#rouck

Walking the empty streets one night was a small mischievous ink demon named Bendy, enjoying the cool air and dark environment. Nothing in particular was on his mind, if anything just pondering about what his friends have been doing. A mother he knew was living with what he called a curse shadow, a somewhat of a creature that lived in the ink that was produced from the studio's ink machine. They were weaker souls that weren't able to form bodies from the ink, but they were able to latch onto another person's body and live in them as a slightly influential conscious of sorts. Even Bendy himself carried such souls, but they refused to leave his body for fear of him killing their new hosts anyway. The mother, Monica, had gotten her curse shadow from a creature who was technically a hitchhiker, a spirit of ink from a different version of the studio. But he wasn't just another soul to latch onto his friend, Henry's nephew. This character named Rouck was more special than the normal souls trapped in the ink. He was one of the souls that grew into the embodiment of the ink curse, which had more power over the ink. Still not as much as the sovereign demon, Bendy himself, as per the canon of the world regarding the events of the studio, but Rouck was the one to not only infect Corr, but he also took him over and reshaped him from a human into an ink creature. A toon demon as Rouck had chosen his own body to be, and he formed a bond from this with Corr. Thus, they didn't have a choice if they actually wanted to keep the curse.

Even though Rouck had forced Corr into a body and life he never thought would happen, and they regarded him as a problem that needed to be expelled, they ended up welcoming him once he'd made an ink bond, as Bendy called it, with Corr. This bond allowed Rouck to take on some of Corr's attributes, such as compassion and understanding, thus Rouck became less of something to get rid of, as he grew more into something Corr could talk to and not be as scared of.

The shadow with Monica was talked to by Bendy soon after it latched onto the woman, and he was assured it wouldn't be a problem if she allowed it to express itself now and then. Why was it a curse though if it wasn't a danger? Well, it wasn't a gift either, but it did open doors in one's mind about the studio, which held horrible past events that anyone who wasn't Henry shouldn't know. Whether the shadow encouraged Monica to inspect these doors or not, they were there, and it was her choice to take a look.

Bendy was brought out of his train of thought when he suddenly heard a strange noise and looked around to find what it was coming from. There was nothing out of the ordinary from what he could see, the streets just as dark and mostly empty, lit by the streetlights and shop lights. It sounded like something was ripped, and in the distance. All of a sudden, he felt peculiarly alone. There were no people walking around, no cars driving along the roads. Only the tiny electrical hum of the streetlights and traffic lights. Bendy paused in his aimless stroll on the sidewalk and looked around at the stillness, wondering why everything was so quiet. He started to feel a little wary. It started to feel like there was something there. Something unfamiliar. Something dangerous...

He then looked up at the streetlights and noticed that they all were on the green light. It wasn't really a significant thing to note, but the longer he watched the lights, standing there for a few minutes, the lights didn't change. Bendy had thought that streetlights usually changed directions even if there were no cars. Like there were motion sensors that if they picked up even a person coming one way, they would change the lights for said person to cross the road in that direction. But then the lights all flicked to yellow at the same time. And they didn't linger for only a few seconds like they were supposed to. Bendy furrowed his brow lines. The unfamiliar feeling was more noticeable. He looked around to try and see if there was anything nearby, still not seeing anything different. Even the wind was still. Why was he getting more wary? Bendy never felt nervous of anything. There were only a few things he was repelled by, that being acetone, the ink eater, and holy energy. None of those had the same feeling as whatever was putting the little demon on edge. Why was it so vacant here? Why was he getting worried? He'd been alone before and his wariness was never riled. Aforementioned, there was next to nothing that unnerved him.

The streetlights then flicked to red, again all at once, all along the road. They didn't change slowly, as though time was moving at a crawl, though. But it was like they were acting like a warning system. A warning for what? That strange feeling grew stronger in Bendy. He flicked his hands with a watchful gaze, like trying to shake something off, and finally decided to move again, deciding to head back home with Henry. He paused again when he saw a sudden flash of something purple streak across the sky. It was just as silent as his surroundings, but it was like something only briefly glimpsed by the light refracting off of it. The ink demon looked around to try and find what it was. His unease grew more, like some energy was building up.

"... Hello?" He asked to the still air. The streetlights remained red, like something was around. Then the shop lights turned red... Bendy noticed this and wore a confused look. That didn't normally happen ever. The crimson glow was ominous. The little imp opted to continue on to go home, trying to ignore the strange illuminations. When he turned the corner, the lights turned purple. Even more strange. Normally Bendy would only be confused at this, but there was something about the air that was making him slowly lose his nerve. Something then streaked in front of his view again, making Bendy blink and try to follow it, this time catching that whatever it was seemed to contour something. Streamline lines going along a body. "... Is something there?" He called again. He was starting to get more wary of the fact that he was getting nervous in the first place. "I gotta get home..."

