Anti couldn't help but laugh, causing him to glitch. Dark joined in and started chuckling with his hands behind his back. Puppet's lips tightened and her eyebrows furrowed in irritation. Nightmare just watched with mild amusement.

Anti finally managed to calm himself down enough to speak. "As if anyone would dare even lift a finger against me" he said with an amused smile.

"Well, they're not just 'anyone'" Puppet protested. Her voice was so childlike, it was almost impossible to take her seriously. She was rather adorable, Anti thought. Like a little child who wandered into the wrong crowd. It's only a matter of time before she got into trouble, or killed.

Nightmare was definitely more mature and sure of what she was doing. She was the person you would obey out of pure fear, or because you knew she was right. Nightmare would be the one to crawl out of the pit alive, covered in blood that wasn't her own.

Puppet on the other hand, was immature and completely unaware of the consequences of her actions. She would be the one who jumped into the pit willingly, without any idea of what she got herself into. She was a wildcard, completely unpredictable.

"Why would you help us?" Anti asked. He didn't trust them, even if they were telling the truth. He doesn't trust anyone other than himself, and he certainly wasn't going to trust a couple egos just because they claimed he was in danger.

"Ugh. Enough with all the questions." Nightmare hissed through her teeth. "Puppet, you know what to do"

Puppet pulled something from behind her back, pulled a pin, and tossed it at them. A smoke grenade. Before Anti or Dark could react, it went off, releasing a foul-smelling gas.

"Nighty-night" Puppet said in a muffled voice before everything went black.

~~~

When Anti woke up, he was on the floor of a dark room made of cracked wooden planks. He looked around at his surroundings, which was clearly an abandoned house. The wallpaper was light grey and peeling off the walls, the ceiling was being held up by splintered wooden beams, and there were a few pieces of furniture scattered around the room, a flipped sofa, a few broken chairs, a broken coffee table, and a cobblestone fireplace that looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.

Once his eyes got used to the dark, he sat up a bit too quickly, he got light-headed and his head started throbbing numbly. He put his head in his hand for a moment to give him a chance to steady himself before he stood up. He listened for any footsteps to see if he was alone. He heard nothing but his own breath. And someone else's.

He turned around, and was surprised to see Dark, still unconscious, on the floor a few feet away from him. He wasn't surprised that Dark was there, he thought as much, but…

How the hell is his suit still so neat?

"I swear, he fixes it in his sleep" Anti muttered. He looked so vulnerable, completely defenseless. The chance to take out his rival was almost impossible for Anti to resist. But, on the other hand, if Anti were to spare him, he could be a distraction, and it might buy him enough time to escape. He knew how stubborn Dark was, and he never went down without a fight. Except for before, of course. The one time they both needed him to be stubborn, and he wasn't.

There was something quite strange about the way he was acting, 'you aren't being very civilized and answering our questions' he had said. Since when did he care about anyone being civilized? Something was off with him. Probably wasn't strong enough to fight his host.

Heh. Wouldn't be surprised.

Anti looked up to the door across the room from him, he was just about to walk towards it, when suddenly…

Thump Thump Thump Thump

Anti whirled around to see a set of double doors that were rattling and banging behind him. Was something slamming into it? He couldn't hear anything. It was like there was nothing there.

Curiosity took over, and Anti walked towards the doors. He listened quietly but couldn't hear anything colliding with the door. And he couldn't see the handles turning either. They were moving entirely on their own.

Anti didn't even notice his hand moving towards one of the handles until he was grabbing it. The metal was cold against his palm, and it rattled with a force that caused his entire arm to tingle. He slowly turned the handle, and at that exact moment, the rattling stopped. He paused for a moment, then opened the door. It opened up to an empty hallway, lined with doors on both sides.

A high-pitched scream suddenly pierced through the silence. It got louder and louder until Anti had to cover his ears to shut it out. He looked down the hallway just in time to see a black mass rushing at him with inhuman speed. Anti didn't even have time to react before the figure grabbed him by the throat with a cold, clawed hand.

~~~

Anti's eyes snapped open to see Dark standing over him. He sat up and looked around, he was back on the floor in the trashed room. Everything was the same.

What the hell just happened?

"Bad dream?" Dark asked with a sickly sweet smile. Confused thoughts flooded Anti's mind. Wait, that was a dream? Why did it seem so real? What was that thing? And why the hell was Dark watching him sleep? Anti's heart was pounding out of his chest, every breath was strained, and he couldn't get rid of the horrible shriek echoing in his ears.

"You seem pretty rattled," Dark said with his unwavering smile "are you alright?" The strange energy coming off of him made Anti uneasy.

"What is wrong with you?" Anti asked accusingly. His limbs were very stiff, making it more difficult to stand so that he could stand eye-level with Dark. Dark's smile finally faded, replaced with a look of confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked innocently. What the hell is wrong with him?

Alright, that's it.

Whenever Anti had a problem, his solution was always violence and/or threats. This was a problem. As much as he would hate to admit it, the only way to get out was if they worked together.

"Dark" he hissed through his teeth. "I'm asking you this, one last time. What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing" Dark quipped.

Anti slapped him. Dark's head snapped to the side and stayed. After a moment of silence, Dark glitched. The echo of his host's scream, thankfully, was quiet enough to not draw attention from anyone else that may or may not be nearby.

Dark turned to look at Anti. The hard look in his eyes seemed a lot more like himself.

"I question your methods, but thank you" he said. He brushed past Anti towards the double doors.

"I hate to admit it, but we need to work together if we want to get out of here" he said.

At least I don't have to admit it.

Dark grabbed the handle. At the same time, Anti felt the cold hand grab his throat.

"Wait," Anti said "why don't we go through the other door?" Fear gripped his heart as the shriek echoed in his ears.

"They're on the other side of that door. This way is safer." Dark said firmly.

"How do you know that?" Anti asked suspiciously, trying to stall as long as possible. Dark looked at the other door for a moment with a confused look on his face.

"I don't know" he said. "But I do know that we would get caught if we go through that door. If you want to go through there, be my guest. But don't blame me if you get caught." He opened the doors and went through, leaving the door ajar.

Anti looked at the door at the other side of the room, then back to the double doors. He didn't want to go through the double doors from his nightmare, and he especially didn't want to trust his rival who's been acting very strange. But he didn't want to risk getting caught.

Nightmare and Puppet could be telling the truth, but considering the fact that they just captured them, it seemed less likely.

He made his choice and started walking.