"Do you hear that too?" Jiminy chirped, and the other two toons nodded their heads, standing up. The voices were getting louder, though they were still indistinguishable.
"Whaddya think we should do? Should we run?" Bendy said quietly through his teeth, stiffening his muscles.
"I...Uhh..." The cricket began, but memories of the Butcher Gang resurfaced, "We should go."
The toons all skidded to the nearest door, and Gus rushed to open it, only to find it was locked.
"Gosh—! Here, lemme—" Gus tried another door, but it was also locked.
Then Gus and Jiminy gasped with surprise, as Bendy's body melted into a puddle on the ground, and slinked under the door.
Not even two seconds later, the previously locked door swung open, with Bendy on the other side.
"What—?"
"We ain't got time for questions, come on!" Bendy hissed, before pulling Gus and Jiminy through the doorway. All three toons were about to make a mad dash when their intentions were interrupted by a loud voice.
"Hello?! Is—Is anybody there?!"
It was a man, who sounded just as frantic and confused as the toons felt.
"Henry..." A women's voice said the man's (presumed) name and they fell into a soft conversation, before she yelled:
"We don't want to hurt you! We're here to help!" She continued, her voice getting louder as she traveled down the hall.
Gus and Jiminy looked back and forth between Bendy the direction of the curious people with wide eyes, expecting Bendy to do something. Instead, Bendy took a step forward, listening to the conversation.
"No—No, I swear I saw them! Two—!" Henry said to the women, before the conversation became muffled to the toons.
"No way..." Bendy whispered, his eyes growing wider as he listened to the two voices, "Henry?"
Bendy called out Henry's name. Gus and Jiminy went into a panic, for their cover had just been blown.
It was too late for them to do anything, however. Henry replied with a loud "Who are you?" Before Bendy stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself.
It was like the lighting around them suddenly brightened, and the thick tension that clouded the dusty air was lifted, sucked in through non-existent fans as soon as Bendy entered the hall.
"Oh my god..." Henry gasped, gaping at his creation, standing there, staring back at him in astonishment.
Bendy gave Henry a wide grin, before cheering: "Henry! Remember me? You...You used to animate me..!"
Henry silently stumbled towards the little cartoon character, kneeling on one knee, studying Bendy with an intense fascination.
"I...I can't believe it..." Henry almost whispered, letting out a soft chuckle. Then Henry poked Bendy in the face rather hard, and the Demon swatted at him, scrunching up his face.
"What the hell—!"
"You are real! You—you're...heh!" Henry interrupted in pure joy.
"I can't—I just can't!" The animator laughed, standing back up, squeezing his temples with a smile.
And then the mouse appeared.
"Bendy—? Gus! Jiminy!?" Mickey exclaimed at the sight of his friends.
Now it was trio of toons' turn to stand in utter shock.
"MICKEY!!" They all exclaimed, and rushed to embrace Mickey in a choking hug, which Mickey returned (with difficulty, considering his arms were pinned to his sides).
"WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!" Gus almost sniffled, along with Jiminy.
"Woah—haha, fellas!" Mickey laughed, squeezing his friends tighter, "I'm here!"
Gus pulled away, saying: "How in Donald Duck's beak did you survive?!"
"I...I was rescued by them." Mick jerked his head to the three human-like figures, who all smiled back.
The blissful moment ended when Bendy blurted out:
"Have you guys seen Oswald, anywhere?"
• • •
"Perhaps you'll let us assist."
"What do you mean by that?" Oswald asked, his weariness fading.
"Bendy has always caused trouble, since the day he first appeared on paper," Alice started, "Over the years, the fame turned Bendy's snarky, yet harmless personality into something much worse. His ego was dangerously inflated, and didn't take well to Alice's—well, my appearance."
Alice waited for some sort of reaction from Oswald, but when she got nothing, she continued on:
"Me and the others tried to reason with him, but he was blinded by our creator, and soon he sought to replicate himself in an unsavory fashion—abusing the uses of the machine—to wipe us all out, but it went wrong..."
Oswald unintentionally found himself engrossed in her words, and didn't notice the ink that had begun dripping from his arms, and over his eyes. All Oswald saw was darkness—metaphorically speaking.
He was blinded by the ink.
"What do we have to do?" The rabbit asked as if he was on autopilot.
"I'm so glad you've found the light, dear! Oh, come!" Alice said gleefully, motioning for Oswald to follow. The ink-monster with rabbit ears stumbled behind the Angel and the Wolf.
"Everybody in this studio hates us...They've been tainted by the demon's ink, and led to attack us on the demons command!" Alice's voice divulged into two, but she contained herself and continued.
"When Bendy, their savior, left them to rot in this god-forsaken place, they could only fear me...They shrunk at the mere sight of me, for they knew only I had the power to destroy their so-called god...And I tried. I tried to free us all, but your Toons' ink weakened me. I didn't have the strength to put an end to our misery... So I let the ink consume, and rebirth me.
The only problem was, I ran into an inconvenience...So I had to send my friends to put a stop to them. They weren't successful, but they be-rid this studio of the only one who could've ruined our plans. You don't think I should've done that, do you?" Alice asked the rabbit, who thought for a moment. Oswald's thoughts were tangled in his mind, so he listened to the only coherent thing he could hear. The ink.
Yes... Yes... Yes...
"Yes. Anyone who keeps us from saving this studio must go." Oswald repeated.
Oswald was doing the right thing.
He was saving all the poor souls left to die in this building. He was getting the revenge Ortensia, Dale, and everyone else deserved. He was ending Bendy's tyrannical reign. No more lies.
And nothing could argue against the darkness that had begun seeping in the rabbit's mind.
YOU ARE READING
(1) Ink Distortion (BATIM/EPICMICKEY)
Fanfiction"Hey, Bends... it's nice to see you again." Oswald decided to speak first. Bendy couldn't bring himself to glare back at him, so instead, he gave Oswald a lopsided smile, and softly said: "Nice to see ya too, Rabbit." • • • When the abandone...
