Temporal: Time, Religion, Brief, and Tense part 1

"Do you now see?" asked Mephiles, though it was more so put out there just to explain the situation. "Sonic has fallen into a temporal trap, and you have as well."

"I see it now," Silver said silently. "But at what price… I can never return to my timeline in peace." He looked at the ashen ground beneath him. "How can you show me these things and expect me to act for the greater good?"

"He does not," Elise said. "He will give you freedom, if you will help us further."

Mephiles nodded, and held up a shining purple stone. "Assist me in stopping the time rift to completely take place, and I can provide a permanent freedom for both you and the one you care for."

Silver looked up at the shining sun lit sky, then at himself walking away with all of his hopes and dreams fulfilled and crushed at the same time.

"I will help you. Give me instructions, and I will follow."

Mephiles again nodded. "I still have much to show you, but it must wait for a few more minutes to you and me. Elise," he turned to the princess, "you must return to your present, for this is a matter that stopped concerning you when it never concerned you."

Elise nodded. "I understand. But tell me please: will my knight return to me? Will I ever see him again?"

Mephiles' green eyes wondered to a portal that had formed, his features hiding how he may have felt. "You will see him. But he will not see you."

"What do you mean?"

"My father does not permit me to give me any more information than is already needed."

Elise closed her eyes. "Very well. It is as I feared then."

"I am sorry. He does not deserve it."

Without another word, Elise stepped through the portal, leaving Mephiles and Silver to themselves.

"What of me, then?" said Sliver as he clenched his fist. "I will purge this poison from the timeline, and end your quest."

"My quest must be completed by me and my brother. You must save who you believe needs to be saved."

"What about Sonic?"

"What about him?"

"What should I do about him?"

"Leave him as he is. He will do no harm to your goal."

"But what about Metal? Doesn't he want Metal gone? And what about my future?"

"Sonic's goal has nothing to do with your goal. You may assist Metal after you have saved the day. And I can give you a personal guarantee that the future will be saved, and I will be the one who makes sure it gets done."

Silver turned to the portal, but his eyes were still on himself, who had broken down crying long ago. "I hope I can trust you this time…"

"But there was no last time; therefore, you have no reason to doubt me, except that we are strangers."

Silver chuckled. "Stop with the philosophical stuff. You don't wear that as well as you do wit." Without any more words, Silver stepped through the portal, slipping to the time he was meant to be. Mephiles looked at the crying Silver, a pang of guilt hitting him hard. He would not allow any more pain to come from others pain. For as pain spreads, it also grows.

Mephiles stepped through the portal.

-break-

Henry scratched his head, with a look of worry, confusion, and contemplation all mixed together on his face. He was a little stumped as what to do in this situation. Well, he was actually really stumped.

First off, the fine and expensive cloak he had paid very good money for was ruined, and Metal was now revealed. Speaking of Metal, he was also out of commission, lying on the ground a few feet away, which made problem two exist.

The Black Knight had accomplished the first half of its last order and had to take the Time Stone he had collected to Mephiles. This wouldn't have been a problem, if the means by which it had collected the Stone had not also brought Shadow along for the ride.

Shadow had been weak from a fight, apparently, and it was easy to bind his hands with a well executed ninja-style hand twisting. No confrontation had happened, and no one had been hurt, so its main objectives had been almost completed. However, the Knight could not actually retrieve the Stone from Shadow, as it seemed Shadow had the strange ability to hide things in a little space pocket (go figure…). So, the Knight still held Shadow who was kicking and screaming some profanities, and would not let go until the Stone had been given to Mephiles, or until Metal gave it a new directive, but the former wasn't happening anytime soon.

Omega stood nearby, an innocent bystander in this confusion. He had watched, but like a dutiful robot that knew the difference between right and wrong to the extent of a friend in trouble, he did nothing, except ask Shadow to calm down. Somehow, Omega had figured out how to tap the ends of his index claws together, and did this now to represent how he was as lost as Henry.

Henry had been on a path for Kingdom Valley when he were interrupted by this rarity.

"Er, please, sir, we can explain everything that's going on, just please calm down," said Henry in an explanatory tone as he held up the hand that did not hold his cane.

Shadow struggled in the iron grip of the Black Knight. "Then tell the tin can to let me go!" he yelled.

Henry coughed roughly. "I would," he said after his fit, "but he only takes orders from Metal, and he needs to be repaired."

