Drip.

    Drip.

    I woke up to the sound of something dripping. I opened my eyes, seeing a black substance leaking from the ceiling. It was almost pitch-black in the room, so it could have been anything. I sat up, wanting to get a better look at my surroundings.

I seemed to be in an animation studio of some sorts. In the corner was a cardboard cutout of some kind of demon character. On the wall behind me was a phrase, written in that same stuff dripping from the ceiling: THE CREATOR LIED TO US. It was creeping me out, but I couldn’t leave. I tried to get up, but felt something restraining me. I looked down, and saw that I was tied to some pole. 

I heard the sound of footsteps. A man walked into the room, and came up to me. No, not a man. It was what appeared to be a cartoon wolf. Though this was real life, not a cartoon. Right? It walked up to me and untied me, gesturing for me to follow. He led me through a hallway filled with that weird liquid, in which I saw a broken fire axe. Somebody’s recently been through here, I thought. It led me around a corner, and into what appeared to be a safehouse. I heard snoring, meaning we weren’t alone. It sat down, and started tapping the table to some unheard beat.

I decided to look around. I found a door, and behind it I could hear the snoring. I decided to not disturb them, so I kept wandering around. I eventually found the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. I jumped, punching the mirror in reaction to what I saw. That wasn’t me! I’m human, not whatever that...thing...was! The wolf rushed into the room, obviously startled by the sound. I heard the door open, and a man walked into the room. When he spoke, his voice was calm, almost concerned. 

“Hey, Boris, I heard a crash. Is everything alri-” he didn’t even finish the sentence once he saw me. “Who are you?”

I crossed my arms, and said, “I could ask you the same thing, now can’t I?” Well, I tried to say it. Nothing came out of my mouth, not a sound. I looked around and found a piece of paper and a pen. I wrote down what I had tried to say.

He read it, sighed, then said, “My name is Henry Stein. I used to work here. And you?”

I started writing again. “My name is…” I stopped. I couldn’t remember. My name is…What is my name?

The wolf, Boris, ran out of the room, and I could hear stuff being thrown around in the other room. I was left standing there with Henry, in uncomfortable silence.

Then, Boris walked back into the room with a book. He was looking back and forth between the book and me. I read the title: Joey Drew Studios Employee Yearbook. He seemed to find the page he was looking for. He snapped, and brought the book over to Henry. He pointed to something, and Henry nodded.

“Are you sure, Buddy? That doesn’t look like the thing in front of us.”

I stood in a sassy pose. I wrote something down on another piece of paper. “Thing? I’m sorry, but I am a human being, standing right in front of you, and you address me as a thing? I’ve never been more insulted in my life, I don’t think.”

Then I remembered the mirror. Was that why they called me a thing? Henry brought the book closer to me, and I took it from his hands, surprising him. I looked over the page, looking for anything familiar. Then I saw it. A man with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. He wasn’t smiling, but he seemed like he was nervously excited. I looked at the caption at the bottom of the picture. Steven Beck, Head of the Animation Department. It all came flooding back to me. 

-------Flashback (30 Years Ago)-------

Joey had told me that he had big plans for the studio, for Bendy. For me. I asked what he meant when he said “for me”, then remembered how he had told me about his secret Ink Machine project. 

Five months ago, I became the head of the Animation Department, and Joey decided to get to know me personally, like all heads of department. But he said I was the only one he had told about the Machine. 

He said that he could make Bendy real, all of our cartoons real, through a little trial and error. He said that he’d already had one try, and it had become an error. Instead of Bendy, a twisted, monstrous version of him had come out, made entirely of ink. He had disposed of it, he said. 

He said that he had figured out how to make a better version. A perfect version. All he needed was a volunteer to help. He was hoping I would help him. I’d only been here for about a year, but I already felt like Bendy was a part of me. I agreed to help, because I thought that if we succeeded, this would make Bendy popular again. 

He led me to a closet, which had a hole that led into the theater that had closed down a couple months ago. Joey told me that he bought it, and I didn’t think he could have. 

