BATIM x Reader (Bendy and the Forgotten Dream: AU)

Chapter 1: Late Entrance

Art Credit: Bravagiō

The studio pulled you back.

It did that to so many lives, didn't it? Both human and the imagined, altered creatures and the perfect and pure, those who had died countless times and those who hadn't, those who could still remember and those who couldn't.

And it pulled back Henry. Henry was why you stood in front of the ruined building that used to be Joey Drew Studios. At night, pure covered night created by New York. The area was government restricted, but you knew you had to go in. It was for Henry after all. You still had the letter Linda sent you.

"Y/N, thank you once again for your kind response. Unfortunately, I still haven't heard from him... I truly am starting to fear that he's lost in there. I know he wouldn't willingly leave us, so what scares me is the question of how he's still gone. It can't be death. I'll have to keep looking, although I'll need my answers quickly. There may be a chance that the studio will be renovated. And since you were kind enough to try to help, I want to help you. Help by advising you this: don't go there Y/N, it isn't safe there. Even if Henry's still inside, I'm not going in, and if I ever do, it will only be as a last resort. Do NOT attempt to look into it that way, you'll disappear just like he did...I'd rather not lose a friend as good as you. I hope that we can take the safer route together once you return to New York.

-Linda"

Your trembling hands folded the piece of paper back up and shoved it back in your coat pocket, while your mouth became a grim line on your face.

"...Safer route."

She said it herself, they're planning to renovate it soon. I miss him just as much as she does, and I don't have time. We both had thirty years.

"It isn't safe... you'll disappear."

The dust gathering around the dark entrance before you framed it in an almost impossible light. It was like a faint call to you, like a deal being offered. It said it was dangerous, but it also promised to answer all the questions you had. Including where Henry was.

I have at least a tiny shot of gaining something if I go in. If I don't get arrested that is.

You quickly slipped past the caution tape around the area, taking one last look at the city street outside before going in, to the place that called to you...

It was around 1932 when you had first walked into Joey Drew Studios, auditioning for the voices of several background characters, along with their more recent main character Alice Angel. You were looking for any sort of opportunity to get a secure job much like everyone else in the time period, and although you weren't too experienced as a voice actor, you were skilled in the arts. Unfortunately, the roles had quite a bit of competition... competition that you lost to. But you had managed to find a place writing for the Bendy cartoons and brainstorming ideas, becoming close friends with Henry Stein after he apologized and told you you didn't get any roles. After a year or two, you even became the head of the Writing Department. In the end, you got what you wanted; a new job, a new friend, and a new support system that had grown bigger over the years. Even though you envied not being able to sing for any of the characters, you thought Susie did a better job of voicing them anyway.

Then the pay got worse. And worse. It honestly shouldn't have surprised you so much to see the studio struggle, it did rise up during the Great Depression after all. And it had risen in thick waters... or thick ink, flashing in the sunlight and then drowning away. As Grant stressed and the money situation got worse, Joey's temper got worse. Soon enough you found that with the position you were in the only person truly keeping you there was Henry, an amazing friend to have in such difficult times. But then... he left. Henry Stein left, one of the founders of the entire business, the head of the Art Department.