Okay. While "Job Quest" is still a main story... the series can continue okay without that having to be finished right away... In fact... if my cousin doesn't stop stalling with her character to be put in it... I'm just gonna go on without her, and add it later. This is getting ridiculus!

That being said... I've decided to start a new main story. I call it "Teaching Darkness: Relapse" :D

I hope you like chapter one :D

It was night. Mephiles was sleeping soundly on the couch. It had been at least a month since his most recent nightmare. Shadow and Rouge were unaware of it for a few reasons: 1) He hadn't told them. 2) He hadn't really woken up in pure fright. And 3) He figured passed it off as an irrational and totally silly thing, the kind that he would mentally kick himself for overreacting about it.

Curled up on his side, pillow hugged close to his chest, the shady hedgehog neither moved nor twitched; his mind safe and sound from terrifying thoughts.

Darkness was spread throughout the room, which was expected of the middle of the night. The only lights given were the glow of the streetlamps outside, and the time given on the cable box.

The shade's ear twitched, and he scrunched his eyelids before opening them sleepily, lifting his head up and staring around in confusion.

He was alone; the room was glowing dimly with a mix of orange and hint of green light (from the cable box.). It was quiet, nothing moved.

He blinked blearily, shifting his eyes slowly to the cable box to read the time.

12:34 am.

Rubbing his eyes a little, he rested his head back down, wondering why he had woken up so early. Something had woken him up, and not on his part.

But the room was empty, save for him. He had glanced around it himself.

Or, at least… that's what he thought.

"… I see that your reflexes have slowed down… I was here for five minutes already..." A quiet, rasping voice said. It was very familiar…

Upon hearing it, Mephiles' eyes snapped wide open and he sat up abruptly, and jerked away from the source of the voice.

He saw no one, though, granted, his eyes were not well adjusted for night vision… which was considered ironic for the once "demon" of darkness.

He perked his ears forward, his heart pounding hard enough for him to risk another panic attack. He swallowed hard and said: "… H-hello? Who's there?"

He thought he might know the answer, but he hoped to God he was wrong.

"... Now, now, Mephy… I know it's been a bit over a trimester… but, don't tell me you've forgotten about me…"

No, he hadn't.

He never did, even if it was a thought shoved to the very back of his mind.

His palms twinged from an old injury, and he alternated hands while he rubbed at them unconsciously with his thumbs.

"Why are you here? I thought you were-"

"Dead?" The voice snickered raucously. "You honestly thought that I could be kept down there? Fire is our brother's element, Mephy… We are the shadow cast from it. We are a flame's shade… we cannot be harmed by it…"

"You…" Mephiles corrected, carefully getting off the couch, and backing away, struggling to not show the fear he was feeling. He willed with all his heart to keep his muscles from trembling, but a quiver escaped occasionally. He laid his ears back and said a bit louder. "You mean you are a flame's shade. I am my own person. I am not bound to you or him anymore…"

"Such brave and well spoken words for such a little weakling…" The owner of the voice stepped better into dim glow of light, and Mephiles saw his doppelganger, mirroring every little detail of him, except for some subtle differences.

The eyes were a brighter shade. The red "whites" were crimson, compared to Mephiles' soft light red. The irises were a poisonous shade of green, much different than Mephiles' lime colored ones. The pupils were slits, cat-like even, narrowed, even though the light was dim. On his identical pale muzzle was a wicked smirk Mephiles remember all to well. It had once been his own…

Mephiles shuddered and took another step back to brace himself against a wall to keep from falling down. His worst fear was confirmed…

Panting heavily, he swallowed and ran through his mind for what to do next. Not scream… that was for sure. He didn't want Dark to be able to use anything as an example of his weakness… not that he was admitting he had any…

Dark tilted his head to the side slowly, keeping his form hunched, his arms hanging loosely. His eyes didn't leave Mephiles.

"Why are you here? What do you want!?" Mephiles demanded, forcing his voice to be raised slightly above normal speaking level. He hoped if he was able to make himself loud enough, Shadow or Rouge might come to see if he was having another nightmare, and find Dark in here instead. Actually… he hoped Shadow would come first… Shadow can hold his own against Dark better than he thought Rouge might.

