"WAKE UP!!!" Sean screamed, clutching his head with his bloodied hands.

Marvin cursed silently, 'Shit, I don't wanna use my potion restock for this  . . . I think I still have that special cream, though! He'll have to stay still for that, though'

Sean tried desperately to hit himself, trying to knock him awake but Jackie ran to his aide, stopping him.

"NO! LET ME GO! THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" Sean shouted at them, "WHO ARE ALL OF YOU!? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME!? WAKE ME UP!!"

Marvin glared mildly at Chase, "This wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't lied to him in the first place, you know"

Chase, even though he was concerned for Sean, rolled his eyes at Marvin, "You were there, too, you know. You could have fixed it there, too."

"Sean" Jackie snapped his fingers in front of him, earning his attention, "Listen to me. I know everything is crazy right now but you can trust us, okay? We're here to help"

Henrik snorted, "Oh, scheisse" 

"HELP!?" Sean shouted in his face, shoving him away, "If you wanted to help me at all, I wouldn't be here!"

Chase stepped forward a bit "Look, man, MOST of us don't wanna be here but it's either that or death so . . ." he waved his hands up and down like a scale to weigh the two options, "What we said is the truth."

Sean shuddered, not even registering that Marvin had rubbed some ointment on his wrists to stop the bleeding, "B-but . . . . But I don't wanna die . . . I just wanna wake up. . . I wanna go home. . . see my friends . . . be with Signe . . ."

"If all goes well . . . you will" Anti stepped forward, "Just try and be optimistic. There's a bad guy after us but there's only one of him and many of us. We got this" he winked.

His words seemed to calm Sean down a bit, just enough for Henrik to sneak behind him and stab him in the back of the neck with a syringe.

Almost at once, Sean's eyes rolled in the back of his head and he passed out.

Jackie caught him, "What the hell, Hen!? A little warning next time?!"

Henrik just put the syringe away, looking unbothered, "Vhy? I thought ve were all on the same page . . . was I NOT supposed to knock him out?"

Jameson had watched the scene before him and honestly, he was starting to lose a little hope. Something was shifting in the air and he didn't like it.

And once Jameson glanced over the Anti, he was even more sure something else was wrong.

He just looked so . . . downcast. Depressed. 

'But why?' he thought to himself, 'He just said all those things about being optimistic. That we'd make it through this. Was that all just a lie?  . . what is he hiding?'

Henrik stood up, "Ve don't have time for this. If we only have a day or so more left, zhen we have to work fast."

"What do you need?" Jackie picked Sean up in his arms and went to the living room to set him down on the couch, "Just name it, Hen. We'll all put in the effort we can to help"

Henrik nodded, fixing his glasses, "I'm almost done vith the Pheno gun but I've also been developing another weapon while you slackers have been sleeping"

Anti raised a brow at him, "Just because you're too stubborn and your body doesn't know what sleep is doesn't mean we're slackers."

"What do you need from me, Hen?" Marvin asked, "I think I could give ya some more juice if ya needed it-"

"It's NOT needed" Henrik stopped him, "I've already multiplied your power just as I have before. I told you, since I have developed it once, it's much faster to do it again. You can rest for a bit"

Marvin wanted to feel excited but something was still bothering him, just as something bothered Jameson and just like with the mute, Marvin felt it coming from Anti.

'I should try and talk to him'

"Chase, I vill need you, though. You will be the one to fire the weapons at Antisepticeye. You should know how to do it"

"Oh" Chase swallowed, "I guess. Don't know why any of YOU guys can't, but sure." he mumbled to himself quietly before speaking louder to him, "Yeah, sure thing, doc. Lead the way"

'But what if I can't do it?'  Chase thought to himself, 'I hadn't used a gun since that night shooting that monster  . . . and bullets didn't do a damn thing to him. And before that, I couldn't kill anyone as a soldier.'

