Hello all! I'm back, certainly anything but dead! Brushing the dirt and cob webs from my skin, and ruthlessly smashing spiders. I've been thinking about how to start off this story in a respectable and interesting way, and some idea's have been rejected and revised. Now, this story will have fairly long chapters at times along with almost perfect spelling. So chapters may drag on with updating- but they will almost always be worth the wait. Since -most stories anyway- have a filler chapter. All I have to say is pay carful attention to the character and what's written.

Let's begin!

Special thanks to Leopardsky, and all my watchers!

Chapter 1; Welcome to the Masquerade

Freshly polished black shoes tapped against the beautiful white marble floor, the shoe's owner not wanting to partake in the festivities. He wore a freshly pressed black suit, a shining crimson tie, and a lovely mask. The mask was halved so that half of the male's face showed, it was crimson with lovely black designs covering the crimson mask. The male stood tall and stiff, arms crossed and his quills appeared to be recently sharpened again. Fur was cut to the perfect height, not to long, not to short. Emotionless crimson eye's scanned over the slow dancing crowd, finding that everyone was there save for a famous blue blur. Who was normally the center of attention of any party, and his absence was quickly noticed by a well dress loud pink hedgehog.

"Hey handsome." A flirty voice called, and he glanced upwards to see a familiar well shaped white bat strutting towards him. Purposely making her hips sway seductively side to side, as black high heels clicked and clacked against the floor. She wore a form fitting black dress, the cut for the neck showing some cleavage, while a thick plume of white feather's laced around her neck. Long see through gloves covered her thin hands with her hair being curled , and the back of the dress slightly touching the floor (White feathers covering that as well.) Her mask was snow white, three feather's dropping from the corner of her mask that covered both her eye's, a small swan that was on her mask curved around her eye's. But, despite her beautiful appearance he was largely unaffected, only responding to her with a soft grunt and a curt nod. She was the one who forced him into coming, stating that he owed her from when she allowed him to live with her. And that he would have "fun". She waved at him to meet her half way, and perhaps to, at the very least, dance to one song with her.

"No." He stated plainly as though he could read her mind, with his deep gruff voice finally greeting the air. Causing some of the females close around the pair to search for the male behind the voice. But Rouge had simply puckered her lips in annoyance at his antisocial attitude, and at his lack of reaction to her looks.

"The masquerade doesn't end for hours, one dance. That's all I'm asking, then I swear on my jewels that I wont force you into another party again. " Rouge said slowly, lacing her hands together as she slightly pleaded with him while she dropped her ears. A small pain stabbed his heart at the sight of her sad face, he though of her as his younger sister and despised her looking sad or disappointed. So, wanting to keep her from looking so disheartened (And to save himself the pain of another dance) he slowly nodded a 'yes' to her offer. Which resulted in Rouge letting out a large smile and lacing there fingers together.

Rouge led him to a space in the dance floor, there hands still entwined together, and once they reached the perfect of the floor they stopped. The next song started up slowly and Rouge eagerly wrapped her arms around Shadow neck, while Shadow hesitantly put his arms around her hips. Feeling her oddly press against him, almost as if she wanted him to take notice of her, to comment on the dance or her appearance. Either way, Shadow willed himself to ignore her close contact, it was one dance, he could easily do this. So, ignoring the bat advances, they started to slowly dance. Stepping and swaying in time, others around them whispering about the couple's perfect appearance, how perfect there cloth's were, and even about there strong 'bond' on the dance floor. Shadow softly snorted as females swooned over the though of the 'unknown' hedgehog dancing with them, and for some, him taking things even further than a dance. But oblivious to this, Rouge appeared to be ready to nestle her head into the crook of Shadow's neck but an unknown voice interrupted her.

"Excuse me, Miss?" The plain, male voice questioned. The male keeping his head tilted to the floor to reveal downward pointing golden quills. He wore a suit similar to those around him, only he wore a simple black tie with black gloves, golden cufflinks in the shape of emeralds glinting in the dance floors light. And shinned black shoes showing themselves, almost covered by long pants legs. Rouge glared at the intruding hedgehog, cursing his interruption. The nerve of him! Ruining her special moment! While Shadow silently blessed the sudden interruption of the stranger. Silently wondering what he would've done had there not been a interruption. "You have been requested downstairs, the master says it's an urgent matter." For the first time, Shadow noticed the small cap the hedgehog wore, a golden buckle on the hat catching his attention.

