Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I have written in a long time. This summer has become hectic for me and I hope to get a lot of writing done before my new fall semester. So, I would like to start out with my first entry for Bad Things Happen Bingo!
I requested a bingo card of 25 prompts filled with angst and I have decided on what stories to write for each prompt.
For “Chained To A Bed”, I immediately came up with Henry being chained up to a bed during a nightmare because it seemed natural to me and I haven’t seen any BATIM fics for Bad Things Happen Bingo yet (I believe?). I went with it and it took a while, but this came out.
About “Someone Else’s Gloves”: This is a part of a series for my AU called “Ink Gluttony” which is basically what happens when Joey makes a deal with a demon and Bendy is a demon of gluttony caught in the middle of chaos. This particular scene takes place between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of the game. Although the scene itself won’t be explored in the multi-chapter fanfiction “Ink Gluttony”, it will be explored in the prequel “The Real Demon”.
I tried my best with this and on a later date, I will put this through other media sources. Please tell me what you think and enjoy!
Henry laid on his cot, staring up at the ceiling until he became cross-eyed, forcing himself to close his eyes.
It was either a miracle or luck that he and Bendy came across Boris. If they hadn't, maybe the two would have succumbed to the madness of the studio or died trying to escape it. The wolf had immediately taken them to a bunker he was living in for a while now, complete with a kitchen, bathroom, storage room, and a clothing line to boot. Although Henry was wary at first, he was also grateful due to the current circumstances. It had been a few days since then and the three men spent the time so far recuperating and planning out their next course of action.
He couldn't help but worry about Bendy, however. Seeing the wolf's cheerful smile made toon's day as if seeing a lost old friend. Through the relieved facade of serene talks and the occasional card game, Henry was certain that Bendy was hiding something. At first, it was understandable. If Henry thought he were a living toon performer, he'd be more than shocked too if he suddenly remembered dark events in his past and met people that he once knew had completely changed. However, he couldn't help but feel that there was more to it. What exactly happened to the studio over the course of thirty years? Was it really Sammy, Jack, and the others back there or just an illusion? And what did the ink demon that he first met had to do with all this? Whatever the answer, Henry knew that he needed to rest his head first, so he left Boris and Bendy to spend some time together while he laid on his cot to nap. He had a feeling that this was his only chance of sleep. Before he knew it, Henry succumbed to the darkness of slumber.
When Henry woke up, the first thing he noticed was his limbs were outstretched to every corner of his bed. They felt numb, most likely due to his sleeping position. He lifted his body to sit up when he was stopped short by a jingling force. He opened his eyes and once he adjusted to the candlelit darkness, he found his wrists and ankles wrapped in shackles attached to chains that hung around each bed post. The mattress he was on was old and sturdy. Did something kidnap him from the safehouse, he wondered.
The room he was in was empty save for a desk and a chair right near the door on the other side of the room, two candles glowing dimly on either side of the desk with the melting wax holding them in place, and a broken flowerpot.
Henry gasped and shook the chains against the bedposts, grunting and groaning. He had to get out of there. He had to go back to Boris and Bendy! He pulled the chains again. Instead of rust and creaking noises, the chains seemed in good condition. Before he could stop to think, the door opened and something squelched into the room. Henry glanced up to see a figure covered from head to toe in dripping ink, wearing nothing but a workman's overalls and only having glowing yellow eye sockets on their face.
"Sammy...?" He muttered as he squinted. His head started to buzz and pulse, his vision and mind getting splotchy with ink blots, but he was still able to make out most of his surroundings. The being walked into the room, closing the door behind them. Their eyes were furrowed in a cross and tired expression as they took out a handkerchief from their pocket and wiped their forehead. Putting the cloth away, they focused on Henry and sighed.
"You shouldn't have done that. What have you done?"
It wasn't Sammy.
At first, Henry didn't know anything about this being. It, no he, was wearing some sort of... uniform? And his voice seemed familiar. For some reason, the name 'Thomas' kept repeating in his mind. Before he could process this, he blurted out almost unconsciously.
"What have I done? What about you?! You joined in too! How were we supposed to know?!" Henry protested, shaking the chains in disbelief.
"You're the closest to Jay. You were supposed to stop 'em from doing something we'd all regret!" Thomas slammed his fist into the wall closest to him, the room almost shaking at the impact. "And now the rest of the studio is paying the price for it!"
The ink man groaned in frustration and exhaled deeply in an attempt to calm down. "Damn it, she said it was just between the staff! To see if we could all create a cartoon ourselves without Joey... and what did she do? She decides to show it to everybody and their mother!"
