Dani had been sitting on the ground, staring at the blackened ceiling for what felt like hours. Deep in her subconscious she thinks of what just happened just a few hours ago. Athea sitting on her knees as Dale hesitates to save her. Not taking action until Sonic and Silver try, only to fail. Why did Dale hesitate? Why didn't Athea help while Sonic and Silver were trying? Do they not love me anymore? Dale listened when I found the dome's weakness, but still... I know Mephiles is scary, but jeez.
Dani finally gets up, trying to shove her inner doubts away, and looks around the area for what feels like the first time since Mephiles had left her there. The room she's in isn't exactly a room. The ink black floor ripples like water, and the purple walls glitch like the place is an unstable virus in a computer. She looks up at the ceiling once more to understand that it isn't a ceiling, it's a sky. A smoky void with no stars to contrast its depressing look. This place looks familiar…
As she tries to process where she is, she hears an eerie whoosh. As she looks towards the end of the room, she sees Mephiles quietly standing there. "Comfortable Dani?"
"Ah yes, it's not like I'm afraid of the dark or anything or the fact that you're standing in front of me. I'm so comfortable I could fall into an eternal slumber." Dani says sarcastically.
"The darkness frightens you? How strange. I have always found comfort in the dark." Mephiles says musingly, eyes emotionless.
"That's because you are the dark. In the world I live in, they made way too many horror movies on how the dark is scary."
"Truly? And you allow such drivel to color your perception of things? No wonder you are so easily fooled by your so-called friends."
Dani shifts uneasily. "My friends aren't fooling me. They were just hesitant to rescue me while I was trapped in a dome with a demon."
"And how was it that you found yourself in that situation…?"
Dani remembers following Athea in the cave and in denial, she lies. "I was following Athea to rescue her in case she was gonna be in danger, which she was. I mean, I didn't intend on being a sacrificial lamb but at least Athea wasn't harmed."
"A trap, of course. I'd asked Athea to bring you to me." Mephiles says this blankly.
Dani responds. "She didn't even know I was following her. I went to get a cupcake and came back to find her gone." I could actually go for another cupcake right now.
"Didn't she?" Mephiles shrugs. "I suppose it could all be just a coincidence that I had asked her to bring you and then you came."
Dani now running out of witty comebacks sarcastically says. "I could've just got another cupcake and not followed her into the creepy woods at 12 in the morning."
"But you wouldn't have." Mephiles says with absolute confidence. "Athea and I are both well aware of how you care."
Dani's head and ears lower. Trying not to show weakness however, she says with full confidence, "Maybe I wanted to be captured so I can ask you a bunch of questions...yeah, no. Right. But they are gonna find me. I doubt they're gonna go home without me."
"Why not? Do you think Athea traded nothing for your life? She told me that you would be much happier on Mobius anyways, it made little difference."
Dani doesn't answer. I mean, it's better than my life on Earth.
"Both Dale and Athea have admitted you would be happier here, that they would willingly leave you behind." Mephiles waves his hand and an image appears in the sky. In the image, she sees Dale standing in a cafeteria with Sonic and Silver. All three of them are eating sandwiches.
With a pang, she notices that Athea is gone from the image. Has she already left?
Dale stands up. "Let's go then, what are we waiting for?"
Sonic and Silver stand up as well. "We need to start looking for the chaos emeralds before we can take you home." Silver says and adds. "The sooner you're home, the safer you all will be. I'm sure of it!"
Dale frowns.
"What's the matter? You want to go home right?" Silver asks.
Dale responds. "I'm a bit worried about Dani, but…you guys say you've got this so I'll leave it to you. Trust me though, she has said multiple times how she would rather be here than at what you'd call home."
Dani looks up at him. "They don't want to stay with me?"
"They know where you will be happy, and they've used this as an excuse to not come for you."
Dani clenches her fist. "Dale wouldn't leave me with a villain. Neither would Silver and the rest. They'll at least rescue me from you."
"A villain, am I? Many would call me that, I'm sure, including Sonic and Silver, but they were not the ones to rescue you from your sad life on Earth."
"A tad too late for a rescue, I was gonna be living on my own since I'm 19 anyways…" Dani mumbles. "Should have done the whole rescuing thing when I was 8. That's when my whole world began to fall apart."
"If only it was so simple." Mephiles sighs with what almost sounds like regret in his voice. "I came for you as soon as I could."
That's a lie and almost creepy. Dani thinks. "Yeah well, if anything Dale will still get me out of here...Wherever here is. Where exactly are we?"
"I believe if you think hard, you'll find you already know the answer." Mephiles holds his arms wide. "We stand in Null Space, a near inescapable realm which time has no claim to."
"So you and Infinite are working with each other or just sharing this place to put people who annoy you in? Also didn't Sonic escape here before? For something inescapable, the Blue blur seemed to get out just fine to me."
"I have yet to meet this Infinite, he does not often retreat to this place it seems, and I intend to keep you far away from him. As for the hedgehog and his friend, they simply managed to run back through the door before it closed." He points out.
"Since Sonic has been here before, Sonic and my friends will come here to rescue me. Dale won't just leave me here after all the conversations we've had about you."
"Conversations he paid attention to?" He questions.
"He seemed interested and asked questions like he paid attention. Though he did hesitate even though he joked that since you're 3ft 3 he would kick you across the room." Dani smiles at the long-ago memory; it still feels like it was yesterday that they'd talked about this.
