Sean felt himself panic as he watched Anti slowly start to black out from all the stress that was happening around him.

The others, however, were too much in shock to pay attention.

"H-henrik! Is it okay for him to fall asleep? Shouldn't he stay awake for a bit?"

The doctor blinked hard and shook Anti lightly, "Hey now, brat, vake up. Not yet. Stay focused."

Anti blinked his eyes open but was having a hard time with it. His thoughts were going wild but his mind was so fucking exhausted. His muscles were starting to get sore, too, from the harsh seizure.

Anti stared up at Sean, ignoring Evelien as she tried to soothe him, "Wh- . . . wha'd y-you do?"

Before he could answer, Sean was shoved away from Anti. It was too quick to really know what just happened but they saw the man that hovered over his friend protectively, having used a large amount of energy to come to him.

Jackie gaped at him, "D-dark!? What are you doing here!?"

Dark glared at them all, "I'm getting my friend out of this hell-hole"

Before anyone could protest, Dark teleported with Anti.

They were just . . . gone.

Sean cursed loudly, "Dammit! NO! Dark, get back here NOW! DARK!"

He took out his phone to try and call Mark but Marvin stopped him, "He's fine, Sean"

"How do you know!? He just had a seizure, a fucking copy of Anti came out of nowhere to kill you all and Dark just took him off god knows where!"

"He's at the cabin" Marvin supplied.

Evelien looked confused at the entire conversation but didn't intervene. She'd hear everyone out.

"What?" Chase was equally as confused, "What cabin? Actually. . . even more than that! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN 'AGAIN'!?"

Sean slowly stood up, still staring at the spot Anti had been laying, ". . . . . you guys wouldn't understand"

"Try us" Henrik growled, "You owe us an explanation of vhat that means, Sean, and you know it"

He looked to Evelien who looked to be wondering the same things. What was he hiding from them all?

Sean swallowed hard and carefully nodded, "I uh . . . . I need some coffee first. Let's go downstairs"

Dark was careful with Anti as he slowly gave him some energy from the void. Celine's power was a multitude of things, able to do a lot including heal and somewhat see the future and the dead.

Anti was getting stronger by the second thanks to her but unfortunately, she couldn't heal his legs.

"My friend . . . " Dark sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I hope you were the only target. This was the only place I could think of to bring you"

Anti swallowed but didn't try to sit up, still lost in his head after what Sean had just said.

". . . . Anti?"

"It's okay, Dark" he whispered quietly, " . . . . . I just need. . . . I just need some time"

"But what happened? Do I need to go get the others, too?"

"No" Anti shook his head, "I already killed what was after us . . . ."

"Oh . . . . wh-what? You?"

"You seem surprised" Anti turned his head, refusing to look him in the eyes, "You're not the only one"

Dark didn't understand what Anti was saying but left the subject be for now. He'd tell him eventually if he wanted to, "I uh . . . Celine told me you all were in trouble. That I needed to help you all. For now, I want you to stay here until we know for certain you're safe. Is that alright?"

Anti nodded. If he thought what Sean was insinuating was true . . . . . it's best if he stayed there for his own good anyway.

He felt so fucking numb.

After everything that's happened.

After everything's he's done. . . .

He just felt so fucking stupid.

"Well Sean? Explain yourself" Chase slid him over a mug of coffee sitting across from him along with the others.

They hoped it wasn't what they thought.

But they've been wrong before.

"It's not as bad as you guys think-"

"Then why's it so hard to talk about?" Jackie crossed his arms at him, "Either fucking tell us what's going on or let's go get Anti back. We don't have all day, man"

"What, you guys actually WANT him back?" Sean asked, "You've always been so dismissive of him before. Why so clingy to him now?"

Evelien elbowed Sean, "Sean! Don't be like that" she whined.

"Anti" Marvin started, " . . . . . It's been a few weeks now with him. . . . and since with his condition . . . ." he couldn't really finish his sentence because he thought it sounded kind of bad.

So Jameson finished it for him, 'Since with his condition, he's seemed a lot less of a threat. Easier to be around and get to know'

"Until Septiceye showed up" Chase snorted, "Fucking psychopath motherfucker"

"Now who's Septiceye?" Sean asked, "Because I have no idea who that is. I never created another ego"

"Well. .. . " Jackie cleared his throat, "Supposedly-"

Marvin took over, "He said he was Anti.. . .. BEFORE he changed. He was. . . trying to get Anti to revert or something but that really wouldn't make sense, would it? Considering all you've said about Anti and our memories not being real"

"Technically it's not" Sean filled in, "It's not important anymore because technically . . .. none of it actually happened"

"Yeah that's what you always say" Henrik stepped in, "But zhen vhat did you mean earlier when you said. . .. again?"

