Chapter Text
No.
I'm back in the studio’s infirmary, chained up with iron cuffs that burn wherever they dig into my skin.
No, focus Bendy, you can get out of this like last time.
I just gotta pray that the spell isn't on the door like before.
I adjust my ink to bring my arms ink into my main body.
The iron cuff falls to the floor.
Then again with the other arm.
The other cuff falls to the floor.
I run towards the door shoulder first and bust it down.
Thank God.
“Bendy you're not on model yet, what will the investors think if they see you?” A sickeningly sweet masculine voice says.
His voice.
“No.” My voice feels so distant.
“No? You can't say no, I'm your creator.” he says walking into the spotlight.
Joey Drew.
“You aren't even my real creator.” I tell him with more confidence that I feel “Henry created me, you just stole what he made, you're a thief and nothing more.”
“It's because of me that you're even in the real world.” he tells me. “If it weren't for me you'd still just be drawings on pieces of paper, forgotten to the sands of time.”
“You're not even the one who did the work, Thomas Connor built the ink machine and you stole that from him too!” I yell with more conviction. “That's all you know how to do isn't it? Taking credit for other people's creations.”
“And it's because of Tommy that you're a failure. You can't escape who you are, you can't escape your past.” he smiles. “No matter how much you run to that little angel of yours.”
“I'll hurt her too.”
Any and all fear I felt for this piece of crap just died.
I transform into my Beast Form, no matter how painful it is. And full force slammed him into the ground.
“Y̴̖̪ͧ̀̍Ỏ̧̞̤̠̍͐ͫ͆͂ͩͅU̢̼̖̤͎̰̫̠̰̜̺ͮ͋̓̈̔ͦ̓͐̍̎̆̐̇ͬ̊͘͘͜͞͡ͅ W͈̿Ờ̶̶̢̖̥̥̹̳̟̳̫̲̩͖͙̹͚ͬͦ͌͛̅̔̊͐͂ͬ̐̈͛̒̊̽̅̽͂͟͠N̶̸̨̛̪̮͕̮͕̳͚̱̱͚̩͖̝̤̬̘͚̬͑ͪͧͨ̇̋ͨ̔͒̈́̈́̒̈̇ͮ̍̊̕'̴̺̙́ͫͫT̰̆̂ͣ̕ TO̱̪͈̼̯̱͑͌̓̓̄̓̊ͫU̳ͅC̶͎̯͉͉͇̤͌̓͑ͤͤ̓ͣ̏ͩ̋́͌ͭ̾ͨͮ̈̀̀͢͝͡͞Ḩ̴̨̱͎̮̮͍̖̝̝̯̝̱̼̘̻̓ͦ̓́ͧ͊̑͆ͯ̓̇̀ͦͭ̏̂ͬ̓̇ͤ͢ͅ Ḩ̛͕̖̣͇̠͎̰̟̰̤͙̘̮̙͖̱̔ͦ̾̐ͧ̊͗̎̎͒͗̊ͬͣ͗ͭ̍̕͜͠Ę̷̶̣͎̲̻̦̲͍̻͕̯͚̽́̆̿ͤ̂̆̾́ͨ͒̀́̃ͯͭ͑͌R̴̶̨̛̦͓̄̋̌͊̕!̭̪̹̰̼͒ͤ!̴̸̨̛̹̖̘͚̬̥͚̯̜̯̞̺̝̙̩̞̳̤̻̘͙͂̒̊ͧ̔̅ͫ͆ͩ̽̅̈̾̓̀ͥ͘͝͡ͅ!̵̧̧̰͍͚͇͂̆́̈́̑̐́͐ͭͭ̇ͧ̏̅̃̚͢ ” I screech in his face.
“I won't have to.” His grin became shark-like. “You already did.”
"Ⱳħⱥⱦ?” I ask and look past where he was standing.
I see Cassidy, or what's supposed to be Cassidy.
A small lost one, with leaking black pigtails and the same golden sorrowful eyes I've seen on every single one of them.
