Something touched under his chin, and he immediately fought back, turning his head away, kicking his feet in the direction he was sure it came from, shouting in fear as he did.
"Dark! Calm down! It's just me, Logic!"
Dark's ears perked up and he swung his head back to look at him, his own teeth clenched and the expression on his face that of someone who had heard the most horrifying thing.
"He's hurting Mephy!" He howled, folding his ears back again and hanging his head. "And Mephy's not fighting back!"
Logic hesitated, not sure of what to do. He knew that he had no power beyond being able to trashed Dark with pure facts, which was the farthest from what he wanted to do...
He reached for him again to guide his gaze back up.
"Dark... I'm going to find a way to get you loose..." He said carefully. "... But I need you to not freak out about what you're going to see next..."
"... Wh-what do you mean..?"
"... Remember when I mentioned that there was kind of a... 'We'?" Logic explained nervously, watching Dark closely for signs of distress at the thought.
Dark stared at him before nodding slowly.
"... I'm not the only one like me..." Logic droop his ears a bit anxiously. "... I know I told you before that I was... But, I only did that because it would have been too much for you to handle at the time..."
"... I... Wh-what..?"
"... Dark... Um... Meet the rest of us..." Logic added awkwardly, directing Dark's attention to where he hadn't looked since Logic came back, and found himself staring at what looked like numerous versions on himself, all with variations in condition, posture, mannerisms, and even in appearance, if the small one was any indication. Some appeared nervous, others appeared excited, one seemed to be disinterested, at least one was shuddering, another looked upset... It seemed that any aspect you could think of was covered here among them...
And Dark just stared in shock as one of them, who had appeared to be quite listless before, started to giggle, holding his hands to his face to try and muffle his laughter.
"Oh no! He's (snort) not taking it (Eee!) very well! (Ha!)" The snickering one tried between breaths, biting down on his lower lip in a desperate attempt to stop.
"I was afraid of that..." Logic mumbled worriedly, shaking his head slowly before speaking more loudly. "Dark, try not to lose it right now... Zane's always a tough one to calm down, and the more he laughs, the more likely you'll have an episode..."
"I've gone completely crazy! That's what happened! I knew this day would come! Ah!" Dark shouted, for once sounding appalled at the idea, consider how much he often boasted about it being a key factor of himself.
At that moment, the aforementioned Zane burst into a fit of laughter, dropping to the dark floor, rolling around and flailing as if he had heard the funniest thing ever. He couldn't even speak clearly now.
At the same time, the Dark who looked as though his cheeks were never dry, burst into tears, howling and wailing at the top of his voice, shouting at Zane to stop because it wasn't funny.
"Oh, geeze... Parry! Somebody calm him down, too!" Logic called out, looking as though he felt that this was turning into a complete disaster.
"How many of there are you!" Dark shouted back accusingly. "How come I didn't find out until now!"
"... I never really counted... But... Uh..." Logic looked away for a moment. "... Well... For every part of you, there's one that personifies that. Our names more or less explain what we do, but some of us share similar roles, so that one can take over if the other... Malfunctions... Or..." Logic paused before looking back at Dark, who had his eyes narrowed. "... There's something we call being 'disconnected'... There's not enough time to explain it right now, but it's not a fun thing to see..." Logic stole a squinted glance in the direction of a particular Dark, who was gently trying to calm down the laughing one. Logic looked back. "... But every part of you exists as one of us. Some of us differ more than others... Either in appearance or how long we've been around..."
"... Are you the oldest, then..?"
"... Technically... No..."
Dark raised an eyebrow.
"... See, I'm one of the oldest... I was actually the second one made... Rage over there is also one of the first..." Logic gestured to an annoyed looking one with what looked like perpetually bristled quills and a constant baring of teeth, no matter how subtle. "... Euphie? Come over here please..." He motioned for the smallest one, carrying a tattered rabbit toy, to step over to them.
Dark stared at the child, who looked like what Dark might have looked like as a short, chubby toddler, had Dark actually had his Mobian Hedgehog form at that age... Had he ever actually been a toddler, that is...
"This is 'Euphoria', but we all call him 'Euphie' for short." Logic explained. "... He's the oldest of all of us, and is the first emotion you ever felt."
"... Why is he so small..?"
