You luv me! You weally weally luv me!
Sorry for the delay on this, btw. There's this hideous institution that I'm forced to go to for most of the day, five days per week. Maybe you've heard of it...
Disclaimer/Claimer: what do you think?
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The alarms blared loudly overhead as Shadow kicked down the metal door that was the last defense for the vault inside. As he picked out the Chaos Emerald from the wreckage and turned to go, Raven stood in the doorway waiting for him.
"You've actually gotten a little bit better, Brother," the white hedgehog mused aloud, "I didn't even have to help you out this time. Let's go."
Even as he followed his brother through the ruined corridors of the GUN base, Shadow's mind was replaying those words in his head again. Had that been…_pride_ in Raven's voice? Were his ears playing tricks on him, or had the insane hedgehog seemed almost _relieved_ that Shadow had done his part all by himself?
Most importantly, why did he want to hear it?
Before they had gotten halfway through the rubble, Shadow had come to the only conclusion that he could think of. There was something in his head that was resurfacing, something that Shadow had buried a long time ago…back when he had, sickeningly enough, actually _desired_ his brother's approval and praise, which had allowed Raven to manipulate him endlessly.
But if it was only returning now, when Raven had come back and was forcing Shadow to work with him towards his twisted goals…then, did that mean that some part of him still wanted affection from the _beast_ walking in front of him?
_Why_?
Shadow kept these disturbing thoughts from showing in his face, and when the two of them got outside what happened next drove them from his mind altogether. Outside the wrecked base stood Sonic, and Tails was hovering right behind him.
Raven's twisted cackle of amusement echoed in the air and Shadow kept his eyes pinned to his feet. It looked like he was purposely helping his sicko brother, and he didn't want to see their hatred of him.
"Shadow!" cried Tails, but still the black hedgehog didn't look up.
He couldn't block out the conversation, though.
"What did you do to him, you white freak?!"
"What, _this_ weakling? He's just back where he belongs - helping his best and only Brother get exactly what I want."
"And what's that supposed to be? The ARK wasn't enough for you, and now you want to rule the whole world?"
"Rule? HAH! You and your petty little ideas. I don't NEED to rule anything - not when I have POWER! And THAT'S all I really need!"
"So, you're collecting Chaos Emeralds to get this power of yours?"
"Almost right, but not quite! Little cubling, the power of these Chaos Emeralds is nothing compared to what I'm really after! And I can't have annoying little pests like you getting in the way!"
"You talk big, but can you back it up, Whitey?"
"I don't need to waste my time with you insignificant bugs. Oh dearest Brother of mine…"
Shadow didn't look at anyone, including his brother, even as he turned towards him.
"…Clean up this mess," Raven chuckled nastily, "I want that blue hedgehog to be nothing more than a blue smear on the concrete. You can do _that_ much, I know."
Pain lanced through Shadow's brain almost instantaneously, almost before he realized that his mind had automatically refused - not that he would have agreed to the fight anyway - but the black hedgehog barely managed to stand still despite the collar's application of punishment.
"No?" Raven asked in an amused tone of voice, "Oh, little Brother. I thought we got past this silly refusing stage a long time ago. Now hop to it!"
And Raven snapped his fingers. Instantly the collar took over, and Shadow found his body turning away from his brother to face his friends.
Even as his body began tensing to begin the fight, Shadow finally raised his eyes to meet the gaze of Sonic. The blue hedgehog seemed taken aback by what he saw there, and then Shadow shut his eyes and kept them tightly shut.
Even as his body attacked something, and something attacked him, Shadow kept his eyes closed and stayed in denial of what was happening. Then something impacted the side of his head and Shadow was knocked unconscious, with only the unhappy knowledge that it didn't matter to the collar's functions if he himself was aware or not.
Sorry for the delay on this, btw. There's this hideous institution that I'm forced to go to for most of the day, five days per week. Maybe you've heard of it...
Disclaimer/Claimer: what do you think?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The alarms blared loudly overhead as Shadow kicked down the metal door that was the last defense for the vault inside. As he picked out the Chaos Emerald from the wreckage and turned to go, Raven stood in the doorway waiting for him.
"You've actually gotten a little bit better, Brother," the white hedgehog mused aloud, "I didn't even have to help you out this time. Let's go."
Even as he followed his brother through the ruined corridors of the GUN base, Shadow's mind was replaying those words in his head again. Had that been…_pride_ in Raven's voice? Were his ears playing tricks on him, or had the insane hedgehog seemed almost _relieved_ that Shadow had done his part all by himself?
Most importantly, why did he want to hear it?
Before they had gotten halfway through the rubble, Shadow had come to the only conclusion that he could think of. There was something in his head that was resurfacing, something that Shadow had buried a long time ago…back when he had, sickeningly enough, actually _desired_ his brother's approval and praise, which had allowed Raven to manipulate him endlessly.
But if it was only returning now, when Raven had come back and was forcing Shadow to work with him towards his twisted goals…then, did that mean that some part of him still wanted affection from the _beast_ walking in front of him?
_Why_?
Shadow kept these disturbing thoughts from showing in his face, and when the two of them got outside what happened next drove them from his mind altogether. Outside the wrecked base stood Sonic, and Tails was hovering right behind him.
Raven's twisted cackle of amusement echoed in the air and Shadow kept his eyes pinned to his feet. It looked like he was purposely helping his sicko brother, and he didn't want to see their hatred of him.
"Shadow!" cried Tails, but still the black hedgehog didn't look up.
He couldn't block out the conversation, though.
"What did you do to him, you white freak?!"
"What, _this_ weakling? He's just back where he belongs - helping his best and only Brother get exactly what I want."
"And what's that supposed to be? The ARK wasn't enough for you, and now you want to rule the whole world?"
"Rule? HAH! You and your petty little ideas. I don't NEED to rule anything - not when I have POWER! And THAT'S all I really need!"
"So, you're collecting Chaos Emeralds to get this power of yours?"
"Almost right, but not quite! Little cubling, the power of these Chaos Emeralds is nothing compared to what I'm really after! And I can't have annoying little pests like you getting in the way!"
"You talk big, but can you back it up, Whitey?"
"I don't need to waste my time with you insignificant bugs. Oh dearest Brother of mine…"
Shadow didn't look at anyone, including his brother, even as he turned towards him.
"…Clean up this mess," Raven chuckled nastily, "I want that blue hedgehog to be nothing more than a blue smear on the concrete. You can do _that_ much, I know."
Pain lanced through Shadow's brain almost instantaneously, almost before he realized that his mind had automatically refused - not that he would have agreed to the fight anyway - but the black hedgehog barely managed to stand still despite the collar's application of punishment.
"No?" Raven asked in an amused tone of voice, "Oh, little Brother. I thought we got past this silly refusing stage a long time ago. Now hop to it!"
And Raven snapped his fingers. Instantly the collar took over, and Shadow found his body turning away from his brother to face his friends.
Even as his body began tensing to begin the fight, Shadow finally raised his eyes to meet the gaze of Sonic. The blue hedgehog seemed taken aback by what he saw there, and then Shadow shut his eyes and kept them tightly shut.
Even as his body attacked something, and something attacked him, Shadow kept his eyes closed and stayed in denial of what was happening. Then something impacted the side of his head and Shadow was knocked unconscious, with only the unhappy knowledge that it didn't matter to the collar's functions if he himself was aware or not.