#after coming back from bein taken out by Bendy.

[arcadequeerz]

batim fandom sleeping on the song 'Have Faith' by Aviators.

[trashboatprince]

Since I’m still in a sci-fi mood (along with, like, monsters and romance stuff too, but that’s always there), and I haven’t been able to really... make any new written content recently, I decided to rework an old one-shot I wrote for the space pirate au with how my Henry, Hugo, met Bendy in it.

I honestly don’t remember if I ever posted it here, I know I posted it on discord for my friends to read, but I’m posting up a better version here. Plus, rewriting an old drabble might help me get back into the swing of things when it comes to writing! Especially since I’ve got a zine entry to work on. 

As always, Hugo is a half human/half alien (Asterian), and he’s fourteen in this. Bendy is a being from another universe or dimension, it’s unclear where Bendy’s from, but he’s a demon.

Asterians are a race of aliens that have the ability to travel through the vacuum of space with no need to breathe and have bioluminescent skin, but because Hugo is part human, he can’t last as long in space as he should.

On with the fic!

--

Hugo had lost count of how long he had been left on this stupid hunk of space rock, but he knew that he would probably be dead in due time. 

He considered that he’s probably got about an hour or two left, and knowing the Butcher Gang, they’ll either show up last minute to watch him suffer before putting him back on the ship, or they’ll just let him perish. They’re real jackasses like that.

At least he took his sketchbook with him after they threw him off the ship for their own enjoyment, but still, not much to draw when all around him was just inky darkness and a weak light source from a distant star. 

He sighed, soundless, his skin gently flashing a neon green, starting from his face down to his fingertips.

“Dat’s a real fancy trick ya can do, kid.”

Hugo’s eyes widened and he turned, shocked to have heard a voice, when he normally couldn’t hear anything in the vacuum of space. He was surprised to see something moving in the darkness of space around him. Something shifted, specks of lights moving around in front of him, before something formed. It looked like a wide, cartoon-ish smile, and from there a whiteness started to spread, forming an odd shape. Then two black, nearly full ovals, with little cuts in them, appeared in the white. It was a face!

“Hiya!” The face greeted in a childish voice, though clearly accented. The shape got closer and as it stepped onto the rock with Hugo, the half-human saw a shape form.

The darkness of space took on legs, oddly shaped, along with a long tail, them a small body that was sorta shaped like a bean. Arms with clawed hands followed, and the face seemed to have more of a head shape to it, though clearly shaped like a strange crescent form. The blackness of the body was covered in what looked like stars, twinkling and flashing, a variety of colors.

“What?” The strange creature asked. “Ya not gonna greet me?”

Hugo frowned, gesturing to his throat and then opened his mouth before shaking his head, his skin flashing involuntarily.

“Ah, right,” The creature nodded, frowning, “ya guys in dis universe can’t talk in da vacuum of space. Hold on.” 

He snapped his fingers, the snap actually made a sound, and a bubble surrounded the whole rock. Hugo let out a surprised laugh, before slapping a hand over his mouth, blinking. “W-what?”

“Just a li’l trick, super easy to do!” A grin formed on the other’s face. “It’s made outta natural gases dat drift around us, can’t just make it all, ya know, willy-nilly, but it’s super simple! So, what’s yours dat mine’s Bendy!”

Hugo had to take a moment to register what this guy, Bendy, has said. “It’s, uh, it’s Hugo.” He replied, coughing, trying to sound deeper than he naturally was. 

“Hugo, huh?” Bendy grinned brightly. “Nice to meet’cha! So, whatcha doin’ out here in an asteroid belt? Not really a social spot fer ya... what are you?”

“I dunno.” Hugo shrugged. “Human and somethin’ else, I reckon. What exactly are you?”

“Demon!”

“Demon? You mean, like, those human monsters?”

