A/N: My literal first attempt at a Bendy and the Ink Machine fanfic, so please let me know how it is! I've got a semi-idea of how the plot is going to work. Also, I THINK chapter two is out, but this an AU type of story so please don't tell me it's incorrect.

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Now on TO THE STORY!

Inky Help

Prologue

The simple fact of the matter was that they were a family friendly company who endured the struggle of trying to become the next Disney productions studios. Joey Drew, the man who made it all happen, was the boss, and a very creative one at that; he thought up the many scenarios and what not that many others within the studio couldn't even imagine. His bright eyes and cheerful smile could send a flickering light bulb back to being a regular glowing object. Then there was Henry, by the scenes he did the final workings that would bring the show to life; it was him who would show case Bendy and Boris together on screen going on their wacky adventures, and the many mischiefs that Bendy got himself into.

As expected, everyone loved the two, and as expected by Joey, they became a huge success…

Until crew members stopped showing up on schedule. Usually Joey would be there to scold them like a parent, but not today, and so most of the crew was quite nonchalant about their laziness and how their boss was nowhere in sight, however, what they weren't nonchalant about was the strong smell of ink. Days felt like months where Joey seemed to always be up to something else, and all the while the profits slipped from the crew's grasp. Each day a maintenance crew member would complain, and somewhere down the line of complaints Morris, who did the voice of Boris, was threatening a lawsuit, why was still unclear to everyone, especially Henry who had decided he would just assume everything would go back to normal.

And back to normal things did. You know...for four days that is. Joey had finally stopped pestering with the ink machine, but when Henry saw his face he saw that the smile filled with charisma was false, and that the twinkle in his gray eyes had faded to be replaced with something else.

"Joey…," said Henry with concern. He reached with a hand to steady his business partner but he only waved his hand away and righted his body posture, plastering on a plastic smile as if he was on camera in the middle of an interview.

"It's alright Henry." Joey said with nonchalance - he had that way of doing so in times were anything but.

Like I'd really believe that...Henry thought. Then, suddenly, Joey was clutching both of Henry's arms and pulling his face in close to his. When he looked into his friend's eyes he saw desperation and something akin to glee bouncing around in their gray depths.

"Henry," he said with a note of enthusiasm, "there is something you must see."

"Uuuummm...okay?" Henry said with worry. He was not used to his friend acting like this, his behavior spoke volumes of unnatural.

"Not now!" He practically yelled into Henry's face and so he flinched out of defense.

Instead of saying something the animator could only nod his head. Joey eventually let him go, and after that he did not come away from the ink machine, or his office.

In his office, a small corner near the wall, he would sit and mutter to himself as he sketched and erased, sketched and erased, sketched and erased to the point where it had become slightly worrisome. Henry never mentioned it, and Joey never brought it up. New Bendy and Boris Adventures episodes had occurred, days turned into a whole month.

It was on a Tuesday of the month of February that something startling happened. A cardboard cut out of Bendy had appeared out of nowhere from behind a wall. Henry was an anxious type, and so jumped and spilled his coffee all over the wooden floorboards; Joey's cup remained held in his right hand.

"Aaaw, shit! How the fu-" when the dark haired man looked up, Bendy's cardboard cut out was gone, but the coffee spill was still there.

And so was a droplet of ink.

Business was slow, almost too slow in fact, as once again the animation crew had not shown up, or at least the majority hadn't shown up. Morris never filed his lawsuit, although some speculated that Morris had all but vanished, though he did appear in the newspaper claiming to be 'missing'. When brought up, Joey would laugh as if it was a joke, proclaiming the daft fool would return soon, and had probably taken a vacation like the rest of his incompetent workers.

"I swear Henry, one of these days...I'm put them all in a barrel and roll them off a cliff." Joey had once said seething with rage. It had occurred to Henry at the time that Joey was probably seriously considering on doing that. Later on, with production slowing down and Joey nowhere to be found, Henry once again walked the long hallways of the studio that he had grown accustomed to; every creaking floorboard he knew well enough, and every room he could identify from a distance. He knew how to get to just about anything and everything in every room - he knew where the keys were to get downstairs.

