Septic grinned at them all, a chaotic glimmer in his eyes, "What's the matter? Scared you'll hurt your precious Anti!?" he laughed.

Schneep growled, "I am ze good doctor! I can heal any injury if his body gets damaged!"

"Can ya heal death, though, doc?" 

Chase clenched his fists, "Anti. . . . Dude, if you can hear me in there. . . we're gonna help ya, man. Not gonna let my little bro get hurt anymore by this monster."

On the inside, Anti leaned on the 'window', not sure of what to do anymore, "Chase. . . .  guys please just. Just run. I can't yet. Please"

Septic grinned like a Cheshire cat, "They can't get away from me now, Anti. They're too concerned for you. You should feel so happy, little glitch. They actually DO care about you."

"Of course ve do!" Henrik shouted at him, "And I'll be damned if I let my friend be consumed by you once again, you fiend!"

"That's right!" Marvin pulled down his mask and his eyes glowed, "What are you going to do, Septic? You going to fight all of us? We'll fight back. We know Anti's stronger than you give him credit for."

"Perhaps. But how much can his body take? How much pain are you willing to give him? I am eternal! A demon ego made WITH him! I can take the damage but it won't hurt me! You'll only be hurting him" he laughed.

Chase whispered over to Marvin, "What's the plan, Marv? Got any spells to get us out of this mess?"

Marvin kept his piercing gaze towards Septic but whispered back, "My plan was to separate them but if what Septic says is true and it kills Anti then we're sort of at an impasse."

"Well you're no help then. Schneep, what about you? Jameson?"

Jameson merely shrugged but Henrik hummed, "Perhaps if I can get back down to my office. I have something that might give us some time"

"Why didn't you grab it before we came in here?" Marvin whisper yelled at him.

Henrik blushed a little in his embarrassment, "I did not think of it at ze time! Does not matter! We need to get it. It is concentrated serum of ze pill medication I have been giving to Anti. It could take him down immediately if we are lucky"

"Whatcha guys whispering about over here?"

The ego group hushed as Septic had glitched over closer with a sly grin, "You really think you can get anything past me!? I am in control here, you pests and you'll- Ơ̸̼̜̭̙͉̫̞̱̊͌̀́͒͒̇̓̓͐̈́̽͑Ẇ̶̡̢̖̺̲̹͖͇̠̰̖̺͉̚ͅ!̶̨͈̯̯͕͓͕̞̝͎͍̪̯̞͕͇͐ What the?!" a small orange foam bullet hit him on the forehead.

Chase gulped but ran fast to throw him off, stuffing his small Nerf gun back in his pocket, "Let's go, dude!" he grabbed Schneep with him, "Marvin, you hold him off! Jameson, come with us!"

Marvin shot a blast at Septic to keep him from going after the three, "Uh-uh. You're stuck in here with me"

Septic grinned, "Not for long" he twirled his knife in his hand and stuck his tongue out playfully, "You underestimate your brother's abilities, friend"

The magician shot a spell at him, making him fly up into the air, "Actually I think you're the one you underestimates him"

Septic laughed maniacally before charging at Marvin but the magician didn't expect him to glitch out of existence. He could barely hear his faint voice in the air, "I don't have time for your little side show"

Marvin cursed as he was now the only one in the room, "Bastard! He tricked me!" He ran after him.

Chase, Henrik and Jameson were almost to his office, running quickly when Septic appeared in front of them, "Shit!"

Septic smiled, "You thought you could just get away so easily?" he stalked over to them blocking the way forward.

Chase stood in front of Jameson and Henrik, "Anti, come on, man! You got to fight him! I know you're hurting but you can do it! I know you can"

Anti meanwhile, had healed his shoulder completely finally but was still struggling against his demon, "I'm trying, dammit!"

Septic gave a disjointed small chuckle, "Poor Chase. He can't fight me. I'm stronger than he is. Oh, you should feel so guilty, Chase. After all, you were the one who drove him to me in the first place."