Dark snickered under his breath.

"Why would you think I'm here for something? Can't I just come by to-"

"Not to visit, that's for sure!" Mephiles cut across him, curling his hands into fists slowly. "I know what you're like. You always want something. You always want to benefit yourself, and it doesn't matter to you who it hurts!"

"My, my… aren't we the brilliant one..?" Dark raised his clawed hands up a bit to applaud Mephiles mockingly before letting his arms drop again. "... After all… we are the brains of Solaris…"

"Shut up." Mephiles barked back, hating what his other half said. "I am not a part of that anymore. I am not you. I am not a fire's shadow. I am not a demon!"

"You can't deny your roots, Mephy boy… You can try to run… you can try to hide… you can just ignore it all, and go about your happy pathetic little life… but it will all come back to you eventually…"

"I said 'Shut up'!"

"Am I striking a nerve?" Dark purred, taking another step closer. "You could never take any teasing… and you were always the unstable one… never was that good with complex emotions…"

Every word Dark was saying was steadily ticking off Mephiles. He clenched his teeth together, baring them at his double. His eyes were narrowed, his quills and fur bristling as he uncurled his fingers slightly to stop his claws from digging into his palms.

"I'm not playing…" He warned again, his voice lowering to a deep growl. "This is your last warning…"

"What are you going to do? Scream? Like you do with those nightmares?"

"That has nothing to do with this!"

"I know what you 'dream' about… what goes on in your fragile little mind… I know…"

"My mind is not fragile!"

"They scare you because it's true… because it's your fault…"

"No, it's not! I didn't do anything! They were dead after-"

"After we were born… because we were born… That explosion that gave us life is what took theirs' away. If it wasn't for us… they'd still be alive…"

Mephiles clapped his hands over his ears, trying to block out the doppelganger's voice. Unfortunately, his ears were not made to be covered like that, so he was better off placing a hat on his head.

"I'm sure you remember that day pretty well…"

Mephiles looked up and saw that Dark was now just a few feet away. His body froze, unable to move in his terror. But he struggled to keep his face free from fear. He mentally cursed to himself when sweat started to bead up on his face.

Dark saw this and continued.

"The glass… the bodies… the blood…"

Mephiles shut his eyes tightly as the memory started to rise up slowly to the surface of his mind. His hands twitched as he tried to bring them to his head to grasp behind the quills on the back of it, but his muscles were locked.

"… Those are your nightmares… Am I right? Something that represents that day. Like you with your hands covered in their blood, dripping from your quills, smeared onto your face from your hands… pooling in a puddle around you…"

"S-stop it…" Mephiles stuttered, unable to do much else."Just s-stop…"

"Are we getting a headache now? Remembering something forgotten?" Dark continued goading him. "Face it… that's always going to be in your head… bouncing around in your skull… repeating and relapsing… you can't erase it…"

"P-please… s-stop…" Mephiles was now begging him, his former confidence gone and washed away as the old memory started to affect him again.

The double laughed uproariously at this action.

"Begging? You have to resort to begging? Only a weakling would even think to do that…"

"I'm not… w-weak…" Mephiles opened an eye to stare at Dark, only to find that he was closer now. Much closer. He could feel his breath ghost across his face, and this caused him to shiver, which allowed him to break free from his paralysis, and back into the wall, his hand clutching at his chest as his breath became ragged and his heart pounded even harder. His legs quivered, and a constant chill shot up and down his spine. He even felt too weak to call out for help.

"W-what do you… w-want from m-me?" He murmured, shaking his head slightly to ward off a veil of unconsciousness that was trying to sneak up on him.

"Patience, Mephy... patience…" Dark waggled a finger in front of him. "All in due time… All in due time…"

He raised his hand and Mephiles eyes widened as it was brought down against the side of his neck. Instantly, Mephiles felt faint as a pressure point was hit. He barely had time to reach his hand to his head before he collapsed in a heap on the floor, his mind a complete blank.

He slowly regained his senses, his brain being the first thing to start to wake up. He brought his hand to his face slowly, rubbing at his eyes to help him wake up.

