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solalunar-eclipse · 2 years ago

Text

Lonely Stars

Rating: T

Characters: Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, E-123 Omega, Eclipse the Darkling, Dark Arms

Summary: Shadow and Eclipse are now stuck on the same planet, with no other blood relatives around. It’s only inevitable that they keep running into each other...but what effect will this have on how they see the other’s way of life?

The sun scorched irritatingly across endless swathes of golden sand, situated in the midst of the biggest desert in all of Efrika. There wasn’t a single bit of shade in sight aside from the giant pyramid towering over the landscape…much to the frustration of the five aliens currently heading towards it.

Eclipse stalked towards the long-abandoned pyramid (a well-disguised and defunct Eggman base), his eyes narrowed. He was already annoyed that it had taken him months to rig up his shuttle so it would even hold together long enough to get him to this pyramid, and now his feet were burning? This place had better be worth his time.

A general question appeared in his mind from the direction of Blurk, a cube-shaped alien.

“For the last time, Blurk, we’re here because I was told a long time ago that this planet has some kind of giant abandoned colony up in space.” he grumbled. “If what I remember is right, we might be able to use that to finally get our revenge!”

Rhygenta nuzzled up to him worriedly, their single eye as wide as it could get.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay! I did a scan with the shuttle’s radar and this place is super empty, remember? It’s the only base with a strong enough teleporter anyway, so we have to use it.” he added, more softly this time.

It was easy enough for Eclipse and the four Dark Arms to get inside—aside from the sand pits, but those were passed easily enough with a little help from Cregal. After that, though, they were forced to wander through a maze, search for well-hidden keys to open a couple of doorways, and then they still had to look throughout the entire pyramid just to find the teleporter room. “Someone must’ve been really dedicated to their decor.” the darkling muttered, rolling his eyes at the ancient theme inside Eggman’s base.

While he was busy complaining, three other figures managed to enter the base undetected from an entirely different direction.

“Are you sure the signs led this way, Omega?” Rouge asked, frowning. “I can’t hear anything nearby.”

“AFFIRMATIVE. A TECHNOLOGICAL SIGNATURE UNIQUE TO THE STOLEN G.U.N. SHUTTLE HAS APPEARED RECENTLY IN THIS AREA.”

The bat turned to Shadow, more than a little concerned. “And are you okay to do this mission, hon? I know this might still be a sore spot for you.”

The hedgehog sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, I hope it’ll be okay, but...” He shifted awkwardly, a little embarrassed. “…we started talking about tying up this loose end a while ago, right? I don’t know if it’ll be easy, especially now that we’ve had to dig everything up all over again, but I know you two always say it’s important to try.” he sighed.

Rouge smiled warmly at him. “Aw, hon, look at how far you’ve come! I’m so proud of you.”

“I CONCUR.”

Shadow looked away, blushing faintly. “Thank you…”

And with that, they headed into the base.

Thanks to Rouge and Shadow’s prior experience with this particular pyramid, Team Dark made it to the control room at about the same time as Eclipse, despite the latter’s head start.

“You?!” the darkling cried, infuriated.

“YES. US.” Omega boomed.

Eclipse snarled. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll just have to defeat you three and get that cannon in the bargain!”

Omega and Shadow both rushed him at once, and he soon found himself hard pressed to fight two on one, even with the Dark Arms at his side. “Blurk, armor!” he yelped, seconds before the robot’s fist would have collided with (and crushed) his face.

After a minute or two, he gained enough breathing room to notice that Rouge wasn’t even bothering to fight. “What do you think you’re doing?” he yelled, breaking free of a half-formed hold by Shadow to rush at her.

“What’s it look like, babe? Shutting the computer down!“ she chirped, smirking. “Permanently.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Eclipse roared, slamming into her side as hard as he could.

Suddenly, alarms began blaring across the whole complex. “Now look what you’ve done!” Rouge shouted, though she didn’t seem completely upset.

“W-what did I do?!” Eclipse cried, reeling backwards in surprise at the ear-splitting noise.

“You just triggered a total energy overload.” Rouge shot back. “In twenty seconds, this room is going to seal to keep the entire place from exploding!”

Eclipse blanched. “Dark Arms! We have to get out of here now!”

Shadow grasped Rouge and Omega’s arms, crying “Chaos Control!” as they vanished in a flash of light.

“Come on, let’s go!” Eclipse shrieked, racing for the exit…

…and then everything went black.

…

Team Dark had been waiting at Eclipse’s shuttle for too long. At first, they made some stilted small talk about the fight (“At least he didn’t dislocate my arm this time, I guess.” Rouge had quipped). However, as the minutes stretched on, even they began to worry.

“THE INFERIOR ALIEN LIFEFORMS SHOULD HAVE ESCAPED BY NOW.” Omega said.

“Yeah…” Shadow muttered. “What if they got lost?”

Rouge gasped. “There’s the smaller ones now, but where’s Eclipse?” she said, pointing to four little dots fleeing the pyramid.

The creatures rushed towards the shuttle and began to tug at Shadow’s arms and hands, pulling him back towards the hidden base. “Whoa, wait, what?” he asked, pulling away from them. “What is it?”

All four of them began to chirp urgently in their own language, but none of the three could understand it…until suddenly Omega had an idea.

“DOWNLOADING AND INITIATING THE FOX’S WISP TRANSLATOR PROGRAM.” he announced.

A few seconds later, four voices began to spill out through his speakers, all overlapping and cutting each other off.

“Help—”

“Stuck…”

“Hurt!”

“Can’t move…”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY ARE ATTEMPTING TO CONVEY?” Omega asked, turning it off again before his own audio systems overloaded.

“I suspect that Eclipse is unconscious and trapped in the pyramid.” Shadow said quietly.

The Dark Arms keened and whimpered at him, their message obvious. Please help him.

He sighed, somewhat reluctantly. “I suppose I can.”

Immediately, all four sagged with relief, the cube-shaped one even sinking into the sand with the force of their emotion. Shadow blasted off and into the pyramid, grimacing as the waves of energy began to interfere with his own use of Chaos. He was barely able to use his powers on the way in, but he certainly wouldn’t be able to by the time they had to get out.

He strained to pull together his last shreds of Chaos energy, gritting his teeth as he teleported through the sealed door. Inside, the room was a mess—debris was strewn across the whole place, bathed in pulsing red and blue light from the alarm system and the overloading core. Halfway across the floor, Eclipse lay unconscious, his body limp next to a medium-sized chunk of rock.

Cautiously, Shadow scooped him up and into his arms, making sure not to jostle his head. He rushed to the blast doors and set Eclipse down briefly before beginning to pry them open. Eventually, they creaked apart just enough that Shadow was able to slip through with the darkling in tow.

As he skated down the halls, though, he began to hear an ominous rumbling sound behind him…

The hedgehog gasped as cyan liquid began to pour out of the opening into the hall behind him and started skating faster. He leapt up onto a rail just as the energized coolant—whose holding chamber had finally given way—threatened to catch up, actually grinding his way out of the pyramid.

Unbeknownst to him, Eclipse had begun to wake up from all the noise. “Ugh…wha…?” he mumbled softly, looking up at Shadow. The last thing he remembered was passing out in that room—and-!

“Ah! D…Dark Arms!” he breathed, his eyes widening. “Where…”

Shadow glanced down at him, leaping from one track to another in the process. “Stay calm. We’ll be out soon.”

“But…they…” Eclipse wheezed.

“They’re safe.” the hedgehog replied gently, understanding. “All four of them are waiting outside at a safe distance for you.”

“Nnh…” he mumbled, letting his head fall back again. “Good.”

Shadow burst out of the temple, not stopping for an instant—as seconds later, the entire structure exploded in a burst of light. The Dark Arms hovered around Rouge and Omega in agitation, chirping nervously as Shadow hurried towards them.

