Teaching Darkness: Flux C13

It was probably two in the morning until at least Dark fell asleep. That made Mephiles a bit relieved, as he was silently worried that staying up so late right at this time would affect Dark as far as the problem went.

He had a bit of an idea as to why Dark probably felt more comfortable on his side, even. Instinct probably prevented him from laying on his back, as common with many creatures (their front having many vulnerable areas, like belly, chest and throat...), and he was probably worried that sleeping on his front would trigger another bad memory, now that he was aware of a fraction of what happened...

Mephiles couldn't help but smile a little at what he ended up with: something that would make even a cat jealous. Arms drawn close, shielding his front and face, hands curled slightly and palms inward, and the rest of the body curled in something resembling a fetal position.

He looked quite content, even. Perhaps he wasn't going to have nightmares for the rest of the night..?

Unable to fall asleep at the moment himself, Mephiles sat there, half watching him as he thought to himself about what Dark had said earlier.

Maybe he had been startled or upset enough about the nightmare that his mind continued to be cruel to him, perhaps because he was half asleep, or just drained emotionally and physically?

But... Could Mephiles really call it cruel... If an illusion of Dark's former tormentor hadn't done anything remotely threatening? Dark stated that it was simply there. That's all. Just... there.

Before he could contemplate further, his sensitive ears picked up the softest change in Dark's breathing pattern. Then a quick inhale followed. Then a soft, uncomfortable and barely audible moan.

Checking the clock for a moment, Mephiles saw that a half hour had passed since Dark fell asleep. Was he being plagued by bad dreams again..?

Tossing his own blanket aside, Mephiles crawled over to Dark carefully and quietly, sitting down and leaning against the bed frame to support his back. He frowned slightly to himself once was able to see him a bit more, silently hating his inability to see clearly in the night.

It was hard to explain. Nothing seemed wrong, but at the same time, something didn't seem right.

For whatever numbered time this was, having lost track long ago, his placed a hand on Dark's forehead carefully, remembering how earlier, he had the beginnings of a fever. Mephiles tried to be careful enough to not wake him, but Dark's eyes opened a little, whatever small amount of light in the room reflecting a bit from them in a manner similar to a cat. Mephiles figured that was how he could see in the dark better than him.

Dark mumbled something pitifully about heat and shoved the blanket on him off, curling up more, shivering now.

He did have a fever, and Mephiles frowned slightly at him removing the blanket, especially since it was winter.

He pulled it on him again, only to have Dark shove it away again.

"Dark..." He whispered. "That fever's a little higher... You need to keep that on..."

"... Huh... hot... go... go 'way..." Dark mumbled, clearly not fully awake, as he slurred his words little.

"... I know... But you'll feel better if you break that fever before morning..." Mephiles said softly, keeping a hand on Dark's arm so he couldn't shove the blanket away again. "... Just go back to sleep, okay..? Please..?" He paused for a moment and added: "... Come to think of it, that one blanket might not be thick enough... I should-"

"... No..." Dark shook his head a little, trying to push himself off the floor. "... Don't need it... Too hot..."

Mephiles gave him a look of concern.

"Trust me, I've been sick enough to know what I'm talking about..." He said as Dark's body started to quiver, perhaps from trying to get up when he wasn't feeling well. Mephiles frowned in concern again, and decided that he should just put an arm around his shoulders and keep him supported if he so was intent on trying to get up.

As soon as he did, Dark leaned against him, as if finding him more comfortable than the floor, eyes drifting shut again as Mephiles twitched and tried to stutter a protest.

"Hey!" He said in a whisper, trying not wake Rouge and Shadow. "Y-you can't sleep on me! I can't sit like this all night, I wanna lay down! You're not the only one who's tired!"

He tried to push him back down to the floor so he'd could be laying, but Dark quickly brought both arms up and clung to him, not realizing that that was something he would never admit to doing if he was his usual self. Something that made Mephiles feel very awkward.

"Now, really!" Mephiles tried to pry him off. "I'm only going to be a few feet away... It's not like I'm leaving you all by yourself!"

"... They go 'way 'round you..." Dark muttered, shaking his head slowly.

"Who does what now?" Mephiles blinked, confused by his words. "What do you mean?"

"... What makes me bad... Goes 'way 'round you..."

Mephiles froze, a little startled by that. What was that supposed to mean..?

"... Noth-You're not bad..." He tried to reassure as he stopped trying to shove him away now. "... Maybe a bit misguided... But you're not bad..." He shook his head. "... Get that terrible thought out of your mind... There's nothing wrong with you..." He half lied.

Dark looked up at him with half closed eyes, failing miserably at stifling a yawn, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as he rolled his tongue and stretched a bit.