Bendy snorted loudly at this. “Pah-lease! Nonononononono- weeeellll... yes? No? Maybe so! Hard to tell, I mean, demons an’ angels aren’t technically natural to dis dimension, but we exist! We’ve been to Earth! I’ve been there, a number of times, really nice, an’ kinda bad, but it’s got lots of fun stuff there! Ya ever been?”

Hugo shook his head. “No, never really been in that area of the galaxy. Been, uh, stuck in situations were I don’t get to pick where I go.”

The grin slipped on Bendy’s face, as if he was reading the situation and figured out what Hugo was referring to. “Ah, I getcha. Still, maybe you’ll get to see it! It’s pretty neat!” The grin returned and cosmic eyes glanced to the sketchbook resting next to Hugo. “Oh! Ya draw?”

There was a nod, and Bendy asked to see. Hugo let him and Bendy started to look at the sketches and drawings Hugo’s done over the past few months. He seemed rather excited and giddy about them, chatting and pointing out what he loved, or pointed out what was good but could use some improvement.

It was... kinda nice, Hugo thought as he sat there, listening to Bendy ramble on and on. He hadn’t really had anyone to talk to in ages, not since his escape from his previous life and being cabin boy on the Butcher Gang’s ship didn’t give him much respect from anyone onboard, so having a strange being this excited to talk to him was like a breath of fresh air.

“So, why are ya sittin’ on this floatin’ rock, Hugo?” Bendy asked after a while, when their conversation had turned into small talk and such.

“I got left behind for no good reason by the Butcher Gang, they’re the pirates I ‘work’ for.” Hugo stuck out his tongue, making a face. “They’re a bunch of lowlife bastards, is what they are! I bet I could be a better pirate than them any day!” 

“You wanna be a pirate?”

“Yeah!” Hugo got to his feet, grinning. “I wanted to be a ranger when I was a kid, but I think a pirate would be cooler! Better! I can make a name for myself, I can rule the skies in my own ship! One day, I’ll have my name known across the galaxy! People will fear the name Hugo, no more lookin’ down on me and thinkin’ I’m just some freak or useless mutt!”

Bendy stared at him for a moment, quietly, and Hugo suddenly felt self conscious, before Bendy’s grin grew even bigger than it had before, nearly face splitting. His eyes sparkled with stars, brightly, it was so strange. “That... SOUNDS AMAZIN’! Can I join!? Can I be part of yer crew, Hugo!?”

Hugo was a bit caught off-guard by this. “You... you wanna be part of my crew? Why?”

“Cause dat sounds like so much fun! Look, I’m a drifter, I explore wherever I drift to, but dat gets so borin’ after so long! An’ bein’ a space pirate sounds like a blast! I’ll help you escape, an’ you an’ I can go on a bajillion adventures together!”

Bendy shoved his hand out at Hugo, smiling. “I’ll make yer dreams come true, Hugo. If ya want mah help.”

“...” Hugo looked at the offered hand. “What do you get outta this? No offense, but from what I know about demons, they like to make deals.”

“None taken.” Bendy shrugged, casually. “I getcha, not easy to trust a demon, we do have a rep fer deals an’ da like, kinda ruins it fer the honest demons like me. But listen, all I want outta this is a fun life! An’ I think yer just da guy to make dat happen.” He winked and Hugo chuckled.

“Alright, you’ve got a deal, Bendy!” Hugo took the offered hand with manic glee.

--

“Wait, you just... took the deal? Just like that?” Harrison asked, raising an eyebrow. “Did you not consider that it could have been a trick?”

“Honestly?” Hugo shrugged. “I considered that, yeah, but Bendy sounded honest, and somethin’ about him screamed ‘he’ll be the most important friend you’ll ever have’. And I was right.”

Hugo chuckled, rubbing at his right palm, where black mark was in his skin, like a tattoo. It was Bendy’s mark, meant for protection and connection. Harrison had asked about it, had asked how Hugo had even met Bendy, and the pirate decided to tell him.

“Do you regret it?” Harrison asked as he looked at the mark.

“Nope, never have, never will. Bendy and I are friends till the end.”