He settled Eclipse down on the sand, leaving a little bit of space to allow the four creatures to fuss over their caretaker. Carefully, the hedgehog placed his hand on the back of the other’s head. Golden light trickled from his palm, seeping into the darkling’s body and healing his mild head wounds. Soon enough, he was able to sit up and look around more fully…

…but the second he did so, he jerked away from Shadow’s touch, finally registering what had just happened.

“You—you came back for me?” Eclipse asked, incredulous. “Why?”

“They asked me to.” the hybrid replied simply, gesturing to the Dark Arms.

A couple of the creatures in question helped balance him as he scrambled to his feet, his legs still a little shaky from the combined stress of near death and rapid healing. “Yeah, and what? You just listened all of a sudden? Like I’m supposed to believe that.” he scoffed.

“I did, actually.” Shadow replied, straightening up slightly. “I don’t like having lives on my conscience.”

“Ha!” Eclipse barked, his face twisting into a sneer. “Tell that to Black Death, I’m sure he’d love to hear that one!”

The hybrid winced. “That was…complicated.” he said tightly, turning away. “I wish that I had been able to think of a better action at the time, but unfortunately I did not have the benefit of hindsight.”

“Oh, what, now you want to be sorry? Now? It’s way too late for that, Shadow.” he snarled.

“I don’t expect your forgiveness. I just…am trying my best to gain a better perspective on what happened back then.” Shadow said. “Sometimes that means learning not to blame myself for things that weren’t my fault, and sometimes that just means figuring out how to live with the actions I took.”

Eclipse growled furiously as he stumbled over to his shuttle. “You’re lucky I’m in no shape to fight you right now, or else you’d be nothing more than a smear on this sand.”

Slamming the doors shut, the darkling raced to fire up the ship and get it out of there as quickly as possible before Shadow could change his mind about fighting. It was only once they were soaring safely in the stratosphere that he allowed himself to relax, beckoning the Dark Arms closer with a sigh.

Flashes of distress and worry emanated from all four of them, and he did his best to soothe their concerns as they flew to a secluded place in the midst of a forest. Only once the ship had touched down did Eclipse allow himself to sigh in relief.

A while ago, he had been forced to flee Angel Island (and the combined wrath of Knuckles and Shadow) after a botched attempt at stealing the Master Emerald. In fact, the only reason he’d escaped at all was a last-ditch save from Rhygenta. At the time, he’d barely been able to land G.U.N.’s shuttle in this particular spot in the woods before he and the Dark Arms had collapsed from exhaustion.

Since then, over the past six or so months, he’d been too busy planting the last few seeds from the fruit he’d been able to cultivate on Angel Island, patching up the Dark Arms, and carefully stealing parts to rebuild the shuttle after his less than perfect landing to actually exact his revenge on Shadow.

This raid on the Space Colony ARK had been supposed to—at the very least—allow him to dig up some ammunition on his traitorous relative, and at best provide him with a weapon to menace the planet with at a later date…and yet he’d been foiled again.

Eclipse ground his teeth irritably. “Why can’t I just have even one win against him? What am I missing?!”

The Dark Arms clustered around him sympathetically, but despite their best efforts, he found himself sinking further and further into despair as time went on. “...Father…” he murmured, an odd sensation prickling behind his eyes, “What would you have done?”

The darkling swallowed thickly, his hands tightening into fists as the pain behind his eyes grew worse. Nervously, Blurk offered up a funny memory—the day they’d somehow managed to get stuck inside a tree was one that usually made him smile. Eagerly, Cregal and Cyzer brought up their own as well, while Rhygenta simply nestled into Eclipse’s chest.

Eclipse let out a single shaky sob, sinking back into the chair as he allowed himself a wobbly smile. “Thank you…all of you.” he said, his voice trembling slightly.

Sitting back against the backrest, he let himself get lost in the good memories the Dark Arms had, relieved that he could at least have given them this.

…

It was the next morning, as Eclipse was carefully inspecting the fruit trees to make sure none had died or were beginning to fail, that a new idea hit him. One thing that had always been a vital part of every single Black Comet was a memory core, passively linked into the hivemind. It would record every thought and every moment that transpired from the moment of the comet’s creation until its destruction, so that the knowledge it contained could be salvaged by other Black Arms and the memories of others could live on.

So if Eclipse could only find his comet’s memory core, then he might be able to remember some of Black Death’s plans and work out a new way to defeat Shadow!

…and maybe, just maybe, he might be able to see some part of his father again.

Immediately, he rushed back to the shuttle, powering up its scanning systems and programming them to search for the specific characteristics of the core. Within moments, he had a ping on the screen—and it was only about a hundred miles from his location! So long as he didn’t power up the ship to its full extent, Team Dark shouldn’t be able to locate him either, which meant that he was essentially free to go right this second.

Within moments, he’d gathered the four Dark Arms into the ship and taken off, desperate to find some last remnant of his Comet, no matter how small. He could hardly wait; each passing second seemed longer to him than the last.

The moment the shuttle touched down in a field, Eclipse smacked the button to open the doors and stumbled outside, hurrying towards the half hidden black and red object. It was vaguely cone-shaped, and pulsed occasionally with a red light.

The moment Eclipse’s fingers brushed against the core, a wave of disappointment hit him with incredible force.

It was the wrong one.

Somehow, he’d ended up discovering the memory core from Black Doom’s comet instead. For a moment, Eclipse felt ready to give up, but then he pressed his hands to it again, reaching for the memories stored within it. Even if these weren’t his own home’s thoughts, he’d never gotten a chance to meet his uncle, after all. Maybe, as a matter of fact, this would be his one and only chance to connect with him.

Eclipse dove back in, preparing himself for a long, long story.

…

Much later, he blinked awake, shaking his head. “Ugh…that felt like forever.” He turned to the Dark Arms. “How long was I out?”

The four couldn’t quite agree, nearly leading to a squabble between Cregal and Cyzer, but in the end they settled on about half an hour. Eclipse sighed. “Alright then—I just looked at the parts where they interacted with this planet to start with, but I think I need to go back over it again and see if I can figure out what went wrong with Shadow.”

The five lifted the core together, hauling it back to the shuttle so that Eclipse could study the recordings in a modicum of safety. Once they were all inside, the darkling provided the others with a bit of fruit first before settling down to watch it again.

This time, nearly a quarter of the way through, he stopped.

“How did Shadow manage to give himself amnesia?” he muttered. From the moment that the hybrid joined the hivemind, it became very clear that he was missing almost all of the memories he’d had when Eclipse had first met him, with only a tiny fraction regarding Rouge and Omega remaining.

Eclipse wound back to the beginning in search of clues. He rewatched the scene where Black Doom first confronted the traitorous hedgehog a third time, frowning in concentration—and then froze. The human phrase ‘third time’s the charm’ sprang to his mind unbidden, as he stared blankly at the wall.

What had Black Doom been doing?

Eclipse had suspected, of course, that something had gone wrong, some mistake had been made. But Doom promising answers about the past, some of which he truthfully could not provide, to his own amnesiac son, only on the condition that all seven Chaos Emeralds were delivered to him first, was just…cruel. Unfatherly, to say the least.

Eclipse had expected that Shadow would receive a much more familial treatment, since he hadn’t actually done anything to hurt the Black Arms back then—seriously, Shadow hadn’t even remembered most of his time with the humans, so all of the brainwashing they’d probably done to him was gone as well. Rouge and Omega had spent time with him, sure, but it wasn’t like they’d moralized to him about the value of life and such.

That meant that Black Doom could have promised Shadow a purpose. He could have offered him a life with everything he’d ever wanted…but instead he purposefully kept Shadow in the dark about his own origins, his own family, for what? A little extra leverage? Even Eclipse knew that duty born from love was far stronger than from sheer curiosity, no matter how desperate.

It seemed to him that honestly, Black Doom had thrown away the best shot the Black Arms had ever had at getting Shadow on their side.

The darkling sighed, rubbing his brow irritably. The best he could get from this core now would be information on what not to do, he thought.

