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spry-the-artist · 2 years

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Ink Demonth Day 29th: Home

Summary: Henry made a deal to go home in a month. But after he becomes part of the ink, will that deal stay true?

—

Around a week ago, Henry had been invited over to the old, decrepit halls of his former work place, Joey Drew Studios. Joey had said he wanted him to see something. It didn’t take long for Henry to figure out what it was.

But one event led to another, and now he was dropping possibly hundreds of feet due because a corrupted version of Alice Angel (Susie Campbell?) wanted to be perfect. Which apparently required her to get his new friend, a not so corrupted version of Boris.

Henry knew she’d kill him. And he would say over his dead body, but that was the angel’s plan.

He knew that as soon as the elevator would hit the ground, he’d be dead. All he could think of at the moment was going home.

Home, it was the only thing that could make him happy at the moment. He thought of Linda, her image crystal clear in his head. He missed her so badly, even if it had only been a week. If he died right here and now, at least his last thoughts would be about his beloved wife.

As tears welled up in his brown eyes, he started hearing a voice. It wasn’t clear at first, but that quickly changed.

“So, I’m guessing ya ain’t too keen about dying, huh, old pal?”

The voice sounded like Joey. Whether it was the man or not didn’t matter, Henry hated it instantly.

“Of course! If I had just ripped up that letter, I would have still lived at least till I was 66!”

“You do know that your just gonna join the rest of this lot when ya die, right? You’ll never see Linda, even when she herself is dead. If your lucky, you’ll become a Boris!”

That scared Henry. Of course, it confirmed his suspicion that these monsters were his old coworkers. But the voice made him realize that if dies, he’ll become one of them, “Why are you here? To make sure I’m not panicking when I wake in in the ‘screaming well of voices’ instead of Heaven?”

The voice cackled, “Of course not! That would be quite entertainin. I’m here to strike a deal.”

“Hm?”

“I can’t change the fact that you’ll die, nor the fact that’ll you’ll join the ink. But I can control how turn up!”

Henry raised an eyebrow at that, “Sure, just don’t change anything. I like being human, thank you very much.”

The voice laughed again, “Hah! Ya wanna be human? Fine, you’ll be a human! But now, for my end…”

Of course someone with Joey’s voice wouldn’t give anything for free.

“In exchange for you staying human, you have to stay here for another month! Then, you’ll go home!”

Home, he didn’t even except the voice to offer him to ever go home! There was no reason not to accept this deal! “Deal!”

The voice giggled for one last time, “Have a good landing Henry!”

The moment it said that, he landed.

Everything went black

—

“My head…”

Henry slowly got up. Everything was black and white. Was this what the others saw? Maybe it was an inevitable part of being an ink monster. Though the reason why was still unclear, the studio was already monochrome enough!

He felt… less tall. The room he was in seemed to be the sacrifice room. And from what he remembered, he used to reach the top of the… coffins (that was still disturbing). But now, the only reached 3/4s of it.

Did the voice not know his height? What else did it not know?

Henry put a hand on the coffin and realized that it didn’t know a lot. Either that, or this voice had tricked him into becoming a f*$&ing cartoon! Wait, did his brain just censor a swear?

Like that matters, he needed to find a mirror! Or an ink puddle.

The man ran out of the room, not even thinking to see if there was another axe in the room, and sprinted towards the nearest ink puddle.

Thankfully, there were no searchers to be seen. But what he did see wasn’t much better.

It looked to be a cartoon version of himself. In slightly more fancy wear then what he showed up in. The outfit looked to be a music conductor’s suit, seemed more fitting on the voice or Joey since they were clearly the ones in control. It looked like his hands had been swapped out with Bendy’s due to many factors. One, they were (white) gloved. Two, they had two black ovals on each hand. Three, they were oversized. And four, the fingers were basically sausages.

He also looked younger, with dark hair and no wrinkles in sight. He also didn’t feel pain in his back so that could be the case. His eyes were like the ones in the Bendy cartoons. Well, it’s better than the uncanny ones on the posters and cutouts.