"... When you wanted to forget about Iblis, you mistakingly cut off Euphie, but still had enough connection to him subconsciously, that he was slowed down drastically in growth... I'll explain better later..." Logic said, looking away again briefly. "... But he thinks just the same as the rest of us, just that his vocal vocabulary is still stuck at that typical for a real child that age. So he understands everything you might say to him..."
"... Look... This is all very... Interesting and all..." Dark suddenly stated, narrowing his eyes. "... And I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to fill me in on everything when he can... But there's just the matter of MEPHY IS BEING TORTURED WHILE YOU ALL ARE JUST STANDING HERE DOING NOTHING TO HELP ME!"
Euphie squeaked and scurried behind Logic to hide, several other Darks flinched, some simply cringed, one looked completely unnerved, and one actually fainted from being startled by the sudden increase in vocal tone. Dark himself was huffing and panting angrily, thinned quills bristled in response.
Logic was the first to recover from the outburst as at least five other Darks swarmed around the collapsed one, one of them boredly poking him while another slapped the one doing the prodding, glaring at him.
"We haven't forgotten that. It's just that time passes differently here, and it's hard to tell how it does when-"
"He's practically being mauled at this exact moment!" Dark shouted over him, futilely straining against his restraints. "His pain tolerance has already been pushed to where he's not even thinking clearly! But he still won't fight back because he doesn't want to hurt me! I have to do whatever I can to make it stop! He's-! He's-! Oh... no..." Dark's body shuddered feverishly, his pale face exhibiting a look of pure horror as he stared before squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head roughly. "... I can't block it out... Those screams are going to haunt me... for a very long time..."
"Alright everyone! Let's find a way to get him free!" Logic turned to the other Darks.
Another scream as he felt something wrap around his tail and yank it forcefully to pull him out from under one of the beds he has taken up as a hiding place, even though that idea lasted only half a minute at most. He could swear that he felt something pop out of place, and the thought was accompanied by the sharp pain at the base of his tail that shot up his spine, followed by the startling realization that he couldn't feel his tail the same way he normally did at all... As if it had been dislocated...
"Why! Why are you doing this!" Mephiles pleaded again for what felt like the hundredth time in such the short space of time this horrific twist had transpired. "I j-just wanted to have D-Dark back! Please stop! Please!"
Another grab of his quills and he was lifted roughly to his feet, and had his head slammed, cheek side, against the wall, prompting another cry of pain from him as Dire said menacingly: "... Didn't anyone ever tell you that you don't always get what you want..? Selfish little brat..."
"It's n-not as s-selfish want!" The hedgehog stammered frantically. "He needs me! I need him! You d-don't-!"
"Cut the generic hero junk out... It's boring..." Dire shook the hedgehog's head a couple of times. "What about what I want? What about what I need? Do you realize that Dark is exactly the sort of source for what my kind thrives one needs? Do you realize that if I can draw Dee Gee's attention to him, that I might finally be granted the evolution a creature of my intellect deserves? I'm just as smart, if not more so, as a Nightmare. And yet I'm stuck as a stupid-!" He gripped the hedgehog's quills tightly and hit his head against the wall. "Little-!" Another hit. "Rex!" Another and a slight easing on the grip as Mephiles clenched his teeth, trying to hold back another series of cries. "I am constantly mocked and ridiculed for my small stature, and my brothers, as big as idiots as you'll ever find, have somehow managed to reach that goal before me! Heck, I heard that Blitz just got made into a Titan recently. A TITAN! How someone like him, a beast with an attention span of a rusted wingnut, managed to get that far, I'll never know! And it infuriates me that so few even acknowledge that I'm far more cunning than the rest of them! You are not taking this away from me! I will not be bested by a lowly, dirt digging, scavenging, cowardly, sniveling, Pure Souled, freakish, pincushioned rat, weakling like you!"
Maybe it was the blood loss starting to make him feel lethargic, but Mephiles couldn't do much more than cry out and reach a hand out to feebly try and pry the fingers off his quills. His vision was starting to get fuzzy, and his body was starting to tremble even more. The blood had already started to coagulate as part of his body's natural healing process, but the deepness of the cuts, as well as all the stress, stunted the backup plan.
The shortness of breath started to come, and he realized in horror what was going to likely happen soon.
Dire let go of him to observe, watching the hedgehog slide to the floor, curling into a tight ball, trembling as his fingers gripped into his white fur patch, wheezing breaths punctuated by short whimpers of pain.
Dire smirked again.
