Hanahaki

Confrontation

For yet another time, Anti felt like he'd been kidnapped and plunged into a new environment. He just didn't expect the second time to be at Markiplier Manor. It was also known as the mansion where almost all the Ipliers resided. It was also the location the Septics- apart from Henrik and Anti- were staying in while they were still in America. Anti looked up at Marvin from where he'd been thrown out of the portal and onto a couch. The glitch blinked in confusion, "Marv? What- what am I doing here? Did something happen with Seán?"

"No, the news seems to have died down- even though people are still looking for you... Nevermind, that's not why I brought you here." The magician was still clearly upset about the fact Anti had caused that big of a public disturbance, but he seemed to be more intrigued with something else. Anti frowned, "If this isn't about my fight, what is it about?"

"It's about Dark."

Anti glanced towards the doorway, where Seán had entered, carrying two mugs with coffee and one with tea. He gave Anti a mug of coffee and the tea to Marvin as he moved to sit beside the glitch. Anti sipped his coffee, waiting for Seán to continue. The creator sighed, "Listen, I know things between you have been... tense. And Schneep called me to talk about your current mental state. I just want to make sure you're okay."

"That's what this is about?!" Anti suddenly looked much angrier. He set his drink down on the side table and stood up, "Why can't a glitch just wear a stupid ring once in a while?! Why does it always have to be something deeper than that?!"

"Anti, please calm down..." Seán said worriedly, watching the demon as he began glitching violently. Marvin spoke up, trying to de-escalate the situation, "Anti, this isn't about Malcom, okay? We just want to talk. Dark's been avoiding you and all we were going to do was let you two talk out what was going on. He was scared for you, and you were hurt. We wanted to make sure you could talk about your feelings to one another so neither one of you were holding anything in."

"So now you're invading my friendships?! God, why can't you all just leave me a̷̱̍͌͗͐̒͒̅͊͝l̴͈̝̹̯̗̈̃͆͊̏̒́̍̍͗ͅỡ̷̦͉̤͖̺͖̠̹̗͚̤͎̙̖̒͘n̸̡̛̖̪̹̥̟̍́́̈́̾͜͝e̷̡̧̳̰̹͙̫̯̞̱̜͒͗́̑͒!" His body glitched out at the last word, and he suddenly was thrown down onto his knees. Anti began coughing violently, bending halfway over himself as he choked. Seán's eyes widened as he raced to his ego's side, "Anti?!"

Anti continued coughing, raising a hand up and rubbing viciously at his neck while his other hand grasped at his chest. Seán looked up to Marvin, who instantly was running out of the room and screaming for help. The creator turned his attention back to Anti, where blood had began to dribble down from his mouth. Anti raised the hand on his throat to his mouth, trying to figure out what was wrong that this was happening for a second time. Just then, Marvin came hurrying back into the living room, followed by Dr. Iplier. The doctor knelt beside Anti, instantly knowing what to do, and began pounding on the glitch's back.

After a moment, Anti spit up something into his hand, his coughs evolving into labored breathing. Dr. Iplier eyed him suspiciously as Seán reached out to shakily rub Anti's back. The doctor spoke once the situation had calmed down and the three Septic egos were no longer in a state of panic, "Anti... are you alright...?"

"Mhm..." Anti grumbled, hand still over his mouth as if he was about to throw up into it. But whatever he'd choked on was currently sitting in his palm, and it seemed like even he didn't want to look at it. Seán frowned, "Anti, what's in your hand?"

"Nothing..." Anti muttered, moving his hand away from his face and curling his hand into a fist. He quickly wiped his face with his other hand as he stood up suddenly, "I gotta go to the bathroom."

"Anti..." Seán sighed, but allowed the ego to exit despite the fact he was most definitely hiding something.

Anti rushed into the bathroom like he'd said he would, quickly locking the door behind him. He leaned against the wall as he gradually opened his hand, staring down at the contents. Of course, there was the blood, but there was also something else. The object looked almost plant-like, a green stem poking out from what looked like a seed. But Anti was confident that wasn't what it was. Maybe he had yet to digest something and instead had thrown it back up and into his hand. He grabbed the toilet paper roll, wrapping it thoroughly around the mysterious object, and tossed it in the trash.

Anti turned towards the sink, washing his hands until they were a bright shade of red and his skin was in rather bad shape. He just didn't want to see the blood again. Not so quick of the fight. Maybe Saleos had done something to him? How else could his brief sicknesses be explained? Or... maybe he just swallowed something he wasn't supposed to? That would explain the seed... But when would that have happened?

Anti plugged the drain, watching the water raise higher and higher- the sound swimming through his brain. As it nearly got to the top, Anti, without warning, ducked his head into the liquid. He gripped the edge of the sink, but didn't do anything else. He waited, his head still under the water. He could feel the water falling from the sink and onto the floor, but he remained still. Abruptly, the door slammed open and Anti felt someone grab his hair from the back, pulling his head out of the water.

His breath was shaking, and he was suddenly thrown onto the ground in the puddle of water that had formed. A strong grip tugged at handfuls of his shirt, and he was being shaken. His pried his eyes open, and was met with Dark's enraged gaze. The shadow demon was yelling, Anti could tell just based on the veins popping in his neck, but Anti was so out of it that the words faded from his mind. That was, until the strong force slapped him across the face. His eyes snapped open and he finally got a breath, coughing and gasping for air.

"God, Anti! Will you stop trying to get yourself killed?!" Dark growled out, but relief traced his words. They sat in the water for a bit longer, Dark practically holding Anti in his arms. After a few moments of silence, Anti whispered out, "Dark... we need to talk."

A/N-

This chapter had been nearly finished since around November of last year, but if you're unaware of the situation, some complications arose before I could finish it. I hope you all appreciate this (extremely late) update.