Omega turned his head to Shadow. "Black Knight must have primary directive completed before it will release. Suggestion: give us the Time Stone."

"I'm not giving you anything! Not until I get an explanation as to what happened to Metal, who you are," this was directed at Henry, who cowered back a bit, "why you want the thing I have, and who this 'Mephiles' guy is!"

"If you could just-" before Henry could finish, a flash of light appeared behind him. He turned around, and from a portal that had appeared, Mephiles stepped out.

Henry sighed. This was going to be difficult.

Shadow stopped fighting for a moment to look at the newcomer. At least, he was fairly certain this was a newcomer. If he didn't know better, he would have said he was looking in a mirror. An altered mirror.

Mephiles stopped when he saw Shadow. His green eyes traveled around the group, from Shadow, to Metal, to Henry, to Omega, to the Black Knight, then back to Shadow. It wasn't too difficult to piece together what had happened.

"Where's Rouge?" asked Mephiles to Henry, seeming to ignore Shadow.

Shadow wanted to call out a 'Hey!" to get back their attention, but his voice was lost. Shadow felt this… rage. But it was empty. He did not understand this anger. It came from seemingly nowhere, and there were no memories to back this rage. At the same time, Shadow felt a strange pity. But why? Why did Shadow feel these ways despite never seeing this person before?

"Well, I- this hedgehog came by with the birds and Rouge offered to help him."

"And you made it here all by yourself?" asked Mephiles, somewhat amazed.

"I told ya, ya don't need to worry about me. Shouldn't we make the tin man let go of the angst machine?"

This time Shadow was able to call out a "Hey!"

Mephiles sighed. "I was really hoping to avoid him."

Henry shook his head. "It ain't right. You look like the guy, fer cryin' out loud! Did ya honestly think he wouldn't come looking for you at some point or another?"

"I had hoped. But hopes are foolish, I suppose."

"Hopes are not foolish, but you need to be more realistic. Hope for big things, but work and expect small things."

Shadow was now irritated. "Are you going to talk all day, or can we get this stupid adventure rolling?"

Mephiles turned to Shadow and met his gaze. Shadow was slightly disturbed. He had just noticed that Mephiles wasn't blinking.

"Sorry…" Mephiles said earnestly. "Knight, release Shadow."

The Knight beeped. An obvious refusal.

"I don't care if your directive is to obey your currently designated master: I told you to let him go."

Again the Knight beeped, and Shadow struggled slightly.

"If you're holding his hands, how is he supposed to give me the Time Stone?"

The Knight looked down at Shadow's hands, which were uncomfortably twisted. For Shadow, anyway.

Damn the time spirit and his perfect logic. Took all the fun out of being a warrior and turned it into rules for a robot.

The Knight let go of Shadow's hands and took a few steps back. Shadow rubbed his wrists. "Thanks… I guess."

Mephiles turned. "Retrieve Metal, Omega. We must make our way to Kingdom Valley and seek refuge."

The Black Knight pointed at Shadow with both of its index claws. Were they to let Shadow go?

Shadow seemed to agree, though he did not know it. "What about me?"

"I know you, Shadow. You will follow me where ever I go. You want to know why we share a face."

Shadow raised a brow. He couldn't deny his curiosity, though it needed a stronger word.

Mephiles turned down the path they had to walk, and like a cult group, Omega, with Metal in his arms, the Black Kight, and Henry followed. Shadow looked around the canyon he stood in, noticing how it was covered in plant life.

He didn't like this. He was usually the mysterious guy who knew everything.

Shadow arched his eyebrows and started after the odd group.

-break-

"I don't have time for tests!" Silver yelled at the three priests that blocked his path. "We have to the other side of the valley before that ship explodes!"

The youngest one, with glasses, spoke up. "We can not let anyone pass who does not have a pure heart."

Silver gritted his teeth. "I'm sick of all this magic stuff! I have to deal with this crap all the time! When was the last time someone came here to get to the castle? I bet hardly ever, and when they do come they're a part of some prophecy." Silver lowered his head, looking tired. "Can't you just let us by? Can't you let me have one freebee?"

The three priests stood their ground.

Silver fell to his knees. They would never make it in time. His eyes became blurry. Tails and Vector looked at each other, unsure what to say, what to do.