The little imp wore a nervous expression as he paced home, having his brow lines slanted back as he gazed around, still hearing nothing but his own light footsteps. Even his acute hearing wasn't receiving any sounds of normal nightly ambience. He was left alone for a moment along the walk, up until he reached the park that sat at the corner of a T-junction, which had a few lamps posted around to offer incandescent light in case anyone chose to loiter there during the night. Bendy came beside the park as his feeling of unease slowly settled, but only for a moment. Something suddenly flew at him, the same purple streak, to make the demon jump in surprise. The body disappeared as a heavy gust plowed into him, managing to force him to fall back with a grunt. What was that!? Bendy shuddered at the surge of a powerful energy, and quickly got up to run to the park. He made it, and hid under the platform, gripping a leg pole with a look of slight panic. He still couldn't see or hear anything that shouldn't be there. Except when he looked up to the sky. There was something there besides the stars. It was like a vortex, a purple haze swirling in the dark sky with lightning streaks coursing around inside of it, like a wormhole in the sky. It felt... Wrong, for that to be there...

Bendy then froze as he felt a sudden gust blow against his back. That powerful feeling was right there, and it was fast eating his nerve away. He slowly turned his head to look back and jumped with a yelp at the sight of a large head glaring at him. The eyes were large and triangular, casting a leer practically radiating malice across a piercing gold stare. The pupils were narrow slits, indicative of a demonic creature. It just stared gravely as Bendy slowly stepped backwards to put distance between himself and this... Thing. Bendy was getting more unnerved as he stared back at the cold dire eyes, and as soon as he was paced away from the platform, the creature pulled itself up to reveal itself to be incredibly large. It had a pitch black body with purple lines glowing along its form, which looked like a cross between a dragon and an airplane. There were also large red scars torn into its body, claw wounds on its neck, belly, and left eye, bite marks on its wings, a piece ripped out of its right ear, and baring a glowing purple triangle on its chest. As for limbs, it only had two large forearms, oval shaped tipped with three large sharp claws, and it hovered from the ground without any obvious source of powered flight. It wasn't beating its wings, wasn't applying any kind of force against the ground, and it didn't have back legs. In place of back legs were what looked like wide fins or rudders. The creature was perfectly aerodynamic, as it slowly glided around the platform and inspected the small demon, its eyes and Bendy's locked with each other.

Bendy couldn't help but shudder while he watched the giant creature, it must have been close to one hundred feet long! But the most daunting thing about it was the energy it was emanating. It was so powerful. So immensely powerful and foreign... He was torn between the instinct to run, and the fear to remain still, but soon the giant monster made up his mind for him by way of suddenly widening its gaping mouth, ridged with triangular teeth like a shark, and snapped its jaws at Bendy with a heavy slam, the force alone sending him stumbling down onto his back. Bendy couldn't stop the whimper from being elicited as the creature growled deathly at him, such a menacing, oppressing sound, the mouth being ajar enough to look like a sinister smile. The piercing golden eyes told him to run...

And run he did. Bendy scrambled to his feet as the monster's jaws snapped at him again, and he took off into the neighborhood, hoping to hide among the houses. He was just as black as it was, maybe he could blend in with the dark surfaces. Bendy was still quite fast being a demon, but the large creature that stalked after him practically breathed down his non-existent neck. He then suddenly tripped from his shaky legs when the dragon let out a strident horrible roar that thundered throughout the air. Bendy was so confused at his panic. He'd been around creatures as atrocious as his own hell form, but they hardly so much as made him pause. This thing was making him run for his life, like he was some mortal... Speaking of mortals, why wasn't there anyone else on the streets? Sure this monster would have flushed out people or made house lights flick on, but... Nothing of the sort. Even the vehicles were undisturbed. Nevermind, what needed the most attention was how close the dragon was. Bendy's back was raked by the sharp teeth of the dragon, forcing an agonized shriek to tear from his voice. It hurt about as bad as the ink eater's bite... But this time the burn didn't quell. It made his inky body shudder, and he got to his feet again to keep running.

Until the ground beneath his feet suddenly erupted violently as the monster punched the asphalt in, making a large crater and causing Bendy to get flung to the ground again with a strident cry. He looked back up at the giant creature with a fearful gaze, whimpering at the merciless throaty rumble. A murderous and hungry growl... He couldn't keep on the ground if he was going to have any chance to get away, thus he growled as he summoned a wave of ink spikes to shoot up and impale the dragon. To his horror though, the spikes didn't pierce its body... Regardless, he took the pause to get back to his feet and keep running, making more ink rise to try and slow the creature down, which... Wasn't working... Though the monster allowed Bendy to turn into his devil form, his ink dribbling and becoming viscous as his form grew. His stance turned more akin to a raptor running as his limbs grew more stout and his long tail whipping behind him. He also grew his wings out, a red vaporous energy spanning between the fingers to form a membrane, and he took to the air.

