Chapters of Book Ten

## Warnings and Triggers

* Psychological Horror
* Graphic Depictions of Violence
* Blood
* Gore
* Insanity/Mental Manipulation
* Reference/Depictions of Death and Suicide

## Chapter Summaries

### Chapter 169 - And Then There Were None

The questers stare up at the giant Fairmont Springs Hotel and, after some brief hesitation, climb the steps up to the front door. They contact the others back at the hotel on Cup's watch again before Bendy takes the first step in. When nothing immediately goes wrong once they enter the building the questers begin looking around with the others making comments through the watch. Felix discovers that the key for room 873 is the only one missing and, with nothing else of interest around, the group decides to head upstairs to check out the room. As they make their way to 873 the tense atmosphere continues as the odd sounds, the ever-present feeling of being watched and the increasingly strange architecture of the building grate on their nerves. When they finally arrive at the room Cup thinks he sees something move through the keyhole but when they actually get inside the place is empty. Boris checks the map and sees that it shows the part in a different area of the hotel so the group heads back out into the hotel hallways. But, when everyone except Mugman has exited the room, the door suddenly slams closed behind them. Cuphead instantly throws the door back open but only the sight of an empty room greets him. They search the room but find no sign of Mugman and even attempting to use the watches to contact or lead them to him turns up no results. When Felix attempts to use the watch's map he is shocked to find that it appears as though Mugs is disappearing and reappearing all over the town. After some quick discussion about what to do the questers decide to go grab the part first before going after Mugs since it is closer. They begin looking for the part, careful not to let doors come between them, but since the map can't show them what level of the hotel the part is on they quickly realize they will have to check each floor one at a time. After checking a few floors they arrive at one that has the faint sound of music floating through it. Excited, Boris leads the group down the hallway only to turn a corner before the rest of them and disappear. A quick check confirms Boris's dot on the map is also teleporting around. With two members and the map gone Felix declares that they need to make a tactical retreat so they can figure out how to handle this and come back better prepared. Despite their instant dislike at the idea of leaving their brothers behind Cuphead and Bendy begin following Felix back to the hotel entrance. As they make their way down they discuss what could be causing these disappearances and Felix compares it to the stories of fae 'spiriting away' people. When they arrive back at the lobby Felix is distracted by the sound of a grandfather clock against the wall ticking, which is odd since that style of clock needs to be wound to work. Cup talks with Bendy about the clock for a moment and when he looks back to call for Felix he finds that the cat has also disappeared. Cursing, Cuphead quickly grabs Bendy's arm and races out of the hotel.

Only once they're what Cup deems a safe distance from the building does he stop running. Bendy is panicked about the others disappearing but Cuphead snaps him out of it and they begin quickly making their way back towards town. They slow down as they hear soft, hissing whispers ahead of them and they soon realize, while crossing the bridge, that the river is the source of the whispers. They slow down as they hear soft, hissing whispers ahead of them and they soon realize, while crossing the bridge, that the river is the source of the whispers. The two continue their way through the forest and back into the town, once again discussing the 'spiriting away' events that have happened in the past. Suddenly, they hear Boris's voice calling for help from a nearby flower shop. This is soon followed by the sound of Mugman calling from another shop and both older brothers struggle to hold themselves back from racing after the voices of their siblings. The calls of their brothers continue to get more frantic until a scream from "Boris" proves to be the breaking point for Bendy, who darts into the doorway and disappears before Cup's eyes with his hand only an inch away from grabbing the Demon. Cuphead collapses to his knees in shock at how helpless he was to save any of the others but the sound of Holly calling his name over the watch snaps him out of it. The others urge him to come back as he rises to his feet, a plan forming in his mind. He hangs up on the others for a moment and attempts to call Felix. The call goes through, and he feels a tug on the watch even though the connection is spotty. Cup hangs up his call and begins following the tug from Felix's watch as he calls back the others at the hotel. He tells them that he thinks there's a magic barrier of some kind near the fence and begins talking to the girls about what effect it may have. As he arrives at a shed he finds large claw marks in the wood, each as thick as his upper arm, which throws a wrench into their theorizing on what could be causing this as nothing they know seems to fit the situation. Cup returns to the streets and continues making his way to where he believes Felix is located, recapping what information they do know with the others over the watch. Worried about the worst case scenario, Cup tells them about Bigby, where to find them and instructs them to ask him for help. As they continue talking Cuphead arrives at a mansion where one of the dots on the map has stopped and makes his way around to the back door. He opens the door and calls for Felix but gets no response. He tells the others he will call them back in five minutes and, if he doesn't, they should go to Bigby before hanging up on them. Cup calls for Felix again and, when he gets a response from Felix's voice, demands he show himself. Cup's eyes widen at what he sees as Felix's voice continues to talk to him.

### Chapter 170 - Big Be Problems

After waiting for twenty minutes the group at the hotel attempts to contact Cuphead, with no luck, before accepting that they need to go to Bigby for help as he instructed. The girls decide that they will be the ones to go meet with Bigby and, despite some initial pushback, the circus crew agrees to wait for them back at the hotel. The girls talk about how they will need to get some sleep before properly investigating the town on the way to the address Cup gave them as they attempt to fend of their worries about the questers. When they arrive at café the wolf behind the counter is shocked to hear they've been sent by Cuphead to talk to Bigby but nonetheless quickly heads into the back to retrieve him. As they wait the girls talk about Cup's and the others personality/feelings and what Bigby might be like. Soon, several wolves come in through the back room. Avery quickly pushes his way to the front of the group and waves the girls to follow him into the back, even forcing another wolf that questions this choice to back down. He leads them down to the secret basement level but before bringing them in he apologizes for what happened before with the Doll. The girls accept his apology and Avery happily leads them through the quickly quieting bar area to Bigby's private section in the back.

Avery walks the girls through the private section all the way up to Bigby's table and both of them are shocked at just how large he is. Bigby asks who they are and they explain that they were sent by Cuphead. He quickly pieces together that the girls are there because Cup and the others disappeared in Fairmont. Holly begins questioning him about his experiences with the town and the monster inside the town, which he has never personally seen. They also discuss Leticia and how trustworthy they think she is. Bigby also mentions that Leticia seems to visit the boundary line of Fairmont a lot and seemed to be talking to someone or something while she was there. Alice suddenly speaks up, asking if he will help them save the others. In response Bigby asks what their plan is and, after a few moments of thought, Alice states that they need to research everything about the town more deeply and visit the edge of the town. After a long moment of consideration Bigby agrees to give them all the information he has over breakfast the next day before they all drive out to the edge of Fairmont together. He then asks Avery to walk the girls back home and, before she leaves, Holly reminds Bigby that Boris is in there with the rest of the questers. Avery walks with them out of the bar area and back onto the street. Now that they're alone, Alice asks Avery about some of the odd things she noticed him doing in the club. This leads into Avery explaining the basic's of wolf social behavior and body language to the girls. As their discussion continues Holly brings up her worries about Boris's current emotional state, especially when exposed to the Instrument which is meant to heighten and manipulate emotions. Avery assures her that Boris will do what he needs to survive in there, which seems to make her feel a bit better. The conversation then moves on to Avery's relationship with Red as the girls encourage him to apologize to her despite him feeling like he should just leave her alone. They finally arrive back at the hotel and promise each other to meet up the next morning for breakfast.

### Chapter 171 - Contagious

Mugman takes a moment to rest and pant for air after running around for so long. After he had gotten separated from the others he had become trapped in an odd maze made up of every room in Fairmont, with each doorway taking him into a seemingly random new room in town. Even attempting to break through windows to get outside has just led him to a new room with the window magically fixed up behind him. He continues to walk through the rooms as he tries in vain to get his magic watch to work. He soon gives up on that and just continues walking through the rooms trying to find the others. Out of boredom he starts trying different things and is surprised when he finds that there is working electricity. He then gets the idea to write a message that he was there in the dust on one of the windows in the hopes that the others will see it. As he moves forward Mugs decides to turn on the lights in every room he walks through going forward as a breadcrumb trail to where he is.

