Fear not, my dear friends... Chapter 5 is in the works as we speak. I now have an idea as to what direction to take this story, now that I've had time to replenish my creativity reserves.
As always, please be sure to check in on my DA and the CrystalHedgehogBoys Tumblr for bonus things as I develop the story.
Thank you for being so patient with me, and I'm so sorry for the delay. T_T
Let's see who gets what the title of this chapter is a reference to? XD
Walking into the city was easy. The challenge was trying to do so while while trying to convince Mephiles that there was nothing to worry about.
Logically, he understood that. But his instincts were telling him otherwise.
"... D-Dark... I d-don't w-want to be here..." He whispered, looking up from the semi-huddled ball he was in.
Dark almost gave him a word or two of encouragement, before pausing, recalling what happened the last time he didn't listen to Mephiles. He frowned a little and reminded himself that it hadn't been by fault of his own, and that the probability of that repeating itself was slim to none anyway.
"You know what will happen if anyone touches you." The shadow said in a level tone. "I would not be held accountable for what I might do if-"
"Don't do that." Mephiles said suddenly, looking a bit concerned. "The last thing we need is to have the whole city have it in for us, like legitly."
"I'm just saying-"
"No, no... He has a point." Iblis said, breaking his silence. "You maim someone, and that's just an invitation to mount us over a fireplace. And not a nice kind of fireplace, either."
"... Um, I think there's laws against doing that to anyone, but you get the idea." Mephiles muttered, stretching his mouth into a flat, thin line. "... Please don't be too quick to jump to that solution, or we could be in a lot of trouble. I know you mean well..." He added when Dark flashed a stunned look at the request. "I really do, but we have to be cautious."
Standing up a bit hesitantly, Mephiles darted his eyes around before settling them back on Dark, reaching his free hand around the shadow's upper arm, folding his ears back slowly.
"... It's... That's wrong..." The hedgehog said softly, looking back at the carved tunnel in the rock wall that bordered part of kingdom. "... It's not... Dark?" He spoke up. "Did... Did you notice that the... Um..."
"What? What's there?" Dark asked, lifting his eyebrows slightly.
"... It's more like what isn't there..." Mephiles shuddered a little, clenching his teeth. "I've been here plenty of times, I'm quite sure there's supposed to be that portal-room-thing somewhere in here..."
"Are you sure you just aren't mixing up areas?" Iblis offered, scratching his head. "It's been a while, maybe you just got them-?"
"No." Mephiles interrupted, shaking his head roughly, pulling closer to Dark out of unease. "No, that's not possible. I've hidden out in this tunnel before, I know it very well... Because..." He let his words fade and just hid his face in Dark's shoulder with a barely audible whimper.
Dark didn't need an explanation as to why Mephiles did that. He simply let him.
"We still need to get on trying to figure out what to do, so I'm going to need you to walk with us, Mephy." Dark said in a calm tone, reaching a hand to pat the hedgehog's head. "I'm sure Shadow and Rouge are just as frantic as we are."
"... Of course it's Soleanna, I don't want to be in Soleanna, I don't like Soleanna, Soleanna doesn't like me, why did it have to be Soleanna, I wouldn't have minded any other place than Soleanna, I can't wait to get out of Soleanna..."
Again, it took quite a bit of effort to get Mephiles to step foot in the Castle Town district, a bit of pulling and coaxing. He immediately turned around and made the motion to head back for the entrance, but Dark was able to catch him by the tail before he got too far, and Mephiles froze, given that his tail had managed to gain a sort of sensitivity from his prior adventure, having been pecked on by penguins, crimped when he fell on it wrong, and having been dislocated by Dire.
Mephiles stood still, not wanting to agitate the weakness the base of his tail still had from all that. Then he looked over his shoulder slowly, at Dark.
"... That's not fair. You know my tail's weak at the base..."
"If you promise not to run, I'll let go."
"... This is hard for me, and you know it..."
They passed a newsstand, and might have not paid much mind to it, if not for bolded headline on the local publication, which caused the three of them to stop right in their tracks.
