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"I know we're not heroes, but... maybe we can learn."
Had it been a week already? It was impossible to tell, but time had certainly passed. Time had passed since Spinel had escaped. Indeed, Spinel was one in 10, maybe 11 survivors of the corruption now. She could've sworn she'd heard the voices of the Diamonds before it all changed. The image of Steven with that impossibly wide smile, those purely white eyes, arms hanging limp at his sides...it never left her mind. It seemed Pibby was Spinel's only friend now. She had saved her life in the nick of time, and furthermore, gave her a reason to keep going. On this day, Spinel had joined her, along with two other survivors she had met, to try and save more victims of the darkness. On the same day, the network chose to rerun a classic cartoon. She wanted to redeem herself, and since the darkness came over the remains of Beach City, this was her only chance. She was anxious to leave the Between, but she had no choice. There had to be more people suffering, and she had to be a hero. She had to be something.
Everything in the little town was singed with a layer of black, like some sort of thick ink. The buildings and sidewalk were grey, the roads and the shadows black. The air flickered with little dots, showing the age of the cartoon with each frame that passed. In addition, the town itself was completely empty. Pibby gloomily reasoned that it would be difficult to find anyone in a place so void of citizens, but she was still determined. They had to try.
It wasn't safe to split up, so the four of them searched together. They walked the streets of the silent little town, searching in shops and apartments, parking lot after parking lot, restaurant after restaurant. They collected what little scraps of supplies they could- posters, towels, food- but each place was as empty as the last. Not a single creature stirred. It almost seemed as though the corruption hadn't come for this world at all, but that couldn't be so. There was always music playing somewhere in these shows, and it would disappear after the darkness came. The town was quiet, aside from the distant sound of a crackling record. There had to be someone. Something, at least.
Spinel noticed, as she walked, how they hadn't checked any alleyways for survivors. Realizing this, the gem fell behind the group and began to search between the buildings for any living thing. Three alleys down, something caught her eye. In this alley, there sat a dumpster. And behind the dumpster, there lay a little black creature. The creature's body was small and had little to no definitive features. Its round head floated above its body and had a little dent on the top of it. Or was it a hole? It made the creature look like it had horns, though Spinel couldn't tell if this was the case. It emitted quiet whimpers, hugging its knees as it shivered behind the dumpster. It was crying. It was terrified. And most importantly, it could be saved.
"Hello?" Spinel quietly called to the creature. Upon hearing her voice, the creature jumped and hid further behind the dumpster, now hidden completely from Spinel's view. She decided to come closer. "Hey, it's okay," she said, "I'm not gonna hurt ya!" She knelt down once she was close to the dumpster. "Hey," she cooed as gently as she could, "I know you're scared, but I can help." The creature sniffed. "Now come on out so I can see ya," the gem insisted.
As if responding to her voice, the creature poked its head out. Its face was covered in a white marking, almost shaped like a heart. It reminded Spinel a bit of herself. There was a tear still sitting in its eye. "That's it," Spinel encouraged. The creature looked up at her for a moment, then took a step forward. It was out from behind the dumpster now, and Spinel could see its whole body.
Its right knee was scraped and bruised. Its hands were covered by white gloves. It had a giant wound on the side of its head, grey blood dripping slowly from the gash. "Hi," Spinel said to it, wearing a smile that she hoped was welcoming. The creature hesitantly waved hello to her. Then, she noticed its injury. "Oh my stars, your head!" She tried to keep her composure so as not to scare it, but the wound was huge! She couldn't just leave it untreated. "That looks pretty bad. I've got a friend who can patch it up though, come on!" Carefully, she took the little creature's hand and started her way back to Pibby and the group.
As the two cartoons stepped out of the alleyway, they were once again met with the black and white streets. Spinel was to assume that the injured creature once lived peacefully in this town. She looked around. Pibby's group was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't have fallen too far behind, could she?
Just as she began to worry, the ground shook and shifted.
"Uh-oh," she breathed.
There they were, just behind the next building. Pibby and two other characters stood their ground, vigorously fighting a large heap of corruption. Within the heap, there stood an unfortunate victim. A tall, black, anthropomorphic sort of dog wearing white overalls, with glitch oozing from its mouth. Spinel's new friend suddenly gasped and jumped. It looked even more mortified than when she'd found it. "Did you know that guy?" She asked it. Shakily, it nodded its head.
"Spinel," Pibby called from the street. "We need you!"
Spinel hesitated. What could she do? That mountain of pixels was towering over the group, and she still had to get the little creature she'd found to safety. As she thought about her options, she remembered something she'd kept from Beach City.
She quickly took a small cylinder out of her gem. Upon pressing a button on it, it transformed into a long, glowing, electric scythe. How could she forget her rejuvenator?
Spinel looked into the trembling creature's eyes. "Stay here," she advised.
