"The FUCK!?" Marvin squeaked out. He stared at Anti as if he were crazy but the more he thought about it, the more it made a lot of sense.

He's only ever been able to use magic around Anti so of course that would be it! He wanted to smack himself, he felt so dumb!

Marvin's mouth hung agape but then he grit his teeth in his realization, "Fuck"

Anti swallowed, a little red-faced that he never put it together either.

"That makes so much sense" Marvin stared at him again, "You're a battery!"

Anti glared at him suddenly, "No I'm-"

"You're the energizer bunny!"

"Marv-"

"And I'm a magician! It fits so perfectly!"

Anti covered his face at the lame ice-breaking joke and Marvin chuckled at his reaction, "So . . . .  why does this guy just have magic stored inside of you like some sort of container?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. But this does help quite a bit. You can use the magic to help you remember stuff that you made yourself forget!"

"Right. Now I'll just have to find the right spell. It won't happen right away though. I want to make sure I get it perfect before I try it out on myself. But this is so exciting!"

"Right?! Then when you get your memories back, you could fight the masked man!"

Marvin's excitment fell, "Uh . . . . I don't know about that, man."

Anti titled his head slightly, "What do you mean?"

"Well . . . " Marvin looked away, "We don't know yet. Let's just not rush anything, alright? Don't want to get too ahead of ourselves"

"Oh . . . . okay"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and the two jumped at the noise.

"Hey Marv!" It was Jackie, "We're gonna have lunch here in a bit! Why don't you come on out? Chase's kids are here!"

"We'll be right out!"

"We?" Jackie was clearly confused, "Who else is in there with you?"

"Uh . . ..  Anti"

"Oh okay. You come out, too, Anti! The kids really want to see you, too"

The glitch groaned but agreed in a whine, "Fine~"

Jackie walked away to presumably go downstairs and Anti gulped, "What if your magic does something?"

Marvin stood up from the bed and snickered at him, "What? What are you talking about?"

"What if we get too close and you do something without realizing it? You don't want them to know yet, you said"

The magician rolled his eyes, "Anti, you worry too much. It'll be fine. There hasn't been any issues before, right? Don't think about it. We'll come back to this later. For now, let's just go downstairs and enjoy ourselves. I need coffee"

"You need a nap"

"Shut up-"

"A cat-nap"

"Dammit, I should have seen that coming" he grumbled to himself.

Anti snickered at him, "Hey if you can make shitty jokes then so can I!"

"Brat" they left the room and went downstairs.

Once they crossed into the kitchen, it was absolute chaos in silent form.

Chase was making mac and cheese and peas for lunch for everyone while Stacey was still there and bickering with the father about how much butter he put in the veggies.

"That's too much, Chase! You're just making them unhealthy now"

"You've always loved my peas! That's how I've always done it. You've just never noticed until now, hover-girl. "

She scoffed at him lightly.

Jackie was sitting at the table with Sammy, barely containing himself from rolling his eyes and  trying to get the boy to stop playing with his silverware. And Kallie was one step away from stabbing her brother with the fork. Past Anti would have been proud.

Jameson had his nose in the fridge to keep from making conversation with anyone and Henrik sat in another chair in the dining room with his crosswords, effectively ignoring all of them.

"Is that Chase's famous Mac and Cheese I see!?" Marvin screeched happily but also rushed over to the coffee pot, leaving Anti to fend for himself.

Kallie and Sammy looked over to see Marvin but then their gazes locked on to Anti.

Anti was sure he had never been more terrified.

It was an oncoming onslaught. He was completely defenseless.

"Uncle Anti!" Kallie rushed to him first and hugged him again like earlier. The glitch stiffened like a board but managed a smile down at her, patting her head.

"Hi there again."

She giggled and Sammy grinned at him from his seat, "Daddy says you lost your memories. Is that true? Do you not remember nothing!?"

Anti could see Chase glancing behind himself to see if it was making Anti uncomfortable but he just nodded, "Yeah."

"That must suck!" Kallie gasped, "Here, come sit with me! By me!" she suddenly dragged him to a seat next to hers that was next to Henrik, too.

"Do you remember how ta eat!?" the kids started bombarding him with questions suddenly and he tried his best to answer politely, not wanting to anger Chase or Stacey. He'd either nod or answer and Marvin sat on the opposite side of him finally with his coffee with a sly grin on his face. He planned for this distraction.

"What about hugging!? Do you remember hugging?"

