Teaching Darkness:Memories C30

Dark woke up some point in the middle of the night, realizing a startling fact: He couldn't breathe!

Before his brain got too foggy, he had enough sense in him to lift his foot and kick at the source of his predicament, which he saw, when it was removed, that it was Iblis holding a pillow over his face. Iblis had a bit of a disappointed look on his face as Dark pulled himself into a sitting position, coughing and clutching his chest.

"Aw, I wanted to see if you'd send shadows at me if you thought you were being killed..." Iblis whispered as he threw the pillow aside. "Instead, you kick me... that's pretty weak..."

"Sh-shut up..." Dark glared, gasping slightly as he caught his breath. "Y'know... if you killed me now... they'd know it was you..."

"Oh, and just what is that hedgehog and the bat going to do?" Iblis grinned with his teeth bared as he leaned in Dark's face. "If you were out of the way, and I have Mephiles within my reach, then what? They won't risk hurting him, which he'll feel anyway..." He saw Dark starting to clench his fists in anger, and chuckled at that a bit. "Then again, I could just let you try and hurt me anyway, and let that little Mephy see what you did. The little guy will be so afraid of you, he won't want to hear a word you have to say..."

"He's smart... he'll figure out eventually..." Dark boasted, shoving Iblis away and getting to his feet to establish that he was not submissive.

"Smart, yes... but there's a question about the poor boy's mental stability..." Iblis folded his arms and continued to grin before turning it into a smirk.

"He's not insane..." Dark raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was going.

"No, maybe not... but he's fragile..." Iblis put an emphasis on the last word as his deepened his smirk. "I know that it won't take much for him to have a nightmare, so I can use that to my advantage..."

"You will leave him alone!" Dark hissed, trying to keep his voice down, not wanting to alert anyone else.

"Only if you do what I say...Which reminds me..." Iblis bared his teeth again, bringing one hand out and stretching the fingers to put his claws into an attack position. "I know that you told that bat about what was going on. That violates part of our agreement... You're going to have to pay for that..."

"What are you going to do?" Dark eyed the hand carefully, and didn't realize that that was a diversion as Ibis struck him with the other hand, digging his claws into Dark's face.

Dark recoiled and clapped a hand to the injury, but managed to do so without making so much as a scream of pain.

The other hand caught him in the side and dug the claws in, tearing at the flesh as the claws were ripped out and caused much more bleeding than Dark had ever experienced before. And pain... much more pain than he knew was possible.

Unable to contain it, and out of fear he might be left to bleed out and die, he screamed as he hit the floor as Iblis drove his fist into the back of his head.

Face down and shaking, Dark struggled to lift his head, finding that he was getting increasingly dizzy as the seconds passed.

"Oops, might have overdid it..." He heard Iblis say causally. "Oh, well..."

Dark didn't know how long passed before he heard Mephiles' voice, scared and shrill as Dark heard two other familiar voices as he fell in and out of consciousness.

"...What happened!?"

"... Oh, God... it's everywhere... get it off me!"

"... Calm down... have to get someone..."

"... I d-didn't do it! Dark! Dark! Wake up!"

"... Loosing too much blood..."

"... I think I'm g-gonna be sick..."

"... They're on their way..."

"... I'm serious... I th-think I'm going t-to throw up... urmmmm..."

Dark heard something hit the ground, no doubt that Mephiles had fainted from shock.

Before his brain lost the ability to keep him awake, Dark became terribly aware of how uncertain he was of whether or not he could regenerate blood count or not, and moreover...

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

---

When Dark came to, it was a very slow process. It was a while before he was thinking in words again. His first coherent sentence to himself was, as he opened his eyes a little, only to squeeze them shut was: Somebody turn that light off...

The first thing he was aware of was that was as far as any sensation that he was feeling was that he felt quite nauseated. Which surprised him, because he was certain had more to worry about than just that.

Give him about another minute or so, any he'll know exactly where he is.

Elsewhere, Mephiles was being questioned in another room, as Shadow and Rouge watched through a window that only allowed one way viewing.

Naturally, Mephiles very nervous and was absentmindedly scratching the back of his hand, which had no risk of being hurt.

He scanned every corner of the bare room with his eyes, seeing nothing to put him at ease. Aside from the two chairs and a table, nothing was in there to reduce the echoing that would no doubt result.

"I d-don't like this room... I want Shadow and Rouge..." He whimpered. "Is D-dark g-gonna be okay?"

