Hymns of Struggle

10- Fellowship

Sammy replied to it as he often had to her; he remained as he was, not looking, not reacting- only facing ahead at the person in his clasp.

There was something etched into his face- an expression she could not name but one that pierced her all the same. Her heart sank into her stomach when she glimpsed over his shoulder that the monster suddenly reared back.

...and then she heard a shuffle that grew quieter and quieter.

Soon there was nothing more than the blood in her ears.lly removed himself from her. Her heavy gasps for air were accompanied by his silent acknowledgment- his patience; this was only a sliver of what the prophet knew waited for her, and yet it was still so much. He had earthly fear and vulnerability wash off him long ago, but as her mortality dirtied his pristine acceptance of Bendy and his embrace...there began a symbiosis- an exchange of sensations and emotions.

He had grown to fear for her; it was an unfamiliar and anxiety-ridden experience that he loathed to recognize.

Even in the dark he appeared was almost inhumanly tall as he stood over her, allowing her time to recompose. Yet again, she could not to his expectations.

"What the hell was that?!" Her hands slapped the sides of her face as she loudly begged for even a hint of rationality.

One side of his mouth stretched in agitation and she then covered her own as a child would, suddenly aware that such volume was deadly. And as he judged her, questioning his sympathy so soon after finding it, she abruptly realized what had happened- what he was doing.

Her ungratefulness was horrific to her.

"I...th-..." She sighed, squinting at him in weariness and shame. "...Thank you." It felt wrong to say; the adrenaline that believed he was assaulting her was still coursing in her veins. But there was still something left to fear.

His expression laxed only slightly at her new awareness, shifting from alarm to focus.

"My sheep...it seems we aren't safe here." He already knew that; it had been ignored throughout the blinding light of cognizance up until now.

Her brow deepened into her skin at how he addressed her, but there were more pressing matters at hand. "Wh-where-?" She couldn't finish her sentence as she discovered in her own words that she was again at his mercy or even lack thereof. But she had no choice.

He kept his gaze at her momentarily, but it soon went to the hall. Down the corridor, he saw no sign of the searcher nor any other. But he knew that they would come anyway like drops of rain in a cloudless sky.

There wasn't another pentagram nearby.

And then- he saw lord's blessings. He had forgotten. Sammy turned his back to her and walked to the office, filling her with dread until she saw him walking back with something decently large in his grip. Why was...he only walking back, not running?

She didn't know that it was mortal blood that the searchers craved, he having listened before as they surged over flesh and tried to engulf from the inside out.

And yet very soon, this wouldn't be the most urging thought in his mind.

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Slow footsteps followed his in what have might been a signal of mice to the cat that they came to be chased. She jumped back with a small yelp as he turned to look at her.

"Stay close...until I tell you to stay," he hummed.

Her cheeks pulled back to question him, but he had already put a glistening finger over the hole in his guise as a motion of hush. She chose to comply.