Bendy and the Imp's Survival

Episode Thirteen: Breaking the Loop (Part 2)

(CW: Dirtier jokes/speech, bit of religion talk, lots of exposition because I have no self control and Bioshock spoilers (it makes some sense in context))

"This Ink Demon bastard is a lot of things, but this is the first time he's ever played shy."
Blitzo spun his flintlock pistol in his hand after edging his way around the hole in the floor he, Millie and Loona fell into what felt like days ago. He heard Stolas gasp slightly behind him. "Oh my. What did you do to this place, Blitzy?"
Blitzo shrugged and pocketed the pistol. "Exist, I guess. Some of th' dickwads here see me as some kind of false idol, which is apparently a murderous offense."
Stolas hummed. "I would suppose so."
"Oh you agree, do you-"
"What? No! No no no." Stolas teasingly ran a finger down one of Blitzo's horns when the imp stopped to glare at him. "There's nothing false about your idol, my little imp~"
Blitzo rolled his eyes and started walking again. "Leave the fuck talk for the bedroom, bird dick."
"You have such a dirty way with words!"
"Fuck you."
"Please."
That caught him off guard enough to smile. Stolas seemed pleased with himself when he noticed. Fuck.
Stolas 1; Blitzo 0.
He had a point, at least-the place was an inky half-broken mess. Whatever was out for the trio earlier apparently decided to try and take most of the building down with them after they fell.
"Well at least this way nothing will move around on us," Blitzo muttered, stepping over a large pile of debris.
"How are the walls up, yet the ceiling is gone?" Stolas asked.
Blitzo started to answer, then froze. "That...Is...A good question. I have no idea how that works."
"Well, that part's still intact." Stolas pointed over to something Blitzo couldn't see. "What is that...A barn?"
"I doubt they're gonna have a random fuckin' barn here, Stolas," Blitzo said with a roll of his eyes. "Use your fucking head."
"Then what..." Stolas grabbed Blitzo by the shoulders and turned him towards the wall. "Is that?"
"A wall."
Blitzo could almost hear the error noise coming from Stolas before the elder demon realized Blitzo wasn't quite tall enough to see over the wall. His answer to this was apparently to pick him up bridal-style. Blitzo squawked and started to threaten him until he saw what Stolas was asking about: a still-standing part of the studio that did indeed look like a barn. He tilted his head slightly. "That's new..."
"You haven't seen that before?" Stolas asked.
Blitzo squirmed. Stolas got the hint and let him down, then followed him when he rushed through the debris-filled halls to the room that held the ink machine. It was surprisingly intact...And a closer look at the roof showed it would probably look like a barn from a distance.
"Welcome to the ink machine, Stolas." Blitzo grinned at his companion and looked around the room.
"What is this?" The elder demon took a few steps into the room and peered down the giant pit leading down to Satan-knows-where. "I've never seen anything like it. And how is it still standing?"
"It's...Uh..." Blitzo faltered here. "It's a machine that makes ink, I guess."
"Have you turned it on?"
"We didn't get the chance to. And with the shape the studio's in now..." Blitzo rubbed the back of his neck. "I think we no longer can."
Stolas hummed. Blitzo made his way over to him. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"
"Oh, nothing."
Blitzo gave him a side-eyed look. He didn't buy it, not with a look that focused. Still, maybe it was best to leave him to his thoughts.
He turned away, then Stolas grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "Where's the man-made demon?"
Blitzo shrugged. "Could be anywhere. He moves around with ink portals, it's the wildest fuckin' thing."
"How can a demon made by humans do...That?"
Blitzo shrugged. "Weird shit happens with black magic, I guess."
"Where did I leave the grimoire?"
"Main room, by the projector."
Stolas instantly turned to get it, running his hand along one of Blitzo's horns as if to tell him he wasn't angry at him.
Blitzo stayed back by the machine for a moment. There was a weird, unnerving pull about it he hadn't noticed before. Something that sounded like tons of whispers coming from it; whispers and laughter. The longer he listened, the more it gave him chills. Just what was this thing? Something that made ink creatures...or something more?
"BLITZO!!"
The imp jumped at the sound of his name and looked back at Stolas. "What? What happened?"
Stolas put the grimoire aside (how did he get it so fast?) and slowly made his way towards him, raising his hands slightly. "Blitzy, I don't know what you think you're doing, but it's a bad idea."
"What? Stolas, I'm just standing here-"
Blitzo cut himself off when he realized he wasn't standing, he was crouching. On the landing's railing. Braced like he was about to jump off. He jumped back with a startled squeak and stumbled backwards until Stolas caught him.
"I didn't, I didn't do that," he panted. "What the fuck-I didn't do that! I don't remember climbing up there!"
Stolas sighed with relief. "I didn't think so, Blitzy, but I wasn't sure."
"What do you MEAN, you 'didn't think-"
Stolas cut him off with a kiss. "There's a lot I would like to explain to you," he said. "But maybe not here and definitely not now."
"What other time is there?"
Instead of answering, Stolas pulled the grimoire he'd dropped back over to him and picked it up. Blitzo followed him out of the machine's room as he flipped through the thing's pages.
"So what's our first step?" He asked, climbing over a bit of the ceiling that had fallen.
"The demon will apparently have to wait, since it comes of it's own accord." Stolas' voice dropped to a whisper. "Which is a bit of a problem, since if it's the trigger of the time loop as you say, it means your friends will be there for as long as it takes to get at it..."
Blitzo's heart sank. "So you don't know what to do."
"Oh I do." Stolas snapped the grimoire shut again and tucked it under his arm. "Where's that prophet you mentioned?"
"Sammy...Of course!" Blitzo smacked his forehead. "Can't believe I've been so fucking stupid-follow me!"
The imp led his companion to the hole in the floor he, Loona and Millie had fallen through earlier. It was now crammed full of debris despite being clear earlier. Of course, because half the floor had happened to fall in and nothing can be made easy in this fucking place. (He may or may not have said that out loud and kicked a nearby wooden board for effect.)
Stolas crouched near the hole and picked up a remaining bit of wood to examine it. "There's no other way down?"
"Well, we could..." Blitzo rubbed the back of his neck. "We could jump the railing of the ink machine room. I think it goes down by about a floor."
Stolas didn't answer, busy picking at the broken edge of the wood with his claws. Deciding to leave him to whatever he was doing, Blitzo went ahead back to the ink machine room and jumped up onto the railing to get a better look down.
Unfortunately for him, repeated abuse of being jumped up and down on tends to wear down a 90+ year old railing quickly. For the second or third time that day, a railing broke under the imp, taking him down with it.
Groaning, the imp sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "Fuck this place and it's old-ass railings..."
"Blitzy!" Stolas appeared on the landing above him, worry in his red eyes. "Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine!" He called back. "Just landed on my ass, is all. Charlie Magne..."
"I'm coming down!"
Stolas landed much more gracefully in a flurry of feathers as Blitzo got back on his feet. The doorway nearby leading to the hallway out was mostly clear, though sunlight streaming in over broken wooden boards showed they weren't clear of debris yet.
Stolas brushed dust off his arms as Blitzo heaved a sigh. "I'm so sick of this fucking place it isn't funny."