He didn't even get very high off the ground before the wide jaws of the dragon snapped at his back, making him lose balance with a shriek and fall back to the ground, but he caught himself and got back up. Bendy hastily flew away towards the open city sky, being followed by the thunderous roar of the dragon that gave chase. It caught up to him so easily! Even if he tried swerving to dodge the deadly teeth, the dragon couldn't be shaken off. Nor could it even be kept behind the frantic ink demon. Was this what it felt like to be prey? To be chased so ravenously by something far more powerful than yourself? How ironic... But Bendy knew he wasn't the strongest demon out there either, there was Satan himself after all. But... This monster... Felt even far more dire than that... Than all of Hell even! And maybe even Heaven too... A strident yowl suddenly tore from his voice as he felt his tail painfully severed, making his wings beat out of time and he dropped from the air a short distance.

The monster curled around and flew at him with a gaping mouth and a deathly roar. Bendy could only scream as he was crushed in the jaws of the jet-like dragon. He woke up with a snarl, jerking upright and panting heavily. He was in his devil form as he found himself outside Henry's house. He missed the smaller yelp as a human stumbled back from his sudden movement, his red eyes wide and ink dribbling a bit with trepidation.

"Bendy!" Henry called, voice full of worry, as he shakily got to his feet. "Bendy! Hey!" Bendy just sat and stared into nothing for a moment, before blinking rapidly at the voice as his mind finally focused, and looked down at the haggard old man. Why did he look so worn out? And why were they outside? "Are you okay, Bendy? I couldn't get you to wake up, and you kept thrashing and growling."

"...... I was...?" The large demon's normally smooth voice was still shaky, and Henry could feel clear as crystal that this fear was not in Bendy's usual range of emotions.

"I've never felt you afraid of anything... What happened, Bendy?" Henry frowned with deep concern as he paced closer and rested his hands on the large demon's arm, hoping to help calm him down. It was really bad for them to be in front of the house, where other people could see the ink devil for the first time. They'd most likely become panicked the instant they saw him. And it was early morning too, the sun just peeking over the horizon.

Bendy's eyes seemed more empty than normal as he reviewed the images of what he'd just dreamed. "...... Monster... I was being... Chased, by a monster..." He looked at the ground as his intact tail lay limp across the pavement, where it would normally be held up and swaying around. Henry only was more concerned hearing that such a potent and confident demon as Bendy was shaken by another monster. It may have been helped by the fact that dreams tended to amplify the feeling of dread from nightmares, but... Well, he didn't think demons even could have nightmares. The old man just moved to climb up onto Bendy's lap, and wrapped his arms around the other's broad chest.

"Steady, Bendy... It's alright." He kept frowning as he felt the demon's chest expand and deflate in time with his own breathing, which was slowly decreasing in speed, and his heartbeat slowly settle down. Of course, since Bendy didn't actually have lungs, his movements of said muscles only mirrored Henry's. Henry's breathing was a bit hasty and his heartbeat was pounding. Bendy stayed still as he steadily calmed down, feeling Henry rest his head against his chest. Henry didn't care of the ink that stained him, he just focused on sending calming vibes through to his soul-bound demon. Eventually Bendy's gleaming red eyes wore a more relaxed gaze, but he still frowned with unease, and soon found the will to lift a hand and wrap it around Henry to hold him close. The images of the jet-like dragon flashed in his mind, snapping its jaws at him, and its thunderous roar sending a mild shudder throughout his body, and his claws tightened a bit around the human's smaller body, to which Henry stroked his hands along Bendy's sides in a calming manner. "Easy, bud... Easy..." The tiny whimper from the large demon made Henry's heart clench. He'd never heard that sound from Bendy in such a dominated tone, and it was oddly sad...

Eventually Bendy was back to normal from the comforting, but interestingly enough, there still weren't any other people going around. It was just him and Henry... They didn't notice yet though, while Henry pulled away from the demon with a concerned look. "... Thanks, Henry..." Bendy gave a grateful smile, which Henry returned as he patted his chest.

"You're welcome, bud... Now, how about you get back to your toon body before anyone sees you?"

Bendy nodded slowly as Henry got off from his lap, and got up to his feet, before blinking in wonder and looking around at the neighborhood. "... Where is everyone anyway? Shouldn't people be getting up to go to work?"

"I dunno." Henry looked around as well, growing a little confused when the roads were empty. It wasn't like people would have heard Bendy's commotion and were scared to come out, even if they were there'd probably be a bunch of police around by now. That was just what people do when they see something scary. They call the cops. Not that it would have done much, but still. "Even if it's early morning, people still go to work before the sun even comes up..." Henry looked up at the sky and furrowed his brows at a strange sight. "... What's that?"

