Just a Happy Ending

Bargain

Henry blinked his eyes open. Blackness stretched infinitely in every direction, and light shone on him without a source. "Hello? What just-... Oh. I'm in your head again, aren't I." Glancing down at his feet, Henry spotted the ink sea. It was glassily still and... was it deeper?

"H-... Hen-ry..." Bendy called, his voice tight and strained.

Henry turned around. Bendy stood before him, but something about the devil's off-model eyes and rigid stance stilled Henry's impulse to rush up and hug him. "... Bendy?"

The toon was standing uncomfortably at attention. Tears wouldn't stop spilling over his face. "Y-you... sh-shouldn't have... co-me back."

"But you asked me to, so I did. I-I wasn't... not going to come back."

"No... you need to-" Bendy yelped as his body strained upward, as if being pulled. Henry heard the Wanderers' hiss sound out from all around him. It continued while Bendy gasped and spoke, "You... never saw it. The dark truth..."

Henry's brow knit, "Bendy...?"

"I've... been here... since the beginning... and... I won't... let..."

"Bendy, what are you saying?"

Bendy swallowed, "...let a traitor like you... end it. But I will end you... Betrayer."

A figure faded into view. A human figure, standing above Bendy, holding constructs like white strings that attached to Bendy. The figure was a glowing reddish outline of a man, incomplete, with no distinguishing features. It had no face except for a smile that stretched too far up its head.

Despite the limited appearance, Henry recognized the build and that terrible grin. "J-... Joey?" he gasped, "How? We killed you!"

Joey's remnant tilted its head and hissed.

Bendy replied, "You... broke me. And now... you will put me... back together."

"And why would I do that?" glowered Henry.

The remnant let out an awful, wheezing laugh.

"You seem to forget..." Bendy said, "who's pulling the strings."

The remnant yanked up on the strings, turning them a violent red that made Bendy scream in pain.

"Stop! Stop!" Henry demanded.

The remnant stopped and Bendy stood limp, panting. "Y-you-'re so... sentimental."

Henry bared his teeth and growled, "Stop talking through him."

Again the remnant laughed. "Sorry... old friend. After your attempt to... get rid of me... you left me... no choice."

Snapping his arm up sharply, Henry lifted the ink and lashed it at the remnant. The remnant barely glanced at the attack and froze it in midair, lifting the opposite end to wrap around Henry's arm and twist it.

"Don't," it warned, shoving Henry down.

Henry grimaced, "What... what do you want?"

The remnant grinned wider and hissed loudly.

Bendy sobbed, "No, n-AH!" The remnant shocked him again, forcing him to speak for it, "Your soul! I want your soul!"

Henry's brow lowered in confusion, "But... you already-"

Bendy whined and stared at Henry with a silent plea.

Henry got the message: don't mention that. "You want my soul."

The remnant hissed and nodded.

Inhaling deeply, Henry looked between himself, Bendy, and the remnant. "One condition," he said.