(Original Publishing Date was February 12th, 2022. I need to do this because Wattpad thinks the original publish date isn't as important as the date of the last update.)
Brush, brush, brush, brush, ptuh.
Shadow was brushing his teeth before school the next morning. As he turned the cool water knob (the only one that worked), water flowed into the sink but seemed to build up and didn't drain.
"Hm," he hummed questioningly. There was a ton of toothpaste built up around the drain so maybe that was what was plugging it up. Shadow shrugged; he'd deal with that after school.
Just then, a gurgling noise erupted from the toilet beside him, and black ooze started to bubble out of it. Shadow's fur bristled all over as the form of none other than Mephiles the Dark began to appear out of the muck. He stopped with just his head and torso poking up, his arms pinned at his sides.
"Your sink was clogged," Mephiles explained flatly, his eyes void.
Honest walked past the open door to the bathroom without stopping. "Ah, hey, Mephy."
"What do you mean 'Ah, hey, Mephy'?!" Shadow questioned rather loudly, his fur bristling once again.
"Don't you think you're reacting too extremely?" Mephiles asked in the same flat tone.
"Says the person, creature, hell-spawn, who doesn't react strongly to anything!"
---
"Couldn't he have told you whatever he needed to tell you while he was standing in our toilet this morning?" Shadow asked Honest as they walked towards the front of the building where the principal's office was located. They had been summoned via a campus-wide message on the school's intercom system.
"My guess would have to be that he wants to speak to me in a secure location where he knows no one will interrupt or possibly eavesdrop." Honest shot Shadow a knowing grin, obviously referencing the moment in the chapter before last when Shadow had hidden and listened to her and Mephiles's conversation from a distance without their permission.
The door to the office was extremely deceiving for sure. Why? Because it was just a plain, normal door. From the outside, you'd never guess what lied within was a hellish room with writhing, black tentacles completely obscuring the floor, walls, and ceiling. Honest knocked a couple times on the dark brown wood and it opened with a click. Not opening it fully, the embodiment of darkness stepped out and reached out his hand as if offering to shake with her.
Honest of course accepted and shook his hand as that was something she often did with everyone she met, smiling a very pleased cat smile the whole time. She couldn't bring herself to mind the overpowering icy coldness of the demon's hand for whatever reason. It was obvious, at least to Shadow, that Mephiles had taken up that already-in-character habit simply to please Honest. The fact that was something within both of their characters unnerved Shadow, though. Yeah, being suspicious of Honest was something Mephiles wanted him to do, but maybe there was some truth in it- No. Of course not. This is part of Mephiles's trickery and Shadow would never fall for it.
Mephiles then ceased their handshake and bowed his head. He lifted his head back up and stared at Shadow over Honest's head, their hands still connected.
"Please excuse us, Shadow. The author and I must discuss some very delicate matters in private. I do hope you understand."
"I... Don't, but go ahead," Shadow replied, unmoving.
As Mephiles pulled Honest into the room, the blond cat tilted her head back and regarded Shadow with a joyous face that completely contrasted the current atmosphere. "I'll be fine, Shadow. See you second period!" And with that, she was gone and sealed behind that unremarkable door with an unholy creature of pure darkness.
Mephiles... what kind of plan are you forming now? What do you want from me? What do you want from Honest?
Shadow was now walking along a shaded pathway between the buildings. He supposed that, although it was still early, it would be in his best interests to start walking towards his first period class. Just in case his inner monologue made him late.
This was all so confusing. When Mephiles's plan to kill Sonic failed, did he immediately move on to some other plan, a backup?
"I need only plant the seed of distrust for now. It's for your own good, I think you'll find."
What could Mephiles have to gain, other than the obvious, from making Shadow doubt Honest? The whole "join me Shadow" thing that went on in Sonic '06 couldn't be what he was aiming to do again, right? Mephiles wasn't dumb, and only a truly stupid person would attempt that a second time. When would he give that stuff a rest?
Another thing, who was in control here?
"As I entirely expected, Honest finally uncovered my true intentions for the student council about nine chapters ago. Ever since, instead of shutting me down, she's been using it as just another element of her grand plot."
