Bendy X Reader- River Of Sin

Chapter 19- Level 14

Gears turned and clanked all throughout the studio. It got louder the farther down the two of you traveled in the lift. The sound of some form of work being done in the building rang through your ears, yet no one was here to do any of it in the first place.

'Why were the machines operating? How were they still in working condition after all this time?'

Even the ink demon wasn't sure...the pulleys and cogwheels seemed to be self sufficient. They pumped the ink through pipes lining the hallways, but every ounce of power came from a source unknown to the two of you.

Wherever the source was, it couldn't have been a good place.

Then again, there wasn't a spot on these worn down floorboards able to be considered as a good place to be. Any inch of it may have been the grave of another animator, but you would never know if that were true. For all you knew, a man could have been laying dead on the very floor you walked, years prior to this time.

You stood in the lift, examining what you could of each level that you passed. It was hard to tell with the gates in the way, but you were sure that you had seen a couple of strange, ink-covered monsters lurking on a few of the floors.

They didn't have legs, so they weren't the lost ones...They couldn't have been.

Another thing that had captured your attention, was the giant sign you had managed to spot while passing yet another level. It had a vaguely familiar tagline written on it, and you caught yourself repeating what it read in your mind.

'She's quite a gal!'

"She's quite a nuisance." Bendy growled under his breath, and you looked over at him quizzically. He almost seemed to know what was running through your brain, and react to certain things as if you had told him what you yourself were thinking. "I guess that means she's alive too then?"

"Oh she's more than alive...She's completely mad, a lot like the rest of us." The demon retorted with a dull and uninterested tone. You weren't sure how to describe Bendy's current mood with the whole situation. He clearly didn't like Alice too much, but it looked as if he was beginning to regret coming down here with you.

The elevator stopped abruptly, startling you greatly. The toon beside you, however, had no reaction to the lift coming to a stop like that at all. The metal gates slowly opened, and Bendy stepped out of the lift first. You got out after him and looked around...Where on earth had it taken you?

The floor you were now on was nothing like the hallways up above. It was bleak down here, which didn't seem possible with the appearance of the upper floors already being bad enough. There was almost no light, and the two of you stood on a balcony of sorts, looking down at the black ink slushing into small waves that kept the wooden floor out of sight completely.

"The lift doesn't go down far enough." Bendy began, walking you to the edge of the balcony to loom over the large space below. "The river is much farther down, but the only way to get to it is through there." He finished with a frown, raising his hand and gesturing to the two archways opening up on either side of the flooded area with his claws. 

"Umm, are you sure it's safe to tread through the ink like that?" You asked warily, glancing down at the entrances. 

There was no reply, and your gaze shifted up at Bendy. You were surprised with the look of concern written on his face. He looked like he knew something awful about this place that you didn't. "The ink isn't the main concern." He answered finally, "Just...Stay close to me when we get down there."

You weren't going to complain with that. This place was way too creepy to go venturing on your own. The demon led the way down the stairs, stepping into the flooded area and turning to make sure that you followed suit. You noticed the corpse of a small creature by the stairs and shuddered as you passed it. Did Bendy do that? 

Honestly, you would rather it have been Bendy. That would mean that there was probably nothing else in this area capable of such destruction.

Stepping into the ink, you instinctively grabbed onto Bendy as you slipped your legs into it. It turned out to be much deeper than you thought it would be, and you internally panicked for a moment as your legs sunk farther in without touching the floor yet.

Thankfully, you did manage to find footing, and just when the ink began to reach up to your waist.

"For your own well being, I recommend that you stay quiet in here." Bendy informed you, setting your already paranoid brain ablaze. "What are you talking about?! Why would I have to be quiet?!"

The demon immediately covered your mouth with his hand, his attention set on the archways ahead of you as if he were listening for something. You were too afraid now to object his instructions. After hearing utter silence for a few minutes, he started to walk towards the entryways. 

He hadn't realized that you were completely frozen after hearing what he had told you. What on earth was in there?! What if it was something worse than Bendy had been?!

Your grip on him slowly slipped away, and that's when he turned to rest his ink-covered eyes on your figure. His expression changed from focused, to concerned in a matter of milliseconds. Bendy made his way back over to you, leaning down to your level and meeting with your terrified gaze.

"(y/n)?"

"W-What the hell is in there?" You interrupted, backing away a step or two. Bendy leaned back up and frowned again at your stubbornness. I guess it wasn't surprising, considering that this studio was filled with things even his creator wouldn't have imagined to see in his worst nightmares.

"(y/n)..." He repeated. "You know that I'm not gonna let anything hurt you."

It had already been proven that what he claimed was true. When he had taken you to the lost ones, to help clear your confusion, it hadn't been anything dangerous. Your mind had automatically assumed that it was going to be a death trap. 

Calming yourself and putting on a more confident face, you trudged forward and took his hand into yours without hesitation. This caught him off guard, and you looked back up at him with the most trusting look on your face that he had even seen.

"Can you promise me that?"

He paused, squeezing your hand reassuringly and letting a small smile spread across his face.

"I promise."