Chapter Forty-Eight

"Tell me I didn't make the wrong choice with you."

Mortuus watched Shine from his cot, lounging with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed. He'd finally gotten his new clothes from Cream: a specially made black bodysuit, which covered everything up to his jaw, to go underneath coal-grey sweater that seemed a little too tight, but evidentially had enough flexibility to be comfortable. Cream had also taken it upon herself to mend the jeans and sneakers that Mortuus had shown up in.

At Shine's very abrupt and despondent demand, a forcefully skeptical expression slid onto Mortuus' face. "I'm sorry?"

Shine stood at the entrance of his cell, one hand on her hip. "I took a chance when I decided to vouch for you."

"I'd imagine you all did." Mortuus didn't move. He shook a foot restlessly, the only sign that he was becoming impatient in that cell. "You're not so special."

Shine watched him intently for a moment. She'd scrounged up a few books they had scattered around the ship for Mortuus to keep him occupied. She didn't like him to be bored – that's usually when he'd start fooling around. She shifted the books tucked under her arm and lifted her head. "Back on the rooftop of that building, you said something to me that I think about every time the topic of your trustworthiness comes up."

"Well, I'm glad someone listens to me. However, I'll need you to be a bit more specific. We do a lot of chit-chatting, if you haven't noticed. Sometimes things just come out of my mouth and I forget about it two seconds later."

"When you were talking about how you didn't get a choice in what you were." Shine played with the control panel at the entrance of the cell. She opened up a slat in the energy field that kept Morty contained. "And it wasn't even something that you necessarily said. It was the fact that you said it with such conviction." She dropped the books into the cell. Mortuus didn't bothering stirring until she'd closed the field again. "There was something there other than anger. And I'll be honest, it was a little surprising to me. But it tells me that maybe you aren't necessarily a lost cause."

Mortuus pulled himself to his feet and kept interested green eyes on Shine. He stopped a few feet away from the books on the floor. "I'm skeptical." He spoke with a smile, seeming genuinely amused. "I wouldn't put it past you to be saying what you're saying in an attempt to let my guard down and make me slip up in some way."

"If you're being as truthful as you claim you are, then you have no reason to worry."

"I never said I was worried. But you, me, and everyone else on this ship have trust issues that will pose as some problem for as long as we'll be working together." The expression on his sharp face softened. He held his hands behind his back and looked away from Shine for a moment. The look of reluctance that took over him sent a small stab of concern through Shine's stomach, not knowing what he was so apprehensive to give up. When he finally looked back at her, he seemed almost embarrassed. "Y'know, I'm not stupid. I realize that, for one reason or another, everyone on this ship wants me dead. No one really wants to give me the benefit of the doubt, as much as it's in your nature to do so. You think I'll betray you."

"And?"

Mortuus tilted his head slightly. "And on any other day you'd be right."

"Oh, that instills me with the greatest of confidence." Shine rolled her eyes. If this sales pitch had the intentions of convincing Shine that Mortuus wasn't the same as he ever was, it absolutely was not working.

"My whole life, I've heard nothing but other people's voice in my mind." Mortuus continued pointedly, narrowing his eyes at her for interrupting. He dropped his arms to his sides and took a few steps closer to the barrier that kept him inside the cell. "Yours, Sunshine's, the fox's… even Eggman's. And now I hear the voice of a conscious and it's terrifying because, for the first time, it's my voice." When Shine let out an amused chuckle, he narrowed his eyes further, twisting at his knuckles with frustration. "I'm being serious. I think there's something seriously wrong with me. I don't hear my host, I don't hear any of you, I don't hear Eggman… What if I'm getting weaker? What if my host and I have somehow fused, permanently stripping me of the majority of my powers? My voice has always been mine. It's only ever come out of me. It has never – and I mean never – been some sort of unseen thing floating around in my head."