He looked throughout the room at them all, 'What if I fail everyone?'

That night, everyone was off doing their own thing, afraid for what was next to come.

Would Antisepticeye be coming for them tomorrow? Or would they have an extra day?

Would they die tomorrow? 

Would they win? And what exactly would that mean? What would they do with their lives, then? 

It wasn't like they had anyone to go back home to. . . . .

Jameson sat on his bed, his pocket watch in his hand. He stared down at the ticking hands going by so slowly, time ebbing away just like his confidence.

With a small sigh, he clicked the button on top of the small clock, listening as the music played softly.

Just as quiet, he hummed to the tune.

'I used to watch the wizard of Oz all the time. . . . . it's what made me decide that I wanted to be an entertainer. . . . . . . .Somewhere . . . . maybe somewhere over the rainbow, there's a version of me that's better than what I am now. Stronger. Braver.'

Jackie sat in the kitchen table staring at that picture of his sister, Sammie, and Benny. 

'I should have been there . . . . maybe then I could have protected you better . . . or would it have been worse . . . seeing you guys die in front of me?'

He knew which was worse, though.

Jackie pulled out his phone. He still had it but he didn't want it. 

When he opened it, their faces were there in the background. Maybe he could . . ..  maybe he could try and listen again.

Just to hear their voices one last time.

Jackie was shaking but finally, he brought himself to tap the voicemail.

Tears welled up again. He couldn't take it and before she could get to their song, he stopped the message, shoving the phone away.

He covered his face with one hand and hugged himself with the other. Try as he might, he couldn't stop a sob from breaking through, tears flowing from him like a broken faucet.

'I'm sorry . . . .  Sammie . . . I'm so fucking sorry, sis. But I promise. I swear to you . . ' he wiped the tears away but in vain, '. . . . I'll fight for you and Benny . . . and I'll win. I promise. This time, I will. I won't let him get away with killing you guys . . . . I SWEAR it'

Jackie looked strong to the others  . . . .  but inside Jackie couldn't have felt more weak.

Chase, meanwhile, was in the basement still with Henrik. The doctor wanted him to read over his notes so he'd know better on how the gun worked.

But he couldn't have felt less useless.

'I have no idea what any of this means. . . . I just pull the trigger, right?'

But he didn't want to bother the doctor with it at the moment. He kept stealing glances at him, watching to make sure he wasn't overexerting himself too hard.

'He's working on something else. It's bigger than this gun . . . what is it?'

But of course, Chase figured he wouldn't understand it anyway, so he just kept his mouth shut.

If only he could stay QUIET, though.

He couldn't help himself but to hum that song again. It calmed him in anxious situations like this. It reminded him of Stacey and his son, Jack.

Henrik was just finishing up on his other project when he heard Chase humming.

He froze but smiled softly, recognizing the tune.

'It was one of Eva's favorites. Olivia's too . . . . I wonder if Iris would have liked it?'

Henrik closed his eyes but once he did, he thought of his father.

'He'd make me watch that stupid movie when I was little. The Wizard of Oz . . . . . .' 

He frowned, trying to stop himself from tearing up.

What he wouldn't give now to watch that movie with his father one last time. To hear Olivia and Eva sing that song to him, trying to coax him into joining in. . . . .

Marvin was in his room, just finishing up.

It wasn't much but it was the least he could do with his power before saving up for the fight.

He held a large glass marble in his palm, gathering as much energy from the house as he could and putting it into the marble.

When he was finished, he smiled down at it, before pocketing it.

Marvin then breathed in a heavy sigh, 'I wish we had more time . . .  but it looks as though that's not gonna happen. I can feel that monster's power already. And it just keeps growing. Can we really win against a guy like that?'

He remembered what Anti said, of course. Now that Antisepticeye had his own green eye AND Anti's in the other socket, he was even stronger than all of them combined. Or at least, that's what Anti believed.

