Anti followed Dark to his room/office and once they got in, they realized there would be a problem right away.

"Uh, you didn't count for the bed situation, did ya?"

Dark hummed, "Well Marvin could conjure extra beds, right? Can he do that?"

"I guess you're right." Anti shrugged and put his bags in the corner. He didn't want to address it but he felt as if he had to, "Hey Dark?"

"Yeah?" he didn't face Anti and placed his cane by his dresser.

"How come you didn't contact me after the . . .stuff that happened a month ago?"

Dark paused and turned to look at him before sitting on his bed. He took a breath and seemed confused himself, "You know what? I don't know. I guess I was . . . worried you wouldn't forgive me and you'd give me a taste of my own medicine or something"

Anti chuckled, "We're both idiots"

He cracked a smile, "Yeah. I mean I get why you didn't call me. I'm the asshole here."

"Yer not an asshole, Dark. You're just emotionally ridiculous."

"Well that's a new one."

There was an awkward silence before Dark broke it, "So. . . when you were in the void in Europe. Did you really see me?"

Anti remembered when he had looked through Marvin's hand-mirror, "Yeah. I did. Through that little hand-mirror Marvin has. I think Host also has one, right? That's how they communicate?"

Dark nodded, "I was looking through Host's. He made me watch you. That's how I realized. . . what was really happening with you. I felt like such a bastard."

"It's alright, Dark"

"You keep saying that. But it's not." Dark couldn't look him in the eye, "I promise I'll make it up to you."

Anti shook his head and sat next to him, "So about Actor. . .  Sean said when he spoke to Mark that he said something that he was using the void?"

"Yes." he nodded, "He thought he was in control of it. He though he created me from it but in reality, it was Celine who truly was the hero. She placed a fragment of Damien's soul in me before she fell asleep. Before the void really gave me form. Actor wanted a villain and he got one but he didn't expect himself to be one as well. He didn't expect the others to be at my side."

"I'm happy for you, Dark. I remember when they were all so afraid of you, none of them would even glance at you. Except Wilford, that is."

"Yeah. Wil. He's always been there. I thought it was because he was just latching onto Damien but. . .I guess I was wrong. Anyways, I'm happy for you too. The Septics, the way I remember it, didn't care for you even before the incident, correct?"

Anti nodded, "Yeah. Then after that, everything was hell. They even kicked me out on the streets for a while until I accidentally possessed Schneep and he thought I was bipolar. He could feel two different entities. He wasn't entirely wrong. But I never told anyone and neither did he. He said he was afraid to."

Dark made a disbelieving face, "He still could have said something".

Anti ignored the comment and continued, "It was in late September this year when I started talking to Chase. He was always drunk but he still listened. I guess he finally retained some memory from us talking, though, one day and . . . things just changed."

"Good."

"But can . . . can you stop calling them the Septics'? It . . . . that word sort of bothers me anymore"

He furrowed his brow, "How come?"

"That's what he chose to call himself. The other entity. Septic. It just. . . hurts. I don't know. I feel odd saying that word, too."

Dark nodded, "Alright. I can't promise no one else will call Sean's other egos that but I won't. What was he, anyways, if you don't mind me asking?"

"A part of me" the glitch answered, "He was there in the beginning with me when I was created, evidently. It's just no one knew that. Not Sean and not even me. It was like . . . an ego WITHIN an ego. I guess."

"So it really was like a split personality then? Henrik really wasn't too far off with the bipolar diagnosis."

"Yeah but for some reason the pills did work. It was my mistake, however, in missing one, one night but that was enough for him to break through. From then on, he tricked me in thinking I was taking them again every night when in reality, I wasn't. He was clever"

"So was Actor." Dark added, "But you were strong. I saw the way you broke through the void. You know, if it wasn't for you then I wouldn't have been able to figure out how to escape the void myself."

Anti shook his head, "Nah, you would have figured it out"

"Why can't you just take a compliment?"

"Why can't you?"

"Touche"

"My god will you two just kiss already?"

Dark and Anti both looked up to see Wilford giving them a teasing grin. Dark suddenly growled and threw a pillow at him, "Wil! Get the hell out! What do you want!?"

Wilford just laughed, "Nothing! Nothing! Just poking around is all." The man pulled as his suspenders lazily.

Dark huffed, "Yeah well can you go ask Marvin if he can conjure up some more beds for everyone? Make yourself useful?"

He gave a bow, "Well certainly! You kids have fun! No naughty business now!"

Anti rolled his eyes, glitching but before Dark could say anything else, Wilford was gone.

"Sorry about him."

