Work Text:
They were still no closer to finding the information that they both so desperately craved.
Henry’s brow furrowed as he continued to flick through the several documents that he had found in an old wooden cabinet in one of the storyboard rooms. The pages were yellow with age and musty with several layers of dust on top of them. He was forced to blow on the pages in order to be able to read the faded out words but instantly regretted it as the sudden puff from the cloud of dust sent him into a coughing fit.
Too bad they were far away from that air vent that they had found earlier, he really could have used it just about now.
“Henry…are ya alright?” A small, worried voice asked from below.
He glanced down and smiled as he nodded, “Yeah bud, don’t worry.” The older man managed to say in between coughs. “Lot of dust in this place, probably shouldn’t have did that.” He said with a chuckle, clutching his chest slightly as he tried to steady his breathing again.
Bendy frowned sadly in response. “You should be more careful Henry, cuz I dunno when we’re gonna find another air vent again…” He paused for a moment.
“Maybe ya should…slow down your breathin’ or somethin’…ya use up less air that way, right? And then you’ll be able to breathe better…and…” The demon trailed off and looked down.
Henry could feel that Bendy was holding back on something, the little toon shuffled nervously and wrung his hands together as he tried to avoid the man’s eyes. Henry sighed as he suddenly realised what was getting the demon so anxious.
“Bendy.” The toon looked up nervously, to which Henry smiled in a reassuring manner. “What happened back there was just a one off thing, I promise you, I am completely fine now.”
Henry still felt pretty pissed off with himself that he even allowed that mental breakdown to happen in the first place. He hated that Bendy had to see and deal with it, but it was in the past, it happened, they had to move on. He had to move on.
“If ya say so…” Bendy said, not sounding fully convinced. But the little devil’s frown was soon replaced with a big grin as he enthusiastically put his gloved hands on his hips. “Now those papers aren’t gonna sort themselves out! Let’s keep going through ‘em and find some info, eh?” He said with a determined nod.
Henry gave a small grin and nodded back. “Couldn’t have said it better myself, pal.” With that, he continued to rake through the cabinet of documents, a new fire lit up in his eyes as he felt Bendy’s confidence and determination flow through his mind powerfully.
After about half an hour of continued searching and reading, that fire and determination was completely extinguished again.
There was nothing, no information on Joey, or the whereabouts of any of the other employees for that matter. All that he had found were some blueprints for the ink machine, which he had decided to keep a hold of, and had stuffed it into his trouser pocket. It could come in handy if they ever managed to get back up to the machine, somehow.
Henry let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his temples as he leaned his back against the wooden cabinet and slumped down to the floor, it was going to be a long and difficult journey before they would ever reach that damn machine again, he could just feel it.
A small and subtle twinge suddenly pricked at the back of his mind, it was a feeling of regret and…longing, but it wasn’t his own. Curious, he glanced a look at Bendy, who surprisingly had the most glum expression he had ever seen on anyone, the little toon was staring off at something on the far side of the room. The older man raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes as he looked over, seeing if he could catch what had the demon so down.
There were two vintage, ragged posters pinned to the wooden wall, one with a cartoon wolf holding up a clarinet, the other an angel with devil’s horns and a shining halo, she was holding her gloved hand up as if she was about to perform a song. Henry’s eyes lit up with realisation, it was Boris and Alice.
With all the chaos that had been going on, he had completely forgotten about those two.
Boris was supposed to be Bendy’s best friend and a sort of sidekick to the little devil in the show, while Alice was the love interest, of sorts. The angel and demon had a running gag where they pretended to hate each other and would often pull off cruel stunts and tricks on the other, but in the end, they actually cared a lot about each other, though they would never show it. It was a sweet, comedic hit for the audiences, and it brought in a lot of views and money for the studio.
Henry sighed slightly, it was nothing but a memory now.
Although, it did bring up a new question: Where was Alice? Had she been brought to life like the others? The thought made Henry think back to when he and Bendy had come across what appeared to be have been a failed attempt at bringing Boris back to life, back at the beginning of their travels.
He remembered seeing the lifeless corpse of the wolf roughly strapped to some sort of raised operating table with ink pipes connected to the back. White ribs protruded from the wolf’s body, which were stuck up at some pretty odd angles, the older man had to try and calm Bendy down, who was absolutely hysterical at the horrific sight. It had taken Henry a good long while of coaxing before the poor thing gained his composure again.