Chase looked pained but didn't back down.

"He was okay with Jackie and Henrik snapping at him but then you broke him. Poor thing was just trying to help you and you pushed him away. You shoved him to the floor. You kicked him. Hurt him. Called him a freak."

Chase shuddered. He barely remembered it but he did and his guilt ate at him for it, "I didn't mean it. He knows I didn't."

"But does he, really?" Septic gave him a pout, "Poor thing broke down into tears. He willingly gave himself to me, did you know? Cut himself and let his blood flood the sink, weakening himself for me. And that's all on you. It's your fault this happened, Chase"

"No" he whimpered.

Henrik shook his shoulder, "Do not listen to him, Chase. He's just trying to throw you off."

Chase shook his head to clear it, "Anti, you know I'm sorry! I didn't mean it and I regret it so much! Please forgive me! I'll never relapse again. Just please don't leave us! Please don't give up!"

Septic was about to throw his knife at him and Chase flinched. But the demon stilled, shaking.

"W-what?"

Anti was glitching like mad in the room, his hands on the window, lightening practically shooting from him like it had in the mirror world, "̷Y̵o̶u̶ ̵l̶e̵a̴v̵e̸ ̴t̴h̵e̷m̴ ̵a̵l̸o̴n̸e̷"̵ his words came out of his physical mouth, trying to take his body back from Septic.

Septic hissed, "You get back in that fucking room, bitch!" he shook again, trying to break from Anti's hold.

"̵W̸h̷a̵t̸ ̵a̷r̵e̶ ̶y̶o̴u̶ ̴w̸a̶i̷t̸i̴n̸g̴ ̵f̴o̷r̷!̸?̴ ̷R̸u̸n̴!̸"̵ Anti shouted at his brothers and without hesitation, they ran past him. 

Chase shouted for him, "Keep it up, Anti! You got this!"

Septic gripped his head, tugging at the hair, "How are you doing this!? Get back in there!" the air crackled around him and he pushed Anti back, forcing him into the wall on the other end. Septic growled, "You're starting to really piss me off, Anti. Just try anything else and I'll mutilate them all!"

Anti stood back up and huffed, "You'll do it anyway! I won't stop fighting! I won't let you hurt them!"

Septic ignored the ego and ran after the three, fully aware of Marvin on his tail now but he didn't have the energy right away to glitch again so he merely dodged Marvin's spells. 

When Henrik and them burst into the office, Jackie was still there looking surprised to see them, "Jameson! You're okay! What's happening?"

"No time to explain!" Henrik ran to his desk to find what he was looking for, "Has to be in here somewhere!"

"You don't know where you put it!?" Chase yelled at him.

"Shut up! I am looking!"

"Uh guys. . ." Jackie spoke in between them, "We have a visitor."

Septic slammed the door behind him before Marvin could race at him, "You know, you all are pretty difficult to kill. I'll give you props for that!" he came towards them once more but Jackie made himself get up and stand in front of them as Henrik searched for the serum.

"What are you going to do, hero? I've already beaten you down. You can barely even stand!"

"I can still fend you off to give them time" Jackie growled, "And this time I'll fight back, monster"

Septic was about to lunge when Marvin burst in the room but then everyone stopped when they heard a shout from elsewhere in the house.

"Hey guys! Where you at?! Jackie called and said there was trouble!? Hello!?"

Jackie coughed, "By the way, guys, I called Sean."

"WHY!?" Chase growled at him, "He can't help! He's not an ego, Jackie!"

"I'm sorry! I couldn't think of anything else to do! I thought he needed to know!"

"This is perfect" Septic grinned and they all gaped at him as he glitched to Sean.

"Dammit!" Marvin huffed and ran after him.

"I found it!" Henrik shouted in glee, the serum in hand.

