A couple of days had passed and still, Dark had yet to truly apologize to Anti. Luckily for him, however, this version of the glitch was quite forgiving. And too bored to hold a true grudge.

Ever since Jackie started really teaching him more tricks with his glitching, more pranking was on the menu and unfortunately, Dark and Henrik were prime candidates. Why them specifically? Jameson was too nice, Marvin was still focusing on his memories, Jackie taught him the tricks and Chase, as a fellow prankster, would see them coming a mile away.

Dark seemed just as serious as Henrik so seeing their reactions were more fun for Anti.

So far he had made porn come up on Henrik's laptop, changed all of Dark's contact names on his phone and appeared on Henrik's favorite doctor drama show in the TV just to mess with him.

Jackie had also taught him how to use knives as a weapon again but that was messy at first.

Anti had been terrified of the sharp object when Jackie first gave it to him and in his confidence, he accidentally cut himself.

Anti had started to freak out at seeing his blood and they had to rush to Henrik but it didn't need stitches, thankfully. Chase didn't want them playing with knives anymore but that didn't stop them. Jackie convinced Anti that knives were his specialty along with glitching. He was a natural at it and if he couldn't glitch at some point, he could always swing out his knife to attack.

It took some getting used to but Jackie had been right. He really was a natural with them.

Which was almost scary.

Anti was still nervous using the knife but he was getting braver every time.

Dark was watching Anti mess with the knife alone in his room. He knew it was creepy but there was still something they were hiding from him and he had to find out what it could be.

He was hidden in the shadows but he must have made a wrong move and within a split second, Anti threw the knife towards him into the wall. Right next to his head.

"Come out, asshole. I know you're there"

Dark swallowed, a little worried. Had he remembered something? Reaching out from the darkness and back into a physical form, Dark appeared in plain view for him.

"Anti. I was only watching to make sure-"

"Oh fuck off already." the glitch rolled his eyes, "You were watching me for other reasons and we both know that"

Dark blinked and ripped the knife out of the wall, lightly twirling it in his hand, "You've gotten quite good with a knife again, I see"

"Jackie's been showing me the ropes. Not that you'd know anything about weapons. You probably only rely on your weird void powers or-"

Dark threw the knife back at him, smirking as it stuck into the wall next to him. Anti rolled his eyes, "Show-off"

"You're the one who antagonized me"

"You're the one who started it"

"Technically not true but whatever you prefer or remember I suppose"

Anti roughly plucked the knife out of the wall and set if next to him on the bed. He pulled his knees up to his chin and griped, "I guess I should apologize for dumping the milk and cereal on ya"

"Not what I meant. Plus you had every right to. I was being inconsiderate."

"Oh~? Are you actually apologizing, Mr. Darkiplier?" he teased.

Dark's aura flared red and he snarled at him, "ANYWAY. .  . What I meant was that you started it all in the beginning by coming to my domain. Before you lost your memory, that is"

"Ah" Anti nodded, "So really I deserved YOUR wrath? It was revenge?"

"Revenge is petty and ignorant. I am beyond such trivial things. . . . . . . . . but yes"

Anti burst out in a small giggle, hiding his face in his knees and shaking. Dark huffed.

"It's not that funny. Shut up."

"It's SO funny! I get under your skin, don't I!?"

"No! Why would you think that!?"

Anti shot up out of his bed and put his hands on his hips, "You're raising your voice. You're getting upset because you know it's true. I bother you!" he grinned.

"Tch" Dark rolled his eyes, "There's a lot of people that bother me. You're not special"

But Anti wasn't thrown off and still smiled, "Then why are you really here? If you wanted to go after the puppeteer, you would have from a distance. Being here visible to him makes him stay away and we all know that. As long as you're here defending us, he won't show."

"What are you saying, Anti?"

"You're protecting me"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm waiting for the right moment to strike. This is to protect my family. It has nothing to do with you"

"I'm sorry"

". . . . . . ." Dark was thrown off a bit from that, "What?"

Anti rubbed the back of his head, "I said I'm sorry. I know that I did something to piss you off and to make you hate me back then and it obviously still bothers you. So I'm sorry. And I know I'm still keeping secrets from you. Marvin and I are keeping secrets from everyone right now but you already knew that. I know it's hard for you to trust others. I feel that way too. But maybe we could . . . . . .start over?"

