#for the square diamond ones kinda wanna do more square ones and either connect them all

[salamispots]

first 3 rug hooking things I did haha

[aura-creed]

Bendy and Boris along with their pals Cuphead and Mugman are searching for the long fabled Ink Machine, a machine rumored to be the only known cure for ink illness. Bendy with the illness, finding his days numbered, goes off in search of the missing machine pieces. One piece in particular is caught in a certain jesters cage... -Read here under ‘read more’, or view it on AO3!

Past a curtain of willows, away from the winding road, a set of doors stood tall above the brine of the bog. There were no structures to accompany such a door, no windows or walls to act as a guardian to. Just a dripping, salt-streaked bottom rim and carved decals in varying shades of purple. The centerpiece was the same in both doors -- bars shaped to mark each suite of the cards. Around the edges they seemed to be painted black, but directly behind them the color darkened, almost as if there was something more than just paint there. The decorative wooden slabs were joined by a gray stone glyph in the middle, out of place with the markings on the rest of the door. Squared edges held a carved inner circle with a clown as its centerpiece. The fool's hat was two-pronged with bells on either end, but they did nothing to detract from the hollow eyes or the spiked teeth that eclipsed the span of their grin... Cuphead wasn’t sure if it was from the depiction of the clown itself or the sudden chill in the air that made him shiver as he adjusted his long coat to compensate. He didn't remember it being so cold a moment ago. “Kinda creepy.” His brother Mugman nodded in agreement as he pulled his scarf up to his chin, his breath visible in the frigid air. “Oi! You guys find it?” They turned to see Bendy and his brother Boris trudging through the bog to reach them. Cuphead stifled a laugh as he watched the short demon, waist deep in water, twist his whole body just to get his legs to push through the muck. Bendy’s eyes narrowed as he turned to Cuphead. “There something you wanna say, tea cup?” His tail flicked above the water, a warning if Cuphead ever saw one. He snorted, not even caught off guard by the insult as he looked to Bendy. “C-Coming up short there?” Boris had to quickly grab his brother before he even tried to jump at him and Cups howled with laughter. The wolf sighed. “Ya know Bendy, I can just carry you over this…” They’d been walking for a good hour in the grime and Bendy had been the slowest out of all of them due to circumstances outside of his control. A lot of time had been wasted due to the demon’s own stubbornness and pride in the matter. “I’ve already told you bro, I’m fine.” He crossed his arms, looking to Boris, annoyed that his younger brother kept asking. “I’ve gotten through this just fine so far. S’not like the water’s that deep.” Boris sighed, ears falling back. “Yeah… I figured you were going to say that.” Again. He didn’t know why he bothered. He adjusted his pack, eyes going towards the purple door and his ears perked right back up. “Oh! It looks like you guys did find it!” Bendy turned to the doors as well, giving out a low whistle. “This thing?” His gaze turned to the glyph and he pursed his lips. “Yeesh, that is creepy. Is that supposed to be a clown?” “Yeah, it looks like one.” Mugs spoke up, muffled by his scarf. “I didn’t think any clown was creepier then Beppi..” “Relax Mugs.” Cuphead nudged his brother, hand waving to the door. “Even if there is a clown in there and they’re scary lookin, it won’t be that bad. We’ve fought weirder, we got this.” Mugs nodded, although his gaze still held a hint of doubt.

Boris frowned. “Let’s just hope it isn’t the size of a giant.” Bendy grimaced, water sloshing as he made his way towards the door. “The last thing we need is a giant clown added next to the giant mermaid.” He didn’t even want to be reminded of that ordeal, or what followed it. Nightmare night could stay a nightmare as far as he was concerned. Head tilting as he looked up at the glyph, he shuffled, arm stretching as he reached and reached. He was on his tip toes when he noticed Cup and Mugs -- and even Boris, the traitor! -- laughing. He growled in frustration, turning back to the three snickering questers with a glare. “Knock it off, will ya!” Boris was trying to put the map away, giggles subsiding as he struggled to keep his backpack out of the water. “Sure you don’t need any help?” Bendy slapped a hand to his chest, looking insulted. “No, I don’t need any help.” He huffed, turning back to the door as he jumped to try and tap the glyph. It didn’t work. Cuphead snickered, shaking his head as he walked over to the little devil. “Stop being so stubborn.” Narrowed eyes would have met the Cups if they hadn’t been so intent on staring at the glyph in front of him. “I got -- tHiS!?” Bendy squacked, flailing as Cuphead picked him up from around the waist, holding him up to face the door. “Oh no,” Boris started to move forward, reaching out. “Cuphead I wouldn’t--” “See? Now you can reach--” The smirk gracing the Cup’s features was wiped off in a resounding oof! Bendy, true to form, had squirmed, kicking right into the Cups’ chest in retaliation. The demon hit the glyph from the punch-back, but he’d succeeded in his intentions: getting the blasted dishware to let go of him. He wasn’t entirely expecting the cup to fall back-first into the water, but it was a bonus. The splash hit Boris, however, and Mugs managed to jump out of the way of most of it. Boris gave an exasperated whine, ears dripping. “Beeennnddyy!” “What?!” He threw his arms up. Behind him, the circle in the stone twisted and turned, gouging into the rock. “We’ve been over this! Nobody picks me up, ever, no way!” “Cussing stars…” Cuphead got up, Mugs helping him as he came over, giving the other a hand as he coughed. “You don’t do that when the cat picks you up.” “T-That’s different!” Bendy’s tail flicked, his face turned red. “And he doesn’t just carry me without warning either, so as far as I’m concerned, you deserved that! Don’t--” The door clicked as the symbol stopped turning. Boris’s eyes turned to the door, his one ear twitching towards the sound. “Pick--” the glyph started to shake as it slid over to the side, the pair of doors creaking as they pulled apart. “Me--” They fell inwards with a clack behind Bendy and he jumped, “--Up!?” he squeaked, turning around to take in purple tile and darkness that fell around the corridor like a shroud. He blinked. The doors weren’t connected to anything… how did..? They all flinched back when flames erupted on the walls, blue fire lapping at the ceiling as it seemed to tempt them further inside. Magic. Bendy slapped his forehead and then dragged his hand down his face. It always had to be magic. He turned towards the others, previous argument forgotten. “Well, let’s go then.” He climbed up the edge of the walkway with little difficulty, wringing his tail out as the others followed. Cuphead messed with his hair, realizing some of the salty water had managed to get into his head. He glared at the little devil who only gave a cheeky grin in return.

It was only a couple steps in when the doors slammed shut with a resounding boom.  The outside light faded as said doors vanished. All that was left was the violet tile of the floors, the walls, and the blue torches that lit their way forward. Boris’s ears were tilted back onto his head. Bendy patted his shoulder. “Eh, don’t sweat it too much. Bound to be another exit somewhere.” He hoped. They walked in silence for a time, the torches erupting into blue flame as they approached or going out with a puff of smoke as they continued forward.

It didn’t take them long to find what looked to be prison cells. The ends of the bars were made of hearts, and above the bars was a consistent pattern of spades, diamonds, hearts, and clovers. The place had cracks spidering up and down the wall and the paint on some decals seemed to be fading away revealing the stone underneath. With Boris’s near-constant sneezing, it was evident that no one had been there for sometime. But that wasn’t the strangest part of it. As soon as the rear of their little group had pushed forward a wall behind them slammed down, blocking them in once again. All the torches lit up simultaneously as the strains of a discordant song filtered through the halls.

Mugman’s eyebrows rose. “Is this a circus?”

“Does it look like a cussing circus?” Cuphead asked incredulously. Bendy walked up to the closest cell, his brother walking by him to look around. “Man, even my cell back in Toon Town was nicer than these…” He peered through the bars at a stone slab that made up a bench, eyes flickering to the shackles on the wall. They looked rusted and heavily worn. He shook his head, mumbling. “Feels like we’re walking into a cussing dungeon more than a prison..” They got to a junction when Boris stopped behind them. Bendy turned. “Boris?” The wolf had his hands up to his nose, grimacing. “Something smells rotten,” he muttered through his fingers. He then pointed down the corridor to the left. “Down there. It’s really, really bad.” Bendy turned his head down the way, sniffing the air. Yeah, he had nothing, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Cuphead’s mouth twist. “You smell it?” “Kind of? It’s really faint.” Mugman turned to the kid. “Golly! You can smell that? How strong is it?” “Like I’m in a room with Pete.” Bendy snorted at the remark. “I have no idea what it is.” Cuphead shook his head, frowning. “Probably better if you don’t find out.” He tugged on Mugman’s arm to drag him along. “We’ll go down this way. You guys take the other route.”

