A/N: And now, back to Henry making some questionable decisions while the Ink Demon shows that it is getting smarter by the minute.

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The five lost ones following Henry around didn't bother him. It was a little odd, yes, and unexpected, since he had never had this happen to him before in past loops. Almost every time, the lost ones had vacated the room after Henry had passed by.

Henry supposed looking like a mix of toon Bendy and a more approachable Ink Demon helped.

Grant's amused wolfish smile showed that the man turned Boris clone found the lost ones kowtowing to Henry and silently pleading to him with grasping hands to the other's pants to be entertaining.

Henry had given Grant an exasperated look, but let it lie. After all, Henry felt a bit bad scaring the lost ones and the Boris clone when he quickly located the books needed to open up the path.

It was a relief to know that he wasn't the only one that experienced those weird, distorted scenes.

"Sorry." Henry apologized. "Sometimes I forget that happens, after having been through this place so many times."

"You get those weird visions often?" Grant asked, looking around the records room as if expecting it to happen again.

"Only in specific places." Henry replied, as he reached out and shoved the door open to step through.

This next place always weirded Henry out, and not just because of the drop that went a long ways down.

Such a large cavern shouldn't have existed in the studio, but it did.

Henry walked along the wooden floor, ignoring the long drop off the edge. He needed to focus, and continue forward, so that he could find out where Sammy had gotten to with Bendy. Henry wasn't worried about the music director harming the toon. Henry was more concerned about toon Bendy being hurt by someone else.

"Henry?" Grant asked.

"Yes?" Henry realized with a jolt that he had been standing in front of the odd ink maker, unmoving apart from the slow swish of his tail back and forth.

"Your mind went elsewhere." Grant pointed out, as he looked over at the missing gear on the rickety pulley. "Will that machine you are looking at make real objects? I feel as though I have seen something like it before."

"Yes, it does make things." Henry turned the dial on the side until it was the shape of a gear. "Just need to go to the room in the back and get an ink blob from...well..." Henry trailed off as the lost ones crowded in on his personal space, hands fidgeting as they pet his sweater. One was even so bold as to reach up and pat his horns curiously.

"As you are otherwise occupied, I can go get the ink blob." Grant said, the wolf toon's sharp smile making another appearance as he loped off into the room further ahead.

"Am I really that fascinating?" Henry asked the lost ones, noticing that their glowing eyes had gathered in strength, no longer dim and sad. "I don't suppose any of you remember me or who you used to be this time around?"

The lost ones paused in their petting, before resuming silently. No acknowledgement of the question was made otherwise.

It did seem rather personal.

Henry felt awkward being pet on the horns, even if there had been an itch close to his head that was now gone. Henry's toothy grin tugged wider at the sight of Grant returning, the toon wolf now scowling a little as he dumped the ink blob into the machine.

"That was not how I expected to find an ink blob." Grant said, wiping his gloved hands off on his pants. "What if that searcher had attacked?"

"I thought you had the Tommy gun?" Henry asked conversationally.

Grant grumbled the affirmative, after the toon checked to see it strapped to his back. Grant was quiet as he watched Henry pull the lever.

The ink maker shook and rattled before an inky form shot out, before solidifying into a gear.

"This is a cursed place." Grant grunted as he leaned over, picked up the gear, and slotted it in place on the lift. "Things work that shouldn't, and things that do won't."

Henry silently watched the rickety box making its way toward them.

The sooner they got out of this place, the better. It was too open, too...

"Beacon Henry."

Well, shit.

The lost ones suddenly vacated the area, wary of the Ink Demon and its sudden appearance from an inky wall nearby.

"Running again." The Ink Demon fixed its uncovered eyes on both Henry and Grant, the skeletal being baring sharp fangs instead of blunt teeth. "Catch you this time."

"Let's go." Henry insisted, as he carefully but quickly went into the rickety box, urging Grant to do the same despite the wolf toon's disgruntled look over the unsafe contraption. But the Ink Demon limping toward them with a crazed look in those eyes was reason enough to be in that box, safe or not.