Shine had to really analyze his face for a moment to digest the seriousness that was exuding from him. Only then did she realize that he wasn't being a sarcastic pest, but rather genuinely terrified of something. She still couldn't help but grin at him. "I can't believe I have to be the one to tell you this, but… that's just your conscious. That's just part of being a sentient, living, breathing, feeling creature. We all have one." She quirked a brow. "Are you sure it isn't your host?"

"I'm positive. I can't even hear him in the background, anymore."

Wild… Shine thought to herself. She tried to imagine a life wherein she couldn't mentally communicate with herself except for logistics and memory access. But a life without mental arguments against herself with silly voices she makes in her head seemed so out of the realm of possibilities that it hurt her brain to try to summon.

"My point is," Mortuus continued, finally picking up the books that had been dropped for him, "there's no point in turning on you people right now. Not unless you threaten what few things I have." He set the books down on the side table next to the cot, straightening them as he spoke. "I'm perfectly capable of thinking for myself. As horrifying as it is for me, it means I don't have to follow the dotted line of destruction that Eggman set when he created me. I don't feel constricted to a template anymore. I'm free to have a purpose of my own. And, frankly," he turned to Shine, "I think I'd like to retire."

"You really think the hundreds of thousands of people you affected are just going to let you sit back in a log-cabin somewhere and watch the sun set?"

"Oh, princess... they don't have much of a choice. After all is said and done, I'm not sticking around. In fact, the only reason you have the opportunity to pen me up like a dangerous animal is because I know that Virgo shouldn't be left to fester. She's worse than I am." He finally grinned again, trying to lighten the serious tone. "She actually has plans. Not to mention the resources to back them up. And if she catches wind of where I'm hiding, I'm not the only one she'll kill. In my current state, I won't be able to help anyone. And that's part of the reason why I need you people."

"Who are you trying to convince?" Shine cracked a smirk. She didn't know if she believed him or not, but she was more curious to know if he was explaining himself for his own reassurance or for the security cameras that were surely keeping a pair of eyes or two on him.

"I don't care who I convince. I know nothing I say will make you or anyone else on this ship believe me. But you wanted to know if you'd made the right choice in taking a chance on little ol' me." Mortuus shrugged. He returned to where he was standing by the barrier of the cell. "I may have fooled you with my casual attitude, but, rest assured, I still loathe every single person on this ship, regardless of who they are and what they've done. Unfortunately for all of us, though, we're going to have to work together in the end if we want to finally part ways and never see each other's miserable faces again. You won't like it. I'm going to hate it. But it's got to happen if any of us want a chance to be done with this all."

"I guess so."

"You took a chance on me. All of you. It may have been a stupid choice, but the pickings were slim and Virgo isn't just going to vanish into thin air. I guess all I can say is you did just that: you took a chance. And it's a matter of time until we all find out if it was a gamble worth betting on."


Shine walked out of the corridor that housed Mortuus' cell. As soon as the door closed behind her, she was greeted by Tails, Shadow, and Sonic, who had all been patiently waiting for her to finish her conversation with the parasite. "Did you get all that?" She slowed to a stop near them, crossing her arms.

"All of it." Tails looked up from the tablet in his hands, which was relaying the live security video from Mortuus' cell. Their little prisoner lingered around the front of the cell a moment longer before sprawling back onto the cot, picking up one of the books and cracking it open. Tails put the tablet to sleep and held it at his side. "That's gotta be the most insane thing he's ever said to us, right? Just logistically. I mean, he's shoveled some nonsense at us before, but that was… a lot."

Shine nodded in agreement, but Shadow shook his head vehemently. "No. The most insane thing he's ever said to us is that he has people who not only care about him, but who he cares about too."

"Something about humans really draw in the living experiments, huh?" Sonic gave Shadow and Shine a little grin, but he immediately dropped it when all he received back were dry glares. He cleared his throat and dipped his head apologetically. "Sorry. I just… find it interesting that there's this trend. I mean, we've never seen him get cozy with anyone to the point where he'd risk his life for them. And then suddenly a few humans show up and he just melts like putty in their hands."