Last, but not least, he was entirely black and white. Not grey like the world around him, but perfectly black and white.

The voice lied to him! He was farther from being human than the searchers and Sammy are. Sure he was a human toon, but-

Well, the voice definitely did trick him. But at least it wasn’t straight up lying to him.

Henry tried reaching behind his back, among other cartoon tricks, to see if this was of any use. But the only change in survival he’d have now was having a harder time carrying things due to his new hands. That, and at least an easier time seeing searchers due to the new height. Though the height would cause other problems.

Did the voice want him to not make the month? Because the problems seemed to be stacking up.

Or maybe it just wanted him to be so worried about this that he forgets to take care of himself.

That settles it! Henry was going to finish this month just to spite the voice.

And to come home too, of course.

—

Alice had not expected to find an ink puddle in the place of her errand boy when she came to the elevator. It distracted Boris so in the moment she didn’t think about it.

But now that she had gotten what she wanted, she couldn’t help but feel sad.

She had wanted Henry to die, yes, but she didn’t want him to join the inky depths forever.

Or maybe she was mad… that was it! She was mad that he’d never leave. Hopefully she’d find a way to get him back as an errand boy, or else he’d just be another useless slug.

The angel imagined what he could’ve turned into, hopefully one of the Lost Ones. The butcher gang members were like wild animals, the searchers couldn’t move around much, and if he was a Boris she’d have to kill him!

She checked the cameras and microphones. One of the gent machines were programmed to make security equipment and intercoms so she had made hundreds. They went all the way up to the Music Department, any higher was inaccessible. She had also found the system that connected them all a long time ago as well.

The angel decided to look at her new favourite spot in the entire studio. The ‘Sammy Puddle’. That traitor deserved to be stuck in the dark abyss for all of eternity. Every time she was in a bad mood, she’d look there and laugh.

But what she found did the opposite of that. In the sacrificial room stood a cartoon man. Not like any she had seen while working in the studio. Was he a background character? No, she’d have known by now that the machine made those as well. Plus, from what she remembered Joey had put a reference sheet of Alice in the machine when he sacrificed her old self.

Background characters didn’t have those.

Looking closer, she saw some similarities to her errand boy. The hair, the general structure, the way it moved around. Some thing were off, like his height, clothes, and colours. Speaking of colours, he was completely black and white. That just wasn’t a thing in the studio.

It had to be her errand boy. She would’ve noticed a toon so perfect and gutted it years ago.

She wasn’t interested in doing that to him though. Alice wasn’t even interested in making him her errand boy anymore!

No, she had to get him on her side. She had to know how he was so perfect!

—

Henry was travelling to the lower levels. It may be a stupid idea, but right now he was tired of just wandering the music department. It had been days. And the soup always appeared once again, it wasn’t good enough to drink out of boredom.

He also wanted to go give Alice a piece of his mind. If he thought about it for a single second, he’d realize she’d gut him, but right now he couldn’t go home without the she-demon paying.

He had finally gotten to her level, thank the lord and saviour Ink Demon that there were stairs alongside the elevator. Yes, he was calling the demon his lord and saviour, no he hadn’t turned into Sammy. But that demon was the only thing ruling over the studio.

The room she inhabited wasn’t far from the stairs. He entered inside, pretending not to notice the new Boris corpse in the corner.

Suddenly, a voice could be heard, one that definitely had a body unlike the last one, “Hello my little errand boy. I see you’ve changed since your last visit.”

Henry growled, “You’ve got a real nerve still calling me your errand boy. I’ll never work for you again, not after you killed Boris.”

“Oh hush, that coward would’ve died soon enough anyways! It was entertaining seeing him cry over the sad, pathetic, inky puddle you became.”

The man growled again.

“Anyways, you’re right. You’re not my errand boy anymore. In fact, I want to meet eye to eye!”

“I’ll do that when I choke out to death!”

“Hah! Like you can even actually meet me eye to eye with that new height of yours! But, trust me Henry, I mean good! If you pair up with me, I won’t ever have to kill another creature again.”

