literature

Teaching Darkness: Flux C57 Part 1

Deviation Actions

RaeLogan's avatar
By
Published:
841 Views

Literature Text

In an odd twist, several days later, it would be Dark to be the one to wake up because one of them sensed something... off.

Hearing a series of quiet but familiar whimpers, Dark lifted his head up groggily to look around the room in a bleary fashion, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. The small cat curled up beside him squeaked at the movement and rooted deeper beneath the blanket.

Well, the room was empty save for the intended occupants. The house was not on fire, nor was it flooding. Not a single strange other worldly entity was standing about, watching him like some voyeur or whatever. The rain outside was drumming the window, and a slight rumble was heard in the distance, so that was the sound there. And his head felt more silent than it had been in weeks. What could the disturbance be..?

Yawning and shifting his attention the other bed, twitching his ears, he caught another sound, this time a low howl of dread, and a set of crystal coated hands were pulling a pillow over a head, to hide.

... Is... Is Mephy having a nightmare..? Dark was suddenly more alert, but still uncertain. ... Should I wake him up, or get someone..?

Knowing that Mephiles did not suffer from the same parasomnias as himself, and so the likelihood of being attacked out of confusion was very slim, Dark decided to risk waking him up himself.

At the touch on the shoulder, the hedgehog jumped and sat up partially, far too quickly to have actually been asleep to begin with, given that Mephiles was known for being an incredibly hard-to-rouse sleeper whenever the hedgehog dozed off.

"... Were you even asleep to begin with?" Dark raised an eyebrow in concern.

Mephiles' ears were perked up in alertness, with the hedgehog staring ahead with an almost fearfully captivated expression. Another rumble from outside caused him to grasp his ears, pull down and moan miserably in a quiet tone as a distant flicker of light happened several seconds later.

It took Dark a moment, but he finally realized why Mephiles was so upset.

"... You're scared of the thunder outside, aren't you..?" Dark knew plenty of possible valid reasons as to why the hedgehog could be afraid, ranging from the noise itself, to the natural born instinct to run, to the sheer amount of untamed electricity striking down from the sky (though Dark knew that lightning actually started from the ground first).

Mephiles looked at where he could see the reflective shine from Dark's eyes, bitting down on his lip, not answering right away.

"... I g-guess that wouldn't s-surprise you..." He mumbled after fifteen second pause, holding his hands over his ears, eyes very wide. "... S-since I'm sc-scared of j-just about everything..."

"Actually, no, it doesn't very much." Dark shook his head and shrugged lightly while Mephiles groaned again. "But it's not for that reason. For one, your ears are very sensitive. And I could go on and on about all the things that could happen because of lightning, but I don't think I want to make you feel any worse than you already do."

"... G-great... Now I know it's p-possible for th-things to go wrong..." The hedgehog whimpered as another bout of thunder was heard, followed by a slightly brighter flash of light that didn't quite reach the room yet, and the hedgehog buried himself deeper into his blankets.

"I'm really not good at this, can you tell?" Dark huffed, mentally kicking himself.

Yet another roar of thunder, much louder than before, cracked somewhere directly above the house, and filled the room with perhaps the brightest light Dark could ever think of having seen.

The both of them screamed in fright and in seconds, the door was flung open and the hedgehog and the shadow scrambled out in a panic, stopping at the other bedroom door and pounding their fists on it in rapid succession.

The door was opened by half asleep Rouge, a little surprised that anyone had knocked on her door for the first time in months, and even a little more surprised to see Mephiles standing there, covering his ears, and Dark there holding his hands over his eyes, peering through his fingers timidly, both of them whimpering almost pitifully (though, she had heard them shout to begin with, hence why she had gotten to the door so quickly after they had knocked.

"... Let me guess..." She held up a hand to gesture for them to not speak, and pointed to Mephiles first. "Thunder." Then she pointed to Dark. "Lightning."

Both nodded anxiously, flinching when another loud roar and flash of light filled the house. Mephiles looked at Rouge, wondering why she wasn't reacting to the sound like he was, and she noticed him staring at her ears.

"Earplugs." She gave a small smile, reaching up to adjust them a little to clear up her hearing just enough to hear any verbal responses. "And before you ask: Yes, you can if you want to."

Mephiles' eyes brightened a little behind the nerve wracked stare he had gained from fearing the weather outside, while Dark, who tried to hide his anxiety of having another sensory assault from another bright flash, merely lifted his ears to acknowledge the statement without appearing foolishly excited like a child.  