Boris paces the halls of the abandoned schoolhouse, which is where he has paused after initially racing through multiple rooms in a panic. He decides to wait in the school for the others to find him and begins looking around the schoolhouse. As he is exploring Boris hears a noise from down the hall and investigates. He finds an open classroom door and, after some internal arguing, decides to take the chance and walks in. Surprisingly, he is not transported to a different room. At first nothing seems out of the ordinary in the classroom until he finds a folded piece of paper that is not covered in dust. Inside the paper only one line is written - What happened to Sarah Songbird? Boris wonders who Sarah is as he pockets the note. Boris then writes a message on the chalkboard telling the others where the part is and that he is ok. Suddenly, the combination of a chair having moved on its own and a noise from the playground outside set Boris on edge. He begin backing out of the classroom but as he is leaving he glances at the blackboard only to find a new message written over top of his own- Find Sarah. Boris runs out of the room and through the next door he can find, hoping it will take him away from the schoolhouse.

Felix searches through the various rooms he finds himself in, trying to make sense of the various modern items he finds and the fact that both electricity and plumbing still functions. He comes to the conclusion that this space is somehow messing with time and wonders why he hasn't seen any of the other people who went missing running around if that is the case. As he is searching around townhall he stops to observe a room through the doorway when something pushes him through from behind, sending him stumbling forward into a restaurant. With whatever pushed him through the doorway back in townhall Felix takes in his new surroundings and is excited to see Mugman in the building across the street through the window. He opens the doorway, but doesn't step through, and uses an air horn from his magic bag to catch Mugs attention. The two start talking about the strange situation they are in. Felix tells Mugs to search for information as he goes and when he finds himself in a large building, especially the Fairmont hotel, to stay there. As he is agreeing with Felix's plan Mugman suddenly yells for him to look out. Felix ducks just in time to avoid the attack as Mugs shoots at the enemy behind him. When he turns around he is shocked to so a large, shadowy hand coming for him. Mugman yells at him to run and after a few moments of stunned stillness Felix does so, with the hand in close pursuit as the race through rooms. As he runs Felix shouts that it's been years since he escaped from this creature so how can it be here.

Bendy makes his way through rooms, thinking about how he saw a flash of something moving before and hoping that the others are ok. He tries going up and down stairs to see if that also transports him but it only seems to happen when he goes down. As he is looking around a basement he hears a whisper of the word monster and feels something behind him so he runs through a door at the top of the basement staircase that leads him to the flower shop. In the flower shop he finds giant slash marks and quickly makes his way out of the shop. He walks through more rooms until arriving at an office space. Down the hall a door slams open and Boris runs through. The brothers quickly reunite, talking and soon deciding to go looking for the others together. Bendy grabs Boris's hand and leads them through the rooms as he questions his younger brother on what kind of weird things he's seen. Boris doesn't tell him much besides what he already knows and Bendy finds himself slightly weirded out by Boris's strangely cheerful attitude. Regardless, Bendy shakes it off and continues to lead the way through the rooms.

Cuphead curses while sprinting through room after room as various objects in each one are thrown at him by an unseen force, the same way they have been since he was dragged into the maze. He eventually arrives in a dead greenhouse where, after nothing attacks him for five minutes, he decides to stop to check himself over in. After finding no serious injuries he opens up his watch and attempts to call Holly once more. Shockingly, after some garbled first attempts he does manage to connect with the girls, who are relieved to see him again. He explains to them the situation and how he originally thought the thing that dragged him in was Felix but realized his mistake too late. The girls also update him on their talk with Bigby and he learns that he has been gone for nearly a day instead of the few hours it has felt like to him. When he turns his watch to show them that it is still nighttime through the window the girls tell him that they see daylight, leading to Cup coming to the conclusion that the maze is messing with his head. The girls ask him to stay put while they go investigate and Cup agrees. Alice and Holly tell Cup to take care of himself and be careful. When Holly tells him she loves him he is stunned for a moment before he tells them that he loves them too. Cup then quickly snaps the watch closed in embarrassment and focuses on binding up his wound.

Back in Talent Town, the girls begin preparing for their trip to Fairmont's fence with renewed vigor. It's not long before Avery arrives in front of the hotel to pick them up and drive them to Bigby. As they drive they discuss the blimps the city uses. He takes them back to the café from before and upstairs to a sunroom where breakfast is already set up for them. A few minutes later Bigby arrives with all the notes and files he has compiled about Fairmont over his years of living in Talent Town. The girls quickly begin going through the files They find that it started with the disappearance of girls named Sarah Songbird in the woods which was quickly followed by the disappearance of other children in the woods who "followed Sarah". When the second child to go missing, William, returns unscathed and was brought back him home he and his entire family ended up going missing that night. The pattern repeats as the loved ones of those who are returned disappear with the original victims the same night they are brought home. Reports of a monster talking to the children of the town about their missing friends also begin. Things begin to calm down for the next month until Linda, Leticia's mother, returns. A week after her return half of the town disappears in one night. Most people leave the town and those that stay are never seen again. Afterwards, it falls into the types of things the girls already know about with various investigators disappearing. Bigby also confirms to them that Linda was the only one who returned that didn't disappear with others again later. Holly comes to the conclusion that whatever this is was using those it returned to spread into the town of Fairmont and, if they didn't figure out how, there was a possibility the questers could bring it out with them if they managed to escape.

### Chapter 172 - The Labyrinth

Mugs frantically maneuvers his way through various rooms as he fights off waves of random objects, which had started attacking him after he shot the monster attempting to get Felix. Eventually, he finds himself in the school gym and, when nothing immediately attacks him, is able to take the chance to catch his breath. He is thinking about how the map Boris has is probably their best chance to find the exit from this place when a sudden bang jars him from his thoughts. Looking around, he spots a broken window further above him which catches his eye as none of the other windows have been broken so far. He decides to attempt to climb out the window to see what happens. He makes a few attempts, all of which elicit increasingly creepy responses from the environment around him, before he finally pulls himself through the window. He ends up crawling straight into an old chapel and is shocked when he sees stained glass images of Dishes all around him. The more he looks around the more Dish images and runes he finds, even spotting the emblem of Calix Animi. As he's trying to figure out why this is all here Mugs senses someone watching him. As he walks down the centre aisle of the church to investigate a loud bang from behind causes him to whirl around. Mugman's eyes fall on the seal of the Calix Animi, which has now been cracked right down the middle, and he goes pale.

Elsewhere, Felix continues to struggle against the shadow monster. To make things worse both the monster and seemingly the environment keep trying to drag Felix into performing a gag, which Felix absolutely refuses to take part in. Felix and the shadow continue their chase through the maze as he tries to come up with a plan. Finally, he admits to himself that he will have to do something zany to escape, pulling something out of his bag before transforming the bag into a giant lamp to cast his shadow against the wall. The shadow monster soon arrives and is thrown up onto the wall by the lamp and the two of them begin quite literally shadow boxing. Felix and the monster follow along the steps of the gag, which ends in Felix smashing the monster with a hammer. However, when his own shadow starts laughing in victory Felix quickly tells it to knock it off as he gets himself back under control. After making sure he is fine after the gag he turns around and is stunned when he finds himself in the familiar office of Wilson Wiseton.

