The hustle was never-ending. Some days were more hectic than others, but it was never a 'slow' day...

That pretty much summed up what went on in the ER of the hospital. New patients were being brought in and others taken out constantly, the word 'stat' was thrown around the halls like confetti, and there was always some bodily fluid that needed cleaning up.

But she loved it. She'd loved it for as long as she'd been in the medical field, because she always felt like she was doing something productive, no matter how small the task.

"Yo Lu!"

The nurse lifted her head from the clipboard of papers she'd been looking over, her attention falling on the gurney being brought in from the doors. "Give us a hand."

She placed the clipboard down, running over to the gurney to assist in pulling it into the building.

The second her eyes glanced at the patient however, her eyebrows furrowed. "It...It can't be..."

"You know him?" Another nurse expressed, "The paramedics found him at the train station without any form of identification."

"I used to know him... We were just kids, though." She looked down at the patient again, "What's his condition?"

"Stable, but nobody knows what he was doing there, or how long he's been like this."

"Understood."

"What's his name?"

The nurse looked back up, her ears folding back just a tad. "His name is Solaris...Mephiles Solaris."

It was dark, which usually was how I liked it.

I had spent most of my life in the darkness, simmering with a rage I'd known was not truly mine but was being forced onto me. That rage that had convinced me to seek revenge... To murder. The allies of my victims retaliated unsurprisingly, and had tried to erase my very existence...In those fleeting moments, I'd finally felt free... Peaceful.

But this darkness seemed...Different. It wasn't the cold, lifeless dark I had grown used to... This darkness was warm, and almost welcoming. It encased me like a blanket, pinning my limbs against me and preventing me from moving. Pain pulsed through my limbs, accompanied by a slight numbness I'd never encountered before. Despite the pain, I didn't want to leave this plane of being... It was comforting to finally be still and calm.

But I felt it abandoning me, slipping away like a curtain that was draped over me and slowly being pulled back. I made attempts to cling to it, to stay, but that appeared to not be my fate. The darkness brightened into light, and the silence was filled with an irritated beeping in my ears.

Within moments, I was no longer in the dark. Blurry surroundings hovered around me, the beeping only getting louder and faster. Something moved on the sides of my vision, and I tried to turn my head to get a better look. As it cleared, I found it to be a she-mouse in a white coat and writing down something on a clipboard.

It was all too familiar for my tastes.

The room I was in had no windows except for one looking out into a corridor, where I could see multiple other beings in coats passing. I was surrounded...

...But this time I wasn't trapped in a container.

I forced all of my concentration into moving from my stationary position, but only got a short distance before something tugged back. I fell forward onto the blanket that had previously been over me, my fingers feeling the long strands that were attached to me.

"Oh no no no!" The mouse dropped her clipboard, reaching out towards me. "You need to be-"

I squirmed away from her touch, a hiss leaving my throat. "Do not touch me! And do not give me orders to do anything...!"

"Come now, don't be difficult."

I moved further away, dropping off of the side of the bed I'd been in and onto the floor. The strands led to machines that were the source of that annoying beeping, and I ripped them free, only to regret it immediately as it took off some fur with it.

Wait...Fur?

I lifted a hand to my face, feeling it quickly. Soft fur covered me, gradually shifting to stiffer quills on the back of my head. I was adorned in a thin garment in a mint green color, which seemed to be designed to only cover the front of me. A pulsing beat in my chest suddenly filled my ears, and I noticed the breath entering and exiting my body as both sensations quickened.

I wasn't just copying the appearance of a hedgehog anymore... I was a hedgehog!

"Mr. Solaris, please don't-"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

Looking back, I hadn't meant to sound so horrified, but I wasn't exactly happy either.

The mouse backed up, shock on her face for just a moment, then her eyebrows furrowed. "That's enough. Either you get back in that bed, or I will put you there myself!"

I got up onto my feet, which were also a new addition. I was surprised I even had the strength in them to remain standing. "I am Mephiles the Dark...! You do not tell me what to..."

The room was suddenly spinning on me, and I dropped back down to the floor. Apparently my feet were not as strong as I'd at first thought.

"Hard way it is, then..."

I struggled as much as I could, but it didn't stop her from dragging me back into the bed and even pinning down my arms and legs to prevent me from trying again when I recovered. "Now... I'll be back to check on you. Don't do anything stupid like die while I'm gone."

"What do you want with me...!?" I hissed, trying to break free of the bands holding me down, but failing and only succeeding in making myself even dizzier.

"For you to sit and rest." The mouse then left the room and disappeared down the corridor.

"Don't die while I'm gone...!" I muttered to myself, forced to stare up at the bland, white ceiling of the room.

I went over what I'd learned so far: I was now a hedgehog, trapped in some sort of research facility, and now restrained to a bed while waiting for some scientist to come check on me.

Honestly, the last person to just check on me in a laboratory was... Was my friend.