Bit of a short chapter... but I ran out of stuff for this chappie. Next one will be good too, though...
Okay... so, here ya go...
Please enjoy :D
"Let go!" Shadow slapped his free hand upside the shade's face. Mephiles responded by biting down harder, the bone of the arm threatening to crack under the pressure. "Meph! Mephiles! Snap out of it! Mephiles!"
With a deep growl, the deranged hedgehog shook his head animalisticaly, pulling back forcefully as he sank his claws deeper into Shadow's skin.
Wincing, Shadow lifted his foot and with the combined force of his free arm as well, shoved Mephiles off, who landed on his back a few feet away.
Before he could finish rolling over and push up from the ground, he felt a weight on his back and one arm was pulled and pressed up behind him, keeping him pinned to the ground. Turning his head to look behind him the best he could, he saw that Shadow had put all of his weight onto his back, and used as much force as possible to restrain him.
"What is wrong with you?!" Shadow yelled at the crystalline hedgehog, who was trying to shake him off. "Snap out of it!"
Mephiles gave a guttural growl, and fixed his eyes the best he could on the hybrid hedgehog. He bared his sharp teeth again as he narrowed his eyes, which were glinting with a degree of madness.
Suddenly, his expression changed. His hostility dissolved into utter terrified confusion as his eyes widened and he let a scared little whimper roll off his tongue.
Shadow loosened his hold in reaction, and Mephiles' expression changed back as he snickered and slipped his arm free. Rolling over, Shadow saw the smirk that had crawled onto the shade's face. In an instant, Mephiles had heaved Shadow off and was on his feet again, crouched down, shifting from side to side, his claws out and fingers twitching as if he was preparing to spring again.
…
Rae was being held back by her tails; as she had tried to help, without really think properly. Leaning forward as far as she could, she heard Rouge reprimand her.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to help…"
"How?"
"…" Rae paused. She hadn't thought about that. "… I dunno… I didn't think about that…"
"We can't really do anything with Mephiles like this right now…"
"So we have to let Shadow deal with this on his own? Seems a bit… heartless… doncha think?"
"Got a better solution?"
"…"
"..?"
"… No… Not really…"
…
Mephiles was chanting mockingly at Shadow, his wide eyes fixed on him as he circled around him slowly, keeping his body close to the grass.
"… Shadow… Shadow… Shadow…" He sang under his breath, as if this was a game to him. He chuckled crazily. "… you can't help me… you can't help him… you can't save us… Shadow… Shadow… Shadow… Shadow…"
He dissolved into laughter again, throwing his head back as it echoed throughout the field when he stopped circling him for a moment.
Shadow took a step forward, and the shade's ears perked forward at the sound of the red streaked hedgehog's metal plating of his shoes scraping against the dirt. He returned his full attention to Shadow, grinning madly as he tilted his head and continued to circle around him.
"… Can't save me… can't stop me… can't help me…" He giggled disturbingly before sighing. "… Not good enough… never good enough… was born bad… I'm not good enough… Shadow… Shadow… Shadow…" He hissed the last words through his teeth, narrowing his eyes again. "Shadow… Shadow… SHADOW!"
At the last word, he lunged at the owner of the name, who sidestepped and palm-struck the shade in the back of the head. Mephiles hit the ground face first with a grunt, holding a hand to the point of impact.
Getting up with some difficulty, he braced himself with one hand and stared darkly at Shadow.
"… Can't do anything… its useless… it doesn't matter… never good enough… Can't do this…"
It would seem like he was really babbling, because he barely making much sense.
"If you just calm down…" Shadow tried to say reassuringly. "We can help you…"
"LIES!" The voice that had sounded from the shade was much like Dark's… in fact… it might have been, except for what was being said. That seemed more like Mephiles. Breathing hard, he shook his head angrily and backed away, his snarled quills and fur on end, his chest fluff even puffing out some as he took in each breath deeply. "… it's all lies… you can't help… can't help me… no one can… no one can ever… lies… lies… lies… lies… lies… lies… lies…"
He dissolved into just chanting this word over and over. Again and again. Whispering it just loud enough to be heard. His eyes were wide again as he was slowly rocking his head form side to side, shifting his gaze downward.
"Mephiles?" Shadow said softly, hoping to catch his attention, but not to cause him to go over the edge like that again. He rubbed at one of his arm wounds, which was stinging a little. There was something about the razor sharpness of Mephiles' claws that did that… probably because they were crystal shards, and left a rather clean cut.
Said hedgehog snapped his head back up, but stared past Shadow for a moment or two. His eyes skittered around the area for a moment before resting upon Shadow, but remained somewhat unfocused. The words he was chanting faded off slowly, the last one ending with somewhat of a hiss of the breath.
He shrank away, his eyes wide and staring, his ears flattened against his head, his back arched a little.
"Mephiles?" Shadow tried again, and once his name was called, the shade's eyes started to clear up ever so slightly.
He blinked and perked his ears forward a small degree. He tilted his head questioningly, wearing a matching expression.
"… W… wha-?" He couldn't seem to voice his confusion, and scanned his eyes around the area for an answer.
He spotted Rae being held back by her tails by Rouge. Jak staring at the both of them.
He locked gazes with Shadow before tearing his eyes away and glancing at the hybrid hedgehog's arms, hand and side. His muzzle paled several shades at the site of all the bites, scratches and gouges left there that he was certain he had not left on him back at the bridge.
What have I been doing?!Mephiles screamed inwardly, his face showing all the shock that had gone through his mind.
As his tongue touched his teeth, the sickly bitter taste of what he could compare to being similar to what rusted metal would taste like (not that he had ever tried to eat rusted metal… he just figured it was like that from the scent was like…) greeted his taste buds viciously and he moaned queasily, clapping his hands over his mouth as his stomach twisted painfully, threatening to make him throw up.
His eyes glanced downward at his hands and what he saw caused him to break down completely and scream out frantic apologies, shaking his head as his sick feeling grew worse…
His claws and fingertips had traces of blood on them, and were currently smearing it into the fur on his muzzle…
Just like the nightmares Dark had taunted him about a couple of nights ago…
His eyes widened once more as the irises shrank and he broke out in a cold sweat, shaking as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. He moaned weakly and turned away from everyone as quickly as he could. Then he threw up on the grass before he collapsed onto his back and passed out…
Poor Mephiles... he just doesn't get a break, huh? Well... at least he seems to have broken out of that feral state now...
See you next time :D
