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He knew it was a mistake to come back here. Hadn’t he learnt his lesson about all this? Why he didn’t just go back to college and finish his last year, he didn’t know. What he did know, was that something had drawn him back to the old studio. That, and the note that was, allegedly, from Joey, his old colleague. The old wooden door creaked and squelched as it was forced open. Stepping inside, Henry sighed. This was a mistake, he just knew it. Nevertheless, he shut the door behind him and glanced about. No one in sight, aside from a cutout of Bendy, Meatly Studio’s mascot. The company went under a few years ago, it was a wonder the lights were even on. He flipped the note over that Joey had scent them. “Turn on the machine,” it read, in Joey’s plain script. That machine. Oh, how Henry hated that machine. It was noisy, and messy, and needed way more ink that what Joey could afford. He insisted on the good stuff. With a tepid sigh, he strolled into the flow room. Might as well get this over with, he thought. With a simple press, the flow machine was brought back to life. The button flashed red twice, then back to green, then to red again. Something must be wrong in the breaker room. In the breaker room, it was revealed that one of the items, a plush Bendy doll, was missing from it’s stand. A quick searched revealed the doll nestled behind a desk in the next room. The doll was still soft after all these years, but that was of little comfort to Henry. He duly placed it down in it’s spot and pulled the breaker lever. Now to power up the ink machine. “...Huh? That’s weird,” Henry said aloud upon nearing the ink machine room. The door was boarded up, and rather poorly at that. A quick couple of kicks and stamps brought it down, and he entered. Ink stained every inch of the floor, spilling up towards the wall. Sitting, like a sleeping beast, was the ink machine, the source of many a nightmare for poor Henry. Glancing about, he stepped forwards. “Now or never, Henry, now or never. Just get it over with,” he repeated to himself, as if it were a mantra of great meaning. Anxious, he slammed his hand against the ON button, flinching away as the monster came alive. After a few seconds, Henry opened his eyes. Seems like nothing happened.Thick ink suddenly tripped him, two tendrils forcing him down to the floor with a loud yelp. Freezing in fear, Henry stared at the machine in front of him. Sitting atop it was Bendy, grinning cheekily down at him. “Howdy, Henry! Long time no see!” “You motherfmmmph!” Henry started to shout, only to be cut off by ink wrapping around his mouth, muffling him. “Nu-uh-uh! No cursing~!” Bendy replied playfully, as he stroked the surface of the ink machine with one hand. Henry only glared in response. “What? Don’t want to catch up with old friends, like Joey wanted you to do? That’s a shame, you’re really a delight!” The demon giggled, hiding his mouth behind one gloved hand. “Well, alright then, I’ll leave you and your fa~avorite machine to get, heh heh, caught up?” Bendy snickered and fell off the machine, still laughing. Struggling, the human scowled at the incessant toon. “Mmphmmphmphmphmmph!” “Oh, wondering what’s going to happen to you? Oh, we’re just -snrrk heh heh heh- making you a part of the family is all!” “Mmphmphmph?!” “Relax, will ya, Henry? It doesn’t hurt too much if ya don’t struggle!” “Mphmmphmphmphmph?” “The ink, dummy! Whatcha think we’re made out of, cardboard and kid’s dreams?” It was then Henry realized the ink was starting to burn. Frantic, he renewed his struggles, desperate to get away from both Bendy and the feeling of hot needles burrowing into his flesh. “Gosh, you just never could listen, could ya?” Bendy taunted, leaning down to eye level. He wished looks could kill, because if they could, the inky devil smirking at him would be nothing but dust. “Aw, cheer up, Harry, it’ll be over soon! Then you can see Joey again!” “Mmphmphmphmmph?” “The tooning, obviously,” Bendy replied, waving a finger in front of Henry’s face, “whad’ya think was happening, a seance?”‘Tooning? What..does that...mean?’ Henry thought, feeling as though his brain was immersed in muck. He couldn’t think, couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, as the ink enveloped his head. His last thought was of Joey, and if he was still alive.
