Dark dipped his pen into the inkpot placed delicately at the top of his desk, resuming the sentence he had been writing on the page of a small journal; it was a plain leather-bound book with several wads of crisp, lined paper tucked neatly inside, not a single page out of place.
Anti blurred into the room suddenly, and Dark looked up from his writing.
"Anti, why can you never knock?" He asked in an exasperated tone.
"Sorry, I just always forget to I guess." Anti noticed the small book on Dark's desk. "What's that, your diary or somethin'?" he leaned forward to get a better look at it but Dark closed the book over.
"That's none of your concern. What did you want to speak to me about?"
Anti straightened up, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's uh... about the human," he started, looking off to the side.
Dark tightened the grip he had on the pen in his hand, and Anti almost thought it would break in two.
"If you're here to inform me that she has escaped then you can see yourself out before I rip you to shreds myself," Anti could see how much effort it was taking Dark not to snap at him.
"What? No, the lass hasn't escaped. You think I'm that terrible at me job?" Anti added indignantly. "I came to talk to you because..." he trailed off.
Dark took a deep breath to calm himself, placing the pen on his desk. "Because?"
"Because I have a... proposition for you," Anti concluded confidently.
Dark sighed. "I've had about enough of people trying to tell me how to act towards that menace," he said. "If your next statement is anything along those lines then I implore you to shut up." Dark sounded tired, rubbing his eyes.
"No, of course not! Nothin' like that!" Anti said.
"Are you sure?" Dark looked up at him.
"Well..." Anti looked off to the side again.
"Honestly, Anti, now is not the time." Dark stood from his chair, grabbing the notebook off his desk as he walked to the door. "Pester me any other time you wish, but not now."
"I guess it's not that important, but that's why I thought I'd tell you now! So that you'd be able to mull over it for a while..."
"Anti, please," Dark said again. "I truly do not have time for this."
"So ye want to hear Die out but not me? That'd be right," Anti said, becoming frustrated.
"Anti," Dark stopped walking, turning to face his friend. "You know that's not what I meant,"
"No, no, by all means, go and do whatever you need to, it's clearly more important than me," Anti said.
Dark sighed again. "I've written a response to the other rulers." He said.
"What?" Anti dropped his petty attitude. "What did you say to them?"
"I told them..." Dark paused. "...that if they want to question Die's loyalty to the kingdom, then they're effectively questioning mine. I said that there would be no more talk of Die's behaviour under my rule and that I was perfectly fine determining his intentions myself."
"Holy shit..." Anti breathed. "What did they say?"
Dark shook his head. "What can they say? If they dare question my word they know it won't be good for them- any of them. So hopefully that quiets them for a while. At least until I can figure something more permanent out."
"Like what?" Anti asked.
"I'm not sure yet."
The room fell silent.
"And Anti," Dark started again, "I want you to know that I would never dare hold Die in higher regard than you- I trust you both with my life, and I don't wish to be on bad terms with either of you. After all..." Dark paused. "You are my closest friends."
Anti nodded. "I know."
"What did you want to 'propose', anyway?" Dark asked.
"Oh," Anti seemed caught off-guard by this. "It doesn't matter, honestly. It can wait for another time. You look beat, anyway. You should get some sleep," He sounded nervous, which was very unlike Anti.
"No, really, I would like to know." Anti became a little bashful.
"I was wondering if, y'know... you'd let the lass free-roam a little? To keep herself occupied? I just figured she'd be less likely to want to escape, seein' as she'd have somethin' to do..." Anti kicked the carpet with his shoe, putting his hands into his pockets. "Maybe she'd stop bein' such a prick then."
Dark fiddled with the cover of the leather journal in his hands as he thought.
"I don't think that would be the best idea, Anti. Do you know how unpredictable this human is? The lengths she's gone to? It would be unwise to leave her alone for too long."
"She's alone right now," Anti said. "In the garden. I left her there by herself while I came to talk to you."
Dark's expression became confused. "What?" Anti nodded.
"I left her in the garden by herself. We can go see her if you don't believe me." Anti grabbed Dark's arm, assuming he was too tired to teleport, and blurred them away.
When the world reappeared around them were in the garden, hidden behind a few large hedges and shrubs.
"Look, there she is now." Anti pointed through the leaves and sure enough, there she was; (Y/n) was sitting in front of a bush of lavender, admiring the colourful butterflies that were swarming it.
"She hasn't tried to escape, now has she?" Anti said.