As he continued through the memories, he found himself more and more bewildered by Black Doom’s choices. Forcing Shadow to remember and relive one of his worst memories? As much as it might have shown the worst of humanity, Doom could have just told him about it, or shown him less personal examples. Making him reenact it all over again threw extra points away that he could easily have scored.

Trying to kill literally the only two people who had ever even considered Shadow’s feelings (as ridiculous as they might be)? He’d learned the hard way that that was the wrong idea too.

Eclipse shut down the recording the moment Super Shadow came into view. He didn’t want or need to see what was coming next, anyway.

The darkling rubbed his forehead, irritated beyond belief. It looked like he was back to square one all over again.

…

“Well, this is just fantastic.” Eclipse said sarcastically, his voice echoing off the rock walls.

“Listen, I want to be here about as much as you do. Maybe even less.” Shadow muttered.

Somehow, they had ended up in an even more frustrating mess than last time, if Eclipse was being honest. It had started out normally, with Team Dark showing up (again) to try and stop him, this time from finding a power cell to replace the one in the shuttle. It had burnt out recently when the darkling tried to increase its power, meaning that he couldn’t travel long distances until it was replaced. The team, having had their own suspicions about what Eclipse might want a Chaos-powered energy cell for, had come to halt his plans to snatch one from yet another old Eggman base.

Unfortunately for both of them, the base had been much more structurally unsound than expected, and part of the building had caved in, trapping Shadow and Eclipse inside a small area with walls so thick that the former couldn’t even teleport. Rouge and Omega had gone to find tools to help get them out, since none of them had discovered any Chaos Emeralds recently (to the bat’s great disappointment).

So now Eclipse, the Dark Arms, and Shadow were stuck in a confined space. Together.

The darkling rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

They sat in silence for all of a minute before Eclipse got bored and began to speak again.

“So…I found the memory core for Black Doom’s comet,” he began, watching Shadow curiously. “Since it stores basically everything that happened in that hivemind, I had to ask—how’d the “Ultimate Lifeform” end up with amnesia?”

The hybrid glowered at him. “And why exactly do you care?”

“I want to know what was strong enough to beat you. After all, just because I can’t defeat you in one-on-one combat doesn’t mean nothing can!” Eclipse smirked.

Shadow sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly. “I fell nearly two hundred miles directly from orbit to the planet’s surface at terminal velocity.” he said flatly.

The darkling froze. This time, the silence lasted only a few seconds.

“How are you still alive?!” he shrieked, skittering backwards slightly until his back pressed against the wall.

“It’s just like you said—I’m the Ultimate Lifeform.” Shadow said, somewhat proudly. “But really, Dr. Robotnik helped me as well (for his own reasons, of course) by putting me into stasis. That allowed me to heal properly and significantly increased my chances of survival.” he added.

“Okay, okay—ignoring the fact that you survived a descent that even the Black Comet can’t handle, why were you falling from space in the first place?” Eclipse asked, looking like he might develop a headache any second now.

“That’s easy. I was saving the planet from immediate destruction.” the hybrid replied.

“Ugh, of course you were. Bleh.” Eclipse stuck his tongue out in disgust.

“Listen, the people of this world are worth saving, whether you believe it or not.”

“How, exactly? Why don’t you tell me, since we’re already talking and you’re so righteous about it all the time anyway.” the darkling sneered. Secretly, though, he really did want to hear Shadow’s answer, mainly as a confirmation of either his cruelty or the brainwashing he might have undergone.

Shadow took a deep breath, a certain degree of peace entering his expression. “I will concede that not all people will be good, and not all people will contribute to the world—some do make it a worse place to be. But there are so many who work to make life better for others, whether they know it or not, that it’s worth it to let them all live. The benefits can outweigh the drawbacks, if we only give people a chance to prove it. Destroying the world merely destroys any chance that they have to improve things.”

Eclipse stared at him for a moment.

Shadow shifted awkwardly. “What? Listen, I don’t expect you to believe it—”

“No.” the darkling said. “No, it’s just…that last part’s almost exactly the same as what I said to F—uh, Black Death when he asked me what the point of the Dark Arms was.”

“Well, isn’t that something.” Shadow murmured, almost to himself.

“But, uh, I guess that means you really care about this planet, don’t you.” Eclipse added irritably, determined not to let his shock show.

Shadow shrugged. “The planet and the people on it are two different things. Do I care about the planet? Yes, absolutely. Do I care about the people living on it? …not all of them, that’s for sure.”

Eclipse blinked twice. “Did you just say you don’t care about everyone in this world?”

“Of course not! I could never—some of them are awful.” the hybrid explained. “I just don’t think anyone else should get to decide who lives and who dies, because inevitably some of the good people will get punished for the actions of the bad.”

“Huh.” Eclipse hummed, sitting back against the wall. “I guess you’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”

“And…you have a bigger heart than I gave you credit for.” Shadow said quietly. “You really do love both the Black Arms and your four friends there.”

“Well, obviously!” Eclipse cried. “Why did you think I spared you the first time we met?”

Shadow’s head shot up, his eyes nearly boring holes into the darkling’s head. “A living weapon is worth more alive than dead, ‘obviously’.”

“Wh—b—no! You were my brother! Family sticks together, no matter what!” Eclipse was shocked. “What, you thought I just wanted to use you for my own gain and that’d be it?”

“I mean, that’s literally all you did do.” Shadow shot back.

“I didn’t have time! If we’d repelled the invasion, you would’ve seen everything! I just needed you to stop fighting until I had the time to convince you that this was better!”

The hybrid sighed. “You could have just talked to me without the possession aspect, you know.”

“Oh, like that would’ve worked?”

“It would, actually.” Shadow snapped. “Ask Omega if you don’t believe me.”

Eclipse scowled. “That thing will say whatever you tell it to.”

Shadow leapt to his feet. “That ‘thing’ is my friend, and he has plenty of free will. Believe me, if I could stop him from speaking whenever I wanted, I would’ve suffered a lot less public embarrassment in my life.” The last part of his sentence turned fond and amused, suggesting that he cared less about that than he let on.

“HAVEN’T YOU HEARD THAT IT’S RUDE TO GOSSIP?”

Two nearly identical screams rang out, followed by a distinctly embarrassed silence.

Rouge snickered. “Don’t worry, it’s only us. We’ll have you out of there in just a few minutes!”

“It’s good to hear you again, at least.” Shadow said sarcastically.

“WOW. MAYBE I SHOULD LEAVE YOU IN THERE LONGER, SHADOW.”

The hybrid bit back a smile at that response.

After that, there was a more comfortable lull in the conversation for a few minutes as Rouge and Omega worked to free the other two. The Dark Arms did wince occasionally at the scrape of tools on rock, but a hug from Eclipse seemed to settle them down somewhat.

“Hey, robot.” the darkling called skeptically after a while. “Shadow says to ask you if talking would’ve worked to convince him to help us on the Black Comet. What do you think of that?”

Omega paused his work for a moment, turning to stare through the small gap he’d made directly at his friend, ignoring Eclipse entirely. “SHADOW. PERMISSION TO SHARE RECORDING?”

“…sure, go ahead.” Shadow muttered.

<…no reason. Forget I asked.>

“RELEVANT RECORDING CEASES THERE.”

Eclipse fell silent for the fifth time in their imprisonment.

“…so, according to him, at least, you did feel regret. Even at the time.”

“Yes.” Shadow said softly, staring off into the distance.

Even after Rouge and Omega had freed them all from the cavern, Shadow and Eclipse both remained quiet and did not speak to each other again until they had left the base and gone their separate ways.

The Dark Arms nervously tried to comfort Eclipse as he walked away, still confused more than anything. Before he left, the darkling hesitated and for a moment, looked back—but what he saw didn’t really surprise him at all.

After all, Rouge and Omega were only doing the exact same thing with Shadow.

…

About a week after the time Shadow had gotten trapped in a cavern with Eclipse, Rouge and Omega disappeared.