"Well . . . yeah"

"Really?" Kallie asked, "Because you're not that good at it"

Why did it hurt so much to get roasted by this small child? But Anti couldn't really answer that. Really, he didn't even know if he had ever been hugged before the fire and that suddenly made his heart hurt.

Chase could sense the mood change and asked Stacey to take over, "Hey kids, enough questions for your uncle, okay? He's had a rough time of it lately."

"Is the reason he couldn't come see us again because he forgot?" Sammy asked. Anti, once again, did not have the answer to that question and he just shrugged.

"Sorry, kids. But I just don't . . . . remember you. Not yet, at least. I'll get my memory back eventually, don't you worry!" he tried to cheer them up but it seemed to lower the mood with the others instead.

"Oh good!" Kallie giggled as Chase took their plates to fill with their food, "We missed ya. You were really good at hide and seek"

1, 2, Anti's coming for you~

3, 4, better shut the door~

5, 6 -

Anti shook himself from the song in his head as Chase set down a plate in front of him filled with food. He gently whispered in his ear, "You doing okay, bro? You can eat in the living room if ya want"

Anti just shook his head, "M' fine"

Chase pat his shoulder and went to give the others a plate as well.

Luckily the kids were too busy stuffing their faces to ask more questions, leaving Anti to his own thoughts. He was still a little lost on his role with the masked man but it was all coming together.

He must have put that energy inside of him so he could take it back whenever he wanted. But couldn't he just take it all and use it for himself in his own body? Unless he couldn't?

It would make sense for Anti to be some sort of conduit then. So then did it belong to this man or did it really belong to Marvin? Was that why he was after him again, afraid they'd figure it out?

He felt as if he were still missing something though.

Later on, the kids got everyone to play hide and seek with them while Chase and Stacey stayed in the kitchen to clean up.

Finally Chase asked the big question, "Why are you still here, Stacey?"

She dried off a plate he handed her, "What do you mean?"

"Well technically it's my day with the kids and yet here you are . . . it's never been like this before. Unless you're thinking about-"

"No, Chase. I'm not. I just . . . I don't know. It's complicated"

"How so? You either still love me or you don't. Simple"

"Of course I love you, Chase but I just wanted to see if everything was okay here with Anti. I wanted to see for myself-"

Chase sighed heavily, "Don't lie to me. Why are you doing this?" he leaned over the sink, refusing to look her in the eye at first, "It wasn't too long ago you were calling me a deadbeat and trying so desperately to prevent me from seeing my kids at all. Now what? We fucked last week and now everything's just peachy?"

"You're the one who came to me, Chase. And besides, that was so long ago. Like what, two years?"

"Still stings"

"Look, I'm sorry, Chase." she made him look at her, her hands on his cheek, "I know I messed up, too. You weren't the only one. We could have worked things out better. I shouldn't have . . . I shouldn't have let my sister get in my head like that"

"Come back to me"

She quieted and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her just a little closer, "We could try again, Stace. I forgive you. I love you so much and you KNOW that. And you saw how happy the kids have been today . . . they miss their parents together, too"

"I'd be mad at you for involving the kids into this but . . . you're right. But also . . . I don't know. I think we should just write off last week as a-"

Chase suddenly kissed her, shutting her up. He couldn't bear to hear her say it. That she thought it was a mistake. Luckily, she melted into the kiss and the two stayed there in peace for a while just lost in each other.

Until the door bell rang.

Anti was having a great time. He found the best hiding spot!

It was enclosed and dark but he knew it would be so worth it. He noticed no one ever went in here and he fit so why not? It was a small closet in the laundry room and he looked through the gaps of the fold-up door to watch for anyone.

But being in the dark like this also scared him, somewhat. It was so cramped and dark.

Almost like . . . so long ago.

In Sean's head. He tried not to think about it. He wanted to live in the moment right now. He could hear the kids laughing loudly and then he heard a German accent.

'Must have found Henrik. Am I the last one?' he was excited about the thought. He could win this game, 'I guess the kids were right when they said I was good at this'

Then again, he figured that the lifetime hiding and sneaking around watching the others was the reason.

Suddenly, the laundry room door opened and Anti nearly yelped as Jackie nearly ripped the hinges off the closet door, "Ah!" Jackie jumped back upon seeing Anti but didn't have time to throw a fit about it, "Scoot over!"

"What are you doing!? Find your own hiding spot!"

"I tried! It wasn't good. Now scoot the fuck over!"

