Finally! I've managed to get a couple of deleted scenes done! :dance:

This set of chapters will be updated not the order they take place, but I will try to position them to land where they should. Meaning don't be alarmed if the most "recent" was supposedly posted. Just look around, and you might find the new ones :D

The one I chose to kick it off is from one of my original concepts of how Mephiles ends up living with Shadow and Rouge. I found the old storyline on some old paper, so I typed it up :D

This takes place three days after "Teaching Darkness"

Shadow sniffled. That cold that he had caught during the time Mephiles was in his mind was still with him, but it was on its last run. He held back a sneeze as he rummaged through the fridge for some milk to put in his tea.

They were out.

He quickly turned his head away to sneeze and spotted a hand written note magneted to the fridge door.

-Shadow,

Left to pick up milk.

Don't freak out… I'll

be back before noon.

-Rouge.

He rolled his eyes. He knew he didn't freak out if she was gone for too long… right?

He shrugged it off and added honey and sugar to his tea instead.

Sitting down on the couch, he picked up the remote to look through the channels. Morning programming was usually aimed at for younger viewers, and he wasn't going to sit through one of those right now.

Around half past eleven, Shadow looked away from the television to look at the door.

Rouge was back, and she had brought someone with her.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at the sight of the crystal tipped hedgehog she was toting on her back, who seemed like he wasn't conscious. His pale muzzle was lighter in color than it had been on their last meeting, and a shudder ran through him every few seconds. His fur was messy and matted, caked with dried mud and covered in a layer of dirt, and he looked like he hadn't eaten in days, since he seemed much thinner than the last time they saw him. He seemed like a mess in both senses of the term.

"I assume that you didn't get the milk?" Shadow said, finding that more important.

Rouge shot him a death stare that he countered with one of his own. She took a deep breath and sighed.

"Look, Shadow… I know you hate him…"

"'Hate' is such a strong word… but it doesn't even begin to descr-"

"But!" Rouge cut across him swiftly, determined to get him to see the situation the way she did. "I found him passed out back in downtown. Apparently, he's been wandering around since last week, and he doesn't seem to have recovered from his cold yet… I couldn't just leave him there…"

"Yes, you could have…" Shadow muted the infomercial about "Life Alert" and turned his full attention to the two. "It's simple really… you just look at him, and keep on walking…"

"Shadow! He helped us out!"

"And I care why?"

"If it wasn't for him, both of us would have been dead!"

"If it wasn't for him, it wouldn't have gotten to that point!"

"He still saved us both!"

Shadow opened his mouth to speak, and closed it again. Dang… he couldn't counter that.

"Whatever…" He said, getting up. "But, he's your problem…" He picked up his now empty mug and headed for the kitchen.

Rouge sighed and nodded with a bit of a smile. Taking care as to not harm him, Rouge carefully got Mephiles on the couch, getting him to lie on his back. Taking off one of her gloves, she placed a hand against his forehead and made the first decision in his recovery.

"Hey, Shadow?" She called as Shadow paused while cleaning his mug, his ears flattening in annoyance. "Can you get an ice pack out of the freezer, and wrap it in a dishtowel? He has a fever…"

"You're babying him!" Shadow exclaimed in disbelief as he complied and slapped it in her hand. "You're totally going to baby him, aren't you?!"

"No… I'm just trying to help him…"

"Are you sure? Because it sure seems like it…" He blinked. "Hey… he's not gonna sleep on the couch, is he?"

"Where else he going to be?"

"Then where do I sleep?"

"You can have the floor…"

Shadow blinked. And blinked. And blinked. And blinked and picked at his ears.

"I might have heard you wrong… but did you just say that I could sleep on the floor?"

"I did…"

"Ouch…"

A sputtering cough caught both their attentions. A deep, raspy, dry and sputtering cough as Mephiles started to come to. Trying hard to sit up, he leaned his weight into his arm to keep himself steady, and coughed again to try to clear his throat. He sniffed thickly and opened his eyes wearily, Shadow clenching his teeth together as he tried to not jump at him.

The cat slit-pupils were almost round, a sign that they were dilated, and possibly his vision was impaired. His sclera and irises were dull and lackluster, as if to help clarify the previous theory. Mephiles tilted his head questioningly as he squinted a little to see a bit more clearly, his expression brightening at the sight of Rouge.

"… You're that bat…" He said quietly, nodding to himself. "… Rouge… was it?"

Shadow was about to make a harsh comment, when Rouge smacked him in the back of the head.

His cry of pain caught Mephiles' attention. He actually hadn't noticed Shadow was there at all. He shifted his eyes to the red and black hedgehog and said; "… Oh… Hello, Shadow… how are you..?" as if he had forgotten about the week previous.

Shadow gritted his teeth together, grinding his fangs together, and wearing down the sharpness slightly. He tried to set aside the fact that Mephiles had turned him into a monster, that he had made him hurt his best friends, that he invaded his mind and body… and took over his sleeping spot on the couch.

He forced out a: "Fine…" through his teeth.

"So!" Rouge said, trying to break the ice. "How are you feeling?"

"… I can barely breathe… and I can't seem to get rid of this chill… even though my forehead feels hot…" Mephiles murmured, closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly, coughing again before sneezing. "… I don't know… what's wrong with me…"

"You've never been sick before?"

"No… the scepter didn't have germs… or anything like that in there…"

"So… this is… the first time you've ever been ill?" Rouge said slowly, putting two and two together. "That's about ten years without any contact with any germs… your immune system must be pretty weak…"

"… Eh..? Weak..?"