Meanwhile with Sean, he was definitely not expecting to see what he saw. Who he assumed was Anti, glitched in front of him but he was different. He looked feral and pissed. He had a knife in his hand, his eyes were pitch black and his throat was bleeding but he giggled madly.

"Hey there Sean" he grinned, "I'm glad Jackie called you. They really are in a mess, you know"

Sean took a few steps back, "A-anti?"

He shook his head, "No, no. You can call me Septic. I named myself." he bit his lip, "Anti's not here at the moment. I am the ego you never knew about"

"He was right" Sean realized, "I thought it was just bi-polar disorder. But. . the nightmares. They were real for him, weren't they?"

Septic nodded, "Oh yeah. But I'm afraid I don't have the time to explain further details to you, buddy. It's time to ̵d̵i̸e̸"

He tried running at him but Marvin was faster this time and shot a spell blast at him, knocking him down. Sean ran behind Marvin, "What the fook is happening!?"

Septic shook himself off and steadied himself. He grabbed his knife again and growled like a beast, the blood from his throat cut soaking his shirt now, "You'll pay for that."

"Will I? Because right now it seems like you're just all talk" Marvin guarded himself and Sean as Septic's glare turned worse.

Chase, Jameson, Henrik and Jackie ran into the room, Jameson helping to hold up Jackie.

Septic growled with every breathe, "You can't keep running, little pests. You can't run from me"

He suddenly glitched in front of Marvin blasted him with Anti's green sparks, shooting him across the room.

"Marv!" Chase tried going after him but Septic gripped his hair and tossed him into a wall.

Jackie tried guarding Jameson and Henrik but Septic suddenly lunged a kick into his stomach but Henrik had already come up behind Septic to stab  him with the needle.

Henrik almost stabbed him with it when Septic gripped his hand from behind and twisted it, making Henrik drop it with a cry.

Suddenly the monster stomped on the injection needle, breaking it into pieces and the serum soaked into the floor.

"Fuck!" Henrik cried out as Septic flipped him over his shoulder and slammed him onto the floor.

Septic then set his gaze on Sean and Jameson. Jameson tried to swing at him but the monster just dodged and punched him in the gut, sending the mute to the ground clutching his stomach in pain. 

Sean was riddled with fear. He had no idea what to do. The monster had never been this strong before and he was the only one left standing. Not even Jackie stood a chance against him!

But he wasn't going to just back in a corner, "Anti please! If you're in there-"

"̴O̴h̸ ̵w̴i̴l̸l̴ ̵y̴o̵u̸ ̴j̵u̸s̸t̶ ̷s̵h̷u̴t̸ ̸u̴p̵ ̵w̵i̴t̷h̵ ̶t̷h̷a̴t̷!̶?̵"̷ Septic slapped him hard, sending him onto the floor on his back and he rested his foot on his chest, "I've had just about enough of this. It's time to fucking die!" his knife was about to dig into Sean's heart when Chase tackled him from behind.

"That's enough!" Chase held him from behind, forcing Septic's arms to his sides making him drop the knife. The two struggled against one another until Septic finally glitched out of his grasp and punched him across the face. 

"What was that?" Septic teased him and gripped around his throat, "I thought you said something. What's wrong? What were you saying, Chase-boy?"

"Anti" Chase teared up from the pressure Septic had on his throat, ". . .  .Anti"

Septic grinned, "You KNOW it's your fault, Chase. Oh how he's feared this moment. You were almost like a father to him and you betrayed his trust. You know what, I promised him I'd kill you first. I promised I'd make your death quick and clean but . . . . I'm starting to think otherwise now. I want him to s̵u̸f̸f̷e̷r̸"

Chase choked but still tried to speak, "Y-you can do it, Anti. I b-believe in you b-bro. A-Anti!" he cried as Septic started to squeeze tighter and tighter. Chase thought his neck would snap when Septic raised his knife, about to cut into him. The father braced for impact, slowly starting to black out when the monster suddenly froze and his grip lightened.