Bendy glanced down at the man before looking up at the sky, wearing a stunned look at the sight of that same purple vortex. It was dark around it, and looked like a hole through the space for something to invade. Bendy now knew what invaded... A sudden low growl made the two freeze up, the ink demon giving another whimper before looking around at what the growl came from, finding the same giant monster hovering over Henry's house. Henry directed his eyes to what Bendy was staring at and looked quite nervous at the sight as well. The thing was huge! And it released a strident snarl at them to rile their fear. It worked, as Bendy swiftly picked up Henry before turning tail to run, only to acknowledge that the giant dragon was nigh impossible to shake off as it glided after them easily. Bendy opted to open his wings and take to the air, snarling in surprise when the other monster soared past him, ramming him with a strong gust like the drag from a large boat, causing the ink demon to tumble in the air briefly before regaining his bearings. He held Henry close to his chest to try and protect him, but that might not be effective if this thing continued to harass them.

Bendy looked back to see where the dragon was, his inky heart seizing up when the deadly jaws were closing in on them. He dodged aside just as they slammed shut, and time seemed to slow to a crawl as the monster's piercing golden eye turned towards Henry, the slit pupil boring into his soul and burning into his psyche. Henry could only stare at the vile creature's eye that was both captivating and haunting, holding such depth that showed just how evil this thing was. Time then returned as the monster's broad wing bashed into Bendy with enough force to damn near split him in half, eliciting a horrible shriek from the ink demon as he fell from the sky, dropping the old man in his claws. Henry screamed as they dropped to the ground, but Bendy had just enough stunned control to put himself between the human and the hard ground. Henry still got his body shocked as they hit the pavement, Bendy's body was only so cushiony, especially when he was tensed so much like this. "B-Bendy...!" Henry choked out as he tried to move. As he knew, Bendy wouldn't be hurt just by colliding with the ground, but he was hurt by contact with that jet plane dragon. Just what was that thing made of? Bendy growled as he tried to get up, trying to pull his torso back together, but before they could even try further to get up, a loud snarl came from the dragon who was dive-bombing for them, only to plow a large forearm into the ground with cratering force, destroying them both.

The house where Bendy woke up from was destroyed from where he lay still in his devil form, like a meteorite had crash landed there and it was drenched in ink. He was buried in the rubble as he tried to thrash and get free to run from some unseen threat. This violent movement only rattled the unstable structure and caused more to collapse on him, but he was slowly digging his way out, unhindered by what would have pained any other creature. His mind was bleary and dazed, but he started to hear someone calling his name. This slowly allowed the demon's conscious to become more aware and his thrashing died down, his breathing quick and panicked, but he was trying to concentrate. "Bendy! Bendy, come on, bud, answer me! Are you okay!?" The voice sounded like Henry. Was... Was he really alive? What was going on!? "Bendy! Please, come out!" Bendy stared at the wreckage around him distantly. He was okay? Granted he destroyed a house somehow, but... Had that been a dream? Why was being killed terrifying him so much? "Come on, Bendy, I know you can get out of this! Please, get out here! Tell me you're okay!" Henry sounded really worried. Bendy remained still for a moment longer, and soon found the shaky will to push the debris up and continue trying to dig his way out. He pushed broken walls and floor and furniture aside as he slowly came closer to breaking the mound of rubble, and was soon met with the open air. Also, why did that take so long for him to get out? He was nearly as big as these houses, he should have been able to get out pretty easily even if all the wreckage was weighed down on him. It was like he was trying to dig out from the wreckage of a large mansion rather than a normal two-story house.

"Bendy!" Henry cried as he ran over and looked the larger demon over. "Are you alright?" He frowned seeing bits and chunks of the house sticking out of Bendy's inky body, only getting a blank gaze from those gleaming red eyes. "Bendy? Bendy, talk to me, please." He tried to hold his hands to the demon's face to try and calm him down, only to recoil when the large devil snorted like he was startled as he jerked back, watching Henry in what the man assumed was disbelief. "Bendy. Hey, easy. You're alright." He tried to keep his voice level. "Calm down. I'm right here, Bendy..." Bendy only stared at him with scared breathing, acknowledging that Henry had his hands up to show he was trying to settle him down. Henry stepped closer slowly, like approaching a wary animal that had no trust in anything. Bendy was no animal, but this state of mind was instinctual regardless what you were. Henry paused when he got a low growl from the demon, before quickly stumbling back when Bendy suddenly slashed his claws at the man, like he saw something other than what his eyes were seeing. "Bendy!" He cried, shuddering at the snarl Bendy gave him with a dangerous glare. The ink drenching the house's rubble reminded Henry of when he was being hunted by the large demon, granted not in this form, but a deadly creature all the same. Bendy slammed his claws down into the ground as he was still stuck halfway out from the wreckage, making Henry stumble back further. "Hey, hey! Bendy! Easy, bud, it's just me! It's Henry, remember?" He held his hands up to try to placate the ink demon, frowning at the nervous growling. "It's alright..."

"...... Henry...?" Bendy spoke uneasily, his voice being more rough and a little garbled. His ink was viscous and running down his form with stress, and he was even shaking minorly.

