All fanart at the top of the chapters and used in this story is mine. Here's my Tumblr to see more fanart: www.tumblr.com/blog/graphic-hawk

It was a pleasant outside with the sun shining. Not a cloud in the sky, a small cool breeze and the faint sound of a lawn-mower in the distance. Dark didn't hate these kind of summer days but he didn't really like them either. He always preferred a rainy day. The other egos, however, were excited and wouldn't let the beautiful day go to waste. Wilford even asked Dark to come out to enjoy the weather with them but he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Things had been better between Dark and the other egos since that day at the beach but he still felt worried they'd just up and change their minds and start avoiding him again. It was a few months after but he still had that nagging anxiety and he couldn't shake it. 

Today, Dark was wearing a dark gray suit as he sat in his bedroom/office. He always loved suits and he didn't know why. There was just something powerful about them that gave him confidence. Maybe that was why he wore one today? With a deep sigh, Dark leaned back in his chair and stretched slightly, 'Why do you always have to cause so much trouble, Wil?'

Indeed, Wilford and his reckless behavior was a problem but that was the least of his worries. Where Wil had killed another game contestant on Bim's stupid show, 'Hire My Ass', Yandere ended up torturing some poor girl because they looked at their senpai weirdly. And Google had hacked into some country's government headquarters, planning on stealing their missile launch codes for some reason. It was all a mess and he knew he was going to have to give them all another talk. That was what worried him the most. What if he spoke TOO sternly and scared them? Of course Wil wouldn't be too terribly moved but Google would be afraid he'd be shut down and Yandere might just be terrified. But Yandere had gotten more relaxed around Dark lately and that had proven to be a bit of a problem. They needed to know that just because Dark wouldn't hurt them, didn't mean they wouldn't get punished for their actions.

'Maybe instead of yelling and causing my aura to freak out and scare them, I could punish them in a different way?' Dark hummed in thought. He had to think of what he could do to balance everything out.

'Maybe take Yandere's electronic devices away. . . .  Put Google on a restricted mode so he doesn't have the ability to hack a fucking government' he tried thinking of what he could punish Wil with but that was difficult, 'Come on, think! There has to be something that would make him think about the consequences'

Dark sat in his chair going through a list in his head of what he could take away from Wil when he suddenly smiled at a realization. Standing up and straightening his suit, he exited his room and went off to find them.

He found Google first outside lounging by the pool charging. Bing was with him talking animatedly about something but it didn't appear that Google was listening. 'Perfect' Dark thought, 'Perhaps this will embarrass him'. He walked over in his usual confident matter and blocked the sun from Google to stop him charging. Google opened his eyes to see Dark standing over him and suddenly the search engine looked worried.

"Google"

"Dark"

"Hey Dark, how's it going, man? Google in trouble again?" Bing grinned and Dark nodded.

Google sighed, "You can't shut me down. It won't deter me from my primary objective."

"You're right" Dark smiled, "But perhaps this will." Dark then pressed Google's chest causing a holographic screen to appear and he moved around his menu for a moment before finding what he wanted. 

Google's eyes widened, "You wouldn't"

"Wouldn't I?" Dark selected the option and Google froze for a moment before groaning in defeat.

Dark ruffled his hair, making the android growl, "You're grounded. Perhaps some time being treated like a child will make you re-think what your primary objective should be. You're on restricted mode with me using parental controls until you learn your lesson. Have a good rest of your day, Google. Bing"

Bing was holding in his laughter until Dark walked away and he could hear him howling until Google swat him, "Shut up!"

The next one he found was Yandere. They were in their room on the computer. Dark couldn't tell what they were watching but they looked deeply fixated on it, "Yandere"

They looked up surprised by Dark's presence and suddenly slammed their computer shut, "Dark! What the hell!? Why did you just barge in my room!? What do you want?" they whined.

Dark twitched a little, "You're trying my patience, Yandere. Torturing a young girl. For what? For looking at a male that you desire? Your radical behavior has gone far enough."

Yandere confidently huffed, "What are you going to do? Scare me? I'll just tell Mark!"

Dark smirked and walked over, taking their computer, "I'm taking all of your electronic devices and weapons. Computer, phone, tablet, knives, gun. Anything with a point and that connects to the internet, really." 

Yandere had a look of horror on their face, "WHAT!? You can't do that! What are you, my dad!?"

