INKY HANDPRINTS AND CUP STAINS (BENDY X CUPHEAD STORY)

Chapter Eleven: Christmas Illness

(long chapter coming your way my beautiful little peeps o' mine 🤗)

"Oh," Mia smiled, "We can hang up the wreath and get the tree up like we used to!"

She had a point. Before things were hectic, Boris, Mia, Bendy, and Alice helped around the studio with Joey and Henry, getting Christmas decorations up everywhere. They would all play together in the snow, eat a lot of food, and watch old Christmas movies with each other. After all the fun, they would open up their presents.
But... all this happened years ago. Now, things were different, and Joey, Henry, and Alice were gone. Time to leave the past in the past. Anyway, Bendy rolled off the couch and headed to the bedroom. "You two can start working on the other stuff," Bendy said, "I'll get the tree in here. Then you can help me decorate it."

Everybody got to work. Bendy didn't want his siblings to see him crying, so he hid in the bedroom to calm down. He missed those days where he and Joey would work together for Christmas. They didn't start fighting until Bendy caught him tearing his 12 year old brother's organs out of his ribcage.
'Stop it, just stop!' he scolded his self, 'Those days are over, Bendy! Leave those horrible memories where they belong: in the back of your mind. You still have your younger brother and sister to worry about.' Bendy wiped away his tears and took a deep breath. "I got a household to run, and I still gotta get the tree out. No time for crying."

He may be short, but Bendy was very strong. He took out the 9 foot tall tree from the back of the closet and read the instructions on how to set it up in the living room. Boris helped him carry it downstairs, and Mia grabbed the ornaments and tinsel.

"Okay," Mia said, "the instructions say that we're supposed to put the middle part of the tree on top of the bottom part." Boris nodded his head and took the bottom part of the tree in his grasp.
"Ready when you are, Bendy!" Bendy attached the middle part to the base and connected the pieces together. "This is probably gonna take a while," the demon said after he wiped his forehead.

Cuphead went into Vanilla Chai Tea's room to find her sprawled out on her bed, drawing a picture for Mia. "Hey Vanilla," he said, "Me and Mugman are gonna set up the Christmas tree. Wanna help us out?" Vanilla Chai glanced over at him and smiled. "Sure thing, bro."
He nodded and left the room. Vanilla hopped out of her bed and opened her dresser drawer on the top. This was where she kept her mother's ornament. It was a simple ornament in other people's minds, but she thought this small snow globe on a string was her world.

"I'll put this on the tree for you, Mom," she smiled and gently hugged the tiny trinket.

It was 2015 when the cups' mother grew sick one day. She came down with the ink illness. It was a cold December day when she was outside, coming back from the store and work. Elder Kettle was watching the children until she came back.
The thing is, she never did.
He called the police and everything, wondering what happened to his wife. The police found Doreen, the cups' mother's name, on the ground with her groceries, dead. She had cold ink dripping down the side of her face.

The horrible part about it was that she didn't tell anyone that she had the illness. Doreen hid it well from the family until that day. Ever since then, Elder Kettle would blame the cups for everything that happened, not to mention hitting them, especially Vanilla Chai Tea.

Mugman and Cuphead put the tree up and started decorating it with Elder. "Remember to drape the tinsel on the branches before you add the garland," the old coot spat.
Cuphead rolled his eyes and whispered to Mugman, "I can't believe that old nut is our dad."

Once the tree was put up, Boris smiled at their work. It was a pleasure to have it! "The tree looks absolutely stunning, guys!" Mia clapped. Bendy smiled until his stomach started to hurt. "Oh... shit..." he said in his ink demon voice, which you may know is deeper than his regular voice. Ink began to run down the side of his face until it covered his right eye completely.
His white bowtie slid down into the ink as he lurched forward at Boris and Mia. He started melting as his body kept bubbling up and running down his sides. Boris stepped up and picked the blob of ink known as his older brother, for Mia was too petrified to do anything at this point.

"Mia, Boris... I'm sorry..." Bendy managed to say until he threw up. Boris held him close to his chest and caressed his back as Mia grabbed a nearby bucket for him to use. "It's okay, Bendy," Boris said, "This is not your fault. Joey was the one who made you like this. It's his fault for doing this to you. Let's try to get you to the bathroom, okay?" Bendy only gave a weak smile until he threw up in the bucket again.
"Boris, you make some soup or something for Bendy," Mia informed him. "I'll take Bendy to the bathroom and get him washed up." Boris nodded and ruffled his little sister's hair. "That's my girl." He went into the kitchen to get some bacon soup ready while Mia carried her hurting older brother up the stairs on her shoulder like a baby.

"Alright Vanilla,"Mugman smiled, "You can add Mom's ornament on the middle tree branch." Vanilla carefully placed the trinket in its place on the tree and grinned at their work. The tree looked like they plucked it out of a Christmas catalog.

"Y'all better be lucky you did something right for once," Elder Kettle grumbled as he waved his cane in the air. Cuphead wanted to protest when he told him to get dinner started with him, but Vanilla caught his attention and shook her head. Cuphead nodded and left for the kitchen with Elder to work on dinner.
"That almost turned into another fight, if I do day so myself," Mugman said as he gave his little sister an innocent chuckle. Vanilla Chai Tea face palmed and sighed. "This is gonna be a long day, huh?"

After throwing up in the toilet 5 times, Bendy sat down on his haunches and panted like he ran a marathon.

(Time Skip cuz I'm angry as shit)

Mia washed Bendy up and got out a few clothes for him to wear. The poor thing fell asleep while he was getting bathed, so Mia got him dressed up. She put powder on the appropriate places, added deodorant under his armpits, and covered his elbows, knees, and his ankles in lotion. After that, she put Bendy on his pillow and under his covers.
"Sweet dreams, big brother," Mia kissed his forehead and walked downstairs to the kitchen where Boris was working on Bendy's soup. Boris was done with the bacon soup when Mia came in. "Is Bendy okay enough to eat?" he asked with concern clearly in his voice. "He's okay, he's okay," Mia giggled, "In fact, Bendy's asleep."

Boris put the soup in the oven to keep it warm and went to the living room with Mia. They just watched TV for the rest of the day while Bendy was sound asleep.