"Nowhere to...hide." The Ink Demon ground out. "Nowhere...safe. Only ink and darkness here."

When the two were halfway across the large drop below, Henry spoke hastily.

"Hang on, it's going to stop and jolt us around." Henry's tail even reached up to wrap around the rope as his hands did.

Just as Grant's hands grasped the rope, the box did indeed began to shake.

"Dammit." Henry cursed, once they were nearly across.

"Running. Always running." The Ink Demon let out a furious shriek as it began to attack the ropes that the pulley was following. "No escape for you this time."

"It's going to snap." Henry warned, wrapping his hands tighter around the rope. "Get ready!"

Grant let out a curse as well as he caught sight what the Ink Demon was doing.

The rope didn't hold up under the Ink Demon's attack.

"Fall, Beacon Henry. Make chase more interesting."

It snapped.

Henry and Grant clung to the rope for dear life as they were swung a little bit before smacking into the wall of the cliff. At least they were on the side with the exit to this place.

"Go! You've got a better grip!" Henry insisted, as he clung to the rope.

Grant carefully climbed the rope several feet, reaching the top.

Henry held the rope tighter as Grant grasped the rope from above and began to pull on it. Henry attempted to help speed up the process by pressing his feet against the wall, and carefully inching upward.

The Ink Demon was apparently not pleased by this.

A scraping noise joined with the hiss of fury to make a rather terrifying sight.

Henry cast a quick glance over his shoulder and cursed again as he began to try to ascend more quickly.

"Close." The Ink Demon was crawling its way across the wall If the cavern, the Ink Demon's right clawed hand digging in, its left gripping any crevice it could find. The Ink Demon kicked off with its feet before grabbing its next perch, even if it slid several feet down the cave wall. "Even closer, Beacon Henry."

That wasn't good, nor was the ink dripping back into the Ink Demon's vision as it snapped its sharp fangs irritably while it made its way closer.

Henry got to the top, accepting Grant's hand to heave him up the last bit. Shaking his head at the toon wolf's start to a question, Henry grasped Grant's hand and ran for the door. Henry slammed the door open and continued to sprint, despite Grant letting out a gasp over the vision that happened in that hallway.

The many grasping hands from the wall.

Henry had been through this same vision far too many times to give a shit anymore, even when some of those grasping fingers tore some of his sweater as he went by. Henry heard the Ink Demon barge into the room, the inky tendrils of darkness spidering across the hall walls.

Henry urged Grant to head up the slanted planks that led upward, half expecting to hear a voice.

There was none, apart from the Ink Demon's half screeches and nonsense words coming from the hallway.

"Won't escape! Will capture!"

It was rather odd, to not hear the twisted Alice Angel taunting him.

The silence was rather nice, if not for the Ink Demon spitting mad at the base of those plank stairs before it started to climb up the side of the wall, tearing into those boards with hands and fang.

"Come back here, Beacon. Come back."

"Well, this is unexpected." Henry let out a nervous laugh as he and Grant got closer to the lounge. Glancing down, Henry could see that the Ink Demon was gaining on them. "I think I can slow it down. Keep the Tommy gun with you, and go ahead to see if Bendy is all right. I'm pretty sure now that Sammy would have taken him somewhere safe."

"It's never talked before, that I can remember." Grant said of the Ink Demon, before fixing Henry with a sharp look. "Don't get yourself killed again. Bendy didn't take it well the last time it happened when I was around him." Grant let out a sigh, before reluctantly moving further ahead.

"What happened to being careful?" Henry called after the toon wolf.

"After you got sent back to the well of voices? I don't think you can be careful. You've clearly been through too much in this place to think too hard about your own safety compared to Bendy and my own." Grant narrowed his pie-cut eyes at Henry. "I don't know what you have planned, but I won't hold my breath. If you look more like Bendy and the Ink Demon when you catch up with us, I won't be surprised."

