Yeah, I know it didn't happen in the actual game, but I still like the idea... Seriously, Joey being the ink demon would have been so freaking awesome! Why did that not happen?
Henry watched the ink demon, as the corrupted Alice Angel had called him before - how long had it been since she told him?- pass his hiding spot, limping through the room very slowly and looking around as if it was searching for someone. Of course, it was searching for him after all.
He wondered if the monster would ever consider looking inside the small miracle station, but hopefully it wouldn't. The former animator wanted to live as long as possible, and being killed by this demonic version of his own character was definitely not the way he wanted to die. The man deeply regretted even coming back here. He just should have stayed home and do the usual boring routine his life had become. It was so much better to be bored than to almost get killed due to searchers jumping at him and a crazy angel trying to become 'perfect'.
The tall creature finally melted through another wall, but the man waited until the dark ink following this...thing was also nowhere to be seen anymore. He just didn't want to find out what would happen if he went out while it was still there. It couldn't be good, he just knew it. This time had been pretty close, it had almost seen him. If he hadn't hid in there the very moment he noticed it approaching he would have probably died. Henry could only hope he wouldn't run into the ink demon another time later.
From the beginning the ink demon had been hunting him, trying to grab him to probably hurt and slowly kill him. It was probably angry about him being here, disturbing its 'life' or whatever it called the hell down here, or just had a lust for other beings blood. It had attacked Sammy for no visible reason after all, and he had prayed to it.
Henry had seen the message on the walls,The creator lied to us, written with this black, thick ink. Was the creator supposed to be him or was it actually his old friend Joey? He didn't know, but he had no interest in finding out, he just wanted to help everyone down here and finally leave this awful place. Being here had already done very weird things to him, turning him thirty years younger, back to the age he had left this place when he had thought he'd never come back. It was strange and...scary. What was going on with him?
Henry finally felt safe enough to step out of the miracle station and left the room, walking down a long, dark hallway and turned left and right in the gigantic labyrinth, heading towards Joey's office, the man he still loved, even after all that had happened. It was stupid, he knew, but he couldn't just change who he was in love with.
His pal had been so adorable a long time ago and was such a cute dork sometimes. When they started the animation business Henry fell deeply in love with his best friend, but not wanting to ruin the friendship he tried to hide it as well as he could because he knew Joey was not gay. Even though there was no love between them they had gotten along so good. But success soon changed his secret loved one and turned him into a man who just desired attention from the public, money and power over his poor employees. It was actually quite sad to see his crush turning into some sort of monster who didn't care about anyone or anything else, not even for his best friend Henry who secretly loved him. It had really hurt Henry to see him like this, becoming a completely different person, and it was the main reason he left the company.
All these years, Henry had been wondering if Joey might have changed back to the person he had loved after he had finally left, but almost every single audio log the employees had recorded made his hope slowly fade away more and more. It had gotten even worse until the situation escalated into this inky hell. It left him wondering if he could have changed it if he had just stayed. Maybe him leaving made the situation escalate.
Where was the man he loved so much and cared about even after all these years? Seriously, where was he, while these things happened in here? He was responsible for everything in the studio, for every worker's fate, for Allison not remembering she and Tom had had a past life together, and yet he wasn't here to face any consequences of his terrible actions. Instead he had sent his old friend to deal with it by sending him this letter. Did he even care it was his responsibility? Henry doubted it. Why did he still love the man who had done so many bad things to his own workers? The former animator had not really an answer for this question. Feelings just couldn't logically be explained sometimes.
He stopped when he heard a sound and could make out it was one of the corrupted Butcher Gang members approaching, so he quickly rushed into Joey's office and closed the door. Had it seen him? Hopefully not or else he was going to have problems getting out again. Henry looked around the big room and his eyes widened in shock.
The walls were covered with dozens of ink messages, you could basically not see anything of the true wall color. Most of the messages were either being I'm sorry, Help, Please or Forgive me. But there were one message that stuck out from the rest: I have become a monster.
Henry reached out his hand to touch the ink messages. They were all from Joey, it wasn't very hard to tell because of his hand writing, even though it looked like his hands were very shaky while he wrote them. The man only wondered, how had the his love survived the hell he had created himself? Had he even survived it? Was he maybe one of the inky creatures Henry had encountered before? They were the only once who had written on the walls with the ink, so it was very likely. If Joey was still a full human he would have wrote it on the paper on his office desk. Every employee had turned into a creature made of ink, so why not Joey as well?
But...Joey had also written he had become a monster. Did he mean the person he had become while he was working as everyone's boss or was it something entirely different? Had his best friend literally become a monster? He was pretty sure Joey wouldn't remember who he was as a searcher, lost one or Butcher Gang member, and the Boris clones also lost most of their identity.
A monster...
A demon...
The ink demon...
It made so much sense. Joey would always run after him to try to apologize back when he hadn't been craving for power and money and not being careless about everyone else. Back then he acted just like the ink demon did right now. Searching for him to apologise, when he did something wrong and regretted it, and trying to make it up to him.
He could still be wrong, the ink demon wasn't who he thought he was or Joey just wanted to kill him. But wasn't it worth to try and search for actual answers, even if there was a big chance he would die? Henry took a deep breath. There was only one way to find out if his theory was correct.