“Ben dy…” her voice cracks.
No.
Nonononono No. NO! NO!!!
“SHE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STUDIO!!!” I screech in the man's face.
Not a man.
A monster.
Worse than I could have ever been.
“I never even met her, but it's you who did this to her.” he says slyly. “You're no better than me.”
“I couldn't, I wouldn't.”
“You will always be an unperfected, soulless, monster.” he gained a smug grin. “Just like me.”
I slam him into the ground as hard as I can before turning into my small form. Running to Cassidy, picking her up and just keep running.
Run, RUN! Hailey can fix her, Hailey can fix this.
I destroy, Hailey creates, she's a Creator like Henry.
I reach a fork in the endless hallways.
And I hear a gasp.
I turn to the noise's origin.
The kid from Freddy's, the one that threatened me.
Except he looks different.
His hair is black instead of brown, his peach skin is about as white as paper and his shirt shorts are black as well.
And on top of that, his eyes are red and black, and it looks like he's been crying ink.
“I’m sorry, I didn't know…”
The world fades to black.
I wake up.
In my and Buddy’s room.
A good drive away from the studio.
Tense, I feel tense.
That's the worst nightmare I've had in a bit.
I look back at the clock.
6:00 a.m.
It's morning.
I grabbed my SketchBook and color pencils, and got on to the lower rooftop through the window.
I'm going to watch, and sketch, the Sun.
The orange and yellow sun rising into an increasingly light blue sky, which itself is changing from the black of night to said light blue.
Bits of pink and purple shadow the clouds and trees.
This sight alone is more color than in the studio.
When I climb back in the window it's 7 a.m. and I'm still not tired…
I guess today starts now.
I sat down on my bed and read a history book about the space mission’s to the moon.
*Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.*
8 a.m. already.
Breakfast. sausage, eggs, and biscuits.
Turns out I like bacon more than sausage and t's not even close.
The breakfast chatter is normal until Charles opens his mouth.
“I cannot wait for the building to be done so that I can move out and not have to deal with the two demons in this house.” he said with snark. “It should be done within the next day or two.”
Oh shoot.
I barely helped.
But maybe that's for the best… not a lot of them really trust me yet.
To them it just seems that the big bad Ink demon just suddenly flipped a new leaf instead of being a victim the entire time too.
Pretty sucky that I got that label because of Joey.
“Sorry, I haven't helped a lot.” I apologize before I put another piece of egg in my mouth.
“Don't be, I've been taking a break myself, considering… everything.” Henry tells me brushing me off. “We've just been taking our time. But a lot of hands get things done, even if we're lazy about it.”
“By the way I've been Bendy you look… tired.” Henry comments. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Not any good sleep.” I answer him. “To everyone concerned, do not touch Annie's energy drinks, they taste like lightning and the energy lasts forever.”
“I had a nightmare. I have no idea whether it's because of it or if it's just… a nightmare.” I huff. “There were a few things that changed compared to the normal nightmares. It was worse, more intense and there were a few things added that weren't there before.”
A couple people that weren't there before.
“Do you wanna talk abo-”“No.” I interrupt Henry.
“Okay, tell me if you feel ready.” he nods. “I admit, sometimes I still can't believe we're out. I mean… we lost count of how many times we've done the same things over and over a long time ago…”
“I'm pretty sure you lost count after 414.” I remember after that he just kind of gave up. “I'm pretty sure that's the last loop we were ‘enemy's’.”
“Really?! I wonder how long it took for us to realize that we were all being tricked?” he ask rhetorically. Because we both know it took too long.
But that's where the conversation died.
…
“What is everyone planning to do today?” David asked everyone.
Everyone has something planned and I just want to hang out at Freddy's.
Maybe I can earn that phone today.
It's odd.
We escape an eternal time loop. Only to end up in our own routines.
Later
I portal to the alley next to Freddy's and I walk inside the restaurant.
