Anti woke up later to Dark moving him off of his lap. He stretched and mewed in protest but was ignored.

'Wish I could talk to him but I still don't trust him enough.' Anti thought to himself, 'I'll just have to hope that the others see the flyers that Dark told Illinois to print and put up back in Brighton.'

Dark cracked his back and went to his bed to sleep instead of nodding on and off in his chair.

Anti had half a mind to follow him but stopped himself, 'I'm used to sleeping in the same bed with Marvin but he's like my brother. . . . if I slept in the same bed as Dark, that'd just be weird'

He shuddered a little and just watched as Dark finally fell asleep.

Anti immediately went to the door to see if it was open or not.

It was!

One of the others must not have latched it all the way when they left!

Anti shoved his way out with his entire body and padded along down the stairs.

He had never been at the Iplier house so he didn't know where he was going but he took his time in sniffing around.

It was late, so no one should be awake.

Anti was getting tired by the time he got all the way downstairs after exploring the other three stories.

'Fucking hell, why is this house so BIG!?'

He made it to what looked to be the living room. It was a pretty clean but Anti figured that was Google's doing.

But something felt off. He felt. . . like he was being watched.

His fur stood on end. He wanted to hide.

This wasn't his home.

'I wanna go home'

But so long as he didn't feel safe, he was trapped.

Looking around, he smelt something sort of familiar, though, and snuck around towards the scent. There on a couch, was a cardigan.

'It smells. . .. almost like Henrik?' he didn't know whose it was but he didn't care. Anti lifted it up with his paws and dug his way under it like a blanket, hiding from whatever he felt was watching him.

He fell asleep like that until morning.

A few hours later, Anti woke up to people talking, mumbling and arguing about mundane things.

He didn't want to leave the cardigan but he was getting nervous about the prospect about being around new people again.

Slowly and cautiously, Anti snuck out of the cardigan and peeked out . . .

Only to make eye contact with several Ipliers.

His eyes widened, afraid, and his fur puffed.

Google was sitting in a couch opposite of him with Bing standing by him. Dr. Iplier was also in the room along with Bim, Stan and Yan.

Bing blinked, "Dude. . . is that a cat?"

Google rolled his eyes, "Of course, it's a cat, you numbskull. What else would it be?"

Bing shrugged.

Yan already knew about him since seeing him yesterday and came forward a little, "Dark found him yesterday in Brighton. I think he's gonna take care of him until or if we find his owners"

They tried to reach out to Anti but he hissed at them in warning. He didn't want pet right now. He just wanted to go home.

But Yan just smiled, liking his feisty attitude, "He's crazy, isn't he?! I like him!"

Bim made a disgusted face, "Of course you would. Just keep it away from me. I don't like cats."

Dr. Iplier raised a brow at him, "How come? Are you allergic and I didn't know about it?"

Bim huffed, "No. I just like dogs better. Cats are evil"

"It doesn't seem evil to me" Google stared at Anti, "It just looks. . . afraid"

"And dehydrated." Stan commented, "He needs some water"

Yandere cooed at him, "Don't be afraid, little guy! We won't hurt you! Come here, I'll get you back upstairs with Dark."

Anti was thinking about it at first but Yan walked towards him too fast and scared him. He bolted and ran. He didn't know where to.

But he recognized a kitchen and hid under the table.

'This is worse than the streets! I don't know these people! I just wanna go back home! Please, Marvin, just sense me or something! Please find me!'

But nothing happened.

He wanted to cry.

It shocked even him when a whine left his little mouth.

He heard talking again in the other room but he didn't care.

Anti heard the sound of heavy shoes walking in the room and saw someone walking in with black pants.

He heard a sigh and saw them dip their head down.

It was Dark.

Anti mewed and clung onto one of the legs of the table, still trying to hide.

Dark didn't try to get him out. Instead, he just watched him for a few moments and sighed.

"No one will hurt you here. . . . . but I understand your distrust, little one." he bent down and reached his hand out, "If you come with me, Edward can see if you have a chip and make sure you're healthy. And then Illinois will be putting up flyers for your owners to find you. . . if you have any. Come on"

He spoke to him as if Anti was a human.

'God, he's so fucking weird' Anti thought to himself, 'But he did save me. . . . Dammit'

Tail between his legs, Anti carefully stalked out from under the table and closer little by little towards Dark.

Dark waited until he was close enough and then picked him up, holding him to his chest.

Anti was used to being held but he'd rather it be by his brothers. He dug his claws into Dark's suit but the man didn't even flinch.

'So weird'

Dark brought him back into the living room and Edward walked over.

"Alright. . . want me to take him from here or can you bring him with you to my little office?"

Dark took a breathe and emotionlessly hummed, "I'll come. He might be calmer that way"

"Alright"

Anti hated this. He already had to go through this check-up bullshit once with Henrik but now Dr. Iplier DID have that cardigan on . .. . he smelled like the doctor Anti knew.

'Do they hang out a lot?' Anti wondered to himself, 'I smell Hen on him. Maybe he's my way home? He'll have to say SOMETHING too Henrik about me when they see each other again, right?'

Dr. Iplier did all the necessary tests while Dark held him but of course, they didn't find a chip in him.

When Anti was done, Dark took him upstairs with him and gave him a little treat of a can of salmon. His favorite was tuna but he'd deal with it.

Dark watched him creepily again, "I'll have Eric get you cat food today. He'll enjoy doing that"

When Anti was done eating, he had the opportunity to watch Dark a little. The head Iplier seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and didn't notice Anti staring at him.