In the blink of an eye, the former jester sprung into action, running full force towards the corruption, and with a mighty leap she sliced it across the middle, leaving a pulsing pink slash resembling a flesh wound. The glitch stood still in front of the four of them, pulsating with rosy electricity. "Looks like that bought us some time," Spinel spoke, "let's get outta here while we can." The cartoons around her agreed, and they took off running. Spinel stopped in front of the black creature, swiftly grabbing it and putting it on her back. "Hold on little guy," she warned, "this might get rough!" Just as the corruption began to break free from its static, the characters grabbed each other's hands and f̴͍͝ò̷͜ȗ̷͔ń̸̙ḏ̵͛ ̷̙̈́ṯ̶́h̶͇͝ẻ̴̜m̴͚̀s̴̀͜e̷͓̔ḽ̷̀v̵͕̂e̸̡͋s̵̗̐ i̸̺̻̙̭͋̋̒̀̇̄̓ṋ̴̢̠̍͂̂͜͝ ̶̧̠̭̤̪̻̫̀̊̈́͝t̶̹̱̹̹̼͎̋̚͠h̷̨͕͉͊͑̈́̌͒e̸̙̗͕͕̞̣͖̅ B̶̢̹͕̖͚̳̣̪̥͇̃̉̽͌̌̀ẹ̶̚ţ̶̅̂w̵̡̥̰̥̬̾ͅȩ̷̱̥̤̰͋͑͒̾̈̋͗̾͝͠ê̵͚̳͂̑̒n̵̮̼̼̲̻̮̣̅̇́̏͐̈́͝ w̸͔̖͍̪̯͓͘i̵͙̟̯͚͇̟͌̅̓́t̶̨͓̦̐̔h̵̨͔͈̩͓̠̊͛̆͗į̸̩̖̰̭͊n̵̻̊́̂ s̷͚̀e̸̖͘ć̸ͅo̴̰͐n̸̡̑d̶̏͜s̴̨͌.̵͉̆
The five of them took a minute to catch their breaths, wheezing and panting before they could realize someone's bag had opened, spilling what they had collected onto the void floor.
A yellow paper fluttered gently to the ground. The black and white creature on Spinel's back took notice.
"Way to go Spinel," Pibby praised her pink friend, "that was a great move back there."
Spinel smiled as she helped the silent creature off her back. "Aw, well, y'know," she bashfully replied, "I couldn't just leave you hanging."
Meanwhile, the little creature Spinel had rescued hopped off her back to observe the paper that had fallen. It was a poster for an episode of its own show. Spinel came to inspect it as well. The poster read, "BENDY The Dancing Demon IN..." before it was torn at the end. Beside the writing, there was a picture of the creature standing beside her, looking much more cheerful and healthy. She handed the poster to the creature. "Is this you?" She asked, pointing to the picture on the poster. It nodded yes, holding the paper in his gloved hands. He pointed to the top of the page, reading his name in bold letters. Spinel beamed at him before holding out her hand. "Well, Bendy," she said, "I'm Spinel. It's a pleasure to meet ya."
Bendy shook her hand, grateful that she had saved him, though he had yet to smile like he had on the poster. Suddenly, a wave of pain shot through his head, and he reached for the still bleeding wound on its side. "Goodness me, that looks like it hurts," Spinel said to him. "Why don't we fix you up?"
Pibby opened the white box, setting it in front of her and taking out the supplies she needed. "It's a good thing when checked the hospital," she said before getting to work. This wasn't the first time she had patched up a survivors wound, and it wouldn't be the last since the injuries were so common, and since she was happy to help anyone in need. She unwrapped a bandage she found in the box, put a drop of something from a grey bottle on its bottom side, and applied it to the demon's wound. "There," she announced upon finishing her work, "all patched up."
Bendy rubbed the bandage covering his injury. He looked like he had something to say, but remained silent. Noticing the longing look on his face, Pibby handed him a stack of papers and a marker. "Did you want to tell me something?" She asked him. Life seemed to return to Bendy's colorless eyes as he picked up the marker and quickly began to write. When he was done, he handed the paper to Spinel. Three words were written on the page.
"ARE WE SAFE?"
Spinel put a hand on his shoulder. "We're safe, buddy," she assured him, "as long as we're here, that big black goop can't come for us."
Despite the good news, Bendy looked even more sad now. He took another piece of paper and began to write again. He showed it to Spinel once he was finished.
"THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME, BUT I MISS MY FRIENDS."
He trembled as he put the paper down, now starting to cry. Spinel frowned and knelt down to Bendy's eye level.
"I miss my friends too," she sighed. "And chances are, we're never gonna see our friends again." Pibby joined them at Bendy's side. She had nothing to say, but didn't want to be absent from a survivors time of need. "But..." Spinel started, "I learned something since I first got here." The demon looked up at her, grey tears streaming down his face, his lip quivering as he cried.
"When ya lose a friend," Spinel softly continued with a weak smile, "you make a new one." After giving her advice, she held out her arms. Bendy observed what was offered, sniffled, and gave the tall gem a strong hug. She hugged him back, letting him get his feelings out in her arms. She looked up to see Pibby, who gave her an approving thumbs up. She'd done something good that day.
Not only had she saved a life, but she'd made a new friend as well.