My Little Devil Darling

Family Reunion

"I trusted you! I gave you everything!" He yelled as he charged towards her, axe held up high, "And you left me to rot! Why? WHY?!"

Charlotte ran away from him as fast as she could with a shriek. The only thing running through her mind was that Sammy was alive. Not only that, but he was also out for blood: specifically hers. He was surprisingly fast, Charlotte was running out of breath, and she had nowhere to hide. Remembering the pipe she held in her hands, she took a brave risk as she turned around and quickly took a swing at her Uncle's face. He seemed unphased at her attack and took a few big swings, nicking the girl's arm. It sounded pointless to attack him; he was persistent in taking her head, but Charlotte refused to accept her fate. The cat and mouse chase lasted for quite a long time, the young woman taking a swing at Sammy at any chance she could get.

"Come here and put your face in my axe!"

Charlotte's legs were just about to give up on her; she prayed that this last hit would be the end of it if anything would even happen to him. She took a deep breath as she turned around and took a hard swing at his face again, knocking his mask to the ground. They stood frozen in front of each other. None of them said a word; both the weapons lay at their sides. The young woman was in awe. There was nothing behind that mask, only an inky black face, no facial features or anything.

Sammy stared at the girl in front of him. He could feel her judging him, probably laughing at him on the inside. Her face was so familiar to him, her shining eyes; he almost believed it was her. What are you doing? His thoughts were blinding. The Impostor is right in front of you. Kill her. He growled as he let the intrusive thoughts overtake him, and he grabbed the girl by her throat and lifted her feet off the ground.

"Did you really think you could come here and leave alive?" he hissed as he dropped her on her back, standing above her, "I had my chance to be free, and you took it away from me! So allow me to return the favour."

Charlotte's eyes widened as she saw Sammy lift his axe above his head. She tried to push herself away from him, but he stopped her with a hard stomp of his foot on her stomach. It quickly took the girl's already lacking breath. Charlotte had no energy left to move; she could only watch as his blank face radiated with anger towards her.

"Sammy, please, it's me," she tried to plea, "I'm Charlotte, I'm not some impostor. You have to believe me."

His anger continued to shine through his inky black face as the young woman's eyes begged for her life. Charlotte soon noticed something at the corner of her eye. A blurry silhouette quietly creeps towards Sammy with their axe in hand. They planned to kill him, but she refused to let that happen.

"Sammy, watch out!"

She used the sudden adrenaline to grab her Uncle's leg and push him aside seconds before Tom could stick the axe in his head. Instead, the blade of the axe sliced right into Charlotte's calf. She screamed as she quickly covered her bleeding wound with her hands. Tom took a step back as Alice walked up behind him. She gasped and rushed over to Charlotte, grabbing some spare bandages from her pocket, and she wrapped up her leg and arm. The young woman thanked her as Alice stood back up to stand with Tom.

Sammy stood up just as the girl got bandaged, but he didn't run. He could only stare at her as she struggled to stand. His thoughts were jumbled together, some telling him to go to her, to help her; others saying to attack, she was at her weakest. He couldn't hold his stance any longer; the voices were too loud. He grunted as he held his head, kneeling to the ground. Charlotte noticed him fall and slowly limped towards him.

"Charlotte, stay back," Alice warned, "He could attack you again. You're in no condition for a fight."

She ignored her warnings as she continued her way to Sammy. Her shadow loomed over him in his corrupted state. She couldn't find the right words to say to him; she didn't know if he was still able to be convinced that she was real.

"Are you okay?" she finally muttered.

His hands dropped to his sides as he looked up at her. Although Charlotte was scared, she kept her calm composure.

"I know you know me. I remember you too. I came down almost every day to learn to play the piano with you. I remember the song you showed me the first time I came down. It was the one song I would always play at school; I never knew why I knew it until I came here. I'm not dead, Sammy. I lost my memory long ago after the accident. Someone wanted me to come here, and I want to find out who it is. I am Charlotte Stein, and you are my Uncle Sammy."

The village was silent, then Sammy slowly got up, towering over Charlotte. Her eyes started to show fear, and her hands were shaking.

"Why did you save me?" His voice was quiet, "I tried to kill you twice."

She shrugged. "Just because you think I'm not me doesn't mean you deserve to die. Whether you believe me or not, I know you're my Uncle, and from the fact you're not attacking me right now, I know you believe me."

Sammy went silent again. He didn't know how to respond.

"Did you want to come with me?" Charlotte broke the silence. "I'm trying to look for Bendy. I feel like he might be able to piece everything together."

"What?!" Sammy spat as he grabbed the girl's arms tight, "You can't find him! That's a death sentence! He almost killed me!"

"I'm sure if I was able to convince both you and Susie that I was me, he should be no problem at all. I've encountered him before."

Sammy sighed. "I guess you made it this far. Fine, I'll help you."

"Really?" Charlotte beamed.

"Well, you seem to have everything under control, Charlotte," Alice said as she and Tom came closer to the pair. "His lair shouldn't be too far from here. We'll help you out, too. I'm sure you'll need it."

Sammy wrapped his arm around Charlotte in an attempt to help her walk; she wrapped her arm around him, accepting the assist. Alice walked ahead and sliced the rope to a wooden gate, pushing it open.

"Let's go find ourselves an Ink Demon."