“BENDY!!!” I feel myself get tackled by the person who called me.
It's Cassidy.
She must have been waiting near the door.
“Are you okay?” she asked me
“Yeah why?” I lightly shrug.
“You've been wearing the same clothes for the past 3 days straight… today's day 4." She makes a good point. “Do you just have multiples of the same outfit like to stop choice paralysis and all that or… do you not have enough clothes at home?”
She says that last question quietly enough that only I can hear.
I mean technically she's not wrong.
But also, she's in the same boat.
“You’ve also been wearing the same clothes for the past 4 days.” I point out the hypocrisy. “Are you okay?”
“I'm fine, my thing is totally different.” she waves off like it doesn't matter. “I know where we can get you some clothes if you need it.”
You know what, yeah! I need the clothes, and I don't want to spend nearly as much money as we've been spending just to exist outside the studio.
The amount of money that the new Stein’s, the good Drew's and the Smith family pulled for us was insane.
And most of that went towards the metal building we’re turning into apartments.
“Lead the way.” I tell her.
And she does, past the big party room and into a room with the sign ‘parts and services’.
There's a medal table, some shelves on the walls holding robot pants and big plastic bins labeled with loose dates. I spot some stairs going to an upper floor of the pizzeria.
I wonder where they go?
“Are you sure this is ok?” I ask.
“Yeah, these bins haven't been touched in years.” Cassidy grabbed a big plastic bin off the shelf and dropped it off the ground.
There's a taped on paper sign that says ‘Feb ‘12.’
It's June 2019. That's 7 years.
“Are you sure about this bin?” I ask.
“Yeah, most kids who lost this stuff are in high school.” Cassidy shrugged. “Mike will come in and help us at some point, maybe some of The Gang will help if they get a moment.”
“Hey Shorties, Vanessa is in Pirates Cove and Freddy told me what you're doing.” He came in with a hamper, then he spotted the bin. “2012… nice choice, I'm super glad with how the merch came out that year.”
“Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” Cassidy sighed. “Hey Mike.”
He sat down on the floor with us and dumped out the bin.
“I'll wash this when we're done.” Mike told us. “So don't worry about dirt, just watch out for stains.”
And we start organizing by items.
It's mostly toys. A bunch of plushies of the Freddy's gang, some of them are in different costumes.
“Oh yeah those were for the Justice League promotion we did. We do one every few years, but it's gotten a touch complicated since The Avengers started their work.” Mike says nonchalantly.
Superheroes. Those are superhero teams.
“Who's the best?” I have to ask.
“For the Justice League Batman, for The Avengers The Hulk.” Mike answers without a second thought. “But that's of course my opinion.”
“Huh, really thought you would insert a certain Fox masked trouble maker in there?” Cassidy teases.
“Oh come on, you know I can't do that.” Mike rolls his eyes. “I don't do narcissism.”
“No. You do nepotism.” Cassidy deadpanned.
“How dare.” “Bruce Banner is your cousin and you've known Bruce Wayne since 2005. That's nepotism.” Cassidy interrupted him to give him the truth.
“…That proves nothing.” Mike denied.
Cassidy sighed, then turned to me. “My favorites would probably be Black Canary of the Justice League and She-Hulk of The Avengers.”
“No you're going to have to pick a different one, Jen ain't a part of The Avengers.” Mike corrected. “And plus you just chose my cousin's cousin.”
“Yeah, so no relation to you.” Cassidy snapped back.
“She was dumped with Bruce when they were teenagers at my house one summer, she's practically family. Vanessa calls her Aunt Jen for God's sake.” Mike defends his maybe-kind-of-sort-of family. “Blood doesn't only make a family, it's the bonds we forge.”
He was dramatic with that last line.
“Well, the point still stands. She's an Avengers associate. So she counts.” Cassidy waves him off. Then looks back at me “So who's your favorite?”
“I don't know that many. My dad only really knew about Wonder Woman and Captain America.” I admit.
