"Who do we ask?" Dark outwardly wondered, "This place seems a little . . . deserted"

Google nodded, "It IS plain. I have more parts in my bedroom"

"Maybe the cashier?" Chase resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

It was obvious Dark had no social skills and neither did Google.

Dark nodded to Google, "Go ask"

The android grumbled to himself but left them to go talk to the scared cashier.

Meanwhile, Anti found himself staring at Marvin.

'I guess I haven't blamed him all that much but after Dark brought it up . . it makes sense. Marvin's been lying to me the entire time. To everyone. There was never a waiting period where it would just wear off'

In truth, Anti was a little angry but more so sad and upset. If Marvin didn't actually know how he'd be able to turn back to normal then was he REALLY stuck like this forever now!?

'No . . Marvin said something about eye of the beholder. Whatever kind of voodoo bullshit that means. He even admitted he doesn't even know'

Not that Anti didn't like being a kid. It had its perks but also, he missed being independent.

But also he appreciated the free food and housing.

But also he missed stealing things from unsuspecting people and glitching and his own space.

He DID have his own room though and Jackie was protective of him now so he wasn't afraid of getting attacked.

His inner turmoil was interrupted by Jameson who tapped his shoulder. Anti looked up at him questioningly.

'Want to go look around with me? I bet they have all sorts of cool electronics here'

Anti looked over to Google who was slowly losing his patience with the teenage cashier who didn't know what he was talking about.

"Okay" together, they snuck off to look around. 'Snuck' off but Chase and Jackie noticed them leaving, keeping one eye on them.

Of course Jackie was worried since weaker egos seem to be going missing but he trusted Jameson with his time rewinding ability to protect himself and Anti.

Jameson led Anti off through various aisles and in the distance, they could hear Dark yelling at Google to stop doing something but they tried to block it out.

Jameson stopped at the light fixtures and awed at them, 'I'll never understand LED lights. They can be so pretty'

Anti shrugged, "I like lava lamps. Colored LEDs are cool though"

'What about this one?' Jameson pointed to a miniature lava lamp, 'It's just like you! Mini!'

"Haha, very funny" But Anti couldn't deny he actually wanted it. It was green, too.

But he stopped himself from stealing it, sighing to himself, 'I don't need to steal it. Maybe I can get one later some other time'

Just then suddenly Anti's neck hurt and he grimaced.

Jameson seemed to pale but took his small hand, leading him off somewhere.

"J-jameson? Where we going?" when Anti touched his neck, though, he felt something warm and sticky . . . and red when he pulled his hand away, "What?"

Jameson led him to the bathroom and shut the door behind them.

'But I don't understand. My neck's been closed nearly the entire time I've been a kid. Why is it acting up now?'

The mute didn't ask questions. He just texted Henrik to come to the bathroom and pulled out one of his clean handkerchiefs to cover his neck with. Henrik came running in but so did Chase and upon seeing his neck, they went pale.

"What the hell happened?" Chase was nearly frantic, "I fooking KNEW Jackie shouldn't have given you back that knife!"

Jameson waved his hands around, 'He didn't cut himself! His neck just started bleeding out of nowhere!'

Henrik set Anti up on the bathroom counter and looked at the injury, "Does it hurt?"

Weirdly enough, it didn't and Anti just shook his head, "No . . it feels like. . . like when I was older. Happened all the time"

"I see . . . ." Henrik hummed to himself, "Hmmm . . . I don't think anything's wrong vith you"

Chase looked affronted, "He's BLEEDING"

"I'm aware" Henrik deadpanned, "However, Anti's neck has done zhis when he was an adult. Perhaps zhis is a good thing?"

Anti perked up at that. But how? Why?

Whatever the case, they heard yelling at the front of the store again and all bustled out to see what was going on.

Anti, having let Jameson tie the handkerchief around his neck, stared as Jackie was trying to pull Google back away from the teenager. He had red eyes so Anti could only assume the teenager offended him somehow.

That and Dark wasn't doing anything to stop Google so perhaps he felt the same way.

"What's going on here?" Chase went to ask but before anyone could answer, the teenager whimpered.

"Alright! I'll tell you! I'll tell you! I saw this old weirdo with the skateboard last week, alright?! He came in with orange sunglasses and bought fairy lights!"

Everyone halted to process the information.

Dark squinted, "I'm sorry . . . Fairy lights?"

"Yeah, man! Now let me go!"

Google dropped him on his ass, "Information received. Calculating reasonings for purchase . . . . .. completed. There is no concrete reason why Bing bought fairy lights and left."

"Why would he do that and NOT come home?" Dark was having trouble thinking it out.

Google narrowed his eyes, thinking himself, "Perhaps he really did just leave?" It was unclear as to if Google actually felt anything from it.

Marvin facepalmed, "I'd run away, too, with YOUR family" he muttered under his breathe.

Anti snickered at that and Marvin noticed the make-shift scarf around his neck. He locked eyes with Henrik, "The hell's up with this fashion disaster?"

