If you didn't check in on DA... I thought all you readers who are Jak fans should know...

Jak may no longer appear in the series... as the real Jak had to be put to sleep last week, because he was just getting to old, and he was having too many problems... T_T

Jak is gone...

Rage's eyes finally flickered open for the first time since he had gone down. Feeling a hand to the base of his skull, he scrunched his face briefly at the dull pain that was on it's way to fading.

He shoved himself off the ground to sit up, and found himself staring at Sympathy, who was sitting on his knees to be level with him.

"Alright... What'd I miss..?" Rage shrugged, looking away as if to not acknowledge that he had been unconscious for whatever amount of time.

"Well... To start things off..." Sympathy said nervously while glancing around. "Arrow's arm is broken, most of us are hopeless, and... Logic is trying to kick that thing's butt for trying to hurt Euphie..."

Rage's expression was uncharacteristically surprised.

"... Musta been hit harder than I thou-" His already mumbling sentence faded into nothing once he laid eyes on the normally docile and soft spoken twin of his doing just what had been described to him, key word being "trying". He blinked and uttered a phrase with no less than three swear words in quick succession and shook his head. "... It won't last long... He's not a fighter..."

"Then go help him instead of talking about it!" Sympathy snapped at him. "I'd do something myself if I wasn't watching Euphoria."

At that moment, Euphie gave a squeal and rushed to Rage, clinging to him to show his excitement.

"... Oh knock it off, you little runt!" Rage snapped before catching himself, earning a glare from at least a few of the emotions watching. Euphie pulled back shyly and looked at the ground, tiny ears swiveled back as he clutched his tattered rabbit toy. Rage actually felt sorry, but didn't plan on breaking character to show it.

Sympathy frowned slightly and caught Euphie's hand to pull him over to his side.

"Oh, ignore him..." He told him. "He's just a big meanie."

Rage flinched slightly.

"And you're just a touchy-feely wuss!" He shot back without hesitation.

Sympathy scoffed and shook his head.

"If you want a confrontation, go help Logic..." He said, smoothing a stray quill back into place as he did. "It does none of us any good if you try with me, as it's beyond my capability... I simply won't respond..."

Before either of them could speak, Logic was thrown roughly, then bounced and skidded on his back very near them. Logic seemed partly confused as to how that happened, and squinted as he tilted his head back to look at them.

"... I can't see... Which ones are you..?" He said quite calmly.

"Who do you think?" Rage snapped before remembering that Logic's glasses were busted.

Logic sighed in relief anyway.

"Wonderful... I thought he disconnected you..."

"Just knocked in the head..." Sympathy reported. "I'm alright, and I'm watching Euphie."

"Hello! I believe I'm still in the process of kicking your butt!" Dire shouted over them.

The group exchanged looks before Logic waved a hand halfheartedly.

"Have fun..." He told Rage.

"This is getting tiresome..." Rage muttered.

Because of Dark's embarrassment from the having a sizable chunk of his fur ripped off his arm, which had naked skin in the place where it had been furry, it was suggested that until it grew back, it could be wrapped with the self adhesive gauze that stuck itself, but not to hair. Unfortunately, they had two color choices left from the variety pack: bright green and hot pink.

Dark wrinkled his nose at the choices, finding the green to be something that really stirred up something he could not place, and also found that pink was just plain humiliating, as he could remember that it was a designated female color. Reluctantly, he pointed to the green one.

As his arm was being covered where it was bald, Mephiles noticed that there were faint scars where the skin had once been clawed and bitten. He probably could not see them due the fur being reasonable in length to obscure the ability to see such minor ones. Minor compared to the one on his side, that is, which seemed that the fur never quite smoothed down in it's place the same way.

"Well, it's not so bad..." Mephiles said carefully. "It matches your eye color..."

"... This color sucks..." Dark huffed, waiting until Rouge put the gauze away before putting his arm down.

"It's either that, or pink... Too late, actually... It's already wrapped..." Mephiles glanced to the side. "Now we know not to get any of that stuff on our fur. The other kind of glue usually peels off without doing that..."

Dark made a sound that may have been a snort.

"Uh... So... Yeah... I-I'm gonna go help Rouge put the stuff she bought away..." Mephiles said with a nervous air as he could not really think of anything else to say to Dark at the moment.

