Chapter Text
Bendy clawed at the ground, instead of hitting Black Hat like wanted to. That stupid old demon managed to back away. He growled. Bendy was trying to unleash his power now to not make it overflow and explode later. But, even though his shadows wanted to let loose, his mind sure didn’t. Hat came from the other side and slammed him with a shadow tendril of his own through Bendy’s stomach. The air left the smaller demon's lungs. He smacked hard against the stone wall, leaving a crack.
"You are trying to hold back! If you do not want to kill seriously like a true demon would then let loose now!" Black Hat's eye flashed red.
"I can’t, you cussing hat accessory!" Bendy hissed back, rubbing his aching stomach. His mentor reapearred near him in flames of green. The older demon picked Bendy up by his collar.
"Oh? And why is that? A child fledgling is way more capable than you! You can’t even let loose! That doesn’t even take practise! Just chaos! Bloodthrist! What the hell kind of demon are you?" He shook the fledgling with each word and anger. Bendy only growled. He knew his eyes were a crimson red. He could sense his shadows moving with Bendy’s anger. Murklin, sitting with Felix and a now-standing Mugman in the far back, wrote something down in his notebook. Where was Cuphead?
"Okay, Hat that’s enough. That won’t work." The cup materialized behind the demon. He dropped Bendy on his tail. It hurt a bit, but not by much. Bendy saw how Felix watched with worry. He didn’t want for him to do this, but there wasn’t a choice.
"Then what do you propose?" The older one glanced at the fledgling. He looked back at Cuphead, his hands behind his back. He was definitely annoyed, but seemed interested in what the dish had to say. Then Mugs poofed up to them in puff of smoke. He put a hand on Cuphead.
"We may need to go to the harsh side for this." Mugs grimaced and looked at Bendy, who was now sitting on the ground. The shadows seemed frozen for now. Weird.
"You mean you're going to need to do that again? Like in Talent Town?" Felix ran over to Bendy and put a hand on his back, the other giving Bendy a water bottle. He carefully opened it and took a few sips. It was pretty hard to move right now. He didn’t want alerting the shadows. "I don’t think that's the best idea..." The cat looked at his son with concerned eyes.
"If we don’t do this, it will turn out a lot worse, cat. You know that. What happened last time? You were there. You know what he's capable of at his lowest. We need to make sure his power stays stable." Cuphead explained. Bendy felt that he was slightly annoyed, but mostly worried. Well whaddya know?
"But-" Bendy cut his dad off. "It’s alright, Felix. Really. I don’t want to hurt anyone more. Let them do this. We have someone that can handle this! They proved themselves back then." He pleaded with Felix, even though he didn’t want to do this either. The cat hesitantly nodded.
"Yeah... Okay." Bendy sighed and stood up. "Let’s do this." He circled his shoulder. Murklin's tails swished with excitement. Felix and Hat came to join the kid on the sidelines. They were ready to step in at any time-
"Hey, shrimp! Why don’t you want to be yourself? Be free! Let loose! Don’t let stupid common sense cloud your instincts!" Cuphead shouted, a smug smile on his face. Bendy felt that the dish was excited (psycho), concerned and... scared. No wonder, he got his arm nearly bitten off last time. Either way, a few of Bendy’s nerves reacted.
"Be what you were supposed to be! A murderer! A monster!" He yelled, arms out, a sadistic grin replaced the smug smile.
"Monster?" He whispered under his breath. No, he wasn’t one. He wasn’t!
"We should probably end the people you 'care' about to see your true colors." Mugs joined in. The two brothers were circling the demon now. Bendy saw Felix's ears dug into his skull with disproval at the corner of his eye.
"Yeah! Wonder what will you do once we take care of the taint you created by being up there! It was a mistake you ever ended up on the Surface! Boris will die because of you! Many have died because of you! Many will die!"
"Shut up!" Bendy growled. His claws dug deep into rock.
He heard someone whisper behind his back, but he didn’t care. He tried to keep control. Suddenly everything engulfed in darkness. It wasn’t Bendy’s darkness. It was a lot less solid than what he was used to. Bendy glanced around. He saw shadows of people, toons and demons, angels he didn’t know. They threw insults at him. They called him a mistake. A monster. That he should die or kill everyone. The Cup bros still kept on their act. This... This! Enough!
ENOUGH!
Cup watched as the shadow puppets Murklin had set up disintegrated in one punch to the ground. Solid red eyes flashed in the dust. The other fledgling's eyes widened. He seemed taken aback that Bendy just disperssed his magic like that. And it seemed they really pissed him off this time. Good. But Cuphead's chest was filled with cold dread. Oh yeah, also, he couldn’t feel Bendy’s emotions anymore. But maybe that was for the better.