"I find it funny, too, but not funny 'ha ha.'" Shadow growled. "We don't know those people. For all we know, they're just using him for his powers. They could be an even bigger risk than both Mortuus and Virgo."

"They could be using him the way Virgo did." Shine didn't actually agree with Shadow, though she knew it really was a possibility. "That's what she brought him back for, right? She wanted to use him for whatever reason." She didn't remember much about Virgo, as she's already disclosed to the group. All she remembered was waking up and seeing her. She never had the chance to interact with the woman. The only memories she had that were her own while Mortuus had been in control of her body were when she'd managed to wrestle the reigns back for minutes at a time. Her guess was that Virgo had simply gone in with her horrifying mists and just disabled Shine from experiencing what Mortuus could.

"That, or he's trying to tug on our heart strings. He's been playing the 'injured puppy' role since he got here." Shadow added, narrowing his eye at the closed door leading to Mortuus' cell. "And he hasn't been very subtle about it."

Tails wasn't so convinced by Shadow's pessimism. "There are a million other ways that Mortuus could have tried to garner our sympathy, don't you think?"

"In any case," said Sonic, "he hasn't been shy about how he feels about us. He literally just admitted that he still hates us. I think 'loathes' is the word he used. That's a pretty strong word, don't you think? If he wanted our sympathy, he'd choose his words more carefully. But he's not exactly treading on ice when he talks to us."

"Why are you so eager to side with that thing?" Shadow snapped suddenly.

Sonic jumped a little, but stuck his hands stubbornly on his hips. "I'm just giving you my opinion. I don't trust him either. Let's not forget which one of us he actually managed to kill, let alone how he used my image to fool millions into thinking they were safe under my super awesome and world reknown skills. You're not the only person whose life he's twisted up irreparably."

"Alright, alright…" Tails put his hands out, trying to calm both of them down. Shadow let out an annoyed scoff and looked away. Sonic screwed his mouth to the side in flustered frown before rolling his eyes and letting out a calming breath. When Tails was satisfied they weren't going to start arguing, he continued "And this consciousness bit. What are your thoughts?"

"Well, personally," Shine was finally able to get in her own opinion now that the ladies had stopped bickering, "I believe him on that. The look in his eyes was real. Not to mention it's a stupid lie to think up."

"It is entirely possible, too." Tails pulled up his tablet again, tapping the screen to wake it up. He pulled up the files on the vitals from Mortuus' host, looking them over as he spoke. "He said Virgo expected his host to die. What if the only thing keeping it alive is Mortuus? The mind could be dead, and perhaps that's leaving room for him to develop as a living creature rather than just a parasite."

"That's a terrifying thought…" The idea that Mortuus was even more adaptable than they knew was unnerving. It gave her the impression that he might not be something they could completely destroy, if it finally came down to that.

"I'll continue to do some research and keep taking tests on him and his host," Tails mumbled distractedly, still flicking through the information. "Whether he's telling the truth or not, I'm genuinely curious about if this can actually happen anyways…"

They lingered around in the hall, their conversation dwindling to nothing more than neutral arguments and frustrated hypotheses about what was really happening. Shine eventually got tired of the redundancies and waved them off, starting to walk off.

"Wait, Shine!" Tails suddenly started after her, forgetting the tablet for a second. He stopped her in the hallway, looking back at Shadow and Sonic, who were still going back and forth about something. "You're generally pretty good at reading people. What do you think? From your interaction with Mortuus. Do you really believe him, or…?"

Shine threw her eyes up thoughtfully. "I don't know, to be honest. I'd like to. I like to think there's a bit of good in everyone. But we've seen enough of Mortuus that I have to doubt myself on that, and he's lied to us enough times that it's hard to imagine anything coming out of his mouth as the absolute truth." She set her fists on her hips. "I believe some of what he's said. I think he shared that bit about the consciousness with me in hopes that I'd tell him it's normal for someone to possess a human and experience it. If anyone would've been able to tell him that, it would've been me. When he didn't get the answer he wanted, he seemed a little disheartened. Either way… I can't bring myself to put much faith in him. I just can't."