“I see... wait, how the heck did you two become father and son then?”

“Oh, see, now that’s a really funny story! So, when I was fifteen...”

--

It had been a slip from Bendy, by the way, he has accidentally called Hugo ‘dad’ and then it sorta just stuck around. Hugo has embraced the role of dad with his whole being, especially since he can get away with dad jokes now.

But yeah, here’s how these two met in this au! 

Harrison is my friend inkspottie’s Henry, by the way. 

[queenofcats17]

Hi there! I wanted to say I really like Charlie and the Lawrences!! If it’s ok, I wanted to send a prompt in for them? I understand if you have too many prompts right now, so if you can’t do this one, I totally get it^^ Here it is: I’d imagine at some point Charlie gets involved in the magic shenanigans at the studio. What’s the first one they experience? (I.E: they visit the studio after school and it’s teeny Sammy times, or something happens to them specifically, and no one is Ok with This™)

No worries. I’m really glad you like Charlie!

This is certainly going to be interesting. But it also got kind of sad.

————————————————-

It was a small miracle Charlie hadn’t experienced the bizarre shenanigans of Joey Drew Studios sooner. They’d been with Susie and Sammy for almost six months before they witnessed one of the transformations that were so common at the studio. Part of this may have been because they’d recently been enrolled in school, much to their chagrin. In any case, they’d heard about the transformations from their parents, usually through Sammy’s complaining about whatever shenanigans Joey had put them through, but they hadn’t seen one before that point. Despite this lack of concrete proof, Charlie wholeheartedly believed in the magic of the studio. After all, literal cartoons lived in the studio.

They’d been coming back from school that day. Their routine was that they dropped by the studio after school to hang out until it was time for their parents to head home. They’d been a little nervous when they’d first started school because they’d be leaving Shadow and her kittens, (They’d named the girl Soot since she was gray and the boy Pancake. They didn’t really have a reason for naming Pancake what they had since he was black and white, not any shade of brown. Still, that was what Charlie had wanted.) but a nice woman who lived next door had volunteered to watch the cats until the family got home.

“I’m here!” Charlie announced, opening the door to the studio. Almost immediately, they noticed that something seemed to be going on. The employees they could see were running around frantically, but not in the way they usually were.

Usually, when Charlie arrived the employees were running around delivering scripts and checking various animation cells with their superiors. But at the moment they were running around carrying buckets of ink and things that Charlie vaguely recognized as ritual components. Although they weren’t allowed to be around when Joey was conducting rituals, they knew what the components looked like due to asking questions.

“Oh, hey kiddo!” Wally stuck his head out from the hallway. “This, uh, might not be the best time.” For once, he didn’t have ink smeared all over his face.

“What’s…goin’ on?” Charlie asked slowly, hobbling toward him.

It was at that point that Sammy rounded the corner, grumbling to himself. However, he didn’t look the way he had when he’d left the house that morning. He was a toon. Again. A demon toon this time, judging from the horns poking out from his hair and the spade tipped tail flicking back and forth.

“That’s why…” Wally grimaced as Sammy and Charlie locked eyes. Charlie’s eyes widened and they dropped their backpack.

“Hey…” Sammy grimaced as well. He’d honestly been dreading this. Charlie knew about the transformations Sammy went through, but he wasn’t sure what his child’s reaction was going to be. This was weird even for him.

Thankfully, the reaction was far from negative.

“This…is so cool!” Charlie lit up, bouncing up and down as best they could without falling over. Sammy let out an internal sigh of relief, although due to his current toon state it wasn’t so internal.

“What happened? Was it Mr. Joey again?” Charlie asked, getting closer to play with Sammy’s tail.

“Yeah.” Sammy nodded, his tail swishing in irritation at the memory. “He was trying to improve Bendy’s design and, well….” He gestured to himself.

“The magic ink got in the pipes again,” Wally added. “Standard stuff.”