Ten minutes later saw to it that their basic bedding (as well as the Chao egg, two other Chao, and a cat...) was retrieved and set up near their old spots on the floor, and beneath the blue blanket you would find a shadow trying to shield his eyes, while sitting on top of the purple blanket was the hedgehog holding a pillow over his ears, shuddering ever so slightly.

"Hold on, let's try something here." Rouge said, stepping to the dresser and pulling open a drawer to dig through it before retrieving a couple items. "See if these help..."

Mephiles looked up at her and eyed the earplugs in her hand, still holding the pillow over his ears tightly with both hands. He didn't seem to want to take the chance to leave his ears exposed for even a few seconds if he was to use them, but he didn't want to seem rude for being hesitant about the offer.

"Don't worry, they'll work a lot better than the pillow, kid." Rouge said gently, getting level with him and trying to coax Mephiles into using them. "Frees up your hands more, and you'll be able to sleep on it better."

Mephiles made a meek sound and shook his head a little, biting down on his lip, wide eyes starting to brim with tears. He wasn't purposely being stubborn, he was just a little anxious and fussy because of the weather outside, thunder rattling in his poor sensitive ears and invoking that instinctual need to run and hide.

"No? How about if I hold the pillow still while you slide your hands under and put them in that way, then?" Rouge still tried to convince him as carefully as she could.

It was at least a minute before Mephiles finally spoke up, having just whimpered and moaned fearfully until he had.

"... I-I'm not b-being a b-baby, y-y'know..?" He stuttered, blinking and appearing briefly annoyed with himself for letting a few tears drop. "... I-it's a p-perfectly logical th-thing to b-be a-af-fraid of, isn't it..? I-it hurts m-my ears..." He looked up at her timidly. "... A-and wh-what if i-it-?"

"It won't." She said reassuringly before he could even word it, which caused him to give her a strange look. "You don't have to say what you're afraid of happening because of the weather out there, because you're where it's safe."

Mephiles responded with another low howl of apprehension at another crack of thunder, which sounded, if possible, a little less loud than the previous one, but no less frightening.

Shadow, who has remarkably been sound asleep, snoring, despite most of the noise, finally snorted and opened an eye, blearily surveying the situation as he pushed up from the floor and rubbed at his other eye with the heel of his palm.

Upon seeing an upset Mephiles once he peered around the corner of the bed, Shadow immediately frowned, not in annoyance, mind you.

"Alright, what happened this time?"

Mephiles quickly hung his head low when he heard Shadow's flat tone, quite convinced that Shadow would not approve of him being... Oh, what was the term Shadow used sometimes..? A sissy... Yeah, that sounded about right.

"The thunder's making his ears hurt and he doesn't exactly want to let go of the pillow to put these earplugs in." Rouge explained, making sure her word choice was not suggesting that Mephiles was actually more frightened of the thunder than the sound itself's effect on his ears. "And Dark said the light flashes are hurting his eyes, so he's under the blanket over there."

"... Just so we're clear, I wasn't scared..." A low growl sounded from the blue fabric lump on the floor. "... My eyes just hurt..."

"I got something for that too, actually." Rouge said without taking her eyes of Mephiles. "Just as soon as I take care of this..."

The lump shifted and moved closer, almost in an inchworm fashion, until well within reach, and a hand inched out from underneath the blanket, trying to locate said item as it groped along the floor.

"It's not there."

"... Mephy, could you hurry up so that I could get my thing, too, please..?" Dark grunted, withdrawing back in at another sound of thunder. "... I'm running out of breathable air under here, too, but my eyes still feel very sensitive to light changes, so I'm not coming out until I've got something for that..."

This seemed to spark a bit of motivation with Mephiles on getting those earplugs in, much to everyone's relief.

But, mere seconds after getting them in place, the hedgehog seemed agitated again, reaching up to claw at them (which now brought up the need to pin his arms until he calmed down) almost hysterically, crying out louder than he normally would, due to the warped sound perception he now had from muffling his ears: "EVERYTHING SOUNDS VERY WRONG!"

This caused them to have to explain, after he managed to free an arm and dig out one of the earplugs frantically, for what felt like ten minutes, that it was perfectly normal to block out a lot of the ambient sounds he was very used to, as well as it was alright that it was in no way damaging to his ears, among other things the hedgehog was rattling on and on about fearfully.

Dark had a brief, similar reaction to the eye cover he was given (in fact, the very same one Mephiles had brought for him prior to them being separated), in which he tore it off his face (not in a damaging way, mind you), and flung it across the room with a quick shout, trembling for a short while before immediately catching and composing himself, flushing furiously.

"... S-sorry... A b-bit too dark..." He folded his arms and looked at the floor, squeezing his eyes shut at another flash of lightning.

