Nobody really knew what do to. What to say.

Chase was pissed, though. He could tell his Septic brethren were, too. Sean . . . AND Mark . .  

How DARE they! They believed such things in the beginning?

That they didn't have feelings? Couldn't be like normal people?

Chase's blood boiled. He thought about his kids. About Anti. 

Did they think his kids didn't feel like normal people do, either!?

Now all the Septics truly understood Anti's pain. Sean. . . left him. He was just a crumpled piece of paper in the trash to him.

Practice.

That he thought he failed at.

No wonder Anti was so pissed at him back then. No wonder he acted out like that.

"Wow" Marvin was the one to speak up first, "No wonder he fucking hated us"

Jackie still couldn't say anything and Jameson and Henrik looked ashamed they didn't see it.

Chase, however, scoffed, "Should've known, I guess. You never did like discussing how we were all created. Never liked the thought of giving us. . .origin stories" he glared over at Sean, "You never gave us a clear answer before how Anti was made. How he came about. And we find out he was just a . . . a what? Work-in-progress? A abandoned project you could just come back to whenever you felt ready!? We are PEOPLE, Sean! We're REAL PEOPLE!"

"I know that!" the creator shouted back, ". . . . I fooking know that. I was stupid, alright? I know I was. I don't deserve you guys in my life. I did you all wrong. Did Anti wrong. Treated him like an outcast from the beginning. Never listened to him. Because I just thought he was . . . . was not important enough"

Jackie scowled at the situation and walked over to Sean. At first they all thought the hero would say something positive like he always does. But instead, he belted back and punched him clean in the jaw, knocking Sean on his ass. Sean whimpered at the strong impact but didn't fight it.

"I deserve that"

Jackie scoffed, "That was for Anti. For all the bullshit you put him AND us through. You made us think he was just the bad guy. A psycho. But he's not! You just . . . you hurt him. And made us hurt him, too."

"You should feel ashamed of yourself" Henrik closed his eyes, pinching his nose, "Anti MAY forgive us . . . but we ALL have a lot to make up for"

'We should be thinking of ways to get Anti back' Jameson butt in, 'With Dark now, it could be possible'

Actor shook his head, "Dark is about as useful as a gnat right now. It'll take days before he's able to-"

"OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Dark, I really don't think-"

Suddenly Darkiplier burst through the small crowd of Ipliers and Septics with Dr. Iplier behind him but before anyone could embrace him or say anything, he growled out roughly and launched himself at the stairs.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I NEED THE DAMN CANE! I NEED THEM TO SAVE ANTI!"

Everyone was terribly confused.

Who?

Mark grabbed Dark to try and prevent him from hurting himself running up the stairs, "Dammit, Dark! Calm down! You need rest! You only just got back"

"I don't need rest! I need to protect my brother!" Dark tried to fight his way out of his creator's grasp but unfortunately for him, Mark was stronger at the moment.

Dark was breathing heavily and shivering and finally his weak muscles gave up and he slumped onto one of the stairs, "Damn you" he whimpered to himself, "I need to help him"

Dr. Iplier rushed over to him to feel his head and check him and everyone just stared at the scene, not sure what to say. After Sean and Mark's reveal, they all just felt a little numb.

"What do you need, Dark?" Chase finally asked.

Dark glared at him, still having not forgiven him for shooting Anti, "Hrrrnnnn. . . .. . . . my cane"

"I'll go get it" Jackie offered, "It's in Anti's room. Chase, come with me" he ran up the stairs to get away from everyone else, dragging the father up with him.

"Dude?" Chase questioned him as they passed up the first flight, "Why you dragging me? You could've-"

"Did you NOT see the way he was glaring at you?" Jackie asked, "He may be weak right now but he could still find a way to murder you in plain sight, bro"

Chase gulped, "You right, I guess."

As they trekked up the stairs to Anti's room, the others stayed down with Dark.

Yan was the first to ask him, "Where were you in the void? What did you see?! Are you dead or something? A zombie!? You sure are acting like one!"

