BatIM AU: Henry's Path (OLD - rewrite in progress/consideration)

Act 2, Scene 12: Lost in Despair

Henry Stein

The Archives were brilliant, filled with books and information. Or, at least it would have been if it weren't for several inky figures frozen in spot, reaching out to a large Bendy statue. The words He will set us free were written in ink above the statue. Sammy tensed beside Henry and glanced at Norman, whose light dimmed in fear. Linda came up behind Henry and breathed, "The Lost Ones."

"Who?" Henry asked. He scanned the room for another exit in case the inky humanoids came to life.

"The Lost Ones," Linda repeated. "They're the employees that got the bad side of the transformation."

"At least they got it better than the Searchers." Henry paused, looking over the closer Lost One, who was kneeling down and seemed to be praying to the Bendy Statue. "Could it be possible that they have more humanity than the Searchers, too?"

"Yes," Sammy answered. He was already moving ahead and looking over the many books that lined the walls. "I've met a lot of them before. Some of them were my closest friends. They can talk, for one thing." He shot an accusing glance at Norman. "They still have a soul, but their obsession with the Ink Demon makes my skin crawl."

"Says the man who was just as obsessed with Joey as they were a couple years ago," Linda reprimanded. Sammy ignored her snide comment and continued along the side of the wall.

The door they needed to go through was locked. There wasn't any way to force it open either. Of course. Henry sighed in frustration Was this nightmare ever going to end?

Henry heard Sammy cuss loudly from the other side of the room. He ran over to them frantically and panted, "They're gone!"

"Who?" Linda put back a book that was sticking out of the wall. Something clicked on and shone above their heads. They all looked up, seeing that one of the five lights above the locked door had turned on.

"So that's how that works," Henry said to himself.

Sammy seemed unmoved by the discovery. "The Lost Ones. They're all gone. They just disappeared."

"How? Did they just fly away?" Norman sneered. Sammy narrowed his eyes at him and continued, "The door back to the lift is locked, too. They must have gone out that way."

"Then they're not our problem," Henry inquired, though uncertainty ebbed off of each other.

"They are going to be if they go off and blab to Joey about us being here," Linda told Henry. She was running her hand along the bookcase for any stray books.

"Great. Just what we needed," Norman muttered. "Like I haven't seen him enough yet."

"What bug crawled up your ass today?" Sammy hissed. "Ever since the fall, you've been a major pain and cranky as hell."

"Just tired of all this shit," Norman replied. He pushed in another book.

"Classic lover's quarrel," Henry whispered to Linda, who tried to cover her snorts of laughter. Henry smiled and went to push in another book. "Too bad I forgot to bring popcorn. This is really enter—"

Henry cut off his words when the whole room turned a red-yellow color and began shaking. He felt himself go dizzy, trying not to throw up with the fast motion of the crystal chandelier above them rattling around. Henry felt like he was going to pass out until his vision returned to normal. He collapsed on his knees and panted heavily.

"Henry!" Linda came to his side and helped him up. Sammy and Norman stopped arguing and rushed to them, Sammy seeming more scared than Norman. Norman stayed a small distance from them and eventually left to find the last two books.