“Diana Prince and Steve Rogers, not a bad choice.” Mike nodded approvingly. “I'm sure I can get you an autograph if you want one.”
“You know them?!” I asked, That surprised me.
“I know everyone.” he said with the utmost certainty. “And if I don't know them yet, I'll know them soon enough.”
I know I'm a pot calling a kettle black right now, but… what is he?
He can't be human.
“Because of a creepy bat.” Cassidy whispers under her breath, before saying. “Yeah, he knows a lot of people. For Better or worse.”
“That would be kind of neat.” I admit.
Then I realize.
“I have to use the bathroom.” I get up as soon as possible.
I didn't realize I was holding it.
“Go, run, it's all the opposite side of the building!!!” Cassidy encouraged me as I ran out the door.
I book it.
I would use a portal but there are security cameras everywhere.
I did not realize what those little black bulb things in the ceiling were until yesterday.
I make it into a stall, and relieve myself.
Thank God.
I wash my hands and leave the bathroom walking back to the parts and service room.
I make it to the door but here a conversation going on.
“I'm tired, Mike.” Cassidy tells Mike. “Like ‘down to my soul’ tired.”
I stop at the door.
“Really? How and why?” Mike asked her.
“I'm tired of being angry. I'm still vengeful, I don't think that will go away anytime soon, it's just…” Cassidy pauses for a few moments. “I'm tired of being left behind. I'm tired of being the reason the others stay here and not resting in heaven. I'm tired of befriending kids who think I'm their age, only for them to outgrow me.”
“I'm tired of being a adult stuck as a child.” she huffs out. “and I don't want to be stuck here anymore.”
God, do I know that last one.
“At least in the building people can see me, one step outside that door and anyone ‘normal’ can't see me.” Cassidy then releases a bitter laugh. “It's like I never mattered, never existed enough for anyone to care, hell Dad didn't even care enough about me to stick around.”
“Your mom cared…” Mike reminded her. “Andrew cared.”
“Oh and would you look at that, I'm also the reason he died.” her voice cracked on the word ‘died’. “The one useful thing I've done in my entire existence, is something that no one sane would forgive me for.”
“I forgive you.” Mike said matter of factly.
“I said sane, moron. So you obviously don't count.” She scoffed.
“Evan forgives you.” Mike gave what seems to be a better example.
Evan, the kid that threatened me, the same kid that appeared in my nightmare last night… right?
“Doesn't stop the fact that he still mourns the man he used to be.” Cassidy's voice echoed ‘he’ with as much venom as any one of us would say Joey's name.
Heck, even if we just suggested Joey like that there would be hatred.
“I can get you some therapy… I mean you can not be any harder to convince than B.” Mike shrugged.
“I'm still bitter at you for something you did when you were 16.” Cassidy looked the man dead in the eyes. “That was almost 36 years ago.”
Ouch, that's a grudge.
As much as I want to get more answers. If I don't ‘come back’ soon, then I'll be getting suspicious
*Knock knock.* I knocked on the door.
“Hey, I'm back. Y'all find anything?” I ask. (And I hope I used ‘y'all’ right).
“Oh! Yeah, we have a small pile of guesstimations here.” She pointed at a hamper. “Find what you want and we'll clean it.”
“Ok.” I nod, sit down, and started sorting.
“Do I have to bleach the carpets?” Mike asked.
“What?” I feel a little bit embarrassed having to ask.
“He's asking if you didn't make it.” Cassidy explained.
“No, I made it.” I nod
Then we go back to sorting.
Most stuff here isn't even all that dirty, just a touch dusty.
I get at least one of the Freddy's Gang and there's some normal shirts.
“…How do people lose pants?” I ask while holding blue jeans.
“We have no idea.” Cassidy shakes her head.
And we continue to talk until we have a hamper full of clothes, with a few bigger sized clothes for when I ‘grow up.’
“Ok, I'll bring this upstairs and start the washer and dryer. You guys can go ahead and play some video games.” Mike told us as we walked up the stairs.