As soon as he had realized that they were missing and not just (fashionably) late to lunch, the hybrid became frantic, rushing all over the city in a desperate attempt to find his friends. The moment his phone buzzed, he pulled it out, hoping beyond anything for a text from his friends saying that everything was okay.

Instead, he received a mocking video from Eggman, showing his friends trapped in specially designed cells and unable to escape.

Shadow couldn’t help but grumble under his breath as he teleported back to his apartment (and not just because he’d need to get new antivirus software from Tails). He’d met the doctor enough times by now to know that he wasn’t going to hurt either of them—no, what he really wanted was for Shadow to show up. What he didn’t know was why…yet, anyway.

Carefully, he used Rouge’s special computer, completely encrypted even to anything Eggman might have, to trace the location of the message and get an aerial view or two of his current base. Just as he had finished his preparations and prepared to set off, though, he heard a loud banging at the window.

Shadow pinched his brow with a quiet sigh as he went to investigate. He’d been completely ready to go, and now this just had to interrupt him.

The moment he saw a frantic Eclipse perched on his windowsill, though, all of his frustrations vanished.

Carefully unlatching the locks, Shadow pulled the window open and hauled Eclipse inside. The moment the darkling’s feet touched the floor, he began to babble desperately, clinging to Shadow’s arm like he was a life preserver in the middle of the ocean.

“—and now they’re gone and I don’t know where to find them or what to do—”

“Slow down.” Shadow said calmly, turning Eclipse to face him. “Take a deep breath.”

He sucked in air abruptly, gasping.

“Now then. What happened?”

“The Dark Arms are gone!” he wailed, nearly on the verge of tears. “These—robots, they came and put them in this weird glass jar or something and just flew off, and, and I couldn’t do anything because I was too slow!”

He whimpered fearfully, his whole body threatening to curl in on itself. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to them, and I didn’t know where else to go…”

“What did these robots look like?” Shadow asked.

“They were big, and red, and round…”

“Did they have really weird smiles on their faces?”

“Yes!”

Shadow sighed. “The same person took Rouge and Omega. I was about to go fight him when you showed up.”

“Let me help you!” Eclipse cried. “I have to make sure my Dark Arms are okay!”

“…alright. But you have to follow my lead.”

“Of course, anything!” the darkling said desperately.

Shadow looked at him sympathetically. “Then let’s go.”

One shout of “Chaos Control!” and a flash of light later (because Shadow had learned never to go on missions without a Chaos Emerald again), the two stood directly in front of a large metal building.

And that was when the explosions started.

“You couldn’t have teleported us inside the building?!” Eclipse screamed, sprinting away.

“I can’t teleport to places I haven’t seen properly! Would you rather materialize half inside a wall?” Shadow shouted, dodging blasts and rushing at the door.

“Chaos Spear!”

Eclipse stared as Shadow wrenched the now blackened doors open with only his hands. “Maybe you defeating an entire army isn’t so impossible after all.”

Shadow’s ear twitched, but he showed no other reaction. “Come on. They’re all going to be waiting for us.”

They crept through the halls, staying well out of sight of any cameras or robot patrols.

“This is suspicious.” Shadow murmured, after a few strangely quiet minutes. “His bases aren’t normally this empty. He must want us to find him.”

“Well, the faster we do that, the better for us, right?” Eclipse said, hurrying forward.

Shadow looked around warily. “I don’t know about that…”

A few minutes later, they found the control room. Inside, Rouge was trapped in a small cell while Omega was held within an electromagnetic field, and the Dark Arms were stuck in four individual capsules.

Eclipse rushed forward, determined to free them—until the ground began to shake and rumble.

“What is this!?” he cried.

Shadow’s expression tightened. “It’s as I suspected. The doctor didn’t really want those Dark Arms here…he wanted to lure you and I in.”

“Oh ho ho, how right you are, Shadow!” Eggman cried, rising up from the floor in a giant robot. (At the back of the room, Rouge rolled her eyes at him, and Omega glared daggers into his back.)

“But of course, you will still have to fight me in order to get your friends back!” he added smugly.

Immediately, Eclipse charged at the robot, sliding between its legs and crawling up the back to the power pack. As Shadow launched a Chaos Spear, Eggman grabbed the darkling and hurled him across the room, slamming him into the opposite wall. All four of the Dark Arms shrieked in terror at the sight.

Snarling, Eclipse stood up—but then, he happened to notice a Chaos Emerald loaded into a nearby panel. He darted to one side, snatching it up and rapidly growing into his giant form with a snarl.

He slammed into the robot at top speed, nearly knocking it over, while Shadow leapt away from its next strike and hurled another Chaos Spear. Then, though, the hybrid noticed something that made him freeze.

Eggman was completely unfazed by any of this. Despite the fact that he was losing badly, he even seemed to be enjoying it.

Shadow teleported directly to the top of the robot, hovering behind its head and eyeing the readouts on the doctor’s screen suspiciously. While Eclipse kept him busy, Shadow managed to notice one that Eggman kept coming back to again and again…

Which turned out to be a detailed analysis of his and Eclipse’s Chaos usage.

“Eclipse!” Shadow cried. “You have to power down your form, now!”

“Why?” the darkling shouted back. “I’ve almost got him!”

“Yes, but he’s collecting data on how we use Chaos energy!” Shadow called out, making the doctor grind his teeth. “Every time you hit him like that, you’re helping him teach his robots how to fight us!”

“Would you shut up?!” the doctor yelled suddenly, becoming irritated for the first time…which only served to prove his point.

The darkling stared at Eggman for a long moment, growling furiously, before transforming back to his regular size and rushing over to Shadow. “Well then, what are we supposed to do now?” he grumbled.

“Well, I’m going to do this.” Shadow said calmly, and then promptly picked up Eclipse and threw him directly at the head of the robot.

The darkling automatically clutched at the plastic shielding protecting Eggman with his claws, before whipping his head around to stare at Shadow. “What was that??”

He shrugged, palms up, but there was amusement glinting in his eyes. “Since I can’t use Chaos attacks, this seemed like the next best option.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is, hmm?” Eclipse shot back, grinning. “Well then, let’s fight!”

He clawed into the plastic as deeply as he could, taking swipes at it until it was heavily weakened. Unfortunately, he was thrown off again before he could break through, and the two were forced to spend some time attacking the legs and arms of the thing until those began to fail as well.

After a few minutes, Eclipse noticed Shadow revving up a spindash on the floor and smiled wickedly. He curled his tail around a suddenly very surprised half-hedgehog and hurled him through the air as quickly as possible, finally breaking the plastic shielding Eggman.

Within moments, Eclipse had crawled up to the top of the robot and had one hand fisted in the doctor’s coat. The point of his tail gleamed dangerously in the light. “Today is the last day you walk this planet, you—!”

Suddenly, a bright light flared to life, and when the two aliens had cleared the spots from their eyes, Eggman was gone.

The darkling growled furiously. “How dare he run away! That coward…”

Shadow sighed tiredly. “He does have a tendency to escape at the last moment.” he muttered, his voice accompanied by a tapping sound as he opened up the cages.

“Wait, what’re you—Dark Arms!” Eclipse cried, holding open his arms as the now freed creatures rushed over to him. “He didn’t hurt any of you, did he? Cregal, Cyzer, you didn’t try anything silly?”

The cube-shaped being hummed happily, and Eclipse smiled. “I’m happy to see you too, Blurk. And—Rhygenta?” he gasped, looking around to see where the fourth one had gone.

Rhygenta was hovering nervously in front of Shadow, who had just had his own joyful moment with Rouge (who had been playfully berating Shadow for not giving her enough time to find her own way out) and Omega.

Suddenly, they summoned up all their courage, and darted forward to press into the hybrid’s chest fluff for a moment before retreating shyly.

“I think they’re trying to say thank you.” Eclipse explained.

“It was no trouble.” Shadow said softly, inclining his head for a moment.

“Maybe we’ll have to do that again sometime—it was actually pretty fun.” Eclipse said, his brain barely even registering the words his mouth was making.

Shadow’s eyes widened, but then his face softened slightly. “Perhaps so.”

