Dark sneezed, which woke himself up again, making him lift his head and look around the room blearily.

"... You still up..?"

He didn't even have to look to see who it was.

"... You ever sleep..?" He countered in a slight bit of annoyance.

"You ever stop asking so many questions..?" There was a bit of a laugh in Iblis' voice at this.

"... I'm not that bad... Am I..?" Dark blinked, thought for a moment and cursed under his breath. "... Alright, maybe I am a bit inquisitive..." He grunted, wiping his nose, which was somewhat dribbly. "... What time is it, anyway..?"

"Three-twelve in the morning, if that clock on the wall is right..." Iblis looked over his shoulder at it, which had the hands and important numbers in a dim glow in the dark fashion. "... You've only been asleep a couple hours at most. You really should try and fall back asleep soon, it's as quiet as I've ever heard it here..."

"It's always quiet unless I'm being bugged by that Human and his robots..." Dark reminded him, rolling his eyes. "... Always so boring... Got nothing to do, perfectly good brain power wasting away to insanity..." He huffed, putting his head back on the pillow.

Then he lifted his head again, frowning slightly. He could see something rather well in the dark, given his good night vision ability, having eyes that worked much like a cat's.

"... How long has that been over there..?" He said slowly, lifting his good hand and pointing to an otherwise empty shelf on a scarcely filled bookcase on the adjacent wall.

"... What?"

"... That fox doll... Third shelf, to the right, next to the fake plant..."

"... Honestly, I haven't noticed it before... Kinda creepy how it seems to be staring at you..."

"It's just a doll. A badly made one at that... Looks nothing like a Mobian Fox, to be honest..." Dark looked at Iblis, a bit smug at how unfazed by it he was.

"... Something's kinda strange about it..."

"Don't tell me you of all people are afraid of a stuffed toy?" Dark was actually amused at this.

"Oh, stop. I'm not afraid of it, it's just that it doesn't seem to fit into the scene very well..."

"Scene? You say that like this is a story someone's reading..." Dark pushed himself up from the bed to sit up. "It's probably just a weak attempt at decorating." He carefully got up and crossed the room to the self, and snatched up the doll and brought it back over, holding it up by an arm. Now both of the could see that it was orange, had two tails, bear-like ears and floppy little arms and legs."See?"

The red gem on it's head flickered.

"Uh... Dark..?" Iblis reached up his hand to point, and Dark looked back at the doll, which was now looking up directly at him, even though it was obvious before that the head had been stitched to face another direction.

"Yah!" Dark shouted in surprise, tossing the doll back and taking a step away, staring at it cautiously now as the toy lay on the floor in a heap.

"Who's scared of it now?" Iblis half joked, earning a glare from the frailer twin.

"I wasn't scared..." Dark growled, folding his ears back.

"You screamed."

"Actually, I yelled. Different. Besides..." Dark snorted through his nose. "You're the one freaking out over the stupid thing."

"I'm not stupid!"

Both elements' eyes shot wide open at that voice and froze. It was neither one of theirs...

Dark slowly turned his attention back to the doll he had thrown on the floor and found it not on the floor, but actually hovering at least three feet above it, nearly eye level with Dark, the red gem on it's head now glowing.

It hovered closer to him, getting just hardly an inch from his face, bobbing up and down in the air, defying everything Dark knew about the basic laws of physics as far as it being a flying, talking doll went.

He just decided since he was going insane anyway, that he shouldn't be concerned with the physics behind a hovering vocal enabled toy, as nothing else made much sense anymore anyway.

"... Hiya."

"... I'd like to scream now... Is that okay..?" Dark said in a far off sort of way, looking as though everything in his mind just came to a screeching halt into a brick wall. He giggled in a weak tone, flickering an ear even. "Because I'm not sure when it's okay anymore, Mr. Talking Fox Doll Flying Thing Sir, nice, ahhhhh..."

"You're kinda weird..." The toy giggled, the red gem's glow brightening as it did.

"Of course... The talking fox doll flying thing is telling me I'M weird... Yeah, sure, why not..?" The lower eyelid of one eye lifted up and twitched.

"I'm Tails Doll, but some people call me TD for short." Tails Doll hovered around Dark in a circle, Dark following him by turning in a circle himself. "I've heard of you... You're the reason Metal can't talk anymore..." The doll tilted it's head.