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“Wakey wakey, Henry! ...C’mon, I didn’t hurt ya too bad, did i? ...Hello? Hey, are you gonna get up or what?” Blearily, Henry opened his eyes to the sight of soft covers, then Bendy, then a nicely wallpapered wall. Wait, back up, Bendy? “Good morning, dummyhead! I thought you’d never wake up! C’mon, come have breakfast!” Bendy, for all the world, pleaded, looking like a child trying to wake their father on Christmas. The thought disquieted Henry, like the thought of drowning, or of expecting chocolate milk with your dinner, but getting regular milk with a clump of cocoa and sugar instead, and not even being provided a spoon to mix it with. He tried to shake the cotton out of his head. “Break...fast? Wait, where am I? What did you-” “You’re at your house, silly! Me and Boris just fixed it up a little, is all! There was all sorts of blood and junk everywhere, weird stains on the walls, honestly, it looked more abandoned than the studio! But enough of that, Boris is waiting for us!” Bendy smiley eagerly. Before he could protest, he was being dragged out of bed by the surprisingly strong inky being. All sorts of thoughts raced through the animator’s mind. ‘What happened? How did they find my house? How are they real? Am I still dreaming?’ Before he could really get his train of thought going, however, he was lifted up and set into one of his dining chairs. In front of him was a pile of freshly-made waffles, topped with chocolate spread, with a glass of milk and some...fruit snacks? Fruit snacks on the side. He looked up. Standing there, wearing an apron, was a wolf.Henry bit back the urge to scream and found, upon closer inspection, that the wolf was Boris, Bendy’s right-hand-man, looking like he just stepped out of the projector, despite the fact that Henry knew Boris was strapped down, gutless, to a table in the old animation studio. “Aren’t you gonna eat?” Bendy asked, startling him out of his thoughts. Both toons stared at him expectantly. Hesitating, he picked up the fork and knife, cut a piece of the waffle, and ate it. Shock must’ve been evident on his face, as Bendy exclaimed, “What? You didn’t expect it to be good?”. Yes, it was true he expected little more than paper and ink, but found instead soft, slightly moist sweet bread, topped with rich, smooth chocolate. Yes, this was what he had for breakfast every day, but somehow, it seemed...realer. A grin spread across his face as he sliced himself another bite of waffle. “See! I told ya he’d like it!” Bendy gloated, apparently to the amusement of Boris. “Whad’ya mean, ya knew he would? You can’t have a fair bet if one of ya knows the outcome already!” This was responded to with an eye roll and a flick of one ear. Boris batted at his ear. “Oh, don’t give me that tone! You knew the outcome, that’s cheating! That means I win by default!” Henry picked up the glass of milk and took a sip, watching the exchange with amusement. No, it wasn’t milk, it was vanilla coffee creamer. Why? “I didn’t know you knew! Now quit being a baby and give me my five dollars!” Boris continued to insist. “This is coffee creamer.” Henry interrupted, startling the other two. “Ain’t it the same as milk?” Bendy replied, confusion evident on his face. Boris shook his head in response and said...something, whatever it was, it sounded like squelching overlaid with a broken trumpet. He couldn't actually understand anything the wolf was saying. IT sounded like Bendy was arguing with a trumpet with wet bread in it. “Weeeeell, if your doesn’t want it, can I have it?” Bendy tried to grab for it with his mitts. Henry held it away from him. “No, it’s mine.” Bendy stamped his foot. “You’re not even gonna drink it!” “Yes, I am.” Henry puffed out his cheeks. Bendy glared. “Prove it.”Picking up the mug, Henry brought it up to his lips and tilted it up. Overly-sweet cream poured into his mouth, nearly gagging him. Despite this, he finished it all, slamming the cup down to grin smugly at a bewildered Bendy. Boris chuckled in the background, shook his head, and went back to what he was doing. Bendy looked paler than normal. “H-How?” Henry licked his teeth with a smirk. “What? Never seen someone drink creamer before, Bandy?”The aforementioned toons face smoothed and smirked back, before replying “ No, I just wondering how you drank all that with no neck.”Thoroughly perturbed, Henry shot a hand up towards his neck, and discovered naught but air where solid flesh should be. Reaching up, he found that, where his neck once connected to his head, there was but a smooth, round surface. Reaching downwards revealed the same was true of where his neck met his shoulders. “What the *&^%? Where the $#&& is my neck? What did you do?” Henry screamed, eyes wide in fear. Boris cast Bendy a disapproving glance as the latter retorted, “Why don’t you go look for yourself?” Smugness radiated off his inky face.