"The wound missed an artery, so with the right care, he should recover..." The cat said casually as she made a note on the clipboard. "Your friends cannot be with you until this is over."

Mephiles eyed the paper anxiously.

"Th-that wasn't me... I c-couldn't have done that..." He stammered. "I'm not c-crazy, nor am I violent!"

"There are records of an evaluation taken months ago which state that you displayed evidence of mild to moderate mental instability. Care to elaborate?"

"How did you find that out?!" Mephiles squeaked, widening his eyes in shock.

"The question?"

"That was instability due to trauma! I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder because of it!"

"Are you medicated for it?"

"N-no... they haven't found a medication that won't make me sick. My body processes things differently than everyone else. Things can act oppositely with me..."

More notes were made.

"Now, two month ago, under the time frame of a week, you were hospitalized three times, one of which was after attempting to drown yourself. The record also states that your friend received treatment for injuries to his arms, which was your claws and teeth."

"Oh, now, you're just looking at the bad stuff!" Mephiles shook his head. "I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. I don't know what's going on when it's happening."

"Do you blame this on a panic attack as well?"

Mephiles slammed his hands down on the table and leaned forward with a frown.

"I know what's going on here." He said levelly. "You're trying to make it look like I'm crazy enough to have done it."

"The evidence was all over you when he was brought in." The cat shrugged and made another note, Mephiles shifting his eyes over to it quickly before she covered it with a hand.

He glared.

"I see what you're doing there..." He said. "You're taking words out of context. No matter what I say, you're just going to use it to answer your own questions, so that you can present it to how you want to make me seem." He fell back in his chair and folded his arms and looked at his feet. "I didn't do it. I know I didn't. I don't like fighting. And blood makes me sick... I can't stand seeing it, and I can't stand the smell of it. I either throw up or faint..." He reached his hand up to head for a moment to slide his fingers through his quills, and recoiled a bit when he brushed it against a bruise that he had gotten from hitting his head when he fell. "I want my friends..." He said again. "I'd like to get out of here. I think Dark's waking up, and I think he's very disoriented right now..."

"And what leads you to believe that?"

Mephiles was sure he wasn't going to like where this was going, but the sooner he answered the questions, the sooner he could leave.

"Well... I've known him since I was really little..." Mephiles worded it very carefully this time. "He sometimes doesn't get it, but I can kinda feel and sense what he feels and thinks. He has a very hard time figuring it out for himself sometimes, so I kinda translate for him..."

"Is he your brother, then?"

"Not exactly. He didn't answer that yet..." Mephiles folded his ears back slowly. "His real brother wants to kill him because he thinks he's better, and Dark had amnesia for a long time, so he didn't hear that again until his brother found him..."

"You share quite a resemblance to him..."

"We get that a lot... Can we hurry up? He's been left alone for too long, and he's not feeling well..."

"You sure seem to be occupied with him..."

"Because he doesn't trust anyone else. He thinks everything and everyone is out to get him... I don't blame him. The city he was born in doesn't want him, and his own brother is willing to kill him to be the better one. And then his brain-" Mephiles stopped himself quickly, realizing he was starting to ramble a bit from being tired of this as well as physically. He quickly covered it up with another fact that wasn't going to get either of them in trouble. "Well, his brain... it hurts him very often. He gets bad migraines, and he can get pretty mean then, because it hurts...." Mephiles was hoping to get a bit of sympathy for Dark from that.

"How mean?"

"Uh... he startles me sometimes..." Mephiles really didn't like where this was going now. "He's smacked me a few time for trying to help..."

"What do you do when he hits you?"

"Uh... yelp? It hurts... his claws have hit my face a few times. I still try to help though..."

"How do you help?"

"Is this all even relevant?" Mephiles raised an eyebrow. "What could this possible have to do with him being hurt right now?"

"Because you were the one who found him, and you were the one whose hands had his blood on in them." The cat looked up at him over her glasses. "The slashes in his side are the same size as your claws, which have been documented with surgical precession as far as how sharp they are. He has multiple, equal size and distance tears that are clean cut. Between the two of you, who could have done that to him?"

"His brother has the same kind of claws!" Mephiles squeaked.

"Oh, what a wonderful alibi..."

At that moment, The door was opened and both of them spun there heads to it, seeing Shadow, Rouge and Dr. Thizon standing there.

"Alright, that is about enough, Shela." Thizon said. "I can assure you that Mephiles is quite sane, and would not intentionally hurt someone like that..."