"Oh, I see... You suffer from an anxiety disorder, and extreme danger, stress or anything very jarring can imitate what must be the closest one can get to having a heart attack, without really having one..." He lowered himself to be level with the terrified hedgehog, crouching to do so, arms resting casually on his legs. "You know... I do believe Dark experienced a similar occurrence... When he first learned that you were still alive. The shocker for him wasn't that you weren't dead despite suffering such a head injury... It was that he saw that you were making new friends instead of hurrying to get here... He was quite sure at that moment you had given up on him and decided to replace him... Which, to him, meant that no one was going to rescue him, because you're the only one that would try... Huh... Imagine that..."
Mephiles was borderline sobbing now, shaking his head and curling up tighter, if possible, mumbling unintelligibly. Several of the florescent bulbs overhead exploded, dimming the room and the remanding light sources left flickering. Dire looked up at the lights with curiosity, grinning even deeper.
"So it's safe to assume your powers are emotion based as well? The more you feel, the more they go off..? Has anybody ever been hurt by a lash out of them when you didn't have complete control on them, I wonder..?"
Dire leaned forward more, observing Mephiles as if he has simply come across an anthill he was planning to shove a stick into to see how the creatures would react.
"You are equally as mesmerizing to observe as Dark, because you are so similar, but at the same time unique... Like twins separated at birth and raised on opposite ends of the globe... Perhaps you can answer me this, by the way...? About those crystals..." He caught a quill clump belonging to the hedgehog and pulled him closer to better view it, dragging the poor thing along the floor several inches by his quills alone. "... Do they grow in first, or are they simply a layer that thickens over time when new quills come in? Why do they exist on your shoulder quills as well, and yet grow on your tail in a manner completely different? For that matter, why do your hands and feet have them, and why are your fingers sharp on the ends but not your toes? Is the entire affected areas completely crystal, or is that a layer that can be peeled off? I hear that next to nothing can actually damage the coating enough to warrant medical care, but how do they fair against themselves? If I were to take these claws, and scrape them over the substance, can I effectively slice it apart with enough time and effort? Are the nerves actually in the layer, or what?"
No answer, to which Dire frowned.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! You answer me when I ask you a question!" He barked, catching the hedgehog by the neck and shoving him against the wall again, this time while they were both still on the floor. Mephiles continued to snuffle and wheeze, the left side of his face saturated with both tears and blood as his eyes continually drifted upward, only to be forced back down, the hedgehog obviously on the verge of fainting. Dire shook him slightly in annoyance. "How dare you try to give the silent treatment, Mephy Boy! How dare you try to ignore me!"
Mephiles' eyes shifted, and for a brief moment, there was a flicker of anger behind the terrified gaze. Dire caught that and shoved him against the wall again.
"Bit late to be getting a backbone, isn't it?"
"... D-don't call me... Mephy Boy..."
"Oh, is that a threat now?"
"... Only D-Dark... can c-call me that..." Mephiles said slowly through a stutter, glaring at Dire. "... And you... You're not D-Dark..."
"Well, gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious..." Dire said sarcastically. "How long did it take for you to come to that conclusion? Hmm?"
Before Mephiles could respond, his eyes went wide and he shuddered before having a coughing fit, head down and arms flailing to try and pull the hand away from his neck. Dire merely watched without the slightest change in movement or expression, as the hedgehog finally lifted his head, face pale, eyes wide, and well aware of a terrible taste in his mouth that sprang to mind a horrifying scenario to him...
... That tasted like... Blood...
"Looks like all those kicks and hits are finally catching up." Dire smirked again, reaching his other hand over to roughly wipe the edge of Mephiles' mouth, then pull back the hand to show the smear of crimson fluid to confirm it. "Let's see... There's the blood loss from the eye injury... Now this... Well, I'd say you'll be comatose by the end of the hour if you keep losing it all... I can imagine that the left side of your face is starting to lose feeling from all the drainage in such a short time..."
Indeed, he was starting to lose feeling in that side of his face... His left ear was completely numb now even! His mouth hung open now, and the air was beginning to be unbelievably thick to breathe...
Staring up into Dire's eyes, seeing the purplish-pink irises that hid the bright green ones of his dear friend, he searched desperately for a flicker of Dark in them... Something that would show him that the shadow was still there, trying desperately to claw his way free, to save the hedgehog as he had done many times before... And everything would be back to the way it was...
Nothing...