"̵N̵o̸ ̴y̷o̶u̶ ̴d̶o̸n̷'̷t̵,̴ ̴y̷o̶u̶ ̵s̵o̷n̶ ̵o̷f̸ ̵a̶ ̸b̸i̴t̷c̵h̸"̴ Anti's voice sounded from him and he suddenly forced the knife into his shoulder.

Septic's eyes twitched from black to green and he blinked rapidly, trying to stop it, "Grrrr" he growled, "N-no."

A sharp pain ran through Septic and he automatically let Chase go in favor of gripping his head.

 "̶̺̓G̴̩̈́u̷̗͆g̴̡̕h̷̬͋ȁ̴̮ẖ̵̛ḣ̴̼a̵̫̕!̵͕̈́"̶͚͗ he started glitching spastically and shaking his head, freaking out.

"A-anti?" Chase coughed out, sitting up on the floor.

His eyes were suddenly green, a signal that Anti was fighting again and it was working. He tried to keep his glitching stable while he was briefly in control, "Marvin! Marvin, do it! D̴o̸ ̴i̶t̸ ̵n̶o̶w̵!̵"

Marvin unsteadily picked himself up, looking unsure, "Are you sure!? You might not survive, Anti!"

"Just do what I fucking say, goddammit! I won't lose you guys! Do it N̶̙̽̆̎͒Ò̶̧͔̰̳͍̜W̷̱͓̮̠̦͌!̶̻͉͙̌̑̚̕͠"

His eyes were going black again but Marvin took heed of Anti's wishes. He ran at him and placed a hand on his head, muttering a spell.

Septic groaned and clawed at Marvin's hand to let him go but the magician held him firm. Green sparks and lightning flung from the ego as he tried to fight it off but it was no use.

Suddenly Septic was thrown back out of Anti's body and the two separate beings now fell to the ground in shock at what just happened.

Chase, with his breathe regained, crawled over to Anti to make sure he was okay, "Dude, you alright?" he started to cry, "Please tell me you're okay, man!"

Anti pushed him away, holding his wound, "Not now, Chase. Stay back!" he stood up, almost stumbling as he faced his demon. Now with a body of his own, Septic stood strong, albeit confused.

He turned to face the group with his head cocked, "You thought that separating me from you would weaken me?" he laughed and green flashes erupted from him, "I'll admit, I'm surprised you survived that but you just fucked yourselves over! I'm even stronger than before! Not even I predicted that! Your little last ditch effort of stabbing yourself must have given me a little boost! I guess I should thank you for that!"

Anti held his shoulder but stanced himself ready to fight, "Wouldn't thank me just yet. Separating from you didn't just give YOU more power" suddenly green sparks flung from Anti, powerful just as they had been in the void when he was contacting Marvin.

Septic ran at Anti, "We'll see about that, g̷l̵i̸t̶c̶h̸ ̶b̵i̶t̷c̴h̶!"

The others watched in apprehension as the two locked fists with one another. Septic even struggled a little, trying to push Anti backwards but he wasn't weak anymore.

"You think you're so strong, Septic" Anti hissed at him, keeping his fists interlocked with his demon's, "You think you can get away with threatening MY family! My friends! M̷y̷ ̶B̸R̸O̸T̸H̵E̶R̵S̴!̴" 

A build-up of green light protruded from Anti and he shuddered and glitched with all the power from it, "But YOU'RE the weak one! You've been taking power from my fear but guess what, you piece of shit!?"

He took a step forwards, making Septic's knees bend a little and Anti towered over him. Septic actually had a little fear in his own eyes.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore."

Septic tried glitching away from him but for some reason it wasn't working. He could no longer glitch like he was able to when in Anti's body!

"But you were right about one thing, Septic." Anti suddenly glitched to Septic's right and held his hands at the ready, "I AM a glitch. . . . .b̴i̷t̶c̵h̷"

With Septic unguarded, Anti fired as much energy as he could at him, engulfing the demon in his green attack. Lightning and an almost fire-like blast took over the demon and a bright light shone in the room, temporarily blinding them all.

