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realm-sweet-realm · 3 years ago

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The Spotlight, chapter 1

Hi, everyone. This is a story from the Step Right Up AU, which was started by @bertrumstrousers and is being worked on by several others including myself.

This story will start with the first transformation of the ink machine, and show how it all began to go off the rails. There will be two chapters. I hope you all enjoy it!

---

It was a performance like any other for the Colossal Wonders troupe, and Norman was pumped for it. Performing always put him in a good mood. As the performer before him finished up and Norman’s name was announced, he adjusted the Bendy half-mask over the left side of his face. The worst of his scarring, which had put him on the streets before Bertrum hired him on to the circus, was just a little too gruesome for the crowd. Showing the better half of it, on the other hand, made him look like a rugged and mysterious stranger. It was the perfect look for their circus' edgiest act.

Norman ran onto the stage with a knife in each hand and his black cape flowing behind him like the villain of a cheesy children’s show. Intense music played and members of the backstage brought in the targets and wooden wheel as Norman twirled his daggers. As soon as they were out of the way, he threw his knives one by one at the targets, each hitting bullseyes. The crowd cheered.

It was then that Susie Campbell, his assistant, strutted onto the stage. She did a little twirl in time with the music, and Norman caught her in his arms and kissed her before hooking her up to the wheel and giving it a spin.

“Do you wanna see what bravery is, folks?” Norman said, facing the crowd, “Bravery is having a boyfriend who likes to throw knives at'cha!” Norman took another knife from his belt and threw it underhand at the wheel. It landed a centimeter above Susie’s head. The motion was meant to look frighteningly casual, but in fact it took perfect, practiced concentration.

“And I know it’s brave, cuz she’s riskin' a face like mine!” He gave two more throws in quick succession, the knives landing just to the right and left of her face.

“O’course, it’s courage on my part, too! If I ain't careful, I could hit somethin’ vital.” Another knife zinged through the air, this one landing right between her thighs.

Norman took out another knife- his next two throws were to land on the right and left sides of her chest- but just as he was throwing the knife, the lights and music cut out. Norman was in panic as felt the knife leave his hand. Soon after, Susie's scream pierced the silent darkness.

Norman ran to her and began to untie her from the wheel.

"Oh God, Susie, I'm sorry. Where did it hit you?"

"My eye!" Susie cried, pain evident in her voice. Then she screamed again.

"It's going to be okay," came Bertrum's voice. "I’ll keep the show going. Take her backstage and get her some help."

“Come with me. I know a way to help her,” came Joey’s voice. Norman gathered her up in his arms and followed as Joey tugged him backstage. As soon as they were in the dull light of the backstage, Norman saw her wound. She’d lost consciousness and the knife was in deep enough that it was surely giving her brain damage. Joey led Norman to the train car containing the ink machine.

“You’re not...”

“I am. I promise- I’ve tested the ink machine well. And even if we could get her to a hospital fast enough to save her, she she’d never be the same. This is our one chance.”

Hesitantly, Norman handed Susie over. Joey took her into the train car, locked the door, and got to work.

After Bertrum had the next performer on stage and the show rolling along again, he went off to find Norman, who was sitting outside the traincar that contained the ink machine. It was smart of Joey, Bertrum thought, not to let Norman see what using the ink machine entailed- one tends to react badly to seeing their girlfriend shoved through a giant machine. Nonetheless, Norman looked haunted.

"Anxious?" Bertrum asked, sitting down next to Norman.

"Yeah. We've never used the ink machine before. What if something bad happens and I’m left wishing I’d just called a hospital?"

"Joey assured me that the machine was well-tested and ready for use. And you know that I would never do anything I didn’t think was best for my troupe. Would you like me to wait here with you? I think a few performers can announce themselves."

“Thanks. That would be nice.”

It was maybe twenty minutes later when Joey emerged, looking rather ashamed. "She's alive, but she isn't perfect. Seems like this machine still needs some work."

"Well, let us see her!" Bertrum said, "Surely it’s not the disaster you think it is."

"Alright. Susie?"

A womanlike creature stepped into the doorway. It looked like a cartoon version of a beautiful woman, and a different woman than Susie, at that. Susie had been short, blonde, and athletic with blue eyes and small, girlish features. This woman had massive black eyes, mature facial features, small horns and a broken halo growing out of her head, long black hair, an unnaturally thin neck and waist… and that scar. Her eye was still missing. The left side of her face looked melted, just like Norman's. Bertrum recognized this as a failed version of Joey's Alice Angel design. Norman just recognized that Susie looked scared and rather embarrassed to be showing her new appearance.

“Sorry she didn’t come out right,” Joey said. “It seems like everything I try with this machine fails at least a little…” Susie physically cringed when he said that.