This made it seem as though Honest was the mastermind, and that Mephiles was the one at the mercy of others here, especially with the addition of all that talk about truces, armies, and power struggles. After Mephiles's army dissolved overnight, Honest couldn't bear to "leave him defenseless like that", and they formed a truce, which Mephiles claimed was a little more than that. On top of that, when Honest mentioned the fact that Mephiles didn't have an army anymore, the personification of the absence of light actually appeared ashamed.
Okay, maybe Mephiles had succeeded. Shadow was doubting Honest, but also, he wasn't tempted in the slightest to join Mephiles.
"Huh?"
Suddenly Shadow stopped and lifted his head. There, several feet in front of him, stood the recolor from yesterday evening. He was blocking Shadow's path towards the building.
"Hello, Shadow... my brother."
"B-Brother?" Shadow stuttered.
"Yup," the Shadow lookalike confirmed, walking forward and closing the gap between them. "I'm Frank the Hedgehog. My creator told me about you... about us. We're family, and I was also told that you are struggling with something."
The strange hedgehog smiled. "You are my only family, so whatever that something is-" He closed his eyes and laughed. "You have my full support! After all, if we're family, it's natural to support one another, isn't it?"
Shadow didn't know what to say. What the heck is happening? He coughed. "My... family?"
"Yup, that's right. I was created based on your development data," said the imposter known as "Frank". When Shadow just continued to stare at him as if he were crazy, the imposter held out his hand. "Aren't my chaos abilities the best proof?" Suddenly a green flame engulfed his entire hand.
The green glow of the fire seemed to mystify Shadow. That was his ability.
"Whatever it is my creator says you're going through, I'm sure our combined powers will be more than enough to deal with it," Frank told him. "That way, my creator will surely be pleased. After all, that's why I was created in the first place."
-–-
"Oh hey, Frank," Amy Rose said as she entered the classroom that morning. Her desk was at the front of the class, so she dropped her books off there and then made her way over to the open window where a white Shadow stood, blissfully looking out and enjoying the fresh air. "You look happy. Did something good happen?" she asked.
"Yeah, kind of," the red and white hedgehog replied, turning to look at her with a smile on his face. The same smile he had just moments before on the connecting path.
"That's good," Amy exclaimed. "By the way, I heard that you transferred from another class. Is that true?"
"Yeah, about a month ago," he said. "I'm not good at making friends. I couldn't fit in with my class, so it made working there hard." When he saw Amy's smile fading, Frank laughed nervously. "You're my first friend."
Amy laughed as well. "Is that so? Well, uh... Since a lot of the people I hang out with are just my fellow club members, I guess you're one of my only proper friends, haha."
Shadow was watching them from the back of the classroom with eyes of gray steel.
There is no way that poorly made recolor is my brother, Shadow thought. There was only ever one "Ultimate Lifeform".
If he were to believe Frank's story, then he was created very recently, er, at least sometime after he was. But by who? Eggman? Dr. Finitevus?
Shadow could feel eyes on him and snuck a look to his right. There was Sonic, sitting calmly at his desk and staring holes in him. Shadow decided to ignore him for the time being and continue thinking.
"I was created based on your development data." If that was true and some of that data had survived somehow, who would know what to do with it?
Anyway, he had only a tiny bit of information to go on right now. Hopefully Frank could be trusted not to burn down the school with his chaos abilities in the time it took Shadow to meet up with Honest again in study hall next period. Then, he could discuss this with her and maybe she would know who Frank's "creator" was.
"After all, if we're family, it's natural to support one another, isn't it?"
I have a brother... I wonder if it's possible for us to become like Sonic and Tails?
Finally, Shadow decided to address the stares coming his way from across the classroom. They felt as if they were piercing his very skin.
"What are you staring at?" Shadow asked eventually. Sonic shrugged.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just falling more and more in love with you after seeing you flustered and teary eyed over the possibility of my dying the day before yesterday. <3"
"Then quit," Shadow responded.
"Quit what?"
"Falling in love with me. 'Cause I don't care for it."
"What's that mean?" Sonic asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.
"Don't get all lovey-dovey with me. We're just friends and barely at that," Shadow elaborated. Sonic was amazed he was able to say that with such a straight face. It must have been true, then.