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With a slight yelp, Henry ran into the bathroom. What he saw there nearly made him scream.His hair was strangely stylized, his bangs somehow translucent. His eyes were ovular, bright blue with darker blue pupils, interrupted by a trigonal highlight, like someone had cut out a piece of his eyes. His nose was slightly darker than the surrounding skin, preceded by three brown dots in a triangle shape. His cheeks were also accented with three dots, hidden slightly by what seemed like blush. His mouth, wide open, had a heart-shaped tongue, surrounded by darker skin and fused-together teeth, revealing no esophagus. His neck was, indeed, missing, his head merely floating above his shoulders, which were also colored with three dots and blush. Looking down his shirt, he discovered his torso was featureless, aside of a small indent in his stomach. Oh his hands were white gloves, or, what appeared to be gloves, as he could feel his touch through them, as though they weren’t there at all. Removing his shirt, he stared, incredulous, at himself. His arms, like his head, were disconnected from his body, a black X remaining where his arms would, should, connect to him. “What the &*$%.” That was another thing he hadn’t realized until now: His cussing was censored into a single, obnoxious bleep. ‘What next,’ he thought to himself, ‘no knees? A cat tail? At least it can’t get worse.’ “Ya like it?” Bendy popped up beside him. ‘Scratch that,’ Henry thought, ‘I have to live with two actual cartoon characters.’ “Like what.” He snapped, glaring down at the grinning demon. “Your new look, duh! Gra~anted, it’s a bit, um, contemporary, but still! You’ll blend right in!” Bendy patted him on the shoulder as if consoling him. “Blend right in where, exactly?’ He retorted. “With the rest of us, obviously!” Bendy replied, looking at the newer individual, as if he’d asked what water was. “Rest of you? What, there’s more Bendies out there?” A glare, responded to with a grin. “Nope! Bu~ut there are a bunch of other toons! Ya’ll threw out a lot of concepts, it was real easy to bring them up!” “Wha-We threw those away!” Henry blustered. “You never threw out the trash!” Bendy grinned. The cartoonist looked off to the side embarrassed. “…That’s true.” “Well, c’mon then!” Bendy exclaimed, grabbing the other by the hand and running off with him, “We’ve got family to meet!”Henry regretted ever going into animation in the first place.
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Being dragged outside, he realized this was not his home, rather, it was merely a plastic-coated replica. The implications of such a perfect facsimile horrified and intrigued him. How long had those two been in his house? Heck, had they simply ripped his out of the ground and given it a shiny coating? A glance at the sky revealed too-perfect blue, interrupted regularly by fluffy white clouds, like cotton balls stuck to a painted canvas. The lemon yellow sun shined down, warming the sandy asphalt the cartoonist was being dragged across. Had he died? Was this Hell? He was jolted out of this thoughts by his head hitting the pavement. “We’re he~ere!” Bendy exclaimed, looking prouder than a child does when they scratch ‘I LUV MOME’ into their parent’s car. A glance upward revealed “here” to be the old animation studio, restored to it’s prime. Sitting up, he stared, and started to notice the inconsistencies, such as the boards over the windows, and the puddles of ink scattered here and there across the building. As he continued to investigate, he realized how run-down the building actually was. Then he realized it wasn’t restored at all. Did this “tooning” thing do something to his mind? “Well, ya coming in, or are ya just gonna sit and stare all day?” Bendy asked, waving a hand in front of Henry’s face. Snapping out of his reverie, he stood. “Why’d you take me to the old animation studio?” Henry followed hesitantly. “Because that’s where everyone else is, duh!” Bendly stuck his tongue out like he was stupid. “...Everyone else?” As far as Henry knew, the only characters actually drawn out were Bendy and Boris…Nevertheless, the caliginous imp pushed open the door, and was greeted by two figures. One tall, one short, one thinner, one fatter, one glaring, one grinning. “...Joey?”Even after several years and mutual toonification process similar they still both recognised each other. “Henry? Oh god *@#$ IT BENDY!” His attention turned to Bendy as steam started pouring out of the man’s ears as the imp laughed. The smaller figure, one of the sheep from Sheep Songs, Henry realized, flinched and hid behind Joey’s legs.Bendy suddenly popped up beside Joey, looking dreamy. “But I thought you liked him! You said he was-” “SHUT UP, BENDY!” Joey shoved the demon back down. The former animator looked like a hot tea kettle, fuming and blushing and stomping his feet. Both Bendy and the besweatered livestock giggled and guffawed. Henry looked away, denying to himself how...cute...Joey looked. Of course, his noncompliant contemplation was interrupted, this time by Boris, who rushed forwards and scooped the shy sheep into his arms, honking happily, to which the sheep responded with several gleeful beeps. Henry turned towards Bendy in confusion. “What? Ya never seen a wolf with his flock before?” Henry shook his head, to which the imp rolled his eyes. “Wolfs take care of their sheep, see? Because they’s like family to ‘em! And then sheeps don’t get eaten, see?” Henry nodded, even though he had no idea what the other just said. “Welp, c’mon, let’s go get Joey and all our stuff! We’ve got a house now!”
