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Henry had honestly thought nothing would get worse then fighting tooth and nail everyday in a war zone.
He honestly thought that there was no way going to the old studio to see Joey would yield anything other then a tense conversation at best and a shouting match at worst.
But nope, life just loved showing off all the ways Henry Ross’s life could just keep spiraling down into insanity. Because that was the only way he could even begin to describe the state of the old studio.
Absolute insanity.
Oh sure, when he first walked in everything had seemed fine. A little run down and sorely in need of a paint job but nothing to unusual.
And then there had been the huge hunk of steel that was labeled the ink machine, the weird shrine room that required offering from each department and the mutilated Boris strapped to a table.
Henry really was not sure why he hadn’t had the good sense to run by that point. Any normal, sensible human being would have left long, long before Henry even entertained the idea that maybe he should call it quits and go home. But, dammit, his stupid self had refused to leave until he at least got to see what that ink machine thing did.
And his stubborn curiosity had gotten him some deformed version of his old cartoon demon chasing him through the studio and a painful fall deeper into the building. Oh, and Sammy was apparently insane now too and figured Henry would make a fine human sacrifice to a cartoon!
All in all, as Henry chopped through boarded up doorways with an axe he’d found, he figured that by that point things could not get any more crazy.
And then Bendy had leaped out of a pool of ink right in front of him.
Henry didn’t even try to look where he was going, he just ran. He could hear Bendy behind him, his clunky footsteps almost as loud as the heartbeat pounding in Henry’s ears. He rounded a corner and he felt a small spark of hope when he saw the door at the end if the hallway. He could at least buy himself some time, barricade the door and gain some ground.
His hope plummeted when his foot caught on a loose board and he went down. His jaw cracked painfully against the floor, enough for his vision to blur and his brain to stutter. When his focus returned he was suddenly on his back and staring up at an unnervingly wide grin.
Henry’s arm immediately snapped up, aiming to drive his axe into the thing, but his weapon was grabbed by Bendy and held in place by a surprisingly unyielding grip. Henry struggled, kicking out and trying to yank the axe back into his control, but Bendy didn’t even flinch. It wrenched the axe out of Henry’s hand and tossed it aside. Henry was starting to panic. He’d managed to keep a somewhat level head through all the madness but he was pinned, unarmed and at the mercy of the monster on top of him.
Bendy leaned down and Henry froze, squeezing his eyes shut, preparing for the end to come. Of all the ways he envisioned his death, being tore apart by his own toon had not once crossed his mind. He hoped for at least a quick end.
He could feel Bendy leaning in closer, ink dripping off its lanky form and onto his shirt and face. Henry tensed, waiting for the final blow to come-
Two spindly arms wrapped tightly around his torso and swept him off the floor. A yelp caught in Henry’s throat, coming out as a shaky wheeze as the thing that had been chasing him close like he was some kind of teddy bear.
It was official, Henry was nuts. He had completely cracked. Goodbye normalcy, Henry Ross has hopped aboard the one way train to crazy town because there was now way this was happening.
Bendy made a low gurgling noise, which sounded like someone drowning, and loosened his grip slightly. The realization that he had extra wiggle room was enough to snap Henry out of his shock.
He twisted and kicked and managed to throw Bendy off balance enough to get free. He started running the second his feet touched the floor, bolting through the door, slamming it shut before continuing to run down another hallway, looking frantically for a hiding place.
He heard a loud screeching noise behind him but didn’t dare move his focus from his goal. Hide and wait and pray that Bendy didn’t have a weird sixth sense to find him no matter where he was. He rounded a corner and zeroed in on what looked like a mini confessional, a simple wooden box with a small window cut in the door.
Good enough for him.
Henry threw the door open and scrabbled inside, for once thankful that his below average stature meant he avoided clonking his head on the top of the box and, when the door was shut, was the perfect height to peer out the window. Henry put a hand over his mouth, trying to quite his breathing as he waited.
He had to wait much longer then he thought he would have before Bendy came limping into view. How the hell the demon had managed to catch him when he was hobbling around like that, Henry had no clue.
Painfully slow, Bendy moved closer. One uneven pace after another at a time, closer and closer…
And stopped right in front of Henry’s hiding spot.
Come on, Henry mentally groaned.
Bendy made another gurgling noise and turned its head from side to side. Henry narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he could make it leave if he glared hard enough. But the thing was not done surprising Henry, because the next sound it made almost caused Henry to jump.
It was a miserable sound, almost like a wail but garbled and distorted which only added to how pitiful it sounded. Bendy started to tremble halfway through the wail, one hand coming up to rub at the mess of ink where its eyes should have been. It made another wailing sound, louder then the first.
…dammit, Henry did not feel bad for the thing. It was clearly a monster, something he could absolutely not trust in any way. Even if the first thing it had done when it had caught him was to hug Henry and seemed pretty distressed that it couldn’t find him again but it didn’t mean a damn thing!
……Henry cursed old age for making him soft.
He inched the door open and slid out, completely visible and vulnerable. Bendy was rubbing at its face with both hands and didn’t seem to notice him.
Henry took a breath, “Heeey buddy,” dear god he was an idiot.
The reaction to his voice was almost instant. Bendy’s head snapped up and barely a second later Henry found himself struggling under an armful of inky demon. He struggled to keep his footing, brain flipping between what the hell is wrong with me?! and how the hell is this thing so heavy?!
Bendy made that butchered crying noise again, arms and legs wrapping around Henry like a koala. And Henry, lost on what else to do, carefully patted its back, “Uhh, it’s fine bud. I’m….here.”
Bendy made another garbled noise that Henry was far to overwhelmed to try interpreting and honest to god nuzzled into his shoulder.
Henry froze again, because Bendy was acting far too much like an overgrown child for his liking, when his back decided to remind him why he was supposed to be keeping heavy lifting to a minimum.
Bendy’s head jerked up when Henry hissed in pain and released its death grip and moving back to stand on its own. Henry groaned as he leaned down enough to put his hands on his knees as his muscles loosened. He felt a large hand lightly touch his back and heard Bendy make garbled noises that almost sounded like concern. Henry waved him off and stumbled to the closest wall. His limbs were starting to feel like jelly as the adrenaline wore off and his brain was still trying to process that Bendy was in the real world and behaving like a kid. He slid down the wall, tilting his head back until it thumped lightly on the old wood, “What the hell is going on?”
He didn’t get an answer. Not a verbal one anyway. He heard a thump next to him and looked over to see that Bendy had sat down next to him, hands folded over its crossed legs and the far too wide grin was still plastered onto its face.
They both stared at each other for awhile before Henry broke the silence, “Any reason you’re not, I dunno, tearing me apart?”
Bendy jerked and while its mouth didn’t change from the toothy grin, it was clearly horrified by the idea. And Henry was starting to think that ‘it’ was not a fitting way to think of Bendy.
Bendy leaned towards Henry, making a sad gurgling sound as he rested his head on top of Henry’s. Ink started to drip from Bendy, into Henry’s hair and down the side of his face. Henry grimaced but patted Bendy’s back again, “Right, then we’ll just sit here awhile.”
Bendy made a noise that sounded happy before shuffling around a bit to lean more against Henry’s side. Henry frowned but didn’t dare move. Bendy might not want to hurt him but there was nothing wrong with caution. Plus, he doubted he could get up for at least a few more minutes.
So he sat there, with a tall, malnourished version of his toon leaning on him, wondering why the hell he’d thought coming back to the studio was a good idea.