Henry blinked as he snapped out of his thoughts, and looked back down to Bendy once more. He felt a little pang in his heart at the little toon’s downcast expression, the demon looked absolutely depressed.
“Bendy…” Henry tentatively started. “You ok?” It was probably a stupid thing to ask, but he honestly didn’t really know what else to say.
It took a few moments before the devil finally answered. “Hm. I’m fine, just…thinkin’ is all…”
Henry frowned slightly when nothing else was said, he could very clearly feel that the demon was definitely not fine, and they both knew it. He was very tempted to ask Bendy if he knew anything about Alice being alive, but he didn’t want to push his luck with the already gloomy toon, so he decided to drop the matter entirely, for the time being at least.
Henry let out a stifled yawn, earning an instantaneous glare from Bendy, the older man blinked before sighing at the fact that he had been caught and prepared himself for the incoming lecture.
“Henry, you should really get some rest.” The demon glanced around the room. “Maybe we should take a quick nap or somethin'” Henry gave him a tired but reassuring grin.
“I’m fine, really. We should keep moving-“
“But I’m pretty tired too, we could both do with some shut-eye.” Bendy interrupted, before clasping his gloved hands together and looking up at the human with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster, which for a cartoon, was especially exaggerated. “Please?”
It took everything in Henry’s power not to chuckle at the sight, it would appear that he had no choice in the matter.
“Fine, I suppose you’re right, bud.” He complied. “But only for a little while, an hour or so, deal?” Henry placed his index finger onto the page for Bendy to shake.
Bendy grinned and nodded happily. “Deal!” He took the finger with both hands and shook vigorously. The sensation of touching a live cartoon was still very bizarre, it was something that he was probably never going to get used to.
“Alright, let me find somewhere a little more comfortable then. This floor won’t exactly be good for my old bones.” With that, Henry got up with the help of his axe, and moved to a more appropriate spot for a nap.
“Hey!” Bendy piqued up, catching the other’s attention. “If ya ask me, I’d say that your bones are in pretty great condition!”
Henry gave the little devil an amused look. “Oh yeah, what makes you say that?”
“Well, I uh…” He faltered for a split second. “Well, they just are, cuz you’re super macho!” Bendy proudly exclaimed, making Henry roll his eyes slightly, but with a small smile on his face.
“Whatever you say, bud.” The older man bemusedly said, he had to wonder if the demon was being supportive or if he was just being plain naive. Either way, it was honestly quite sweet.
There was a chair on the far side of the room, just opposite of the posters, Henry pondered if he should have faced the chair in another direction, so that Bendy wouldn’t have to look at them, but decided against it. There were duplicate posters all over the place anyway, so there was no escaping looking at them.
Henry sat down and sighed in relief as he settled himself down, the hard, wooden chair wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing to sleep upon, or sit upon for that matter. But it sure as hell was better than the floor, at least he would have a back support.
He placed Bendy’s page and his axe on a nearby desk, stretched his strained arms and decided to check himself over for a minute, he didn’t know when he was going to get the opportunity to again.
His clothes were absolutely tattered, ragged and had jet black ink stains all over them, especially the bottom half of his trousers and shoes, his shirt, however, was still in a surprisingly good condition. His skin was stained and smeared with faded ink, and his hair was slightly matted with the black substance, although it had dried up slightly, resulting in his hair clumping up a tad bit.
‘Ugh. I’m going to have to take a really long shower when I get out of here.’ Henry amusedly thought to himself, before pausing for a moment.
‘If…I get out.’ A subtle but menacing voice at the back of his mind said.
Sighing and pushing the negative thought away, he checked his leg next. The trouser material was still ripped but the bandages were gone, he had decided that the wound was healed enough to not need them anymore, that, and he had ran out of fresh wrappings anyway. The large gash was now a horrible looking scar, but he was honestly just thankful that it had managed to stay clean and healed up without any sort of infection.
‘Heh…another battle scar to add to the collection, I suppose.’ He thought, smiling slightly.
Henry stopped his health check and leaned back in the chair while crossing his arms across his stomach, preparing himself for what was probably going to be a rough sleep, but just as he was about to shut his eyes, a small cough caught his attention.
The older man lifted his head and turned it to look at the source of the noise. Bendy had his hands clasped together and was looking down in a sheepish manner. Henry noticed a subtle feeling of self-doubt creeping up at the back of his mind.
