Chapter Text
Henry stood in the hallway, staring at the flicking cartoon being projected on the far wall. He sighed heavily, turning to his left and dragging his finger across the wall.
This loop would be his 176th time going through the studio. He held up the truth lens, examining each mark. It was obvious when he started to lose his claws.
“Alright Joey, I’m here. Let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see.”
He hooked the lens to his belt and started off down the hallway. At least he knew there wasn't anything dangerous in this first area. Just a lot of ink.
“Henry! How are ya, buddy?”, a chipper voice startled Henry, as it seemingly came out of nowhere.
He jumped slightly, then relaxed. The voice was coming from inside his head.
“Hey, Bendy.”
It was surprisingly comforting to have a companion. After all, this body was mostly Bendy. Of course it would come with a little devil darling. It's not like he wasn't insane already. Henry began walking again, looking around for…he actually couldn't remember.
“The ink machine is the other way, goofus.”
“Huh? You sure? I could have sworn it was this way…” Henry tried to give Bendy a hard look, but it was hard to look within himself as he was piloting the body.
“Come on! I would never lie to you, Henry.”
Henry sighed and turned on his heel, grumbling under his breath to himself as he walked away. He could have sworn he had to walk by his old desk to get to it. The walk seemed so much longer than it usually did. He definitely didn't remember that darn brick, and he almost tripped over it before walking into…
Yes, this was definitely it. There were these massive chains hanging down from the ceiling, and they descended into the darkness below with no clear attachment. As he had done so many times before, Henry grabbed the two batteries and diligently slotted them into the receptacle before flipping the switch.
It always did something to him to see that massive machine rise out of the dark. It filled his stomach with a pit of dread, but somewhere there was also a sense of…relief? Nostalgia? Comfort? He wasn't unpacking that now.
“We have to start it up!” Bendy sounded estatic.
“Yeah. Got it,” Henry replied, not matching Bendy’s enthusiasm at all.
Henry stared at the ink machine for a few more seconds before leaving. Then it was just a short, very creaky walk-
Henry couldn't help but jump as the board hit the ground. It always spooked him.
“What a safety hazard.”
He laughed drily at his own dumb joke as he entered the control room. As expected, nothing was on. The pedestals stood empty and the room was dark.
“Well, oh mighty demon…do we begin?”
“Yeah! Can we get the wrench first? That part always gives me the jeebies, reaching I to Boris' chest like that!” Bendy made a sound like he had gotten cobwebs on his face.
“You got it, boss.” Henry walked out of the room, and for the second time he jumped in suprise. A familiar face grinned at him from a cardboard cutout.
“Who keeps putting these in the way?” Henry batted in aside and kept walking.
And there it was. The Boris with its chest open. In all the things that got muddied together in Henry's brain, this never did. Still, he just sighed and reached in to grab the wrench.
"Sorry, whoever you were. I hope things get better.”
He turned and put the wrench on one of the pedestals and headed out again. He walked past the Boris, checking each door and peeking in each closet on his way through. When he saw the tape recorder on the table, he was tempted to listen, but he had already heard it a million times before. It made him annoyed. He just pressed on, finding the Bendy doll on the chair.
Bendy kept oddly silent as Henry collected the items. The book in the break room (of course Joey had his own book put in the breakroom), the gear in the ink machine room (hell to carry, he felt blessed the room was close by), the record in the tiny office in the side hallway (what music was on it? Henry still felt curious about that), and finally the ink bottle from under the desk (don't drink it don’t drink it don't drink it). Each were placed on their own pedestal back in the control room.
Nothing happened. Henry scratched his head. “I could have sworn that what was turned it on…”
Bendy whistled. “You gotta find the turn wheel thingamajig! Then you get the ink pumping. You gotta write this stuff down, Henry!”
“Yeah, I know. I do.”
"You don't write down anything useful! Just depressing junk. You're losing your touch old man!”
Henry laughed.
"Old man? Oh, please.”
Henry set off in search of the “turnwheel thingamajig”, which was a valve in one of the makeshift screening rooms. Henry turned it. Ink squelched out of the pipes and Henry cringed. He really hated that noise now. The place really started to sound alive, with the groaning of the pipes and the sound of ink gushing through them. It only got worse when he got back to the control room.
Henry stood there, holding the handle of the switch. He couldn't bring himself to pull it. The groaning and creaking got louder in his ears, and he swore he could hear distant screaming. His heart pounded and his vision blurred as he panicked, but finally forced himself to flip the switch. He backed up slowly, almost staggering.
“Nothing bad happened.”
To his horror, Bendy didn't reply. Didn't even make a quip. He gulped. His mouth felt dry, and all he could taste was bitter. Like poison. He slowly backed towards the ink machine room. He was probably missing something in there.
The room was empty, but loud. The creaking was loud, filling Henry's head. Still, it felt eerily calm. He lifted up the truth lens. He laughed just slightly, but in the time it took for him to read “Boo!” over top of the door the one thing he thought he'd never forget appeared, reaching at him through the boards.
The Ink Demon.
Henry fell back, but quickly righted himself and ran as fast as his legs would take him. He didn't look back. Ink began to overtake the hallway like a black hole sucking in all light, and running through the ink felt like quicksand. A horrible squelching, goopy noise followed him. The whole place begam to shake uncontrolably, like it was going to be broken apart at any second. He remembered a moment too late that the floorboards weren't stable. He plummeted to the floor below, righting ink a river of ink.
At least after he fell he was safe. He pushed himself up, shaking himself out.
“God…am I always that slow?”
“Yep!”
Henry rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”
He pulled himself through the ink to the nearest valve and turned it. The ink began to drain. Henry took this opportunity to take a deep breath and just stand there for a minute before heading down the stairs to drain the next room. The adrenaline was wearing off, but he felt blessed he wasn't quite tired yet.
Slogging through the ink was horrible enough without feeling like your legs were going to fall off. After he drained the last room, Henry sat down and put his head in his hands.
“Can this loop be over already? I’m tired.”
"Aww, but we just got started Hen-” Bendy interrupted himself with a fit of laughter.
“What's so funny?”
Bendy barely stopped laughing to reply “You're a chicken!”
“I am not!” Henry didn't expect to be so offended by Bendy’s teasing.
“You are! Hen! Henry! You're a hen!”
“No, I am a grown man. I am not a female chicken!”
"Ok, but how do you know?”
Henry paused. “Because…I am not a chicken? Or a female?”
"You suuuuure?”
Henry didn't respond.
"You just don't appreciate my artistic genius. Fine! Suffer then!” Bendy scoffed like a rich man talking to a peasant.
Henry rolled his eyes and got up, going to the next room. As soon as he saw the axe on the table he knew what he had to do. With the rage of a man who was just bullied by the equivalent of a child he chopped the boards covering his exit to bits. It felt good. The boards over the next doorway went just as easily.
Then Henry's stomach dropped. There was some sort of summoning circle in the middle of the room. He backed up.
“I am not going near that.”
No answer.
"Bendy? Bendy, come on, say something…” His vision started to flicker like an old tape. Flashes of memories filled his vision. The ink machine…a wheelchair…the ink demon holding his hand out to Henry, grabbing for him. Right before he passed out, he saw one final thing.
Why was Joey smiling like that?