Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Carmine, this is a terrible idea.” The small woman in the passenger seat said.

“Relax, tesoro.” The man driving the car patted his companion’s head. “It’s just a simple assignment.”

“People went missing from this studio! It’s been abandoned for years!”

“Fiona, calm down.” Carmine rolled his eyes. “I’m an extremely high-ranking demon, I have nothing to worry about. And if you’re scared, you can wait in the car.”

“This guy is a devil worshipper! I have everything to be worried about!” Fiona snapped. “Why am I here anyway?”

“Because you said you wanted to come.” Carmine said as they pulled up to the studio. “But, like I said, you can wait in the car if you’re scared. This might get messy.”

“And let you go in on your own? I think not.” Fiona shook her head.

“Well, this might be fun.” Carmine said. “It would be better to have backup. Not to mention, you had a crush on that Sammy Lawrence, didn’t you?” Fiona tilted her head to the side, then snorted.

“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” She started to laugh.

“Jealousy is unbecoming.” Carmine chuckled, getting out of the car. “Now let’s go in, shall we?” Fiona abruptly stopped laughing, staring at the rundown studio before them. Ivy crawled up the walls, and the paint was peeling.

“I don’t like this.” She said, latching on to Carmine’s arm. “It looks creepy!”

“You’re adorable when you’re scared.” Carmine laughed, kissing her head. “But you don’t have to come, really. You can wait in the car.”

“Not happening.” Fiona said him, lagging behind as he strode up to the door. Somehow, it was unlocked. The couple peeked inside. The interior was dark, lit only by flickering bulbs. Ink was splotched all over everything. There was a strange presence to the studio, one that felt almost familiar to Carmine.

“Okay...This...This isn’t so bad.” Fiona stood up a bit straighter. “I... I can do this.”

“That’s my girl.” Carmine walked in ahead of her. “Joey Drew! Come out! I need to have a word with you!” His words echoed back from the empty halls. The only sounds were the dripping ink, a projector in the main room, and the reels on the hall behind the studio sign.

“Hello?” Fiona stepped tentatively inside. “Are you sure we have the right place?”

“I’m certain.” Carmine frowned and pulled out his phone. “Asmodeus said his soul was still in the building.”

“Well is it?” Fiona asked, leaning on a wall.

“According to our reports, yes.” Carmine’s frown deepened as he stowed his phone back in the pocket of his suit. “Perhaps he’s on a lower level?” He could definitely feel Joey’s presence. But it felt…different than he was used to.

“Maybe?” Fiona pushed off the wall, looking around. “We should look for some stairs, right?” Carmine nodded, immediately going down the hallway to their left. He’d hoped there would be a stairwell, but instead there was an animation room.

“Well, this isn’t what I thought it would be.” He said.

“Oooh! This is cool!” Fiona squealed, walking in. “This is where they animated, right?”

“Judging from the desks, I assume so, yes.” Carmine followed her, noting with a small smile that the sketches on the desks moved whenever Fiona wasn’t looking. It was rather adorable. Fiona looked around, humming to herself.

“A real animation room.” She whispered. “This is crazy.” Carmine scanned the room himself, eyes narrowed. There didn’t seem to be anything out of place, thankfully, aside from the cutout in the corner and the one in the boarded-up bathroom. He could feel souls on the lower floors, but they’d cross that bridge when they came to it. If they came to it. Eventually, Fiona got bored and wandered back out and down the other corridor. Carmine noted the Bendy cutout in the corner of the main room, near the projector. A presence that seemed to linger with it, almost as though something was watching them through it. Probably nothing to worry about. Probably. On the wall directly in front of them was a directory, showing what they were walking towards. It read, Art Department, Ink Machine, Theater, and Break Room.

“Do normal studios have theaters?” Fiona asked. “Or ink machines?”

“I don’t think so.” Although, Carmine admittedly didn’t know much about actual cartoon studios. They rounded the corner, only to find a message messily written on the wall in ink.

DREAMS COME TRUE

“Oh, fuck me,” Fiona said.

“Mm. Terrible penmanship.”

“It’s a creepy ass message on a wall and all you can say is ‘bad penmanship’?!” Fiona gestured wildly at the message. “This is horror movie shit right here!”

“You can wait in the car if you like. And I really think you should.” Carmine breezed past her down the hallway. Fiona muttered some curses and followed.

“You know I don’t want to be out there on my own.” She said, her voice returning to normal. “Who knows how long this’ll take? Plus, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Your help is appreciated, my dear.” Carmine reached down to ruffle her hair before his attention was diverted by something at the end of the hallway. He took off towards it, causing Fiona to have to run to keep up with him. He disappeared around a corner. Fiona gave chase, nearly tripped over an exposed pipe in her hurry to get to him.

“Hey! Why’d you speed up like that?!” She asked after she’d caught up. He plugged in what appeared to be batteries, then pulled a switch.

“That.” Carmine pointed into the room below them, where a strange monstrosity of a machine was being lifted out of the depths. Fiona’s eyes widened.

“What the everloving fuck is that?”

“That, I believe, is Joey’s ink machine.” Carmine leaned on the balcony, staring intently at the machine. “He wanted to use this to bring his creations to life.”

“So that was his deal.” Fiona stood in the doorway, shoving her hands into her pockets. “He wanted to make his characters real.” She could understand that desire far too well. Carmine stopped his examination of the machine to go back over to her, wrapping her in his arms.

“Whatever happened here was his fault. It has nothing to do with you.” He assured her. “You are not going to become any kind of monster.”

“Alright.” She said quietly. “Let’s...Let’s just keep exploring.”

“Would you like to figure out how to turn on the machine?” Carmine asked, making a mischievous face.

Fiona gave him a deadpan look. “No.”

“Pretty please~”

“We’re not turning it on. We don’t even know what it does!”

“All the more reason to turn it on and find out.” Carmine said brightly. “Come along now. There must be some way to figure this out.” He was out of the room and down the next hallway before she could even stop him.

“Carmine! I said no!” She yelled, giving chase. When they came to a split in the hallway, the two of them went to the right. Previously it had been shuttered off, but now they could go explore. Carmine noted another Bendy cutout as they explored. Pretty soon, Fiona was glued to Carmine’s side once more, after a board slammed down in front of them.

“FUCKING- WHAT THE FUCK?!” She shrieked, grabbed onto his arm.

“It’s just a board,” Carmine said. “This place is old and decrepit, falling apart at the seams.”

“Then why are we in it?” Fiona glared up at him.

“Because I have a contract to collect and you wanted to see New York.”

And there was a story that needed to be told here.

“Whatever.” She dragged him to the right and through the doorway there. Inside was a small room with six pedestals and a switch labeled Main Power. Beside the switch was a little blinking light that read, Low Pressure.

“Ah, sacrifices.” Carmine smiled wistfully. “This brings me back. I suppose we have to collect them in order to power the machine.”

“This makes no sense,” Fiona muttered, detaching to look around. “How do a bunch of random items power a machine?”

“Maaaagic~” Carmine made a vague ‘magical’ gesture with his hands.

“Fuck you. That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Let’s collect the items and see what happens,” Carmine said, winking and disappearing out the door. Fiona lingered for a few minutes, trying to memorize the items depicted.

“Okay, I think we need an inkwell, a wrench, a record, a doll, a book, and a gear.” She shouted out, making her way to the door.

“Fiona, stay where you are.” Carmine’s voice drifted in from her right.

“What? Why?”

“You aren’t going to want to see this.”

Ever determined and powered by spite, Fiona turned the corner and followed the sound of Carmine’s voice. He had been right. She didn’t want to see this. But she saw it anyway. On an operating table in front of her was a cartoon wolf with his chest cavity ripped open. His ribs stuck out at odd angles and thick black ink dripped from the wound. WHO’S LAUGHING NOW was written on the wall in ink. Fiona’s breath caught in her throat and she leaned against Carmine as tears welled up in her eyes.

“Oh my God.” She gasped.

“God has nothing to do with this.” Carmine said solemnly. After a few minutes of Fiona crying against his chest, the two set about finding the items to power the machine. Carmine had found the wrench stuck in the chest cavity of the wolf.

“One down, five to go.” He said, in an attempt to distract Fiona. She merely made a whimpering sound, sticking close to him. Carmine sighed and hoisted her up in her arms, deciding to carry her until she felt better. She protested a bit at first but settled down. He noticed a door to the left of the operating table and opened it. It led into what he was assuming was a workspace for animators. There was nothing of note and certainly no more items.

“This place is a maze.” He muttered to himself as he opened the door leading out. It was then that Fiona looked up and completely flipped out.

“THAT DOOR WAS NOT OPEN BEFORE!” She scrambled out of his arms, elbowing him in the face in the process, and pointed wildly to the door at the end of the narrow hallway.

“No, it was not.” Carmine rubbed his cheek. “But before we go over there, let’s check the other way, shall we?”

“...Okay.” Fiona walked back and grabbed his hand, following him down the other path. This yielded another hallway and a table with a tape recorder on it.

“What’s this?” Carmine picked the tape recorder up, turning it over in his hands.

“It’s a tape recorder! Man, I haven’t seen one of these in years!” Fiona said, her face lighting up.

Carmine snorted. “You sound like an old woman. I remember when dictaphones were first created.”

“Now who sounds old?” Fiona asked, pressing play.

“At this point, I don’t get what Joey’s plan is for this company. The animations sure aren’t being finished on time anymore.” A nasal man’s voice crackled from the tape recorder. “And I certainly don’t see why we need this machine. It’s noisy, it’s messy. And who needs that much ink anyway? Also, get this, Joey had each of us donate something from our workstations. We put them on these little pedestals in the break room. To appease the gods, Joey says. Keep things going. I think he’s lost his mind, but, hey, he writes the checks. But I tell you what, if one more pipe bursts, I’m outta here.”

“Geez. Sounds like Joey really lost it.” Fiona said as Carmine replaced the tape recorder on the shelf.

“People tend not to be stable after making ill-advised deals with demons.” Carmine said. They continued down the hallway and into a room that resembled a theater. There were chairs lined up before a screen, and a projector ready to play cartoons. On one of the chairs was the plush they needed, which Fiona immediately scooped up.

“Judging from the piping, I’m assuming this is where we come to restore pressure after we find the items.” Carmine turned to leave.

“Wait!” Fiona caught his arm. “Don’t you want to see what’s inside?”

“Well aren’t you curious all of a sudden?” He said, laughing. “Alright. Let’s take a look.” In the far corner they found the valve to restore the ink pressure, but nothing much else aside from that.

“Best remember where this place is,” Carmine said. “We’ll be needing it later.”

Fiona nodded. “We should, uh, probably check that suspiciously opened door now, right?”

“Are you scared?” Carmine smiled and leaned down so he was eye level with her.

“Of course I’m scared!” She said. “Is this place not the freakiest thing you’ve ever seen?!”

“Well-”

“Wait, forget I said that.” She ran a hand over her face.

“You don’t think about Hell too much, do you?” Carmine asked, following her out of the room.

“Nope. Nor do I want to.”

They made their way back to the mysteriously opened door. Fiona immediately got behind Carmine surreptitiously pushing him forward.

“Are you sacrificing me to the danger?” He asked.

“...No.”

Carmine laughed softly to himself and opened the door. The first thing they saw were stairs. Once inside and at the top of the stairs, they saw something akin to a break room, complete with a little punch card machine and a dartboard.

“This...This isn’t so bad.” Fiona tentatively took a step inside.

“It’s just a break room.” Carmine sounded the tiniest bit disappointed.

“Did you hope it would be danger?” Fiona asked, already down the stairs and looking around.

“Well, yes,” Carmine said. “Maybe even a demon. There is a strong demonic presence here.” Fiona paused in her investigation of the tables to look pointedly at him.

“This is just like that time my mom told me I’d been bitten by a goose while we were walking towards a flock of geese.” She muttered. “It’s like, are you trying to make me scared?!” In this break room, they found the book, The Illusion of Living. The record they found in a room that had previously been closed, under a desk with a radio on top of it and the message HE WILL SET US FREE. The gear was in the ink machine room and the inkwell was in the animator’s studio.

“That’s everything,” Carmine said as they collected the inkwell. “Now to put them on the pedestals.”

“This is weird. This is so weird.” Fiona held the items close to her chest. “I hate this. I hate it so much.” Carmine just patted her back and they went back to put the items on the pedestals. As each item was placed on each pedestal, a light turned on above it.

“Seriously?” Fiona groaned. “This is too creepy.”

“You can always wait in the car,” Carmine suggested again.

“Knowing horror tropes, the door’s probably locked,” Fiona muttered. “So, let’s just get this over with so we can get out and all that.”

“Back to the projector room now.”

The couple headed back to the projector room. As they turned to corner, a Bendy cutout popped out, causing Fiona to shriek and jump into Carmine’s arms.

“Well, it’s obvious now that something is here,” Carmine said.

“Great. Fan-fucking-tastic.” Fiona clambered down, staying close to him though. They entered the projector room, where the projector spontaneously started playing a Bendy cartoon, a whistling sound coming from the speakers. Fiona jumped a bit but didn’t scream this time.

“Let’s get this over with.” She muttered, turning the valve. Immediately, the room began to fill with ink. Carmine’s nose wrinkled.

“This is a 500-dollar suit.” He sighed. “I hate this place.” Meanwhile, Fiona was clambering up his body again to try and get away from the ink.

“Sorry.” She said, noticing the inky footprints she’d left.

“It’s alright. It was going to be ruined anyway.” He said. With her safely away from the ink, they made their way past the leaking pipe and back to the main power room. As they walked, they could hear something moving in the pipes.

“Something bad’s going to happen when you throw that switch,” Fiona said as Carmine reached for the power switch. “I just know it. We’ll have to be ready to run like Hell.”

“Well, you can run.” Carmine said. “But I am a demon of a high caliber. I won’t be running.” As soon as the switch was thrown, the atmosphere changed. Fiona found it a little harder to breathe. The lights above the pedestals had gone out. Fiona clung desperately to Carmine.

“Okay.” She squeaked. “What now?”

“Let’s go take a look at the ink machine.” Carmine said. The smile on his face scared Fiona a bit. It was his demon smile, the one he used when he was either about to torture someone or do something rather terrible. She had a bad feeling about where this was going. When they reached the ink machine room, they found the doorway boarded up, with inky footprints leading away from it.

“What the...It was open last time we were here.” Fiona leaned in to peek through the boards. As soon as she did so, a strange inky creature popped up, arm reaching out to grab her. She was gone, running back towards the front door. She nearly tripped over the pipe again but managed to keep going. Carmine stood his ground, studying the creature curiously.

“So, this is what Joey Drew did with the ink machine.” He said, oblivious to the ink forming around him. The creature paused in its flailing to stare at him. Carmine narrowed his eyes, inspecting the creature.

“This might be more fun than I anticipated.” He finally said, smiling slightly. Then he walked calmly back to the front down. The floor seemed to have collapsed, which meant Fiona had likely fallen through. Carmine sighed to himself. What a troublesome girl he’d contracted with. Oh well. He’d have to after her now. He hopped down the hole, landing beside her. Or, at least, he assumed she was beside him. The ink pouring down from the first floor had submerged the room almost to his stomach. He began searching through the ink until he finally pulled her up from where she’d fallen. Their clothes were definitely ruined now. Fiona coughed and sputtered for a few minutes before she could breathe normally again.

“Oh god,” she groaned. “You don’t think I’m going to get ink poisoning now, do you?”

“You’ll be fine.” He said. “Our contract keeps you from such things.”

“Okay. Good.” She nodded and looked around. “So... What now? We’ve gotta get out somehow.”

“I suspect we’ll have to go deeper before we can do that,” Carmine said. “But first, we need to drain this ink. It’s rather unpleasant to wade through.”

“Gotcha.” Fiona looked around the room for any ink valves. “Oh! An audio log!” She waded over and pressed play.

“It’s dark and it’s cold and it’s stuck in behind every wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees! Who ever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don’t, or he’s some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this...are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs. Make no mistake, this place...This...Machine...Heck, this whole darn thing...It just isn’t natural. You can bet, I won’t be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew.”

“Yikes.” Fiona winced. “Poor guy. This place must have been Hell to work in.”

“It’s certainly on par with some of the worst work environments I’ve seen,” Carmine said, wading over to a valve behind her and turning it. The ink in the room drained, allowing them to walk freely and revealing a set of stairs down into the bowels of the studio. Down the stairs was more ink, more valves to turn, and more stairs. The second set of stairs led them to a door, which was accessible after they drained the rest of the ink.

“This is getting tiresome,” Carmine said, opening the door. The doorway ahead of them was boarded up, and on the wall was another message.

THE CREATOR LIED TO US.

“Fuuun,” Fiona said. “Ooh! An ax!” She grabbed it off the wall, only to have it take away almost immediately by Carmine.

“You are not to be trusted with sharp objects.” He said. “I’m not regenerating another limb.”

“Ugh. Fine.” She stood back while he hacked off the boards. They didn’t even technically need an ax. Carmine could have torn the boards off with his bare hands. But he liked maintaining the illusion of humanity sometimes. Plus, she didn’t have the strength to chop down boards. Stupid tiny body. She followed him through the dingy hallway, lit only by candles, and to another boarded up door.

“Whatever’s in here can’t be good.” She said.

“Only one way to find out.” Carmine chopped away the boards and opened the door. The room inside had a summoning circle on the floor, lined with candles and flanked by coffins. Almost as soon as they entered, a rumble shook the building, and they heard the stairway behind them collapse.

“No going back now,” Carmine said, shutting the door. “Not that I’d want to go back. This is rather exciting.”

“Speak for yourself,” Fiona said, trying to will her legs to stop shaking. “This is terrifying!”

“My apologies.” He kissed her head. “Would you like to rest a bit before we continue on?” Fiona nodded, sitting down on the summoning circle.

“What even was that thing upstairs?” She muttered.

“That,” Carmine said. “Was Joey Drew.”

Fiona looked up at him. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Indeed I am.” He smiled and leaned against a coffin. “This will be an interesting mission. I had no idea he would go so far as to sacrifice himself to the ink machine. The man definitely has dedication. Not to mention idiocy.”

“Whatever, I’m going to sleep.” Fiona curled up, willing herself to fall asleep. Carmine stayed standing, watching her. He held a hand out over, casting a protection spell. He hadn’t lied when he’d said the creature had been Joey Drew. It certainly possessed at least a little bit of the man’s soul. But this wasn’t like other cases he’d seen. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on here, but he knew one thing. This was most definitely going to be interesting.

Chapter Text

Fiona woke up with a pounding headache. At first, she rolled over and tried to pull the blanket further over her. As it turned out, it wasn’t a blanket, but Carmine’s suit jacket.

“You feel better?” He asked.

“My head hurts.” She muttered.

“Do you think you can walk?” He helped her up, collecting his jacket. “Because if we want to get out of here, we will have to keep going.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Fiona stretched. “Let’s get this show on the road.” Carmine had already broken the boards on the door, allowing them to walk on through and down the stairs.

“Utility shaft 9,” Fiona muttered as they passed under the sign. “So, we’re not supposed to be here.”

“It was this or trying our luck with that ruined elevator shaft. And that shaft did not seem safe.” Carmine said. “Oh! Candles! How nice.”

“Candles and a creepy message.” Fiona cheered dispassionately. Sure enough, there was a message scrawled above the candles.

HE WILL SET US FREE.

“...Alright. That is rather unsettling.” Carmine admitted. “If we run into a cultist I am officially teleporting us out of here.”

“Wait, that’s right! You can teleport!” Fiona turned to him. “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place?!”

“.......You know, I don’t have a good answer for that.” Carmine said, after thinking for a moment. “I suppose genre conventions dictate that we have to stay here until we finish the story, though.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Fiona rolled her eyes. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Maybe a little.” Carmine smiled sheepishly. “It’s nice to be able to spend time with you, even if it is in a creepy studio.”

“You’re lucky I love you,” Fiona muttered, flushing. “Otherwise I’d be mad you kept us here.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you hold the ax,” Carmine said, handing over the weapon. “It’s probably best you have something to defend yourself with.”

“Thanks. Oh, hey, it’s another audio log.” Fiona walked over to a shelf, also lit by candles, and turned on the tape recorder.

The voice of Sammy Lawrence drifted out of the tape recorder. “He appears from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me. The figure of ink that shines in the darkness. I see you, my savior. I pray you hear me. Those old songs, I still sing them. For I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept into your final loving embrace. But love requires sacrifice. Can I get an amen?”

“I said, can I get an amen?”

Both Fiona and Carmine jumped upon hearing the disembodied voice of Sammy Lawrence from what sounded like right behind them. They both whirled around, Carmine with fire in his hands while Fiona brandished the ax. But there was no one there.

“Alright, this is getting a lot less fun,” Carmine said, frowning.

“How did he do that?!” Fiona asked. “He was right behind us! I know he was!”

“Probably dark magic.” Carmine stalked down the hallway. “Let’s just keep moving. I don’t want to run into that nutjob while we’re down here.”

“Oooh. High praise coming from you.” Fiona couldn’t help but snicker as she followed after him.

“I am a stable nutjob, thank you very much.” He said, wrinkling his nose a bit at the pentagram on the wall. It wasn’t that it made him uncomfortable, if anything it made him feel at home, but it was just slapped on a wall like a decoration.

“Stable is a strong word.” Fiona patted his back and headed down the hallway, pausing when she reached the end of it. “Oh, come on!”

“More ink?”

“More ink!” Fiona gestured to the hallway before them, which was filled with ink.

“Well, our clothes are pretty much ruined anyway,” Carmine said. He’d resigned himself to his fate on the matter. Fiona grumbled, already starting to wade through the ink. As the two of them reached the end of the hallway, a figure dressed in a ratty pair of overalls cross the doorway, carrying a Bendy cutout.

“Hey! Wait!” Fiona tried to run to the man but slipped and almost fell into the ink. Carmine caught her, hoisting her out of the ink and through the doorway before following himself. By the time both were in the next room, the man was gone. Although there was suspiciously another pentagram right where he’d disappeared to.

“There’s another pentagram here,” Fiona said, walking over to it. “Do you think he’s traveling through these?”

“It’s possible,” Carmine said. “Are you hungry?”

“Excuse me?”

“I asked, are you hungry?” He held up a can labeled ‘Bacon Soup’, with a smiling Bendy the Dancing Demon on it.

“Carmine, we don’t know how long those have been here. I could die from food poisoning.” Fiona folded her arms and gave him a deadpan look.

“You probably won’t, but fair enough.” He ripped off the top of the can and drank it himself. A moment later his face screwed up in distaste. “Oh, that has definitely gone bad.”

“Why did you even eat it in the first place?”

“Curiosity.”

“It’s my job to put dubious things in my mouth.” She paused. “That came out wrong.”

“I understand what you’re saying.” Carmine cleared his throat. “Okay, with that out of the way, let’s keep going.” They got about two feet before they were confronted with a giant statue of Bendy. Both stared up at it.

“What kind of cartoon studio has a freaking statue of their character in a utility shaft?” Fiona asked, leaning on the ax.

“The kind run by crazy people,” Carmine replied. “Do you think they’ll be angry if I vomit up the bacon soup onto it?”

“Who’s ‘they’?”

“Whoever is still here.”

“...Probably?” She shrugged a little. “So, I wouldn’t do it.” Carmine nodded, holding a hand over his mouth.

“Excuse me.” He disappeared back into the ink hallway to void his body of the bacon soup. While he was gone, Fiona inspected the rest of the area. She was happy she had Carmine with her because otherwise, this would have been terrifying. She still was pretty scared because this was by far the scariest thing she’d ever experienced in her life. Being trapped in a decrepit studio with demons that wanted to kill her was definitely one for the record books. But she had wanted to come in the first place, so it was her own damn fault.

“So…Where next?” Carmine asked, walking back. He was wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, obviously done with trying to look presentable.

“So, there’s a gate over here,” Fiona said, pointing to their left. “But we need to restore power to it with three switches.”

“...This is some video game bullshit.” Carmine muttered. “So we have to go find those switches and come all the way back here?”

“Hey, it’s not too bad,” Fiona said. “At least things haven’t gotten too weird here. It’s just switches. No sacrifices or anything.”

“I might actually prefer sacrifices to menial tasks like this.”

It didn’t take too long to find the three switches. They were in fairly obvious locations, aside from the one near the bacon soup. That one took them a while to find since Carmine absolutely refused to go near the bacon soup again.

“I’ve eaten shit and it was better than that.” He said.

“That was not something I needed to know.” Fiona gave him a sideways glance as she pressed the switch.

“Oh, and I needed to know about the times you peed your pants in elementary school?”

“They’re funny stories! Everyone loves a bodily functions story!” Fiona snapped, storming over to the level to raise the gate and throwing it down. The gate rattled open and Fiona stomped through, almost immediately pausing when she got to the next doorway.

“What? Getting scared?” Carmine asked.

“I will fight you, Bicchieri!”

“I know, I know.” He peered through the doorway. So they were in the music department. That explained the presence of Lawrence. The lights were already on, meaning someone had already come through this way.

“It looks like someone beat us to this place.” He said.

“Wait, so someone else was stupid enough to come here?”

“Stupid on their part, perhaps, but not on ours,” Carmine said, trying not to sound indignant. He was not stupid.

“You brought a 5’0’’, 130 lb girl into a demon-infested studio,” Fiona said. “It’s not your finest moment.”

“You wanted to come!” He said and strode in. Right up to another tape recorder.

Again, the voice of Sammy Lawrence filled the room. “So first, Joey installs this ink machine over our heads. Then it begins to leak. Three times last month, we couldn’t even get out of our department because the ink had flooded the stairwell. Joey’s solution? An ink pump to drain it periodically. Now I have this ugly pump switch right in my office. People in and out all day. Thanks, Joey. Just what I needed. More distractions. These stupid cartoon songs don’t write themselves, you know.”

“It sounds like Joey has more in common with a demon than I had previously anticipated.” Carmine placed the tape recorder back on its pedestal.

“That’s a bad thing, right?” Fiona asked.

“For the humans around him, yes.”

All of a sudden, something popped out of an ink puddle near them. It resembled the upper half of a human, but without a nose, eyes, or ears. All it had was a gaping mouth on its smooth face, and long arms with clawed hands. Fiona shrieked and swung the ax at it until it was nothing but a puddle of ink. More popped up though, and the couple had to beat them back. By the time the things were gone, both were covered in ink and panting.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE THOSE THINGS?!”

“Well, I think those are what’s left of the studio workers,” Carmine said, leaning against a wall. “To think, he’d go so far as to sacrifice his workers to make his toons live. What a ruthless man.”

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.” Fiona hefted the ax, slinging it over her shoulder. “Dammit, I just want to go home!”

“It looks like that might be harder than anticipated.” Carmine ran a hand through his hair. He’d anticipated this being a routine job, but it was looking as though there was more going on here than he’d expected. He could feel souls in the ink, screaming and writhing in one big hive mind. But something felt off about them. He had to be missing something here.  

“Let’s go check out that stairwell he mentioned.” Carmine pushed off the wall. “Maybe whoever came before us managed to drain it.” Unfortunately, the stairwell was still flooded. Or perhaps it had flooded again. It was hard to tell given how much ink there was.

“Well fuck me sideways,” Fiona said. “Guess we’re draining it. Fuuuun.”

“At least enjoy the fact that we’re in the music department,” Carmine said. “You can visit the office of Mr. Lawrence.”

“I’m not too keen on seeing him now that he’s a crazed cartoon worshipper,” Fiona said, shuddering. “I feel like he’ll sacrifice me.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Carmine said, wrapping his arms around her. “Not now, not ever.” Fiona flushed and squirmed out of his arms.

“N-Now’s not really the time for getting all lovey-dovey.” She said, playing with her hair. “But...later, okay? Once we’re out of horror movie territory.”

“Of course.” Carmine nodded, starting to laugh. “I forgot that the couple who has sex always dies in the horror movies.”

“If anyone else said that, I wouldn’t believe them.” Fiona started up the stairs to the projector room. “But when it’s you, I think I can let it slide.”

“What? I don’t watch as many horror movies as you do.” Carmine followed, kissing the top of her head once they reached the next level. The projector room overlooked the main music space, which was filled with empty chairs and scattered with instruments. There was another Bendy cutout on the stage. There were so many cutouts in this studio. Someone was definitely watching them.

“Oh hey! They’ve got a violin down there!” Fiona leaned over the railing. Carmine put an arm around her waist and gently dragged her back.

“Please be careful.” He said. “You’re human and fragile and could go splat.”

Fiona snorted. “Yes, I could go splat. Very eloquent of you.”

“Oh hush.” He ruffled her hair. Fiona looked around the little room, her eyes landing on another audio log.

“Boop!” She pressed the play button.

A rough voice crackled out of the tape recorder. “Every day, the same strange thing happens. I’ll be up here in my booth, the band will be swinging, and suddenly Sammy Lawrence comes marching in and shuts the whole thing down. Tells us all the wait in the hall. Then I hear him. He starts up my projector, and he dashes from my projector booth and down to the recording studio like the little devil himself was chasing behind. Few seconds later, the projector turns off. But Sammy, he doesn’t come out for a long time. This man is weird. Crazy weird. I have half a mind to tell Mr. Drew about all this. But, then again, I have to admit, Mr. Drew has his own peculiarities.”

“Must be the projectionist,” Carmine said. “I think his name was Norman Polk.”

“This tape is all the more reason for me to not meet Sammy.” Fiona shook her head quickly, turning and descending the stairs. “Let’s go check out Sammy’s office. There must be some reason he did that weird stuff.”

“Look at you, taking the initiative.” Carmine couldn’t help but smile. “I’m so proud of you. You’re overcoming your fear.”

“I am seconds away from pissing myself. You shouldn’t applaud me until we’re out of here.”

As they descended the stairs, they noticed a door in the alcove. Exchanging a glance, they opened the door.

“Cool! It’s a pool table!” Fiona ran in, eyes sparkling. “I haven’t seen one of these in years!”

“The last time was in Las Vegas, wasn’t it?” Carmine leaned on the table. Fiona just nodded, looking the pool table over. She’d never played before, nor did she particularly want to, but the fact that the studio had a pool table delighted her. It just seemed so out of place. She played with a few of the balls, batting them back and forth. Then, abruptly, she began to scream.

“What’s wrong?” Carmine asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“IT’S AN EYEBALL!” She yelled, pointing to one of the balls. Sure enough, an eyeball stared back at them from the table. Carmine pursed his lips.

“Let’s…move on.”

They passed through the main lobby of the music department but paused near the entrance to the music room. There was a large flashing sign that said ‘RECORDING’ on a wall.