"You are quite confident in your Dale, aren't you? Yet despite the fact that he knows your true feelings, he has yet to give you a proper response, for love or for friendship." Mephiles observes.
A bitter pain brushes through her heart. "He loves me...He's just dating another girl. That's all. And if he doesn't choose me, that's fine because I'm ace anyways. We can still be friends, even if it hurts he's with someone else."
"Then why has he not answered you? If he loves you, then why is he still with that girl? If he doesn't, then why has he not told you so? Perhaps he wants to…no, I'm sure you're right and Dale would never do that to you." Mephiles turns away.
Dani, filled with jealous anger, decides to take advantage of him turning around. Light fills between her palms, but as she is about to blast him in the back she stops. This isn't right. He's just saying what you already feel. He's feeding into your inner doubt. Dani tries again to do it, but she physically can't. He did that to Sonic, why can't I do it to him? He's the reason I'm here. If Dale leaves without me, then…
Mephiles turns around to face her. "I had you and your friends brought to Earth because I believed it would make your life happier, you would not have even had to leave your friends behind to come to the world of your choice. However, I saw how quick Athea was to give up on you. In the end, I realized the only way to be sure of Dale's feelings would be to see if he would come for you." Once more, Mephiles waves his hand in the air and another video appears in the sky. "This will allow you to watch Dale's activities. You will finally know his heart, I hope it is the answer you wish for."
Dani crosses her arms and in a bitter tone asks, "Why are you doing this? Why are you so concerned about playing the hero in my story? What's your gain? Cause Iblis isn't in me and he's gone so if you think your brother's in me, you're very mistaken."
"I know." A look of sadness appears in Mephiles eyes but then masks it. "Tell me Dani, do you know what it is like to be whole one moment, and then torn apart the next? Torn from your other half as if it never mattered?"
Dani thinks on this. "I don't think I ever really felt whole in my entire life. The only time I ever felt happy was when I was reading the Sonic comics. But I know what it's like to lose someone that made you feel whole."
"Just as I thought. You understand how I felt when those foolish humans tore me away from Iblis. Together, we were Solaris, a benevolent god of time. When we were separated, we were instantly changed into beings that could never be whole again, not without each other. Yet instead of undoing their mistake, they sealed us away! For years we rotted in our prisons, broken, wanting only to be together again, the thr-two of us."
Dani catches the stutter. Did he almost say three? Dani backs up a bit. "Who's we?! It was just you and Iblis bro! And he's gone. He's not even sentient and you both were way too unstable to even fuse into your true form. How can you call yourself the mind of a God if you can't even do your own research and see that your own people who you guided for a millennia fucked you up so bad that you physically can't become whole anymore?! Look, I tried to be nice. I understand you're upset. But Iblis can't even speak, and you as the mind are mental! You can't fuse into what you once were." Dani gets ready to blast him in case he attacks. She starts crying as she knows what she feels is his pain.
"I know. After I escaped my cell, I searched for my brother, but I could not find him. Without him, I know. I will never be truly whole again…" Mephiles takes a deep breath, as if to steady himself. "I've had many years to think about my predicament now. Many years to consider what my purpose should be without Iblis. Helping you…is something of an experiment for me. Should you find yourself happy, even thriving due to my interference, well, we shall see what comes next." Once more, Mephiles turns away. She hears a soft whoosh as the darkness rises up around him and he disappears.
Dani with a shaky breath crouches down. The video surveillance camera Mephiles had summoned was still where he left it, but Dani ignores it for a moment. So if I stay here, Mobius may end because Mephiles wants me here. But if I go back home, my life will get even worse because my belief in this world has already caused enough damage there. Imagine saying I've been here. I'm not gonna get just the emotional and slight physical abuse for this belief. I might end up getting murdered. And will Dale and Athea care in 10 years after I die? Or will they forget me as if I never existed? Was Mephiles right? Do they actually not care about me? What has all this been then?
Dani looks towards the surveillance camera. She stands up walking towards it and as she moves in front of it, it starts to play a scene of Athea and Mephiles.
"If you want to go back as you have requested, then bring me Dani." Mephiles says, holding his hand out.
Athea looks down. "I'm sick of her always thinking she knows everything anyways. I just want to go home and see my brother." She moves forward to shake his hand. "It's a deal."
Unable to watch anymore, Dani hunches down as tears drip down her face. She sobs her heart out, alone.
Mephiles watches impassively from the darkness as Dani cries before he leaves, for real this time, with another soft whoosh. Only a moment later, he steps into Dr. Starline's new lab.
The platypus looks up from his project, clearly disturbed. "Ah! Mephiles, correct? I must thank you for helping me escape from those heroes earlier. I edited the videos you provided me just as you asked." He chuckles nervously.
"Yes, my plan is going exactly as I expected it would. I have not captured her heart yet, but I have sewn the seeds of doubt within her. It will not take long for them to bloom." Mephiles steps forward to examine his work. "The only ones who can stop me shall surely meet their end soon."
"Do you mean the girls friends?" The platypus asks hesitantly.
"Indeed. I have little doubt that Infinite would kill them rather then send them to Null Space."
"Why would he do that?" Dr. Starline questions. "He's never met them, and surely they would not risk coming to him to rescue Dani."
"They will have no other choice." Mephiles says darkly. "And neither of them are the type to leave their friends behind. What bothersome friends she has gathered." Without waiting for a response from the doctor, Mephiles disappears once more. There is still so much to be done.