'He seems so . . ..odd up close. So sad and miserable' Anti noticed, 'Kind of like Chase . . . . I even miss Chase. . . . .'

Anti's ears drew back, remembering how he never actually made up with him.

He must have whined a little again, because Dark heard him and his eyes were drawn back to the cat, "Finished?" he took the empty can and threw it away before picking him up in his arms again.

Anti dug his claws in his arm a little but once again. . . Dark didn't react. It was like he was expecting it and didn't care.

Or he was just used to pain. . .

Dark happened to walk by Illinois who had a bunch of papers in his hands, "Oh hey, Dark! Hi, kitty! I got the flyers made, boss, just how you wanted. I'm going to have Wilford drop me off in Brighton so I can put them all up."

"Good" Dark nodded to him and kept walking.

Illinois tried to follow him, though, "Did the Doc find a chip in him?"

"No."

"Oh . . . that's too bad" Illinois didn't seem TOO upset about it, "He looks pretty cozy with you holding him, though, huh? Maybe YOU'LL be his new owner, eh?"

Dark gave him a side-glance, "I do believe we'll find his previous owners, Illinois. Do not get attached to him. Even Dr. Iplier said he was too well taken care of to just be a stray"

Illinois' smile faded, "Oh . . right.. . . yeah, no, you're right. Should would be nice having a pet around the house, though. He sure is cute"

Dark started to walk away again, "I suppose"

Anti peered behind Dark at Illinois. He looked pretty dejected and something told Anti that Illinois really wanted to keep him there.

Walking up to Dark's office, they happened to come across Google again.

"Google" Dark mumbled.

Google stopped, "Yes?"

"Come with me. I need your assistance"

Anti was worried about what Dark was planning on using Google for but something told him it involved him.

Going up the stairs, Anti made eye contact with the android. Google looked just as emotionless as Dark but with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

When they got into Dark's office, Dark set Anti down on the floor and had Google shut and latch the door.

"What did you need my assistance for, Dark?" Google asked him.

Anti ran off under Dark's bed, not trusting the situation.

Dark watched him bolt and sighed, "Can you pull up anything you know about cats? I really only know about dogs since Mark was more of a dog person."

Google blinked at him, "Well . . . I could. . . but there's a lot of information in that specific area. Could you perhaps narrow your search?"

Dark rolled his eyes, "I don't know . . . . perhaps. . . cat behavior first. How to calm them, maybe? Nothing I do seems to be working."

Google's eyes glowed blue and he cleared his throat, "I've found the results you require. I've sent several useful links to your email. . . . . but for what it's worth, Dark. You know more than you lead on."

Dark stared at him a bit confused, "How's that?"

"The cat trusts you otherwise it wouldn't have let you pick it up at all. You are the one calming it"

Dark hummed to himself, ". . ..Very well. . ..suitable news, I suppose. Now then . . . another question. . . how do I get it to come out of hiding?"

Anti growled to himself under the bed, 'Never'

Google snapped his fingers and a small red light blinked on his index finger.

It was like a laser pointer!

Google pointed it in front of the bed and wiggled it around.

Anti couldn't help himself and went into an instinctual stalking position and lunged at it.

Google was wiggling the light around on the floor and Anti didn't even realize he was no longer underneath the bed, chasing after the light and trying to attack it.

Dark nodded, "Well done. Keep him busy while I read through the links you sent me, will you?"

Google nodded.

Really, he didn't mind. He was curious about the little cat and oddly enjoyed interacting with it.

His curiosity was peeking through again.

"If you don't find its owner. . . we will keep it, correct?"

Dark opened up his email and put on his glasses, "I suppose. Perhaps."

"What will we call it if that time comes to pass?"

Anti was so fast, Google could barely keep up staying ahead with his laser.

Dark stared at him.

"I don't know. . . I'll let the house name him when the time comes"

Google didn't reply and instead, kept playing with Anti who had momentarily forgotten about his worries.

The Septics had wandered up and down the streets in search of Anti the cat.

Jackie had caught several black cats with green eyes but Marvin confirmed that none of them were Anti.

Chase was setting out cans of tuna but it only seemed to lure foxes, raccoons and other stray cats that WEREN'T Anti.

Marvin was trying to use a tracking spell to try and find him but it kept coming up cold, not realizing that Anti was already way too far away for the spell to work.

And Jameson and Henrik were putting up flyers.

Illinois was also putting up flyers.

Until he saw the other flyer. It didn't have any of the Septics names on it. Just a phone number. He didn't know that Anti was THEIR cat.

But he knew that someone WAS looking for him.

Wilford stared at him, "Are you sure about that?"

Illinois looked at him, "What?"

"I know what you're thinking, boy-o . . .. are you sure you wanna do that?"

Illinois wasn't sure.

But he WAS selfish.

"I know his owners are looking for him but. . ..but he's so cute, Wil! You agree with me, right? Let's keep the cat! Obviously they weren't good owners anyway, right? They LOST him! We could do SO much better for him!"

Wilford just shrugged, "Oh I don't know. But if Dark finds out, leave me out of it, ya hear?"

Illinois knew what he was going to do now. . .

It wasn't right.

But he didn't care.

He walked over to a nearby trash can and threw away all the flyers, taking the other ones they put up down as well.

'He's our cat now. Should have taken better care of him'

Illinois made himself believe he was justified but he had no idea the hell that awaited him if Dark or the Septics ever found out.