Dark took his words into account. Anti was right. Here this whole time, he had been thinking of this glitch as the OLD Anti. Eventually he'll remember things but he had to remember, himself, that for now . . . . this wasn't the same person.

He took a breather in a sigh, "I just can't be pissed off at you. Of course we can start over. I-"

Anti rushed over and hugged him, wrapping his arms around his waist. But it only lasted a split second before Anti bolted away in surprise of himself, "S-sorry. Anymore I just . . . .  really like hugs"

Dark gave him a soft smile. He reminded him so much like Damien, it was weird. Or perhaps Wilford.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it"

"So HOW did you set the TV on fire if you didn't have your magic?"

Anti was once again hanging out with Marvin in his room. After him and Dark's little heart-to-heart moment, he wanted to get away from anything depressing. Dark was okay but his auras were constantly moping the atmosphere down and he knew he didn't mean to. It was just the way he was.

Marvin snorted at his question, "Even if I didn't have magic, I still experimented with potions" he rubbed the back of his head, ashamed, "I just didn't take in account that potions are liquid and could fry the TV is all"

Anti bust out laughing and Marvin wanted to slap him but settled for something better.

He shoved him off the bed, making the glitch yelp and groan, "Ow~"

Marvin stretched, feeling his bones crack and Anti couldn't help himself.

"Oooo~ Big stretch!"

Marvin threw a book at him but it only served to make him laugh again.

"Anyways" Marvin rolled his eyes, "Dark doing anything more weird to you lately to make you remember anything?"

"Nah. I think he learned his lesson. Doesn't want any more of his suits to get drenched in any liquids"

"Ugh. Why phrase it like that?"

"Ew! You're gross, Marv! You know what I meant!"

It was Marvin's turn to laugh, seeing the glitch go red in the face.

"And what about you? You remember anything new or did the spell not work? Do we need to do it again?" Anti was ready to give him some magic but Marvin stopped him.

"Oh no, it's fine, Anti. I'm still getting bits and pieces here and there. I must have really done the spell good. It'll just take a little more time."

"What if . . . ." Anti bit his lip apprehensively, "What if I tried giving you back ALL of the magic?"

But Marvin already knew that that was a bad idea, "I don't think that'll do anything, Anti. The mind has to work out things on its own, you know. It's easy to forget. Remembering is harder, especially if you forgot for a good reason."

"Is that why my memories are taking so long to return?"

"Perhaps. You fear what you've done. You have good reasons to keep those memories repressed. I don't blame you. I doubt there's anything, really that you could remember that would give us an advantage against puppeteer, really"

"So then . . . why wait? I could just give you all the power and we could fight the bastard already!" Anti grabbed hold of Marvin before he could stop him.

Marvin could feel the energy flowing through him but Anti was giving him too much, "Anti stop it!"

The lights flickered like before and their hair and things in the room floated in the air but this time . . . .  it was bigger.

"ANTI STOP!"

But Anti ignored him and kept going. Marvin started to notice something about him though. He looked to be. . . in pain. He started to shake and blood trickled down his nose along with tears.

Marvin could feel the overwhelming energy but it was far TOO MUCH. He couldn't handle it!

Without thinking, he shoved Anti off of him, making him fly across the room against a wall with a sharp noise.

Marvin stopped took a few breathes and everything went back to normal.

Everything was silent for a moment and Anti wasn't moving.

Shocking himself out of his stillness, Marvin rushed towards the glitch, gently looking him over for any wounds or burns, "Anti?" he gently shook him, "Hey Anti, you alright? Anti?!" he slowly got more panicked until he glitched.

Anti blinked open his eyes slowly and looked around until his blurry vision locked on Marvin, "S-sorry. I didn't mean to. . .to-"

"Hey, hey. Nah, it's alright, Anti. You didn't mean to. Come here. You're okay. You're okay" he gently picked him up and carried him over to the bed, setting him down with his head on the pillow. Marvin swallowed, "You feel okay? That was quite the hit you took"

Anti nodded, "'M fine."

Marvin checked his head again to make sure he wasn't bleeding but everything seemed to look okay, "Damn, Anti. Looks like that's a no-go. We found out the hard way, huh?"

