I know I said I'd upload this tomorrow morning but I couldn't help it. Thanks for those who participated in the quick poll! Basil won by a long-shot! Enjoy the chapter 😈

Anti was lying in bed when his phone went off.

He couldn't sleep all night after his 'visit' with Henrik. Not that he could have anyway. What if they broke into his room and killed him in his sleep?

It was too much stress to deal with. Why was Sean doing this to them?

On one end, though, he really did understand the others Septic's point of view. He had those memories, too, but it was easier for him to move past it after Sean told him none of it actually happened in real life. It was easier for him because he didn't go through the pain that they supposedly did.

On the other hand. . . . they gave it all back, didn't they? From the last time he was there? Shouldn't their farce end now? He wished it could be that way.

Groaning in his pillow, Anti reached for his phone, realizing that Sean was actually trying to Facetime him.

'Fuck, and here I probably look like complete shite'

But he swiped the call anyway, faking a small smile, "Hey, man"

Sean's face appeared on screen and Evelien was behind him so she could be on the call, too, "Hey! How was your first night there? . . . You don't look like you got a lot of sleep"

"I didn't. . . . but that's okay. Maybe tonight will be better?"

"Things working out better than last time? They being nice?"

Evelien butt in, "Do you want me to come back down and kick their asses, Anti?"

Anti chuckled at her, "Nah . . . no. I'm fine. Really. They're okay with me for now, I think"

Sean didn't look like he believed him, "Anti-"

"I'm fine"

But his creator wasn't about to let it go, "What happened last night, Anti?"

He couldn't lie to him . . . Anti was shit at lying to Sean.

Anti just shrugged, though, "Chase brought me up to my room . . . that was that"

Sean frowned, "That was that? They didn't even . . . do I need to talk to them, Anti? They're not even trying, it seems"

"They're trying by not trying to kill me, Sean. And Henrik gave me a physical last night so that's something-"

"Hold up, WHAT!? Anti, did he do anything to you?!"

Anti realized the weight of his words and jumped back, "Wait, wait, wait! That came out wrong! Uh . . . He just wanted to . . . literally do a physical, Sean. Checked heart rate, blood pressure and all that shite. To have. . . records, I guess"

"Why couldn't he have just asked Dr. Iplier for them?" Evelien asked.

Anti rolled his eyes, "I asked the same thing but the stubborn prick wants his OWN records. Plus he made me take off my bandages so he could see my neck"

"So that's why your neck isn't bandaged"

Anti didn't even think about that. Did he not put new ones on!?

He lifted his hand to feel for them only to see that Sean was right, "Fuck"

Anti looked down at the bed to see the sheets were covered in blood near the top as well as the pillow cases, "Goddammit"

"It's okay, Anti. Not the first time it's happened"

"First time it's happened here. I should've. . . dammit"

Sean sighed, "Well how about I let you go and you can go get that cleaned up? You'll let me know if anything happens between you guys, right? Promise me, Anti!"

Anti just snorted, "Talk to you guys later. If you don't hear from me tonight, I'm most likely dead" he half-joked.

"Oh, don't say that!" but before he could say anymore, Anti hung up the call.

He rolled out of bed and grumbled at the mess that was made. Looking at the clock, he also noticed it was later in the morning so everybody would probably be awake, too.

"My day already keeps getting better"

He gathered the bedsheets and pillow cases in his arms and went on his way to the laundry room downstairs.

Chase, meanwhile, was just downstairs in the kitchen. He was pouring himself a mug of coffee with something special in it when Henrik walked in looking exhausted.

"Dude, you stay up all night again? You gotta stop doing that. Your patients need you at your best"

"Ah yes, as the only working ego here, I need to pay all zhe bills, yeah? As if I don't have enough to worry about"

"Now that's not fair! I've been doing some vlogging lately for BroAverage and-"

"You mean zhe channel Sean has asked you to stop? Plus, someone could recognize you and it's not like that channel gives us any substantial income at all"

Chase rolled his eyes at him, "I still don't get how YOU can go out and have a job while the rest of us can't. If you know we can't then why bitch about it in the first place?"

"Zhe reason why I can have a job is because mine requires wearing a mask most of zhe time. Plus, just ONE person who looks similar to Sean is not as detrimental as two . . .. or six"

"Whatever. You gonna finally talk to Anti since you were too chicken to last night?"

"For your information, I DID speak with him. Even gave him a physical last night."

"Not creepy at all. How'd he take it? Anything weird about him besides his bleeding neck and glitching?"

Henrik poured himself a glass of coffee, ignoring Chase's first comment, "Not zhat I saw. I even tested his blood last night from his bandages he left behind. Has . . . same DNA as us. Not a demon, at least" he snorted.

"Hmm. . . " Chase let himself fall deep in thought while Henrik searched for something to eat.

Jackie, Marvin and Jameson came in shortly and started to make up their breakfast as well. They all small-talked a bit until they heard someone coming down the stairs.

Anti didn't know that everyone was in the kitchen.

The laundry room was adjacent to the kitchen so you had to go through it to get to that specific room that ALSO led to the back patio.

Once Anti walked in, though, they all stopped and stared at him.

Anti froze once he saw them all staring.

He glitched a little and backed away. He was already red with embarrassment and glitching but Jackie had to open his mouth.

"The hell?! You on your period or something!?"

Marvin chuckled at the joke but Jameson elbowed him.

Chase honestly looked kind of concerned and Henrik seemed. . . . .pretty apathetic.