... Dark's... He's gone... Mephiles eyes widened as another choking fit happened as he futilely pried at the hand holding him to the wall by his neck. ... No... He's got to still be there... I'm just not looking hard enough... He's still... Still...
Suddenly, Dire let go with a curse, Mephiles flopping to the floor and wheezing for air the best he could in his state.
"... The heck? Stupid Pure Soul and your Pure Energy surges..." Dire growled, shaking his head while gripping his fingers around his wrist.
Mephiles lifted his head blearily, squinting to focus his eyes as he realized he could see the camera under the bed from where he was at...
... I can't make it... He'll see me... And it's too far... He thought grimly, dropping his head down again. ... I suppose everyone was right... I can't be lucky forever...
Darkness creeping around the edges of his vision, sounds starting to muffle, his body temperature starting to drop...
... Dark never even got to have his square cantaloupe... Mephiles' mind was starting to drift to trivial things that didn't feel so trivial now. ... Hope Shadow doesn't blame Dark for this...
He didn't see the flicker of orange light near the brightest corner of the room, nor did he see the strange visual anomaly move towards camera. He really didn't see anything, to be honest... Nothing he saw really reached his brain at this point...
Dire however, saw the flash. He saw it quite well, in fact. The blinding bright light that emitted from the device that was mysteriously capable of tearing a parasitic creature like him from an unwilling host like Dark. The light filled the dark little room, earning a screech that sounded like it came from both shadow beings, and when it cleared... A short, stubby, reptilian creature no bigger than a house cat was wobbling back and forth on his feet, dazed and confused, while Dark, eyes back to their rightful green hue, sat on his knees with a shell shocked look, as if he just didn't comprehend what he had been forced to witness through all his senses...
His eyes shifted around the room in a sluggish manner, taking in the state of things slowly, until his eyes rested on the collapsed heap on the floor that he quickly identified as Mephiles.
He screamed.
Dire, now at his most basic form, forever expelled from Dark because of the camera, jumped to his senses and growled, looking as though he intended on at least latching his sharp jagged teeth onto Dark that would require him to be pried off in such a way, that he'd be able to leave a good sized mark in the shadow hedgehog's flesh.
Before he could hop back to lunge forward to do that... A small barrier of flames erupted in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"What on Mobius..?"
A green hedgehog with peculiar black markings, and mismatched red and blue eyes was standing just feet from him, one hand grasping the camera tightly, the other held up holding a flickering light, strange eyes livid with almost a fiery rage.
"So, you must be Dire..?" The hedgehog said with a strange level of calmness that did not match his expression. "... I've heard so much about you..."
Dark was frantic, seeing the blood on his hands, knowing that it was not his own. Practically hyperventilating from the shock, he reached over to pull the hedgehog closer, shaking him in desperation.
"Mephy! Mephiles!" He shouted, not caring if anyone heard him like this. "Wake up! Please! You Stupid Hedgehog, I order you to open your eyes right now and-!" He cut himself off with a choking sound, gasping for air as he tried to keep himself from going absolutely insane at the possibility his one and only friend may be dead because of him. He inhaled sharply and tried again. "You p-promised I'd never get hurt again! If you d-don't wake up right now, you're breaking it! You're breaking a p-promise, Mephy! You're not s-supposed to break promises! You're the last p-person I'd expect th-that from!"
He resisted the urge to squeeze him tightly, knowing that in his injured state, Mephiles would be hurt even more if Dark's stress induced enhanced strength came into play. He just held him gently, supporting his head with one hand while resting his own on top of it, cheeks wet with tears.
"... I-I know I probably don't say th-this enough..." He stammered, getting more and more desperate. "... I mean... I-it's a hard th-thing for me to understand, after all... B-but I... You're p-probably the only f-friend I've ever had... Th-the only one who's willing t-to put up with me... I... I c-can't lose you..." He whispered the last part, feeling his fingers along the hedgehog's neck until he found the place to test for a pulse. A faint beating rhythm against his fingertips, and as he paused to count it, he could hear a weak wheeze rattling from the hedgehog's throat. Dark smiled feebly at this new discovery. "... Oh, thank you, Chaos... He's st-still breathing... Th-there's still time..."
The green hedgehog, who had left Dire under a small overturned trashcan, with several large and heavy volumes of books weighting it down, was now cautiously approaching the two identical crystal hedgehog's in front of him.
"... Oh, geeze, Dark..."
