AU Where Shadow's death is not a final death- he's something between dead and alive, and trapped in the darkness. He needs Vio's help to get out, before a fate worse than death catches up to him...
Primarily going to be Vio x Shadow-centric; if you don't like it, don't read it! (Might eventually contain hints of Blue and Red, if you look closely ;D )
Once Shadow was certain Vio was definitely asleep, he risked it to move closer and stand near his bedside. It was a sight he'd grown well accustomed to- Vio, sleeping. Not to sound completely creepy, but whenever he wasn't trying to find a way back to this world, he'd spend his time watching Vio.
He hadn't really grown close to any of the other heroes except him, and even now that he'd had the chance to study the others as well, he definitely liked Vio the best. Green was far too noble for him, Red was too much of a crybaby or too bubbly, and Blue would be fun to get into a fight with, but that was about it. Vio was the interesting one, to him.
He was the intelligent member of the team, and the only one to actually do more than blindly run at Shadow and attack him. Granted, it had been to pull a 180 and betray him later on, but still. He knew Vio held a different perspective of him than the others did, probably because of the time they'd spent together in the tower.
Thus, when he'd been trying to find a way back to the others, Vio was the one he focused on. Many a night he'd spent staring at him in anguish, trying to figure out a way into his world, into his head, somehow to get back and tell him that he was still alive. Ish. Eventually he figured his presence must have been having some effect, because Vio started to mumble things in his sleep.
Often it wasn't coherent in the slightest, more like whines, moans or gasps, but sometimes he would say words. Most often, short phrases would slip out like, "Come back," or "Don't go." Whenever Vio's expression was pained and worried, though, was when Shadow heard his name.
It appeared Vio was starting to dream already, as a matter of fact. His eyes squeezed shut a little more tightly, and he rolled onto his side, frowning in his sleep. "Nnnn..." His knees curled slightly more up to his chest as his hands gripped the blanket. Shadow knelt by the side of his bed, watching his expressions with fascination.
Vio's eyes were moving underneath his eyelids, darting back and forth. His lips were parted slightly, and his breathing was quicker than it normally was. Shadow wondered idly what Vio's dreams consisted of- obviously him, in some manner, but what else? Judging by the past, it was likely not a good dream...
He folded his arms on the side of the bed, resting his chin atop them. He was glad Vio was asleep and no one else could see him; it would probably have looked a little strange to be this close under normal circumstances. But he just liked to look at him and watch him do things... Even things as boring as sleeping.
Perhaps it was a little bit weird... He watched as Vio shivered; unnerved, no doubt, because of something from the dream. "Don't do... Stay 'way.." He gritted his teeth, jaw set as he faced something inside his mind.
Shadow reached up, imagining he was playing with Vio's hair and helping to keep him calm as the nightmare progressed. He couldn't really touch him, but he would have if he'd been able to. "Just a dream, Vi... Stick it out..."
He looked to be fighting quite a nasty nightmare, if his tense expression was anything to judge by. He stiffened, and then shuddered violently as he hid his face in his pillow. "Sh'dow..." Shadow was never sure what it meant, the fact that he only heard his name when Vio's nightmares appeared to be at their worst. Either he was the problem or the solution, and he hoped it was the latter. Vio called his name again, more clearly than before. "Shadow..!"
Shadow frowned, hand hovering over Vio's face. "Shh... Nothing's wrong, you're just dreaming. Nothing's gonna hurt you, I promise..." He leaned up so he could more directly whisper to him, hoping he'd be able to hear. "You're fine; I'm fine. We're both okay, Vio."
Vio's expression didn't relax, and to his surprise and slight dismay, Shadow noticed that there were unshed tears coating Vio's pale eyelashes. He frowned, trying to wipe them away, but only succeeding in making Vio shiver violently. Damn...
"Whatever's making you cry, I'm gonna find a way to stop it," Shadow promised quietly. "Somehow or other I'll figure out what's the matter and I'll make it better." The promise did little to help Vio now, but it made Shadow feel better as he sat by Vio throughout the rest of his nightmare.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The next morning Vio woke up early, rubbing his eyes. He didn't remember dreaming last night, which was a blessing. Perhaps seeing Shadow had- Shadow?! He sat up quickly, searching the room for his friend. "Shadow?"
"Right over here, Vi." Shadow's voice came from the corner of his room, hidden in a dark area that the shafts of light from his window wouldn't pierce. "Sorry, got a bit too sunny for me over there."
"You can't stand light still?" Vio frowned, getting up and walking to him.
"Nah- this time it's not cuz of Vaati's powers not being able to take it. Just the plain old fact that I'm not human right now," He folded his arms with a sigh, staring up at Vio from his place seated on the floor. "Sleep okay?"
"Surprisingly, yes," Vio nodded, taking a seat opposite him on the ground. He noticed how Shadow seemed a little surprised at his answer, but decided not to mention it.
"That's good- got any plans for the day?"
"Yes. Talking to you and figuring out this whole mess." Vio informed him. "There's a lot I need to know before I can figure out how to start helping you."
"I'm gonna level with you right now, Vio," Shadow sighed, rubbing his forehead. "There's not a ton I know about this, either. Everything's been sort of guess-and-check, since there's not exactly many people I can talk to in that place."
"Let's just start with 'that place," Vio suggested, making himself comfortable. "Is there a name for it? Do you have something you refer to it by?"
Shadow shrugged. "As far as I know, there's not a name for it. I've kind of been referring to it as hell or the Rift."
"Why Rift?" Vio prodded, curious. "Bit of an odd name for a place."