“Can I be a toon?” Charlie looked up at Sammy with sparkling eyes. “Please? I wanna try it too!”

“Absolutely not.” Sammy immediately replied.

“Aw, why?” Charlie asked, face screwed up in a quintessentially childish pout. “Mr. Drew knows how to reverse it, right? It wouldn’t hurt if I got to be a toon for a little.”

“It’s still incredibly dangerous.” Sammy insisted.

“But you get turned into a toon all the time!” Charlie whined.

“And every time I’m worried I’ll never be able to turn back!”

“But you do get turned back!”

“It’s dangerous!”

As the argument escalated, Wally stood there, unsure what to do. He really didn’t want to get in the middle of this. To be fair, Sammy had a point. Getting transformed into various things was incredibly dangerous and it was understandable Sammy wouldn’t want his kid getting involved in it. It was causing a bit of a scene, though.

Sammy was trying very hard not to yell, knowing how terrifying he could be when he yelled, but Charlie was full-on screaming. Their argument was loud enough that it attracted Susie’s attention. She came running from Joey’s office, looking rather concerned.

“What’s going on?” She asked, looking even more concerned when she saw Sammy and Charlie fighting.

“Charlie wanted to try bein’ a toon and Sammy doesn’t wanna let him,” Wally explained in a low voice.

“Oh dear.” Susie turned her attention back to Sammy and Charlie.

Charlie was crying and so had stopped yelling for the moment. Sammy’s horns lowered, like a cat lowering its ears.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you,” he said, gathering Charlie in his arms. “I just don’t want something to happen to you.”

“We worry about you, dear,” Susie agreed, joining the hug. “As fun as it might sound to be a cartoon for a little, there’s always the possibility that something will happen and you won’t be able to turn back. It’s something I worry about all the time when this happens to Sammy.”

“But I wanna try it,” Charlie said weakly. “Maybe…Maybe if I’m a toon, my legs will work better.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Susie’s expression softened. There were tears in her eyes and even Sammy looked a bit misty-eyed. She and Sammy held Charlie tighter, Sammy’s tail wrapping around both of them. It was a frankly adorable scene.

Wally took that opportunity to leave. He didn’t want to spoil the moment. Besides, Joey probably needed help setting up the ritual.

After a few minutes, the three of them drew back from the hug.

“Do your legs really bother you that much, dear?” Susie asked.

“A little,” Charlie sniffled.

“Physical therapy is always an option,” Sammy said. They’d taken Charlie to the doctor a few weeks after adopting them and the doctor had that physical therapy might help with the muscle damage in Charlie’s legs. It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was a possibility.

“The doctor said it might not work.” Charlie hunched their shoulders.

“But it’s a possibility,” Susie said, brushing some hair out of Charlie’s eyes and fixing their little flower barrette.

“But…I don’t want to be a burden,” Charlie mumbled.

“A burden? Why would we think of you as a burden?” Sammy asked.

“I dunno.” Charlie hunched their shoulders more. “My old family thought I was a burden…”

Susie’s expression darkened and literal steam began to come out of Sammy’s ears. Neither of them had asked about how Charlie had found themselves on the street. They’d known it likely wasn’t a particularly happy story.

“We will never think of you as a burden, darling.” Susie swept them up in her arms again. “You’re our family now and family means no one gets left behind.”

“We might get angry at you sometimes, but we’re not going to abandon you.” Sammy agreed, smiling gently.

“Promise?” Charlie looked up at them, their voice so small and unsure it made Sammy want to find the people who had abandoned them and give them a piece of his mind.

“Promise.” Sammy and Susie said together.

“Okay.” Charlie still looked a bit unsure but allowed Susie and Sammy to hug them again.

“I still think you look really cool, Dad,” they said after a bit.

“I think I look ridiculous,” Sammy grumbled, his gaze flicking down to his tail. “And this thing is more trouble than it’s worth.” Controlling four limbs was bad enough. He didn’t want to have to deal with another.