“You did see a violin,” Carmine said. “Want to see if you’re still any good?”

“I took violin for nearly 8 years. Of course, I’m still good.” Fiona scoffed, already making her way in. Once they were in the music room, Fiona made a beeline for the violin, while Carmine looked around the room. He found a tape recorder in the corner, beside the recording booth. When he pressed play, a woman’s voice filled the room.

“It may only be my second week working for Joey Drew, but I’m really starting to feel like I could like it here. People really seem to enjoy my Alice Angel voice. Sammy says he may be as popular as Bendy someday, but I think he’s just flattering me. These past few weeks I’ve voice everything from talking chairs to dancing chickens. But this is the first character I’ve really felt a connection with. Like she’s a part of me. Alice and I, we’re going places.”

“Oh! I know who she is!” Fiona paused in tuning the violin. “That’s Susie Campbell! She voiced Alice Angel! I mean, until she got replaced, that is.”

“She got replaced?” Carmine asked. How strange. He could clearly feel the soul of Susie Campbell deeper in the studio. Either she was stuck there like they were, or she was a creature like Sammy. He hoped it wasn’t the latter but knew it likely would be.

“...Do you feel her presence or something?” Fiona asked slowly. “Because you seemed surprised when I said she got replaced. Please tell me you don’t feel her here.”

“Then I won’t tell you.”

“Motherfucker!” Fiona kicked the wall. “So there are more ink monsters?!”

“We don’t know that. She could just be stuck here too.”

“How likely do you think that actually is, knowing what we do about Joey Drew?” She asked, her voice going quiet. “She’s probably crazy, just like Sammy.” Carmine sighed, climbing the steps to hug her.

“It’ll be okay.” He said. “We’ll do what we can to help the people here. I’m not sure if I can reverse what was done to them, but I can certainly try.”

“Okay.” Fiona snuggled into his chest. They stayed like this for a few minutes, before Fiona separated from him, leaving the music room. She quickly started down the hallway to Sammy’s office, keeping the ax clutched tightly to her chest, ready to react if any strange ink monsters popped up. Carmine stayed close to her, a hand on her shoulder. They passed by the infirmary without a second thought, but Fiona did check every other door they found. The first door opened onto an organ, which Fiona naturally wanted to check out.

“You can’t play the organ, can you?” Carmine asked.

“No, but I’m still gonna try.” She stretched out her hands and pressed a key. The room was filled with the dramatic sound of the organ. A second later, though, a groan echoed from the organ. Fiona stopped, looking from Carmine to the organ and back again.

“Did that- Was that-”

“Did it come from the organ? Yes.” Carmine waltzed up to the organ as if he didn’t have a care in the world, laying his hands on the pipes. “Hello, young man. What’s your name?”

“You’re talking to an organ. Why are you talking to an organ?”

“Because there’s someone’s soul in it.”

Fiona just stood there, speechless, while Carmine conversed with the organ. Apparently, whoever was inside it was named Johnny and he’d been a victim of Joey’s bullshit as well. The conversation ended with Carmine drawing a white mist out of the organ, which evaporated almost instantly. Carmine’s shoulders slumped and he turned around.

“Alright.” He smiled tiredly. “That took a bit out of me.”

“What...What did you do?” Fiona asked, very confused.

“I unbound his soul,” Carmine said. “Joey’s no sorcerer, but he has some rather strong seals in place.”

“Oh joy.” Fiona’s shoulders slumped as well. Carmine nodded and gently took her out of the room. The only other door in the hallway led to a little workspace with a few desks set up. All in all, not a lot to see. And then, at the end of the hallway, there it was. Sammy’s office. Fiona couldn’t help but get a little excited, practically vibrating as they walked up to the large window. The sign above it proudly proclaimed, “Sammy Lawrence, Music Department Director”.

“This is so exciting,” Fiona said, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. “It’s like going to the workspace of a celebrity!”

“And here I thought you were afraid of running into him,” Carmine said.

“Oh, I still am.” Fiona stopped jumping. “But this is still cool. Aside from, y’know, the broken pipe.” Sure enough, there was a broken pipe flooding the little alcove that led to Sammy’s office. Fun.

“And there’s, of course, an audio log.” Carmine sighed. He reached over and pressed play. It was easier for him to reach rather than Fiona, given that she was, in fact, a hobbit.

The nasal man’s voice from the upper level screeched out. “So, I go to get my dustpan from the hall closet the other day, and guess what? I can’t find my stupid keys. It’s like they disappeared into thin air or something. All I can think of is that they must have fallen into one of the garbage cans when I was making my rounds last week. I just hope nobody tells Sammy. Because if he finds out I lost my keys again, I’m outta here.”

“So, we need the keys to get into the closet,” Fiona concluded. “And somehow that’ll get us into the office?”

Carmine just shrugged. “At this point, it’s probably best not to question it. Let’s start searching trash cans.”

It wasn’t too terribly hard to find the keys. After backtracking and going through every trash can, it wasn’t like there were a lot of them, they found the keys in the projection room.

“Alright. Back to the closet.” Fiona dangled the keys from her fingers.

“I’ll hold them.” Carmine took the keys. “You be ready for attacks. I sensed something lurking in that ink puddle by Sammy’s office.”

“What?! Seriously?!”

“Seriously.”

She groaned as she followed him. “Fucking monsters, hiding in wait.”

Carmine opened the closet door while Fiona watched the ink puddle, ax at the ready. Inside was more bacon soup, and another audio recording, this time by Sammy.

“Every artistic person needs a sanctuary. Joey Drew has his, and I have mine. To enter, you need only know my favorite song. The violin shudders with a piercing voice. The piano delicately calls. The bass fiddle sings with deep articulation. The bass fiddle returns and sings aloud. Sing my song and my sanctuary will open to you.”

“A puzzle, very original,” Carmine said. It was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

“So…One of us should run the projector while the other does the instruments, right?” Fiona said, never taking her eyes off the ink.

“Sounds like a plan.”

The two backed slowly away from the ink before flat-out sprinting to the projector room. Fiona was assigned to run the projector since she couldn’t run very fast and Carmine went down to the music room. Fiona waited until she saw him give her the thumbs up from the room below to start the projector. Then Carmine got to work, darting across the room. Violin, piano, bass, bass. The second he plucked the string of the bass the last time, a gate near the recording booth began to open.

“Nice! We did it!” Fiona yelled down. Carmine nodded and positioned himself below the balcony.

“Jump down!” He yelled back.

“Wha- Excuse me?!”

“Jump down!” He repeated. “I’ll catch you!”

“THAT’S A LONG WAY DOWN!”

“Just trust me.” He said, smiling disarmingly. Fiona groaned. She didn’t want to do this. She did not want to do this. But it was better than walking down there alone. So she took a deep breath, got up on the balcony, and jumped. She squeezed her eyes shut, ready to go splat. But she didn’t. When she opened her eyes, she was levitating in the air. Carmine had his hands up, black smoke coming from them. The black smoke gently lowered her to the ground.

“See? I told you I’d catch you.” He said brightly.

“You’re terrible.” She muttered. “Now let’s go.” Together, they headed into the ‘sanctuary’. It honestly didn’t look much like a sanctuary at first. There were instruments crowding the main hallway, which led into a small space in the back. There was what appeared to be a summoning circle on the floor. A desk and toilet were shoved into a corner, a banjo leaning against the desk. And on the wall was written,

SING A HAPPY SONG

WHISTLE A MERRY TUNE

WAIT FOR HIS ARRIVAL

HE’S COMING VERY SOON

“That’s not creepy at all,” Fiona said, a slight whimper entering her voice. So much for her idol, the great Sammy Lawrence. On the very back wall was a pipe with a valve marked Ink Flow.

“I’ll turn the wheel, you get ready for monsters to appear,” Carmine said.

“Because horror dictates monsters have to appear.” Fiona finished. “I got you.” And so Carmine turned the wheel and she watched the entrance. Sure enough, as soon as they left the sanctuary, the ink creatures were upon them again. It didn’t take too long to dispatch them. They were fairly weak, going down with one hit. And Carmine had an almost infinite supply of fireballs.

“So, that takes care of that.” Carmine dusted off his hands. Fiona was running for the door, desperate to get away from the remnants of the monsters. They made their way back to the infirmary, which was drained now. Unfortunately, that was where they ran into the problem. The valve was missing.

“Where’s the valve?” Fiona asked. “There’s supposed to be a valve.”

“It appears we must go deeper.” Carmine flipped the switch beside where the valve was supposed to go, which was marked ‘utility access’. Fiona groaned.

“Cheer up.” Carmine patted her back. “Maybe we’ll find more music department employees.”

“At this point, I don’t want to find anyone,” Fiona muttered as she followed her boyfriend down the stairs and into the sewers. Carmine noted Sammy’s shadow in the opposite passage but said nothing on the matter. Best not to scare Fiona.

“Down here we’re all sinners.” Fiona read the message off the wall.

“How pleasant,” Carmine said dryly. Fiona stared down at the ink running through the tunnel in front of them. She didn’t fancy the idea of wading through it, but it seemed they were going to have to. Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself into the ink, turning and looking down the tunnel. Behind some boards, there appeared to be an inky creature wearing a bowler hat. In its hands it held…

“The valve!” Fiona pointed wildly towards the creature. “It has the valve!” As she began shouting, the creature took off. Fiona chased after it, slipping through the boards. Carmine sighed and walked after her, noting the message on the wall.

THE SHEEP WILL COME TO SLAUGHTER

“If you’re intending on having her become one of your sheep,” Carmine murmured. “That won’t be happening. This girl belongs to me.” He continued on, finding Fiona not too far away, listening to a recording.

“I love the quiet. And that’s hard to come by these busy times.” A man’s voice came from the recorder. “And yeah sure it may stink to high heaven down here. But it’s just perfect for an old lyricist like me. Sammy’s songs always got some bounce, but if I didn’t get away once in a while, they’d never have any words to go with them. So I’ll keep my mind a-singin’ and my nose closed.”

“The creature we saw…it’s probably Mr. Fain, isn’t it?” Fiona whispered.

“Jack Fain, the lyricist?” Carmine knew perfectly well who the man was. Fiona looked over at him, her brows furrowed and her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Yes. It’s him.” He nodded. Fiona made a sad noise and looked away, fidgeting with the hem of her hoodie.

“Would you like me to go get the valve while you wait here?” Carmine suggested. Fiona shook her head. She wanted to do this herself. She trudged out of the little alcove and into the room at the end of the tunnel, which had “SING FOR ME” written on the back wall. Jack Fain was near the back, clutching the valve in his arms.

“Hey.” Fiona knelt down in front of him, smiling reassuringly. “We really need that valve. Would you mind giving it to us?” Jack flinched away, holding the valve to his inky chest.

“We won’t hurt you, I promise.” Fiona held out her hand to him. “We just need the valve.” Carmine stood in the doorway, watching admiringly. He loved her kindness. Fiona knelt in the ink for a long time, just holding her hand out towards Jack. Eventually, he did hand the valve over, then darted back into the ink. Fiona returned to Carmine with the valve held proudly to her chest.

“Well done.” He said, kissing her head.

They put in the valve and went back upstairs to Sammy’s office, taking care of the searcher Carmine had known was waiting. There was a lot of screaming involved, mostly from Fiona. Carmine was certain she needed to sit down. But she currently had an ax, so he wasn’t going to push it.

“And now, the office.” He opened the door with a flourish, gesturing Fiona in. She looked around curiously. Written on the wall, in the vein of so many of the other messages, was,

IT’S TIME TO BELIEVE.

“It’s...smaller than I thought it’d be.” She admitted. “Still cool, though.” While she marveled at it, Carmine pulled the pump control switch.

“What’s this?” He turned to find Fiona hunched over some blueprints spread out on Sammy’s desk. He walked up behind her, leaning on the desk to get a better look.

“It looks like an expansion for the ink machine,” Carmine said, frowning slightly.

“Oookay. Not gonna go there.” Fiona turned around and headed for the door. “Let’s take those stairs now.” Carmine stayed at the desk, staring at the ink machine plans until he heard a shriek and felt a pain in the back of his head.

“Lawrence.” He snarled, storming out of the office. He got there just in time to see Sammy Lawrence picking up Fiona and slinging her across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Mr. Lawrence.” Carmine smiled tightly. “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

“Belongs to you?” Sammy frowned from behind his mask. “Her soul is not yours for the taking. It belongs to my lord now.”

“I’m afraid you’re wrong there.” The shadows around Carmine’s feet began to whirl around, snaking up the walls and creeping towards Sammy. “That girl’s soul belongs to me. We have a contract, you see.” Sammy’s eyes widened, and he quickly dropped Fiona, causing the small girl to groan.

“Y-You! Who are you?!” The music director demanded, backing up. “You’re not human!”

“Indeed, I’m not.” Carmine grinned, revealing sharp teeth. “Which is very unfortunate for you.”

When Fiona awoke, she again had a pounding headache. She was laid out on another pentagram in a part of the studio she didn’t recognize. Carmine was sitting beside her, fiddling with a dirty Bendy mask.

“Ah! You’re awake!” He smiled brightly when he saw her eyes open.

“What...What happened?” She asked. “Why does my head hurt?”

“Mr. Lawrence knocked you out with a dustpan,” Carmine explained. “I tried to fix all the damage I could so that you wouldn’t have a concussion. I hate to say I told you to wait in the car, but I did tell you.”

“Okay...” Fiona sat up, rubbing her head. “What happened to Sammy?”

“I took his soul.”

“You did what?!” Fiona immediately got to her feet.

“I took his soul.” Carmine pulled a small ball of light out of his jacket pocket. “We can figure out what to do with it later. But at least he’s not crazy anymore.”

“He’s probably crazy angry!”

“Oh, he is.” Carmine put the soul away. “He’s been shouting obscenities at me for the past hour. So, I think he’s alright.” Fiona just stared at him, making some very interesting frustrated expressions. Carmine just kept smiling.

“Shall we go?” He held out a hand to her.

“You are so frustrating.” She sighed, taking his hand. They walked through a lifted gate, with Fiona sticking rather close to Carmine the whole time. Thankfully, no monsters showed up, and they were able to pass through the winding corridors uninterrupted. As they walked up to a room filled with ink pipes, a soup can rolled out. Fiona immediately got behind Carmine, who summoned his fire.

“Who’s there?” He demanded. A moment later, a man and a cartoon wolf, the same cartoon wolf from the first floor, came around the corner.

“Who are you two?”

Chapter Text

The conversation with the two strangers had been...interesting to say the least. As it turned out, the man was Henry, Joey’s former friend and business partner. And the wolf was, well, Boris the Wolf! Fiona was surprised she hadn’t recognized him in the first place. Once it was made clear that Henry was trapped there, just like them, Carmine was a bit warmer towards the former animator. Henry didn’t even seem phased by the fact that Carmine was, in fact, a demon.

“I’ve seen a lot of weird shit here.” He said when Fiona had asked why he wasn’t freaking out. “A demon coming for Joey’s soul doesn’t seem too farfetched.” It was a reasonable enough response. If Fiona hadn’t accidentally summoned a demon out of loneliness, she likely would have been a believer by the end of this. She and Carmine had been taken back to Boris and Henry’s safe house, where they had been recovering for about a day now. Fiona had tried to get ahold of her friends and family, but the ink had ruined her phone.

“We’ll be out soon, I promise,” Carmine said, but Fiona didn’t completely believe him. He couldn’t promise anything concrete down here. She spent most of the time curled up on a cot in the corner, crying to herself. Carmine had given her the soul of Sammy to hold onto since he was rather tempted to eat it to get Sammy to stop talking. Sammy was....less than pleased by his predicament. He was glad not to be an inky abomination, but being a disembodied soul wasn’t great either.

“So you’re dating a demon?” He asked incredulously. “No offense, but that sounds like a really shitty idea.”

“Thanks, I haven’t heard that before.” Fiona rolled her eyes.

“Well, excuse me for trying to show some concern, princess.” Sammy might have been rolling his eyes as well, but Fiona couldn’t exactly tell.

“I’m starting to understand why you don’t have many friends.” She held the soul aloft above her head. “You could at least be a little more pleasant. Carmine set you free, didn’t he?”

“Well, yeah...But I’m just a soul now.” Sammy said. “I can’t do anything.”

“You’ll be free once we get out of here.” She offered an encouraging smile. “You can go to Heaven or something.”

“I doubt Heaven’ll let me in,” Sammy said.

“Don’t be like that. You may be a dick, but it’s not like you murdered anyone or anything.” Fiona wasn’t really sure why she was trying to cheer him up. It was her nature, she supposed. Be nice to everyone and everything, even if they hated you. There was silence for a moment, then Sammy burst out laughing.

“You’re too nice for your own good, kiddo.” He said. “No wonder that demon latched onto you.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Fiona sighed and set Sammy’s soul down. Sammy’s soul vibrated in what seemed like worry.

“Hey, you okay, kid?”

“‘M fine.” She muttered, curling up into a ball. “I just want to go home. I want everything to go back to normal.”

“We all want that, kid.” Sammy rolled himself over to nestle next to her head. “We all want that.” After a few moments of watching her, he sighed.

“Y’know, you remind me of an intern we once had here.” He said. Fiona rolled over to look at him curiously. She seemed surprised he’d remember one intern out of the sea of them she was sure Joey Drew Studios had had.

“She was the sweetest little thing you ever met.” He continued. “Always hurrying around to help everyone she could. Always eager to please. Certainly put up with my shit more than she had to.” The glow of his soul softened considerably. “Now that was a girl who appreciated music. It was her life, just like it’s always been mine. She was like a little sister to me or even a daughter. I...I wish I could see her now. I want to tell her how proud I am of her.” His voice shook a little near the end, but he quickly brushed it off. “Anyway, you’re a good kid. That’s why I’m worried about you.” When he turned his attention back to Fiona, he found she was crying.

“W-We’re gonna get out and then you’re gonna tell her all of those really nice things.” She sniffled.

“I was hoping you’d forget I ever said anything.”

.

.

The next day, Carmine announced it was time that they leave. Although he didn’t say it, Fiona could tell it was because Carmine didn’t do well staying in a single place for an extended period of time.

“We’re all sufficiently recovered,” Carmine said as Henry prepared breakfast. “So I believe it’s time to move on.”

“You’re just sick of bacon soup,” Fiona said, smirking at him.

Carmine smiled tightly and pushed her glasses up her nose. “I’m sick of vomiting my stomach out every day if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Bacon soup isn’t that bad,” Henry said, dishing up the soup to Boris and Fiona.

“I mean...It’s not great.” Fiona sipped slowly at her soup. Henry looked disappointed, shifting his gaze to Sammy’s soul, which was shoved in the hood of Fiona’s hoodie.

“I’ve been eating it for 30 years, so I’m burned out on it,” Sammy said. Boris whimpered, pulling his soup closer to him.

“Aw, boy, we didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” Fiona reached over and scratched the wolf behind the ears. Boris perked up a bit at that.

“Just eat your soup, won’t you?” Carmine tapped his foot impatiently. “As nice as this has been, I want to get out of here.”

“Geez, keep your pants on, slick,” Sammy said. “It’ll take them as long as it’ll take them. Rushing them will only make ‘em take longer.”

“I’m not sure I appreciate that nickname, Mr. Lawrence, nor your tone.” Carmine plucked Sammy’s soul out of Fiona’s hood. “Why don’t we have a little chat, hm?”

“No. Put me back.”

But Carmine did nothing of the sort, carrying Sammy into the bedroom for that ‘chat’. Fiona winced a little. This likely wasn’t going to end well.

“It’s nice to see Sammy’s back to normal.” Henry sat down to eat his soup as well.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Fiona agreed. Even if it did mean Sammy would fight literally everyone. Except for Boris. Boris was a good boy. She had to admit, though, it was nice having someone else who was normal around. Sammy’s sarcasm helped her forget the fact that she was trapped in a creepy studio because she’d wanted to come along on her boyfriend’s work assignment. This was her fault. He’d even told her to wait in the car.

“Hey, are you feeling alright?” Henry asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. It was kind of funny how the studio members had semi-adopted her, as though she was their granddaughter or something.

“I’m fine.” She said. “Just beating myself up for even coming here in the first place. Carmine even told me to wait in the car.”

“Hey, I came back,” Henry said, giving her a lopsided smile. “So, if it makes you feel better, you’re not the only idiot here.”

“Thanks.” She couldn’t help but grin a little. Boris reached over and gave her a pat on the head, smiling his own goofy smile.

“Thanks, Boris.” She said. Just then, Carmine arrived back in the room, Sammy’s soul still in his hand. Sammy had turned a rather nice shade of red, indicating he was extremely pissed off.

“Carmine, what did you do?” Fiona got up.

“My dear,” he said, kissing her cheek. “You are my moon, my stars, my whole world.”

“I...I love you too, but what was that about?” She asked, looking quizzically up at him.

“It’s nothing.” He assured her, placing Sammy’s soul back into her hood. “Now, shall we go?” Henry turned to Boris, who produced a toolbox. Inside of it was the lever to the door that was the safehouse exit.

“Thank you, my good man.” Carmine took the lever from the box and strode over to the door. Fiona was still rather confused, but followed the others out of the safe house anyway. The hallway outside was narrow and lined with what looked like post office boxes. Fiona stayed close to Carmine as the group proceeded quietly through the studio.

“What is this place?” She whispered.

“Beats me,” Sammy said. “I’ve never been down this way before.”

“How did this place get so big?” Henry asked.

“Joey.” That was all Sammy had to say. They continued on in almost complete silence, with Carmine humming what sounded like opera. This worried Fiona a little bit. Why was he suddenly so chipper? They were still stuck down here, after all, with god knows what lurking in the shadows. It had something to do with his conversation with Sammy, she was sure of it.

“What’s this?” Fiona suddenly asked, pointing to a wooden stall in the corner. Above it was painted ‘Little Miracle Station’.

“It looks like something to hide in,” Carmine said. “Probably for when that ink creature shows up.”

“Might be a bit of a tight fit,” Henry said, looking over their group.

“Oh, it would only be you and Fiona,” Carmine said. “I can protect myself and I’m sure Boris knows how to hide.” Boris nodded, but began to shake a little at the mention of Bendy.

“It’s okay.” Fiona petted his fur. “You’re okay.” Boris whimpered and moved closer to her, letting her scratch behind his ears.

“Looks like it’s really dark up ahead,” Henry said, peering down the hallway to their right. “Let’s find some light.” It didn't take much searching to find the flashlight placed on the desk. Carmine was discouraged from summoning up fire since most things in the studio were made of wood, so he brought up the rear. With Henry’s flashlight and the soft glow of Sammy’s soul, they managed to traverse through the darkness without too much trouble. Ink dripped from the ceiling and gears and pistons lined the walls. No one talked, no one hummed, they just focused on getting out of this place. Thick steam filled the air, causing Fiona and Henry to cough and gag a few times. A few times they heard things running above them, causing Fiona to jump and scramble back to Carmine, who would wrap an arm around her and kiss her head. When they finally reached a lit area, all of them could have kissed that lightbulb. It was like the tension eased slightly. No more worrying about what might be lurking in the dark. Almost as soon as they got into the room, though, the doors slammed shut behind them.

“It’s a dead end,” Henry said, beginning to inspect the door before them. “I don’t see any other way through.”

“I think Boris might have an idea.” Fiona pointed to the cartoon wolf, who’d begun crouching in front of an air vent. Boris turned back making a grabby hands gesture at Henry until the other man handed him the flashlight. Once that was done, he lifted up the grate and crawled into the vent.

“Why did he leave?” Fiona asked, her voice beginning to rise in panic. “Where’s he going? Why did he take the light?”

“Relax,” Sammy said. “He probably went to open the door.”

“Oh, um, okay.” Fiona laughed nervously. “Yeah, I knew that.”

“It’s okay to be scared,” Carmine said. “This is a bit of a terrifying situation.”

“What, are the closed spaces getting to you?” Fiona asked, half joking.

“Yes, actually.” Carmine’s smile turned slightly sheepish. “We’re rather deep underground as well, so...I’m not exactly thrilled to be here.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot we’re underground.” The color drained out of Fiona’s face, or at least as much as it could. “Shit. We could get buried alive.”

“We’re not going to get buried alive,” Henry said quickly. “We’re going to be fine. We’ll get out of here, all of us.” Just then, the door opened behind them. They all turned back to stare at it.

“Well, at least we can continue forward.” Carmine forced a smile and walked through the door, the others following tentatively behind. Beyond the door were two branching pathways that led into an enormous room. The sign in the middle said ‘Heavenly Toys’, and all around there were plushes of Boris, Alice, and Bendy. It looked like a merchandise department.

“Wow, I don’t remember any of this,” Henry said.

“Joey built it after you left,” Sammy said as they walked in and marveled at the grandiosity of it all. “Tried cashing in on Bendy’s popularity and all that.”

“Hey...Do you hear a woman...humming?” Fiona asked, suddenly stopped in front of the Heavenly Toys sign. The others stopped as well, straining their ears.

“That would likely be Miss Alice,” Carmine said.

“You can say Susie. We all know it’s her.” Sammy said, sounding dejected.

“Don’t give up hope, Sammy.” Carmine smiled and tapped the little soul. “We’ll find a way to fix this.” Sammy shrunk back, grumbling about how demons weren’t supposed to save people. Fiona laughed quietly and the group began moving forward again. They went up the stairs behind the sign and into a room filled with plushes. It looked rather like a workshop.

“Hey! This is Shawn’s workspace!” Sammy said, suddenly brightening. “I wonder if he still has any cigarettes around. He always used to hide them everywhere.”

“Who’s Shawn?” Both Henry and Fiona asked together.

“Shawn Flynn. He was a toymaker.” Sammy explained. “Painted the smiles on the dolls and everything. He was a halfway decent guy. I kinda liked him.”

“High praise coming from you.” Henry laughed.

“It looks like the door’s blocked.” Carmine pointed to the shelves of plushes lining the back wall that blocked both the door and a tiny workstation.

“Guess we gotta puzzle solve.” Fiona sighed.

“That’s my clever girl.” Carmine smiled and kissed her.

“Get a room,” Sammy said. Carmine rolled his eyes, making a rude gesture to the soul behind Fiona’s back. Henry popped out of the room for a second to flip the switch he’d seen outside. As soon as he did so, the cogs on the walls began to move. Or try to at least. They were all blocked off with toys. Fiona and Carmine quickly got to work removing the little toys, allowing the cogs to begin turning.

“Oh, hey!” Fiona ran over to the little conveyor belt. “It’s moving!” Little toys slowly moved past her. She scooped up a tiny Bendy plush, hugging it to her chest.

“They’re so cute! I love them!” She squealed.

“I guess you can keep one if you like.” Henry shrugged slightly. “Not like anyone else is using them.” Fiona kept giggling, hugging the toy to her chest. She’d always loved stuffed animals. Meanwhile, Henry threw the level that controlled the toy machine, rotating the shelves until the workstation was free. Carmine walked over and pressed play on the recording.

“I don’t be seein’ what the big deal is.” An Irish accent voice crackled out of the recorder. “So what if I went and painted some of the Bendy dolls with a crooked smile? That’s sure no reason for Mr. Drew to be flyin’ off the handle at me. And if he really wants to be so helpful, he could be tellin’ me what I’m to be doin’ with this warehouse I got full of angel whatchamacallit. Not a scrap of that mess be a-sellin’! Probably have to melt it all down to be rid of it all.”

“Alice didn’t turn out to be as popular as Joey hoped, huh?” Henry said, shoulders slumping.

“No,” Sammy said. “That’s why he replaced Susie.” They were all quiet for a few moments.

“We should probably keep going,” Fiona said, going back over to the level and freeing up the door. She tried to smile, tried to give them some hope. On the other side of the door was what looked like a character meet and greet room for Alice Angel. There were plushes lining the walls, a camera, and a sign in the back saying ‘She’s Quite A Gal’ over the glass leading to a little room.

“Ah, I assume this is a meet and greet room for Alice Angel,” Carmine said, looking around.

“Joey really went all in on her, didn’t he?” Henry picked up a few of the plushes. All of a sudden, the lights turned off, a spotlight turned on for the meet and greet room, and a pre-recorded song started playing. Fiona crept closer to the glass putting her hand on it.

“I’M ALICE ANGEL!” Out of the darkness jumped a 3d version of Alice, one with a half distorted face, and her halo stuck in her head. The strange creature slammed her hands against the glass and as the lights went out, there was the sound of glass shattering. Fiona screamed and stumbled back, falling to the ground. Sammy’s soul rolled out of her hood, but she quickly scooped it up and held it to her chest along with the plush. Even Carmine was startled, instinctively grabbed Fiona and putting himself between her and the creature.

“I see you there.” A sultry voice, presumably Alice’s, purred in the darkness. “New flies in my endless web. Come along now. Let’s see if you’re worthy to walk with angels.” The lights came back on, revealing that the window to the meet and greet room had been shattered. The door deeper into the studio had also been opened.

“How unpleasant.” Carmine sneered. “I’d rather not have to deal with her .”

“Geez, what’s got his knickers in a twist?” Sammy whispered to Fiona as he watched the demon storm past them.

“He...Doesn’t like being ordered around.” Fiona whispered back, staying far enough away that Carmine couldn’t hear her. “Past stuff. He doesn’t like to talk about it.” Down the hallway they went, until they were confronted with two pathways. The path of the Angel and the path of the Demon.

“Well, I know which one I’m going down.” Carmine, without a second thought, proceeded down the path of the demon. Henry followed, if a bit reluctantly. Fiona went down the path of the Angel, curious what she’d find there. The room she walked into was clean and simple, decorated a bit like an office. It had a couch, a chest of drawers, a coat rack, and a cutout of Alice Angel. On the couch was a tape recorder.

Susie’s voice came out of the recorder. “Everything feels like it’s coming apart. When I walked into the recording booth today, Sammy was there with that...Allison. Apparently, I didn’t get the memo. Alice Angel will now be voiced by Miss Allison Pendle. A part of me died when he said that. There’s gotta be a way to fix this!” It sounded as though Susie had been crying.

“Poor Susie,” Fiona said, staring down at the tape recorder.

“....I did feel bad for her.” Sammy said quietly. “But she went completely out of control. She thought I was cheating on her with Allison, we fought...” He trailed off. “Things got bad. Joey encouraged her too.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Fiona said, patting the top of his soul.

“No good ever comes from this place.” Sammy’s spectral figure drifted out of the soul orb to stand beside her. “No need for you to be sorry.”

“C’mon. Let’s go meet up with everyone else.” Fiona said. “Dwelling on the past won’t do you any good.”

“You sound like you have experience on the matter.” Sammy’s soul drifted back into his orb.