Dark narrowed his eyes at them, "No, I'm not dead.  . . . .  I . . . I was in the cabin. Where Celine kept Damien while they were in limbo in the void. Demon couldn't . . . couldn't get to me there with . . . her magic"

"Forgot she was a seer" Marvin thought out loud, "So the Demon is trying to take Anti in replacement of Actor. What do we do?"

Everyone looked to Dark.

Before he disappeared, he was the man with all the answers.

Why wouldn't that have changed?

But Dark looked lost, "I. . . .. I don't know. I need. . need the cane" he leaned his back against the stairs, getting tired again, "They could. . . . save him, too"

"You think they could?" Mark asked, "With you being of the void, I mean, you survived there. What if-"

"Don't talk to me" Dark hissed, "If you think I was deaf, you're wrong. I know what you did, Mark. Don't fucking talk to me. Anti comes first and we WILL get him back and destroy this fucking demon once and for all. Even if it kills you" his eyes glowed red.

Mark swallowed, "Don't you mean . . if it kill us?"

"If it kills you. You are the  . . . the one who caused all this, after all. The demon is . ..  is your doing"

Mark sighed, "I-"

"Found it!" Jackie and Chase were racing back down in a hurry with the cane in hand.

Dark practically threw himself up to grab it from them, "Give it!" he snatched it out of their hands and his eyes glowed blue, "Damien? Damien, can you hear me?"

Nothing.

"DAMIEN! CELINE, CAN YOU HEAR ME!?"

But the connection seemed to be blocked. He couldn't hear them like he used to. Couldn't use their power or aura.

Dark shook the cane vigorously in anger, "DAMMIT! FUCKING LISTEN TO ME! SAVE HIM! SAVE ANTI NOW!"

'Why would I do that when the fun is just about to begin?'

Dark stilled and snarled at the sound of that voice, "Demon scum. . . .. what have you done?"

'See you all very soon. This will be grand. You'll all see my beautiful new toy when he's all done up and ready'

"I'll fucking kill you"

'With what power?' it laughed at him, 'See you soon'

Dark wanted to throw the cane or smash it but he refrained himself, shaking in his anger as the demon disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked, "W-what happened?" the others hadn't heard what was said by who.

Dark looked up but instead of locking eyes with Eric. . . .he met a familiar face.

"Actor" he snarled, "You son of a bitch"

The man held up his hands, "Now Dark, let's be rational about this"

"You could have said something! Anything! Y-YOU KNEW!" Dark tried to stand again but failed, his head getting light again.

"Knew?" Illinois asked, "Knew what?"

"That he was a dirty rat? I already knew that!" Wilford laughed, "What are we talking about?"

Dark glared and huffed, losing his breathe with all his yelling, "You knew the demon was in Anti. . . ..  yet you . . .you said nothing"

Actor's eye twitched, "And what was I supposed to do? If they all knew, they'd get rid of the demon and it'd come back inside of me! I don't want that! At least I kept the demon at bay from causing trouble as long as I could! With the magician around, the demon couldn't-" he stopped himself and suddenly everyone understood.

Marvin got it, "No wonder you were dragging me along with you all the time where Anti 'just so happened to be'" he sighed, "So fooking stupid"

"You're not stupid, senpai!" Yandere defended him, "You're just . . . . ..  well. . ..  yeah, I guess you were pretty dumb"

Marvin blinked and looked offended but Yan just shrugged, "The things I caught you doing on camera. . . . . I'm surprised, really"

"Anyway, we-"

"Anti will die if we don't save him NOW" Dark interrupted again, "Right . . . now. We need to do something." he kept staring at Actor, "And he's the only one . . . . who can help"

"This freakaloid?" Yancy asked.

"What!? No! Just have the damn magician perform a spell or something!" Actor argued, "I can't go through it all again! I won't! You all don't realize what that fucking thing has done to me!"

"I don't have any magic control with the void. It's beyond me" Marvin stated.

"Actor-"

"No, Mark!" Actor argued, "The sad part is that you could have STILL helped me at the time . . . .. and you DIDN'T! You didn't care! You made me suffer! Made the District Attorney suffer and they are dead now, too, because of YOU! Not to mention Abe lost his mind along with Wil, lost in the fucking void!"

"Actor, please! There isn't-"

"I can't do it again! I'd rather die!" he started to cry.