"... Why was I in that hospital..?"

Mephiles went a little stiff. For him being half asleep, Dark sure was able to understand things a bit too well. The hedgehog cursed to himself.

"... You were sick... Happens to all of us..." Mephiles didn't want to tell him the truth, that Dark was possibly suffering from some kind of personality altering affliction that hurt him at night. That it was expected to get worse the more he was exposed to the dark.

Dark didn't seem to question that, thankfully.

"... You believe me... Right..?" He added, yawning again. "... 'bout what I saw..?"

Mephiles didn't answer right away. He wanted to tell him "yes" simply because it would make Dark feel a little better, unaware as to why that made Mephiles uneasy. But he would be lying if he said that, as he could not see any possible reason that would allow it. He guessed that it was probably remnants of something... He couldn't hope to explain it, but he knew it was something... Something that Dark insisted on. As far as he was concerned now... He believed that Dark saw it, he just didn't believe he himself would see it anyway...

Pushing a curled hand into his forehead, closing his eyes, he took a breath as Dark waited for an answer.

"... I believe you saw something..." He said carefully, half opening his eyes and staring ahead. "... Who knows..? Maybe you can see more than I can understand..."

"... What's that mean..?" Dark frowned slightly.

"I don't know... You usually understand more than me..." Mephiles shook his head and lowered it. "... I don't even know what's going on anymore..." He added truthfully. Then he said in an all too quite voice that only he could really hear: "... I won't let anyone hurt you again..."

The soft glow of light greeted his senses and he opened his eyes, squeezing them shut quickly, rubbing at them to try and get rid of the burning feel for a moment.

He realized that he had spent the night sitting against the bed, which would explain the stiffness in his back. He pried an eye open and blushed, seeing that Dark was still leaning on and clinging to him, having fallen asleep there.

Shifting his eyes to the alarm clock, his face deepened in redness when he saw that it was ten in the morning! No doubt that Shadow and Rouge saw him, since as far as he could tell, they were not in the room... How embarrassing!

After trying to be as careful as possible, Mephiles managed to pry loose, and set him down without waking him. Which seemed an impossible miracle, much to his relief.

He quickly left the room, hoping that his face would stop blushing before anyone said anything. He found Shadow, gloveless, in the kitchen trying to mend his broken model with a tiny bottle of something that read "Super Glue". Mephiles thought it looked too clear and watery to be like the glue he was used to seeing, found it's scent it left in the air to be too irritating and wondered what made it so "Super".

He sat down in a chair across from Shadow, looking around.

"Where's Rouge..?"

"Picking up a couple things at the store..." Shadow didn't look up, holding two small pieces together carefully before letting them go, pleased to see they stayed together.

Mephiles watched him for a moment, thinking about what he should get to eat. Because of his milk allergy, it made it difficult to have a wide range of choices in the morning that wouldn't make him sick.

"I see someone's a teddy bear now..."

Mephiles went stiff and turned his wide eyes on Shadow, who seemed to be trying not to smirk, finding that funny.

Mephiles swallowed and cleared his throat a little, sitting a bit more comfortably.

"N-not like I have done that to you before..." He said in a small voice, looking down at his hand on the table as his cheeks went red again. "He had a f-fever last night, and that was the only way I could keep him from getting up... Didn't mean to fall asleep like that... Back's all sore now..."

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with that..." Shadow looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.

Mephiles narrowed his eyes a little at his tone.

"You're mocking me, aren't you?" He said slowly.

Before he could go any further on this, he looked up and saw Dark leaning in the doorway. Mephiles quickly flashed a smile.

"Oh, hey! Feel better this morning?" Dark gave him a confused look, so he explained quickly. "You had a fever last night, and you fell asleep-"

"Clutching him like a stuffed animal." Shadow finished before Mephiles had a chance to word it.

Mephiles glared at his tone and words.

"Which has nothing wrong with it!" Mephiles added loudly as soon as Dark blinked and opened his eyes more in surprise, mouth hanging open.

Dark then spun around and disappeared from sight as Mephiles tried to call him back. He rounded on Shadow.

"You're mean sometimes, you know that, right..?" He glared.

Dark hadn't gone far, as it turned out. He had headed back to the room and, I kid you not, hid under the blanket quite unsuccessfully.

Mephiles stifled a quiet laugh, and headed over to him, kneeling down and pulling the cover off him, finding him to be staring at him embarrassedly before staring at the ground, then folding his arms on the floor, and burying his face in them as if to hide, his face a deep red.

"You embarrassed?"

Dark just grunted in response, lifting his head a little in unison.

"Ah, don't worry..." Mephiles gave a nervous laugh. "Shadow's always like that... The both you always try to get each other's goat..."