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“...Wait, what, no! You’re not moving in to my house!” Henry tried to stop them. ‘Too late’, Henry realized as Bendy spun around and strutted down a hall. ‘He’s really going to try and live in my *&#$ing house OH GOD *@#$ IT I CAN’T EVEN THINK CUSS WORDS??’ The newly-tooned man hung his head. ‘I never should’ve dropped out of college.’“Alright! I have the bags!” Boris honked in response. Henry almost thought the honk sounded like the word ‘have’ for a second, but that couldn’t be the case. “Fine, you have the bags. C’mon, let’s go let’s go let’s go!!” Despite all of Henry’s protests, the two troublesome toons and their ‘friends’ were brought-dragged, in Henry’s case-to the house. The domiciles they passed were coated in disgusting, clashing neons and pastels, preceded by gardens of spherical roses. To be fair, Joey did cast him a few sympathetic glances, but that was of no comfort to the former animator. First they took his humanity, his house, what next, his virginity? ...Henry decided not to think about that last one. The trip back to his house took longer than the one there for some reason, maybe it was because he wasn't being dragged at top demon speed, but it gave Joey some time to come up next to him and try to have a conversation, albeit awkwardly. “So, uh...seen any good, uh, seen any dogs lately?” Henry whipped his now detached head around quicker than was probably healthy, if he had the correct amount of vertebrae. “Really? That’s really all you have to say after sending me a letter and then sending your minions to trap me here in this neon &#^^scape?”Joey seemed like he expected that outburst and rubbed the back of his, also non-existent, neck. “I didn’t send that letter. The toons did. As you would expect, they’re really handy with ink.” He tried to chuckle but realised this was really not the time. “I’m really sorry this happened to you. I never meant for anyone else to get dragged into this.” Henry's eyes seemed to visibly turn into small fires. “We all knew what you were doing back then, Joey, but we let it slide because we were making money. Then you took your ‘sacrifices’ too far and got us shut down. You’ve never had any qualms around wrecking people’s lives before, why should I believe that changed?” Joey stared in shock. He...hadn’t expected this reaction. He knew he hadn’t left his team in the best terms, but he didn’t anticipate this much outward animosity. Tooning wasn’t that bad. But maybe...he was. Henry seemed to disregard any feelings his once boss might be having, romantic, regretful, or otherwise, as he realised with a small jump in his stomach that the six buildings he had been walking past had just been repeating for the past few minutes. Like those dreams when the hallways just keeps getting longer and longer and you’re being chased by a large crab. Maybe that was just Henry, but it still applied. He fought back a sudden wave of vertigo. “Did you bring anyone else into this hellhole?” Joey kneaded his fingers nervously. “No, no, just you. Like I said I never intended to drag anyone els-” Bendy seemed to literally drop in from above them. “ACK-SHOE-ALL-LEE, I invited the whole gang back here!” He started to count on his fingers. “Bill, Alice, Janitor Guy the Janitor,” He kept counting off people, some of whom Henry were really sure never worked for them and were names he made up, and his fingers just seemed to keep multiplying. “...Bendy. Bendy, half of those are just the names of shops. Those people aren’t even real. Bendy, stop. Stop. Ben-” Joey tried to stop him. “Shush, I’m talking! And then the cable guy, aaaaand not Sammy. Hey, look we’re here!” True to his word, for once, they had finally arrived at the house. And by gosh, it was even worse the second time. Mismatched window panes, brick drawn on with crayon, lollipop flowers stuck into the ground haphazardly, the whole nine yards. Henry groaned and tried to escape from Bendy’s iron grip on his shirt collar. Boris honked moistly at his demon companion, accompanied by the little sheep bleating nervously. Almost reluctantly, the inky imp released the bedraggled animator. “I...thanks? Maybe?” Henry addressed Boris and dusted his shirt off. They all stared at each other in silence for a few moments before Bendy motioned to the door. “Ain’t’cha gonna open the door?” He tapped his foot slightly. “...Oh! Uhm, right, hold on.” Reluctantly, with little fanfare, Henry opened the door…