"Are you then implying that there is a possibility, Eric?" Shela flicked her bangs out of her eyes and gave a small smirk. "How much money on repairs have gone to this place since he was first admitted here?"

"That is totally irrelevant to this case."

"And how come you're the only one who works with him willingly? What is everyone else afraid of if he's not unstable?"

"He's a kid." Shadow said, glaring. "He hates hospitals. What kid doesn't? He gets terrified if he can't find us... it's not his fault his claws are that sharp or that his Chaos Aura lashes out when he's scared."

Mephiles looked around for a moment to see if he was still being watched and got up and made his way over to Rouge, and hid his face.

"Can we go now?"

Meanwhile, Dark had become quite aware of his surroundings. Needless to say, he wasn't too pleased. But, unlike his look-a-like, he didn't react to such a situation by tearing up the room. It was possible though, that the reason he did not was that he didn't feel up to it.

Why did he just try to kill me if he knew that it was going to cause a stir..? Dark wondered to himself as he pulled himself up a little to not be lying down, taking a sharp breath when he felt a twinge of soreness in his right side. Odd... he thought it was going to hurt more than that.

He blinked and realized his vision was a bit blurry after each blink, clearing up briefly after, then continuing that cycle. He also realized that he had a bit of a dry mouth, and that his tongue was sticking to the roof of it.

Must have been given painkillers... symptoms match the side effects... How did I know that..?

Instead of concerning himself with that question, he decided to examine himself to assess just how much damage had been done.

The scratches on his face must have been minor, as they were simply bandaged with sterile gauze and tape with adhesive that wasn't going to rip the fur off his face. The thought of a square shaped bald spot right on his cheek came off as a bit embarrassing to him.

Now for the big one. The gouge in his side...

He didn't bother lifting the large gauze there, since he was a bit uneasy as to how bad it was, but from the looks of what had seeped through the gauze, the bleeding must have been controlled, and the proper procedures were put in order.

Alright... now there's just the problem that I have no medical documents, being that hardly anyone knows I exist... He thought dryly. Why was I brought here anyway? I'm sure it wasn't because Shadow thought it was a good idea... Where is everyone anyway?

Dark looked around and saw that the room was empty as far as other people went, and the only signs anyone had been there recently was a few items sets in a couple of chairs, which told him that he wasn't going to be left alone for too long.

Perking his ears a little and swiveling them, he tried to catch any familiar sounds, not having much luck from hearing all the hospital machinery.

Not too pleased with this, he decided that he should just start looking himself. He got off the bed and used it as a support as he took a moment to take a breath. Suddenly, he felt a pain start up slowly in his head.

Oh, great... just what I needed...

Dark pulled himself back onto the bed, preferring it over the floor, which was a bit too hard for him, and flopped down on his uninjured side with his head at the foot of the bed, curling up the best he could with a hand to his head. The fact that his stomach already felt sick from the pain medication didn't make it any better for him.

There's no way Iblis could have made this seem like I did this to myself... He thought slowly. So if anything, it's going to look like Mephy-

Dark suddenly jolted on realization as to what one of his outcomes he had seen was. It wasn't he himself he had seen be admitted for insanity... it was Mephiles! Iblis was going to frame him and use him to get Dark out of the way!

Seeing further ahead, Dark Saw that the intent was not to kill Dark, which was what he was worried about, but to cause attention to be drawn to him, which, if GUN caught wind of it, Dark was going to be in a serious predicament.

Why? Simple: He could be considered as part of the artifact that was originally intended to be retrieved one year prior. Because the Scepter was shattered, then that meant that Dark was now basically the item that GUN sent Shadow and Rouge to retrieve, which meant that officially, Dark was currently stolen government property.

If GUN wanted to, they could claim him.

But only if they knew who he was, so for that to happen, someone would have to let that slip.

Back to Mephiles. If he was admitted for instability, then he was going to be well out of Iblis' way, as well as perhaps suffering from this lie that was being fabricated in front of them.

"... I have to say something to try and stop that..."

Before he could get up, he looked over at the door way and saw a very relieved Mephiles, who at the same time seemed very upset about something Dark was sure he knew about.

"People are thinking that I tried to kill you..." The crystal hedgehog said quietly, looking at the floor as he dropped into a chair as Shadow and Rouge walked in. "... I know I wouldn't even think about it... but..." He curled his fingers into a lightly held fist. "... My claws match up to what left that... what hurt you... Oh, God..." He shuddered, biting his lip. "Th-there was b-blood everywhere... I th-thought you were already g-gone before I fainted... you weren't m-moving..."