“Years of therapy.” Fiona shrugged. “You learn a thing or two after a while.”

“Shit. I...I’m sorry.”

“Why?” She asked, smiling a little.

“Well, it means you had something terrible happen to you, right?” Sammy knew Henry had gone to therapy after getting back from the war. Susie had gone through a lot of therapy as well, due to her breakdown after being fired.

“Just fucked up brain wiring,” Fiona said. “I’ve been going to therapy since I was really little. It’s really helped me a lot. That and medication. Speaking of that, I should be feeling the withdrawal pretty soon.”

“Wha- Withdrawal?!” Sammy sputtered.

“Yeah, withdrawal.” She said, as if it wasn’t really a big deal. “I left my meds in the car and I haven’t taken them in a couple days so....I’m in for feeling pretty weird pretty soon.” Sammy was rendered speechless. Fiona just continued out and into the hallway beyond, which had a similar engine room vibe to the first room they’d come to. There were pipes and vents everywhere. Waiting beside a Little Miracle Station was Henry and Carmine.

“How was the Angel path?” Carmine asked. “All we got was a recording of bootleg Cave Johnson rambling about belief.”

“Please don’t call him that,” Henry said in a tone that indicated this was a conversation he’d been having for a while now.

“We got a recording about Susie losing the role of Alice to a girl named Allison,” Fiona said, going over to hug Carmine.

“Did you know about her medication?” Sammy asked. “Did you know she needs that?!”

“Oh, so you heard about that,” Carmine said. “Look, I didn’t think it would take that long.”

“Medication? Do you have a condition?” Henry asked, suddenly worried. “Young lady, you should have told us.”

“I’m fine!” Fiona insisted. “It’s just to help regulate the endorphins in my brain. I have depression and anxiety, that’s all. I’ve been doing fine so far, so I’m sure I can last the rest of the time.”

“That’s still something!” Sammy was fuming. That demon had brought Fiona into this place knowing full well that she might be deprived of her medication!

“I told her to wait in the car, okay? I told her not to come, but she wanted to anyway!” Carmine snatched up the soul from Fiona’s hood. “I am not responsible for her actions!”

“You should have tried to stop her! She’s not qualified to handle these sorts of situations! You brought her into danger!”

“I’m her boyfriend, not her fucking babysitter!”

“Both of you! Stop yelling!” Fiona yelled, stamping her foot. The two men went silent.

“You’re both acting like kids!” She continued, folding her arms in disapproval. “Not to mention, I’m standing right here! You’re both being idiots!”

“I’m going to have to agree with her,” Henry said. “This is no time to be bickering. We have to get out of here.”

“You’re both grown ass men, I expected better.” Fiona snatched Sammy’s soul from Carmine, deposited it back in her hood, and marched off. The other two men followed her, Carmine looking more than a little ashamed of his outburst.

“I’m sorry about that.” He said, falling into step behind her.

“Me too,” Sammy mumbled.

“You should be,” Fiona replied. “But apology accepted.”

“I think Sammy was worried because you’re a lot younger than the rest of us,” Henry said. “You’re just a kid.”

“I’m 21. I’m at least a young adult.” Fiona said indignantly. “I came here of my own free will.” She hunched her shoulders and kept walking.

“She hates it when people treat her like she’s an idiot,” Carmine whispered to the confused Henry. “It’s a thing.”

“Are you two coming or not?!” Fiona had reached the end of the grated hallway and was tapping her foot impatiently. She stood before a door and likely didn’t want to open it on her own for fear that a monster would pop out. So Carmine opened the door for her. It led to...another short hallway.

“Well that was anticlimactic,” Carmine said. Just then a Bendy cutout poked its head out from around the corner, causing Fiona to start. Henry rounded the corner, his face splitting into a grin.

“Boris!” He said. “You scared me half to death!”

“Do you have any weapons?” Fiona ran up and grabbed the wolf’s hand. “Please, I need something to hit shit with.” Boris produced a pipe from God knew where, handing it to Henry. Fiona scowled at that.

“I want my ax back.” She muttered, folding her arms. “Why’d you have to take my ax?”

“I could try to conjure you an ax.” Carmine offered.

“It wouldn’t be the same.” Fiona slumped against the wall.

“We should keep moving,” Henry said, opening the door. It led into what seemed like a storage room, filled with Bendy and Boris plushes, as well as a few Bendy clocks. The floor was also covered in splotches of ink.

“Shall we?” Carmine asked, looking to each one of them in turn. Fiona and Henry nodded, and they pressed onward.

Chapter Text

“This place has seen better days,” Carmine said as they walked into the storage room.

“This whole place has seen better days,” Henry said, hefting the pipe experimentally. “How on Earth did Joey let things get this bad?”

“Joey wasn’t exactly stable, even on the best of days.” Sammy sighed. “We all just kind of went with it. Didn’t really have a choice.” Fiona drew out his soul, holding it against her chest and stroking the top of it.

“It’s okay.” She murmured. “You’re safe now.”

“Geez girl.” Sammy laughed a little uncomfortably. “I’m not some scared animal.”

“It’s her default response.” Carmine shrugged, already in the doorway on the other side of the room. “Now, come on.”

“Hang on, hang on.” Fiona shoved Sammy’s soul back into her hood. “Look at this!” She ran over to some Boris plushes that were practically the same size as her. “Look at these! Isn’t this awesome?” She flopped down on one, gesturing for the others to do the same. Boris flipped on another one, grinning at her.

“Thanks, but I’m a bit too old for that,” Henry said, smiling politely. “My back would hate me if I tried that.”

“It’s surprisingly comfy.” Fiona snuggled into the plush. “I wish I could take one home.”

“You already have a beanbag, dear.” Carmine reminded her. “And I know you took one of each of the main three plushes.” Fiona flushed and immediately got up.

“They’re cute, okay?” She muttered, following him into the new hallway. Boris got up and did the same, falling into step behind Henry.

“They’re supposed to be cute.” Henry said. “Nothing to be ashamed of.” Fiona just hunched her shoulders and kept muttering to herself.

“Great. Another damn switch.” Sammy said, directing everyone’s attention to the door release before them. It appeared there were two switches that needed to be thrown simultaneously. Which meant they had to split up.

“I’ll take this way with Boris,” Henry said, pointing down the long hallway. “The rest of you can stay here.”

“I don’t think so.” Carmine shook his head. “I’ll take that way by myself. Who knows what could be lurking there. Best you don’t get hurt.”

“Sir, I’m not a damsel in distress,” Henry said, brow furrowing. “I can take care of myself.”

“Yes, but you’re just a human. Like I said, you could get hurt.”

“I’ve survived this far. I can survive a hallway.”

While the two men bickered, Fiona gestured for Boris to go to the switch closest to him while she headed down the hallway.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sammy asked.

“They’re literally like 10 feet away.” Fiona said. “It’ll be fine.” She went down a hallway, delighted to find a new recording.

“And play~” She pressed the play button.

“Alright, let’s go over this again,” Wally said. “If the pressure goes over 45, I screw the safety bolt in tighter, right?”

“No!” Thomas snapped. “For the last time, you do that, you’ll blow every pipe in this place! If it reaches 45, you unhook the safety switch.”

“You sure?” Wally asked. “You know, this sounds harder than comparing ear wax to bee’s wax!”

“Look, it’s not that difficult!” Thomas said. “Just keep an eye on the gauge!”

“Look, pal,” Wally said. “If you think I’m doing my job AND yours, I’m outta here!”

“Sounds like they didn’t get along,” Fiona said, the tape clicking off.

“They did.” Sammy assured her. “They were actually pretty close. They just got on each other’s nerves sometimes. Wally slacked a lot.” Fiona shrugged and returned to the corridor. As she turned the corner, she found the switch, along with a poster for an old cartoon.

“The Butcher Gang.” She read, scanning the poster.

“They were side characters.” Sammy explained. “The spider’s Edgar, the one in the vest is Charley, and the sailor is Barley. They were sort of villains in the cartoons. They were some of Joey’s favorites behind Bendy.”

“Hm.” Fiona smiled a little at that and walked closer. Almost as soon as she did, the poster burst open and a deformed copy of Charley came bursting out.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Fiona screamed, stumbling back. Immediately, the others were at her side. Carmine conjured an axe and beat the toon into an inky pulp, his eyes burning red. Once that was through, he turned to Fiona.

“Why did you go off on your own?!” He demanded, grabbing Fiona by the shoulders.

“Y-You were arguing and I th-thought...” She trailed off, starting to cry. Carmine’s look softened and he pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.” He lowered his voice. “I was just worried.” Fiona just sniffled, pressing her face into his chest. Henry exchanged a look with Boris and the two of them flipped the switches. Once Fiona had calmed down, they proceeded through the open door.

“Sorry about that,” Fiona said, wiping her eyes.

“No need to be sorry,” Henry assured her. “We’re all under a lot of stress right now.”

“You sure you’re alright, girl?” Sammy asked. “We can take a break if you need to.”

“I’m fine.” She said. “We shouldn’t waste any more time because of me.” Boris whined and rested his head on hers, nuzzling her slightly.

“It’s not wasting time,” Carmine said. “You and Henry are both human, and as such you both have needs that are different from mine or Boris’. We have to take care of you.”

“Thanks, but really. I’m fine.” Fiona said, pushing past them. They passed through a room lined with gears and machines and into a large wide-open room with an elevator in the corner.

“I guess that’s how we’re getting to Alice.” Henry said. By this point, Fiona had made a beeline for the restrooms. She hadn’t gone to the bathroom since they’d left the safehouse and she suddenly realized she really needed to pee.

“I’ll be right back!” She promised, leaving Sammy’s soul with Carmine. Carmine looked down at the little blue soul in his hands.

“Are you excited to see Miss Susie?” He asked.

“No,” Sammy said. “The less we talk about her, the better.”

“Did something happen between you two?” Henry asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Sammy snapped. “Let’s just see what she wants and get the Hell outta here.” He paused. “God, I sound like Wally.”

“Wally is the janitor, correct?” Carmine glanced over at Boris.

“Janitor, part-time mechanic, you name it Wally did it,” Sammy said.

“Mechanic?” Henry frowned. “I didn’t know he could do that sort of thing. He always just cleaned while I was here.”

“Joey put him in charge of taking care of the ink machine,” Sammy explained. “I mean, we did have a guy who mostly dealt with it, but Wally was a backup.”

“Thomas Connor,” Carmine concluded.

“Yeah. The company he worked for, Gent, is the one who made that Ink Machine. Connor didn’t like this place much, and who can blame him?” Sammy shuddered a little, looking around. Henry looked almost disappointed at this.

“This place meant a lot to you, didn’t it?” Carmine asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

Henry nodded. “I built this place with Joey. It meant everything to us. I can’t believe he let it fall this far.”

Everyone lapsed into silence for a few minutes, consumed by the despair of the place. When Fiona returned, they were all sitting there in silence.

“Hey...Everything alright?” She asked.

“Just fine.” Carmine smiled reassuringly and put Sammy back in Fiona’s hood. “We were just talking, that’s all.” Fiona didn’t believe them in the slightest, but decided it was better not to ask.

“So, elevator time now?” She asked.

“She’s been waiting long enough.” Henry nodded. Together, they all walked down and got into the elevator. As the grating closed, Alice’s voice spoke up again.

“You’re so interesting...So different.” She purred as the elevator began to descend. “I have to say, I’m an instant fan. Looks like you’ve got a date with an angel.”

“Just not the angel he wants,” Fiona said, elbowing Carmine in the ribs. Carmine flushed and swatted at her hand. Both Henry and Boris gave the pair a weird look.

“Come to me now. Level 9.” Alice continued. “Just follow the screams.”

“That’s comforting.” Sammy muttered. The rest of the ride continued in silence. None of them was looking forward to seeing Alice. She was obviously a bit unhinged and this likely wouldn’t be fun for any of them. Finally, they reached level 9.

“Come on, step out of your cage,” Alice said as the grating slid back. “There’s a whole twisted world out here.”

“Oh joy.” Fiona said, clinging to Carmine’s arm out of reflex. The group slowly left the elevator, looking around the level. At the back of the cavernous room was what looked like the entrance to a theme park. ‘She’s Quite A Gal!’ The sign proclaimed, being held by the disembodied hands and head of a toon Alice Angel. They headed down some of the stairs and Fiona got distracted by a new audio log.

“These blasted elevators...” A gruff voice came out of the recording, Thomas’ voice. “Sometimes they open...Sometimes they don’t...Sometimes they come...Sometimes they keep on going to hell and back. I keep telling these people, if Mister Joey Drew keeps cutting corners like this, someone’s sure to end up falling to their death. And it sure ain’t gonna be me. I’m taking the stairs.”

“Connor always did say this place was going to go under,” Sammy said. “He had the most sense out of all of us. Maybe because he was a freelancer.”

“Joey wanted to succeed at all costs.” Henry murmured, looking even more crestfallen. Boris nuzzled his head, but there was only so much he could do. Fiona internally started panicking. Everyone was sad! She couldn’t have that! She started to hyperventilate a little. She had to make everyone happy. They couldn’t be sad. No one could be sad! Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright,” Carmine said. “You don’t have to try and fix this. It’s not your fault, nor is it your responsibility.”

“But-”

“No buts.” Carmine leaned down to kiss her head. “You can’t fix everything.” Fiona nodded slowly, looking down at her feet.

“We’ll be alright,” Henry assured her, ruffling her hair. “You don’t have to worry so much about a bunch of tired old men.”

“We should keep going.” Carmine took Fiona’s hand, beginning to lead her across the bridge in the middle of the room. Then it was up the stairs and to the door under the sign. Boris was already waiting for them there.

“No turning back now.” Henry said. The room shook and the doors opened, allowing them inside. Beyond was a tight, winding corridor filled with shelves of bacon sup and cutouts of Alice Angel in her toon form. They proceeded slowly, jumping at every sound they heard until they came out into the main room. It was massive and mostly filled with ink, with only a small pathway of boards serving as bridges across the ink. Dead Boris’ and Butcher Gang members were strapped to operating tables all over, some even hanging from the ceilings. Fiona and Henry reeled back. Carmine simply stared stone-faced at the scene before him.

“Jesus Christ,” Sammy said. “What the fuck is she doing down here?!”

“Probably something similar to what you were doing,” Carmine said.

“Right...” Sammy trailed off, overcome with the guilt of his actions.

“You weren’t in your right mind.” Fiona quickly said. He was going to need a lot of therapy once they got out of here. After a few moments of just standing there, staring at all the dead toons, Fiona set off across the boards.

“I don’t want to be doing this I don’t want to be doing this.” She muttered to herself as she tried to balance her way across.

“Look around. It took so many of them to make me so beautiful.” Alice’s voice came through the intercom, higher pitched and more innocent than it had previously been. “Anything less than perfect was left behind. I had to do it. She made me.”

“Poor Susie.” Fiona glanced back at Henry and Carmine. Boris was still staring at his dead clone. Both men nodded. Again, Fiona veered off track when she spotted an audio log to the side.

“Do you have to find all of them?” Carmine asked.

“Yes. Now hush.” She pressed play.

“Who would have thought?” Susie’s voice came from the recorder. “Me having lunch with Joey Drew! Apparently, times are tougher than I thought. For a moment there, I thought I’d be stuck with the check. But I gotta say, he wasn’t at all what I expected. Quite the charmer. He even called me Alice. I liked it.”

“That bastard,” Sammy growled. “He used her.”

“He used all of us,” Henry said.

“Let’s just get to her and see what she wants.” Carmine said, beckoning them back over towards the end of the room. The group all nodded, apologizing and following him into the hallway. Everything was very mechanical, steam shooting out of a few pipes as they passed and scaring the bejeezus out of Fiona.

“It’s only steam,” Carmine assured her.

“I knew that!” She snapped, despite moving closer to him. Soon enough, they found themselves in Alice’s inner sanctum. She stood behind a glass window, at a control panel that was presumably shocking the poor Butcher Gang clone she had tied up. Once they walked up, Alice paused.

“Hm. Now we come to the question...” She said, back to her sultry voice. “Do I kill you? Do I tear you apart to my heart’s delight? The choices of the beautiful are unbearable. How’s a girl to choose?”

“She’s...She’s not actually going to kill us, is she?” Fiona whispered.

“Not while I’m here,” Carmine said.

“That’s reassuring.” Henry smiled a little. “Thank you.”

“Take this little freak for instance!” Alice continued, evidently not having heard them. “He crawled in here.... Trailing his tainted ink to my door! It could have touched me! It could have pulled me back!” Her voice went high and her hands flew to her head.

“Do you know what it’s like? Living in the dark puddles?” She whispered, her voice fluctuating between tones. “It’s a buzzing, screaming well of voices! Bits of your mind, swimming...like...like fish in a bowl! The first time I was born from its inky womb, I was a wiggling, pussing, shapeless slug. The second time...well...It made me an angel! I will not let the demon touch me again. I’m so close now. So…almost perfect.” She seemed to gain control of herself now, sighing. “Yes, I will spare you. For now. Better yet...I’ll even let you ascend and leave this place. If you do a few eensy weensy little favors for me first.”

“Great, fetch quests,” Carmine muttered. “I’m sure this’ll be fun.”

“Return to the lift my little errand boys.” Alice shooed them away. “We have work to do!” Then the shutters slammed down and the sound of someone, or something, being electrocuted filled the room.

“Fuck me sideways,” Fiona said.

“Language,” Sammy replied on instinct.

“I’m with her on this,” Henry said. “I don’t think we’re going to enjoy anything about this.”

“Well, let’s head out and see what that bitch wants us to do.” Carmine sighed, turning and stalking away.

“Geez, what’s with him?” Sammy asked.

“Probably his lingering feelings of resentment towards anyone and everyone who tries to order him around,” Fiona said as she followed.

“That’s...nice,” Henry said slowly. “Reminds me a bit of Joey, honestly. He didn’t take criticism too well.”

“If by that you mean he yelled at anyone who so much as expressed a word of disagreement, then yes, he didn’t take criticism well,” Sammy said, rolling his nonexistent eyes. “Wally once suggested getting better pipes and Joey just started screaming at him for questioning his designs.”

“He really did lose it, didn’t he?” Henry said.

“Yeah. He did.” Sammy replied, voice solemn. Once they were all out of Alice’s chambers, after collecting Boris on the way out of course, Alice’s speakers crackled to life.

“I’ll make this simple. Look for valve panels. Turn the little wheels. Then bring me their power cores.” She said. “Please don’t make me regret sparing you. I can always change my mind.” A panel opened up and a plunger was presented. Fiona took it. She wanted something to defend herself with.

“So…That’s really Susie, isn’t it?” Henry said after a moment of silence.

“I can feel her soul residing in that body, yes,” Carmine said.

“Could you fix her?” Sammy asked in a small voice. “Like you did me?”

“It wouldn’t be easy,” Carmine admitted. “Her fractured mind has healed itself improperly enough that it would be hard to correct it.”

“So…There’s no hope for her.” Sammy said.

“I didn’t say that,” Carmine said, tapping the little soul with one long finger. “Once this is all over, I’ll see what I can do, alright?”

“Alright.” Sammy seemed to be in a bit of a better mood after that.

“So…Valve panels.” Henry said. “This should be fun, right?”

“I’d go with tedious myself, but to each their own,” Fiona said, shrugging. They started back across the bridge, only for Alice’s voice to begin again.

“There are so few rules to our world now. So little truths.” She said. “But there is one rule we all know and respect down here. Beware the Ink Demon. Stay out in the open for too long and he will find you. For if you see him, you’d better hide. If you don’t, well, I enjoyed our date. Now, let us begin our work.” Fiona whimpered a little, clinging to Carmine’s arm. Boris stayed in the elevator.

“We’ll see you later, okay?” Henry said, waving to Boris.

“Guess we’re taking the stairs.” Fiona inched towards the door to the right of the elevator and opened it. Sure enough, there were stairs leading up. A searcher popped up, but Henry quickly dispatched it with his pipe. There were cobwebs everywhere, as well as various miscellaneous equipment. As they ascended the stairs, more searchers popped up, each dispatched easily. Fiona was less scared now and more irritated with them.

“These are, like, people, right?” She asked as she beat down another searcher.

“Barely.” The other three chorused together before giving one another weird looks for saying it in unison.

“You shouldn’t feel too bad about beating them up,” Henry said. “I doubt they’re even really aware of what’s going on anymore.”

“Exactly,” Carmine said. And so they continued, up all the stairs and onto a new level. On the wall was written, “I DON’T WANT TO WORK HERE ANYMORE”.

“Me too,” Sammy muttered.

“Should we split up?” Fiona suddenly asked. “We could cover more ground that way.”

“I...don't like that idea,” Carmine said.

“Oh, now you’re worried about her,” Sammy muttered.

“If you two start that again, I’m going off on my own.” Fiona snapped. “You didn’t have any objections when I said I wanted to come in the first place!”

“Well, that was before I knew what a nightmare this place is,” Carmine said. “I thought it would be an easy in and out.”

“So did I,” Henry said.

“Look we all underestimated Joey’s level of insanity.” Fiona said, putting her hands up. “But we’re here now and we’re going to do this, alright? No more arguing about my safety, because I can take care of myself just fine. Now, are we splitting up or not?”

“She has a point,” Henry said. “We would cover more ground that way.”

“Great!” Fiona clapped her hands together. “You two search the other levels and I’ll do this one, got it?”

“No, you’ll stay in the Little Miracle Station.” Carmine picked her up, carried her to the station, and put her inside. “We’ll look for the valves and you can wait right here. You’ll be safe, that way.”  

Fiona gave him a deadpan look. “I’m not a little kid.”

“I know you’re not, but I’m worried about you now.” He said. Fiona’s deadpan look grew slightly more annoyed. Sometimes she preferred when he forgot she was human. It meant he didn’t worry quite so much. He always got so overprotective when he remembered she was just a squishy mortal. She waited until Henry and Carmine were gone before exiting the Little Miracle Station.

“Leave it to him to only remember when it’s the most inconvenient time.” She muttered, hefting the plunger.

“You’re not staying in the station?” Sammy asked, a note of panic entering his voice. “Why aren’t you staying in the station? It’s safe there!”

“I’m not sitting there while they do all the work!” Fiona said. “I’m not some useless damsel! I want to make myself useful!” Sammy groaned as she set off. She was just as headstrong as Joey. This inevitably wasn’t going to end well.

“Just...try to stay safe.” He finally sighed. “This place is dangerous.”

“I know.” She patted his soul. “I’ll be careful. I’ve got a plunger! I’ll be fine.”

Chapter Text

The first thing the two of them encountered was another message proclaiming, “HE WILL SET US FREE”.

“Your work?” Fiona said.

“Probably...” Sammy muttered. “Let’s not talk about it, okay?”

“Okay.” She patted his soul and continued, holding the plunger like a weapon in front of her. A few searchers popped up and were met with screaming and flailing.

“Not exactly inconspicuous, are you?” Sammy said as they passed by two rooms whose walls were made of glass.

“I’m sorry! They startled me!” Fiona said. Exploring the room to the right yielded very little. It seemed like it was a room set up to observe experiments, judging from the camera and what appeared to be an operating table.

“Just what was Joey doing in here?” Fiona whispered.

“Trust me, girl, you don’t want to know.” Sammy said. “There’s a valve panel behind you. Let’s get the parts and get out of here.” Fiona nodded and got to work on the valve. A few minutes later, they had the parts.

“Great. Now let’s get back  to the station.” Sammy said.

“No. I want to explore.” Fiona said. If Sammy had had a physical body he would have been giving her a deadpan look.

“Excuse  me?”

“I want to explore.” She repeated. “This place is massive! There have to be other audio logs around here too!”

“Audio logs.” Sammy sighed heavily. “You’re looking for audio logs.”

“Yeah.” Fiona nodded. “I want to listen to what people had to say about this place.”

“You are going to get yourself killed, girl. I hope you know that.”

“Thank you, that’s very helpful.” She said dryly.

“I’m a disembodied soul. I’m not really all that helpful in the first place.”

Fiona shrugged and started walking again. She avoided the other room, which had a Butcher Gang clone in it, opting instead to go up a level. There she found a wide-open room, with very little in it. Going further in, she waded down the inky hallway, coming up on a platform near a bunch of barrels. Before her was a room with a glass partition. A creature skulked through the room, its body covered in ink. Its head was a projector and there were reels and wires stuck all over its body. Fiona almost screamed, a hand flying to her mouth. Luckily, it didn’t notice her and skulked away.

“Norman.” Sammy whispered. “That had to be Norman!” Fiona nodded slightly, on the verge of tears.

“Hey, there’s an audio log.” Sammy quickly changed directions, trying to distract her. Fiona whimpered and pressed play.

“I don’t get it.” Wally’s voice echoed out of the recorder. “Everyone’s walking around here like grandma just died. Nothing but angry faces everywhere. These people gotta lighten up. I mean, hello! You make cartoons! Your job is to make people laugh. I’m tellin’ ya, if these people don’t start crackin’ a smile every now and then, I’m outta here.”

“He was a good guy.” Sammy said as the recording finished. “Annoying as Hell sometimes, but a good guy. Always trying to make us laugh. I did like him, at least a little.”

“I hope he got out.” Fiona said, moving to the door. Beyond was something like a break room, with tables arranged at various points through the room. Posters and ink littered the floor and there was bacon soup on some of the tables. Rounding the corner, the way the thing went, they found only a closed shutter. Fiona frowned.

“Guess we’re not going that way.” She said, turning around. It was back to the stairs after that, and up a few flights. When they reached the top door, Alice spoke again.

“Have you met him? The Ink Demon?” Alice’s voice came through the speakers. “They say he hears everything. Every creak of the floor. Every rustle of paper. I wouldn’t run so fast if I were you. You never know what will draw him in.” Fiona made a small squeaking noise, holding the plunger to her chest.

“It’ll be okay,” Sammy said.

“If you say so.” Fiona opened the door, coming out into the level they’d first discovered the lift on. Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, and felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning back, she found a very irritated Carmine standing behind her, Henry at his back.

“I told you to stay in the Little Miracle Station.” He said. Fiona smiled sheepishly as he pulled her close to his chest, sighing heavily.

“It’s dangerous here.” He continued. “You can’t go wandering off on your own.”

“I know.” She patted his shoulder. “I just...I wanted to be useful.” She pulled out the valve part she’d gotten and held it out to him. Henry took it and put it with the others in the bag Carmine had presumably scavenged or conjured.

“Plus, I’m not alone, I have Sammy.” Fiona continued. Carmine eyed the little soul.

“True...But he can’t do much like this.” He said. Sammy secretly hoped the demon would grant him a body of sorts. He wasn’t sure what Carmine could do, but the other man had at least released Sammy from whatever inky Hell he’d been trapped in.

“I’ll have to work on that,” Carmine muttered.

“You’re quite the efficient little errand boys, aren’t you?” Alice purred through her speakers.

“She’s enjoying this.” Carmine’s expression darkened. “I can’t believe this.”

“Joey must have rubbed off on her.” Henry said, looking very much as though he wanted to be done with this whole business. They all headed back to the lift and climbed in. Alice’s voice crackled through the speakers, once more.

“Sammy said I had talent.” She began in her gentle voice before quickly switching to the other one. “He was always a good liar. Still, he was once a very handsome man.”

“I never lied to her,” Sammy said. “She did have talent.”

“I believe you.” Fiona patted him again. They rode the lift all the way back down to level 9 and headed out. It took a few minutes for them to figure out where exactly they had to put the parts before Henry found out the thing that looked like a trashcan was the correct place. Once they’d deposited the parts, Alice’s voice spoke up again.

“My machines are hungry. Gather me some spare parts!”

This time a wrench appeared from the little ticket stand. It was handed over to Henry so he could have something else to defend himself with. He had a longer reach and could use the shorter range weapons better.

“So...What does she mean by spare parts?” Fiona asked. “What are we looking for?”

“So, there are these panels in the walls that have a lot of different gears in them.” Sammy explained. “Wally always used to filch parts from them when we needed gears for different machines. I think that’s what she’s talking about.”

“Very clever, Mr Lawrence.” Carmine’s lips curled up in a sinister smile. “Perhaps you are useful after all.”

“Thanks.” Sammy said. “Your approval is all I ever wanted.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

“Why don’t we get going?” Henry said quickly. They headed back to the stairs. This time, they were absolutely not splitting up, no matter how much ground they’d cover separately. They found one gearbox on the floor with the “I DON’T WANT TO WORK HERE ANYMORE” graffiti, but before they left, Fiona wanted to explore the other room.

“There’s a Butcher Gang clone in there and I didn’t want to go in on my own.” She explained as they approached the door.

“I really worry about you, sometimes.” Carmine said, kissing her head. “You’re far too reckless for your own good.” They entered the room and looked around, finding another gearbox. Carmine dispatched the Butcher Gang clone with Henry and Fiona got the gear from the box. Other than that, there wasn’t a lot to see. Just desks and various office supplies. Fiona seemed slightly disappointed by this.

“It’s like you want to be scared.” Sammy said. “You’re a weird kid. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know.” Fiona rolled her eyes.

“She does like being scared.” Carmine said. “She watches far too many horror movies for her own good.”

“Horror movies are fun.” Fiona said. Henry just sort of shrugged. And so they continued on. Another gearbox was in the stairwell. However, as they reached level P, ink began to coat the walls. Fiona and Henry could clearly hear their heartbeats in their ears. Carmine turned to them, eyes glowing red.

“Run.” He said. The two humans bolted down the stairs to the Little Miracle Station with Carmine following slowly behind. He stood in front of the box and waited patiently until he felt the presence of the other demon vanish.

“He’s gone.” He said. “You can come out now.” The door to the station opened and Henry and Fiona stumbled out, both pale and shaking.

“That was terrifying,” Fiona said. “I never want to do that again.”

“Neither do I.” Henry nodded slowly.

“Well, hopefully you won’t have to.” Carmine said. “Just stay close and be careful.” They headed back to level P and searched for the last gearbox. As it turned out, it wasn’t there, and they had to backtrack back to level K and into the room with all the plushes to finally find the last box.

“Ah, that should be plenty.” Alice said. “Return them to me. And try not to die on the way back.” Both Fiona and Carmine made a rude gesture in the direction of the speakers before they all headed back to level 9. Thankfully, there were no Bendy sightings. The only thing of note was that Fiona and Henry were getting tired going up and down the stairs all the time.

“We could just take the elevator,” Carmine suggested as they crossed the bridge to deposit the gears.

“Makes too much noise.” Fiona said. “It’ll attract Bendy.” They deposited the gears and waited for Alice’s next command.