'But that doesn't mean Anti is powerless. He still has fight in him, I can feel it. He's our trump card and hopefully he can help turn the tides in the battle to come. Along with the Pheno gun and whatever the hell else Henrik's working on . . . we should stand a chance. . .right?'

He didn't want to think about it.

Marvin groaned and closed his eyes. A random memory forced its way up.

He saw Evan's smile.

Bee and Sampon.

Marvin frowned, remembering how he let all that power get to him. How he let himself push his friends and lover away in exchange for knowledge.

How little it was really worth. And now he had fewer memories than he could have had with them if he had just ignored these other realms.

Marvin felt his hand reach up and touch his necklace.

Evan had gotten it for him. Their initials were in it.

He could still hear his voice just as it was.

'That damn song. . . . just like the one Chase hummed before back at the house to grab Sean. It's . . . . connected between all of us. A constant. It's peculiar but not too strange. . . . . Maybe when this is all over, I can discover even more constants. Connect more . . . . . .  I can only hope we can get that chance.'

Anti stared down at Sean who was still unconscious on the couch in the living room.

He stood emotionless over him until he heard Jackie's voicemail in the kitchen. He could hear him cry as softly as he could. Connected throughout the house, Anti could feel the others, too.

They all seemed so somber.

'But they still hold hope.' Anti clenched his fists, 'Why don't they see? Why can't they realize it's pointless?' 

He wanted to have hope, too, though, so he let them be ignorant. He didn't want to see THEM give up. They were supposed to be the happy optimistic septics.

But that didn't mean he, himself, had any hope in him. Anti knew the truth.

'He's so much stronger than even me. I know Marvin wants my help to fight him . . .but that's just not gonna happen. He beat me once WITH my septic eye. There's no way I even remotely have a shot now. It's up to them'

Anti twitched as Sean groaned in his sleep, 'Maybe Henrik's weapon can defeat him. We didn't have it before. But then again, there hasn't been an Antisepticeye that's absorbed Henrik and Marv's Pheno energy. He's even stronger if that's possible.'

Tears streamed down his face but he didn't really notice, 'Why? Why wasn't I strong enough? Did these emotions really weaken me like he said?'

He reached to touch his eyepatch, his face cringing as he tried to stop crying, 'I . . . . I'm sorry . . . . I'm so fucking sorry . . . . I hope you all know that. Please forgive me, Please forgive me that I wasn't strong enough. That I couldn't protect you. . . . . '

Anti blinked and turned away from Sean, glitching up to his room.

He flopped on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, wishing he could change the past. What he wouldn't give for a power like that.

'And I still can't protect you. . .  especially now . . . . . It's already over.  . . . I'm sorry.'

The next day, Anti blinked open his eyes.

He could feel Antisepticeye's power like a rod through his chest. 

Cross that.

Like a rod through where his other eye used to be.

He could feel him. His anger. His resolve and strength.

The determination to do anything it took to kill whoever he needed or wanted to.

He could feel it for a while now but decided against telling the others. Why give them even more somber news? What was the point?

Anti stared up at the ceiling, his one blue eye still a bit raw and red from crying the previous night.

'I'm gonna lose them all over again . . . . aren't I? And just like before . . there's nothing I can do about it.'

He closed his eye tightly, remembering his own septic family. 

He was sure most of them hated him still after he had moved in with them all in this mansion but Henrik and Jameson welcomed him. Marvin had been nice, too, although cautious. Chase was always the indifferent one and Jackie . . . . well Jackie had just plain-ass hated him.

Before he was THIS Anti he was today, he was no different than Antisepticeye. He tortured the Septics. Possessed Henrik and Jameson. He hurt Chase, scarred his Marvin's face and fought with Jackie, it seemed, endlessly.

And then there was the other part of the family that were attached to the Septics. He never hurt them and honestly he never spoke to any of them until little Jack had spotted him one day. Anti adored Chase's son, Jack. In fact, Jack was the first person to tear Anti away from his created 'destiny'. He changed the very moment Jack had grinned at him with that big smile of his. He wasn't afraid of him. He could see his pain and wanted to be a friend.

