CH X BATIM: Reflections and Nightmares

There was nothing but a cold, white fog as far as the eye could see. It was like staring at a huge white paper, with a tiny black ink dot in the center.

Bendy looked around, his eyes straining to see something beyond the white. The blankness was disappointing. Surely his brain could dream up something more interesting than this!

And then, slowly, a figure came into focus. Bendy immediately walked towards it, glad to see something, at least. As he got closer he realized the guy’s back was turned towards him. Ah, but he knew that ugly mug!

“Hey, Cup!” Ben teased playfully. “It's not enough I see you all the time in real life, I gotta see you in my dreams too?”

To his surprise, Cuphead did not move. Bendy's heart skipped a beat. Something was very wrong. He turned and faced him.

“C’mon, pal, don't you know me?” Bendy asked hurriedly, surprised at the fear in his own voice.

Cuphead looked him in the face. His features were strangely distorted. His teeth were sharper and his eyes didn't seem to match the rest of his face.

“Cuphead--” Bendy began, but he stopped. Heart beating fast, he forced himself to look down.

Cuphead’s hand was firmly lodged in Bendy’s chest. Even as Bendy watched, warm ink began to drip slowly from his chest like blood.

When Cuphead spoke, his voice was merciless and inhuman.

“Give me your soul.”

And Bendy woke up.

But he opened his eyes to darkness. For a moment Bendy felt a stab of terror: he did not know where he was. In the fear of the moment he gave a big kick and light flooded in.

That's right, he was staying with Cuphead and Mugman. They had invited him to sleep over after a particularly wild night with the Squad.

Cup and Mug were fast asleep in their bunk bed, Cup on top and Mug on bottom. Having no spare bed to sleep in, Bendy instead had crawled into Cup’s clothes drawer. He was short enough to fit, and it was surprisingly comfy among all the shirts and shorts in there.

Now Bendy sat in his drawer, staring at the brothers, envying their peaceful sleep. He was unsettled by the nightmare and unlikely to get back to sleep. For now, there was nothing to do but watch.

And as Bendy watched Cuphead’s sleeping face, it occurred to him how different he looked. Cup was always so arrogant and confident and smiling. Now his face was relaxed, vulnerable, and--dare he think it?--weak.

You must have to trust someone an awful lot in order to sleep in the same room as them, Bendy thought as he snuggled under Cuphead’s shirts. It would just be too easy to slit someone’s throat while they slept, or do some other terrible thing. The possibilities were endless.

Bendy lay down to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes Cuphead’s distorted, deranged face stared back at him. Annoyed, he tried to talk himself out of it. Surely that monster, with it’s pitiless, cold voice, couldn’t be the friend he knew and cared for?

It was ridiculous to think that someone so foolish and naive and dumb as Cuphead could be capable of such cold, cruel murder. Still...he did deal with the Devil, didn’t he? Maybe there was more to that innocent cup than was originally thought….

And so these thoughts lulled Bendy into a restless, uneasy sleep, and his last thought before his eyes closed was to wonder if he was ever going to tell Cuphead and Mugman about his nightmare.