion before a grunt from Bendy caught his attention again. The devil pointed at the man’s head, before pointing back down at the piece of wood.
“Oh, I see now.” Henry replied as it finally clicked in, he must have been hit on the head by the piece of debris, which probably knocked him out. He felt around for the cloth on his head and pulled it off to have a look at it. It was mostly covered in ink but there was a smear of blood on it as well.
'Damn, that thing must have hit me hard…’ He thought as he raised an eyebrow at the sheer amount of ink that was on the cloth. But he smiled as he looked back up at Bendy, who was gazing at him worriedly.
“Did you put this on my head?” The older man asked in an amused tone while holding up the tattered cloth, earning a little nod from the demon.
“Heh…you saved me again, bud. I owe you one.” He said, chuckling. This earned a happy whine from Bendy, who lowered his head to nuzzle the man. But as he made contact, Henry’s eyes widened slightly, that…raw instinct that he had felt in his dream, it was starting to kick in again.
“This again…?” Henry muttered, frowning. Bendy raised his head and tilted it, making a confused sound at the human’s behaviour. Henry quickly tried to put the monster at ease, he didn’t want to cause Bendy even more worry, he had done that enough lately.
“I’m fine, Bendy. Don’t you worry about me.”
He grunted as he got up, the demon offered his large hand as a support, which the man gratefully used. Once he was up, he tested his injured leg by putting some weight on it, which surprisingly didn’t hurt as much as he was expecting it to.
“Hey…I think this leg might be healing up a little bit. Finally, eh?” Henry said in a joking manner. Bendy happily grunted and nodded enthusiastically, clearly relieved that the human was getting better.
“Now, come on. Time for you to go back on the page. We still got a long way to go yet.”
With that, Bendy quickly dissolved into a puddle of ink and Henry bent down to pick up both the piece of paper and his axe, and as he did, he instantly felt more calm.
'Much better.’ He thought as he limped down the hallway, with Bendy instantly starting up a conversation.
As he listened to the little toon chat away, he couldn’t help but think back to his bizarre dream. What was with those intense emotions that he felt when Bendy made contact with him, and why did he still feel it now? And those visions….the clarinet…the golden ring…what did it all mean?
More importantly, who was that figure at the ink machine? Was it actually Joey? Was he still in the studio?
If he was, Henry was going to damn well make sure that he found him, and once he did, he was going to get his answers.
One way or another.