Wonders of Heresy (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

9- In Excelsis Deo

Author's Notes: The song in this chapter is Sally's Song from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

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"Daniel answered, 'May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions.'" - Daniel 6:21-22

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Francine couldn't feel herself anymore. The numbness that came with the discovery of concealed camaraderie was overwhelmed with a new sort of emptiness- the void of overwhelming dread. Indeed, the half-man had returned in its full splendor, sliding through the crowd of toys, its remnants disappearing only seconds after detaching again and again from the stub where its legs should be. In and out of eternity, the being splashed before her very eyes.

It splashed right for her, hungry with desire; it sensed blood.

Not only that, there was...something else. A shifting motion stroked her vision from the corner of the gallery. And as she saw it wasn't only onebeast that cursed these halls after all, she finally screamed. There was no way for the woman to escape. Her palms gripped the bars that lined the platform, hair falling over her face as she leaned her entire torso over, a desperate measurement of height. No, she'd break her legs if she jumped from all the way up here, and broken wood of the collapsed staircase waited below like pointed spears.

A sound came to her left, and Francine spotted in full view that the first damned creature was dragging itself along the staircase- the only uninterrupted staircase down. Cheeks grimaced forcefully and pinched her eyes so tight that it was a grin; as she sobbed, it almost sounded like a laugh was scratching her throat. This was insanity. And just as she decided to do the insane as well, she heard someone. Soon it would propose something that was even madder than what she had in mind.

Thank goodness she had a guardian angel after all.

"My dear..." Thick like velvet, a voice lingered through the walls behind her back and placed itself squarely, resolutely upon her shoulders. "Please...there's no need to hurt yourself."

Francine hardly balanced over the edge of the railing now, hair swaying all around her like branches of a willow tree as she faced the certainly unfeeling, uncaringly solid floor far below. She heard the groans, the roars of spirits waiting to devour her. To her horror, the second monster on the floor below had chosen to be more direct; it seemed to move closer-

Oh of course, it was moving to position itself where she'd surely fall and break to pieces, as if it could swallow her whole like a mere bit of popcorn it tossed in the air for its own amusement. Past the bellows of the unholy, she caught the siren's call again.

"You only need to do as I have after all this time- what you and I are both capable of, unlike these horrid, horrid slugs." A little bit of that second person slipped in again, frantic with disturbance, but it seemed unimportant to consider now compared to inevitable death. "It's so simple. It's ridiculous how utterly stupid they are!"

They certainly didn't seem to be as they came for her life.

Francine hugged the wooden bar tight into her entire body, legs wrapping around the vertical beams as she was desperate not to fall- desperate to not let go into either direction, even as the one she was currently in did her no service. For certain, the one below would kill her, but the one to her left was moaning- moaning just as loudly for her demise as it came closer...and closer...and cl-

"Please! Help me, PLEASE! Oh, oh GOD!- " and she only thereafter screeched meaningless, terrorized howls to someone that waited beyond reality.