Henry's eyes widened. From his experience working with his co-worker and writer, he remembered Jay Kasper talking about their dreams of creating a cartoon and getting public credit for it. They knew that it takes time for that to happen and with Joey Drew, you take what you get most of the time. When Henry left, Jay understood and seemed okay with it. What caused her to change her mind and react years after? Judging by Connor's reaction and information, it sounded like this cartoon was completely different than the ones either Joey or even the original team had come up with.
Henry didn't know whether this it was a dream due to the stress or a hallucination due to inhaling ink fumes. He wanted to convince himself not to pay any mind and ask for help, but he couldn't. Even if it were fantasy, this was close to direct information he could possibly get at this point in order to make some sense in the studio besides educated guesses. He went along with whatever he was spouting out.
"I didn't know she was going to do that. She told me it was just between us and the staff as well. Not like we coulda stopped her if we tried." Henry continued in thought. "Look, I know we haven't spent time together like the others have, but you've watched me for a long time. I didn't mean to do any harm. Not to you or Jay or all the other employees. You know that!"
Thomas held up a hand as if to protest, but he stopped after a moment and placed his hand down. Both his hands clenched and opened repeatedly, creating a steady rhythm. He stopped and pointed at Henry. “You’re dangerous, whether you meant to or not."
When Henry became silent, Thomas continued.
"...Ever since you showed up, Joey's going off the deep end! You don't know what really goes on when your back's turned, do you? This ain't a cartoon anymore, so grow up and face the facts. Drew's nothing but a two-faced liar who does things out of the blue for his own benefit!" Thomas snarled as he turned his back from Henry, but turned his head to the side to glare at him with glowing eyes. "The pipe's always bursting with so much ink, people are going missing almost every day, and he threatens us employees any way possible no matter what or who gets hurt. You think you're the only one he abuses?"
Lies? Missing? Abuse? Sure, Joey lied a couple of times and he pushed others hard, but the Joey Stein thought he knew would never go down that level. The evidence he had seen so far proved otherwise. However, the last question stuck to him. For some reason, anger boiled up in Henry's chest like ink rising along with his shock. Although his eyes were surprised, he was scowling.
"Cut the crap, Connor. I got an idea what's really going on." Henry sneered in a low hiss, causing Thomas to turn back to him with widened eye sockets. "I saw you putting those pipes in and standing from the sidelines. I saw you not saying a word when people went missing. I saw you helping him with the machine. He's sacrificing people, Thomas! How could you just stand around and go along with this?! If anything, you're just a sinner as Drew is!"
A pin dropped onto the floor.
A few seconds later, Thomas grabbed Henry by the neck, rattling the chains in the process. The repair man growled like a dog ready to pounce. Henry winced and attempted to turn his head away.
“You don’t think I know that? You don’t think I have nightmares nearly every day?” His grip on Henry’s neck tightened, causing the other to cough and turn his head facing towards him. “You don’t think I tried to do something?! I did everything that was possible! I prevented accidents from happening. I covered for Jay and Wally as best I could. I was almost out of here ready to go to the authorities, so don’t tell me that I did nothing!”
Both men panted heavily while glaring at each other. After a minute, Thomas let go and sneered.
“… he has Allison.” He continued, his tone crying of defeat. He balled his hands into fists. “Half the time, I didn’t know what was going on like you did, so I went along with it. I promised to quit. To just get it over with. When I found out what was really going on, I wanted to fight and run. But Drew knew my weakness. You have Jay. I have Allison. If I became difficult, he promised to take my punishment out on her.”
Allison? Henry didn’t know anyone from the studio named Allison. One of the latest employees hired by Joey he guessed. Henry’s face softened. The ink being huffed and started storming out of the room. Before he could do so, he turned back one more time to see the other. For a second, Henry thought he saw a glint of a different emotion. Guilt? Whatever it was, it was diminished with the same cold glare and a voice dug deeper in the grave.
“To be frank, I don't care what happens to me at this point. I could be thrown straight down to Hell right now for what I did. I don't give a damn. As long as Allison is safe and outta Drew's hands, that's all that matters. It's nothing personal."
With that, Thomas left and slammed the door shut, leaving Henry in the dark.
Hours seemed to pass by as Henry regularly rattled his chains. By now, he was starving and tired.
"Help! Can someone get me out of here?! I'm sorry! Please!" He pleaded at the top of his lungs, hoping that anyone in the hallway would hear his screams. No one answered him. He struggled against his chains until his limbs became sore and he passed out a couple of times. He swore that while he was under, he felt someone touch him on his head gently and give him something to drink. He didn't know who it was nor did he had the energy to open his eyes.