“Is that really safe?” Boris’s ears flattened against his head. “Eeh don’t worry about them. They can handle themselves.” Bendy winked as Boris groaned. He looked back towards the brothers, calling out, “Don’t get lost!”

He didn’t need to see Cuphead to hear the disgruntled tone in his voice. “You first, shorty!” Bendy scowled. Boris chuckled beside him before throwing his thumb back towards the hall. “Come on Bendy, let’s go this way.” “Yeah yeah…”

___

“Are you sure they’re going to be ok?” “They’ll be fine, you taught Boris how to fight, remember?” Cuphead stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Well… yeah, but-” “Besides, we’ve been teachin’ them well enough and Bendy’s learning how to use that weird bigger form of his. Sort of.” He still wasn’t sure if Bendy could enact it willfully without Hat’s help. He shrugged. “If Boris can’t handle the fighting yet, he can.” Mugman sighed. “Why’d we take the path with the weird smell, then?” “Cause.” Cuphead spoke, pulling out a cigar. “Smells like a corpse.” Mugman sputtered. “Smells like a -- what!” “We’ve seen corpses before. Made too many to count.” He scowled. “Bendy’s seen one. But… I don’t think Boris has seen something like that.” And that’s the last thing he wanted the kid to ever see. Boris shouldn’t have to deal with any of this, as young as he was, and yet... “Golly…” Mugman sniffed the air. “Eugh… it does smell gross. Hopefully it’s not that.” Cuphead hummed, lighting the cigar with his finger. He took a puff, blowing a ring out. His shoulders relaxed. “Eeeh even if it is, we should be closer to whatever killed it than they are.” Hopefully. He was betting on it, anyway. “Wait… You purposely took the toughest route?” Mugman raised a brow. “You?” “W-What?” Cuphead looked towards him, scowling. “Our whole life’s been nothing but a cussin’ roller coaster, how is this anything new?” Mugman narrowed his eyes and smirked. Cuphead could feel the stare creep up his neck and  looked away. “And you said I was going soft. I thought you wanted to be more distant than that, hmm?” Cuss. “S-Shaddup.” Was he that easy to read? He was losing his touch. “We’ll think of something, right?” Mugs smiled. Hope bled from that smile, a smile Cuphead knew was in spite of their separate stances and his shoulders drooped. “Cup?” His brother was willing to turn his back on him and everything they’d worked on for those brothers. It made his head hurt thinking about it. “Yeah..” His voice was soft and he let the silence linger longer as he took another puff. They’d figure it out. They’d have too. “Hey, have you… noticed anything off about Bendy?” “Off?” Mugs’s brows furrowed. “Off how? You don’t think--” “No no, not that. He just… I don’t know. With the ‘demon puberty’ thing and whatever the cuss Hat put in that contract, with what the Boss wants us to do if stardust goes sour -- which it won’t.” He looked pointedly at Mugs. He’d make sure it wouldn’t go that way. “But with Bendy it’s not the exhaustion he just seems…” Cups scrunched his nose up. “Ugh, yeah ok that is rotting flesh.” “Wow, nice subject change--” Cuphead shoved his brother. “Shaddup.” Mugs laughed.

_____

Bendy huffed, tail swishing behind him as they searched around the prison. The halls continued to criss-cross, leading to more and more cells and Bendy was starting to wonder if they could get lost before the pattern shifted and they entered a big room. At the end was a decorated entrance leading to what seemed to be nothing and off to the side were portable, mini cages decked in red and gold -- the kind you’d see animals in before arriving to a circus. They were filled with bones. Bendy sighed in relief that it was just bones but Boris whimpered. The demon frowned, pulling on his brother’s wrist as he walked him through the room. “Come on, don’t look at em.” They’d seen bones before. He would have thought Boris would’ve been used to... Well... Ok, maybe he was glad his brother hadn’t gotten used to hopefully ancient bones yet. They made it to the end, peering down the staircase. Bendy squinted -- he couldn’t make out the bottom -- but then the torches lit up, the ones in the prison going dark, and he could distinctly hear a squawk from one of the brothers far behind him. Boris jumped, turning back but Bendy kept looking down the stairs, his eyes narrowing. How far did they go down..? “B-Bendy, maybe we should check on them..” Boris fiddled with his bandana. “Nah they’ll be fine, remember? They got flashlights for fingers.” Bendy waved away Boris’s worry, starting down the stairs. “Come on -- that piece might be down here.” Boris’s shoulders sagged but he pulled out his pipe and followed. The glow from the torches seemed to light up the walls more than the stairs. Their footsteps echoed, overlapping on the previous until the sound was all around them. They went down and down the winding staircases. The torches lit up one final time when they reached the bottom and Bendy froze. “Bars..?” Boris walked forward, staring up at the bars that blocked their path. He pulled at them, humming. “I don’t see a…” The bars formed a gate and creaked open. “...door.” Boris slowly finished.

Motes of dust floated by like eye-catching sparks. Purple tile reached into the darkness and vanished. Bendy could smell the fear his brother was giving off beside him. It made him pause. Boris whimpered. “I’ll go in first, Boris.” Bendy turned, resting a hand on his brothers shoulder. He gave a smile he hoped was reassuring. Boris furiously shook his head. “W-We should go get Cups and Mugs.” Bendy sighed, shoulders drooping as he moved his hand from his brother’s shoulder. He went to step inside but Boris grabbed his arm, ears flushed down on his head. “Bendy…” “I’ll be fine, Boris.” They couldn’t just avoid this -- the map was insisting the piece was in here somewhere, and where else would it be if not towards the obvious danger? But Boris was giving him those eyes, determined yet afraid, and his resolve melted. “Ok, let’s grab those guys first.” Boris gave a relieved sigh. But then as they moved to go towards the stairs, they found themselves face-to-face with the bars they’d turned away from. The gate closed with a resounding clack.

“What!” Bendy whipped around as the lights lit up around them. Boris raised his pipe. There was a pillar in the center, raising to a canopy above the whole area. Bendy narrowed his eyes at the poles littered around the circular room. Some broken, some reaching to the top. He couldn’t even tell if the room had walls, or a ceiling beyond the gaps in the canopy. The song that filtered throughout the place seemed to be louder in here. Nothing showed up, and yet the air was distinctively colder. He could have sworn he caught a speck of gold out of the corner of his eye but whenever he turned it was gone. The shadows felt more alive, and darker than they usually were. They weren’t even moving. They just felt more… there. And he wasn’t even using his talent. He knew his brother must have felt it too -- the pressure from them.

“Boris,” Bendy whispered. Boris was shaking like he had been on nightmare night. His ear twitched. “Run to the gate when I say go.” “What?” Boris frowned, glancing down at his brother. “I’m not leaving you here, I-I can’t just--” “Get out, grab the two morons and bring them back here. Tell them there’s another demon down here.” Boris’s eyes widened. “T-There’s a demon? You can’t be--”

“LO AND BEHOLD…” A voice echoed throughout the room. Boris jumped. Bendy shivered as the shadows swirled viciously around them. His eyes flickered to Boris as a spike of fear wedged itself into his heart. He needed to get his brother out of here. With a jingle, a form hopped down, eye level with Bendy from across the room. A jester's hat and attire greeted them, a cape sifting across tile as his feet touched ground. "TWO VISITORS OUTSIDE? OHO..." A spiked toothy grin spread from ear to ear. His skin was as gray as death. “Boris. Go. Now.” The urgency in Bendy's voice was punctuated in a low hiss. His gaze never left that of the jester's.

“N-No. I’m not leaving you alone with him.” Now wasn’t the time to start acting brave! Bendy moved to stand in front of Boris. This guy looked exactly like the symbol on the door. Did he have the piece like Cala did before? Or was he just some sort of guardian like the snake had been?

