Anti gasped loudly and shot up from his bed, "GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

He shook and stared into the dark room. But it was just as bare as when he closed his eyes to fall asleep. No one was there.

He rubbed his head and groaned, 'Another fooking nightmare. What's it mean, though?'

All he remembered from the dream now was people shouting and begging him to stop. He remembered seeing blood and heard someone laughing. He didn't want to believe that it was his laugh. Then there was that man in the cloak again. So ominous and frightening. He must know him somehow but he couldn't remember what his face looked like. Whenever he saw him in a dream, he was blurry and in the dark.

He tried not to think about it too much, his head starting to ache again. Anti's throat was parched so he decided to jump off the bed and make his way down to the kitchen. Stepping lightly, he got down the stairs but was surprised to see that the light was on already in the kitchen.

'Did someone forget to shut it off?'

He ventured in to see Marvin sitting at the table munching on some nachos.

"You're up late" 

Marvin snorted, "Yeah well so are you, brat." he didn't have his mask on so Anti had a clear view of his face and light scars. Ones he was told HE put there. He tried not to think about it.

"I was thirsty" Anti shrugged and got himself a glass of water before going over to sit next to the magician, "Plus I had a nightmare . . . . "

Marvin raised a brow, "Oh? Another one? What was it about? If you want to tell me"

Anti took a sip of his water, "I don't know. . . . past things I'm assuming. Scary."

"The past can be scary" he commented strangely.

Anti didn't know exactly what he meant by that but could see by Marvin's stature that he was in the dumps, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?"

"You seem so . . . . sad"

Marvin blinked and smiled, "The masks I wear hide a lot of things. You're just seeing the real me . . .  A failure"

"You're not a failure!" Anti couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're an awesome magician! You did all those cool tricks the other day!"

"I DID. Can't anymore for some reason. . . ."

"Hm" Anti furrowed his brow, "Maybe you're not trying hard enough . . . or doing it for the wrong reason?"

"What are you, a monk now? Oh wise one" Marvin joked and shook his head, "You don't understand, Anti. No one does. You all see tricks and manipulations but I. . . ." he stopped himself.

"But what?"

"Never mind. You should go back to bed, brat"

Anti pouted a little but Marvin's look was serious. Not wanting to annoy him, Anti gave in, "Alright, fine. I'll see ya in the morning. Don't stay up too late" he pat his shoulder gently and went back to bed.

Marvin watched him go, feeling slightly uplifted. 

'This Anti is so fucking different. It's hard to believe he's the same man who . . .' he sighed, shaking his head, 'I really should go to bed, too. Snacking the pain away isn't going to fix my problems'

After finishing his nachos (of course those weren't going to go to waste), Marvin left the kitchen and went up to his room.

He flopped on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. His old wand was on the other side of the bed and on instinct, he took it in his hands to mess with it. He had always like to just hold it. It always comforted him.

Taking a deep breathe, he vaguely thought about getting up to turn off the light.

Only . . . .  it did it suddenly on its own.

Marvin sat up suddenly, still holding the wand, his heart racing, 'The hell was that? Did my light go out?'

Just as he was thinking about trying to turn the light back on or fixing it, his wand lit up!

Marvin couldn't think.

He just stared at the wand in his hand as it lit up for him. It was bright and filled the room but it only lasted a few moments before going out again.

Marvin's grin fell and he tried to get it to light up again.

But it wouldn't. It seemed to merely be a fleeting spark.

'But how!?' he thought to himself, 'How in the world. . . . .  this has never happened before. First the card tricks with Anti and now this!?'

He didn't understand it and he tried and tried to do it again but nothing worked.

'I have to find out. Why is this happening all of a sudden? Why now?'

The next morning, they all sat together for breakfast, quietly stuffing their faces with the meal Henrik and Chase made together. They couldn't agree on one thing so they decided to make both French Toast and eggs and bacon.

Jackie was the first to finish and he stood up from the table to go get his other attire on, "I'm gonna go straight to the apartment today. It shouldn't take long."

"Can I come!?" Anti barely managed to swallow his food before pleading the hero, "Please?"

Jackie looked unsure and honestly, so did everyone else but Henrik sighed, "I suppose it might be a good idea. But if you feel triggered in any vay or your head starts to hurt, you leave, understood?"

Anti pouted but nodded, standing up to get ready, "I'm not a child, Hen." he defended himself, "I paid the rent on that apartment. Really, I have every right to go. But you got it, doc." he gave a mock solute and Jackie flicked his ear.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"For being a little shit. Come on. Let's go. You ready?"

"Yup!" he trailed behind the hero and the others watched, oddly fascinated.

"Anyone else worried Jackie might lose his mind being around him?" Chase joked.

"Might have already happened" Henrik snorted, "I'm surprised he is tolerating him so vell now"

'Well they DID spend some time together yesterday' Jameson pointed out, 'Maybe some bonding was all they needed?'

Marvin watched them leave but didn't remark or join in on the laughs. He was too deep in thought. And it wasn't like he could just talk about it to them.

What happened last night was HIS mystery to solve.

'Maybe I should follow them?' he had to admit it was quite odd that his power would return whenever he was around Anti. Or perhaps it was merely a coincidence. . . . . . . . maybe tagging along could answer a few questions for himself, too.

Anti was still a tad nervous being alone with Jackie but he was happy he was letting him tag along. He knew he hated him at first but he seemed to mellow out, understanding his situation.

"When we get there, try not to touch anything, alright? We don't know if the FBI may suddenly get involved in this since the case was just weirdly shut down."