"If you insist on acting like a child then that is how I will treat you, Yandere Iplier. Like it or not, you have to learn that you can't just do what you want without consequence. Have you even tried talking to that guy you like? Instead of stalking him, why don't you actually go and try striking up a conversation? Until you start behaving like an adult, you're grounded."

With that, Dark scowered the room for any and all electronics and weapons they had and confiscated them, "You can have these back once I deem you are mature enough."

With that, he left the room to take all of Yandere's things to his. He smirked at the horrified face they made, "Just don't look at my search history!"

"I don't plan on it!" he didn't even want to know.

When that was done and he hid all of them properly, he placed his hands on his hips, "Two down, one to go"

He was worried about how this would go with Wilford. There was no telling how he would react or what he'd do, really, but he knew it had to be done.

He tried wandering the house to find him but with no luck so he went back over to where Google and Bing was and asked Bing if he knew where he could have gone.

"Oh, dude I think he went to the office to interview somebody."

"Thanks, Bing." Google had his arms crossed, meanwhile, guarding his chest with a glare on his face until he left.

Went he arrived at the office that Wilford and Bim operated, he could hear his voice plainly from the interview room. Ignoring the secretary's timid pleading for him not to go in, he walked through anyways. Wilford snapped his head to look over to see who entered, "Ah Dark! What you doing here, friend? I'm kind of in the middle of something here"

Dark merely stared at the person being interviewed, "Leave." without a word, the poor person ran out scared of Dark's intimidating aura.

Wilford huffed, "Uh! Darky! Why'd ya go and do that!?"

"We need to have a little talk, Wil." he took the spot of the interviewee, "You've been killing more people lately and it has to stop. It's gotten too much to keep hiding."

"Ah!" Wilford waved it off, "It's fine! They'll thank me later!"

He was already losing his patience, "Wil, why don't you get it!? They literally can't thank you for anything because you KILL them. When they die, they die. Gone. They're not like us. Egos like us are different. Egos can't die but they CAN. It has to stop."

Wil just rolled his eyes, "Aw, you're just working yourself too much, Darky. Take a break once in a while!" Wil went to pour himself a drink when Dark stopped him.

"Then you give me no choice but to end it myself, Wil. Give me your gun"

"My gun!?" Wilford stared at him as if HE were the crazy one, "I'm not giving you my gun, old pal. My father gave me this" he pulled it out to show him, "He'd take it with him along all his safaris. Kept him safe. Left it to me when he died" he put it back in his holster, "No, you're not taking this Dark. Too precious"

Of course Dark knew that story wasn't real but Wil didn't know that. He was still stuck in the jumbled stories of Mark's head of the character he was supposed to be. In truth, he stole the gun from Abe a long time ago who had gotten it from an antique second-hand store for a cheap price. He never even missed it.

"You'll get it back, Wil. But I'm taking it away for now so you might learn your lesson-"

"No, you're not!" Wilford stood up to appear demeaning but Dark stood up as well, knowing this would escalate. 

"Wil" Dark tried to remain calm to prevent his aura from lashing out, "Hand it over. I had to take away Yandere's weapons and electronics today for nearly the same reason. Don't make this harder than it has to be"

"You can't treat me like child." Wil was losing his temper, "I may be crazy but I'm not stupid. I'm not like Yandere. They'll find some other way to get what they want in which is stupid! Pining after some boy that they don't even really know! They'll find some other kind of weapon or way to stalk, you just watch. Why if my father was here, he'd-"

"Wil! You never had a father!" Dark shouted in exasperation, starting to crack, "You're an ego from Mark's fucking head! You don't have your own childhood! None of us do!"

Wil looked to be seething and and ready to explode but Dark reached for the gun, "Look just listen to me, alright?"

Wil suddenly smacked him, "Look just back off, Damien! I'm not a child anymore, you pesky fool! I-" he stopped, realizing what he just said and did.

Dark just backed off but he felt betrayed. Here Wil had always said he never saw him as Damien and yet he. . . 

"Dark. . . I. . .I didn't mean it."

Dark felt a tear try to escape his eyes but he refused to let it show. His voice did crack, though, "Don't. . . don't"

Dark walked briskly out of the room, ignoring Wil's shouts for him. It was a long drive back home in his thoughts but when he got there, he marched straight to his room and slammed the door. Everyone in the house knew something was wrong. They could feel it but they didn't dare come near him if he was like this.