On the stage, there was a machine. It looked like a big box with a curved tube coming out of the front, dripping with a black liquid. Ink. This was the Ink Machine. Then he started talking about how it worked.

It needed a soul in order to make the cartoons real. A human soul. For that, he needed to kill people.

We got into a massive argument. This wasn’t right, none of it was right! I turned around, and started marching back to the studio.

Joey was behind me, tapping his foot. He told me he was sorry, and before I could do anything, I was shot in the back.

-------Now-------

“My name…My name is Steven Beck,” I wrote down, looking up at Henry. I looked into the non-cracked part of the mirror, seeing myself. Joey, what did you do to me? 

I looked kinda like myself, but I wasn’t. My build was the same, thin with little muscle. But my left arm and right leg were made of ink, along with the area around my right eye. My right eye was nothing but a glowing orange dot. My right arm was the same, but my right hand was like you would see in a cartoon, gloved with three round fingers and a thumb. My hair was dirty blond, and my left eye was electric blue.

I turned to Henry, scared. “Where are we?”

Henry shrugged. “I thought this was the old studio, but it’s way bigger than I remembered.”

I shook my head, and wrote my response on a wall. “Joey really took to expanding the studio whenever Bendy got big. I didn’t even get to visit the Heavenly Toys Workshop, but I knew it was there. He even put in an infirmary, so we could keep working on the cartoons.”

Henry nodded. “Knowing Joey, that makes sense.”

We spent the next couple of days talking. Well, he talked, I mostly just listened and wrote my thoughts down for him to read. I told him who I used to be, and what my relationship with Joey was. Henry told me about what had happened to him since he arrived at the studio. Boris just sat there, looking impatient.

Eventually, we got bored. Henry went up to the door, and I noticed that a lever was missing. The only other person in here was Boris, so Henry went and asked him if he had seen it. His stomach rumbled, so we made him something to eat. He brought up a toolbox, with the lever inside.

We left, and heard a voice on the speakers. “Hello, Steven. I was hoping Sammy would dispose of you, all the trouble you’ve caused me. You should have learned by now, Steven. You can’t save the clones.” The voice was that of a young woman, likely in her mid-20s. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. 

We continued on, me thinking about what the voice had said, Henry holding an axe, tense, and Boris looking sad. We made it to a room with a giant sign that said Heavenly Toys Workshop. Yes, finally. Why is there an ink waterfall? 

Henry looked up, seeing the waterfall, and asked the same question out loud. We made it to a room with a bunch of toys. I saw a Boris plush, and stuffed it into my pocket. Henry unblocked a contraption, which was jammed with toys, and we made our way through the now showing door. 

Behind it were two paths: The Demon and The Angel. The Angel made me feel disgusted, so we took the Demon path. Through there was an elevator, which we took up towards a higher level. The voice spoke again.

“I could care less about you, Henry. Steven, on the other hand, has something I want. But, you can still come to meet with me, Henry. Bring Steven with you. We have much to discuss.”

We got to a floor with a large staircase and a mechanical door. Boris ran into the darkness behind the door, so we had no choice but to follow. I was horrified by what I saw, but it triggered another memory.

-------Three months ago-------

I woke up in the center of a pentagram. I looked around, seeing I was in my room. Wally must have moved me, playing a joke. 

I walked out into the main room in our safehouse. Wally was sitting on the couch, in his majestic, cowardly wolf glory. Wally was really a Boris, but he preferred the name Wally. I don’t know why. 

I walked up to the door, but he blocked my way. I told him (as well as somebody who can’t speak can) to get out of my way, that Alice was a necessary evil, but he didn’t listen. I sighed. I don’t like using my power on my friends, but he gave me no choice. 

I put my inky hand on his shoulder, and let my ink merge with his. I willed him to move out of my way, and he did. I walked out, ‘excited’ for Alice’s new chore for me. 

I got to her lab, seeing all the dead Boris clones. I sighed, then walked past them into Alice’s lab. She was waiting for me, with a Piper strapped to a medical table. 

Welcome Steven, she said. Ready for today?

I nodded, hating myself already. She always kept behind that glass, so that I couldn’t do anything. 