Henry pondered over this, “I’m only here for another month. A bit less actually. What will you do when I’m gone?”

“Don’t worry. If all goes to plan, I’ll never have to kill. Now, go meet me, I even set up a table and chair for you!”

The toon did as he was told, walking the crooked boards that lead to the other side before going to the left of the room. I’m the room that extended from it, was exactly as the she-demon said. She had a table and chair of her own.

He sat down on his.

“So, what do you want?”

The angel laughed, “I want to know how you got so perfect!”

“How I got so perfect? I don’t know, I’m not the one who chose to become this.”, technically that was true. It’s not like eh chose to become a toon.

“Hmm, surely you can remember. That reminds me, how much do you remember of your past life?”

“Huh? I remember tons!”

“I’m sure you do, I remember a lot too. In fact, I think the key to become perfect is to have all my memories!”

“So… why’d you ask me how to become perfect?”

“It’s just a theory I made up on the spot. Hmm… could you do your angel a favour and think of home? Most of the ink creatures down here remember a tad bit about that.”

Henry begun thinking about his wife Linda. No matter where he was, whether the streets or the biggest mansion, as long as she’d be with him then he’d call it home.

But something was… wrong with his memories. They looked like they were coloured with pencils, the details fading as his beloved’s face became unrecognizable. But suddenly, everything was back to normal again. Then he started forgetting once again. It was like his memories pulsed.

It had only been a week since he didn’t think about her! How the hell did that make her image so foggy.

‘What would Linda say if she saw me now? She’d probably reject me for being a freak.’, Henry thought to himself.

“Well, are you going to answer to your angel?”, her sickly sweet voice rung. Ever since they ‘partnered up’, she had used it.

“Hm? Yeah, I remember home well. It’s a bit wavy but everything’s fine otherwise.”

“Splendid! If my plan works out, I’ll be beautiful again and have all of my old self’s memories!”

“…And if you don’t?”

Alice’s face contorted into one of rage, her voice reverted back to the one she had used during the errands, “Then you’ll get the honour of being the first creature I use to become beautiful again!”

Henry gulped and slowly inched away from the room.

She seemed even crazier then before.

—

Turns out, Alice’s little plan hadn’t worked out. She had made it quite apparent when she s reached into every single intercom that she wanted Henry’s head immediately.

So, like a coward, he started boarding up the hall where the bacon soup shelf was. It always regenerated, so that meant he never had to leave again.

His only thoughts were about survival. Whether it was reminding himself to eat, or to put more boards up after a searcher destroyed one of them. Those &$*holes had also started popping up in the shelter itself so he needed to find a weapon very soon.

It had been three weeks since the deal first started.

It had been two weeks since he hadn’t thought of his home.

It had been one week since he hadn’t thought about his identity.

—

It had been three weeks since the angel decided to attack the toon. He was scared for his life.

When a strange voice started speaking to him, he was afraid. But it didn’t sound like the angel, so why worry?

“Hello, dear pal! How’ve you been enjoying the past month? Love your new form?”

The toon cocked his head, “New form?”

“Right, right! I mean new form of life! Surely your life hasn’t always consisted of being in a small hallway.”

He rummaged his head for any memories, but didn’t find anything. All he remembered was surviving. That, and faint memories that pulsed between being faint and there being nothing at all.

“No, not really.”

The strange voice laughed, “Well then, are you ready to go home?”

“But I am home? I’m sure you’ve gotten me confused with someone else.”

“That’s right! I’m sorry, I was looking for a fellow name Henry! He was planning on going home at the end of the month. But I think he’ll be just fine.”

“Well, I’m sure he’ll one day call this place home as well!”

The voice laughed a final time, “Hah, Hah! I’m sure he will.”

It had been one month since the deal started.

It had been one minute since he was doomed to stay in the studio forever.

#batim #ink demonth #the ink demonth #alice angel #susie campbell #batim henry #henry batim #henry stein #joey drew #(the voice is Joey not and not an imitation)#art #writing #fanfic #was originally gonna be a shitty Drabble and turned into a decent one shot #toon Henry

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