His tail flicked. There was no mistaking it. The darkness, the cold… It was like Hat’s, but worse. This demon was the reason there wasn’t a hint of warmth in the room. Bendy was half expecting his breath to visibly puff out into the air but it didn’t. The air was growing sweet with the smell of fear and he grimaced, eyes briefly flickering to his brother. The poor wolf was trembling. Bendy’s hands clenched into fists as he stared straight ahead. “Boris the Wolf you get to that gate right now, you hear me?”

The jester tilted his head, watching them. “BOO HOO, HOW CAN YOU LEAVE WITH THE CURTAIN ALREADY DRAWN?” The demon bowed. Shadows started to dance along the walls. “I’M THE JEVIL.” Bells jingled as he popped back up. “HAVE YOU COME TO BE FREE, FREE?” “We’ve come to leave, leave thank you very much!” Bendy shouted back at him. He could hear Boris finally moving behind him and he let go of a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. It was about time the wolf finally listened to reason.

The Jevil’s grin only seemed to widen. “YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE PIECE.” Bendy froze. “FOR INK ILLNESS TO CEASE. CHAOS HAS TOLD ME MUCH OF YOU, SURFACE DWELLERS.” “Well great, you know why we’re here then!” Bendy threw his arms up into the air. “You know where it is? We’ll take it and be on our merry cussing way!” “I JUST WANT TO SHOW A PLAY, PLAY!” The jester hopped from foot to foot as he spun around. “BUT THE BORING ONES FOUND SUCH FUN TO BE A TROUBLE. AS PUNISHMENT, THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY. BUT I'M FAST, FAST, CLEVER, CLEVER. THEY LOST THE TRAIL, AND LOCKED UP THEIR ENTIRE TALE, BUILDING A PRISON AROUND THE WHOLE WORLD. NOW I'M THE ONLY FREE ONE.” “Get to the point!” Bendy growled. Jevil grinned. “SHALL YOU ACT IN THIS PLAY WITH ME, ME...? I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FREE!”

“Cuss no!” The Jevil’s grin widened past the corners of his eyes. Bendy glowered but then noticed the smell of fear vanish completely. His eyes widened. It hadn’t even faded, it’d just disappeared as if it were never there. He spun around. The gate was gone -- the bars had been replaced by the nothingness that seemed to surround the span of the place, and his brother was nowhere in sight. He hadn’t even heard him get the gate open -- he knew his brother hadn’t made it out by himself -- and now the whole previous room was gone! What the cuss! “YOU CAME TOO FAR! YOUR CHOICE HAS RUN OUT!”

Bendy ran to where the gate had been, hands reaching towards darkness but he met no resistance. “No way…” Magic, it was always magic. He’d barely even started his lessons with the cussing schtick and here it was, practically laughing in his face, and now his brother was missing because of it. “BORIS!” Where the cuss did his brother go? Where the starfallen cuss did his brother go?

“BOO HOO!” The Jevil mock cried, hands going to his eyes as he frowned. However, the corners of his mouth were turned up, and his frame shook, as if trying to hold in laughter. “BOO HOO HOO, UHE HE HE.”  

Bendy growled, his eyes flashing red. “What’d you do?!” What did this schmuck do with his brother? Jevil grinned as the floor shook and started to spin. “YOU WHO WISH TO TURN BACK, HOW CAN YOU?” Bendy stumbled but caught himself. He looked up to see the whole room was spinning like some twisted carousel. The Jevil was now standing in midair, a wicked looking blade resting in his hands. Were those teeth on the edge..? Bendy didn’t have time to think about it as the demon laughed and flung it at him. He ducked. It missed him by a hair and stuck itself into the darkness before merging with the shadows. He turned his head, eyes meeting a barrage of the blades. Even the Jevil’s arm had turned into one, and he had it raised up high. “WHEN YOU’VE ALREADY STARTED READING, YOU WANT TO SEE THE END. YOU WANT TO KNOW, KNOW!” “What the cuss is wrong with you?!” Bendy snarled, jumping to dodge some of the incoming blades as he grabbed at the shadows with his talent. They writhed excitedly as they were allowed to take form and he smacked back the last blade. It twirled in the air, end over end before falling, smacking edge first into the ground. “What the starfallen cuss did you do to my brother? Huh??” If this demon hurt Boris in anyway so help him... “CHAOS, CHAOS!” Bendy blinked, squinting. The demon seemed to jump back and forth, almost in double image as spades and diamonds came flying out from the darkness. He felt a tugging at his chest but he tried to ignore it as the shadows wrapped around him, propelling him away from the projectiles. Normally, he’d be put off by the way they were wriggling, thirsty to rip into the demon but with his brother gone, possibly hurt, somewhere he couldn’t get to him? As far as Bendy was concerned, the shadows’ attitude was exactly what he needed right now to get out of there -- to find him. “That’s not an answer!” Thoughts started rushing through his head. What if Boris was hurt? What if the demon had sent the wolf into a death pit somewhere? Poles sprung up from above and below him. Horses made of energy buckled and shoved into him -- through him -- and he huffed, feeling something cut him in his core and he gripped his chest. “Ugh!.. You..!” “YOU SPIN A WEB OF DECEPTION IN YOUR LITTLE BUBBLE OF LIES, LIES, LIES!” Jevil vanished, appearing behind Bendy as he shoved him towards the middle. All around he started appearing, seemingly spitting out spades and diamonds, his tongue extending to seemingly impossible lengths as laughter echoed from everywhere and nowhere. Bendy’s head was starting to spin, but it wasn’t just from the confusion. When had the music changed? He growled. “Sunblazing scum!” Bendy’s voice echoed, deep and guttural. Some of the diamonds caught him on the side, hurting him without showing physical injury and he winced as his anger boiled. He could almost feel it on his skin. How dare he take Boris away! How dare he not tell him where he is! How dare he. The shadows curled excitedly and the darkness swirled around him, spurring him onward. He let the shadows act out when they could, smacking this way and that when the Jevil would reappear. Bendy could feel them coiling around his feet, wanting to reach through him, to cause more carnage. It reminded him again of what they were like back at the warehouse all those months ago -- how bloodthirsty they had been. He breathed in. He knew what they wanted to do. He let them. It was like taking a big stretch, his body felt like it was uncurling even as he felt his gloves ripping and his horns growing. His eyes opened and suddenly everything stood out like a sore thumb. Crystal clear, every sound, every hint of laughter, the horses and now ducks on the carousel sprung forward. Some raised up and others charging right at him and he managed to thread the needle, jumping between them as the shadows writhed. The Jevil came out clapping and Bendy turned.

He couldn’t feel the cold in the room anymore. “BRAVO, BRAVO!” Jevil ducked as Bendy threw a broken up pole right past his head like a javelin. His grin only widened. “YOU’VE FOOLED THOSE IN THE CAGE AND EVEN THE GUIDE! WHAT FUN WHAT FUN! HOW FAR DOES THE RABBIT HOLE GO? DO TELL!” Bendy was able to grab him, pulling the toon up by the scruff of his collar. A hand raised, claws steadily growing sharper. His eyes flashed, whites now black as he bared his teeth. “Where. Is. My. Brother.” He didn’t recognize his own voice anymore, but that knowledge was only a drop of a thought as it got swept away by the torrent of his swirling mind. Jevil just grinned, big and toothy. His eyes glowed a golden color. Spots of a similar color started to rise around them as the shadows danced along the walls. “HOW FAR HAVE YOU FOOLED YOURSELF?” Jevil gripped his arm. Despite not having any leverage he was able to spin them, spin and spin until Bendy was in a room rimmed with black sludge and yellowed wood. It was a disorienting feeling and Bendy lost his balance, grunting as he hit the splintered wood that had replaced the tile. “WHO KEEPS SPINNING THE WORLD AROUND?” For a brief moment Bendy could feel his head clear. His ears rang. He stood groggily. Inky matter dripped to the ground, but he didn’t feel any pain. Each droplet started writhing as it hit the boards, seeping into cracks in the floorboards. The smell of ink filled his nose, the black liquid reminding him of the corrupting rivers from Holly’s head. It entrenched them to a platform he was surprised was still standing at all, with how old everything looked. The ceiling above him was falling inward with obvious holes in it, and yet no sunlight showed through.