“Bendy.” This earned a small flinch from the demon. “What’s wrong?”
Bendy kept quiet, he had a perplexed expression on his face, like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to say anything, the self-doubt at the back of Henry’s mind was gradually getting stronger, it was like there was a battle of wills going on inside him, he was going to have calm the little toon down and find out what was bothering him so much.
“It’s all right…” Bendy glanced up, Henry gave him a gentle, reassuring smile. “You can tell me anything, bud. Anything at all.” This seemed to ease the devil slightly, and the negative emotions died down slightly, making it easier for Henry to think again.
“Well, I uh…” Bendy stuttered a little as he tried to string his sentence together in a way that would make sense. “Maybe I should sleep…w-with ya…so I can…um…protect ya better if any of those monsters decide to attack us.” Bendy quickly said, before pausing for a moment.
“Yeah, that way they won’t get the jump on ya, not with me there!” The little toon added with a more confident tone and determined expression this time.
Henry blinked for a moment in mild surprise, why was Bendy suddenly so insistent in sleeping with him? The desk honestly wasn’t that far from him so protection certainly wasn’t going to be an issue, but Henry could still feel that self-doubt creeping up again, and he noticed a glint of longing in Bendy’s face, like a child that was desperately wanting something, which was when it dawned on him:
The little demon just didn’t want to sleep on his own.
Henry had never really thought about it before but he had only arrived in the studio a short while ago, and it had been a full 30 years since he was last here, Bendy had been brought to life not that long after he had left, so during that time, Bendy must have been completely on his own. The poor thing had went years without any company at all, so Henry couldn’t really blame him for wanting to be comforted, and he was more than happy to oblige.
“Good idea, bud.” The older man said with a smile. “We’ll cover each other’s back much easier that way.” He said, not wanting to call out Bendy on his real reasoning. Like him, the little toon could be quite prideful.
He reached over, lifted the paper from the desk and gently laid it onto his chest, with Bendy facing upwards. Henry could feel a surge of relief and happiness wash over him through their connection, and noticed the beaming grin that was on Bendy’s face, he smiled at the lovely sight. The man put a hand over the paper as Bendy settled himself down, and closed his eyes as he could feel a drowsiness start to take over him.
“Sleep tight, Henry…” He could hear Bendy sleepily mutter.
“You too, pal…” Henry replied, a small smile on his face.
It didn’t take long for sleep to overcome them both.
The older man could instantly tell where he was without even having to open his eyes.
He slowly felt around the smooth surface that he was laying upon, it was cool and ever so slightly wet to the touch, it also felt soft and…almost organic. He knew that he was going to have to get up soon, so he slowly got himself up into a sitting position and yawned loudly as he stretched his arms to try and stimulate the stiff limbs.
“So…you’re here again.” Henry nonchalantly said with a small grin as he looked up at the huge monster, who in return, gave him a semi unamused look.
However, it was quickly replaced with a huge fang-filled grin as the demon lowered his head to nuzzle the older man in a manner of greeting, making Henry flinch slightly as he timidly gave Bendy a small pat, just above his eye.
As much as he appreciated the gesture, he was still extremely nervous about it. Especially after the whole horrible flashback scenario that had happened before, the excruciating pain that he had to go through back then was completely unbearable, there was no way he was prepared to deal with something like that again. So as endearing as Bendy was being, Henry couldn’t help but wish that he would keep his distance.
The head suddenly pulled back, the unexpected movement threw Henry off balance slightly. Looking up to see what was wrong, he grimaced as Bendy gave him what appeared to be an offended and somewhat hurt expression. As subtle as the human tried to be, it looked as though Bendy had caught on to his thoughts, Henry ran a hand through his hair in a sheepish manner as he tried to reason with the large demon.
“I’m sorry, bud. It’s just that after last time-“
He was suddenly cut off though, as Bendy rolled his eye and held up his other hand in a motion for him to stop talking.
A dark, deep, booming voice suddenly sounded out.
“No, no…I get it. You’re still scared of me.” The voice said in an almost sarcastic manner.
Silence followed as Henry just stared up at Bendy, completely dumbfounded.
The demon simply stared back nonchalantly as the sound of his voice echoed throughout the area, gradually quieting down until silence engulfed them once more.
