Chapter 3- Shadow's New Technique
Setting- 2 days after rescue, Shadow's House
Time- Midday
AP- Hello everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to update!
Lunair- It took you over three months to update! What the heck is wrong with you!?
AP- I'm sorry!!! I've just been so busy with school! I think I'm going to fail geometry! T.T
Lunair- I know that… I'm inside your head, remember?
AP- Wait… so it must be your fault?! I'm failing because of you!!! (gets fanfic book and pencil and laughs evilly)
Lunair- Wha-what are you going to do with that? 'Cause you know its not my fault you're failing, right? Right?
AP- (erases letter 'i' from Lunair's name) I know. I just need someone to blame.
Lunair-………no, not the 'i'!!! Anything but the 'i', please!!!
AP- (laughs maniacally)
Lunair- (falls to knees and screams into the sky at apparently no one) My name isn't Lunar!!!
I forgot to put this in the last two chaps so here it is:
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or any related characters. (I wish I did though) But I do own Lunair, Artemis, Nova (formerly known as Solaris but Sega already has it in Sonic Next Generation Xbox 360, so yeah…), Lupe, Obsidian, Obsidian's 'minions' (I like that word! XD), Commander, Umber, Selene, and more to come (if I put them in this fic).
Warning- Blood and repeated mentionings of gore and violence. Do not read if you have a weak heart or stomach or spleen or any other organ.
Enjoy!!!
Shadow had been trying to get Lunair to talk to him for almost two days now, but he didn't get anything more than her name, Lunair, and her age, 18 years. He'd made sure to check her wounds and replace the bandages twice a day but he'd never so much as gotten a peep out of her. The day after she woke up he asked her why G.U.N. was after her and where she was from but she didn't so much as look at him, all of this was starting to wear on Shadow's already frayed nerves.
Lunair was staring at her lap, a mixture of sickness, pain, and fear on her face. She'd been like this for hours and yet she showed no signs of movement other than the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest. She was faintly aware of another presence in the room with her but she paid it no attention because she was lost in her own thoughts.
Shadow sighed irately as he sat down in the chair that he'd been sitting in since Lunair 'woke up'. He had tried to get her attention with food by waving it in front of her face but even that didn't work. He thought about giving her a sharp rap across the head, but that wouldn't be very nice. But then again, who ever said Shadow was nice. He tried it, didn't work. When she 'actually woke up' she was going to have a slight headache. 'Well, at least you're still breathing.' He thought as he studied the girl before him.
She had smooth pure black fur with blue spots dotted through it. Her eyes, an icy shade of blue, were slitted instead of circular. Her muzzle was colored a light peach and if you looked closely you could see the tips of her canines at the corners of her mouth. She had chest length black hair edged with blue and two thick shoulder length bangs on either side of her face , which were also tipped in blue. Her legs, long and lithe, showed that she was a runner and her arms were long and slender. The thing that Shadow found the most interesting about Lunair was her wings, he'd never seen a pair like them, though they closely resembled a bat's but much larger. The odd thing was that the long structural bones extended far beyond the thin blue membrane between them. The bones in her wings were black on the inside and outside, while the membrane was blue on the underside and black on the upper side. 'Oddly enough you seem perfectly normal…other than the whole not moving for almost two days thing.' Shadow mused as he finished his 'looking over' of the girl. "Well, I guess I should clean up here. Doesn't look like you're going to 'wake up' anytime soon." Shadow stood and slowly made his way to the bed. Earlier when he was trying the 'wave the food in front of their face and see if they bite' technique he decided to leave a plate in front of her to see if she'd awaken to the smell of some fresh fruit. "It always works on the 'faker'. Nothing can keep him away from a chilidog." He grumbled to himself as he reached for the plate. "But I guess since you're not the 'faker' it probably wouldn't work."
