𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧𝐤 | Ink Bendy x Depressed! Reader

FOURTY: Waves of grief

Something was off as soon as Bendy, Kipper, and Mika came back home. Their spirits seemed low, Kipper's being the worst. And they were such a happy soul too. I knew it had to have been bad if even they were affected tremendously in a way like this.

Yet I put on a hopeful smile towards my lover, but he didn't smile back. He only crept up to face my (e/c) gaze, now full of worry, and wrapped his arms tightly around me, his body pressed closely against mine, "Honey, what happened?" I dared to ask.

"He's gone." Bendy rasped, "I couldn't save him."
A wave of nausea hit hard from the stinging yet familiar feeling of grief, which numbed my entire excitement of their return until it simply didn't exist anymore. I held down the sensation of breakfast trying to make a reappearance and comprehended the words Bendy just said.

Inkus was dead. Which means there's no protector for these lost ones, besides us. What else is next? I can't help but wonder. Who else is going to die that doesn't deserve to?

"Today is a grim day," Sammy announced to the crowd. We gathered along the ink river, around the body of Inkus, all of us dressed in mourning clothes, "We hold this ceremony of grief in honor of our fallen protector, Inkus Flynn. He lived among us, was raised with some of us, and took care of us as we did him. He was a good person, and didn't deserve to die so soon." The prophet's voice slightly cracked. He knew this young lost one well, probably even taught Inkus some of what they knew.

I covered my face in Bendy's chest, feeling tears prick at the corner of my eyes. His arms were wrapped tightly around me, like they were when he first hugged me since his return.
Nightfall batted his side in a comforting manner, meowing softly from the purse.

"I hope that one day, when all this chaos and bloodshed is gone, that we will all be free and Inkus can live the afterlife as they wish peacefully in clarity. I have a dream that one day we will be free from this prison." Sammy continued his speech, standing tall at the front of the crowd, beside the body with Kipper, a lost one named Drench, and Inkus's caretaker Devvie: the closest thing to a family Inkus had. My heart lurched from my chest seeing Kipper's frown, the optimism draining from the once happy care-free lost one.

"I wish for it all to come true," Sammy murmured, "But for now, it is merely but a dream. A dream, to which, that could honor the dead. For now, we gift Inkus a second chance, and hope the cycle will care for our loved one." His voice cracked once more with emotion. I knew he was thinking of Norman too, not just the fallen lost one.
The prophet turned to two burly lost ones, who helped him push Inkus's corpse into the depths of the ink river. His body seemed to slowly melt into the black substance, his red-black blood mingling with the midnight current.
He bobbed in the river, his brown eyes lifelessly stuck looking off into the distance, his expression stuck with whatever expression he had before.

The funeral ceremony had come to a close. The lost ones ventured back to the base, except for a few, including me and Bendy. As Devvie and Kipper's wails dug deep into my skull, I looked up at my lover, only to be hit with a huge wave of sorrow. There was Bendy, holding in his tears but miserably failing, biting his lip with his fangs until it bled. After awhile longer, minutes feeling like hours, Kipper and her companions left, leaving us behind.
It was only until they were out of earshot that Bendy spoke, "It's all my fault."

"How is it your fault?" I asked gently, yet slight sternly, to make him know he shouldn't blame himself. We both know who's responsible for this and it isn't him, not even close.
He went silent, hesitant to tell me.

I turned my (e/c) gaze to the glistening ink river. By now Inkus's body was gone. By now I felt numb. How I dealt with grief nowadays. I knew Bendy more likely wouldn't tell me right now, he was still comprehending what was happening after all, so it shocked me when he did speak, "I hurt her. Badly."