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“Dark, I’ve got a bad news for you.” Was the first thing Anti told his partner when he entered their bedroom.
“What did you do this time, Anti?” the other demon sighed.
“It’s not me for once. Doc – your doc – said that Mark was in bad shape. Dunno what happened but apparently it’s a pretty big deal seeing as every other ego is in panic mode.” Anti plopped down in the armchair, his legs dangling over the armrest.
“What else did he say?” Dark put down his book, giving Anti his full attention.
“That I should tell you and if I saw any of the other egos I should tell them too. Why’s that so important? Aren’t you, like, not him?”
“We may not possess him in the typical demon fashion, but we are still linked to his vital energy. If he dies, we will follow shortly after. With the size of the community he has some of us might even survive for a year, but eventually we will return to where we once were.”
“That means if he dies you’ll leave me?” Anti sounded hurt by the thought of it.
“Not of my own accord, and as I am the ego people know most about, I will probably survive longer than, say, Jim and Jim but still. If Mark dies, I will die too.”
They stayed silent after that. Dark picked up his book again and read. Anti stayed in the armchair, thinking. He had to find a way to save Mark. If Dr. Iplier couldn’t help, maybe Schneeplestein could.
Unfortunately, Schneeplestein was already helping his colleague and even the both of them couldn’t find the reason for Mark’s illness. They tried for days to find a cure but to no avail. Mark had trouble sleeping; he couldn’t even find it in himself to go record videos for his YouTube channel. Mark was declared too ill to stay at home and thus spent the next week in the doctors’ ward, forbidden to leave his room.
Meanwhile, Anti was doing everything he could to help Mark on his end. This mostly consisted of researches on the net, all unsuccessful. Until one day he stumbled across an article that shone light on everything. Dropping his laptop, Anti took a jacket and left the house.
When he arrived at the doctors’ ward, he found Mark alone, asleep in his room. He’d been sleeping a lot lately, a huge contrast to the days before when he was barely getting an hour of sleep each night. He didn’t bother to slow the door down when he closed it, and the thud woke Mark up.
“Anti? What are you doing here?” he asked groggily.
“I know what’s happening with you. You’re not dying, you just have depression. So just ask the doctors some antidepressants and you’ll be okay. You’re not dying, you’re just giving up.”
“If it was that easy I’d be back on my feet dumbass. The docs are doing what they can. I’m doing better though so I’ll be back in a few weeks.”
“Fine. Just hurry up.” Anti moved to leave but was interrupted.
“Why do you care if I die? Since when do you worry about me?”
“It’s not about you. I do it for him.” With these words Anti left the room.