It was on a cold day, a Friday if you will, and the wind howled outside and rattled the frame on the wooden door that was the entrance to the studio. The smell of rain was quite heavy on the horizon as were the dark clouds hovering over the edge near the harbor. Surprisingly no sounds of thunder or lightning were heard in the distance.

That's a shame, Henry thought, I could have went for a thundercake right about now…

"Oof!" Then he was bumping into someone and tripping over his feet. A sturdy hand grasped his and pulled him back up to his feet, when he looked up he saw it was the handsome actor, Chris, who voiced Bendy.

"Oh hey Chris!" Henry greeted, "Sorry bout, uh, bumpin' into yah...heheh…"

Henry was a nervous man as well.

Chris shook his head, the mop of tousled brown hair that lay on his head flopped into one of his chocolate brown eyes - he did not move it though.

"It's fine really," the tan skinned man stated," honest."

Silence descended upon the two for a moment. In that moment of silence the sound of faint humming could be heard in the distance along with the occasional grunt and thunks of heavy machinery.

"At it again I see…" Chris stated striking up conversation.

"Hmmm, yeah." Was all Henry managed to say - he had never been good at continuing conversations.

So Chris did it for him. "Aren't you ever concerned for him Henry?" He asked.

The dark haired man could only shrug in response, offering a simper smile. "I've been...thoughtful towards some of his methods of becoming famous, this one just so happens to take the cake."

They shared a slight chuckle, and then were back to being serious.

"I'm...I mean I ain't saying the guy's nutso, it's just - I got family Henry, a good looking wife, two sons, and a teenage daughter who thinks she's rolling in dough all because of the money I make off of doing this; I come here everyday," he spread his arms as if to gesture at everything around them, "and still no new script, nothing!, and it's gone so far where even the animation crew is walking out? You don't think that's weird?" Chris said, and he said it all without even having to go up for air. Henry could see why Joey had been so adamant about Chris getting the part of Bendy.

"I think a lot of things about this company are weird Christian, doesn't mean much - though the animation crew complaining makes about as much sense as the maintenance crew stop complaining." His own little attempt at lightening a situation. Chris didn't buy it though, instead he only offered a sigh.

"This business is going down I tell ya, I just…" Chris leaned in to whisper into Henry's ear.

"Don't tell Joey, but I'm gonna go and work at Disney soon."

"WHAT?!" Henry yelled, or rather muffle yelled due to a massive hand being placed over his mouth making the rest of his words unintelligible. When Henry had all but finally calmed down Chris continued with glee seemingly uncaring of his friend's outburst.

"I tried out for a part in one of their cartoons but the spot had already been filled and so someone else got the part. But now it's open again for another cartoon! They said I did well before with my last voice performance and so gave me permission to be part of the show."

"Oh well...congratulations…" Henry said though deep down he was worried. It seemed like everyday someone was leaving the studio behind in better pursuit of something else. The worst part was that Joey seemed blissfully unaware of it all.

He was too busy fiddling in the backroom with the table and candles lying about.

Two days after his talk with Chris and Henry was welcomed to the front middle hallway of the building splattered in ink with a Boris cutout propped against the wall. Henry had to spend the first hours of the day cleaning after the mess that Joey had created. Later on in the day only five members of the crew showed up for work. They did absolutely nothing, with Joey doing other important things as he claimed they were to just...do nothing. That was pretty much it for everyone.

The next day Henry saw only three members of the group show up. Moments later they left with their belongings. Joey did not come to the studio today.

