Anti was actually . . frozen.

His face hurt after Jackie's punch. Even without Mia's help, he was still pretty strong now.

Chase held Mia on the floor, hugging her and trying to comfort her.

He heard a ringing in his ears. He felt like he'd get sick right there on the floor. A little of Mia's blood dripped on the hardwood from Anti's attack on her.

Henrik was looking over her. It was just a nick on her neck. That was it. Nothing dangerous. But then why did Anti feel this way?!

Seeing her like this . . . .

Terrified of him.

"Hey!" Jackie forced Anti on his feet, fire in his eyes, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!? HUH?! ANSWER ME!"

Anti couldn't tear away his eyes from Mia, though. So scared.

Anti felt his chest constricting. Suffocating him.

"I . . . . . M-mia . . .I . .. "

The girl heard her name from his lips and just barely looked over at him. Chase helped her to stand up and it got quiet in the room.

Anti tried taking a step forward but her instincts took over and she flinched, stepping away behind Chase.

"N- . . .I . . I didn't mean . . . I didn't mean it! I swear!" Anti wasn't ignorant. He knew what this meant. And if he already fucked up so bad, he was gonna be thrown out for sure.

'Why am I like this?! I just constantly fuck myself over every time! Losing control like a fucking child!'

They could see Anti struggling but no one knew really what to do.

"I uh . .I'm gonna go call Sean" Marvin spoke up. He walked away to go get him on the phone.

Anti looked really conflicted but he knew what he had to do.

"Mia! L-look at me" he pleaded with her.

Mia wasn't sure what to do at the moment. She was scared it was just a trick. Seeing Anti freak out like that, she had never seen him lose control. And she never wanted to again.

But in this moment, he did look . . . . sincere.

She turned to look him in the eye again.

Anti shook. He had never done this before. Never had a purpose to.

"I'm sorry . . . .. I . . . . I don't know what c-came over me. .. . But it won't happen again. I swear it . . I didn't . . I didn't mean to lose control of myself." he stumbled over his words.

Henrik walked over to him, unafraid and hummed to himself, "He seems to be telling zhe truth . . ."

Jackie snarled, "So what?! I don't care about that! He could have killed Mia for fuck sake! He went over the fucking line and he shouldn't be allowed to stay here anymore. I don't care what Sean says! He can't be trusted!"

Anti flinched at that. Honestly, this was one of the times he really didn't mean to hurt anyone.

"You're right. . . "

Everyone stared at Anti, surprised but the glitch went on, "I . . went overboard and I can't be trusted. I . . I understand. But please . . . please. I'm fucking begging you now. Don't send me back out there to those creatures"

Jackie scoffed, "Oh great, now he's trying to get us to pity him, playing the victim. There are no shadow creatures! Marvin, Mia, and I saw in your head! It was just a fucking dog!"

Anti shook his head, "You didn't see all of it. I'm not THAT crazy"

'I don't know, maybe we should give him another chance?' Jameson asked, 'He didn't REALLY hurt anyone this time'

"He put a knife to Mia's throat" Chase huffed, "But then again it's not even bleeding anymore. What do you think, Mia?"

"Yes, vhat about you, Mia?" Henrik asked, too, "You should have the decision. What do you vant to do?"

Marvin came back in the room and heard what they were saying. He nodded to Mia, "We'll support you whatever you choose"

Anti gave her pleading eyes. She wasn't really sure.

But also . . .

'I don't think . . Anti's actually gotten a lot of chances, has he? I know he tried to kill them all . . he almost could have killed me . . . but he looks really genuine right now, too. . . I don't know'

She didn't know whether she'd regret this or not.

Seeing Anti look so fearful after what he did sort of cut into her more than the knife did. He really was scared, wasn't he?

"Let him stay." she finally decided, "I'm fine. As long as he promises not to do it again"

Anti nodded, a look of relief in his features, "I promise"

"Okay . . ." she shrugged, "He can stay, then . . I'm gonna go wash off this mess"

It was then that everyone realized and remembered that Mia, Chase and Anti were all still covered with pink dye, glue and feathers. But they weren't too concerned about that at that moment, either.

Anti sighed, feeling like he'd fall over from the stress. He really didn't want to be kicked out already. Those creatures were just waiting to dig into him, he knew it.

But his stress returned when Mia walked away up to her room, leaving him alone with the others.

Jackie seethed in his ear, "You touch her again and I won't waste time with calling Sean. I'll fucking kill you where you stand. You got that?"

The others seemed to agree with Jackie's statement and all Anti could do was just nod. He couldn't be mad at them, though. He understood fully. She was their only sister.

He was starting to understand what that bond meant now.

When Sean arrived, of course he was panicked but seeing as there was nobody dead on the floor, he was instantly relaxed.

He was still worried about the youngest in the family, though and rushed into Mia's room, not even bothering on knocking on the door.

Mia screeched at him, trying to pull the feathers off of her clothes, "WHAT THE HELL, SEAN!? FUCKING KNOCK!"

"Sorry not sorry! Are you okay!? Did he hurt you!!?" Sean rushed on over her uncaring if she were only half-dressed or not. She was basically his daughter in everything but name anyway, too worried to care about anything else.