SOLARIS PROJECT LOOKING POSITIVE
Iblis blinked, Mephiles' mouth hung open and Dark let go of the hedgehog's tail.
"... Well, that certainly isn't right at all..." Iblis muttered, shaking his head slightly, turning his attention to the other two.
"... Of all the ludicrous-! As if we didn't already-! It could have easily been-!" Dark sputtered almost angrily, clenching his hands into fist before gesturing frantically at the newsprint. "September thirteenth, nineteen-ninety-six! We are in a time when 'Space Jam' hasn't even been put in theaters yet!"
"... Two months before..."
"... I don't follow. Why is it important that it's two months before, well... That..?" Iblis looked at them.
"... I'm at least two months older than you guys..." Mephiles said slowly, tearing his eyes from the paper towards the center point of interest in the Castle Town district.
He wasn't quite listening to the exchange between Dark and Iblis. He frowned a little and took a small step away from them, blinking.
... It's at least two months before the disaster right now... He thought, tilting his head. ... I either wasn't born yet, or it's my birthday right now... He narrowed his eyes a little. ... She's still... Mom's still...
He felt someone grab his forearm and he jerked abruptly, having been stopped in a mid-step he didn't remember taking. He looked in confusion at Dark, then Iblis, then back to Dark, who was wearing a very concerned look.
Maybe Dark had said something, asked him if he was alright, but Mephiles wasn't sure. He saw Dark's mouth move, but he didn't hear a thing from it. Was something wrong with his ears..?
Dark frowned and put his other hand on the hedgehog's shoulder giving a light shake.
"Mephiles, please answer me." He said more urgently than he had a moment before. "I asked you if you were alright."
Mephiles stared almost as if this was the first time he had seen Dark, and those brief seconds of disconnect startled the shadow, causing him to let go and stare back briefly, both horrified and terribly shaken.
Almost on cue, some familiarity flickered behind Mephiles' eyes and he blinked repeatedly, looking around himself before resting his sight on Dark.
Mephiles was very confused to see Dark suddenly appear so upset, as he couldn't quite recall the passage of time that had led to that. He looked down at his own hands and saw that they were shaking. His head felt quite dizzy, he was having an issue with breathing properly, and he felt like he really needed to sit down.
"... D... Dark..?" Mephiles moaned, bringing his hands to his face and peering through his fingers wearily. "... D-Dark... I wanna g-go home... I-I want Sh-Shadow and R-Ruh-Rouge... I... I d-don't wanna b-be here..."
Dark's hurt expression softened, as if he finally rationalized why Mephiles had acted as such, and he reached for the hedgehog cautiously, not wanting to startle him in this state. Then Dark put his arms around Mephiles carefully, taken aback when the hedgehog immediately leaned his weight against him, as if he lost the desire to stand by himself.
"... We sh-sh-shouldn't even *hic* b-be here! It's not f-f-f-fair!" Mephiles howled miserably, his face a hot mess of tears and a dribbling nose. "Whuh-why t-today! *hic* Why n-now!"
Dark, still silent, moved a hand along Mephiles' back as the hedgehog's body jerked with each hiccup, whispering quietly in his ear, trying to calm him down.
"... Is... He alright..?" Iblis asked awkwardly, not sure if he could have even been any help at all. He really didn't like being the third wheel, but such was the case at the moment.
"... It's his birthday today. His real one..." Dark spoke in a soft, sad tone, feeling the emotions radiating off his surrogate brother. "... His mother is alive right now..."
Iblis blinked, not seeing the reason why this would be as much a problem as it was.
"Isn't that a good thing..? How can anybody be sure it really is that day..?"
"No, it's not exactly a good thing." Dark shook his head carefully. "Even if she was indeed there, he'd never be able to see her, because he'd have to explain who he was and why he was there, and honestly... Having to explain to her exactly what happens to her in the next couple months is not very wise on multiple layers..."
Mephiles hiccuped again, uttering a loud distressed groan shortly after.