“Have you seen them? The swollen ones! They’re just stuffed full of extra thick ink.” Alice said. “It makes me sick! And yet...It’s the perfect thing for keeping myself together. If you’re going to catch them, you’re going to have to learn to move quietly. Come back to my door. I’ll have something that you’ll need.” And then the ticket booth produced a syringe. Carmine sighed and took the syringe.

“I’ll be doing this alone.” He said. “You two stay here.”

“What? Why alone?” Fiona asked, becoming slightly panicked.

“Of all of us, I can move the most quietly.” Carmine explained. “And I don’t think either of you want to do this. Am I right?” Henry and Fiona exchanged a glance and nodded slowly. He wasn’t wrong about that.

“Good.” Carmine flashed them a disarming smile. “Then I’ll get to work. Wait for me, won’t you?” Then he was gone in a puff of smoke. Fiona and Henry sat down on the stairs up to Alice’s chambers. Fiona put Sammy in her lap.

“So...How’s life been, Henry?” Sammy asked.

“Things have been alright.” Henry said. “Linda and the kids are doing well. I’ve got a job at another studio.”

“Sounds like things are going pretty well for you.” There was a hint of bitterness in Sammy’s voice.

“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been happier since I left.” Henry admitted. “I never knew how stifling it was to work with Joey until I was out. I’m sorry he did all this to you.”

“I’m sure it’s not your fault,” Fiona said quickly. “Joey would have done this regardless of whether or not you were here.”

“Girl’s got a point.” Sammy said. “Joey was always going to do something like this. I hate to say it, but you were smart to get out when you did. We all should have left.”

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up over it.”  Henry smiled mournfully. “We were all blind.” They lapsed into silence for a few minutes.

“So, tell us about yourself, Fiona.” Henry turned his attention to her.

“Me?” Fiona’s eyes widened. “Why me?”

“Well, Henry and I already know each other from work, and all we know about you is you summoned a demon and you’re dating him.” Sammy said. “So tell us about yourself.”

“Well, I’m a college student.” She began slowly. “I’m studying creative writing with a focus on fiction. I know it’s difficult to make a career out of writing, so I figure I might be a librarian or something and right on the side.”

“That’s very well thought out.” Henry nodded. “Are you enjoying college?”

“I am.” She nodded, smiling a little. “It’s a lot better than high school was. I’m finally able to do the things I want to do. It’s like...I was living my life for other people and now I’m living for myself.”

“I know that feeling.” Henry smiled wistfully. “When I was working under Joey, I ended up living for him and his dreams.”

“Yeah, I felt a little like that too.” Sammy agreed. “But...I did like working here. I liked making people smile with my songs.”

“I like making people smile with my writing,” Fiona said.

“I like making people smile with my animations.” Henry chimed in. They were all silent for a moment before starting to laugh.

“So we’re all on the same page,” Fiona said, her smile widening.

“You have a lovely smile,” Henry said, patting her head.

“My mom tells me that all the time.” Fiona flushed a little. “But I don’t hear it from other people too often.”

“You should. You’re a cute kid.” Sammy nodded definitively.

“I’m not a kid.” Fiona frowned down at the little soul. “I’m a young adult.”

“You really do remind me of my daughter,” Henry said, smiling wistfully as he watched Fiona.

“How so?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“You’re both very stubborn, but kindhearted to a fault.” Henry said. “And you have such lovely smiles. Of course, she’s a good deal older than you.”

“Your daughter sounds like a nice lady.” Fiona gave him another big smile.

“You all seem to be having a good time.” Carmine appeared out of a puddle of ink, holding the syringe by his side.

“How’d it go?” Sammy asked.

“It was uneventful.” Carmine said, shrugging. “The searchers didn’t give me too much trouble. Probably better that you stayed here, Fiona. You might have found it disturbing.” He deposited the ink syringes in the drop box.

“Ah, okay.” Fiona and Henry both prepared to get up, but Carmine gestured for them to stop as Alice spoke once more.

“You see those grinning demons? Let’s remove them, shall we?” She said. “I’ve got just the tool to make this even more enjoyable.” The ticket booth spat out the axe, which Fiona was scrambling to pick up. Carmine stopped her, however.

“Alright, you are definitely sitting this one out.” He said. “Henry and I will take care of this. You stay here.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Carmine said firmly. “This is likely to anger Bendy even more, and I’m not putting you in that kind of danger.”

“But it’s alright to endanger Henry,” Sammy said.

“Henry’s a protagonist.” Carmine smiled tightly. “He can’t die.”

“Please don’t break the fourth wall,” Fiona whispered. “They already know we’re not from this world.”

“Very well.” Carmine sighed dramatically. “Come along now, Henry. Let’s get to work.” He handed the axe to Henry and the two set off.

“What was that about breaking the fourth wall?” Sammy asked, turning around as best he could to stare at her.

“Nothing.” Fiona smiled nervously. “You must’ve heard incorrectly.”

“Look at that.” Alice’s speakers crackled to life as the angel’s velvety voice floated out. “They’ve left you all alone.” Fiona was almost glad for the distraction.

“Hello to you too, Miss Alice.” She said. “And how are you this fine day?”

“Don’t get cute with me, girl.” Alice spat.

“I’m not being cute. I’m being polite.” Fiona said, almost indignantly. “Now, do you want something?”

“I do want something.” Alice said. “I want to know what kind of power your little boyfriend has. I saw he released Sammy.”

“Which I didn’t ask for. I’m just putting that out there.” Sammy said. “I didn’t make a deal or anything.”

“Quiet, traitor!” Alice hissed. “The women are talking!” Sammy squeaked and abruptly stopped talking. Fiona didn’t look too happy with the whole situation either. Her face had gone a bit pale and she was hugging Sammy to her chest.

“Are you scared of me, little girl?” Alice asked, her tone changing to one of extreme pleasure. “How adorable. You were so brave just a moment ago.”

“Shut up,” Fiona mumbled, holding Sammy closer to her.

“I heard you and your little friends talking about fixing me.” Alice continued. “I don’t want to be fixed. I have to be perfect! I’m so close!”

“Perfection is overrated.” The words were out of Fiona’s mouth before she could stop herself.

“What was that?” Alice asked, her voice holding an edge sharp enough to slice.

“We are so dead,” Sammy whispered. Fiona took a moment to compose herself.

“Perfection is overrated.” She repeated. “If you spend your life trying to be perfect, you’ll never be satisfied.”

“What would you know?” Alice spat. “You’re nothing but a child!”

“Yeah, well, I’ve seen some shit!” Fiona yelled up at the speakers. “I tried to be perfect all my life and it only made me miserable! I know what I’m talking about, lady!”

“You’ve never lost anything in your life, you little bitch!”

“Try me!”

Sammy quietly begged for death. He didn’t like being in the middle of arguments like this. Arguments over trivial things, he was fine with. But not arguments about heavy topics. Arguments like these brought back all the memories of getting into fights with Joey in the last few years before the studio closed. When Sammy stopped reliving his worst moments, Fiona was hugging her knees and crying. Almost immediately, Carmine appeared out of an ink puddle, a positively demonic expression on his face. Fiona squeaked and scooted back. Carmine’s expression softened.

“What happened?” He asked, kneeling beside her. Fiona just buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. A few minutes later, Henry came jogging back. The second he saw Fiona crying, he understood why Carmine had disappeared.

“Are you alright?” He asked, moving closer. Fiona didn’t say anything, pressing herself closer to Carmine.

“Alice.” Carmine looked calmly up towards the speakers. “Why is my Creator crying?”

“Your creator?” Sammy asked.

“Yes, my Creator,” Carmine repeated testily. “Now why is she crying, Alice?” His expression made it clear he was ready to rip someone apart if he was given a proper reason for it.

“We- We had a disagreement.” Alice sounded as though she were trying desperately to stay in control. “She started it. She shouldn’t have been so sensitive.”

“A̕͞l͝ice͏̛.͟͞ ̧̛” Carmine growled. “Y͘o̡u͟'͘ŗ͏̴e̶ ͘͝o̷n͏ ̢͘͜v̶͠e̢͡͝r̛y̸̡ ͡͠th̡i̛n͏̧ ̨i̛͜͝c̸̛e҉ ̡r̴͏i͘͠g̵͡h̴͏t̴͘ ͜n҉҉̢ow̸͝.̶҉” The shadows around them began to rise, the room looking similar to the way it did when Bendy appeared.

“Carmine, don’t,” Fiona whispered. Carmine paused, the shadows halting. Then he smiled and they dissipated.

“Anything for you, my dear.” He said. “Are you sure you’re alright.”

“It was my fault.” She wiped her tears away. “I shouldn’t have gotten so emotional.”

“She hit below the belt,” Sammy assured her. “Don’t beat yourself up.”

“I did not!” Alice sputtered. Carmine shot a warning glance towards the speakers and the angel went silent. Henry let out a relieved sigh he hadn’t known he’d been holding in.

“What do you want us to do now?” He asked. “We destroyed the cutouts.”

“There are some things I want you to kill,” Alice said, eager to move on and get them back under her thumb. “The disgusting wretches have wandered my halls, have gone unchecked! They’re trying to drag me back to the darkness! Don’t let them take your angel!” Her voice quickly rose to a fever pitch. “Purge them one by one! Smash them into puddles! Kill them!” Almost immediately, clones of the Butcher Gang began to appear, stumbling down the stairs. Carmine stood up, disentangling himself from Fiona. His hands lit up with fire, the shadows whipping around his feet.

“Everyone, stand back.” His voice was dangerously soft. Henry backed up, gently maneuvering Fiona up the stairs so she was out of harm’s way. The room was quickly filled with fire and shadow as Carmine obliterated the Butcher Gang clones. There was a terrifying glee painting his face while he did this, as though he enjoyed their suffering. Henry was horrified. Fiona did nothing. By the end, Carmine stood alone among the puddles of ink, smiling maniacally.

“So quiet. Like a welcoming grave. I like the silence, don’t you?” Alice’s voice was sweet and gentle once more. That quickly changed. “I hate leaving work unfinished! Fortunately, I have you to pick up the pieces. But you’ll have to go even deeper. Down, down, down into the abyss. Take the lift down. Say hello to an old friend.”

“An old friend?” Henry asked.

“Norman.” Sammy and Fiona said together, voices and expression grim. There was a small pause, then the ticket booth revealed something new.

“Sending you a little present. A little firepower.” Alice purred. “Take good care of it. It belonged to someone very special.” It was a gun. A tommy gun. They all glanced at one another.

“Let’s....not.” Henry suggested. He didn’t like the idea of any of them with a gun. Guns had only caused trouble for him and everyone in his life.

“Very well.” Carmine self-consciously adjusted his tie. “Shall we?”

“Your boyfriend is insane,” Sammy whispered as Fiona got up to follow Carmine.

“Yeah, I know.” She sighed, patting his soul. “But he gets better, I promise. He won’t be a crazy antagonist forever.”

“Wait, what?”

Unfortunately for Sammy, they were already moving on. As they made their way back to the lift, Carmine darted to the side and began tearing down some boards covering a door.

“What are you doing?” Henry asked.

“I’m certain there’s an audio log in here,” Carmine said. “And I’m similarly certain that Fiona wants to hear it.”

“Oooh! Yes please.” Fiona nodded.

“I think this is Cohen’s office.” Sammy murmured, still a little put off.

“Oh! I remember Grant!” Henry’s face lit up, then quickly fell. “I hope he got out.” No one said anything on the subject. They were all pretty sure that none of the other former employees had made it out of this place alive. Well, most of them that was. Once the boards were off the door, Fiona walked in and pressed play on the audio log.

“They say the real problem with Mr Drew is that he never tells us little people anything.” Grant’s voice drawled out of the tape. “Oh sure, according him there’s always big stuff coming, adventures and fame and the like. But I’m the guy, see, who has to make sure our budgets don’t go all out of whack cause the big man upstairs went out and got himself another idea. Speaking of which, and this is top secret, apparently Mr Drew has another large project in mind now...and it ain’t gonna be cheap.”

“I’m 90% sure Cohen had a big plan to murder Joey and hide his body,” Sammy said. “We all totally would’ve helped him, too.”

“Maybe don’t say that when Henry’s around,” Fiona whispered.

“Oh shit. Sorry.” Sammy quickly backpedalled.

“It’s...It’s fine.” Henry shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” They headed to the elevator, where Boris was still waiting.

“You’re such a good boy.” Fiona cooed, standing on her tiptoes to rub Boris’ head. He made happy noises and nuzzled against her hand.

“He is indeed a very good boy.” Carmine agreed.

“He’s not a studio employee turned into Boris, is he?” Sammy asked. Carmine went silent, refusing to look at Sammy.

“Son of a bitch.”

“Going down!” Fiona slammed her finger into the button for floor 14. The elevator shuddered to life and they began their descent downwards. They were all silent, looking at one another. Boris stayed fairly close to Fiona. Evidently, Carmine creeped him out.

“Could you fix Norman?” Sammy asked as they reached floor 14. “Like what you did for me.”

“Well, I’ll have to see,” Carmine said. “With you, your soul was the only thing anchoring your body together.”

“What about with Susie?” Sammy asked. Carmine pursed his lips, trying to find some way to explain it properly. Meanwhile, Fiona had crept out of the elevator to peek over the railing and into the room beyond. It was massive, almost like a cathedral, with small rooms off to the sides. Out of one of those rooms came skulking a familiar figure. The Projectionist lumbered out of the room to the left and into the room to the right, barely aware of the group above it.

“Ssh...There he is.” Alice whispered through the speakers. “The Projectionist. Skulking in the darkness. You be sure to stay out of his light, if you don’t want trouble. Just bring me back the pieces I need.”

“Poor Mr. Polk,” Fiona said.  

“So, uh, what are we doing down here?” Henry asked.

“Presumably, she wants these.” Carmine strode over to a fallen Butcher Gang member, picking up an inky heart. It looked like a human heart aside from the fact that it was covered in ink. Fiona screamed and stumbled back.

“T-That’s a human heart!” She stammered. “That’s a human heart! Why did one of those things have a human heart?!”

“You don’t want the answer to that question,” Carmine said.

“Yeah...” Fiona trailed off, going over to cling to Carmine’s arm. Henry stayed close behind them. He wasn’t feeling great about all of this. Coming back and seeing all the terrible things Joey had done....It was almost too much to bear. Joey had been his best friend for so many years.

“Are you okay?” Fiona asked, looking back at the old animator.

“I’m fine.” Henry forced himself to smile. “Let’s just get those hearts and get out of here.” They descended the stairs down into the ink. By this point, they’d all given up any semblance of staying clean. For a moment, Sammy found himself glad that he was nestled safely in Fiona’s hood. They sloshed through the ink and Fiona made a beeline for an audio log on top of a crate. She pressed play without thinking of the consequences.

“Now I’m not looking for trouble. It’s just the nature of us projectionists to seek out the dark places.” Norman’s voice filled the room as Carmine dragged Fiona back and slammed her against a wall. “You see, I’ve learned the ins and outs of this here studio. I know how to avoid being bothered by the likes of this...company. That projectionist, they always say, creepin’ around, he’s just lookin’ for trouble. Well, trouble or not, I sees everything. They don’t even know when I’m watchin’. Even when I’m right behind ‘em.” The audio log clicked off, leaving the room silent except for the labored breathing of Fiona and Carmine. Henry had pressed himself against the wall the second the audio log came on.

“What were you thinking?” Carmine hissed. “You could have drawn him to us!”

“I wanted to hear what it had to say!” Fiona whispered back.

“You could have gotten hurt!” Carmine grabbed her by her shoulders. He did look concerned, Sammy had to give him that.

“She’ll be careful in the future.” Henry got in between the two of them. “This isn’t the time to be fighting. Let’s just get the hearts, okay?”

“Fine.” Carmine looked away, a sort of cool detachment descending over him. For a moment, Fiona reached out to Carmine. Then she withdrew into herself, shoving her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt.

“You okay, kid?” Sammy asked.

“I’m fine.” Fiona murmured, even though she very obviously wasn’t. “Should we split up?”

“No.” Carmine immediately said. “I’m not risking you getting torn apart.” Fiona nodded and followed behind him as they entered the labyrinth. As soon as they stepped inside, they were greeted with a projector playing a scene from Tombstone Picnic. Fiona couldn’t help but smile and pointed to it.

“Look, it’s Tombstone Picnic.” She whispered. “That’s such a cute short.”

“It was fun to work on,” Henry said, laughing slightly. Even Carmine smiled slightly.

“I must admit, though, the Boris in the cartoons is very different from the one we met.” He said.

“Because he’s made out of an employee.” Sammy sighed, reminding them all of the terrible situation they were in. They all lapsed into silence once more, moving forward to find the hearts. The maze of corridors was difficult to navigate as a group, but they managed. They tried to stay out of the way of the Projectionist as much as possible. There were a few times when they encountered him, but the humans were stowed away in a Miracle Station every time. Eventually, they’d gathered all the hearts.

“Tell me. Were they still writhing in your hands?” Alice asked through her speakers. “Bring them to me now! I don’t like to wait!”

“Should we deal with Norman now?” Fiona whispered as they exited the labyrinth and entered the main area.

“That would be a good idea, yes.” Carmine stopped and stood stock still, waiting for the Projectionist to appear. Fiona and Henry went up onto the elevator landing to wait it out. As soon as the Projectionist caught sight of him, it shrieked and charged. In one fluid motion, Carmine hoisted it up by its neck. It screamed, trying to claw at him. Carmine clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“Come now, that’s very unbecoming.” He chided the monster as if it were simply an unruly child. Henry’s grip on the banister tightened. He knew enough about the demon to know he wasn’t going to like whatever was about to happen.

“I’d suggest you look away,” Carmine said. “I guarantee you won’t like it.”

“I can handle it,” Henry said, his voice shaking.

“If you’re certain.” Carmine shrugged his shoulders, then plunged his free hand into the Projectionist’s chest. There was an unbearable cracking as Carmine broke the monster’s ribs. The creature screamed and thrashed, trying desperately to alleviate the pain. Carmine hummed to himself, digging around in the monster's chest cavity.

“It must be in here somewhere.” He muttered. After a few minutes of searching, he pulled out a heart that was perhaps a bit too close to human for comfort. As soon as Carmine pulled the heart free, the Projectionist stopped moving. Hands stained in black blood, he dropped the corpse and smiled up at the assembled humans.

“All done.” He said brightly.

“Jesus Christ,” Sammy whispered.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Fiona patted the soul.

“Why are you sorry?” Sammy asked. “It’s not your fault your boyfriend’s a psycho.”

“You are aware I can hear you, aren’t you?” Sammy and Henry jumped at hearing Carmine’s voice right behind them. Fiona and Henry both turned around to find Carmine tapping his foot, the heart clutched in one hand.

“He’s a demon,” Fiona said. “Standards are different.”

“What are you going to do with that?” Henry pointed to the heart in Carmine’s hand.

“I’m going to extract the soul.” Carmine said with a smile, as though this was the most normal thing in the world. Then he held the heart out, positioning his other hand over it. Immediately, both hands caught flame. But the flames weren’t red. Instead, they were blue, rather like Sammy’s soul. Slowly, Carmine began to pull something out of the heart. It soon became clear that the thing he was pulling out was indeed a soul, as it resembled Sammy’s. After a minute or so, Carmine held another soul in his hand. Instead of being blue like Sammy’s, this one was yellow.

“Mr. Polk, how are you feeling?” Carmine asked, throwing the heart back towards the corpse.

“Wha- What’s going on? Where am I?” Norman’s gravelly voice rasped out of the soul.

“Norman?” Henry almost couldn’t find his voice.

“Henry? Is that you?” The soul turned to get a good look at Henry. “Good God. You old! How long’s it been?”

“30 years,” Sammy said.

“Wait, why am I so tiny?” Norman asked. “What’s going on here? What happened to the studio?”

“We’ll explain on the way up.” Fiona took Norman from Carmine, nestling him in her hood next to Sammy. They all headed back to the elevator where Boris had remained and rode it back up to Alice’s level. Sammy did his best to fill Norman in on what had been happening, with Henry adding in information when it was necessary.

“Sounds like I missed a lot,” Norman said as they exited the elevator. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Drew did what he did.”

“Do you...Do you think he was ever a good person?” Henry asked.

“No one is born evil,” Carmine said. “So yes, I believe he was, once.”

“Did I ever know him as a good person?”

“That I don’t know,” Carmine admitted. They all fell silent, approaching Alice’s domain. Fiona deposited the hearts into the little chute.

“It seems we’ve reached the end of my todo list, my little errand boys,” Alice said. “I hope you enjoyed our time together.”

“Not a bit.” Carmine smiled through gritted teeth.

“I’ll always treasure it. Return to the lift.” Alice continued on, unhindered by the demon’s rejection of her. “It’s time to go home.”

“So, this is it,” Henry said. “We’re getting out.”

“Something tells me it won’t be that easy.” Carmine shook his head.

“We haven’t even found Joey,” Fiona added. “Which is the whole reason we came here.”

“Fuck Joey! I want out!” Sammy said.

“I don’t wanna stay here much longer either.” Norman agreed. “I want to see my family.” Fiona cast sympathetic glances back at them, but said nothing. They all returned to the elevator with Boris.

“Have you ever wondered what Heaven is like?” Alice asked them as the doors closed and they started to ascend. Her voice was soft and sweet again. “I like to dream that it’s quite beautiful. A soft valley of green grass, blanketed by a warm sun. I don’t think I’ll ever get to see it. Are you ready to ascend, my little errand boys? The heavens are waiting.” She started to sob quietly. The sobs quickly turned to laughter, though, and the elevator suddenly began to drop. Sparks flew, Boris cowered, and Fiona screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Did you really think I’d let you steal from me?! Did you really think I’d just let you go?!” Alice roared. “No, Henry! I know who you are! And I know why you’re here! And you will not stop what needs to be done!”

“Henry?” Fiona looked back at Henry who was cowering beside Boris.

“Now come down and bring me back my Boris!” Alice kept screaming. “It’s the most perfect Boris I’ve ever seen and I want it! I need it. I need its insides so I can be beautiful again! Don’t you understand? Don’t you get it?! Give him to me! Or better yet, I’ll take him! Once...you’re....dead!” 

The elevator slammed into the ground and everything went black. The next thing Fiona knew, Carmine was trying to shake her awake. She could see Boris behind him, trying to shake Henry. Behind the cartoon wolf, Alice was walking up. She tried to open her mouth, tried to warn him, but she couldn’t make anything move. The last thing she saw was Boris being dragged away. Then there was only blackness.

Chapter Text

The first part is inspired by this

Everything was so dark. All around her, there was only blackness. She could hear voices whispering in the darkness, although she couldn’t make out any concrete words or phrases. Where was she? The last thing she remembered…Boris!

“Boris!” She yelled, her voice echoing back on her. “Boris, where are you?” No one answered her, but she could hear someone crying from somewhere close to her.

“Hello? Who’s there?” She asked, following the sobs. Eventually, she came upon two people. A man strapped to a table, and a woman standing over him. The woman was crying, while the man seemed for the most part calm. There was something so familiar about the beautiful blond woman and the gangly freckled man.

“Who are you?” She asked, taking a step towards the two. The crying woman looked over at her.

“You…You can stop this” The woman pointed at her. “Please. Stop me. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Who- Susie?”

“I don’t want to do this anymore.” Susie sobbed, covering her face with her hands again. “I don’t want to be perfect. I just want to die.”

“We’ll get you out, Susie. Don’t worry.” She reached out for Susie. “We’ll get you out and you can talk things out with Sammy.”

“You can’t save me.” Susie turned to her, smiling through her tears. “No one can. Not anymore.” Then the man on the table started to scream.

“I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.” Susie looked back to the man, tears springing anew from her eyes. “I didn’t want to do this to you, Wally.”

 “Wally? Wait, no!” She tried to get to the table, but something was pulling her back. “No! I can fix this! Let me fix this!” Susie and Wally were getting farther and farther away, their voices growing distant. She could save them. She knew she could save them.

Fiona

Fiona

“Fiona!”

Fiona’s eyes flew open and she looked around wildly. Carmine stood over her, hands on her shoulders. He looked tired and haggard. His hair was wild, and his clothing ripped. Henry was pacing behind him, wringing his hands.

“Carmine?” Fiona rasped.

“Thank Satan, I was so worried.” Carmine held her close to his chest. “I tried to heal you, but there was only so much I could do.”

“Is she awake? Give me over to her!” Sammy snapped from somewhere Fiona couldn’t see. Henry walked over to them and put Sammy’s soul back into Fiona’s hood.

“You alright, kid?” Sammy asked, moving closer to her neck. “You had us all really worried.”

“I…I’m okay.” She offered a shaky smile, taking Sammy out of her hood to hold him close to her chest. “I’m sorry I scared all of you. I didn’t mean to.” Then she realized something. “Wait, where’s Norman?”

“Alice took him.” Henry muttered, never stopping his pacing. “Just like she took Boris.”

“We have to get him back!” Fiona tried to get to her feet, but Carmine kept her down.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked.

“She’s awake! Of course she’s alright!” Henry snapped.

“Stein, I will rip your heart out through your ass.” Carmine growled. “You may be able to survive an elevator falling down five floors, but she’s just a human!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Henry shot back. “I’m human too!” Fiona had a feeling this was going in a direction she absolutely wasn’t going to like.

“I’m okay.” She got up and got in between the two men. “So let’s not fight. We need to get Boris and Norman back, and we can’t do that if we’re fighting.” Carmine and Henry stared at each other for a moment or two before breaking eye contact.

“Alright.” Carmine sighed.

“I’m sorry.” Henry looked away, shoulders slumped. “I didn’t mean to snap. I just…I’m really worried about Boris.”

“I know.” Fiona put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go find him, okay?”

“Okay.” They started off down the passageway, Henry in front and Fiona walking beside Carmine. The end of the hallway branched out into two separate passages, with Henry going to the right.

“We need to find a valve wheel.” He said. “I already scouted out the other way.” He was most definitely not alright, both Fiona and Carmine could tell. This made Fiona extremely worried. Henry had been so calm and collected before. Nothing had seemed to faze him. Seeing him so upset made her upset. Carmine squeezed her hand in reassurance, which did make her feel a bit better. They rounded the corner to find a door with a sign reading “Grant Cohen”. And, as always, there was a Bendy cutout.

“Hey! Here’s Grant’s office!” Fiona took a step toward the door, but immediately stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Henry asked.

“It feels…wrong.” Fiona took a step back. The feeling that was coming off the room made her sick to her stomach.

“Wrong how?” Sammy pressed against her neck.

“I feel like something bad happened in here.” Fiona drew into herself. Carmine opened the door, and their stomachs sank. The walls, and some of the floor, were covered in crazed scribblings.

Taxes

It doesn’t add up

48128 Short

Money

Time is money

Time is money

Time is money

“Oh my God,” Fiona whispered.

“What happened here?” Henry took a step inside. Carmine strode past him to pick up the valve wheel in the corner. Fiona looked around, her breathing quickening. The feeling in this room was so oppressive. She felt anxious and she didn’t even know why. She just wanted to get out of there. She was already at the door when Henry turned on the audio log. Suddenly, the room was filled with incomprehensible gibbers, growls, and snarls. Everyone stood frozen until the tape ended.

“That’s not…It can’t be Grant, right?” Fiona looked to Carmine, but his face was set in a stony mask.

“Let’s keep moving.” He said. Fiona stared helplessly after him as he walked away.

“Come on.” Henry put a hand on her shoulder, moving her out of the room. As soon as she was out of the office, the oppressive feeling halted. Still, she was on the verge of tears. Just what had that tape recorded? What had happened in that office? Carmine fitted the valve wheel into place and the door to the archives swung open. They walked in and were greeted to a giant statue of Bendy, with multiple inky figures kneeling before him. Spotlights flickered on, illuminating the statue and the figures, accompanied by what sounded like a music box.

“I remember this place.” Sammy murmured, gazing around the circular room. “I’ve been here before.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” Carmine eyed the inky figures warily. Meanwhile, Henry had pressed on ahead, leaving the central circular room and entering another whose walls were filled with books, and in the center sat an alcove. Fiona wandered into the alcove, locating an audio log and pressing play. She braced for a terrible cacophony but relaxed when she was greeted with Susie’s voice.

“They told me I was perfect for this role. Absolutely perfect. Now Joey’s going around, saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell. Now he wants to meet again tomorrow, says he has an ‘opportunity’ for me. I’ll hear him out. But if that smooth talker thinks he can double-cross an angel and get away with it, well, he’s got another thing coming. Alice, oooh, she doesn’t like liars.”

“It sounds as though she got a little too invested in her role.” Carmine walked up to stand behind Fiona. There were no smiles now, no witty remarks. They were all tired. 

“She lost her mind and Joey held her hand the whole way.” Sammy said bitterly.

“All the more reason to take Drew’s soul.” Carmine smiled slightly at the thought. “He will receive his punishment for what he’s done.” Suddenly, a light went on outside the alcove. It was a bulb above a door.

“We need to push in books to open that door.” Henry popped his head in. “I found one. Mind helping me look?”

“Of course.” Fiona nodded, eager to get away from the tape. They began locating and pushing in the books. As the third book was pressed in, Henry suddenly yelped and stumbled back. Fiona and Carmine ran to him but could see nothing wrong.

“What’s wrong?” Fiona asked, panicked.

“Y-You didn’t see that?” Henry stammered, looking wildly around.

“See what?”

“The lighting changed.” Henry stared at them in disbelief. “The panels were slamming. You really didn’t see that?”

“We didn’t see anything,” Carmine said. They went back to searching, a tense silence descending upon them. Fiona pressed in the last book and the door swung open. They filed through without saying a word. The room beyond was cavernous, a large hole gaping in the middle. Cages dangled from the ceiling, suspended by chains. There was solid ground snaking around the outside of the hole, but it all looked rather flimsy.

“This cannot be normal.” Carmine sighed. “No cartoon studio looks like this.” Fiona nodded, already having moved on and up the stairs to the higher platform. She’d begun fiddling with the side of a machine, turning a dial.

“It looks like we can get across here.” Henry walked over to stand beside a machine. It looked to be the controls for the little gondola that was on the other side of the chasm.

“It’s missing a gear, though.” He added.

“I think we can get a gear from this thing.” Fiona pointed to the machine in front of her. “I think it can vend stuff. A gear is one of the settings.”

“The question is, what do we put in to get it to vend?” Carmine stood in front of the machine, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

“Ink.” They all said together before laughing tiredly. Everything seemed to run on ink in this place. They started down the corridor before them, hoping it would lead them to a place where they could get ink to power the machine. At the end of the corridor was a small room with a large pipe in the middle. On one wally was a switch, while on the other there was a valve. Henry threw the switch and the pipe in the middle was lifted off, revealing a vat of ink. Carmine turned the valve. There was a groan, and a Swollen Searcher appeared. Fiona shrieked and stumbled back.

