In his eyes . . .  .

Darkiplier saw something he felt he shouldn't have.

It crawled up his spine.

He took a step back submissively.

What was this feeling? 

This danger he felt?

Why was his only response to flee?

But as soon as he saw it, it vanished and Mark was staring at him concerned.

"Uh . . Dark, you okay?"

Dark blinked, seeing those familiar brown eyes, his creator coming closer. 

He took another step away from him.

"Dark?" but just when the other was about to write it off as his wild imagination and sleep deprivation, Mark smirked at him, "Is Celine still sleeping?"

Dark flinched, looking around to see if anyone else was listening but it didn't seem so. They were all engulfed in their own things.

'Mark' chuckled lightly, "Almost ready . . . . Not quite yet."

But Dark somewhat understood, ". . .Actor?"

There was a glint in his eyes, anger radiating off of him but he glanced towards Anti and back to Dark, whispering to him so no one else could hear.

"Unfortunate that you know so soon . . . . . You know, you should really consider asking him. Never know how much time is left"

Dark wrinkled his nose, "What do you fucking want from me? I don't wanna fight you-"

He snarled, "Fuck off with that. You don't have a choice. The sooner you realize that, the better. But it WOULD be best for you to ask him before that time comes"

"Wh. . . ask who what?"

Actor growled low, "Ask Mark . . . . .  about your birth . . . . I'm sure you realize he's hiding the truth from you. Don't you want to know why those dreams plague you every night?"

"How did you-"

"Ask . . . Or you'll die without knowing." he gave a sick grin, "See you later." he glanced at Dark's cane, "That will be mine . . . " he moved his gaze then to Dark Chica, "And so will the mutt. . ." he glared back to Dark, "And you'll give me exactly what I've been itching for all these years."

Before Dark could ask anything more, Mark's eyes flashed and he seemed confused, "Hm? Wh. . . Hi, Dark. Sorry, what were we talking about? I think I blanked out. Been doing that a lot lately, I guess"

Dark swallowed. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he just tell him now?

No, he didn't want to make a scene here.

Maybe later.

Then again maybe later would come to bite him in the ass.

But he couldn't bring himself to say anything to him about it, "Uh . . . it's nothing. . . . Don't ..  worry about it"

Before Mark could respond, Dark bolted away from him, "I'm gonna go back to the mansion. Not feeling good."

The others didn't know why Dark was briskly walking out of the yard by himself but some seemed to think it might have been Mark's fault.

"Hey now, what'd ya say to him, Markimoo?!" Wilford was concerned as to why his friend left so suddenly.

"Yeah!" Yandere popped up, slashing their sword around, "Why's he getta leave early!?"

"Uh . . ."

Anti watched from afar. It was obvious from Dark's stature, he was thrown off and perhaps even scared. He didn't think he'd see Dark this way but then again, he wasn't what he thought he was since the beginning.

Actor always made him out to be so badass and evil. Anti rolled right in then only to see it was the exact opposite. Until the other day, that is.

'Actor's after that part of him. What will he do if he can't have that, though?' Anti didn't know why he bothered thinking about it. It's not like he gave a shit.

Without comment, he went back to work with Bing.

Dark wasn't seen the rest of the day and honestly the others were kind of worried about him. They were all in the living room after Mark left them to their own devices and even Anti was off in the corner eavesdropping. 

"D-do you think he's sick?" Eric asked Dr. Iplier.

The doctor shrugged, "From what he said about his nightmares a wile ago, he might be dying but you can never be too sure"

"WHAT!?"

"Yo take it easy, doc" Yancy intervened, "Don't youse worry about it, small fry" he addressed Eric, "Sure the big bad is all good"

"Maybe" Yandere snorted.

"YAN!"

"What!? You don't know for sure! He's been acting koo-koo since we came here!"

"Even more so than Wil. No offense Wil" Illinois stated.

"None taken!" he was busy adjusting his wig.

"Shouldn't someone talk to him?" King asked.