“I CAN DO ANYTHING!” The Jevil re-appeared along with the music and Bendy stumbled, his eyelids feeling heavy. He put a hand to his head. He hadn’t the sense to speak before Jevil was once again shouting. “MY HEARTS GO OUT TO ALL YOU SINNERS!” Boxes with hearts on them started falling from the ceiling, exploding into deadlier hearts that surged at Bendy almost like bullets. He startled but the darkness powering him was quicker. It moved his body before the hearts even shot out of the boxes, causing him to jump around. He was even able to get in a swing at the Jevil himself, whose head only came up on a spring and bounced around. Jevil laughed and laughed. “TALENTED, BUT NOT SEEKING TALENT! HOW WILL YOU PUT ON YOUR OWN SHOW?” “What the cuss are you going on about??” Bendy swung at him again, his arm elongating to get a good swipe at him. “How else am I supposed to fight you?” Why was he even entertaining this zany demon’s line of thought? Could demons even be zany? “WITH YOUR TALENT, OF COURSE!” The jester’s head sprang back and forth before righting itself. He waved his arms, morphing them into blades as he started to spin. Bendy jumped over them each in turn, and tried to go for him but there were too many diamonds coming at him for him to get a hit in. “OR PERHAPS WITH YOUR WOLF PET? MINION GAMES ARE FUN, TOO!” Bendy snarled. “Sunblaze that!” This schmuck still wasn’t saying anything about what he did to his brother. His claws itched to tear into him. The shadows were writhing as they aimed for the clowns throat. They tore off the floor, smacking into Jevil and again his head fell away like a spring. A single eye glowed a dark purple color. “UEE HEE HEE! HAVING FUN? JOIN THE CLUB!” Bendy felt heat flaring in his core as he stared forward at the clown that had been the cause of all his troubles today. He was boiling, lips pulling from teeth as he snarled. The Jevil only giggled, twirling as he morphed into a knife. “EVEN DEVIL’S KNIFE IS SMILING!” “I’ll wipe that smile off your sunblazing face!” Low and guttural, Bendy didn’t wait for him to move and pounced. The ink around them bubbled as it poured down from the walls.

____ “Berries!” Mugs was bent over laughing. His brother had squealed just from the lights having gone out. It was priceless and he’d only seen half of the reaction. “W-What was that noise for?” “Stick a lid on it!” Cuphead was scowling beside him, a snap of his hand and his finger lit up the now darkened halls around them. “Wasn’t expecting it, was all.” “You sounded like a b-bird!” Mugs howled. He hadn’t heard his brother sound that startled since they were kids living in the woods. It was like they were still young and innocent and Cuphead got scared by a squirrel again. Cup’s elbowed him. “Would you quit it? The morons might have found something.” That sobered Mugs up real quick. He snapped his own finger, the hall lighting up around them twice as bright. “Something bad?” “Maybe. Might have been the part too. Maybe it was powering the lights on in the place?” Cup hummed, squishing the end of his cigar against the wall before tossing it. “What about the smell?” Mugs raised a brow, watching as his brother turned back. “You said it smells like a corpse, so… Something must have made it, right? Assuming it is a corpse.” He really hoped it wasn’t. “You sure you just wanna leave it?” It might come back to bite them later if they didn’t deal with it now. Cup grimaced. He sighed. “...You think--” “I believe in them.” Mugman said, assured. Boris had really been improving with the pipe and Bendy was also getting to be a good fighter. They both learned extraordinarily quick -- at least by Mug’s standards. He had to admit he was a bit jealous at them learning stuff that took him and his brother weeks in comparison. Cuphead looked at him, staring for a bit and Mugman was about to ask about it when he finally spoke up. “Fine. We’ll keep going, for now. Just… no more humming.” “What?” Mugman pouted. “The tune’s catchy. We should go to a carnival sometime, yeah?” “No, it’s not.” Cuphead frowned. “And no. Really, Mugs, sometimes you act like a…” he paused. Mugman stopped walking. “Act like a what?” He frowned. He was calling him a kid again, wasn’t he? He wasn’t that childish! “Shh!” Cuphead shushed him and he shut up. He listened but couldn’t quite hear anything… That is, until he noticed what was happening with the music. It was getting lower, the tones warping and distorting before cutting out completely into static.

“The.. ah.. record died?” Mugman gave a nervous grin. “...Maybe,” Cuphead furrowed his brows. “Think it’s nothing?” “Probably not.” It was then a roar echoed throughout the halls as if it consumed the whole area. It shook the floors, the walls, and they both had to anchor themselves to a wall or risk falling over. The scream felt like it was rattling their ceramic before it stopped and the dust settled. The static had cut out completely at this point. He and his brother looked at each other and paled.

Cuphead turned around. “Don’t got a choice anymore.” He started running back. “We don’t know what’s happened now.” Mugs followed, speeding up to catch up to his brother. “What on earth do you think that was?” Something that was that loud… It sounded familiar but he couldn’t quite put a finger on it... “Don’t know, we’ll figure it out when we get there.” Cuphead sighed, mumbling, “Better be cussing ok. Making us turn back and risk getting hounded later by the real monster for cussing nothing, I swear…” Mugs raised a brow, smirking. He was sure he wasn’t supposed to hear that last part. His brother was starting to get a lot more open about how much he liked the crew. Not just Bendy and Boris either, but everyone. Apologizing, worrying about making people upset… It was a turn for the better. His brother kept returning more and more to his old self. Minus the rage induced blackouts, at any rate. Maybe... The roar sounded again, more distant still. He’d think about it later. _____ Bendy swiped at the demon, arm stretching to reach and the Jevil moved back in a swift motion and giggled. “WHAT A SHARK!”

Hours. It’d felt like hours. He growled. Energy seemed to course through his veins despite the haze in his mind, but he could no longer tell if it was the shadows or the adrenaline that spurred him forward. His chest ached even through his shadows so he knew it wasn’t from his illness. It felt ominous but he couldn’t focus on the feeling for long. Hearts, spades, and diamonds flew out from all directions and he had to dodge them, moving when he could and dodging still when he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure how -- he should have gotten hit a number of times but he hadn’t. He felt funny. He shook his head and snarled, trying to clear his thoughts. “Get down here, you sunblazing--” The Jevil had started dancing around almost in mirror image. He’d been doing that for the last couple of rounds now, and Bendy couldn’t tell if it was a trick of the eyes or not. “WOLF PET HAD A NAME, RIGHT?” Bendy paused, his eyes honing in on Jevil. “WAS IT FOOD? MEATLOAF?” “He’s not food.” Bendy took a step forward. “HEE HEE! WHAT A GLORIOUS DARKENING!” The Jevil danced around in mid air. “YOU WERE FUN LIKE THIS TOO, AT THE START. BECAUSE OF THE PUP?” Bendy didn’t do anything but the Jevil only giggled louder. “MAYBE I SHOULD BRING THE PUP BACK TO PLAY, TOO! THE MORE THE MERRIER!” “You touch him and you’re dead.” He took another step forward. Everything was tinted red.

The Jevil only grinned. Hollow eyes blending with the darkened room and suddenly he was gone. “MAYBE HE’D MAKE A GOOD SNACK.” The voice sounded just behind Bendy. Something snapped and he whirled around, claws molded and sharpened in an instant as they pierced through flesh. A squelch and a breath. He could feel his fingers sticking through ribs and tapping spine. The glee from the shadows excited him as he dropped the form and flicked the blood off the tips of his claws. The silence was welcoming as he gave a passing glance to the clown laying still on the floor. “Good riddance.” He took a step away, his eyes scanning around briefly as he tried to find an exit when laughter started to echo around the room. Bendy growled. “Oh, come on!” “WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT IS THERE, BUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE? WELL, FAIR IS FAIR!” “Again with this?!” Bendy growled, scanning the shadows. “Enough with the riddles!” “OVER HERE!” Bendy jumped, turning around but all that was left was the body, limp on the ground. The smile on the Jevil twitched before the head turned, eyes glowing the same purple from before. Then he melted. Darkness fell away, revealing a trembling form with fluffy ears and a snout. It whimpered. Bendy’s voice came out as a croak, when he saw who it was. “Boris..?” The same whimper met his ears and he ran over, dropping to his knees. Claws tapped the ground to either side of him and he could see himself shaking as he wrapped his arms underneath the wolf and pulled him into his lap.