“It’s okay.” Carmine assured her. “He won’t hurt you.”

“S-Sorry. I got spooked.” Fiona said sheepishly. Henry plucked a glob of ink off the Searcher’s shoulder, causing it to retreat into the ink, and marched back to the machine. Carmine and Fiona followed dutifully behind. The ink was inserted into the slot and the crank was turned. The machine shook, then spat out a gear.

“Very nice.” Carmine picked it up, going over to the machine and fitting it into place. Henry threw the switch and the gondola lurched back towards them. It wasn’t much of a transport, honestly. It was literally just a box with slats on the bottom. They all climbed in and it started towards the other side.

“Don’t look down,” Carmine said. Fiona, of course, did. A moment later she was clinging to Carmine’s arm, whimpering.

“He told you not to.” Henry sighed.

“Yes, well, I run on spite.” Fiona couldn’t even muster up the energy to be angry.

“Sounds like me.” Sammy couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yay, spite buddies,” Fiona said weakly. The gondola reached the other side quickly enough, allowing them all to clamber out. The door before them was ajar, which was honestly a little spooky.

“Do you think Alice has already been this way?” Fiona asked as she walked up to the door.

“She can probably travel through ink puddles,” Carmine said, pushing the door open. Inside was a long hallway, with boards hammered hastily on the sides. It looked as though something could reach through the slats. Henry took the lead, although he didn’t get far before screaming and stumbling back. Fiona and Carmine exchanged a look.

“You had to see it this time!” Henry yelled, turning around. “There were arms reaching out through the slats! Tell me you saw that!”

“I’m sorry, Henry, but we didn’t see anything.” Fiona shook her head. This was making her even more worried about Henry. He was starting to see things. Maybe he was starting to lose his mind. Carmine, however, was starting to think this wasn’t Henry’s first time going through the studio. Henry turned away, muttering something, and stormed out of the corridor. The hallway led out into what appeared to be a shaft of some sort. In the middle was a hole, with chains coming up from it. All around the sides were platforms for movement.

“I see you there, my little errand boys.” Alice’s voice drifted from some unseen source. “Your angel is always watching. What is it that keeps you going? Is it the thrill of the hunt? The thirst for your freedom? Or perhaps…You’re just looking for a little, friendly, wolf…Better hurry errand boys. Boris is having trouble staying in one piece.” Henry growled, turned, and kicked the wall.

“I’m going to throttle her!” He roared.

“We’ll find him, right?” Fiona looked to Carmine, beginning to wring her hands. “We’ll save him, won’t we?”

“We’ll find him.” Sammy assured her. “One way or another, we’ll find Boris.”

“Exactly.” Carmine nodded. “Now come along.” He led them up the winding stairways, the walls decorated with Bendy posters and cutouts. When they came out, it was into what appeared to be a waiting room. A phonograph was playing on one of two couches, the melody soothing and almost monotonous. Above them, in a balcony, an inky figure stumbled past, muttering to itself.

“He always finds me! Oh no! I just want to go home! When can we go home?” And then he was gone, having disappeared into another room.

“What the-?” Henry looked up at the balcony, brow furrowed.

“They’re…Oh my God, are they sentient?” Fiona whispered. “Have we been killing sentient beings?!”

“We haven’t been killing anyone,” Carmine said. “The ones we ‘killed’ just had their physical form dispersed. We can’t kill the creatures of the ink.” But Fiona wasn’t listening. She’d run to the door under the balcony and threw it open. What she saw made her heart stop. The room was filled with those inky creatures, all looking at her with mournful, glowing eyes. NO ANGELS and HE WILL SET US FREE were written on the walls in that messy handwriting.

“Oh my God…” Fiona could feel tears coming on. Carmine walked up behind her, expression solemn, and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Who are they?” Henry asked.

“Meet my congregation,” Sammy said. “They’re former workers who were affected by the ink too. They don’t venture out of this area much. They’re afraid of Bendy and Alice.”

“Sammy?” The creatures asked. “It’s Sammy!”

“He came back!”

“We were so worried.”

“I’m okay, don’t worry,” Sammy said. “Well, um, I’m not exactly okay. But I’m out of the ink. The man in the tie set me free.”

“Set you free?”

 “Can he set us free?”

“My power is severely depleted,” Carmine said, putting up his hands. “I’m afraid I can’t unbind all of your souls.”

“We have to help them.” Fiona turned to Carmine, her expression pleading. “Carmine?” Carmine’s expression was grim, almost guilty.

“My dear, you can’t carry this many souls.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “And like I said, I don’t have enough power to unbind all of them. You can’t save everyone, Fiona.”

“But we can’t just leave them!” She shook her head, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “They didn’t deserve this! Please, Carmine, we have to do something! Please!” She started to sob, pounding her little fists against Carmine’s chest. Eventually, she just leaned against her boyfriend’s chest, crying loudly. The room was silent, the inky creatures just watching her.

“Is she alright?” One of them asked.

“She will be, eventually,” Carmine assured them. He loved his girlfriend for her kindness, but her heart could be too big sometimes. She cared too much in a world that wanted nothing more than to destroy that kindness.

“Hey, kid, it’s going to be okay,” Sammy said, moving to nuzzle against her neck.

“No, it’s not!” She hiccupped. “They’re stuck here! They don’t deserve this! They shouldn’t have to suffer like this!”

“Sometimes life isn’t fair.” Carmine patted her head, holding her close to him. “Sometimes bad things happen to good people.”

Throughout all of this, Henry had just stood in the doorway, staring at Sammy’s congregation. They didn’t seem too surprised to see him. A few waved to him, but most were focused on Fiona and her meltdown. Henry weaved around the former workers to reach a vent in the back. He didn’t want to stay here. He didn’t want to have to see what Joey had done. He knew he had to accept that his best friend had become a monster. He knew he needed to come to terms with all Joey had done. But he didn’t want to think about it. Not right now.

After a few minutes, Fiona finally stopped crying. Carmine maneuvered her gently towards the vent. She crawled in first, taking the flashlight with her. She turned back before she got too far, glancing back at Sammy’s congregation, all watching her.

“We’ll fix this. I promise.” She said, then continued crawling. Carmine climbed in after her, then Henry bringing up the rear. Fiona crawled to the end of the vent, then screamed. The ink veins appeared around them and Henry and Carmine could barely see Bendy watching through the grating of the vent in front of Fiona. However, he didn’t seem to be doing anything. He just watched her, then put a finger to his lips and walked away.

“I just want to go home.” Fiona whimpered.

“It’ll all be over soon,” Carmine said. The rest of their time in the vents was uneventful, and they were all glad once they got out and into open space again. The room in front of them was as big as the others, with a door on one side and stairs leading up to what appeared to be an office in front of them. And on the other side was a giant Bendy statue. DREAMS COME TRUE was written above the vent. A familiar phrase. But there was something new written on the wall near the stairs. COME UP AND SEE ME.

“Did you write that?” Carmine asked, looking at Sammy.

“I don’t think so.” Sammy frowned slightly. “Of course, I could be wrong.”

“We might as well check it out.” Henry headed towards the stairs. Carmine started to follow, but stopped when he saw Fiona wasn’t following.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Everything,” Fiona said, her voice almost a monotone. “This isn’t fun anymore.”

“That implies it was fun to begin with.” Carmine glanced back at Henry. The animator would be fine on his own.

“It was a little fun in the beginning.” Fiona leaned against his chest. “Almost like a haunted house. I got to meet Henry, Sammy, Norman, Boris…” She sniffled but didn’t start crying again. “But now everything’s just…It’s all so awful. Joey did so many terrible things to so many people.”

“You shouldn’t have had to see all this,” Sammy said. “You’re too young.”

“The world can be a cruel place. She was going to have to face it sooner or later.” Carmine patted Fiona’s back. “I’d rather she faces it with someone by her side.” He’d rather she faced it with him. But that couldn’t always be possible.

“I…I guess you’re right on that.” Sammy had to admit, he was having an easier time now that he had other people around. For most of his life, he’d been alone. He’d never had many friends, both in and out of the studio. Almost everyone at the studio had been afraid of him. But this girl…She cared about him. She wanted to save him. And he wanted nothing more than to keep her safe.

“We’re here for you.” Sammy nuzzled into the back of her neck. “We won’t leave.”

“Thanks.” Fiona managed a small smile. “You guys are the best.”

Chapter Text

Suddenly, the door to the side rattled open, causing Fiona to jump into Carmine’s arms. Carmine couldn’t help but chuckle, holding her close to him.

“Scared?”

“Shut up.” She mumbled. Henry descended the stairs, looking at least a little better.

“Find anything interesting?” Carmine asked.

“Just an audio log from a man named Bertram Piedmont.” Henry shrugged slightly. “Apparently Joey wanted to build an amusement park in the studio.”

“He did build an amusement park down here.” Sammy piped up. “Or, he tried to. He got some rides up. It’s through that door.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Henry sighed.

“A carnival might be just the thing to lighten the mood.” Carmine murmured to himself, starting toward the door. Fiona followed him. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was curious about the amusement park Joey had created. She was sure it would be just as horrifying as everything else she’d seen, but she was curious nonetheless.

“This is the only way Alice could have gone, right?” Henry asked as he fell into step beside Carmine and Fiona.

“Sure looks like it,” Sammy said. Together, they walked through the door. At first, it was too dark to see. Then lights came on, the tinny sound of carnival music filtering through from an unknown source. The ‘park’ was actually a warehouse housing all the equipment for the park. There were shelves holding props, trashcans with Bendy’s face on them, merry-go-round horses, and at the very back was what appeared to be a haunted house. Doors led off into separate sections, but all of them were closed. Directly in front of the group was a sign with Bendy’s face in the middle of it.

“Bendy…Hell?” Fiona read.

“It’s supposed to be Bendy Land,” Sammy said. “Although, I don’t blame whoever changed it.”

“She has to be in the haunted house.” Henry set off down the stairs and into the warehouse, heading for the ghoulish looking haunted house. Fiona followed, with Carmine bringing up the rear. He could sense other souls on the floor and he had a bad feeling about what they were going to find.

“This haunted house seems like the way to go,” Henry said as they all stopped in front of it. “But it’s going to need some power.” His shoulders slumped a bit before he whispered, “Hang in there, Boris. I’m coming.”

“It looks like there are some switches over here.” Fiona trailed over to a wall behind a shelf with a line of switches on it. She tried a few, but nothing happened.

“I think that comes last.” Carmine touched her shoulder, pointing back to the carnival games they’d passed on their way in. The game booths had mysteriously opened up.

“I wanna try the strength game!” Fiona perked up and ran over to the strength game she’d seen. Henry followed after her listlessly. She picked up the hammer and swung it as hard as she could. Sadly, it didn’t reach the top.

“Aw.” She frowned.

“Don’t beat yourself up.” Carmine patted her back. “Why don’t you try, Henry?”

“Me?” Henry pointed to himself. “Oh, no. I’m not that strong.”

“You never know until you try.” Fiona gave him a big smile and handed him the mallet. Henry hesitated, then swung it. The bell at the top dinged.

“Tell me, are you having fun?” Alice’s voice came through the speakers. “I’m sure Boris doesn’t mind waiting for his rescue party.” Henry gritted his teeth and swung the hammer again. The bell at the top dinged even louder.

“Fuck her,” Fiona muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets.

“Henry, when did you get so strong?” Sammy asked, a little in awe.

“I don’t know.” Henry shrugged slightly. “I’m not that strong. It’s just a carnival game.” Sammy wasn’t sure he quite believed the other man, but he left the subject alone. They moved on to the other games, the milk bottle toss and shooting gallery. But first, there was an audio log. Fiona happily pressed play and Wally’s voice filled the warehouse.

“These guys down in the warehouse get to play games all day while I’m stuck cleaning up after ‘em! They kept locking themselves out of their own back room. So I says to ‘em, look I guys, I says, you’re smart, right? Here’s an idea! Why not rig the games up to knock open the doors if ya win? It’ll be fun for you guys, and it saves me the trip down here every day. They went to it like a dog to pot roast. I tell ya! If these guys don’t start realizing who the real genius is, I’m outta here!”

“So that’s how we get the doors open,” Carmine said, eyeing the games.

“I have to admit, it was a good idea on Wally’s part,” Sammy said. Fiona was already knocking down bottles with ease in the milk bottle game. It didn’t take long for her to get most of the bottles down. When she’d thrown all her balls, there was a dinging sound.

“That part’s done,” Carmine concluded. Fiona moved over to the shooting gallery. She clumsily held the toy gun and readied herself for the targets. All in all, she didn’t do a great job.

“Let me try again.” She insisted as Carmine tried to take the gun away. Carmine rolled his eyes and was about to argue, but Henry dragged him back.

“Just let her do this.” He said.

“Fine.”

And so, Fiona tried again. And again. And again. She was on the verge of tears when she finally handed it over to Henry. Henry very much wanted to get out some of his frustration and imagine the targets were Alice’s face. He got it on the first try.

“We got it in the end, that’s what matters,” Carmine assured Fiona as the door to their left opened and they headed in. Almost immediately, they were greeted by the sight of Bendy mascot costumes hanging on the wall. They were rather terrifying looking, causing both Fiona and Henry to scream and stumble back.

“Never liked those things,” Sammy said. Henry quickly darted over and flipped the switch on the wall before darting out. Fiona practically ran out of the room, eager to get away from the suits. Carmine just shrugged. It was hardly the worst thing he’d seen. They followed the cable on the ground and back to the panel of switches Fiona had seen before. The light over the first switch had lit up, signaling they could throw it now.

“So, we have to repeat this for every room.” Carmine sighed heavily. “This is stupid.”

“It’ll be fun,” Fiona said weakly. She knew she wasn’t going to like whatever they were going to find here. They moved on to the next door that had opened, entering a large room with a disembodied Bendy arm hanging from the ceiling. They were standing on a wraparound balcony, overlooking a little alcove where three Butcher Gang members were crowded around a fire.

“Would you like me to take care of them?” Carmine asked. Fiona nodded, backing up. Carmine straightened his tie, descending the stairs. The Butcher Gang members heard him and charged. Carmine calmly put his hands up and they were stopped in their tracks by the shadows dragging them down. Slowly, they began to melt back into ink as Carmine absorbed the energy holding them together. He let out a satisfied sigh once they were gone. Henry had to admit, the demon looked much better. The bags under Carmine’s eyes were gone, and he was standing up much straighter. The tears and stains on his suit weren’t fixed, but all physical injuries seemed gone.

“How does he suddenly look so much better?” Henry whispered to Fiona.

“He feeds on souls.” She said. “And to a lesser extent, negative energy. There’s a lot of negative energy in those things.” She could feel it now, although she wasn’t exactly sure why. They went to the left first, where they found a long, winding hallway. Behind some of the grating was a crying Lost One. Fiona paused to comfort it for a moment before they moved on. They ended up in a small room that almost looked like a workshop. There was an animatronic Bendy on a table, as well one of the machines they’d seen earlier. And, of course, an audio log. Fiona switched it on while Henry flipped the switch in the corner. A woman’s voice came through.

“The only thing that works around here is my ulcer. Half these people don’t know a wrench from a dang steamroller. Buncha morons is what they are. Spend their day in the warehouse arguin’ over supposed to be doin’ what and playin’ them silly games. Still, I’m not complainin’. I get most of my time to myself. Suits me just fine. Only thing that bothers me is that mechanical demon in the corner. Bertram’s been working on it for a month now. Says it will walk someday and maybe dance. All it does now is give me the creeps. I swear, when my back’s turned, that thing’s movin’.”

“Lacie Benton.” Sammy supplied. “She was Norman’s cousin. I liked her. No nonsense kind of woman. She understood the importance of privacy.”

“You are such a hermit,” Fiona said, picking up his soul and nudging it with her finger.

“I am not!” Sammy sputtered.

“Come on, you two.” Carmine chuckled. “We need to get the other switch.” They flipped the other switch and headed back to the switchboard back in the main warehouse.

“Two down. Two to go.” Fiona hummed happily. They followed the third wire to a door under the balcony they’d come in on. Attraction Storage. Fiona paused before they entered, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” Henry and Sammy both asked at the same time.

“I…Feel someone in here,” Fiona mumbled, frowning slightly. “I’m not sure how or why…But I know someone’s in here.”

“You feel someone?” Sammy asked incredulously.

“Latent effects of our contract, I’m assuming,” Carmine said. “She’s a naturally empathetic person, I’m not surprised she’d become a literal empath.”

“There is so much about that statement that I don’t understand,” Sammy said.

“Let’s just keep going.” Henry gestured them all in. As soon as they entered, the door slammed shut behind them, causing all but Carmine to jump.

“It seems as though someone wants our attention.” He hummed, walking ahead of them. True to its name, Attraction Storage was home to a good number of attraction parts. Rollercoaster cars were stacked on the shelves, right next to a fallen Edgar clone. And then there was the main attraction. An octopus ride in the middle of a large room, crowded with boxes and carts. Fiona stopped dead in her tracks and pointed at the ride.

“He’s in there.” There was such rage and hostility coming from the ride, and…curiosity? Henry hung back with Fiona, trying to get her to stop hyperventilating, while Carmine strode over to the table before the ride and pressed play on the audio log. A voice filled the room, but it wasn’t coming from the audio log.

“The biggest park ever built, a centerfold of attractions. Each one, more grand than the one before it. It makes my eyes come to tears at the thought. But then…Oh, Mr. Drew.” Fiona’s heart began to sink as the voice continued on. “For all your talk of dreams, you are the true architect behind so many nightmares. I built this park. It was to be a masterpiece! My masterpiece! And now you think you can just throw me out? Trample me to the dust and forget me? No! This is my park! My glory!” The lights on the ride began to light up, the whole thing whirring to life as the voice began to rise in volume. “You may think I’ve gone…But I’m still here!” The doors on the main column opened, revealing a head the size of a regular person shoved in the column. A cart was lifted up and smashed the table with the audio log on it.

“Carmine!” Fiona started to run forward, but Henry pulled her back.

“You’ll get hurt.” He said.

“He can handle himself,” Sammy assured her. “He’s a demon, right?” Carmine stood calmly before the octopus ride, hands folded behind his back.

“Mr. Piedmont, contrary to what you believe, I am not, in fact, Joey Drew.” He said. “I am, however, looking for him. If you would point me in his direction I would be most glad.” The ride abruptly halted.

“You are…Not Drew?” The voice came from the machine again, evidently belonging to Bertram Piedmont. “Ah, yes. Now that I look at you, you aren’t him.” Fiona broke away from Henry to run over and wrap her arms around Carmine’s waist. She’d been so afraid.

“Hello, Bertie,” Sammy said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Lawrence,” Bertram replied coolly. “You know I don’t like that name.” Henry ducked away, looking around the room for the switch they needed to flip.

“Well, do you know where Joey is or not?” Carmine asked, continuing to smile disarmingly.

“I do not.” Bertram would have shaken his head if he could. “May I ask why you’re searching for him? Because I have laid claim to his head.”

“I’m here to take his soul,” Carmine said brightly.

“To take his soul,” Bertram repeated incredulously. “A likely story, sir.”

“He’s a demon,” Fiona explained.

“It sounds ridiculous, I know,” Sammy said. “But he is a demon. He freed me from the ink.” Bertram watched them for a moment before seeming to conceded.

“Very well. I believe you.” He said.

“We’re looking for Alice and Boris right now.” Fiona continued. “She took Boris and Henry really wants to get him back.”

“Well, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that,” Bertram said. “I’ve been here for many years now.”

“Oh. Alright.” Fiona’s face fell. There was a beat of silence, then Bertram spoke again.

“May I ask how exactly you freed Lawrence from his former state?” He asked. “I will admit, I haven’t interacted with him in quite a long time, but I’m rather certain he was not this well put together when last we spoke.”

“I released his soul from the bonds of the ink,” Carmine said. “I could probably do the same for you if you’d like.”

“Well…” Bertram seemed almost sheepish. “If it would not be too much trouble. I don’t particularly enjoy being stuck here.” Sammy was honestly a little surprised. He’d never heard Bertram be so polite before. Maybe the studio just brought out the worst in him.

“Very well.” Carmine tried not to laugh. Henry, meanwhile, was locating the switch. By the time he’d found it and flipped it, they were now in possession of a new traveling companion.

“I’m going to put you in my hood with Sammy, alright?” Fiona said, taking Bertram’s soul in her hands. His soul was pink, which she honestly hadn’t expected, but still found rather cute.

“That is more than acceptable, thank you,” Bertram said as he was nestled in the hood beside Sammy.

“You’re welcome.” Fiona patted his soul. “I’m glad to help. None of you deserve to suffer.” Henry was already headed back out of the room. They returned to the main panel and threw the switch. Just one more to go. They followed the last cable to a door marked Maintenance. Inside was a corridor, and on the corridor wall was written,

CHOO

CHOO

CHOO

CHOO

“Weird.” Fiona wrinkled her nose.

“Weird is normal down here,” Sammy muttered.

“That is…not incorrect.” Bertram agreed. Choo choo was also written on the other wall as they delved deeper in. there were a few more narrow passages before they reached a set of stairs leading them down into a flooded area.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Fiona pressed herself to Carmine, who looked equally grim. Henry set off down the stairs, only to stop halfway down.

“Norman?”

“So this was what she did with Norman’s soul,” Carmine said. Fiona immediately tried to bolt down the stairs to the Projectionist, forgetting he was feral in this state. Carmine and Henry held her back, both white as sheets.

“We have to save him,” Fiona said, trying to break away. “We have to free his soul! It’s the right thing to do!”

“I don’t think it will be as easy this time around,” Carmine said. “Alice must have put safeguards in place when she turned him back into the Projectionist.”

“You managed to undo what that she-devil did to Mr. Polk?” Bertram asked, sounding more than a little bit amazed. “I had thought no one could salvage his mind from that monstrosity.”

“It’s a long story,” Carmine replied. He rather didn’t want to have this conversation when they were so close to danger.

“It’s probably best to just sneak around him,” Henry suggested. “We don’t have to hurt him.” Fiona hunched her shoulders but kept her mouth shut. Together, they crept down into the flooded maze. The room below was filled with train memorabilia, presumably for a train ride for the park. Fiona clung to Carmine as Henry forged ahead. They found a staircase they needed to get up, but a pallet was blocking it. A little more exploration revealed the switch that lifted it. As soon as they flipped it, there was a deafening shriek. The Projectionist appeared behind them, swiping at them as they ran up the stairs.

“GET THE LEVER! GET THE OTHER LEVER!” Carmine bellowed. Fiona, being the smallest and quickest, darted to the lever at the end of the loop they found themselves in. As soon as she pulled it, the lights all went out. When they came back on, the Projectionist was gone.

“What the fuck?” Fiona whispered. “He was right here.”

“I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky.” Carmine actually seemed a little out of breath. “We’ll get him on our way back, alright?”

“Alright.”

They made their way back down the stairs, the lights slowly turning back on, to where a tape rested on a chest. Fiona pressed the button and Joey’s voice filled the dingey maze, booming and bright as always.

“I believe there’s something special in all of us. With true inner strength, you can conquer even your biggest challenges. You just have to believe in yourself and remain honest, motivated, and above all, who you really are.” Then, abruptly, his tone changed. “Ok, let’s stop it right there. I can only do so many takes of this trash a day. And tell the guys in writing I want more use of the word dreaming in every message. Keep railing on that, get it? Dreaming! Dreaming! Dreaming! People eat up that kind of slop. Hmm. What? It’s still on? Well, turn it off, damn it!”

“Hm. Not unexpected.” Carmine said, noting how Fiona and Henry’s shoulders slumped.

“I always hated that about him.” Bertram sighed from his perch in Fiona’s hood. “I might not have minded all his long-winded speeches had he genuinely believed them. But it was all just a farce to keep his workers working. He knew nothing of hard work.”

“I guess he really was a bastard.” Fiona smiled sadly. Carmine kissed her head and pulled her close, trying to reassure her. Henry had no words, instead slinking back to the exit. Carmine and Fiona followed. As they headed up the stairs, they heard the telltale screech of the Projectionist. Before Henry or Fiona could react, they were both being shoved into the little Miracle Station in the corner, Carmine melting into a shadow and wrapping around Fiona. The Projectionist paused in front of the station, tilting his projector curiously to the side before reaching out towards them. For a long moment, it seemed as though he was about to open the door. Fiona and Henry stopped breathing, their hearts pounding in their ears. Then the ink veins appeared on the walls and the Projectionist’s attention was diverted to somewhere else. He shrieked and seemed ready to charge. Bendy appeared and threw a punch, which the Projectionist shook off and returned. The two spent less than a minute trading blows before Bendy hoisted the Projectionist into the air by his neck. The Projectionist struggled for a second or so before there was a terrible crack. The headless body of the Projectionist fell to the ground. Bendy threw the projector towards the station where Henry and Fiona were both shaking. Bendy paused, turning and looking directly at them. He knew they were there. Their eyes met and the two in the station were chilled to the bone. Then Bendy picked up the body and limped away.

“Jesus Christ,” Sammy whispered. Bertram murmured something that might have been a prayer. Only when the ink veins were gone did Carmine reappear outside the station and open the door.

“Are you alright?” He asked. Fiona launched herself out of the station and started beating at him with her fists.

“We could have saved him!” She screamed. “We could have saved him!” Henry stumbled out and proceeded to vomit into a corner. Fiona beat at Carmine’s chest for a few minutes before just collapsing against him and crying. None of them had anything to say. Not this time. Once Fiona had managed to stop crying, they went back and threw the last switch before turning on power to the haunted house. The doors to the haunted house shuddered open, allowing them inside. It looked about as well kept as the rest of the place, but the cars seemed to still be functional.

“Turn back.” Fiona read dejectedly off the wall.

“It’s too late for that,” Henry said, getting into the car. Fiona and Carmine got in behind him. Once they were all seated, the ride began.

“And now, the ride truly begins, Henry.” Alice purred, her voice sliding through the speakers. “Come in, and pretend it’s all just a bad dream.” The ride itself didn’t look like anything special. It was a run of the mill haunted house, with “eyes” in the walls, tombstones, and cut out ghosts popping up.

“It’s a funny thing. How so much can fall apart so fast. We never really had control at the studio.” Alice continued. “Either you were in someone’s pocket, or you were putting someone in yours. I just wanted what was promised to me. I just wanted to be beautiful! Surely you can understand that.” Her voice took on a singsong tone. “Henry…Why are you here? We’re all dying to find out! Do you just enjoy the terror of the drop into Hell? Because if that’s the case…Hang on tight. I’ve got a surprise…”

The carts entered a central area, which almost resembled a haunted mansion. A giant chandelier hung from the ceiling, and an organ stood at the back of the room. Various boxes and crates cluttered the island the track wound around.

“Not bad,” Carmine said, looking around. “Of course, it could use a little work.” Neither Henry nor Fiona said a word. Fiona was pressed to Carmine’s chest, obviously less than happy with the situation. They rounded the track and the doors to the rest of it opened wide. As they drew closer to the darkness, Fiona suddenly sat bolt upright and said,

“Henry, watch out!”

Henry turned back to ask her what she was talking about, only to feel his cart come to a screeching halt. His heart stopped when he saw who was holding the cart.

“Boris! No, no…What has she done to you?!”

Carmine quickly jumped out of the cart with Fiona, setting her down behind a crate. Boris picked up Henry’s cart and threw it across the room, causing Henry to go flying. Alice’s manic laughter filled the room.

“Meet the new and improved Boris!” She cackled. “I took what I wanted, and in return, I gave him so much more!” Henry was sent fleeing from the behemoth Boris had become.

“And this time, there’s no Ink Demon, no escape.” They could practically see the deranged grin that was probably on her face. “Boris, tear him apart! Leave nothing!”

“Do you want me to take care of it?” Carmine asked as they all dodged the Frankenboris. Fiona had started crying again, barely able to stand up.

“No. I want to take care of this myself.” Henry said, shaking his head. He’d let this happen to Boris, so he wanted to be the one to finish it. Carmine nodded and took Fiona to hide beside the organ, leaving Henry to duke it out with the Frankenboris. The battle was long, and Henry got thrown around more than he would have liked, but finally…Finally…He brought the monster down.

“No! No! No! No!” Alice shrieked as the Frankeboris fell to the ground at Henry’s feet. “Why can’t you ever just die?!” Henry knelt beside the Frankenboris, holding its hand as it slowly melted back into the ink. Fiona and Carmine walked up behind him, both somber.

“Goodbye, old friend,” Henry said. Suddenly, the doors to the other side of the ride opened and Alice came sprinting out, arms outstretched to throttle Henry. Carmine raised his hands, fire igniting, ready to take her down. But that wasn’t necessary. As she reached them, she stopped, a sword protruding from her chest. She stared down at her chest for a moment, almost transfixed by the blade. Then she fell to the ground, revealing…another Alice and Boris?!

“What the Hell?”

Chapter Text

The man known as Thomas Connor had never been a particularly trusting person. He knew the world was cruel and life was unfair, and he was generally unwilling to put his trust in anyone unless he was absolutely certain they were worthy of it. He wasn’t like Allison. He’d always envied her ability to open herself up to others so freely, to trust and love without worry. When they encountered the strangers in the studio, Tom was immediately distrustful of these newcomers. Especially since Alice had been so hellbent on destroying them. She’d even rigged up a horrific Boris amalgamate in order to kill them. He’d heard Alice call the shorter man ‘Henry’, which immediately set off alarm bells in Tom’s mind. The only Henry he knew of was Joey’s former partner, Henry Stein. And anyone connected to Joey was bad news. The man in the suit had a strange aura to him, and he’d ripped Alice’s heart out to give to the young woman with him. It had been rather unsettling to watch. Tom and Allison were both used to seeing ink creatures getting their hearts ripped out, but what this man had done was different. He’d taken out the heart and done some strange ritual to it, his hands consumed in blue flames as he held the heart and whispered some unknown words. In the end, there had only been a red orb, pulsing with a gentle glow. The man reminded Tom of Joey, to a certain extent. Always smiling, even while he stabbed you and twisted the knife. Now the young woman…She was strange.