“I think the idea of you as a demon is rather…interesting.” Susie gave him a mischevious smile. Immediately, Sammy blushed and began to sputter. Charlie looked blankly between the two of them for a moment or two before recognition dawned on their face and their expression turned to one of horror.

“Ew! Gross!”

Susie just giggled.

[vitalpen]

Beady Little Eyes

(another lil thing for @squigglydigglydoo ‘s toon henry au, which has done wonders for bringing back my creative drive lately.  Wanted to try and feel out how Bendy would react to seeing himself when he’s off-model level’s of angry.)

“What did he mean?” Bendy stood on a stool in front of a mirror, stock still, looking at himself.  He bent in close over the sink and stretched his eyelid, intensely scanning for something, anything… nothing.

Which was exactly what he was finding.  The only thing looking back at him was that mug he’d come to know and love oh-so-much. His real money maker.  Not a flaw to be found.

“Boris doesn’t know what he’s talkin’ about,” the devil dismissed, intending to put the issue to bed.

But he didn’t look away from that mirror.  Why?  Why was he even listening to Boris?  Henry’d already poisoned the guy’s mind.  That dunce was always gullible anyway, it was his whole shtick.

So why did this bother him so much?

Bendy knew.  Of course he knew.  He and Boris had known each other for years.  If there was one thing that came with being that simple, it was honesty.  Boris didn’t have a lying bone in his body.  So when the words “he was right” came out of his mouth, coupled with the terror in his eyes, it stung.

Boris didn’t like how mad he was getting.  Why not?  After everything they’d gone through, all the work they’d done, why did they deserve to get thrown away?  They were owed this.  How could he not see that?  Boris was a dunce, but he wasn’t blind.  Henry didn’t care about this, he didn’t care about them.  But all it had taken was one sob story and Boris was in, hook, line, and sinker.

“That’s the problem with having an idiot for a best friend,” he muttered to himself, “they got no idea when they’re bein played.”

But Alice believed him too. Alice wasn’t dumb.  She was as goody-two shoes, sure, but she had common sense.  And she was siding with Henry.  How was he supposed to take that?  Both of them were with Henry.  Henry. Henry, Henry, Henry.  Even hearing that name burned him up these days.  That louse left, tossed them all away, let them collect dust for thirty years.  And yet somehow, he turned everyone Bendy had against him.  What had he said to Alice?  She had to be smart enough to see through him.  Had he threatened her?  Had he threatened both of them?  Boris had looked nervous when they were arguing.  Did that no good, dead-beat, absentee animator threaten his pals?!

“If he lays a finger on either of them…“ Bendy clenched his hands in a vice grip and looked back up at the mirror…

It stared back at him with beady little eyes.

Bendy screamed in terror and fell back off his stool with a clatter.  He lied there for a moment, staring up at the ceiling.  His teeth were clenched, his fingers dug into the wood, and his heart jumped a foot up with every beat.  It was at least a minute of stunned silence when he finally sat up, rubbing his head, trying to process what he’d just seen.  That face, that… thing.  Was that… him?

The thought spurred him back to his feet, he scrambled up onto the stool as fast as he could and looked back at himself.

There were his pupils, big and adorable as they ever were.  Once again Bendy inspected his eyes.  Was it him? Was that freak really what he looked like? Why though? Why were his eyes so small? After a new stint of finding nothing, he shook his head.  

“No, no it was… it was a trick of the light.  Yeah, that was it, trick of the light.  Gotta get these things replaced.”  He put his hands on his hips and looked up at the dim bulb.  “They barely work anymore.”  A laugh to seal the excuse.  There, that sounded sane.

“I’m workin too hard,” he continued to assure himself, turning around and leaning back against the sink.  “All this thinkin bout Henry has my nerves shot.  I need to calm down before I lose my head.”

There was a tap on his shoulder.  A glance to the side brought him face to face with the beady-eyed monster, leaning out of the mirror.

“Might be a bit late for that, mac.”  It growled with a hollow grin.

