It has been a long while since Henry has last seen the symbiote, so he is quite startled when it comes crawling in after what feels like hours of its absence. When the symbiote finally "reunites" with the man, Henry feels a wave of frustration wash over him.
He blinks a few times, assesses the situation, and asks, "What's got you so worked up? What happened?" His curiosity leaves him quietly waiting for the symbiote the respond.
They escaped. Hit me with fire board.
His confusion is visible through the shifted expression on his face. "A fire board? Like they lit a wooden board on fire and hit you with it?"
Yes...
Henry winces. "Yikes. You must have really scared the poor guy. Even I wouldn't have gone that far." Did they happen to have a blow torch or lighter on them? Did they know of the symbiote's weakness to fire, or did they just conclude that most creatures do not react well with fire?
Not guy. Girl.
"What? I thought I told you not to go after them if they were a kid or woman!" Anger rises in the man's heart. Does this symbiote not listen to what he says, or does it just not care?
No, they are different.
"What do you mean 'different'?" His anger is still evident, despite the curiosity.
I mean not like you, pussy. Perfect host, not just suitable.
"Wait, what?" His anger dies down, making way for a little bit of hope. "You actually..."
Yes! They got away though.
"Did they work here?"
Yes.
"Well who are they??" Henry starts thinking of all the possible people it could be. He narrows it down to Allison and _____.
The symbiote looks through the man's memories of those two people to find the face that it saw. After nearly a minute the woman was finally identified.
_____.
Henry's face lights up for the first time in a while. He'll finally get to see her again. Maybe he will introduce her to his wife, Linda. Maybe his daughter too. They would love to meet her. He can invite her over for dinner or-
Not if I can't get her.
As his thoughts were cut off by Bendy's interruption, he shifts back to confusion. "Err, what?"
She got away.
"Well, I'm pretty sure you scared the crap out of her. You don't exactly have the most friendly appearance..." He was certainly spooked when Bendy had chased him around the studio, and he would assume that there would be no human exceptions.
Wait, I have an idea.
He can practically feel the symbiote's toothy grin as it forces him to stand up. "W-wait, what are you going to do?"
Get her.
"How??"
You. She likes you, trusts you.
Oh. Oh no no no...
"I don't think it's ethical to trick or force her. Maybe if we just explain to her the situation, maybe-"
No, this is easier. Explain after.
"Are you kidding me?? Stop-" Bendy seems to be too enthusiastic to listen to any of Henry's protests, as Henry takes off against his will at the mercy of the symbiote. This is not how he wants his day to go. Sure, he will get to see his former coworker and good friend again, but at the expense of his free will for an entire hour or possibly longer. A scowl comes to his face.
What a lovely day this turned out to be.
***
When you decide to finally leave the miracle station after what feels like half an hour, you do it hesitantly, half expecting the monster to be waiting for you right outside the miracle station. Much to your relief, that is not the case. What does the opposite of relieve your stress however, is remembering the fact that you threw away your first weapon, most likely your last weapon, form of self defense, and your coping object. It helped cope with the fact that you are entirely at the mercy of everything in this building, and it helped cope with the fact that there is a strong chance that you will not get out of this alive.
Maybe you will find another weapon though.
Emphasis on maybe - a very unsure maybe.
Your heart finally calmed down a few minutes ago, but you are still on edge. Running from that beast scared the living daylights out of you, and most of the trip was through the dark. As you had ran further, there was less light until there was just no light at all. You never want to go back down that hallway ever again.
In front of you lies an entrance to a giant room filled with toys. A huge sign advertises with the words "Heavenly Toys." Around it are giant Bendy and Boris plushies. A small waterfall of ink that continuously flows in the middle of the entrance. It really does seem like Joey had big plans. Unfortunately for him, they were not going places. The only place he would be going, if anywhere, is jail for tax evasion. You can already smell the debt he had surely wracked up over the years. You are just suprised that he got someone to actually build all this.
You move on to some more stairs, unfortunately, and reach the top after a bit of tenacity and sucking it up like a workaholic climbing the social ladder. Though somewhat meaningless, you feel accomplished every time you make your way up a set of stairs. Is this what achievement feels like?
Improvise, adapt, overcome.
You finally continue on your way, checking out the next room. It is pretty crowded and messy. It seems to be the place where all the toys were made, if the sign back there was not hint enough. Shelves with plushies are everywhere. One of them seems to be moved to the side to make way for an entrance to the next room or hallway.
There is a lot of pipes on the ceilings, walls, and floors as per usual around here, but there is also tubing on the floor, which can easily trip you like that pipe on the first floor did. Except, you would not be tripping over metal, making it less painful. Gears and knobs are on walls and desks, adding to the crowded atmosphere. You are not claustrophobic, you just prefer not to be in here. Actually, you prefer not to be in the studio in general.
Before you leave, you find a lever. Out of curiosity, you flip it, flinching when the shelves start to move. Whoever built this must have been pretty creative themselves, just like an artist. You will admit; this is pretty cool architecture. The shelves started to make way for another side to the room where a little table lies. Walking past the shelves, you find another tape. This time it's Shawn Flynn. Wasn't he Irish? You feel like this guy could be famous.
"I don't be seein' what the big deal is.
So what if I went and painted some of those Bendy dolls with a crooked smile?
That's sure no reason for Mr. Drew to be flyin' off the handle at me. And if he really wants to be so helpful, he could tellin' me what I'm to be doin' with this warehouse I got full of that angel whatchamacallit. Not a scrap of that mess be a-sellin'!
Probably have to melt it all down to be rid of it all."
