Return to Hell (BaTDR Reader Insert)

Who are you?

I felt exhausted, like I'd just run about ten miles in one direction. I slowly opened my eyes to see a for a second, what I thought was some sort of horrific moon monster, staring back down at me. As I shook my head, I saw that it was simply a lamp above my head. "O-Oh. You're awake." A young woman's voice came as I sat up, rubbing my head. Looking around, I was in a small hotel room, lying on a bed, and with a woman standing by the door, with an old Gent pipe in her hand. I was surprised as I practically jumped out of the bed, onto the other side, away from this mysterious woman. "W-Who are you? Where a-are we? What happened?" I said as the confusion quickly overwhelmed me, and I slid down the back of the wall into a corner.

I could feel the woman's presence as I heard her set down the pipe on the nearby night stand, and she slowly began walking towards me. Pretty soon, I heard the creaking of old springs as I saw in between the ink dripping over my eyes that the woman had slowly sat down on the bed. "Are you alright?" The woman said, clearly on edge from my presence. I looked up to her and simply said, "... You don't seem to be scared of me, but I know you are." She showed a look of admittance before nodding and saying, "I just... what happened to you? Last I saw, you looked... a lot more monstrous than, this." She gestured to my entire body, and that's when it clicked for me.

"Oh... well. I'm not that other demon. I have no clue who that is, or what he wants. I just want to get my friends and leave this place." I said as I slowly got up and dusted my shirt off. Then, as the woman spoke again, I noticed how I was about a foot taller than her, "Well. Maybe we can help each other. I'm looking for the old Gent Building." That immediately got me on edge as I raised my voice, "Why on earth would you want to go there!? That place is home to horrific monsters that perform experiments on you if they catch you." I then noticed how the woman had lightly backed up from my reaction, so I apologized, "Uh... sorry. I-I didn't mean to..."

I was interrupted by a hand being put on mine, which startled me, I turned again to see the woman holding my hand in a comforting way as she spoke again, "I'm aware that it's a scary place, but I need to get in there in order to get home. I was looking for this hotel when me and a friend found you in the street." I felt rather speechless, all the years I'd spent as the Ink Demon had shown me that I couldn't touch someone without hurting them in this world, and yet, here was this woman, fearlessly touching me as to comfort my anguish. As I observed her face, glowing yellow eyes looking back at me, it clicked.

"You're the woman who was with that Wilson character, aren't you?" I said as she nodded. "Wilson told me to come find him before we ended up here, and I want answers from him. My Name's Audrey, by the way. What do I call you?" She said as she walked over and grabbed the Gent Pipe from the nightstand. "... Ben. My friends call me Ben." I responded before continuing to question her, "If you're looking for a way into the Gent Building, then why are you in a hotel?" "I found a note describing how someone who used to work at Gent left their ID card here, and I need it to get into the building." Audrey said as she climbed up another level and pulled me up with her, and sure enough, there on the table was the ID card she was looking for. But as she went to grab it, an all to familiar voice suddenly broke the silence.

"Well, geez! You haven't gotten far. And I see you made a friend." Came the voice of the man I'd long wished to never see again. "Joey, freaking, Drew..." I said as I felt the ink in my body bubble. I turned to see the man leaning up against a door frame as Audrey also noticed him. "Don't do that!" Audrey said as she put her hand on her chest, "Wait... how... how'd you get in here?" "My question exactly!" I said as I could feel my fists enlarging, "I was told you were dead!" Joey shook his head as he explained, "Well Bendy, I'm not the man you know. More of... an echo. But Audrey, tell me. How goes the journey?"

"Slow... but I'll get through." Audrey explained. "Ah. I see you have your father's never quit, go-getter spirit." Joey said as he stepped forward, but I stepped in between the two to stop him from getting closer. "Oh, now you knew my father." Audrey said as she softly told me to stand down, which I sort of did, "Well, newsflash, I didn't even know my father, or my mother... or anyone else in my family."