"Yeah, it's me, bud. It's just me..." Henry started to slowly inch closer again, keeping his hands up to show he meant no harm, wasn't trying to do anything funny. "Just take it easy, Bendy... We're okay here..." He winced at the low growl he got, hoping he wasn't saying anything to trigger something. "Easy..." Bendy tenuously allowed him to get close, keeping his teeth bared and a wary gaze on him, like he suddenly didn't trust that things really were okay. Henry slowly paced close enough to cup his hands against the demon's cheeks, flinching a bit at a quiet snarl. "Easy, bud... Settle down..." Bendy moved his arms slowly with his claws dug into the ground, but only to pull himself from the debris of the ruined house. He pulled his legs out with chunks of wood and drywall stuck in him all over, but he did nothing to remove them, and his tail was fished out after. Henry kept Bendy's face held in his hands to keep him grounded and aware that he wasn't alone. But what kept Bendy worried was the fact that... There still wasn't anyone else around... It was about midday by now, but even if most people were at work, there'd still be other people here and all this noise surely would have attracted some attention. So where the hell was everyone!?

Bendy's ink continued to dribble down his body as he stayed still, slowly allowing himself to settle down as Henry willed calm vibes to him. But... He almost didn't want to be calm now. What if that monster came back again? Did Henry remember what happened? He flinched a bit when he felt Henry starting to pull the debris chunks from his body, pieces of wood and plywood from his head, and bits of wall and furniture from his body. It was a little easier since his body was softer and more malleable than normal, but Henry was careful not to startle the nervous demon. "... Henry... Where is everyone...?"

Henry looked over at him in wonder, before looking around with a frown. "I dunno..." This made Bendy groan with more trepidation. He didn't even care if he was seen and scared people, he just wanted to know where people were, if they even existed now. Henry just watched with worry for a moment, and got back to removing the shards of house materials, wood, drywall, glass, and the like. Eventually Henry got as much junk out of Bendy's inky body as he could find, even along his tail, which would twitch and jerk now and then like that of a jumpy creature. What got Bendy so scared? What he recalled was the demon snarling as he was flying around erratically, and then he dropped from the sky and crashed into this house. He'd never seen the ink demon act like this. It was like something was tormenting his mind, but why so out of the blue?

"... Henry..." Bendy spoke lowly, getting the man to hum at him in wonder. "I need to find out why there's no one around..." He pushed himself up, still shaken by being killed again by that dragon monster, but if that was a dream, he needed affirmation if this too might be a dream or not.

"You sure you're alright to move around? You're still kinda shaky from what I can tell." Henry gave a concerned look at the ink demon, resting a hand on his inky arm, which had only pulled itself together a small bit.

Bendy nodded, getting to his feet and growing his wings out. "I can't risk not knowing if this is real or not." Without waiting for a reply, he leapt up to fly away, leaving Henry by himself to watch him go off. Bendy flew over the city trying to find any people, any form of life... He couldn't find anything... He began to panic again. The roads should be bustling with people and traffic! Bendy's ink started dribbling again as he'd never been so concerned about an empty city, and that was what scared him more than anything about this. This was wrong. He landed at the shops and buildings to look in and see if there was anyone, anything that wasn't an inanimate object. There was no one... The only indication that time hadn't stopped was the streetlights that flicked to different colors, their normal colors. Except... When they all went to glow purple... All three to five bulbs gleamed purple, on all the streetlights. Bendy shook at that. The lights did that before when he first encountered the jet plane dragon, maybe that meant... No... No no no! He had to get away. There was no way he could even try to fight back, that thing was just too powerful, even his ink spikes did nothing to it. Didn't puncture its flesh, didn't hurt it, didn't even faze it! If anything it almost looked amused from the look he saw on its face when he tried... He jumped up back into the air to fly away, to where, he didn't know or care, just out away from the open. And he didn't want to see Henry die again either, so he couldn't go back home. He flew as fast as he could, not feeling safe at all, and his fear was only solidified when he looked up and saw that dark purple vortex again. What did that mean? Sure it looked like a wormhole, but... Did that really mean that something was here that shouldn't be here? Like a break in space that something from somewhere else used to invade this place? He didn't get far in his retreat as he jerked at a sudden snarl from behind. He didn't want to look back, but if he didn't, he wouldn't know where to dodge to. He looked back, only to see the same giant dragon with its mouth agape, a sinister glowing purple sphere in its mouth, which was then shot at him. Bendy screamed as he tried to veer away, but the sphere shot ahead of his trajectory and hit him square in the back, engulfing him in some incinerating energy that felt like he was being completely obliterated, body and soul.