Henry was at a complete loss for words. Did…did Bendy honestly just speak?
The sheer power and authority in that voice was unbelievable, but it wasn’t completely overpowering, it was very…soft and gentle, like the sound of rumbling thunder sounding out in the distance. It was nothing like the enthusiastic, joyful and higher pitched voice he was so used to hearing from the devil in his little doodle form.
There were a few beats of silence, before Henry finally managed to conjure up the strength to talk again.
“You…you can….you can actually speak?” His voice cracked slightly, it sounded so weak and pathetic compared to Bendy’s, it didn’t help that he could feel himself trembling slightly as well.
Bendy blinked in surprise at the man’s shivering, before giving him a sympathetic and slightly sheepish look. The large demon tried to ease him a bit by quieting down his voice just a tad, so as not to spook the human so much.
“Yes.” Bendy said, much calmer this time. “I have always been able to speak.”
Silence ensued once more as Henry kept staring at him.
Now it was Bendy that started to feel a little nervous. Did he really scare Henry that much? The demon could feel the connection between them waver slightly, there was a flickering tension in the air that made him very uncomfortable. Bendy tried to smile in a reassuring manner and was about to ask if Henry was alright, before being caught completely off guard as Henry suddenly stood up.
“Are you kidding me with this?!” Henry angrily exclaimed while throwing his arms up, stunning the large demon, making him flinch a little.
“Why…!” Henry grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to calm himself down, failing miserably.
“Why…are telling me this just now? Hm? Why didn’t you say anything back when I was going through all of that…crap?!” He angrily yelled, glaring up at the monster.
He gripped the sides of his head and groaned loudly in frustration as Bendy stayed silent, his expression still a little bewildered. The human could feel his pent up anger start to rise.
“You just stood there…and watched…while I writhed about in pain, and you didn’t even think to talk, to tell me what was going on, or to-“
Henry was suddenly cut of however as a clawed finger gently but firmly pushed him off of his feet and back into a sitting position.
“Oh do calm down, Henry.”
Bendy’s deep, rumbling voice held a subtle condescending tone to it, which made Henry clench his teeth in a somewhat annoyed grimace.
“Hey, don’t tell me to calm down-“
Henry was cut off again, this time by a quiet and low warning growl. This definitely shut the human up as his eyes widened a little in fear. He knew that Bendy wouldn’t hurt him as he seemed to have complete control over this…dream or nightmare form, whatever it was. But he also knew that when the demon was annoyed, it was a sign to stop.
Satisfied, Bendy quieted down and spoke once again.
“Now, I am sorry that you had to deal with the pain, really I am. But I had no other choice but to let the connection take place. I was not able to stop it, it had to happen. I… hope you can understand.” The large demon said with a sombre and somewhat guilty look.
Henry frowned and looked down, before speaking up again, “But…what even happened? What’s the connection for? How…why did it happen?” The human asked, a desperate tone in his voice. His need for answers was killing him, he had to know what the Hell was going on, and now.
Bendy looked away nervously, as if he was trying to come up with some kind of answer that would satisfy him, but Henry didn’t even give him a chance to think as the man rapidly fired more questions at him.
“What about those visions? Those figures at the machine, the clarinet, the…ring, the golden ring. What does it mean? And…what are you? Is…this another form or…are you even real? What…what about…”
He trailed off as he noticed that Bendy had closed his eye and was shaking his head slowly, as if the devil was trying to make sense of everything himself, making Henry blink in confusion.
“…I apologise, but…I do not have the answers to all of your questions. All that I know is that the connection needed to happen and that I am alive.” Bendy simply said with a straight face, while Henry’s expression just grew even more confused.
“You’re…alive? The Hell does that even mean?” The older man asked with a frown. Bendy’s expression didn’t falter as he simply replied.
“It means exactly what I said. I am alive.”
The human sighed in aggravation, he hated it when he got vague answers.
“Ok, well…what about Joey? Do you know where he is?” He asked in a somewhat more hopeful tone. Bendy frowned sadly and shook his head, but Henry wasn’t giving up.
“…What about the other Bendy? Y'know, the one that keeps chasing us? You know anything about it?” A sudden growl from the demon made the older man flinch, he could feel a sudden anger rise up within him, and it wasn’t his own this time.