Next to the tape is a little plate or bowl with this weird blob of ink shaped like a Bendy doll. How is it like that? How is it maintaining that form? It is quite the interesting sight, more interesting than anything you have seen so far, despite all the monsters and other strange things. You are not really sure that it would be a good idea to try and take anything with you, though, as it would only slow you down if you ran into any hostile creatures again.
You go back and flip the lever again and the shelves move back to where you found them. Finally, you leave the room, not without a few more glances at the Bendy dolls of course. It has sure been a while since you have last seen the monster of a Bendy. There is no telling when it could show up again. You also have those other monsters to worry about - the ones that do not have a lower half to their "bodies." Now you are really regretting throwing your weapon. You can not go back and find it because it would take forever, and it was near pitch black back there. You did not pay any attention at all to where you were going when you were limply running, so you do not know where you lost it at. You will just have to keep moving and pray that you will find another one, or that you will not need another one.
Now you are even more doubtful that "idiot number one" is still alive. Surely they would have been killed by now. After all, there are so many things that could have killed you. You are sure there will be more things that can kill you the further you wander into the depths of the studio. Why does everything here always come after you anyway? It seems like the distorted version of Bendy is actively seeking you out. Is it because they have a destructive nature, or is it because you are a human? A really dumb guess, but it is all you could come up with. All kinds of stories have plots like this, but it is never explained why monsters chase after the humans. Well, most of the time anyway.
The thing you are most curious about is what Joey did. How did these creatures come into existence? What was their motive? What was Joey's motive? You are eighty percent sure this is all his fault, so how and why did he do all this? What actually happened to your former co-workers? Naturally, you sure hope they are okay, but you have your doubts. You were so lucky you left when you did. Too bad you just had to come back. Now you are either going to die, or leave with physical or mental scarring and a trip to the hospital. Preferably the latter.
The next room screamed Alice Angel. Little TVs with her face on them are all over the place, and there is a shattered glass window that gives you an eerie feeling. A banner saying "She's quite a gal!" hangs above the shattered window as the lights flicker. It is like something will pop out at any second...
And...something did.
You are put on some sort of mix of offense and defense as you see a hand grab onto something and pull itself up. You expect a monster, cosplay Bendy gone wrong, something related to Alice, or maybe a bat shit crazy former employee after you...but it's none of those things...it is...
"Henry?"
The man you have not seen in forever stands up completely, but unevenly. His hair is darker, he still has those big ears that are good for listening to people having bad days, and those soft grey eyes. Something is off about him though. He has a big strained smile on his face. Usually his smiles look dumb and goofy, but this one is not like that at all. He looks really thin and pale. Like, an unhealthy thin and pale.
"_____! How are you?" He asks, in an odd trying-to-act-normal-and-casual kind of way. That does not really fit the setting, which leads to goosebumps prickling at your skin.
"Uh. As good as I can be with a twisted ankle, a billion bruises, and scared shitless with ink drenched clothes... What about you? You look like you're in between deciding to have a heart attack or a stroke." He's your best friend whom you have not seen in nearly two decades. So why are your instincts and guts telling you to make a run for it?
Something about him screams both empathetic and sympathetic for a few seconds, looking down at your ankle and messed up appearance before he speaks again, "Oh, no! I'm fine! We haven't seen each other in nearly two decades though! Why don't we hug it out or something??" He seems even more interested in being near you than before.
Overly jolly, not acting himself, strained speech, looks like he is being forced, suggesting weird things, and intense sweating. These are a lot of signs that someone is either being held at gunpoint, or hiding something from you, or both, like hiding that they are being held at gunpoint.
"Sorry, but uh.... I'll have to..have to pass. Err, you go back to being you, ok? You sure you're fine? Your voice sounds kinda...strained. Also, I know it's a bad time to be an asshole, but you look like you're constipated and trying really hard to take a shit." His speech kinda sounds static-y to be weird about it. Not how you want to describe it, but it is all you can come up with. Sounds a lot like...the monster Bendy.
In response, his right eyebrow twitches and he says, "No no no, I just need water or something. It's fine, I'm fine, çøme hérë." The last part he says very agressively and it sets off all kinds of alarms in your head. Henry starts to climb over the broken glass like a mad lad as black starts to cover his skin...
(r/madlad)
It was the monster.
Seems like you caught on to what was going on purely by instincts, and it did not like that. It seems like it is struggling to move, like it is fighting itself. You make a run for it while you can. Left, right... You come across any intersection. One says Angel Path, and the other says Demon Path. You are definitely going down the demon path. It is cooler and you created the demon character of the show. Only makes sense that you go.
Ink is everywhere in this room. It seems flooded with the stuff. You see another tape on a chair, but you don't have time to listen or smell the roses anymore. You take many turns left and right. The hallway seems longer than the others. Somewhere along the way you run past another miracle station. You take a mental note of that later. That seems like a pretty obvious spot to hide, so you will use that as a last resort, running as far away as possible being the first.
Finally, you seem to find yourself in an actual room, breathing deeply and panting as you try to catch your breath. Your legs, sides, and lungs cramp like hell and you are on the verge of crying again just to make yourself feel better by letting it out of your system. Ink puddles, splatters, and stains fully cover this room. Shelves with all kinds of toys are everywhere and you see giant Boris plushies up against a wall. You really want to hug it out, just not with that monster. That was really suspicious shit back there, and you are glad you listened to your common sense and guts.
Multiple clocks tick almost in sync on the walls. They are Bendy clocks - pretty cool, normally, but not in this setting. Limping out of that room, you head down yet another hallway with two ways to go. Go left, or forward. You choose forward as you further walk down the hall, only to go left and meet another dead end. A ripped open poster is taped to the wall. What happened here?
