Ok first question to Doug: why would you want to be alive again? I’m generally curious and wanna know, and to Henry: how come you want back to the studio? Did anything made you want to? If you had a chance, would you go save the creations that reside in there?
{Oh boy, that sure does for a long read ahead ! Please buckle up, and enjoy.}
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Doug : "Ha, ha, well, actually, here's the thing, I don't want to be alive again- well, not really. I'm not doing this whole demon ring thing for myself, you know. I don't- I'm not doing things for myself anymore.''
''When I was searching for answers and read about the ring, its legend described it as "powerful enough to provide whose who acquires it a second chance", and as vague as it is, that's about the kind of stuff I research. Not necessarily a second chance for me- a chance to... You know... Right my wrongs, and make up for all the suffering I've caused to- to my family.''
''That's for them that I do what I'm doing. I was absolutely awful to both of them, a self-absorbed... awful... selfish... stupid... coward, and everything that I would have wished I'd never be, and my selfishness ended with me doing something horrible to Elise, which caused her death and- and Tammy's. They both died, because I'm a horrible person that should have never been involved in their lives.''
''I tried everything I could think of to try and make up for it- Religion, charity, prison, you name it. I have not been living for myself in the past 40 years, and nothing I've done has brought me even near to find peace.''
''Now I've grown old. I'm old, I'm tired, and I never found peace for my sins. And I've recently learnt that I developed cancer, so I'm ready to give it up for the extreme. I've tried everything, and I'm up to date soon anyway, so I might as well give up the few life I have left for a last resort. To be honest, I didn't actually think this demonic stuff would work, but now that I'm here, I'm ready to give it all.''
''I'm never going to wake up anyway, and I know I'm going to hell no matter what. So if my dying soul can at least give them a chance to live again and go on without me, I'm ready to give it up. To Bierce, to Malak, the ring, or whatever. They deserve to go on without me. They deserve better. ...And if it instead gives me the chance to go back to before and do better with them, I'm all kinds of willing to be a better person."
''I'm going to die anyway. ...It's been a long time since it's not about me anymore."
Henry : ''*sigh* It's not that I'm particularly thrilled about going back in this sad excuse of a hellhole, but our dimensions are broken. Even if I really love the people I've met here, and even if this is a most welcome break from the usual ink dripping nightmare loop bullshit, we don't belong here. I just know this wasn't supposed to happen, and it's probably best not to keep our dimensions shattered like that. Which is why I want to bring things back. There's no need to let our demons share tips or whatever, if you know what I mean."
"(Also the Ink Demon seems to try to 'spread' around. This can't possibly be good.)''
"As for why I'm still journeying through the studio loop, I honestly don't really know by now. I know what's going to happen, but somehow I can't manage to prevent it from happening. It's always the same result and it's starting to really corrode my spite or whatever's still animating me. I've become so numb to all of this, you have no idea. I'm so tired. ...The reason I'm still doing this, I guess, is because I want to see my family again. I want to see my wife Linda, let her know I'm not dead, see my son again, his wife as well. They're such a sweet couple, you know... I was there for their baby shower. I promised I would be there for the birth of their child. But because of this stupid fucking cartoon guilt trip it's probably passed by now, I couldn't have been here to see their kid, I'm... Goddammit, I want to get to meet my grandkid is all ! I want to see Linda again ! Is that asking too much ???"
"...So yes, this is the main reason I still have hope. My wedding ring is my most valued possession by now."
"As for whether or not I would save the creations of the studio would I be given the occasion... Honestly, I don't know. I've stopped caring about Bendy, Alice, Boris & company a long time ago. It was just supposed to be a failed try in my career, and as amusing as these characters could be, they were just... Characters... They didn't mean much more than that to me. It was Joey's idea, not mine. These don't really count as persons to me, sorry to say that. And I don't really think it's a good idea to consider them as such.''
''I do want to try and save my co-workers, though. These are people,and they've never asked for this. They've endured way too much, for way too long. They deserve to be set free- in one way of the word... or another.''
''...Maybe I can actually achieve something of some sort, someday. ...Anything."
"(Also I really want to have a clarification of some sort about whatever the hell the Ink Demon actually is, and whatever became of Joey. I'm pretty sure the one I found in his office isn't the real one. I require a long, honest, clear talk over here.)"
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So that was their answer ! Sorry if it was quite long and mixed, I wanted to try and picture an actual conversation. To resume, here's the facts :
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Doug isn't counting on being alive anymore, and would actually rather sacrifice himself to allow his daughter and wife to live again, as his redemption. He knows he's going to hell anyway- and fully believes he deserves it.
Henry is still trying to break the loop because he dreams to see his family again, but he's getting slowly increasingly delusional and is more and more just trying to get anything different to happen, and has grown numb to the fate of his coworkers due to the never ending loops. He's also in complete denial to the idea that the Toons could have possibly gained sentience, and refuses to consider them as anything but fictive characters.
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Thanks for your questions ! These are really good ones :) don't hesitate if you have more ✨✨✨ (but please do so on the blog dedicated to the AU @it-takes-four thank you very much 🙏)