"Can you tell us what happened, exactly?" Shadow said. "It's obvious that Mephiles couldn't and wouldn't have done this, and I pretty much doubt that you'd have the nerve to do that to yourself, since that's pretty much impossible for anyone in their right mind... Which I hope that you're in."

Dark wasn't sure if that entire last half of the comment was meant as a compliment or an insult. On one hand, Shadow gave him the benefit of a doubt, but on the other, he figured that Dark might be scared of pain. Well, partly true...

But again, there was a problem here. With Mephiles in the room, Iblis was bound to hear what he said, and Dark risks Mephiles having a nervous breakdown upon hearing the truth. But if he said nothing, Mephiles was going to take the blame for it.

"Dark... please..." Mephiles looked up at him. "I'm going to be put in observation overnight so that the can try to see what's wrong with my... they want to see if there's... I'm going to be monitored like an... an experiment..." Mephiles was having trouble getting the words he wanted. He shook his head slowly and looked away from everyone. "... Dr. Thizon didn't want it to happen, since he knows how I'd hate the idea... but someone with a higher authority already approved of it..."

They want to see if he's insane... Dark thought as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, wincing a little and tilting his head to the side. And no doubt Iblis is going to make it seem like that...

"Dark... please tell me that I didn't do that... and if you can... who did..?"

Dark didn't say anything yet. What was he to say? Hey, sorry about this, but my brother is using your body to torture me? If he could, he wouldn't anyway, because he knew Mephiles would take it hard. And he couldn't now anyway because Iblis would know.

Seeing how tense the situation was getting, Shadow offered his own words.

"Hey, Meph, we all know you wouldn't have done that..."

"Then why does it seem like my claws caused that..?" Mephiles had his face half hidden in his hands.

"I'm sure there's a logical explanation for-"

"A logical explication for Dark bleeding out all over the carpet, nearly dead and lifeless?" Mephiles said with a touch of sarcasm. "Well, go on ahead, Shadow. Tell me why you think this... this... why it..." He bit his tongue in the literal sense, looked away.

Dark was sure Rouge knew exactly what had really happened, and he was hoping she wasn't going to share it. The more who knew, that Iblis finds out to know, the more in danger Dark was going to be in.

"Y'know, I think Dark might-"

Dark's eyes shot wide and he reacted quickly before she could finish.

"NO!" His protest echoed in the room and perhaps down the hallways and at least to the floor above and below them, since they weren't on the first story.

Everyone's eyes were now on him, making him want to just disappear more than he had ever had before. He realized that he might have actually enjoyed being ignored, since he really didn't like being looked at, especially in this damaged state he was in now.

"... Please stop staring..."

"You know something, don't you, Dark?" Shadow said slowly, scratching behind his ear. "I mean, obviously, because you saw that first hand..."

"... I'm not saying yes or no..."

"Dark, your answer could help me..." Mephiles said, looking at his hands, which he was wringing at now. "Otherwise, they'll just work with what they speculate, and b-by the looks of it, they think I'm unstable and might have attacked you without warning. I d-don't think you would have let that happen if it was me, and I don't th-think you want me to go through that..."

You have no idea how right you are... Dark folded his ears back.

"Th-the only one I can think of that would do this to you would be... well... your b-brother, but I d-don't think he was able to catch up to us when we got through that portal..."

"Anything you know is going to help..." Rouge added, giving him a look that meant she knew anyway. "If we can help it, he's not going to have to go through that observation. Being stuck in a room all night, watched like an experiment, and the setting won't be familiar. He's not going to sleep well. At all. Think about that..."

Dark pressed the palms of his hands against his forehead, trying to indicate that his brain didn't feel like thinking. Because of the painkillers, the migraine was just a dull ache, but it was bothersome since he was feeling it right near the sinus area, which was hurting his eyes, and the lights weren't helping at all.

"... I know it wasn't Mephiles... but I can't say who did..." He said, wanting the subject to be dropped as long as Mephiles was in earshot. "... My brain feels both fuzzy and sore, so if it's not too much, I'd like to fix it with rest..."

"If you can't remember, then it's not going to help if you just say it wasn't me..." Mephiles said. "They want proof of who did it, not just how I couldn't have..."

"... I'm sorry... I wish I could help... but..." Dark trailed off and didn't finish.

