The whispers of the ink were intrusive as he hovered between consciousness and sleep.

Sammy woke up disoriented but still within the grip of the ink, and he felt compelled to seek out the human. Sammy had to offer up such a tender sheep for his lord.

"Sammy?"

A voice but not that of his savior.

Sammy's mind was spiraling with dark and violent thoughts, only to realize that he couldn't move very well. Sammy slowly came to further as he strained against whatever was holding him down. A brief look showed that someone had dared to tie him to a deteriorating cot in the infirmary.

"Stay back."

That same voice...

Who was it?

"Sammy?"

Why did that voice sound so familiar?

"Untie me from this at once!" Sammy demanded as he struggled against the restraints. Sammy eventually held still, slumping on the dilapidated cot, as he puzzled over why he couldn't just vanish into the ink to get out of the ropes. Was there not enough ink? Was there something about the restraints that prevented him from escape? Sammy dropped all rational thought when he realized that his Bendy mask was missing. Sammy panicked and pulled against the ropes pinning him down anew. "Where is it? The mask! Give me my mask back! Don't look at me!"

Wally...

Sammy chanced a glance at the toon before looking away again.

No...who was that again?

It was Boris standing there, clearly. The toon wolf was there, as was a searcher wearing a hat, and the human.

That human...

He looked...oddly familiar.

"Wally and Jack believe that you can be sane and rational." The human looked unconvinced and let Sammy know it. "I have doubts about that, since you chased after me with an axe and then tried to strangle me."

Sammy reluctantly turned his head to stare hard at the human, thoughts of the mask gone for now. Instead, Sammy made the attempt to slog through his old memories before he had been trapped in the studio. Sammy had trouble focusing, since the whispers of the ink threatened to get to him again. The man who stood there before him...

The man was tired, his face lined with creases, indicating an older gentlemen. His hair was mussed up, stained here and there with ink, but the rest was otherwise gray. The human's clothing was similarly stained by the ink, and some parts of the man's skin that were visible and unable to shake the clinging of the same ink that had devoured this studio inside and out.

The longer Sammy stared, the more small fragmented pieces of memory began to come back to him. The whispers were quieter than usual and it allowed Sammy to better concentrate.

"I remember that you threw a fit when I left." The man said. "I had just created Alice Angel before leaving the studio. I suppose that must have caused you even more stress, to have to compose music for yet another character."

"Creator..." Sammy mused aloud, his blank inky face now peering curiously at the human. "The true creator."

Wally patted the human's shoulder and showed him his keys.

"That's right." The man laughed at the sight. "I do remember when Wally would try to hide out in the animation department, when he lost his keys." The human looked down at Sammy. "He did that to avoid your wrath when those keys happened to be for the music department."

Sammy hated that his memory was so hazy but he was grateful for the distraction from the terrible whispers of the ink.

This man... his voice and his words. He was familiar.

Very familiar.

"I'm sorry." The human said suddenly, his face reflecting a dark expression now. "I never would have thought how far off the deep end Joey would go in an attempt to keep the studio alive." The man let out a weary sigh. "I hadn't the faintest notion what Joey would do with my creations after I left the studio, without the intention of coming back. I...I wanted to be with my family."

"Joey..." Sammy's expression grew contorted at the sound of that name. Sammy's jaw set as unpleasant echoes of a long ago memory clawed to the surface, only to fade as recognition of the man standing alongside him struck.

"Henry?" Sammy eventually breathed out, able to latch onto the name that had been hovering just within his reach.

"Yes, it's me." Henry conformed wearily.

"Why did you come back?" Sammy lie still on the cot, his restraints forgotten. "Why come back to this hellhole?"

"Why did you stay?" Henry asked in return.

"I honestly have no memory of being trapped in this place." Sammy let his vision black out, so that he didn't have to see anything. "I've only been remembering...small pieces. My memories...they aren't there when I need them to be." Sammy let out a short, forced laugh. "But I do remember Joey Drew's name. I remember more often that he is to blame for this situation we are now in." Sammy paused, before letting his vision come back to stare up at the ceiling. "I wonder...was I too far gone to think about leaving, before I was trapped in this place? Or did I not care by that point in time?" Sammy turned his head in time to see a brief expression of surprise cross Henry's face. Sammy bristled a little. "What?"