And then Jameson had dug into his heart and Anti realized then that there was more to his creation than killing. He didn't have to be a virus or a parasite. He could be a friend. . . . family.

And then much to Jackie's disgust, Sammie and Benny had started to speak to him when he moved in to Henrik's mansion. They were kind and Sammie had even yelled at Jackie once for him.

Marvin's boyfriend, Evan, was just as cautious as Marv, but also still treated him like a person.

It was just . . . 

Before they died, Anti had just wanted them all to accept him. 

All he wanted was to be a part of the family.

He felt that maybe. . . just maybe he was SO close.

But Antisepticeye took that dream away from him.

'I'll never get that' he thought to himself, 'Never. And he's coming again . . . to just do it all over again . . . and again . . .  and again and-'

'Knock, Knock'

The knock on his door startled him and he shot upwards on his bed.

"Who is it?!"

"It's me, Marvin! Can you come downstairs, please? Sean woke up and he was asking for you. I think he only really trusts you right now, if you can believe it"

Anti snorted.

He remembered the other Sean, too.

He was gone now, though, like the others, he was sure. Just like the others Antisepticeye had murdered. Otherwise, he wouldn't be after these OTHER septics. He couldn't go on to another link without eradicating the previous ones.

Anti never saw Antisepticeye kill his Sean but he didn't want to. 

They never had gotten along. His Sean hated Anti even more than his Jackie had. That's why he left them all when Henrik let him stay with them.

And he was pretty sure now that was ONE of the reasons his septics never really welcomed him to begin with. They were angry with him that he had driven Sean away.

That had to be it. Right?

He shook himself out of it, "I'll be right there. Just give me a moment"

"Alright. See ya in a few!" 

Anti could hear Marvin's footsteps go down the hall.

He took one last long sigh before finally getting up and getting dressed.

Today was gonna be one hell of a nightmare.

He had to look his best for the big funeral.

He wished they all had a chance. But he just didn't believe it.

Sean sat in the couch, staring at them all. He wanted to believe it was still all a dream.

Or a nightmare.

But this was all too real and he was seeing it now for the first time.

He just didn't know how to cope and he refused to take any tea or anything from them to help 'calm him down'.

'How do I know they won't drug me again like that doctor guy did?' he thought to himself, 'That magician keeps looking at me funny. That one guy won't talk. Is he deaf? No, he's  . . He's Jameson and they said he's mute. I don't know if I trust him. And that Chase .. . he lied to me from the start! That big guy hero over there keeps pacing and it's driving me nuts!'

Sean ran a hand through his hair and itched his scruff, 'That other guy . .  Anti, did they say? He seemed nice, though. He seemed. . . separate from the others? I don't know why. They all look like me but he seems different somehow. Maybe HE can get me out of here'

After what seemed like forever, Anti finally came downstairs and came up to Sean. They equally confused but Sean stood up in front of him, "I wanna go home"

Anti blinked at him, "Oh . . . . well . . . I'm sorry but you can't just yet"

"Why the fuck not?!" Sean waved his arms around, "Look, I know there's a bad guy or something coming. That much I get but why do I have to be involved?!"

Anti sighed, "Did you not listen . . . to a WORD any of us have told you?" he glared at Sean, "You are the only one Antisepticeye hasn't HURT . . . so far. If you are not in your own dimension, Antisepticeye will bypass hurting your loved ones and come straight for YOU. You don't strike me as the selfish type and as long as you're here with us, he won't have any reason to go after Signe, your parents or siblings because as long as you're not there to get hurt, then he has no motive to do so."

It made enough sense.

Sean shuddered, crossing his arms out of instinct to protect himself, "M. . . . my family . . .  I . . . . I don't want them hurt"

"Then you'll stay until this is all over" Anti coaxed him.