Henry was sleeping in his bed with a deeply troubled expression, before suddenly jerking awake with a yelp and cold sweat, and then curled into himself with a pained groan. He breathed quick and ragged as his heart pounded in his chest, it felt like it was about to explode. But then he gave a violent tremble when a sudden strident, bloodcurdling screech blasted through the house, adrenaline and fear made him instantly weak, and he held his head to muffle the scream, to no avail. And in the basement where the prototype Bendy slept, Beta jumped up with a startled yelp at the scream, splashing ink out from the pool and onto the tarp underneath. He glanced upward before promptly sinking into the ink with a panicked whine. The first thing Henry noticed when he took in the surroundings was a thick dark aura of shadowy veins whipping about on every surface, and ink pouring all around... Bendy... Henry got out of bed quickly to get to the ink demon, who was downstairs sleeping on the couch, but of course he couldn't balance well at all, what with standing up too fast and the adrenaline making his blood feel so thin, he more-so stumbled across the walls and gripped the railing as he carefully made his way downstairs. Corr and Rouck were up in the attic sleeping on the couches, but were awakened with heavy alarm at Bendy's strident wail, and they rushed down the stairs after the old man, who they found standing stock still at the sight of a small figure on the couch so concealed with dark energy and ink raining all around him, it was hard to see anything of the little demon aside from two brightly glowing red eyes. They all shuddered fearfully at Bendy's disturbing noises, he was breathing erratically as the sound of his heartbeat pounded with rattling percussion throughout the walls, his breaths coming and going in a demonic snarl in and out, and in the hyperventilating rhythm, it felt extremely unsafe to be this close to him.

Bendy's eyes were wide and gleaming crimson as they were neither his toon eyes or his devil eyes, but bore almost human-like irises, which were shrunken in panic, his teeth had become sharp and clenched tightly, his hands were raking claws, and his feet were those of his devil form's talons. He sounded like a deranged rabid creature as he trembled uncontrollably. The couch he slept on had large gashes across the fabric, it was a wonder he even stayed on the couch. Henry and everything was quickly being drenched in ink as Bendy sat curled up on himself, gripping his claws into his head as the ink of his body also dribbled and bled loosely. Henry couldn't even keep on his feet from the weakness of his body, being forced to kneel to his hands and knees, while the other two with him clung to the old man insecurely.

"H-H-Hen-nry!" Corr cried, tears flowing down his cheeks. "W-W-Wh-What's W-Wr-Wrong with h-h-him!?"

Henry couldn't answer as his own breathing was fast and harsh, and his chest burned with how heavily his heart was pulsing, making him grimace in pain. Why was Bendy so terrified? The strong energy radiating this fear was infectious. Even Rouck was left petrified as he and Corr clung to Henry's legs, hiding their eyes from Bendy's horrifying state. The panic wouldn't cease even when a few minutes passed, and the aura remained dark and unbridled, ink was layered all over everything, which no doubt was going to screw up the electronics of the house, but that was digressed for now. Right now, Henry absolutely had to calm Bendy down, or the aura might just flood the whole house with ink. "B... B-Bendy!" He choked out between his heavy breaths, coughing at the strong stench of the ink that was fast building up in the room. Bendy had no awareness of Henry's voice, nor did he notice the man trying to crawl towards him. Henry had to get the demon's attention though before he got too close, or he might end up with a slash to the face that would more than likely bash his head clean off his shoulders... "Bendy! B-Bendy!" He coughed harshly as he was drenched in ink, moving a hand to try and keep any of it from getting in his eyes or mouth. The last thing he needed was to be infected by the stuff.

Henry couldn't take this hyperventilating much longer, since unlike Bendy, who didn't have to worry about oxygen intake, Henry's lungs weren't getting enough oxygen and getting far more than enough fumes of the ink. "B-Bendy! Please! C-Calm down! Bendy!" Henry had to bow over more as his arms gave out, quickly becoming oxygen deficient, to which he moved his shirt up to cover his mouth and nose to try and block out the smell of the ink. Bendy still wasn't looking much calmer by the intensity of his aura and his trembling, but... His breathing had begun to slow a bit. Still snarling in and out, and his claws still dug into his head, eyes still not normal and gleaming crimson, teeth still sharp, but it seemed his talons were finally retracted. "Bendy! Bendy, p-please, listen to me! Can't you h-hear me!?" Henry dared to move in closer, going between the couch and the table and trying to prop himself up onto the table, grimacing in pain at his heart that wouldn't stop hammering against his ribs. God, it hurt like hell. Henry still hadn't become aware to the demon's attention, but which Rouck decided to try getting closer and see if he could get Bendy's attention, despite being scared of the panicked ink demon.

"H-Hey, Bendy! You th-there, bud? H-Hello?" He got on the couch, growing more unnerved at Bendy's unfocused stare. "Bendy?" He blinked when he finally got the grotesque eyes to twitch up at him, Bendy having heavy tears flowing from his eyes and dripping over his teeth. The demon looked glued to the couch with the ink stringing from him to the surface, and even looked like his own head was melted to his collar. His legs were curled up defensively, and he glared at Rouck directly in front of him. "Hey... Y-You alright?" Bendy suddenly snarled aggressively at him to back off, the ink blowing away from his mouth in strings baring the sharp needle-like teeth, which Rouck jumped with a panicked yelp and scrambled away. Getting too close wasn't a good idea. "Nope! Not alright!"

