Just a Happy Ending

Cats and Curiosity

Hours had passed. Maybe two. Maybe twelve. Norman couldn't tell.

What he could tell was that Bendy awoke in abject panic.

The little toon shot to his feet as if electrified, tipping him and the barrel to the floor. The noise woke Sammy, who immediately summoned his scythe. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Bendy's blanked-out eyes quivered on his face, "It's here!"

Thick, jagged pen lines exploded across the wood. At their epicenter in a corner near the ceiling, a pair of oversized, switchblade hands emerged and began to claw their way forward. Norman, Sammy, and Bendy watched in struck horror as the Demon King materialized from the wall. Its teeth splintered apart to let its jaw open as it borrowed Bertrum Piedmont's voice without moving its mouth, "Ȋ̷͜'̸̭M̸̼͂ ̸̣͋ S̸̟͆T̴̜̈IL̷͆L̷̢͂ ̶̦ Ȟ̵̯E̴͕͛Ŕ̴̢E̶͓̊!̵̞̈!̷͎̓!̷̱̏"

Sammy was the first to regain his wits. He grabbed Bendy and yelled a "Come on!" at Norman before throwing open the door. The staircase they had been climbing had reverted to the hallway. Sammy figured it better than be in the same room as that... thing, so, Bendy under arm, he took off.

"Sammy, wait! Norman's not following us!"

Sammy put on the brakes. He glanced behind him, realizing it was true. Norman was nowhere in sight, and the spazzing pen lines across the wood had become more active. Sammy set Bendy down and charged back into the room, scythe in hand.

What he found sent a chill through him. The Demon King loomed over Norman, who had frozen in place and shivered from head to foot. Thin red veins pulsed from the Demon King's chest, down its arms, and manifested into crimson threads that spun from the tips of its fingers and clung to Norman's body. Norman's light flickered from yellow to red, and the threads injected their disgusting color across his ink flesh.

"It's trapping him," Bendy gasped, having caught up and now peering around the door.

Sammy shifted his grip on the scythe, "Not my friends, not on my watch," he growled. Then, he flung himself forward with a shout and severed the threads.

The Demon King reared back, then broke apart its teeth again to let out a roar. Sammy fought the urge to clamp his hands over his ears, instead seizing Norman's wrist and yanking him along. Bendy climbed up onto Norman's head as he passed, ducking his own head upside-down in Norman's light of sight. "Hey! Snap out of it!"

Behind them, the Demon King's jagged aura reacted to its cackle, leaping across the wood and angling toward the fleeing trio. The sound of the Demon King's hoofed feet and scraping claws soon echoed down the hall as it gave chase.

Norman regained his composure and kept running of his own accord. He made the mistake of glancing behind him and spotting the Demon King's grin in the darkening shadows it created. He gasped a swear and sped up, pulling alongside Sammy.

"What happened? Where are we going?" Norman asked.

Bendy forced himself not to look back, "The Demon King showed up! It tried trapping you, Sammy saved you, and now it's chasing us!"

"Chasing us where?" barked Sammy.

"Door!" pointed Norman. A single wooden door lay ahead. The Demon King kept gaining.

Bendy looked behind. The Demon King scrabbled along the floor, walls, and ceiling, never staying on one surface for more than a few moments and often keeping to the corners. Its joints bent and broke in many wrong directions to make up for its disproportionate body. All the while, the light-sucking lines lurched and jolted around it, threatening to snag the retreating trio.

Sammy picked up the pace and reached the door, throwing it open and gesturing Norman through. Once inside, both he and Norman braced their weight against it, expecting the Demon King to try and break through.

Nothing happened. For many tense seconds, nothing happened. No noise, no shadows, no nothing. Sammy and Norman began backing away from the door.

"Did it stop?" Norman asked.

Sammy took another half-step back, "There's no way it's held off with just a door."

"I think it herded us here," Bendy muttered, looking down the widened hall.

Norman and Sammy turned as well. Before them was a wide, square room. Each wall had a door in its center. Each door had a nameplate on it.

Sammy noticed the door on the left. "This has my name on it," he said.

"This one's got mine," said Norman, inspecting the right door.

"And lookit that one," Bendy pointed at the far door, hopping to the floor, "That one's got Henry's name on it!" Neither of the others seemed to notice. Bendy glanced at them, "Guys?" They had hands on their respective doors' knobs. "G-guys wait! I don't think you should go in by yourse-!"

Sammy and Norman opened their doors and went through. The responding click of a lock behind them sent a stereo echo through the walls.

A cold hand clenched Bendy's heart. "G-... guys?"

Had they just-...

"Sammy!"

But they promised-!

"Norman!"

The toon's tail curled around his legs and he hugged himself, "Don't leave me!"

A slow creak behind him sent chills down his spine. Bendy turned.

The door with Henry's name opened.