Dark didn't speak back.

"Whatcha doing down here for? You don't look hurt except for the hand there..."

Dark blinked, still looking as though he was absolutely certain he must have hit his head one too many times.

"You won't tear me up, will you? I'm just made of fabric and stuffing, among other things..." Tails Doll then hovered just out of reach, Dark looking upward at it with the same expression. "... Are you just going to gawk at me like that, or are you going to say something?"

"... I... I have nothing to say... I'm talking to a doll... Ooooh, dear..." Dark giggled nervously, swaying slightly as he did.

"Can't be any worse than what you were talking to before..."

Dark's pupils shrank a bit.

"... You saw him, too..?" He whispered, looking startled.

"You have no idea what I can do..." The doll said almost cryptically in a suddenly serious tone, lowering from the air to hang in front of Dark's face. "Nobody ever does... They never notice me, and if they do, they just see that I'm a toy..."

"..."

"..."

"... Whaaa..?" Dark managed to vocalize in a squeakier tone than normal.

Suddenly, the doll shrieked with laughter, moving around almost excitedly in the air, cloth limbs flailing around from momentum.

"You should have seen your face!" It snorted. "I'd try to imitate it myself, but I don't have facial features, seeing that I'm a plush doll! Ha!"

"... Please, I am on what I think is the verge of another nervous breakdown, and I would appreciate it very much if you didn't poke fun at me like that, because that is NOT helping, and... And..." Dark sputtered after practically babbling. "... And I'm talking to a doll... I am talking WITH a doll... Oh, no... No, no, no, no, no... Nuh-uh.. Wooo..."

"You must be really bored down here..." Tails Doll added, now staying in place. "There is a television, y'know... You might want to take advantage of that before you go back to your cell."

"... Seriously..?" Dark's ears perked forward. He knew a television was for watching programs on a screen, often when in search of something less boring, though he had never jumped into the idea as much as Mephy did. Still, the prospect of some form of technology that could stimulate his mind, perhaps in the form of a series episode or some fictional story, sparked a moment of normality in him. TV was normal... And he could use it. Wonderful...

To his astonishment, it was a flat screen, something he had never seen before (as back at the house, they still had an older tube television possibly manufactured around the time Dark had been created, if the faded sticker on the back was a clear guess on time.). He was instantly drawn to how slim it was, able to be hung up on the wall like a picture frame, whereas the one back at the house had to be put on a short cobby table and easily took up more space than this one did. It wasn't even square, but rather a rectangle, and the screen was not made of glass.

Clicking the buttons in the remote that had been on sitting on the shelf the doll had been, Dark got his first use of TV since at least three weeks ago. He didn't know what would be good to watch, but he didn't care, honestly, so long as it was something to do other than stare blankly at the wall or ceiling in a daze.

"Oh, this is a good movie!" Tails Doll said for the first time since he told Dark about the inconspicuously displayed device. "It's a classic, really, but it's still great. Looks like it just started, too. Odd, since it's kinda late to be playing it now... Maybe because we get the Eastern Feed, or something..."

"... Huhn..." Dark grunted, not sure if this animated program that seemed to be displaying nearly every animal that could exist on the savannah at the moment converging to one spot was really as spectacular as it was described.

Immediately, when he realized that another language completely was mixed in with the lyrics of the opening, and was even one his brain could not actively translate for him (Dark's brain could roughly translate many old languages, such as Latin, enough to get the gist of the subject, but he seemed to be more skilled with those his own language was rooted to, and not this one...), and yet seemed so... captivating... He slowly set the remote down on the side table, and inched backwards to the bed to sit down and watch it.

Once Tails Doll hovered out of the room and supposedly down the hall and up the stairs, leaving Dark alone, Iblis finally made himself known again.

"What is that thing?" He said, gesturing to the TV.

"Television, also called TV. It's something you can use to entertain yourself..." Dark broke his stare from the tiny lion cub being lifted into the air by the strange baboon/mandrill hybrid (Dark could tell, as real mandrill lacked a tail, which this one had...). "It's really not too complicated, and really easy to figure out. What I'm looking at now is an animated movie, which was drawn out, music and voices were added and synced to the images... It's a story."