Silver raised his head and voice to the sky, and thrust his hands above him, like a child waiting for an adult to guide him. "Please" he cried, in two different ways. "I don't care about fame. I don't care if my name is forgotten to time. I don't care if you strip me of everything else that I have. Just please… help me, Lord. Help me…"

A hand was held out to him. Silver looked in front of himself, and he smiled. Mephiles was the one who held out a hand.

"Mephiles…" said Silver softly.

"Tails! Vector!" shouted Shadow as ran to them.

"Omega?" asked Vector.

"Metal!" cried Tails.

"Everyone shut up!" yelled Henry.

The three priests took a step back, looks of confusion on their faces. The eldest one spoke. "You all can't be here. You're all trespassing on sacred ground."

Henry shook his head, his disgust very well shown. "You Holy hypocrites. You don't give a single shred of care for some poor lost soul. But then, how can you when the mighty Sun Bird flies as high as the sacred sky, and as low as the shadow of the mountain?"

The three priests looked at each other. Surprise was obvious from their faces.

"We will talk," said the eldest priest. "Come this way."

"Just a second, I have to make sure that these young people stay on track." Henry turned around, where the others were still, looking at Henry. "Let's keep this crazy train going. You," he pointed his cane at Tails, "start fixin' the robot. You," he pointed at Mephiles, "start explaining what's going on. You," he pointed at Silver, "come with me." Henry turned around and went with the priests to a finely carved alcove.

Silver, through his tears, smiled at Mephiles. "Thanks."

"I don't deserve it."

Silver ran after Henry. That left Mephiles, Omega, Shadow, Tails, Vector, and Metal. If you counted him despite him being off.

Vector and Tails, being left out whatever had happened with Shadow, started bombarding Shadow with questions.

"What happened?" asked Vector.

"Did you beat him?" asked Tails.

"Where was Metal!" asked Vector.

"What happened to him?" asked Tails.

The Knight picked up Tails and brought him over to Metal, and pointed a claw at him. Tails nodded, and began taking Metal apart without another question.

"The cloaked one was Metal," said Shadow with his arms crossed. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner."

"What!" cried Vector. He turned his head to Metal, even more confused than before.

Tails looked at Metal, questions asked that only his face could ask. "Why? Why didn't he tell us sooner?"

Mephiles spoke up. "He could not do anything different than what he saw himself do. If he had, time would have collapsed. And besides that: if he had come in contact with you, there would have been an extra yellow emerald. Eight Emeralds. Just think of the catastrophe that could have caused."

"There's still some pieces missing." Shadow turned to Mephiles, who was looking up at the sky. "First off, who are you?"

Mephiles kept his gaze up. "I am your shadow."

Shadow raised a brow. "What?"

"I am your shadow. Think about it. I am a shadow of a being that is a shadow of life. A shadow of a shadow. Even faker than the fake."

Shadow scrunched his brows.

Vector pumped his fists. "Alright pal, stop talking in riddles and answer the question. I've got enough man power to crush Mt. Everest, and you'll get to see it up close and personal."

"I should not exist. It is by the greatest of chances- gifts that I still am still here. But I should not be. I should be gone to the deepest of the darkness." Before Shadow could ask what he meant, music started playing.

"Sorry," cried Tails, though he didn't really sound like it. "For some reason this started as I was checking his motherboard."

"I'd be thinner, I'd be taller,

Go clubbing in my caller,

With skin pale as a moth…

Dressed in black, I'd go creepin',

While the normal folks are sleepin'

If I only were a goth"

Mephiles grunted. "He always knows how to annoy me. Even when he's not here to do it."

Vector "Uuuuuhh"'d, but Mephiles cut him off, the song going in the background. "Long ago, the duke of Soleanna made a mistake. His mistake caused him to lose his most precious treasure. This treasure was the most valuable thing in the world to him, but he could never get it back. Long ago, he had a flame, entrusted to his family by my father. This flame was small, so small, it would seem, you could blow it out with a single breath."

Another song came from where Metal and Tails were.

"It was raining hard

In 'Frisco

I needed one more fare to make my night

The lady up ahead went to flag me down

She got in at the light"

Shadow and Vector looked at each other, looks of 'Uuuuhh' on their faces.

"Never ago, the duke grew insane with grief. He intended to use this flame, this memory of my father's power, to fix the mistake. But not fix it: erase it. Make it so it never happened. This was a mistake in itself.