"I do try!" Henry shot back, even though he presumed Grant was already out of earshot. Henry supposed, when he thought back on it, that he hadn't been all that great about being careful. But Henry was going to try to be, even as he led the Ink Demon into the area just outside the lounge, where the record was playing.

Grant had already gone through the door.

Good.

Heney planned to go hide in the miracle station, but didn't get to it. The Ink Demon had lunged at him, and pinned Henry on his back, the inky creatures'a fangs snapping near his face.

"Caught you." The Ink Demon hissed. "Now-"

Then, it stopped moving.

Unbelievably, there was a strong sense of confusion that emitted from the creature.

"Beacon...Henry?" The Ink Demon asked, clearly thrown off kilter from looking at a face that was la mix of its own and toon Bendy's. It even addressed this. "Why do you look...like us? Did not before...something has changed."

Us, as in it and toon Bendy.

"Did not before...something has changed. Is...fascinating." The Ink Demon's eyes narrowed in thought. "The ink puddles from that...noisy thing? Those voices...that come from only some of the ink?"

Oh dear.

The Ink Demon meant the Ink Machine. Was it...no, the Ink Demon was getting more and more coherent, especially right now as it continued to speak.

That could be...very dangerous.

The hesitation the Ink Demon apparently felt at Henry's changed appearance and its own thoughts gave time for a certain someone to show up.

A door slammed open.

"My lord?"

Sammy.

The music director really did have some interesting timing.

"Why...why is there another?" Sammy sounded bewildered, yet in awe at what was before his eyes.

Er, mask.

"There's the toon version. The demon. And now..." Sammy gestured to Henry's pinioned form. "Yet another version of my savior has appeared. Surely it is a sign."

Henry nearly groaned.

Right.

What had he been thinking?

Of course Sammy would be eager for another of his lord and savior to appear to him.

The Ink Demon's face had been covered up with ink again, but it hastily reached up to scrape the ink back out of the way.

That was...a rather odd look, in Henry's opinion, to send Sammy's way.

Calculating.

Considering.

As if the Ink Demon was figuring something out.

Henry stilled as the Ink Demon looked back down at him, before raising its head again, jaw working as though it were about to speak.

Henry let out a little gasp of alarm.

to send a rather odd look at Sammy before looking down at Henry, then back at Sammy.

No, it wouldn't dare.

"Is Beacon Henry." The Ink Demon growled at Sammy, prodding Henry in emphasis. "Not that which you usually...praise." The Ink Demon poked Henry again. "Was human...now not. Ink changed...probably."

"What do you mean, my-" Sammy trailed off, his confusion turning to indignation as the music director puffed up, prepared to let out a furious tirade.

Dammit.

"How dare you mock our lord and savior by appearing as Him." Sammy stomped over, daring to reach over and tug one of Henry's horns. "Take off that costume immediately. Only the prophet may use His image to convey his will." Sammy twitched, when he realized that the horns were real, and were not, in fact, part of a mask. Sammy let go and sat down on the floor. "H-how is this p-possible?"

"Ignore him." The Ink Demon suddenly made the decision to let go of Henry in order to awkwardly flop onto the ground next to Sammy. The inky creature silently rested its head on Sammy's lap and let out a low growl.

"M-my lord, what about-" Sammy fell silent at another growl, and let out a light sigh as he reached out to pat the horns, before slowly beginning to pet the horns.

The Ink Demon thrummed its approval of the petting, even as it narrowed its eyes at Henry, as if plotting terrible things to do to him after it was done getting attention.

...this was getting more bizarre by the minute.

Since when did the Ink Demon want what appeared to be affection and attention? And since when did the Ink Demon become so much more aware and speaking more clearly than before.

Henry could even see that Sammy had cracked a smile, since Henry was looking at the music director from the side.

The Ink Demon's purred in content, words momentarily leaving it as its eyes half-closed.

Henry decided that he would use this opportunity to leave.

The Ink Demon's purring got even louder as it sprawled further out on the ground, a leg stretching out lazily.

Henry slowly got to his feet and began to inch away.