Shadow the Hedgehog was the Ultimate Lifeform, the Lord of Edge, the Black Blur, and the fan favorite twenty-one years running. He had a long list of people who would gladly step up as his lover. Yeah, it was an honor to even be in his presence, much less date him, but then you had Sonic the Hedgehog, the Fastest Thing Alive, the Knight of the Wind, the Blue Blur, and the saver of numerous worlds and realities. You'd think that would have some influence on his position on this list. To claim that Shadow should feel honored to even be considered by Sonic might not be too far-flung, but still Sonic couldn't just say that. It would make him sound spoiled and whiny, and that would just stain his image.
It was always said that you had to pursue your dreams to the very end, so Sonic couldn't just stop now at the first sign of opposition. Then again, ignoring a fair maiden's request for him to stop pestering her was also particularly shameful, not to mention unbefitting someone of his makeup.
"Alright... but it won't be easy to find a worthy replacement for me, you know."
"Whoever said I needed a blue rat following me around with giant goo-goo eyes?" Shadow turned to watch Amy and his self-proclaimed brother again. "Think about how it feels to have Miss Rose follow you around everywhere. It stinks, right?"
"I wish you would follow me around like that," Sonic dreamt aloud, leaning back in his chair and inspecting the ceiling tiles. "No, what I deserve is you hunting me to the death like Rosy does to my evil twin. Death by a mad Shadow, now that would be a fitting end for someone of my caliber."
Sonic was fantasizing over the possible form of his outstanding execution. Yep, this hedgehog had lost it ages ago. Shadow looked on him with pity.
"Peh," Amy scoffed, steam puffing from her head as she leaned on the desk next to them. "I try to convince myself he's a pure-of-heart hero, but it's really hard. If everyone knew Sonic's true nature, it would all be over for him. Shadow knows and look how little he cares for him."
"He's not pure-of-heart?" Frank asked her.
"No, he's a great guy, just ask anyone," she told him, her voice heavy laden with sarcasm. "He keeps up this facade of being a hero, but he does all sorts of things behind the scenes." Frank's eyes widened.
"Wow, you really know a lot about Sonic," he remarked. Amy rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I do. I've only been attempting to get with him my whole existence, so 23 years now. When you love someone, you tend to spend a lot of time around them."
Frank laughed, finding that funny. He cocked one eyebrow at her. "You're in love with someone you consider ill-natured? That's ironic."
"Tell me about it," Amy said, sighing.
"When you love someone, you tend to spend a lot of time around them."
"That's amazing," Frank exclaimed with a laugh which caused Amy to cock her head in confusion. "Oh, yeah. Speaking of which, doesn't Sonic live in the same house as Shadow?"
At this question, Amy's face began to burn. "Y-Yeah. There's this rabbit lady named Snow who's a coworker of Shadow's. She lets students stay at her house for free since it's hard for her to keep up a building of that size without others' help."
So, Shadow lives with other people, huh? Any one of those people could be the one harassing Shadow.
"Do you know about Honest the Cat?" Frank asked Amy. "What kind of person is she?"
"A monster," Amy said seriously without even taking time to think about her answer.
"Huh," was all Frank said. That can't be right.
"She's probably the reason my Sonikku is the way he is!" Amy exclaimed, pulling a giant hammer out of nowhere and beginning to swing it around in a dangerous fashion. "She's always causing him and Shadow to interact with just. her. MIND." Amy's hammer disappeared and she began pointing to the sides of her head. She looked and sounded crazy. "She's a monster of the worst kind."
"Is she really that bad?" the white Shadow asked, wincing.
"Yeah, though I'm the only one who can see through her," Amy stated matter-of-factly. "For some reason, a ton of people like Honest, especially where we work. She's a waitress and the customers request for her by name. People fight to stuff rings into her tip jar. I don't understand it at all."
"She's a really bad person..." Frank whispered as if committing this info to memory.
"Well, yeah, but... I guess she's kind sometimes..." Amy mumbled, now seeming unsure.
"Huh? But didn't you say she was a bad person?"
"Uh, yeah! That's right, but even bad people have their good traits," Amy explained, but it was clear she was now sweating bullets. She suddenly assumed a thoughtful look. "It's all a trick, though. She's trying to catch me off-guard, but it's not going to happen!"
Frank was pretty sure Amy was completely bonkers. However, he was wondering if he should just disregard everything she had told him or not.
Frank looked back over to Sonic and Shadow. Sonic was sitting at his desk with a dense purple fog hanging around his head while Shadow was sitting calmly with his hands folded on the surface in front of him.
Both Frank and Shadow were thinking the same thing: I need to talk to Honest.