You hesitantly walk up to it as if it will jump out and bite you. Peering into the darkest hole you've ever seen you-
"RaHHhh!!" Something jumps out and you fall backwards in response with a loud scream to the sudden suprise, swearing you can hear it echo through the halls.
You crawl away desperately as you see three figures come out. These figures look like the Butcher Gang members but... horrifying. Barely, Charely and Edgar were their names, but they look more than worse for wear. If you had to name them, they'd be Piper, Fisher, and Striker. They sure look the parts. Barely looks like a fucking fishing pole, with his head on the end of the hook like bait. Charely just looks like he will bash your brains out with the pipe being held in his hand, with a plunger having replaced one of his legs. Edgar has a metal arm and beat up facial features with what looks to be a mouth on the top of his head.
There's no way this is the Butcher Gang... You think in disbelief before letting out a shrill scream as they start to come after you. You crawl backwards faster and faster until you're backed up into a corner. They have cornered you and there is no where to go, so you curl up into a ball with your hands over your head to protect your brain from being bashed and getting any concussions. In a fight or flight mode, you did not get to pick either. Maybe you could punch the shit out of them, but you are not in the right state of mind, because you usually pick flight.
You feel a hard smack on your wrist and pain shoots through your body as you think you hear what you believe is a bone cracking from the blow of a pipe. Another cry is choked up and you receive another blow. It seems like this continues until you hear a large roar. You peek through your fingers and see the Butcher Gang turning their heads at the noise, seeing Henry in the distance past all three members with something black crawling off him and towards the direction of the scene you are in. One of the members go after him, and the rest stay. Seems like Henry had a weapon in his hands though. You pay it no more mind when you get smacked again, this time on the leg, making you let out a wail.
Your body is shaking at this point and your vision is blurry. Everything hurts from cramps, bruises, sprained bones, a twisted ankle, and a pounding migraine. You barely register the feeling of something crawling on you for a few seconds, subconsciously writing it off as another hit. The blows from the Butcher Gang stop, making you peeking your eyes open only to see them back away like they just realized something in their tiny brains. They start to limp and trudge as fast away as possible for some reason. Why are they running?
You are still hyperventilating and your heart is pounding like a drum getting the shit beat out of it by a band member with mad drumming sticks. You start to slowly calm down as you watch them scamper away, even the one Henry was just fighting. You jump in alram when your ankle twists back into place and everywhere you were smacked with a pipe fixes themselves. Your eyes widen as you watch your bruises dissappear and return to your normal skin tone. You are still very pale, but the shades of blacks and blues are gone.
You are starting to feel unnaturally calm. You are no longer shaking and your brain is trying so hard to process what's going on right now. You feel something foreign - like feelings that do not belong to you. You feel a wave of empathy and sympathy wash over your own feelings like tides in an ocean. It is like waves in the water when you throw a pebble to try and get it to skip in a lake.
Henry approaches you while you are in confusion land and speaks out, "Don't say anything, just let me talk..." He looks right at you, but right through you at the same time. You were not even talking. You get a feeling like he was not talking to you, but rather someone else, which makes no sense.
"W-what?" You stutter as your eyes wander up to his face as your expression hold a look of confusion and internal conflict. You are completely at loss for words, for you have no idea what is going on. Henry no longer seems to be acting like he was earlier. You do not trust him, but then his normal reassuring version of his smile comes to his somewhat dirty face.
Henry bends down and crouches in front of you, putting a hand on your shoulder before saying gently, "Relax. You're okay now. I'll try to explain what I can, okay? Just don't freak out. Okay?" Halfway through, you jerk away from his touch and almost whack his hand, startling him. You were never the touchy-feely type, and that is not going to change now. He seems to be wary, like you will drop and have a heart attack if he says even one wrong word. To be honest, that is probably very likely to happen. You bite your lip and look to the side.
You are hesitant in your response, but you eventually look back at him and let out an "okay..."
Your eyes are still red and puffy from crying and you are still sniffling like a baby, but you have every right to act like a baby. You almost got beaten to death by three fucked up looking members of the Butcher Gang that have looks that butcher - literally. Henry sets his axe to the side.
"So, you ready to talk?" He asks in a calm voice, waiting patiently for a response. You make the smallest nod, although somewhat irritated that he is talking to you like you are a crying child, and he continues. "Alright, so I'm sorry about earlier. I was, uh...not me." You figured. "You don't need to worry about me coming to eat you or something." Something inside you feels shame, but you are not focusing on that right now. You are focusing on finding out what Henry has to say. "Okay, so you were right about Joey. And before you rub it in my face and do a dance, I want to apologise and finish what I have to say. So, I'm sorry about that too. Are we friends again?"
You nod, but meekly. You shiver at how cold it is in here. You really wish you had brought a coat. Your lips are probably purple along with your finger nails. Everything about your appearance probably screams unhealthy and dieing.
You start to panic again as your body starts getting covered up in a black substance. Your eyes dilated and you start freaking out. Henry sees this and puts his hands on your shoulders. "Hey hey hey, calm down. You're fine and everything is fine. Look." You look down at the black stuff and see it's no longer black, but rather a blue, zipped up jacket with white fur. It's big and warm on you.
"W-what in the..." Once again, you whack him, despite just making up. Yet again, he flinches before speaking back up.
"Hey, I know you're freaked out. I was too, but listen to me. You're completely safe. No more Butcher Gang, no more ink searchers or monsters, and no more crazy looking Bendy chasing you." The man gives a confident grin, "and no Joey either. Hear it from me; he got what he deserved. Does that make you happy? At least a little?"