"Why was it?"

"I don't know. It's weird. They tried to give me a bullshit excuse that it was just an accident and the fire started from a lit cigarette but the funny thing is that you don't smoke"

"How do you know that?"

Jackie shrugged, "None of us do but you even more so because  . . . .. well I learned it from fighting you, actually. Breathing in or being around smoke prevents you from glitching"

"Oh. Maybe the mystery guy knew that, too?"

"Maybe. .  ." 

When they finally reached the apartments, Jackie stopped and turned back to Anti again, "Now if you start to remember anything, you let me know, alright? Immediately. Just. . ..  keep me prepared for anything. Okay?"

Anti nodded, "Got it"

"Alright .  . . I'm trusting you, Anti." he seemed wary but they entered the building together.

Anti looked around and hoped the place wasn't always this sketchy but he had his  doubts. Walking up to the apartment, he grew more and more nervous.

Jackie led them to his door and they went past the tape. But really, Anti couldn't be more disappointed. He looked around at his surroundings but . . . . nothing. That was sort of good thing right now but honestly, Anti was hoping to remember maybe something useful.

He was more disgusted if anything, "This is where I lived? It's so bare . . .  and gross"

"Yeah I know" Jackie walked around like the other day. There had to be something he missed before.

"I don't think you had a lot of money, honestly. You hardly had any food anywhere, the mattress on the floor. No furniture. Sorry, man"

Anti shrugged, "Well I don't live here anymore and don't remember any of it to feel sorry for myself. So don't worry about it"

"The one thing I don't understand is the TV" Jackie pointed at the little box television in front of the mattress, "It doesn't even have a plug"

Anti came up to it to examine it but had an idea, "Well the others said before that I had a weird affinity with electricity, right? I glitch and spark sometimes, too. Maybe there was no need for me to plug it in?"

"I guess you're right. Wait, what are you doing!?" he stopped Anti from reaching out to touch it, "I said no touching anything!"

Anti grumbled at him, "But there could be something special about this thing! There's a weird energy coming off of it. Maybe I could try turning it on? Please?"

Jackie thought about it but was still really concerned. Anti hadn't really practiced with his glitching a lot yet so there was a chance he could make the thing explode or worse. But then again, he was right and the only one that could do it was him.

The hero sighed, "Fine. Just be careful, alright?"

"You got it, Red" Anti winked like the little shit he was.

Jackie rolled his eyes but watched as Anti gently placed his hand on the top of the TV. Nothing happened at first but once Anti forced out a glitch, a picture appeared!

It was filled with static and buzzing but it was something and the longer Anti held himself there, the clearer the picture got.

"Wait" Jackie had a sudden wave of realization, "That's Henrik in his office at the clinic"

Indeed, the picture showed the doctor filtering through paperwork, every once in a while taking a sip of his coffee.

Anti glitched again and the picture changed to two Septic egos together playing a card game.

"And that's . . . Jameson and Chase"

Anti swallowed thick, "This isn't a normal TV, Jackie."

"It's like a link of security cameras just watching us. You were watching us. Turn it again"

Anti was even more nervous now but glitched again to Marvin . . . . only . . . .well that was odd.

"Is that right outside this door?"

Anti removed his hand and they stared at the door in confusion. They didn't think they had been followed. Jackie briskly walked over and opened the door quickly revealing the magician standing there. He looked surprised that he was caught.

"Oh hey there!" he situated his mask straight and chuckled lightly, "Fancy seeing you two here, huh?"

"Marv" Jackie growled and dragged him in with them, "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"What? I wanted to come, too! I could help"

"Help with what?" Jackie was starting to lose his temper, "If Anti loses it, you'd just be another target. No offense Anti!"

"None taken"

"That's not fair!" Marvin straighten himself, "I could help! You just don't understand what I can do!"

"Card tricks won't help us here, Marv. We're trying to figure out what happened to Anti"

"And you just think that a normal TV could switch in between cameras like that not plugged in? Where are the cameras, Jackie? They don't exist. It's magic"

Jackie rolled his eyes and persisted to argue with Marvin.

Meanwhile, Anti was starting to get a headache but not from their yelling. A buzzing noise was bothering him. It was loud and angry. Like white noise. But it didn't seem like the others could hear it.

He felt sick and a little dizzy but once he blinked a few times, he felt better, shaking it off.

Everything was quiet. Even the other's fighting.

Anti looked over to see Jackie and Marvin staring at him. Well not at HIM.

Beside him.

Anti slowly turned to see a someone next to him in a black cloak, wearing a black mask. His eyes were glowing a neon green and his teeth gleamed, "Nice to see you again . . . . .puppet"

'This is . . ..  the man from my dreams' Anti thought to himself, frozen in fear, 'The one who. . . .. . oh no'

"Anti?" Jackie shook himself off of the shock and bolted towards him, "Anti! Get away from him!"

"Guys?" you could just hear how scared Anti was and he couldn't run.

But the man just smirked, gripping Anti's wrist and suddenly they were gone.

Jackie collapsed on the mattress, having missed his target.

He shuddered and tears ran down his face, "No. . . . .they . . . they're gone" he got up and looked around sharply as if in search, "They .. .  Anti . . .he's . . where'd they-" he looked to Marvin for answers but the magician couldn't give any.

Jackie let out a breathe, "DAMN IT!" He kicked the mattress into the wall, "FUCK!"

"That was him, wasn't it?" Marvin took off his mask with grit teeth. He didn't wait for an answer from Jackie, "We got to get Anti back, Red"

Jackie could only agree with him.