Their faces were all around him it seemed. Watching him. Staring into him. Glaring.

Screaming.

He was a monster.

Flashes of the horrid things he's done stamped themselves in his brain. He couldn't look away. He couldn't run or hide from it. It was all just there forcing him to watch. Forcing him to listen as they all screamed into his ears.

And Anti could just hear his own laugh.

Could feel the blood dripping down his neck and arms. On his tongue and even under his fingernails.

'You know you haven't changed'

Anti jumped up sitting in his bed, gasping for air.

Heaving breathe after breathe, he suddenly felt sick but forced himself to try and calm down.

'It was just a nightmare, dumbass. You've had them before.'

Though why did this one feel a bit different? Was it the other voice he heard? Could it have been the demon? 

He shook his head, 'The demon is attached to Actor and it was exorcised out of him. It'll take a while for it to return. Not so soon'

Getting up, he didn't care what time it was. He looked out the window, however, and saw the sun just barely reaching out in the dawn.

With a heavy sigh, he ignored his heart still slightly pounding and went to go take a shower.

Things were still tense from yesterday. 

Everyone was on edge and tightly wound up. Especially Wilford which was the dangerous part.

Sean and Mark decided to halt the filming until Dark was safely back home so instead, they did little videos together here and there to appease their audience while also trying to come up with a plan.

Anti really wished he could go into the void and just grab him but it wasn't as simple as that. Yes, he COULD travel there but the void drains energy out of anyone who goes. By the time he got to Dark, he might be dead and he couldn't teleport himself back let alone the both of them.

The only ones who would be able to are Wilford and Actor because they were touched by its power. 

Getting dressed, he glanced over at Dark's cane. He had set it right by his bed to keep it safe, leaning it slightly on his pillow. He had tried to talk to it like Chase said he had but unfortunately, no one answered. 

He assumed it was because of the demon somehow or maybe Damien and Celine used too much energy talking to Chase at the time. Whatever the reason, he didn't find it fair. 

He felt so . . .helpless. So useless.

He was supposed to be Dark's friend and yet . . . . he failed him. The others would try and be nice, telling him he hasn't failed but just by not seeing it wasn't Dark, that was a failure to him.

He felt like a bad friend. Horrible.

Like he really hadn't changed.

He was still the selfish, greedy asshole he was before. A lowly bastard.

He didn't deserve to keep watch of Dark's cane.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Anti sighed and walked downstairs.

Immediately, Yandere waved for him to walk over, "Hey there, bedhead! You sleep alright?"

Anti just shrugged and kept walking to the kitchen, putting Yan off a bit.

Jackie just cleared his throat, "He's probably just tired."

'Yeah that's it. Just tired. Just ignore me' he thought to himself, 'You all have before anyway'

When he stepped into the kitchen, he went straight for the coffee machine, not caring who else was in the room. He just pulled out a cup and started to fill it.

"Anti. My scanners are telling me your heart-rate elevated recently. Are you feeling alright?"

Anti didn't have to turn to know it was Google, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? My scanners are detecting bullshit in your voice"

"Said I'm fooking fine" he said more firmly.

He turned and saw Google, Dr. Iplier and Henrik looking at him quite concerned.

"You know I have sleeping pills in my office, Anti." Dr. Iplier suggested smoothly, "If you ever need any just ask."

"We know how hard things are at the moment" Henrik continued, "Stress is hard on zhe body"

Anti's fists shook and the coffee nearly spilled but he just stomped out of the room, ignoring their words.

'Rich coming from them. Docs don't sleep a wink and they talk to me like that!?'

He went back in the dining room and sat at his usual spot. Next to where Dark would sit.

He ignored their gazes and worried glances. They all seemed to be whispering about him. The more people that came in, the louder it got and he swore they were talking bad about him. How much of a failure he was. How much he messed up.

Deep inside he knew that wasn't true but that thought hung in his head.

Burned him in his core. He started to glitch anxiously.

By this time, all of the Septic egos except for Marvin had all come down with most of the Ipliers except for Captain Magnum and Bim. Bim was probably already at the studio like a workaholic and Magnum was probably still sleeping. Marvin was keeping watch over Actor while Google came down to recharge.

"Yo dude, is that all you're having for breakfast today?" Bing asked him, "Sh*t, man at least grab some protein"

"Bing, your censoring is back again" Chase pointed out.

"Oh f*ck! F*cking thing! Anti ya mind helping me out with it again? I swear it keeps-"

"Why don't you ask Mark to shut it off permanently. I can't always be your fooking mechanic, Bing"

His voice may have sounded a bit too harsh. Everyone was a bit silent and Bing flipped up his sunglasses, looking at him a bit worried, "Dude, you alr-"

"I fooking swear if someone asks me that ONE MORE TIME! I'M FOOKING F̶I̴N̸E̵,̴ ̶D̴A̷M̷M̵I̸T̸!̴ ̵L̴E̵A̸V̴E̸ ̵M̵E̶ ̸A̶L̶O̵N̶E̶!̷"̸

Everyone stared at him. Even the Ipliers hadn't seen him so worked up since he first started living there.

Since Sean and Mark weren't there at the moment yet and everyone else was too worried to say anything else to Anti, Wilford took charge, instead.

"Now hey there, youngster." he said sternly, "I don't know what you're all worked up about but it's nothing to get all huffy about!"

Anti turned to glare at him and stood, slamming the half-empty cup on the table, "A-are you kidding me, Wil?"

"Anti, calm down-" Illinois tried but Anti's green eyes started to spark, a growl coming up his throat.