"No, but that doesn't make me any more pleased that you left her unattended without my permission." Dark side-eyed him.
Anti realised had picked a good time to confront Dark, as he was far too tired to truly get upset over anything.
"So what if you let her roam the castle?" Anti said. "Just the castle, and maybe the garden, with the supervision of Die, you, the pups or me."
Dark turned to look at him. "They aren't pups, Anti. They're fully matured wolves-"
"Oh, whatever," Anti exclaimed in a loud whisper. "Do you think it's a good idea or not?"
"Anti?" (Y/n) called out suddenly, standing up from her spot and brushing off her knees. "Is that you?"
"Think about it all ye want, and in the end, you don't have to say yes." Anti finished before jumping out from behind the shrub.
"Sure is, lass," he said as he made his way over to (Y/n). "Have ye got enough fresh air, yet? I think my allergies are startin' to act up from all this pollen."
"Do demons have allergies?" she asked.
"Fuck do I know," Anti said. "I just want to get out of here." (Y/n) laughed and they made their way towards the corridor that led back into the castle.
----
"Master PewDie, Sir," a maid hollered from outside the door to Die's office. "I have some letters addressed to The King. They arrived this morning."
"Yes, of course," Die looked up from his desk. "Come right in."
The door opened to reveal a meek-looking human maid with long dark hair. She walked up to the desk and handed the stack of papers to Die.
"Thank you, Clarice." He said, taking the papers from her hands. She curtsied respectfully before leaving the room.
Die began shuffling through the letters, all of them addressed to Dark. Die often got Dark's mail delivered to him, you see, as the human maids and servants were too fearful to deliver it to Dark directly. So over time, it became another job for Die as advisor to the throne; sorting through Dark's mail.
Every envelope seemed normal enough- none urgent, which was good. Die could deliver these to Dark later.
As he shuffled through the last few envelopes, Die stopped. He pulled out a particular envelope from the stack of letters.
This handwriting...
He ran his fingertips over the ink gently.
No, it can't be...
Die frantically searched for a letter-opener, throwing open every draw to his desk before he found one. He nearly tore open the envelope, ripping the letter out and unfolding it quickly. As he scanned the writing his eyes continued to widen anxiously with every paragraph.
"Oh no," he breathed. "No, no, no... This can't be true!"
When he reached the bottom of the letter, the neatly written signature confirmed it all. Die was left speechless, rereading the letter over and over yet nothing became any clearer.
"I must inform the king," he said finally, teleporting away in an instant leaving a puff of thin, discoloured smoke in his wake.
----
(Y/n) was sitting on the end of her bed, staring out the window again. Anti had taken her back to her room a while earlier, and although she was sad, (Y/n) was glad for the chance she got to stretch her legs a little.
But, of course, being back in the guest bedroom also bought with it the burden of Sparky and Howl. (Y/n) could've sworn that Howl was glaring at her as if upset with her about earlier, but she wasn't entirely sure that wolves were capable of such complex emotions. Then again, why wouldn't they be?
It was late in the afternoon by now, seeing as (Y/n) had slept in a little that morning. She hadn't been woken for breakfast and lunch was never delivered. On the other hand, she remembered what happened at dinner. She shouldn't have expected anything at all after that fiasco.
"Oh, the boys are back!" Anti said suddenly, snapping (Y/n) out of her thoughts.
How long has he been here for...? She wondered as she watched him walk over and pat Sparky enthusiastically.
"You two sure are a funny pair of canines," Anti commented, scratching Sparky behind the ear.
"Oh yeah," Anti began, turning around to face (Y/n). "This is for you."
Without thinking (Y/n) caught whatever Anti had thrown at her, realising it was an apple.
"I don't suspect you'll be eatin' dinner tonight, lass," Anti said, going back to petting Sparky.
"Or for a while, at least..." (Y/n) muttered to herself, looking down at the apple in her hand.
Sparky flopped over on his side so that Anti could scratch his stomach, kicking his leg in the air as Anti did so.
"I think Sparky likes that," (Y/n) said, a smile on her face.
"Who?" Anti asked, turning to look at her.
(Y/n) felt her face heat up in embarrassment after realising what she had said. "O-oh, I meant the wolf," she corrected herself quickly.
"What, have ye named the wolves or somethin'?" Anti asked further.
"I mean, yeah, I guess so..."
"What did you name 'em?"
"That one's Sparky," (Y/n) said, pointing to the wolf Anti was petting. "And the other one's Howl."