Mephiles stared at him with a hurt look.

"So that's it? You're not even gonna try? You're just going to leave it at that? You'd rather just sleep it off than try and stop me from being some... some lab project?"

"... It's more complicated than that... I wish I-"

"Wishing won't fix it! All you have to do is tell then what happened and everything will get better from there!" Mephiles shouted, no longer sitting in the chair and now having all eyes on both him and Dark, who simply looked away, not wanting to make eye contact. "That's it? Fine!" Mephiles spun around and pulled the door open.

"Where are you going?" Shadow said, getting reader to have to possibly chase him down if he ran off.

"They want to watch me overnight, right?" Mephiles looked back with narrowed eyes. "Might as well get there on time. They already think I'm a homicidal maniac, so the least I can show them is that I pay attention to the clock... Good night..." He disappeared into the hall and slammed the door, or rather, tried to but got it stuck on the door prop thing that locks it open after a certain point and had to pull it forcefully, then opened it just enough to slam it the second try.

"I'll go after him this time..." Rouge said. "I think the both of you need to explain a few things..."

"Wait, you're leaving me with him?" Dark pointed to Shadow. "I'm sick, injured and bedridden! Do you know how easy it will be for him to-"

"He won't kill you." Rouge assured, already at the door. "Right, Shadow?" She added, looking at the hedgehog, who gave a grunt and a shrug of the shoulders, which still didn't help Dark feel any better. "There, see? You'll be fine..."

"Easier said than done... you're the one leaving..." Dark muttered too softly to be heard, shaking his head as she left. He looked over at Shadow, who was circling the foot of the bed, arms folded and eyes on Dark. "Don't you ever rest at all? Or do you just pride yourself in making me as nervous as possible?"

"All you had to do was tell us what tore at you, and you couldn't do that?" Shadow raised an eyebrow. "No words of comfort to help him feel better? No reassurance? Not even an explanation of what you might know?"

"I said it wasn't him..."

"That's not good enough here. The people who want to study and interrogate him need a solid answer. Rouge and I weren't there the whole time, so our account of things is as good as dung to them." Shadow stopped pacing and narrowed his eyes. "If you can't give a solid reason why it wasn't him, they won't accept the answer anyway, and maybe even claim your judgment was impaired because of how much blood you lost, or even those pain meds the doctors have you on right now to try and numb that."

Dark was silent, so Shadow continued.

"Do you even care about what's going on through his head right now?" There was a minuscule twitch in Dark's face as Shadow leaned in a bit. "Does it even bother you that he's being blamed for something that neither of you can explain? Do you realize what happened before you were brought here?" Dark had his teeth clenched now while he was glaring at Shadow, who continued. "All he remembers is finding you. Now imagine what the rest of the scene must have looked like. A slash like that? How much spatter and how big of a puddle must be on the carpet before the bleeding was controlled? Can you imagine how terrifying to him that was? That it was on him? That-"

"Oh, would you just shut up!?" Dark snapped, having long gotten the point before it was even discussed. "You think I don't know that!? I know what's going on! Your girlfriend knows even! The Chao! The dog! We all know, and you're the only one too stupid to listen to the hints and piece it together!" During this, he was ticking off each point with on his fingers and on the last sentence, he smacked the back of his right hand into his upturned left hand in tune to every other syllable. "You're his best friend! Instead of focusing on trying to bust me for something I'm not going to do, why don't you do something useful for all of us and figure out what we did!" He ended this all with a loud exclamation of a curse word, and flopped backward on the bed, taking deep breaths to counteract his breathlessness from yelling.

There was an awkward moment of silence from Shadow before he blinked and said: "S-say what now..?"

Dark let out a long frustrated groan, which was also due to overexerting himself. Taking another breath, he tried again more bluntly.

"Y'know what?I might as well just flat out say it, seeing that things can't be any worse for me than they already are, and I'm probably gonna get killed by him sooner or later, so here it is..." Dark shoved himself up to be sitting now. "Iblis is somehow in Mephy's brain right now, but also not. It's the same effects if he really was there, so I assume he did a sort of transfer or something, but he's also using that to screw with my Aura, with the effect being of two north ends of a couple of magnets, mine represented by the slightly smaller one. Mephy doesn't know, and I had hoped to keep it that way because I was aware of what was going to happen if he knew at all. Like it or not, I actually do care about what happens to him. You think you know him better because you're his best friend? I've got news for you... I met him first. I've known him longer. At times, I can even hear his thoughts. Not the words, but what the thoughts are..."

