Anti stared at the man in front of him with surprise. He could hear the faint ringing that came with his presence but it wasn't as noticeable as the last time they encountered one another.

"I  . . . apologize for the way our last meet-up went." he had a blank look on his face as always. Not apologetic at all.

"If I had known they were going to send you there, I wouldn't have put you in danger like that, Anti. You can trust me on that."

Anti stood up fully on the roof, staring across at the man in the suit.

"Leave me alone, Dark."

Dark was surprised to say the least, "Excuse me? I apologized, Anti. Isn't that worth anything? And you know me. . . I don't apologize for anything or anyone."

"So why me?"

"You're different."

"̶B̵u̷l̵l̶s̸h̷i̵t̴e̷.̶" Anti glared at him, "We both know your just blowing smoke out yer ass, Dark. Now just fook off and leave me alone!"

Dark was starting to lose his temper a little, his red aura burning within, "What did they do now that you're up here, Anti? We both know you only come up here to get away from them, even if they do know where to find you"

Anti crossed his arms and stared him down, unmoving. It was unnerving, even to Dark and his eye twitch a little, "Or is the problem not them, but you? Tell me, Anti, what did you see in the void? What was your worst nightmare?"

"Why should tell you? It'll only give you more ammo against me. Fuck off and leave me be, D̶a̴r̴k̸. I want nothing to do with you"

"Then why did you so willingly take the job I offered to you?"

Anti halted, his eyes widened. Dark smirked and continued, "It wasn't the prospect of a reward that sold you, Anti. I know it wasn't. And it couldn't have been that you were rushed into decision. No. . . . you missed the old days, didn't you?"

Anti's mouth felt dry and his shoulders dropped. 

"You missed being my partner in crime. Doing things that were so wrong. Things that would send shivers down your spine. The bloodlust overtaking you. Back then, you'd do anything for simply my words of praise and the look of fear in your victim's eyes. I know WHY you left my side. Why you didn't do that last thing I asked of you. . . . you've grown weak around them. If it had been anyone else, you would have had it done in seconds without a thought!"

Dark walked closer to Anti and the closer he came, the louder that ringing sounded. Anti started to sweat and accidentally broke by taking a step back. Dark smirked, "You afraid of me, Anti, old friend? Look what they've done to you. You've been infected by their worthless emotions. You did all that they asked of you and let yourself become domesticated for THEM. And what have you received for it? Nothing but pain."

Anti swallowed and looked anywhere but Dark's eyes. He couldn't look at him. He just couldn't.

"But you don't have to live like that anymore, Anti."

The glitch shuddered and peered a bit more bravely to Dark's face. Dark smiled as if Anti did a good thing, "You could leave them. Come back with me, my friend. Everything can go back to the way it was before. When it was you and me and you didn't have these stupid feelings corrupting you. . . . . . . . I just need you . . . . to do one little thing for me"

Anti glitched a little and was suddenly thrown back into reality. 

He snapped backwards away from Dark and glared hard at him, "̴F̴U̵C̷K̶ ̷Y̸O̸U̶!̵ I know what you're trying to do! You're trying to manipulate me again! Well guess what?! It won't f̷o̵o̸k̵i̵n̴g̶ work, Dark! I'm not about to be your f̵o̶o̶k̵i̷n̸g̷ ̴p̴e̸t̷ again! I'm my own person, dammit! Not your t̵o̸o̵l̵ that you can use and throw away at your own whim! I thought you were my f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̵!̸"̶

"That's not what this is about!"

"But I'm not wrong, a̸m̸ ̷I̷ !̷?̶" Anti glitched and sputtered in anger, "You talk a lot of bullshit about how emotions are stupid, Dark. When we both know how much you care about Wilford on the inside, I'm not stupid. He's like a brother to you"

Dark was suddenly nose to nose with him, his fist in the glitch's shirt, "You keep your mouth shut. Don't speak about matters you don't know anything about, you fucking worm"

"I could say the exact same to you, b̴i̸t̵c̴h̶" Anti didn't even blink, his eyes glowing green.