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...and found everything was just as it was when he woke up. The former animator had little time to dwell on this, however, as Bendy rushed passed him, followed by Boris, then the little sheep, all with wide grins stretched across their faces, sending Henry spinning like a top.Joey sighed and grabbed Henry’s shoulders to stop him from spinning. “You alright?” “Yeah, just, really dizzy. Really, r e a l l y …” And with that, Henry fell into Joey’s arms, eyes aspiral. The latter sighed and dragged him onto the couch, sitting next to him to observe the chaos of three toons rapidly rearranged the room, adding chairs, couches, posters, splashes of paint and wallpaper, and sepia-tone family photographs in ovular and trigonal frames. Like poorly-built clockwork, they went around the house, unpacking their bags and leaving their things arranged in a discordant array, the same way normal people don’t. It took longer for them to finish than for Henry to wake up, who did so just in time to see the toon trio put the finishing touches on their work. “Wha...huh? Am I...am I dreaming?” The drop-out slowly reached up and touched the other’s face, causing him to blush. This tender scene was, of course, interrupted by Bendy. Bendy loudly exclaimed. “See, Boris! I told you!”Both men jumped up, startled. Joey stammered and pushed Henry off his lap…...and off the couch, landing the latter flat on his face in a very comical manner.Henry eventually got his bearings and tried to look serious, with his eyes looking like adorable puppy eyes. “Bendy. You can’t be doing this. It’s not...right.” “You really can’t keep doing this,” Joey agreed. Bendy seemed to looked genuinely sad and seemed to deflate. “Huh? But...you’re part of our family now, and they are too!” The inky imp paused. “Well, except for Sammy, #$%#$ Sammy,” he whispered under his breath. Boris honked and squelched, sounding...sheepish? Sheepish, as he gestured towards the walls. Henry shook his head at the wolf. “Literally the least worst part of all this is the redecorating. And your cooking was actually pretty good so you get a pass for now.” Henry shook his head, this toonification thing was definitely messing with his reason. “Bendy, you have to send out more letters telling people not to come. Wait what am I saying I’ll just do it.” He got up off the admittedly plush couch and went to try and find some paper. Bendy slinked up behind him. “Uuuuuh well, Bill is already kind of...maybe...here.” Henry whipped around. “Where here? In the house?” The imp leaned back on his heels and his eyes seemed to spin in his skull a full 180 degrees. “Uuuuuuuuuuuuuh, no, at the studio.” Henry ws confused. “But...we were just there? Did I miss him?” Joey finally got himself off the floor and decided to interject. “No, at the other studio.” Henry was so confused but Joey continued to explain. “Were not...this isn’t really your house it’s more like...a drawing of your house. That studio and pretty much everything you see around you is a toon version of something, not the actual thing itself.” Henry squinted at him and Joey could tell he was not explaining this very well. “Due to circumstances I will not go into right now, all of our ideas that we turned into toons were made real, and they eventually formed their own world. The only main way to travel between is the studio. There are some other...leaks but mostly that’s the only way.” Henry seemed like he understood, but he didn't want to. “I thought turning into a toon was just messing with my perception of things.” He suddenly remembered what this whole explanation was about. “Bill! We can’t let this happen to him! He’s too…” He suddenly blushed. “We have to stop this.” He grabbed Joey’s hand and dragged him out the door, leaving it spinning as Bendy and Boris looked at each other.“Should we follow ‘em, little buddy?” Boris asked while absentmindedly petting a sheep. Bendy extended in his arm and hand in a flippant ‘who needs em’ motion. “...Nah, they’ll be fine.”
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“Dear Bill, It seems like a lifetime since we worked together. 30 years really slips by, doesn’t it? If you’re in town, come visit the old workshop. There’s something I need to show you. Your best pal, Joey Drew”‘Whoever the fuck Bill is,’ Wally Franks, better know to his creations as, well, Bill (due to a clerical error), thought, ‘he certainly won’t mind me going here in his stead.’ The old wooden door creaked and squelched as it was forced open. Stepping inside, Wally (or Bill? We’ll just call him Bill) sighed. Maybe this whole escapade was just a wild goose chase, a prank by some kids to make him look foolish. Either way, he stepped forwards, into the strangely active studio. Did someone flip on the Ink Machine by mistake? Bill hated that thing. It was noisy, messy, and who needed that much ink, anyway? At least he had the sense to quit this lousy job before one of the pipes bursted on him and ruined his glasses. He hadn’t particularly wanted to quit, however. Employees were hired and fired so fast he wound up as an animator, and was actually pretty good at it, or at least, Bill thought he was good at it. Joey, however, did not, and after overhearing him and Henry talking about how they’d have to lay off everyone but the two of them, Bill threw out the towel. Literally, he literally threw the towel he was using to clean his desk at Joey’s face and quit. Not his proudest moment, but by God was it satisfying. His contemplation of past work was interrupted by a loud crash, like metal on cement, startling him out of his thoughts.