An Inkwell's Stain //BATDR Fanfiction\\ [Female Reader]

Chapter Forty [Unwanted Answers]

Your vision started to return and you groaned as you cupped your head. It didn't hurt, it just felt... odd... A strange place surrounded you, and strange words echoed in your head. A voice of a kind and quiet man was around, and you could hear fragments of his speech. 'Alright Joey... see if we can find... wanted... Oh my god... Joey what were you...' It continues to overlap and twist into strange and incoherent blobs of nothing. The hallway before you was more destroyed than most of the places you had been to, with ripped and stained posters lining the walls.

'Over here!' Joey's voice called, separating the weird jumbles of speech. He waved over at you on the other side of the room. 'Come have a seat...' he gestured to a wooden and unstable-looking chair that was beside a projector. While you didn't trust him, he was your only way back to Bendy, so you listened to his instruction. You plonked onto the seat and heard it creak, but it didn't collapse at what little weight you had.

'This won't take long, don't worry.' You glared at him. Knowing him, it probably would. 'Where are we?' you asked, looking behind you at the rubble. 'A very old place, full of memories.' Since he brought that up, you became aware of the nagging feeling of familiarity and nostalgia in this place, even though you knew you had never been here. A sense of "deja vu", if you will. 'Never mind all that, Y/N. There's a story you really need to hear... you ready?' He didn't wait for your answer as he started the projector up.

'Once upon a time, Y/N...' Hearing how he was starting this made you want to roll your eyes, but you kept quiet. '...there was a bitter, old man.' An image flashed up on the screen of him in a sketch format. 'You can say you, ya know...' you grumbled. He didn't answer you. 'He had lost just about everything... the real Joey Drew.' You understood the Joey talking to you now was a memory, but it still felt wrong that he said it like that.

'He blamed everyone but himself for his mistakes, but mostly he blamed his old business partner for abandoning their work...' An image flickered onto the screen, replacing Joey. It was of a man who you assumed was Joey's former business partner Henry Stein. '...years and years ago. A man by the name of Henry Stein. A great artist, and a good friend...' he said the last part quietly, but you heard him. 'In his anger, Joey used an evil machine to create another world...'

You didn't let him finish. 'Okay, that's completely irrational!' you exclaim, slouching in your chair. Joey stopped his monologue for a second before replying. 'Joey was irrational.' He still is, you think to yourself in frustration.

He continued. 'A world made of paper and ink, where he'd torment his own version of Henry forevermore.' His own version? Is he even telling the truth? You couldn't tell. All you knew was what the writings on the walls had told you for a while now, "The Creator Lied to Us". You couldn't fully trust him, you just couldn't. And yet, the way he words things makes you want to trust him, believe him. That's just what a devil does.

'But one day... a miracle happened.' Joey said in a happier tone, to which you looked back up at the screen. The screen flashed again to show a doorway with a woman waving inside. 'An angel came into Joey's life.' You looked at him in suspicion. 'I never saw anywhere that you had a wife. You died alone.' Joey chuckled at your response. 'Yes, he died alone-' 'You did. Don't try that tactic.'

He ignored your interruption. 'He didn't have a wife, this angel was a... friend... to him.' The way he phrased friend made you confused on what relation he was actually talking about. 'A young woman by the name of Allison Pendle.' You recognised that name. It was the voice of Alice Angel, the newer one. Apparently the old voice actor, Susie Campbell was fired and soon after disappeared, Allison taking her place. 

'She didn't visit often, but when she did, she saw something good in Joey no one else could... including himself...' This story seemed to be making Joey a good guy, which made you clench your fists in anger. He's lying somewhere here...

'Through their friendship, he began to see the world through different eyes. So one day, in his cartoon cycle of hatred, he gave Henry an angel of his own. To guide him when things were most dark... To always provide hope.' The figure on the screen made you freeze. Alice. Alice was an Allison counterpart? 'That's Alice...' you mumble, and he gave you a weird look. 'Have you seen her around? She's meant to be locked away as a Cycle Breaker, but no surprise that's she's out.' A Cycle Breaker? 'What?' you ask, but he didn't answer you.

'It was then, Joey decided to make something new. Something he had always wanted, but he could never have: a family.' You froze as he said this. A traitorous lunatic wanted to have a family? 'But not a cartoon one, something real.' He flicked the screen to an image of him holding a little girl. 'And after many, many tries... he created something that made him happier than he ever could have imagined... a wonderful, loving daughter.' This was unbelievable. Why would he lie about having a child? You can't make people in the machine, can you? 

'She was bright, and kind...' he looked to you with sorrow in his eyes. '...almost human.' Your eyes widened. So he did create his daughter through the machine. He walked over to the projection on the wall and pointed at it. 'He created your mother, Audrey.' You jolted in your seat. Now that was too far. 'I draw the line here, you bloody cur! I've had it with your lies!' He backed away at your harsh words, and gave you a look of pity. 'I understand that this would upset you, since then she wouldn't have-' 'She made me! She didn't adopt me! I have a father! I-'

'No, you don't. She always told you he died, but he never existed in the first place. She was sheltering you in lies, and I am the one breaking you out, not the other way around...' Your clenched fists became too stiff, so you had to loosen them. 'You're crazy, delusional! My mother loves me, and-' 'She does love you, Y/N, but she's not your biological mother. That's why you're special here.' You stopped and you both sat in silence for a moment. 'Why am I special? If I'm not a descendant of the creator here, why am I special?' 

He looked away for a moment before answering. 'Your blood hasn't been tainted with my past, and your eyes were fresh when you entered here. You knew nothing of this place's past. It made you pure, perfect. That ability to harm, the one the Dark Puddles gave you, was because they sensed a connection to you with Audrey, who was connected to me. However, your other ability... that was an ability you gave yourself...' you shook your head, not understanding.

'Your ability to free souls... you gave yourself that power. You're heart was pure, innocent, child-like... and in a place like this, it's a miracle. This place has slowly been hardening you, opening your eyes, changing your view... and thus that power will weaken. You're special, because you were never meant to be tied in this twist of fate... and yet you are.'

These words he was saying were making sense, but also confusing you. 'But, no... I'm...' Tears started to fall down your cheeks as it clicked together. That's why whenever your emotions are acting up, the Mercy ability falters. That's why you had Demise in the first place, and that's why Bendy got injured when you were trying to help free his soul from the Ink Demon's wrath.

'It... all makes sense... but I-' 'You don't like it, do you?' You shook your head and he stared at you, expressionless. Your fat, inky tears rolled down your face, falling onto your ink-soaked clothes. 'Who do you think you are?!' you suddenly yelled, denial kicking in. 'My mother wasn't born here! She's flesh and blood, she's mine! You can't... just say...' The anger settled as the sadness took over once more. 'Take me back... please...' you murmur, and Joey rests his hand on your shoulder with a sigh, the dizziness and nausea kicking back in as your vision died.