"Yeah..." Your lips form a small smile, the only one you can muster as of now. You are still very confused about the injuries and jacket, however.
"Good, now let's find a way out of here. I think there's an elevator just around the corner."
Henry helps you up and keeps you from stumbling over. Standing up straight, you look down at your ankle and move it around a bit. It is actually fixed, and you do not have to limp anymore, and you can go up and down stairs without wincing from the pain of a twisted appendage.
"Come on, let's get moving and I'll try to explain stuff to you on the way there." Is he just not going to talk about what just happened, or are you going crazy? Are you missing something here?
Reluctantly, mutter an "Okay...", but look at him like has has grown three heads.
The two of you walk side by side after you give the ripped poster one last weary glance.
"What if they come back and attack us again?" Henry nearly scoffs, as if he was trying to seem cool. If you were not scared out of your wits and very confused, you would have rolled yours eyes at his sudden cocky attitude.
"Oh trust me, they won't."
"Uh, okay." Why is he so sure about that, and why were the three monsters so scared when they were literally just beating the shit out of you just a few minutes ago? "So, um... The coat...?" He stops walking so you stop too. Why did he stop?
"Uh, promise you won't freak out..." You back up against the wall.
"Why?"
"Err, well..." He takes a deep breath. "Okay, so Joey-"
It was me. You jump and squeal at the sudden answer from an unknown source, frantically looking around.
"W-who said that??"
"Oh geez, here we go again..." He mumbled, but you ignored him in favor of finding out why you heard a disembodied voice.
You feel something on your back and you whirl your head around only to see a the head, shoulders, arms, clawed hands, and torso of the monster coming out of your back. Your face turns ten fifty shades of paler as your jaw slacks open. It flashes a bigger toothy grin than before, almost seeming like it is trying to look friendly but failing miserably.
"Me."
"Welp, I should probably go to another room and wait for all this to be over..." Henry whispers and quickly goes out of sight and into the toy room full of shelves and plushies up ahead. You however just stand there and stare as your brain tries to understand what the fuck is happening.
"...this is the part where you scream."
And scream you did. You try to sock it in the face but end up missing completely as it seemingly dodges like a fucking jumping spider dodging a boot. It seemingly goes behind you and dissappears, making you freak out.
"Get out!!" You practically rip off the living jacket that seems to stick to your skin. The more you pull the more of the black substance that comes out from inside your body.
No!
The creature struggles against your adrenaline fueled strength as you play a twisted game of tug of war with it. You try your best to pull it out of you, and it tries its best to stay in and resist your pulling. Both sides freak out, needless to say. When you start winning, and nearing the end, it starts pleading.
Please, stop pulling. I won't hurt you.
"You fucking chased me around the studio, ripped apart anything and everything in your path, and are the reason why I'm stuck down here!!"
I know, I apologise. I need you.
"What the fuck are you talking about?!"
I'll die without you, please. Still pulling, you think about it a little bit. What the hell does it mean by "dying without you?" Why the hell are you needed? The fuck is it talking about?
Please. It whines like a puppy that just got kicked. You can't stand those kinds of noises, they make you feel like a scumbag. It actually does sound sincere, and is acting in complete contrast from how it was acting before. Your arms start to tire, but that is not why you loosen your grip... okay it is. You reluctantly let go and the jacket goes back around your body by itself.
"Fine...but you better give a good fucking explanation..." Curse your soft heart and weakness for puppy noises.
Thank you! There was that foreign feeling again. This time, it was the feeling of relief and gratitude. This is so weird.
"Just...tell me."
I am a symbiote.
"Erm, a what?"
Symbiote.
"Does that word have any correlation with the term symbiotic relationship?"
Yes! Except said different.
"Like, as in mutualism, where both organisms benefit; commensalism, where one side benefits while the other neither benefits or is harmed in any way; and parasitism, where one side benefits while the other is harmed?"
Yes. I only like the first word though.
"Mutualism? What do you mean? How is this mutualistic?" You demand an answer in such a threatening tone, yet you are ready to listen to whatever answer you given.
I fix your injuries, protect you from bad things, and keep you alive. You let me stay and eat a lot. You almost laugh, as you are caught off guard. It says it will give you all these benefits, and then it says all it wants is food. Comedy.
"Well I normally eat a lot anyways, so that last part is fine... I have a good metabolism." Your smile comes to an end. "So, that's why I don't have a broken ankle anymore..?"
Yes, everything else is gone too....... I'm hungry. Again, with the food. The small smile is back again for a few brief seconds.
"So how did you do the whole... jacket thing?"
I can change color. I can make you look different too if you want.
"So...I can easily commit identity fraud? Wow. Great to hear. Thanks but no thanks."
Want better clothes?
"What do you mean?" And just like that your ruined clothes are almost practically ripped off by the clawing black substance to make way for new ones. You make an Eeeekk! sound as you try to protest and cover up your lady parts. As quickly as your old clothes come off, tendrils cover your body all around and form new ones. Wait, they look exactly like your favorite sweater and jeans...
See?
"Never do that again." You state firmly, thoroughly embarrassed. You will admit, you are significantly less terrified now. Mostly because your injuries are fixed, your headache is gone, and you are no longer cold and stuck with gross and ink drenched clothing that wreaks of chemicals. The friendly behavior also played a part. Your guard has been let down quite a bit. That does not mean you are jumping in a sea of trust though, but you are less wary.