“kay.” Cassidy nodded. And dragged me out of the room.
And we went from one game to another, throwing basketballs, a frog road crossing game, a chicken road crossing game, shooting spaceships with smaller space ships, a building stacking game, and ending up at air hockey.
I blocked the puck with my arm
“Using your arm is cheating!” Cassidy tells me.
“No one told me the rules.” I shrugged.
Honestly, they didn't have to, it was just implied.
“Oh really?” she asked me, obviously not taking my bull crap. “Fine, no rules.”
And her hand that's not holding the striker (HA!) glows as light blue as her eyes.
And she struck the puck, sending it towards my side. But before I could hit it back it suddenly moved in an odd angle. And went into my goal anyway.
The way she grins reminds me of my smug smile whenever I know something someone else doesn't.
She's challenging me.
And I fully accept the challenge.
And so starts the beginning of the most entertaining game I've played in the longest time.
She has since the puck my way using, what I can only assume is telekinesis, to screw up whatever plan I got. And I may or may not have used a little bit of my shadows to grab the puck also and do darn near the exact same thing she was doing.
We played a lot of air hockey, most of them in ties of 0 to 0.
“God, am I glad you're also weird.” Cassidy smiles as we walk away from the table. “It's been a while since I've had a friend that can match my weird.”
“I don't think I've ever had a friend that matches my weird.” I admit and relax a little bit more.
Which means my shadows are out. But light, enough shadows to be able to know what's going on around me, but not dark enough that anybody would notice to much.
But it's weird.
Cassidy doesn't have any… presents(?) in my shadows.
Almost everyone else I can feel their height, weight, silhouette and emotions.
But for Cassidy, it's like her body doesn't have any of that.
It's like my shadow goes straight through her.
I feel a big, about 6 ft presents and about 150 lb in weight. I can't feel their emotions, but I know that silhouette.
“Hey, you're Bendy right?” Freddy asks, lightly tapping my head.
“Yeah.” I answer and nod.
“Mike says that the laundry is done and he's going to put it in a suitcase for you.” Freddy explained. “It's a lot and I doubt that you'd want to accidentally lose any of it, so do you need Mike to drive you home or you have a way back?”
“I can get back on my own, it's not too much of a walk.” I shrug.
Nothing's too much of a walk if you can portal there.
“Ok, you might want to go to the prize counter if you want to. Because it's almost time for most people, and you do not want to be at the price counter whenever people are rushing out.” Freddy explained and warned.
“Ok.” I agree, mostly because I haven't checked my tickets in a while.
And this time I get to drag Cassidy with me.
I give my card over to the employee across the counter and… I still don't have enough for the phone.
I'm not even close.
“Here.” Cassidy placed her card on the counter. “Use some of mine.”
Wait.
WHAT?!
“No!” I tell her.
“Why not?” Cassidy asked with sass.
“Because I don't have enough.” I say matter of factly.
“Yeah, that's why I'm paying for the rest.” she shrugged.
"Don't you want anything?" I ask, feeling more frazzled than anything.
“Nah, I have everything I need.” Cassidy waved off, then looked at the employee. “Do it, please.”
It doesn't take a moment for the cashier(?) to grab the phone off the top shelf, and handed it to Cassidy.
“Happy birthday? Happy Holidays? Whichever sooner." She hands me the box containing the phone.
I grabbed the phone. “My birthday is in February. So Christmas would be sooner.”
“Thank you!” I hug her.
“No problem.” Cassidy rubbed my back. And only let go whenever we heard someone shout “HEY!”
We look at the source, it's Mike holding a suitcase.
And he walked over to us.
He spotted the phone and immediately looked at the girl on the other side of the counter.
“Chelsea, this is one of the top shelf prizes, please put it in a bag.” He says as he reaches over the count of himself and bagged my new phone before giving it back to me.
“Oh sorry sir, you know how often it is that somebody gets a top shelf price.” the employee Chelsea apologizes.