Henry watched the curse demon go back behind him nervously before looking back at Bendy, wiping the ink from his face. The raining ink was building up more and more as the aura remained, the black liquid now starting to flow down the stairs and making the floor slick and gross-feeling. "Bendy... Please, come on! Can you hear me!? Bendy!" He still wasn't getting a response. He didn't want to provoke the demon to attack him or either of the two behind him, nor anything else. He just decided to bow his head and try to steady his own breathing, keeping his shirt over his mouth and nose to stop breathing the ink fumes so much. He was so light-headed by now he could hardly even remain attentive, but he had to. He was the only one able to quell the ink demon in this situation. He took deep breaths that were still demandingly fast, but fought to steady them. It started to work. He was still breathing rather hastily, but he'd gotten them to keep a steady rhythm, which Bendy mirrored. The demon was still growling and snarling with each breath in and breath out, but it was beginning to slow and lessen in volume. The heartbeat then started to slowly decrease its pace, the walls soon no longer vibrating with the heavy pounding. The four stayed stock still as Henry worked to settle his own panic, slowly calming his breathing and slowly hearing his heartbeat further decrease its erratic rate. Bendy's trembling was slowly settling as well, soon able to keep his limbs relatively still. Eventually the glow in Bendy's eyes dimmed some and the aura lightened up just a tad, but ink was still raining pretty heavily from the aura. The shadowy veins still swam around the surfaces in an almost illusory effect, making it look like everything was moving, though that had settle too back to its subtle motion. "Bendy... Hey, can you hear me?" Henry called as he looked up at Bendy blearily, to which he finally got a reaction by way of Bendy's eyes slowly  gliding over to look at him with a tentative and partially there gaze. His claws still hadn't pulled away from his head as he was still very tense, but at least Henry finally managed to elicit this response. Bendy's eyes made the man shudder uneasily, but he had to press on. He still didn't dare getting closer just yet though.

Bendy stared at Henry for a long while, slowly registering that he was awake now. His snarling ragged breathing had died down to low growling breaths, and he was no longer shuddering, but he kept his defensive posture. Henry decided to slowly inch closer when he felt that Bendy wasn't as volatile, keeping a watchful eye on the demon's movements. Bendy didn't move as the man's hand reached over slowly. "Bendy? It's okay, Bendy... It's alright... I'm right here... Just, settle down, okay?" He tried to keep his voice level so as not to startle the demon. The ink was built up a few inches all across the flooring by now, which made the structure creak and groan lowly at the weight. Henry hoped to god the house wouldn't collapse with all this ink, probably throughout the entire structure, but he had to get Bendy to calm down or the ink would get to be too much. "Easy, bud..." He paused when Bendy growled louder at him. "It's okay, Bendy... It's just me..." His hand retreated when Bendy growled even louder, his breath quickening again, and held up his hands placatingly. "Easy, easy... You're alright..."

The ink demon wasn't convinced so easily, his gaze still telling them he wasn't fully there yet, but at least he was responding. When his growling lowered again after a few minutes, Henry tried again to reach over to him. He watched the man's hand warily as it slowly drifted to his chest, and let out a light snarl as he felt the contact. "Steady..." Henry soothed, locking eyes with the ink demon. Bendy's breathing had faded from raspy growling to tense hissing, like a king cobra, his breathing slowly calming more at Henry's touch. The percussive heartbeat was now a dull thumping, and the ink wasn't raining as heavily. Bendy kept his eyes locked with Henry's as the man weakly got up to sit on the couch, growling warily as the man's hand moved to his shoulder. "It's okay... We're not gonna do anything to you..." Corr and Rouck stuck close to Henry as they watched him soothe Bendy, Corr crying meekly as Rouck held an arm around him, he being hugged by the small toon as he kept his other arm wrapped around Henry's leg. Henry slowly moved his hand to Bendy's head and stroked his cheek with a careful touch, getting another low growl from the demon. "Easy..." Good thing Henry was so patient, despite being scared of Bendy's terrified state of mind. Who knew that him being terrified could be more scary than him doing anything aggressive consciously? Well, this was a different kind of scary, one they had to approach very carefully. Bendy seemed to appreciate the gentle interactions, slowly settling more at the petting to his head. His body even looked to slack just a bit, albeit still viscous and dribbling loosely.