The dust finally settled. One of Hat's brows were raised. Murklin and Felix were on their feet now, on guard. Just as Cup and his bro were.
Finally, the shrimp's small body showed up. Cuphead's eyes widened. Now, don’t get him wrong, Cup would never be afraid of his best friend, but damn. Now he was an animal.
Solid red eyes cursed Cuphead's soul. Such hatred and... power. Bendy was on all fours, tail lashing wildly. His spines seemed to bristle back and forth every once in a while. The air was full with magic and solid darkness. The most animalistic screech Cup had ever heard from anyone or anything left the demon's lungs. The dish blinked. The demon disappeared from view.
Damnit.
***
Felix watched as the area suddenly changed from a well-lit training room to a nearly pitch-black one. He had his hand on his bag. Despite here being many powerful and capable people and demons to help Bendy, he could get a lucky hit in. To anyone. So the cat had to be careful. He’d never be afraid of his son, but he also didn’t want for the poor guy to feel guilt for hurting him when he wakes up.
Felix had his ears perked. Now that demon could be anywhere. Murklin decided to tuck his notebook back into his pocket. His eyes slightly glowed in the new-found darkness. They all had their guard up. Felix’s breath showed before him nearly as thick as smoke from a cigarette. That was how cold it was.
But… Where was Bendy? He still hadn’t showed up-
A nasty, low snarl got from somewhere near them. A sound of claws against the stone followed. He was near. The kid fledgling near the cat narrowed his eyes. Hat didn’t show any emotion that Felix found worth noting.
He heard Cup take a deep breath. “Hey! Coward! How about you stop playing around? Not all of us can wait ‘till you shrivel up and die!” The cat heard Mugman say ‘Cup!’ before a flash of a claw slashed through the ground. There was a deep crack in there now. Definitely with killing intent. The cup brothers managed to jump away just in time.
Bendy’s mentor just hummed. “They are partially right. This is taking too long. Even for a rogue demon, he is thinking far too sneaky. This is merely supposed to be instinct.” Black Hat put a hand on his chin. His eye narrowed.
Then- in a few seconds the old demon ended up in the middle of the area. A large flash on an even darker body than the room itself came right after. The wall turned into a bunch of useless rubble where he stood. Felix and Murklin jumped away to not get hit. The youngest demon’s ears perked up: “He’s about to attack, Lord Hat!”
Hat nodded in acknowledgement. And, as if on cue, a small form of black and red, crimson dots on Bendy’s head materialized from nowhere. He kept trying to end Hat. Hit after hit, hiss after growl. The ground only remained a mass of craters with power Felix thought seemed too much. The cat couldn’t clearly make it out, but it looked as if the older demon was taking it seriously. Maybe even having a bit of trouble. Or that was just observation. Cuphead and Mugman joined in with their magic bullets.
Bendy’s shadows gained a form. Unlike last time, they seemed to have somewhat more of a form. There were bumps. Maybe even a few slithery limbs here and there. What were those? Even the young shadow demon seemed bamboozled. From below rose dark, nearly solid and sharp tendrils. They went after Felix and Murklin. The cat started using his rope and grappling hook to stay above the air or pain as much as he could. It was second after second that he had to change his place. Nowhere was safe. Murklin had his four arms out and eyes glowing lightly with concentration. He seemed to be struggling with something, Felix wasn’t sure what. It seemed the young shadow demon was trying to keep Bendy’s shadows away from him. He was succeeding, to some extent. The circle of attacks still kept closing in though.
Murklin’s eyes lit up with yellow. “I am Murklin! The Enduring Shadow! And you are shadows! All of you are of my domain! AND YOU WILL OBEY!” He screamed. A few of the shadowy creatures tried pulling away from him. A few closed in. Felix got cut in his paw with a tendril. Damnit! He winced in pain. Either way, he tried holding on to the ceiling.
Then he heard the worst sound Felix ever heard. And he had heard a lot. It made him want not have ears. Like he was going to simply bleed out from hearing loss. It was a shout, maybe a screech of pure power and chaos. No remorse, no fear or anything behind it. Pure instinct. The whole place shook with the sound. There was a sharp crack somewhere.
“Mugs!” Cuphead shouted somewhere in the darkness.
“I’ll be fine! We’ll get it fixed! Now- Bendy!” Ah, it seemed there was a nasty hit in. The creatures that only seemed like shadows finally stood up from the ground. And boy was there a large number of variety. Big horns, small horns, tons of limbs, no limbs at all, slime body types, rock body types, ones that looked like snakes. They attacked everything. Like they went feral on Bendy’s command.
