Brothers in Arms

Shadow: Alarming Revelation

I trudge down the hallway, heading away from the main Chaos lab where I relinquished my Chaos Emerald a minute before, glad I finally dropped Eclipse off. Today has been excruciatingly long and stressful, and it can't end soon enough. As I walk towards the elevator, I mentally turn over our argument, still a little shocked over the revelations.

I didn't expect him to be so anguished, not at all. Seeing him like that makes me realize that I've been oversimplifying him all this time. I thought that I would help him covertly, under the guise of being his guard. I didn't even consider that he'd notice and resent it, for admittedly valid reasons. I certainly didn't consider explaining myself, but, if I had, I wouldn't have thought he would actually care about my emotions. In fact, I'm still not sure exactly why he doesn't hate me as much as I thought he did, but I doubt he's going to explain.

No matter. This argument was my fault. I grotesquely underestimated his intelligence and emotional complexities...you'd think I, of all people, would know better.

I've been such a fool. I sigh, running a hand through my quills. This is just such a difficult situation to be in with my, well, half-brother. I don't even know what I should think.

Ugh, I just want my mind to stop spinning around. Chaos, it's like I can't think of anything other than him. Sleep will help, I'm sure. I stifle a yawn as I teleport up to my room on Sublevel 2, nearly collapsing on my bed while I yank off my shoes, gloves, and cuffs. I could use a shower, but I'm not about to take the ridiculous amount of time I need to clean my spines and coat; I'm far too tired to even head to the bathroom and brush my teeth. Well, that, and I hate sleeping with wet fur.

At least I'm lucky enough to have a room here. I'd hate to have to travel when I'm this exhausted. Really, I have my annoyingly diminutive size--all 3 feet of it--to thank for this convenience; over a year ago, I ended up snaring a by-all-human-standards horribly cramped officer's room that hadn't been filled when I applied for work here.

By my standards, the room is comfy, with a metal bed a foot off the ground with drawers built in underneath it, a wall-desk with a light and shelves above it, and a 'small' dresser and wardrobe. The dresser is my size, and the wardrobe is twice as tall as I am, but I don't mind the height inconvenience; the dresser has a comfortable flat top and is built into a second wardrobe--half the size of the larger one, for hanging human jackets--which provides a comfortable place to sit with a book. And all of this is squeezed into a room about 8' long and 5' wide.

The main reason the room hadn't been filled is probably obvious; there's no sink, bathroom, or any other facility for personal hygiene, whether shared with another room or not, which means that I have to travel all the way to the common bathroom when creation calls. Not a big inconvenience for a teleporting hedgehog.

At any rate, I'm just glad to have privacy and my own space, rather than sharing a communal barracks like most of G.U.N.'s employees. I doubt I could stand the noise, smell (strong for me, at least), or company of that arrangement for more than a day without losing it.

Clearing my mind of my current thoughts in preparation to sleep, I flop down on my bunk, yawning. I fluff my pillow, check that my alarm is set for 6:30am, and burrow beneath the covers.

Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a long day...

...

I groan awake for no apparent reason, eyes cracking open into the darkness. What the...? I blink, closing them again and flipping onto my other side, chasing the sleep I just left. I empty my mind, trying to release consciousness again, but it's hopeless; a nagging feeling tugs at my ear, preventing me from resting. At last, with a scowl, I try to address it, feeling wide awake by this point.