He knew his sentence was coming to an end when his bliss filled imaginings mixed with the cruel reality of his imprisonment. For the past 100 years, Infinite had been placed in suspended animation and forced to view visions from an artificial Phantom Ruby for his crimes during the war. This Ruby gave him what he wanted to see -that taunt of seeing but never feeling- and despite knowing that it was all a ruse, the jackal more than often gave in. Not on his own volition, of course, it was because of a certain person he would see in those visions.
In one life, she was his second in command. In another life she didn't even know him yet. In this artificial life, she was whatever he wanted her to be- and despite how wonderful it sounded, it actually sucked. Some times, as the matrix started to lose its footing, he could see the real her. She was a bit taller now, well endowed, and no less nosy into matters that didn't belong to her. With her was that black and red hedgehog that couldn't age, chastising her to stay away from his containing unit or the punishment would be over early.
But they all wanted him to be let out, no one who had imprisoned him to begin with was no longer alive. So why did they have to wait anymore?
"Sh… dow..." he could hear from so far away and yet so close, "Can… hi… out…?"
"No… yet… sti… as… days..."
Sometimes there was even a third member to the grand show: a certain near-white bugzapper.
"Sa… lea… we…. omethi… portant..."
It would have been easier to overhear those conversations if the visions didn't interfere with them. Her visionary double always blocked him. She was still so young, but parts of her real self did leak through to change his general perception.
"You don't love me, you love what I can do for you." that apparition repeated intermittently when the time was the least convenient it could have been. Once, that had been her last words to him before subjecting him to fate. And the apparition was starting to get real repetitive with this mantra; guilt? What was that?
Then the day had finally come. He didn't know what to expect, really. The first thing he had noticed was that the visions were far clearer than what they had been in awhile- years maybe, or even a decade or two. There, all sitting around a rather decrepit table, were the instigators of his current state: the red echidna, the blue rat, Shadow, the silver bugzapper, and (most importantly) her, the girl who walked between realities.
"Infinite," the red echidna declared, "From this day onward, your sentence is officially considered over."
The jackal raised a skeptic eyebrow. All this filigree for what? A short message on not going insane?
"Good luck out there buddy." the blue rat teased, giving him a thumbs up. "Not all of us are going to be living when you get back, so don't go missing us. Capiche?"
Infinite rolled his eyes in response. His ability to talk never really occurred to him- he didn't even take the time to consider if he could talk in this state. When he returned his attention to the table, he realized that it was no longer there and standing in front of him was just her.
"Protect her." the fake vision of her requested as it placed a hand on his cheek. Carefully, it pulled him in for a single, saddened kiss. "Protect her Infinite, and wake up."
That was when Infinite felt a sharp pain someone near his chest, and the feeling of falling out of something. For a dim moment, the vision of her crossed with the real her, concerned and hovering over him with two others beside her, and a small chuckle escaped his lips as he went unconscious.
. . .
"Shadow, are you okay?" Silver questioned, glancing the ageless hedgehog up and down in worry. He had all right to when the dark hedgehog had been kept away from general civilization for over a century.
"I'm fine." the older hedgehog shrugged off. "Saga told me about this."
"I told you that some things would be the same, but not everything." the light blue cat smirked while adjusting her side braid. "You look more frazzled than the time I showed you the Professor's holograph display watch."
"I am not frazzled." Shadow spat at her, saying the word like it disgusted him.
"Are to." Saga continued to tease as she tied her braid back up. Although the urge to argue with her was strong, Shadow instead opted to give her a warning growl and looked the other way. It amused Saga either regardless- she even took a moment to laugh at him.
That laughter was quickly brought to a stop with the appearance of the Professor. The older looking Mobian let out a rather quick exhale as he peeled off his surgery gloves. At the presence of the Professor, Saga and Silver stood at attention. Shadow, who did not know the Mobian, remained where he was.
"How is Infinite?" Silver asked first. The Professor seemed surprised at first to see the three Mobians just waiting there, but he recovered quickly enough.
"Fine, fine!" the Professor claimed. "He should be waking soon enough."
"Did you follow the instructions I gave you?" Shadow spoke up with a raise of his eyebrow.
"Of course! Such thorough notes. You did well to preserve them for this long Mr. Shadow!"
"Just Shadow is fine." the dark hedgehog grumbled.
"Of course, of course." the Professor declared with a handwave. To everyone else he said, "The mental dreaming capacity has been redirected to its proper cortex, which should allow Infinite to no longer see visions from the Phantom Ruby mirror. There might have been some residue left behind since had been attached to the mirror and its superior for quite a bit of time, but we may never see the effects; in other words, Infinite is just another Mobian in our funny little world."
"Are you absolutely sure that he's… normal? No powers to change our perceptions, no ability to float in air, no possible way that he could all back stab us from some magical spear created from supernatural energies?" Silver inquired, giving the Professor a rather hard look.
"As sure as I am that the world's round!" the older Mobian agreed with a firm nod of his head.
"You didn't wipe his memories or anything, did you?" Saga softly spoke up. At the idea, everyone seemed to give her different amounts of confusion.
"As seeing the process didn't need to go into his temporal lobe, I don't believe I did. Why?"
The feline gave a small raise and lower of her shoulder. "Just curious." she mumbled. "Don't have to act like it was a dumb question or anything."
The Professor was about to say something, but was interrupted mid-thought when a small beep came from his side. He then pulled out a small mobile device and accepted the call through.
"Professor," a digitized female voice spoke, "The subject has awakened. What would you like me to do?"
"Tell him that I will be arriving in five minutes. He should be docile enough to stay still for that long."
"Yes, Professor." the voice confirmed before letting out a beep, confirming that the line disconnected again.
"You three will be able to see Infinite soon." the Professor then informed everyone. "But do give him some time to be adjusted. I'm sure our technology will confuse him for a time."
"Oh, well he and Shadow would get along swimmingly then!" Saga quipped without skipping a beat. She didn't have to look behind her to know Shadow was casting her a deathly glare. The Professor didn't seem to notice this exchange before going to check on Infinite.
Shaking his head as if the Professor disturbed him, Silver brought attention to Shadow.
"Do you think Infinite learned anything from being imprisoned this entire time?"
Shadow closed his eyes in thought for a moment before opening them again, almost directly focusing on Saga for a moment before looking at Silver.
"I can't tell you what I don't know." he finally admitted. "I'm not a mind reader. However..."
"However?" Saga and Silver repeated with identical eyebrow raises. Shadow took his sweet time with answering them- leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes once again closing as he mulled over those boring years.
"He used to struggle." the dark hedgehog mused. "Then one day he just… stopped. I could never find out why, but I can make a good guess. He saw something with those visions and that something made him obedient. 'Obedient' being transmutable, of course."
"Do you think he'll be able to sustain being 'obedient'?" inquired Silver.
"Dunno." Shadow shrugged. "The only way to know now is to watch him."
"And I'll trust you'll help with that?" Silver asked with a skeptic expression.
Shadow gave another shrug, along with a disgruntled sneer. "I've done it for this long." he informed them, "Why stop now?"