Felix wasn’t sure what happened next. There were faint light signs in the darkness – green, red, blue, purple. It was a mix of blood, sweat and screeches, hisses. He was busy himself trying to keep the shadowy beings from killing him. Those things tried to crush his skull, tear his limbs, block off his escape. Luckily, Felix was experienced in matters like this quite a bit. Unluckily, the coldness seemed to turn to the worse side.
“Seriously? More power?” Murklin hissed as he dodged the things in his own shadow form. It seemed the monsters could reach him in his domain. There was nowhere to run. And they couldn’t leave Bendy.
“What kind of power does this mook have? How much power? This is going too long for usual.” Cuphead gasped out. His bubbly hair was messy beyond one brush repair. Many new cracks were there. Then Bendy materialized out of the darkness again and grabbed Hat by his dirty and cut-up coat, while his hat stayed flawless. The demon’s power was riddled with craziness and bloodthirst as he stared deep, deep into Black Hat’s eyes. He made the older demon fall, catching his mentor off guard.
“HAT!” Everyone but Bendy screamed.
The endless sea of darkness engulfed the area and made it flood the whole room. Felix felt as his matted fur suddenly felt a breath of cold, empty air. Then familiar air.
They were somewhere outside. The slightly less horrifying darkness still riddled their eyes, but there was strange fog now all around it. Felix quickly spared a glance to everyone as they went back-to-back. Everyone had scrapes, dust, scratches, bruises. Murklin seemed tired and as if he didn’t sleep for a few days, other than his injuries and wounds. There were distinct slash marks on his left arm, right leg, one of his horns were chipped. Hat seemed the cleanest of them – with a slash that was nearly already covered up and dust on his coat, not his hat. Felix himself had a few injuries. The Cup bros had burns, cracks, slashes all over and half of Mug’s face was missing. His left eye. It was as if it was cracked, like a normal cup.
Then Felix realized something. “Doesn’t it feel…Warmer?”
“It could very well just be the differences in air.” Cup shrugged it off.
“It absolutely is not.” Hat scowled. Felix heard as the grass betrayed hints of running. “The rogue demon just ran.”
Murklin stepped forward and swung his four arms to one side. The shadows partly followed, but not all. Then the demon kid fell to the ground, heavily panting. The fog still remained though. The mist mixed with the shadows. Even though the shades were a lot less firm. The whole outside area - the fallen leaves, the trees, the grass - seemed to be hidden in that sea of refreshing darkness. But the darkness wasn’t attacking. Felix didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad one.
They could only see about 10 meters forward. What could they do?
Hat put a hand on the other fledgling. Murklin panted out: "Magic... A lot... Bendy’s... Disspelled as much as I could...Outta magic... We...Get him." Black Hat nodded. The Cup bros shared a look. Well as much as a look with one eye on the other could be shared.
"We need to keep close. Do not wander off too far. This is a magical forcefield. The fledgling could've wandered off anywhere." The demon stated calmly.
Felix's ears perked. "'Magical'?"
"I cannot teleport anymore. I cannot use my shadows. I believe I can only use my power if I keep it tied to my body. So we have to be swift." The cat stared at the older demon bamboozled. Then he turned to the rest of them.
"Can't turn into shadow anymore. Can’t teleport or use my shadow magic. I still have super strenght and speed though." Murklin shrugged, finally getting up to his feet.
"Our range for our magic shortened, it has to be exactly near at our fingers." Mugman added. They probably found out when they got here. Maybe they just sensed it. It is their magic, after all. Felix glanced at his magic bag. He didn’t know if it changed, but it didn’t seem so.
"Right. So we split up a little bit, but not far from each other. With how Bendy is right now, we need to be careful." The cat thought out loud. It looked like everyone agreed, heck, even Hat!
"Me and Mugs come together. He may have a blind spot open with his injury." Felix didn’t have any objections to that. The rest split up. Hat went alone, Felix and Murklin went to the sides and the Cup bros went slightly back into the forest.
Finally. Hat couldn’t bother enough with those morons. The only ones who were needed were the Cup brothers for their training exercise to catch Bendy and make him let loose and Murklin to observe. The cat was not needed at all. But there was this interesting development... A magical mist forcefield? Each time this fledgling gets more and more interesting. Hat had to walk as his power was somehow restrained. He tried to reach it multiple times, but it was like something tugged on it, forcing for Hat's power that was let to roam away from his body disintegrate. Black Hat had never heard of anything like that. He put a hand on his chin.