After what seemed like days, Henry was luckily conscious when the door creaked open again. Instead of an inky person, it was an actual human in the studio. Henry smiled weakly and he was about to greet them in relief when his voice got caught in his throat.
There standing right by the bedside was Joey Drew himself, just like how Henry had seen him when he left the studio.
Well, almost.
Joey's short brown hair was a little unruly with some grey streaks here and there. The man had a cane that seemed like a plain brown cane except with intricate markings carved into it. Overall, Joey looked as if a bus hit him and he woke up fifty years later.
"J-Joey?" Henry managed to speak after a couple of stutters.
"Mr. Drew, if you please." Joey corrected coldly as he held a photograph in front of him. Henry couldn't make out what was on it. His former partner's posture was straight and business-like as usual whenever he showed himself in public, but his hand seemed to tremble, moving his cane slightly. Henry didn't know whether it was the body physically wearing down or a simple response to fear. Perhaps both.
"Drew, I-" He was about to explain when he felt ink bubbling up his throat and he gagged, coughing as he did so. Joey didn't respond much more than a hand hanging up briefly. He then put away the photograph and walked closer to Henry.
"Much more comfortable than the chair, I take it?" Joey asked, ignoring Henry's quiet choking. He grabbed one of the chains and pulled to see there was slack, then nodded.
"Your learning room is still under repairs. It'll be done by the time you're done with your ritual."
"Ritual?!" Henry exclaimed, then winced. His head began to throb as an emotion washed through his body. As if he weren't supposed to see this. His senses became delayed like missing film.
"Haven't you forgotten? All you need is the right soul and you'll finally be perfect. No more disobeying, bad habits, or flaws. Once you're perfect, you'll be our official star performer with your own dressing room and co-actors. You name it. It'll be our new legacy that gets us out of the red!" Joey laughed, his smile screamed of relief and madness. Henry was quiet for a moment before he chuckled as well, tears made of ink streaming out from his eyes.
"... Why, Joey? I... don't understand..." He whispered. Joey stared at him for a moment before he touched the tip of his cane to Henry's chin. Henry let out a muffled scream as the very touch burned his skin. Keeping his cane there, Joey took out a mirror from the desk, then lifted Henry's chin to the mirror's direction. Through the whimpering, Henry managed to make out his reflection.
Only to gasp and hold his breath.
Staring right back at him was the face of the ink demon that now roamed the empty halls of the studio from its pointy horns to the ink pouring down its forehead to the distorted spine and shoulders. The two features that were different were its frown and two orange dots near its forehead. Joey grimaced in disgust.
"You have his eyes, you know." Joey said in a calm tone, "He lied to the both of us. How you were absolutely perfect. How you'll be a star that stands out from the rest. Instead, he claimed you as his own creation in his image. He's not your creator. He just brought you to life and ruined it for the both of us!" He pressed hard onto Henry's neck, causing Henry to screech in pain. After a minute or two, Joey placed his cane back to the floor, leaving Henry panting. For a second, a smile graced his face. Then he put the mirror away and began to make his leave.
"It'll take us a while, but don't worry. I finally found the perfect candidate that'll fix everything he did to you. I'll tell you everything after the ritual becomes a success. Now be a good boy and stay quiet in here, won't you?" Not waiting for an answer, Joey left and locked the door.
It was then that Henry felt released from an invisible entity and he shouted in both confusion and leftover pain. Was this a memory or fantasy? Was that the real ink demon staring back at him through the mirror? Why was he shown this?
Crrrrrrrrrrrrrk.
Henry's thought process halted when he heard a loud creak above him. The ceiling above him started to give way. The man struggled and attempted to hop himself with the bed out of the room before hard material would fall upon him. Only a couple of boards fell from either side of him. As the ceiling crumbled and light gave way, Henry noticed large blobs of ink poking out from the corners. In a few seconds, the blobs pulled the entire ceiling out of the way and Henry was greeted by a large smile. The smile pulled away, revealing a huge head dripping with ink and horns sticking out from the top.
Oh.
Hell.
No.
The Ink Demon towered over the room, perhaps as tall as the Empire State Building itself even while in what seemed like seated position. It gurgled almost in a curious tone, its smile hiding any true emotions it was feeling at the moment.
Even if he wasn't chained to the bed currently, Henry would still be frozen and pale with his heart drumming against his chest. There was something about its smile, its hidden gaze towards him. His spine tingled. Enormous gloved fingers lowered and wrapped around his body, lifting him up from the bed and breaking his shackles in the process like pulling at a thread. Henry wiggled at the firm grip as the hand stopped at waist level.