…

It took Eclipse less than twenty-four hours to have an immense emotional crisis over what he had said.

Shadow? Fun? Understanding him is one thing, but how far have I fallen that I like spending time with the person who killed my father?

The person who was…extremely hurt by Black Doom…and has said that he regrets that moment on multiple occasions……

Eclipse stared blankly at a wall.

But if I’m not trying to conquer this planet or get revenge on him…

…now what?

…

Shadow smirked to himself, sliding the first batch of cookies into the oven. Incoming in three…two…one….

“SUGAR COMPOUNDS DETECTED. INVESTIGATION COMMENCING.” Omega boomed from the living room.

A thud came from outside the kitchen, followed by a skidding noise as Rouge slid to a stop right in front of the kitchen doorway. “Time to pay rent.” she declared, marching into the kitchen. She was wearing her ‘at home’ attire: a cropped sweater, leggings, fingerless gloves and fluffy pink slippers.

Shadow laughed quietly. “They aren’t even ready yet, Rouge.”

“I’ll be waiting in the living room, then.” she replied airily.

A few minutes later, Shadow’s timer rang, signaling to him that it was time to take out the cookies. Before he’d even finished opening the oven door, Rouge was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, a plate waiting in her hands. “Rent. Now.”

“You’ll burn your mouth if you don’t let them cool, you know.” he said, carrying the tray over to the counter.

“Who cares? They’re at their best when the chocolate’s still all melty inside.” Rouge shot back, taking three and piling two up on her plate with the third in her mouth.

“Suit yourself.” Shadow said, still smirking.

“Ah ill, hank oo hery uch.” the bat replied, already heading back to the couch to enjoy her ‘income’.

As the hybrid began to place the next series of cookie batter pieces on a tray, a sudden wave of dizziness swept over him, knocking him off balance. He leaned forward against the counter heavily.

“SHADOW. ARE YOU FEELING UNWELL?” Omega called out from the other room.

“Why, what’s going on?” he heard Rouge ask.

“HE APPEARS TO BE EXPERIENCING AN UNPRECEDENTED SENSE OF DISHARMONY BETWEEN HIS PHYSICAL LOCATION AND THE BALANCE SENSORS WITHIN HIS EARS.”

“Hon, you okay?” she called, getting up and hurrying over to the kitchen.

Shadow grimaced. “I think so…I can’t figure out what’s causing it though.”

“WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO INITIATE A SCAN?” Omega asked, having walked over as well.

“Sure, why not.” Shadow muttered.

“SCANNING…

“MULTIPLE CONFLICTING BRAINWAVE PATTERNS IDENTIFIED. SHADOW, I BELIEVE A MEMBER OF THE DARK ARMS IS ATTEMPTING TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU.”

The hybrid’s eyes widened. “Of course.” he whispered. After a moment of hesitation, he opened up his mind—and was hit with an absolute deluge of panic. He stumbled, but Rouge caught him before anything serious could happen.

“What is it, hon?” she asked, worried.

“It’s the Dark Arms…and they’re terrified. Apparently, Eclipse hasn’t spoken or even moved in several hours, and they have no idea why.”

“Are you going to check on him?”

Shadow sighed. “I can’t just leave him like this in good conscience. I’ll be careful, and I’ll return shortly.”

Rouge smiled halfheartedly. “More cookies for me in the meantime, I guess.”

With a flash and a cry of “Chaos Control!”, Shadow took off.

He appeared at the location the Dark Arms had shown him—in a forest next to an old G.U.N. shuttle. Within moments, all four of the Dark Arms had rushed out and began urging him inside. Once Shadow had stumbled up the metal ramp, he saw Eclipse sitting despondently against a wall, staring off into space.

“Eclipse?” he called softly, kneeling down in front of the darkling. “Eclipse, what’s going on?”

The moment his hands made contact with the other’s shoulders, the darkling gasped with a start and looked up at Shadow.

“Wh…” he began, his voice raspy from disuse. “What are you doing here?”

“The Dark Arms were worried sick about you.” Shadow explained, frowning. “They say you haven’t moved for hours.”

“No way…has it really been that long?” Eclipse asked, turning to look outside. Instantly, his muscles spasmed painfully, and he groaned. “Ugh…maybe it has.”

Shadow still seemed worried. “I think you should come back to our place for a bit. I don’t like the idea of leaving you out here all by yourself.”

“I’m not by myself.” Eclipse huffed petulantly, even as he got up to leave. “I have the Dark Arms.”

“Yes, and they came to me for help.” Shadow said firmly. “You don’t have to try and handle this on your own, you know.”

“I always have before!” he shot back, his arms folded.

The hybrid found himself smiling slightly, despite the circumstances.

“What?” Eclipse asked, going to walk out the door.

“Nothing. You just sounded a lot like how Rouge says I used to behave.”

Unfortunately, that only seemed to remind Eclipse of what he’d been thinking about before, as a slightly panicked look appeared in his eyes. “Come on.” Shadow said firmly, taking the darkling by the arm. “You need rest in a place that isn’t those miserable shuttles. And I should know,” he added, interrupting Eclipse’s almost-protest, “since I’ve spent plenty of time in them myself.”

With another flash, they were back at the apartment. Shadow sat Eclipse down on the couch, gathered the Dark Arms around him, draped a blanket over the whole lot, and had a plate ready with five cookies on it in forty-five seconds flat.

The alien blinked, looking down at the food. “What is this?” he asked, while the four creatures crept closer, intrigued.

“Chocolate chip cookies. They don’t contain meat, but I think you’ll find them nice regardless.”

Eclipse picked up one of them, noted that it was oddly warm, and bit into it. Instantly, his eyes lit up, and he shoved the rest of it into his mouth. “Mmm!” he exclaimed, his mouth full. He began to reach for another…

…only to discover that there were none left. Four very satisfied Dark Arms were clustered around him, though, which solved the mystery of where they had all gone rather quickly. Blurk in particular seemed excited, tuning to Shadow and opening their mouth eagerly (complete with a blue tongue hanging out) for more.

Eclipse couldn’t even find it in himself to scowl. Shadow went and brought back five more cookies for them, and Rouge and Omega entered the room after him, looking a little wary (unbeknownst to Eclipse, they had been hiding in the kitchen to give the others a bit of privacy).

“So! You guys were hungry, weren’t you?” Rouge asked, sitting down on one of the plush beanbag chairs on the floor.

The darkling’s tail twitched nervously. “Well, we haven’t had much besides fruit for the past six months, so yeah.”

Omega folded his arms. “I WAS INFORMED THAT THE BLACK ARMS ONLY ATE ANIMAL-BASED PRODUCTS.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Well…that’s what’s normally best for us, but we can survive on other things if we have to…” Eclipse explained sheepishly.

Shadow stepped forward then. “As important as this conversation is, I think we should probably shelve it for later. Right now, I have to ask: what was it that stunned you so much earlier?”

Eclipse flinched slightly, curling into himself, but didn’t lose focus again. “Nothing.” he mumbled.

Omega stared at him. “ARE YOU TRYING TO FRIGHTEN YOUR SMALL COMPANIONS?” he said pointedly, looking over at the Dark Arms. All four of the small aliens had clustered around their caretaker nervously, worried for him once again.

“N-no!” Eclipse insisted.

“Then let us help.” Shadow said.

He sighed. “It’s nothing, really. I’m just…trying to come to terms with the fact that after everything, I basically dedicated my entire life to my revenge. Now that I don’t hate you (as much) anymore, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with myself.”

Suddenly, a smile began to spread across Rouge’s face…before she realized what was happening and tried to tamp it down a little. “I’m not making fun of you, I swear.” she insisted.

“Well then, what are you doing?” Eclipse asked suspiciously.

“Eclipse, you sound exactly like Shadow did about a year ago. Like, I’m not even remotely kidding when I say that he went through the exact same thing as you.”

The darkling smiled weakly. “I guess it’s even more obvious that we’re…related then.”