"Warfstache. . . . ." he practically hissed, "Dark is GONE. He's fooking trapped in the void with no way out! He's at the demon's fooking mercy growing weaker by the minute and you say there's NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!?"

Wilford didn't seem phased and shrugged, "Darky always gets himself out of tricky situations. Everything will work out just fine"

"God dammit Wil! You're so fooking trapped in your own little imagination, aren't you!? You don't really give a DAMN about him, do you!? Dark could DIE and you don't give a fuck!"

Wilford's nose wrinkled in a signal that would send anyone else running. He brought his gun out and pointed it at Anti, "Now you listen here, glitchy. Wilford Warfstache don't take no shit from nobody. Now you apologize or-"

"OR WHAT?! YOU'LL SHOOT ME!? GO AHEAD! NOT LIKE YOU'LL CARE ANYWAY! LET ME DIE! I DESERVE IT! IT'S ALL MY FAULT THAT DARK IS GONE, I DESERVE IT! SHOOT ME! FOOKING SHOOT ME, WIL!"

Yandere was ready to rush to save him when something unexpected happened.

Usually Wilford would have nonchalantly shot ANYONE.

But this time . . . .

He  lowered his gun.

Anti looked up to see Wilford's hair blocking his eyes as he looked down at the ground, head hung sadly.

"You . .. don't think I care?" he said softly.

Anti suddenly realized just what he said. He had never snapped at Wil before. No one had like that.

"I. . . . . Wil, I-"

Wilford lifted his head back up to look him in the eyes, tears crawling down his face, "You don't think I KNOW what's happening? I KNOW, Anti. I may be crazy but I'm not stupid. Right now, my BROTHER is gone and my ex best-friend is up in his old room after being exorcised from the demon that had him do all those awful things. Do you not think it's hard for me? I want nothing more than to kill him but I can't. . . . . him, I can't."

Anti shook like a leaf.

"I know how you feel, Anti. You've lost a brother, too." Wilford continued, "But you can't just lose hope. You have to keep thinking positively. If you don't, then EVERYTHING will seem bad and hopeless. It's not your fault, Anti. You-"

"Shut up" Anti stopped him. He started to glitch again and his eyes glowed green, sparks coming off of him, "You don't know what I do and don't deserve. You don't know what's my fault. You should have just shot me" 

With that, he ran off, ignoring everyone's shouts. Glitching out of sight, he ran upstairs but not up to the roof. No, that would be the first place everyone would look. Instead, he glitched off to the other side of the house that was usually forbidden. Occupied by Actor and Marvin at the moment. But he wouldn't face them. He just ran into an random empty room and locked the door behind him.

When he turned, he realized he was in a study. Actor's old study. There was a desk, an old type-writer, scripts lying about with post-it stickers with coffee stains and dirt on them. Fancy pictures done the walls and just outside, he could see a tree branch hanging close by the window. The chairs looked uncomfortable and too fancy but the bench nook by the window looked too cozy to resist.

Hesitantly, he walked over to it and sat down with his knees up to his chest, looking out the window. He saw a squirrel out on the tree outside and briefly thought of King.

He wondered sadly what they suddenly thought of him right now. Were they all murmuring things, speaking ill of him? Why wouldn't they?

His mind wouldn't let him think otherwise. Anti knew they cared about him but it was all his fault in his head that Dark was gone. If he hadn't hurt Chase to begin with, he wouldn't have shot him, making Dark use a ton of his energy to save his life. If Dark hadn't healed him, they both would of had the strength to defeat Actor no problem.

In his mind. . . it was all his fault. 

His dream came back to mind. All the screaming and shouting. Yelling at him in anger and fear. Blood all over him and on his knife. His own laughing as he tormented those poor children.

He deserved all their hate. It really was all his fault. 

'It was'

Anti sighed, 'It was. It IS all my fault. I deserve to die for everything I've done. Maybe Dark will come back if I'm not around to pull everyone behind? That's all I'm doing. I'm selfish, aren't I?'

'Yes. You've always been, though'

'I have. They had every right to ignore me in the beginning. I was created as a monster and that's what I was. I should have just accepted that and moved on.'

'Should have done what you were always created to do'

'I was created to be the villain. The bad guy. The person everyone loved to hate'

'You can still be that'

Anti stilled in his thoughts. He could feel something was off but wasn't that just him? Those were his own messed up thoughts. WHY he deserved to die.

'Why die when you can just be everything you were supposed to in the first place? Show them what you really are. You don't need any of them. You never did.'

'I didn't?' his eyes started to cloud over, draining him and putting him in a haze.

'Of course not. And Dark just used you, remember? Used you to fight his battles. Used you to get what HE always wanted. He always got parts in filming. Always him. Always everyone else but you. So unfair, isn't it?'

'It is'

'You should show them how much you don't need them.'

'Show them'

'Start slow. You want them to suffer, don't you? You're in so much pain, after all. Do what you were created for'

'You're right.' Anti thought blankly to himself, 'Created for . . . . I'll make them all suffer. I don't need ANY of them'

Actor suddenly had a moment of realization hit him.

He felt it just so softly. He felt its presence.

But for some reason . . .it wasn't coming for HIM.

Glancing softly at the magician who was reading a book, he wondered if he had felt it too but it didn't look like it.

Actor swallowed thickly and stared up at the ceiling. He should say something. He should.

But he couldn't bring himself to. If they found out then they'd do the same to Anti and the demon would just rush back to HIM again.

And he was just freed.

He could actually live again in peace and quiet. For now.

For now, the demon had a different target. And Actor was just fine with that.