Bang, baby! Ciel is back! Yeah, I know I've basically been gone for...about a year...but hey, look now! I'm back, and with a new story to boot!
...Okay, so I technically already started it on deviantArt...but it's new for here. Be happy.
Anyway, this story takes place after both Brotherhood (which is on semi-permanent hiatus), and Crimsonobsidianrose's currently uncompleted story, Project: Silhouette. It isn't necessary to read either of those to understand it, but for those who have, and know the characters, props to you.
I would say more, but I'm saving it until the author note at the end of the chapter.
Enjoy!
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Time was running out, and it was running all too quick.
Cloaked in gray, as if it was made of sullen and foreboding clouds, a figure wandered. It was searching, watching, waiting…
Something had to be started before the end. The last and final rite, after which all the dark and painful years would finally be ended. Oh, how wondrous that end would be. How much would end because of it? How many other years, how many lives?
No, that didn't matter. Not now.
Out of the cloak of clouds came the rifle, bright as a lightning bolt and loud as the thunder. This would be the sealer of fate.
Time was running out.
It was ready.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The news, Shadow thought, was mostly about things that were relatively pointless. This was probably because humans ran most of the networks in Station Square, and so, the news was mostly about human things. Mortal things too, which wasn't all that important to the Ultimate Lifeform. Sure, he wasn't invincible, but he'd last far longer than at least ninety-nine percent of the earth's current population.
It did catch his interest, however, when watching a report on a recent heist (having nothing better to watch while going through his morning ritual of cleaning his vast collection of firearms) that he noticed a black blur in the background. It was slower than someone like Sonic, but still…
"Gem, did you see that?" The scarlet-streaked hedgehog craned his head behind him, where another black hedgehog was sitting. Unlike the Ultimate Lifeform, this one had sky-blue markings to replace the red, and he looked far less intimidating. The hedgehog, whose full name was Project Gemini, adjusted his sunglasses as he glanced at the screen.
"I see it. Prob'ly Krowe."
"…Who?"
Gemini blinked. "Project Krowe. One of the earlier creations, he-"
"Hold on a second." Shadow shook his head, turning his attention from both the machine gun in his hand and the TV. "Another project? Like you, me, Ciel and Silhouette?" The latter were two other siblings, both of which were technically younger than Shadow.
"Duh." Gemini rolled his eyes, absently searching for a comb he had been using a minute or two prior. "Did you honestly think we were the only ones, Shadow? Ol' Gerald had to make tons of projects before he got to your Ultimate Greatness, thank you very much. You just never met them, and it happens that the ones you do know -which would be Ciel, Sil, and I- don't talk much to the others. But yeah, there are more."
"…How many?"
"I lost count…but I'm tempted to say about thirty." The blue-streaked sibling sighed at the ignorance of his younger brother, who had a semi-horrified expression on his face.
"You mean to say I have even more siblings," He growled, a statement more than a question. "Great. It's enough of a hassle to deal with the ones I know already!" Dealing with even more (especially any amount more than ten) was a recipe for disaster that Professor Gerald probably had not anticipated.
"We aren't that much of a handful, brother," Gemini said with a chuckle. "When was honestly the last time we got into trouble?"
It was about that moment that all noise was replaced by a gunshot so loud, it seemed as if it had been fired right next to the sibling's heads. The blue-streaked hedgehog covered his ears to block out the sound, as Shadow instinctively bolted up, trying to locate the source of the sound. Outside? Yes. With his current weapon, a modified AK-47, in hand, he ran out and nearly tripped over the body, he was running so fast.
Right in front of him was Ciel, with a bullet hole in the side of his head, and the source of the wound lying nearby. Ciel was completely limp; the mysterious halo that floated over his head, along with the mutated wings, gave him the appearance of a bloody angel. At least, he would have been bloody if he was bleeding…
"Ciel? What the hell just happened?"
With a groan, the winged hedgehog lifted himself up, and pulled the bullet out of his head. For a brief second, Shadow could see inside the empty shell that was his brother's body, before the hole naturally repaired itself shut. Unlike anyone else the Ultimate Lifeform knew, Ciel ran solely on life energy; it would take more than a bullet to take him out, most of the time.
"Ciel? Earth to Ciel."