Back in the greenhouse, Cup has alternated between dozing and thinking as he waits for the girls to call him back. He contemplates his friends, the power of the parts and what he is going to do concerning his current situation with the Devil. Despite his desperate want not to betray his friends Cup can't think of a realistic scenario where they could go against the Devil and come out okay. This leads to him remembering his defeat at the hands of the Devil as a child as well as the ensuing time he and Mugs spent in Hell, completely soulless, until he had renegotiated with the Devil to get their souls back and a new contract solidified. After reflecting on the contents of his soul contract Cup's mind travels to the super Hat offered him at the circus. He thinks how he wouldn't necessarily be opposed to a suicide mission if it meant Mugman would be free but he doesn't trust Black Hat enough to ever seriously consider taking him up on his offer. He considers once more if he should tell the others the truth about his situation but quickly dismisses the idea once more. After a few more minutes of waiting the girls finally call him back, with Bigby also joining the call. They update Cup about the possibility of the maze coming with them if the questers do return and Cup tells Bigby everything he's been experiencing while inside. Before Bigby can reply Alice shouts a warning to Cup, allowing him to roll out of the way just in time as one of the statues in the greenhouse attacks him from behind. Setting his watch off to the side with the call still connected Cuphead turns his focus to fighting off all the statues surrounding him. One of them manages to hit his chest with a stone spear but he stops it before it can do any serious damage and quickly finishes up the battle. With the statues in rubble around him he returns to the call, continuing to talk as he works on patching up his new wound. He tells them he will need to move forward soon to find the others and Bigby asks if he can share a theory with him before he does so. He relates the situation Cup is in to the old myth of the minotaur and the labyrinth before explaining how a labyrinth differs from a regular maze. In a labyrinth there is no getting lost or hiding, you can only keep moving forward through its twisted paths toward the centre where its singular exit awaits. When Cup mentions that he expected Bigby to come in after Boris the wolf explains his promise to wait three days before coming in after them, which is a surprise to Cuphead. After telling each other to stay safe Cup heads through the greenhouse door to the next room, cutting off the call. Cup begins fighting his way through various rooms, even catching a glimpse of Boris in one of them, until he eventually arrives in a bakery. The fact that he sees daylight filtering through the window instead of the usual darkness makes him pause and, as he looks outside, he is shocked to see himself and the questers from before when they first walked through the town. Their past selves don't seem to be able to see him inside even while looking right at him and when Cup looks back he sees even his footprints on the dusty floors behind him have vanished. Just as Cuphead is about to yell a warning to their past selves he feels hot breath on the back of his neck that smells of blood and rotting meat. He is instantly frozen in terror as an unknown monster looms behind him. Cup stays that way as everyone's past selves continue down the road in ignorant bliss and Cuphead steels his nerve to face what is behind him. The moment he feels it shift behind him he whips around and fires at the monster, which surprisingly screams like a woman getting murdered when hit. He gets a quick glimpse at the giant creature, black fur and a white skull with antlers, as he avoids one of its claws and runs through the doorway. When he's sure he has lost it he takes a moment to breathe and lament that he was too much of a coward to stay and try to kill it before it found any of the others. He walks through the next doorway into a bedroom and sees, written in the dust on the mirror, the word "coward" staring back at him.

### Chapter 173 - The Barrier

Back with the Talent Town group they all drive down to Fairmont with Bigby and his Pack to investigate the area in the hopes of finding something to help the Questers. Everyone is on edge and Snowball in particular becomes more panicked the closer they get to the ghost town. They eventually arrive at the fence and quickly find the hole in it to get through to the other side. As they begin walking to town Alice reflects how odd it is that she isn't sensing anything magical when something is so clearly wrong with the area. Suddenly, she walks through what feels like invisible cobwebs and startles. Upon closer inspection, she realizes these are not cobwebs but thin, delicately crafted strands of strong magic. When she informs the others they ask if she can show it to them and she feeds some of her magic into the strands so they will reveal themselves. A shimmering barrier of spiraling magical threads that encompasses all of Fairmont is revealed, to the awe of everyone present. As the barrier disappears back into invisibility Alice and Holly begin discussing what the strange runes they saw formed by some of the threads in the barrier could be as neither of them recognizes them besides the fact that Alice identifies them as some kind of runes of light. Holly begins to lose herself in muttering questions about the barrier, especially about the fact that one of the runes looked like a heart. Once she snaps out of it the group discusses the possible significance of the heart symbol before they refocus on the tests they originally came to do. Bigby and the Pack decide to circle the fence to see if they can find something new, leaving the girls to handle the tests. As they prepare for the tests Alice notices that the circus crew seems frustrated they can't help more and talks with them about it. Donald is upset that the Questers are still dragging them into danger while Mickey and Ozzy are worried about the Questers and feel almost as if they owe them for how the Questers have helped them in the past. The girls soon begin their tests as they try out different runes on the barrier and try to figure out what kind of magical creature they are dealing with. At the end of it all all the tests have done have told them what magical beings they aren't dealing with and they're no closer to figuring out who crafted the barrier. Holly is frustrated by the lack of results and declares that they should all head back to the car to wait for Bigby and try to call the Questers on the magic watches again.

Meanwhile, Bendy and still strangely unbothered Boris are continuing their way through the maze of rooms. Bendy eventually gets annoyed at the lack of anything happening and leads them up to the second floor of the buildings before moving forward once again. As they're stopped in a church hallway with open windows discussing what to do next Mickey calls them on Bendy's watch. Bendy answers and starts talking with the others about what they know, though the conversation is briefly interrupted when he loses sight of Boris only to quickly find his brother standing facing the doors at the end of the hallway. They discuss the Labyrinth, the barrier, Leticia, and how this thing could follow them out if they escape. The whole time they talk Boris keeps saying Bendy's name and Bendy ignores him to continue the conversation. Finally, Boris yells at Bendy that he can smell blood on the other side of the door. They open the door and see that there is indeed a pool of blood in the next room as well as many signs of a fight having occurred. Boris sniffs the air and is confused when the blood smells like it is his blood. The sound of Alice from the watch brings Bendy's attention back down to them as he explains the bloody scene they found before both B-Bros begin filling in the others on what they have experienced so far. A sudden bang and a howling noise set the B-Bros on alert and they finish up their call with the others. Bendy steps forward into the bloody room to get away from the roaring sound that seems to be drawing closer and is surprised when he doesn't disappear to another place. When Boris moves to follow him through the doorway he does vanish, leaving Bendy alone as the door to the bloody room slams closed on its own.

While he is trying to get the door open something grabs his leg and begins to drag him through the hallway and back down the stairs. The tendril lets him go partway down the staircase and he crashes on his face in what looks to be a woodworking shop. He heads upstairs again but the door is locked and as he turns around he sees vines having suddenly overgrown most of the workshop. They seemingly try to direct him through a door on the first level but Bendy refuses to go where they lead him, fighting through the vines back up the staircase and kicking down the door at the top. He finds himself in what appears to be a cafeteria in a house of refuge. This setting begins to stir up bad memories for Bendy about his own time in such a place and a man called Mr. Squail. Bendy tries to find a way to leave when suddenly feels the presence of a monster looming behind him. He is frozen with fear for a moment before he quickly spins around to strike whatever is there only to find nothing behind him. As he collects himself Bendy finds the words *Do you Remember?* written on one of the tables. To his mounting horror, the more he looks around the refuge house the more familiar it seems as the sound of heavy footsteps from the basement sends him racing to what was once his old bedroom. He barricades himself in the bedroom, which is identical to how he remembers it, as conflicting voices urge him to both run and report to the office. Once he hears the sound of something trying to force its way into the room Bendy throws himself through the window and tumbles across a carpeted floor. As he turns back to see the building he jumped from he finds only a blank wall and a picture of his old halfway house with smoke billowing from the kitchen window.

### Chapter 174 - Breaking and Entering

Felix stares at Wilson's nameplate before looking around at the office that he used to visit so often. He tries to remind himself that this place is just messing with his head but as he investigates the office he finds a marked map of Sillyvision that seems to show someone chasing after the professor through town. Files about Wilson's death and the B-Bros appear to continue taunting Felix but, just as he is about to storm out of the room, the voice of Wilson Wiseton behind him stops Felix dead in his tracks. Despite his repeated reminders to himself that this isn't real Felix still turns around and greets Wilson, who looks exactly how Felix remembers him from previous office visits. Wilson invites Felix to sit with him for a cup of tea and Felix can't stop himself from accepting as the two fall into the steps of a familiar conversation they've had many times before. The two begin to debate whether it matters that this is an illusion or not since all of Felix's senses have accepted this impossible scene as reality. As Wilson warns Felix to be on his guard Felix snaps, yelling questions about why Wilson didn't come to him for help when he was on the run. Wilson hugs him and says that it was because he didn't want Felix involved in such a dangerous situation. Then, while Felix's guard is down, Wilson stabs him in his side. Felix pushes away, feeling betrayed even though he knew all along this was just a fake. Wilson chastises Felix for making such a mistake and says he ought to end his suffering here. In response, Felix summons a shield from his bag and uses it to push his way past Wilson and out the office door. He is instantly transported to another familiar sight- a temple room in the Dragon Mountains where ninjas are waiting for him.