"... As for how we can be sure that today is the day he was born... I suppose it just makes sense." Dark added with a saddened look, shifting his eyes to the hedgehog's head. "... Why else would we be here unless we needed to be here? It's too soon for the day we came into existence, Brother. But, today is still significant to us..."
Dark slid the fingers of one hand behind one of Mephiles' ears and found his "calming spot". Mephiles quieted down somewhat, but was still shuddering, pale face flushed around the cheeks.
"... Let's go figure out what we need to do next before the sun starts going down..." Dark said. "We really shouldn't be sleeping in the forest again, especially not in September. And we most certainly haven't eaten since before we got yanked here..."
Collecting Rings was easy enough. A few simple tasks and there was enough to take care of a few things they needed.
Dark had insisted they look into buying some foods that were better suited for traveling, such as trail mixes and dried snacks that wouldn't spoil. Less hassle.
A room was a little more difficult to procure. Given their age, it was a bit odd to the person at the counter that they were unaccompanied by someone a bit older. Odder still was the fact that they were three foot tall talking hedgehogs, give or take a few inches.
"You see, we don't often see... Non-Humans around Soleanna, if at all..."
"... Give it a few years, and you'll see..." Dark said almost too quietly to be heard before he spoke in his growl-less tone. "We're Mobians, so our age restrictions are a bit different than yours, because we develop differently."
"And what exactly are 'Mobians'?"
"Simply put, Mobians are like a more evolved sort of your everyday animals around here..." Dark peered over the top of the counter along with his brothers, folding his arms. "Except that our 'species' are more like 'races'. And we sometimes don't resemble our respective counterparts. These crystals you keep staring at are a side effect of extended exposure to Chaos Energy radiation at a young age, our scleras are these colors because of the same reason, and Chaos Energy is something you're going to find out about in a few years anyway, so I won't even bother to explain that, or we'll be here all day."
The person behind the counter blinked, a little thrown for a loop.
"... And... you're all blue because..?"
"Well, actually, that's fairly normal for Mobian Hedgehogs."
Mephiles cracked a small smile and snorted a little at that remark, perhaps the first smile he had given since they arrived in Soleanna.
Within a half hour, they were finally able to get a room to stay in.
"... Geeze, even ten or so years from now, it's the same interior design..." Mephiles muttered, shaking his head as the trio stepped in, the former hesitating to do so before finally forcing himself to. "... At least now, it's relevant..."
"Are you feeling better now, Mephy?" Dark asked, shifting his attention to the hedgehog, ready to read him as best he could. "I know this is the last place you want to be at any time, but there's really not much we can do about that until we figure out whywe're here at all. And how to get back home..."
"... I'd rather be somewhere, anywhere else right now..." Mephiles mumbled, stepping past Dark and Iblis, then flopping face first into one of the two beds. He added something, but it was hard to hear him like that.
Dark's cheek twitched briefly, and he sighed in defeat before hesitantly reaching into the bag of snacks to dig around carefully, finally pulling out a small package of dried cranberries.
"... Do you want anything? We have craisins. Those are nice."
Mephiles lifted and turned his head just enough to stare at the shadow.
"... Maybe a little..." He rolled over on his back and sat up, kicking his feet a bit over the edge of the bed, looking at the short-pile off-color teal carpet that looked like it would be better suited for an airport lobby. "... How are we gonna get back, then..?"
Dark tossed the pouch of fruit his way, and reached in the bag again.
"Not sure, really..." He admitted, lifting a pack of peppered jerky out with a mildly uneasy expression before handing it to Iblis. "Brother, did you really have to have-?"
"I'm not vegetarian like you, and I like the spicy things." The flame said without much hesitation. "It's sealed anyway, so it didn't touch your stuff."
"I know... But didn't it occur to you that what you are eating is a dead animal?"
"Didn't it occur to you that the foods you're eating as well are also dead?"
Dark inhaled as if to send back another argument, but shut his mouth and puffed his cheeks slightly before letting out a breath.
"... That's... A fairly good point..." He grunted, narrowing his eyes, and gritting his teeth. "Except my food doesn't have body parts."