Anti didn't see it as a joke, though, and looked a bit hurt, "I. . . I forgot to bandage my neck last night. I didn't mean to . . . S-sorry. I didn't know you guys were eating. I- I'll-"

His neck started to bleed again as he spoke and he shivered, suddenly losing his balance for a moment.

Marvin noticed the behavior and came up to him slowly, "Hey man, it's okay . . . come on. Let me help you with that, yeah? I can have it clean with a flick of my wrist!"

But Anti glared at him and held the sheets tighter to him more so for comfort, "I can do it . . just fine"

Anti couldn't tell whether he was just tired or had low sugar but he didn't feel right and he didn't want any of them near him.

"Uh . . .Anti?" Chase caught on, too, "You alright, dude?"

The sheets soaked in more of the blood and his breathing picked up, "Stay away from . . . me" he glitched in a stutter.

Henrik knew right away what was wrong, though, "He's suffering too much blood loss. He needs downstairs now to be hooked up to an IV and possibly oxygen if necessary. Might be suffering from Anemia"

"No! Leave me alone!" Anti tried to ditch the sheets and run but Marvin appeared in front of him.

"Hey easy there, man." he took off his mask to try and make him feel better, "Just let us help you"

Jackie tried to move closer to grab him but Anti let off a spark, "GET THE HELL AWAY! YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME! I'M NOT STUPID!" he started to hyperventilate.

"He's having a panic attack. We might need to sedate him" Henrik reached into his pocket and took out a needle.

Jameson waved his arms, 'You can't just DO that! You're making it worse!'

"Anti, just calm down and breathe" Jackie tried to console him but Anti drove himself towards a wall, cowering from them all.

He may be intimidating sometimes and tough . . . but this all was just way too much for him to handle. He started to spark to try and keep them away but even that was expending too much energy.

Suddenly Marvin was in his vision and forced him to look into his eyes, "Hey . . . it's okay. Everything's going to be okay, Anti. I swear it. What if I go get my cat, huh? You like cats, yeah? Would you like to see her?"

It was like Anti was suddenly hypnotized by Marvin's eyes AND his words. He just . . . couldn't look away and he KNEW on the inside it was a spell but that part of him also didn't care.

" . . . cat?"

"Yeah. . . her name's Basil. If you come with us down to Henrik's clinic downstairs, I'll bring her down, too, so you can meet her"

". . . . . okay" tiredly, he glitched again but it was so soft, they didn't see it as a threat. It was mostly just static and harmless at this point.

Cautiously, Chase took the bloody sheets from him and Jackie got close enough to get him in his arms, pulling his arm over his shoulder to help him walk while Marvin left to go get Basil. While Anti was still in that trance, he had a little bit so that he could rush to get her and come back before Anti panicked again.

Soon enough, they had Anti downstairs in a bed and Henrik hooked him up to an IV while he was dazed enough until Marvin came back.

But the trance seemed to end a lot quicker than they thought. Anti was admittedly scared shitless. They had him. They could kill him so easily and blame it on his blood loss and too much stress. He started to wriggle around and tried to pull the IV out but Henrik stopped him.

"Stop zhat. You need fluids." he handed him a bar of dark chocolate, "Eat zhis. Dark chocolate. Will help with iron levels" he stuffed the chocolate in Anti's mouth, letting him munch on it freely and at first he had half the mind to spit it out at his face but it was just so good!

He loved sweets.

"Dude, do we need to call Sean about this?" Chase asked, clearly upset by what was happening.

"No" Henrik shook his head, "He'll be fine. I've dealt with this sort of thing before. . . although not in the same manner but . . .he'll be fine. I know vhat I'm doing"

"It's because we made him too nervous" Jackie pointed out, "And his neck's been bleeding a lot more than he's used to because of it"

The doctor shrugged and was about to say something else when Marvin knocked and came in with another little visitor.

"Hey. Anti!" Marvin came over with the small bundle of fur in his arms, "See? I brought her."

Anti, now out of the trance and having finished the chocolate, he locked eyes with the cat who didn't seem bothered by him.

He reached his hand up to try and pet her.

"Uh, I don't know if I'd-"

But he stopped himself as Basil let Anti pet her. Not only that, but she also began to purr!

"Huh" Marvin smiled softly, "Looks like she likes you. She's never usually one for strangers"

Anti felt like he was drugged but maybe that was all the blood loss. He felt loopy and drained but could barely move, he was so tired and heavy. Some morning this turned out to be.

But he heard the cat purr and he smiled.

He felt the tense air in the room lift and then felt a weight on his stomach.

'Must have put the cat on me' he kept petting her, enjoying hearing her purr so loudly. It . . .soothed him. Maybe everything would be okay after all.

At least he wasn't dead yet.

Yet another mystery to the story. Were the Septic egos really giving him an office chance here!?

Maybe seeing him so weak and defenseless petting a cat was just the right thing they needed for themselves.

Not so great for Anti but it was something, at least.

He just hoped he'd feel better soon so he could call Sean tonight and let him know he wasn't dead.

Unfortunately for him, though, he fell unconscious, just barely feeling someone touch his neck as he did so.

Henrik didn't know why he helped him so willingly.

Perhaps what Anti said to him last night got to him. He was right after all. It was his oath to help anyone in need of medical assistance and clearly Anti needed it this morning.

He didn't really like helping him but he couldn't just let him die on his watch, right?

He still a lot to learn about him and his biology. Things he didn't care to learn the last time he was there.

Because he lied to Chase about one thing that morning.

He did test Anti's blood . . . . . and while he did have the same DNA as them . . .

Something was off. Something was different. He had similar properties in his blood like Jackie and Marvin did. Special properties.

And Henrik's curiosity was stronger than his recent desire to just end the glitch now.