Sooooooo, I had intended this story to remain a one-shot, but some people's comments (including one in AO3 from Squigglydigg herself) gave me quite a bunch of ideas for an alternate timeline(?) that wouldn't leave me alone. I should actually be studying, but I had no Internet for most of the day and I used that as an excuse to write this in two sittings, XD.

I'm not entirely convinced about the format and descriptions in this one but I don't really know how to change it anymore. Hopefully this didn't come out excessively angsty. And I hope I got Henry right! Last chapter he didn't even get to talk, so this is my first time actually depicting him, haha! The story is both in ffnet and AO3 if that's more your style! But enough talking already. I hope you enjoy!

The barrel of the rifle was right between his eyes. The kid had been shot. And now, his instincts were telling him to fight or flee, while the pain in his leg was telling him he could do neither. Paralyzed, all he could do was shutting his eyes.

"Hey, old man! Wake up!"

Wake up? Was this a nightmare? Right, right. He had had this dream before, right? It had to be a dream. Hope bubbled in his chest as, tentatively, he opened his eyes… and instantly regretted it. It was no dream. The gun was still there, aimed right at his forehead. The loud bang that came a second later made his whole system stop, made him close his eyes again. But there was no pain, no change at all. As soon as he was able to process this, he realized his enemy must have missed.

It was his chance. He had a chance!

In a mere second, he grabbed the front of the rifle and pushed back with all his strength. He felt the butt of the gun connecting with its holder, making him let go of it. Not being able to perceive the pain in his leg anymore, Henry scrambled to his feet and took aim. Problem was… there was no one there. Or rather, there was no one in his line of sight. He quickly noticed the change in his environment and his eyes darted around trying to identify the place. There was no red sky, no trenches, no faceless soldiers, no dead people. As he slowly stopped looking for a target, he started discerning other things. He could see wood, and chairs, and a big round table.

What fully brought him back to reality, though, was the little horned creature sitting at his feet. Bendy's confused face instantly reminded him where he was. Not really a comforting thought, if he was being honest. His breathing hadn't calmed down, and his mind was still screaming at him to get out of there if he didn't want to die. Henry looked down. There was confetti over him and on the floor around him. The rifle in his hands felt too light to be real. Everything was taking so long to fathom, but sluggish as he felt, he was putting two and two together.

Alarms rang in his head when Bendy stood up and he instinctively aimed at him before remembering it was pointless. The abrupt reaction made Bendy raise his hands. Henry stared at him, and the longer he did, the angrier he got. What kind of messed up prank did he think he was playing on him? Did he really think this was funny? Sure, kill a guy! Why not his friends while he was at it! SO funny! The rifle started trembling under the pressure he was exerting with his hands. He took a shaky breath and swallowed. He needed to calm down.

"Hen-"

"No."

Henry's hoarse voice prevented the demon from taking a step towards him. He still couldn't make his arms drop the rifle. He couldn't stop aiming at Bendy's head. He needed to get out of there.

"You. You stay. Right. There." He moved backwards towards the door, not taking his eyes off the demon.

Bendy didn't make an attempt to follow him. He didn't seem to make an attempt to move at all. He just stood there, with a slight frown, studying him with his eyes. This only multiplied the uneasiness in his chest. The seconds before he reached the door were the longest of his life. As soon as he was out in the hallway, he slammed the door close. A few seconds passed before he could even think of what to do. Now alone, anger, fear and a feeling of vulnerability were flooding him. A shiver ran through his spine. The urge to fight back was overwhelming him. Lacking a target, he grabbed the rifle by both ends and rammed it against his knee. The fake weapon was easily bended, a reminder of its cartoony origin. Sudden rage against the object made Henry throw it against the wall. He grabbed at his head and decided to walk away. He really needed to calm down.