"I just got shot in the head," Ciel replied groggily. Noticing the gun in his brother's hand, he added, "That wasn't you, was it?"
"I'd kill him if it was, but I was with him when the shot fired off." Gemini had run right behind Shadow, and was now kneeling on the ground to examine his little brother. Even though the blue-striped sibling knew his little brother was okay, he still felt responsibility for him all the time; it was something Shadow never understood too well.
"Besides," said angst-hog added, "It'd be hard to do such a clean headshot with this. Especially since, if you weren't…you, your head would have exploded due to the place where you were hit."
"…Ick."
"Exactly. I'd say that if anyone could pull that off, it'd most likely be…a sniper…" As he said this, his scarlet eyes automatically searched around for any place a sniper could possibly be, but there weren't that many advantageous spots, and the few places available were empty.
"My question is, who would dare snipe Ciel?" Gemini asked in concern. "Sure, he isn't exactly the most stable person-"
"You don't need to bring THAT up," Ciel argued.
"-But a full out assassination attempt? Don't you think anyone ticked off with him would, oh, I dunno…call the police first?"
Shrugging, the Ultimate Lifeform noticed something. There was a small scrap of paper taped to the wall, along with a bullet just like the one that had been fired at Ciel. The writing were barely legible, as if written by a pen that was almost out of ink.
"Anzemain," Shadow read aloud. "What the hell does that mean?"
Gemini raised an eyebrow. "That name sounds vaguely familiar. I swear, I've read about someone with that name…should be in one of my books." He stood up, lifting Ciel up with him. "We should probably get out of the open anyway. If that sniper or whatever comes back, he'd have a harder time hitting Ciel if we're with him in the apartment, right?"
Shadow nodded, as he watched his brothers head inside. He followed a moment later, unable to shake off the feeling that things were about to change for the worse.
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It's remarkable how in-tune twins could be, even when separated by miles and miles. While few of Gerald's projects actually were twins, their DNA was, for the most part, extremely similar. It was probably no surprise, then, that on the other side of the country, another group of projects made their own discovery.
Around there, it was about five o'clock in the morning. There was a small forest known as the Everpine woods, a place that was left alone by the local villagers for one good reason. More precisely, seven good reasons; the woods were inhabited by six strange, dark hedgehogs with unbelievably chaotic powers…and one robot.
At their secluded house in the middle of Everpine, everyone was still asleep, save for one. This hedgehog was pure black with deep violet markings, and he had been up all night -as usual- working on various experiments. That was what he always did. He suppressed a yawn as he wandered into his office, waiting for the caffeine rush from his coffee to kick in.
"Good morning Oxion!" Chirped the computer, which clicked on immediately. On the screen was what appeared to be a miniature, computerized project of Gerald's, standing amongst the cluttered folders of the desktop.
The violet-marked hedgehog -whose name was indeed Oxion- was fixated with cleaning the smudge off his glasses, nearly missing the chair as he sat down. "I didn't realize it was already morning, . Now tell me, what's so important that you're waiting for me already, instead of, oh, I don't know…playing those damn online games you always clutter MY computer with?"
"But Ox, I found something really, really important!"
Shuddering at the dreaded nickname (and lack of sleep), Oxion rolled his eyes. "Well then, what the bloody hell is it?"
"You know how you were researching power removal last week?"
"Of course; I was trying to finish those damn gloves for Regal." That particular sibling had the odd ability to rapidly deteriorate whatever he touched, but could never completely quell that ability in his hands. Gloves that could stop deterioration would be a wonder, but sadly, none of Oxion's attempts thus far had worked.
On-screen, grinned. "Last night, I was randomly checking some of those related links you always ignore, and I found this!" The computerized hedgehog literally pulled up a web browser.
Oxion watched in interest, eyes quickly scanning the page as he read bits aloud. "Domortia…a place rumored to have effects on those with supernatural powers. It is believed to have the ability to either extinguish power completely, or inversely, to increase power drastically. , I don't have time for rumors."
"Keep reading!"
"…About forty-five years ago, an expedition was launched to explore the area where Domortia was rumored to exist. Of all the scientists who were chosen for the expedition, none came back. However, a small stone was sent back from one professor -damn site doesn't say how- which appears to have an effect on supernatural abilities. It is believed to be from Domortia…" Oxion read a bit more of the page to himself, which was about how bits of the stone had been used in research for affecting power. Unbelievably enough, some of the later tests were ones he had been examining for the past week.
grinned mischievously, stepping in front of the page. "So? What do you think?"
