Marvin still had Anti on his side until dinner. Even when the glitch woke up and whined, Marvin forced him to take it easy, making him promise not to glitch or run around the rest of the night.

Anti was hesitant but promised to try for him.

Dinner was odd what with it being so quiet but most of them were accustomed to silence. This just made Marvin more tense, though. Paranoid.

He knew Jackie liked to go out sometimes at night to check up on crime hot spots so he had to be careful not to alert him and watch out in case someone decided to follow him.

"You sure you are alright, Anti?" Henrik was pestering Anti, having heard of his energy problem earlier from Chase, "You shouldn't be so reckless"

"Yeah, dude" Chase agreed, "Need to keep yourself going. No overdoing things, yeah? That means less 'lessons' with Jackie if need be"

"Aw but it's fine!" Anti whined again, "I'm fine now! No worries! Stop freaking out"

Even Jackie looked a little disappointed but didn't argue with the others.

"They're right, Anti" Dark intervened, "You shouldn't work yourself too hard in case puppeteer comes out of nowhere"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." he stuffed a bunch of noodles in his mouth with a roll of his eyes.

Henrik rubbed his head suddenly with a light grunt and JJ stared at him, 'Speaking of taking it easy, Hen.'

"Oh hush. Who is zhe doctor here?!"

"You sound annoyingly like Dr. Iplier" Dark snorted but Hen only glared at him.

When dinner was over, they hung out for a while in the living room save for Dark. He chose to walk around the house to make sure nothing was out of order. That, and he'd call Host to make sure things were still alright back home.

When it got too late, the others went to bed, handing over the couch to Dark for the night. Marvin would have been worried but he already had a plan.

Once he got to his room, he took a breather and swallowed, hyping himself up. He knew it was dangerous but he had to do it. He had to at least see if the TV was still there and if it was, he needed to bring it back with him.

Rolling his sleeves up, grabbing his wand and phone, he slid open his window. He was on the second floor . . . . . and he had never done this before to his knowledge. But how hard could it be?

Taking a leap of faith, he tried to land in the bushes at least but it wasn't what he expected. He would never be doing that again.

"Thought cats were supposed to land on their feet?" he wanted to slap himself for the lame joke but didn't waste any time, taking off to the apartment.

Anti stared at the ceiling of his room. He didn't want to go to sleep.

After Marvin shot him into the wall, something must have knocked loose in his brain.

Something terrifying. He couldn't place it just yet but he KNEW it was bad and it was slowly coming to the forefront of his mind. Puppeteer had been so confident that when he regained his memories back, he'd come crawling back to him. But he didn't want that. He was so happy here. Why would he leave now? Everything was different now, right? No matter what had happened between them in the past, it was recovering. Right?

He was terrified of finding out. But the more you sleep, the more the brain heals. The more he'll remember. That's how that worked, right? He didn't want to fall asleep.

But his exhaustion was winning.

He only briefly closed his eyes but it was enough.

He had his knife. He wandered the halls. He knew this place.

Pictures were hung up along the walls and he knew he was in the right place.

He didn't want to do this. Maybe he could get away with not doing it?

But his master's voice echoed in his mind. This was his last option. He failed with killing the others. This was his only chance. . . . .

He gripped the knife so hard, his knuckles turned white.

Slowly, he turned the door knob to reveal two children.

They were supposed to be sleeping.

Why weren't they sleeping!?

This made things harder for him. If they were asleep, then maybe he could do it easier. But they just looked up at him, eyes full of confusion and innocence.

"Who are you? You look like daddy" the little boy said.

The girl smiled big at him, "Are you one of our uncles!? Don't tell daddy we're awake! We can't sleep!"

"Will you play with us?"

He couldn't do it. His heart pounded. He should just run now.

But they were very convincing on making him stay. A couple hours passed by with Anti playing a game with them but when it got too late, he decided he had to leave. He'd think of something as an excuse not to kill them.

The kids pleaded with him to come back again eventually. His heart had been so full that night.

Without thinking, Anti let out a charge that made the whole house short-circuit itself. He didn't mean to lose control like that. But perhaps it was worth it and Chase woke up, coming to check on them. But by the time the forced open the door, Anti was gone.

Marvin made it to the apartment. He was sure he wasn't followed but then again, there was always a chance. He chose not to worry about it and entered the building.

He could feel something in the air. Magic. But he assumed it was just the TV in Anti's apartment.

He kept his hand on his wand in his pocket just in case.

When he reached the right floor, his grip on the wand tightened. He hoped the puppeteer wouldn't show. If he did, he'd just have to teleport and wave this whole thing as a lost cause.

He opened the door, taking note of how it looked so abandoned. Jackie was right, it seemed the police had stopped investigating the scene entirely. The door was unlocked oddly enough and as he peered in, the stench of stale smoke hit him but not as harsh as the last time he was there when Anti was kidnapped.

He closed the door behind him and took out his phone, using it as a flashlight. He couldn't risk turning on any of the lights as to alert anyone of his presence.

It was silent and after a few more moments, he decided it was safe and tip-toed over to the TV. The feeling was buzzing. The object was brimming with magic.

'I don't know how I didn't feel it before.' he thought to himself, 'Perhaps I was too invested in Anti's disappearance'

Marvin took the chance to look around the apartment. He really didn't understand how Anti survived here. Throughout all this time, he was always a prisoner. A slave to the puppeteer. His heart hurt just thinking about it. He felt bad that he was really the only one who truly knew what all Anti endured. The others were just starting to put it together how long Anti was being used and manipulated.

He breathed out a sigh.