"Potato eyes, heads of cabbage, artichoke hearts..." Iblis rattled off smugly. "Ears of corn, blood oranges, kidney beans-"
"Those are just terms!" Dark snapped back, folding his ears. "It doesn't mean it's actually an organ, geeze!"
"Look, I really don't care what you eat, as long as you're happy with your choices and you let me eat my jerky in peace."
Mephiles snorted a small laugh, having already started on eating his food.
A strange, almost shuffling like sound caught his attention, and Mephiles lifted his head from the pillow, squinting in the dark and trying to adjust his eyes to the dim orange glow from the other bed, that was Iblis' lighted eyes.
Another scuffling sound, accompanied by rough huff.
Mephiles rolled the blanket away and sat up quietly, looking at the flame with a puzzled expression.
Iblis blinked and looked his way, shrugging helplessly.
"... We're not supposed to wake him unless he's in danger or going to cause harm, right..?" He said.
Mephiles lowered his eyebrows in confusion and crawled to the foot of the bed to get a better look, and almost fell off sideways in shock, now completely wide awake and looking like a spiky blue pincushion with eyes.
There was a large dog-like animal unsteadily pacing the length of the walk space in front of the two beds. It didn't take Mephiles long to identify it as a wolf, and took even less time to realize it was in fact Dark.
"S-since when c-could he-?" Mephiles squeaked quietly, crawling backwards in shock, gawking at the sight.
"Your guess is as good as mine, I'm just as surprised." Iblis shook his head. "The only thing I can be even sure of is that he's sleepwalking right now. He can shape shift, can't he?"
"If he's b-borrowed a shadow, yes..." Mephiles perked his folded ears forward, frowning a little more as his puffed quills flattened a little. "... But, I'm sh-sure he's n-never met a wolf..."
"Do you think that creature thing had something to d-?"
"No, h-he's been extracted, he sh-shouldn't be even a-around anymore."
"He did stuff to Dark, y'know. I mean, of course you know, but I mean he really brought out a side of Dark I had no idea was a thing..." Iblis tilted his head in the hedgehog's direction. "It was sort of... Not really instinct, but more primal."
"Did he ever turn into a wolf..?"
"No, but Dark would kind of space out and things would happen that he had no memory of doing later." Iblis explained. "And honestly, each time his powers got out of hand, he'd be a little more... coherent? Like, he knew what he was doing, without actually knowing what he was doing..."
Mephiles' ear twitched and he directed his attention to Dark, who had stopped pacing and was now standing perfectly still, fur bristled along his back, paws splayed and bracing himself in a defensive stance, ears flat against his head, growing softly, teeth baring slightly. He was staring blankly at the wall.
Mephiles made the motion to slide off the bed, but Iblis shook his head quickly, waving his hand to gesture to the hedgehog to stay away.
"You don't know how he's going to react. He could very well not even recognize you right now." The flame said. "He'd be very upset if he hurt you."
"Well, we have to try something. What if he wakes up like this and sees us staring at him? Do you know how upset he'll be if he realizes we just gawked at him instead of trying to do something?"
"I don't know, you seem to know more about him than I do, anyway." There was a slightly bitter tone in there somewhere.
"That's not my fault, and you know it. Now, stop brooding and either help me or not." Mephiles snapped almost uncharacteristically, shocking Iblis quite a bit. "If you want that to change, then do something about it instead of blaming me, I am getting tired of you getting mad at me for something that wasn't even my fault. If we're going to be brothers, then this has to stop, because it's upsetting to Dark as well that he feels like he's betraying you every time he wants to do something with me. I'm not snapping at you for what you did to him or me, so why can't you do the same?"
Iblis blinked, looking a bit helpless before opening his mouth as if to respond, but quickly closed it and lowered his head.
"... You don't... Usually rant like that..."
"I'm s-sorry, I just got a little tired of that." Mephiles apologized awkwardly. "I understand where you're coming from, but you seriously need to let it go. You do understand that I'm not trying to take Dark from you, right?"
"... Y-yes..."