Back in Talent Town, the rest of the Questers group plus Avery are standing on the steps of Leticia Bradley's house. When their knocks and calls receive no response Avery picks the lock on the door. The group heads inside and begins to investigate the house, looking for anything that could give them a clue about the Labyrinth. As Alice moves through the different rooms she notices that there appear to be scrape marks in one of Leticia's daughter's rooms showing a large piece of furniture having been moved out of it and into another, already fairly crowded, room. She meets back up with Holly in this crowded room who shows her a notebook she found that seems to track the names of those who have entered and the dates when they headed into the Labyrinth. There is also a mysterious set of secondary dates next to some of the names but they are not sure what significance these dates are. There also is a scribbled drawing at the back of the notebook of a giant, black four-mouthed monster that seems to be the monster from Linda's poem. The girls can't identify what type of monster it is and Alice wonders why the Angels haven't done anything about this place when they must know about it as they have a presence near it here in Talent Town. As they continue flipping through the notebook they find various scary drawings depicting Sarah Songbird as some kind of boogeyman with the phrase *Sarah Songbird wants children* written in it. The girls feel like they're missing something and, after talking it over with Donald, realize that Leticia said Sarah was the first to disappear while the newspaper reported her as the last. More determined than ever to talk with Leticia again the group continues discussing things for a few moments before moving into the front room where Avery has just cracked the safe behind the picture. Inside they find guns, ammo, cleaning equipment, wads of cash, explosive putty and a key. The group can't figure out what the key is for and ultimately decides they should clean up and leave before Leticia finds them snooping around.

Within minutes the group has cleaned the house, relocked the front door and is walking down the street. Alice wants to call home to get more information from the Angels and they discuss who exactly she should call. She eventually decides to call Master Samuel, the Head Recorder in charge of the Upper's archives. As soon as they arrive back at the hotel Alice calls Samuel and explains to him the situation with Fairmont and the Questers with the exception of the Ink Machine part. In response, Samuel tells her that the situation with Fairmont is top secret and that he really shouldn't be talking about it at all but from what they have found it seems as if it is some kind of curse. They don't know much about it as all the Angels they have sent in have never returned. The only message they have received from those inside told them not to send any more Angels in to "feed" it and instead focus their efforts on protecting those around it. He explains that the mysterious barrier has contained whatever evil magic makes up the Labyrinth but everything inside the barrier has been infected with it. The barrier itself is made of unknown but incredibly strong magic so the Angels have decided to trust it with keeping everything contained. He also tells her that a rescue mission for her friends is unlikely to be approved as it is simply too dangerous. They also discuss Linda and Leticia a bit. Samuel informs her that Leticia had a cabin built just half a mile from the Fairmont fence though he doesn't recommend she go there as being that close to Fairmont seems to cause strange effects to people's minds. Samuel finishes by telling her whatever is in there is hungry and warning her to be careful before they end the call. While the call was informative it has only filled Alice with more dread. She shares what she has learned with the others in the hotel restaurant and a plan is made for the girls, Mickey and Oswald to go visit Leticia's cabin. But just as they head outside Jake swoops down from the sky, cheerfully greeting them and telling Alice he's come to visit her like he promised he would. When he asks if he can treat them to a meal Holly quickly makes up a story about needing to do research at the library so Jake and Alice will have to go without her. Jake cheerfully begins leading them down the street and Alice resigns herself to hanging out with him for awhile.

### Chapter 175 - Nightmare Walls

Back in the church, Mugman stares at the cracked crest in confusion before having to quickly raise his arms to protect himself as the windows around him shatter one by one. When all the windows are destroyed Mugman looks back up to find the room appears as though it has aged a hundred years while he was distracted. Pushing his way through a now ancient door Mugs arrives in a hallway that he remembers fighting a cyclops in as a child. But instead of the ruined hallway from his memory, this one is intact and filled with various ancient Dish artifacts. As he walks through the hallway he remembers the great tales of the heroic Dish knights in the Calix Animi he had grown up hearing. He even finds paintings of ancient Dishes he recognizes such as Chalice. Mugs continues walking, sadly remembering how much he and his brother had wanted to be knights when they grew up only to have ended up debtors instead. Memories of Elder Kettle also flood his mind as he recalls how Elder Kettle had tried to help them escape their contracts back on Inkwell Isle. As he continues to walk through ancient rooms Mugs eventually comes to a portrait of a younger Elder Kettle and, when he asks the portrait why things turned out the way they did a strange voice that almost seems to come from inside his own head begins saying how they were supposed to be heroes but became villains instead. In an attempt to find the source of the voice, Mugs enters a pitch-black, narrow corridor. As he makes his way through the darkness he begins to hear an urgent, whispered conversation between unknown individuals. As he turns the corner to where he heard the voices coming from he finds himself in an empty room covered in dust and a tile mural that seems to depict all the different races together. Turning back around he finds two paths where there was originally only one and he decides to head down the new cobbled staircase. As he takes his first steps down something grabs his leg and yanks, sending him toppling down the stairs.

As he picks himself up from the floor and re-lights his bullet Mugman sees that he is now in the cement tunnels under Black Hat's casino. Confused about how exactly this maze works and what he should do, Mugs continues walking through the familiar tunnels. As he walks he arrives at the hallway that has the crayon drawings on the wall he and Cup had made as kids. The drawings show snapshots of various moments in the Cupbros past and it's not long before pictures Mugs knows they didn't draw start appearing as well. Scribbled depictions of darker memories are interspersed with happier ones of their time with Elder Kettle. The pictures continue to get darker as they depict moments of the Cupbros growing up into the well-known hitmen they are today. There were also pictures of Elder Kettle that Mugman doesn't recognize, seemingly depicting what the old man was doing after they were taken from him. As the drawings get closer and closer to the present Mugs finds himself running down the hall. As the pictures finally catch up to the moment the Questers entered the Labyrinth the hallway ends in a dead end with a picture of Elder Kettles's tombstone. Mugs instantly rejects the image and, with a lack of anywhere else to go, turns back around to find that the entire hallway is completely covered with dark scribbles that stop just before his shoes. With no other choice, Mugman begins to walk back down the hallway. Every once in a while the scribbles are interrupted with dark, childish drawings of terrible things happening to his friends. As the drawings continue more and more of his friends are depicted dying or even killing one another. Feeling sick and rejecting the idea that any of this could happen Mugman begins ignoring the drawings on the wall. In response words such as *Die*, *Fail*, and *Your Fault* begin appearing in the scribbles. The hallway is really beginning to get to Mugs but he has no choice but to continue walking as the words taunt him and the pictures show him all alone, having to bury all his friends. He begins to feel watched as the drawings show him slowly going insane trapped in the Labyrinth alone. At the end of the hallway is darkness with a drawing of him on the floor preparing to kill himself. A moment later he hears a childish giggle behind him and hands on his back push him forward into the darkness.