As he traversed through the halls, the sensation of someone aiming at his back started creeping through him. It was too open, too big. The sound of steps coming from around the next corner sent his mind into a panic. With a swift and quite motion, he entered the closest room to him. He leaned against the door. Hearing Boris and Alice's voices passing by made him feel both relieved and ridiculous at the same time. Still, he was glad he was hidden; he didn't want to have to explain his state at the moment. He let himself slide to the floor, barely registering that he was now in a (thankfully) small supply closet. Maybe his thoughts would be clearer of he could only get his darned breathing under control, if the sinking feeling in his stomach went away. He tugged at his hair in frustration.

This was all Bendy's fault. He had tried to kill him. No, he hadn't. He wanted him dead. No, he did not. He had chosen a horrible prank. He didn't know any better. He had picked the worst moment to shoot him. He couldn't have known. Henry hated him. He hated him so much. That wasn't true. Henry sighed. Tiredness was quickly taking over him, but he didn't think he would be able to sleep again for at least another day. Heck, the next couple of days were probably going to be the worst he'd had in some time. He rested his head on his hands.

He was safe. Or relatively, at least. That's the one thing he knew he had to remind himself of. If he were back home, maybe he'd be able to convince himself of it. Maybe he'd be able to walk around his house checking the locks. Maybe he'd be able to sit at his desk and draw all night thinking of nothing but how to make the next line less wobbly than the last. Maybe he would be able to scream, kick a wall, do anything that wasn't hiding. Being there at the studio? There was nothing to keep the feeling of being completely exposed away.

.

.

Bendy rubbed his face for the twentieth time that day. The swelling in his right cheek had started to fade already, but it baffled him that it was there at all. He sat at a table in the coffee break room, his legs swinging lazily from the chair. It had been two days since he'd played his last prank on Henry, and he honestly wasn't itching to try another one very soon.

It hadn't been funny. It hadn't been funny at all. And he couldn't figure out why. He thought he had done everything correctly.

He sneaked up on him. The stupid dream cloud was on his way, so he took out a fan and blew it away just enough that he had a clear shot. Grinning, he yelled at him to wake up and waited for Henry to be able to see the gun in his face.

But everything had gone wrong.

He saw his expression halfway through pressing the trigger. The confetti blasted him in the face like it was supposed to, but Henry only froze. No funny six feet jump, no bouncing on the floor afterwards, no hiding behind a tipped over table. Just silence.

Bendy sighed. Had he used the wrong "ammo"? Maybe Henry was allergic to confetti…? Nah.

Then Henry opened his eyes, which immediately focused on the barrel of the gun. The old man grabbed at it quicker than he should have been able to and pushed back so hard that the butt of the gun nailed Bendy right in the face. It hurt and it sent him stumbling backwards. Henry hurried to stand up, expertly aiming the rifle right above his head. Not even the man's short height prevented Bendy from feeling very small with Henry towering over him like that.

He tried to shake it off. He told himself he wasn't concerned about him. It's what he had been repeating himself these past days. It had to have been Henry's fault somehow! What cartoon even got like that after a simple gag?

The stinging in his right cheek almost went unnoticed as he held his breath. Something at the back of his mind told him that moving at that moment would be the worst thing to do. Instead, he opted for watching him cautiously. Henry's breathing was erratic. His eyes were rapidly scanning the room, dark circles underneath them. He then looked at Bendy, his pupils dilating a little. He looked at the confetti on himself, and on the ground. He looked at the rifle in his hands. While he didn't seem to be so alarmed, Bendy took the opportunity to stand up.

Guilt flooded him instantly, like every time he'd thought of blaming Henry. But it hadn't been his fault either! How could Henry have looked at him like... that? He shivered.

In an instant, Henry pointed the rifle at him, his breathing accelerating even more. Reflexively, Bendy raised his hands. And Henry's face changed. Oh, did it change. Bendy couldn't help flinching under his glare. His eyes were staring at him so hard his pupils began to tremble. There was anger and fear in them. Indignation and… disgust. His jaw was clenched so tightly Bendy couldn't believe he hadn't shattered his teeth yet.

Bendy sighed. His hands had automatically started to fidget with the bent gun sitting on the table in front of him.

