Neverending Loops

12

As it turned out, they never would have been able to find Alice's domain themselves. The Angel had explained that had they continued forward, they would just wander around forever, or get attacked by more Searchers. Whatever came first. Now she walked ahead, leading the way while humming to herself.

Henry forced Joey to stay close to his side, not that he really had a choice due to his ankle, but still. He knew Joey had pretty much no clue why he was giving Alice such a cold shoulder, but she was good at deceiving people and he really did not want to take a chance right now.

That didn't stop Joey from prying every couple of seconds however.

"What did you mean by fallen Angel? She seems fine enough."

Heavily resisting the urge to either roll his eyes or deck his lovely friend in the face, Henry sighed, getting ready to explain just loud enough for the corrupt Angel toon to hear.

"I told this already, didn't I? Every time, every loop, she goes 'sure I'll help you and let you leave' only to make me so a whole bunch a chores, and crash the elevator. Then, she takes Boris and mutilates him." The entire time he spoke, he kept a wide smile on his face. "Does that explain it?"

"I guess? But..this loop is different, right? Maybe she is too." Joey just sounded like he was desperately hoping she wouldn't turn on them.

"Well look what happened with Sammy!" Alice flinched visibly at the name as they turned a corner, interesting. "He seemed trustworthy."

"If we couldn't trust her," Alice paused up ahead, obviously trying to listen to their conversation. This stretch of the hallway was crumbling, ink flowing freely down the walls. "I don't think she would've helped. She could have just shoved you in too and walked away. But...?"

"But she didn't." He sagged against Joey, all the fight gone from his voice. Now only cautious curiosity remained, even if he didn't want it to. "We should still keep our guard up though-"

"I can hear you." Alice looked directly at him, and Henry mentally cursed himself for flinching. Oddly enough, her features were still obscured by shadow. "Sweetheart, if I wanted to hurt you I would have already. But I <i>don't</i> want to. And even if you don't like it, Hell even if I don't like it, we're going to have to trust each other a little bit to survive."

"See? She's an Angel after all." Even with the pain shooting down this ankle, Joey was trying to lighten the mood.

"Do Angels usually cuss? Or do you get some sort of leeway?" Henry couldn't stop the small grin working its way onto his face. It felt like before, bickering lightheartedly with Susie.

"What do you think the fucking horns are for?" Alice arched an eyebrow, accentuating the curse with a wave of her hands. "There's more if you want to hear them. Like, 'I am so fucking tired of this shitty ink getting all over the god damn place. You sit down, ink. You walk, ink. You look around, and what do you fuckin' see?'"

"Ink?" Joey and Henry chorused, much to Alice's delight. She continued ranting as they moved forward, eventually coming to an elevator.

"And do not get me started on the electrical bullshit around here. Wasn't Tom supposed to be good at his job?" Alice huffed, staring at the pair, who looked near the verge of collapsing into fits of laughter.

"You sound so much like Sammy right now, it's honestly creepy." Joey stifled a laugh as she balked, a comically wide eyed expression of disbelief. "I'm not wrong, Angel. Constant complaining, about <i>everything."</i>

"I know that <i>Sweetheart."</i> Alice smiled when Henry rolled his eyes at the nickname, even though it was actually a relief to hear. Susie'd had nicknames for just about everyone, even Sammy. "Who do you think he complained to besides you and Joey?"

"Everything." He could feel Joey chuckle beside him, and for a moment he could pretend that they were just sitting somewhere and talking in the normal Studio, getting ready for the day. The illusion was shattered of course when Alice called the elevator up, the doors sliding open with a grating squeak.

Henry led Joey into what he considered just another death trap, pressing himself into a corner. Joey must've picked up on his unease, because he pressed just a little bit closer, tightening the arm looped around his waits. Alice didn't say anything, though she hovered in front of them, as if trying to block the view outside of the elevators doors.

Even with their close proximity, Henry couldn't make out any clear features of her face. Shadow, or ink her couldn't really tell, shifted and morphed leaving only her mouth uncovered. It was better to focus on that, rather than the unwanted thoughts of the elevator plunging and sending them to their deaths. <i>Y'know, normal thoughts.</i>

Some things about the metal contraption were different though; such as the buttons being labeled differently and the light overhead flickering like it was about to burn out. Plus, it was annoyingly loud, even if they wanted to talk, it would end up garbled nonsense. So they ride in comfortable silence, until it finally lurched to a stop.

If it hadn't been for Joey's ankle, which was still trailing blood, Henry thought he would have bolted immediately. Too many times of hoping it wouldn't plummet, only for the floor to drop out and the sound of screeching metal erupting all around him. In other words, not exactly fun.

"You two okay?" Alice moved to the side, letting them off first before stepping out herself. It was a general question, but her shadowy gaze lingered just a second too long on Henry for his liking.

After two confirming nods, she led them down a hallway containing three doors, with one at the very end adorned with a star. One was simply labeled 'Safe' in ink, the other boarded up with various boards and a chair for good measure.

Alice cleared her throat, dropping her voice to a whisper for a few moments. "I'm going to go in and speak to them first, then we can all sit down and take care of those injuries of yours."

''Them?" Joey's tone held barely concealed distrust at the notion that there were other people they had not been told about.

"They aren't dangerous. It's only two people, not Lost Ones or searchers. Trust me, if it wasn't safe to be around them I wouldn't be here. Just wait for a second."

She delivered a series of knocks to the door, two loud, one quiet, one loud. It opened a crack, and a dark figure peeked out before letting her in. The door was closed once more, and what sounded like locks slid into place. Henry did not like that one bit, looking around for any hole in the ceiling or walls something could crawl through.

Joey had the same idea, pulling away from his side and limping a few feet down the hall. At least he wasn't bleeding as much now.

"Are you sure you're leg's okay?" Muffled voice came from behind the door, and Henry moved closer to Joey again, just in case. This was all different, personalities were swapped and locations were changed completely. Henry just couldn't shake the feeling that eventually, something was gonna go wrong again.

"It's fine. Just stings a little, don't worry." When Henry frowned he waved a hand towards him. "For the record, you still look worse."

"I don't doubt it." There didn't seem to be any weak areas in the hallway, boards and doors seemingly secure. After the impromptu inspection, they leaned against the wall, hoping they weren't just locked out.

"Who else do you think is in there?" He briefly thought of Allison and Tom, surely they would want to form some sort of alliance with the other people turned toons.

"I guess we'll find out." Joey was watching the door, and Henry could hear the locks coming undone once more, the door opening to reveal a smiling Alice.

"Come on, they promised they won't bite."