Odd shadows and a power-absorbing mist? He isn’t anything normal for any of the species recorded in any of the books of demons. What was Bendy?
And how he teleported all of them so seamlessly here and started running. It might be a little problem with Murklin being here illegally... Still- Back to the other demon- That’s not normal for anything. Wherever was that odd character now? The grass bristled. Ah.
Hat walked calmly to the field of grass where the fledgling, unguarded and as if looking for something, was crouching and staring at the ground. Hat couldn’t exatcly see his face, since he was turned around, but where the horns were pointed told a lot.
Oddly enough, he wasn’t attacking anything.
"Fledgling! Stop this right this instant!" The older demon commanded. Bendy didn’t budge. It was as if he hadn't even heard his mentor. That’s it! It doesn’t matter if the youngling was berserk or not! No one hurts a demon's pride!
Hat quickly materialized before Bendy and grabbed him by the collar again, shaking him. "You little insolent demon! Whatever have I told you about demon pride?!" He readied to hit Bendy with his fire. But then-
"Close... They're near... Let me go... I need to get to them! Please!" Golden teary eyes stared at the older demon. If Hat wasn’t so disgusted by the ugly begging, he'd be in awe. What demon had golden eyes? This didn’t seem like a berserk stage now at all.
"No! Whatever you want to do, it is not going to work! We are outside! It’s a danger with you like this! What if the angels come! Leave the fantasy your broken mind gave you-"
"NO! Let me go!" That little brat suddenly bit into Hat's arm with crazed eyes. What a moronic imbecile! The older demon hissed and threw Bendy at a tree, splitting it in half. He tried to ignore the injury he was definitely going to need his full magic to regenerate. Black Hat marched over to the fledgling near on the tree's splinters and took him by his arm with a firm grip.
"Get away from me!" Bendy shrieked. He launched his tiny, but agile body with an arm out. His golden eyes flashed and Hat lost his grip. He knew if he wanted to survive, he'd need his whole body to dodge and he had seconds. Seconds that he put to good use-
Suddenly, the tree nearby where Hat was before exploded into ink. Usually, the demon would be mad for anyone staining his clothes and kill them instantly. But now, when he was at a disadvantage, it didn’t matter. It looked like the damn object had ink illness! Was that even possible? Was Hat supposed to turn into a puddle if he got touched by the fledgling's poisonous hand? Why did it, of all things, turn into ink? And then, if that wasn’t enough, he started running on all fours again. This gag was getting old.
Hat didn’t bother waiting for the other folk. They said they'd keep near. And if they cared about their 'friend', they'd do so. He started running (how embarrassing! A high-demon! Running!) to get to Bendy, but not overwhelm him.
"Hat! What's goin' on!" As if on cue, the cups came running with Murklin and Felix.
"Fledgling is looking for something. Be careful with his fists and do not come any closer near him."
"What? Look, we know he's berserk, but he's not a mo-" Felix tried to say, but the oldest cut him off.
"'Monster'? He is now. His hit just turned a tree to ink. And he was aiming for me. I'd rather we not find out what his strenght does to toons. Not without proper testing. And I'll explain more later. We have no time." They sped up.
And Cup couldn’t believe his ears. Bendy did what now? Turn a cussing tree to ink? Ink?! What the hell?! What the hell was going on with him? And Cuphead didn’t want to admit it, but there was some truth to the thing's words-
Cup slid his feet through the ground to stop himself from running too far.
There Bendy was. He was looking to the other thick side of the mist, with golden eyes. What? He took a slow step to the fog, where a river seperated him. Bendy tried to reach his arm out. He took another step and a small breath. Suddenly his body got jerked back by golden, see-through chains. Bendy only fought stronger, the restrains digging into his wrists. His blood vessels appeared on his hands. Black, thick tears filled the demon's golden eyes. He shook his head slowly. Then rapidly.
"No! NONONONO!" He kept screaming over and over, his feet scratching the ground. What? What was going on?
"Bends? Bendy! Can you hear me? How can I help?!" Cup stood before the scared pipsqueak. Felix took a step forward, eyes wide with worry and concern. Murklin seemed disturbed, along with Hat. The fog was slightly starting to dispersse. Bendy only pulled harder on the chains that didn’t really tie him to anything. His wrists stained with blood. His tears suddenly had a red tint to them. Cuphead tried to see what was going on. The receding mist had two slight fireflies in the darkness. They disappeared as a final, piercing "NO! DON’T LEAVE ME!" Left Bendy’s mouth.
Then the demon just went numb. The chains disintegrated, as if they weren't ever there.
Bendy lay on the ground, calm.