Bendy screamed higher and louder than he’d ever screamed before.  His legs kicked into high gear. He rocketed out of the room, slammed the door shut, and began nailing two-by-fours over it as fast as he could.  After a finishing touch of police tape and a nuclear hazard symbol for good measure, he pressed his body up against it.  He heaved, chest rising and falling rapidly.

That wasn’t him.   He wasn’t like that.  He was a good guy.  It couldn’t have been him…

But that was his voice.

That was his face.

That was him.  That horrible, bloodthirsty-looking freak was him.

Bendy started to shiver. He wrapped his arms around himself and sank to the ground.  He missed Boris.  He missed Alice.  He…

A few drops of water hit the ground.  Rain. Instinctively, Bendy pulled an umbrella out and opened it.  Drops kept hitting the floor.  Confused, Bendy looked up… at the ceiling.  “Oh.”  He flicked the side of his head to berate himself.  “Then what… oh.”  He moved his knuckle up to just under his eye and rubbed, looking at the droplet that had settled on his finger.  “Oh,” his voice cracked, smiling at the tear like it was a joke.  Then he put his head back down and let himself cry softly.

His friends were gone, he has dropping ink like a leaky faucet, and now his eyes were going screwy.

Was he the bad guy?  You didn’t name the show after the bad guy, did you?

Half-finished thoughts came and went before he could grab them, the bulb over his head was flickering but it wouldn’t light.  He tried to think of something, anything… nothing.

Which was all he was gonna figure out on his own.

But he had no one to ask now.

Except Joey.

Bendy smacked his forehead, “That’s it!”  With that, he hopped back up, grabbed his umbrella and started down the hall.  Joey would know.  

He had to.

[queenofcats17]

His Perfect Lord

I saw this post and as usual, wanted to write something for it. 

So, here’s a perfect Bendy helping give Sammy hope.

Sammy’s Lord was perfect, both in form and behavior. His Lord was completely on-model, behaving exactly the way he did in the cartoons. He was true perfection, something they all should aspire to achieve. Although, Sammy would admit, he hadn’t expected to encounter a perfect little cartoon demon when he’d begun worshipping Bendy. He’d anticipated something grander, perhaps a true demon. Bendy’s influence was far-reaching, felt by everyone in the studio, and yet he was barely two feet tall. But Sammy was nonetheless satisfied with the Lord he’d found. Because above all else, Bendy provided hope. He gave Sammy a reason to keep going, a reason to live. The studio could be a hopeless place sometimes. It was easy to become disillusioned and spiral into depression. Bendy didn’t like seeing other people sad. This had become clear in Sammy’s first meeting with the little demon.

Sammy had been alone in his sanctuary, crying. It had been one of his more lucid days, when he remembered who had once been and all he’d lost because of Joey’s madness. He’d been sobbing into his hands when he felt a gentle tug on his pant leg. He looked down, unsure who it could be. Sometimes Jack would come and visit him, but Jack didn’t usually come by when he was crying. To his surprise, he found a small on-model version of Bendy. It was standing beside his chair, one hand holding his pant leg while the other was on its hip.

“Why’re you crying?” The small creature asked. It was trying very hard to look annoyed, but he could see the concern in its pie-cut eyes. 

“I’m...sad,” Sammy said slowly. 

“Why are you sad?” 

“Because I’m trapped in this body and this studio,” Sammy replied. “Joey stole away my whole life.”

“Oh. Right.” Its face fell. "’M sorry about that.”

“Where did you come from?” Sammy asked, turning to the creature. “I haven’t seen you before.”

“What do you mean?” It tilted its head to the side. “I’ve always been here. I don’t remember ever bein’ any other place.”

“So...Joey brought you into the world?”

“I think so.” The creature nodded, starting to fidget with its gloves. “I mean, I know he didn’t create me, but he brought me here.”

“So you’re...Bendy. Bendy the Dancing Demon.”

“Yep! That’s me!” It, no, he smiled wide. 