Dark draped himself over the arm of the couch they had been sitting on, letting himself lay across it limp, a manner that he tended to do when feeling down, resembling an odd blue spiky decoration somewhat. He heaved a sigh and kept his expression neutral, not wanting to use any effort at the moment.

Mephiles stayed for moment before heading back to the kitchen.

Dark stared at the floor for who knows how long. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the other room, which included Mephiles exclaiming excitement over the contents of one of the packages.

Suddenly, he felt like someone was watching him, and snapped his eyes back open. It was that... lookalike again.

"... Mephiles told me that you're not really there..." Dark said in a low voice to the one sitting on the floor, looking up at him curiously. "... Go away..."

"That didn't work the first time... remember?"

Dark didn't answer, trying to ignore him. He wondered if he should just get up and head to where everyone else was so that he wouldn't see this, as it seemed to happen when he was alone.

As he continued to be pestered, he halfheartedly waved a hand with a grunt... And froze.

His hand had brushed against something...

His heart jumped into his throat as the lookalike stared with a surprised look..Illusions aren't solid...

His eyes went wide. His fur bristled in reaction. His body shook terribly. His skin crawled, making him very uncomfortable. A thin layer of sweat glittered under his fur as he panted, the air feeling too thin.

I felt something there...

He wanted to scream, to shout and gain everyone's attention, showing them that it was very likely he was not seeing things after all.

He took a deep breath... And his voice died in his throat.... What's going on..? Why can't I speak? Why am I so afraid right now!

He could feel the blood draining from his face slowly, knowing that he had grown paler than normal. And all he could do was just stare in unexplainable, mute terror. A horrifying feeling, this was. He was too shocked to try and lift himself off the arm of the couch.

The gears of his mind ground against each other for a good while before something made them run more smoothly, triggering his fight or flight response. He shoved himself up, catching one of the decorative trinkets in his hand, intending to throw it...

...

...

He didn't know what happened next, as his brain seemed to be stuck in some sort of limbo, as he was uncertain if he was conscious or not.

Everything seemed muffled and garbled, and his vision was not tuned, which did nothing to calm him. He fought against anything and everything, unsure of what was here to help him or not.

He felt himself be shaken, and he tried to hold tightly onto whatever felt stable. Was he mistaken, or was his name being called as well..?

"Dark! Snap out of it! Dark!"

This sounded clearer than the rest. He blinked, trying to clear his sight, but having a good idea who that blue shape in front of him was.

"... It's alright... There's no need to be freaking out like that..." He heard Mephiles say in a gentle voice, but loud enough to be heard.

"... Mephy..?" He muttered, feeling so relieved to have heard the hedgehog.

"Shadow... Stop shaking him now... I think he's starting to come around..." Mephiles directed to his friend, putting his hand under Dark's chin, lifting his head up carefully so that he could see his face. "Dark... Can you hear me..?"

Dark made a sound, not wanting to nod, as his head felt sore.

"Do you remember anything about what just happened..?"

Dark was about to answer with a meek "... N-no...", but he was hit by a sudden rush of terror, remembering why he had been so freaked out to begin with. He gasped harshly and curled into a tight, trembling ball on the floor in response.

"Dark! There's nothing to be afraid of!" Mephiles exclaimed in surprise. "Please calm down! You're making me worried!"

"Just leave him alone if he wants to be left like that for now." Shadow said. "We really needs to take care of the mess here..."

Mildly curious, Dark lifted his head just enough to see. He felt bad when he saw the damage. Furniture was flipped over, the walls bared dents and claw marks, the bookcase was down with it's contents spilled, picture frames were well across from where they should be, crystal coated quills were embedded in several places, and he was certain a window was busted.

He didn't know what was more unnerving; that he knew that he did all this... Or that he couldn't explain why and how he did. He hadn't blacked out like that since...

Wait.

He realized something important, now: He remembered! He knew everything, and everyone again! He knew what was happening, and what had...

"... Mephy..?" Dark said in a low voice, uncurling and sitting up carefully, locking his fingers together in an attempt to try and stop his hands from shaking so much. Mephiles looked up from what he was doing not to far away, a couple books in his arms already. Dark had trouble trying to keep eye contact, and simply closed his eyes and heaved a sigh before explaining feebly. "... I... I saw Iblis again..."