She didn’t look as though she belonged in this place. Unlike her companions, both of whom looked as though could and had defended themselves, she was small and rather fragile. Her features were soft and her body didn’t look the least bit muscular. And she was crying. She’d started crying as soon as Alice had gone down, and didn’t stop even after Allison had assured her that they weren’t going to hurt her. Then there were the orbs of light she held. The red one, the one extracted from Alice’s body, spoke with Susie’s voice. As soon as it saw Allison, it began to apologize and cry. The blue one spoke with Sammy’s voice, comforting the red one and the crying young woman, and the pink one spoke with Bertram’s voice, similarly trying to comfort the women.

Ever since he’d started dating Allison, Tom had harbored the secret desire to become a father, to have a family with the woman he loved. It was a secret he hadn’t shared with anyone, save Allison. He knew how most people saw him and he knew that if he shared his hope with anyone else, they’d mock him. This young woman clearly wasn’t a child anymore, but her small stature and her tears made him feel as though he needed to protect her. She reminded him a bit of Allison, the Allison he’d known outside the studio. The woman he’d known before the studio turned her into a haunted survivor. 

So when they reached the safe house and the two men were escorted into the makeshift cell, Tom pulled the girl back. She frowned as she looked back at him, her eyes wide.

“Don’t you want me to go in there?” She asked. “I’m with them.” Tom didn’t say anything, gesturing for her to go lay down on one of the cots.

“Are you sure?” Allison asked. Tom nodded, gesturing again for Fiona to go lay down. Tentatively, Fiona went over to the cot, the souls still pressed to her chest. They’d been rather quiet for a bit now, aside from Susie’s continued crying.

“It’s gonna be okay.” Fiona murmured, hugging the souls as her eyes began to flicker shut. Soon enough, she was out like a light. Allison couldn’t help but smile softly at the sleeping girl. Meanwhile, Tom started gathering up some boards to cover the cell entrance. Henry laid down on the cot in the cell and turning his back to Allison and Tom. Carmine remained standing.

“Would you like some help with nailing up the boards?” He asked.

“Ah, no thank you,” Allison replied. “I think we can manage.” Together, she and Tom began to nail up the boards. They only put up a few, just enough that Henry and Carmine weren’t getting out. Carmine watched intently, standing back a little and smiling mildly.

“You seem awfully calm about being in a cell,” Allison said as she stepped away from the boards. “Aren’t you angry that we don’t trust you?” Tom stood behind her, a protective presence as he watched Carmine.

“I’m used to it.” Carmine shrugged. “Besides, you’re smart not to trust me.” His eyes began to glow red, prompting Tom to put himself between Allison and Carmine, beginning to growl. Allison herself had instinctively reached for her sword, feeling the same heavy presence that Bendy projected. Carmine put his hands up, taking a step back.

“My apologies.” He laughed warmly. “I went a bit far there.” Tom growled, his lips curling back to show his teeth. Carmine shrugged and went to sit down on the cot beside Henry.

“Take care of her while I’m in here, alright?” He said, gesturing to Fiona. The tenderness in his eyes surprised Tom. It was a stark departure from the look of amused glee he’d previously possessed. It seemed as though, whatever this man was, he genuinely cared about the girl on the cot. So Tom nodded. He would keep the girl safe as best he could. And Allison as well.

.

“I know that song,” Henry said, leaning on the boards.

“Everyone knows that song,” Allison replied. It was her, Fiona, Henry, and the souls at the moment. Tom had gone out on a food run and it was unclear what had happened to Carmine. He’d said something about confirming some suspicion of his and disappeared into the shadows. Fiona and Henry had been relatively unbothered by this, but Allison had been a bit…put off. Even after Fiona had assured her that it was just something Carmine did. At present, Allison was painting on the wall of the safehouse while humming a song. The Bendy theme song to be specific.

“I’d certainly hope so,” Sammy said. “It’s supposed to be catchy, after all.”

“It’s a very nice song.” Fiona supplied weakly. Allison paused in her painting, putting the brush down.

“Who are you?” She asked, looking from Fiona to Henry. “Who are all of you? Why are you here?”

“I was invited by an old friend,” Henry said. “…And now I can’t leave.” Allison turned her gaze expectantly to Fiona, who instinctively hunched her shoulders.

“I…” She hesitated, chewing on her lip. “The man I’m here with, my boyfriend, he…He’s a demon. I said that before, right?”

“You did.” Allison nodded tentatively, shuddering at the memory of the red-eyed man.

“So, he got a call from his superior saying there was a debt that needed to be collected.” Fiona continued, still licking and biting her lips. “A man named Joey Drew, who had done unspeakable things to the employees under his control. A man who had created a carnival of horrors and whose soul now belonged in Hell.” She held the souls closer to her.

“Then you know more than we do,” Allison said. “One minute we don’t even exist…just…thoughts. And the next minute…This place.”

“Your thoughts swimming like fish in a bowl.” Fiona echoed. Susie let out an involuntary whimper at the words.

“Kind of like that, yes.” Allison nodded.

“Are you gonna let me out of here?” Henry asked.

“Down here, strangers aren’t good things.” Allison folded her arms. “How can we trust you? We don’t even know what you are.” Fiona frowned at this. Carmine had said something like that too when the elevator had fallen.

“You may be able to survive an elevator falling down five floors, but she’s just a human!”

What had he meant by that? Henry obviously hadn’t been corrupted by the ink. So what was he if not a human?

“My name is Henry…” Henry said. “I used to work here.” He said nothing about the fact that neither of his captors was distrustful of Fiona. After all, he’d immediately tried to protect her upon meeting her as well. Allison paused, her shoulders slumping slightly.

“I…I honestly don’t know my name.” She began playing with the bristles of her paintbrush. “…So they call me Alice. But I’m no angel.”

“You’re better than I ever was.” Susie piped up. Allison’s attention was now drawn to Susie’s soul, pulsing a gentle red in Fiona’s arms.

“…You’re the Alice from upstairs, aren’t you?” She said slowly. She hadn’t exactly had the best experience with the Alice that Susie had been.

“Don’t call me that.” Susie’s soul began to shake. “I don’t deserve to be called Alice. Not after what I’ve done.”

“Hey, the ink drove all of us crazy,” Sammy said, moving a little closer to Susie. “I worshipped Bendy for Christ’s sake.”

“What’s important is that you recognize you did something wrong and you want to fix it,” Bertram added.

“Then what do you want to be called?” Allison asked.

“Susie,” Susie whispered. “That’s all I deserve to be.”

“Oh! You were Alice’s voice actress!” Allison’s face lit up. “I’ve heard your tapes! You have a lovely voice.”

“Oh! Um…Thank you.” Susie was a little sheepish at this sudden praise.

“You both have great voices,” Sammy said. “It was interesting writing for both of you. Your voices are different enough that I couldn’t just recycle chords, not that I’d want to.”

“What do you mean?” Allison’s expression turned to one of confusion. “You’re talking as though you know me.”

“They do know you.” Everyone jumped at Carmine’s sudden voice. He had suddenly reappeared in the cell, smiling. Henry instinctively took a step away from the cell “door”.

“Oh!” Fiona brightened. “Does that mean she’s-!”

“Yes, but I don’t know if it’s the best idea to tell her.” Carmine cut her off.

“What?! Why?” Fiona stood up abruptly before immediately falling back onto the cot. The withdrawal from her antidepressants was hitting her rather hard and she got dizzy if she stood up.

“If you know who I am, I’d like to hear it,” Allison said, although her voice wavered a bit.

“Why shouldn’t we tell her?” Sammy demanded. “She wants to know.”

“You don’t remember anything prior to waking up here, yes?” Carmine asked, looking to Allison.

“That’s…true.” Allison nodded slowly.

“Do you truly think it would make you feel better to know who you used to be?” Carmine asked. “To know all that you’ve lost in coming here? In becoming what you are?” He took a step toward her, his expression uncharacteristically solemn. “There are those here who remember who you once were, who have a preconceived notion of who you are and the way you should act. Do you want to constantly be reminded of how different you are from what you’re ‘supposed’ to be?”

“Carmine, stop!” Fiona said.

Carmine stopped in front of Allison, his face inches from hers. He’d passed right through the boards of the cell as though he’d been smoke. Despite his dirty clothing and generally unkempt appearance, he looked almost regal standing over her. Then he smiled and returned to the cell.

“Sorry. I’ve always liked monologuing.”

“Yeah. I know.” Fiona glowered at him. Both Allison and Henry were visibly shaken, and the souls in Fiona’s arms were shaking a bit as well.

“Can we at least tell her what her name is?” Bertram asked.

“Why not let her be Alice? She’s a better Alice than I ever was.” Susie moaned. “She deserves to be Alice.”

“But she’s not Alice!” Fiona protested. “Just like her friend’s not Boris!”

“If it’s all the same to you, I would like to know my name,” Allison spoke up, her expression settling into one of determination. “I want something to call myself. It doesn’t matter who I used to be. What matters is who I am. And I don’t want to be Alice.”

“Very well.” Carmine gestured to the souls.

“Your name is Allison,” Sammy said.

“Allison Angel.” Susie sighed. “Even the name fits.”

“Allison Angel…” Allison seemed to consider this, smiling softly to herself.

“You two should rest.” She gestured to Henry and Fiona. “We can talk more later.” Begrudgingly, Henry laid back down on his cot. Fiona did the same, the souls held tight to her chest.

.

“It’s only for a few hours. No need to worry. I won’t go far…” Allison said. “Only up to Level Six. Stay here.” They were running low on food and supplies, so Allison had volunteered to go on a supply run. Carmine had offered his help, but the look on Tom’s face plainly said he didn’t trust the demon.

“Keep an eye on Henry and Fiona, okay?” Allison put a comforting hand on Tom’s shoulder. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.” Then she departed. Tom’s hunched shoulders showed how little he liked the situation, but he let her go. Once she was gone, he straightened up, smacking his ax against his free hand as he sat down opposite the doorway to the cell. Fiona was sleeping again. She’d been doing it a lot lately. Carmine wanted very much to stay with her, but out of respect for Tom, he stayed in the cell. Henry stayed sitting, busying himself with drawing. At the moment, he was drawing Bendy and Boris.

“That’s a nice drawing,” Carmine commented, looking over Henry’s shoulder. Henry made a vague sound that was probably supposed to be a ‘thanks’.

“Could you wake Fiona up? I think she’d like to see this.” Carmine looked over at Tom. Tom narrowed his eyes, shaking his head.

“Why not?” Carmine frowned. Tom made a series of gestures with his hands that Henry vaguely recognized as sign language.

“Alright, I suppose you’re right.” Carmine shrugged, then started taking off his suit jacket. “Could you put this on her? I’m worried she might be getting cold.” Tom regarded the jacket for a moment before finally getting up. He snatched it from Carmine’s outstretched hand before retreating over to the cot where Fiona was sleeping. The souls were sleeping as well, bundled up in a bag Allison had found for them. The bag was nestled behind her head. She’d tried to sleep with it huddled to her body like a teddy bear, but they’d found the souls got jostled about like that.

Fiona stirred a bit as Tom approached, rolling over and whimpering slightly. It seemed as though she was having a nightmare. Tom’s expression softened at this. Poor girl. She hadn’t been here nearly as long as the rest of them, but still…This wasn’t the sort of fate he’d wish on his worst enemy. Except maybe Joey. God, he hoped Joey was trapped here too. Gently, he laid the suit jacket over Fiona’s body, shifting the pillow under her head so that it was more comfortable for her. She smiled, her eyes fluttering a bit.

“Thank you, Mr. Connor.” She mumbled. No one but Tom and Carmine heard this. Henry was still scribbling away, and Fiona’s voice was soft enough that unless someone possessed supernatural hearing, (as Carmine did) only the one closest to her would be able to hear her. Tom’s breath caught in his throat and he stumbled back a bit.

“Is something wrong?” Henry asked, looking up. Tom quickly straightened up, shaking his head and sitting back down on his chair to stare menacingly at Henry.

.

“Henry?”

Henry looked up from his drawings to see Allison setting a bowl of soup on one of the boards.

“Here. You must be hungry.” She said. “Sorry…It’s all we have.”

“It’s fine,” Henry assured her. “I like bacon soup.” He took the soup from the ledge, returning to his cot to sip at it.

“You might be one of the only ones.” Carmine wrinkled his nose in distaste.

“It’s a good thing you don’t eat human food then,” Henry replied dryly as he ate his soup. Tom glared at him from where he was sitting near the cots. He was currently trying to get Fiona to eat some soup, which she was refusing to do.

“I’m not a child, you don’t need to feed me!” She protested, pushing the spoon away. “I can feed myself!”

“Then why don’t you feed yourself?” Sammy asked, a hint of testiness entering his voice.

“You may not be a child, but you’re still young.” Bertram agreed. “You need to eat.”

“We’re all worried about you,” Susie said.

“I’m fine.” Fiona insisted, looking at Tom and Allison. “You both need it more than I do. Henry too!” Tom snorted derisively at this, casting a sidelong glance at Henry. Henry paid no attention to him. He was pretty much used to Tom’s dislike of him by now.

“Plus, supplies are limited, right?” Fiona’s face fell a bit. “I wouldn’t want you wasting anything on me.” Tom’s brow furrowed and he whimpered slightly, holding the spoon and bowl out toward Fiona again.

“If she doesn’t want to eat, you shouldn’t force her,” Allison said, although she too looked worried. Fiona bit her lip, hesitating before taking the spoon and bowl and beginning to eat. She smiled hopefully at Tom. Tom’s normally stern expression softened, and he smiled back.

“It looks like the old wolf does have a heart.” Carmine chuckled. Tom’s head snapped over to Carmine, fixing him with a poisonous glare. Carmine put his hands up, smiling innocently. Tom growled to himself, shaking his head and turning his attention back to Fiona to make sure she finished her soup.

.

“I know you’re watching me. It’s just…a little creepy.” Allison was painting on the wall again. She’d given Fiona a bucket of ink as well and was letting her paint on a different wall. Sammy and Bertram were asleep, which left Susie, who was currently nestled in Fiona’s hoodie.

“You’re one that writes on the walls,” Henry said, leaning on the boards.

“We all do,” Allison replied. “For some poor souls down here, it’s the only way they can be heard.”

“Sammy’s congregation are particularly fond of it.” Susie murmured.

“Oh yeah, I saw a lot of writing in that room,” Fiona said. “And in the Music Department. Sammy likes writing on the walls too.”

“He does.” Susie agreed.

“But you don’t want to touch the ink for too long!” Allison looked back at Henry, a fearful look in her eyes. “It can claim you…Pull you back.”

“Susie mentioned that.” Henry’s gaze turned to Susie’s soul. Susie flinched a bit, nestling deeper into Fiona’s hood.

“That’s how I met Tom.” Allison continued. “I was messing with things I shouldn’t have been and he…He was there.”

“Why do you call him ‘Tom’?” Henry asked. Names seemed to be hard-won in this place, and he didn’t entirely understand how a creature without a voice had managed to claim a name of his own.

“He just seems to respond to it.” Allison shrugged slightly. Carmine made a small snort, causing Fiona to shoot him a warning glare.

“Is something funny?” Allison asked, turning to look at Carmine.

“Not exactly,” Carmine said.

“Don’t be cute.” Fiona’s frown deepened. “You obviously know something. Don’t keep the rest of us in the dark.” By now, all eyes were on Carmine. He laughed again, leaning back and folding his arms.

“It’s not so much that he ‘just seems to respond to it’.” He said, using finger quotes. “Tom is his actual name. He’s one of the lucky ones who still remembers who he is.” He looked over at Fiona, his expression becoming slightly puzzled. “I thought you knew. You called him by his name a few days ago.”

“I did?” Fiona tilted her head to the side. “I don’t remember that.”

“When was that?” Henry asked.

“A few days ago. Just, forget about it.” Carmine waved a hand dismissively.

“Wait, so his name is Tom?” Fiona turned so that her legs were dangling off the table she’d been sitting on to paint on the wall.

“That is his name, yes.”

Fiona narrowed her eyes at him, the wheels turning in her mind. Carmine waited patiently for her to arrive at the conclusion he knew she would. Finally, her eyes widened as she realized who the old wolf was.

“He’s-!” She started to say before stopping, biting her lip and hunching her shoulders. “Wait…should I say who he is? I feel like that would be a breach of privacy.”

“Do you want to know who your companion is?” Carmine glanced at Allison. “You’ve been staying with him for quite a while now.” Henry wisely stayed quiet. Allison turned away from Carmine, studying the paintings she’d done on the wall.

“I…I would like to know.” She said quietly. “I know it might be selfish, but I want to know who he was before all this…” She trailed off before looking at Carmine. “Was he a good man?”

“I think he was.” Fiona smiled in encouragement. “I mean, his tapes are just kind of grumpy, but given who he was working for I can understand.”

“His name is Thomas Connor.” Carmine conjured a picture of a gruff looking man in a rumpled jumpsuit. The man in the picture was pointing to some pipes addressing a smaller, thinner man in overalls and a paperboy cap. The thinner man’s face wasn’t visible as his back was to the camera. Carmine looked at it and frowned. “I could have sworn this was supposed to be in color. Must be the requirements of the time period.” Shrugging, he placed it on the board in front of him.

“This is…him?” Allison put her brush down, tentatively approaching the cell and picking up the photograph. “Who’s this with him?”

“Wally Franks,” Carmine replied. “He’s…Not here right now. He had a bit of an unfortunate encounter with us.” Fiona’s face went white as a sheet at this. 

“Was he…?” Her voice was very small as she took Susie out of her hood and clutched her to her chest.

“I’m afraid so.” Carmine smiled apologetically.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?!” Fiona jumped off the table. “We could have saved him like we did with Sammy! You could have stopped Alice from taking him!”

“Wally was…Does that mean…Oh, God…” Susie started to shaking. She couldn’t exactly cry in this state, but she was pretty close to it. Henry felt his stomach drop as well. He already felt terrible about having to kill the Boris he’d shared a safehouse with. But this…This made him feel even worse.

“It wouldn’t have done any good,” Carmine said. “His soul might have been there, but that was not Wally. Even if I’d extracted his soul, it wouldn’t have been Wally. It would have just been a blank slate.”

“But we could have tried!” Fiona stamped her foot, starting to cry. Silence fell over the safehouse. Carmine had nothing further to say. Henry, Susie, and Fiona were all too distraught to say anything. Allison was staring fondly at the photograph. Something about the man felt familiar. Finally, Henry spoke again.

“I don’t think Tom’s very fond of me.” He said, trying to move the conversation away from Wally and his gruesome fate. Allison looked up from the photograph, quickly handing it back to Carmine.

“Let me show you something. Awhile back, I was mapping out one of the upper levels when I noticed something reflecting off a piece of glass.” She pulled out a device from under one of the cots, approaching the gap in the boards. “I held up the glass, looked through, and on the wall behind me was a hidden message! Right there in plain sight!” She was getting animated now, clearly excited by whatever the device could do. “So I kept looking…and I found more and more messages everywhere in the studio! But you can’t see them with your eyes. Only through this!”

She held up the device so that everyone in the room could see. It looked a bit like a mechanical magnifying glass. There was a frame that held the pieces of glass, with lights affixed to the side that illuminated the area between the panes, and a handle for someone to hold it.

“Take a look!” Allison handed it over to Henry, who took it and began looking around.

“I don’t who’s leaving them,” Allison continued. “But I think they know how to get out of here.”

“Where does it all lead to?” Henry asked, looking through the glass at Allison. Only he could see the glowing halo around her head, and the message behind her that read, She will leave you for dead.

“Nowhere.” Allison’s face fell. “I followed them for a long time…Just leads me in circles.” She took a step back. “I don’t think I’m meant to leave this place, Henry. But maybe…you are.”

“We all have our roles to play,” Carmine said solemnly, watching Fiona. Fiona was in her own world, clutching Susie’s soul and staring at the ground. She likely hadn’t heard a word that had been said. Susie similarly was caught up in what she’d done.

“Allison…Please let me out of here.” Henry begged, lowering the glass. The message gave him a bad feeling, as did Carmine’s reaction. The demon knew something, and the old animator was certain it wasn’t something pleasant.

“Tom thinks you’re dangerous,” Allison said. “Both of you.” Her eyes flicked momentarily to Carmine.

“And what do you think?” Henry asked. Carmine made no attempt to deny his nature, still watching Fiona.

“I…I think…” Allison paused, then smiled. “You and Fiona are the hope I’ve been waiting for.” She stepped away from the door, gently guiding Fiona to a cot.

“Go to sleep.” She looked back at Henry. “Maybe tomorrow will be better.”

.

“That was really stupid, Tom! You shouldn’t have gone out there!” Allison scolded Tom as she worked on repairing his arm. He’d gone out for reasons none of them understood and had been seen by the Ink Demon. Fiona sat next to Tom on the table, holding his toon hand. She’d been very quiet as of late. Tom wasn’t sure what had happened while he’d been gone, but he knew that Fiona was much quieter now and Allison kept staring at him with a strange smile on her face. As such, he’d been especially protective. Carmine had stopped sneaking out of the cell, except when Tom wasn’t present.

“Now that he’s seen you…” Allison grunted a bit as she worked on the machine. “It’s only a matter of time…Before he finds us here.” Tom lowered his head in what might have been shame, allowing Allison to wave at Henry.

“He won’t find us…Will he?” Fiona asked quietly, directing Tom’s attention away from Allison. Tom said nothing, but he squeezed her hand in an attempt at comfort. Fiona leaned closer, hugging his arm.

.

“We can’t just leave him! Not with the Ink Demon right outside the door!” Henry woke up to the entire safehouse shaking and Tom and Allison arguing near the door to the cell. Carmine looked on edge, pacing the length of the cell in agitation. Fiona stood behind the arguing angel and wolf, the bag of souls clutched to her chest. She was crying again. The souls, all three of them, were screaming that they needed to leave. 

“What’s going on?” Henry asked, scrambling out of bed.

“He’s coming. We have to move on!” Allison glanced over at him, her eyes wide and fearful. Tom kept looking at Allison, then Fiona, then the door, shifting his ax from hand to hand. There was a crash and some dust fell from the rafters.

“Tom! We have to let him out!” Allison began pulling on the boards.

“You have to go.” Carmine stopped his pacing. “Take Fiona and leave.”

“But we can’t just leave Henry!” Allison kept pulling. There was a thud above them and the safehouse shook again. Tom almost jumped out of his skin. He tugged on Allison’s arm as Fiona cried harder.

“You need to leave,” Carmine repeated, a sense of urgency entering his voice.

“But-” Allison started to say. Then the tanks by their beds broke with a deafening crash and a board fell from the ceiling.

“GO!” Carmine roared. Without another word, Tom threw Fiona over his shoulder, grabbed Allison’s wrist, and started running.

“I’m sorry!” Allison yelled after them. As soon as they cleared the doorway Fiona started struggling, screaming about how they couldn’t just leave them like that. Tom didn’t stop running. He had to protect these two. No matter what.

Chapter Text

Tom let go of Allison rather quickly, needing both hands to keep Fiona from writhing off of him. Allison darted ahead to get the boat into the ink. By the time Tom reached the river, Allison had the boat in the water and was ready to go. Tom hopped in, depositing Fiona on the floor of the boat. Fiona stumbled to her feet, starting to hit at Tom’s chest with her fists.

“Why did you leave them?!” She was crying so hard that she was finding it hard to speak.

“They’ll be fine.” Sammy tried to reassure her. “Carmine’s a demon. He can handle himself against it, right?”

“He can keep Henry safe, I’m sure of it.” Bertram agreed. Susie was whispering to herself. She was still a little shaken up by the fact that they’d almost come face to face with the Ink Demon again. She might have been lacking in a corporeal body at the moment, but the trauma still remained. The last time she’d come in contact with him…It hadn’t ended well.

“They’ll be fine.” Allison echoed. Fiona took a step back, sniffling. That was when she realized they were on a literal river of ink. Her eyes widened and she ran to the edge.

“How is this down here?” She asked, her sadness forgotten for the moment.

“Hey don’t get so close. You might fall in.” Sammy said. “I don’t want to go back into the ink.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Fiona smiled sheepishly and took a step back. “So…Is this all ink?” Tom nodded.

“How is there this much ink down here?” Fiona began to look around. “How is there a tunnel down here? It looks like some kind of subway tunnel.”

“Have you been on the subway before?” Bertram asked.

“Oh yeah, lots of times,” Fiona said, still observing everything. “It’s how I get to college. I never finished learning how to drive, so I just take public transport everywhere. Mostly trains and buses and stuff.” There had been stalagmites and stalactites all around her, and there had been some in the area before. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen them in person before.

“This is all so weird.” She said.

“We’re not sure how a lot of this got here,” Allison admitted. “It’s certainly nothing like you’d think an animation studio would look.” She laughed weakly.

The tunnel was longer than Fiona had expected to be, but eventually, they came out onto what appeared to be a small village. It was really a collection of ramshackle huts made of what appeared to be scrap metal and discarded wood. There was a Lost One fishing near the little docks that led up to the village.

“Oh wow!” Fiona almost fell into the ink as she rushed to the side. “This is amazing!”

“It is, isn’t it?” A note of pride entered Sammy’s voice. “My congregation built this. It’s a little shitty, I’ll admit, but it’s given them a sense of normalcy. We knew we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. So…we made a home here.”

“That’s lovely,” Bertram said.

“That’s right…They listen to you.” Allison glanced down at the bag where Sammy’s soul currently resided. “Do you think you could talk to them for us? They don’t like me very much. For, well, obvious reasons.” She gestured to herself.

“That’s my fault, I’m assuming.” Susie sighed.

“…Yes.” Allison nodded before quickly looking away. Tom put a hand on Allison’s shoulder, giving her what he likely hoped would be a comforting smile.

“Thank you.” She smiled a bit as they pulled into the dock. Fiona hopped out as quickly as she could, running up the dock to get into the town.

“This is so cool!” She squealed, running around. There were various messages painted on the doors and walls, but she didn’t pay them much mind. She was just so delighted by this little town. There were lights strung up above, likely stolen from the warehouse, which gave the town a much more open and inviting feel than the rest of the studio. It did feel like home. She stopped when she reached the back of the cave the town resided in. There was a boarded-up doorway, surrounded by pieces of paper with handprints on them. NOT MONSTERS was written above it, and candles surrounded it.

“What’s this?” Fiona frowned and walked closer. Suddenly, the boards began to break as though someone was breaking them from the other side. 

“BETRAYED! ABANDONED!” Something screamed in a heavily distorted voice as a figure charged at her. It was…Sammy. The Ink Prophet Sammy. He was swinging an ax and yelling, sending her stumbling backward. But how was he here? He was in her bag!

“Sammy, please stop!” She begged, but it wasn’t her voice that came out. It was Henry’s. A brief look down confirmed that she wasn’t currently herself. Everything looked strange, as though there was a filter over her vision. But she didn’t have time to look around. Sammy was still coming at her with his ax.

“I trusted you! I gave you everything…” He wailed. “…And you left me to rot! …Why? WHY?!”

“Sammy, please listen to me!” She (or was it Henry?) yelled as Sammy flailed his ax. “I don’t want to fight you!” She didn’t want to hurt him, but it was looking as though she might have to. Whatever was before her, it was only barely Sammy Lawrence. She swung a pipe wrench she hadn’t known she had, managing to knock Sammy’s mask off. Immediately, Sammy’s hands flew to his face.

“No! Don’t look at me! Stay away…” He retreated from her, hunching down and continuing to cover his face.

“Sammy, I’m sorry.” She approached, kneeling down in front of him. “I didn’t mean to-” But she didn’t get to finish her sentence. As soon as she was in front of him, her weapon lowered, Sammy took his chance.

“Ah! You lied to me!” He pushed her to the ground, raising his ax high. “You said I’d be free! Well, I’m going to free you now! Free your head right off your shoulders!” Her breath came in quick gasps as she laid on the ground, staring up at Sammy. Was this how she was going to die? It was then she noticed Tom creeping up behind the deranged prophet.

“Sheep, sheep, sheep…it’s time for…” Sammy raised the ax, about to bring it down. “…sleep.” Before he could follow through with his swing, Tom buried an ax in Sammy’s head, sending the prophet toppling to the ground right next to her.

“Fiona? Fiona, are you alright?” Fiona blinked, and the body of Sammy was gone. Tom and Allison were gathered around her. A little way away, Carmine was snapping his fingers over the unconscious body of Henry.

“What…? I…? But there was….? Where did…?” Fiona was at a loss for words. Every time she tried to speak, she just ended up fumbling over every word.

“Kid, what happened?” Sammy’s voice was small, almost terrified. Oh God. She’d been talking to him out loud. She’d been begging him to stop. That must have been terrible to hear. She knew he wasn’t proud of what he’d done. She’d just reminded him of it.

“You just started screaming,” Susie said. Had she a physical body, she likely would have been wringing her hands or playing with her pearls. Susie seemed like the sort of person who wore pearls.

“Are hallucinations part of your withdrawal?” Bertram asked. “It sounded as though you were pleading with Sammy.”

“No. It’s not like that. I already explained this.” Fiona shook her head. “I just feel weird when I don’t take my meds. I don’t hallucinate. I’ve never hallucinated!” She did feel weird, as though she wasn’t necessarily in her body, but that was normal for her withdrawal. She didn’t hallucinate. She’d never hallucinated. Maybe the ink fumes were getting to her?

“Then why did you start screaming?” Allison helped her to her feet. She acted as though Fiona was made out of glass or something. It was honestly a little irritating to the young woman. Tom gently drew Fiona into his arms, patting her back softly. Allison couldn’t help but smile a little at this. Tom really could be sweet.

“I’m fine.” Fiona insisted, worming her way out of Tom’s comforting hug. He let her go but kept a hand on her shoulder. She may have said she was fine, but she was pale and shaking. She almost seemed to be on the verge of tears, but he couldn’t tell for sure.  

“This is just like when Henry started screaming in the Archives,” Sammy muttered. “Except last time it was just him and he didn’t pass out.”

“Henry started screaming in the Archives?” Bertram asked. “But what for?”

“He saw some stuff that none of us did,” Sammy said. “Panels slamming and arms reaching for him.”

“Oh yeah.” Fiona frowned. “He…That did happen.” At the time, she’d thought that perhaps Henry had been losing his mind. Now…Now she wasn’t so sure.

“In any case, are you alright?” Allison asked.

“I’m…I’m fine.” Fiona managed a smile. “It’s probably just stress.” None of them believed that, but they decided to leave it be for the time being.

“So, why did Henry pass out?” Fiona glanced past the group to where Henry was laying. Carmine had managed to rouse him and get him up, although he still looked rather unsteady.

“Where’d Sammy go?” Henry mumbled as Carmine led him over to the group.

“I didn’t go anywhere,” Sammy said. “I’ve been in the bag this whole time.”

“Wait, you saw him swinging the ax too?” Fiona stumbled toward Henry, her eyes wide. Almost immediately, Henry perked up, running over to grab Fiona by the shoulders.