'Oddly enough you seem perfectly normal…other than the whole not moving for almost two days thing.' Shadow mused as he finished his 'looking over' of the girl. "Well, I guess I should clean up here. Doesn't look like you're going to 'wake up' anytime soon." Shadow stood and slowly made his way to the bed. Earlier when he was trying the 'wave the food in front of their face and see if they bite' technique he decided to leave a plate in front of her to see if she'd awaken to the smell of some fresh fruit. "It always works on the 'faker'. Nothing can keep him away from a chilidog." He grumbled to himself as he reached for the plate. "But I guess since you're not the 'faker' it probably wouldn't work."
'Maybe I could try out my new technique to see what you're thinking. I might figure out why you're like this.' Shadow mused to himself not sure whether he should or not. 'Yeah, why not. Its not like it'll hurt you or anything, just a quick peek, into your mind.'
He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head until their eyes were level with each other. Her eyes were dull and showed no signs of life. 'Sorta creepy.' He held her head up while he placed his other hand on the top of her head. While maintaining eye contact he whispered the words, "Chaos Mind's Eye", and allowed his chaos magic to delve into Lunair's mind.
Shadow suddenly felt lightheaded as he left his body. He saw three tendrils of swirling smoke-like energy. There was black, gray, and blue. He felt as though they were calling him closer. Unable to resist the urge, Shadow reached out and touched the gray tendril. Suddenly images began to rush past him rapidly, like colored blurs. They moved so fast that Shadow didn't even try to grasp hold of them. Some of the pictures passed slower than the others and these Shadow could see better. He saw a young gray furred cat with black spots crying in a stone gray corner clinging to an even younger cat with white and red fur and miniature feathered wings; a slightly older jet black furred cat with wickedly long canines standing off to the side rolling her yellow slitted eyes.
'What are these? Memories? But whose are they? Lunair's?' Shadow asked himself as he tried to get a better look at the pictures. Suddenly the darkness around him was snatched away and he found himself floating over some kind of arena. 'This must be another memory. And it looks like I've got front row seats to it, too. Maybe I can find some answers here.' Shadow thought as he looked down and saw the same gray furred cat but older, facing down a large dog like robot with a 2 painted on its forehead and hindlegs. It charged straight at her and headbutted her in the chest. She flew back and slammed into the wall, knocked senseless. The robot growled and charged her again to crush her against the wall but a blur of white jumped between them. He took the blow in his chest as he dug his toes into the ground bringing the robot to a stop. He locked his arms around the robot's head and held on tight. "What are you doing, sis!? This thing'll kill you if…you don't…fight back!" the winged cat grunted as the robot growled and bucked in his grasp, trying to rid itself of the boy. "Come on, get up!!!"
"#019's useless. A pathetic waste of space and energy." The black furred cat spat cruelly as she polished her pure white canines with a tattered old rag. Her canines were a little over half a foot long. She was leaning up against the far wall, two robots lay at her feet, dismembered, disemboweled, and beheaded.
"You could help us!!! Instead of standing ther–" The robot shook free of his grasp and smashed him away with its paw. It slowly approached the small girl, its metallic fangs gleaming in the light.
"Selene's right. I am a useless waste of space. Our creator could care less if I died…he'd just make a new me. But I know Nova would have none of it." She said quietly as she pushed herself to her feet. "And I know Selene would love to watch me be torn to pieces by that thing, so I can't let that happen. Besides I can't just leave my little brother alone with you! Oh, and one more thing before I forget. FOR THE LAST TIME…MY NAME IS UMBER!!! She spat the word like it was acid, as she looked a seething Selene in the eye.
The robot leapt forward to bite Umber but she dodged to the side causing it to slam into the wall. She moved back to a safe distance as it picked itself up and rushed her again. She turned to run but she tripped over some rubble and fell on her face. She rolled over only to come face to face with the robot's fangs.
"Sis…ter…" Nova wheezed as he began to choke on his own blood. He coughed fitfully as he tried to get to his feet. The robot had hit him pretty hard. Hard enough to break a few ribs. He looked over to where Selene was, to ask her to help Umber. As if. But she had disappeared. "Where's… Selene…" He murmured before he collapsed, spent.