"How can something be 'too dark' for you?" Shadow stated loudly, mostly exasperated by the fact that there where two young boys in the room that were not being very cooperative in any attempts to help, and furthermore, one of them was being uncharacteristically difficult and borderline inconsolable.

Dark opened an eye a little and glared back, frowning slightly.

"... Of course you would have forgotten why..." He huffed under his breath, fidgeting a bit as if trying to keep himself from lashing out at him. "... I just like being able to see what's around me..."

Whatever response Shadow had set up was quickly extinguished when Mephiles gave him that particular "... Don't you dare..." look, so he wisely held it back, and everyone eventually settled in for the night once Mephiles' ears and Dark's eyes were each given a proper defense against the thunder and lightning.


"Y'know... I don't think I can really ever recall seeing you be this happy before..." Mephiles said, smiling his small smile as he sat on the couch, holding the Chao on his lap, his legs crossed, touching his fingers against the shell for any new signs of activity in there, wondering how long until it hatched. "... It's nice..."

Dark, who was busy piecing together a puzzle of ten thousand pieces, each one easily being fitted into a proper spot without hesitation before he picked up the next one, looked up with his eyes.

"It's just a puzzle..."

"No... I mean..." Mephiles shook his head and fumbled in his mind for a suitable explanation. "... You're not draped over the arm of the couch, or... With your head on the table, looking sad..."

"Because I'm not depressed right now, Mephy." Dark bit back a small grin for some strange reason, and continued his project, piecing two pieces together that had been plucked out of the pile on the floor, incredibly the proper pieces that belonged together. "... It's a cycle, most of the time, that I can hardly control... It helps to have external influences, however..." He set the pieces aside and grabbed two more. "... It'll come back, eventually, like always..."

"... I wish it wouldn't..." Mephiles mumbled, drooping his ears and fidgeting his fingers. "... I don't like it when you're sad... It makes me sad, too, when you are..."

"An unfortunate side effect of your empathic abilities, no doubt." Dark stated as if that was the simple answer, seemingly missing the entire point. Four more pieces were locked together. "It really can't be helped if you feel what I do... And I can't help just how I feel sometimes..." Dark mumbled almost sourly, pressing a piece too hard and bending it near the center unintentionally. He didn't seem to notice.

"... I know... But..." Mephiles said in a quiet voice, as if worried about invoking a fit if he continued to press further. "... I don't like seeing you sad... Especially when nothing I do can really help much..."

"... Well, that doesn't mean you should stop trying." Dark paused in his activity, but continued to stare ahead, not looking at the hedgehog. "... It helps more than you think. Trust me."

"... Yeah... But..." Mephiles added anxiously. "... I just wish you'd be able to be... Less sad, you know..?"

"... I am, right now..."

"... No, I mean overall..." Mephiles fidgeted again, this time only slightly. "... It's the one thing about you that I wish I could change..."

Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say. Maybe the word choice could have been better selected. The time could have just been the least appropriate time to let that slip.

Because almost instantly, Mephiles felt an almost crippling sensation spike through him, shocking the very breath out of his lungs. Gasping harshly to get a good inhale of air before he passed out from oxygen deprivation by this involuntary reaction, he looked back at Dark with watering eyes, the hedgehog knowing that the feeling had not been entirely on his own accord.

Dark himself had slumped forward and curled inward, huddled into a defensive ball, shuddering, rocking slightly and burying his face in his hands, as if wanting to hide or disappear altogether. He was clearly upset, and Mephiles quickly thought back to figure what must have caused this abrupt change in demeanor and emotion.

Mephiles couldn't tell if his heart sank any more than it felt, because Dark's emotions were almost overriding his own, but he realized the possible trigger.

... I just said I wanted to change something about him... Mephiles thought, tearing up again, feeling like he wanted to kick himself at the very least. ... He probably heard that as me saying something about him wasn't good enough! That's not what I meant at all!

Sniffling loudly, trying to keep himself from losing it altogether from feeling more than his own emotions, the hedgehog tried to come up with a solution to restore calm and order, and quickly. Preferably quietly, too... The last thing needed right now would be for the situation to escalate quickly from a misunderstanding by someone who wasn't here when this started.

Dark shifted a little, and though his back was facing Mephiles, the hedgehog could see that his arms were now crossed on the floor, his head buried in them, humming some tuneless melody. He was no less upset than he was minutes ago.

Mephiles carefully pushed the large egg aside and slid off the couch and to the floor, biting his lip to try and focus on not bursting into tears.

... Maybe if I think happy thoughts... I'll be able to think more clearly... He blinked, trying to control his breathing, as he was close to crying anyway, now. ... I need to do something right now that'll snap him out of it for sure...

