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

Chapter Thirty-Seven: [The Dead City]

'Hey Bendy?' You ask after a moment of silence. He looks at you, intently listening. 'Are you ready to head off now, or do you still need a couple minutes?' He smiled wide and gave you a thumbs-up, showing off his dashing grin. 

We can head off.

'Alright.' He lets go of you and gets up, while you do the same. 'And uhm... If you ever need to turn into the Ink Demon... I won't stop you, okay? I'll just avoid you until you turn back.' Bendy nodded quietly to himself as you both started to walk out of the sewers. 

'I just don't want to have to hurt you any more than you already have to bear is all...' Bendy still kept quiet. It was clear that he didn't like that he could transform into that beast out of his will, but he couldn't stop it.

'I'm sorry you have to go through that,' you mutter into the silence, trying to keep a sympathetic and not-awkward tone, to which his shoulders drooped slightly. He didn't want to talk about it anymore; you took the hint.

'So, where are we headed?' You ask, and he pointed forward toward a barred door. Behind it said, "Street Exit". 

'"Street Exit"? But we're in the sewers...' you mumble to yourself and whip your Gent Pipe out to whack the door open. The chain falls, and you have gained access.

The hallway twisted and turned into an odd way until you noticed another barred door, hiding something magnificent. You saw through the bars in shock and quickly swung your weapon at the door to get inside. Once open, you pushed the door wide and ran up to the glass. 

'What in the world?' you exclaimed, running your hand along the pane. Bendy joined beside you, staring. You managed to tear your gaze from the city to look at Bendy, who gave you a small smile. 'How big is this place?'

It was rhetorical, and Bendy treated the question as such. He rubbed his eyes, obviously tired. You were too. Bendy pointed down at the city. 

Where are we going now? 

'Well, I need to go to the old Gent Building, because Joey-' His eyes widened and he placed his hands in front of him and waved them, warning of danger.

'You don't like that place, I know...' You place your hand on his shoulder lightly and give him a ginger smile. 'But it's the only way to get answers.' 

He shook his head and placed his head in his hands, worried. 'It's okay. We'll go one step at a time.' You raise up your free hand and gesture with your fingers, holding up a one. 

He looked up from his hands at you, and you could feel senses of trust building. 'Just you and me.' He nodded his head and displayed a weak smile.

You both hop down from the couch you were leaning on and look toward where you needed to go. Bendy looked slightly nervous about going there, so you took his hand and offered him a grin. He couldn't help but return it. 

'Ready?' Bendy agreed, and you both set off.

The stairway led down toward a waiting area with some subway train information. 'There's trains down here?' Bendy whistled in reply, finding a suitcase and looking inside. Only two dead batteries were inside. He sighed and closed it up again. 

You found it odd that he wasn't talking to you inside of your head, but maybe that was hard for him to. You didn't want to pressure him, and besides... you almost always knew what he was trying to say anyway; his body language was... well... cartoon-y. If he was more comfortable communicating like this, you wouldn't stop him.

The exit was open and you stepped out into the open, a sense of fresh air hitting you. 

A city... 

It was certainly calmer here. It was a dead city, that was for sure. Not a soul to be seen. There was the occasional streetlamp and store signs lighting up the place, but it was extremely dark; ruined. 

'Which way to the Gent Building?' you asked Bendy, and he tapped his chin in thought, clearly trying to remember. He then shook his head. 'That's fine, I'm sure there are signs around.'

Bendy was starting to relax, you could tell. His regular and curious beam was spread across his face and he had a little pip in his step. Eventually he let go of your hand to have a look around on his own, still being in your line of sight. A door caught your eye with an ID card slot on the side. Obviously a very important area; an area that you wanted to access. 

'What do you think, Bendy? Any idea of how or where we could find an ID card? Maybe one's lying around somewhere...' He tapped the ground with his big and bulky cartoon shoes in thought. They gave out a little click with every hit to the floor. He snapped his fingers in realisation and opened the chest cabinet behind him, only to be disappointed by nothing.

'I see what you mean. Let's just have a look around, hopefully someone's gone ahead and dropped something that could help...' His smile returned and he ran over to a trash can, pointing at it. 

'Do you want me to look through this one?' He nodded. 

A simple routine, (and a slow one), but at least it will pass time and it'll relax us. 

You hop on your toes and push the lid off, peering over the wall of the bin to see what's inside. 'Nothing in there. Sorry, Bendy...' His grin faltered, but he didn't give up. 

He pointed to another, to which you opened to reveal a battery inside. 'There's a battery inside, but no card.' Bendy was already running off to a car. While it was getting repetitive, it was sort of sweet he was trying this hard, and it was fun to humour him.

Even though he has the mind of the Ink Demon, he reminds you of what a younger brother would be like... you wished you had siblings. 

If they were like Bendy, anyway. 

Your friends at school had complained about their older and younger siblings like they were a nuisance, but it is really lonely when the only person you could play with was yourself or your mother. That's why you made yourself an imaginary friend before school had even started; stuck with you even now when you were alone.

Bendy pointed to the trunk of the car, and you slid open the door. Nothing. He shook his head, still not ready to give up. 

After a while of going around and your extensive patience starting to grow thin from the lack of progress, Bendy pointed to a trash can on a wall and you walked up to it alongside him. Opening it revealed a small note, to which your eyes lit up and you grabbed it. Bendy got excited and waited for you to give him an idea of what it said.