"No, I'm fine" Mia rolled her eyes, shoving him off of her, "My clothes have seen better days, though"

"I'll buy you more." he sighed, "So . . . what happened? I didn't really ask Marvin on the phone"

Mia glanced away, moving to go sit on her bed, "Oh . . well . . . Chase and I had our round eleven. . . "

Sean instantly regretted asking, "Oh Mia" he sighed heavily, "Don't tell me"

"Anti got in the middle of it . . . he kind of scared the both of us. We kinda just . . reacted and blasted him, too"

"And?" he knew there was more.

"And . . . of course he freaked out and uh . . . he had a knife to my throat-"

"Jaysus fucking christ" he cursed, "Was it a mistake to let him stay here? Just tell me. Give me the word and he's gone, Mia. Anyone getting hurt while he's here is not worth it"

Mia shook her head, "N-no . . .I'm fine, Sean. I already told him I'd give him another chance. He seemed . . . well really, he seemed panicked himself. Like he . .couldn't control it. He practically begged all of us not to kick him out"

Sean narrowed his eyes, "That's strange" he crossed his arms thoughtfully and hummed, "Does it have anything to do with these creatures he spoke about?"

She nodded, "I think so. If they're real or not, he really is scared of them"

"Thanks for telling me, Mia . . . You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah . . . I'll be fine. I was just . . . freaked out, myself, is all. I'm good"

"Good . . . . . I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to any of you. Not again."

She nodded her head again. She finally realized all their fears now. But also, the sheer fear in Anti's own eyes broke into her, too. She didn't know what to feel about Anti anymore. But she wasn't going to just blindly trust him anymore, that was for sure.

"So" Sean spoke again, coming to sit beside her on the bed, "Jackie probably told ya about a video I'm gonna have him do? For the ego-verse?"

She nodded, "You . . . you need me, I assume? For stunts or whatever?" she was irritated that he'd bring it up right now but also kind of thankful he was distracting her from thinking about the glitch.

"Maybe . . . I was actually thinking about doing the video in LA and doing a few more videos for Cloak with Mark. He thinks it'd be a good idea, too. What you think?"

"You're asking me?" she scoffed, "You usually don't ask ANYONE"

"I'm asking you, Mia. I trust your judgment"

"You shouldn't"

Sean gave her a side-eye and lightly shoved her, "Hey don't think like that. I think you made the right decision. I trust you"

She wouldn't look at him, "So when do we leave? Who's all coming?"

Sean shrugged, "Haven't figured that out yet but soon. And . . . just you and Jackie so far. I might have Marv come along, too, just in case of other extravagant things we might wanna do."

Mia paled at that, 'Great . . .I'm gonna have to use my ability on both Jackie AND Marvin? Fuck it all, this day just keep getting better and better' she wasn't too thrilled with the thought. She knew it'd take a lot out of her.

But as she glanced back over at Sean, she couldn't bring herself to argue. She never could.

She could never disappoint him. Especially not after today.

Before Sean left, he had wandered over to Anti's room to talk to him.

Anti didn't understand why Sean hadn't chewed him out. Was he crazy?

All he did was give him a big grin and talk about his upcoming projects with him. Of course, he had mentioned that Mia had forgiven him so that would be enough for now but also . . . it was sort of unnerving.

But Anti was so caught up in his own thoughts, he hadn't really noticed when Sean talked about possibly putting HIM in a video when they go out to LA soon. He hadn't even processed it. It sort of just went over his head and he had no time to think about it after Sean escaped his room.

Anti was still thinking about earlier. About how easily Mia had forgiven him.

'Is SHE crazy? It'd make sense . . . Then again, it makes no sense. She's supposed to be the smarter of all of them, right? The protector? She's not doing a great job if . . .'

But Anti couldn't bring himself to finish his thoughts.

The more he thought about her, the more he felt that feeling in his chest. He hated it.

He hated seeing her like that. And for her to forgive her so easily. Did she just do it for Sean?

Anti was never normally like this. Thinking about other people and their feelings. But . . . it reminded him of what he used to feel.

She reminded him of himself in a way.

Back when he was in that tank . . . .

Not even thinking, he found himself walking out of his room, his feet taking him where he needed to go.

In the back of his mind, he knew where he was going but pretended not to know. He didn't want to psyche himself out of it.

And suddenly, he found himself at Mia's door, his hand hovering over the wood to knock on it.

He hesitated for a moment before ripping off the band-aid and knocking harshly.

For a while, there wasn't any sound or movement. Anti was thinking that perhaps she had gone downstairs or somewhere else.

He was ready to turn around and go back to his room when the door suddenly shot open.

Revealing . . .

Marvin?

Anti stared at him.

Marvin stared back, "Uh . . .hey, man"

" . . . .hi?"

Marvin nodded, "OH! You're probably wondering why I'm in Mia's room! Uh . . I was helping her spell the dye off of her. Do you need help, too? You got some pink on your cheeks . . or is that a blush?" he giggled at him.

Anti scoffed and turned away, "Don't need your damn help. Forget it. I'll talk to her later"

"You sure? She's just in the bathroom! It'll only take a moment!"

But Anti was already walking fast back to his own room.

'Damn magician . . . .'

He hoped he wouldn't tell Mia he tried to stop by.

"HEY MIA! ANTI TRIED TO COME OVER TO YOUR ROOM BUT HE GOT EMBARASSED THAT I ANSWERED INSTEAD! YOU SHOULD GO SEE HIM!! I THINK HE WAS GONNA APOLOGIZE AGAIN!!!"

Anti face palmed.

But he liked to imagine Mia was doing the same thing.