"... What..?" Dark said flatly.

"You both kinda mess with each other."

"... Why?" Dark lifted his head up and looked at him questioningly. "... It sounded like he was mocking me... Not for fun, but just to be a bit mean spirited..."

Mephiles exhaled through his nose slowly and looked away before turning his attention back to Dark.

"... Knowing him, he probably was trying to rub your fur the wrong way... Which, if you were yourself, would have probably worked..." The hedgehog closed his eyes and shrugged. "You probably would have jumped him, or flipped table over, or destroyed that model just to spite him... Or some combination of the three..."

"... Would I really do that..?" Dark's eyes opened a bit more.

Mephiles looked at him. As much as he wanted to tell him "No", he knew he'd be lying. He couldn't ignore the rotten truth that Dark was generally ill mannered.

"... I'm not gonna lie... You get frustrated easily..." He tried wording it right. "... But... Y'know..? You... Eh... you're different than everyone else. You're different than me... Very much so..."

"How so? We look a lot alike..."

"Well, yeah..." Mephiles snorted, shaking his head while trying to hide a smile. "Duh... But I mean who you are. I'm easily afraid of anything remotely scary. I'm actually quite surprised the fur on my face isn't permanently stained from all the times I've cried for whatever reason. My quills will actually drop off if you (not 'you' you, so we're clear) can scare me enough..." He explained to a very curious Dark. "You, on the other hand, are tough. Yeah, you might have gotten freaked out or upset more than once... But you've stood up to things that I would have never tried on my own. Oh, if only you could remember some of those right now... A lot of them involve rescuing me, or keeping me out of harm's way... You have no idea how amazing and brilliant some of them are!" Before Mephiles knew it, he was gushing about them almost fanatically. "Like when you helped keep me from freezing to death! Or when I was poisoned, I got better quickly because of you! And that time when-" He cut himself off, catching himself before he spoke too much. He shook his head. "S-sorry... I shouldn't be telling you this if you can't remember..."

Dark stared at him for a moment, then at the ground in thought, then back at him.

"... I remember... Some things..." He said with hesitation. Mephiles looked at him curiously. "... Pieces... I remember bits and pieces..." Dark grabbed his head in frustration, scrunching his eyes shut as he recited: "Some time ago, there came into existence this hedgehog. He was much like his siblings in appearance and was really nothing out of the ordinary…" He opened an eye and stared at Mephiles. "... There's more to it, I'm sure... It feels like a story..."

Mephiles blinked then smiled a little.

"That... That's the story you told me when I nearly froze to death in that avalanche!" The smile broadened. "It's about me. You told me it so I didn't stop digging out."

"I did..?"

Mephiles nodded.

"I thought that you just flat out forgot the story, even before you got your head hit." Mephiles looked overjoyed. "But... You remember it... You remember something good... That's good!"

"Not all of it..." Dark frowned a little, sighing loudly.

"Who cares? You. Remember. Something. Good." Mephiles grinned, grabbing him and pulling him to his feet, catching him in a hug, Dark staring at him wide eyed. "Let's go find something to eat... I think we still have some melon left. Interested?"

"... Is he still in there?" Dark moved his hands to try and pry himself away, but gave up.

"Who? Shadow?"

Dark nodded slowly.

"Yeah, but don't let him get to you. In fact..." Mephiles finally let go. "I wonder what would happen if he noticed you being nice... Probably blow his mind..." The hedgehog giggled.

Dark looked him in thought. He smiled slightly, snorting at the thought.

When the both of them returned to the kitchen, Dark took a seat in a chair not too far from Shadow.

Shadow looked at him side wise.

"Yes..? Can I help you?"

"... That has the same colors as you..."

Shadow moved his project closer.

"I am aware of that... don't you have something else to do..?"

"Shadow... he's just trying to be nice..." Mephiles shook his head as he opened the fridge. There was a large plastic bowl quarter filled with assorted fruit in it.

Shadow exhaled through his nose and looked back at Dark before shouting: "Hey! Don't-!"

"Oh, c'mon! What could he possibly do that would-?"

"No! I mean that he just put his arm on the towel I just used to wipe off some glue!"

Mephiles looked back at them and saw the towel dangling off Dark's raised arm as he stared at it in confusion.

"Well, get it off him..." Mephiles shrugged.

Shadow sighed and looked back at him.

"Alright... hold his arm down, please..."

"Why?"

"Just do it..."

Just as Rouge entered through the front door, holding one large paper bag sideways as she balanced two more on top, she heard a tearing sound, a shriek of pain that sounded unmistakably like Dark and Mephiles shouting: "Oh!That's why they call it 'Super Glue'!"