"It's fine, Dark. You should hear all the teasing I get from the others. They're so ridiculous. Jackie was giving me shit earlier on the plane but I shot it back at him, reminding him of when he and Yandere kissed that one time"

"Wait, they kissed!?"

"Yeah, you didn't know that? It was at that Halloween party you guys had. The others haven't let him live it down since"

Dark paled a bit, "Yeah, and Yandere hasn't forgotten."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, never mind", Dark chuckled, "Yeah. Anyways. Come on, bud. You want to go do something? Play a game maybe?"

Anti bounced up in excitement, "Ooo! Yeah! I remember you owe me a rematch in Connect Four!"

"You're on. Just don't throw a tantrum when I win like you did last time"

"I didn't throw a tantrum!"

"You threw the whole fucking table"

"There's no proof"

Dark chuckled, rolling his eyes, "You seem to forget Google and Bing have cameras everywhere and they never delete anything. There's your proof"

Anti chose not to engage the argument further.

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The two were in the living room. They sat across from one another and between them was a table with their game placed in the middle. The two stared each other down as they each played their pieces. There were some others in the living room watching them like Eric, King, Jameson and Jackie but everyone else was seemingly doing their own thing for now hanging out with the people they missed and/or haven't seen in a while.

Jackie came up behind Anti and whispered to him, "Go there"

Anti fumed, "Shut up! I got this!"

"Do you?" Dark smirked and played his piece. Winning.

Anti glared at Dark, "Asshole"

"I fucking told ya" Jackie boasted but Anti whined.

"Let's play a game I'm good at"

Dark huffed, "Like what? Tic tac toe?"

"Oooo" Anti lit up, "Actually. . . .but no. We could prank some people"

Jackie swat him upside the head, "No, absolutely not! Chase and Sean warned me this might happen and I'm putting a stop to it now. No pranking on Friendmas!"

"Friendmas?" Anti giggled, "That's so stupid."

Dark snorted, "Not as stupid thinking pranking would go too far. What do you think we'd do? Blow up the house? Poison someone?"

"I'm more concerned about Anti using the prank gifts that Marvin gave him."

"Aw! I forgot to bring those!" Anti whined again, "Dammit"

"I especially remember the last time you pranked me. My mask and outfit were glitterfied for days!"

Anti snorted, "Yikes forever" earning him another whop but he just laughed.

Dark bit the inside of his lip, "Wilford has some prank toys."

Jackie pointed at him, "No. No."

The glitch giggled as he looked up to Jackie evilly, "You'll never see it coming"

"Little shite" Jackie rolled his eyes and walked away, "I'm watching you like a hawk, Anti"

Dark found their little interaction cute. It was almost like Anti was the child of the family, spoiled and loved by everyone. Completely the opposite of what it was like for him before.

Suddenly Dark saw Marvin and Host walk by, "Uh, Anti, I got to go to the bathroom real quick. I'll be right back" 

He left the room to go stop Host and Marvin, "Host! Did you get what I asked yet for tomorrow?"

Host smiled, "Host greeted Dark happily and told him that the mirror he asked for has been collected. Marvin the magician had just finished enchanting the object for him when Dark appeared."

"Oh good. Can I have it?"

Marvin handed the mirror to him, "Here you are. One enchanted hand-mirror."

"Where's the other one?" Dark asked, "Isn't there supposed to be two?"

Marvin shrugged, "It's quite alright. I'll make another one for Anti when we go back home. It's what it's for, after all, correct?"

Dark nodded, "Yes. Thank you, Marvin! Host. See you guys later." he pocketed the mirror and went back to Anti.

"That was quick"

Dark shrugged it off, "What? You counted?" he teased and Anti glared at him.

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While Dark had been gone to the bathroom, Anti had been left to his own devices. Of course Jameson, King and Eric were in the room but they were doing their own thing, not paying him any mind.

Strangely, Anti thought he could hear something. Like faint whispering. His eyes caught a sort of shadow in the corner of the room and he shivered. The shadow didn't move but it looked like a figure. However, there was no one around and no object that would make the shadow. Anti could feel the air tense the longer he stared at the shadow. But once Dark had come back in the room, Anti blinked and the shadow was gone as well as the whispering. He waved it off as his imagination and greeted Dark with a snarky comment. There was nothing with him anymore. Right?

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It was later that day when everyone decided to go to bed. They had all had a fun-filled day with each other catching up and having fun playing games and watching movies. The next day would be their Friendmas and even Tyler, Ethan and Kathryn would be joining them as well. 