"It's just that...right now, you are much more lucid and reasonable. At least compared to right before I was forced to knock you out. Didn't want you to strangle me into unconsciousness before leaving me as an offering for the ink demon."

"How did you..." Sammy frowned at Henry. "How would you know what I had planned for you?"

"You remember?" Henry asked.

"That particular kind of memory hasn't left me." Sammy said quietly as he avoided Henry's eyes. "I remember all of the offerings I have left for the ink demon. Those who I sacrificed with more own hands." Sammy clenched an inky fist against the cot. "Only recently have I recalled that many of those sacrifices were my coworkers and I...I..." Sammy lapsed into silence.

"We shouldn't stay here for long, but I'm sure you can understand when I say that I'm hesitant to untie you." Henry said, checking the rope over. "I have...concerns over when you might go off the deep end and become the raving prophet of the ink demon that you were before."

Sammy said nothing because really, there wasn't anything to be argued against since it was true.

Wally indicated the door, the toon wolf wearing a concerned look.

"I know we need to go." Henry agreed with the gestures that Wally made. "We really don't know if or when the ink demon will decide to show up. For all I know, this time he might appear in a different place too."

Sammy was confused by Henry's words but then, the music director froze against the cot.

A horribly familiar sensation rolled over him.

Sammy recognized this feeling. Sammy could feel Him.

The ink demon.

Why didn't Henry, Jack or Wally run? Didn't they know that they were in danger?

"I can hear Him." Sammy raised his voice. He fended off the faint, insidious whispers of the ink as best he could. "The demon is headed this way. The ink...the ink says so."

Henry gave Sammy an incredulous look but turned to look at Wally for confirmation.

The toon wolf's ears were tucked down and back, the toon wolf's fur standing on end.

Wally sensed something too.

"Time to go." Henry hefted his axe. It looked like it took him a lot of effort to do so, from the way the man's arms trembled a little.

Sammy flinched as the axe came down a hairsbreadth from his right side, slicing into the ropes that had tied him down.

"Wally?" Henry turned to the toon, hands still holding tight to the axe as he kept Sammy within eyesight.

"Jack." Sammy ignored the mistrust. He felt it was well warranted, considering what he had done earlier. He could still feel his hands grasping the human's throat. The ink that hasn't been wiped off was still there, marring skin. Sammy slowly sat up, stretching his inky arms out as he turned his head toward the searcher. "Go to the others. Tell them to hide."

Jack made some gurgling response to this, head tilting to the side as a goopy hand waved at Sammy, as if the searcher wanted to know what the music director was going to do.

"I believe that it is time for me to leave this area." Sammy told Jack. "I should see for myself what is happening in the rest of this studio, before I completely lose myself to the ink, and be unable to fully come back." Sammy stared at his three inky fingers and thumb, before curling them into a fist. "I can't stand the thought of existing forever as someone who sacrifices my coworkers, without even realizing it until it is too late."

Jack lurched forward to briefly rest an inky hand on Sammy's shoulder, before the searcher unmistakably offered an understanding nod. Jack sank into the puddle of ink beneath him, vanishing from view.

Sammy slid off the cot onto his feet, and retrieved the Bendy mask that was hanging from a nail in the wall. Sammy stared down at it, aware of Henry and Wally watching him.

"Sammy?" Henry asked after a few moments had passed.

"Mm?" Sammy hummed distractedly, glancing up from the mask.

"How close is the ink demon?" Henry looked at the walls. "I don't see any distortions yet."

"He's headed here. I can...sense him." Sammy said, titling his head to one side and then the other. While he couldn't hear the demon, Sammy could certainly feel its presence. Much like the ink, Sammy found himself very attuned to the ink demon. "He draws near." Sammy put the Bendy mask over his own face once more as he stepped over to a corner of the infirmary, where he produced an axe.