"Fine." Rouge sighed, smoothing her dress out while huffing and beginning to walk away. "Oh!" She stopped, turning to address Shadow quickly."I'll be back Hun." And with that quick good bye she was gone down the stairs. Shadow turned around to return to the snack table, expecting the golden furred hedgehog to return to where ever he was previously to continue his work.

"Wait." The hedgehog had addressed him now, a black gloved hand clutching Shadow's sleeve almost desperately. The ebony looked towards the hedgehog in shock before he was yanked forward, the crowds of people around them freezing as though they were now painted stones during this. "Dance with me." The male requested, although it sounded more like a demand in the ebony hedgehog's ears. But, just as Shadow was about to reject the male offer he was swiftly interrupted. "Please, please, please." The messenger pleaded, his grip growing stronger as he looked up to look the crimson striped hedgehog in the eye, revealing glowing red swirled eyes.

-Earlier-

He felt horrid, the burning pain in his chest getting stronger, he shrieked in agony. His soul was twisting and writhing, his skull feeling as though it was being torn open and his brains smashed. The thing demanded complete control from him, and his body lurched forward, the normally strong control slipping. The blue hedgehog resisted, further infuriating the monster that resided within him. Suddenly his stomach lurched and his veins burned, and burses formed earlier suddenly throbbing. The normally joyous, and smiling blue hedgehog lurched forward more violently than before, and crimson red vomit stained the floor spilling from hid mouth in a spray of red. Sonic lurched once more, blood splatting on the floor once more, the beast laughing wildly in his mind as the hero suffered because of the beast's influence on his body and mind. Peach hands shakily slipped through the thick puddles of blood that stained the previously clean floor. Further staining the floor , while started arms shacking violently.

'Sonic...'

"No...

'Chaos emeralds...'

"I-I can't! I-I-"

'Now.'

"B-But I-I-I don't-"

'I know you have them.'

"No, stop."

'Wouldn't you like to play, play a game with him?'

Sonic barley managed to snarl, weakly bending his hands to form shaking fists. "N-No! I-I-I can't! I- I wont let you t-touch him!" Sonic shouted, only to suddenly lurch forward violently. His head smashing against the locked bathroom door before being force to fall back, his quills soaking in his blood. The blood and bruised stained royal blue hedgehog's shinning black nose was broken, a small stream of blood trickling from his nose. But the monster forced him to lift his head, Sonic's vision mainly a faded black with blue and red splotches helping him fell disorientated. He slid to his feet, legs shacking and body swaying. His control snapped, the leash he held all his forms to weakening considerably. Sonic never understood why this one form fought his control so much. Not even the entity of the darkness within him tried so hard to escape, he would only become stubborn to leave once released. And the pure golden hedgehog would gladly come and go to Sonic's will, not ever putting up a fight. But the twisted and insane form struggled against Sonic's control any time a chance was presented, and forced him into submission in his dreams to take control of his body. Tempting the blue with the promises of achieving all that he's lust for, destroying all who wronged him, that together they could keep the world safe.

And have him, submissively moaning at his knees.

Bare blood stained feet dragged against the shuffled against the floor, there owner wobbling back and forth every few steps stumbling in and out of reality. During this founding himself very relieved and happy that Tails wasn't home but at the party already. Since blood stained the bathroom floor and a small trail of blood lead down stairs thanks to his stained feet, and his hands slightly dripping blood. Sonic stumbled into Tails's large lab, which is where all seven emeralds were rested in separate glass containers, waiting to be stolen or used. Sonic's shaking hands reached forward, and the hedgehog was forced to weakly reached for the a glass case and take the softly glowing emerald.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

The seven emeralds lazily spun around him. Sonic being forced to open each case for the emeralds before his knee buckled, the beast's control of his legs having been released, and he weakly clasped to the ground. His fur lightened, the pure form trying to take hold of Sonic, hoping to help. But the twisted wouldn't let his plains fall apart so easily, and since he already had control of the blue hero's limbs taking full control would be easy. The emeralds glowed, sensing the evil around them, but unable to deny any request presented to them. (As long as it was within there power of course.) "Emeralds," All seven emeralds spun faster, chaos energy being to stir. "please grant my the energy to create a body of my own, so that I may punish those who have wronged and save what is mine." This was a lie, but the emeralds had no real common sense that a human or anthro would have. They could sense intentions, but the golden hedgehog's mind would be considered to be a part of Sonic's, making it harder to read his intentions. So, having sensed the blue hedgehog's similar will, they granted the request.

A burning sensation entered the blue hedgehog head and heart before increasing. The emeralds glow intensified and soon all Sonic saw was darkness...

