"Well, well. . . . You're certainly out of your element, aren't you?"

Anti only knew there was a man standing above him and that alone was enough to scare the shit out of him.

But when he slowly turned around to see the man's face. . . . 

He just wished the dog would have eaten him.

There he was, a blank expression on his face just as intimidating as always.

Darkiplier.

Anti hoped Dark didn't recognize him but then again, how would he?

He gave out a tiny, pathetic mew. Keep in mind, he was still shivering from the cold and just looked SO horribly sad.

Dark tilted his head and reached down, picking him up in his arms.

Anti was frozen in more ways than one.

Just then, they could hear barking and howling getting louder and louder until the dog had returned, running up to Dark with a rabid rage its eyes.

Anti was terrified. He didn't know anything about Dark. Would he drop him in front of the dog as an offering? Let the dog tear him up and eat him alive?

Dark never struck Anti as the sort of person to give a shit about anything or anyone.

Calmly and coldly, Dark stared down at the large dog who was growling and barking at him.

But suddenly, it much have felt Dark's wrath and started to whimper. It broke eye contact and ran off!

Dark still didn't smile but held Anti in his arms even tighter, "There we go. . . . how about you come home with me, little one? I came here to try and find someone but it doesn't look as though luck is on MY side today. Luck chose you today, it seems, hm?"

Anti realized that Dark didn't realize that it was him.

Although he wanted to go back home to the Septics, it didn't seem as though he had much of a choice if he were to survive at all.

Anti squirmed in Dark's grasp and wriggled his way into his jacket to keep warm.

Anti could have sworn he heard Dark chuckle just a little but he couldn't be sure. Dark held him securely in the jacket and vanished.

It was time to go home.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, MARV!?" Jackie yelled at him, "AND ALL THIS TIME, YOU KNEW I WAS LOOKING FOR ANTI . . . FUCK! WE NEED TO GO OUT AND FIND HIM NOW! THAT IDIOT WOULD NEVER SURVIVE OUT THERE ON HIS OWN!"

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!" Marvin rolled his eyes with an angry scoff.

"Vait!" Henrik snapped his fingers, "Can he use his powers at all?"

"No, unfortunately, he's just all cat." Marvin shrugged, "But I DID cast a spell on him, too, so that he could talk. Told him not to around you guys, though"

Chase felt even worse for what he had done a while back, "Aw man . . . I KICKED him. . . poor little guy" his eyes were tearing up.

Jameson pat his back. Even he felt bad now for forcing all those cat clothes on him.

"We don't have time for this" Marvin shut him up, "We should all split up and go looking for him. Let's go!"

"Right!" 

Anti was getting warmer in Dark's jacket, loving the body heat coming off of him. With as cold as the bastard could be, you'd think his body would be the same temperature.

He found himself purring, not in his right mind. Dark could feel it and pat him gently over the jacket, "Welcome to your new home for now, I guess." he gently pulled him out as he walked inside the house much to Anti's displeasure.

Anti whirled around and latched onto Dark's suit with his claws, ears back in fear.

Dark wasn't worried, though and held him, "It's alright. I'll take you to my office"

He started to walk up the stairs and Anti slowly started to calm down again.

Sort of.

Why was Dark doing this?

Of course, Anti didn't REALLY know him but he thought he had known enough.

Apparently not.

Was Dark just bad at SHOWING any emotions?

They got up to his office and Dark closed the door behind them and set him down on the floor.

Anti spotted a fireplace and RAN over to it excitedly, flopping onto his back, belly fur in the air.

He could have sworn he saw Dark smile a little.

Dark walked slowly over to his desk and pulled out his phone, "I'll order you some cat food. I'm sure you wouldn't mind whatever kind I get"

Anti was already falling asleep in front of the fire.

He was just so exhausted, he couldn't help himself.

By the time he woke up, he could hear some people making sounds of squeaks and gushing. He could also smell food.

He cracked open his eyes.

Eric was sitting down on the floor not to far away from him with a bag of kibble in his arms, pouring it into a small dish.

Anti licked his lips. Anything sounded good at the moment. 

He ignored Yandere, Illinois and Dr. Iplier in the room, too and cautiously but quickly scurried over to Eric to the dish.

He could tell Eric meant him no harm and started scarfing the food down, making little noises as he did so.

"Aw" Eric squeaked and slowly reached out to pet his back.

Anti's back arched and his fur stood on end but he let Eric pet him. The food was more important.

Dark watched them, his face emotionless. It was pretty hard to tell what he was thinking even for the Ipliers. They'd never have guessed Dark would EVER bring home an animal, let alone a cat and take care of it.

"Doctor, perhaps you could run some tests on the animal? Bloodwork. Make sure its had its shots and whatnot"

"Yes sir." Edward nodded, "First thing tomorrow morning. I don't think there's really any need to hurry. His fur is very clean for a stray. I'm guessing it got lost or strayed too far away from his family. You're sure you didn't see a collar or anything?"

"No." Dark was point blank, "He was just as you see him. You should check for a chip in the morning as well, I suppose."

"Can we keep him?" Eric grinned, excited, "He's so cute!"

Yandere hovered over Eric, watching the cat eat ravenously, "He's certainly hungry, too. Little guy's gonna get fat here"

Dark blinked, "If it turns out he doesn't belong to anyone, we can keep him. I was in Brighton when I found him so I'm sure I can count on you, Illinois to put around flyers?"

Illinois just stared at the cat. There was something about him  . . . .

Then again, Illinois loved cats anyway. He really hoped the cat didn't belong to anyone.

"Illinois!" Dark raised his voice.

Illinois jumped a little and nodded, "Yes, sir. I'll get right on it first thing tomorrow."

Anti was finally finished and licked his lips and purred. He was happy, warm and full.

And ready to go back home.

But how would he do that?

He overheard Dark talk about the flyers. He supposed his best chance would be if the Septics saw the flyers and retrieved him that way.

Anti stretched, getting tired again and walked lazily back over to the fireplace. He flopped on his stomach in front of the fire, all four limbs splayed out dramatically.

"AAWWWW!" Yandere groaned, "He's so cute! Do we really have to look for his other owners?! Obviously they didn't love him enough if they let him outside to DIE!"

Yandere was ignored though and Dark ushered them out of the room so the cat could have some peace and quiet.

It was just them again.

Anti didn't mind so long as Dark didn't realize who he was and wasn't mean to him. It seemed as though he were in the clear.

Dark walked over to the fireplace and sat down in a chair with a heavy sigh.

"I thought I'd find him there. . . . Heard he's missing. Doesn't matter too much though, I guess. Found you. Maybe I could at least help you"

Anti didn't hear a word he said.

A bit of time passed on when Anti woke up again and he looked up to see that Dark had fallen asleep in his chair.

He didn't know what he was thinking.

Anti must have let the kibble and trauma get to his head.

He jumped up on Dark's lap and laid down to cuddle him.

Dark cracked open an eye but didn't move otherwise. He just closed his eyes again, going back to sleep.

Anti had no idea the chaos that was enusing in the Septic household at that moment without him.