“My Lord!” Immediately, Sammy dropped to the ground, pressing his forehead to the ground. “I’m so sorry! I should have recognized you! Forgive my impertinence!”

“Hey...” Bendy hunched his shoulders. “Don’t...Don’t do that. It’s weird.”

“But you’re my savior!” Sammy kept his head to the ground. “You will save us all!”

“Not you too.” Bendy groaned. Sammy frowned, then looked up at him. The Little Devil Darling looked noticeably uncomfortable.

“What do you mean, ‘not you too’?” He sat up. Some deeper part of himself looked at Bendy and saw a child, not the least because of the little demon’s small stature. Sammy could be crabby sometimes, but he was never one to be cruel to children. He liked children, he always had. 

“Joey said stuff like that too,” Bendy said, kicking at the floor. “About how I was gonna save the company or something. But he was mean and he hurt people and I didn’t want to be around him.”

“That sounds like Joey,” Sammy replied without thinking, his voice shifting into the more put upon tone he’d had while still being human. “Always trying to pawn off responsibility onto other people.” Bendy stared at him for a moment before covering his face and beginning to giggle. Had Sammy still possessed blood, he was sure it would be rising to his face. 

“M-My apologies.” He cleared his throat. “I lost my composure. I should not be so insolent around you, my Lord.”

“No no! It was funny!” Bendy insisted, grabbing Sammy’s hand. Sammy flinched away, which made Bendy draw back a bit. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled, letting go. 

“No, erm, it’s alright.” Sammy got back into his chair. “I was simply a bit surprised is all.” 

“Okay.” Bendy’s shoulders were still hunched, staring at the ground. Sammy reached out and took Bendy’s hand, squeezing it comfortingly. Bendy’s head snapped up, eyes widening. His mouth formed a little ‘o’ of surprise, which made Sammy instinctively smile. Bendy grinned back, although his smile quickly fell a bit. 

“I’ve heard some of your tapes.” He said. “You sound pretty upset in them. Did...Did you not like working here? Did you not like...me?” 

“That’s not it.” Sammy shook his head. “I liked working here, I think.” He pursed his lips, adjusting his mask a bit. 

“It’s hard to remember.” He admitted. “But I think I did like working here. Writing songs for the show was fun. Especially when I was writing for Susie.” He smiled wistfully before the smile vanished. “It was Joey I hated working for. He sucked the joy out of the whole thing.” He spat out Joey’s name as though it were poison. His mind was clearer than it had been in ages.

"All the other tapes I listened to seemed pretty mad at Joey too.” Bendy looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Sammy immediately replied. 

“But-”

“No buts.” Sammy gently cut him off. “You’re not responsible for Joey’s actions. Besides, like you said, it’s not like he created you. He simply gave you a physical form.” 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Bendy kicked at the ground a bit. Suddenly, though, a literal lightbulb appeared over the little demon’s head.

“Oh yeah!” Bendy lit up. “You probably knew Henry, right?” Sammy relaxed a bit now that the subject was no longer Joey. Even now, the thought of that man made him furious. Joey hadn’t been able to take his emotions from him, at the very least. 

“I did know Henry, yes.”

“What was he like?” Bendy clambered into Sammy’s lap, tugging on Sammy’s suspenders like an excited child. Sammy had to shift a bit so that he could hold Bendy properly. He was surprised by how large the little demon actually was. Bendy was about the size of a toddler. 

“He was a good man.” He said. “Always patient and kind towards others. And he loved you a great deal.”

“Then...Why did he leave?” Bendy’s voice was small. “Joey said that Henry didn’t care about me or Boris...And that was why he left.” He started playing with Sammy’s suspenders. 

“Joey drove him away.” Sammy’s lip curled in distaste. It was an instinctual reaction more than anything else. He’d grown disillusioned with Joey’s talk of dreams, especially now that he knew it was just that. Talk. Nothing more. And now, learning that Joey had been poisoning the little demon’s mind, making him feel unwanted. Joey really did manipulate everyone around him.

