Mark was just as confused as ever. The last thing he expected was for Dark to take off with Anti's dead body like that. 

Dark was never so disrespectful before unless  . . . 

He must have a good reason, right?

"Mark!" Sean shoved him, "Tell Dark to come back here right now and-"

"Sean, I'm sorry" Mark held his hands up defensively, "But I can't bring him back or talk to him, I'm sorry, man"

"HE HAD NO RIGHT TO TAKE HIM LIKE THAT!" Sean argued, "Anti's DEAD!"

"I-I know . . " Mark couldn't stop replaying the memory in his head. The entire thing had just been so surreal.

He had never seen someone die right in front of him before.

Obviously neither had Sean but he felt his heart was even more so in pain.

His friend tugged at his own hair, "I just. . .  wanted to do ONE thing for him to  . . to thank him"

Chase nodded and pat Sean's shoulder to try and comfort him, "He deserved to be buried. With everyone sending him off. This isn't right, Mark"

But he didn't know what to do, "I'm sorry! I can't . . I  . "

Amy handed Sean a cup of hot tea, "Sip on this some. It'll help. And I'm sure Dark will be right back. Maybe he's trying something?"

Dark Chica whined, scratching lightly at Mark's pants. The poor girl had a long and exhausting day.

Mark pat her head, "It's okay girl. Your dad will be back soon. . . I hope"

"I'm almost positive, myself" Dr. Iplier put his input in, "Dark's not the kind to do something without purpose."

"Sure Darkipoo's gonna be right back! Probably picking out flowers and everything for Anti's fake funeral party! HAHA!"

Bim pinched the bridge of his nose, "Dammit, Wil"

Marvin seethed, "Well he better return soon or else"

"I didn't even get to time his death" Henrik pouted only for Jackie to elbow him to shut him up.

Dark held Anti's body in his arms.

He breathed in the cool and crisp air. It was officially Spring now in his once ice cold void. Flowers and rich grass blooming in the fields, the nearby lake's small waves washing up against the shore. He could hear it from the cabin.

"You did good, Anti." he looked down on him still so unmoving. He was starting to get cold, too, "It's time for you to rest"

He set Anti down on a nice soft spot in the grass and flowers. It was so strange to see him so peaceful. The once erratic and crazed ego so infatuated with his own blood now laying dead in a bed of flowers.

He had changed so much. Done so much than even he realized for Dark's family. For everyone.

He made the ultimate sacrifice.

No matter any of his cross words and threats, none of it ever mattered. All Anti ever wanted was to feel needed.

Just like Dark.

It's what he had been missing for so long, thinking Mark only wanted him around to act like the big bad Darkiplier that would eventually kill him.

Dark never felt needed as a part of the family even if he was basically the nanny of everyone. Always taking care of them and making sure no one got hurt. He had a few people on his side at least.

And Anti had no one.

Dark leaned over him and brushed his crazy hair away from his face, "I owe you. . . . There's a heart to this void. A small part of Mark's soul that lives on . . .  Lives on in me, too, I think."

He sighed deeply, "I always thought  . . was always scared that I never mattered as a person myself. I know you'd probably try and kill me for this soft talk.  . . . but  . . It's because of you I finally came to realize that I'm my own person. I don't live on as either of them. They were them and I. . . . I'm ME."

The only response was another light breeze.

"What I'm trying to say, Anti . . . is . . . well . . . ." Dark placed his hand over Anti's heart, "Thank you, my friend"

Gently, the ground around Anti soaked him in, pulling him under the dirt and grass like a sinkhole. Dark wasn't too worried about it. 

'I hope this works . . . '

When he returned to the house, of course everyone was cross with him. Especially the Septic egos were yelling at him angrily. They wanted Anti back to give him a proper burial.

Dark wasn't perturbed by their rage, though.

He only had one thing to say before walking off to the basement with Dark Chica.

"He's sleeping"

It took all night for Amy and Mark to convince Sean to calm down. They couldn't get anymore information from Dark and even Eric tried talking to him about it.

But it seemed as if it were like some sort of wish. Maybe if he told someone, it wouldn't come true.

Whatever the case, no one was exactly cheering or throwing a party after the big fight and Actor and Anti's deaths.

Except for Wilford. He congratulated Dark by giving him his favorite coffee with tons of cream and sugar just the way he liked it. That was one thing to cherish since Wilford used to always give him coffee as 'black and void as his soul'. 