The former animator peeked out of the room, and to his relief the Butcher Gang member had left, whoever it had been. He slowly stepped down the corridor, looking for any danger that could suddenly come around the corner, but the little monsters weren't there anymore. He had almost reached the end of the labyrinth when he saw the ink demon crossing his path in front of him. It was time to finally find out the truth.
"Joey?" Henry asked quietly.
The ink demon turned its head in his direction and whimpered quietly. The smile on the creature's face was more forced than it had ever been, and he just felt so much pity for it. The demon then finally nodded as a reply and came closer, limping because of his twisted foot. Joey was approaching very slowly probably due to the fear that Henry might run away again. He set back his horns like cats or dogs would do.
"It's...been a long time, pal. I will be honest, I really missed you," Henry said and watched his friend come closer. Was he afraid of Joey? No, he wasn't for some reason. Some part of him just knew he would never hurt him.
Joey's grin was shaking. Another thing Henry hadn't noticed about the ink demon's appearance until now. His old pal carefully reached out his more human hand and then pulled him into a hug, pressing him against his chest as if Henry was nothing more than a plush. Henry was quite surprised at first, but then he hugged back, rubbing the demon's back and chuckling a little bit.
"I didn't expect you to mess up literally everything in the meantime, but I probably should have... you have always been so uncoordinated with everything and were at least a little crazy." His old partner whimpered again before starting to sob uncontrollably.
"Hey Joey, it's okay, I am here now... we will figure out a way to turn you guys back and get everyone out of here, I promise," Henry whispered, stroking Joey's head. "I am here to help." His friend purred quietly, which made him blush a little. Joey was so cute! He could hug his best friend forever!
But his friend suddenly released him from his embrace and walked to one of the ink puddles on the ground, while staring at him, probably to make sure he wouldn't just leave. Joey bent down and dipped his fingers into the ink before he started writing on the wall in front of him.
I'm sorry, Henry. I'm really sorry for everything that happened.
"I know, my friend, I know. I have seen your office. Your guilt is killing you, isn't it? Don't you know if there's anything we can do to turn everyone back into their original forms? There has to be a way!" he shouted and went closer to Joey, who whined. "Joey...? What...?"
There actually is a way to turn them back.
"Really? That's great! W-wait a second, 'them'? What about you?" He looked at his friend, feeling very worried. "You...you can't transform back?" The ink demon nodded, not looking at him. "Joey, I am so sorry for you..."
Don't be, I deserve this. It's the price I have to pay for doing all of these horrible things. There is so many stuff I did which I regret now. I was an idiot, Henry. If I could just go back...
"You can't change the past, you can only do it better now. The guilt won't go away until you free them, and even after that it might not. But I will help you, Joey, I promise." He laid his hand on the ink demon's shoulder. The other one froze for a second and Henry realised it had been two decades since someone had done that the last time. His friend was shaking a little, then he wrote another sentence on the wall.
I just don't want to be alone. But everyone fears me now. I understand why, I have become a monster. Both physically and mentally.
"You aren't alone, Joey. Not anymore. I won't let you down another time," the former animator replied softly. "And you're not a monster. You may look like one, but you aren't. The person you're inside is anything but a monster. You realised you did horrible mistakes."
Joey looked at him, cocking his head. Why are you like this? Even after all I have done... what did I do to deserve you as a friend, Henry?
"You're my friend Joey. You'll always be. Remember what I always told you?" Henry asked.
For the first time Joey's grin wasn't shaking. He wasn't trying to make another facial expression. How could I forget it? 'It doesn't matter what you mess up, I will always set it right.' I always wanted to prove I could do it without messing up. I guess it was the reason I changed myself. I wanted you to love me.
Henry was very surprised. Not only had Joey loved him, he had also tried to change himself for him? "You...changed because of me? You didn't have to, Joey. I already loved you, and I still do."
The ink demon stared at him for a few seconds before quickly scribbling on the wall, You love me? You only say that out of pity...you never loved me, and now nobody would love a monster like me.
A wide grin appeared on Henry's face. "You really think so?," he chuckled, leaned foreward and kissed the other one on his mouth. Joey squeaked in surpised and stumbled a few steps backwards. Hadn't he liked it?
But you're straight! You even had a girlfriend back then!, were the next words he wrote on the wall. Girlfriend? Henry had never had a relationship with anyone before, neither male nor female , so why did Joey think he had had one?
"Huh? Girlfriend? When did I ever have a girlfriend?" Henry asked stunned. "How did you get that idea?"
There was this girl you always had to visit in hospital, remember? You sometimes talked about her at work, saying you missed her and needed to go to her.
"Pfft, seriously? Joey, that was my sister Linda! You would know that if you'd have paid attention to what I was saying," Henry said, grinning in amusement.
Oh. A simple word, but he just had to look at the ink demon who was hiding his face in shame to know how embarrassed his friend was. Henry could see why he was doing it, he'd probably do the same if he didn't listen to his love of his life only to get their sexuality wrong.
Henry smiled at him. "It's fine. Don't be embarrassed. You're just such a dork sometimes, but I guess that's the reason why I love you..."
I love you, too. Joey pulled him into another hug, rubbing his face against Henry's chest. It was really adorable. A soft chuckle came out of Henry's mouth. "Come on now, we need to break this curse before the rest of them notices us and starts trying to kill me again."