A numbing cold swept over him. What had he done?

“Boris…? Boris, i-it’s going to be ok, I’ll get-- I’ll get help.” Boris coughed up blood. It dribbled down his chin, staining fur. “I’ll -- I’ll get Black Hat.” He grit his teeth. “We’re supposed to be connected, somehow. I’ll -- I’ll call him, he can get us back quickly, and, and then--” Eyes looked up at him, tearing and clouded. Boris shook underneath of him before giving a broken breath and a shudder. Then the wolf went limp. Bendy froze, staring.

“YOU CAN DO ANYTHING TOO, EVEN THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO DO.”

Dulling eyes stared up at the ceiling, blood was turning his shirt completely red. Ribs were projected upward and torn. A heart laid shredded in the chest cavity -- a cause for the blood pooling everywhere, draining from the face, leaving him pale -- Boris. He… Bendy wasn’t stupid. He did this. He lost control. He did exactly what he was always afraid was going to happen, that he had tried to convince himself he’d never do but he did. The darkness he felt, the fledgling moments, the shadows… He killed his brother. A shaky hand reached to touch his muzzle. He killed his brother, he murdered his brother, he was a murderer, Boris was dead, Boris was dead and he was never coming back. “ARE YOU FREE NOW, INK DEMON?” Was it hot in there? It was getting harder to see. His brother’s face was blurring out but he still managed to run his fingers over his cheeks. He tried to breathe in but he couldn’t seem to get enough air, his chest was heaving, his eyes and lungs were burning he couldn’t-- “B-Boris?” His voice was soft, crackling and his throat hurt. It hurt to talk. His limbs felt heavy. He mouthed the next words but he couldn’t even hear himself speak. Everything was getting blurry. “H-Hey… wake up,” He couldn’t think anymore. “W-Who’s my wittle wolfy?” He paused, waiting, seeing if anything would happen, if he’d start breathing again, anything. This couldn’t be happening. Then the whispers started. He didn’t know where they came from. You did this. Monster. You stole a life, you did this. I believed in you. You betrayed them all. Dreams never come true. You’ll never be able to control it. Murderer. You’re alive, you’ll kill them all, then you’ll die. An image of his brother floated to the forefront of his mind, completely blanking him out to the one laying in his arms. Boris smiled. “Bendy!” A wail, shaking the floorboards and shuddering across waves of inky blackness, ripped through the room and back through the walls as it forced everything to shudder with the force of it all. Scratchy and guttural and full of dismay. The black sludge that echoed particles of gold slithered towards him, reaching for him as he screamed and screamed. Short breaths and broken calls turned to hisses and howls. The inky blackness covered him, raising him up, building him up, as the shadows fell into him. Heat and power. What was he doing…? He was protecting something, wasn’t he...? Ah, that’s right. It was gone now. He felt his throat as hot as embers, bubbling up like spitfire. Bloodlust and a new kind of internal fire fueled him. He wanted to destroy everything.

_____

They were in front of the cell gate when the lights reignited. They whooshed, blue fire lapping at the ceiling before returning to a normal height. Cuphead didn’t even flinch as he lowered his finger. He tsked. “Morons made it down here and didn’t even come get us… What are we, chopped liver?” He gestured to the open gate, waving his hands as he looked to Mugman. “Look at this! Does this not scream ‘don’t walk in here’ or what?” He slapped a hand to his forehead. “God, it’s like we’re in some cussing horror show or something!” “W-Well… Maybe it wasn’t open when they got down here?” Mugman frowned. “There’s so much dust down here you can see their footprints. You didn’t notice that they never walked past it?” “That’s beside the point.” Cuphead huffed. He had to explain this to his own brother? Really? “You can clearly see footsteps on the other side.” “And that doesn’t concern you even a little bit?”

“I didn’t say it didn’t.” “You haven’t said it has yet, either.” Cuphead scowled. He scuffed his feet against the floor. Dust billowed. “Look, we clearly have two options. Walking in there ourselves, or trying to go back and see if they went anywhere else.” He raised a brow. “Which would you rather do?” Mugman’s shoulders slumped. “You said it yourself earlier.” He walked past Cuphead and through the gate. “We don’t have a choice.” Well, they were really doing this. Walking into the most obvious trap in the world. He was going to need a drink after this. Cuphead walked past the gate. It clanged behind him, and he knew without having to look that they were locked in. The music kicked back up again, louder than it was in the halls. He raised his hand, finger glowing. He froze -- almost literally. His breath wafted in the air and within the darkness of the room part of the floor was frozen over. The heaviness was akin to only one demon he knew of... “B-B-Boss..?” His brother said under his breath, hardly believing it. Cuphead didn’t. The aura made him feel like he was freezing but there was no way their boss would be there -- not in a million years -- or he’d had sent them to fetch the machine piece months ago. There’s no way he’d be here doing his lackey’s dirty work, but despite knowing that it didn’t stop the shiver that ran up his spine or the way his eyes darted around the room, as if searching for just that slight darkening of shadow… Expecting him to crawl out of hell just to lay into them about another mistake. Another failed mission. It made his skin crawl. He elbowed Mugs, snapping out of his frozen state enough to try and knock some sense into his brother. “Can’t be, you know this,” he said looking around, his eyes squinting into the dark room. Mugs pointed a finger into the darkness lighting the way. His eyes widened, his hands going up to cover his mouth. His brother looked paler than paper. “C-Cup--” Cuphead turned his head to look, willing his finger to brighten so he could see what the heck was going on. If his hand was an actual gun he would have dropped it. Laying on the floor, drenched in red, was Boris. Blood was smeared everywhere, on the floor, on his clothes -- it pooled in his chest cavity like still water. Ribs stretched out of his chest, as if violently torn and ripped into their protruding shape. His head was lulled to the side, marbled eyes staring back at Cuphead and reflecting the light off his blaster. It made him flinch back, eyes turning away, image forever burned into his mind. What… Where was…? Bendy wouldn’t have let this… Drip. Drip.

