Bendy and the Ink Machine: Demon Days

Birth

A/N: Hello! Thank you for checking out my fic :)

A quick rundown: This fic is about the early days! Where Ink Bendy was just a sweetheart. I'll mostly be making this up as I go. Right now... I don't have any plans for Henry showing up, his POV will come up but as for right now, Inky and him probably won't be meeting. This will be covering themes of abuse- It's a large part of this fanfic, showing how Joey abuses Bendy and how others would take advantage of his docile and curious nature. Although... it's not all doom and gloom! I am quite literally unable to write a completely serious fic so there will be a fair amount of crack LMAO.

(Also the art on the cover is not mine,  I only added effects.)

Now let us begin...

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The room was dimly lit, filled with the sounds of clattering gears and ink as it flowed through the pipes. The air was thick with the smell of ink and machinery. The GENT workers watched the ink machine churn and grind, producing its first attempt at a new creation.

Then, with a final groan and a splash of ink, Bendy was born. It lay motionless beneath the nozzle of the machine before beginning to push itself up. A lanky and deformed figure, off-model in nearly every way, was revealed more and more as the ink settled on the Toon's body.

He tried to stand on his legs, but his legs and feet were crooked and malformed, sending him crashing to the floor. A moan left the toon as it moved into a sitting position instead, rubbing the top of his gloved hand under his chin, where he smacked it off the floor.

The GENT workers watched his first movements with disappointment and disdain etched on their faces. They had expected something more or something better, having been confident in their design. Instead, they received an abomination before them.

"A failure," someone muttered under his breath. "Waste of ink and time."

Another shook their head and said, "What now? Do we start again from scratch?"

A third spoke up, "Dispose of it. It's an abomination."

"No." A man wearing glasses spoke, "We'll keep it. Figure out what went wrong. Tom." He turned to the first man, "Since you're operating here in the studio, you'll be taking responsibility for..." He glanced over at the failed Bendy, who was now standing up unsteadily. The toon looked up when it noticed the man looking down at it, the corners of its mouth lifting in a wider smile.

"...that" he finished with a sneer before turning back to Tom. "Understand?"

Tom followed the glance and looked dumbfounded at the deformed Bendy.

"S-Sir, with all due respect, we don't know what other things could be wrong with it. It's better to just dispose of it now before-" he gestured vaguely at the Bendy, "something happens."

A worker next to them leaned in to whisper to Tom. "Just listen to the boss. He's got a plan for it, for sure."

Tom sighed and nodded his head. As much as he wanted to, he understood that there was no arguing with higher-ups.

"Yes, sir, I understand."

He gave the failed Bendy a once-over, and a shiver ran up his spine. The toon's mouth was just a bit too wide-too wide to be the signature smile that the original Bendy had.

"What am I supposed to do with it, then?" Tom asked gruffly, shifting his gaze back to the boss.

"Take it to your office, lock it up... doesn't matter what you do with it. Just don't let it leave this studio, Connors."

The Bendy gurgled in the background, and Tom felt a bit of sweat roll down his neck; it didn't seem aggressive, more interested in its tail rather than the workers.

The way it looked, though...

He nodded his head, "Right, I got it. I'll lock it up in my office, away from everyone else. Make sure it doesn't escape."

Tom then turned to look at the failed Bendy, watching as it stumbled around, fascinated by its tail.

"It doesn't pose a threat," one of the workers said, "I mean, come on, it's supposed to be Bendy- if the imprinting process worked then it should just be a dumb toon."

Tom nodded in agreement. It was supposed to be Bendy, a dumb and silly cartoon, a character that children and adults alike love.

Not an 8-foot-tall skeletal demon made of ink.

But there was still something off about it. Besides its appearance, there was just something... Otherworldly about it.

Tom knew... he knew that it wasn't the Toon's fault that he came the way he did, and guilt began to creep up at how he called Bendy a failure and waste of materials earlier. He watched him observe his tail, dragging the tip that looked suspiciously like a pen tip across the wooden floorboards.

This was going to be... Interesting.