She told me to bring Sammy to her , alive. I sighed, then asked my usual question: Why? Of course, she didn’t answer. So I went and did what I always did whenever I needed Sammy for something: I went around the halls chanting destroying Bendy cutouts, until Sammy finally took notice. 

I found him charging at me with an axe. I sighed, grabbed the axe, and touched his shoulder with my inky hand. Our ink merged, and I forced him to calm down. I told him about Alice, and forced him to come with me. 

When we got to Alice’s lab, I heard howls of pain, and a voice coming through the speakers. It was Alice. She said I had outlived my usefulness, and she had needed Wally. I mentally screamed, then rushed to her room. Behind the glass, instead of a Piper, like usual, it was Wally.

I charged the glass and managed to crack it a bit. Then something shocked me. I fell to the ground, hearing Alice talking to Sammy. She said he could have me, and sacrifice me to Bendy, or whatever it is he does. 

The last thing I saw was a saw cutting into Wally’s chest before I passed out.

-------Now-------

“Steven? Steven!”

I snapped back to reality. Henry was shouting my name. 

“You’ve been standing there staring at that body for the past five minutes. You were starting to cry ink!”

I touched my face with my non-inky hand. Sure enough, it came back covered with ink, and started writing with that ink. “Just…thinking about a friend, and what happened to him.”

Henry seemed to read my thoughts, so he just nodded and headed into the lair of the beast.

There she was, just sitting there, the body of Wally still on her table. I sat there in anger, unable to voice my anger.

She laughed. She actually laughed. “Ah, Steven, I must say I’m surprised! Perhaps you could inform Henry of who this body here once was. Afterall, he seems like the curious type.”

Henry looked at me weirdly. I sighed, then wrote, “That was the friend I told you about earlier. His name was Wally. I couldn’t save him, all because of this stupid GLASS!” I punched the glass between her and us, effectively hurting myself. 

She looked at Henry. “Do some tasks for me, and I will let you leave. Otherwise, pray I don’t find you.”

The shutter on her window closed, and the door we came through opened. We walked through, and discovered Boris was already in the elevator. 

“My machines are hungry, gather me some spare parts.” Her voice came through the speakers. I sighed, then checked in my arm for anything useful. Since the Wally flashback, I had remembered my abilities, such as storing things in my inky arm. Luckily, I seemed to have extras. I took them out with a squelching sound that made Henry look sick. 

I deposited them in her little thing that she uses as a collection system. “Steven has been caught cheating. I’ll let it slide this time, but you’ll have to do an extra task. I hate those grinning devils, destroy them with this axe. It’ll be fun, I promise.” The thing to our left opened up, revealing an axe. I took it, covered it with my ink, then handed it to Henry.

“Just in case she did something to it,” I wrote.

Henry nodded, then walked over to the nearest Bendy cutout. He swung the axe, and I swear I heard a roar come from below after he destroyed it.

I looked at the next Bendy cutout. I felt a tugging sensation in my inky arm and leg. I closed my arms, and surprised myself by what I did next. I took some ink out of my leg and focused on it, imagining it was an axe. And then I swung it at the cutout. 

It elongated as it swung, the top becoming wider on one side, becoming sharper. The next thing I knew, I was holding an axe, leaping back and forth between the cutouts, destroying them with a fury for Bendy, for that smile, for Alice for taking Wally from me.

When there were no more cutouts, Alice spoke on the speakers. “Ah, that was fun, wasn’t it? Oh, but I forgot to mention, He hates it when I do that.” Suddenly, everything was covered in ink, and I knew who He was: it was Bendy.

I grabbed Henry, and ran to the nearest miracle station, and shoved him inside. Before I could climb in, something threw me away from it. I heard Henry close the door, and looked up, seeing the one being I fear most. The Ink Demon.

He snarled, staring at me. I stared back. We sat there for what felt like hours, staring. Then he ran at me. I dodged, then ran for the Miracle Station. I threw open the door, and shoved myself inside.

“Dear god,” Henry said. “What is that thing?”