Henry's grip on his own axe tightened, and Wally ducked behind the human, a wary look on his wolfish face.

"The valve?" Sammy asked, aware of the others reactions to him. As before, Sammy knew it was a fair reaction but right now, it was more important to focus on the problem at hand.

"I already put the valve back in place, and drained the stairwell." Henry said, still keeping a rather close eye on Sammy.

"Then we better leave, before the ink demon is able to corner us." Sammy walked past Henry and Wally, heading up the stairs, away from the infirmary. Sammy could hear them follow after a moments hesitation.

Understandable.

Samny was rather surprised at the sudden clarity. As if the ink had trouble seeping into him, poisoning his mind and actions, was unable to take hold. Sammy desperately clung to this new sensation, and repeated his coworkers names to reassure himself that he remembered.

Wally.

Jack.

Henry, the true creator of the toons.

Sammy led the way down the hall, becoming more concerned with the sensation of the ink demon's approach.

The feeling was getting stronger.

Sammy could feel His presence.

His lord...his lord had come for him, to directly take an offering of the tender sheep in tow...

Sammy gave his head a rough shake, left hand reaching up to the side of his head. He took a few calming breaths, and focused on the names of his coworkers again, this time in a more frantic manner.

He wouldn't forget.

Jack.

Wally.

Henry.

Sammy refused to let the ink drag him back into insanity so soon. The madness of the ink slowly, almost reluctantly, slid away from Sammy, for the time being.

"I can find my way through this place." Henry commented, coming up alongside Sammy, wholly unaware of the struggle the other was going through. "I've become...very familiar with this place, unfortunately."

"As have I." Sammy said. "I know these halls well." Sammy continued to lead the way to the stairs that were now drained of ink. "Shortcuts that you may not know of."

"Like how you got me to the room that was set up for a ritual sacrifice after knocking me out?" Henry asked curiously.

Very specific, that.

"You knocked me out." Sammy grumbled, a little puzzled as he descended the stairs and opened up the door. "What are you talking about?"

Henry's response was cut off by the appearance by the ink demon at the far end of the hall, as the skeletal being emerged from the ink gathered heavily on the wall.

Sammy didn't even think. He reached out to seize Henry by the arm instead, and dragged the human along the hall to the right.

Wally raced after them, clearly terrified.

The ink demon could be heard letting out a shriek, and presumably began to give chase.

Sammy hurriedly led Henry and Wally to what appeared to be a dead end. Sammy knew what it looked like, but before anyone could voice a complaint, the music director acted. Sammy grasped Wally's suspenders firmly and tugged the toon wolf down along with Henry as he fell to his knees. Sammy braced himself for a second, and then allowed himself to fall through the ink, taking his two passengers along with him. Sammy was careful to keep a tight hold on both of them lest they be lost to the well of ink. Sammy was not entirely certain how this manner of traveling would affect a human but it was the fastest way Sammy knew of to get away from the ink demon, while confusing it at the same time.

The distance also brought Sammy further away from the constant whispering.

The group of three ended up on the inky floors of another area in the studio, far away from the ink demon.

As Sammy pushed himself up from the floor, he felt that the music department would soon be safe again. If he and Henry weren't around, then the the ink demon would likely go back to his usual hunting grounds. Sammy tried to stand up, but ended up sagging backward against the nearest wall. He didn't realize how drained he would feel. Was it because he took others with him though the ink?

Henry was nearby, retching and then dry heaving.

Sammy presumed that this meant that traveling through the ink was not best for humans, and checked in the Boris clone.

Wally looked miserable, the toon's ears drooping.

Sammy turned his attention to the ink around him, a hand resting against a patch of it. It was...a relief to find that he could barely sense the ink demon now.

Good.

Sammy rested heavily against the wall behind him, relaxing the faintest amount while he let out a slow sigh of relief.

Safe.

They were all safe, for the time being. Whether that lasted more than a few moments remained to be seen.

The ink demon and Sammy himself weren't the only dangers that lurked in this studio.