Just a Happy Ending

Mixed Signals

It was just a day after Jacob died that Bendy showed up. He roughly seized Henry and threw him down into a hidden cave. A marker statue stood nearby.

"Yer wastin' time, old friend," the demon growled. 

Henry turned to defend himself, "I freed a man. I wanted to figure out how to do it again."'

Bendy snarled at him, "Dat's great, now stick to da cycle an' move on."

"What do you want from me, Bendy?"

The toon paused. His expressions shifted; anger, confusion, spite, fear. Almost like he was confused about what he should be feeling.

Henry sat cross-legged and gently held out an upturned palm, "Bendy, I'm not your enemy. I'm doing my best to help the people here, and I swear, I will help you. But I can't help you if you don't let me."

Bendy's face turned to that neutral grin, static and slightly unsettling.

"What are you hiding, Bendy?" Henry asked, "I want to help you."

The devil's smile wavered. His eyes creased. "I know, I need..." ink tears started spilling over his face, "I... it... I can't! Henry!" Bendy reached for Henry. In an instant, Henry had the shivering devil in his embrace. The split soul between them gave an odd tug and let Henry feel something that wasn't his.

Bendy's fear.

No, not fear, it was stronger. Bendy was downright terrified of something.

"It's okay, Bendy," Henry said, hugging Bendy tighter, "I'm here, you don't have to be afraid."

Bendy stopped shaking with an unnatural suddenness. The tenor of his voice shifted, "Yer right."

Henry felt murderous rage flare up. It wasn't right; the fear was still there, but...

"You're da one who should be afraid."

Henry let go of Bendy and let his vision blur on the statue before a terrible pain gouged through him. He looked down at his creation holding the sharp ink tendril that was stabbed through his stomach. The more Henry looked, the more Bendy's expression confused him. One half of his face held that murderous rage, the other held that abject terror and was crying.

Bendy pulled the tendril away, leaving Henry to fall to his side as his lifeblood spilled over the stone ground. Henry reached for the toon standing over him. Forget the pain, he needed to tell Bendy, "I... don't care... what you do, or... h-how long it takes me. Whatever... is frightening you,... I'll be there to... help you. I promise."

Bendy reached for Henry's outstretched hand, but it fell before he could reach it. Henry breathed his last and his eyes glazed over.

The devil sank to his knees. He bowed his head to the floor and screamed as more inky tears soaked into the stone, mingling with Henry's blood.

Buddy and Tom's ears perked up.

"Hear something?" Allison asked.

The group had been looking for Henry but hadn't found a sign of him anywhere. The only clue they had was the big Bendy statue suddenly vanishing.

The two Boris toons turned their ears and noses toward the sound. It sounded like someone screamed, but they couldn't tell who.

Then a short, black figure rose out of an ink puddle behind them, "Lookin' fer dis?"

Everyone whirled around, and a few unsheathed their weapons. All froze in horror when they saw who Bendy was holding.

Bendy carelessly held up Henry's lifeless body, gripped by the throat, suspended by an ink tendril. The devil gave the group a sinister grin, "Consider dis a warnin' ta not keep lollygaggin'." He carelessly dropped Henry's body to the ground, "You move on; I's gettin' impatient waitin' fer ya." With that, Bendy snapped his fingers and vanished into ink drops.