Anti nodded. He looked tired after giving him all that energy. Like he could sleep for days.

Marvin rubbed his forehead gently to soothe him, "We're not ever doing that like that again, you hear me? The magic seems to be. . . . . embedded within you. Too closely a part of you. It's okay. We'll get through it, Anti. Just rest for now, alright?"

Anti couldn't argue with that and fell asleep with Marvin still rubbing his forehead.

'Fuck' the magician thought, 'I used to have so much power . . . .  I almost forgot what it felt like to be that powerful. And puppeteer has it, too. No wonder he's been keeping Anti so close to him.'

A few minutes later, Chase and Jackie ran upstairs to see what the hell was going on but Marvin managed to convince him that Anti was using too much of his power again. They bought it and left but Marvin knew Dark would see past all that bullshit. He didn't know if Dark had seen what happened but for now, he was grateful he didn't call him out on his lie. If he HAD seen it.

While Anti rested in his bed, Marvin kept himself deep in thought. It wasn't as if he had been doing nothing the last few days since the previous spell. He had been doing it again and again, continuously remembering small pieces here and there. But it wasn't enough.

He couldn't make them stick properly and the edges of the mind were. . . .  blurred or frayed in a way. He needed a better way to see the memories. Then perhaps it would also be easier to keep track of as well. He could . . . .  well it depended on the conduit of choice to keep those memories in.

Then he thought of it.

'The Television in Anti's apartment! That's it!'

But he couldn't go now. Not while everyone was up and about. He had to wait. Bide his time. Odds are the TV was still there. Or at least he hoped it was unless the puppeteer took and destroyed it since the last time they were there after kidnapping Anti.

'I'll just have to sneak out and see. Anti gave me enough power, if I walk there later tonight and run into any trouble, I could just teleport out. No problem!'

Excited about his little plan, Marvin grinned, his heart beating fast. Until . . . . . he suddenly felt arms around him. Marvin laid back when he noticed Anti cuddling into him. The magician couldn't help but smile and cuddle back.

'It's not even dinner yet, though. I can rest for a little while here until my little adventure'

Deep in Anti's mind, a memory crawled its way to the surface.

After he escaped Sean's head, he ran to the puppeteer. He didn't know where he was going but he followed the voice that was calling for him.

Like a dog, he followed the call.

After running for so long, Anti found himself in an empty warehouse, his lungs burning and his new muscles so tired.

"Come closer, puppet"

Anti didn't though, staying right where he was, "No! Show yourself! What did you do to me!? What happened!?"

It was dark and unsettling but Anti was stubborn, pulling the knife out he had used on Sean. Or rather. . . . had it really been HIM? Or the puppeteer?

"Insolent little mutt" the man came out of the shadows. He had a mask on and a cloak. Green eyes glowing past the eye-holes making him look like a demon or something. His mere presence sent shivers running down his spine and he backed up couple feet.

"You think you can order me?" the man reached out his hand and suddenly Anti was on the ground, a surging pain inside of him. He couldn't even scream, it was so much. He just convulsed on the ground on the dirty floor as the man got closer to closer until he was kneeling over him.

He stopped whatever he did and Anti went limp, shuddering in pain. He couldn't move.

The man gently pet his cheek, "Aw. . . . poor little puppet. You do not realize yet who you belong to. If it hadn't been for me, you'd still be just a thought. You would have been forgotten soon enough. You OWE me . . . .  Antisepticeye"

Anti growled but didn't retaliate. He didn't want him to hurt him again, "What do you w-want from me?"

"For now? For now you'll hold onto something for me . . . . Then later we'll make them all pay for what they did to us. Casting us aside. Don't you want revenge, puppet?"

Anti thought about it but puppeteer didn't give him time to think. He slammed his palm against his chest and a bright white light engulfed him.

It was so searing and painful, Anti couldn't help but to scream. He gripped the man's wrist but he kept him still, shoving whatever power this was inside of him.

Anti wanted to writhe around and claw at him but it was no use. The energy was so overwhelming, he thought he'd explode. In the distance, he thought he could hear car alarms going off and see street lights in his peripheral vision flicker wildly. Something terribly big was happening. He felt like he was going to die. And he just came to life!

Was this just IT for him?

The man above him just smiled. It was the last thing he saw before passing out.