A low growl reverberated through the room. The brother’s eyes turned towards the source as claws tapped against tile. They had to look up. Dripping, hulking over them, was a giant demon. Arms big and holding it up, the lower half of its body looked like a useless decoration in comparison. Horns curved upwards, and swayed from side to side as it moved. Its chin was practically its jaw, with teeth that spanned upwards towards where its ears should be. They parted, blackness dripping from the maw as it roared. The brothers stood stock still. Air rushed by them, forcing them to cover their faces. The smell of ink washed over them. It filled the air and Cuphead stood dumbfounded, unable to take his eyes off the beast. Even as it swung at Mugman, getting within melee range, he didn’t move. His hair swayed from the force of the swing. His he turned his head to look at the giant arm, eyeing what amounted to spikes on each fingertip. “What are you doing! Run!” Mugs had already poofed to the other side of the room. Cuphead jolted, snapping out of it as he took a step back to be met with a puddle. Something was crawling up his leg and he made a choking sound, kicking off the ink— oh stars, was that a hand? — that seemed to try and grab him. He looked back, just to be met with razor-sharp claws aiming for his face. “Cup!” Cuphead raised his arms just in time to guard. He went flying, rolling across the floor. He grunted and got to his feet. “I’m fine!” He looked around, noticing then the ink that surrounded the platform they were on. Since when was the floor yellow and made of wood? Wasn’t it purple and tiled before? The sound of Mug’s shots popping onto the demon drew him out of his thoughts. “Great, well we need to do something about this thing!” Mug’s was gritting his teeth. “Wait, Mugs! Don’t-!” The demon growled and tore into the floorboards, throwing chunks at them. Cup quickly snapped as his finger gun came to life. He shot pieces out of the air that would have hit him before he aimed at the chunks of wood hurling at his brother. “That’s not what you think it is!” “It’s a beastling demon sent from hell, it’s dangerous! We need to--” “It’s Bendy!” Cuphead yelled. He paled when he saw the beast running at his brother. “Mugs, Mugs you need too--” Mug’s had also frozen, like he had at the realization and didn’t move even as Bendy smacked him into the wall. He seemed to snap out of it as his head cracked against wood, and his eyes widened before he poofed back onto solid ground, stumbling. “W-What?” He wheezed, holding his gut. “That’s Bendy? How—” “There’s got to be someone else in here.” There had to be. That had to be why Bendy had gone beastly. There was no way-- “RIGHT YOU ARE!” It came from just above him. Cuphead jumped out of the way just before a huge knife came down. Teeth -- literal teeth -- on the blade gnashed, as if disappointed they didn’t get to sink into flesh. The tip bit into the wood before being yanked out. Cup stared -- this was also a demon, but he was practically as small as the pipsqueak! His fists clenched. This guy caused all of this? A demon dressed up like he was at some kind of cussing carnival?! “You’re the sunblazing schmuck that did this!?” Cup whipped a hand behind him. His brother was preoccupied dealing with Bendy. He felt his blood boil. “You’re the dead man who killed Boris and made Bendy into hellspawn?!” “UEE HEE HEE! SO THAT’S HIS NAME!” The Jevil threw the blade up. It was swallowed by the shadows in the ceiling. He hopped from foot to foot. “HE DIDN’T WANT TO PLAY! THE PUP WAS NO GOOD AT TAG! OR WAS IT HIDE AND SEEK?” Jevil turned upside down, sticking his tongue out. His grin was as sharp as Bendy’s. “OH WELL! IT’S YOUR TURN NOW!” “You’re a demon, so you should know who we are!” Cuphead had his arms outstretched. “You fighting us is directly against the Devil’s orders! You really wanna get killed by your king? I thought you high lords had more sense than that!” Jevil only laughed and laughed. “KING, QUEEN, KNIGHT, ROOK, WHO’S THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE IN THE BOOK?” A rock felt like it dropped into Cup’s gut. This guy wasn’t even slightly afraid of the king of demons? How had he managed to live this long? He thought his boss always managed to tie up loose ends like this, what the cuss? He raised his hand, “You leave me no choice!” and started shooting. “THE BISHOP STARTS TO DANCE!” Every single shot hit the jester, yet it didn’t seem to affect him at all—  his head was springing back and forth on a spring. "IT'S SO EXCITING... I CAN'T TAKE IT!" The jester disappeared. Multiple clones of the demon showed up around him, spitting out diamonds and Cuphead had to jump up, dodging as many as he could but one managed to clip him. He staggered, gripping his chest. He scanned his body quickly but couldn’t see any new wound. That feeling..?! “Cup!” Mugs came running at him and he turned, his brother grabbing him before poofing back near Bendy. “Wh--” “We’re switching!” “What?!” He was just about to rail into him before he poofed away. Cuphead whipped his head around at the sound of a snarl. He had to jump back before Bendy’s fists came down on top of his head. The boards under them fractured and he was sent balancing on a plank now sticking up in the air, stuck in sludge. He waved his arms around. “Mugs!” He yelled back, and he paused, eyes focusing on his brother’s face. Was he crying..? Then he felt a beastial hand grip around him. It threw him up into the air. “Holy cuss--” The wind was knocked out of him as he hit the ceiling. He grunted, peeling himself off and as he fell he shot bullet after bullet at Bendy, who only growled in annoyance. “Dammit pipsqueak!” His voice cracked. “Don’t make me do this! I don’t want to but you’re not--” he ducked, a stray blade from the clown’s fight nearby flew past him, “helping!” All that met him in response was the demon running him down and he had to leap out of the way, rolling on the ground as Bendy crashed into a wall. He panted, sitting up. His hand clenched into a fist as he grit his teeth. “Dammit, dammit, damn it!” His fist hit the ground with each word. He told himself he wouldn’t let this happen and now look at this! The Devil was expecting them to kill Bendy and he just -- he couldn’t -- But then he thought of his brother, of him getting torn up, lying on the floor like Boris was. He ground his teeth. Their contracts swarmed in his mind and he stood back up. Well, if anything… this made the decision easier. Cuss. He shouldn’t have gotten attached. He snapped his finger, a yellow glow surrounding it and it started to glow brighter and brighter. He fired a charge shot just as Bendy was getting up. A bestial howl filled the air and shook the ground as Cup started charging another shot. He fired. It would have hit its mark too, had another shot not canceled it out halfway. He blanched, looking to Mugman. There must have been something on his face cause his brother almost jumped when he stared him down. “Mugs! What the hell!” “We’re not killing him!” Mugs shouted back, fists at his side. Was he serious? Cup grit his teeth. “You know what the boss said! I don’t know about you but that,” Cup threw a hand back, the beast was shaking his head off, “is about as beastly as it gets!” “I-I know!” Mugs grimaced. Oh, so he did remember they had to kill him if some stardust like this happened. “B-but we can’t!” “Mugs!” Cup groaned, running his hands over his face. He looked back. “Mugs I don’t want to do this either, but if we don’t--” “Cuphead, are you forgetting?” Mugs looked hurt. Cuphead looked harder and then realized there were tears welling up in his eyes. He was still crying? “We can’t! And because you need a starfallen reason to not kill your best friend--” Cuphead winced, “-- he’s the only one left that can read the map!” Any argument Cuphead had prepared died in his throat at that statement. Oh. Right. The other one... wasn’t an option anymore. He looked towards the ground, and then looked back up. His brother’s shoulders were slumped, eyes hard, but Cup knew better -- he knew that look. He’d only ever seen it a handful of times, after all.

“...Ok fine, we’ll try to snap him out of it.” Or do their damndest regardless. He didn’t know what they were going to do if they couldn’t get the demon to snap out of it. He’d think about it later. “Mugs!”

His brother poofed beside him, rubbing at his eyes. “We’re going to snap him out of it! No ‘trying’, only doing!” Cup rolled his eyes, smacking him on the shoulder. He was going to ignore that nitpicking. “Stop with the waterworks, Mugs, there’ll be time to mourn later,” His heart clenched a little. Oh god, they were going to have to explain that to Bendy, weren’t they? If he didn’t realize? He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked over. “What?” “Cup, I thought you said stop the waterworks?” Cuphead blinked. Oh, there hadn’t been something in his eye? Cuss. He shook his head. “Mugs: capture maneuver, go!” “Again,” Mugs gave his brother a half smile, his eyes flashing a bit of concern. “Nice subject change.” He poofed to the side, shooting bullets at Bendy. “Can it!” Cup’s shouted back at him, snapping his fingers. They changed to green as he fired his shots. If his regular ones only annoyed him he’d be surprised if these even got a reaction, but a reaction he got. Bendy shook and snarled, charging him down and he jumped, landing on Bendy’s head before jumping to his back. He had to hold onto the demon’s horns just to stay on, and he managed to snap his fingers back in sequence to yellow, charging another shot. If this didn’t do any damage to him earlier, well… Maybe it’d at least knock him out? He didn’t really have any other ideas, and he was having a hard time getting the demon to still as he was shaken around like he was at a rodeo. “Mugs!!” “Oh my god, it’s Beppi all over again!” Wait, what? Cuphead looked over, seeing the jester preventing his brother from getting over to him with… Were those horse ducks? On a carousel? What the cuss?

The distraction got him shaken off of Bendy, and he flailed, but was caught again by the demon. He was pinned against the wall and he felt and heard a crack coming from the back of his head. His vision swam with stars for a second before it cleared. He grunted, glaring face to face with the demon. Bendy didn’t even have eyes anymore. His horns stretched up taller then they ever had and flopped around with every move he made. His teeth were crooked and sharp -- almost sharper than the clown’s wicked smile. His jaw stretched up past where his ears should be. It was… disturbing. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him nervous. Blackness dripped from his maw and for a moment he wondered if Bendy could have been having an attack in that form. There was a crash, and it took several seconds for Cuphead to pinpoint where it came from.  The room suddenly shifted from yellow to purple and Cuphead felt his head slump against the wall for an entirely different reason. He felt dizzy, almost as if he’d just woken up and had all the blood rush to his head. Was… he partially sinking into the wall? Was there even a wall? He tried to struggle but the demon had him good. Holy cuss, so this is how it was going to end: consumed by a cussing wall. He was half expecting someone to put it on his tombstone.