A week later, Sean and his egos were still in LA to get his mind off of everything by helping Mark with finishing the video. Plus Felix finally came back around to help, being quite effective in distracting his friend.

When Bob, Wade, Ethan and Tyler found out about the whole ordeal, they were freaked out but sided with Dark. He had to have his reasons, right? Even if he refused to tell anyone. They didn't know Anti personally so what did it hurt them?

Once the video was finally done, they all decided to sit together and watch it like their own little premiere. The Septics, Sean and Felix were a bit distrusting of Dark still but accepted his presence to sit down and enjoy the video.

The other Ipliers, Mark and Amy had his back because even if he did that one weird thing, he STILL ended up saving all their asses.

They all were together in the manor living room. The Septic egos, Sean, Evelien, Mark and his egos and Amy and even Bob, Wade, Ethan and Tyler, Felix and Marzia.

All that was missing was . . . . .

Mark chuckled at the werewolf scene, "Dark Chica did so good! We should have her and Chica together in a scene one day"

"With Henny, too" Amy piped up.

"Spencer would like a doggie date, too" Ethan muttered.

Dark chuckled deeply, "Well I'm sure Dark Chica would love that"

The sweet girl . .  HIS girl laid her head on Dark's lap, wagging her tail watching the video with everyone.

Wilford cooed when his favorite train scene came and he gobbled up his cotton candy like no tomorrow. It nearly made everyone sick at how much he stuff down his throat.

Magnum laughed seeing the new pirate scene with Yancy and Illinois as his crew mates.

Then there was the gameshow scene with Bim, Wil and the Jims, of course.

It was like Markiplier TV on crack until the Septic scenes came up along with Felix.

Chase chuckled, watching 'his' scene come up, "Geez . .  Anti was scary good at acting, wasn't he? Looks and acts just like me"

"Sure does" Yandere swooned.

Chase sweat, trying not to look them in the eyes.

Sean bit his lip, "I feel like we never even gave him a chance. . . . Did we not try and talk to him enough?"

"It wouldn't have mattered, Sean" Dark shook his head, "Anti didn't come to a complete decision until Actor took me. True, he had been fighting the urge to give in beforehand but it was immediate when he no longer had his other plan to go by with Actor. I will admit, he was soft at times, though"

"Soft?" Jackie snorted, "Anti? You gotta be kidding me"

"There was the time when he forgot he was the 'enemy' when we were all by ourselves and he'd suggest ways to help me sleep better by using the scent of lavender or to drink chamomile tea. In truth, I think he just hated me keeping HIM up when I had my nightmares"

"Hahaha! What a teddy bear!" Marvin cooed.

They went back to see a scene where Anti had a prop gun and shot it towards 'the enemy'.

"Man, what a kickass scene, am I right? If only it were a REAL gun! Hehehe"

Sean looked over around his egos but they looked just as confused.

Dark smirked, recognizing the voice right away.

"Hey assholes!" someone behind the couch snapped their fingers and everyone turned to see him standing there with a big plate of sweets and pastries, powdered sugar on his face, "There any more of these in the kitchen? I'm fooking hungry"

Complete silence.

Sean shook his head and ran around the couch to barrel into him, "ANTI!"

Before they could both land on the flood, Anti glitched only making Sean fall along with the plate of sweets, "Ah well now look what ya did!"

It didn't matter, Sean just bolted back up and forced the glitch in a big hug, "OOF! Jaysus . . . you know I fooking hate hugs, ya stinky weirdo! Get off me!"

The other Septics raced towards him just as fast but Anti just soon accepted his fate. There was nowhere to run.

Chase had his arms around him along with Jackie and Marvin and Sean, crushing him with a strange but soft force.

Jameson and Henrik pat his back and Chase was already crying on him, getting his shirt wet.

"Uh . . there there?" he still wasn't good with emotions.

With the movie paused, everyone crowded around him but Anti just started to settle down when Dark cautiously came forward.

"You have a good nap?" Dark smirked.

Anti crossed his arms and gave him an attitude, "Ya left me six feet under a mound of dirt and flowers ya asshole! The hell's wrong with ya!?"

The other shrugged, "You deserved it"

"I don't know if that's an insult or not. Whatever . . . ." he hummed and took a short breathe to calm down a bit, "You kicked Actor's ass. Good job. Didn't think ya had it in ya, glow-bitch"

"And it's all thanks to you, Anti." Dark shot back at him, "Without you, I wouldn't have been able to see it for myself. You helped me see-"

"Ah enough with the softie bullshite!" Anti interrupted him, "Where's the booze at?! And more food!? I'm fooking hungry! I feel like I haven't eaten in weeks!"