"Hello again, Marvin. It's certainly been awhile hasn't it?"

Marvin sucked in a breath of air and turned sharply, seeing the man at the door. A smile on his face and glowing green eyes.

Anti was sweating in his sleep, shuddering as his nightmare played out. After leaving the kids alone, he thought the dream was over but he was wrong. His memories were flooding out like a water dam, continuing the story.

He glitched back to his apartment. To his safe zone but he felt anything but safe. He was terrified. Soon, his master would find out he didn't complete the task and he'd be so mad at him. A part of him dared the man to attack and Anti would give it his all against him. He still had fight in him. Even after the night they first met.

He paced around the room for a little bit before finally relenting and turned on the TV with a flick of his wrist, flipping the 'channel' to Chase. And sure enough, there he was on screen, just walking out of the kids' room with a relieved look on his face.

Anti almost felt just as relieved . . . . until he heard that familiar voice.

"Oh little puppet. You've messed up again."

His heart pounded at the sound of his voice as he continued, "This time, I'll take over. Oh but don't worry. I'll make sure you get all the credit."

Anti had little time to react as the man teleported at him, gripping his hair and making him look up into his eyes, "Just like the last time you disobeyed me" he growled deeply with a spat.

He took out a knife with a grin, "But first . . . some physical punishment"

Anti didn't move, knowing the drill. If he struggled, then his master could accidentally cut deeper than intended. With a sharp and quick cut, he sliced across Anti's neck scar, making blood seep out fast and the glitch started to choke a little.

"There you go. Make you all nice and pretty for the show. You ready, sweetheart?" he taunted him, gripping his hair tighter, lightly rubbing the fresh wound with the callous of his thumb.

"No, please" Anti actually begged him and started to cry, tasting the blood through his throat, "Master please, don't make me do it. Please! I'll do anything!" His voice had turned distorted from his injury again.

"I know you will. And right now, I want you to succumb to me. Let me control you, dear puppet. Now" he practically hissed out.

The glitch didn't have any time to react and his mind was taken over by him. Completely at his disposal.

Anti didn't remember anything after that but he knew what had happened. The puppeteer had allowed him flashes of his attack breaking into Chase's home again to go after the kids.

'Anti' had glitched in stumbling with a knife fresh with blood, his throat wound soaking his shirt. His laugh was so sinister, promising death.

Luckily enough, though, Chase was ready for him and had called Jackie. The kids were sleeping by this time and had never even seen 'Anti's' second visit.

Everything turned out okay for Chase and his family. They were all safe.

Except for Anti.

The memory sequence was over but Anti could still hear voices in his head, screams and insults in a dark void. He could feel himself crying, unable to stop himself. How did this all happen? Surely at some point he had tried going to the Septics for help? Or had he ever been able to?

Marvin stared down the puppeteer. Fear gripped his soul but he refused to show it. He knew this man. There was just something about him but Marvin just couldn't remember!

Why didn't he?

"Aw poor magician. Do you not recognize me?" he stepped closer in the dark and Marvin took a step back, still next to the TV.

"Who are you? Why are you after us?" Marvin practically hissed out.

The man and pulled down his cloak hood for comfort, still refusing to take off the mask. They both knew he was a Septic, though, so it must be a preference thing on his part.

"Why should I tell you? You clearly didn't want to remember me. You've certainly fucked that all up, haven't you, Marvin?"

"Who are you!? Why are you after Anti!? Why do you want him so bad?"

"Now, now. You and I both know the answer to that question already" the man snickered at him, taking another step forward, "Power. Your power to be exact. Remember that? Surely you can feel it"

Marvin clenched his fists, ready at any moment to take his chance. But honestly, this was the perfect opportunity to get information from this monster.

"I can. You're right about that. I'm assuming you've been storing my power in Anti for a while and need him around to access it in small amounts?"

"Not AS stupid as I thought you were, I see. Still quite ignorant though"

"Why not just take all that power for yourself? Why keep it in a 'defecting puppet'?" Marvin teased him. He already knew the answer though. It was obvious now.

"You know why, you insolent piss-ant" the puppeteer snarled at him, "And I will not waste my time telling you all about it." he suddenly smirked, his mood having changed drastically.

"Besides. . . . . I know you're trying to stall. Making me give you all the answers. But there's something you didn't think about. . . . ."

Marvin swallowed thickly, not liking how confident the man seemed.

The puppeteer stood over Anti in front of his bed. He watched him squirm and shudder, crying as the nightmare consumed him.

The man had teleported inside but luckily enough he had such little energy that he didn't have to worry about Dark sensing him so soon.

He placed his hand over Anti's forehead, feeling Marvin's magic flood into him.

At the apartment, the puppeteer grinned, "Perhaps I'm the one who's stalling. Perhaps I'm not even actually here."

The man suddenly flung a blast of something at him only for Marvin to retaliate with his wand, shooting it back. Only for it to go right through him and the spectral image disappeared. He was never actually there to begin with!

"Shit" Marvin knew then that he had been played.

'He knew I was the only other one who could actually take him on if I was around Anti! God, I hope Dark knows he's there!' Marvin lifted up the TV and ran out of the apartment, teleporting in spurts to hopefully save energy and get back home fast in time to warn the others.

Dark woke up to a strange feeling. He had the sense that someone was awake in the house. It was late, so that was odd. He was just blinking away the sleep when he realized. . . . .

He didn't recognize this energy.

Then he knew and his heart raced, "Anti!"

He bolted up off the couch and ran for Anti's room, hoping he'd make it in time before the man took Anti away for good.