Mugs falls through the darkness for a moment before crashing into the ancient stone wall of one of the mausoleums back in Inkwell. He climbs a staircase to a new corridor and begins running forward when he spots light ahead. He exits into a beautiful chapel room with light streaming in through it's stained glass windows. As he enters he hears a tapping coming through one of the walls and cautiously approaches it. He calls out a few times and eventually a muffled voice answers him through the wall. Now that they know he's there multiple other voices of what seem to be Dishes speak up from the other side of the wall, excited at the possibility of being saved. Their familiar bickering with one another puts Mugs at ease as they explain that they are trapped in a room on the other side and need help getting out. Mugs talks with them a bit, trying to figure out a way to get them out without blasting the wall as he's worried destroying it could bring down the whole chapel. Suddenly, there is a thud from the other side of the wall and the voices all begin to panic, desperately begging Mugman to do whatever he needs to do to get them out. Mugs tries firing various bullets and even a mega blast at the wall but it remains stubbornly intact. All the while the voices continue pleading for him to save them. Suddenly things go silent before Mugs hears the sound of sobbing and them telling something to stay away. Then horrific screaming accompanied by scraping noises and wet sounds begins. Mugman becomes nearly hysterical in his attempts to break down the wall as the screams of the Dishes are cut off one by one. Just as the final voice's scream pitches up to a high, animalistic level the wall crumbles away into a cloud of dust and debris before him. Mugman enters the ancient room on the other side to find only dirt, dust, bone and small pieces of glass. He falls to his knees with a sob as his mind struggles to comprehend that everything he had heard had just been an illusion. Suddenly, something glinting in the dirt catches his eye- an old, jagged piece of porcelain. Mugman shuts his eyes and screams.

### Chapter 176 - Boris Goes to School

Boris rushes through a doorway only to end up in the principal's office back in the schoolhouse. Frustrated at the fact that he always ends up in this building and still unnerved by the message he saw before Boris begins walking around the school looking for a way out. It's not long before Boris gets lost thanks to the physically impossible architecture of the schoolhouse. Later, he hears running feet and a giggle that leads him toward a classroom where the message *Find Sarah* is scrawled on the blackboard again. Frustrated, Boris erases the message and stomps out of the classroom. He breaks a window in another classroom but when he goes to find the rope he brought in his bag he instead spots it hanging from the corner of the blackboard with a message asking him if that's what he was looking for. As he goes to retrieve it the *Find Sarah* message is written again and, after telling it to leave him alone, he turns around to find it it scratched into every desk in the room hundreds of times. When he gets back to the window it has magically repaired itself so he breaks it again, uses his rope to climb down and lands in the grass outside the school. Boris begins walking and pulls out his watch to call the others in Talent Town.

After a few moments, he is able to connect to Holly and Mickey. Holly asks if he lost Bendy again which confuses Boris as he replies that he's been completely alone since getting separated from the others at the hotel and has just been stuck going in circles in the schoolhouse. The others are horrified to hear this and begin trying to figure out what the Boris with Bendy could have been. They soon realize that, when they were on the call with Bendy, they never actually saw Boris's face on the call. Concluding that there's nothing they can do about it now and trusting Bendy to handle it they move on. They begin talking about Boris's situation as the wolf pup tries to find his way away from the school and into the surrounding forest. He quickly finds that, no matter which way he turns, he seems to be surrounded by the schoolhouse on all sides. Holly tells him that he can't get out and explains the concept of the Labyrinth to him as Mickey tries to help him calm down. Boris asks them if they know who Sarah is since her name keeps coming up. The other two are shocked to hear Boris bring up her name and pass the warnings/information they've heard about Sarah to him. When the nearby swing set begins swinging with no one on it Boris asks if it wants him to find Sarah. In response the swing set slows to a stop and the familiar *Find Sarah* message is scratched into the ground. He shows Holly and Mickey the message and they are immediately disturbed when they realize that it is targeting Boris due to the fact that he is a child. They begin discussing ways Boris could protect himself as Bigby joins the call. They tell Boris they're on their way to Leticia's cabin to talk and Bigby explains that he's only ever heard the Bradleys being worried about Sarah so he had originally dismissed it as paranoia on their part. The others ask if Boris is safe to stay there while they go get some information but before he can decide a pebble hitting his arm brings his attention to a light shining from one of the school's windows. Looking back down at the watch to talk to the others he sees the reflection of an elk monster behind him with dark, eyeless sockets. Boris wheels around but finds nothing behind him. Still, he's convinced he can't stay there and begins making his way to the window. The sound of footsteps behind him forces him to move faster despite his fear and he manages to close the window behind him just in time for whatever thing was following him to slam into it. The monster leaves angry scratches on the window as it pounds against it before it finally leaves.

Now that he is back inside the schoolhouse Boris's call to the others has cut off, leaving him alone again. As he looks around the classroom he is once again faced with the *Find Sarah* message and finally gives in, asking how he can do that. The messages tell him to check the desks as ominous creaking from the windows and more slashes appear to drive him forward. He begins searching for Sarah's desk and comes across Linda's along the way, which he quickly snags the notebooks from. He finds Sarah's desk and manages to snag a notebook and a key from it just as a monster shatters the windows. Boris runs and jumps through the doorway of the classroom just as the monster's claws tear through his backpack. He lands alone in a living room and can't hold back the tears any longer, curling up on the floor and crying. Once he collects himself he looks through his supplies to see what is still intact and begins reading Sarah's notebook. Her notebook tells him to find her room and promises to lead everyone to the exit if he will help her. It also has various drawings of monsters with notes about them like a survivor's guide. Excited by this helpful lead, Boris safely stashes away the key he got from her desk in his bandana before moving on to Linda's books. One of them is just a math workbook and the other one is full of poetry. Boris decides to settle down for the night, eating some food and eventually falling asleep. He is eventually woken up by what feels like his brother gently petting his head and ears. Eventually, through the haze of sleepiness, he remembers that it can't possibly be Bendy petting him but when he jerks up with a snarl he finds himself all alone in the room. Needing to get out of the room Boris climbs the staircase and through the giant house. As he walks around he finds a piano, which begins playing itself when he pauses to look at it. He then gets the idea to check the Ink Machine map and is surprised when he finds it now shows the map of the mansion he is in, which is strange as it has never shown him a blueprint for just one building before. He decides to try one of the doors to the outside, walking back through the house and ignoring the various unnerving/tempting sights and smells along the way. When he tries to open one of the doors to the outside it's locked and he bangs on it in frustration. Heading back into the house the smell of food and sounds of cooking draws him to the kitchen. But, when he opens the door to find nothing but another empty room Boris's only thought is how much he hated this place.

### Chapter 177 - A Broken Cup

Cuphead sits in a flower shop, exhausted and sore, until a noise behind him forces him to get up and start moving again. As he's walking he notices he's going through rooms he's already seen and taunts the Labyrinth for running out of new places to send him. In response, a small key for one of the letterboxes in the post office he is standing in appears on the counter. Opening the letterbox Cup finds a copy of the letter that Mugman sent to Elder Kettle without his knowledge, though he refuses to believe it's real. Just as he is about to close the letterbox door he sees the eye of a monster peering back at him. Cup lights a bullet and demands answers but the monster just taunts him in riddles, calling him blind and saying he will drown in the blood he has shed. Sick of the games Cuphead shoots the eye. It explodes in goo but each good droplet soon transforms back into an eye as the monster continues to speak. Cup uses a charge shot to set the room on fire before backing out of the doorway only to find himself in a version of the Devil's throne room in Hell. Choosing one of the marble pathways before him Cup starts walking deeper into the Devil's lair. As the heat from the magma around him grows Cup begins to hear a rattling sound, though he can't find the source of it. By the time he spots the doorway in the wall ahead of him, the rattling has become deafening. When the ground begins to shake Cup tries to run forward only to be brought to his knees from the motion and blocked by falling debris. Suddenly, the skeletal remains of the victims of Cuphead's previous jobs burst through the wall around the door, their bones rattling as they reached for him. Despite the disturbing scene Cup forces himself to get up and move forward. He summons an energy blast to destroy the skeletons closest to freeing themselves from the wall as he runs forward. As he pulls open the door he feels skeletal hands grabbing him but Cuphead manages to fight his way free and tumbles through the doorway.