I turned to face him, which was rather hard in the cramped space. “That,” I struggled to write, “Is the Ink Demon”. I heard a weird sucking sound, and looked out of the little slot. The inky effect that Bendy had was gone. I stepped out, followed by Henry.

“Those inky abominations wander my halls. They're trying to take me back, back to the ink! Kill them, kill them all!” Alice’s voice came over the speakers. 

I didn’t know what she meant, until a Piper, Striker, and Fisher walked out of the shadows. I grabbed my inky axe, Henry grabbed his pipe that Buddy gave him earlier, and we prepared to defend ourselves. 

I took care of the Striker, easy. Henry had a little trouble with the Fisher, but he managed. When it was time for the Piper, I accidentally flung some of my ink onto it. To my surprise, the Piper dissolved into a puddle. 

I looked at Henry, who just didn’t even care. His clothes were torn, and his face was covered in ink. 

-------Skip the Swollen Ones-------

“Well done. You can now leave. Step into the elevator. You may now ascend from this place.” Alice said.

Henry and I stepped into the elevator. It started lifting into the darkness. Alice started to say some things, and then the elevator started to fall. I cursed in my head, then Alice started talking about how Buddy was the most perfect Boris she had ever seen.

WAS WALLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, ALICE?! I couldn’t help it. She had blatantly disrespected Wally’s memory. And then we crashed to the floor. 

I woke up to Buddy trying to shake Henry awake, but then Buddy was dragged away by Alice. No, not again. I got up, and tried to follow. Many times I got close, but I lost her at Bendy Land. I sat there until I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and the last thing I saw was Alice with a needle in my neck. 

I don’t know how long I was out, but when I woke up, I was in a sort of arena. I could see a ride-car arriving on a roller coaster track, and inside that car was Henry.

“Steven? How long have you been here?” Henry asked.

I shrugged, and when he came to the end of the track in this room, his car was thrown by an enormous… something. When it walked out, I almost cried. It was Buddy, but all mangled and broken, and his head was on a different body, stuffed with who knows what. 

He charged at Henry, over and over again. Then he stopped, ink spurting out of his chest. A thick ink glob fell out onto the floor, and Henry picked it up. He ran to a machine, twisted a dial, put in the ink, and out came a plunger. What was he gonna do with that thing? He shoved the plunger in Buddy’s chest cavity. Ohh, that’s what.

I looked at the machine, then shook my head, scooping off a chunk of my ink from my leg, and turning it into my axe. I kept swinging it at Buddy, then he finally collapsed, dead. I heard Alice scream, then turned around to her charging me and Henry. 

I got my axe ready, but then a blade sprouted out of her chest. She collapsed, and behind her was another, non-corrupted Alice, and another Boris, this one with a mechanical arm and an axe. Henry took one look at them, and passed out. The Boris walked over to Henry, and I stepped in front of him, brandishing my axe. He shoved me aside, and he picked up Henry.

I went to grab Henry, but I was held back by the other Alice. I was overwhelmed with a sense of tiredness, and before I passed out again for who knows how long.

I woke up in a makeshift cell. I walked over to an opening. I saw the Alice drawing on the walls. I knocked on the wall. She turned around, walked over, and I started writing on the floor. “Why am I locked up? Where am I? Are you going to answer my questions?” I looked at what she was drawing. It was a farmhouse.

She read it. “Wow, you're rude, aren’t you?” She said.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“People call me Allison, but I’m no angel. Now that I’ve introduced myself, who are you?” She said, then walked back to her drawings. I wrote on a piece of paper, then threw it at her. I hit the back of her head, and she read it. 

“I’m Steven Beck.”

She stopped, turning around to look at me. She looked at the wall, then back at me. I tried to see what she was looking at, then I saw it. Steven Beck is here to help. 

I wrote on another piece of paper, and threw it at her again. Why was this so fun? This time, she caught it. “Why is my name on your wall? And why does that phrase sound familiar?” Then I had another flashback.