Dark looked up, staring at him with blank look before bristling his quills and snarling.
"Why didn't you do something before he got hurt!" Dark snapped at Shu/Iblis angrily. "He was getting his head smashed in by a book! He was bleeding all over the floor! He was crying and screaming for help! He was being choked! WHY DID YOU JUST LET THAT HAPPEN!"
"Dark... I'm sorry, but it was very complicated..."
"NO! DO YOU SEE THIS BLOOD! HE COUGHED THAT UP! HE'S BLEEDING ON THE INSIDE!" Dark shrieked, vision blurring from the tears that formed. "I WAS TRAPPED AND BEING CONTROLLED AGAINST MY WILL IN MY OWN MIND, FORCED TO HEAR HIS SCREAMS AND NOT BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE, HUH!"
Iblis was frozen for a moment, worried about... Well, everything. Then he spoke, in a much calmer tone than Dark.
"... First off... I didn't want to hurt you..." He said gently, folding his ears back. "... Dire had threatened to electrocute you to death if Mephiles had tried to stop him, so if I tried... I'm sure the threat was the same..." He sighed, shaking and holding his head. "... Second... Mephiles doesn't know I'm here, much less that I'm on his side now... He was already experiencing a panic attack, and if I intervened, he may have progressed into as close to a heart attack as you can get from that... I needed to wait until I could act without being seen..." He sighed heavily. "... And don't think you were the only one who heard the screams..."
Dark was silent, looking down at the floor.
Mephiles shuddered again, coughing up another dribble of blood, which the sight made Dark feel sick seeing it. The hedgehog moaned weakly, unfocused eyes opening only a little.
"Mephy? Mephy! Can you hear me!" Dark quickly tried to speak to him, not realizing that Mephiles had just done a reflex action and nothing more. "Answer me!"
"... Dark..." Iblis said in a worried tone, reaching for him, knowing that Mephiles didn't hear at all at this moment. "... He's not going to respond... He's just too-"
"No!" Dark slapped the arm away almost feverishly. "H-he heard me! He's j-just-!"
"Dark, look at me." Iblis cut across him, grabbing his head and pulling it to make Dark face him. "Mephiles is probably comatose right now... You can't wake him up right now..."
"He's got healing powers! He'll be up soon, just like always!" Dark protested in a strangely shrill voice, as if trying to convince himself that as much as he was trying to convince Iblis. "He's going to wake up, and... And we're going to leave this horrible place... And... And we'll go back to the way th-things were... And, and... And he's going to c-comment about how th-thin and f-frail I look, and I'm going t-to t-try and g-get out of answering about it... And he's g-going t-to try to hug me, and... And..."
... He's going into a defensive state... Iblis realized, widening his eyes. ... He can't handle all this trauma at once, and his brain is trying to block it out... Oh, good Lord! Iblis realized even more jarringly. This is probably what happened to him after we were first split!
He grabbed Dark's shoulders.
"Dark! You need to stay focused!" He said urgently. "I know that sounds cruel, but a lot of questions are going to be asked, and you can't be an amnesiac when it looks like you might have done this to him! Do you understand me?"
Dark was quivering now, biting down on his lower lip.
"Dark! This is very important!"
"... I... I didn't do it..."
"I know that. You know that..." Iblis sighed again. "And Mephiles knows that. He was well aware that you would have never done anything like that to him..."
"... I didn't try hard enough..." Dark whimpered, tightening his grip on the hedgehog. "... That's why I was too late..."
"You tried as hard as you could..."
"But it wasn't hard enough!" Dark snapped back, shoving Iblis away with one hand while still using his other arm to support Mephiles. "And Mephy had to pay for my ineptitude!"
Iblis blinked.
"... Dark..." He said in a soft tone. "... Let's try and put this into a sort of perspective, okay..?" He reached for Dark's chin to pull his attention back to look at him. "... Dire was a new and overwhelming force to you, was he not..?" Dark nodded slowly as Iblis continued. "... He was a negative influence trying to chip away at your sanity, right..?" Another nod. "And you fought that for as long and hard as you could, did you not..?" Slow nod. "... No matter how hopeless it got, you still fought against it, and you did not just submit or give up. You've been fighting that thing for two months now, maybe more... You didn't give in. Do you understand? You lasted far longer than I would have..."
"It doesn't change the fact that Mephy got hurt!" Dark shouted back. "It doesn't change the fact that he got hurt because of ME! Do YOU understand that! It's my fault!"