The door slams shut behind him and Cup checks himself over, noting that his injuries have worsened but still aren't life-threatening, before taking in his new pitch-black surroundings. Lighting up a finger, Cup walks through the darkness and takes advantage of the calm to eat and drink a bit. Left in complete silence Cup becomes lost in thought as he thinks about his past victims, the Labyrinth and the future. He eventually comes to a hole in the ground and fires a bullet down into it. The bullet flies downwards, illuminating a random assortment of dark passages, pillars and holes below him. Cup jumps down the hole and continues moving downward, stepping carefully to avoid slipping and using bullets to light his surroundings as needed. After a while Cup takes a break to rest his injured leg and begins idling firing shots around him. One of them rebounds off a pillar, illuminating a dark shadow darting away behind a pillar. Cup stands up and begins firing more bullets toward where he saw the shadow until he sees a wisp of its tail. Cup fires a bullet before chasing after the creature but he quickly loses it in the dark. The same monster from the post office uses the Devil’s and King Dice’s voices to taunt Cup before jumping at him from behind. Thanks to his fast reflexes Cup is able to shoot the monster in the mouth, causing it to let out an inhuman shriek, but he loses his footing and falls. Shooting off a string of chaser bullets for light Cup manages to land on another pillar and begins looking around for an entrance while he builds up a charge shot. As the monster begins chasing Cuphead through the maze of pillars he fires the charge shot. The light from the bullet finally gives him a good look at the massive creature chasing him. The monster has a head that looks like an elk skull, multiple tails and mouths both in the palm of one of its hands and its chest. When the monster pushes him down to what feels like the floor of this area Cup’s injured leg worsens, forcing him to limp as he continues to fight. All the while the monster taunts and mocks him in the voices of those he knows. The monster claims that the area they’re in is where the Devil kept the Cupbros when they were young while they were soulless in Hell following their rampage through the second level. Cuphead runs down one of the tunnels in the floor as the monster chases after him, now using Mugman's voice to torment him. Suddenly, the light from his finger goes out despite the fact he can still feel the power gathered there. Cup slowly makes his way forward as screams and the stench of blood rise up around him. All the while the monster speaks in Mugs voice, attacking Cup for clinging to his brother and being grateful Mugman was there with him through such awful things. In the heat of his argument with the beast, Cup is knocked off a ledge into one of the holes. He uses his super to save himself but, in the process, knocks himself out.

When Cup awakens he discovers, much to his horror, that he is in his childhood home back in the Inkwell Isles. He tries to leave but can't walk well with his injured leg and is found by Elder Kettle. Kettle tries to check up on him but Cuphead refuses to interact with him, stating that he knows this isn't real and demanding to know how to leave. While Kettle is hurt by his reaction and tries to get Cup to stay Cuphead continues to tell him to shut up and walks to the door despite his injury. Cuphead pauses at the door and says that he's not sure what he would even say to the real Elder Kettle since he doesn't think an apology is enough after everything. In response, Kettle says that he failed the Cupbros and that he should have warned them before that the Devil had been targeting them specifically because of their potential and who their parents were. Elder Kettle goes on to encourage Cuphead to keep fighting even though it's hard but then mention of their parents has caught Cup's attention and the old anger he feels towards them for not being there when he and Mugs were growing up rears its head. Frustrated, Cup repeats that he's not the real Kettle and to leave him alone before stepping out of the house. He steps into Hat's casino and begins punching the wall in anger as he struggles with all the old emotions and regrets that the encounter with has Kettle brought up. Cup grapples with what he should do going forward and tells himself that he is no hero. As he begins to calm down Cuphead thinks that he's never going to be able to go home and actually have that conversation with Elder Kettle so it hurts all the more now that he knows what it would have been like if he did.

### Chapter 178 - Various Visits

The circus crew, Holly and Bigby search around the outskirts of Fairmont looking for Leticia's cabin. Eventually, they find the trail of a faint footpath until Donald literally trips over a sound trap set by Leticia right in front of her cabin. After hearing the noise from the trap Leticia comes outside and, even though she's not happy to see them, invites the group in to talk. She calls out to her daughter to play quietly upstairs before the real conversation begins. Ozzy demands to know why she didn't tell them everything to begin with and she responds by reminding them that she never owed them any information in the first place and she even gave a detailed warning about why they should stay away so they have no right to have an attitude towards her. As they talk it becomes clear that there is a history between Bigby and Leticia that isn't very friendly, although they aren't outright fighting with each other. After apologizing for their initial behavior Holly asks again why she hid stuff from them when it would have changed their entire approach to the situation. Leticia asks if it really would have mattered since they were so determined to head in before declaring that there is no plan for dealing with the Labyrinth and that the Questers are already as good as dead. The rest of the group argues that she shouldn't underestimate the Questers and even Bigby speaks up in support of the Cupbros. Leticia finally gives in to their questions explaining that her mother claims Sarah Songbird liked her and thus showed her the way out through the centre of the Labyrinth. She continues by saying that the whole area messes with people's perception so you can't always trust all the information surrounding it. Leticia also makes a point to emphasize that Sarah is worse than the monster inside the Labyrinth, which her mother dubbed the Night Terror, since you can escape the monster but Sarah will have power over your mind from the moment you enter the Labyrinth. Even after being freed Sarah continued to haunt Leticia's mother's mind for the rest of her life. They begin talking about the Night Terror and they learn that it can't get through the barrier and prefers going after lone prey instead of a group. Leticia admits that, after losing her husband Michael Bradley to the Labyrinth, she went to the fence and started talking to the monster through it since it would use Michael's voice when it spoke to her. The monster tried to lure her inside, taunt her, trick her and, when all that failed, began asking her to do it seemingly innocent little things. She refused to do anything and only heard it go silent when another group of adventures would head inside. Mickey points out that that means it's probably going after the Questers if it isn't at the barrier.

Holly then declares she plans to lure out the Night Terror and kill it, or at the very least trap it, to keep it from going after the Questers while they search for the part. Bigby bursts out laughing at the idea and Leticia tells them that it's already been tried before but the others remain determined to do it. When asked Bigby agrees to help them with their plan which shocks Leticia. She asks if Bigby really thinks the Cupbros being Dishes will actually change anything and Bigby replies that he does enough to involve his Pack so if she has anything now would be the time to use it. The group begins creating a plan to set up a trap for the Night Terror by asking Bigby and Leticia if they know anything else about the creature. Leticia tells them it doesn't like lights, has a temper and is at least ten feet tall but can reach much further then that but she's never really gotten a good look at it. The group begins cataloguing what weapons they have and Leticia gives Donald her husband's old hunting rifle to use against the monster. Holly eventually decides that they will set up a trap in town for the beast by setting up a rune barrier in front of bait of some kind, which Bigby promises to handle. They then leave Leticia's cabin, discussing the fact that Leticia still seems to be hiding things from them but she clearly misses her husband greatly.

Meanwhile, Alice is still out with Jake, keeping him distracted from what the others are doing. Unfortunately, Jake can tell Alice is hiding something and she admits that she can't tell him since it could get him in serious trouble due to his position as an Angel council member. Even though she can't tell him anything Jake still asks what he can do to help so Alice begins asking him about the Angel's presence in town and if he can sneak her any weapons. Jake is slightly upset that he can't join her on her secret adventure but the mood quickly lightens again as he begins flirting with her. Alice tells him that she just isn't looking for a relationship right now and Jake believes this to mean she's more interested in Michael right now. This leads to them talking about Michael and how he acted at the dark circus before transitioning to how Jake's view of the world has been affected by the things he sees while doing his work as a messenger Angel. As they talk Alice reflects about how, even though they're best friends, she knows Jake wants more from the relationship but she isn't sure she wants the same. Jake pulls her attention back to their conversation and promises to get her some holy weapons as long as she gives him all the details about her adventure once it's over. The Angels then head back to Alice's hotel room where they can safely drop their glamours. Jake gives Alice a blessed sword as well as a bow and a quiver of arrows. Alice thanks him for the weapons before telling shooing him back to his duties. Jake disappears in a shimmer and it's not long after that Holly bursts into the room. Holly begins excitedly explaining their plan to Alice and is happily surprised to see that Alice is now armed with Angel weaponry. She goes on to tell Alice that they're just waiting for Bigby to gather his resources before they head back to Fairmont to enact their plan. By the time the girls head down to the lobby Bigby and his wolves are already waiting for them, with the circus crew joining them all soon after. But, just as they're about to head out, Alice hears someone calling her. She looks over to see a worried Michael standing in the lobby as he asks her if now would be a bad time to talk.