“Yeah, I get it.” he nods, then looks at me. “Need a ride back home, kiddo?”
“No, I can get back home really quick.” I wave him off.
“Ok, if you need help setting that up you should probably ask an adult who knows your personal information.” he told me. “You probably shouldn't do it on your own.”
“Ok.” I nod
“Ok, here's your clothes. I'm going to go find Vanessa.” he gives me the suitcase and walks away.
“Now don't forget about me now that you got your prize.” she smiled smugly despite her words.
“I don't think I could.” I answer honestly.
And we walk towards the door. Only to stop just in front of the door.
“By the way, Freddy's will be closed tomorrow. So you can't exactly see me.” she told me, melancholy written all over her face. “It's… kind of an important day.”
“Ok then, I'll come by the day after that. Maybe I can win you something.” I shrug and give her a smile. “It's honestly the least I could do.”
“That would be nice.” she nods. “See you then.”
“See ya'!” I wave as I leave.
Walk over to the alley, portal home, just on time for dinner
Dinner is potato stew. Which I would compare to bacon soup, but it is in no way comparable.
The only things that the two foods share in common is salt, pepper, potatoes and milk. Not even bacon because the recipe for bacon soup calls for Canadian bacon. This uses crispy breakfast bacon.
It's salty and creamy, and soft and crunchy in the best ways. The unique contrast of everything in it, but still tastes great, makes me just want to eat more.
I practically lick my bowl clean.
And even though I'm full, I still want more.
Back in the studio, when the only thing to eat was bacon soup, I didn't understand gluttony.
That concept as a whole.
Yeah, Wally gave me some food every now and then and I would most definitely devour a lot of it. but I can see myself getting sick on a lot of it.
This is different.
This is the concept of gluttony in a bowl.
And I enjoyed every bit of it.
And by the time most of us left the table, I'm pretty sure enough time had passed from whenever I plugged up the phone to charge, to now.
I unplug the phone and sit on the stairs, fiddling with what I could.
What's an email? Why would I need to log into an email to get a phone to work?
Is it necessary?
“Now how'd you get that?” Max asked me, looking off my shoulder
“A friend.” I answer
“A friend with that big enough paycheck to get you a phone?” he asked another question.
“A friend that helped me get it from the top shop at Freddy's.” I correct him.
“Ok, I want a name.” Max tells me, pulling out his own phone.
“Cassidy.” I answer simply.
“Cassidy.” he repeats what I said. “The Cassidy at Freddy's? Light blue eyes, black pigtails?”
“Yeah? Why?” I ask.
“Cassidy's a ghost.” he told me.
What.
“What do you mean she's a ghost?” I ask him.
“Yeah, did Nick not tell you?” Max asked. “Oh wait, right… it's supposed to be a ‘secret’.”
He sighed.
“You know what, whatever. Cassidy, Evan, The Fazbear Gang and even the boss man Michael Afton, are all dead and ghosts.” He explained and pulled out his phone. “Most of them have been dead since 1983.”
Then showed me an old newspaper on the screen.
June 27, 1983. Hurricane Utah.
Five children found dead at Freddy's.
Yesterday, June 26th marked the date of a tragedy in our town.
Susanna Baker, Jeremy Hare, Fritz Black, Cassidy Goldberg and the birthday boy himself Gabriel Fisher. Lost their lives during Gabriel’s birthday party.
Their remains were found in…
But I can't read anymore, because the five slightly blurry black and white pictures catch my attention.
A light skinned, light curly haired girl.
Susanna ‘Susie’ Baker. age: 8.
A dark skinned and dark buzz cut boy.
Jeremy Hare. age: 11.
Another dark skinned boy, obviously shorter and with curly hair.
Gabriel Fisher. Age: 10.
A light skinned, grey haired boy with a missing tooth.
Fritz Black. Age: 10
And a light skinned girl, with her long dark hair put up into pigtails.
Cassidy Goldberg. Age 10.