The atmosphere went dead silent. Even the constant, unbelievably low hum of the computer system seemed to have stopped. As if all sound had spontaneously muted.

Dark opened his eyes and saw Mephiles stare a him, before shaking his head slightly.

"Dark, we've been over this before... He's not really there..."

"What now?" Shadow looked at Mephiles. "What are you talking about?"

"... Dark's been... seeing... things all week..." Mephiles tried to chose his words carefully, but found no other way to word it.

Dark stared at him in disbelief.

"I didn't imagine it! He was right here!" He shouted, balling his hands into fists. "I suppose my brain just made up that I felt something with my own hands! Huh! Is that want you want to say!" Before he could stop himself, he added as he got off the floor and got in Mephiles' face, the hedgehog backing up fearfully into a wall: "Just go ahead and say it! You think I'm crazy! I'm a nut job who should be kept away from normal people! Locked up like an animal! Say it! Say it, you smug little-"

By this point, Mephiles was already scared witless. Dark had him pinned against a wall, hands on either side of him, teeth bared, eyes narrowed, and looking quite livid. Mephiles whimpered, raising his arms to shield his face, only to have them slapped forcefully away.

"No! You look at me and say it!" Dark barked, catching him him under the chin to force him to look at him. "You-!"

At that moment, Shadow smashed a casserole dish over Dark's head that he had taken from the dish drainer, the anger wiping off of Dark's face as his eyes went blank, his body going limp as he collapsed on the floor.

Mephiles stared in shock before he saw that Shadow was raising the thick, glass dish again, ready to hit Dark another time. Mephiles grabbed his arm to stop him.

"You've already knocked him out!" Mephiles shouted, tearing up. "Stop it! Stop before you seriously hurt him!"

"He was-!"

"He didn't hurt me! All he did was yell! You could seriously hurt him if you keep hitting his head like that!" Mephiles said, voice a bit high from shock. "Oh... Oh my... Shadow! You hit his head! You hit his head!"

Mephiles let go of Shadow's arm and dropped to the floor, helping Dark sit up, who was clutching the back of his head with both hands as he started to come to, teeth gritted in pain.

"D-Dark? Are you alright..?" Mephiles stammered.

"... I... My left side is numb..." Dark sounded a little frightened by this fact as he muttered. "... My ears are ringing... And... I-is the room spinning..? It feels like it..."

"D-don't stand up... It'll just feel worse." Mephiles said. "I'll get you an ice p-pack... It'll help..."

As Mephiles got up, he threw a glare Shadow's way, taking the long way around the couch to put distance between them.

Shadow looked at Rouge, who also seemed to be staring at him disapprovingly. He finally dropped the dish in his hands, which hit the ground with a heavy THUNK, making Dark flinch and scramble back in surprise.

"Oh, c'mon... You know why I did that!" Shadow started explaining. "He was sca-!"

"Don't you even start, Shadow the Hedgehog!" The wings on her back straightened and fluttered on her back, causing few loose pages to scoot across he floor. "He didn't physically hurt Mephiles. And you were getting ready to hit him again, when he was obviously down!"

"I was just..." He stopped, knowing nothing he could say would justify it. He was aware that maybe he went a bit too far. He had only reacted because all he could see how upset Mephiles was getting, how scared he looked, cowering and in tears as Dark cornered him, shouting absurd remarks, and appearing quite angered...

Of course, Mephiles' dedication to helping Dark was obscuring his ability to see the wrong Dark was doing now... But Shadow was just trying to protect Mephiles if Dark snapped again. Why didn't anybody get that? Why did they think he was purposely being the bad guy here, when he was trying to keep the hedgehog safe? Oh, so frustrating...

Mephiles shoved passed him as if he wasn't even there, holding a frozen gel-pack (lasts longer than ice, feels better, and is reusable) in a dish towel and holding it to Dark's head, grabbing and guiding his hand to have him hold it in place himself.

"It's not too cold, is it?" Mephiles said anxiously. "I could get another towel if-"

"... No, it's fine... I don't mind cold..." Dark mumbled, the corner of his mouth twitching as if he was thinking of smiling slightly. It never came to fruition.