-------35 Years Ago-------

I walked around, looking for Wally's broom closet. Wally was the janitor, I was his helper. When I found the closet, I heard a crash. I grabbed the broom and dustpan, and headed towards the sound. I saw that one of the pipes had burst in the music department, spraying ink everywhere. Yeah, a broom wasn’t going to cover this. I looked around, seeing if anyone was in here. 

I saw a woman, a voice actress, standing on the other side of the large ink flow, probably five feet across, too far to jump. I went back to the closet and grabbed one of the tarps.

I ran back to the music department and placed the tarp over the top of the ink flow. The lady walked over the tarp, and would’ve fallen into the ink if I hadn’t caught her.

When we made it to the other side, I asked her what her name was. She said her name was Allison Pendle. She thanked me, so I said no problem, Steven Beck is here to help.

-------Now-------

“Hello? Hello, Steven?”

I shook my head, looking around. I saw the wall, and Allison staring at me, concerned. I started writing on the ground again. “Sorry, I blanked out. Flashbacks from my life before this.” I gestured at my body.

Just then, the Boris walked in, carrying Henry. 

“Tom, what took you so long?” Allison asked.

The Boris, Tom, made a hand drawing in the air. It looked like a round “U” with a smaller “u” connecting the tips.

Allison sighed. “The Ink Demon? Did he see you?”

Tom shook his head.

I knocked on the wall again.

Tom looked at me, then made some more gestures.

“His name is Steven, Tom.” Allison said.

Tom looked at the wall. Steven Beck is here to help. 

He looked at me, then walked over, and opened a secret door. He put Henry inside, and gestured for me to come out.

I followed him, and he sat me down at the table. He looked at Allison, and stepped aside. 

Allison walked towards me and asked me a question. “You have special abilities, don’t you?”

“What do you mean by that?” I wrote.

“When you fell unconscious in that arena, your axe became a puddle of ink, and moved towards your inky leg. Why?”

I sighed, then scooped out some of my ink, my leg making a sucking sound, and turned it into something better than my axe that I had once thought I had seen. I turned it into a scythe, with glowing wires running out of the blade into a metal grip on the handle. I scooped out some more ink, and turned it into a Boris plush. 

I handed the plush to Tom, but he dropped it. It collapsed into a puddle of ink, as they had described. It started flowing, somehow, in the direction of my leg. I moved my leg to the left, and the ink followed.

When it was absorbed by my leg, I shrugged, and said, “Well, that’s new.”

I heard Henry stirring in the room. Tom closed the door, then left the room. Allison went back to her drawings. I sat at the table, waiting. I looked at the boarded up place in which Henry was being kept locked up. After a few seconds, Henry was at the gap, looking at Allison.

“I know you’re staring,” said Allison, “it’s just…a little creepy.”

Henry just sat there, not saying anything. Allison just looked at him, and asked him a question. “Who are you, and why are you here?”

Henry finally answered. “My name is Henry. I used to work here. I got a letter from an old friend, telling me to come here.” Then Henry saw me. “Why are you out there and not in here with me?”

I pointed at the wall. He saw the writing, and tilted his head, confused. 

After Henry went back to sleep, I decided to go find something to eat. All I found was Bacon Soup. Great. I cooked some, then ate it, the bitter taste filling my mouth. I almost spit it out, but I gave it to Allison, instead. 

She walked over to Henry’s cell. I didn’t even notice he was awake. She gave it to him, saying he needs to eat. When she left, Tom walked over and knocked it down onto the floor, making a no gesture. 

Later, I found a weird machine with wires like my scythe. I held it up to my face, and saw glowing orange words. I put it down, and they weren’t there. I couldn’t get those words out of my head. She will leave you for dead.

I woke up to Allison shouting, “We can’t just leave him!”

I shot up, my ink arm making a mess on the wall. I quickly started writing. “What’s going on?”

Allison looked at me. “The Ink Demon is right outside our door, and Tom wants to leave Henry!”

I stared at Tom. “Why? He hasn’t done anything wrong, and yet you treat him like trash.”

I heard a bang. I looked at the source of the noise, and saw a small puddle of ink forming on the wall. I looked at Henry, then started writing. “Henry, I’m sorry. If you make it out of this, please forgive me.”