The violet-marked scientist made no comment, still trying to believe what he was reading. If I can find this place, just think of all I can discover! I'll be able to fix our powers…
…
I can get rid of MY powers.
"It's definitely worth investigating," Oxion admitted as he realized this. "Please look up where that stone is being held. I have to pack, and figure out who we're bringing with us."
"Okay!" The computer program went to work, and suddenly paused for a moment. "Hold on, Ox. What do you mean 'we'?"
Having practically run halfway out the room already, Oxion poked his head back in. "You honestly think I'm leaving you here with Ferric and Jengo? Don't be foolish. Now find where that stone is, and figure out what files you'll need." And with that, the scientist -whom had rarely seen more excited after two days without sleep- ran back out.
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"Anzemain…Anzemain…" Gemini was muttering under his breath, flipping through the pages of yet another one of his books. The trio had already gone through at least half of the blue-striped sibling's collection of spellbooks, magic, darkness, and anything in between. So far, they had found nothing.
"Are you sure this guy's in one of your books?" Shadow grumbled, tossing a book about various hexes behind him. "Oddly, I don't think someone who tried to kill Ciel with a gun would leave us a note about some old magician. Do you think that's likely?"
"Need I remind you, brother, that we've dealt with weirder things than this?" The mage dejectedly shut a book about dark magic through the ages. "Of course, I could be wrong…"
"I found it!" Ciel exclaimed, waving a book about magical artifacts high above his head (occasionally bumping the book into his halo).
"Good job Ciel!" Gemini exclaimed. "So, who is he?"
Both siblings gathered around their little winged brother, who was pointing excitedly to a passage. "This Anzemain guy was a professor that had the ability to create warp hole. Apparently, he did lots of stuff…but he went to check out this one place, and no one's seen him since."
"Really?" The Ultimate Lifeform asked sarcastically. "Fascinating. And we care because…?"
Ciel shrugged. "I dunno. Oh, look here! It says that the last time anyone heard from him, it was from a small package he sent on an expedition. It was a small stone, and a letter! That's it…and the place he was in was called…Domortia…"
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Silhouette stared out at the vast emptiness of the road behind her, seated in the back of a truck filled with bags of all sorts of stolen goods. She hadn't taken part in the heist this time, though she admitted it had been tempting. Briefly, she wondered how Shadow, Gemini, and Ciel were doing; she missed them.
"Why the long face?" Silhouette turned around, tearing her ruby eyes from the road. Arella was leaning out of the window of the passenger seat, grinning as the wind whipped at her cyan bangs. Okay, so Sil didn't honestly know if Arella was a he or a her, but everyone just called Arella a girl anyway; it was easier that way.
"Guess I'm just a little homesick," Silhouette replied. "Wondering how my brothers are doing."
"Can't say I blame you. I'd like to meet your brothers sometime; they sound like interesting people." Arella's little pink hat almost flew off, but was blocked by a barrier created by its owner. Silhouette grabbed the hat for her sister, and handed it back.
"Hey Krowe, where are we headed next?" The ruby-striped project asked. Up in the driver's seat, a hedgehog with dirty gold markings shrugged.
"Ah dunno," he said with his odd southern accent. "Ah was thinkin' a casino, but since the news somehow managed ta catch us in the act…maybe we should lie low fer awhile."
No one said anything about this idea. To Silhouette, it sounded boring, and even more lonely than it already was here on this highway. Maybe she shouldn't have left her job at the black market…
Her eyes drifted up at a large and colorful billboard on the other side of the road, but she didn't notice what it was advertising. To be honest, what she saw was an odd, out of place gray spot.
Wait. That wasn't a spot, but that was a…person?
Before the vagabond projects even had time to blink, there were the combined sounds of a thunderclap, and an explosion. Silhouette was suddenly tossed into the air, as she summoned negative chaos energy in preparation for a fight. Where was that figure? Where had he gone?
Realizing that she was still in the air, the ruby hedgehog glanced around. Krowe had activated his powers of gravity control, keeping the projects floating safe above the road. The truck, however, was a different story; it was now a smoldering wreck, and the merchandise with it was history.