He was back on the couch; someone must have put him there.

Wondering what had happened as his mind started to function better; he lifted his eyelids and found a set of red eyes, and a set of jade eyes staring at him.

He was about to ask what had happened before his mind clicked into full gear and he unasked question was answered as his eyes snapped open wider.

He jumped up quickly, his fur and quills on end as he glanced around the room frantically, his teeth clenched together tightly and panting through them heavily. He had his hands up and his claws out, ready to defend himself.

"Whoa! Hey, calm down!" He heard Shadow exclaim as he wheeled around to look behind him.

"He's not still here, is he?" Was all Mephiles said to this, his voice lowered to a deep growl. He figured not… the sun was already out.

"Who?"

"Dark! He was just here last night!" The shade turned around to face them, and they could see both anger and distress painted across his face. "He was right here in this room last night!"

"Are you sure it wasn't just a bad dream?"

"Rouge, if it was, you would have heard me screaming last night, because I was scared out of my mind!"

"Why didn't you scream for help?"

"Do you know how dangerous this guy is?! Ask Shadow! The only reason he won that fight was that Dark fell in the water and couldn't swim! Otherwise, his butt would have been handed to him! Dark is what made me a monster!"

Mephiles was panting hard, and had to close his eyes as he caught his breath. He brought his hand over his old shoulder injury and clenched it tightly as a sharp spasm ran through his lungs, signaling him to ease up on the breathing. He slowed down his breaths and sat down on the couch before his body tried to come up with an excuse for fainting.

Once his breathing was in a steady and stable rhythm, he took another deep breath and opened his eyes to stare at his friends.

"Trust me… would I lie to you?" He swallowed as he spoke in a low voice, his eyes holding a pleading expression as his ears were out to the side. Tears were beginning to form in his eyes as the silence after grew longer. "Would I?" He added a little more shrilly, hoping that they would answer him positively.

Shadow paused for a moment, remembering that this Mephiles was very different than the one that had tried to warp his mind. This Mephiles was his friend, who regarded him in the way you would to an older brother.

Shadow bit down on his lip and said, shaking his head: "No… you wouldn't…"

Mephiles gave a small relieved smile, because he was beginning to worry. Taking another deep breath, he slumped backwards into the backrest of the couch, and nodded slowly, clawed fingers of one hand resting on one side of his forehead.

"So you believe me?"

"But, that's just the thing…"

Mephiles froze slightly this time. He lifted his ears up to hear better, unease starting to take hold.

"W-why?" He tried not to stammer.

"Well… see, Meph… Dark died when you drowned. He's supposed to be gone. Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?"

"Are you suggesting there is something wrong with me?" Mephiles said edgily, not believing what he was hearing. "Need I remind you about the 'evaluation'? I checked out fine… I was just traumatized. That was a couple months ago. Dark was nearly four months ago. I'm over it, but I tell you I saw him. He was standing right there! Right where you are, right now. He didn't say exactly what he wanted, but I could tell he wanted something from me! I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!"

At the last sentence, he was on his feet, his hands clenched into fists, his quills and fur bristled once more. He was panting again, his ears flat, and his eyes tearing up again. He was frustrated that they weren't really listening to him, though this was very important to him that they understood.

It didn't seem like they did. And he was starting to feel dizzy as his emotions were becoming too much for him to handle.

Pressing his hand to his head, he pushed past Shadow as he made his way to and out the door, where he stepped under the shade of the tree. He slumped his back against it and slid down to where he was sitting, his hand still on his head. He tried to focus on his breathing, on making it slower and more stable to help his dizziness subside.

Ignoring the bewildered looks from his friends, he switched breathing in and out of his nose and closed his eyes.

Maybe they were right. Maybe he did imagine it. Maybe it was just another bad dream. After all… why would Dark be back?

He removed his hand from his head and moved it down towards the side of his neck… and winced.

It felt like there was a bruise there… right where…

Mephiles' eyes widened. He shook his head frantically and screamed as loud as he could.

Is it true? Is Dark really back, or is Mephiles losing his mind again? You'll just have to wait and see :D (Damn, I'm evil!)