Sean swallowed thickly, thinking about it long and hard, " . . . I . . .  when will that be?"

Henrik came up from the basement with a gun-like object, "Should be pretty soon! But ve will be ready zhis time!"

Henrik marched up to them proudly while Chase was struggling coming up the stairs backwards, trying to carry something bigger, "Jaysus fooking christ!" he snapped towards Jackie, "A little help over here, muscles?! Help grab this before it falls down the fooking stairs!"

Jackie blinked but rushed over to help. When they got it to up the stairs, they left it be while Chase tried to catch his breath.

"So Henrik, I see the gun" Jackie motioned to the bigger object that was nearly as tall as him, "But what is this thing?"

Anti blinked. He had never seen anything like it, either.

Henrik fixed his glasses and proudly smirked at them all, "ZHIS!" He motioned to the large object, "Is zhe new and improved Pheno gun! Zhe Pheno CANNON!"

No one in the room said a word.

Henrik made an irritated noise, "Seriously? If zhe Pheno gun doesn't cut it, zhen I made a back up weapon! It's larger and more difficult to maneuver than zhe gun but it is MANY times more powerful! Zhe disadvantage vould be to get Antisepticeye to stay still for a little bit."

Anti snorted, "Not likely. Honestly, you could have just stuck with your little gun. Not like it'll make much of a difference."

The air in the room went silent.

Chase glared at him, "What did you just-AUGH!!"

Anti shoved Chase out of the way as the light above him flickered and a bright and hot green light enveloped the room.

Antisepticeye opened his eyes, coughing with how long he's been out cold.

He felt tired but his heart raced. Pounding for blood.

He felt fury and blood-lust rage through his veins. 

The power was immeasurable, glowing in his blood and pulsing, just waiting to be let out. 

He still laid on the floor of the doctor's basement. . ..  or what was left of it after the blast from the Pheno's energy he absorbed.

And that energy . . all of that energy now belonged to HIM.

He grinned and started to laugh, his eyes glowing that sickly green, sparks snapping off of him like an overheated electrical outlet.

"UhehHAHAHAHAHehehehehheh" he laughed, knowing now that his victims didn't stand a chance now.

He stood up amongst the rubble, staring at his hands where lightning crackled off of him profusely. 

Breathing in and out heavily, Antisepticeye narrowed in on them. On THEIR energy.

'Of course they're THERE. . ..  They didn't have anywhere else to go .  . .' he grinned, "Good . . .. . I can pay my other self a little visit . . .. and take away everything from him all over again"

But he sensed someone else there, too.

'Sean . . . so they nabbed him from his dimension. Really, that must have been the stupidest thing they ever could have done. Now I don't need to go looking for him when all of this is finished.'

He clenched his fists tightly and shook violently as the Pheno's energy pulsed through him. The whites of his eyes turned black but his iris' stayed the same nasty neon green and the roots of his hair were pulsing with green, too, the energy overflowing within him.

"But how far are they willing to go to get rid of me?" he wondered out loud as he calmed slightly, "Perhaps they'd really kill Sean just to stop the cycle?  . . . I wonder . . . . .. "

He blinked but laughed to himself, 'Very well . . . . . If that's how it's gonna be'

Antisepticeye glitched, making his way through reality to the dimension they were currently in.

The old Henrik's, or rather, Anti's now.

He felt Chase near him as he glitched into a lightbulb and he was about to just kill him when made his dramatic entrance.

If only Anti hadn't gotten him out of the way.

What a pity.

Antisepticeye grinned at them all, his need to kill stronger than ever seeing them ALL in one place.

"Well well . . . . Looks like you've all been very BUSY while I've been getting stronger . . . . . too bad . . . that whatever you lot have up your sleeves . . .  won't be NEARLY enough."

His grin was chilling and the fear in their eyes made it all the better.

It was time.