Taking a moment to recover from the shock of what he just learned, Shadow blinked and frowned.

"You knew that your brother was in Mephiles' mind, and you didn't do anything about it?"

"I was working on it!" Dark snapped. "It wasn't something that could be remedied at once. I had to create a plan of action and work from there. Until then, Iblis made me play along with his plan, making me pretend I didn't know what happened when Mephy's arm was cut. He took my quill that you dropped when you tore some off my head and used it."

"Why play along? If you had a plan, you should have done it before now..."

"Did you not get it!? If I told anyone, he was going to make the both of us suffer! He wanted to mess with Mephy's mind and make him believe that he was insane, because he would not be able to recall any times that Iblis was using him. Iblis found out I told Whats-her-name-"

"Rouge."

"Yes, her! He found out that I told her and responded by first trying to suffocate me, then this!" Dark gestured to his side with a bit of a furious air to the action. "Now, if you want to do something about it, I suggest that you do so with haste, because he's going to find out eventually and it'll be just worse! Now please! Shut that light off and let me rest! I have a migraine working it's way past the Vicodin!" That being said, he fell back on the bed again, this time on his side, with his back to Shadow. After a pause of waiting, he said: "Now would be a lovely time..."

---

Having caught up with his friends shortly after, or rather, he found Rouge, Mephiles having already checked in and was now in the isolated room, sitting on the edge of the bed in the room and looking quite tense.

"How long has he been in there?"

"At least a half an hour..." Rouge answered.

"Well, they won't be able to get a clear look at how he is if they force him to have to do it their way..." Shadow shook his head. "Listen, Dark just told me-"

He was cut off when Rouge gave him a quick smack and pointed to Mephiles, mouthing "Not within ear reach!"

They were on the other side of it, and in a nearby room, with monitoring equipment was the observers (A small handful. Once word got out that Mephiles had a look-a-like, most of the staff signed out for the night, with only a few brave volunteers offering to stay, since there was no way Thizon was going to be able to handle Mephiles and Dark by himself, as well as the rest of the in-patients that were having to stay overnight) with Thizon, who had his arms folded and looked disapproving.

"You know... How can you observe him if he's unable to fall asleep? That kinda voids the point of this..."

"Give him time, he'll have to fall asleep eventually..."

"For God's sake! He's just a kid!" Thizon shouted. "This is unethical and completely-"

"Unfortunately for you, Eric..." Shela said, sitting in a chair on the opposite end of the room, holding her glasses by the frame in her hand idly as she explained. "You're not in any position to complain. I have more authority than you do..."

"Why do you always have to do this to me?"

"You need to stop attracting unusual patients then... especially the nutty ones..."

"He's not crazy. He's just easily intimidated and terrified."

A knock at the door caused everyone to jump. It was Shadow.

"Excuse me... but I believe that this is getting nowhere. Perhaps I can try something?"

The cat scoffed and said: "I hardly can see what you might have in mind that would be better than what we're doing..." All present but Shadow and Thizon nodded in agreement.

"Well, Shela..." Thizon said with a edge that Shadow didn't think existed with him. "Shadow here is Mephiles' best friend. Surely, he would be able to detect if anything was out of the ordinary with him, right?"

"If so... then why didn't he do that before now?"

"That's not important right now..." Shadow shook his head. "But I have an idea... but we'll have to wait until he falls asleep until I can do anything..." There was a pause and then he added. "Hey, y'know what else? After this is all over, can we get an appointment set up for him so we can test him for narcolepsy? He's been falling asleep at the most random of times, and sometimes often..."

---

Mephiles didn't want to fall asleep. He was afraid that something was going to go wrong. That something terrible was going to happen.

What if they're right? What if something really is wrong with me..? What if someone else gets hurt..? I mean... Dark's been hospitalized already... Dark of all people! At least he seems alright now...

As it was getting into the late hours of the night, Mephiles' eyes were getting heavy. No matter what he tried, there was no change in effect, and before he knew it, his brain had already decided it was time to enter REM.

Everyone in the monitoring room, Rouge including, having joined them, were watching. The surveillance quality video showed Mephiles falling asleep, and grabbing one of the pillows to hold onto. After several minutes, his eyes opened and he sat up, looking more wide awake than he should have been. He glanced around the room and frowned, shaking his head and telling himself something that no one could hear because there wasn't a sound recorder installed.