Shined black shoes were the first thing he saw, long pant legs almost covering the entire shoe. There was a short laugh and Sonic was roughly lifted to his knees by his quills. The blue hedgehog flinched violently as he realized the one in front of him wore his suit. "Are you looking at this? Well fits nicely, well, the pants could fit a little better but-"

"The emeralds." Sonic gasped breathlessly, interrupting the twisted hedgehog that glared at him before smiling.

"Broken. Unfortunately creating a body for me was to much for them to handle." Colored shards of the seven emeralds softly glowed from there positions on the ground, there powers not completely gone. But there was little to nothing left within the colored shards.

"Y-You shattered the emeralds! D-Do you know-" Sonic stuttered, shacking in both rage and fear.

"Hush," The finely dressed other soothed. " There powers aren't completely gone, the earth will not split apart once more. At the worst there will be a minor time ripple, sending something destroyed from the past to the future. Nothing too bad will be able to crawl out of the rip unless they have mastery over time travel, which I can't remember a enemy who has those advanced capabilities." Sonic stuttered at the golden hedgehog's logic, falling back to the floor as his separated half released his quills from there grip. "Now, I believe I have a masquerade party I have to addend, and a certain hedgehog to claim." The formal hedgehog teased, which Sonic let out a weak snarl out to respond while reaching for that godforsaken hedgehog, letting out a short shout in frustration.

-Present-

"Who are you!" Shadow snarled, failing his attempt to snatch his hands from the things grip.

"Who are you!" He mimicked, a sharp toothed smile bringing it's way to the surface as Shadow let a snarl tear from his through. The ebony hedgehog's pelt rippling and quills flexing as he charged a chaos spear.

"I am Shadow, Shadow the hedgehog!" He shouted and released his chaos spear, and the other's grip loosened enough for Shadow to snatch his captured wrist back as the spear struck his face. A scowl was firmly placed on his lips, although he was surprised the other hedgehog took the chaos spear to the face so well.

"Oh Shady! That was so rude of you! My, I think you've gone and hurt my feelings!" The golden hedgehog shouted while cackling to himself, looking over his torn hat. "And you've ruined this lovely hat! Were on earth have your manners gone?" Shadow let out a snort to this, silently wishing he had his normal shoes or an emerald to help lengthen his chaos control. "But I might as well tell you my name! You may address me as either Fleetway, or love. Which ever you prefer!" Fleetway let out a short set of small chuckles after this as Shadow dropped into a defensive position. "Oooooh, getting feisty! May I say that your much more fun to play with than I thought you would be. As well as to remind you that there a tons of frozen innocent bystanders you can harm around us with. So if you insist on fighting, you may to be careful "

"..." Shadow responded, unable to think up a response while he finally acknowledged the frozen dancers around him.

"Thinking are you? If I were you, I wouldn't take the risk. After all if you let one of these people be harmed, Maria would be very disappointed." Fleetway purred, watching Shadow's face as it briefly twisted into a mask of pain. But the ebony hedgehog remained in his stance, deciding to take the defensive at the begging of the fight. Rather than simply rushing into to battle like his blue counterpart. Speaking of the pest. It would've been nice to have some sort of assistance in taking this creep down. But he had no further time to think this over as Fleetway lunged for him, a fist poised to hit his jaw. Shadow ducked to the side, keeping his hands close and mussels tense.

Fleetway chuckled as he slowly removed his back gloves to reveal torn white ones, his sharp claws ripping through fabric. "You know, it was a pain to hide these things." The swirl eyed hedgehog mused aloud, looking over his long sharp nails. But this didn't last long as Fleetway lunged once more, his claws ready to tear into flesh. Shadow snarled, dipping, turning, jumping, lunging, weaving, to avoid aggressive and fast attacks. Attacks being severed right after another with intense accuracy, until Shadow had managed to pin Fleetway to the ground. The crimson streaked hedgehog smirked down at Fleetway, a hand poisted to smash the other's in with a stronger than average chaos spear. "Come on Shady, you don't want to hurt me!" Fleetway giggled, looking the other hedgehog in the eye. "Or at least not this face." With that word, Fleetway's face and body rippled, chaos energy rising through the pinned hedgehog's body.

The energy provided him with an illusion, Fleetway now appearing as a blond female in a sky blue dress, although her eye's were mixed with a shade of red. She looked angelic, to Shadow anyway, and he froze. His mind almost blanking out as he stumbled backwards terrified, eye's small and dilated as the chaos energy in his hands dispersed. "Shadow." 'Maria' said softly, opening her arms, hoping Shadow would take the bait without second thought. Just like when he had released her, setting off the first part of the trap.