Shadow spoke up again. “Well, while you’re figuring things out, you can stay here for as long as you need. Right, Rouge?”

The bat smiled for real this time. “Of course.”

“SHADOW. WHY DID YOU NOT CONSULT ME ON THIS DECISION.” Omega said.

“Because you don’t own the apartment.” Shadow shot back, smirking. “But I suppose I can. Omega, are you alright with this?”

“YES. ON ONE CONDITION.” the robot declared.

“Which is?” Shadow asked.

Omega turned to face Eclipse, stomping over and leaning down into his personal space. “IF YOU HARM EITHER OF MY FRIENDS, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO REDUCE YOU INTO ASH.”

Eclipse sneered. “Then you had better accept the same conditions in return.”

“OF COURSE.”

The darkling seemed surprised at how readily Omega had agreed. “Uh…okay then. But is there even anything interesting to do on this planet?”

Shadow shifted in place. “I know of a thing or two that I suspect you might like. Let me know when you’d like to see it and I’ll take you there.”

“Why are you doing all of this?” Eclipse asked cautiously.

“He’s doing it because he knows what it’s like to feel lost.” Rouge explained gently. “And he’s a big softie if you just take the time to get to know him.” she added, winking.

“Rouge!” Shadow cried, blushing a bright green as he shoved her face into the beanbag chair.

The darkling felt himself relax slightly as Rouge cackled, feeling somewhat safe for the first time in months.

…

The darkling had spent the night lying on the couch, still trying to come to terms with the fact that in about two weeks he’d gone from mortal enemies with Shadow to sleeping on the hybrid’s furniture. In the morning, he’d woken up to discover both Shadow and Rouge preparing breakfast, while Omega was banished to the dining area.

“Uh…why aren’t you in the kitchen?” Eclipse asked, getting up to follow the Dark Arms (who had already begun hurrying to the food as quickly as they could).

“THEY HAVE ACCUSED ME OF BEING PRONE TO OVERCOOKING FOOD.” Omega said sulkily.

“You almost burned down the kitchen trying to make scrambled eggs once!” Rouge shouted.

Eclipse snickered at that, while Shadow began to bring some of the waffles he’d made out to the table. “I’ve added some fruit to these, so they should hopefully provide some nutrients for you five.”

The Dark Arms began to eat as though they hadn’t each gotten at least three cookies yesterday, scarfing down the waffles (and in Blurk’s case, eating one whole). Eclipse carefully picked one up and took a large bite out of it…before noticing that everyone was staring at him.

“What?” he asked.

“I mean, normally people eat waffles with a fork and knife, but I suppose this can be an exception.” Shadow answered, even though it looked like it was physically paining him to say so.

Eclipse smirked and took another big bite of the waffle, nearly choking on it with laughter when Shadow covered his face in silent disappointment.

…

Later that day, as Eclipse had begun to settle into the guest room in the apartment (Rouge had made a lot of money over the years due to some of her more…obscure jobs), Shadow walked in, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

“Eclipse…” he began, “…listen, I want to believe you when you say that you don’t hate me anymore. But how do I know that this isn’t some kind of trick?”

“What, you think I’m going to wait until you trust me and then stab you in the back?” the darkling asked sarcastically.

“Well, yes, somewhat.” Shadow said bluntly.

“Couldn’t you do the exact same thing with the Dark Arms, though?” Eclipse replied.

“I would never do that!” the hybrid exclaimed.

“How do I know that?”

“…good point.” Shadow conceded. “So is this a mutual show of trust, then?”

“I guess it is.” Eclipse said, shifting in place uncomfortably.

Shadow’s expression became unreadable for a moment, making Eclipse even more nervous. It was hard enough to get a read on the guy without the hivemind to help, let alone when he was being stoic.

“Did you want me to show you one of the reasons why you might like this planet?” he said eventually, seeming a bit hesitant.

“That sounds alright, I guess. After all, you can’t just leave me hanging after yesterday, can he, guys?” Eclipse asked, directing the last part of his statement at the Dark Arms.

They all did their absolute best to shake their heads, making their opinions clear (and melting Shadow’s heart just a bit in the process).

“Alright then.” the hybrid began. “I was thinking we could go take a look at a rafflesia plant? It’s a parasitic flora that happens to be the largest flowering plant in the world. And it also tends to smell exactly like meat that has gone bad.”

Eclipse rolled his eyes. “Really? You want to show me a flower brought here by the Black Comet?”

Shadow shook his head. “No. This plant is native to this particular planet.”

“You’re telling me. That this place. Naturally grows a flower that smells like meat?” Eclipse wheezed. “There’s no way that’s true.”

Shadow’s expression took on a slight hint of pride. “Normally, they only grow on the Oceanic Islands, but they can be cultivated artificially. I think there might be one in Central City’s botanical gardens, actually.”

“Prove it.”

“With pleasure.” Shadow said, smirking just a little.

Eclipse felt an odd sense of interest growing inside himself, and ignored it in favor of suspicion.

…

“One rafflesia flower, present and healthy.” Shadow said, clearly relishing in Eclipse’s surprise.

The darkling restrained himself forcefully from swearing in the presence of the Dark Arms. “It does smell like meat! How?!” he gasped, turning to face Shadow.

The hedgehog stared for two beats at his shocked expression, clearly restraining himself from expressing anything. “I told you so.” was all he said, his eyes bright with triumph.

Eclipse felt the beginnings of a smile pull at his own face, and wasn’t sure whether to feel embarrassed or not.

Suddenly, though, he froze. “What is that?”

“What?” Shadow asked, turning to face the direction the other was looking in.

“That.” Eclipse breathed, pointing at a small, green, leggy creature crawling along a vine.

“Oh! That’s a stick bug.” Shadow replied. “Interesting, isn’t it?”

“It’s adorable!” he gasped. His eyes were practically sparkling, and his tail was swishing back and forth. “Are there more creatures like this?”

“You mean stick bugs, or insects overall?”

“Both!”

“Well, there’s lots more stick bugs, but as for insects…there are more of them than there are both humans and Mobians on the entire planet.”

“I need to see all of them.” Eclipse insisted, grabbing Shadow by the shoulders.

“So, does this mean you think Mobius might have some worth after all?” he replied, smirking.

“Fine! Maybe just a little!” the darkling barked, stomping away in half-hearted anger. “If it has more cool bugs and weird plants, then sure! Whatever.”

“How do you feel about carnivorous plants?” Shadow asked.

“What.”

“Plants that eat—”

“Yes I know that now take me to them.”

…

After a week and a half, Eclipse found that he could grudgingly admit that this planet just might be a tiny bit less worthless than he’d imagined. After seeing all manner of plants and bugs (and receiving one book that had lots of pictures of insects along with their names from Shadow) he found himself fascinated by the variety of life that existed there.

However, he was slightly less fascinated by Shadow’s consistent attempts to find foods for him to eat that weren’t meat.

“What do you think?”

Eclipse stared at the spread of food laid in front of him warily. “You’re telling me this is what people eat instead of meat?”

Shadow allowed himself a tiny smile. “I know it might look strange—and some of it isn’t as good of a substitute as others. But yes, this is what people eat when they’ve chosen to forgo meat.”

“Ugh, but why would anyone rather eat this stuff?”

“Concern for other living creatures, the environment, or even general health are all perfectly valid reasons, you know.” the hybrid explained.

“You know an awful lot about—wait. Do you not eat meat?” Eclipse asked incredulously. “You’re at least half carnivore, you know!”

“Well, yes, but I am also half omnivore. And so long as I make sure to get lots of protein, I do just fine. After all, I was designed to be able to survive in times where food was scarce, too.” Shadow added.

“Can you get enough protein in things other than meat?” Eclipse still seemed skeptical. “And why would you do that, anyway?”

“Absolutely! Several of these foods have plenty of protein in them.

”And as for your other question, Maria always wished she could do this, but she needed a specific diet in order to remain healthy and strong. I absorbed quite a few of her ideas, so I didn’t eat meat for her sake…and then I just continued like that after…everything. Rouge loves to eat bugs, though, and I have no problem with that—this is just a personal choice.”