After a few seconds, Sean was the first one to see Anti  . . . . .alone. 

Chase gasped and ran over to Anti, being careful with him as the glitch nearly fell over at the slightest touch.

"Anti!" Chase held him tight, crying, "You did it, man. You fucking did it!"

The others carefully came over to them and Henrik swallowed thickly, "Is. . . .is it over?"

Anti smiled, burying his face into Chase's shoulder nodding his head, "Yeah"

With a collected sigh of relief, Jackie joined in the hug with Chase, "Good job, bro. You're a damn hero"

Anti hugged him back as well and Henrik, Jameson, Marvin and Sean joined in the group hug.

"He's gone" Anti grinned, not minding the pain in his shoulder and neck, "Finally he's fucking gone."

Sean pet his hair soothingly, "You did great, Anti. I'm so sorry we didn't believe you sooner."

Anti just leaned into him, accepting his apology.

.

.

.

.

After a few hours, the group sat together on the large couch, tired but still at guard. They didn't want to fully trust that it was completely over. Henrik had bandaged the lot up but Anti got most of Henrik's attention, getting his shoulder stitched up and his neck wound guazed and bandaged. Henrik even made him wear a sling so he wouldn't open the stitches.

"You know I really am sorry, right Anti?" Chase refused to let him go after Henrik took care of him. He held him to him like a scared father would their child.

"I know, Chase" Henrik had also given Anti some pain-killers so he was VERY tired.

"I'm so sorry"

"I know, Chase. I forgive ya" Anti cuddled his back into him, too tired to hug him.

"I never want to hurt you, Anti" Chase kept going, "You've changed me for the better. You've helped me so much. I swear I'll never hurt you again, man"

"S'okay Chase"

Jackie watched them with a smile. Anti was sandwiched in between Chase and Sean leaning his against Chase's shoulder as the father held him securely around his waist and Sean had his feet in his lap. It was like they were guarding him, afraid Septic could return at any moment. 

The group had showered Anti with apologies and care after the fight and even Jackie helped Henrik patch up Anti's head wound from a few days prior he had given him, apologizing for his brash and rude actions but it didn't matter. Anti forgave all of them. He had even hugged Jackie to make him stop apologizing to him about it.

"It's morning now" Jackie spoke, "We've been up all night fighting that thing. You guys should get some rest. I'll stay up just in case"

"No" Marvin spoke up beside him, "I'll stay up. I'll be able to sense him before you. Just rest, Jackie."

Not even bothering to argue, Jackie gave in to the magician as did Jameson, leaning on Sean, falling asleep as well. Henrik, however, didn't agree to that.

"I'm not tired" he argued, "Besides, I have to look after all your wounds. The good doctor never sleeps at a time like zhis." he yawned.

"Henrik, it's okay" Marvin chuckled, "I've got potions, too, remember? Once we've all rested up, I'll get them and we'll all be just fine, alright? Relax."

With a stern glare, the doctor sighed but gave in, "Oh fine. Stubborn trickster, you"

Soon enough, they all were fast asleep within a few minutes but Anti blearily blinked over at Marvin, "You still have that sleep potion?" he whispered.

Marvin smiled and made a vial of it appear in his hand, "Drink up, brat. Sleep well."

It was about an hour later when Sean's cell phone rang and Marvin pried himself away from Jackie leaning on him to grab Sean's phone quickly so they all wouldn't wake up.

He answered it, seeing it was Mark's name on the contact, "Sean is asleep at the moment. This is Marvin. What do you need, Mark?"

"This is Dark! Where's Anti!? Is he okay?! His body's being controlled by some demon! You guys are in danger!"

Marvin just sighed, "You're a little too late for that warning, there, Dark."

Hint: It's not over :D