"What's the story about..?"

"I don't know... I haven't seen this before..." Dark said with a tone indicating that he was getting annoyed, before looking back at the screen.

For roughly the next two hours, the twin elements watched this movie. Dark was more engaged in the story than Iblis.

"You do realize it's not real, right?" Iblis said boredly as Dark stared in absolute shock at the sudden turn of events as the father lion was thrown to his death by his own younger brother. Dark had been certain that the larger lion was going to live, given it was much larger and was a nicer soul than the bitter little brother who had obviously gone mad from many untold events that led up to this, if his song on preparing for this moment was any indication.

"No remorse! Did you see that! Not one bit of it, even in his eyes!" Dark shouted, gesturing furiously at the TV. "And the big one, did you see how horrified he was! Not scared, but more like he couldn't believe his own brother had turned on him!"

Iblis stared at him oddly, rolling his eyes and shaking his head before looking back at the screen.

Elsewhere, back in Shamar, Mephiles was asleep in the back of the Tornado as Sonic and Tails reviewed the possible places to find the key needed to get into the next Gaia temple.

"It looks like these are the only places we can get to at night..." Tails circled them on the map. "Given our experience, I'd have to say the ruins over here or the caverns would be a good place to look first..."

Sonic nodded, looking in the direction of the ruins.

"Seems like a lot of those creatures are grouping over there..." He noted as Chip stared with him. "They could be guarding it..."

"Or just doing that to throw us off..."

"They don't seem that smart..."

The three of them then perked their ears up at a soft cry of fright that reached them. Looking at each other in confusion, they heard it again, this time more pronounced, and realized it must have been from the hedgehog asleep in the back of the plane.

Looking in the back, they could see Mephiles was still curled up on his side (although moreso) as he had been minutes before, but tears had run along the bridge of his nose (because of gravity pulling them down that way because of the way he was laying down.), and he was biting his lower lip as his eyes were squeezed shut tightly. The poor hedgehog was even shaking uncontrollably, despite it being a warm night.

"... He looks like he's still asleep..." Sonic noted, sounding somewhat concerned. "I don't see how, if he's that upset..."

"Rouge warned me about this when she was explaining about what to expect with him..." Tails said, looking back at Sonic. "... He has night terrors very often, and the best you can do is just try to calm him down... Most of the time he won't remember it by morning, so even he doesn't know what they're about often..."

Sonic nodded slowly just as Mephiles let out a wail of terror that melted into sobs, the crystal one still managing to remain asleep this entire time. Even in the werehog form, with angled eyes and more pronounced canines, Sonic still was able to appear anxious for him as much as Tails and Chip were.

"Let me try something..." He said, stepping over to the rear end of the Tornado and reaching in to pull the not-quite-pre-teen, distraught and still unconscious hedgehog out. Supporting him the way an older sibling might, he waited for Mephiles to calm down, as the hedgehog was now fighting back feverishly despite having not yet opened his eyes even. Sonic simply kept his arms pinned gently (an easy task as a shaggy Hedge-wolf, to be honest...) so Mephiles didn't hurt either of them unintentionally, since those crystal claws of his posed a possible hazard if the young hedgehog started to flail.

It took a few minutes, maybe more, but Mephiles finally started to settle down and he slumped against Sonic, falling back into total slumber without ever knowing he had been troubled like that, that time. Sonic waited to see if he was going to start stirring again, but Mephiles only shifted to be more comfortable, holding his hands inward and curling them into lightly held fists to keep his claws safely hidden away (an instinct he had developed a long time ago.). His ears were now drooped forward in a more natural position rather than pinned back in fear, and the fearful look in his features disappeared as well.

Once Sonic was sure he wasn't so tense anymore, he set him back down, Tails looking at him and asking as the younger hedgehog settled in more comfortably and peacefully: "How did you know that would work?"

"He's not the first kid with nightmares I've had to calm down before..."

"..."

"..."

"... Oh..."

The movie finished after about an hour or so of staring, and needless to say, Dark was surprisingly impressed with it.