“I did!” He nodded fervently. “You saw it too this time! It was just like in the Archives!” Allison looked as though she was about the press the subject further, but the focus of the group was quickly shifted elsewhere as Lost Ones and Searchers began to appear, both from the puddles and the shacks. Both Allison and Tom drew their weapons, ready for a fight. But no fight came. Instead, the Lost Ones and Searchers that made up Sammy’s congregation simply watched them.

“They’re not going to hurt you,” Sammy said. Allison glanced at the bag, slowly lowering her sword. Tom’s shoulders remained hunched and his posture defensive, but he too lowered his weapon.

“You two.” A Lost One pointed at Henry and Fiona, who were still clutching each other. “You’re the ones our Prophet trusts.”

“I…I guess we are.” Henry separated from Fiona. “We’re not here to fight, I promise.”

“We want to help.” Fiona agreed. “You deserve to be able to leave here.”

“Is the prophet still with you?” Another Lost One asked, cowering behind the first.

“I’m still here.” Sammy’s voice came from the bag. “But you don’t need to keep calling me prophet anymore.”

“It makes us feel better.”

The congregation relaxed a bit at hearing Sammy’s voice, although they remained on guard.

“I know what you’re probably thinking, but this angel isn’t like the other one.” Sammy continued. “She isn’t going to hurt any of you.”

“I’m sorry.” Susie was on the verge of tears again, faced with the people she’d hurt. In isolation, she’d been able to come to terms with what she’d done, but it was still hard to see these people and know she’d hurt them.

“Is that-?”

“That’s the Angel!”

“I removed her soul from her body, as I did with your prophet,” Carmine explained. “She cannot hurt you now.”

“I’m here as well.” Bertram piped up. A few of the Lost Ones stifled laughter. It was pretty funny to see the intimidating Bertram Piedmont reduced to a disembodied soul in a bag. Many of them had been rather afraid of him when they’d been human.

“Hello, Mr. Piedmont.” One giggled.

“Mildred.” Everyone could almost hear the park designer rolling his eyes. Another ripple of laughter passed through the congregation. They were all much calmer now that they knew there wasn’t about to be a fight. Eventually, the laughter petered off, leaving them in silence.

“Are they going to save us, my prophet?” A Lost One asked, looking to the bag where Sammy now resided. All eyes now fell on Fiona and Henry, the only two humans left in the studio.

“They will,” Sammy said. “They will set us free.” The Lost Ones and Searchers exchanged glances. There were some scattered murmurs. Not all of them seemed convinced, but if Sammy was putting his faith in these two, then so would they. He wasn’t technically their prophet anymore but they still trusted him.

“I hope your faith is justified.” A Lost One said as they all dispersed. They disappeared into puddles, into the shacks. Before long, the group was left alone once more.

“We should keep going,” Allison suggested. Tom nodded. He’d put a hand on Fiona’s shoulder again. She still wasn’t looking so good.

As they all started to walk away, Henry got a strange idea. Pulling out the Looking Glass, he turned it on the group. Allison looked the same, the golden halo around her head. Tom had a golden bone in his mouth. Next to Fiona, he could see the golden silhouettes of Bertram, Susie, Sammy. Sammy was playfully ribbing Bertram while Susie tried to contain her laughter. But Fiona and Carmine…The way they looked in the glass was strange. Fiona’s appearance looked hyper-realistic, like a photograph pasted onto a drawing. Carmine’s body was made up entirely of swirling words. Some were handwritten, some looked as though they were lines on a computer. Most of the text was too small to read, but Henry could pick out a few names. There was Carmine’s, as well as others he didn’t recognize. Jack, Zack, Uriel, Nikolai, Ennika, Remo. Carmine turned, noticing Henry wasn’t following them. Upon seeing Henry had the glass up, he just smiled, putting a finger to his lips before following the others. Henry hastily stowed away the glass and did the same.

“It’s probably best if we stay together from now on,” Allison said, breaking the lock on a gate in the back. “Henry? Think you can lead the way?”

“I can try,” Henry replied. “I’m not sure how helpful I’ll be, though.”

“Lead the way then, sir.” Carmine made a big show of bowing and gesturing to the boarded-up doorway past the gate. Fiona rolled her eyes and slapped his arm, muttering something about him being a ham. Tom let out a snorting sound that might have been a laugh, which made both Allison and Fiona smile.

“So, what’s over here?” Sammy asked as Henry broke the boards.

“Offices, from what we’ve seen,” Allison explained. “Nothing too ‘interesting’, but it might have a way out.” Past the doorway was a hallway. Most of the floor had collapsed, leaving the gaps to be bridged by a series of boards. They looked precarious at best and lethal at worst.

“How do we cross?” Fiona moved back, grabbing Carmine’s arm.

“I’ll go first,” Henry said. “Then you, Fiona, then Carmine, and Allison and Tom can bring up the rear.”

“Works for me.” Carmine shrugged.

“Alright. We’ll do that.” Allison nodded. Henry took a deep breath, steeling himself. He didn’t like this. Especially after the little cable car incident after the Archives. He hadn’t fallen from the cart then, but these boards looked awfully rickety. Fiona wasn’t thrilled about it either. She’d never liked heights when she didn’t have some sort of safety apparatus.  

“We’re gonna die we’re gonna die we’re gonna die.” She muttered as they stepped onto the boards.

“You saying that is not helping.” Henry glanced back at her.

“I’m sorry! I’m stressed!” She snapped.

“Maybe you two could save this for when we’re across?” Carmine suggested. He was having no trouble with the boards, but then again, he was capable of floating in the air so he didn’t really count. Both Allison and Tom looked a little nervous at the fight starting in front of them.

“This really isn’t the best place to be having a fight,” Allison said. Tom’s normally stoic frown had turned rather panicked.

“We’re not fighting!” Henry exhaled sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “Look, let’s just get across, alright?”

“I’m not stopping you,” Fiona grumbled, folding her arms. Henry rolled his eyes, muttering something that sounded very much like ‘teenagers’. They continued on, although they didn’t get very far before the boards under Fiona and Henry collapsed, sending them plummeting into the darkness. Fiona screamed, instinctively closing her eyes and holding the soul bag to her chest. She expected to hit ink. To her surprise, she did not. Tentatively, she opened one eye. To her left was a flooded section of ink, which Henry was sloshing his way out of. To her right was the entrance to what appeared to be offices. She was on a raised platform that connected to the office doorway. And she was currently being held in Carmine’s arms.

“Are you alright?” He asked, tentatively setting her down.

“I-I’m fine.” She was shaking even more now. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been physically shaken like this.

“Shit, that was close,” Sammy said. “We almost went into the ink.”

“Erm, thank you,” Bertram mumbled. Susie was silent, but Fiona could hear her panicked exhalations.

“Are Allison and Tom alright?” Henry asked, hoisting himself onto the platform. He just looked tired at this point. He’d fallen down holes quite a lot at this point.

“They’re fine.” Carmine waved a hand dismissively. “Neither of them fell if that’s what you’re asking.” His focus was solely on Fiona. She was particularly vulnerable to extreme emotional fluctuations since she didn’t have her meds to regulate them. She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths.

“You should…You should go make sure Allison and Tom get down here safely.” She said once she was calm. “I don’t want them to get hurt too.” The loss of Boris obviously still weighed heavily on her, especially now that they knew he’d been Wally.

“I’m not going to leave you.” Carmine’s grip on her shoulder instinctively tightened. “Not this far down.”

“I think it’d be better if he stayed, too,” Sammy said. “We’re not even sure what this area is. Allison and Tom know their way around this place. I’m sure they can find a way down on their own.”

“Not to mention he’s the only one capable of fighting Bendy,” Henry added with a weary smile.

“They can obviously take care of themselves.” Bertrum agreed. “Lawrence, Miss Campbell, and I have no bodies, and you and Mr. Stein are rather…squishy would be the best word, I suppose. We need all the help we can get.”

“Henry can swing an ax and I’m good at running and hiding.” Fiona insisted, staring resolutely up at Carmine. “I don’t want to lose anyone else. Make sure they get down here safely. Henry and I can explore.”

“What if you get hurt?” Carmine demanded.

“If I’m in danger, you’ll know.” Fiona fired back. “I’ll be fine.” Carmine stared down at her for a moment or two, lips twisting as he tried to come up with some excuse to stay with her.

Finally, he sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I’m not going to get you to budge, am I?”

“No.” She folded her arms, looking defiantly up at her creation. Carmine withdrew his hands, shaking his head and smiling to himself.

“One of these days you’re going to get yourself killed.” Then he was gone, melting into the floor. It was unclear whether or not he’d been joking. Fiona exhaled quietly before turning back to Henry.

“Let’s head in, okay?” She forced a smile. “We’ve gotta figure out what’s down here, right?”

“Right.” Henry nodded, although he looked a little wary.

“Oh! Use the seeing tool here!” Fiona suddenly stopped in front of what appeared to be a seeing tool painted on the wall. Henry hesitated, but pulled out the seeing tool and turned it on the wall.

“It’s inside the vault.”

“What’s inside the vault?” Sammy asked.

“I don’t know. That’s just what it says on the wall.” Henry shrugged, tucking the tool away.

“I suppose we’ll find out what ‘it’ is once we go in,” Bertram said. Tentatively, they all headed inside. Almost immediately as soon as they entered the lobby, a song began to play through the speakers.

“This is my song!” Susie squealed, her soul vibrating.

“Your song?” Fiona glanced into the bag.

“It was the first song I wrote for her to sing as Alice.” Sammy’s voice was wistful. “Jack supplied the lyrics and I wrote the tune.”

“I'll be your angel sent from heaven above. Your little angel cast down for you to love. I'll be your angel. Ya fit me just like a glove. So wontcha say a prayer to me, baby.” Susie crooned along with the music.

“You have such a lovely voice.” Fiona sighed.

“Oh! Thank you.” Susie giggled. Henry looked over at the appointment schedule on the wall.

At 9:30, Doctor Hackenbush DVM. At 10, Bertram Piedmont, with a note beside the name saying it had been rescheduled. At 10:15, F. Fontaine. At 11:15, Health & Safety Board Agent. At 11:30, E. Misner P.P. At 11:45, Sammy Lawrence. At 12 was written Mr. Drew at lunch, with an exclamation point after it. At 2, Thomas Connor – GENT. At 2:15, Charles and the Prodigies. At 2:45, M. M. meeting, with ‘out of office’ written in parentheses. At 3:30, that puppet guy? That was a strange one. At 5:30, Hayden UAC. And at 6, Susie Campbell.

It certainly seemed as though Joey had had a full schedule prior to the studio’s downfall. He looked back at Fiona, who was conversing with the souls. Sammy and Susie were happily talking about the song playing on the speakers, while Bertram was grousing about how Joey never kept his appointments with him.

“I’m sorry.” Fiona patted his soul comfortingly. “He does sound like an asshole.”

“Oh, he was.” Bertram’s tone was dark. “He liked to think he was clever, but he was nothing but a fool. Didn’t know how to run this studio worth a damn and refused to accept any kind of help.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Sammy snorted. “He was terrible with deadlines too. I’d get a message from him saying there were four cartoons that needed to be finished and they needed songs by the next day. It’s no wonder I went crazy!”

“It’s no wonder all of us went crazy.” Susie’s voice went soft. Fiona’s face fell as well and she hugged the bag to her chest, looking around the lobby. It was surprisingly clean. One wouldn’t even know the studio had gone under if you only saw this place. There were benches set out for people to wait and the walls were plastered with Bendy posters. There was a doorway in the back of the room that was shuttered over beneath a sign that read Administration.

“Where do you think the vault is?” Fiona glanced back to Henry.

“It’s probably around here somewhere.” Henry strode past her, searching for where the vault would be. To the left, there was a sign for the GENT company over a doorway marked ‘Film Vault’.

“Huh.” Henry blinked. “Well, that was easy.” Fiona peeked past him, her face lighting up.

“Hey! There it is!” She dashed over, throwing the door open and running inside. To the left was a door marked ‘Film Vault’, with a huge reel over it. To the right was what appeared to be an office of sorts. And smack dab in the middle was a strange mess of pipes. A good number appeared to be missing.

“Now that’s interesting.” Henry murmured, walking in after her. A quick look over at the Film Vault door revealed the hallway beyond it to be flooded. Which meant the mess of pipes was likely supposed to drain it.

“I think Connor did his work over here,” Sammy said.

“What? Over here?” Fiona wandered over to the office area. There was a desk with a wrench and a toolbox on it, and on the chair pushed to the side was an audio log, which Fiona eagerly played.

“Progress report to Gent Home Office. Client: Joey Drew Studios.” Thomas’ gruff voice filled the room. “Although we’re making progress, the client’s expectations keep changing. What started as a machine to simply mold life-sized figures, now seems to be teetering on the edge of magic more than engineering. Although Mr. Drew remains convinced they are the same thing. The process of running the cartoon film through the machine for the figures to imprint upon is going well. We’ve had several near successes. One weird note, the first figure ever created was a failed attempt in the likeness of the character called Bendy. Since that time, no other attempts of this particular figure have emerged. And the one that did…I dunno, there’s just something unworldly about him.”

As the tape clicked off, they sat there in silence. Fiona and Henry were trying to wrap their heads around what they’d just heard. Susie, Sammy, and Bertram were remembering something they’d long since forgotten.

“The Bendy that’s been following us…The one everyone calls the Ink Demon…” Fiona said slowly. “He’s probably the one Tom was talking about.”

“I doubt Joey was all that kind to him.” Henry’s voice was bitter. “He never tolerated anything less than perfection.” Sammy, Susie, and Bertram said nothing. They were trying to wrack their brains for what else they might have forgotten.

“We should go find a way to drain that passageway.” Fiona clutched the bag to her chest, turning and walking out. Together, she and Henry headed back to the reception area. There was a door to the side that led to a little reception office. Trying the door revealed that it was open, allowing them to go inside. To the left, there was a punch card station, just like the others they’d seen around, and to the right was a door leading to the area where the receptionist would probably sit.

“How much you wanna bet there’s a switch to open the administration area in here?” Fiona asked, managing what was likely supposed to be a cheeky smile.

“If I had any money at the moment, I’d put some down on that.” Henry smiled back. And, sure enough, when they opened the door leading to the reception desk, there was a switch right there.

“That’s convenient,” Fiona said brightly as she pulled it. Pulling the switch raised the shutter to Administration, opening the way up for them.

“Alright, that wasn’t so bad.” Fiona darted past Henry, headed down the hallway. However, as she got closer, a familiar sound stopped her in her tracks.

“Don’t go running off like…that…” Henry came running up behind her, trailing off when he too heard the sound. The garbled chittering of a Butcher Gang clone. A Piper had just crossed the hallway in front of them, disappearing around a corner. Immediately, Henry grabbed Fiona by the shoulder and dragged her back.

“Not these guys again. Weapons. We need weapons.” He muttered, looking desperately around for something. He’d dropped his ax in the fall and didn’t particularly fancy searching through the ink to find it again.

“We can’t exactly be stealthy like this,” Sammy spoke up. “There are two of you.” Fiona whimpered, pressing her back against Henry. She was starting to wish she’d insisted upon Carmine staying. He’d never had a problem taking care of the Butcher Gang clones.

“Perhaps it might be advantageous to find a way to bring your demon friend down here?” Bertram suggested. “I imagine these creatures pose little problem to him.”

“He did wipe them out pretty effectively the last few times we ran into them.” Sammy agreed.

“He did…” Susie nodded. She hadn’t been there in person to see it, but she’d seen it through her cameras. It had certainly been a sight, watching Carmine destroy the waves of Butcher Gang clones. At the time, she hadn’t wanted to admit how afraid that sight had made her. Had he wanted to, he could have easily destroyed her. But he’d been more interested in keeping Fiona safe than destroying Alice. And, luckily for her, she hadn’t been interested in the teary-eyed young woman.

“Are you alright?” Henry lowered his voice, noticing how quiet Fiona had been.

“No?” Fiona squeaked. She was starting to shake now, taking a step away from the hallway with the Butcher Gang clones in it.

Henry sighed. “I’ll go look for my ax.”

“Wait, you don’t have to!” Fiona tried to grab at his arm, but he was already moving away.

“We’ll both feel better if we have some kind of protection,” Henry said before disappearing back outside. Fiona glanced toward the hallway with the Butcher Gang members, hunching her shoulders.

“I’m so useless.” She muttered.

“You’re not useless.” The souls rushed to reassure her, but she wouldn’t listen.

“I am!” Tears started to well up in her eyes. “I can’t fight the monsters, I cry too much, I’m just slowing everyone down! I should have just stayed in the car.” She dropped to the ground, hugging her knees.

“Don’t say that,” Susie begged.

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up like this,” Sammy said. “Whether you can fight isn’t important.”

“It is important!” She insisted. “I can’t protect you guys or help Henry and the others!” She wanted to be happy, she wanted to be positive. But this studio knew exactly how to sink her into despair. No one was alright here. She’d watched things die here. Even if the Butcher Gang members weren’t exactly human, they were still living beings. And she’d watched them die. She’d even killed one. She’d watched Henry kill the Brute Boris. She watched Susie get stabbed. There was so much suffering here. So much pain. Her empathy was working against her, as it often did. She wanted to save all of them, but she couldn’t. She had no magic, no physical capabilities. The only thing she could provide was hope and positivity. And she was honestly running a bit low on that right now.

“I’m honestly more comfortable when you’re not fighting.” She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Henry’s voice behind her. She looked behind her, her eyes wide and tearful, her face blotchy from crying. Henry stood there, his smile gentle and careworn. He reminded her of her grandfather.

“But I’m slowing you down.” She said quietly, resisting the urge to bury her face in his chest and just sob.

“I’d honestly say I’m the one slowing you down.” Henry chuckled, helping her to her feet. “I’m just an old man. You’re the one with a demon at your beck and call.”

“I’m not even supposed to be here.” Fiona sniffed loudly, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. “I don’t have anything to do with any of this.”

“Well, I’m glad you are here,” Henry said. “It’s always a pleasure to meet a young artist. Our mediums may be different, but I can certainly appreciate your creativity.”

“You are such a dad,” Sammy muttered, which prompted small snorts of laughter from everyone.

“You said I reminded you of your daughter, right?” Fiona managed a small smile.

“You do. My eldest. She’s a writer too.” He nodded, smiling fondly. “Although, she mostly writes nonfiction. She’s a journalist for a paper in Chicago.”

“Oh! Cool!” Fiona’s face lit up. “I’m from Chicago!”

“Really?” Henry lit up as well. “Maybe you’ve heard of her then. Her name is Abigail Stein.”

“I might have…But I don’t really read the paper.” Fiona laughed sheepishly. “For my own mental health, really. I stay informed other ways.” It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to mention YouTube or computers. She didn’t want to break Henry’s brain.

“That’s fair.” Henry’s gaze wandered back to the hallway. “So…We should probably get going.” He’d managed to find his ax, although it was still dripping with ink.

“Yes.” Fiona took a deep breath. She felt better now that she’d cried. Together, they headed back to the hallway. It seemed to be lined with doors to rooms they could hide in. Almost immediately in front of them was a door leading into a small office. Fiona headed in.

“Why are we going in here?” Sammy asked.

“Audio logs,” Fiona muttered, searching around. “I want to find all of them.” Sure enough, there was one in the back corner. Happily, Fiona pressed it, allowing Joey’s voice to fill the room.

“A small memo to all administration offices! Rumors have begun to fly that we simply can’t tolerate any longer. The idea that the company is in some form of financial difficulty is untrue and a slanderous lie against us. It’s also been known to me that some backroom incompetents are not trusting in my leadership. As a leader, I’m always steering the boat, guiding our destiny. Looking at the big picture. No need for you people to worry about such complicated things. Just do whatever it is you do and trust your leader…which is me.”

The room was silent as the tape clicked off. Fiona and Henry exchanged a glance as Bertram and Sammy both snorted derisively.

“Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence,” Fiona said, eyeing the tape. It honestly sounded kind of pathetic. Like a man desperately trying to regain confidence and respect he’d long since lost.  

“No, no it doesn’t.” Henry agreed. He looked even more tired now. She couldn’t imagine what this was like for him. He and Joey had obviously been friends once. To see how far he’d fallen, how cruel and twisted he’d become…It must have been horrible for him. Fiona reached out and patted his shoulders.

“We’ll get out of this.” She smiled in what she hoped would be encouragement. Henry smiled wearily back.

“Thank you.”

They headed back out after that. Fiona checked every door she could to look for tapes. Only a few actually yielded results. The next tape they found belonged to Wally Franks. Hearing his voice did make Fiona’s heart hurt a bit.

“So turns out it’s my lucky day! I got to cleaning some of the offices around 2 am last night. And what do you think I find on one of the chairs? A big freaking chocolate cake. Just sitting there! Practically yelling my name! You know? I work hard! I earn my pay. Every darn dollar. But you know what this company’s missing? Little, benefitting perks. And this here cake? It’s a perk! Hopefully no one finds out what I done. Cause if they did, I can tell you what would happen. I’m outta here.”

Fiona couldn’t help but giggle a little at the way Wally said perk.

“Poik.” She repeated, dissolving into giggles.

“It was my chocolate cake, you know,” Sammy said indignantly. “I got it for my birthday.”

“Oh, come on, you forgave him for it.” Susie laughed. “You could never stay mad at him for long.”

“Aaaw~ Is Sammy a softie?” Fiona snickered, taking Sammy’s soul out of her bag.

“I-I am not!” Sammy protested, his soul vibrating.

“I think you are~,” Fiona said in a sing-song voice, holding the soul up to her face. Henry tried to stifle the laugh that was bubbling up. Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of one of the Butcher Gang members, a Piper, and Henry had to dispatch it.

“Sorry,” Fiona mumbled when Henry came back. She’d tucked Sammy away.

“It’s alright.” Henry patted her head. “I think we all needed a good laugh.”

The next audio log they found was another one by Joey, prompting the entire group to groan as Joey’s voice came from the tape.

“Listen Tommy, I know you boys over at GENT are doing your best, but I’m paying you for living attractions, not weird abominations! Whatever that grinning thing was I saw wandering around your office, you better keep it locked up tight! I realize it was a first attempt but imagine if the press caught sight of it! Might scare off investors! And in response to your previous memo: If you claim your failures are because these things are soulless, then, damn it, we’ll get them a soul! After all, I own thousands of ‘em!”

Everyone’s blood ran cold.

“Did he…say what I think he said?” Fiona’s voice was soft. She almost didn’t want to believe what she’d heard.

“I told him before that he didn’t own me. Clearly, he didn’t listen.” Bertram growled. Sammy and Susie were silent. Fiona looked over at Henry, then took a step back. A dark look had descended upon the old man’s face. Despite the literal horrors she’d seen here, Henry’s expression was one of the things that scared her the most.

“Henry…?” She reached tentatively out to touch his arm.

“He took my children from me. He destroyed our friends. He trapped me here and put me through Hell.” Henry growled, his grip on the ax tightening. “The next time I see Joey…I’m going to fucking kill him.” Fiona let out a small squeak, flinching away from him. Immediately, his dark look vanished.

“I…I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and lowered the ax. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that.”

“It’s okay.” She said quickly. “You have a right to be angry.”

“Let’s move on.” Henry gave her a weary smile and left the room.

They continued to traverse the winding maze of corridors, which honestly reminded Fiona a bit too much of that stifling maze on level 14, until they reached the end. The office in the very back. The office that belonged to Joey Drew. The sign above the door read; The Office Of Joey Drew. The o in Joey’s name had a star in it. There were curtains on either side of the office door, as well as pillars inlaid with lamps.

“It’s just as gaudy as I remember it being.” Bertram sniffed.

“He definitely thought pretty highly of himself.” Sammy tried to put some of his usual venom and spite into his words, but he just sounded tired. Henry opened the door and entered, Fiona following behind. Joey’s office was fairly small, with a desk in the center, a couch to the right, some filing cabinets, and walls covered with awards and certificates, all bearing Joey’s name. The back wall had the studio name on top of the three film reels, just like the entrance. On the desk was an audio log.

“I wonder what this one is going to say.” Fiona pressed the play button. Joey’s voice filled the room, soft and gentle.

“I know how much this part means to you, Susie. Alice means a lot to me too. All my characters do! In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I too really believe my characters are more than just drawings. They’re alive. They’re part of us. And I want people to know them as well as I do. I want people to be able to shake their hand, spend an afternoon with ‘em. Love them. Susie, I’ll be straight with you. I’m putting together a small project…A little ceremony. If it works, a lot of dreams will come true. And I want you to be a part of it…I want you to bring Alice to life once again. What do you say?”

“That bastard,” Sammy growled. Susie started to cry quietly. Fiona stared down at the tape recorder. Her own rage was building. Joey had taken advantage of an insecure woman, desperate to hold onto the role she loved, and he’d turned her into a monster. Henry took out the seeing tool, looking around the room. On the wall, beside the studio logo, was a message in gold.

Who is the man behind the monster?

Henry didn’t dignify that with a response. Gently, he put a hand on her shoulder, drawing her out of the room. There was an ink fountain next to the office, which drew Henry’s attention. Fiona was still rather withdrawn.

“Can you hold one of these?” Henry asked, drawing out a glob of ink and handing it to her. She just nodded and took it. Henry took two and they headed back to the lobby. There was a GENT machine near the receptionist booth, which they used to create the needed pipes. They did this in silence. For the most part, at least. Sammy was trying to comfort Susie, whispering soothing words to her. His whispers offered some respite from the oppressive silence.

“Why are people mean to each other?” Fiona finally asked as she handed Henry the pipes. Henry hesitated as he fitted the t-pipe into place. He’d managed to perch on top of a chair in order to get it in and his position was a little precarious.

“I’m not sure.” He admitted. “I’m sensing that there’s more to this than Joey, though.”

“…Maybe.” Fiona shrugged slightly. “I just…I don’t understand why people do things like this to each other. I don’t understand why people hurt each other.”

“I think people hurt each other because they’re hurting and they want others to hurt the way they do,” Henry said, gesturing for Fiona to hand him the next pipe. Fiona nodded slowly, handing him the straight pipe.

“It’s not fair.”

“Sometimes life isn’t fair.”

“I hate it when people say that.” Fiona’s expression darkened. “I get it. The world is terrible and life is cruel. I’ve seen it! I know it! I just want some shred of hope to keep me from killing myself!” She picked up the elbow pipe and shoved it at Henry.

“Did you…want to kill yourself?” Susie asked quietly.

“I did. At one point.” Fiona’s angry abruptly went out and she started playing with the hem of her hoodie.

“Do you still feel like that?” Henry quickly fitted the pipe into place before clambering down.

“Not anymore, no.” She shook her head. “Look, we should really just drain the vault. We need to get out of here.”

“It sounds like it already drained,” Sammy said. Fiona peered through the doorway to the film vault to see the hallway clear. Before anyone could stop her, she’d already opened the door and gone in. The room before the film vault was filled with various detritus. Musical instruments, boxes, strangely large film reels. The film vault was in the back. It was a literal vault, and it appeared the vault door had been ripped open. Henry stood there for a moment, staring at the discarded vault door. What on Earth could be strong enough to do that? Just to be sure, he pulled out the looking glass. Inside the vault, on the back wall, was,

The Demon Has Taken It.

Well, that didn’t bode well.

“Is that what a film vault is supposed to look like?” Fiona asked, searching the room. It was mostly filled with boxes and a few giant film reels. It was honestly a little underwhelming. The only thing of note was a mechanical looking door to the right. It was predictably closed.

“I don’t think anything here looks like what it’s supposed to.” Henry sighed, stepping in. “Whatever we’re looking for should be in here.”

“What are we look for?” Bertram asked. “I don’t suppose you’ve found any hidden messages hinting at what it could be, Mr. Stein?”

“I haven’t. Sorry.” Henry smiled apologetically, kneeling over a box in the back. All it contained was a few reels and some ink. Nothing of note, really.

“Looks like whatever was here was taken long ago…” Both Fiona and Henry jumped at Allison’s voice. Turning around, they found her, Tom, and Carmine entering the vault.

“What took you so long?!” Fiona threw herself into Carmine’s arms. He looked a bit more disheveled than he had earlier, but was clearly glad to see her.

“I’m sorry, dear.” He kissed her head. “I had a bit of…trouble.” He looked pointedly at Tom, who purposefully avoided eye contact.

“How did you manage to get down here?” Henry asked.

“It pays to carry a rope,” Allison replied brightly. “You should try it.”

“Fine. Pretend I had nothing to do with it.” Carmine grumbled. Either no one heard him, or they just decided to ignore him, as the conversation continued without acknowledgment of his statement.

“Look, I think I know where we have to go,” Henry said. “But it’s not going to be pleasant.”

“You know where we have to go?” Fiona, Sammy, Susie, and Bertram all said together. They’d pretty much been operating under the assumption that none of them had any information about what was happening or where they were going.

“Ben- The Ink Demon obviously has to have some kind of home base.” Henry quickly corrected himself as he began to say Bendy’s name. “Some kind of lair. If we want to find whatever it is we’re looking for, we need to go there.”

 “You want to go to his lair? Are you crazy?” Allison asked. “That’s death!”

“Oh, he’ll be fine.” Carmine waved a hand dismissively.

“That’s where the trail seems to lead.” Henry’s expression was grim. Allison considered this for a moment, looking at Tom. The Boris clone entwined his fingers with hers, squeezing her hand. If he was going to go down, he was going to go down protecting her. He had a feeling they were almost at the end now if that demonic bastard’s attitude was anything to go by.

“Well, it’s probably close by…” Allison sighed. “Probably through that door.” The group’s attention was drawn to the mechanical door.

“It won’t be easy to open.” Allison drew away from Tom to inspect the door. “I’ll need three gears, a crowbar…” She turned away, beginning to pace. “Hm…Some kind of counterbalance…”

While she was talking, Tom just strode by her and pried the door open with his hands. For a moment or two, the others were silent as the sound of screeching metal echoed through the vault. Then Fiona, Sammy, and Carmine began to laugh uproariously.

“Huh. Well, that works too…I guess.” Allison let out a small laugh. Tom returned to his position at Allison’s side. It was hard to tell, but it almost looked as though he was proud of himself.

“Thank you, Tom.” Allison patted his head. Okay, he definitely looked pleased now.

“If he had a tail, I’m sure it would be wagging,” Carmine whispered to Fiona as they stepped through the door. Tom turned around to give Carmine a glare before continuing.