“BORIS?!” Mugman shouted from across the room, so loud it echoed. Cuphead whipped his head around, staring -- the gate had come back, and standing right by it was the wolf. Not dead, not maimed, not bleeding out on the floor. He felt his jaw drop. What in the ever-living hell was going on?!

___ He was wet. His fur was partially singed. He’d dropped his pipe somewhere in the hall where skeletons had attacked him. He was half-asleep on his feet and was planning on resting for just a little when the howling started. He’d bolted through the maze nearly blind just to get back there as fast as humanly possible. Nobody but his brother could have made that scream, no matter how distorted it was -- he didn’t know where the jester had sent him but he had to get back to Bendy, he needed to help his brother. He wasn’t even going to think about the fact that he fell down the stairs. Not right now. Not with the jester in the middle of what looked like a fight with Mugman and what he could only assume was his brother pinning Cuphead to a wall. Boris’s features were tense and suddenly they melted, his ears flattening against his skull. “B-Bendy…?” “Holy cuss Boris is alive!” Cuphead shouted. Boris’s ears twitched. Alive, what…? Of course he was alive! Aggravated and exhausted and desperately wanting a bath but definitely alive. “Boris!” He turned his head, seeing Mugman staring at him, eyes wide. He seemed frightened yet relieved in a way he hadn’t ever seen on the dishware. Were those… tears? “Boris, get out! Your brother’s gone beastly!” “H-Huh?” Boris blinked, looking towards his brother. Beastly... Where had... His eyes widened. “Oh no!” His brother had mentioned it before, back when Black Hat had told him about what being a fledgling meant, about this whole demon magic stuff. He’d remembered his brother being nervous -- still had been -- he… he hadn’t wanted anyone to get hurt. His eyes started to water, his hands going up to his muzzle. His brother… he went beastly? Oh no, he must be so scared… “Boris, Boris no!” Mugman tried to jump past the Jevil, but a carousel stampede met him and pushed him back to the far wall. “PIIP PIIP, LET'S RIDE THE CAROUSEL GAME!” The jester laughed. Boris thought he was weird but if his time with Bendy had caused this, well… Let’s just say the guy wasn’t on Boris’s nice list.

“Boris don’t--” Cuphead was speaking to him now. His brother turned to look at him, his horns flopping around. That was... new. Boris jumped across the moat of ink. It reached and tried to grab for him but he ducked and ran. He jumped up on tiles floating in the sludge where the floor had been smashed and over poles that had broken and fallen over, using the knowledge he had gained from all his years in the back alleyways to maneuver through the wreckage. He’d told himself this plenty a time over the course of their quest, but never was he more grateful he grew up homeless and starving then he was when he was running through the wreckage of a four-way battle between a clown, his brother, and two talking dishes. Ok, so maybe he never exactly worded it like that but it still counted. Bendy pulled Cuphead away from the wall, considering him for a moment before tossing him towards Mugman and Jevil. Boris could see out of the corner of his eye Cuphead crashing into Mugs. Ouch. He came to an abrupt stop, panting, in front of Bendy. The shadows seemed to be alive and he could see them moving all around. Bendy’s form was dripping inky matter everywhere. His teeth were huge, one looked to be the size of Boris’s finger, and he didn’t seem to have eyes. Huh. And… Boris peered, looking to see the stubbly legs attached to a huge body, broad shoulders and massive arms. Boris’s brows furrowed and he looked up at his brother, ears twitching. Bendy didn’t move. A loud, bubbly grumble came from his throat but he didn’t make a move. Boris took another step forward. He snarled. Boris gave a hesitant smile. “H-Hey,” Bendy howled, the room reverberating. Boris jumped, taking a step back, and he chastised himself for even slightly being afraid of his brother. He wouldn’t hurt him, he was sure of it. Not even like… this. Ink was starting to well up around the edges of the room. Glob like masses crawling up from the moat as they formed hands, and then dripping black stained faces. Glowing eyes met his and started to groan. “What the sunblazing…” Cuphead muttered, looking around as more of the inky creatures formed. Bendy stabbed his claws into the ground, vein like ink stretching into the boards as it dragged more of the creatures from the sludge. “HAVE FUN!” The Jevil danced away and vanished into thin air. Cuphead let loose a chain of curses. Boris was staring at the creatures, paws over his muzzle. What on earth were these…? Were they people? They groaned and twisted -- most of them didn’t even have legs. He backed away as one reached for him. They were really slow, but… they radiated almost the same feeling Bendy was giving off now… Boris felt an arm around his waist and he squeaked, struggling. “Calm down, it’s me!” “Mugs?” Boris yelped, struggling. “Put me down! I need to get to Bendy!” “Are you crazy??” Mugs had to move a hand up to shoot at the creatures. They burst and splattered. Boris took advantage of Mugman only having one arm around him to break free. “Boris, no!” “I have too. I’m not sorry!” Boris cried as he began ducking between a pair of inky legs before he got up and sprinted. Bendy was still anchored to the ground with his teeth gnashing. Boris’s eyes were soft when he looked to him. His poor brother… He squeaked again when Cuphead suddenly got in front of him, halting and ducking when he made a move to grab him. “Stop being stubborn!” “I won’t!” Boris twisted his body to get around him, kicking his feet off the ground in a quick leap. “Boris, he’s gonna--” Cuphead almost got an arm around him but then an ink creature jerked him away. “Sunblazing schmucks!” Boris kept running with the sounds of the cup brothers firing happening behind him. Finally, as his bare paws skid and picked up splinters, he was in front of his brother. Only a foot away he was dripping, a guttural growling sort of sound emanating from him, like the steady babble of a brook. He watched as his brother shook, more and more ink being used to send more creatures at the brothers.