"FUCKING HELL, ACTOR MARK!" Dark stumbled and fell on the ground at the man's feet, shocking everyone, "What will it take!? You're the only one that can save him! PLEASE, for once in your fucking life, do something that matters and stop being so fucking selfish!"

Actor was stunned by Dark's position as was everyone else. No one had ever seen Dark like this before. 

Dark gripped Actor's legs and practically pleaded, "I don't . ..  I don't care what it takes! You have to . . have to save him! He can't . .. He doesn't  . . deserve it. Please. . .Please, I'll do anything. Just please.. ."

Actor couldn't believe what was happening. The man that could potentially kill him at any other given time was on his knees in front of him. Begging him to help them.

Actor swallowed, "The demon will take control over me again"

"So we exorcise the bastard" Marvin huffed, "We exorcise it out of Anti AND you. Until it finally gives up and goes back to hell or whatever"

Actor didn't know what to do or say. They were speaking sound logic but he couldn't help but to feel . . .distrustful.

Dark had tears streaked down his face. Never before had he ever felt so . . powerless. Usually he would never in a billion years beg anyone, especially Actor for help. And yet here he was.

"Actor" Mark directed his attention to him and everyone else looked his way as well, "Your story doesn't end with the demon. I promise. I'll find a way to help you"

It was silent as a mouse and Actor clenched his fists as Wilford came to help Dark stand up.

'What do I do?' he asked himself.

Everyone awaited his answer.

Meanwhile with Anti, he was in another memory but this time, the Septics were all yelling at him. It was that night Sean disowned him. Truly and once and for all threw him aside, breaking him.

'They didn't care' the demon laughed, 'They all just watched it happen, didn't they? Didn't say a word as he let you go and Chase shot you'

'I hurt them, too' Anti tried to argue.

'Not as much as they did, you.'

'I could have done better. I didn't have to play his game of the bad guy'

'But what else could you do . . . . and they still flinch when you glitch. They don't trust you still to this day'

He saw again as Sean uttered those words. He saw himself burst away from Jackie to attack Sean.

Anti watched as Chase shot him in the back without hesitating. He had been wanting to do that for so long. They saw his pain. Yet did nothing.

'You could have died that night if you hadn't chose to go to Dark. They didn't care'

Anti cringed, tears flooding down his face. That part was right. They didn't go after him. Didn't check to see if he had survived or not. He could have bled out if he did nothing.

He wanted to do nothing.

Sometimes he thought if that would have been better.

'They found out a year later you were living with the Ipliers. Didn't ask about you at all. Then they had the nerve to act as you . . . . the magician took your place. Then they STILL gave you the role you hated a couple weeks ago. And Dark pressured you into it. You let Sean manipulate you again. . . . . . I didn't help Chase pull the trigger a second time. He did that all on his own.'

Anti covered his ears but it was no use. He still heard its voice ringing in his head. This time, he knew it was all the truth. The demon was just saying everything he already knew now.

It was right.

'They never cared about me. Not really. Do they now?' he asked himself.

'Do you want to see?'

The demon let him see what was happening at the Iplier mansion. They were all surrounding Dark and Actor. They looked to be discussing something.

But it didn't LOOK like it had anything to do with him.

'They . . . . they're more concerned about Dark.' Anti couldn't hear their words but he had it in his head that he knew what they were talking about.

They were just so happy to have Dark back.

They only cared about Dark.

'What a good trade, hm?' the demon chuckled, sinking its claws in his head, pouring his ideas into him like a well, 'Why bother getting a piece of trash back when they have their main character? You were always worthless to them'

'Trash?'

'Oh don't you remember? Or did you block it out?' the demon laughed, knowing it had finally got to him after showing him all his worst fear and memories over and over again, 'You were nothing but practice to Sean. And he'd tell you the same thing. He's already told everyone else'

Anti glitched, his eyes turning black with sparks of green flinging off of him.

' . . . . . Just . . . . Practice?'

'And look at that. . . . Sean found something better in the long run. You were worthless from the beginning. . . . . But not to me. Do you see now?'

'. . . . . . . .' Anti didn't say anything but the demon knew.

It was time for the real show to begin.