Still, you are not very comfortable internally with all of this. You still can not even begin to fathom what is going to happen next or what you want to do. Should you just rip him out? It will be much harder now. That really would not be a great thing to do, especially after everything he has done in an attempt to sedate your confusion and fear. Now you are even using pronouns for him. He just acts like a young dog, constantly aiming to please and constantly seeking approval.
Maybe I shouldn't jump the gun, and just wait and see how things will continue... The foreign feelings are back as happiness and glee this time. For some reason, you just know these are his feelings.
"Wait, can you hear what I'm thinking??" You gawk and feel embarrassed by the invasion of privacy.
Yes.
"Well, stop reading my thoughts!" Your face flushes and your body language becomes more animated at the continued embarrassment.
Can't.
"Why not?"
If you walked up to someone and said something really loud in their ear, would they be able to just not hear it?
"Well...no." You think you get what he means.
Your thoughts are interrupted by footsteps. Turning to the source you see Henry hesitantely peeking around the corner with an unsure expression. Perhaps he heard the screaming stop and came to see if things have deescalated.
"Are you done having a panic attack...?" It sounds like he is trying so hard not to sound offensive, so you let it slide.
A sigh leaves your mouth. "Yeah..."
"Thank God..." He sighs. "Alright, like I said earlier, I think there's an elevator down there. Let's go check to see if it's still usable." Your discarded clothes are left behind. By an educated guess, you do not think ink will come out of those clothes, at least not easily. Better to just leave it there to rot or something. Walking down, you almost forget that your ankle is no longer broken. Your feet pad down each step until you reach the bottom, glad you do not have to get creative with going up and down them again.
Your heart is still pounding in your chest like crazy, but it is not as bad as before. Stress is really eating you up and your nerves are fried at this point. You nearly jump out of your skin when you feel something running through your hair. You avert your eyes up towards your hair. It is just the symbiote doing it. By another educated guess, if he can hear what you think and you can feel his feelings, you are pretty sure he can tell and feel what you're feeling. Did he notice your stress?
Black tendrils gently comb the knots out of your hair. More gentle than you have ever been with it yourself. You are pretty sure it is a rat's nest by now from all the tripping, slipping, falling, and other actions that mess it up. You are sure going to need a shower when you get home. You will also need to eat, brush your teeth, clip your nails, chug a ton of water, use the restroom, then crash on your bed.
Good plan, I like it. Especially the eating part.
You smile a bit.
"Ah man, the elevator is broken." Henry lets out an irritated huff and puts his hands on his hips.
"Then...how are we going to get out of here?"
"I say we go back to where we fell down that hole and climb."
"Well, then why can't we just climb the elevator?"
"Eh, too many sharp objects sticking out. There's also a lot of loose wires that you can get tangled up in, and not a lot of stuff to grab onto to pull yourself up with. It would be too dangerous to even try."
"Oh, I see. Well, that's a disappointment on a whole-nother level. Bah dum tsk!" Saying "bah dum tsk" always makes people cringe. Perfect accompanyment for a poorly executed joke.
"You know what? I think I liked it better when you were too afraid to talk."
"I thīñk I lîkèd it bèttër whèñ yøu sçrèamed lìkë æ püssy whèñ I thrëåtēñed tø ēæt yøur pañçrëas." A retort came right out of your mouth all by itself. You nearly gasp as you cup your hands over your mouth.
Henry gives a hard glare before saying, "Oh shut up. I see you're picking up a personality now too, aren't you asshole?"
"That wasn't me! My mouth just moved." You say quickly, not hoping to get blamed for that.
"Yeah, I know. He forced me to say shit too. Back where all that Alice Angel crap was."
"That was all him?"
"The 'come here' part was, but the rest I had to say myself because he said he would eat my pancreas if I didn't. When he makes someone speak, it's a combination of his voice and the person's voice, so it'd be a dead give away if he'd done that. Not that it did anything in the end considering you figured out that something was up anyway. I didn't think it'd work myself."
"Well, news flash dude, tricking me makes me want to listen to you less." You direct this at the symbiote mainly. This earned a mumble out of him.
It sounded like a good idea...and easier too...
That's what they thought about communism, and it didn't turn out good. Karl Marx's Manifesto sounded good on paper, but when put into action, it turned out badly.
Who is Karl Marx? What's communism and a manifesto? Actually, nevermind. I can just look at your memories.
What??
Yes, I can do that. Read Joey's papers. They explain better, I think...
You shake your head before returning to the more verbal conversation. "Also, what do you mean by 'picking up a personality'?"
"He picks up different knowledge from different hosts and sometimes different morals and ways of speaking. Like hopping from ten different hosts gives him a very complex personality. He got his manipulative behavior from Joey, a little bit of morals from me, and it seems he's picking up a stronger vocabulary from you along with a couple of other things. It all really depends on the hosts how he turns out."
"Oh. That's pretty interesting. It's like how having certain types of parents or no parents at all determines how a kid turns out to be when they grow up."
"Right, except without the 'growing up' part. It's an infinitely quicker process."
"Wow, Henry is using big words. Haha."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. You just like to think I'm stupid."
"Mmmhhhmmm..." You tease one last time before deciding to leave him alone about it. Back when the two of you still worked here, whenever you or Joey said a "big word" he would make a face that made him look like he was constipated, then ask for a definition. You still like to make fun of him for it.
The three of you travel back upstairs and start setting route for the place you both fell down. This really sucks, but it has to be done. Now that you will not have to worry about being chased, you can finally relax a bit. You are somewhat uncomfortable thinking about the events that just took place, now knowing that he can hear your thoughts, so you think about other things. You remember that there were things you wanted to take with you, but knew you could not because you were afraid of getting mauled to death or ripped to shreds. Since, you do not really seem to need to worry about those kinds of thoughts anymore, you wonder if you can take stuff now.