She closed her eyes and waited for the robot's jaws to rip her to shreds, but it never came. She opened her eyes to find Selene standing next to the robot, her paw on top of its head, and the claws digging into its metallic skull. Selene smiled evilly as Umber winced in pain as she stomped her pawed down foot on the younger girl's tail. "You're next #019. This is how you take down a level 2 training robot." She viciously yanked the robot's head back and listened to the metal creak and groan. The robot tried to free itself but her grip was firm.
Selene leaned in close and ran her tongue across the robot's exposed jugular. She pressed her foot down harder on Umber's tail. "Pay attention!" She turned back to the robot and gently ran the claws of her free hand across its throat producing a soft metallic screech. She roughly hauled the robot closer and with a vicious growl, sank her fangs into the robot's throat. She ripped out a large chunk and spat it out next to the younger girl. Umber shied away from the piece of saliva and oil coated metal in disgust.
Selene smiled evilly down at Umber, silver oil dripping from her jaws. The robot groaned weakly as the same oil poured from its throat. Its hindlegs buckled and collapsed as it began to lose power. Then Selene turned back to the robot and sank her teeth into its skull. She stepped off of Umber's tail to get better footing as the robot's optic sensors dimmed and went out completely as her fangs pierced its hard drive.
This was her chance, and Umber wasted no time in taking it, either. She scooted back a safe distance before quietly getting to her feet and sneaking over to Nova, all while trying to shut out the sounds of Selene enjoying the thrill of completely destroying her 'prey'. She kneeled next to the younger boy and rolled him over onto his back. She called out him gently, pleading with him to wake up. "Nova… Nova, come on…wake up…please. Don't leave me… I need you. Our older brother, Lupe, needs you… hell, even what's left of Selene's sanity needs you… wake up, please…" She looked up immediately as Selene let the 'dismantled' robot fall to the ground.
Selene looked over at Umber and Nova while she pulled out the same old rag and began to polish her canines with the robot's oil. "Taking advantage of me while I was havin' fun, huh?" She smirked slyly as she began to walk slowly towards the pair. She tossed the rag to the side with a 'whatever-ish' flick. "Looks like I'm going to need a new polishing rag. Oh well, I guess I could make a new one out of your hide!" She unsheathed her claws in her hands and hindpaws, dropped to all fours. "Finally, I'll get to taste real blood and not this fake robot oil shit! Real red, warm blood, soft flesh and tender organs! The heart! Its what I want! Need!" She launched herself towards the two kids with a bloodthirsty roar.
"Run! What are you doing, just standing there! Move!!!" Shadow shouted in warning to Umber, who had placed herself protectively between Selene and Nova. "What are you deaf!? Leave him, or you'll be ripped to shreds!!!" Shadow knew full well that he couldn't interfere in a memory because no change would take place. They couldn't hear him.
Umber stood stock-still, frozen with fear as Selene charged towards her. She was afraid all right, but she had to protect Nova, like he did for her and to fulfill her duty as an older sister. 'I guess all those repeated experiments finally brought Selene to this. Nothing more than a mindless animal. Well I can't let her near Nova, no way.' She took a deep breath and braced herself for the oncoming pain.
'Aw man… this is awful, but who is it happening to? None of these guys look like Lunair, so whose memory…is…this?' Shadow's attention was drawn to the side as he saw a door (that wasn't there before) open. A grayish-blue furred wolf stepped into the arena and the door seemingly disappeared again. He started at a lope after Selene, sizing up the situation.
Selene slammed her shoulder into Umber's small chest and crushed her against the wall behind them. She felt the smaller girl's bones breaking beneath her. Blood gushed from Umber's mouth splattering across Selene's face neck and chest. Selene licked the blood from her muzzle, reveling in its taste. She watched in malicious enjoyment, as Umber gasped for air that barely came. "So delicious! I must have more!" She opened her bloodstained jaws and moved closer to Umber's throat for the finishing bite.
