It's half 1 in the morning and I'm a mess. The one person I know who'd be awake right now is the reason I'm so upset (don't worry they didn't do it purposely) so hi I'm updating and then I'll watch some YouTube for a bit because there's no use me just sitting here crying XD Sorry if there are mistakes though!

"Just how powerful are you?" Ethan questioned that night. Anti grinned, filled with pride as he fiddled with his signature weapon.

"I'm one of the most powerful of my kind. There's only one power I haven't quite got yet but I am so close, thanks to you." Anti's hands ghosted over Ethan's pale cheek. The younger of the pair swallowed thickly in an attempt to maintain his composure.

"What's that?"

"I cannot haunt someone from very far. The proximity between me and my victim must be within a few miles or so but that distance grows every night. I can go into their dreams and speak to them but nothing I can do at this point is physical."

"Wait," Ethan's face had it up like the sun as a solution was standing right in front of him, practically screaming to make itself more known. "So what will you do when Jack goes home?"

"Jack will go back to being the victim. Can you shut up now so we can get on with-"

"That wasn't part of the deal!" Anti huffed and rolled his eyes, already fed up.

"I won't have access to you so what else can I do?"

"Not hurt Jack! That wasn't what we decided!"

"Oh, Ethan..." Anti's sick grin had returned to his face and he was slowly raising his knife. "What made you think you could trust me and Dark? We're demons: us breaking a pathetic deal with a human should have been expected." He cackled, his head twitching to the side.

Jack left in two weeks. Ethan had to do something before then to save his friend from Anti. But he didn't know what to do. Helpless tears rolled down his face as Anti's evil laughs echoed around him, making him feel dizzy and defenceless.

-

Three days passed in the blink of an eye and to say Ethan was panicking was an understatement. He was pacing up and down his room at almost four in the morning, his hands tangled in his hair. He wasn't wearing a jumper because it was boiling hot and the entire house was fast asleep. His arms were covered in scars, both new and old. Blank was sat on his bed with his legs crossed, his head following Ethan's movements.

"What the fuck am I meant to do?" He muttered, more talking to himself than Blank. "Jack goes home in less than two weeks and if I don't act now, he'll be in so much trouble. I don't want him to be tortured!"

"We can figure this out. Just... calm down and think logically. There must be something we can do." Blank murmured with a long sigh. Ethan turned to him with tears in his eyes, ready to fall at any moment. Blank was trying his best to stay composed but, in reality, his empty eyes were filling with the colour black too.

A knock made both of them jerk their heads around to the door. Ethan froze, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't walk in. "Ethan?" A small voice called. It was undoubtedly Mark.

"Yeah?" Ethan squeaked out, quickly grabbing a jacket that was laying on the end of his bed. Despite the heat, he pulled it over his shoulders to cover up his scars.

"Why are you up?" Mark slowly pushed open the door and immediately frowned when he saw Blank sitting on his bed. Blank timidly waved. "Is he giving you trouble again?"

"No, no, no!" Ethan responded before Mark had a chance to get angry. "We're just talking."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah?"

"You sure?" Ethan's eyes widened as he remembered that he had been crying. Tears remained idle on his cheek and his eyes were probably rimmed red.

"I'm sorry. Just stressed about... editing." When had he become so good at conjuring up excuses?

"You shouldn't stress out about that. People would understand if you skipped a few days' uploads to catch up."

Shrugging, Ethan sat down on his bed. Blank had gone but neither of the pair remembered seeing him leave. Mark took a seat beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders for comfort.

"Come on, cheer up a little. Being behind isn't that bad..." He dragged out the 'a' in 'bad' in attempt to lighten the mood but it remained as heavy as ever. "Staying up late definitely won't help. I can chip in with the workload if you need."

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."

"If you're sure... just, next time, talk to me when you feel overwhelmed, okay? We can sort something out." Ethan nodded but his top lip was wobbling.

"Please don't cry." He repeated over and over again in his mind. He felt extremely guilty that he was lying to his friend and he really didn't want to burden him with tears as well.

...too late.

Ethan pushed Mark away as tears rolled down his cheeks. He was tempted to bury his head into his pillow and scream, just to let out all of the emotions that were cooped up inside of him. Everything was just too much for the poor man.

"Hey, hey..." Mark whispered, keeping his voice soft like he was talking to a child that had just grazed their knee. He leaned forward and wiped away Ethan's tears with a small, sad smile on his face. "There's no need to cry. Tomorrow, I will help you with editing, okay? It just so happens that I'm ahead so I'll have plenty of time to help." His eyebrows furrowed when his words did nothing to calm down his friend. "Unless... is there something else bothering you?"

"I think it's time, Ethan." Blank mumbled in the back of his mind. Ethan rapidly shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his fists and trying his best to stop himself from shedding any more tears. "Please... You need to tell him. He might know what we can do."

"I don't want to." Ethan murmured to the voice in his head. Mark watched with narrow eyes, trying to figure out what was going on.

"You need to... either you tell him or I will."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me." Sure enough, a black mist appeared in the room and then Blank showed up. His cheeks were stained a black colour as he had cried almost as much as Ethan had. Mark jumped at the sudden arrival but Ethan seemed pretty much unaffected. "Mark, Ethan has something to tell you."

Nodding, Mark wrapped his arms around the sobbing figure. He was trying to tell the man it was okay without the use of any actual words.

"The reason Anti and Dark started to leave Jack alone is because they went back to torturing Ethan."

"Ethan, why would you do that? And keep it to yourself? I could have almost lost you again but I bet you didn't think about that."

"Because I love you and Jack and I wanted to keep you safe." Ethan whispered, his voice trembling. Mark's arms disappeared from where they had been around him.

"...And we need your help because, when Jack goes back to Ireland, Anti and Dark will go back to torturing him."

"Can they just go five minutes without hurting someone?"

"You know the answer to that question. Anyways, I think you two should head back to bed. We have a lot of thinking to do."