Marvin, as asked, had conjured more beds for everyone and since Sean's egos and him had had such a long flight there, they were tired and fell asleep earlier than the Ipliers'. Dark and Anti had been talking in his room when he had fallen asleep, cuddled in the blankets. 

Dark smiled over at Anti and thought to himself, 'How can someone so nice and forgiving as him be so powerful? By what I saw in the void, Jackie told me it was practically a light show when he took down Septic. He reduced that thing to ashes.'

Anti snored lightly, 'But now there's nothing to worry about anymore. He's finally free of that thing and the pain it brought him. Just like I'm free of Actor.'

Dark sighed, 'I only wish Celine could be out here with me. Then everything would be perfect.'

Dark didn't even realize that he was falling asleep until he was dreaming.

.

.

.

He was surrounded by darkness. He assumed it was the void.

He could hear faint whispering in the distance.

The more he walked towards it, the louder it got. He felt so uneasy but he tried to remain calm. If this was a nightmare, he wasn't going to show his fear. He was stronger than that.

But as he came closer to the source, the whispers were so loud, they rang in his ears coming from all directions as if he were in the center of it all.

He could start making out what the whispers were saying.

'They're not really your friends.'

'You don't belong'

'They don't love you'

'They liked HIM more than you'

But Dark glared, seemingly unwavering, "This is my world. And whatever is telling me this things are just in my head. They are nothing more than words and they will not get to me." 

Dark let Celine's aura pulse out and the whispers silenced. Everything was quiet except for the loud ringing he created. 

There was a giggle in the distance, "You think you've won"

Suddenly Dark woke up and shot up in his bed. Frantically he looked over to Anti but he was still sleeping soundly undisturbed. Calming his breathing, Dark looked around his room listening to just the echoing silence and Anti's snoring. It helped him think.

'What was that? I've never dreamt of anything like that before. Strange'

Shaking his head, he sighed and got out of bed. It was only two in the morning but he was an insomniac for one. Two, he was thirsty.

Dark walked down to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. After taking a few gulps, he turned to go back upstairs only to flinch.

"Guh!"

The perpetrator watching him also flinched, "Ack!"

Dark rolled his eyes and turned on the light.

"Yandere. What are you doing up so late?"

Yandere just glared at him, "What are YOU doing up so late?"

"I couldn't sleep. Your turn." he drank more water out of his glass.

The schoolgirl ego sighed and rolled their eyes, "Have you really forgotten your promise?"

"Promise?" he tried to act dumb, "What promise?"

"You promised me you'd help me win over my senpai! Jackie! THEN you had to go and bunk him with KING of all people?! Why!?"

Dark shushed them, "Hush. You'll wake people up. And what am I supposed to do? Not like I can make him fall in love with you, Yan. Maybe he just doesn't like you in that way? Have you tried just being friends?"

"I want to marry him"

Dark closed his eyes and reopened them with a sigh, "I know. But you can't MAKE him love you, kid. Tell you what. Did you get him anything for Friendmas?"

They nodded enthusiastically, "Of course I did! I made him a new blue mask that'll stick to his face better and I wrapped up one of my katanas for him. You think he'll like them!?"

Dark was actually surprised, "You know what? Actually yes. I think he really will. Just don't go over board, Yan. Give him some space, alright?"

"He lived in Brighton, Dark. If that's not giving him space, I don't know what is!" they huffed, "But fine. I understand."

"Good"

There was silence between them before Yandere spoke again, "So bad dream, huh?"

"Huh?"

"You had a bad dream. I can tell. Whenever I've had a bad dream I always come down to get a glass of water, too. Want to talk about it?"

Dark smiled at them but shook his head, "Nah, it was nothing too bad. What about you? You want to talk about yours?"

Yandere shrugged," Nah."

"If you have more, Marvin could probably whip you up a sleeping potion for you. He's a magician after all, remember?"

Yandere nodded and suddenly looked as if they had an idea. Dark didn't like that look but Yandere smiled, "I'll just go back to bed now. See you in the morning, Dark. Sweet dreams"

They pranced away like nothing happened. Taking a breathe, Dark shook his head and went back upstairs to go back to sleep.

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'Did it work?'

"What do you take me for? An amateur?" 

'Well yes. Your last plan to take a body failed, didn't it?'

"Shut up! I had one! Your last plans failed too! Whatever, you ghoul, I got what you wanted!" the being pulled out a black smoke that glowed a soft red from his hand and the shadow chuckled.

'Good. Now we just need to wait. Something is bound to go wrong between them sooner or later'

"Then we'll be corporeal once more" the being's eyes lit up, the want for revenge bringing fire in his eyes.

'Yes. Yes, we will'

:D