Even kind of just shrugged.

"Dude . . ." Bing scratched at his chin, "Guess none of us really . . .know him? How can we not know if our friend is hurting, bros?"

"The Host would like to say something and he intervened in the conversation before it got even more sappy."

They waited for him to speak but he didn't.

"Well go on!" Bim lost his patience.

"The Host thinks that maybe Dark is just overwhelmed and hurt by all that has happened since arriving here. Mark isn't exactly close to him like he is with us, after all."

"The narrator is right" Google nodded, "I HAVE detected high levels of stress and anxiety since we've left Mark's mind."

"And you didn't think to mention that earlier?" Captain Magnum scoffed.

"Wasn't it obvious?" Google countered.

Meanwhile the Jims were in the background filming and narrating their entire conversation.

"Maybe he's homesick!" Wilford shouted, "I'll make HIM a wig, too!"

Dr. Iplier resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "One of us should talk to him. And maybe it should be me-"

"No offense doc" Yan butted in, "But you're not exactly empathetic. You might just end up making things worse"

Anyone else just seemed to wait for someone else to volunteer. 

Were they really all so reluctant to just talk to him?

Anti rolled his eyes and pumped out as much Chase energy as he could, "If you dorks can't do it, then maybe I could give it a try, huh?"

Bing looked his way, "No offense, bro, but maybe it'd be best for an Iplier to talk to him?"

"Maybe" he shrugged, "But by the time you guys decided who's going to, it might be too late!" he chuckled, "I'm just saying, I've been sharing a room with him and I can say he's not really as scary like you guys think he is. I might even know him better than you guys by now!"

He didn't get the reaction he hoped for as Eric huffed, "You don't know that! I-I know Dark! H-he might be scary sometimes but  . . . I know h-he's not. I . . . um . .. I'll t-talk to him"

Anti nodded to him, "Go on then if you want little dude. Let me know how it works out, huh? Imma go check out the library computers or whatever. See if they got solitaire"

With that perfect lie into place, Anti managed to sneak out of the room without suspicion while Eric anxiously went to the basement to check up on Dark.

Eric made his way slowly to the basement door. 

'Th-this was a mistake! I sh-shouldn't be the one to ask him about his f-feelings, right?! What am I doing?! I d-don't think I can do this!'

But the closer he got to the door, the more confident he got, strangely enough.

There was just something in the air that made his nervousness seem light compared to the emotions on the other side of the door.

Dark Chica was in the backyard enjoying some fresh air at the moment but Eric swore he heard a sort of whine downstairs.

Opening the door, Eric gulped loudly but squeezed his handkerchief for support, "Uh . . .D-dark?"

Nothing.

Eric took a few more steps down, "D-daaaark?"

It was almost pitch in the basement if it wasn't for the small window down there letting a little light in. Eric could just barely make out a figure sitting on a bed curled up tight in a ball against the wall.

A small high pitched noise breaking through the silence.

'So th-that's what that whining noise was'

Eric wasn't afraid anymore. He knew that form anywhere and seeing him in that position was just worrying. Eric came all the way down the steps to the basement floor and flicked on the light.

He didn't know what he was expecting. He had never seen Dark so disheveled before. So lost looking and almost . .. afraid?

"Dark"

Darkiplier had his head in his arms and knees, hiding himself away from the world and it only made Eric come closer and closer until he was sitting on Dark's bed with him. It was then being this close that Eric could see something coming off of Dark.

Something that waved off of him he had never seen before.

Eric poked Dark.

Slowly, the 'leader' of the Iplier egos lifted his head up and honestly he looked like he had better days.

"D-dark . . . what's wrong?"

Dark really didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it but Eric wasn't about to leave. Not now.

For a few moments, Dark was just silent but Eric was patient and waited for him to speak on his own  time.

"I don't know what to do"

Eric was stunned by this. What did he mean by that?

"Wh-what do you mean? Do about wh-what?"

Dark fell silent again but shook his head.

