To Twist the Script

Except he wasn't laughing or smiling. The creases that would have showed the hint of such a thing were folding in the opposite direction, his displeasure clear on his face. Bendy would have paled, if that wasn't already his default coloration.

Joey disregarded the toon's turmoil as he wheeled them into the room with the ink machine. Bendy felt cold as he saw the machine hooked up into the wall, the wall with the door that Henry had gone through...

"It's a little imperfect, so the journey back might be a bit of a ride, but you'll be back soon little guy." He smiled and then began to whistle. The same disenchanted tune that had echoed off the apartment walls earlier once again filled the noise where his friend's thoughts should be.

What Joey whistled was a distorted siren song -- a sickening shrill noise that could never hope to lure out a single soul. It was the same tune Bendy remembered whistling to Henry to get his attention all those hallways ago. His heart sank -- he'd never see the song the same way again -- but he had to anchor himself on the line as Joey practically tossed him overboard into the ink machine. He screamed out, "Henry!" just as he felt his page shrink into nothingness, drowning as he melded completely into the ink.

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The whispers were deafening, as he gathered his bearings once again. Everything was pitch black, but there were voices all around him. Multiple voices, some garbled and distorted, others clearer and yet.. So, so faint. They were all almost deafening with the lack of any other sense about him and he tried to press his hands to his head but found he could not move either. It wasn't until he realized there was a light appearing, a light the ink shied away from that he could move, could breathe...

He awoke with a start, coughing up ink, body glued to the wall as he hacked. He could still feel himself melting but he was alive -- the projector was turned off in front of him, there was a Bendy plush snuggled on a chair right beside it with a smile that forever haunted the hallways with its visage. Off hidden away by the reels of the projector was the ink pressure valve...

The ink pressure valve! He tried to stand up but fell over in the attempt, his eyes shrinking in horror as he stared down at his mangled foot and the torn off stub of what was LEFT of a knee on his other leg. He tensed and shut his eyes as he choked back the gut wrenching shriek that threatened to leave his throat at the sight of it all. Unable to hold the shock in for long, Bendy let out a strained shrill hiss which stopped with a heavy sighing breath, as if an old train was pulling into station.

Except it felt like said train crashed straight through said station, with all its passengers aboard screeching as they erupted into flames. An eerie chill settled about him, then; a loaded silence filling his mind as he became numb, head throbbing with the dull constant of the quiet as the sound of the ink continued to flow through the walls. Or so he thought, at any rate. For all he knew it was the sound of the ink flowing down his own head that was the cause of the background noise.

With a shaky sigh, Bendy weakly pushed himself into a stiff-backed sitting position and shuddered. The reality of his situation fell down around him now that he could coherently think. Henry was gone, and the weight of that settled down on his shoulders as if he were carrying the world. What Joey had said rang in his mind as he thought back to the events of the sunlit room and he slumped forward in dismay, reaching up to grip his horns tightly.

"It's ok, everything's ok, Henry's ok, he'll come back, ya know he will eh? He will he will, he...." Will he?

He looked towards the door, thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Suddenly glittering orbs seemed to flutter in front of him, eyes flickering to meet this new unexpected movement. They rose and vanished as he squinted and he blinked once yet the glistening bits of color only seemed to fade in and out before disappearing entirely. Oh... The ink was starting to get into his eyes. Again . With a wide sweeping motion he swiped at the excess ink, flicking it downward as it plopped into the puddle he was laying in. That's when he finally noticed it.

A glowing yellow tone, brighter than the sepia that he could now see around him mirrored off of the small ink pool. He stared at it, unmoving as he let it settle before his head slowly raised to the wall the puddle was reflecting.

Golden letters started materializing on the wall in front of him, just above the lone plush. Bendy gaped, staring as they formed, as words formed, and he plastered a grin on his face at their meaning, shoulders rolling as he leaned back.

He will come, don't worry.

And, finally, everything came crashing down. Bendy heaved, chest quivering as globules of inky tears fell down his cheeks and melded with the ink bleeding out from his lines. A gloved hand gripped his chest as he breathed, shuddering after every intake of air, uncaring to the sound of his own voice or even how it cracked at the end as he let everything out. It was only after his little heart couldn't keep up with him anymore that his hand finally fell and he grew quiet. Cheeks stained with ink, expression marred by tight lines. The room fell silent at the short breaths of a weary toon as their chest rose and fell.

Down the hall, past posters and chairs covered in dust, was the sound of a long forgotten door as it creaked open for the first time.

"Alright Joey, I'm here. Let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see."