"Hey, could we perhaps bring back souvenirs?" Henry looks back at you.
"Like what kind?"
"Eh, maybe a few small toys...and this thing I found earlier..."
"I don't think we'd be able to carry souvenirs all the way to the exit, especially since the elevator is broken down. Well, Ben' might be able to, but I doubt he has the patience to..."
Do you really want them?
Well...
Then you'll get it, so tell Henry to shut up.
"He said he'll carry it all and told you to shut up." You bring a hand to your mouth and snicker.
"Wait, really? Can he carry the giant Boris plushie too?" He completely igonres the "shut up" part and goes right in for the opportunity.
"Yês, büt yøû suçk, so açtuãlly, nœ." You feel weird when he uses you to speak, but it does not hurt or anything of the sort, so you guess you can just get used to such a thing. Though, you are not used to anything the symbiote does, or the symbiote itself.
After a long walk, the three of you finally come to the place where you passed a miracle station. However, something seems off about it.
"Hey, was there ink in this miracle station before?" Henry opened it, and sure enough, there was a big puddle of ink that had that same weird texture. The heck?
"No. It's probably nothing to worry about though. Especially now that we have Bendy with us. I doubt any more monsters will come to attack us." Henry reassures you as he closes it back up. Weird.
"If they dø, Ī wîll kíll thêm."
"Yep, you're definitely inheriting a mean personality. I'd say a mix of Joey's saltiness and _____'s everything."
"Hey, I'm not that much of an asshole."
"Yeah, well thanks to you he's using profanity and hurting my feelings. He calls me names now too, like you."
"Only because you deserve it, loser."
"Actually, I got a wife and a daughter now. I bet you're still single."
"Well, yeah....but you still have a lower IQ than me." Henry rolls his eyes.
"Just because you're smart doesn't mean I'm stupid."
"It totally does. What else would you be?" You crack a cheeky grin that could almost be identical to Bendy's.
"Yeah, sure. Let's just get out of here so I can get back home. I'm pretty sure I've missed dinner three times now. My wife is going to be pissed."
"See? Loser."
"See? Asshole." Now it was your turn to roll your eyes.
The three of you make it to the Demon Path room, still flooded to the ankle with ink. Perhaps now you can listen to it.
"Mind if I listen to this real quick? Didn't get to earlier because someone was chasing me." You swear it's fate when they both wince at the same exact time.
"Go ahead."
This time it's the guy everybody hates the most...
Joey Drew.
"There's nothing wrong with dreaming. Wishing for the impossible is just human nature. That's how I got started. Just a pencil and a dream. We all want everything without even having to lift a finger. They say you just have to believe.
Belief can make you succeed.
Belief can make you rich.
Belief can make you powerful.
Why, with enough belief, you can even cheat death itself.
Now that...is a beautiful and positively silly thought."
"That last line is what his mom said to his dad about having him."
Henry gives you a weird look, but then smiles a bit. Bendy's slight confusion can be felt, but he also seems to find it amusing, probably because you think it is funny. It feels very strange to feel what he does.
You just now remember something.
"Hey, do you know where Joey's papers are? I think, um...Bendy said something about them earlier. That I need to read them?" You would feel like an asshole for not calling him by his name, but you would be lying if you said that it was not weird.
It's okay.
"Sorry, I don't have any clue where they are or went. Couldn't find them anywhere. Maybe they got dropped in ink or somebody took them. Can't say I know what happened to them."
"Alright, that's fine. Thanks anyway."
The three of you finally reach the place where you first "reunited," but there's a small problem.
"Uh, guys, the door out of this room is blocked off... I'm pretty sure those boards weren't there before..." You have a bad feeling about this. The unease is rising in you quick, but Bendy does not have time to quell it.
BVVVVVVVVZZZZZZZ--
"Ow, what the fuck?!" It sounds like the speakers in the studio are starting up. The sound hurts both you and Bendy.
"Sheep sheep sheep..."
Sammy...
"Who--?? Wait, what?!"
"It's time for sleep."
The emotions that are not yours are not just a wave now, this time it is a flood. It is so forceful that it seeps into your own emotions as the water breaks through the dam that differientuates who's feelings are who's. Now you are angry. Why are you so mad? What pissed you off?
"Rest your head, it's time for bed..."
"Why is Samuel still alive?! I killed him!"
"In the morning, you may wake..."
"Wait, KILLED HIM?!" Did you just hear what you thought you just fucking heard?!
No! Sammy is not Sammy, he is evil now!
What? "Evil?" What kind of bullshit are you talking about?! This isn't a fucking movie about protagonist versus antagonist!
I spared him and didn't take the hint, and now he threatens us?! He ignores you and your growing rage in favor of building up his own rage and lashing out. Tendrils start to come out of your body at a violent rate, that is until Samuel says the last line...
"Or in the morning... you'll be dead."
BVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
S,'TØ'P!! S-_TŒ:P' IT!!! ARRRAAAAÆGAH!!!!
You scream as the noise does not stop, but rather continues. Your head feels like it is going to split in half and your ear drums feel like they're about to explode as the symbiote is forced to leave your body, skaken right out of it. The noise no longer hurts you, but you still have the after effects of it and now you're on the ground, naked and freezing cold.
"Oh my God! Hold on, I'll break the speakers!"