Anti groaned but squeezed in more so Jackie could fit in with the door closed. Anti was even more cramped now and growled. He didn't like how close Jackie was. He probably knew he'd be okay if it were any of the others. He didn't know why he felt such animosity towards Jackie being so close like this.

"Hey don't growl at me. You're not a dog"

"I could bite like one" Anti growled out lowly. He didn't know where this sudden aggression was coming from but he didn't like it and corrected himself quickly before Jackie could retaliate, "I mean. . . fuck, man you're too close. I'm claustrophobic in here now"

"Sorry but the kids are more terrifying. Deal with it"

"Fine. Can't argue with that"

They were silent for a while until Jackie cut through the awkwardness again, "So you've been spending a lot of time with Marvin lately in his room. What you guys been doing?"

Anti would have blushed if they all weren't brothers, "He lets me read his books" it wasn't a total lie, "And he practices his card tricks with me"

"Hm" Jackie hummed, "Well maybe you should try spending time with some of the other egos, too? I'm glad you've hit it off with Marvin. He needs the confidence and social interaction himself. But I also think you should spend more time with everyone else and not just one of us."

"I hang out with Henrik and Jameson a lot. I do crosswords and watch TV with Henrik and Jameson's been teaching me sign language. And Chase and I-"

"I could teach you how to defend yourself."

Anti shut up. Now he understood what Jackie was insinuating and the hero continued, "I know we never got on the right foot but I want to make it right, man. I know you still are bothered by my presence somewhat and I understand why. But if this masked man comes back again, I want you to be prepared. You need to know how to defend yourself."

"But I can-"

"Glitching away won't work forever. You may have been able to fight before the fire but you need to relearn that sort of stuff so you'd have a better chance against him. At least think about it, alright?"

Anti rolled his eyes, "Fine . . . . . . . . .  how come you believe masked man has magic but not Ma-"

But before Anti could finish, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"What the? Who the hell could be here? Everyone we know is-" he stopped himself and growled to himself, "Something doesn't feel right all of a sudden. . . . . . I know this feeling. Stay here"

Jackie walked out of the closet to go see who was at the door but Anti wasn't about to just sit back and follow orders. He had a feeling he had done enough of that over the years and followed behind Jackie defiantly.

Jackie looked behind him at Anti with a roll of his eyes but didn't berate him for it.

It seemed everyone else was just as curious and the kids tried to tag Anti and Jackie but saw the serious looks on their faces.

They went to their parents to find out what was going on. Who was at the door?

Chase was the closest one and honestly they were all a bit worried. What if this was a trick of the masked man? Had he finally come? Did he just have enough of playing and decided to barge in and take Anti again? He really probably could right now have no problem with it, after all.

But Chase calmly walked up to the door and everyone was on edge, ready for anything. It could be nothing. But they all felt it.

Something powerful was on the other side of that door.

Jackie kept Anti behind him, grabbed his wrist just in case to protect him. Anti had to take a few deep breathes here and there to help stop himself from glitching.

Chase took a breathe himself and pulled out his gun from his back holster that was out of sight behind his shirt. He swallowed and suddenly ripped open the door, pointing his gun at the person on the other side.

Everyone tensed and the man with the gun in his face just sighed as if bored.

"Hello to you too, Mr. Brody. I was wondering if I could come in and talk to you lot on a matter?"

Anti looked past Jackie to see the man and his pulse spiked. It was the man from the other day! He appeared in his office and . . . . seemed to know who he was. But Anti just couldn't put a pin on who he could be.

The man seemed to spot Anti from behind Jackie and gave a small wave, "Hello, Anti. You're just the person I was looking for"

"Dark" Jackie hissed at him, "The hell are you doing here!?"

But he was ignored. Chase sighed and looked around Dark to see both Wilford and Host as well. The father bit his lip but relented, "As long as none of you start a fight or have any ill intents, you can come in but hurry."

"I promise I'm not here for a fight this time." Dark held no emotion on his face but spoke gently, "I just want an explanation as to why Anti was in my office the other day"

They all looked at Anti who shrank back behind Jackie.

Wilford shouted gleefully, "Well are we going in or what!? All this standing around's getting me fired up!"

"The Host would also like to go in already. The air in the house was thick but it was better than standing around in the open where he felt like they were all being watched"

"Come on in" Chase stood aside much to Jackie's anger.

Dark just walked right in, eyes still on Anti with Wil and Host behind him, "Now then. Let's have a chat, shall we?"