Bendy’s expression looked fairly furious at the mere mention of that monster, Henry couldn’t exactly blame him but…the demon looked absolutely terrifying as his fang filled grin turned into an angry grimace, the white pupil in his eye shrunk a little. It reminded Henry a little of when Bendy would have his insane phases, and safe to say, it had him pretty panicked.
“The less you and I know about that impostor, the better. All that I do know, is that if it even dares to come near you again, I won’t hesitate to kill it…”
Henry could feel Bendy’s hand trembling from underneath him, the demon’s face looked absolutely livid now.
‘Shit…I shouldn’t have brought that up…’ He internally scolded himself. He was going to have to calm him down before something happened.
“Hey…it’s ok, bud.” The older man coaxed while holding out a hand. “I’m alright, nothing’s gonna happen to me.”
Bendy’s angry look turned into one of sadness as he lowered his head to nuzzle Henry’s hand.
“You do not know that. Not for sure.” Bendy solemnly said as he closed his eye, his head still lowered.
Henry frowned slightly, before smirking a little. “Actually, I do.”
This caught Bendy’s attention as his single eye snapped open and looked at the human curiously.
“I have you, don’t I? You’re the sole reason I’m even still alive. So as long as you still stick with me, I can probably guarantee that I’ll be totally fine.” Henry inwardly cringed at how cheesy his wording was, but Bendy lifted his head and gratefully smiled at the sentiment.
“Then I shall be by your side until the very end.” Bendy replied, with a new found light in his eye and a big, genuine grin. Despite the terrifying fangs, he looked like his old joyful self again.
Henry smiled back before frowning slightly again. After a moment of silence, he looked up to Bendy with an almost pleading look.
“Are you sure that there isn’t anything you can tell me that would help us? Anything at all?” The large devil gave him a sympathetic look.
“I only know as much as you do, Henry. Nothing more, nothing less.”
The older man sighed at the answer, but he honestly didn’t expect anything else. He had hoped that Bendy might have had all the answers or some kind of magical solution to clean up this whole mess, but alas, reality had to kick in sometime.
He slumped a little, and ran a hand through his thick but aging hair, he was starting to wonder what the point in all of this was. Was there really an end goal in sight? Were they even going to make it out? Or were they doomed to wander around the studio in an infinite loop? He was starting to maybe think it was going to be the latter.
“Fear not. We will make it out.” The sudden deep and growling voice caught him off guard again and made him jump slightly. He quickly looked up to see Bendy giving him an encouraging grin, how did he-
Henry internally scolded himself, he completely forgot about how open his thoughts and emotions were to Bendy now. Of course the demon could tell how he was feeling.
“We will survive and we will get out, mark my words.” Bendy said in a confident but comforting tone. “You once told me that you wanted to show me what world is outside of the studio, to show me colour, I remember you being very passionate about it.”
Henry blinked silently, allowing Bendy to continue.
“I am passionate about it as well. I want to see what’s out there, and I want you to show me. We are, as you said, ‘family’, after all. Am I right?”
Henry’s look of surprise instantly softened into one of gratitude.
“Yeah.” Henry said, his voice wavering slightly, he felt himself getting a little emotional at the fact that Bendy was quoting his own words. “Yeah, you’re right, bud.” He smiled up at the large demon and nodded. “I promise I’ll show you everything out there, you’re gonna love it.”
Bendy smiled, nodded back and lowered his head to nuzzle Henry’s.
“If you love your outside world so much, then I will love it too, without a doubt.” Bendy replied, lightly rubbing the older man’s head with his own.
Henry chuckled lightly and lifted a hand to give the demon’s cheek a small pat, a mutual feeling of trust and understanding smoothly and powerfully ran through the connection of their bond.
They gave each other a smile before Henry woke up.
He slowly opened up his eyes, only to be greeted by the silence of the studio, save for a light snoring sound that was coming from below. He tiredly glanced down to the paper that he still had lightly grasped to his chest, Bendy was still completely out for the count, and was grinning sleepily as he continued to silently snore. Henry smiled softly at the sight.
He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes as he felt subtle hints of the bond come through from his dream, the comforting feeling relaxed him, as did the peace and quiet. He took a deep breath and let it out as he allowed himself to enjoy the calm atmosphere for the time being, he gripped Bendy’s page ever so slightly, just to make sure he was still secure.
Only one thought ran through his mind: He was going to get Bendy out of this place, one way or another.
The studio stayed silent as the monsters kept at bay.