Through the door was a hallway lined with Bendy posters, rather like the ones they’d seen in the animation department. Actually…This place looked quite a lot like the animation department. There were Bendy cutouts, a projector, desks and chairs, and a radio was playing the song they’d heard on the first level. As they reached the end of one corridor, Henry stopped by a desk with a picture of Bendy on it. It was a much cuter version of Bendy, with an almost anime little mouth.

“Hey, here’s my old desk. I’ve wasted so much time in this chair.” He leaned on the chair, a fond smile on his face.

“But how did it get down here?” Fiona asked.

“Joey probably brought it down here.” Henry murmured, still staring at the Bendy drawing. “I wonder why…”

“Best not to guess at Joey’s intentions,” Carmine said.

Henry managed to tear himself away from the desk after a minute and they continued down another hallway, this one leading to a hallway divided by a glass partition. As they approached the partition, Allison stopped them.

“Quiet. Don’t make any noise…”

Fiona was about to ask why, when she felt the heavy presence of the Ink Demon. All of them stopped in their tracks, watching as the ink veins appeared, and the Ink Demon shambled past them. Fiona held her breath, staring wide-eyed at the demon. She’d never seen it this close before. Beside her, Henry too watched the creature. But his expression was one of mournfulness and regret. It felt like forever before the Ink Demon and his ink veins finally disappeared. No one said a word as they continued. Even Carmine was silent. As they turned a corner, they were greeted with a sign painted on the wall with ink. Death, and then an arrow pointing down the hallway.

“That’s comforting,” Henry muttered. But they continued anyway. Just down the hallway was a doorway, leading out into…

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

They stepped out into what was frankly a massive cavern, housing an Ink Machine larger than a small house. The Ink Machine they’d seen upstairs sat perched atop the bigger one like a tiny hat. The large machine rested on an island amidst a sea of ink. Fiona ran forward, gesturing at the giant machine. Pretty much every word out of her mouth at this point was some phrase of disbelief accompanied by a swear word.

“To think…All of this was down here.” Bertram sounded almost in awe.

“No wonder Grant was always so depressed,” Sammy said.

“Wow! I’ve never seen this before!” Allison gasped, going to what was technically the bank. She looked around the area before turning back to Henry.

“I don’t see any way around…Nothing to build a raft with.” She bit her lip.

“I guess we’ll have to wade across,” Henry concluded. Allison backed up, her shoulders instinctively hunching. Tom moved to her side.

“We can’t. We’re not like you or Fiona, Henry.” Allison shook her head. “If we go in there, well…A drop of water in the ocean is rarely seen again.” Henry looked at Fiona, who’d stopped yelling and was just staring.

“Then I guess it’s all up to us.” He said, letting out a weak laugh. “And I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”

“Neither of us do.” Fiona came back to stand with them.  

“I don’t even know why this is all happening to me.” Henry continued.

“That’s the question of the hour,” Sammy said sardonically.

“None of us know why this happened to us.” Susie sighed.

“You’re both here for a reason.” Allison insisted. “There’s always a reason!” She paused, folding her hands. “Even when you can’t understand it.”

“It’s time,” Carmine announced. He was standing on the bank now, smiling ominously and gesturing to the machine.

“Set us free!” Allison said. Fiona gnawed on her lip, taking off the bag containing the souls. It would probably be a bad idea to take them into the ink. Their souls would just be returned to the dark puddles and she’d lose all the progress she made with them.

“Take…Take care of them.” She pressed the bag into Allison’s hands.

“We will,” Allison assured her, slinging the bag over her shoulder.

“You heard her,” Sammy said. “Set us free.” Fiona nodded, going back to the bank where Carmine was waiting. Henry stood, staring into the ink.

“We’re doing this, huh?” Fiona stopped beside him.

“We’re doing it.” Henry exhaled slowly. Then he lowered himself into the ink and began to wade. Fiona made a small whining noise but followed suit. Carmine shrugged and did the same. His clothes were already ruined. Wading through the ink was not a fun experience. It was like wading through water, but with a decidedly thicker and more unpleasant texture. All three were glad when they managed to reach the stairs leading into the machine. The GENT label sat proudly above the archway into the machine.

“I wonder if they regret working with him.” Carmine mused as they entered.

“I mean, I don’t think they know about the human sacrifice or anything,” Fiona said, wringing out her hoodie as best she could. Henry was already inside, making his way through the cramped and claustrophobic hallways. Fiona scrambled to follow after him, with Carmine following her. Before long, they found themselves in front of a large set of mechanical doors. Four glass cases stood on either side of the entryway in front of the door. Each was filled with ink, and most contained the form of the Lost Ones. One had the form of Boris.

“Are they…alive?” Fiona asked.

“I don’t think so. They’re not moving.” Henry still stayed away from them. He was afraid they’d come to life and attack or disappear like the ones in the Archive had.

“They’re probably just templates.” Carmine’s eyes drifted dispassionately over the figures in the cases. “Lifeless vessels to place the souls into.” Henry and Fiona shivered at his tone. It was so cold and detached. Henry moved away from the demon, pulling the lever beside the door. Slowly, the door creaked open, revealing a long hallway and…a room with a throne.

“What on earth…?” Slowly, Henry walked into the room. It was a small, circular room. In the middle was a chair that was likely supposed to be a throne on top of a pedestal. It mostly looked like a cushy armchair. Around the pedestal were projectors, projecting scenes from the various Bendy cartoons onto the walls. And resting against the chair…was an audio log. Henry was so caught up in marveling at the cartoons he didn’t notice Fiona walking by and pressing play on the recorder and picking up the reel that was on the chair.

“It’s simply awe-inspiring what one can accomplish with their own hands.”

He jumped as Joey’s voice filled the room.

“A lump of clay can turn to meaning…if you strangle it with enough enthusiasm. Look what we’ve built! We created life itself, Henry! Not just on the silver screen, but in the hearts of those we entertained with our fancy moving pictures. But…when the tickets stopped selling…When the next big thing came along…Only the monsters remained…shadows of the past. But you can save them, Henry! You can peel it all away! You see, there’s only one thing Bendy has never known. He was there for his beginning…But he’s never seen-”

“The end.” Henry and Joey said together as Fiona held up the reel for him to see. Suddenly, a hand grabbed the back of the throne. Fiona and Henry stumbled back as the Ink Demon peered at them over the back of the chair. A strange gurgling sound filled the room. Bendy lifted his right hand, watching curiously as it stretched and changed into something horrifying and massive. He held up his left and, and it followed suit. Then he ducked behind the chair, the gurgling growing louder.

“What…What’s happening?” Fiona’s voice went up an octave. She clutched the reel to her chest, taking a step back.

“He’s changing.” Carmine almost sounded amused, which absolutely did not help the situation at all. What appeared to be horns poked up over the back of the chair. Suddenly, one massive hand grabbed the back of the chair while the other grabbed the arm, and the beast pulled itself into view. It no longer resembled Bendy the Dancing Demon. The thing before them was a monster, plain and simple. It lowered itself onto the chair, opening a mouth filled with dozens of jagged teeth, and roared. Henry’s breath caught in his throat as the creature drew back one hand and backhanded him out of the room.

When he got up, the beast was thundering through a maze-like area he didn’t recognize, with thin passageways divided by columns.

“What- What’s going on?” He yelled, looking around wildly.

“We need to flip switches to open a door!” Fiona yelled back. “At least, um, that’s what Carmine says!”

“Well, I don’t have another plan!” Henry pulled out the looking glass, searching for any signs. There were arrows on the floor. Good. That meant someone was still looking out for him. As he prepared to exit the little alcove he was in, the beast thundered past him, apparently from an ink splotch on the wall.

“Be care of that beast!” He yelled. “It shows up from ink puddles!”

“Got it!” Fiona replied.

What ensued was frankly rather awful. Fiona and Henry darted from safe alcove to safe alcove, trying desperately to find the levers. Henry got knocked on his ass more than once, while Fiona proved to be rather good at running and hiding. Carmine was helping as well, appearing and reappearing in random places to flip switches they couldn’t reach. Finally, they managed to flip the last one. As soon as it was flipped, they bolted to the open door, ignoring all the cases filled with Lost Ones. They only stopped running once they figured they were far enough away, the doors closing behind them.

“Oh…God…” Fiona panted. “I forgot…how much…I hate…running.”

“I’m too old for this.” Henry groaned.

“It’s not over yet.” Carmine pointed to another set of doors in front of them, which were slowly opening to reveal a new room with four clear pipes. More cartoon clips were playing in this room.

“You know, you are really not being helpful,” Fiona said, grabbing Carmine’s arm.

“I can’t fill much of a role at the moment.” Carmine shrugged. “These things need to be done by you two.”

“What are you talking about?” Fiona demanded. Carmine didn’t answer, gently turning her and pushing her into the room. Henry was inspecting it as best he could. Who’s Laughing Now was written in ink on the back wall, but they’d seen that message before. There was a door at the back on the right wall, but it wasn’t clear how they were supposed to get that open.

“So, I guess there’s something we gotta press or some valve we gotta turn,” Fiona said, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn’t going to get any answers from Carmine.

“There’s a valve here.” Henry pointed to a valve on the right wall, next to a panel with four numbered lights. As he turned it, ink began to flow through the glass pipes. Fiona was about to praise him, until the beast-like version of the Ink Demon appeared. Then she screamed. Henry also screamed, frantically running away from the beast. The beast, of course, gave chase. To an outside observer, say, Carmine, the situation was rather hilarious. It was like watching a Loony Tunes cartoon. The beast chased the two humans around the room, slamming into walls and shattering the glass pipes. However, to Fiona and Henry, it was absolutely terrifying.

As the fourth glass pipe broke, the room suddenly went dark. But the light from the newly opened door provided some comfort, and the two humans ran through it and into another hallway. Their hearts were pounding, their breath coming in gasps. As they came to the end of the hallway, they found themselves right outside the throne room.

“The reel!” Henry yelled, gesturing to the reel Fiona still clutched to her chest. “We need to put it in the projector.” Fiona nodded, making a beeline for the projector with Henry and Carmine behind her. They scrambled into the throne room and Fiona tried to put the reel in. Her hands were shaking so hard, though, that she dropped it. Henry scooped it up and placed it in, just as the beast entered the room. Henry backed up, almost falling onto the chair. Fiona cowered by one of the projectors. All the projectors had stopped. No cartoons were playing. The beast loomed before them, about to attack. Then…A projector turned on. The beast turned away, cocking its head curiously to the side. A cartoon end card appeared on the screen.

The End.

The beast roared at it, turning to another screen. But an end card appeared on that one too. One by one, the screens lit up with the end card. The beast roared, preparing to attack again. But it was driven back by a strange light, sending it to the ground. The beast tried to get back up, but the light was becoming blinding now, burning at it. The ink began to evaporate as the beast reached feebly toward Henry. Then…everything was consumed by light.

Chapter Text

When Fiona opened her eyes, she found herself in an apartment. The living room of one to be exact. There was a radio playing in a different room. The tune sounded familiar. Someone was whistling too.

“What the-?” She looked around in confusion. Hadn’t they just been in the studio? Carmine stood beside her, and Henry was standing in front of a bulletin board. She frowned, tentatively taking a step forward. It looked like an ordinary apartment. In fact, it kind of reminded her of the apartment her grandparents lived in. Especially the decorations.

“I think my grandpa has a chair like this.” She stopped in front of the paisley chair set up in front of an old-fashioned television.

“Do you notice anything different?” Carmine asked innocently.

“Anything different?” Fiona frowned, looking around again. Then her whole face lit up. “Oh, hey! We’re in color now!”

Sure enough, everything around her was in vivid color, unlike the sepia-toned nightmare of the studio. The fact that she’d never noticed the lack of color in the studio didn’t really register. Then her gaze fell on Henry. He was in black and white. That was strange. Why was he in black and white? She turned back to Carmine to ask, then realized something. They were in color. And they always had been.

“Why does…Why does Henry look like that?” She asked after another moment of examination. Henry didn’t look like her. He didn’t look…real. He looked like a stylized drawing given life. The apartment around her looked real, like the world she was used to seeing.

“What do you mean?” Carmine asked. “He’s looked like that the whole time we traveled with him.” Her mouth felt dry as she opened and closed her hands. Why hadn’t she noticed? Why hadn’t she seen how strange and stylized everything in the studio had looked? None of it had looked real. It had all looked like a cartoon come to life.

Slowly, she walked over to look at the bulletin board Henry was staring at. It was covered in letters, papers, and photographs. Some of the papers had the letterhead of the studio on them, a few with big stamps saying ‘overdue’ and ‘filed’, indicating that the studio had filed for bankruptcy. There were plans for Bendyland. Fiona read the letters aloud.

“Dear Mr. Drew,

I have to say it was a big surprise getting a letter from you after all these years! I'm surprised you even remember me from back in the old days at the studio. I mostly just swept up the place.

I’m doing good here in Florida, lots of sun for me and the Mrs. Hope you’re doing good, too. Sorry to hear about the studio closing down. You all made some great little cartoons there. They was good for some laughs.

Ok, I gotta wrap this up. The grandkids want to hit the beach so I’m outta here!

-Wally Franks”

“Ah, good to hear Franks made it out alright.” Carmine appeared at her shoulder. “I wonder who the missus might be exactly.” Fiona didn’t answer, moving on to the next letter.

“Joey,

Sorry, it’s been a while since my last letter. Been busy with work at Archgate Films. The studio ordered another sequel! So, I have been spending many hours in the recording booth again! It’s fun though. Tom is doing good, thanks for asking. He’s always tinkering on something. Mostly he’s still upset about someone stealing one of his dusty inventions from your old studio. He’ll get over it. Have a good New Year, Joey. I'll send you another recipe soon.

Warm Regards,

Allison Connor”

“I’d suspected those two were married.” Carmine laughed softly. “It sounds as though not all of Drew’s former employees are as bitter toward him as their studio counterparts.” Fiona turned away from the bulletin board, stumbling to a desk. There were what appeared to be storyboards laid out across the desk. Most of the sketches were of scenes she didn’t recognize, but there were also sketches of the Ink Demon, the pipe wrench, and the little cart that had taken them across the chasm after they’d left the Archives. To her left, she could hear someone beginning to speak.

“Henry? So soon? I didn’t expect you for another hour yet.”

“Joey?” She turned and entered the room. It was a kitchen, like the one in her grandparents’ apartment. Henry was seated at an island jutting out from the wall, staring blankly at an old man in a bathrobe washing dishes at a sink. A wheelchair and a trashcan blocked what would have been the open area between the island and the other wall, keeping the old man away from the three of them.

“Now you’re just trying to impress me.” The old man, Joey, continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “But I know…I know…You have questions…You always do!” She trailed in, standing beside Henry as Joey kept talking.

“The only important question is this: Who are we, Henry? I thought I knew who I was…But…The success starved me. Nothing left but lines on a page. In the end, we followed two different roads of our own making. You, a lovely family…Me…A crooked empire. And my road burned. I let our creations become my life. The truth is, you were always so good at pushing, old friend…” Then he turned.

Whatever Fiona had expected Joey Drew to be, he was nothing like that. He was old, likely around her grandparents’ age, his face lined with wrinkles. His greyed hair was slicked back against his head, and he had a neat pencil mustache. He was stooped with age, but still stood as straight as he could. Although there was a hint of pride in his eyes, he looked kind and tired. He looked so…ordinary. She was standing before the man who had orchestrated the hellscape Sammy and the others had been trapped in for gods knew how long, and he was just so…normal. Like a kindly grandfather.

He leaned on the counter, smiling slightly. He hadn’t seemed to notice Fiona or Carmine yet. His eyes were firmly on Henry.

“Pushing me to do the right thing.” Joey continued. “You should have pushed a little harder.”

“What the Hell is that supposed to mean?” Fiona blurted out. Annoyance and surprised registered on Joey’s face as he shifted his gaze to the young woman standing beside his old friend.

“Ah, Miss Fiona.” His smile widened a bit, clearly that of a showman. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“What do you mean, he should have pushed a little harder?” Fiona demanded.

“I think he’s insinuating that Henry should have pushed him to do the right thing,” Carmine suggested. “That Henry should have stayed and kept him from going down this road.” He stood behind Fiona, his appearance a little indistinct.

“That’s bullshit!” Fiona frowned. “It’s not his responsibility to make sure you’re not an asshole! You’re a grown man! Take responsibility for your actions! You’re the one who decided to kill all those people! You’re the one who decided to turn your studio into that horror show!”

“My dear girl, you’re getting awfully worked up over a story.” Joey chuckled. “You’re a writer yourself, aren’t you? I would think you’d know that in order for the story to be good, it needs conflict.”

“This isn’t a story!” Fiona yelled back at him.

“But it is,” Joey said. “It’s just a story. No one was hurt. No one died. You saw the letters, didn’t you? My employees are fine.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say no one was hurt or died. But yes, it is a story.” Carmine muttered, but Fiona didn’t seem to hear the first part. Joey did, his gaze flicking briefly to Carmine before returning to Fiona.

“So…None of it was real?” Fiona whispered, staring at Joey from across the counter. “It was all just…a story?” She looked back at Carmine. “Did you know about this?”

“I figured it out halfway through.” Carmine smiled apologetically. “Something about it felt familiar. I realized that was because we were going through a story. One that Joey’s been telling for a long time now.” Fiona turned her gaze to Henry, who was just watching Joey with an unreadable expression on his face. It was as though all the personality had gone out of him. Like a puppet waiting for someone to pull his strings.

“It’s not…How long have you been doing this?” Fiona asked, looking back to Joey. “How long have you been putting them all through this?”

“Quite a while,” Joey said. He might have felt remorse for it, but it was unclear. His expression was hard to read on the best of days.

“How…How could you do this?” Fiona leaned on the counter as if to steady herself. “How could you torture them all like this?” She felt like she was on the verge of tears. The people she’d saved, Sammy, Bertram, Susie, none of it had mattered. It was all just going to be reset and they were all going to keep suffering.

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset.” Joey shrugged his shoulders slightly. “They’re just characters. Nothing more than creations meant to parody people I knew.”

“They’re not just characters!” She slammed a fist down on the counter before quickly pulling it back, wincing.

“They’re not just characters.” She repeated, her voice softer. “I don’t know how you made them real…But you did. Wherever they exist, they exist. They have thoughts, feelings, personalities. I touched them!” She lifted her eyes to meet his. “They’re more than characters now. And they deserve closure. They deserve a real ending. Not just repeating the same story over and over.” Joey watched her, his brow slightly furrowed.

“What an interesting young lady you are.”

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not,” Fiona said. “But it’s a shit ending, regardless.”

“Well, my dear,” Joey leaned on the counter and looked her in the eye. “How do you want it to end?” Fiona stared at him for a moment, then sat down on a stool beside Henry.

“Let me tell you.”

.

Henry could hear the beast version of Bendy thundering behind him. He was almost at the throne. He could play the reel. He could end this. He stopped in front of the projector, the reel clutched in his hands. He could end this. But he didn’t. He let the reel fall from his hands, clattering to the floor. The old animator turned around, facing down the demon. The beast paused in front of Henry, tilting its head to the side curiously.

“I don’t want to fight,” Henry said, his shoulders slumping. “Not anymore, please.” The beast made an almost curious noise, but didn’t try to attack Henry.

“I’m sorry, Bendy. I’m so sorry.” He took a step forward, holding a hand out. The beast growled, snapping at his fingers. Henry withdrew his hand and stepped back.

“If I’d known Joey would do all of this, I never would have left you.” He continued, standing a good distance away. “I’m sorry I let him do all this to you. I know it doesn’t make up for what he did, but I want you to know I’m here now. And this time, when I leave, you’re coming with me.” The monster stared at him for a moment, puzzled. Then it began to shake, little whimpering noises coming from it. And all at once it collapsed into a pile of ink, still shivering and sniffling. Henry smiled softly, kneeling before the lump.

“You’re my son.” He said. “No matter how much Joey twisted you, you’re still my son and I love you. I will always love you.”

“Really?” A little head peeked out of the ink puddle, one eye covered by dripping ink, the other wide and fearful.

“Really.” Henry nodded, opening his arms. “Now come here.” Bendy hesitated for a moment, then launched himself into Henry’s arms, starting to sob.

“I’ve got you.” Henry murmured as he patted Bendy’s back. “I’ve got you, son.”

Outside, Allison and Tom were waiting. Allison had taken possession of the bag of souls, all of whom were silent. Susie had tried to make conversation at first, but had quickly stopped. The fear was gnawing at all of them. Henry, Fiona, and Carmine had been gone for quite a long time now. Suddenly, the bag began to shake and glow. Before Allison could ask what was wrong, the bag exploded and three human figures fell onto the ground. Allison recognized the bodies and the faces attached to them. There was Sammy, although she’d never seen him with a beard before. There was Susie, but without makeup or her nicer dresses. There was Bertram, dressed in more casual clothing. Allison supposed this was what they’d looked like when Joey had sacrificed them. When she looked up at Tom, her breath caught in her throat. The ink was melting away, revealing the face she’d seen in that photograph. He was a little bit older, with more wrinkles on his face and more grey in his hair, but he was the man from the photograph.

“Tom?” She took a step toward him, extending her arm. It was then that she saw the ink dripping off her own body. Tom looked down at himself, down at the three former souls who were struggling to their feet, then at Allison.

“Alli?” His voice was hoarse from disuse, and unsure, but it was his. As the ink dripped from her body, memories began to flood Allison’s mind. Tears sprung up in her eyes.

“Tom.” She threw herself onto him, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight. “I remember! I remember you!” Tom visibly relaxed, hugging her closer to him.

“I love you.” He whispered. God, it was so good to be able to talk again. There had been so many things he’d wanted to say to her. But she hadn’t remembered who she’d been, what they’d been, and he hadn’t been able to speak. A few feet away, Bertram had gotten to his feet and was dusting himself off while Susie hugged Sammy and sobbed.

“It’s okay.” Sammy murmured, patting her back. “We’re okay.”

“I-I thought I’d never g-get to hold you a-again.” She sobbed into his shoulder.

“Why’re you crying?” Both Sammy and Susie were startled by a voice that was a strange mixture of Allison and Susie’s from behind them. Turning, they found a small cartoon Alice Angel standing there, with a Boris forming beside her.

“She’s happy to be human again,” Bertram explained, adjusting his cuffs.

“Oh, okay!” Alice smiled wide. The other humans just stared at the toons. Tom was doing the math in his mind. The ink that had come from him and Allison had likely created them. He’d been a Boris and Allison had been an Alice, so it was only natural that was what the ink had formed. It seemed Boris had drawn in some extra ink in order to form the rest of his arm, judging from the circle of untouched ground around the wolf.

“I guess this means Henry did it,” Allison said, leaning her head on Tom’s shoulder.

“Seems like it.” Tom agreed. Sure enough, they saw a figure making its way through the sea of ink, clutching a smaller form to its chest. Henry dragged himself out of the ink, putting Bendy down. The little demon lit up upon seeing Boris and Alice, running over and hugging them. Susie had separated from Sammy, choosing to talk quietly with Alice.

“You did it.” Allison smiled at Henry. “You set us free!”

“Where are the others?” Sammy asked, getting to his feet.

“The others?” Henry frowned slightly. “What are you talking about?”

“There were…You went in with two others, didn’t you?” Sammy struggled to put thoughts into words, the memory of the couple they’d traveled with already slipping from everyone’s memories.

“Well, if he went in with anyone, I’m sure they’re fine,” Bertram said. “I, for one, would very much like to get out of here now.”

“You said it, grandpa!” Bendy agreed, pausing in his joyful reunion to nod at Bertram. Bertram just rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Henry said, starting down the hallway that led back into the studio.

As they ascended the levels of the studio, they collected other former employees who were now freed from the ink’s clutches. Many of Sammy’s congregation were waiting for them in the Lost One village, greeting them with tears and hugs. They explained the others were waiting in their safe room on level S. They had to take a few trips with the boat to get everyone across the ink river, but they had time, and the giant hand Henry had encountered was thankfully gone.

On the Bendyland level, Bertram was reunited with Lacie, who slapped the back of his head and called him an idiot for terrorizing everyone with the octopus ride. Regardless, they both were happy to see each other again. Also on that level, found Shawn, Grant, and Norman. It seemed Grant, Lacie, and Shawn had been the Butcher Gang members gathered around the trash fire. Norman was found lying on the floor in front of the Little Miracle Station, passed out. When they left Bendyland, they ran into Wally, who was in the middle of trying to clamber through the vents.

Eventually, once they’d found everyone, they made their way up to the first level and finally to the exit. When Henry opened the door, they all recoiled from the sunlight, their eyes unused to such brightness. But once they were used to it, they all stepped out into the daytime, relishing in the warmth and the fresh air. The toons, who’d never been outside the studio before, were all fascinated by the new world, screaming and running around. Henry smiled softly at their antics, glancing briefly back at the studio door. It was over. All of it was over. He never had found Joey, in the end.

“Goodbye, old friend.” He whispered, before turning back to the group. It was time to go home.

In the years that followed, the couple they’d met in the studio vanished from their minds. It had never been their story to begin with, after all. Their involvement was unimportant. What was important was that the employees trapped in the studio had been able to move on. They’d gotten their lives back. And they would be forever grateful to Henry Stein for giving it back to them.

.

“The end.” Fiona finished. Joey watched her. He’d sat down in order to listen, resting his chin on this steepled hands.

“Interesting.” He said. Henry had somehow vanished as soon as Fiona had started telling her version of the ending. Fiona sat back, folding her arms.

“They deserve closure.” She repeated. “A proper ending. It’s not fair to keep sending them through the same thing over and over again without the promise of a concrete ending.”

“I have a concrete ending,” Joey replied.

“It’s a bullshit ending is what it is!” Fiona snapped. “It just ends so that you can start it all over! There’s no closure!”

“Well, I didn’t write the story for anyone else. I wrote it for myself.” Joey’s voice lowered, and it became clear that Fiona had exhausted his showman persona. He was getting fed up with this interloper who had shown up, changed his story, and then had the gall to tell him he was doing it wrong.

“You’re a shit writer.” Fiona stood firm. She’d gotten worked up enough that she didn’t even care that she was telling off someone she hardly knew. She was tired, she was covered in ink, she hadn’t taken her meds in nearly a week, and she needed to eat something that wasn’t stale bacon soup.

“You’re a very rude little girl.” Joey’s smile vanished, his brows pulling down in a frown.

“You’re an awful person.” Fiona fired back. “You wrote a story where you killed and sacrificed your workers! That’s seriously fucked up!”

“You don’t get to judge me,” Joey growled. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

“I do get to judge you!” Fiona stood up so abruptly she sent her chair screeching back. “This isn’t just a story! You’ve got a fucking pocket dimension where you’re torturing people! I don’t care if they’re just characters, there are people there and they’re suffering!” She slammed her hands on the counter, staring him down. “You ran your studio into the ground! You made everyone who worked under you miserable! You are a selfish narcissistic bastard and you have no one to blame for your mistakes but yourself!” She stopped, breathing heavily. She was on the verge of tears now, her emotions overflowing. Carmine had dipped out during her rant, now coming back.

“I’m assuming the ink machine in the spare room is where Henry and the others came from.” He said. “It’s the machine you took from the studio that Mr. Connor is so upset about losing, isn’t it?”

“…That is correct.” Joey replied through gritted teeth.

“They’re living beings and you’re putting them through Hell.” Fiona narrowed her eyes. Joey stared down at the counter and at his hands. For a long time, the three of them sat in silence in Joey’s kitchen.

“Henry was the one who always pushed me to do the right thing.” Joey finally spoke, his shoulders slumping. “I spiraled after he left. I thought that if I could get him back to the studio, he could fix things. He could dispel the demons.” He chuckled quietly. “But we’re both old men now. It would be unreasonable to make an old man go through that gauntlet.”

“So you made a character based on him to do it in his place,” Carmine concluded. “To fix everything the way he always used to.”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t make it better.” Fiona’s frown deepened. “You can’t just rely on him to fix everything for you! Deal with your unresolved issues like a normal person! Go to therapy or something! God!” She threw her hands up in the air. Joey just sighed.

“What do you want?” He asked. “I’ve killed no one. You have no claim to my soul.” Fiona glanced at Carmine, who smiled in a way that made Joey distinctly uncomfortable.

“In a sense, you’re right. I have no claim to your soul.” The demon replied. “This isn’t my story. But I’m sure there are quite a lot of people who would love to hear about your little pocket dimension.” Joey’s face paled.

“Now, Fiona and I are going to leave.” Carmine continued. “But I’m going to make sure to keep tabs on you. And if you try something like this again, I’ll let all those you wronged in your story know just how to find you.”  

“You can do that?” Fiona’s eyes widened.

“They can’t come here!” Joey sputtered, trying to reclaim some semblance of power.

“Oh, but they can.” Carmine’s smile widened. “That door,” he pointed to a door to his right. “Is where you send Henry after your spiel. It leads directly to your little pocket dimension. I’m sure there’s some way for them reverse engineer it so that they can use it to get here.” Joey visibly swallowed, his face as pale as it could conceivably go.

“Let’s go.” Carmine looked down at Fiona, his smile turning soft. She nodded, latching onto Carmine’s arm. Carmine shot Joey one last warning glare before gently leading Fiona out.

Somehow, when they left Joey’s apartment, they found themselves outside the studio again. Their car was there, with their bags and everything. It looked as though no time had passed at all.

“I expect our reservation at the hotel is still good.” Carmine started toward the car, Fiona still clinging to him.

“D’ya think the real versions of everyone are out here?” She mumbled, starting to fall asleep.

“I’m sure they are.” Carmine maneuvered her into the passenger seat, buckling her in. “Let’s get you to the hotel now. You need to rest.”

“Mm.” Fiona yawned, then fell asleep. It was over. It was all over.

.

.

In his apartment, Joey lowered himself into his armchair, trying to calm himself from that utterly horrifying encounter. He was starting to become rather glad he’d never actually managed to summon a demon. If they were all that terrifying, he didn’t want to ever meet another one.

"Dad?"

He looked up to see Audrey standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Hello, sweetheart." His expression softened. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"A little." She shuffled over to clamber onto his lap. "Those people sounded mad. Did you do something bad?"

"I..." Joey faltered. "I did. But...I'm going to try to do better in the future."

He had to do better. For Audrey. Even if it was only for a little while, he was going to be better for his daughter. 

Whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to move on now. No more dwelling on the demons of the past. That chapter of his story was over. But a new chapter was beginning. A new chapter with his wonderful daughter.

And if he was lucky, no one would ever find out about the twisted story he'd orchestrated, especially not Audrey.

Joey was not lucky, however. Audrey would find out about his crimes in the future, when she too found herself stumbling into the inky hellscape her father had created.

But that's a different story.