The feelings of rage and anger are gone, along with the symbiote. You hold your head as it sounds like a fist pounding on the gates of hell. Managing to open your eyes, you see a black blob on the ground. Your vision is all messed up but starts to come back together. Detail by detail comes back to your vision and you see that the blob on the ground is shaking violently as it seems to get smaller and smaller. It is like it is in a massive amount of pain as it writes on the floor.
Smash--!
Smash--!
Smash--!
And just like that, the noise is completely gone and you're completely confused. You look up to see that Henry had smashed all the TVs and speakers in the room. You look back down to see the symbiote slowly crawling to you, centimeters at a time like it's on the brink of death. It is no longer in and around your body, and you could just leave and never have to deal with this ever again, but...
Would you be able to do it? To live with yourself knowing you left some poor creature to die? Not just some poor creature, but one that was willing to try and gain your trust like that? To heal your injuries and just magically cure you of disease? One that begged you to let it stay? No, you can not. So, you reach out and grab it, and it recedes back into your body through the skin of your hand. It feels weird.
Are you okay...?
. . .
No response. Perhaps he is too weak right now.
It takes a full, solid minute of his recovery, but tendrils start to recover your body and back into the form and color they were before.
"Oh geez. Hate to ruin your moment, but am I glad you have your clothes back on. I almost saw you without them. Bendy, please never almost die again. _____, please never go naked right in front of me ever again." Noted, Henry. He really needs to save it until later. No one wants to hear him whine right now, jokingly or not.
... I'm fine now.
Oh thank God, I thought you were a goner... What the hell happened?
High frequencies are harmful. Specifically four thousand to six thousand hertz.
You feel guilty for thinking about letting him stay there and rot earlier.
Henry speaks up, "Guys, I think we have company..."
Your head snaps into the direction Henry is facing, not because you wanted your head to move that way, but because the symbiote wants it to move that way. What you see in the door way is a man made of ink. A man with a worn down Bendy mask on his face. He has trousers on and faintly reminds you of...
Samuel Lawrence!!
Now you were back to his rage melting into your feelings. Not that you needed his feelings to be mad anymore. Based on an educated guess, he is the one responsible for the noise, somehow knew it was harmful, and obviously had the intention of killing Bendy. He is going to fucking get socked in the face by your own hand because that shit fucking hurt.
Your clothes melt back into tendrils that now cover your entire body, the sudden situation confusing you are making you somewhat nervous. They reach and cover your face, making you even more freaked out as you instinctively take a deep breath and close your eyes. After a few seconds, you try breathing and it works... So you open your eyes... and you can see.
You look down at your body to see that it's covered in complete black. You turn to a giant peice of broken glass on the ground to see your reflection.
You are Bendy now. Bendy with breasts and curves...but, uh, still Bendy. You really want to laugh at the thought right now.
Your body looks very athletic, nothing like before. You are not really one that excels in sports, so it is fascinating to see your body look like an athlete's. Your hands are quite large, claws at the end of each tip of your fingers. The gloves are there as well, and they look very white and clean, but your hands look more destructive than anything.
Our hands. Now our hands are going to be punching his face. You feel like you are getting high off of adrenaline and feelings of excitement, though these feelings of excitement are not yours. They are Bendy's feelings, but they are starting to affect you.
A feeling of pride seeps in, but still can not overcome the rage. It is still a lot of pride though. Like he is prideful of this, and proud to show you what he is capable of. You just know this for some reason. You just know these are his feelings.
"For so long I've worshipped you, praised you, hailed you! All you've ever done is take it for granted and stomp on me! I now realize what I must do, and that's kill you!! I'm the one who put that frequency on, because I just so managed to get a hold of Joey's work!" The creature of ink, former Sammy Lawrence, waves the paper in the air before throwing them somewhere behind him like they no longer mean anything. "Now I realize I'll never be free, because you'll never free me! You'll all pay for what you did to me!!" He comes after the two of you with a big candle lighter.
Tendrils shoot out from your arms like you saw him do to the barrels you threw in his way not too long ago, and grab objects to smack him in the face before he can even take a step further, knocking the red candle lighter out of his hands. It flings into the air and lands on the floor, sliding right in front of you, coincidentally.
You stomp over it, and with the weight and strength of Bendy, crush it with ease under your symbiote-coated boots. It almost makes you nervous, how strong you are. You feel like you could easily snap someone like a twig.
He is starting to sound a lot different than from how he sounded before. You are starting to see what Henry meant about him developing his own personality based on all the different hosts he has bonded with. He is starting to act like how you originally designed Bendy, the character, to act.
Joey's version was timid, easy to pick on, a push over, a hopeless romantic, and only a little smart. Your version was confident, slightly shy when it gets down to personal topics, a ladies' man, a smart ass, intelligent, comical, mature when he actually really needs to be, and easily aggravated. Henry said h will inherit stuff from you though, not the character itself. That means the only traits he will take on are the ones you have. After all, you based his character a bit off of you, so you wonder how it is going to turn out.
You think you hear Sammy screaming at this point, but choose to ignore it. You feel like the two of you are getting carried away but...he did try to kill you guys. The both of you grab him by the neck and hold him up to your face, ripping the mask right off him. He is in between choking and trying to hide his face. Raising your arm, the tendrils pull away temporarily as you postion your arm.
Just like that, you sock him in the face with your bare fist. Tendrils cover your arms back up and Bendy says
My turn! A laugh that has a little too much malice in it emits from the symbiote.
Except for he does not punch him. Rather, he holds him up to your face and he opens your guys' mouth, the pointy ends of his teeth finally becoming visible. They look exactly how you designed them back when you drew what it would look like if Bendy actually showed the rest of his teeth. A long tounge is there too, just chillin'. What you do not expect, is what happens next.