“Nonsense!” Bertrum boomed, pushing past Norman to stroke her cheek. “She's alive. That's what matters most. Excellent job, Joey. And what's more, she's beautiful. Susie, I think we ought to give you a performance of your own. You’re perfect. No matter what Joey says.”

Over the coming months, Susie became a star in her own right as well as continuing to be Norman’s assistant. Their relationship had only grown stronger, and they couldn't have been happier as a matching pair of performers, and freaks in a circus of freaks.

That was why Susie celebrated as the performers went through the machine and became ink creatures one by one. As far as she was concerned, their transformation was beautiful. A way of reaching one's potential as performers.

As for Norman, he did something that he hadn't done in his entire life: he started minding his own business. As a world-class snoop, he'd come upon journals of newly transformed ink creatures, saying that they opposed the machine and didn't want to go through it. That was all it took for him to stop looking. Lord knew that he didn't want to know the price of his and his girlfriend's happiness, espeically since they weren’t people who would fit in anywhere else. Some things, despite everything Norman had previously believed, were better not to know.

---several months later---

Lacie entered costume storage, where Joey had asked to meet her. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a sewing kit and a few ripped costumes strewn about him. There was an extremely serious look on his face- one that told Lacie that this wasn’t about the costumes.

“What is it?” Lacie growled. She wasn't fond of the man who has made the machine hellbent on ruining her husband.

“It’s Bertrum,” Joey answered, anxiously fiddling with the sewing supplies. “I think he’s gone too far with the ink machine.”

“Finally, someone noticed,” Lacie replied. “I’ve been dying to tell someone the way he’s been acting lately. Why the sewing kit, if I can ask?”

“They’re in case Bertrum comes in. We can pretend that we’re just repairing some costumes. And please do tell me! I asked you here because I thought that as his wife, you’d be most likely to know about him.”

“Okay. Well, I don’t have any solid evidence, but...”

---

They'd been watching Susie practice her dance routine when Bertrum had started talking. “Just imagine it, Lacie dear. A whole circus of nothing but beautiful, marvellous creatures like her. That’s going to ours soon. Can you imagine what Jack or Sammy might look like once they go through the machine? I bet they’ll be just as amazing as her!”

“Sounds good,” Lacie had said, taking a drag from her cigarette, “except that we’d have to fire anyone who didn’t want to go through the machine.” It hadn’t seemed disturbing back then- just a case of Bertrum's dreams working faster than his brain, which happened sometimes.

Bertrum hadn’t said anything in reply- quite unlike him.

“I'm serious. What if Norman doesn’t want to transform? We sure ain’t throwing him back onto the street for that. It's not a good dream."

“Oh no, I’m not throwing my best friend onto the street. Perish the thought.” After a long, thoughtful pause, “Perhaps we can make an exception for him. But I think-” Bertum cut himself short and left, leaving Lacie alone and confused.

Bertrum typically couldn’t shut up about his plans. He could go on for hours about his brilliance until Lacie chucked a pillow at him to let him know that she’d gone from “almost half as excited as he is,” to “being a supportive wife” to “this is too much of a good thing.” If he was being secretive about his plans, there was definitely something going on.

After that night, talk of the machine always put Lacie on edge. Performers talking about who would do it and who wouldn’t do it as, one by one, there came to be more inky creatures and fewer humans in the room.

Susie had told her, as Lacie cleaned the increased number of cages for the increased number of non-sapient creatures, that she thought that everyone should go through the machine regardless of choice- that none of them would regret it once they came out.

“Where the Hell did you get that idea?” Lacie had snapped at her, furious.

“N-nowhere!” she’d squeaked before running off. A rather extreme reaction, Lacie noted.

She and Bertrum didn’t talk as much anymore, and not at all about his plans. He seemed on-edge around her, as well as, well, everyone. She never thought she’d miss his loud mouth so much. The silence between them was nerve-wracking and lonely.

---

Lacie hadn’t meant for it to happen, but she’d clearly evoked Joey’s pity for her.

“That sounds tough, Lacie. Sorry to hear about all that.”

“It’s fine. The real question is, what do we do about it?”

“Well, I think the first thing we need to do is gather information, I suppose. Who do you know that’s close to him?”

“Well, there’s Buddy- he’s basically our son at this point. And his best friend is Norman-”

“That’s it,” Joey said. “He’s perfect. He can use his friendship to get information out of Bertrum. And if that doesn’t work, he can use his sneaking skills. Plus, he already has the perfect looks for his act, so he’s probably the last person that Bertrum would want to transform!”

“I don' know. He is in cahoots with Susie, and Susie is the biggest suck-up to this whole machine idea out of anyone. But he does have the best chance at finding out. I'll go talk to him.”

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #step right up #Aus #norman x susie #lacie x bertrum #bertrum piedmont #norman polk #lacie benton #susie campbell #joey drew #my fanfiction

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