“Wh-Who’s there! Show yourself!” He shouted, hand snapping towards the gun he so cleverly brought with him. Clearly the brightest bulb in the bunch.Stepping out cautiously, jerkily, like stop-motion puppets, were cartoon caricatures of his former bosses, grinning sheepishly. The warped parody of Henry waved one gloved hand. “So, uh, you’re probably wondering what’s going on-”He was rudely interrupted by his human guest losing balance and falling over onto the floor. It would’ve been funny, if not for the absolute terror plastered across his face.“B-Bu-Wha-H-How-What-What the actual hell…” Stuttering, he readjusted his glasses. The cartoon Joey winced a little and sighed.“It’s all Bendy’s fault, blame him. We’re just here to keep you from getting, erm...toonified.” Joey tried to explain slowly.“Really? We’re calling it that?” Henry seemed unimpressed.“Shut up.” Joey didn't even look at him.“T-Toonified? B-Be-Bendy isn’t r-r-r-real, he’s a c-c-cartoon! Th-This isn’t h-h-happening, what the fuck? What the fuck?” Bill shivered in his seat. Cartoons weren’t real, he knew this, they were just ink on paper, spun over a light at 53 miles per hour. Suddenly, Joey broke out into a grin. “Actually, the ink machine brought them to life! Sure, I had to sell some things to a few demons, but it worked out, and we had the real, actual Bendy and Boris, which meant no more need for animators! But then, well...Bendy got a bit bored of having just one cartoon friend, and you can probably deduce the rest.”“...Literally none of that is scientifically possible.” Said Bill, who should know, as he had gone into the arguably less deadly field of science after quitting his teenage job as a cartoonist.“Well,” Henry spoke up, “I’m pretty sure we left the realm of science a long time ago.”“What, wait, no, what the fuck, that doesn’t-that just doesn’t happen?” Bill stammered. “Try telling them that,” Joey retorted. Henry moved to slap him, giving Bill a good look at his former coworker’s three-fingered, white gloved hands. He suppressed a shudder.“Ow, hey, knock it off!” Joey tried to bat him away.“Make me, mister ‘Oh, I’ll bring cartoons to life! That certainly won’t go wrong!’!” Henry mocked.Joey started slapping him back. “At least I didn’t reactivate the machine that brought them to life in the first place, nimrod!”“Could...could one of you explain why Bendy’s doing this?” Bill said, trying to break up the fight.The more reasonable cartoonist stopped his bickering for a moment. “We, uhm…” Joey chimed in. “We don’t know. I think he just...doesn’t know that what he’s doing is wrong, to be honest. He is a cartoon, after all.”“Oh, he knows it’s wrong. He’s just an @##.” Henry snarked as he crossed his arms.Bill stifled a giggle. Did Henry just...honk like a bike horn? He hid his mouth behind his hand, trying not to look suspicious. Evidently, he didn’t do a very good job, and he found both former men glaring at him.“...What?” Henry questioned.“What’s so funny, huh?” Joey added.Bill waved his hands in front of him in a placating gesture. “N-Nothing, nothing!”“Then why were you laughing?” Henry leaned forward sourly.“I wasn’t!” Bill denied harder.“Yes you were, I heard you laughing!” Henry was now wagging his finger at him.Bill shook his head vigorously. “No you didn’t! I was, uhm, coughing! Yeah, I was...coughing.”“...Anyways, we came here to keep you from getting...toonified...like we were. C’mon, we’ll take you back to the entrance. Please don’t tell anyone about this.” Joey grabbed Bill’s hand and yanked him to his feet.“I, uhm…” Henry hummed slightly.“What?” Joey snapped.Henry didn't look at him. “N-Nothing! It’s just…”“Just what? Just…?” Prompted his former partner.Henry fiddled with his hands. “...The door is locked from the outside.”“What do you mean the door’s locked?” Bill said somewhat franticly. “I mean, it’s locked! Look, I’ll show you,” the peach-colored toon replied, marching towards the door… ..and falling through the floor, feet first, in a very cartoonish manner. The other two scurried over, peering down the new hole in the floorboards. “I’m okay!” Called up the slightly dazed toon. They all stared at each other for a while. “...Help?” “Hang on, I’ll get a ladder,” Joey grumbled, heading towards the main portion of the studio, leaving Henry and Bill to just...look at each other for a while. “...So, see any good dogs lately?” Henry called up. “Uh, uhm, I guess? I saw a brown one on my way over here…” Bill scratched his face slightly. Henry nodded as if this was a normal conversation. “Ah, good, good.” “...” “...” “I couldn’t find a ladder, but I did find a really long chain!” Joey suddenly exclaimed, emerging from around a corner. “Well, throw it down!” Henry yelled back. Joey handed Bill the chain and threw the other end into the hole. With an unsure grin, the entrapped toon grabbed the chain and began to lift himself up, his weight dragging Bill forward, centimeter by centimeter. “L-Little help, J-Joey?” Bill stuttered, sweat crowning his brow. Joey obliged and grabbed the chain, yanking it upwards. Just as Henry reached his hand up to grab the side of the hole, their grip faltered, and they all went tumbling down into the lower levels of the studio.