"M-Maria?" Shadow questioned, his eye's misting up quickly, the mere sight of her drowned him in a sea of sadness, worry, and happiness. He clasped into her arms without second thought, his mother figure hugging him back. It took every cell in his genetically engendered body not to collapse into a puddle of apologies and tears. But that was when the factual part of him presented a valid question, where was Fleetway? The ebony hedgehog quickly, attempted to pull away from there embrace only to be clutched tighter, Fleetway's disguise shattering.

"H-How could I have been so easily tricked!" Shadow snared at himself, mentally cursing himself.

"Awww, don't worry, you did absorb a fair amount of energy that I used from that illusion. Enough that your mind would be clouded for a few minutes while your body released some chaos energy. But," Fleetway smiled at Shadow's struggles. "Let me introduce you to a new game!" With that being said Fleetway put them tightly together, entwining there hands in a intimate manner. The golden hedgehog smirked as Shadow's struggles stopped (Because if the stuggles continued then certain things would rub...) Not that it mattered, as Fleetway roughly grinded his hips against the other's, earning a sharp breath from the ebony hedgehog.

A soft groan escaped the ebony hedgehog as his neck was nipped at, his legs slightly buckling beneath him from the sudden heat pooling in his stomach. "S-Stop." Shadow groaned, tan cheeks taking a light pink tint to them. Fleetway let out a toothy smile, letting his tongue flick over the other's ears, ignoring anther plea to stop.

Dark tendrils wrapped around the pair's arms, sending a chill up the heated hedgehog's spine. A hiss filled the area as the tendrils ripped the two hedgehog's from each other. Fleetway was left standing as Shadow was forced to the ground, his back pressing against the cool floor. Fleetway snarled at this, only to shout in rage as more tendrils wrapped around the ebony hedgehog, almost teasingly.

-SPLAT-

A large clump of a sticky black substance fell from the ceiling, splatting against the ground in a clump. Leaving no remains on the ceiling, the puddle soon clumped up in the middle. Forming a large lump of the slithering mass. The mass soon formed a black, colorless version of Shadow, goo dripping from the black form as it hardened. The drying material soon grew glowing sharp crystal points, skin fading into purple, a patch of white chest fur resembling Shadow's own fur , and glowing acidic green eyes against a red background. Sharp crystal hands dragging the creature from it's pool as purple smoke laced around his legs. Once the crystal hedgehog was done, he stood tall slowly addressing Shadow. "Hello again." The things voice was a mixture a lust and anger.

"And who are you to interrupt my game?" Fleetway snarled, rage showing in the form of his swirled eye's glowing with the same intensity as the crystal hedgehog's.

"I am the darkness you ignorant fool. I am the dark, Mephiles is how a lowly form as yourself may address me. But, I do thank you for opening that time rift for me, intentional or not." Mephiles said, although Fleetway noticed, he lacked a mouth and nose on his pale white muzzle.

"Unintentional, I assure you. As for me, I suppose you can call me Fleetway." The said hedgehog snared, watching as the tendrils were retracted into the floor and silence filled the area. Shadow notably being oddly silent as well.

The two shot at each other, claws poised at the ready, both wondering who's claws were sharper. Who's claws would meet there marks first. Hands connected, the two pushing against one another, trying to force there physical strength against each other. Sinking down, Mephiles disappeared, and in a burst of chaos energy Fleetway took to the air, flying. Mephiles appeared from the ceiling like a spider ready to capture it's prey, he shot a dark sphere down towards the hedgehog below him. The golden hedgehog, managed to glance up to find the spiraling energy coming towards him. He leapt away, only for the orb to follow, preparing to dodge Fleetway was halted with tendrils forcing his legs to the floor. Fleetway growled, a slice of energy canceling out the dark purple energy.

Releasing his prey's legs, Mephiles appeared far from Fleetway, capturing people in the way of the battle into a inky black pit and sealing it. "Oh how ironic this is. The light verses the darkness." Mephiles purred, preparing to strike once more.

"Sorry to disappoint," Fleetway started, catching Mephiles's attention as he blasted forward. "but you are mistaken. I am no light, no protection, no hero, no savior. I am the controller, and I will destroy all those who get in my way. You think of me as the light Mephiles, but this is a test of which darkness reins supreme." Fleetway swiped his claws, only for Mephiles to force one of the frozen bystanders in front of him. Allowing them to have the head severed from there body. Either way, the golden hedgehog was pissed his sick humor now quickly replaced by the burning fire of rage.

End of the first chapter! If enjoyed review, favorite, and follow. You my comment or PM me about your questions about the story's devilment so far.