'Anti! Anti can you hear me!? Guys I don't think he can hear me.'

Anti was overwhelmed with what was going on at the moment, though. He had been caught in a constant loop of Dark's memories that involved him as well, in front of him was a man he didn't recognize but could be an Iplier ego and Marvin was in his head.

It was a lot to deal with at the moment but he swallowed and thought in his head, 'Fucking yes I can hear ya, Marv. But I'm a tad busy at the moment so shut up ya magic bastard!'

The stranger in front of him smiled, "Are you alright? You're Anti, right? I've seen and heard a lot about you"

'Anti, who is that with you? Is it Dark?  . . . . Is it the void!? But he hasn't woken up yet that we know of'

'Shut it! I don't know!'

"Uh. . ." he  managed.

Marvin sighed in his head and Anti cleared his throat to block his brother out of his mind a tad.

"Who are you?"

The man straightened up, looking surprised, "Oh! Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know who I am, would you? I'm Damien!" he came forwards and held out his hand to shake.

Anti didn't take his hand, though, still weary.

Damien's smile wavered but he just looked awkward still trying so Anti caved and shook his hand. Except he couldn't.

"Oh" Damien chuckled, "Darn it. Sorry about that. I keep forgetting. Dark did the same thing earlier, actually!"

That caught Anti's attention, "Wait what? Dark? You know who he is? ̶W̸h̶e̶r̵e̶ ̸i̶s̶ ̴h̷e̷!̸?̸"̸

"Easy there, Anti" Damien smiled fondly, "I thought you didn't care about him before? What changed?"

"How do you know about-"

'Anti' Marvin could hear the conversation himself, 'Be careful. I don't know if you should trust him'

"It's alright" Damien responded, "Tell Mark about me. He'll let you know whether I can be trusted or not"

"Like that's gonna help with anything. Until today he thought Celine was the g̸o̷o̴d̸ ̵g̸u̴y̴!̷ And how could you hear Marvin through my head?!"

"The void holds secrets for no one" he answered cryptically, "And don't talk about Celine like that. She WAS good. It's not her fault the void corrupted her being. She sacrificed herself to save me from being corrupted by that thing. But I guess you're right. Oh well. I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it?" he shrugged lightly.

Anti didn't know what it was about this man . . .  but he couldn't sense any malice coming from him. He didn't FEEL suspicious and usually Anti had a good judgement for these sort of things. 

Anti gave him a small nod and the unshaven man grinned, "Great! Now we don't have much time until the void reawakens. If you want to find Dark, he's at the frozen lake. He-"

"̸Y̶e̴a̵h̵ ̶I̷ ̵k̸n̸o̵w̶ ̶t̵h̶a̶t̶!̵ I saw him there not long ago but was taken out of the void before I could get to him. But I can't seem to find my way back there again."

"There's a reason for that. Have you figured it out yet?"

"Figured w̸h̴a̶t̷ ̵out!? Can't you just tell me!? We don't have much time, as you said!"

'Mark says we can trust him. But you have to hurry up, Anti. You don't have a lot of time until you lose yourself.'

"He's right" Damien's voice turned sorrowful, "You've already started to become unstable, haven't you?"

"How do you know-" Anti was losing his patience fast, "Just tell me how to get to Dark then it won't be a ̸f̸o̶o̴k̴i̵n̸g̷ ̴p̷r̷o̶b̵l̸e̶m̷!̵"̶

"I can't just TAKE you there. That is the one place I can't go."

"̴D̷a̸m̴n̷ ̴i̷t̴ ̸a̶l̷l̸!̸"̵ ̴Anti cursed, "Then you're worthless to me! I have to find him N̸O̷W̵!̴"̵

"Do you care about him, Anti?"

There was silence and Anti took a breathe, "Marvin, break the connection for now. Let me know when it wakes up."

'Anti, no! This isn't a two-way connection I'm holding up, here. You won't be able to let me know when you start to fade!'

"Don't worry about it. Check back in when it wakes up or when Henrik finishes the portal. He should almost be done with it by now, right? How long has it been?"

'Anti, it's only been half an hour here. We don't have the supplies Henrik needs at Mark's so we had to drive to Raspy Hill. We're almost there, though'

That certainly wasn't good news, really but at least the void hasn't woken up yet, "Alright. As I said, Marv. Check in l̵a̷t̵e̷r̸"̷ ̴he glitched, suddenly snapping Marvin's mind away from his in the spell.

Marvin jolted in the car with short breathes but tried to seem confident for the others.

Jackie swallowed nervously, "What'd he say? Is he close to finding him? What's going on?"

Marvin knew something was really wrong, though, "Wilford. . . . Anti's energy felt odd in there and I'm pretty sure maybe he hasn't even realized it yet but. . . . Are you absolutely SURE it was 48 hours until someone would fade out?"

"Well yeah, I mean I guess it could be different for everybody. I've never actually SEEN anyone fade out before in there. . . ." 

Everyone stared at him.

