With a gruff sigh, he looked around the rest of the house, yet to no avail. There wasn't a sign of an answer to the problem that had been placed in his hands.

Then, the realization hit him like a truck.

~

Anti's heart dropped as the realization dawned on him. Dark had left him nothing. He hadn't found a cure, and he had disappeared without a trace. He had tried, desperately, just as Anti had, and still, he had come out empty-handed.

After looking around the house for a last-ditch desperate attempt for answers he knew would never appear, he made his way back home, not quite giving up, but not quite as hard-searching as he started out this morning.

"There was nothing," the demon said quietly to his family. Jackieboy Man just shrugged.

"Sit with us, brother," the doctor said quietly. "Vat else is zere to do?"

"Try," Anti snapped angrily, but collapsed on the seat beside the good doctor anyhow.

"You did," the superhero spoke up, lifting his head just slightly, enough for his dull blue eyes to meet the demon's black ones. "You did try. It just wasn't enough."

"I had... hoped it would be," Anti admitted. The hero scoffed.

"Didn't we all?" Then the hero that the city didn't deserve raised his head, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath as if he had just held it for a long time. He opened his eyes, looked at the remaining septiceyes, nodded firmly, and disappeared in a white light.

"He didn't even say goodbye," Anti muttered.

"Must we? His look told us everything," Henrik muttered. "Ve vill see him in ze afterlife."

"You believe in that?" the death-bringer asked. "That afterlife crap?"

"Zat I do," the life-giver responded, speaking with more life than Anti had seen in these past dreary months. "I vill see my brothers again, or-"

"Or you aren't a one-hundred percent certified doctor?" Anti couldn't help but chuckle. Henrik gave him a serious look.

"I vill see my brothers again," he repeated, "or I vill die knowing zat ze last person I ever thought vould try to help his brothers tried to save us; you, Antisepticeye."

The sudden liveliness of his brother made Anti shocked. "I thought you guys didn't do names anymore."

The good doctor smiled as his foggy blue eyes danced with light from a far away universe. "You surprise us, Anti. Why can't I surprise you?" And with that, Doctor Henrik Schneepleteen stood up, clutched his heart, and took a shaky breath. His knees buckled, but Anti didn't get up to save him. He had disappeared before his head touched the ground.

"I'll see you in wherever we land, brothers," Anti murmured as he stared at the spot his last brother lay. As he stared out the window, he felt the cold hands of death running its long, lean, bony fingers across the demon's spine.

Honestly, Antisepticeye never thought that he would be one to be afraid of death. And he was right. As the shadows enveloped the clouds and sun outside, leaving him dark to everything he once knew, he just felt a certainty of loneliness, yet peace.

And then that, too, was gone.

Antisepticeye opened his eyes as he found himself in a dark room with the lights off, the blinds drawn, and the curtains shut. It didn't take long for him to become accustomed to the welcoming darkness that shrouded the room.

"It took you long enough, Anti," came a voice that was oh, so familiar. Anti smiled as he knew he was in his so-called afterlife, and for the first time since Jack quit his channel, with his brothers and friends surrounding him, he was happy. Truly and purely happy.

"Dark?"