Sean turned guilty once more, "Look . . . a long time ago . . . . when you guys were just starting out . . . . in my head. . . I had the idea of Anti being evil. Of course I did. He was the ANTI version of ME. . . . . . That was before I initially created all of you, though, meaning that all the memories you guys think you know. . . aren't real"

"But they are" Jackie argued, " . . . . . the way you said it before. You said you'd 'never create something like that again' . . .meaning this was a being you had CREATED"

Sean looked panicked by that. He didn't expect for the hero or any of them to hear all of what he had said.

"You guys just wouldn't understand. I can't . . . . I can't tell you. He said if I did. . . . there'd be consequences"

Dark bit his lip, looking worried about Anti's depressed state, "Look . . .I'm going to go get Wilford and some of the others I know I can trust. Celine said that . . . that the real villain through all of this is hiding under my roof. That he hears everything on the outside and he's planning something. I don't know if this thing is still there or not but I have to make sure. If it's Actor. . . then I don't know what I'll do"

Anti heard what he said but was still sort of out of it, "Hm . . . . 'kay"

Dark sighed heavily, "I'm gonna go investigate. Hopefully this mess is already all over and you got rid of the parasite already. . . whatever it was. I'll be back soon. Just rest up, alright?"

Anti didn't answer, leaving Dark to do as he pleased teleporting back to the real world.

Leaving Anti in the void. In the cabin. . . where Celine and Damien perished.

It was even MORE depressing, really.

Now that he was alone, he couldn't help but think to himself. About all the things Septiceye told him he had done. About all the nightmares he received over the years.

He had to live with the fact that they were all real and Sean had been lying to them all this whole time after all.

Anti had trusted Sean completely. He cherished him like a brother even though he had been angry sometimes for him creating them all with those memories.

Now he knew different. It wasn't that Sean couldn't change their memories .. . it was that he couldn't erase them. And neither could Marvin because he didn't know what was real and what was fiction.

What was worse was that now . . .. he really did feel as if he deserved this. To be paralyzed. To remember everything just as they did. To suffer like they did. To feel that pain. Because he knew now it was justified.

He deserved it.

Anti sobbed quietly to himself as he realized the true horror of it all.

He tortured and murdered those kids . . . .

Dark had to be careful. He knew Celine's words weren't to be ignored but also . . .. fucking HELL, Celine!

'She couldn't have given a name or location? Not even what letter the name started with?! I knew she was a seer but why'd that vague attitude have to carry on in death!?'

Huffing to himself, Dark walked the corridors, unsure of where to begin, 'It can't be Wil or Dr. Iplier or Yan or . . . well ANY of the Ipliers, really. I can only really think of Actor. But if he's really starting some tricks again, why target the Septics and why not reveal himself already? He's too dramatic, he wouldn't be able to resist it!'

Dark walked past everyone's doors, naming off reasons why they COULDN'T be the one.

'Dr. Iplier literally can't hurt anyone unless on accident, Yan adores Anti too much , Wilford doesn't care about crap like that to be that way, Host wouldn't be able to stop narrating his plans, Yancy won't ever leave him room and prefers to be locked up, Google can't do anything beyond his primary objective without my consent and Bing only cares about his skateboard'

He was running out of egos, 'Captain Magnum sleeps all the time, Illinois is too busy flirting with everyone all the time, Eric is FAR too timid and would never hurt a fucking fly. . . . .Bim and the Jim twins are too far under Wil's nose to do anything he doesn't say to do and King is always too busy trying to catch a pet squirrel.'

That's it. . . . he went through all of them, 'That can't be it. Maybe I'm missing something. Do I not pay attention to all of them like I should? Or is Actor really the one, here? Then where the hell IS he?! . . . . . . . What am I missing?'

He watched it all happen.

He didn't like that Anti was now at the cabin. He was where he couldn't reach him.

He hated that Septiceye was already dead. He had been quite the plaything, though. It was interesting to play as the bad guy like that. So gruesome and cruel.

But now he came to a stand-still and the others were slowly figuring out what was up.

'I can't let them figure it out. I can't let them ruin everything AGAIN! I've come so close, I won't let them mess it all up.'

He sipped some tea and watched as the Septics interrogated Sean. Not that he'd say anything. He was bound and under oath to never talk about their deal. Otherwise, he knew what would happen.

Part of him wished Sean would say something.

He may not be able to do anything to HIM. . . . but he could certainly make things A LOT more interesting involving everyone around him.

'We'll see. Dark still thinks it's Actor when he doesn't even realize he's no longer in the picture. Hasn't for a while. This will be so interesting if everything works out.'

He hummed as he watched Anti in the cabin. He couldn't reach him to mess with him.

But he might be able to mess around with everything around him.

'Let's see how far I can take this'

Anti was just laying still, staring into the fire a little ways away from him. He thought about how much it'd hurt to just fling himself into the fire.

.

.

.

He didn't expect for the flames to grow and for his thoughts to shortly become reality, watching in terror as the fire spat out a few sparks onto the rug in front of it.

Lighting it on fire.