“...Bro?” Boris finally got the nerve to speak. Worry and concern went through him like waves, and he wanted to cry but he didn’t. He forced himself not too. He needed to be strong for his brother. “Bendy…” This time the demon didn’t move. Boris took this as a good sign… or at least he wanted too. He took another step forward. He could hear the cup brothers arguing behind him, shouting. “He’s going to get himself killed!” “You don’t think I don’t know that!” “We need to get over there now, Cup--” “You don’t think I don’t know that!?” “I can’t see that again! I can’t see his corpse again, I can’t--!” Boris was tuning them out, his eyes locked on his brother. He managed to get in front of him, watching him wearily but also curiously. He raised a hand, willing himself to stop shaking but it didn’t work. He didn’t feel scared but his heart raced a mile a minute. Boris smoothed a hand over Bendy’s head, above his teeth. Bendy growled but this time Boris didn’t flinch back. “Dang, bro, you got some big teeth this time, huh?” Boris smiled, though it shook into place. Bendy’s maw parted, and Boris grimaced a bit, waving a hand in front of his nose. “Your breath smells. Do I have to start making sure you brush your teeth?” The growl subsided but only a bit. A rumble was all that remained. Bendy’s jaw closed. “And geez, those horns… I don’t even think I can see your hair under there.” Boris looked up. “And your shoulders are all… boney.” He frowned. Had his brother hurt himself turning into this? “Don’t even get me started on the rest of you.” He didn’t even want to look at it. He didn’t want to think about how much it must have hurt. “BORIS!!” He heard one of the cup brothers calling his name, but he wasn’t paying attention to which one. “I thought you said you wanted to look cool once you got this shapeshifting stuff down.” Boris looked eye level back with his brother, petting his head. “I don’t think this is what you had in mind.” The rumbling ceased. Bendy was still. Only the dripping of the ink down his form remained. “...I hope this isn’t another attack.” Boris pulled his hand back, looking to the ink dripping down his fingers to his sleeves. “...I really hope not, but it might be worse, too.” He looked up. He could feel his own eyes watering up and he swallowed. Only a little bit more, he could do this. “We’re coming, hold on!” Cuphead yelled out this time. They sounded like they were getting closer. “...You’re scared, aren’t you?” It came out almost like a whisper. Boris leaned closer to his brother. “You never like to talk about it, but you don’t have too. You’re afraid of yourself. You didn’t want to hurt me, Cup, Mugs, Felix, Holly, Oddswell, anyone at the house…” He sniffled. “This must be so scary…” He hugged his brother, his arms brushing past slobbery teeth. His clothes were getting stained with ink but he didn’t care. Tears were dripping treacherously down his cheeks. “I’m gonna help you, I promise.” His voice broke and he let himself cry just a little bit. It wouldn’t hurt for just a little bit, right? “Finally!” Cuphead had managed to break through the creatures, approaching Boris. The Jevil reappeared, pushing him back with the carousel attack. Cuphead screamed in fury. “WE’RE IN THE FINAL ACT! DON’T BE SUCH A HACK!” “I’m going to kill you, you starfallen hellspawn!!” Boris heard a crash behind him. Laughter resounded and the cup brothers were clearly getting angrier and angrier. He blinked open his eyes, looking at his brother. “H-Hey…” He sniffled, rubbing at his eyes. “I-I just thought of something… H-Hold on.” He ruffled through his bag. If he didn’t know better he would have thought his brother was still watching somewhere. Carefully he took out two large pairs of googly eyes. He shook them a bit, a tentative smile playing across his muzzle. “Y-Ya know… I thought it was stupid.” He sniffled again. “Granny gave me a crafting kit once, when you were off doing whatever. It had glue and sparkles and weird fuzzy wires. I didn’t have fun with it at all, but when I saw these,” he shook the googly eyes, the pupils spinning around for show, “I thought these were hilarious. I thought maybe you’d get a kick out of them… but I haven’t gotten a chance to show you them yet, and now you don’t have eyes, so…” He stretched, placing an eye on either side of Bendy’s inked over face. Miraculously they stuck, wiggling in place for a moment. "There. Now even when you don't take good care of yourself, I'll always keep an eye on you.” Boris gave a big smile, bright as his eyes. “Or eyes, in this case..." The room around him seemed to grow silent. It made Boris a bit nervous and he turned around. Behind him, all the ink creatures that were around or that had been forming stopped. Cuphead and Mugman were also frozen, and the jester demon finished one last attack before laughing and vanishing. “What.. the..” Cuphead was on the floor, hand raised, ready to fire. “T-They s-stopped…?” Mugman was standing to his back, hand pointed at the creatures as well. The sound of something splashing sounded behind him Boris turned. “B-B-Bendy…?” Bendy’s body was falling apart. His body then his arms were dropping into piles of goop, slithering back into the moat of ink around the room. Boris’s eyes widened and he rushed to him, hands grabbing either side of his face. The googly eyes dropped to the floor. “No no no no Bendy I can’t lose you, I can’t--” Arms, tiny but real, wrapped around his neck then. The rest of what remained of the beastial body fell, and Boris had to take a step back as Bendy -- real and warm and absolutely covered in ink -- fell into his arms and started bawling. Loud and unrestrained. Boris felt his own tears running down his cheeks and he fell down with his brother, hugging him tightly and tightly. The room held no noise except for the two of them, crying. And then his brother went limp. Boris’s eyes widened. “B-Bendy?!” He was going to check for a pulse but his brother was still breathing, thank the stars-! Boris almost fell over onto the floor when Mugman’s arms wrapped around him and hugged him tightly. He was sobbing. “Oh, thank the stars! Thank you! Boris you’re alive, Bendy’s alive--” “H-Huh?” Boris blinked, the onslaught of tears dripping down onto his shoulders and he looked over. “Were you… that worried?”

“YES!” Cuphead came up then. His face was also tear stained, but unlike Mugman he looked like he wanted to punch something. He was breathing heavily. Boris frowned. “Are you-” “NO!” He threw his hands up. They were still balled into fists as he threw them back down. “I am NOT OK!” He hissed a breath through his teeth. “What the hell was that?!” “What--” “You could have gotten killed!” “I didn’t--” “Your brother would have killed us!” “Ok I’d come back from the grave just to keep him from doing that.” Boris’s nose scrunched up. “And… I’m not sorry. I needed to save my brother so I did, and… wow I saved my brother.” Boris’s eyes almost sparkled at that and Mugman laughed. “Mug’s this isn’t funny!” “I don’t care! Get down here!” Mug’s dragged him onto the floor, forcing him into now what Boris was starting to consider a hug pile. Cuphead was stuttering the whole time but after being forced into the hug he sighed and wrapped his arms around them. “Bunch of cussing morons…” “Aww, we know you love us.” “You’re so lucky you’re that pipsqueaks brother or I would have nailed you already--” Clap. Clap. Clap. They all froze, turning to the source of the sound. “BRAVO, BRAVO!” Jevil bowed. “WHAT A WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE! TRULY BEFITTING A CREATORS TALENT!” Cuphead raised his hand and immediately fired a charged shot. The jester laughed as his head bounced to and fro. Boris paled as he saw the red enter Cup’s eyes again. Mugman pulled his brother back down. “Bro, don’t--” “LISTEN TO YOUR MUG FRIEND, I HAVE GOOD NEWS TO SPEND!” He twirled, hopping on one foot as the room went back to normal. The ink vanished and the bars had disappeared as if they were never there. His voice echoed around the room. “THE PIECE YOU NEED IS SURELY YOURS INDEED! IT’LL BE A RECORD INSTANCE IN THE CHAPTERS OF YOUR DEEDS!” Cuphead fired again but this time something different happened. The demon poofed up into smoke. Where he was rested nothing more than a measly record. Any and all cold that was in the room seemingly vanished. Collectively Boris and Mug’s sighed in relief. Cuphead was trembling as he stood up. “When I find you I swear I’ll--” “Cup!” Mugman frowned, getting up himself. “It’s over, we got the piece, let’s go.” “Not until we--” “Cup, your eyes.” Cuphead clamped his mouth shut. There was an awkward silence between the two. Boris coughed to get their attention. “So… uhm… Can we go home now?” Cuphead looked down at Boris, his eyes shifting to Bendy. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “The pipsqueak ok?” “Exhausted but I… I don’t know.” He frowned. “He’s alive so… That’s good enough, right now.” He stood up, carrying his brother in his arms. Even passed out like this he was still clinging to him. He huffed. “I got the record.” Mugs came back with it under his arm. “We should get back as soon as possible, we don’t know if that whole ordeal heavily affected him or not.” Boris whined. “I know, don’t remind me!” “Sorry, sorry!” Mug’s waved his hand as Cuphead started walking out the gate. “Need to go to a bar after this, stars…”

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@theinkymystery A/N: Before anybody asks, Felix wasn't in this because when I originally started writing this I didn't have anything interesting of note to play around with Felix, and I didn't feel like I'd be able to do his character justice. Combined with me being unsure if I could write around more than two characters and having the story already about a fourth of the way written when I picked it back up last week, I just decided to finish it instead of shoehorning him in somewhere. Even if I do now have something I would have liked to have done with him (Felix being a Zany), I haven't seen his show, so it'd be harder to pull off (and I'd have to restructure the whole story for like the 8th time and I wasn't doing that).

Did you know I started writing this (technically) in December of last year? I've been working on it off and on because there was so many good demon tidbits popping up in each chapter (weekly, mind you) that I kept wanting to include them and it was turning into a vicious cycle. What really got me to finish this up was finding out the next machine piece was showing up soon, and I was afraid it was going to be the instrument and I wanted to get this done BEFORE that happened so it at least had a day to be a plausibility. Knowing me, I would have scrapped this if it wasn't what I thought it was or put it back on the drawing board and I did NOT want to let that happen.

The intention with this was even if you were not a reader of BABITIM, you'd be able to understand and enjoy this while (perhaps) becoming curious enough to check out the work it's based off of (please do -- it's long but so worth reading it in it's entirety).

And ah anybody who read this from the Deltarune side, there's no Deltarune characters in the main work and I'm not sure if there ever will be. Jevil's just a character I love and I wanted to write an interpretation of him here in a way I thought would work with his perceived character (playful and mischeivous) while working off what I feel he'd actually be in person (dangerous, acting as if the world is a game) so yeah. He's not a Darkner here, but a Demon to fit the BABITIM world. Counts with his analogies too, since it's a story and not a game.

Thank you to all my lovely friends and editors, Egg, Mewtea, Mewfang, Kifinosi, Glacial Angel for tolerating my spur of the moment worth ethic and reading over this for me.