Hymns of Struggle

11- His Truth, His Lies

Author's Note: This chapter's art is by Startistdoodles on Tumblr.

"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." - Ephesians 5:11

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"Really?"

He nodded in reply.

As they sat together on the edge of the musicians' platform, she turned her incredulous look at him into a blank stare to the floor that was almost wide enough to let in the certainty of his words.

Almost.

"Shit."

It was...a lot to take in all at once, to understate it. Heck, it was probably too much to take in over a whole lifetime, but here it was. And it was all her responsibility to accept- an unfeasible task; she needed help.

"Let me just- let me just try to catch your drift here," she started, raising her hands in a whirl about her head as if doing so could yank thoughts directly from her mind. He stayed silent and so she continued, closing her hands into fists even as they sat purposelessly by her chin.

"So that thing I saw when-..." She hesitated once she had to describe this putrid moment. "-When you had me tied up, was- was 'Bendy.'" It was pronounced as a statement, but she was obviously waiting for him to confirm it with a "yes" or "no." She didn't notice he was distracted by her fingers, the index and middle of each hand curling and uncurling twice to verbalize quotation marks.

It unnerved her, but she assumed his quiet meant his assurance.

"And," she began again with words so heavy, so alien and magic that not even her own tongue could help her make sense of it. "...It...he...kept me from dying."

Speech had come back to him. "Yes, dear sheep. He rained down upon you his life and his blessings so that you may remain as you are before me now."

And then there was a question that should have never been asked.

"Why?"

He turned away from her and tilted his chin upward, towards the cutout that peered at the two disciples from above. It smiled. It only ever smiled, but now it seemed to do so without secrecy, with concealment. Sammy's gaze lowered to the ground with his unanswered prayers.

"...I do not know."

For some reason, this was the hardest answer for her to swallow.

There was a pregnant and awkward pause between them as they both attempted to absorb what little, confusing information had been left at their feet. It filled the two of them with uncertainty of their lives, their purpose.

"When-..."

Sammy's knuckles clenched unconsciously.

"When will he let us go back?"

He had informed her just a moment ago in one fell swoop that attempt after attempt, not a single soul ever saw the light again- that the door only let in, not out. That Bendy was their only salvation. That somehow, Bendy would set them free. Now was the time for her to know how.

"When we believe."

And suddenly, he heard a soft noise. By his side, the woman pulled her head into her lap and started to cry once more.

"My sheep..."

His demeanor now was foreign to his past actions, unlike how he treated her before. He remembered when he touched her hand as she died, how she called for the shepherd- had asked for him to stay by her side. How they both from then on were at Bendy's mercy together, not apart.