Wilford actually had the decency to look embarrassed, "Well I mean I'm close so I thought maybe, i don't know. Uh Amy, sweetheart, we might want ta drive a tad faster, ya know?"

Sean practically hissed at him, "What does that mean?! How much time has he got left, then!?"

"I don't know! How'd he feel? Queasy? glitchy? impatient? Cold?"

"Yes?" Marvin responded.

"Oh" Wilford scratched the back of his head, "Well that's no good. We might wanna hit the gas, Amy. Glitch-boy don't got a lot of time left"

-888888888888888888-

Meanwhile back with Damien and Anti, the glitch tried to think positive. He hoped Marvin and the others wouldn't worry too much. Why should they? They'd be better off if they didn't.

"That's not true"

"Will ya stop reading my mind and tell me what the ̷f̶o̸o̶k̸ is going on?"

"Answer my questions first. Do you care about Dark?"

Anti shrugged, "I. . . I'm not sure anymore. I think I used to but .. . I'm not sure. I don't even know if we were e̸v̸e̴r̶ really friends. I'd like to think that for even a moment, we were but I can't say. I saw his memories and all that but does H̷E̶ ̸even know himself?"

"Good question. But asking it is only diverting mine, really. It's a simple yes or no answer, Anti"

"He ̵u̸s̷e̴d̸ me."

"And yet he also felt fondness for you. You can't say he didn't. You felt it, too. And I witnessed it all in real time. Celine's aura would have killed you if I didn't stop it. Just a few more centimeters deep and you would have been dead. You're welcome by the way"

Anti rolled his eyes, "Time's not on our side."

Damien nodded, "Sorry. I keep forgetting. Once you spend as much time in the void as I have, things get jumbled and weird. This is the first time I've been out of the cabin, actually. Feels nice to stretch my legs"

"Cabin. . .. it was you and Dark in the cabin before, w̸a̸s̴n̸'̸t̵ ̴i̷t̸!̷?̶"̶ he put two and two together and Damien nodded.

"Yeah. I took Dark to my cabin while the void was busy trying to focus on keeping control of Dark's body and staying corporeal. In that moment of weakness, I had power to be unnoticed but now since it's unconscious, I have free reign for a bit, at least."

"That's gotta suck"

"Just admit it, Anti"

"Admit what?"

Damien sighed and snapped his fingers. Anti glitched a tad and looked around.

It seemed like they were in another memory but Dark was alone in his office. It was night and the lights were off. His curtain was open behind him and he just looked so tired and worn just like when he was scolding himself in the mirror before. He was looking down at something.

Damien pushed Anti forward to go look and slowly, the glitch came over to the side to see the bottom desk drawer open. 

Anti's heart hurt when he saw what was in the desk drawer. It was the picture that he had given him of the both of them.

"He kept it?"

He looked up at Dark who had just a small smile on his face as if remembering something fondly.

"He'd look in that drawer more often than he'd admit." Damien told him, "Even if the void hated it, it couldn't dissuade him from not hating you. He could never really hate you, Anti. No matter what he ever said to you, you were his friend. Not even the void could come between that"

"̶H̶m̵p̶h̸"̸ Anti huffed a little with a smirk, "Gonna hang this over his head so ̶f̸o̵o̴k̸i̵n̵g̴ hard when we get out of here, the s̴m̵u̸g̴ ̵b̷a̴s̵t̸a̷r̷d̸"

Damien laughed out loud at that and sighed, wiping a tear from his eye, "So what's your answer, Anti?"

"̵B̷y̴ ̷J̸a̸y̷s̶u̵s̷!̸"̵ ̸Anti cursed, "Fine. Fine. Yes. I care about that bastard, alright? He was my best friend. Why do you think I'm ̴f̴o̸o̷k̴i̷n̴g̵ here? I wouldn't just risk my life fer anyone. Even if he never felt it, he was family to me before he tried to kill the kids. And now that I found out that really wasn't him . . . . .  He's still my friend. He's given me a lot. I owe him this"

Damien smiled, "That's what I've been waiting for. Did you know that even if Dark can't contact you in the void, here, he can still see everything? Those memories you saw were HIS loop he chose to make himself suffer with. You were the last person he was thinking about before the void forced him in that pocket."

Anti unconsciously put a hand on the memory Dark's shoulder, "You're saying. .̶ ̸.̶ ̶w̴a̸i̸t̷.̶ ̷.̷ ̶.̵s̷o̶ ̵.̶ ̶.̵ ̷.̴ he could see me that whole time?"

Damien nodded, "Everything. Dark and I are still connected. I, myself see everything in the void. He saw you. He's happy you came even if confused. He's . . .. . he doesn't feel like he deserves your help. . . . or anyone's really"

Anti's grip on Dark's shoulder tightened, "What a d̸u̴m̷b̵a̶s̵s̶. Not only was he manipulated into thinking he didn't actually have emotions but now this? Fucker really is in need of a hero, isn't he?"

Damien snorted and rolled his eyes but a chuckle escaped him, "You'll have to tell him all that yourself. Only he has the strength right now to break out of the void's grasp but it's got such a tight hold on him that . . .well. . .remember what it felt for you in here when Sean and Marvin locked you up here?"