Iblis exhaled again, and stood up to walk over to the overturned trashcan, knocking the books off and roughly scooting it over to where Dark was, Dire snarling and barking in high pitched squeaks inside.
"Release me, you little freaks! When I get out of here, I'm going to-!"
Iblis smacked a hand against the container, earning a vibrating metal sound that clearly caused Dire some discomfort in what would be assumed to be his ears.
"You have no right to be speaking to us, you fat little lizard..." Iblis growled dangerously, lifting the trashcan and swiftly pinning the squirming little monster down effortlessly with one hand. "I don't think you realize who we are..."
"If you want to say that you're-!"
"Shut up!" Iblis grabbed the creature by the foot and lifted him off the ground, leaving Dire to flail helplessly because of his short limbs being of no help to him. "The only reason I haven't left you in that thing and set it on fire so you burn worse than what you put Dark through, is because I don't want to scare him doing that... And believe me... I will be scary..."
A flash of green light, a hedgehog and a bat, the spiky one holding a large diamond cut gem, which promptly crumbled in his hand.
"Oh, good! You found the copies!" Tails shouted in relief, jumping out of the cockpit of the Tornado to quickly greet Shadow and Rouge. "Did you get more than one? Because you need to get to the base, and get back here then-!"
"We need to be quick... GUN wants to storm the base looking for the Doctor..." Shadow interrupted, but none the less pulled two of the Chaos Emerald copies from his quills. "Thanks Tails... They were right where you said they were..."
"Did you lock the door before you left?"
"That's kinda not a priority at the moment... I'm sure no one will try to raid your workshop, however..."
Tails uttered a short string of gibberish, grabbing his fur tufts and pulling down in frustration before quickly composing himself.
"You're right... This is kinda more important than... Various custom built equipment I've been working on..." He managed hesitantly, cringing at the statement before nodding in agreement. "... After all... Mephiles has been my friend since we picked him up... Okay... The base is at least a fifteen minute run non stop from here, over various obstacles, pits of lava, treadmills going opposite ways, and-!"
Shadow just grabbed Tails' arm and shouted: "Chaos Control!"
Another bright flash of light, and the fox, the hedgehog and the bat were standing in what appeared to be a metal lined hallway, Tails shuddering slightly, his tails twisting together in a bunch.
"Hey, Shadow?" He said, suppressing a twitch as Shadow released his arm, the second false Emerald crumbling as well. "Warn me next time... I'm still not used to doing that yet..."
"Sorry about that... Now, which way are they?" He said, shaking the gem dust from his gloves as Rouge twitched her ears in all directions to pick up something they couldn't.
"... The metal walls are reverberating too much sound... I can't figure out which way..." She said, looking over her shoulder and back ahead. "... There's someone here, alright, but I can't be sure where and who's speaking..."
Tails spotted a scorch mark and a fist sized dent on a wall just at the end of the corridor.
"Hey! That was there last time!" He announced, pointing to it. "We can't be too far then!"
"... How did someone manage to do that..?" Shadow mused for a moment, knocking his knuckles against the wall carefully. "... This isn't exactly a soft sort of metal... Not to mention, if it had been done by one of the Doctor's robots, there would be indications of metal hitting metal... And fire..?"
"The stairs shouldn't be too far!" Tails reminded him, waving his hand to beckon the bat and hedgehog to follow him. "At the bottom of the stairs is what looks like a recovery room... And that's where we found Dark. You already know the rest about what happened afterwards."
"Wait... There was only stairs keeping him down there?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at this. "As far as I know, he's kinda the type of guy who doesn't let stuff be a barrier to him..."
"He fell down the stairs, remember, Shadow..?" Rouge reminded him. "He's been afraid of them since then."
"He never indicated that..."
"Of course he won't say it exactly. But you can't say you haven't noticed how he goes out of his way to avoid having to step on them." Rouge shook her head as they continued forward, her hovering above the ground. "Remember back at the hospital, he'd prefer the elevator over them? And never mind that he's claustrophobic..."
"Since when? How did you find this out?" Shadow frowned.