They glared each other down for a while, staring into each other's eyes. Dark could see every little thought that went through Anti's head through his eyes. Every emotion. It was sickening and yet. . .  . did he really. . . miss it?

Dark's gaze softened and he took a deep breath. Anti didn't let the move put him off his guard  but something in Dark's eyes flashed with . .something. What was it?

"Must have. . . .been hard in the void"

Anti stiffened more if possible as he continued, "You didn't. . . . didn't deserve that."

Was that actually emotion in Dark's eyes? His eyes were cracking and his shell was just starting to break. Just a small bit.

"I. . . . Anti, I'm s-"

"Hey!" another voice erupted and Dark was forcibly shoved off of Anti, "Dark" 

Jackie came to save the day again and growled deeply at the Iplier ego, "The hell you think you're doing? Didn't learn from last time, huh? Stay away from Anti! He doesn't need your shit!"

Dark grew angry once more but directed to Jackie this time, "I'm not the one that sent him into an eternal dimension of literal HELL! I'm trying to help him! All you bastards have done is hurt him! At least I was there for him!"

"Then why abandon him?! Look, I don't know what happened between you two but it must have been pretty bad for Anti to never even want us to mention your name! He doesn't want you around. . . .and he doesn't need you."

"Oh speak your valiant words all you want, hero!" Dark stood tall and straightened his tie, "It's not your decision anyways. It's Anti's."

Jackie and Dark looked over to the glitch. Anti didn't know what to think though. He was confused. So many emotions rushed through him, he didn't know what to think. Was Dark about to apologize properly before Jackie arrived? He'll probably never know now. And why did Jackie ALWAYS have to just BE around when Anti needed him? It was infuriating!

"Anti?" Jackie addressed him, "Whatever he's said to you. . . you don't need to go back to him. You don't need to go back to the way you were before. That person you were years ago. . . that wasn't you, Anti. That man wasn't even a fraction of who you are now. Dark has no idea what you're capable of and frankly if he's gonna treat you like shit and use you and manipulate you, you don't need him. He's not your friend."

Anti stared back at Jackie and really, he never thought he'd say that the hero was right but. . . . he was. Never before had Anti actually looked up to someone before. He was. .. .glad that Jackie had come.

"Anti, listen-" Dark tried to speak to him again but Anti snarled his way, sparks coming off of him.

"No, Dark. Y̶o̵u̴ listen. I'm done with you. I'm done with your games, with you using me for Y̸O̸U̴R̵ gain. I'm done. Jackie's right. You're not my friend. You never were. That's not what friends are"

Dark felt his eye twitch and his aura snapped. He gripped his head, grinding his teeth harshly with a groan. The blue aura lashed around with the red and Dark fought hard to keep himself from completely breaking.

Anti was concerned for Dark in this moment but refused to offer help. He wouldn't. He's seen this happen to Dark only once before. The last time he tried to help him, Dark nearly beat him for it.

Just as quickly as it came, Dark's mini-breakdown ceased and he stood tall once more.

"Very well" he grunted out, "I don't need a broken tool anyways. Too much extra maintenance. . . . .  not worth my time" with that, he was gone, teleporting himself through his void to go back home.

Anti breathed out a long sigh and closed his eyes.

Jackie pat his shoulder lightly, "You okay, bro?" he looked concerned.

"̷H̴m̴.̸ ̴ Why?" 

"You closed your eyes" he smiled, "Feeling better?"

Anti nodded, "A bit."

"Want to go home or do you want to stay here for a bit longer?"

Anti looked up at the sun to see that it was just starting to reach the middle up over head meaning it was only around noon, "I want to stay here for a bit. . . .if that's okay."

"Sure man. Sure thing. Want me to stay with you? I won't talk or anything if you don't want."