"Well, that's unusual already..." Shadow said. "He doesn't sleep that shortly, and he's not that wide awake if he does wake up that quickly..."

Everyone watched as the crystalline hedgehog slid off the bed and paced the room, slowly as if thinking, six steps across either way with equal increments before doing an about face and repeating the process, arms held behind the back as he rocked his head from side to side slowly with his eyes closed, an unfamiliar smirk to that face crawling across it.

"That's very unusual for him..." Shadow said slowly, stealing a glance at Rouge, who had her ears perked to try and catch sounds none of the others were hearing.

"What did you do? Soundproof the place?" She shook her head and glared at the cat. "Because a lot of the sound is being absorbed before it even reaches my ears..."

"Y'know what?" Shadow said before anyone else could start talking. "I'm gonna just do it now... It's obvious something is wrong here, and he's already not acting like he should be..." He reached into one of the two back packs (they had made sure to grab them to be sure the Emeralds weren't left unguarded at their home.), pulled out an Emerald and handed the bag to Rouge.

"Are you sure that you should use that one?" She eyed it with a concerned glance.

"I'm sure this one is going to help the best..."

"Shadow... Remember what it does to him..." Thizon reminded, having a good knowledge of up-to-date Emerald reactions with Mephiles.

"I'll be careful..." Shadow assured and left the room, only to nearly trip over someone who was sitting just outside the door, once the door was closed.

Dark looked at him with a distant look, eyes half closed and somewhat tired looking.

"Y'know... you should be back in the room, you're not in any fit state to be walking around..." Shadow said without any lean to any particular emotion.

"... They say I should be here..." Dark said slowly, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

"Who said what?"

"... I Saw it... the clearest one... it said that I should be in this hallway..."

Shadow, not really sure if Dark was just delirious or not, raised an eyebrow and nodded in a way that said that he wasn't sure if he should take it seriously.

Dark opened his eyes and saw that, and glared a little.

"... I'm not making it up... I just know what might happen if all goes to it's order..." He said, folding his ears back sluggishly. "... When the time is right... throw it at him... right in the chest..."

"Okay, I'm not sure if you're trying to tell me something or if you're having a bout of insanity right now..."

"... Am I making coherent sentences..?"

"Yes..."

"... Then my mind is in the right place..." Dark made a small smile and giggled a bit, face a bit flushed, perhaps from a fever. "... Or maybe not... I dunno... But just so you know... throw it at him..."

Shadow had one eye narrowed, perhaps a bit weirded out by Dark's odd behavior.

"... But not right away... lull him into a false sense of security... then make your move..." Dark nodded with an exaggerated movement of the head, as if he was over emphasizing everything. "... You'll know when... you'll know..."

Shadow nodded quickly as Dark started laughing softly to himself, pulling at his ears as Shadow spun around to get out of there, muttering to himself: "Well, that ranks up in my chart of freakiest things I ever saw..."

Finally at the door of the observation room, Shadow paused.

"Great... how should I do this? 'Hey, Meph... I heard there might be a fire demon taking up residence in your brain! Hold this Emerald for me, will ya?'. That sounds stupid..." Shadow turned the gem over in his hands and pondered for a moment before getting an idea.

A couple knocks on the door as he peered into the small barred window on it, Mephiles jumping in surprise. Cautiously, the crystalline hedgehog made his way over to the door and opened it slightly, peering through the crack between the frame and the door.

"Oh, hey, Shadow! What are you doing here?" Mephiles exclaimed in mild surprise. "I thought I was supposed to be left alone all night..."

"Change of plans... they decided to try seeing if talking will help out..." Shadow said, shifting the Emerald from side to side in his hands, watching carefully as Mephiles' eyes trailed after it. "They figured that you'd talk better if it was either me or Rouge and they hope that we can read you better..."

"Alright... come in then..." Mephiles grinned and opened the door wider to let him in. "What's up with the Emerald?"

"I figured we can toss it back and forth while we talk." Shadow explained. "Kinda like a Koosh Ball."

"A what?"

"Koosh Ball. You ever hear about kids using one to toss back and forth while talking?" Shadow said, giving him a fake surprised look. "It's more common when they're still elementary aged, but it's used in older kids too. Adults even. You just toss it back and forth between the ones talking, or you can hold onto until you're done, and toss it back..."

"That's it?" Mephiles tilted his head. "What's the purpose?"