Chris did as he had told Henry, he went to Disney - the two stayed in touch and it was with slight happiness for his friend that he found out that Chris was making it big time with the famous company. The next day afterwards everything was sullen; the mutterings coming from the ink machine were quite loud, every time Henry stepped on a floorboard the sound of creaking had grown tenfold - the buzzing caused by some of the flickering light bulbs had grown ominously loud to where it was annoying as it reminded the editor of mosquitos. The sound of heavy footfalls could be heard a little ways down followed by a series of less heavy footfalls.

A man dressed in a white tank top and blue jean overalls stomped past Henry who could only watch in shock as the maintenance crew member gave a few choice words towards Joey, who had appeared behind Henry. The maintenance man made a shake of the fist at the two before leaving.

It was back to square one: just the two of them...alone together again…

…

A month later and Henry was considering on walking out although Joey was still in the mindset that they'd be famous with his new project.

Which, when Henry saw it he was brought back to a conversation that he'd had with Chris over the phone.

"I'm telling you man - when you get up in those years your mind is...your mind is brazen in a way that leads to detrimental dysfunction. He is out of his mind, Henry. I knew it, everyone knew. And so do you."

He'd calmly disregarded his friend's claim. Looking at what stood before him, he regretted that decision deeply.

His elementary school friend was crazy - crazy enough to literally bring cartoon characters to life.

Literally.

They were both alive and breathing...or at least Boris was, he had no idea what Bendy was doing.

"How are they even...what?!" It was literally all he could say, he was so...so…

Angry.

Joey was unbeknownst to this at all as he was too busy bursting with pride at his creations.

"I know right?! I was the same way, I was all whaaaat and like oh my goodness I didn't think it would work but let me tell you something-"

He was cut off mid sentence. "No, let me tell you something. I spent these past few months, thinking you were just ill after your parents died and all, but that isn't the case it seems!" Henry gesticulated with his arms wildly at Bendy and Boris who either couldn't hear or had no idea about what English was because they seemed to have decided to ransack the rest of the room than listen to their creators squabbles.

"A-and you go off and create these...these...MONSTERS! HAVE YOU NO SENSE IN THAT ORGAN OF YOURS CALLED A BRAIN?!" There was silence for a moment to where even Bendy and Boris had stopped what they were doing to watch the spectacle.

SMACK!

Henry was stunned as he stumbled back a few steps, a red handprint on his right cheek where he'd been slapped. He stared at Joey who had a look of rage in his gray pools; something akin to a growl rumbled in his throat as he stepped closer to his partner and promptly picked him up by the collar, displaying a strength Henry hadn't known him to have had.

"If you don't want to be a part of this," he said, foam and spit dribbling out the sides of his mouth with a manic look in his eyes, "then by all means come here again I swear I'm cut you to pieces - YOU HEAR ME! I DON'T NEED YOU! I'LL BE FAMOUS, FAMOUS, FAMOUS, FAMOUS, FAMOUSFAMOUSFAMOUSFAMOUSFAMOUS, FAAAAMOOOOUSEE!" Joey dropped Henry and went down on his knees screaming to the ceiling all while Bendy, completely alien to what was going on danced in a circle around the insane Joey chanting the word famous over and over again acting like some Pre-K student who just learned to pronounce a new word.

Henry could only watch in horror.

Chris had been right...so had everyone else.

…

Three days later and Henry left leaving his childhood friend behind as well as what he'd created.

He left in his rugged van leaving a falsetto of dreams that could never, and would never come true.

…

Ten years passed when Joey inky body was found by a hobo, a wrench was lodged in the tall man's throat, he was clearly dead. When the cops showed up no one noticed the cardboard cutout looking out one of the flimsy windows.

Nobody saw the blood on it's face.

The police couldn't get inside due to the decrepit place being so heavily barricaded.

Nobody would be able to get in or out.

Unless it was a letter of course, signed by Joey Drew.

A/N: And that's a wrap.

In the meantime, can't get enough of ME, well then, why don't you check out my other stories and see my bio and learn a little about me!

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AND THX SO MUCH FOR READING!