Thinking about it for a few moments, Anti finally nodded, "You can if you want." walking over to the edge of the roof, Anti sat down and looked overhead at the city before them. Jackie sat down next to him.

The two stayed like that for a while just watching the people below, listening to them go about their day. It was peaceful.

Anti felt peaceful for the first time in a while.

It was nice. He smiled just a little.

'I'm proud of you, Anti' Jackie thought, keeping the words to himself. He knew if he said it out loud it would just ruin the moment.

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When Dark got back to his office, the first thing he did was overturn his desk. In his rage, he flipped it over, papers and supplies and his computer flying across the floor.

"God . . .DAMMIT!!"

'You keep letting your emotions get in the way'

"Shut up you stupid voice! I'm not weak!"

'But you are. If you insist on letting yourself be swayed by your emotions, you'll never defeat Mark. You'll never win'

"Shut up, dammit! You think I don't know that!? Fuck!"

'You're slipping again'

Dark growled lowly, clenching his teeth. His eyes went black and the two aura inside of him pulsed out into the room as he started to break.

Taking a deep breathe, Dark tried to think of something else. Anything else. The night sky. The smell of coffee, the blissful sound of utter silence, Anti.

"Damn it all!!" he kicked his overturned desk, only for that bottom drawer to fall out and hit the ground. 

He looked at the object that fell out. He just stared at it for a while until finally giving in and bending down to pick it up. The frame was slightly broken as well as the glass but the picture remained intact.

The picture was from a better time when he didn't care as much about reeling in his emotions. HE was a completely different person.

'I was weak then. Ignorant' he thought.

But he just stared at the picture. He couldn't put it down.

He wished things could just go back to the way things were before. But he couldn't. His vengeance came first. He had a plan and he had to go through with it. Only then will he finally be free.

'Then I'll be able to feel . . .without this . . . hindrance. This risk. . . '

'That's right.' the voice cooed, 'You just have to follow through. Nothing else gets in the way'

'Nothing' he agreed.

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"He . . . he did what?" once Jackie told them all what went down, Sean was more or less shocked. He did care about Anti but he would have thought with all that was going on that Dark would have been able to coax him.

"Yeah, it kind of surprised me too, honestly" Jackie shrugged, "But I'm proud of him to say the least."

"Why did you think he WOULD choose Dark?" Marvin asked, "He's done nothing but use him for years"

"Yeah but Dark's also very . . . .charming." Chase hummed, "He could make the shittiest deal sound like a life-changing bargain. It sounds more like Anti's finally seen past his game"

'What if Dark tries again but finds a better way?' Jameson asked, 'We were lucky that Jackie got there in time, really'

"JJ's right" said Henrik, "From vhat Jackie said, Anti made his final decision with him there. There's no telling what Dark could do to him if he finds Anti alone"

Jackie smirked "Guess we'll just have to stick by his side, then" 

They all stared at him. Thank whatever higher power there was that Anti wasn't there to hear them talk. He was up in his room listening to static. It was an . . . .  odd way to relax but they wouldn't judge him this time.

"You can't always be around him, though" Sean huffed, "Not unless you leash him or handcuff him to one of you"

Marvin playfully whisked around some furry handcuffs in his hand and they all chuckled.

"No" Sean pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just watch out for him, alright? Whether he knows it or not, he's vulnerable. We can't let Dark persuade him into anything. No telling what that bastard will have him do"

They all nodded in agreement and it was settled. They'd all take turns. Whether or not it was a good idea to secretly take turns spending time with him this way, they'd find out later. That was not their main priority at the moment.

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Anti still refused to really talk to anyone. . . . but they understood why. They all came on a little strong at first but quickly realized they'd have to let him come to them and ease him along.

At least he stopped closing himself in his room all day, choosing instead to hang around in the living room sunken into the couch like a sack of potatoes.