“But you said ‘several’, not ‘all’.” the darkling pointed out, focusing more on the first part of Shadow’s statement than the second.

“Well, no, but—please wait just a little longer!” he cried, lunging towards Blurk. The Dark Arm had been a little overeager at the sight of all that food and dashed forward, their willpower failing quickly.

“I just wanted to explain what all of these are.” Shadow continued. “That way you know what they are and can hopefully pick your favorites.”

“So here we have some eggs—unfertilized, please don’t worry about that,” he began, rushing to explain upon seeing Eclipse’s horrified expression. “Next, there’s some vegetarian burgers of varying types. And here we have a carefully designed meat substitute. It is uncooked, but I can fix that if you’d like.”

“Cooked meat? Is that what everyone eats here?”

“Well, yes—most people would get sick otherwise.” Shadow explained.

“Would you?” Eclipse asked. He seemed genuinely curious, more than anything.

“I don’t actually know…” Shadow admitted sheepishly. “Like I alluded to earlier, I’ve never tried it.”

“Never?” Eclipse gasped. “Alright then, I’m making a deal with you right now. I won’t let either myself or any of the Dark Arms eat the people on this planet—at all—if you give some kind of meat a try. Just once.”

The hedgehog cringed, but agreed regardless. “I suppose I can manage that.”

And then, finally, to Blurk’s immense relief, they began to eat. Rhygenta seemed to like the eggs best, while Cregal and Cyzer nearly escalated tensions to ‘all-out war’ levels over the last few scraps of meat substitute. Blurk happily ate everything available (though Shadow had to drag them away from the vegetarian burgers so that there would be some left for Eclipse).

Eventually, there was only one item left, and Eclipse studied it skeptically. “Why does it look so…weird?”

Shadow smirked slightly. “I actually meant to ask you about this one in particular. I’ve seen people claim that this is an acceptable substitute for meat on a surprisingly regular basis. I just wanted to know if you think that’s true or not.”

Eclipse frowned suspiciously at him, but raised the food to his mouth anyway…

“Agh! Ew! What is this stuff?!” he spat, shoving the offending object across the table. “It’s all rubbery and tough!”

Shadow choked back laughter, snickering into a hand as he saw Eclipse’s horrified expression. “That’s how I felt the first time I tried it, too.” he explained, his eyes still gleaming with amusement.

“Just tell me what it is already!” Eclipse cried.

“It’s called a portobello mushroom.” Shadow explained. “Basically, it’s an edible fungus.”

The darkling made a noise of disgust. “And they consider that to be an adequate substitute for meat?”

“Some people who choose not to eat meat actually have similar questions.” Shadow said, still smiling.

Eclipse huffed irritably. “Well then, now that you’ve had your laughs at my expense, I say you have to eat two bites, since you knew what you were getting me into there.”

Shadow sighed. “I suppose it’s only fair…” he muttered, picking up the offending food and staring at it.

“Yes! Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Eclipse said excitedly, facing him again.

All four of the Dark Arms looked up at once, so now Shadow had a mini-audience as he commenced eating the mushroom.

By the end of his two bites, Eclipse and the Dark Arms were all laughing openly. (Shadow might have overdone his reactions just a bit for that exact reason, though…it wasn’t as if he’d never done such a thing before, though it had been a long time ago.)

…

“Oh! I don’t think the Dark Arms have met Spark yet, have they?” Shadow asked one day, looking up from his book suddenly.

“No…who’s Spark?” Eclipse said warily. He had been playing with the Dark Arms on the floor when Shadow had asked, so now all four of them looked up with nearly identical curious expressions, making him smile a little.

“They’re, well—a pet wouldn’t be quite the appropriate term, so a companion, I suppose? They’re very friendly, if a bit mischievous, so you needn’t worry about any hostilities.”

“Okay then, let’s meet them! You’ll be alright with that, won’t you?” Eclipse asked the Dark Arms, pulling them closer for a quick hug.

General noises of assent came from the creatures, prompting Shadow to stand up. “Wonderful! I had to leave them in the daycare for a while because, well, I was busy…figuring things out. But I’m sure they’ve had fun spending time with their friends.”

The darkling realized that Shadow meant ‘things’ with him, specifically, and smiled sheepishly. “Will you be able to take them back now?”

“If they get along with the Dark Arms well, then absolutely.” Shadow said warmly.

Once they arrived at the building, Shadow left Eclipse in the lobby while he went to go fetch Spark. The darkling’s tail twisted nervously and he held the Dark Arms close as he waited for Shadow’s return.

Eventually, the hedgehog reappeared, and motioned for him to come with a smile. “I’ve explained it all to them, so hopefully everything should go over smoothly.” he said.

“Alright…” Eclipse said hesitantly, walking down the halls with Shadow. “Why is this place so far out in the middle of nowhere, anyway?”

“It’s one of the best-located daycares in the area, actually.” he explained. “It’s close to both nature and a spot that’s high in Chaos energy, which makes it the perfect habitat for chao.”

“Chao?” Eclipse frowned. “What are those?”

“They’re friendly creatures with a high affinity for Chaos energy.” Shadow said.

“…sounds weird.” he muttered.

The hybrid allowed himself a half-smile. “I think you’ll find them rather nice, actually.”

He opened the door to a park, filled with small play equipment and various musical toys. The thing that stood out to Eclipse the most, however, was the incredible number of small, round, brightly colored creatures crawling all around the area. The darkling found himself hard pressed not to let out a high-pitched noise at the sight.

Putting his fingers to his mouth, Shadow whistled loudly. “Spark?” he called. “Come here!”

Suddenly, a little creature with a small snout and round body hurled themself directly into Shadow’s arms, cooing excitedly. The hybrid chuckled softly. “You only saw me a couple of minutes ago, you know.” he said.

Spark perked up at the sound of his voice, placing their front paws on Shadow’s chest and looking up at him.

Eclipse’s eyes widened. “They look just like you!” he gasped, taking a couple of steps closer. “Can I…can I hold them?”

Shadow straightened up, tension clearly visible in his movements. Despite his obvious trepidation, however, he delicately placed the chao in Eclipse’s hands.

Carefully, the darkling began to pat its head with a single finger. After a moment of deliberation, Spark curled up comfortably in his other hand and began to purr softly with a smile.

Eclipse’s eyes glistened. “Awww….”

Suddenly, he felt several shoves against his back all at once, nearly making him drop the creature. Eclipse whirled around to see all four of the Dark Arms pouting and staring at him with big, sad eyes.

“Oh, come here.” he muttered fondly, spreading his arms wide. The four rushed into him, sending him stumbling backwards as he hugged them—all while keeping the chao steady.

Soon enough, Spark noticed that they weren’t receiving attention anymore and worked their way into the hug as well, making Cregal growl and Cyzer take a halfhearted snap at their ear.

Eclipse frowned. “Play nicely, you two.” he grumbled, an extra mental nudge adding weight to his words. The Dark Arms, sufficiently cowed, flew out of his arms along with the chao and began to poke about on the playground.

After a minute of confusion (and several increasingly exasperated demonstrations from Spark), the aliens seemed to pick up on what the various items were for and brightened up considerably, beginning to play with nearly overwhelming excitement.

Eclipse and Shadow stood by, watching with almost identical smiles on their faces. When they noticed this fact, both looked away, embarrassed, before the former offered up a rueful grin.

“I’m glad they’re getting along.” Shadow said quietly, still not meeting his…brother’s? eyes.

“Me too.” Eclipse murmured, his ribs tight against his chest.

…

After a while, Shadow had grown comfortable enough with Eclipse’s presence to cautiously suggest a sparring session—mainly because the darkling had been getting more than a little bit antsy after being cooped up in the house for so long. They’d mutually agreed that he shouldn’t go out too often early on in his stay. The consensus was that if the public was already resistant to Shadow’s presence as a half-alien, then things likely would not turn out well for Eclipse.