The demon held up Henry's body gingerly, examining him as if it were a child discovering a new toy. It poked Henry's stomach with an ink finger a few times. It tossed Henry lightly in its hand, letting out a pleasant wheeze when the human yelped in fright. For a final measure, Henry was pulled towards its mouth. All eight teeth lifted up and a large blackish-purple tongue came out, dripping with what Henry hoped was ink. Before Henry could protest, the tongue pressed against him and dragged itself upwards. It licked him!
Henry coughed and gagged, spitting and shaking out the inky saliva from his body. The giant demon giggled in a deep yet high-pitched tone, almost amused at the display. Its right index finger hovered in front of the human and lifted his chin up, forcing Henry to make eye contact with the demon. It then spoke.
"Surprised, Henry?"
The demon had a dual tone for a voice. One layer was Bendy's voice, the same voice that Jay would imitate whenever they were drawing and coming up with ideas. Feminine, yet smooth with a bit of sass to it. The other layer was deep, loud, and low. Masculine with an accent. Combined together, it was an otherworldly demon.
Henry opened his mouth to speak, but only gurgles and gasps answered aloud. He panted heavily and his heart raced, but he caught his breath when he was lifted above the ink demon's head. The man looked down to see himself dangle above the giant's open mouth, pools of glowing orange ink seeping from the corners of its mouth.
"No, no, no, no, no, no...!" Henry muttered as he weakly struggled to break free. Without another second wasted, the fingers let go of his body and he fell right into the black and orange pool, sinking like a stone. Any light source he had was shut off completely as ink filled his lungs.
Hey guys. With BATIM spoilers coming out with juicy details and me waiting to have enough money to buy the books, I think it’s about time that I should say/repeat something important.
From what I read so far on theories and posts by the main theorists on Tumblr, some of the information, although interesting, was not one that I expected. I’m torn between being excited and having mixed feelings on what secrets are being revealed. So I’m just going to say it now:
The Ink Gluttony AU series that I want to get off the ground will divert from canon in the long run, but I will incorporate canon based on what fits best for the AU.
My hope is that I could read both the Employee Handbook and Dreams Come To Life, see how the studio was like, then work from there. Until then, I’ll try to write as best I can. I can tell you what is set in stone for the AU so far under the cut:
- Originally, I had planned for Henry and Joey to have one last confrontation after Christmas before the New Year along the lines of Henry quitting. The handbook suggests that Henry had quit in a different month, so most likely I’ll have Henry decide to quit that month, but needed to prepare for it.
- Although the Ink Machine hasn’t been set up until the early 1940′s, I’m still going to have both the Ink Machine and Bendy early in the AU. In the AU, Joey made Thomas create a small version of the Ink Machine at first to test things out. As the years went by, Joey went bigger and bigger. Bendy’s (nicknamed Bubba) “birthday” (ie. being created by the Ink Machine) will still be March 15, 1931.
- Some of the things I will be focusing on for “The Real Demon” will be life at the studio, cartoons and animations during the 1930′s, the Great Depression, literature and music during the 1930′s, demon stuff such as possessions and deals, and of course, gluttony as a sin!
- The first three chapters of “The Real Demon” would be from Henry’s point of view. When Henry leaves, there will be three major point of views/story lines/relationships:
1) Joey Drew and Beelzebub (The Demon and the Human who made a deal, fighing for control)
2) Jay Kasper and occasionally Thomas Connor (The ones in charge of the “Ink Demon”, trying to keep everything together)
3) Bubba and the rest of the employees (A “cartoon” learning about humanity, culture, and being a demon through his interactions with the studio)
Although each of the main studio cast will get a spotlight, these will be the main focuses in “The Real Demon”.
- Bubba is an unreliable narrator due to his memories being fuzzy with illusions and lies. Even with “The Real Demon” being ultimately Bubba’s recollection of what happened and what he was told from both the humans and Beelzebub through the years, his sense of time, memory, and truth are warped.
Everything else? You just have to wait and see. ;)
In the mean time, hopefully tomorrow throughout the month, I could post up my Ink Demonth writing entries. As far as BATIM goes, here’s what I am almost done writing so far:
- The Pursuit of Happiness: Part 1
- Ink Gluttony: Chapter 1
- The Real Demon: Chapter 1
- Ink Demonth: Music “Crazy Concerto”
Until then, I’ll try to write more each and every day!
Okay. Managed to plan out the Ink Gluttony fanfiction today. So far, I have planned up to thirteen chapters (up to the end of Chapter 3). Another day, I’ll see if I could do the rest of the chapters.
As for The Real Demon (which is a prequel and the project I’m working on for Camp NaNoWriMo), I planned out seven chapters (Up to Bendy being made in the Ink Machine).
