Chapter Text
Henry released a heavy breath as he raced towards the throne in the Ink Demon’s lair, the reel in his hands and the demon hot on his tail. His legs carried him, his heart pounding as he got closer and closer. The beast let out a massive roar just as Henry reached the throne and placed the reel in. It played eerily as the man slumped down in the broken throne. Looking up, he saw the demon approach him; the same story, the same script. Henry soon looked away.
A heavy sigh escaped Henry as he watched the end reel consume the Ink Demon, sending him to the start once again. He trudged down the same hallway, looking at posters of the many Bendy cartoons. He pushed his silver hair back as he walked forward, soon pausing at one of the posters. Henry growled as he grabbed the poster and ripped it off the wall before crumpling it up and tossing it into a bin. He knew it would appear on the wall again, unlike much-needed supplies. With bacon soup becoming much more scarce, even close to nonexistent, Henry was running out of options for food and water.
As he made his way to the Ink Machine, Henry passed the giant ink writing on the wall falsely insisting that
‘dreams come true!’
As if to mock him, ink dripped out of a pipe and onto Henry's head. He wiped off the ink and grumbled under his breath,
“ Yeah, I wish all dreams came true. Then I wouldn't be in this endless loop, starving and thirsty.”
He kept pushing forward and jumped over the pipe lying on the floor. He knew the task that he had to do; install the two batteries, pull the lever, and marvel at the ink machine when it showed up. He would’ve been more impressed by the machine if it wasn’t his hundredth time seeing it.
“ All part of your story, Joey; a story of horrors that you crafted. ”
The old man was quick to move on, going to the flow control room to trigger the next part of the script. He began to collect the ‘offerings’ and bring them to the pedestals, taking his time collecting the objects. He soon walked up to Boris—poor Boris—strapped to the table, organs gone and a wrench stuffed and half sticking out in their place. The old man had already seen this so many times before, but it still pained him every time. Henry reached up and gently rubbed his thumb on the deceased Boris.
“You shouldn’t be in this hell, Boris. You never deserved this fate.”
Henry said in a somber tone. He let go and pulled the wrench out, before leaving the room. He turned around to face Boris one last time before exiting the room to continue collecting the offerings. He had to do a few back and forths due to the fact that he couldn’t carry all the objects like a cartoon, as much as that would make the task easier. The old man had the wrench, got the inkwell and the bendy doll, and a few lightweight objects to carry back. He waited for Sammy to turn off the light in his office so he could collect the recording and take it back. The next offering, the ink machine's gear, Henry had to pick up with both hands. He grunted as he carried the heavy object back slowly. Several times, Henry nearly fell over backwards due to how heavy the gear was, but he still managed to get it on the pillar.
The ex-animator watched as the gear fell down on it with a loud
‘Thud!!!’
He started to walk towards the break room, cracking his back. His hand wrapped around the door handle but rather than walking into an open room he ended up walking into the door. This caught Henry off guard and he glared at the door like it insulted him. Henry tried the door knob once again, but it didn’t budge an inch. The ex-animator took a few steps back and muttered,
“Well this is a new development. Did Joey get bored and change the script up a bit? Guess I need to find a key.”
Henry soon went to find the key, a near impossible feat due to the size of the first level. He looked just about everywhere for a key or
something
, but the more he searched the more frustrated he became. He finally yelled at the top of his lungs,
“WHERE THE FUCK IS THE KEY JOEY!? DID YOU FORGET TO PUT IT IN?!”
Henry punched the wall, breaking the fragile wood. Henry sighed deeply, readjusted his glasses, and pushed his hand through his hair.
“Maybe I need a break; calm myself down before I go insane and join the other crazies down here.”
Henry mumbled as he sat down. His eyes soon fell upon the Bendy drawing that was left on the desk. He ran his hand over the drawing and stared at it for god knows how long before a distorted voice spoke up, startling Henry out of his seat;
“There you are! You’re Henry right?”
Henry scanned the room, but couldn’t find the source of the voice. The ‘thing’ laughed at the ex-animator’s fearful confusion and spoke again.
“Look at your shadow, you fool!”