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“Mmng...f’ve m’re m’n’ts…huh? Why am I on the floor?” Joey shook back to consciousness. “You’re not. You’re on me.” Henry grumbled. “Why are the floors so dirty?” Bill added on a more general note.Bill stood up, then Joey and Henry, stuck together like two sides of a playing card, or maybe a trading card. Whatever cards you kids are into nowadays. Either way, they each pushed away from each other, silhouetted forms quickly fleshing out until they were back to being three-dimensional. Both glared at each other, dripping slightly. Bill scratched his neck and looked around. One boarded-up doorway, an ink pipe, an ominous message written on the wall, an axe on display-wait, back up, ominous message? He tilted his head slightly and walked up to the wall. THE CREATOR LIED TO US“Lied to whom…?” Bill muttered under his breath. ‘Creator’ obviously referred to either Henry or Joey, but who would they lie to?Oh, yeah, they lied about Bill keeping his job. But, he certainly didn’t write this message, so that didn’t help any. But then, who wrote on the wall? Slowly, he reached up and touched the wall. The lettering was still wet, sticking to his hand in thick strands as he pulled it away. Bill grimaced and wiped his hand on the wall. He felt a tap on the shoulder, turned around, and was presented with the sight of Henry, holding the axe behind his back, grinning. The toon man out a finger up to his mouth, spun around so that he was facing Joey, and swung the axe down on where Joey’s neck would be, startling the latter, while the former burst out laughing.“Oh, oh man, you should’ve, you should’ve seen the lo-o-o-ok on your face!” Joey blushed and stammered, angrily stomping his feet like a particularly pissed-off teakettle. It was...oddly cute, Bill thought, all things considering.“We see each other again for the first time in years and after an hour you’re already pulling bull$%*# pranks on me?!” Joey steamed.“You mean like being turned into a toon? No, my pranks are actually funny.” Henry grinned sadistically.Joey crossed his arms and pouted. “That wasn’t funny!”“I thought it was pretty fun. Bill does, too.” Both toons turned to look at their human associate. “Right, Bill?” “Tell him it wasn’t funny.” Joey insisted and glared him down with his painted on eyes. “I, erm, uh, uhm, h-hey! You c-could probably cut down those boards over the door with that axe!” Bill said, segwaying. “...Hey, yeah! I probably could!” Henry reasoned. “Then make yourself useful for once, dipstick!” Joey shouted, still steaming at the ears. “Alright, alright, chill, I’m going,” Henry replied, strolling up to the boarded door, lifting the axe up above his head… ...and falling over backwards. Joey hung his head with a tepid sigh. “Are-uh-Is he okay?” Bill tried to care. “Yeah, the idiot’s fine. Just forgot it never works the first ti-Wait, hang on.” Joey looked horrified. “I wasn’t sayi-” Bill tried to continue. “Shut up, I’m thinking. He hasn’t been here long enough to learn anything. He probably doesn’t even know how to eat. Oh god, he’s a literal child what the &*#$.” He grabbed at his hair at the amount of cartoon logic he would have to teach the man. “Hey!” Henry piped up from where he was, struggling to bring the axe aloft again, “I’m almost 55, not a child!” “You didn’t even know how to pick up an axe!” Joey retorted, scowling, ignorant of Bill walking behind them, picking up the axe, and giving it a hefty swing, chopping a sizable hole in the mass of boards. They both stopped their arguing to stare at the human who was bound by no such laws of comedy. “...Or, we could just do that.” Joey looked off to the side. “Yep, that works.” Henry nodded.Both toons walked over as their human companion chopped away at the mess of processed wood and nails. “Motherfucking-hang on, hang on, fuck, why are there so many nails? Who even did this, anyway? Is there some, shit, some kind of wild dog back here or something?” Bill drew his hand back, plucking away splinters and glaring at the offending lumber. “Need some help?” Henry offered with a somewhat awkward grin. He was starting to get the hang of this toon logic and thought he might have an idea. “Uh...sure?” Bill blinked. “Alright, stand back.” Henry pushed past him slightly.Bill was somewhat confused. Hadn’t he just struggled to lift a 3-pound axe? The aforementioned approached the door, spat on his hands (gloves?), held them outwards… ...and shouted “OPEN SESAME!” at the door. A few seconds past and Joey looked dumbstruck. “Did you really think that would-”The planks still covering the door fell, flopping on the ground like upended gelatin. “-work. Wow, okay, that works, I guess.”Henry wiped the sweat from his brow. “Well, you coming in or not?”Joey stalked past his cartoon companion, muttering under his breath. Bill followed, glancing about the small hallway they were herding themselves into. “I don’t remember the studio being this big…” He mused. “Me neither.” Joey replied. Bill shook his head in slightly confusion. “...Don’t you own this place?” Joey shrugged. “Yeah, why?” Bill blinked and let it drop. “Nevermind.