He literally, physically bites Sam's head off.
You are silent. You can not fathom what just happened. It takes a good few seconds to realize that you just bit someone's head off with razor sharp teeth. Yet, you are unsually calm, and unusually alright with this. You have a feeling that Bendy is the reason behind this lack of caring.
He pulls away from you skin and you are back to being in what you were before. Though, despite everything, you still have the gumption to speak and ask questions.
"Wait, isn't ink poisonous?"
He is not made of ink, and neither are all the others down here. They are defective symbiotes. Ink is not poisonous to us, though. I can get it out of our system too, through saliva.
"Oh." As it on cue, saliva seems to build up in your mouth and you spit it out to the side of the room. It tastes nasty and just like chemicals. It tastes like how ink smells. You'd think nothing of it...if it wasn't green.
Why the hell is it green? What??
It's the pigmentation, so it can be told apart from normal body fluids. To show it's toxic. Huh, the wonders of genetics.
"You bite off someone's head and the first thing you think about is 'is this bad for me?'"
"Well he did try to kill us..." You are still unnaturally calm, not that you are complaining. Though, it feels wrong to feel this way and to act like this. Every time you try to think about the gravity of what you and Bendy just did, you are urged away from those thoughts. Henry is just as calm as you though, as if he has murdered before. He most likely has, down here at least. After all, it seems like it is kill or be killed down here.
"Yes, I know, but that still messes you up in the head, right?" Seems like Henry was just questioning your sanity right now. Like he is one to talk.
"Hë wås ñœ loñger Sämmy, jüst æ hùsk. Sæmmy wās dèåd añd all thāt was left was that freak. Hë wås līkè a sêærchér, büt smàrtër."
"Man, you're starting to talk like an actual person, Ben'." Your hand flips him off without permission.
A sigh emmits from you. You walk past the lifeless puddle of what was once your friend and grab the papers he was waving like a mad man just two to three minutes ago.
"Sorry, I know Sammy used to be a friend of yours."
"It's...fine. We weren't particularly close anyway." Maybe you should just forget this crap ever even happened. Back in the fight, you got really carried away. You are not sure what got into you, but you just were so mad about being attacked. Truly, you can not wait to get home to relax so that you can peacfully think this all over. This place is not exactly a comfortable environment.
"Alright, stand back. I'm going to chop these boards down real quick." Henry swings his axe at the boards, effectively chopping them off clean. It seems that he has done this many times down here. Just like that, the door is accessible again.
"Man, I can only imagine how you got the experience with that axe." A sarcastic comment is always appreciated between the two of you.
"You're tellin' me." He sighs before looking at your eyes a little too closely. "Uh, I think you should sleep this out."
"Huh? What do you mean? We don't have time to sleep." You really need to eat something as soon as possible.
"No, but you do." You make an even more confused look, tilting your head. "Bendy made me sleep walk before. Like, I was sleeping one time and he took me to a stash of Bacon Soup while I was unconscious, so I woke up to a bunch of cans of food. Do you know what I mean now? Just 'cause we need to stay awake doesn't mean you need to too."
"Well, that's not fair to you guys..."
"______, do you think we care? You had a twisted ankle when we first saw you and the second time you were being beaten to death. You look like a dead girl walkin'."
Go to sleep, or else.
Or else what?
...
That's what I thought.
"Come on, ______. You actually do look like a zombie. Stop being stubborn." Maybe you do, and maybe he's right. You are really tired. It's been a while since you've last slept.
"Okay... You'd better get that thing that has that cool blob of ink shaped like a Bendy doll on it too, and maybe a few plushies."
"You mean by Shawn's tape? Did you know it changes shape every time you touch it?"
"Wait, really?" You are disappointed that you did not try to at least touch it.
Once more, tendrils start covering your whole body. This time, though, you start to feel very drowsy. Your body starts to feel somewhat numb as well. It is like you are being put to sleep with the drugs they use on the patient right before performing a surgery, or at the dentist when they remove wisdom teeth. It is very quick, and just like that, you are knocked out cold.
***
Entry #29
Not only is it weak to fire, but high frequencies of sound seem to easily kill it. I almost killed it earlier, which would have not been good. Not good at all. While it is sensitive to sound, I measure that it cannot take four thousand to six thousand hertz. Anywhere in between or above is lethal to it.
I had to feed it more rodents again just so it could regain lost mass. It started getting really small and weak during and after the frequency test.
After a while, I tried putting the frequency on while it was inside an animal. When putting it on, the rabbit shook and seemed to be in pain. Then, to my surprise, the symbiote was separated from the rabbit. I think I've found a way to force separation from a host and the symbiote. I'll have to test it out on human hosts.
Signing out, Joey Drew
***
I made this originally as the cover for the story, but decided that it wouldn't many much sense to do so, and wouldn't represent the book that well. That's when I made the other picture for the cover. Anyways, I'm still really proud of this peice of art. I'm getting a thousand times better at anatomy and poses. People wouldn't get it as a cover because it's a illustration of the reader and Bendy "fused" together and seeing the cover without context would be really confusing.
I was literally drinking a Bob Ross energy drink while making this peice of art. Not a joke, they sell Bob Ross energy drinks at this one arcade I went to. I also heard there are Bob Ross mints at this other place, but I don't remember the name of the place. Still pretty funny though. I was told energy drinks are a walking heart attack, so if I drop dead in the middle of writing, Bob Ross indirectly murdered me. Play Minecraftcito at my funeral.
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