Knowing that with Dark withdrawn as he was at the moment, the hedgehog's usual method of merely wrapping his arms around his dear shadow brother to comfort him, would do more harm than good right now. Dark would likely have a fit at the contact, regardless that it was nothing more than Mephy doing so, and thus might provoke an unintended lash out, which would cause the both of them to be even more upset... And at least one of them injured in someway.

Recalling that there was still at least a serving of the assorted fruit left, with four pieces of Dark's most favorite part... Mephiles quickly retrieved the container from the fridge, popped the top open, and set it down in front of Dark, hoping the idea of a favored treat would entice the distraught shadow to uncurl from his little shell and listen to the apology and assurance that the words were not meant to have meant as they had sounded.

Without looking up or raising his head at all, Dark lifted his hand and shoved the plastic bowl away, not even seeming to care or notice the contents inside.

"... D-Did you even notice the c-cantaloupe in it..?" Mephiles stated in moderate surprise, pushing the bowl back in place. Dark must indeed be very upset, if he was to refuse his favorite food. The hedgehog felt even worse for triggering this state.

Dark raised his hand again, this time smacking it down, catching the edge of the bowl and toppling it over, spilling the fruit on the carpet. Then he continuously beat the side of his fist on the floor, crushing and smearing fruit on each strike.

"... You're m-making a mess, D-Dark..." Mephiles sighed in exasperation, wondering if he'll ever manage to calm him down before attention was drawn to them once Shadow and Rouge got back from the market. "... C'mon, now..." He slid his hand, palm side up, under where Dark's fist was going to hit next, and quickly caught it in an awkward hold, reaching his other hand over to grab it better, locking his fingers around Dark's at the knuckles. "... It's alright... Th-That wasn't what I meant at all..."

Feeling the restraint on his hand, realizing that he wasn't able to move it the same way as he had been seconds ago, Dark quickly tried to pull it free, still not looking up, and managing a low howl of dread when he couldn't pull it back.

"... D-Dark.. It's j-just me..." Mephiles loosened his grip a little to let Dark slip his hand free, realizing that restraining Dark at all would likely cause him to panic. Darn, he was starting to run out of options. The holding his hand idea didn't work. The cantaloupe didn't work. Hugging him seemed almost ludicrous at this point, if he liked his arms where they were.

... What if I rub his back or pet his head or something similar... The hedgehog pondered, clearing the tears from his eyes as be did. ... It's still contact, but it's not restricting...

Not expecting an answer from anyone anyway, he went ahead and cautiously reached for Dark's head, placing his hand on it before sliding his fingers carefully along the direction the fur and quills grew, stopping when he reached where it was nothing but quills, and moved his hand back to where he started, repeating the action.

Dark went tense and the humming stopped. He lifted his head slightly, cheeks damp and eyes glaring at Mephiles in such a way that the hedgehog froze with his action, somewhat scared now. Mephiles blinked and recovered a little from being stunned.

"... Um... I-I.." He stuttered, fumbling to get the words right to explain. "... Th-that didn't... I d-didn't-"

"Dire said that you are always looking for something wrong with me." Dark growled, folding his ears even further back. "Said that you weren't satisfied with the way I am."

"Wha-what! When did-! How c-could-!" Mephiles squeaked and sputtered in shock, wide eyes and horrified. "When d-did he s-say that! He's b-been gone for c-couple months now!"

"... He started saying that when he let me know he was there..." Dark hid his face again, mumbling now and slumping his curled form a little. "... I know he's gone, but what he said about you still hurts... Even if I know it's not true..."

"..." Mephiles was stunned quite effectively, seemingly at a loss for words before he recovered again, frowning sadly. "... Dark... D-Do you honestly think for even a s-second that I'd would h-hurt you like that?"

There was an awkward pause, and Mephiles nearly burst into tears from the silence before Dark finally answered.

"... N-No... It just sounded... wrong at the moment..." Dark whispered, lifting his head again just enough to stare. "... I simply overreacted... S-sorry..."

"... That d-doesn't s-seem so s-simple to me..." Mephiles lifted his ears slightly, not changing his expression. "... Th-there's more to it, isn't there..?"

Dark buried his face again and grunted, not really giving a clear verbal answer.

Mephiles took a deep breath and reached a hand to the shadow's shoulder, setting it on it gently, watching Dark for any signs or warning that a strike was headed the hedgehog's way for making contact when he was upset.

"Why don't you tell me about it..?"

"... I don't wanna talk about that... That thing..." Dark growled, giving a forceful shrug to try and shake the hand off his shoulder, but Mephiles managed to keep it on. "... I don't wanna think about any of that... I just wanna forget it..."