### Chapter 179 - False Friends

Back in the Labyrinth, an exhausted and bloody Felix takes a moment to catch his breath in a quiet room. After eating and drinking Felix begins moving forward again in the hopes that he can find some of the other Questers. He walks down a hallway to a door that seems familiar and, upon recognizing it as one of his old apartments, is immediately filled with dread. Once inside the apartment, a mouse toon named Skiddoo, one of Felix's old friends, begins talking to him and a quick look outside shows Felix a view of the city exactly as he remembers it. Skiddoo calls their other friends to let them know Felix is here and they all arrive at the apartment moments later. Felix’s friends immediately begin crowding around him and talking but, remembering what happened before with the fake Wilson, he demands they all stay away. When his friends say he’s back now Felix refutes the idea, yelling that he doesn’t want to be zany like them ever again. He's upset that none of his friends seem to understand or accept his desire not to be zany as he continues trying to get them to leave him alone. Felix's friends are confused and look to their inventor friend, Poindexter, to come up with something to "fix" Felix. The group continues to argue about the subject as Felix tries to make his friends understand how miserable he was as a zany and his friends just want him to come back to how he used to be with them. Eventually, all his friends jump Felix and hook him up to one of Poindexter's inventions that will supposedly turn Felix back into a zany. Despite the guilt he feels at leaving his friends behind in the past Felix fights desperately against his bonds to escape the machine. In the nick of time, Felix is able to use his magic bag to escape his bonds and his friends. He quickly pulls a grappling hook from his bag and uses it to flee out the apartment window into the city, looking for an exit. After avoiding one of his old love interests in the city Felix walks into an alley only to come face to face with Skiddoo once more. Skiddoo starts talking about how Felix chose to forget a lot of things when he decided to stop being zany like the fourth wall. Felix turns away and blocks his ears to avoid remembering the things Skiddoo is talking about. Using his bag Felix is able to get away from Skiddoo again but realizes that if he wants to find the exit he will have to play into the zaniness a bit. Adopting his old zany persona for a moment Felix uses a gag to find where the exit is, although afterwards he instantly has to distract himself with memories of archeological digs to avoid remembering any zany information. He makes his way through the city and is almost at the exit when Sheba calls out to him. Felix tells her not to bother saying anything because the real Sheba would never have betrayed him like this. Sheba argues that these fears are all from Felix's own mind so on some level he must think they are possible and asks how he can even consider them friends if he thinks like this. She then tells him to go forward and face the deepest terror in his mind and run away from them just like he always has. Her words make Felix question just how real the world around him actually is as he walks through the exit door into yet another familiar room. At the sight of the room horror grips Felix as he realizes he's not ready to face what this is.

After he finally finishes screaming Mugman shakily stands up again only for a note to flutter out of his pocket. Reading it he finds it is an encouraging note from Holly that helps lift his spirits somewhat. Mugs walks into the old prison room that had been on the other side of the wall and through the door into a hall. At the end of the hallway is a room with a stone pedestal that has a picture on top of it that Mugman recognizes from his childhood as one of the few that depicts his whole family. Mugs glances away from the photo for a moment and when he looks back at it it has been defaced. Still, he pockets the photo and continues forward. As he walks down the hallway portraits and names of the other debtors from the Isles hang on the wall, each one twisted in some way that seemingly shows their current status. The further he goes the more names and awful portraits appear of others from the Isles and his own family. The final portrait is one of Boris and a push from behind sends him tumbling forward through it into a room he recognizes as the one that holds Hat's personal collection in Hell. The paintings here are moving and when he walks up to one he sees it's showing the memory of when Bendy stopped Cup from taking his own life. The memory proceeds as normal until the moment Cuphead passes out, after which the B-Bros suddenly begin acting much more cold, manipulative and cruel. Mugs, who wasn't there to witness the original event, refuses to believe that is what happened and moves to the next portrait. The other portraits show similar scenarios such as Bendy planning to work with Ava and Azazel at the Dark Circus or Boris agreeing to join Bigby's pack and making a deal with the giant wolf at Bendy's request. Mugman refuses to believe any of the scenes he sees and opens up the door that is supposed to lead to Black Hat's office. He freezes in place when he sees Black Hat sitting at a desk talking with his brother, Cuphead's back facing towards him. Black Hat smiles at Mugs over Cuphead's shoulder as he asks Cup what he thinks of Mugman.

### Chapter 180 - Frightening Friends

Bendy looks around the room he is in and is horrified to find he is in the bedroom that he lived in when he was separated from Boris and placed in a house of refuge for a few days. His old roommate, a deer toon named Travis, is also there and Bendy remembers how the two of them had become fast friends during his time at the house. The way the house of refuge had worked was that they had apprenticeships set up for all the boys there so they would go out, work a job for most of the day, and come back during the evenings. Mr. Squall, the owner of the house ran the place with an iron fist and had zero tolerance for troublemakers or runaways. There were even rumors of him using extreme punishment like lashings and supposedly some boys who were sent to Mr. Squall's office never came back out. Travis had been working on an escape plan for months and agreed to include Bendy in it as long as he helped with it. Travis instructed Bendy to take the mechanic's apprenticeship since they needed to steal a wrench for their plan and Bendy had been pleasantly surprised when he found he liked the work that came with it. Bendy stole the wrench and handed it off to Travis just moments before Mr. Squall had called all the boys from the mechanic's apprenticeship to his office to grill them about the stolen wrench. Despite the yelling, lashings and punishment he received Bendy didn't confess. The next morning when they saw each other again Travis apologized to Bendy for having to go through so much since he had known this was a possibility but assured Bendy it was worth it. He then explained the whole plan to Bendy and told him that he would finish the setup for it that day so they would be ready to go the next morning. But that night at dinner Travis was called into Mr. Squall's office and never returned. The next day none of the elements of the plan Travis had said he was going to set up happened and Mr. Squall ordered Bendy to go to his office. Terrified, Bendy had made an excuse to get back to his room, collected his things and snuck into the basement to burst the water pipes as they had planned. He then snuck into the kitchen and set a fire before rejoining the other boys. That's when Mr. Squall caught them all, immediately launching into an enraged rant before he spotted the stolen wrench Bendy had fumbled in the chaos. Mr. Squall hit Bendy with the wrench but moments later someone noticed the fire and all hell broke loose. Even with his mind hazy from the blow Bendy managed to escape Mr. Squall and the house, racing into the woods where Travis had hidden a couple of supply bags. He waited for Travis until he heard the police dogs then he took one of the packs and ran. After that, he made his way back to Sillyvision, broke Boris out of the orphanage and went back to his life on the streets without ever finding out what happened to Travis.

Now, facing an illusion of his friend, Bendy asks Travis what exactly happened to him all those years ago. In response, Travis accuses Bendy of not looking for him even though Bendy argues that he did. When Travis turns around Bendy sees that his head is split open as the deer toon tells Bendy it is his fault that he died. Travis and Bendy continue to argue as Travis claims that Mr. Squall attacked him and that he died in the fire since Bendy didn't come back to save him. Anything in the room Travis touches lights on fire and the room begins filling with smoke. Bendy yells that he doesn't what Travis is saying as he starts looking for a way to escape the flaming room. Travis attacks Bendy with a wrench but Bendy fends him off and rushes through the doorway of the room. Bendy suddenly finds himself in a beautiful courtyard but is soon distracted from the scenery by something sailing at his face. He catches it just as a familiar voice calls out to him Bendy wonders what new situation he has landed himself in.