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Bill tried not to stare at his sudden new traveling companions, but even after not seeing either of them for years, this change was still a shock. “So...If you didn't want anyone else to become a toon, why’d you send that letter?” Henry was twirling his ax around like it was a baton. “We didn’t.” The human was confused but changed the subject. “Why’d you let Bendy turn you into toons?” Henry turned around to answer him but was still walking forwards. “We didn’t.” Joey pulled at his non existent collar. “Weeeeeell…” Henry rolled his eyes and accidentally lost the grip on his ax and it fell, cutting off his gloved hand with a plop. All three just stared at it until he piped up again. “Hey Jo, can you give me a hand?” Joey gave a snort while Bill was amusingly horrified. After realising what he had said Henry put his other hand to his face. “Ugh *&$#@*& it, this toon thing’s messing with my sense of humor.” The former ink mastermind picked up the hand as it tried to skitter away, and screwed it back onto the arm stump before giving it a reassuring pat. “Seems fine to me.” Bill looked between them hesitantly. “Umm...I’m really glad that you both seem to be immune to injury and death, but...can you maybe perhaps, uh, explain just one last thing?” Joey pulled a long list of paper seemingly out of nowhere. “Just one?” Henry picked his ax back up and slung it over his shoulder. “Let me just sum everything up and see if I can catch it.” He took a huge breath before speaking. “Joey used dark magic to bring Bendy to life, along with an entire other toonified world, buuuuuut, then Bendy got bored/angry/bangry? No, that sounds wrong, and tried to lure us all back here to make us part of his toon family. Something we are currently trying to stop him from doing to you.” Bill nodded slowly. “No, I mean...obviously that’s what’s going on, I’m a scientist after all.” Henry had no idea if 1) he was being serious or not, and 2), if being a scientist made you able to just know things but Bill kept talking anyway. “I was going to ask why are there cans of bacon soup everywhere?” Joey leaned over sheepishly. “Ehhh that’s...actually my fault? I was a starving artist and they were selling it in bulk. Kind of glad I don’t really have to eat unless it has a comedic point anymore…” Bill nodded again before suddenly seeming to remember something. “Oh yeah! Sorry, one last last thing, who is he?” Bill pointed past the both of them down the hallway. Henry turned around. “Who is-” He was suddenly met with some guy in inky overalls and a poorly made Bendy mask. “Who…” Bendy suddenly seemed to pop out of nowhere. “Oh hey, it’s Sammy.” He turned his head downwards and started muttering. “Unfortunately.” Joey stared at the both of them. “Bendy! Why are you here.” Bendy shrugged. “I got bored. And annoying. And Boris kicked me out for drawing on his sheep.” Sammy griped the ax that he had in his own hand and started to stalk towards them. “Ah...more sacrifices for Lord Bendy...” Joey looked at Bendy. “Lord?” Henry looked at the ax. “Sacrifices?” Bill looked behind all three of them. “Why does an animation studio have so many axes just lying around?” The ink imp scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhh so the toonifying process doesn't always...work good.” Sammy piped up. “You mean work well...not work good.” Bendy turned around and stomped his foot. “THIS IS WHY NO ONE LIKES YOU SAMMY.” The fanatic shrank back slightly. Bendy rubbed the bridge of his non existent nose. “He thinks I’m a god, or something? Which is...flattering, but he tries to kill every human he sees and that’s no fun!.” Bill tugged at his shirt collar and asked hesitantly. “Every human? Like, a-all of them? Even the cute ones?” Bendy pouted. “Hey! I’m the only cute one around here, bub!” The new toon shook his head. “Maybe we could run away?” Joey shook his head with confidence. “Nonsense, we can fight out way-” He turned to see dust clouds where Henry and Bill has been. “Out…” He turned to Sammy who was looking at him menacingly through the mask. “Ha..haha ha…” He slowly turned around and took his leave after his friends in a whirlwind.