Just a Happy Ending

1 - Deviation

 "NOT MONSTERS," read the messy lettering. Henry regarded the text over the building's doorway for a few moments, then readied his pipe to smash away the boards blocking the entrance.

An axe from the other side cut them down before he could. The furious, warbled voice of Sammy Lawrence boomed from the dark, "BETRAYED!!! ABANDONED!!!" The inkling emerged and stalked toward Henry, axe in hand, "I trusted you. I gave you everything! And you left me to rot. Why? Why?!"

The mad musician threw himself forward and swung wildly, his motions spasmodic and unbalanced. Henry used this to his advantage, able to skip out of range while also knocking Sammy back with the pipe. "Sammy!" Henry called.

The inkling merely growled at him and continued his assault. Henry kept yelling at him, "Sammy! What are you doing?"

"I'm going to cut that smile clean off your face!" Sammy screeched.

Henry dodged another axe swing, "I'm not-... smiling? Sammy, what's going on with you?"

"Come here and put your face in my axe!"

"No thanks," Henry commented. "Sammy, please, I don't want to fight you!"

"Stop saying his name, you heretic!"

The strange demand made Henry pause, almost not dodging out of the way in time. He really didn't want to fight Sammy, but Henry was worried he might not have an option. He lifted his pipe and set his gaze, "All right old friend, guess I'll have to resort to the old-fashioned way of getting you to see straight."

Henry dodged the axe, then twisted around to get behind Sammy. Henry's pipe clocked the inkling upside the head with a solid clank.

The blow knocked the mask to the floor. Sammy yelped and lurched forward, his hands instantly flying to his face. "Argh! No! Don't look at me!" he snapped, staggering away from Henry, "S-stay away."

The sudden, fearful shift in the madman's voice made Henry's brow rise. There had to be something he could do to help, now that Sammy had taken himself out of the fight. Henry looked at the pipe in his hand, then the axe in Sammy's. Carefully, Henry set the pipe on the ground. Sammy hadn't moved from where he stood, his hands still to his face. Henry gingerly stepped up to the inkling, then, with a swift motion, twisted the axe out of Sammy's hand and tossed it away.

Sammy seized Henry by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "AHA!" he crowed, "You lied to me! You said I'd be free! We'll I'm going to free you now," he threw Henry to the ground, then planted his knee into Henry's stomach. "Free your life from your body!" Sammy cinched his hands around Henry's throat and began to squeeze. "Sheep, sheep, sheep, it's time for sleep."

Henry writhed and twisted and clawed at the inky wrists, but nothing was loosing the merciless vice crushing his windpipe. His mouth opened to try and plead for his life, though all that sounded was a rasping croak.

Sammy laughed, "Ahh, is our sheep wishing for one last bleat before its slaughter?" His grip slacked just enough to let Henry wheeze the only words he could summon.

"Sam-my... Law-rence..."

Sammy froze. His grip remained and Henry began to lose his hold on the world. Then, just when Henry thought he couldn't stay awake, Sammy let go. The world snapped back into place as Henry dragged air into his lungs. The rush made his throat lock up, sending him into a coughing fit. Henry crawled to his hands and knees, still panting for air as the floor swam beneath him.

"Sammy Lawrence?" Henry heard the inkling say, "That's my-... no, that name means nothing to me."

Henry lifted his head to the featureless black one tilted above him. "It's your name, Sammy," he rasped.

"And how could you possibly know what that name is?" Sammy spat, snatching Henry by the wrist and throwing him to his feet against a wall. The inkling planted his forearm across Henry's collarbones and got far too close to Henry's face; so close, Henry could smell the vile fumes of the inky body. "I am the Prophet of our lord, the Ink Demon," Sammy hissed, "Who are you, heretic, who are so desperate to survive, that you call on the name of a dead man to be your savior?"

Henry regarded the blank face, wondering if it could truly be his old friend underneath, or if it was just an inky, dark abyss with Sammy's voice. His silence prompted Sammy to impel his arm harder against Henry's neck, "Answer your Prophet, heretic!"

Henry gagged against the pain spiking through his throat. He pulled at Sammy's arm to lessen the pressure, then said as clearly as he could manage, "Sammy, it's me. It's Henry."

Once again, Sammy froze.

"I-I'm... Henry Stein."

As soon as Henry said his full name, Sammy instantly let go and violently convulsed, tearing at his head while screaming, "No, NO, NO!!! THAT NAME IS FORBIDDEN!!! STAY IN YOUR PLACE, YOU VILE IMPERFECTION!!!"

Henry sank against the wall, rubbing his sore throat and watching Sammy with concern. He reached toward the inkling, "Sammy? What-"

"No! Henry, don't, I'm not-!" Sammy tripped over a stone, then scrambled to his feet with another scream and took off, melting into the darkness he'd appeared from.

Henry tried to follow, but the inkling had vanished.

Allison's voice called for him from the other end of the shantytown.