"Remember when he went ballistic back at the house and you locked him in the closet for a few minutes so he didn't hurt us or himself freaking out?" Rouge explained, looking somewhat annoyed at Shadow for not noticing such details. "And he started screaming and trying to claw his way out of there? And when you opened the door, he was huddled in a corner, panicking?" They turned another corner. "Doesn't that sound like a claustrophobic episode to you? I wouldn't be surprised if that fear was originated from being trapped for as long as he was, in that Scepter." Shadow stared at her while he walked quickly behind here, still following Tails. "I know this because I actually bothered to pay attention to him..."
"We're almost there!" Tails announced, waving his arm to signal to them. "Geeze, I hope we're not too late!"
A few minutes later, they reached the stairs and the bottom of them. Tails, being up front, reached the door first by skidding to a stop, and almost immediately, he looked horrified when he looked into the room.
Shadow, seeing this, wasted no time in shoving the fox out of the way to get inside, and before Rouge could follow, she heard a furious shout of "WHAT DID YOU DO!"
Reacting fast enough to stop the possibility of an extreme misunderstanding, Rouge hurried in after Shadow, and quickly wrapped her arms around his chest to pull the angry hybrid hedgehog away from the obviously cowering Dark, who seemed genuinely terrified out of his mind to see Shadow now, of all times.
"Shadow! Stop! You don't even know what happened! You can't just blame him!" Rouge reasoned anxiously, knowing full well that Shadow could easily shove her off if he wanted to.
"Am I the only one who sees the blood all over him!" Shadow shouted back, reaching an arm out wildly to try to grab at Dark, who instinctively gripped Mephiles even closer in a panic, trying to pull the crystal hedgehog with him as he tried to scoot away. "You let go of him right now!"
"But-! But I-! I-I didn't do it!" Dark tried to explain frantically, shaking his head roughly and sounding almost as if he were on the verge of hyperventilating as he let Mephiles go. "I-! You know I-I'd never-! I tr-tried to st-stop him! I tr-tried-! Oh... Oh God!" He suddenly squeaked, trembling and holding his chest as he started wheezing. "I... I c-can't breathe... I can't b-breathe..."
Once Rouge let go of Shadow, the black hedgehog swiftly made his way to Mephiles to check on him.
"... He's still breathing..." Shadow said, looking at Rouge, who was attempting to coax Dark out of the ball he was curled up in. "... What are you doing?"
"He's just as much a victim as Mephiles, Shadow..." Rouge narrowed her eyes at him. "I think he just dropped an entire clump's worth of quills right now alone..." She picked up a small handful of the brittle spines off the floor right beside Dark, who had yet to uncurl. "He clearly hasn't sleep properly in days, and I don't recall him ever being this thin..."
"It wasn't his fault..." Said another voice, almost meekly, from behind them.
Shadow and Rouge spun around to find a strange looking green and black hedgehog in wristbands and sandals, sitting at the far corner behind them, an upside down trashcan in front of him, to which he had his hands on.
"Oh, geeze!" Shadow shouted in shock, having not seen him just as much as everyone else, with Tails even a little surprised. "How did-! Who are you?"
The green Hedgehog looked up before looking away, showing that he had a blue and a red mismatched set of eyes, which caused a few raised eyebrows at the sight. There was an old camera next to him, having spit out a picture already from the front.
"... I'm Shu..." He said, gripping his fingers around the trashcan a little tighter as something inside it started to snarl and thrash around. "... I've been here with Dark for the past couple of months, so I guess I'm kinda his friend now..."
"You're Shu?" Tails said, having broken his brief state of muteness to stare at the odd hedgehog... Eh, well, not as odd as the others. "So you really are here, then?"
"... Why not..?"
"... Well, because Mephiles wasn't sure about if you were or not..." Tails explained briefly, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "... Because, I guess, Dark tends to... Y'know what? It's none of my business... Carry on..."
"... Riiiight..." Shu said slowly, glancing at the fox with skepticism before returning to his explanation. "... Well... Uh... I kinda saw the whole thing..."
"Why didn't you do anything to stop if from getting this far?" Shadow accused quickly, causing Shu to flinch.
"I was scared..?" He shook his head. "... I was hiding under one of the beds when then weird camera thing was shoved under... I remember hearing... Was that 'Mephiles', you said his name was..? Well, he had said to Dark earlier that the camera would be able to extract something... I think it was the creature that was possessing him..."
"And where is the creature now..?"
"Right here." Shu lifted the trashcan and flung it, quickly pinning the snarling little beast to the floor with his hands. "It said it's name was 'Dire', and it wanted to feed off of every bit of pain Dark gave off... So I think that's why he went after the other kid... Because it would hurt Dark so much to have see that... Watch out!" He added quickly as Shadow moved towards it to better view it. "I think it can bite!"