“Drove him away how?” Bendy tilted his head to the side. 

“He put a lot of pressure on Henry. Gave him a ridiculous workload.” Sammy explained. “It was all Henry giving and Joey taking. Eventually, he just couldn’t take it anymore. Especially since Joey kept stealing all the credit for the work.” 

“So...Henry did care about me and Boris?” Bendy asked hopefully. 

“He did.” Sammy’s expression softened and he reached up one hand to pat the space between Bendy’s horns. “Henry loved you both with all his heart. He would have taken you with him if he could.”

“But Joey wouldn’t let him.” Bendy finished. 

“Exactly.”

Bendy fell silent, snuggling into Sammy and laying his head on Sammy’s chest. Sammy stiffened a bit at this sudden contact. He hadn’t held anyone in years. Least of all someone who was essentially a child. Awkwardly, Sammy raised his arms and gently patted Bendy’s back.

“Can I stay with you?” Bendy asked after a moment or two of silence.

“Why would you want to stay with me?” Sammy pulled back a bit. “My sanity isn’t exactly guaranteed. I might slip back into worshipping you.”

“I don’t want to go back to Joey and Alice doesn’t like me.” Bendy started to wring his hands. “But, um, I can leave if you want me to. I-I don’t want to bother you.” Sammy could see tears welling up in Bendy’s eyes as he flopped off of Sammy’s lap and began to slink away.

“I didn’t say I didn’t want you here,” Sammy said quickly, standing up. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. You don’t like being referred to as a savior or a lord.”

“I just...I can’t save you.” Bendy kept his back to Sammy, kicking at the floorboards. “I can’t do the kinds of things that Joey can.”

“The things...Joey can?” Sammy asked curiously.

“He can do a lot of scary stuff.” The little demon was beginning to shake. “He did the bad stuff to Alice. But she thinks we’re the same.”

“So Joey is the Ink Demon.’ Sammy murmured, his eyes narrowing. Bendy nodded, turning back to look at him. 

“Do you still want me around, even if I can’t save you?” He looked so small at that moment. Hope was hard to come by in the studio. Sammy tried to provide hope to all he could. He knew he couldn’t save his congregation himself, but he could at least provide them with something to live for. 

“I do.” Sammy knelt in front of him. “Because even if you can’t save us, I know there’s something you can do.”

“Something...I can do?” Bendy echoed curiously.

“You can provide hope.” Sammy smiled and opened his arms for the little demon. For a moment or two, Bendy just stood there, staring at him. Then his face split in a grin and he threw himself into Sammy’s arms, starting to cry. Sammy closed his eyes, holding Bendy close. He had a feeling things would be better from now on. 

.

Things weren’t perfect. Not by any means. But they were better. With Bendy there to ground him, Sammy’s bouts of madness were fewer and farther between. The Lost Ones and Searchers were delighted to have Bendy in their presence, his antics raising their spirits and keeping them from falling into despair. He even managed to rope a few of them into pranks against Alice. Things weren’t perfect...But they were better. 

Sammy woke to Bendy sitting on his chest like a cat. The little demon’s eyes lit up upon seeing Sammy’s open. Bendy’s sleep schedule tended to vary far more than Sammy’s own did, so he was usually awake before Sammy was. 

“Good morning, my Lord.” Sammy smiled softly. “What would you like to do today?”

“I wanna mess with Alice!” Bendy bounced up and down on Sammy’s chest. Had the prophet still possessed lungs, this might have hurt. Instead, Sammy just laughed.

“Of course.” He sat up, moving Bendy into his lap. “Why don’t you tell me your plan while I make some soup?”

“Okay!” Bendy hopped off to go sit on a stool and watch Sammy work. Sammy got out of bed, moving to find some soup. He still held out hope that someone would save him and the others. But he would have to find his salvation elsewhere. For now, though, he had his hope. And that was all he needed.