There was a distressed growl and the both of them turned their heads just in time to see Dark dart headfirst into the padded chair that had been set against the door earlier in the night (to discourage a certain somnambulist from unlocking the door and leaving the room, should he have an episode). He gave a sharp yip sound and staggered back, shaking his head roughly, still growling.
"... He must really be out of it, that didn't even wake him up." Mephiles frowned, sliding off the side of the bed and switching on one of the side table lamps, then approaching Dark from behind carefully. "... If it wasn't so shocking that he's like this, it'd actually be incredible... He's a wolf. A bit of a thin one, mind you, because of his body type and eating habits, but he's still a wolf..."
"You should still be careful, you don't know if he's going to lash out at you..."
"I think I could handle a few bites if it meant he wasn't going to smash his head into a chair. Besides..." Mephiles reminded Iblis. "I heal quickly..."
Mephiles reached out a hand very cautiously, and touched it to Dark's forehead, mainly from force of habit. He had half expected a violent reaction from the contact, but was surprised to see Dark instead relax and lean slightly to the right.
"Hey, Iblis? Could you come over here for a moment and catch him before he topples over? He's pretty calm now..."
"Are you sure? He can switch at any moment, y'know..?"
"Yeah, I know, but I'm sure he's fine now. Just hold him for a bit, I need to be sure he doesn't move while I'm taking care of this bump on his head. He really hit that chair hard..."
Iblis was hesitant, but decided ultimately to comply and made his way to them, carefully out his arms around the canid that was his little brother under all that.
Dark thrashed weakly for a few seconds at the sudden embrace, but quickly eased up and leaned heavily into him with a snort through the nostrils.
A poof cloud marked the change back to his normal form and Dark was staring up at the ceiling drowsily, blinking slowly.
"... Why do I have a headache..?" He mumbled, reaching a hand up to his head with gritted teeth. "... Not like a migraine, but like something hit it..."
"You fell into the chair while sleepwalking..." Mephiles offered almost too quickly as the shadow slid the hand down his face.
Dark squinted through his fingers, frowning.
"The chair's padded, Mephy, how could I possibly injure myself on it?"
"Well, it was actually more like you fell into it and hit your head on the door, but that's getting a bit specific."
"... If that's true, then why did you drag me over here than just tend to me where I fell..? Seems a bit counterproductive..."
"I don't even think that's the right usage of the term right there..." Iblis said, not really sure what to do at the moment.
"... I'm still a bit confused right now, I'm sorry if I'm a bit incoherent..." Dark rolled his head back a little to look up at his twin wearily. "... My mouth tastes funny..."
"Say what now?"
"... My mouth tastes funny..." Dark muttered, brushing his tongue between his gums and cheek, reaching his fingers in his mouth carefully and pulling out something small that made his face go a visibly paler tint than normal.
"... That's... That's a piece of... jerky..." Mephiles said slowly, shifting his attention to the discarded, chewed up package on the floor that they had overlooked before now. "... Well, there's no proof that you actually swallowed it... So maybe it's not as bad as it-"
He didn't quite get to finish that sentence, as Dark had shoved away from Iblis and hurried himself to the adjoining bathroom to presumably vomit, leaving the hedgehog and the flame cringing in their own variable ways.
"Quite honestly, I didn't think the stuff was that bad..." Iblis finally said after a brief awkward silence between the two.
"It's not that it's bad or anything..." Mephiles explained to the best of his knowledge, putting his hand over his face when he felt a surge of mixed up emotions pass through him due to his Empathy. "He doesn't eat meat because it's an animal that's been killed for food."
"But, you and I eat meat without a problem, and besides: We didn't kill the animals for it ourselves..."
"Dark chose to be a vegetarian because he doesn't want to eat meat. There's nothing wrong with him choosing that."
A loud, disgusted groan sounded off from the bathroom.
"... Plastic, I even swallowed the plastic..." Dark whimpered pitifully. "... Why didn't either of you stop me from getting that far..?"
"I woke up only about ten, maybe fifteen, minutes ago. I only saw you trip over the chair, really."