"You know darn well I can bite, you little freak!" The squirming neon creature snapped.
"It can also talk, too..." Shu added almost boredly. "... Boy, can it talk... And talk... And talk..."
"I get it." Shadow interrupted quickly, picking Dire up by the foot. "So, you're the little creep responsible for all this?"
"You spiny rat! Let go of me!"
"Rat? I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform!" Shadow snapped back. "And that was my friend you just beat to a bloody pulp! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't obliterate you right now! Go on!"
"Ultimate Lifeform? My, aren't you high and mighty! Never heard of you!"
"Hey! I think you have more important things to worry about right now!" Shu interrupted, pointing to the two crystal hedgehogs. "Just give it here and I'll stick him back under
the trashcan!"
"How are you going to keep it there?"
"These books are heavy enough, I can just stack them on top, can't I?"
"..." Shadow was reluctant, but finally handed Dire over, knowing that he needed to focus more on the two young hedgehogs. Looking over at them, he added: "Rouge! Get away from him, and you take care of Meph! I'll handle Dark!"
"But-"
"If he lashes out, I'd rather it'd be me who gets hurt..."
Before he could step away from Shu, the green hedgehog caught his arm for a moment.
"... Please be careful with him..." Shu said quietly, glancing over at Dark, who was still in a trembling ball. "... He's been through a lot already..."
"... Why are you so interested in him..?" Shadow sounded a little annoyed.
"..." Shu let go and looked away before saying: "... He reminds me of a brother I had once..."
"... Oh... S-sorry..." Shadow apologized hesitantly. "... I'll see what I can do..."
As Rouge carefully lifted the unresponsive Mephiles up from the floor, trying to mind the rather painful looking slash across his face... Shadow attempted to do the same with Dark, who immediately shrieked and flailed at the hybrid hedgehog's touch, kicking and trying to crawl away the best he could in his panicked state.
Having never really seen that happen with Dark before, Shadow was taken aback and for once... actually felt bad for the shadow creature. To see Dark so panicked that he was in such a primal state of self preservation was kind of unnerving...
Sighing and taking a breath, he brought himself to Dark's level and tried to be more coaxing.
"... C'mon... We'll take you home..." He said carefully, reaching out with one hand.
"Liar! You hate me! Would you even care about what happens to me!" Dark shouted back, tears streaming down his face. "You're just doing this to look good!"
"... You're Meph's friend... He wouldn't want you to be left here all alone... not after he just spent the last two months trying to find you by going all over the world..." Shadow shook his head. "... If you're going anywhere, it's going to be with us..."
"... H-how do I know you won't t-turn me over to... th-those people you work f-for..?"
"... Why would we do that..?"
Dark held up his hands with an apprehensive look, shuddering as he indicated to the bloodstains on them.
"... B-because this c-can't look any w-worse than it already d-does..." He whimpered. "... And if anyone were to f-further look into it... my c-claws do match the wounds very well..."
"No one is going to do anything to you..."
"... Promise..?"
The loss of the growl again. The true voice of Dark. Nothing more than a terrified child in the middle of a horrible situation he really had nothing to with.
Wide eyed, frail, quills brittle, fur patchy and mangy in some places. Face pale, the tell tale signs of chronic insomnia hanging under his eyes.
This was not a horrible demon who like to force a kid to play mind games for his amusement. No, that was the creature trapped under a trashcan, snarling at the angrily for being ignored.
This was a scared and confused young boy who was afraid of losing everything he had any attachment to, because it had happened before. A child who didn't know what would become of him if he lost his way back home.
"... H-he's going to be alright... isn't he..?" Dark added, looking at Mephiles with a horrified stare. "... H-he always gets better, right..?"
Looking at Mephiles as well, Shadow was silent before saying: "... He's tougher than he looks... He's got a strong will for life... He'll be alright, I'm sure..." Looking back at Dark, he added: "You have nothing to worry about... you won't be taken somewhere you don't belong..."
"... But..?"
"... I mean that you belong with us, no matter what... Meph made sure of that..."
"..."
"..."
"... Thank you, Shadow..." Dark smiled weakly before reaching out to allow himself to be picked up off the floor, having felt as if he wouldn't be able to walk far without collapsing. "... You don't know how badly I needed to hear that..."