"Your body lacks any antibodies to fight off bacteria…"

"… How much of that stuff… is around here?"

"It's everywhere."

Rouge and Shadow could have sworn they saw him get paler at that.

"… How do I live… if these germs keep coming at me..? How do you do it..?"

"Well, you start by gaining a tolerance after getting sick the first time…" Rouge said, finding this a bit awkward to have to explain this to Mephiles. As she did, she wondered what else he didn't know.

"… So… if I get sick again… it won't be as bad as the first..?"

"In theory…"

"… F-fascinating…" He said, scratching his ear and looking back up her, some pieces of dirt coming loose and falling off. "… That solves one mystery to me… perhaps you can help me with another..?"

"Which would be..?"

Mephiles tried to stifle a laugh, his muzzle darkening a bit.

"… It's a bit awkward…" He folded his ears back, giving a nervous smile. "… But for the past few days… there's been a bit of a gnawing feeling in my stomach… that's been getting more noticeable as the days go by…"

Almost immediately, a low growl had sounded form his stomach and he blushed from embarrassment.

"… That's been happening as well…" He said, looking at the ground and trying to muffle a cough. "… And it's a complete mystery to me…"

Rouge was about to explain it to him, before Shadow burst out laughing, prompting Mephiles to fold his ears more, sink a bit, clench his teeth and close his eyes.

"You don't know how to eat?!" Shadow said between laughs, not noticing that this was making Mephiles a bit uncomfortable. "Geeze! And you said you were the brains of Solaris! Hah!"

He was cut off sharply when Rouge knocked him in the back of the head with a book that was on the coffee table. He yelped and held at the point of impact, but still snickered under his breath.

"Forgive Shadow…" Rouge said apologetically, glaring at the hedgehog in question. "He's not usually so insensitive…"

"… He's right though… I don't know how to eat… I didn't think I needed to…"

"Mephiles… you're a hedgehog now…" Rouge said, holding the book up again as a warning to Shadow, who had yet to let up on his laughing at the crystal hedgehog. "A real hedgehog and not just a shadow… eating is a top priority to survive. It looks like you're going to need help getting used to all this…"

Please don't tell me she's going to say what I think she's going to say… Shadow said to himself. Please don't…

"Looks like you'll have to stay here…"

Shadow had a mental image of himself toppling over in a moment of sudden paralysis.

"… Really..?" Mephiles said in disbelief.

Shadow imagined himself twitching on the ground.

"Sure… I don't see why not…" Rouge added.

Shadow gave a mental cry of anguish, yet he stayed emotionless.

Mephiles' dull eyes lit up briefly before suddenly, his expression shifted t downcast.

"What's wrong?"

"… I… really feel like… I don't deserve this…" He explained, shaking his head and looking away. "… After all I did… and what almost happened… I don't think I deserve that…"

"You did help us, and that changes things…"

"… And you helped me… and I'm willing to just forget all the bad stuff… and stat over, and maybe be friends..?" At the last part, he directed it more towards Shadow with a hopeful expression.

Shadow wanted to laugh again, but the thought of a book slamming into the back of his head for the third time just didn't seem worth it.

"You're lucky you're sick, otherwise I would have told you to get out of the house…" He said quite coolly. "Because I don't particularly enjoy being the cause of a worse turn for illness or death, which you may experience if no one tends to you… I won't say it…"

The book smacked into his head anyway.

"I was saying that he could stay, Rouge!" Shadow barked, holding both hands to his head, glaring at the bat.

"… Th-thank you, Sh-shadow…" Mephiles stammered again, laughing nervously as he drummed his fingertips together in a flittery and unpredictable pattern. "… I'll try really hard t-to be a good friend…"

"I said you could stay… that doesn't make you my friend…" Shadow shot at him coldly, dodging another hit from the book once he predicted Rouge's pattern.

Mephiles looked away again as his expression faded into discouragement.

"… Oh… Okay… th-thank you anyway…"

"Well, we should get started on teaching you the basics…" Rouge said, naming off the things and counting them off on her fingers, still glaring at Shadow. "Eating, drinking, sleeping… we could do 'bathroom' later… maybe Shadow might explain, because I wouldn't be able to for you, being as you're a male, and I'm not. Oh, and we should think about getting your fur cleaned up… the fur is usually a visual representation of your health. The nicer and well kept it is, the better you feel."

"… How do we do that..?"

"With soap, shampoo and water."

"… W-water..? As in what I almost drowned in?" A flicker of fear flashed across Mephiles' face. The memory of nearly dying from a stupid mistake was definitely unnerving to him.

"Kinda… It's not as much and not very likely to have a problem."

"… But I can't swim…"

"You won't need too. It's not very deep."

Mephiles was weighing the options. On one hand… he hated and feared water. Absolutely despised it. On the other… the dirt had worked its way through the fur and to his skin, causing it to itch badly.

He chose to try it. The itching was driving him crazy anyway.

"… Okay… I'll try it…"

"Okay. First, we might want to let you eat something before you pass out again."

"… Does it help..?"

"Pretty much. If you don't eat enough, it can be bad for you…"

"… I see…"

"Since this is your first time, we need to pick something that gives to you a good impression of how food tastes."

"… Is it all the same..?"

"No… there's an endless amount of flavors and combinations."

"… That sounds like fun…"

Mephiles seemed a bit excited, causing Rouge to laugh as Shadow glared.

Yep… Shadow was going to need some time to get used to this…

Yep, Shadow wasn't quite pleasant to Mephiles when he moved in... :D