"... You said before I fell into it, not tripped over it..."
"It's basically the same thing, either way, you hit your head on the door."
There was a brief pause before Dark, who had been apparently sitting on the floor, leaned over to look at the hedgehog from the doorway, wearing an expression of unamusement beneath a fine layer of exhaustion.
"... I really don't know who's the worst liar between the two of you..." Dark grit his teeth, wiping the corner of his mouth and glared wearily. "Now, either I've been suddenly stricken with a strange case of sleep-pica, if that can even happen, or the both of you are purposely keeping something from me that I should know about regardless..."
"... Dark... You..." Mephiles couldn't bring himself to explain, knowing without a doubt that it would greatly upset Dark.
Iblis, however, took it upon himself to do so.
"... Have... You ever been able to change shape while you're asleep?"
"That's a strange question to ask, I don't see what it has to-"
"Your abilities don't just shut off when you sleep, right? You've had those shadow things happen before, and you've had a few flair ups without being completely conscious, right?" Iblis interrupted swiftly. "So, is there a possibility that you could shape shift without really being aware of it?"
"That's a frightening thought, I suppose..." A look of alarm passed over Dark's pale face. "... It'd indicate that I really have no control over the matter... Wh-why would you ask..?"
"... Dark..." Mephiles finally joined in with a soft tone. "... Have you... Ever taken a wolf's shadow before..?"
Dark's eyes went almost completely round as his pupils contracted to mere pinpricks. His face couldn't go any paler, it seemed, without appearing deathly white.
"... That's... That's not funny..." He said helplessly, weakly forcing out a painfully fake laugh. His cheek twitched. "Wh-why are you lying to me? St-stop lying t-to me!"
"... It wasn't really that bad, you just kinda paced around a bit before something spooked you." Mephiles tried to explain. "In fact, it was one of your better behaved episodes, to be perfectly honest..."
"Th-that wasn't m-!" Dark cut himself off harshly, wrapping his arms around himself, shaking quite visibly. "I c-can't do that... I-I can't just make a sh-shape without taking one..."
"Dark, we both saw it." Mephiles shook his head and look at him with great concern. "Maybe you just don't have complete grasp on the full extent of your abilities? Like, maybe it's like when I started developing my retrocognition powers? Remember how scary that was when it would just flare up without warning, and it took me a while to learn how they worked? I mean... You saw part of that, because you weren't really there when it all started, but still..."
"You d-don't understand... I c-can't do that..." Dark stammered, shaking his head and staring with wide eyes. "I-I can't..."
Maybe it had been the fact that he had been sick just minutes ago, or that he had been pulled out of a sleepwalking episode when he hit his head on the door. Maybe that's why this was so hard for him to process, Mephiles decided. Maybe Dark was just disoriented, that's all.
Then again...
"... Are you absolutely sure that without a doubt, your abilities won't allow that..?" Mephiles added, approaching him gently, hiding a frown rather well, to not upset Dark any further. "You did sorta lost full use of them for a while after that head injury. Are you really sure you've never been able to before? It's been quite a bit of time since..."
"Mephiles, I'm absolutely sure that I never have..." Dark said without hesitation, pressing his hands over his eyes, hiding his face. "And for as long as you known me, you should already know that I have never sifted shape while asleep... Oh, geeze, the kind of the danger that brings up now..."
"But you didn't lash out at us..."
"Maybe not this time, but what if it happens again?" Dark shook his head. "You saw what happened to that bag of jerky. I don't even eat meat..."
"Well, you can't really be sure that you were trying to actually eat it." Iblis offered, earning a glare from his twin that was a mix of confusion and annoyance.
"I'm sorry, but did you forget that I just threw up some minutes ago, because I sure as heck didn't. I'm pretty sure I ate it."
"No, I meant that maybe you weren't intending to, and you were just gnawing on the bag, or attacking it because you didn't like it..?"
"That's hardly anything to joke about..."
"Actually, that's a pretty sound theory..."
"Oh, don't you start, too..." Dark snapped irritably