"... It's sad, though..." He said quietly, not taking his eyes of the screen as the more piano based reprisal of the theme played with the credits. "... It's not shown directly, but it can be interpreted that Scar and his brother were very close early in life, and perhaps factors beyond their control drove one to madness while the other was unaware of it until it was too late..." He blinked and looked at the floor. "... The line... 'Till we find our place on the path unwinding'... It seems like everyone had a place but him in the end..."

"Probably because the hyenas ate him alive..."

"... That was actually surprisingly morbid compared to the tone of the rest of the movie... even if you only saw the shadows on the rock..." Dark muttered. "He had a few chances to change and be good, but..."

"You realize he's not real, right?" Iblis shook his head, interrupting Dark. "It's getting close to five, and that's about when the sun gets up... You really need to try and rest, it you want to use your voice the right way soon..."

"Even if the sun comes up, there's no windows, so the light isn't a problem..." Dark countered with reluctance.

"You've only slept a total of five hours in the past twenty four..." Iblis pressured. "And you're sick, which can be alleviated if you rest. Now, shut that thing off and go to sleep."

"You're closer to the remote... You do it..."

"I hardly know how to work the thing." Iblis shrugged. "Besides, I might set on fire if it frustrates me enough..."

Dark blinked, frowned slightly in thought before picking up the remote and shutting off the thing just as it started up another program.

"Fine... You win..." He huffed.

Sympathy's eyes flickered for a moment, showing a faint spark of emotion as he inhaled sharply before gradually returning to being dead on the inside, staring without much meaning once more, before looking at Rage quite stoically, and saying in a flat tone: "... There might be hope after all... What ever Dark is doing is conjuring contemplative feelings that require my interaction, even if slightly..."

Rage just stared, not understanding what he just said.

"... I'm not completely disconnected... Just in hardly accessible stand-by..." Sympathy continued in the same lifeless tone.

If Rage was relieved, he didn't break character to show it.

"Then Dark needs to keep doing that..." He said, folding his arms.

Sympathy would have smiled slightly at the other's way of handling things, if his very essence could reach his body. His core, deep down, could feel just the same, but as a disconnected emotion, he was experiencing on a grand scale what Dark did on occasion... Inability to express.

Shadow looked up from the paperwork he was filing, appearing very annoyed.

"Did everyone here learn penmanship from a doctor or what..?" He huffed, tilting his head back and groaning in frustration as he pressed a hand to his face. "At the very least, simple printing each of letter separately or writing it out on the computer would be much easier on me..." He picked up the next sheet in the pile and glared. "And who used Comic Sans? That's not even professional looking! It doesn't even look good on comics!"

"Shadow... Remember the stress ball..." Rouge reminded him carefully as Shadow snatched up the ball and squeezed it repeatedly to the point of distorting the smiling little planet replica almost comically, eyes bugging out between his fingers.

"Why can't I just go out on the field..?" He said, as the stress ball squeaked.

"None of the vehicles available right now are non-lethal..." Rouge said, shaking her head slightly. "And considering how trigger happy you got with the armored buggy last time, we can't afford to keep up with your wasteful ammo consumption..."

"So I signed my name into a cliff wall with the bullets, so what?" Shadow really didn't see how this was an issue. "Everyone's done it at least once around here."

"And you do it nearly every time you go out on the field..." Rouge disappeared behind her nearby cubicle wall and peaked over the top of the wall against the side of Shadow's with the computer. "And it's not just 'Shadow was here'... More like a boast of how awesome you think you are... Which takes a few reloads at the very least..."

"Well, I'm sure as heck not gonna shoot at someone I could easily take out with my own skills." Shadow admitted, hand still squeezed around the ball. "And most of the time, we don't really need to use the guns if we take a moment to properly assess the situation and think it through... Besides..." He added. "What are you worried about? You don't even use any of the weapons other than those pink grenades and the girly looking C-4s..."

A passing human coworker, who was so decked out in armor garb you couldn't see much of who he was, dropped a small stack of papers in the box next to Shadow, who picked it up and scanned his eyes over it quickly.

"Hey... Griffith..? You're new here, right..?" He said dangerously sweet, grinning as the human stopped and looked at him. "Is this the font you use regularly?"

"Griffith" nodded slowly, and a second later, the stress ball hit him in the head with enough force to actually knock him over, much to the surprise of the female bat watching.

"... Stupid noob..." Shadow snorted and went back to his filing.