Once Eclipse had agreed (enthusiastically), they’d headed out to an open field, though Rouge insisted that they didn’t go too far in case someone got injured. Shadow folded his arms, facing off against Eclipse.

“Alright. Rules: No severe lacerations or anything else that could cause significant blood loss. Also, no attacks that might trigger a concussion. Other than that, anything’s fair game, including using the Dark Arms.”

Eclipse smirked. “It almost sounds like you want to lose.”

“I just want it to be a fair fight.” Shadow shot back.

“Alright then, whatever you say!” he chirped, stretching out his arms.

The mood began to shift as the two circled each other, eyeing one another as they waited for the first move. After a second, Shadow charged.

His fist very nearly landed, too, and it would have set him at a significant advantage had Eclipse not leapt nearly four feet directly upwards. “Cregal! Wings, NOW!” he shrieked, only realizing after the fact that this maneuver placed him directly above a fully charged Shadow.

He used his newfound wings to soar farther away from the hybrid’s reach, before lashing out with his tail at Shadow. Eclipse managed to land a light scratch with that, but then Shadow turned the tables by grasping his tail and throwing him headlong across the field.

Eclipse bounced back to his feet just in time to launch a kick at the other’s face, and then the battle began in earnest. The two alternated between full-force punches and glancing blows, maintaining a delicate balance between sparring and all-out fighting.

After a few minutes, Eclipse had managed to force Shadow onto the defensive and even seemed as though he might actually win. However, Shadow had one last trick up his sleeve…or on his wrist, as it were.

The darkling’s eyes widened as his adversary unlatched a single golden ring from his wrist, rolling his shoulder as he pulled himself up to his full height. Suddenly, though, Shadow paused.

“We can stop now if this is…too distressing. I understand…” he said guiltily, looking at Eclipse’s stricken expression.

“No, no, it’s not that!” he said, waving his hands nervously. “It’s just…do you really not realize?”

“Realize what?”

Eclipse cringed. “Just…here.” He pointed at Shadow’s left eye, leaving his finger close to the crimson iris. “You see that, right?”

Shadow blinked once, bewildered. “Yes?”

“And this?” he asked, pointing in the same way at his right eye.

“What are you talking about, Eclipse?” the hybrid asked impatiently.

“And then there’s this.” he said.

Shadow’s stomach dropped. To him, it looked as though Eclipse was pointing directly at him…in a field of vision situated directly above the other two.

He fumbled in his quills for his phone, switching it into ‘selfie mode’—something that had taken him a while to learn how to do—and staring at the third eye that had just casually appeared in his forehead.

“We need to go back. Now.” Shadow breathed shakily, his hands trembling.

Eclipse gathered the Dark Arms close with one hand and held Shadow’s wrist with the other, concerned. “Alright…”

The moment they appeared back at the house, Shadow rushed to the living room. “Rouge!”

She leapt from the upper level of their home directly down onto the ground floor. “What is it?” she asked sharply, already looking around for the nearest threat.

“What’s happening to me?” Shadow asked, doing his best not to start hyperventilating on the spot.

“Oh—oh! Hon!” she gasped, dashing over and looking into all three of his eyes. The hybrid tilted his head up slightly, giving her a better view of exactly what had happened to him.

“How did this happen?” Rouge said.

“I…I don’t know, I just took off my ring and then this appeared!”

At that point, Omega appeared in the room, having heard frenzied voices from his own training room farther away in the house. “WHAT HAPPENED?”

Shadow turned to face him, distress written all over his face.

“AH. RAPID OCULAR TRANSFORMATION. THAT IS…NEW.”

Rouge glowered at him. “Can’t you see this is freaking Shadow out?”

“YES. APOLOGIES.” Omega said, lowering his volume by half in hopes it would help.

“Have you tried putting your ring back on yet?” Rouge asked.

He frowned. “No, actually…I’ll do it now.”

The moment he slid the golden inhibitor ring onto his wrist, the eye vanished. Everyone started at that, even Shadow himself.

“Weird.” Eclipse muttered.

“Hmm…I wonder why that happened?” Rouge said. “Maybe it has something to do with you spending more time around other Black Arms than usual?”

“THE EXCESS CHAOS ENERGY PRODUCED BY REMOVING YOUR RING MAY WELL HAVE BEEN CHANNELED INTO PROVIDING A MORE COMPLETE EXPRESSION OF YOUR DNA.” Omega added.

Suddenly, Cyzer swooped forward, clearly excited. They began to hover around Shadow hopefully, their eyes wide.

“What’re they saying?” Rouge asked.

“They’re wondering what would happen if I took off all four of my rings, and if this means I can utilize the Dark Arms’ powers as well.” Shadow said, and then paled slightly as he realized what he’d just done.

“When did this happen?!” Eclipse asked, some indignance creeping into his voice.

Shadow looked embarrassed. “I needed to communicate with one of them once, and they got so excited I didn’t have the heart to close the link—but I’m sure you’ll always be their favorite person, Eclipse.”

The darkling shook his head. “No, it’s not—never mind. It’s nothing, really.” he muttered.

Shadow felt waves of jealousy and…longing…emanating from Eclipse, and on an impulse he himself barely understood, he stepped forward and grabbed the other’s wrist. Eclipse started suddenly, turning to face Shadow—and then the hybrid pulled him into the most awkward hug in all of existence.

“Wh—what-?” he stammered.

“I don’t know, just…is this what you wanted?” Shadow muttered.

Eclipse sighed quietly, and wrapped his arms around Shadow in return. “…yes. Thank you, brother.”

“I wouldn’t have asked you to spar with me if I didn’t feel comfortable enough with you to do that kind of thing.” Shadow added.

The darkling squeezed him a little tighter, all words failing him.

(After all, he’d found family in the last place he’d expected when he crashed on this planet.)

…

One night, Shadow and Eclipse were looking up at the stars when Shadow pointed out a black speck against the sky.

“That’s the ARK.” he explained. “I grew up there. It’s where some of my best memories took place…and some of my worst.”

Eclipse sighed quietly. “I could say the same thing about my Black Comet.”

Shadow tensed guiltily. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t be.”

“But—”

“Neither of us are the same people we were back then.” Eclipse insisted quietly. “Besides, now I just figure…more than anything, it was a bunch of really bad events all combined into one extra horrible situation.”

Shadow smiled faintly. “That’s awfully generous of you.”

“What can I say.” the darkling murmured. “I learned from the best.”

The two continued to watch the sky for a while longer, looking up at the place they’d both been “born” while living on a planet that neither of them truly belonged to—yet one that they had both claimed as their home. Most of the people on the world would never know (or if they did know, many would not like) that not one, but six aliens had taken up residence on the planet, but none of them cared.

After all, the only ones whose opinions mattered were ready to stand right by them no matter what.

And if Shadow and Eclipse cautiously leaned against one another—both literally and metaphorically—then that only made sense for two people who had fought with all the hatred and fear that could possibly come from many terrible misunderstandings…and yet, in the end, had chosen one another as brothers.

xxx

Author’s Note: Hey everyone! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted any fanfics on here, and this is in a new format, so if you made it all the way down here...thank you so, so much for reading all twelve thousand (?!?) words of my crazy ideas. I hope you’re doing well, wherever and whenever you’re reading this.

Fun fact about this particular fic: it took me five revisions to even come up with a story that made sense, because Eclipse just did not want to cooperate. XD Thankfully, I eventually managed to convince him otherwise!

#shadow the hedgehog #eclipse the darkling #rouge the bat #e 123 omega #dark arms #sol's fanfiction #lonely stars #if you feel up to it i'd love to hear feedback on the new layout!#i chose it in hopes that it would make my fics seem more approachable :)#or if you leave any comment in general i will be very *very* grateful :D #but no pressure!#also as i mentioned on my last post #sorry for the lack of updates! that’s probably going to continue for quite some time #all is well i’m just quite busy ^^;;#thanks again for reading!!

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