"That was some quick thinking Krowe," Arella said. "We could have been killed in that, but you got us out just in time."
Krowe, however, was not at all happy. "Dammit, ah just stole all that! And mah truck…how come every time ah get a car, it explodes?"
"Cool your jets," Silhouette snapped. "At least we aren't dead, moron. But the guy who shot at us can't be that far off."
There was a second gunshot, surprising them enough that they were all dropped to the ground. The ruby-streaked sister pried herself off of the hot road, glancing around at the damage. She was in the middle of the road, Krowe was on top of the wrecked truck, and Arella was…
"Sis, you're bleeding!" She shouted. The cyan project, who had landed next to the broken truck, had a bullet wound in her left leg. She blinked dizzily, as if she was having a hard time registering what was going on.
"Ah, fuck this," The dusty-gold striped bandit growled, ripping off a sleeve on his shirt and running over to tie the wound up. He made fast work on it, and then picked up his sister bridal-style. Silhouette was still looking around, turning at every sound in case it was that sniping gray S.O.B.
"He couldn't have possibly gotten away that quickly," She growled. "I swear, when I catch him…"
"We'll all catch him," Krowe interrupted. "Shootin' at mah truck's one thang, but shootin' at mah sisters too? Ah won't stand fer it. Bastard's goin' down."
Arella shook her head, still collecting her thoughts. "You guys don't need to do that…but since I know you will anyway…we have bigger problems at hand."
"What?" Both of the other siblings asked simultaneously.
"…We don't have a ride." They all stared at the horizon, which was a continuation of the long and dusty road.
"…Guess we better start walking."
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With the earlier commotion at least somewhat settled, Shadow was back to polishing his guns. He had a lot on his mind, and whenever that happened, it seemed that working with his weapons of destruction could relax him, even if it was just a little bit.
"Meep?" Ciel's pet, a little Black Wing named Miffskin, was floating above the angst-hog's head. Ciel had no problem understanding it, but as for Shadow, he couldn't tell if it was concerned, or just hungry.
"Your owner got shot today," Shadow commented. "If he had actually died again, what would you do, you stupid little alien?"
"Meepem meep!" Apparently offended, the little alien bit Shadow's ear. She had only recently grown in her teeth, but they were still quite sharp. The Ultimate Lifeform clenched his teeth, and then turned his current gun toward Miffskin. Miffy, knowing he meant business, flew away as fast as possible.
Shadow growled, going back to his work. He couldn't help but wonder, what if Ciel HAD died again, just on chance? The winged sibling had died before, before Shadow could remember…but Gemini had brought him back from the dead, and even though that had screwed Ciel up (the whole reason why Ciel was an empty, winged shell living off of life force in the first place), he was still basically alive…but what would Shadow have felt if his little brother had died?
Anger, definitely. A want for revenge.
No, he told himself, don't go there. He had already done that for Maria, so he didn't need to go on another killing spree. Besides, Ciel was still alive, so why even think about if he wasn't?
Snapping out of his thoughts, the Ultimate Lifeform noticed his blue-striped sibling sitting next to him on the couch.
"Gemini. What's up? You look like something's on your mind."
Gemini shrugged, wiping his bangs out of his face. "Oh, I was just thinking…that Domortia place. The one we looked up after finding out about Anzemain."
"What about it?" Shadow asked, though he already had a feeling where this was going.
"I think…I think I want to go after it. I want to find it." Leaning back, the mage pulled off his sunglasses, staring at them. "Rumor is, it can increase one's power, right? Well, if I can get to it, and get enough power…maybe I can fix Ciel. I think it's worth a shot, right?"
"I'm not sure." Shadow admitted as he cleaned his current gun, which happened to be his own sniper rifle. "No one's come back, from what we read."
"We're better than the others who have gone. Shadow, look me in the eye. Look at me."
Despite the oddness of the request, Shadow did so. His brother's eyes were the color of his markings, sky blue, but with a ring of violet from his magic.
"Even if there's just a chance that doing this will help Ciel, I have to do it. Do you understand? He's never going to be fully alive again unless I take a risk, no matter what it means. But…Ciel's your brother too." Gemini paused, making sure that Shadow was paying attention. "It's your choice. I'm going, no matter what, but are you coming too?"