It was still depressing to see, though.

And when night came, it was either Chase, Jameson or Jackie that would stay in his room with him to make sure he wouldn't go into a fit. Mostly, however, it was Chase.

What they all didn't know was that Anti had heard EVERYTHING that night. They didn't realize that the static noise was actually him connecting to the TV in the living room, secretly watching them all. 

He wanted to be mad. He really did.

But in a weird way, he couldn't help but feel sort of touched at their words. Half of him wanted to rip into them for treating him like a child but the other half was content on letting them treat him in such a way.

But he wasn't just going to lay back and make things easy for them. There were a few things that still bothered him that he needed to know. Why was Henrik so determined to know everything about the void? What was it about that place he was so damn curious about? When Anti had told him what he knew of the place, Henrik's eyes lit up in fascination but also something else. Hope. And that was confusing to Anti.

And then there was Chase. He came back after Jameson had texted him that Anti wasn't doing so good after being in the empty hellspace. But there was another reason. Anti could sense it but he just didn't know what it could be. The only clue Chase gave him was that he was a 'family man'. Anti hoped Chase wouldn't do anything more stupid now that he was back.

The last time Chase was home, things weren't exactly going his way. It was odd enough that Sean and Jackie LET him return at all but then again, it was better than letting him get another apartment by himself where they couldn't see him.

Anti wasn't the only one with demons in the past.

The glitch was mindless staring through the TV in the living room thinking all this out when a hand lightly brushed over his shoulder. He flinched slightly but looked up to see Jackie smiling down on him.

"Hey man. You alright? You've been looking into wonderland for over an hour."

"It's called watching TV, ̸d̵i̴p̸s̵h̷i̴t̴" he quipped back at him.

The hero snorted, "You've been 'watching TV' for days now. How about we do something a bit more. . . productive?"

Anti groaned, "U̵g̸h̶!̶ No! Your version of that is so fooking boring! I don't want to help ya with your stupid hero work. F̷o̶o̷k̸ ̵o̷f̶f̴"̸

"Not exactly what I had in mind, actually" he crossed his arms, "You're getting lazy, Anti"

"̴H̴e̵y̵!̵" he growled indigently, "That's not fair, so are you! I haven't seen you out and about the town as much as you used to!"

"That's because my main source of trouble is sitting home watching TV all day"

"Well I could remedy that if you really want-"

"No thanks, Anti. How about this. You come with me into  the basement and-"

Anti made a disgusted face, "I don't want to help with whatever weird project you got going on down there, man"

Jackie glared at him, "You KNOW what's down there. Don't even, you little shite. Help me work out. I could use a benching buddy"

Anti blinked and wrinkled his nose but sighed after a few long moments, "Fine. . . . . but please don't e̶v̸e̸r̸ say that again"

"No problem. Now come on! Off yer lazy arse! Off to the basement we go!"

Anti groaned but as Jackie dragged him along, he couldn't help but smile just a fraction.

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Meanwhile with Henrik, he had gotten up a little earlier than usual.

He got dressed and ready with his coffee as usual. But something was off about him lately. Ever since Anti gave him more of that information about the void and its properties.

He was in the basement of his office, having closed it for the day to work on this certain project of his. It was more important to him than diagnosing the flu or simple headaches.

"Nein. . .. . nein . . ." he mumbled to himself, going through long and strange quantum equations.

He was never the BEST at math, but he was well on enough to know what he was doing when it came to this.

He knew he could just as Marvin or Dr. Iplier. . . . but they wouldn't understand his reasonings. No one would.

On his desk laid a frame but it was covered in papers and documents. His computer had become almost lost in sticky notes. 

'If they knew. . . . they'd surely hate me for it.' he thought to himself, 'Zhat is why they will never know'

He kept working. Writing more and more with coffee as his only source of reprieve.

'I WILL figure it all out. . . and when I do. . . . none of the consequences will matter anyways'