Jackie felt every muscle in his body clench, as he looked down into the eyes of Dark. This couldn't end well. He had a violent, grief maddened demon in his lap and no quick way out of the bunker.

So, Jackie did what he did best in these situation; talk, "Hey Darky boy. Have a nice nap?"

Dark didn't respond though, instead just he blinked drowsily up at Jackie, as if he didn't understand why Jackie was there or where he was. That didn't mean anything though. Wasn't there something about animals being more dangerous when they were disoriented? Jackie knew that was probably because it was a symptom of rabies, and Dark probably didn't have rabies, but. . . Still. Jackie wasn't about to risk it.

Jackie tried to stay as still as possible, "Hey you. . . You alright there? You're looking a little disoriented." Of course, he was. Five seconds ago he was dead.

Dark maintained eye contact with Jackie for another stressful moment, until he turned his face away scanned his eyes around the room. Eventual his eyes landed on the baby laying a few feet away.

Dark stared at the body for a few minutes. During this time though, Jackie was afraid to even breath. Dark was literally coated in his brother's blood, Jackie could feel it seeping into his pants. What's to say he wouldn't try and add another Septic to that?

Jackie was shaken from those thoughts though when a little sound left the demon.

". . . Hm? What was that. . . ?" The Hero was preparing to try and restrain Dark, but the demon made no move to attack.

Instead he reached out a hand to the baby grasping its little hand, and in a croaked voice said, "I. . . I tried my best. I promise I did." With that Dark lost conciseness again.

. . . At least he was breathing this time.

With a sigh Jackie stood, holding Dark bridal style in his arms, "You really like putting me through it don't you. . . ?"

Well now it seemed that there was only one more thing to do now, and that was to bring Dark back to his family.

The second time Dark woke, it was in a soft bed and to the beeping of a heart monitor. Slowly he cracked his eyes open and found himself to be in Dr. Iplier's clinic, surrounded by sleeping Ipliers.

They were all there, every last one of them. Bim, Host, Bing, and Silver were in chairs to Dark's left, and to his right there was the doctor himself, Google, and Wil. Ed though had positioned himself at the door, as if he was trying to act as a guard for his family. And with a quick glance down Dark spotted King and the Jims all asleep around Bing's feet.

There was the sound of a throat clearing from the corner.

Dark's head snapped towards it and he spotted a fully awake Jackieboy Man sitting in the far corner, "What are you-?!"

"Shush." Jackieboy Man held up a finger to his lips, "You'll wake them up and they need the sleep."

Annoyance spiked but Dark hissed in a quitter tone, "What are you doing here?"

"You don't remember?" Jackie stood and walked to the foot of the bed, "Well you were pretty out of it. But long story short. . . I saved your ass."

Dark felt his lips curl back, "And what makes you think I wanted saving?"

The hero leaned back, rubbing a hand of over his face, "You understand I hate you right? You tortured my baby brother. So. . . Saving you is probably the least enjoyable heroics I've ever done. But I didn't save you for you. I saved you for them." Jackie motioned to the sleeping Ipliers, "And for my family."

"I hardly see why that was necessary."

"They love you Dark. Just. . . Look around you." Jackie had leaned forward and was griping the foot board, "They've been here for a day and a half. None of them would move. I've been the one having to go get them food."

Dark was having a rather hard time not putting this hero in his place. . . But Bim was using Dark's side as a pillow. It would be a shame to wake him up, "How charitable of you."

"Not charity. It's my Job. And. . ." The Hero winced, "You know relations with Septics and Ipliers would have gone to shit if I'd left you after Anti. . ."

"He played no real part in it."

Jackie snorted, and rose a brow, "Do you think your family would have seen it that way?" When he was met with Dark's silence he nodded, "See? I had to."

Dark closed his eyes, and wished he could just go back to sleep, "Well you can go now. I'm safely tucked away now."

"Nope. Not so fast."

Dark's eyes snapped open, "What do you mean, 'Nope'?"

"What I mean is you're my responsibility now." Jackie pointed at the demon, "Anything you do from now on is my fault, and any pain you're in is. . . it's also my fault. So I'm going to . . . I'm going to make things better. Somehow."

Dark could only stare at the Septic, "You are insane."

"No I'm not." Jackie locked eyes with Dark, "You're all broken up inside. And I forced you back into it. I also forced the world back under your mercy. So. . . So, I have to do as much as I can to take care of both you and the world. I mean- I still hate your slimy black guts but. . . It's my job to make sure they remain intact now."

Sometimes Dark wondered if heroes all were like this or if it was just Jackie and Silver, "And how are you planning to do that?"

Jackie noticeably brightened, he had evidently already put a lot of thought into this, "Well I already have a list of psychologist for you to pick from and I contacted your PA, Frank. He said he would cover all your work for a while. Seemed pretty pissed when I told him what happened-''

"He is always 'pissed'."

"- But he also seemed really worried. They all were worried. So. . . Yeah." Jackie rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm. . . I'm hoping that if I help you, you might not be so. . . So destructive. To the world."

Dark really wished he was still asleep, "We live in a world created by the imagination of others. None of us are our own creation. So why should we care for it?

"You cared about Maria."

He felt like he'd been punched, "How dare you-''

"You cared about her. And she was probably nothing more than some mother's imaging of what her child would be like." Jackie pushed on, "Just because this world is a thoughtform world. . . Just because this is a world were people's imaginations are dumped. . . it doesn't mean, it means any less. Did Maria matter to you?"

His heart clenched in a painful way, "Yes. She mattered very much to me."

Jackie nodded, "Then the world matters."

The demon turned his eyes too his family, and watched them breath, ". . . It'll take a lot of work. To fix me."

"I'm a big boy. I can handle it." And maybe he could, with the help of the eleven Ipliers scattered around him.

Dark felt something close to amusement in his chest, as he allowed himself to remember rabbits, fireflies, children, and counting, "I'm sure you can."

Maybe it was a good thing to be awake.