No one would ever know then what it cost Dark to bring Anti back . . . . . 

After watching the rest of the video together and catching up, Anti was regretful about staying but it wasn't so bad.

Dark even saw Dark Chica cuddle up with him at some point. Did Anti actually SMILE?!

After everything calmed down, the Septics apologized to Dark. They still didn't know what he did but they were grateful for it.

And now the video was done, it was up on the internet and everything. And everyone went back to their respectful homes.

Except for Anti. He wasn't ready to live with the Septics just yet so he chose to hang around the Ipliers and bug them and Dark for a bit longer until they had to go back into Mark's head. There wasn't anything for Anti to say to Dark anymore. They both knew what happened. Dark knew Anti was grateful and that's all that mattered.

They were now in the flower garden outside together. Not actually together. They were minding their own business of course.

Anti was examining a few different flowers while Dark was over sitting on the bench.

"These are like the ones from in the void"

Dark hummed, "Yeah"

" . . . . . You didn't have to do it, you know"

"What do you mean?"

Anti growled and plucked a petal from a flower, "You know what I mean, asshole . . .  you know how weird it felt? I remember everything, you know. Dying . . saying all that cheesy shit . . ..  I had a weird . . out of body experience, too."

Dark listened calmly, knowing if he said anything now, Anti would just shut down.

"I heard everything they said. What you said, too. It's whatever, you know? Heheheh" he gave a small sharp laugh and itched as his throat, drawing blood, "Don't expect me to get all nicey about it"

Dark shrugged, "I don't expect you to . . . . Nice hat by the way"

"Shut up. Brody won't let me give it back to him. He already bought himself a different one." Anti noticed what he was doing to his neck and sucked off the blood on his fingers.

Dark continued with the conversation as if he hadn't just seen that "You look good. . . . You gonna join them soon? Have that family you were going on about?"

"Fuck off" but Anti was genuinely thinking about it, ". . . maybe, I don't know. Mind your own business"

They sat in silence for bit until Mark walked up to them, "Uh, hey, Anti. Could I talk to Dark for a bit?"

" . . ." the glitch glared at him but rolled his eyes, "I mean, I was here first but whatever, sunshine!" he walked by Mark only to glide his knife sensually down his chest, "Hehehehe"

Then he glitched away.

"I'll never get used to him"

"Honestly, me neither" Dark chuckled, "He's a handful, that's for sure"

"Like another Yandere" Mark pitched in.

It grew silent again in the flower garden. Not so much awkward, though.

"How'd you do it, Dark?"

"I'm assuming you're asking how I brought Anti back to life?"

Mark just gave him a look.

"Hm . . . It was really just a hunch. I remembered your Damien video and the pieces for that and how you wanted to make Celine not dead but just . . . sleeping. I . .  I chose to believe Anti was just sleeping. I know the void holds many abilities. Most of which even you or I don't know of. Maybe not even Wilford. . . ."

"Good hunch" Mark complimented, " . . . . . That's not everything I've been meaning to talk to you about, Dark"

"What is it?" Dark plucked a flower and twirled the stem in his hand, "Is it about Actor? The fight?"

Mark fixed his hair from being blown around in the wind, "Sort of . .  I wanted to apologize. Seriously apologize."

Dark looked up at him and blinked, obviously taken aback, "For what?"

"Everything. For how I've treated you and the other Iplier egos. How I spoke to you many times over. For believing that you were actually the bad guy and wanted to kill me . . . It was everything Actor wanted. . . I'm sorry I didn't trust you. Never even got to really know you"

Dark didn't know what to say. He had been waiting for this moment for so long. He had NEEDED it. For Mark to finally understand and see him for who he was.

He had been so out of balance himself, though. For first, he had to know who HE really was HIMSELF.

Trusting and believing everyone else to know for him.

"It's okay, Mark."

"No, it's not. I-"

"I forgive you"

". . . .you shouldn't." he sniffed and Dark looked over to see Mark starting to tear up, "I treated you all like things. I was disrespectful to all of you. Treating you all like my personal actors at my beck and call. I used you all to my benefit only to shut you in my head again like you never existed."

Dark bit his lip but refrained from speaking. What could he say to all of that? That Mark was wrong? He pretty much spelled it out all out in the open.

