They were too late. The building started to crumble, and Oswald and Bendy clung onto each other for dear life. How they managed to reach each other, they did not know. Within the clouds of dust they looked for Gus and Mickey, but found no one.
"A-Agh! How do-do we stop it—??!" Oswald screamed over the deep rumbling sound.
"We-we-I thought destroying the machine would—!"
Another surge of energy coursed through the studio, causing both toons to fly into the air.
"AHH—!!"
Bendy's head slammed against a falling pipe, and he fell to the ground. The rabbit hopelessly reached for his best friend.
"Ugh..." Bendy rubbed his head as it began to spin.
"BENDY—," Oswald grasped onto the demon, and tried to communicate with him over the shaking, "—THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY!?"
Bendy stared blankly at the blurry rabbit, his mind fluid and foggy.
"We could...we could kill the demon..?"
"Y-you mean...the monster? How, how do we kill it?!"
The old pipes cried again, their wails piercing the ears of the toons below.
"No—" The weight in Bendy's head caused him to lean against Oswald, "I'm the demon."
Oswald looked for words as Bendy's words sunk in. The low vibration in their bones shook the Rabbits thoughts.
"Wait—no you're not," The Rabbit fought, "You're, you're anything but a demon! You're more angel-like than that damn—damn thing with the halo! It's Joey, right? Joey is the real demon here! Where's he been this entire time? No creator like that is a saint!
"No...you don't understand..." Bendy shifted, facing Oswald as the rabbit held him up, "I'm the demon. I'm the monster. No matter how hard I try, I'm the one responsible for Alice's wrath, Boris's death, I'm the one that invaded Joey's mind."
Bendy's brain shook against his skull, and his eyes floated back and forth between the blurry ceiling and his friend.
"I did all of this. I truly did," he continued, "I was never a toon. I was never the good guy. I was never the one who did the right thing. It's not my fault, I was written that way...created to be the antagonist in the story. Nobody wrote me a happy ending. At the end of every episode I was always caught, behind bars, blasted into the sky, the thief, the scoundrel, that's what they made me. I'm the one with no redemption. I'm the demon."
Bendy smiled up at Oswald, who's emotions were barricaded inside of him like a prison. The rabbit desperately tried to convey something, but no tears, or sounds could be created.
The toon mustered together the last of his energy, as the darkness of the injury on his head seeped into the rims of his eyes.
"It's okay, though. When you get back, when Ortensia, and Gus, and Mick—you all can write me a happy ending."
The darkness spilled from the demons eyes.
"Nobody dies a hero. There are no heroes, and there are no good guys. It's all fake. Nobody can truly be good, but we can all truly try," Bendy grasped Oswald's arm, "So promise me something, please..?"
Oswald leaned forward, preparing to soak in every syllable that would enter his ears.
"Don't ya ever stop trying."
Oswald peered into the dull eyes of the demon, and saw them glance up at the ceiling. The rabbit followed his gaze to reach a large, bronze pipe that had been shaken loose and threatened to crush both of them. If the shaking spiked again, that would be the end of them.
"The machine," the demon croaked with a sly grin, "Crowbar the shit out of it, rabbit."
Bendy pushed Oswald away, and the rabbit clutched onto his crowbar. Slowly walking to one of the large panels of the machine the lined the room, he took another look at his friend.
The demon could no longer hold himself, and as he rested his heavy head on the wood, he nodded to Oswald.
The rabbit jammed the crowbar in between two panels, and tore it open. The studio let out another loud groan, and Oswald pressed up against the wall for balance, continuing. Tearing more panels out, some pipes began to fall and crash, sending jolts of shock through the rabbit. Finally, with one last jab, the glass that served as a protective layer around soul-infested ink shattered. Oswald burst towards the door, as the ceiling caved in.
He looked back, hoping for one last glance at the toon that changed his life, but the spot the rabbit left him was littered with the bulky bronze pipes. Tearing his eyes away, Oswald barely caught the ceiling falling behind him from the corner of his eye.
Oswald could only hope that the demon's conscious drifted away before the break.
• • •
A haze of sounds and noises danced around the rabbit. The voices of his friends floated around and in his head, and felt but couldn't feel when they grabbed him in relief.
"—It just stopped! Why'd it stop?" Someone's voice rang, and it took Oswald a moment to understand it.
The building around them had ceased to shake, but everything inside of the rabbit was vibrating more than the string of a cello. He could even hear its deep hum, somewhere in his empty skull.
"—What happened?"
"—Where's Bendy?"
"—Are you okay?"
Each toon spoke slowly, and softly, as each one shared the same conclusion, but to Oswald, each question was too fast, and too loud. He reached to cover his ears, before feeling the slime of blood that he failed to notice during the chaos.
Of course, being jerked around repeatedly would literally wrack Oswald's brain to mush.
The rabbit put too much effort into grimacing at his discovery, before spiraling darkness.
• • •
Happy Halloween.
The hiatus has ended with a bang. Hold your horses, though, there's still an epilogue! Writing this story has been one hell of an experience. I remember sitting down on a rainy day in early August nearly three years ago, and going, "This will be fun."
No, it was not fun. It was exhausting, and maddening, and so, so draining, but it was also the best experience of my life. Not only have I watched these characters grow, but I've watched myself grow too, and that's why writing is the most powerful weapon of all. It's one of the few professions where you are able to learn and grow by teaching yourself, and those lessons are the most important ones of all.
So, thank you. Thank you so much, for the encouragement, love, and support you all have give me along this journey. Some of you have genuinely taught me things that not only make me a better writer, but a better person as well, and words cannot express my gratitude.
With so much love and appreciation, Max Mastyn
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...