I looked at Tom, nodded, and opened the door. I formed my scythe, and killed the Searchers that were at the door. Tom was right behind me in no time. We managed to get to the boats next at the ink river. I climbed in, helped Tom and Allison into the boat, and we were off. 

We arrived at the town at the end of the river. It was a bunch of shacks, sitting on top of each other in rows. We decided to take a nap, and we went inside one of the houses. 

I woke up to Sammy screaming at someone. I looked outside, and he was holding Henry up by his neck, his mask off. He threw Henry onto the ground, and lifted the axe. I ran out right as he was about to drop the axe. 

Tom got there before I did, and whacked Sammy in the head with his axe. He helped Henry up, and handed him the axe. 

There was a rumble, and Allison said something, but I wasn’t paying attention. A bunch of Searchers and Lost One’s appeared out of nowhere, and started attacking. 

I reached out and touched a Lost One, mixing my ink with its own, and pushed one thought into its mind: Help. I pushed my will upon it, until I was sure it knew what I meant. It’s eyes started to glow blue, and I gave it an axe. It shuffled off and started attacking Searchers. I repeated this process several times until we had about twenty Lost One’s on our side. 

Allison looked surprised. I gave her a, Deal with it, look, then went back to hacking up Searchers. 

By the time we were done, most of the Lost Ones that were helping us were dead, so I told the ones that were still alive to go back to their homes. 

Allison cut open a chain blocking our path, then we were on our way. Henry and I went first, walking over a path made of planks. Then one of them broke from underneath me, and Henry fell with me. 

We found ourselves in a small room with a small pool of ink covering the floor. There was a symbol on the wall, and it looked like that strange gadget that I found in the safehouse earlier. I scooped out some more ink, and turned it into that machine. 

I held it up to the symbol, and saw the words, It’s not in the vault. I helped Henry up, and he pulled the actual gadget out from behind his back. I didn’t question it. I’d seen weirder things lately. 

We headed down the hallway, and found ourselves in a room with one of those ink shaper machines. Everytime I turned the dial, it showed a different pipe shape. I looked around, and saw a wall with pipes, and some sections were missing. 

I called Henry over, and he looked at it. “Looks like we’re going to need to find some pipes,” he said.

I looked at him with a Really? look. I scooped out some of my ink, and turned it into the different pipe shapes. Soon enough, we heard a sound like ink being drained. 

I turned to my left, and saw a door. I opened it, and walked inside. I walked through the strange hallway, and wound up in a vault. Henry opened a box next to a mechanical door, when I heard a voice behind me.

“Looks like whatever was here was moved long ago.” I turned around, and there was Allison and Tom. 

“How did you get down here?” Henry asked.

Allison just looked at me and smiled. “It pays to carry a rope.” Then she looked at the mechanical door. She started listing things she would need to open it, then Tom punched it open.

I was vaguely aware of the ink I had used to make the pipes join back with my leg. Looks like we won’t be able to go back.

We went through the door, and walked through another hallway. There was a long window, through which I could see Bendy. We eventually made our way to what looked like a huge Ink Machine. 

Allison and Henry had a conversation, and I heard something about an ocean? I’m not sure. But when Allison and Tom let Henry go off by himself, I started paying attention. 

“Why is Henry going by himself? Aren’t we going with him?” I wrote.

Allison looked at me, then gestured at the three of us. “We’re not like him, Steven. If we go into that ink, we won’t come back.”

I looked at her like she was stupid. “Speak for yourself.” I turned towards the giant Ink Machine, then walked into the ink. Not gonna lie, it was disgustingly warm. But I made it to the other side. 

I heard a banging sound coming from inside, so I ran in. I arrived just in time to see Henry put a film reel into some sort of device next to a throne. 

Then, a giant, beast-like Bendy was in front of me. It started to reach for Henry, but then all of the screens started to flash “The End” in fancy script. Then everything got bright, and I blacked out.

So, this is a story I've been writing since last year, in 7th grade. So, I decided Fuck it. I'm bored, and can work on this at school. This is the product of that self-conversation. I hope you enjoyed it.

TheLostLegend