Umber watched Selene as she licked the blood from her lips. Her vision was fading rapidly and she could just barely make out a fuzzy gray blob a few feet behind Selene. 'Lupe…?' With the remainder of her strength she reached out and placed a shaking hand on the side of Selene's muzzle, stopping her in her tracks. "Oh…my dear…sister… What… have they…done to you…?" She wheezed as the pain in her body became too much for her to continue.
Selene stared at Umber blankly. The feelings she felt now had never been shown to her before. Not even by their creator. She looked at Umber, confusion on her face. "Umber… I…I… What am I…? Blood…? Who…? You're bleeding… Did I…?" The old Selene was back, finally, but only for a few minutes… "Wha…what have I done? I'm sorry! I…I didn't… I couldn't… I'm sorry…" She backed away from Umber and into Lupe's attack range.
Lupe moved quickly. He pulled six darts from his belts, three to each hand. He aimed and threw them at Selene. Each dart was tipped in a special sedative made just for Selene. Fast acting and lethal (in putting to sleep terms). Selene roared in pain as the darts pierced her side, the sedative quickly numbing her body and bringing back her darker self. "D-damn you! You stupid DOG!!! I'll kill you!" She staggered towards Lupe stiffly, a cracked growl emanating from her throat.
Lupe hadn't moved from his position, knowing that the sedative would soon take effect. He was worried for Umber and Nova but his orders were to take care of Selene first, and then the two kids. He was also slightly irritated at being called a 'dog'. 'Of all things why, why, did she have to call me a dog? Why not a fox or a coyote? Hell, I would even take a jackal or…a hyena!………… You know what, not a hyena, I hate hyenas.' He fussed mentally as he watched Selene come closer.
Umber lay on the ground and watched the events play out. Selene's attack had completely crushed her chest, like one would crush a fortune cookie, and not to mention the internal bleeding and immense pain. She was lucky her ribs only pierced one lung. She watched as Selene finally reached Lupe and raised her a clawed paw to slash him. "Look out!!!" She wanted to warn Lupe but no sound came forth, just a moist wheeze. All she could do was watch.
Selene finally reached Lupe after what felt like a lifetime, even thought it was like two minutes. She reached out to slash Lupe but her paw fell limp against his muscled chest. "D-damn it…" She moved closer to bite him but her legs went limp and became unable to support her weight. She fell forward into him where he caught her before she could fall to the ground. "Put…me down…so I …can kill…you…" She tried to struggle as he picked her up and held her in his arms.
"There is no use in trying to struggle. You have been completely paralyzed. It is a complete waste of valuable energy in talking as well. So, just give up." He said quietly as he sat her up against the wall, quite a ways from Umber and Nova. Finally being done with his ordered task, he rushed over to Umber. He knelt down in front of her and looked her over. "Umber…Umber stay awake. You CANNOT go to sleep. If you fall asleep, you will not wake up." She opened her eyes and looked at him and gave a weak smile, before passing out. "Umber!!! Umber!!!" He picked her up quickly and ran to the hidden door. He began to beat his head on the thick metal repeatedly, begging them to open it and help Umber. "Open the door!!! Please!!! She needs help!!!"
Shadow watched all of this transpire and couldn't help but fell slightly sorry for them. Then he felt a slight wisp of cold air pass by him, which he thought was odd because there was no air here. Then a black lizard like claw appeared from nowhere and clamped around his body. Intense cold, the same as when he touched that ice out in that field, filled his body and numbed him. The claw snatched him backwards, out of the arena, the memory, and Lunair's mind altogether, then Shadow was surprised to find himself back in his own body, which had been thrown across the room and landed near the far wall. He sat up slowly and winced at a dull throb pounding inside his head as the numbness receded. He looked up at Lunair to find that she was awake. Finally. But Shadow realized something was wrong as he got to his feet.
Lunair held her head in pain, her face hidden as Shadow stepped closer to see what was wrong. Memories came flooding back to her. Everything that she'd forced herself to forget over the past ten years, it all came flooding back. And she didn't want any of it. Shadow reached out cautiously to her but stopped when he saw crystalline droplets fall to the bed covers. Tears… 'She's crying…but why?' He questioned himself. He was about to ask when she spoke.
