Fandom: Bendy and the Ink Machine & Legend of Zelda
.......
He'd told her not to wander off. The decrepit halls of the studio were dangerous, especially in the Angel's domain. Not to mention there was their Lord who prowled the halls. They may have worshipped him, but they were in no hurry to get on his bad side. But he'd given her a task to complete.
Replace the cutouts broken by the Angel. They'd done this before without any trouble. But that had been together. Now they were alone, separate, vulnerable. Zelda hummed to herself as she put up a new cutout.
William had given her a very important job. He was counting on her! She had to do a good job so he'd be proud of her. She took a moment to look around, though.
She didn't often come down this far into the studio. She had vague memories of coming here before, when things had been well. There wasn't anything particularly interesting on this floor, but she did remember delivering papers to people on the level.
"Boring." She murmured to herself, wandering through the halls. She liked going to the Heavenly Toys level because William let her play with the toys sometimes. He said she could take some of them back to the music department, and she often did. She found a tape in the back of the level. Pressing the play button, a nasal voice filled the hallway.
" I don't get it. Everyone's walking around here like grandma just died. Nothing but angry faces everywhere. These people gotta lighten up. I mean, hello! You make cartoons! Your job is to make people laugh. I'm tellin' ya, if these people don't start crackin' a smile every now and then, I'm outta here."
"Wally." She whispered, a face popping into her mind. She hadn't thought about him in ages. Part of her hoped he was alright. Most of her knew he wasn't. She sighed and put the tape down.
"What do we have here?" She froze. She knew that voice. The Angel...She'd lingered for too long! Slowly, Zelda turned around. Twisted Marie stood before her, a malicious smile painted across her features. Zelda had never actually come face to face with Marie before. William had told her before to beware of the Angel and that was all she had ever wanted to know.
"It seems I've caught myself a little songbird." Twisted Marie hummed, taking a step towards her. Zelda instinctively took a step back.
"You don't need to worry." Twisted Marie cooed, cupping her face in her hands. "I won't hurt you, my dear. You've always been such a good friend to me."
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Zelda stammered. Something about the way Twisted Marie spoke was so familiar. Zelda just couldn't put her finger on what it might be.
"My darling Zelda," Twisted Marie continued. "My little songbird."
"What do you want?" Zelda asked. She had her back to the wall. Nowhere to run.
"I want to make you perfect," Twisted Marie said. The next thing Zelda knew, there was a rag over her mouth and the world was going dark.
Wandering is a terrible sin, my dear...
.............
She awoke to someone singing. She sat up, looking around blearily. She wasn't sure where she was and her head really hurt. She had a lingering feeling that something bad had happened, but she didn't know what it was. She had vague memories of someone carving into her flesh, forcing food down her throat.
Quickly, she took stock of what she knew. Her name was Zelda. She was...Who was she? She was here following someone. Someone important.
"Ah! You're awake~" A woman came into view.
"How do you feel, darling?" Her first instinct was to recoil from the woman. Half of the other woman's face was mutilated in a grotesque grimace. And that wasn't even considering the halo embedded in the woman's head.
"Yes, I know, I must look a fright." The woman self-consciously lifted a hand, almost as if to cover that side of her face. "I didn't scare you, did I?"
"I...A little." Zelda began to wring her hands. Or, at least, she tried. She had one fully formed arm, but the other was just a column of what appeared to be ink. She frowned at this.
"I tried to make you as perfect as I could, but my supplies are rather limited at the moment." The woman said, quickly moving on. "You're certainly more stable than you were before."
"Oh, um, thank you." Zelda bobbed her head.
"Do you remember what you were before?"
"No. Um...Should I?"
The woman smiled, cupping her face in her hands. "No. It's better that you don't think about it, my little songbird. You're safe with me now."
"Thank you, Miss Marie." The name slipped out on instinct as Zelda reached up to touch the woman's hand. She remembered the voice speaking to her. Fond memories appeared in her mind of singing with Marie Campbell. The woman recoiled as if she'd been burned, her face distorting into a mask of rage. However, it quickly vanished.
"My name is Marie." She corrected the younger woman, smiling once more. "Marie Drew."
"I'm sorry. Thank you, Miss Marie." Zelda bobbed her head in a respectful nod.
"That's better." Twisted Marie approached once more, sweeping Zelda up in her arms.
"Oh, how I've missed you."
"Did...Did we used to know each other?" Zelda asked, looking curiously up at Marie.
"Not exactly," Twisted Marie said. "But you were always such a kindhearted girl. The perfect companion for an angel."
Zelda couldn't help but blush. "You're too kind."
"I'm only telling the truth, dear~" Twisted Marie tapped her nose. "Now, why don't we get you in some more proper clothes? We have quite a lot of work to do."