"It's kinda an icebreaker..." Shadow gave the Emerald a toss then tossed it to Mephiles, who caught it. "You start... try and remember what happened before you remember finding Dark..." He said. "You can sit down if you want to."

"I'll be fine standing, I think..." Mephiles said slowly, tossing it back. "Let's do it back and forth."

"Kay... but try and try and remember..." Shadow tossed it back, which this action was to continue after each statement.

"Well... it's really fuzzy..."

Toss.

"Go on..."

Toss.

"I... I remember falling asleep, and there was a big blank space of time I think I was asleep..."

Toss.

"Yeah?"

Toss.

"Uh huh... The next thing I knew... Dark's blood was everywhere and he was on the ground and screamed... both of us..."

Toss.

"But before now, you said that he already looked like he died..." Shadow said slowly, giving him a look.

Toss.

Mephiles caught the Emerald, looking a bit nervous.

"Well, I mean... that was pretty scary as was..." He tried correcting. "It all happened so fast... I might have just been too freaked out to think clearly..."

Toss.

Shadow caught it, and frowned a little.

"Uh huh... What happened too fast?"

Toss.

"When my claws tore into his side and ripped the flesh..."

Toss.

"You said you didn't remember..."

Toss.

"I'm just speculating..."

Toss.

Shadow caught the Emerald again. He took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Tell me... what color is this Emerald?"

"Red..."

"Thank you... I thought so..." Shadow said calmly, shifting his fingers around it to get a better grip. "Y'know what else? You're a terrible actor, Iblis..."

The shock of being found out made his eyes go wide. He bared his teeth and growled, getting ready to jump at Shadow.

But Shadow threw the Emerald with enough force to knock the crystal hedgehog to the ground. Having been hit in the chest with it, Mephiles reacted by screaming in pain as he shoved it off and scrambled back just as Iblis' orange Aura peeled off of him and made a run for the door. Shadow tried making a grab for it, but his hands only passed through air. Deciding that he had more important things to handle now, Shadow crossed the room to Mephiles, who was leaning against the bed on the floor with his knees to his chest and arms wrapped around them, rocking himself quickly, shaking and whimpering.

"... Th-that thing was in my brain..." He stuttered. "... H-he used me t-to hurt D-dark..." His eyes watered as he looked up at Shadow, biting down on his lower lip. "... I-it was my hands th-that did that to Dark... It was me..."

"It wasn't..." Shadow said, getting eye level with him. "Dark explained everything. Iblis was trying to hurt both of you, and made him keep it a secret. Dark told Rouge, and that's why he got hurt..."

"... He g-got hurt trying to help me... everyone g-gets hurt when they help me..." Mephiles shook his head and tore his eyes from Shadow's to look at the ground.

"That's not true... Not everyone..."

There was a sudden scream that echoed the halls as Shadow and Mephiles both snapped their heads up.

"Th-that's Dark!" Mephiles gasped, body shuddering. "S-something's wrong... he's t-terrified!"

"Wait here..." Shadow instructed as he hurried to the doorway to lean out and look down the hall.

Claw marks at the doorway trailed down the hall in the tiling, looking as if something had been dragged away. What was even more unsettling was the occasional spatters of blood that had been smeared by whatever had been dragged.

Mephiles was at the door as well, and shuddered, holding his hands to his mouth as he laid eyes on the sight.

"Oh, geeze... I think I'm g-gonna throw up..."

"I told you to stay over there!" Shadow yelled. "There's a reason that I tell you those things!"

Before another word was said, an even shriller version of the same voice screamed again, followed by several muffled grunts of pain, and finally a loud THUMP that sounded like an echo in a cramped space.

It sounded like a stairwell...

"Stay close..." Shadow instructed, grabbing Mephiles' wrist, taking note of how much his muscles were shaking, and pulled him down the hallway to find the stairs, following the claw trails.

When they found the stairs, they both cautiously peered down, though it was too dark to see.

Wondering if he was going to regret it, Shadow felt around for a light switch and flicked it on.

Mephiles almost fainted again.

Laying at the bottom of the stairs, curled up and bleeding from some new minor to moderate scratches, was Dark.

Both hedgehogs breathed a sigh of relief as Dark groaned and lifted his head a little before fainting, having shown signs that he was still alive.

Shadow was already down at the bottom with him, checking his pulse and taking note of the new injuries.

"He's still alive... but we need to get help now..."

Mephiles didn't move. He couldn't. He was still in shock.