At this sign of calming down, Henry slowly moved his hands to wrap around Bendy, going slow when he got more growls, but Bendy still didn't make any aggressive or startled moves. Henry's hands easily dug under Bendy's back and pulled him closer, uttering soothing assurances as he set the demon in his lap. The imp's viscous body felt so elastic and loose, it was a wonder he was still holding his shape. His white face was blurred and misshapen from the black ink bleeding down, but the ink was slowly starting to regain its proper form. Henry wiped the ink from his own face as he held Bendy cradled in his arms, moving a hand to rub his head comfortingly. Bendy's defensive noises were dying down as he slowly settled from the gentle touches, but he still kept his glowing eyes on Henry's face, which the glow was steadily dulling out too. The aura slowly lightened more as he further calmed down, eventually the aura finally ceased raining ink, but there were still inches of the stuff sitting all across the floors. Bendy would have to be the one to clean it all up, but hopefully the house would hold for just a while longer.

Henry soon moved his hand to grab at Bendy's wrist gently to try and pry his claws from his head, rubbing the demon's hand to try and get it to loosen, which it soon did, and the claws were pulled from Bendy's head. Henry went to ease the other hand out of place, doing the same motion of rubbing Bendy's hand to ease the tension, and soon had the crescent-shaped head free. Bendy's ink continued to slowly return to his proper form, and soon the claws retracted as Henry held Bendy's hands curled up to his chest. The poor demon looked like a traumatized child, to which Corr came closer and tried to help with calming Bendy down, rubbing his arm gently and still having tears in his eyes. He was so worried for whom he viewed as his brother, cowering down a bit when he got the demon's grotesque eyes turned on him. They looked so lost and nervous, a gaze he'd never seen the demon bare. It was saddening when Bendy was normally so assertive and confident. This was almost like Bendy was entirely different. They'd seen Bendy upset before, but not like this...

Eventually, finally, Bendy's features faded back to what they normally sported, his teeth a grill of straight lines, his eyes back to solid black pie-cut ovals, and his ink stably held together, save for the ink that he bled stringing from his body over Henry's arms and all over the couch. The aura was no longer as dark, and was even a smaller circumference. The four were dead silent all the while as Bendy painfully slowly recovered from his terror, and which the little imp clung to Henry's ink soaked shirt for security, having his arm being rubbed gently by the old man. "...... You feeling better, Bendy?" Henry asked softly, getting no response for a moment.

"...... I dunno......" Bendy answered a minute later, indeed sounding unsure if he really was. He didn't know why that dream shook him so badly, normally he'd be able to bounce back from bad dreams, if any he ever had, but this one... This was something unexplainable... Henry looked around at the ink layering everything, frowning with worry hoping anything still worked when Bendy got it all picked up. He decided to wait until the aura was gone to bring it to Bendy's attention.

About ten minutes passed until Bendy's aura was completely dissipated, the heartbeat fallen silent, and the little demon now just rested in Henry's arms, looking quite haggard. Henry also wore an exhausted expression as he petted Bendy for the whole while to keep him calm. Corr took to sitting on the couch at Bendy's head, petting the surface between the horns. He felt so bad for Bendy, having no idea how severe his nightmare was, or why it happened out of nowhere. In any case, it was over now, and now they only had to worry about the ink. "... Bendy?" Henry addressed, getting a weary hum in response. "I know you're tired, but do you think you can get all this ink out of here? Before the house collapses?"

"... Mmm... Yeah..." He groggily was lifted from the man's lap and onto the floor, where he paced to the middle of the room and knelt with his hands in the layer of ink, getting to work absorbing the ink back into his body. There was no way he could just gather it up into a mass like snow, and where would he put it all anyway? The ink flowed to Bendy like it was draining into him, even the ink clung to the ceiling and walls and furniture slicked off of the surfaces and sucked up into the demon's body. It didn't seem to add to his overall mass though, but he stayed in that position for a few minutes as he magnetized the ink to himself, even getting it off of Henry, down from upstairs, from the attic, up from the basement, and even from the outside of the house. Seemed his aura had completely engulfed the whole house, but soon enough there was no more stray black liquid. Of course he was careful to leave the ink in the pool down in the basement alone, that was for Beta after all. There was no longer so much as any staining on anything, no ink trapped inside anything, so electronics should still function just fine.

Henry then paced over and knelt beside Bendy, moving a hand to rub his back easily with a sympathetic smile. "Thank you, Bendy..."

"...... I'm sorry... For all the ink... And for uh, ruining the couch..." His voice was still sullen as he looked over at the mangled cushions.

"... It's okay, Bendy... We'll get some new ones... I just hope you feel better soon enough..."

"... Me too, Henry..." He shuddered as his memory flashed the image of the jet plane dragon, grimacing with unease, but he remained steady from Henry stroking his back.

"Well uh..." Rouck spoke up, rubbing the back of his head. "This sure was a sticky situation, huh?" He smirked sheepishly, trying to lighten the mood. He only got deadpan looks. "What? Things are okay now, so there's no need to be so doom and gloom anymore, right?"

Henry just sighed with a shake of his head, and looked back at Bendy. "What do you say we make some breakfast, and we can take it outside?"