He shivered at the memory and glitched out of instinct just to make sure he still had his power.

"You know the power it has over someone. But you also know of Dark's origin, right?"

Anti nodded, "I saw it before, yes. In a memory"

"Alright then. I can't help you get to Dark in the frozen lake, Anti"

The glitch wanted to snap his neck right there in that instant. If looks could kill.

Damien just smiled and snapped his fingers again and suddenly they were in a cabin with a roaring warm fire in the fireplace.

"But I can get you as close as I can to it. The lake is just a couple miles through those trees out there" he pointed out the window where a blaring snow storm whirled.

Anti looked in shock between Damien and the door outside, surprised he got him so close so quickly. But why? What was the point of all that talk then?

Damien sighed, having heard his thoughts, "There's a barrier I can't cross beyond the trees. That is the pocket dimension the void created that I can't pass through. You have to tell him you care, Anti. You have to make him see he's not alone because right now that's ALL he feels. That's all the void has fed to him for years since his birth and he can't hear me. Hell, he didn't even know me until a few days ago."

Damien pat Anti's shoulder lightly, "But you can help him, Anti. Only you can. But you better hurry." he pointed to Anti's hands that were starting to turn opaque and he could hear himself buzzing with static a little more and glitching softly here and there out of his control.

"You don't have long"

-888888888888888888888888-

Finally, they made it to Raspy Hill. It looked like a clown car with everyone's spilling out of the vehicle. Mark ran to the door of the house and knocked furiously with Wilford right behind him. Jackie still carried Dark's body over his shoulder.

Finally someone answered the door and Mark breathed a sigh of relief to see it was Eric.

"H -hey uh . . .Mark. W-what's. . .Who are all of these people? W-wilford?"

"No time to explain, Eric-boy!" Wilford pushed on in past Eric, "We gotta emergency on our hands! Go get Google and Bing and hurry!"

Eric, not used to seeing Warfstache so sane, ran off. 

Being drawn to the sound of shouting, other Iplier egos came around to see what was going on. The Septic egos came on in behind Mark.

King gasped, "Is that Dark!? What happened to him!?"

Yandere looked in wonder, "He dead?"

"Yes" Dr. Iplier nodded.

"No" Mark intervened, "But he WILL be if we don't hurry. The void has taken control of him and if we don't stop it and get Dark back then we're all screwed."

The room was filled with dramatic gasps.

Eric came back with Google and Bing and Henrik immediately ran to them asking for parts.

Google merely narrowed his eyes down at him, "Of course we have those. But what you are suggesting is highly implausible. There is no way to open a wormhole to another dimension with today's modern technology"

"How dare you! I am the good doctah! Zhe great Doctah Schneeplestein! I-"

"He's done it before, guys. Just do as he asks, please?" Marvin cut in.

The androids looked a little surprised but finally agreed.

"Now hold up here youse!" They all turned towards one of Mark's newest egos Yancy. He was standing intimidatingly in the living room doorway with his arms crossed, "Why should we help out old Darky, eh? What's he eva done fer us!?"

A few of the egos looked like they seemed to agree.

"We don't have time for this, Yancy" Mark growled at him, "Even if you don't like him we NEED to-"

"He hates us" Yancy huffed.

Wilford looked like he'd blow a fuse, "Now that's just bullocks! Now you looky here ya youngin! Darky may be a cold old prune but that doesn't mean he hates us! He's been through a lot and he deserves our help!"

Eric shrugged, "I don't think he's too bad" he muttered.

"He locked me in a closet because I was teaching Mark howta dance!"

"It's not like sometimes you don't deserve to be locked in a closet" Yandere snorted, "I say we help"

Eric and King nodded in agreement.

"Well what about when-"

Jackie was losing his temper with these idiots. With Dark's body still over his shoulder, he cut through the crowd to the living room and carefully plopped him in a chair, "We don't have time for this bullshit!"

Everyone watched as he took out some special rope from his suit and started to tie him up securely, "The thing in Dark's body IS NOT Dark. This thing is a monster that will destroy everything that we know if we DON'T stop it! So stop being so fooking ignorant and HELP ALREADY! Marvin! Do ya still have those special handcuffs?"

Marvin nodded and pulled them out of his spelled cape before throwing them at him. Jackie handcuffed Dark's hands behind himself letting the cuffs do their magic. If he did wake up then they would at least give them time before a fight. He stuffed his hands behind him and pulled the rope even tighter so he couldn't move.

"Now then. . .. we don't have a lot of time. Get started on the portal, Henrik. Any more objections?"

Everyone was silent. . .. except for Yancy, "What youse want us ta do?"

It seemed now everyone was finally on board.

"The Host watched as everyone started to scramble about either watching Dark's body or helping in build Henrik's portal. Host was never good at building things. He was above babysitting so he watched between dimensions the story that was racing towards its climax"

The Host gave a small smile to himself in his room. It was as if he already knew what the end result would be. He couldn't step in. Not yet.