"Why…?" Lunair asked quietly, her voice little more than a pained whisper. Shadow looked at the girl in silent question. It was a simple enough question with an even easier answer, and yet he couldn't find the words to formulate the answer. So all he could do was stand there in silence, with a feeling that he'd done something wrong, very wrong.
"Well?" Lunair asked again, this time a little more forcefully as she lifted her face and looked him in the eyes. "It was a simple question. One that I sure that you'd be able to answer easily enough. So I'll ask once more: Why?" Shadow had found his answer but he just couldn't speak it, aloud. 'What it was so wrong that I was went into your mind to try and figure out why you were just sitting there, like a useless block of wood!?' Shadow scowled inwardly, this feeling of being scolded like a naughty child was not working well with him and his short patience.
Lunair raised her eyebrows in a knowingly gesture and smiled slyly. "Oh I get it… You thought that you'd try and help me by going into my mind to see if you could find any clues as to why I was the way I was?" She saw a look of surprise cross Shadow's face before he hid it away. "I can't read your mind but you're so easy to figure out. Its like trying to figure out what a child's―" She didn't get to finish her sentence because as soon as she compared Shadow with a 'child', he snapped. He leapt towards Lunair and clamped his hands around her throat and drove her down onto the bed. She cried out in pain as the sudden jolt ripped open the wound on her side. Blood began to quickly pour from her wound and into the bed sheets.
"You will not compare me to a child, girl! My name is Shadow the Hedgehog and I am the Ultimate Lifeform!" He growled menacingly while maintaining eye contact. Lunair averted her eyes, not because of fear or submission, but because she was trying to hid her pain. 'He's not…getting away…with this…without some…kind of payback.' Shadow thinking that she'd given up released his grip on her neck and began to remove himself from the bed. Lunair, ignoring her wounds pounced at Shadow with a growl. "DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH ME LIKE THAT!!!" She swung her arm in a powerful arc towards his face and slapped him as hard as she could, catching the unsuspecting hedgehog off guard and sending him flying back across the room.
Shadow performed a tight back flip and landed on his feet before he hit the wall while Lunair landed on her feet with a slight stagger before she caught herself, unconsciously placing her hand over her currently forgotten wound. He placed his hand gingerly on his stinging red cheek "How dare you slap me! You ungrateful creature! I―" Lunair interrupted him before he could finish his threat. "How dare, how dare?! How dare whom?!! I appreciate you saving me after I was attacked and left for dead by G.U.N.! I appreciate you taking care of me these past couple of days, and I'm sorry about scaring you with the whole 'trance' thing, but it was necessary! But what I don't appreciate is you just waltzing into my mind, going through my memories like they were just some old storybooks!!! My mind is the very thing that I held most sacred but you come and defile it! Bringing back things that were never meant to be remembered! That I never wanted to remember!!! And now it's all back…" She fell to her knees in defeat, she winced in pain and brought her bloodstained palm to her face. She could only stare at it as her vision began to darken. A lightheaded feeling filled her head and she collapsed to the floor, her blood still pouring from her wound. Shadow went unnoticed as he rushed to the bathroom and came back with a large first aid kit. Before she passed out she whispered something to herself. "I guess…I shouldn't fall asleep, right…Lupe?
Well that's that. I hope everyone enjoyed this chap. For chap 4 I'm gonna need at least 5 reviews. Okay? Just 5 little reviews, please? Please... (and no flames).
Something to remember- You shouldn't intrude into someone else's mind, for you might awaken something pretty nasty. Oh, and get slapped too.
Next chapter- 1 week and 5 days have passed. Have Lunair's wounds healed? How have Shadow and Lunair faired in each other's company? Did Tails repair the things Knuckles broke? Will Shadow got to Tails' Workshop to meet Blaze, and will he take Lunair with him? And Blaze finally arrives!
Find out in the next installment of: Moon and Sun!!!