"... D-Dark... I hardly even know what happened to you..." Mephiles reasoned. "I'm not asking you to relive it or t-tell everything at once... But it would be nice t-to know just how and why you got hurt so bad!"

Dark went stiff again. He lifted his head a little higher than the previous attempts, eyes narrowed.

"... Typical... You're the one who ends up in a coma after being beaten to a pulp, and yet you think I'm the one who's worse off..." There was a ghost of a smile hidden on his face at the thought. "... Do you ever once think of yourself first..?"

"... Not really..." Mephiles' face flushed a little. "... I mean, I went all over the planet to get you back... That says something, doesn't it..?"

"... Yes..." Dark said slowly, softening his glare a little. He still hasn't sat up from the floor yet. "... Yes, I believe it does..."

"That's what I figured, too." Mephiles gave a small smile, patting Dark on the back, which Dark flinched at a few times before relaxing just as soon as the hedgehog rested his hand there. "Now, what's on your mind?"

"Fur and quills." Dark said flatly, but could hardly hide the smirk once he saw Mephiles' bewildered, caught-off-guard look.

Mephiles blinked.

"That's on your head. I mean 'what are you thinking?'" Mephiles shook his head.

"Thoughts" Dark said without hesitation, eyes glinting with amusement at Mephiles' reactions.

"No! Like: What's going on in your brain?" The hedgehog was getting flustered.

"Synapses" Dark bit back a laugh, finding this quite enjoyable.

"I-I don't even know what those are!" Mephiles shouted in exasperation, waving his hands in frustration.

Dark laughed. Not a crazed one. Or broken in an attempt to hide behind it. Or hysterical from lack of sleep or mind numbing trauma. Or even weak, or otherwise unnerving or sad laugh. An actual, genuine, honestly amused laugh. Perhaps a bit too soft, really, but nevertheless, quite noticeable.

"What's so funny..?" Mephiles was surprised, as he couldn't recall the last time Dark had laughed like that, if at all. He had gotten so used to Dark either being depressed or only laughing madly when under a lot of stress, that he had forgotten altogether what Dark's laugh was like.

"... Such a silly hedgehog..." Dark finally picked himself up off the floor and sat more comfortably, small smile still present.

"... Hmm?" Mephiles looked at him in confusion now. "... How am I silly?"

"No special reason, other than because I say so."

Mephiles blinked, not forgetting the whole reason this part of the conversation had started.

"... If you say so..."

"That's what I said."

"I know, but..." Mephiles raised his eyebrows. "... Uh... Hey... You, um... You want me to get you anything..?"

"... What kind of 'anything'..?"

"... I dunno. Like, tea or something..?" Mephiles shrugged nervously, watching him closely. "Something to make you feel a little better..."

"... Hmm..." Dark thought for a moment, trying to decide if he could think of anything worth asking for. "... I suppose asking for the leftover fruit would be a bad idea, considering I just managed to crush the majority of it into the carpet..."

"Yeah, I should probably clear that up before it sets." Mephiles nodded slowly as Dark blushed a little from embarrassment once he completely realized as to how the fruit managed to get all over the side of his hand as well as smeared into the carpet. "... Oh, don't worry. It really wasn't your fault... I just said the wrong choice of words and that really upset you." The hedgehog reached a hand out to the shadow's back, trying to give a reassuring gesture. "Whatever it must've sounded like to you, it's not what I meant at all. I meant that, if I could, I'd make it to where you'd never get so depressed again, and you could be happier more."

"... I said I was sorry for overreacting..."

"I'm not blaming you for anything." Mephiles drooped his ears again. "... Uh... Hey, do you know if we can get Iblis to come over here today..?"

"... You have just as much contact with him as I do..." Dark raised his eyebrows this time.

"Well, he's your twin, so I thought you might have some kinda... Oh, y'know, that thing twins do..." The hedgehog scratched his head.

"And what exactly do you think twins do, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Y'know, like how we can sense each other's emotions... But, like... Thoughts..?" Mephiles shrugged nervously.

"... What kinda shows have you been watching lately?" Dark stared at him before trying to stifle a laugh. "Mind reading? Really? If anything, it's emotions just like you and me."

"... Can you blame me for asking, after all the weird abilities we keep finding out that we have?" Mephiles stuck his tongue out in displeasure.
The file was so big, it had to be cut into two parts. So this is the very first "Two-Part Chapter" XD

Enjoy, guys :D
© 2013 - 2024 RaeLogan
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
HanBot-55's avatar
Yay, there's more to read!!