Mark continued after he wiped his tears and gave a deep sigh, "That's why I'm not putting you guys back up"

"What?" he didn't expect that.

Mark grabbed Dark's shoulder, "Many of them might be wild . . you were were right. I need to take responsibility for what I created. And I'm doing that now." He pointed to the manor, "I bought the building . . . This is your new home now."

"Oh" Dark didn't know what to say, "That's . .  that's great"

Mark nodded, "And I'm setting up some renovations, too so everyone can have their own room. Especially you. I don't want to see you stuck down in that basement anymore with Dark Chica. You both will have your own room as well"

He wouldn't stop smiling. He couldn't believe it!

Mark was really . . 

"Th-thanks, Mark"

"It's no problem . .  . Gotta use my big YouTube money for something right?! Can't just keep buying OVENS!"

Dark laughed at that, "What do you have now?! Six?"

"Nah, four. I gave one to Tyler and another to Ethan and Kathryn a while back"

They sat there together laughing softly for a bit. It was nice.

Dark snorted, "You'll have to make an extra room for Anti. I don't think he plans on leaving so soon"

"Maybe he can share a room with you. You two certainly have gotten cozy"

"Watch it. . . we're just . . . actually, I don't know WHAT we are. I think we're friends. I can't gauge it from all the insults he throws at me"

"I'm just kidding anyway.  It was a good thing you did, Dark. . . . . I'm proud of you"

"Mmmm" Dark shrugged, "Nah, Mark. I'm proud of YOU. Takes a lot of courage to admit all the times you were wrong. About your egos, about Dark Chica, your scene choices, . . ME-"

Mark lightly shoved him, "I get it, I get it . . . . Wanna head back to the manor? Help me with the blueprint plans?"

"Perhaps you should have help from a contractor . . . or Google or Bing" Dark smiled, "I think I'll stay out here a bit longer . . .. maybe go back into the void for a bit and see if I can bring anything back that anyone might want or need"

"Good idea. I'll see you later th-"

There was a sudden crash from the house and some of the Ipliers were yelling and screaming.

Bing was seen from the window running away from Google who had a blowtorch ready to singe him.

"Goddammit, Google!" Mark went to run in. He looked back to ask for Dark's help only to see he disappeared already, "Fucking . . DARK, THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

Dark appeared in front of his old home. The Raspy Hill manor.

'This is the last time. It's already a little off from us being away for so long.'

Dark walked inside and looked around for anything important he could bring back with him that he hadn't thought of before.

He went through everyone's rooms just as he had the first time with Dark Chica.

Then he stopped in his room. It was strange, really.

It had been so long now, he barely even recognized it. There was so little in there now.

He had taken some photos and a few items for the others until he finally left to go outside.

He took one last look at the manor before turning away and he saw something peculiar in the distance.

A small stuttered breathe escaped him.

No, this can't be right. They were actually gone, right?

Why were they here?

Actor killed them so long ago.

Dark took a small step forward and he saw Celine smile.

Dark smiled back.

Damien then caught his attention, giving him a look. A sad expression in his eyes.

Apologetic with deep regret.

Dark understood it though. He was sorry. He had known Actor's carnage was mostly his doing.

But it seemed now he had one person left to apologize to beside Celine.

"It's okay. . . ." Dark nodded, signifying that everything was fine now.

Damien gave a small smile and waved to him along with Celine.

Of course Dark waved back, watching as they faded away.

It had been true all along that they had never been a part of him. Dark had been his own person since the very beginning. Their actions never defined who he really was.

And now this was it. 

This is what saving Anti's life had cost . . . . . a fair trade for a peaceful walk towards another life for them.

"Sleep well"

When he returned home, he was greeted by everyone, happy to hear the news about their new home.

This was it.

Everything was at peace now.

The End

:D So what did you guys think? Pretty good for my first actual Darkiplier centered story? If there were any plot-holes please let me know. Writing three stories all at once, I'm hoping I didn't forget anything lol

And per usual, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE CONSTANT LOVE AND SUPPORT YOU GIVE MY STORIES!

I love and cherish all of the comments, views and votes I'm ever given. I love to hear all the theories and jokes and appreciate every single one of you for going on this ride with me in this story.

I hope you all enjoyed it, there's more to come with the stories 'Childish' and 'Pity for the Insane' so if you guys haven't read those yet, you're missing out XD

See you all in the next one! 💚