Back with Boris, he is still looking for a way out of the house he is trapped in. He smashes a window to escape but accidentally hits too hard and sends his pipe flying outside. The sound of crashing in the house and footsteps heading his way sends him racing out the window but every time he tries to climb through he just ends up back in the hallway again. With the footsteps closing in Boris jumps into a nearby room to hide. While hiding he hears his pursuers talking outside about needing to find him, although he can only understand one of their voices. Boris gets distracted for a moment looking around the room has has hidden in and when he turns back around he is faced with a young female bird toon in a fancy dress with black eyes staring back at him. Boris is instinctively unnerved and on guard around the strange girl, who he correctly identifies as being Sarah Songbird. Sarah asks Boris to play hide and seek with her, promising to help the questers if Boris wins but if he loses he has to become her friend. The game will end either when Sarah finds him or when the clock chimes in an hour. Sarah starts counting down and, despite not wanting to play, begins racing through the house looking for a hiding spot. After taking a moment to calm himself from his initial panic he works to cover up any trail he may leave before hiding under a sheet covering a nearby couch. After a few moments, Boris gets up to move hiding places and sees that the various paintings on the wall seem to depict moments from the quester's pasts. After hiding in a closet Sarah walks into the room but leaves without finding him and once he is sure she is gone Boris heads out to look for a new spot again. When Boris enters a room filled with a maze of mirrors he ends up breaking one, alerting Sarah to where he is. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game through the mirrors as Sarah taunts Boris for how he has used his innocent image to survive. She reveals that upon entering Talent Town Boris learned his true talent was being able to use his puppy dog eyes to influence others to want to protect him. She accuses Boris of using this power to manipulate everyone in his life and even voices Boris's fear that he has unintentionally been manipulating Bendy to care for him all of these years. Boris denies her claims, smashing all the mirrors in the room and racing out of the room as fast as he can while her laughter and taunts follow him.

### Chapter 181 - Chocolate and Vanilla (Vanilla being a pernicious and evil flavor)

While Cuphead takes a moment to rest his leg after his last encounter he feels the watch in his pocket warm with a message. When he opens the watch a piece of paper with an encouraging note from Holly falls out which helps bolster his spirits once more. He walks through a silent version of Black Hat's casino, passing by reenactments of various moments from his youth as he does. He eventually makes his way to Dr. Flug's lab and witnesses the moment when Hat had put the Demon blood into his system. Cup watches himself flail on the table before going limp as he loses his vital signs. Around his limp body, Flug and Mugman scrambled to come up with a way to bring Cup back before Hat picked up his limp body and disappeared in a flash of green fire. Left alone with Flug Mugman demands the doctor tell him what's going to happen to Cup but all Dr. Flug can say is that he doesn't know. Dr. Flug leaves while Mugs stays crying on the floor begging Cuphead to come back until 5-0-5 comes in to scoop the young boy up into his arms. As he watches the younger version of his brother get carried away Cup thinks about how he hadn't known Mugs had seen what happened to him but it did explain how clingy Mugman had been following the incident. Still, he feels frustrated that he can't know for sure whether this version of events is accurate since he can't 100% trust the things the Labyrinth shows him. Cup continues onwards into Black Hat's office, where he watches the memory of his and his brother's arrival at the casino. When Hat dismisses their younger selves from the room instead of following 5-0-5 out like he remembers Cup's younger self confronts him, asking what happened to him. After struggling with what to say Cup replies that they do their best and the Mugs is okay and happy. The younger Cuphead is relieved to the point of tears to hear his brother is okay, giving Cup a quick hug in thanks before Black Hat sends him out of the room.

Now left alone with each other Hat questions Cup about whether Mugman is actually happy and if it really matters what parts of this experience are real when it has the power to cause him real injuries. Black Hat then motions for Cuphead to follow him as he heads through a doorway but Cup refuses to go. In response, Hat tells him that he will fix his leg and that not everything in the Labyrinth is trying to kill him. With no better options available Cuphead follows Black Hat and questions why something in the Labyrinth would be trying to help him. Black Hat explains that there are various "puppeteers" in the Labyrinth making moves, each with their own goals in mind. The being currently posing as Black Hat has the goal of destroying the Labyrinth, so helping the questers is advantageous to him. Hat brings him to another of his offices, which is covered in moving pictures of Cup's life, as he explains to Cup that all of the questers were going through their own personal hells and it would inevitably break them all if they didn't escape. As the pictures on the walls change to show all the strife the Cupbros have experienced over the years and the way Cuphead became colder to his brother as they grew up Black Hat asks if Cuphead is truly certain Mugs doesn't hate him. The images around them continue to change as Black Hat paints the picture of how much better their lives would have been without the other - Mugs as a heroic knight in the Calix Animi and Cup becoming the Devil's right-hand man. Cuphead denies that he would have wanted that future even as the possibilities it holds continue to swirl through his thoughts. Black Hat then gives another warning that this Labyrinth will break them and Cup needs to be ready to put the pieces back together when that happens. Shadows then wrap around Cuphead's body, holding him in place as Black Hat heals the worst of his injuries. As he heals him Black Hat tells Cup that if he can't shape up and do what he needs to when the time comes he and all his friends could end up killed or worse. Black Hat finishes healing Cup, who is amazed at how fast the healing magic worked since even Angel's couldn't have done it so quickly. Ignoring any questions about his true identity Black Hat warns Cuphead that he's going to have to be willing to be completely honest with himself and the others if he wants to make it out of this place or else the Labrinth will twist around to use it against him. He then challenges Cuphead to answer one question completely honestly to see if he has what it takes to make it through. Black Hat asks what Cuphead thinks about his brother. After some thought Cuphead admits that his brother can be a moron who he sometimes got sick of having to look after and he had thought before that things may have been easier for him if Mug's wasn't there. When he pauses in his speech he hears Mugman's voice behind him asking why he bothers if Mugs is such a burden and turns around to see his brother standing there.

Back with Felix, he tries to find a way to escape the house as he thinks that anything would be better than this place. Suddenly, a female voice speaks up behind him asking if Felix had come back and if Sheba passed along her message to him. Steeling his nerves Felix turns around to face an attractive cat toon named Kitty and asks why she is back. Kitty tries to apologize and explain herself but Felix refuses, stating that there's nothing she could possibly say that would change how he feels about what happened. Realizing that this nightmare wouldn't be complete without one more person Felix demands to know where Alex is. In response, a completely white version of Felix, Alex, steps out of the kitchen and joins them. Alex begins flirting with Kitty right in front of Felix and accuses him of being a selfish coward. Instead of responding to any of Alex's taunts Felix pulls a dagger and attacks Alex while Kitty futilely tries to break them up. As they fight Alex begins talking about how he could impersonate Felix and find the other questers so he could befriend them before leading them to the worst deaths he could find for them in the Labyrinth. Felix tells Alex to leave them alone but Alex overtakes him in the fight, holding Felix at dagger point before asking Kitty to get him the paint. While she is gone Alex mocks Felix for giving up being zany because Alex changed the status quo of Felix's gags so that not only were copycats of Felix more common but they also had the chance to actually beat Felix, if only temporarily. As they talk Felix tries to think of a way to escape Alex and find the questers before the white cat does. Alex continues ranting about how he'll keep chasing Felix down and making his life miserable as long as Felix has his magic bag as Alex believes it should rightfully belong to him. Kitty returns with the paint and Alex paints himself black, making him now an identical copy of Felix. Seeing his chance Felix uses his magic bag to create a doorway. Alex mockingly wishes his cousin goodbye as Felix steps through the doorway into darkness. Lighting up a torch Felix finds he is in a cave as he takes a moment to collect himself and bandage his wounds after his fight with Alex. Once he is settled he walks through the cave until he hears the cheery tune of the Time Twister, another figure from his past. The Time Twister goes to sleep before Felix enters the room he is but when the cat tries to sneak up some nearby stairs a magic box spots him and alerts the Time Twister to his presence. Felix tries to politely excuse himself from the situation but the Time Twister ignores him, poking Felix on the head to heal his wounds and teleport them to an underground train station. Confused, Felix asks why they would help him when it isn't really them but the Time Twister just gives him a wink before disappearing with his magic box. Felix sighs, thinking about how everything refused to be easy.

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