"The flame, though made of light, created a shadow on the floor as it shone. This flame, when used in the way the Duke intended, was opposed to the pure light it was offered. A flame can not make light without a shadow, and the flame, in a scientific reaction, caused a ripple in time, and two beings were made. One was light, and the other was darkness. The light was powerful, but it was blind by its grand shine. The darkness could see fine, but it lacked definition, it lacked shape.

"The light and the darkness were new to the world around them, and they were frightened. One moment, they did not exist, the next they did and in an existence surrounded by death. People lay scattered everywhere. The light and the darkness went away to hide from the pain around them, unaware that in their wake they left… things that intended to do more harm."

"I… stand alone!

I… stand alone…

I… stand alone!

I… stand alone…"

"Two warriors were brought to this time by the ripple light and darkness had created. One sought to fix problems that had been left by the Duke, in the same way as the Duke: the other sought to understand the opponent that had threatened him in the distant future.

"One warrior chased the darkness, and the darkness was confused. The darkness did not understand why the warrior chased it. It did not understand why the warrior trapped it in a darkness deeper than itself. But it swore revenge for this injustice.

"Ten years the darkness spent in a scepter, plotting, scheming, but most of all, loosing its mind. When next it tasted air, the darkness had grown in power, but at the cost of its sanity. It took on the shape of the one who released it: the warrior that had trapped it so long ago."

Shadow furrowed his brows, and Vector scratched his chin. Somewhere in Mephiles' monologue, Tails had stopped messing with Metal's innards and was starring at the story teller, but not before the song changed.

"Somebody get me through this nightmare

I can't control myself!"

"The warrior had never seen the darkness before, though. How is this possible, you might ask. The darkness, in his rage, sent the warrior to a distant future, where the light had destroyed almost all that could be destroyed. The darkness had planned to destroy not just the universe, but time itself just because it believed time was full of cruel, evil creatures including itself. But because of this, the darkness inexplicably sent the warrior, and even the other warrior, to the past where the warrior, believing that the darkness was evil, trapped the darkness, thus creating an endless cycle of pain. At some point, the darkness succeeded in releasing the light from its prison, by destroying a hero, and causing a maiden to cry."

Somehow, the song changed again.

"I'm an emo kid-"

A rock was thrown. There was a clang. The music stopped.

"Are you awake, Metal?" asked Tails, obviously annoyed.

"He conscious," grunted Mephiles. "His body's just broken.

"The light and the darkness combined their furious powers, and their strength destroyed time and space in a God-like fashion. But my father saw to it that the warrior that had trapped the darkness, the warrior that the darkness had tricked, and the warrior that the darkness had killed were able to attain their own God-like power, and destroy the light and the dark. The hero it had killed and the maiden went back to the time when the light and the dark were still just a simple flame, and blew it out, erasing the horrors that had happened.

"Have any of you guessed who the darkness and who the warrior was?" asked Mephiles as he turned his head to Shadow.

Shadow returned the gaze.

Vector spoke up. "Hold up: first off, how do we know you're telling the truth?"

Mephiles looked off to the side. Vector and Tails jumped slightly as, from a portal that came from nowhere, Mephiles walked out. Vector and Tails now starred at a third black hedgehog, while Shadow still starred at the second.

"I just traveled back in time about ten seconds," said the new Mephiles. The other one stepped through the portal that was still there, and the portal disappeared.

Shadow stepped back a bit, seemingly astonished. "That was like…"

Mephiles nodded. "Chaos Control."

Vector scratched his chin again. "Alright, how about this: if that time never happened, how are you still here?"

"I should not. But… my father gave me a second chance. I did not know it until I had been set free from my non-existence by an anomaly so powerful, only my father could control it: a black hole."

-break-

Somewhere, deep underground, all three Babylon Rogues sneezed. At the same time.

"Bless you," said Silver as he tried to arrange some crates in a stair like fashion with his mind.

"Thanks" said Jet.

-break-

"You see, before I could redeem myself in the eyes of my father, my mind and body had to be repaired. And only one person could help me with this task. The smartest being in the universe…

-Author's Note-

Give me ten minutes, the next one's coming up.

Okay, that sneeze thing: they say that if you sneeze, someone is talking about you. And for those who played Zero Gravity, you know why the Rogues sneezed. If you don't, it's because the Rogues had created that Black Hole. Interesting, is it not? And that is not a typo, Silver is with them. Those of you who know the tale of 360 would understand.

The Conflicted Writer