"Cuz that's just the best way I can think of to describe it." Shadow tapped his fingers on his knee, looking a little nervous at the thought of it. "It's like what I said earlier- it's a place where creatures like me get stuck. It's an in-between, a purgatory, but a little more... Hellish." He cringed.
"Ah..." Vio nodded shortly. "How did you get stuck there?"
"I honestly don't know," Shadow confessed. "Opinion? I tried to go somewhere I wasn't supposed to, and I got shut down for it."
"Go somewhere you weren't suppo... As in, you wanted to go to the Sacred Realm, but were denied access?"
"I think so, yeah." Shadow nodded. "I don't think the Goddesses wanted someone like me in there."
"I'd want you there," Vio frowned. "You gave your life fighting the darkness- I can't imagine why the Goddesses wouldn't want you."
"Oh, I dunno, maybe because I destroyed homes, burned down forests, tried to kill you, and succeeded in killing a ton of other people!" Shadow snapped bitterly. "One good thing probably didn't make enough of a difference in their eyes."
"Without you, we would have died fighting Vaati," Vio contradicted. "It made all the difference for us, and the Goddesses typically look favorably on heroes and their allies."
"Not in this case, apparently," Shadow sighed. "Like I said, I think I got blocked from the Sacred Realm and wound up in the Rift."
"Hn..." Vio rubbed his chin, thinking. "What's inside the Rift? Can you describe it?"
Shadow glanced down, but nodded. "It's dark- I'm not talking about dark like nighttime, when there's still the moon and stars and some other light from homes and stuff, I mean dark like... No light source. It's a living thing, almost, because it gets to the point where you feel it. It has a texture. It doesn't mean you can't see, though- somehow you can still see just enough to get around. There's some sort of barely-there, dim ambient light."
He went on, "The atmosphere of the place is cold; very cold. The air is unnaturally still, though- if you make any noise, it echoes. Everything is silent, though... Everything but me, it seems." He gave a slightly shaky laugh. "You said you heard me breathing even before I showed up? Well, imagine being completely alone in someplace that seems to amplify sound. Imagine it hunting you just by your breath..."
"Hunts? What hunts you?" Vio's frown was pronounced now.
Shadow gave a small laugh, shrugging. "I don't know. Pitch dark, remember? I've never seen it clearly- it's just something I can feel right behind me... I've literally felt its hands on my arms before, but it never does anything. It just lurks, waiting..."
"Maybe it's not hostile?" Vio suggested halfheartedly..
"No, it's out for blood," Shadow immediately refuted. "It wants to kill me, I know it. It's not the only thing, either- there's more than one monster trapped in there like me, but I figure I'm probably one of the smallest things there and the only thing without claws. Well, sort of." He held up his hands, where his nails tapered to jagged points. "But you get the idea- I'm the prey there."
"Huh... I see your point," Vio nodded slowly. "The other day, right before you appeared, I saw something... It was tall, and looked vaguely like a human, but.. It had sort of blank sockets for eyes, and its mouth was covered by skin. Its skin was bright white on its face only, and essentially its entire torso comprised of a sideways mouth. Does that sound like something that could come from the Rift?"
As Vio had been speaking, Shadow's expression had settled into a concerned scowl. "Shit..." He swore lowly. "That's definitely from there, yeah. I have no idea how something that big got out, too..."
"That's something else I've been meaning to ask," Vio perked up. "How did you get to this point? I remember you saying something like, 'you'd already done so much' to get here, and that you'd 'done everything right' and it still didn't work. What did you do to get here?"
Shadow fiddled with the hem of his tunic, shrugging again. "It's kind of hard to explain."
"I'm capable of understanding pretty complex things, as you know," Vio reminded him.
"True," Shadow acknowledged. "Well, I'll tell you what I can. I wandered in there for a really long time- probably the first four months- pretty much scared outta my mind." He adjusted his position a bit, stretching.
"I had no idea where I really was, but I knew it wasn't the right place. Occasionally I would catch glimpse of light; if we go with the saying that our universe is made of fabric, then they must have been tiny tears. So I figured wherever the hell I was, there were ways out."
"But those tears were maybe the size of my palm, at their largest, and they never stayed open very long. I tried at some point sticking a rock of some sort through the tear, thinking maybe it would stay open since there was something inside it. Nah, it melted the rock clean in half."
"So you physically trying to widen and escape through one of the rips wasn't exactly a viable option," Vio summed up. "I see. Then what did you do?"
"This is where things get fun." Shadow sighed. "I said earlier that I didn't know of anything big that could dimension hop like I was trying to do. I've seen some small things do it, though. Kind of like rats, they were almost able to chew the holes wider and slip through."
"So what, you chewed on a portal?"
"Very funny, Vio; no." Shadow rolled his eyes, rubbing his shoulder absently. "Vaati created me purely out of magic; an incredible thing, on a side note. It takes a lot of skill to be able to just whip up a humanoid creature with correct motor skills, brain capacity, all that shit. And then to alter it to be able to wield a certain degree of magic, and do things like actually use shadows... Even though his power was destroyed when I shattered the Dark Mirror, magic is in my blood. I can't use nearly as much as I could before, but I still have some. And I can find other magic users."
"Let me guess- there was some sort of sorcerer in there with you, huh?" Vio guessed.
"Something like that, yeah," Shadow nodded. "It took me ages to track him down, cuz I'm not as familiar with non-human signatures, but I eventually found someone who seemed to know enough about magic that he could be able to help me."
A bit of explaining and shit going on- setting things up to kick plot into action :P It's a tad boring right now, but once I get the explaining and figuring outta the way, they can get to the doing! And that's where things will be fun! x9
R&R always appreciated thanks for reading!
-Artimus-Maora