"We'll talk about it later" Chase butt in, "Back to finding Bing"

Marvin tapped Anti's 'scarf' and changed the color from red and white polka dots to a plain dark green, "That at least doesn't offend my eyes. So yes, back to Bing. But we're coming back to the neck thing later"

"You have no idea how much I agree to that" Jackie huffed, "I don't know what I missed but I WILL find out"

"Anyway" Dark crossed his arms, "Where did he go next, kid? Any idea?"

"Uh" the boy gulped, "Customers don't usually tell everyone where they're going afterwards"

"Obviously." Chase scoffed, "That'd be stupid"

"But this guy did" the kid finished.

Chase wanted to facepalm next.

"He said something about the . . .Angeles National Forest?"

"Oh for the love of-" Dark groaned, "He'll run out of battery out there! How the hell are we supposed to find him in that big fucking mess of nature?!"

"Doesn't Bing have a tracker in him that comes up when close enough?" Anti asked, "If not, you should really invest in one"

"Do you know how BIG the fucking forest is?" Dark chastised him, "Too big to get close enough to Bing for the tracker to go off. That and if his battery is dead, the tracker turns off as well"

"Well that's stupid" Anti snorted.

"Perhaps if you had helped me from the BEGINNING, then none of this would have happened you little pest!"

"Okay, okay" Jackie stood between Dark and Anti, "Let's just relax. Maybe I can track him when we get there? Let's just go and find out"

Google wasn't pleased with this suggestion but kept his mouth shut.

"Fine" Dark still glared at Anti, "But if we can't find him or any of the others, I'm blaming you, Anti"

"It's not MY fault they disappeared, asshole!"

Marvin rolled his eyes, "Let's just GO already!" he snapped his fingers and they were suddenly all gone.

The cashier rubbed his eyes furiously, not believing what just happened, "What just happened!?"

Marvin teleported them to one of the most common entrances to the forest.

"We're really going in there?" Henrik asked blandly, "Because I did not bring bug repellent or poison ivy creams"

"Bitch, please" Marvin mumbled under his breathe but it was a little louder than he thought, earning him getting his hair pulled by the doctor.

"Ow! Hen!"

Jackie meanwhile was searching around for footprints, "There's a lot of prints near here. A lot of people must come around this area."

Dark huffed, "Great." he blurted sarcastically, "Google, can you?"

The android nodded and reached his hand out. In the palm of his hand, a metal right with a light inside opened up, projecting a hologram out from it.

Anti shook his head, "Man, you're just full of weird surprises, aren't you?"

Google ignored him and narrowed his eyes, "It says . . . . Bing is just a mile out in that direction"

He pointed towards the dark forest. Anti cringed anxiously, "It's dark in there"

Darkiplier smirked, "My kind of environment"

"I'm gonna lead us in." Jackie nodded to Marvin, "Light the way for us? It's already getting dark out as it is. We don't wanna go in blind"

"Sure thing" Marvin spelled a small light in his hand like a lantern.

If only it was electronic.

If only Anti could glitch. Then he'd hide away in that little ball of light. This large dark and creepy forest disturbed him and he didn't want to go in.

"Come here"

Anti looked up. Chase was leaning down next to him with his arms out and Anti knew it was cowardly of him but he didn't care.

He leaned into Chase, letting him pick him up. He'd never admit he felt better but he'd rather it be either Marvin or Jackie holding him. They were the strongest egos here after all besides Dark and like HELL was he going to let Dark anywhere near him!

But Chase was comforting nonetheless.

"Let's go" Jackie led the way into the forest.

"Hopefully ve don't run into zhe sasquatch . . . .. or Slenderman." Henrik teased.

Anti just glared at him.

Google chuckled darkly and out of character, "The creepy pasta states that Slenderman LOVES children. He steals them away in the forest and befriends them. Then takes them to his lair, grows a mouth and eats them ali-"

"Google, shut up" Dark stopped him, " . . . . . . You made that last half up. He doesn't EAT the children"

Anti just held onto Chase tighter and the father chuckled, "Don't worry. You know there's no such thing as monsters, right? They're not real"

"A lot of people think WE'RE not real, either" Marvin snorted.

"Shut up ALL of you" Jackie growled, "Leave him alone, Ipliers. He's been through enough. And Hen . . . just knock it off, man. You know it's not funny"

"Just teasing" the doctor took out a wrapped sucker from his pocket and handed it to Anti, "Zhis vill calm you. We'll be out of here before you know it"

"Maybe"

Anti tried his best to ignore Dark's last comment.

'No, you're stronger than this. You've been through worse.' Anti thought to himself, 'This is nothing. It's just a dark and dingy area of trees filled with animals and birds and some hikers.'

His neck wound bled again through the handkerchief.

Anti didn't understand what was happening to him all of a sudden but he sucked on the treat Henrik gave him and took his little knife out from his pocket. He had to be brave.

He just had to remember. Keep repeating it in his head.

He wasn't just a child. He was Antisepticeye and he wasn't going to let anything scare him ever again.

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes nearby and everyone tensed.

Marvin threw a spell at it in panic.

A squirrel fired out from the bush, equally panicked.

They all sighed collectively.

It seemed it wasn't just Anti that was afraid.