Dark slid down the door and hugged his knees. He knew it was childish but he didn't care. The one person he thought he could always count on just hurt him. He just felt hurt. Wil had always told him he didn't think of him as Damien anymore and yet he called him by that name. Was it his intention to hurt him like that? Was it just out of spite? Or was it just purely an accident?

Whatever the reason, Dark didn't care at the moment, letting his painful tears fall down his face. He never felt so horrible in his life, even before the beach day with everyone. And now that he thought about it, Google and Yandere probably hated him again now, too. 

He felt choked in his tears. He didn't want anyone to hate him. He just needed them to see that they couldn't keep hurting or killing people for their own benefit. They had ONE target and that was Actor Mark. Why couldn't they see that? Were they still all too jumbled up in the stories Mark made of them that they couldn't see past them still?

Dark sighed. It started off as a nice day but it turned out so horrible. But was it his own fault? Was he to blame? He took away Google's full controls and Yandere's property and then tried to take away Wilford's special gun? Was he really the monster? Did he truly turn out how Actor Mark wanted?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Dark flinched. He grunted before speaking so his voice didn't crack, "Go away" it still sounded weak.

"Dark please open the door, friend" it was Wilford. Had he followed him home?

Out of spite, Dark hissed out, "Don't you mean, Damien? No, I don't think so. Just leave me be"

Wilford sighed on the other side of the door, "Dark, you know that was an accident in the heat of the moment. I'm sorry. I lost my temper and wasn't thinking straight. Give me another chance?"

"You never think straight. I'm not Damien. I'm so tired of people referring to him. It hurts. Just go away, Wil. If you want to keep your stupid gun that badly then fine. Just don't expect me to bail you out of jail."

There was silence for a few moments before he felt the door move slightly and he heard Wil sigh. He slid down on the other side of the door, "Dark. . . . I'm not moving until you come out. I'll even let you punch me if you want. You can have the gun. It's not worth losing you, friend"

Dark struggled with his feelings. Wil's emotions flooding onto him. Dark's black aura spasmed and red and blue streaks of light shot from him a little but he took a deep breathe, trying to make it ebb away. Wiping his tears, he growled at his weakness. He felt like the fool. Always trying to please everybody and yet kept in charge to keep everybody in line. The balance of trying to be the dominant ego and trying to be their friend was more difficult than anyone could imagine, especially with this group.

"I understand why you wanted to punish me, Dark." Wil spoke again, "I get that but I can't change who I am. I can't stop the madness in me. I can't always keep a lid on things and see things like you. Celine broke you out of the story. You had help. I didn't. You're different than all of us, even me. I only ever made it half-way out and I can't . . .  I can't be how you want me to. Neither can the others. Deep down you know this."

"Wil . . ." Dark whispered but the man heard him.

"Yes?"

". . . .  You don't understand how hard this all is for me. You'll never understand." he took a long, deep breathe , "But that's okay. Just . . promise me you'll remember not to call me by that name again?"

Wil nodded before he realized Dark couldn't see him, "I swear it, friend."

A few more minutes went by before Dark finally relented and got up, opening the door. Wil stood up, too and they stared at each other for a moment before Wil rushed at him in a hug, surprising the other. Dark hugged him back and Wil pat his back, "I'm sorry. . . I'll always be sorry, my friend."

Dark leaned his cheek on Wil's shoulder, "I know."

Wil suddenly shot away and grinned, "Now how's about we go out and enjoy this fine day, eh, Dark? Just the two of us pals! Tell ya what, I promise to try and not to kill anyone the whole week!"

Dark just chuckled, finding it a bit funny how his emotions could be so spastic, "Fine. Let's go to that sweet shop you talk about so much."

"Grand! Oh but first" Wil took hold of Dark's tie and fixed it for him, "Got to stay proper, eh, old boy? Maybe impress some fine ladies. Come along now, the day's wasting away!"

Dark shook his head with a smile and followed, Wil's arm swinging over his shoulder as they walked together. He may be crazy, but damn, he will always be his best friend.

Dark just had to remember what Wil told him. But how did Wil know so much and yet couldn't break free? Dark, himself, didn't even know the whole reason why he was different than them but once Wil explained it like that, it all made so much more sense now that he thought about it.

But was Sean's egos the same way? Were they stuck in Sean's head-stories or were they free? Perhaps Anti was like Wil in that aspect? He didn't know and at the moment, he didn't care. 

With his best friend at his side, he chose to let all the other worries drift away for later.

Alright so I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. Let me know your thoughts and what you guys think :)