Howl let out an indignant huff, turning away from the both of them.
"C'mon, now," Anti said, looking over at Howl. "Don't be a fuckin' sook, ye great oaf!" Howl grumbled again, his back still facing them. Anti rolled his eyes.
"I got no bloody idea where that wolf gets his attitude from," he said.
"Like owner like pet, I suppose." (Y/n) wondered aloud, making Anti snicker.
"You've got a point there, lass."
Then there was a knock at the door, and both Anti and (Y/n) turned to look.
"Uh, come in, I guess?" (Y/n) called out when the door didn't open. A maid walked in a few moments later, glancing anxiously between (Y/n) and Anti.
"Master Antisepticeye, His Royal Highness has asked to speak to you personally and requests that you be on your way at once." The maid said.
Anti stood up. "What does he want me for?"
The maid became worried. "I-I'm not sure, Sir, I was only sent to retrieve you," she explained quickly.
"Yeah, whatever," Anti shooed her with his hand. "I'll be there in a minute." The maid curtsied quickly and hurried away, closing the door behind her.
"I wonder what he wants to talk to you about-?" (Y/n) started, turning around only to see that Anti had vanished.
"Rude prick," She muttered to herself.
----
Anti appeared in the garden, thankful when his eyes landed on Dark a few feet ahead of him.
"God, there ye are!" he said, and Dark turned his head slightly to acknowledge Anti.
"I swear I checked every fuckin' room in the castle yet here you are. You couldn't have told your messenger a location?" Anti moved to stand at Dark's side. "What did you want to talk to me about, anyway?"
"I wanted to let you know that I've agreed to your proposal," Dark said. "The human may indeed be allowed to 'free-roam', but only under the supervision of you, Die or myself." his tone was sharp, but Anti had already known that Dark wouldn't be very lenient if he agreed to this idea.
Dark turned to look at Anti directly.
"Anti, are you... warming up to the human?" he asked rather bluntly.
"What?" Anti exclaimed, turning to look at Dark with a bewildered expression. "Of fuckin' course not, idiot! She's a human, remember?"
"I just thought it was interesting that a human of all creatures was able to tame such an unruly being such as yourself," Dark said, smirking inwardly.
"No one's fuckin' tamed anything, dumbass, but you should be the one concerned with taming her before she tries to take off again! Because I won't always be here to stop her from escaping when your stupid hounds aren't enough-" Anti stopped suddenly, as if only just realising what he had said.
"So you admit that it was an escape attempt?" Dark continued.
"I've told you not to play you're fuckin' mind games with me," Anti grumbled.
"But it was an escape attempt-?"
"What of it?!" Anti barked. "She's still here now and when I tell her she can explore the castle whenever she wants I'm sure it'll calm her escapist nature,"
"Hopefully it'll calm you down, too..." Dark mumbled quietly.
"Oh, fuck off," Anti scoffed.
"And do try to watch your language."
"I said 'fuck off'!" Anti snapped again, glitching promptly out of existence.
How funny, Dark thought. He only does that when he's upset. Maybe I hit a nerve.
He laughed to himself; Dark had always enjoyed getting under Anti's skin.
The sound of distant footsteps made Dark stop, listening to where they were coming from. They were quick- hurried, even; the person in question was definitely running. The distant echo of the steps made Dark realise it was someone sprinting down the corridor that lead to the garden. He turned around in time to see Die emerge from the castle, panting heavily.
"Die? What's the matter?" Dark asked rather lightly, before noticing the piece of paper Die had clutched in his right hand.
"My King," Die managed between breaths, "It's a letter, addressed to you," Die handed it over to Dark who practically snatched the piece of paper away, reading it quickly.
"What?" Dark sounded confused. "When did this arrive?" He demanded, looking up at Die.
"This morning, sir," Die seemed to have finally caught his breath. "Do you think it's true?"
Dark was snapped out of his thoughts. "What?" he asked irritably.
"Do you really think he'll come back?"
Dark's tremendous grip on the letter began to crease the page. "After all this time? I wouldn't think so, but here it is in writing." His tone was sarcastic and wry, and Die had to force himself not to waver. Dark held the letter out for Die to take back, which he did so promptly.
"What are we going to do?" Die asked.
"Whatever we have to," Dark responded arrogantly, fixing the cuff of his sleeve before disappearing in a cloud of shadowy mist.
Die was left alone in the garden now, a single question weighing on his mind.
But why would Blank return?