Blood Bonds

Part 16 - And They Were Roommates!

After a long day of back-and-forth morality questions with Nutmeg, Eclipse was beyond tired, mentally. He was still as set in his opinions as he had been before joining F.V.R., but something felt different, like some sort of curtain had been pulled aside to reveal the depths of an unlit, unexplored room. He was afraid to look deeper into the room, but with every question and test that the Head Counselor put him through, he found himself stepping closer and closer, slowly growing more daring as he approached a completely different side of the world he thought he knew.

The alien slunk into his room and crawled onto his bed, minutes before Mephiles entered behind him. The two kept to themselves as they went to their respective beds and prepared for slumber, but both looked up in bewilderment as the door clicked open a third time. It was the new trainee, the lynx that had been eerily watching Eclipse from across the lunchroom.

"Konbanwa," he said in his native tongue as he shut the door behind him, eyeing Eclipse. "Good evening. I'm Juke."

"Greetings, misfit." Mephiles replied. "I am known as Mephiles the Dark, and this is our roommate-!"

"-Eclipse the Darkling, I don't need you to introduce me." The alien hissed irritably.

Juke's lighthearted chuckling drowned out Mephiles' quiet 'no need to be rude,' and the lynx stepped towards one of the unaccompanied beds, his gaze still fixed on the other trainees.

"Say, neither of you look as though you're from around here... what are your stories?" He hopped up onto the springy mattress and folded his legs, looking on in interest.

"I was born from darkness." The prince of darkness stated triumphantly, seemingly pleased to be asked the question. "A science experiment gone wrong, released to unintentionally wreak havoc onto the world. In the close ruined future, it is destined that I will fuse with Iblis, the creature of light, and destroy reality as we know it! But until then..." he sat back coolly in his bed, folding his hands behind his head. "...I am learning to have an appreciation for the small things, until I grow bored."

"Sure." By Eclipse's tone, both his roommates could that tell the alien wasn't buying it.

"What's your whole tale, then?" Mephiles scoffed, looking over in displeased annoyance. "Are you anything more than an endangered alien?"

"I don't have to explain myself to either of you." Eclipse growled, rolling to face away from them.

After a pause, Juke spoke.

"Eclipse the Darkling, the last of the Black Arms..."

The others looked over in curiosity, Mephiles' genuine and Eclipse's begrudgingly.

"Your entire species was wiped out by none other than Shadow the hedgehog, who is said to contain Black Arms DNA within himself..." Juke's stare was cold and calculating as he studied the grumpy alien's puzzled expression. "You were genetically engineered to be the Black Arms' answer to G.U.N.'s 'Ultimate Lifeform.' And yet, ironically, despite being raised to loath him and kill him, you wanted Shadow to join the Black Arms."

"Shut up." Eclipse's puzzled look was replaced by one of pain.

"...and of course, a load of good that did for your kind...!" Juke's gaze remained chilly and unwavering.

The alien sat up angrily, his hands clenched into fists. "Shut up!"

"Fine. No need to raise your voice." The lynx pulled the covers off his bed and clambered in.

"How do you even know all that?" Mephiles asked, glancing from the desolate alien, who was burying his face under a pillow, to the relaxed lynx, who remained calm and detached.

Juke propped his head up with one arm. "Well, then there's my story. I founded an organization that once was a branch off G.U.N... They didn't like our innovations or ideas, so we broke off from them and did our functions elsewhere. Recently, we were in direct conflict with F.V.R., and that's what got me captured." He suddenly smiled an empty smile. "But the rest of us are still out there, planning our revenge. I won't be here for too long, you see..."

Without another word, the lynx threw a ninja star at the light switch, and the room plunged into darkness.