"D-dark?" Eric tried again, "E-everyone's worried about you. Y-you're not acting like yourself anymore. S-something's bothering you. Isn't it? You can talk to us."

Could he really?

Dark sighed, "None of you would understand"

"Th-then you can MAKE us understand. D-dark . . . . you  .. . you helped me a lot . . . l-let me help you?"

That seemed to catch Dark's attention and he finally looked Eric in the eyes.

Eric saw something he had never seen before in his eyes. They were . . . lighter. They were no longer black or a dark brown. It was almost as if they were just . .. maybe a dark gray? The life in his eyes was just so dull and hopeless.

What was bothering him so much to make him feel this way?

"T-talk to me"

Dark was about to say something. He was so close to just finally telling someone else everything.

Until a small voice in his head rumbled in his ears.

'It's all your fault. Look what you've done . . .'

What did he do? Whatever it was, it was eating him alive. Tearing him up from the inside.

Once again, Dark fell silent in Eric's presence.

Eric tried to get him to talk again but it seemed as if Dark was full-on in a blank state of mind, deflecting everything around him away.

Eric was afraid of this. He had felt this way many times himself before and it was never good. He had to talk to someone that mattered to him right now. Usually Eric would have gone to Dark himself. 

Who was the one Dark could talk to?

Meanwhile with Anti, the glitch laughed softly to himself. He didn't want to go anywhere near Dark right now. Fuck that.

He always hated being around depressed people. That's why he always seemed to punish Chase the most.

Even to the most of taking his form. No one would trust Chase again after this. If there even WAS anything after this for the Septic egos.

Anti sauntered into the small library. He had found out about this room from Bing, believe it or not. Anti was never the kind to read but once he talked about the few computers that were in there, Anti was all for it.

He needed some R&R anyway. Some juice to keep him going after such a long and boring day.

Too bad he never got what he wanted.

Out of nowhere, something slammed into his side, shoving him to the floor. He tried not to glitch but once he saw who shoved him, Anti's anger took over.

"The fook do you think you're doing?! Ya could have made me glitch, you ass!"

His 'partner' didn't seem amused, however, "You told him"

Anti reverted to his normal form and static started to spark off of him, "Don't ya fooking put that shite on me! YOU'RE the one who's making it too easy to figure out! Ya fooking dumbass!"

Anti was suddenly shoved into a bookcase but not by Actor's hands. Even though his hand was reached out . . .

"Someone's . . . learned a new trick" Anti grunted out.

"You're bad at surveillance, you know? He wasn't supposed to even know it was YOU to begin with!"

"It's not like I CALLED that storm the other night! I told ya, I can't fooking control the glitching when that shite happens!"

"Whatever" Actor let him go, "What matters now . . . is that you stay out of the way"

Anti furrowed his brow, "Wait . . . what? But I thought!"

"You've proven that you obviously can't be trusted to perform something as simple as watching someone" Actor snarled at him, "It was the simplest task you had and yet you BOTCHED it!" a black aura radiated from him.

Anti could sense the power coming off of him and even lowered his head, "Does our deal still stand?"

"Hmph" the Iplier snorted, "It shouldn't . . . . .. . but perhaps you still could be of use to me. Just wait. Don't tell him anything else. He's cracking as it is. It won't be long now"

"You said that a while ago and we're still waiting"

"Have patience. You're like a dog pleading for his bone back. Don't you worry, my friend" Actor had the audacity to pat Anti's head, "You'll get what you want, too. If you cooperate."

Anti hated the action of being treated like a dog but he didn't feel as if he had a choice right now. He felt  a bit of Actor's power and he really didn't want to feel more.

It was just like when Dark lost control the other day but this felt more . ..  concentrated.

Stronger?

'I guess we'll see soon then'

The glitch nodded and turned back to Chase's form, "You got it. I'll stay out of the way"

"Good boy" with that Actor disappeared.

Anti didn't know where he went exactly but he took a deep breathe and flopped his ass onto the floor.

Was even working with this guy worth it anymore?