"Of course," Shadow replied without hesitation. "As you said, he's my brother too…and I don't want him to die again."
The mage smiled at this. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that. Come on then; we've got to get ready to go. Sooner we leave, the sooner we can get started. I'll go tell Ciel."
Gemini stood up and went to find the winged sibling. Again, Shadow felt that nagging feeling of impending trouble…but at least it was his choice to go after it.
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The first seeds had been sown.
Its rifle had fired, but still, it was not satisfied. It hungered for more, and its master was more than willing to obey. There was much, much work to be done still…
"Hello!"
Vaguely surprised, it turned around, a cloud changing direction. Another one of those from the supposed 'Ultimate Life Form' project, it seemed. Aside from the natural black, this one seemed unusually bright; it was full of color, from the odd magenta stripes, to the bright turquoise top-hat with gold button eyes resting atop his head.
What an odd coincidence that a project should turn up here, it thought.
"…May I help you?" It asked, its voice an unidentifiable whisper from years without use. The enigmatic project smiled.
"Turbines may require candles, but I do not. It is just, the Nom-Nom hat and I decided to drop in for a moment." Great; an insane one. It looked up at the hedgehog's leering hat, and the rifle itched to get this one out of the way.
It fired.
The enigmatic hedgehog raised an eyebrow, and put a hand to his hat. The bullet, about to impact the hat-covered skull, suddenly turned into a ridiculously small bubble.
Clouds rumbled in surprise, but this was quite interesting. Maybe this one could be useful after all…
"Tell me," it murmured. "What is your desire? Power, or acceptance?"
The hedgehog cocked his head to the side, the hat leaning ridiculously far over. "Why, I am not sure. My purpose as of now is to seek a purpose. Of course," he added as an afterthought, "I may know a someone or two who would be more than willing for…whatever it is you said. I do not care to remember."
Aiming its rifle of the skies at the intruding stranger's forehead, the clouds rumbled, "Then remember this. Tell your…someone, that to get what they seek, to seek out Domortia, and to seek it quickly."
There was a long and pregnant pause, waiting to see if lightning would strike. Without warning, the clouds turned away for a new course, leaving the hat-bearing hedgehog to watch.
"Well, wasn't that an odd fellow," he remarked to his hat. "And people say that we are strange, Nom-Nom my friend!"
The hat stared on blankly, large button eyes staring at the spot where the cloud-coated figure stood moments before.
"You silly goose, it doesn't matter that the spawning of coat hangers is close at hand! It seems we have more important things to do! Come now, and let us be off. I'm sure a certain inkblot will wish to hear of this. I, Mado, have not let down my worrisome brother yet, now have I?"
Had the hat been able to reply, it would have said yes, yes Mado had. But it couldn't, and probably never would, so it just kept silent as it and its master wandered off, leaving the odd clouds behind…
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And there we have it, the first chapter. I sincerely hope to finish this story, for it has been in my head for quite awhile. Of course, it will be a challenge to successfully write up so many characters (Hint: Gemini's estimate is about right), but I shall do the best I can. And those who don't like lots of characters…rest assured they won't be here the whole time.
Why? Because...there will be a hell of a lot of death later, I'll say that. Don't worry: Shadow is one of, if not the, main character of this story. So he might be safe. Safer. Er...hey look, a distraction!
Anyway, for the record; if you have any questions at all, or anything that needs clearing up, feel free to ask. I may need to explain it in the story, or in the Author Notes like right here. We'll see.
So, I hope you all enjoy the rest of the story!
~Ciel
Disclaimer for the rest of the story, unless otherwise noted: Shadow, Sonic, Gerald, and all other characters that appear in the Sonic games are property of SEGA. Silhouette belongs to Crimsonobsidianrose. Aura is owned by Rinsakura-chan. Werin, Tear, Skydra, and Light are in possession of Fortuna Draken. Hasster is under the ownership of Nero the Hedgehog1. , Blaine (and the SWORD organization), Cruxis, Binge, Haeos, Loki, Kin, Noxus, Violet (not a Shadow Sibling!), and Muriquis are all creations of Zion Kai, also known as Stryfe the Hedgehog (props to him for all the help on this fic!).
And, finally, all other characters and whatnot that appear here belong to I, Ciel the Hedgehog.