Dark sighed and lowered his head. He knew what he had done wrong. He knew why he had received such a brutal hit to the head. He knew... He just couldn't explain why he did that. Why he had gotten so enraged over a simple and truthful sentence. For once, he didn't blame Shadow for intervening. In fact, if he hadn't... Dark was certain that he might have gotten darn near uncontrollable. Simply put, Shadow knocked some sense into him.

"Are you still numb?" Mephiles caught the affected hand and examined it carefully. "Can you move your fingers? At all?"

"... Feeling's coming back a bit..." Dark muttered, flexing his fingers awkwardly. "It's pins and needles feeling all on my left... It doesn't hurt, it just tickles and itches..." He looked up, almost sadly. "... I kinda deserved that..."

"Dark, you're just confused because of the amnesia and-"

"I remember everything." Dark cut across him calmly, shaking his head lightly. "I'm not confused. I know what happened. And I know that I saw Iblis."

"You must have hit him a bit too hard, Shadow..." Mephiles said nervously, as if he still didn't believe him completely.

Dark frowned, irked that they were dismissing this so easily. What was the point of him telling them if his efforts were going to be shot down like that? He forced a sigh through his nose and tried a different tactic.

"... Maybe I'm just worn out from all the stress..." He said, tossing his free hand up in the air in a shrug.

"It's not like you to give up so easily... usually more persistent than that..." Mephiles noted in mild surprise.

Dark smiled a little to himself. Reverse psychology... Works like a charm.

"Well, whatever it was, it spooked you like I have never seen before..." Mephiles frowned in concern. "Like you completely lost sense of yourself. SpinDashing off the walls like you'd gone mad, swiping your claws, you managed to move the couch quite a bit..." Dark noticed that it was much closer to the kitchen than before. "And when you finally slowed down enough, Shadow was the only one who could get near you, because your Aura was going off like a live wire! My hands got burned!" Mephiles held them up, palm side out, cringing a bit. Dark could see some scorches on them, feeling terrible. "And that's something, because nearly nothing can hurt my hands! I thought my crystals were going to light up like a lamp!" He put his hands down. "You didn't start to calm down until about ten minutes after it started. Maybe because you started to wear yourself down... But anyway, I could sense that you were really upset..."

"... Because I saw him again..." Dark said, sticking to his story. "And moreover... I felt something there with my hand."

"I'm not calling you a liar." Mephiles swiveled his ears back a bit. "But a-are you-Maybe it was-What if you really just fell asleep and had a nightmare? It used to happen a lot with me, and I used to think they really happened for real..."

Dark was about to snap at his suggestion before he paused. Come to think to it... he did have his eyes closed before he noticed that Iblis was there... Was it indeed possible that he had fallen asleep after all and dreamt it? The mind was a powerful thing, his even more so, and it wouldn't be the first time his brain played a terrible trick on him...

His eyes widened slowly at that as his pale face flushed a lovely shade of vermillion around his cheeks once it dawned on him that he acted like a deranged fool for something that never happened. His hands moved up to his face in a weak attempt to hide his embarrassment, his body curling in on itself into a ball, wishing he could just disappear from sight, away from their stares...

What was the use in wishing, anyway? Such empty meaning that term had. It never worked for him. He knew he was nothing more than a cosmic plaything, created solely to endure what was thrown at him with little to no reward...

But he did have Mephy. One break in all this Chaos that made keeping his sanity all worthwhile. He was silently thankful to know that he more than just a speck of dust to someone.

There was just something mind clearing about that hedgehog to him. Maybe it was his Aura, or the fact that he regarded Dark as an individual who could think, or maybe that he treated Dark nicely. When Dark had always been so used to the opposite.

Whatever the reason, Dark knew that he just felt more... Complete around him. Like he used to feel when he and Iblis were still elements. Before the change...

With a thrill of panic, he realized that something to that effect was happening to him as well. He was becoming uncontrollable, with poor Mephiles forced to watch helplessly. Mephiles had been unable to come near him earlier... Just as Dark was repelled by Iblis, Auras incompatible. Not too long ago, he stood up against Mephiles, challenging him and thinking ideas that were absurd... Just like...

With crushing realization, he now knew the pattern and nature that the "virus" was attacking him. How he was not himself. How he was the flip side under it's influence. His worst fear. His nightmare. Something that scared him sick...

He was becoming what Iblis had.