Henry sawa shadow wolf sitting in place of his shadow, its eyes glowing red as it gave a toothy grin. The old man screamed and fell backwards as he tried to scramble away from it. The thing laughed more, entertained by Henry’s terror and his poor attempt to flee from it. The shadow wolf walked towards Henry, and spoke again.
“Now then, let me introduce myself. Everyone calls me Heart. I have noticed your struggles for food and water, am I correct to assume this is an issue?”
Such a calm tone in such a chaotic place gave Henry the impression that it was trying to lure him into a trap. He shakily asked the thing,
“What are you?”
Heart chuckled and said in a much more sinister tone,
“A demon, and one that will make life infinitely easier for you, my dear friend. All it will take is a deal.”
Henry hurriedly replied,
“No! I don't want to make a deal, especially not from a demon!”
The old man quickly stood and grabbed the chair, readying it as a weapon. Heart watched, amused, and summoned a book in front of him and said to Henry before leaving,
“I’m not your enemy, Henry Ross, but I know you will eventually buckle under your natural needs for sustenance. We both know they don’t replenish when the loop resets.”
The demon soon vanished, leaving the old man alone with his racing thoughts. He stared at the book before picking it up and standing silently. He kept staring where the demon had stood before commenting only to himself,
“I’ll get myself out of this hellhole and burn the studio to the ground before I take a deal from a fucking devil.”
Henry soon walked towards the offering room and placed the book on the pillar. The light flashed for the ink to flow.
Henry took his time to get to the flow control room, unphased as the Bendy cutout popped out around the corner before vanishing behind it again. Bored by this same foolery, the old man rounded the corner, grabbed the cutout, and threw it down the hallway. It broke on impact. Henry sighed like it lifted some weight off his shoulders. As he entered the room, the projector turned on and played Bendy jumping up and down on loop. Henry stared at the screen before turning off the projector. He then went to the side and turned on the ink flow which caused the pipe above Henry to break and pour ink on him. Unimpressed, he scooted out of the way and left the room. The pipe groaned as it pumped ink throughout the whole studio.
When Henry got to the offering room, he walked to the end, grabbed the lever and pushed it down with a
click
. All the lights in the building flickered off and something in the pipes began clunking and banging loudly. Henry heard his heart beating in his ears as he slowly approached the Ink Machine. He stepped over the pipe to the boarded up room, preparing for the Ink Demon to show up. Like clockwork, large hands reached through the boards. Henry just barely dodged the demon’s hands and made a break for the exit. Far too early, Henry fell through the ink-weakened boards with a scream. His back hit one of the pipes sticking out the sides of the wall with an audible ‘CRACK.’ His mind began to race as he finally fell into the pool of ink. However, Henry couldn’t surface, unable to move his limbs in any motion.
‘This is where I'm going to die, isn’t it? I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!’
Henry’s thoughts raced as he struggled to surface or even get his face above the ink. He felt like he was running out of oxygen and accidentally took mouthfuls of ink until Heart showed up, pulled him out of the ink and wiped his face off. Henry vomited out as much ink as possible and coughed The demon chuckled as he said to the old man,
“Are you reconsidering the deal? I will even sweeten the offer too, not only will you get food and water, but I can set you free, and you will no longer be paralyzed.”
Henry peered at the demon to see his toothy grin. Maybe, just maybe, if he dealt with the demon, he might finally beat Joey. Henry finally relented.
“Fine, you win.”
Joyful, Heart pulled out a contract and a pen.
“You won’t regret it, Mister Ross.”
Henry grabbed the pen and signed the contract. Once it was done, the demon took it and left. Only a few hours passed before the old man was able to move his legs again. He hopped off the box and headed to the ink valve, draining the room full of ink. He walked down the stairwell and repeated this process a few more times before entering a room. He searched for an axe and finally found it behind the crates. After reaching down and standing back up, he saw the boards had been already dealt with.
Henry entirely expected the satanic circle at the end of the hall, but all he saw in that room was fresh ’fruit’ and water. He quickly dove in and gorged himself like he hadn’t been fed in months
The demon offered a twisted grin as he watched his new little pet eat…..