((Can we all take a moment to appreciate this picture ^^^^ Credit to the artist, I couldn't find their name :3))

As the knife ripped free of the mattress, taking a few chunks of padding out with it, I feel control return to me, even if only a little. Enough to release the iron grip on the blade and let it clang to the hard floor beneath me.

Green continues to try and overtake my vision, control fluctuates in and out as Anti's anger grows. The animalistic fury is terrifying, I've felt him angry before, beyond angry even, but this... The only thing on his mind was revenge, cold vengeance he'd waited so long to enact.

The form on the bed stirs, until sitting up entirely, a cloud of exhaustion hanging over his eyes before he notices me. Concern dances into those brown eyes, a small tint of almost fear as he looks into my ever-changing eyes.

Green. Blue. Green. Blue.

Without seeing myself I could feel the change, feel the burning green take over just to recede once more.

"Anti! Enough!"

Finally I manage to shout the words, a sense of determination slinking through me, along with that same vengeful rage, before it finally recedes along with the green at the corners of my vision. Leaving an agonizing exhaustion in its wake.

My legs wobble before giving out entirely, before I can hit the ground I feel a pair of strong hands grab onto me pulling me onto the mattress. The room spins around me, nausea tugging at my stomach. The sudden disappearance of Anti sent me into a phase, I blink away the fog that covered my eyes, feeling Mark's hand tenderly trace circles into my back.

I could almost see his eyes move to where the knife was dropped, still only a foot or two away from me. I felt a slight nudge against my skull every time I let my eyes move to it, even for a moment.

As the nausea passed, and I felt my body steady, Mark speaks.

"Are you alright? What the hell happened?"

I take a minute, then another before I finally feel the tightness in my throat disappear, and words to process through my mind.

"He... He wanted revenge..."

Mark's eyes narrow in a troubled curiosity, but those were the only words I could get to come out. A sense of fear, dread rocketed through me, each thought a jumbled mess of confusion within my head.

The man beside me must notice my hesitance, or perhaps even the dreadful way I lowered my head, as he stays quiet, continuing to rub gentle circles onto the fabric of my shirt. I resist the urge to fall backward into his arms, let him hold me.

As much as I want to let him make everything okay, I don't want to piss off Dark again... The bruise still a reminder on my arm of what could happen. I may be able to handle Anti being angry, a bit anyhow, at least I know he won't kill me. He doesn't want to go back to that place, that much is obvious.

Dark however... He has no real reason to keep me alive. If I piss him off, hell even if Anti pisses him off again, it might cost my life. It would hurt both Mark and Anti in a mental sense, that's all he seems to want... And I can't let that happen...

So for now... I need to distance myself. A part of my mind tells me to get up now, to walk away, but I needed some type of comfort, and Mark was right here.... He's all I have...

I've lost everything, all because of this demon... My girlfriend, my friends, my life, family... My mind... I have nothing, nothing but Mark, and even him I need to distance myself from...

I might as well be alone...

I didn't notice the tears rolling down my face until Mark pulled me further onto the bed, wiping them away with his thumb tenderly. I feel his arm wrap around me delicately, the warmth calming in a sense.

He pulls me into his chest, I let my head lay gently against it, listening to his steady heartbeat, a quiet reminder that he's still here. He's the one person who's still with me in this wild mess I call life.

Feeling his arms around me, listening to his soft breaths and quiet heartbeat, I feel the exhaustion tug at me. And for once, I'm not afraid to close my eyes.

~~~~~Mark's POV~~~~~

I felt his breathing even out within the next ten minutes, feeling his body relax, and for once he didn't seem strained. I felt terrible, he's been through so much, and Dark continues to force him through more.

He'd gone quiet for now, a strange exhaustion settling over my mind where he once was. I let my arm rest over his frail body softly, protectively in a sense, just avoiding the still prominent bruise across his arm.

I watch his chest rise and fall quietly, unable to fall asleep myself, but merely happy he can get some well-deserved rest. I don't' want to know how long it's been for him... I hardly know for myself.

Tonight however... Everything went to shit...

A man... an officer for fucks sake was lying lifelessly on my living room floor a couple hours ago. I'd watched Dark do it, felt the snap of his neck, and the heaviness of his body as Dark carried it. Out back, tossing it carelessly into the nearest dumpster.

It would be easily found, yet I didn't have the heart, nor stomach, to instruct him differently.

The way these two fought it what haunted me the most... Something happened between them, yet no one tells me anything... I don't expect Dark to, hell half the time I'm too petrified to ask, Sean however, he knows something.

I remember when Anti collapsed, the first time I'd seen him show weakness. The way sorrow brought him to his knees, the way his hands entangled in his hair threatening to tear it out at the roots. That was haunting, and then Sean afterward...

His eyes fogged over with a foreign memory, the red leaking down his cheek slowly hardly seeming to faze him, he looked insane. Not the insanity I'd first seen at the institution, not even Anti's insanity.

It was chilling, his mind was gone in that moment, emotions fled from him as though in fear. In that moment I almost feared him...

However as that faded, he looked broken, physically, mentally, emotionally... I wanted to help him...

That's all I'm trying to do, Mark... I want to help him...

The voice pipes up, startling me with its low tone, containing a certain kind of apprehension. Letting my body relax into the bed once more I feel my arm tighten around the smaller man beside me defensively, Dark chooses to ignore it. Voice strangely calm.

Why do you think I'm here?

I silently scoff.

"To destroy my life...?"

I mutter spitefully, lowering my voice even softer when Jack shuffled gently beside me.

I may be your only protection... Sean's only protection...

I let my eyes move to his arm softly, scanning over the discolored skin uneasily.

"Bullshit... You keep hurting him... What is this, some big revenge against Anti?"

I let the whisper escape distastefully, a new anger clawing up my throat with each word. A flash of irritation crosses over my mind, before returning once more to the eerie calm.

Look, Mark...

He spats my name out nastily.

You don't know Anti like I do... He has no limits, no morals... He killed his last human...

The words come out softly, the gentleness of his tone almost giving me the hint of a lie, but I want to believe him... Anti is certainly capable of killing, but his own human? I just wish someone would give me some answers...

I don't know why these two are here, nor what they're capable of... I don't know who to trust, or if either of them are worth that trust.

He's unstable, and it's only getting worse...

I don't know whether he speaks of Sean or the demon in his head. Either way he isn't wrong. I look down at the man in my arms once more, watching his eyelids twitch softly with dreams, seeming decently pleasant by the small smile residing on his pink lips. I brush a strand of choppy brown hair from his face letting a breath escape my lungs.

I let my eyes move away from him, to the floor near the foot of my bed, where the kitchen knife still sat, glinting lightly in the soft moonlight that peeked through my curtains. I could feel the rip in the mattress beneath me, he was so close to ending it all...

I can help him... both of you...

A certain kind of maliciousness sits under his soft voice, which hardly processes in my mind. I want to believe him.

Just trust me...