He knew the rifle couldn't hurt him. He knew it was fake. But being at the receiving end of Henry's anger was making him nervous. When the gun started trembling in his hands, Bendy thought it the moment to try and calm him down. He made the motion to take a step forward.

"Hen-"

"No."

He stopped in his tracks and returned his foot where it had been. He didn't think he could stand looking at the inside of the gun for a lot longer. Thankfully, Henry started backing away.

"You. You stay. Right. There."

For once, Bendy didn't feel like disobeying. He just watched him go. He winced when the door slammed behind Henry. It was a good five minutes before he dared go out through the only exit. He found the rifle short after.

No. This couldn't keep up like this. He clenched his fists. The only victims there were his friends and him. He deserved getting his revenge on that traitor! So what if his joke had gone a little far? He hadn't harmed him at all! It was confetti for crying out loud. In any way, he'd already given him enough leisure time. It was time to remind him why he was here.

Nodding to himself, Bendy pushed away from the table, bringing the fake rifle with him. He threw it in the first garbage can he found. No need to keep bad memories. And so he started planning for the future. He would find a long hallway, hopefully with some degree of inclination, and flood one of the ends with an ink pool. Then he would poor slippery goop all over the floor of the hall, and finally he would have a goop filled balloon dangle on the opposite end. That way, when Henry walked under it, Bendy would shoot a dart to pop the balloon, which would blind him and make him slip on the goop. Then he would slide directly into the ink! Yes, that was it. To top it, he could even play a mocking sound with an instrument! He was excited. It was simple, but it would look hilarious. Not having even found the appropriate hallway yet, he decided to take out a balloon and start filling it right away. His strides slowed down, though, when the balloon could barely fit in his hand anymore. He looked at it with a frown. Balloons made a lot of noise when popped, maybe as much as a fake rifle firing. Was there a way he could do this a bit… quieter?

"Bendy?"

The demon almost dropped the balloon right then and there. Shoot! Henry had just appeared from around the corner behind him. He timed himself turning around with putting away the goop filled object so that Henry couldn't see it. When he finally looked up at him, he barely restrained himself from gasping. The dark circles under Henry's eyes where even more accentuated than when he'd last see him. He was walking hunched, as if all the energy to do otherwise had left him. Bendy fidgeted as he got close, noticing how the man was tensing up with each step.

"I, uh, was looking for you," Henry said. His voice was still hoarse. Something in his tone told Bendy he hadn't really been attempting to find him.

"Oh, really?" Bendy stretched his arms, trying to seem casual. "What for?"

"I… wanted to say sorry…"

"Huh?" Bendy blinked. He wanted to apologize?

"Yeah, it's just…" Henry sighed and pointed at Bendy's slightly swollen cheek. "Sorry. For that. It wasn't part of a gag, so it probably hurt you, didn't it? Oh, and, sorry about your…" He hesitated. "…toy."

Bendy couldn't believe it. He felt a sudden pit in his stomach and a rush of sadness he couldn't pinpoint the origin of. He said the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh. Well, pffft, c'mon, old man!" He waved his hand dismissively, trying to hide the slight tremble in it. "If ya think a poke like that is going to keep me down so easily, you better think again! And that old thing needed replacing anyway…"

Henry's mouth twitched upwards for half a second there, and Bendy felt a bit lighter.

"Well, that was it, I guess," he said as he turned to leave the other way. "I'd ask if I'll be seeing you around, but…" his voice sounded tired, "I know I will…"

A sudden surge of panic took ahold of Bendy as he saw him walk away. He felt his chest getting tighter. He opened his mouth to call him back, but closed it before anything came out. He didn't want him to go yet. He wanted him to return.

He wanted to say sorry too.

This… turned out a bit longer than the original, lol. As I said, Henry was a bit tricky, because maybe I made him freak out a little more than he would in the AU's canon? And I sooooo wanted to write from both his perspective and Bendy's perspective. I think it is a bit all over the place, but I really enjoyed making it!

Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!