Luckily, the Ink Demon didn't seem concerned with Henry's obvious departure. In fact, the skeletal creature growled again when Sammy made as if to get up and give chase.

The music director went back to petting the Ink Demon's horns, but peered at Henry from beneath the mask with a scowl, only to be distracted when the Ink Demon reached up and brought Sammy's hand back to its horns.

Henry held back a startled a laugh.

Was the Ink Demon jealous now that someone else looked like it?

Henry wrenched the door open and shut it behind him, fully aware that it could be easily opened again. Hopefully not before he and the others reached Bendyland-

A blur launched itself onto Henry with a sob and held on tightly.

Henry automatically reached up to hug the crying toon Bendy in return. Henry's grasp tightened as his shoulders dropped in relief.

Bendy was all right, even if the toon was acting as if he had not seen Henry in years, instead of just over an hour or so.

Henry supposed that Bendy hadn't even noticed the changes that had occurred in him because Grant must have told Bendy that Henry would be there soon.

"You have a rapt audience, Henry." Grant muttered, standing alongside the human turned mostly toon.

Henry lifted his head to look over Bendy's head, the little devil still keeping his head buried against Henry's chest.

The lost ones stared at Henry with a mixture of amazement and awe, along with a good dose of confusion that gave way to excited chattering amongst the normally silent inky beings.

"He's here."

"He's come to set us free."

"Just like Sammy said he would."

"Is this real? Will we be able to go home now?"

"Please...please set us free."

"Henry..." Grant shifted uneasily next to Henry, his pie-cut eyes roving over the lost ones gathering around them. "What should we do? I doubt that you can help any of us out of this place, other than..." Grant indicated the Tommy gun strapped to his back. "Unless you can perform miracles now that you look more like Bendy?"

"No..." Henry murmured, warily flicking his own smaller pie-cut eyes over the crowd around them. "Bendy?" Henry murmured to the toon, only to find the toon staring up at him with a mixture of shock and worry.

Oops.

Henry should have eased Bendy into his new appearance.

Bendy burst into tears nice more and hugged Henry even tighter.

"I'm sorry." Henry meant it. "I had to let Grant get away from Alice Angel." Henry grimaced as the lost one all reacted unfavorably to the name, before the glowing lights of their eyes looked closer at Henry.

And saw the flaws that still marked him as human.

Shit.

"Try not to hit them." Henry said, holding Bendy tight.

Grant got the Tommy gun in hand and let out a few wanting shots, scattering the lost ones as they all acted betrayed over the sight of Henry masquerading as their lord and savior. Some even slipped out of the lounge, as if to go alert Sammy.

Cries of 'Ink Demon' sent some of the other lost ones into the inky shadows.

Henry and Grant headed for the vent, the latter continuing to let off shots to ward off the bolder lost ones.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Henry urged Bendy ahead on him as he hoisted himself into the vent after the toon, seizing the light as he went.

"Give me the vent cover." Grant said, pressing himself to the side of the vent once he was inside it. The toon wolf shoved the offered vent cover into a face of one of the lost ones, and kicked it into place, shifting backward to avoid an inky hand that reached through. "Not aggressive?"

"Not usually." Henry said, as he turned the light to face forward. "But I won't test them further. Better to get away and let them calm down." Henry held still as Bendy hugged him around his neck. "Yeah, I missed you too, buddy."

Bendy let go and, with a mischievous grin, slipped past Henry to sit on his back with a giggle, hands reaching up to hold onto Henry's shoulders.

Apparently, Henry was giving the toon a lift through the vents.

Light in hand, Henry began the slow progress through the vent system, Grant following close behind.

Henry could only hope that there weren't angry lost ones on the other side of the vent, or worse, the Ink Demon deciding that it wanted to follow along after them

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A/N: In the Ink Demon's mind, there can be only one demon getting their horns pet, and it wants to make that clear. Jealous Ink Demon is jealous that Sammy's attentions might be split with three images of Bendy wandering the studio now. The Ink Demon just likes that Sammy is one of the few beings that hasn't run away in fear from it yet.