I looked to Audrey as Joey continued, "I see. You've chosen to forget the past. I can understand that." Audrey sighed as she continued, "What are you talking about?" Joey put Audrey's hand in his as he explained, "Look. I don't think you're ready for this. But hang on to your lunch money. There's something I want to show you." He then reached out and put his hands on both mine and Audrey's heads. "Hey, what are you doing!?" I said as the feelings of a migrane set in, and I closed my eyes in pain. I felt like I could hear all of the past cycles in the machine, every time the door creaked open, and they walked in. Among all the voices, I heard (Y/n)'s voice, "Hello? Mr. Drew? Is anyone here?" Then, just before I opened my eyes, one more voice cycled through my head. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it, "Alright Joey, I'm here. Let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see."

As I opened my eyes, the familiar area made itself known; the first floor. With the gap open to the door behind us, eternally closed to prevent escape. I noticed Audrey looking around in confusion as we stepped into the main area of the studio, with Joey calling us over to the projector at the end of the main room. As Audrey sat in the seat, she asked, "Where are we?" Joey simply responded as he turned on the projector, "A very old place. Full of memories. But never mind all that. There's a little story you need to hear. You ready?" The two of us looked at each other and nodded back to Joey.

"Here we go." Joey began, "Once upon a time, you two. There was a bitter, old man. Who had lost, just about everything." "Joey." Audrey guessed. "Right." Joey confirmed before continuing, "The real Joey Drew. He blamed everyone but himself for his mistakes, but mostly, he blamed his old business partner for abandoning their work, years, and years ago. A man by the name of Henry Stien." "(Y/n)'s grandfather." I responded, knowing what they'd told me of the man. "Correct," Joey confirmed once more, "A great artist, and a good friend. But in his anger, Joey used an evil machine to create another world. A world made of paper, and ink, where he'd torture his own version of Henry, forevermore. But one day, a miracle happened, an angel came into Joey's life. A young woman by the name of Alison Pendle. She didn't visit often, but when she did, she saw something good in Joey that no one else could, including himself. Through their friendship, he began to see the world with better eyes. So one day, in Joey's cartoon cycle of hatred, he gave Henry an angel of his own. To guide him when things were most dark. To always provide hope."

"It was then Joey decided to make something new. Something he always wanted, but could never have, a family. But not a cartoon one. Something real. And after many, many tries, he created something that made him happier than he ever could have imagined. A wonderful, loving daughter. Bright, kind, almost human. He created you, Audrey." Joey finished as he stepped away from the projector. "What? Are you crazy?" Audrey started as she stood up. "I know it's hard to believe..." Joey said, but I interrupted, "But it's entirely impossible. You say the real Joey made an angel for Henry out of the kindness in his heart? That's utter bull crap! If he wanted a family, then what happened to those others he made, what happened to his first attempt at something real! What did he do for me!? Nothing! Except lock me out and banish me to this hell!"

I felt anger flowing through me as I stood over Joey, ink coating over my eyes once again and beginning to stain my clothes. As I was thinking about what I should do to this man in front of me, I felt a hand softly land on my shoulder. I violently turned to see Audrey looking at me with a sort of sadness in her eyes as she stepped forward and pointed her finger at Joey, "I don't believe you. And don't you ever think of coming near me or Ben again." Joey sighed as he simply said, "Very well." And just like that, in the blink of an eye, we were back in the hotel room, the card still on the nightstand, but Joey nowhere to be seen. As Audrey went to pick up the ID card, and as we left the hotel to go to the Gent Building, questions ran through my mind. If Joey was right about Audrey, wouldn't that make her my sister? I then thought about what he said about Henry.

In truth, I knew that for hundreds of cycles before I'd seen the man Joey had described, but not all the cycles had Henry for some reason, but the very last... it was (Y/n). I can't explain it, but all these questions would have to wait for later, as I noticed we were now outside the Gent Building.