Fixing My Broken Heart

Chapter 11 - Mephiles's Nightmare

It was all black. A black, empty void. Not like it wasn't familiar, however. I sat down, looking around. Why was I here?

"Mephiles?" a familiar voice asked. I turned around and saw Shadow's friend Cream, holding her friend Cheese. Both of them looked terrified. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," I said calmly. She screamed, and started running. I tried to follow her, but was suddenly knocked down by Sonic.

"What are you doing here, Mephiles?" he asked. "I thought we had defeated you years ago! Couldn't stay dead long enough, huh?" I shook my head, but he didn't seem to care. "Listen, I'm not evil, I swear! You have to listen to me!"

"You killed me! You think you can be forgiven after murdering me? What kind of crazy world would that be?" I frowned, then kicked him off of me. "Please, I don't want any trouble-" "Then you shouldn't be here," another familiar voice biased. I turned around and saw both Silver and Blaze, very upset.

"After you manipulated us, you think you can just be redeemed?" Silver asked. "You really are twisted." I shook my head. "Please, I'm not trying to hurt anyone, I swear! You have to believe me! Shadow believes me!"

"How do you think we found you, Mephiles?" Sonic asked. "You really think Shadow trusted you. So naive an oblivious. You tricked him as well, so why wouldn't he trick you?" My heart sank. He...betrayed me? But I thought he trusted me? He said so himself!

Or I thought he trusted me.

Suddenly, the ground beneath me disappeared, and I fell down into the black void. "Mephiles?" Shadow's voice echoes. "Mephiles, wake up. Wake up!"

(11:24 am, Shadow's apartment...)

I sat up, panting from exhaustion. I was in Shadow's living room, lying on his couch with River. Shadow stood in front of me, holding a case file. "You good, Mephiles?" he asked. "You seemed to be having some nightmare." I sighed, and looked around, making sure no one else was here.

Thankfully no.

I sighed in relief. "What's that in your arms?" I asked, pointing to the file. He smirked. "Oh, just the beginning of my...private investigation dealing with Iblis." My heart leapt, and out of surprise and excitement, I fell off the couch.

"You okay down there?" the hedgehog asked. River walked over to my head, giving me a sassy look. I chuckled. "I guess the floor is my new home," I said, laughing. I sat up, and looked at him with dreamy eyes; though he didn't seem to notice, unfortunately. He walked over to the island counter, cleared it off, and placed down the file and opened it.

It wasn't much beside the lab coat we found yet yesterday. There were a few photos, but they were incredibly blurry. I looked over at one that looked like me, but Shadow quickly grabbed it and tossed it aside. "That's a defective photo," he said. "Not a very good shot, heh. Anyways, there isn't much to go on. I don't even know the name of the science facility. Do you, Mephiles?"

I shook my head. When i was attacked, no names of anything or anyone were mentioned. The closest thing to that were numbers, as if those were what the people were called. But maybe those were their names, and I wasn't paying attention (mainly because I was trying to fend for myself and Iblis while being knocked down a lot).

"I really don't want this investigation to take too long or...people will notice I'm working on something not mentioned in our activity records. That's where we report the criminals we've caught, the cases we've solved and/or completed, stuff along those lines. I can't keep this hidden forever, while my world continues revolving around me. Besides, with you here...it could cause more attention if anyone close to me found out you were here. I'm trying to make sure you're not found so that way I can get you and Iblis to safety."

My heart leapt with joy. He really did care about me. How sweet of him! I knew that he was a softie deep inside, though he seemed to refuse that fact in his everyday life.

"Well, perhaps I can provide some sort of solution," I said. "Since j was attacked, the last time I went down to Criminal Hotspot by myself, I did see one of the scientists there. Some of them might live over in that area. If we find at least one scientist, then we find out where they took Iblis."

"Sounds like a good plan," he agreed. "I'll add Criminal Hotspot in here to help connect the dots, and we'll leave for there tonight." I froze up. What?! "T-Tonight?" I questioned. The hedgehog nodded. "Yes, tonight. Since you know that area is called Criminal Hotspot, however you found that out, then you must also know that most of the gangs of criminals and bad guys the there meet up around night. If they are to converse during the day, it is in the darkest of alleyways. But we mainly catch them at night, so that's what we're gonna do tonight...Don't tell me you're scared, Mephiles."

I shook my head. "It's not that I'm scared," I told him. "It's that...I was attacked there once, and I nearly died. I don't want to end up dying not being able to save Iblis. If I die anywhere, it's for the people and creatures I care about the most, and that right now is Iblis...even if that means I'm scared to go back to where he was taken from me."

So I had admitted to it; I was scared of Criminal Hotspot. It was night when i was attacked too, and I didn't want to die now. Especially when I haven't even tried confessing my love to Shadow. But would that matter in the end, even when Iblis was saved?

"Look, you have nothing to worry about. I'm the Ultimate Lifeform. They won't dare mess with me." I smiled, and he did too, with his eyes. He was so oblivious to the danger sometimes like his blue rival, yet I found that cute in the ebony hedgehog.

Suddenly, that rare happy expression in his eyes faded rather quickly into something...sad. It was like the way it felt when you had something on your chest you couldn't tell anyone. "Are you-" "I'm fine," he interrupted, waving his hand away at me, as if to dismiss my question. "Get yourself prepared for tonight. I'll go get myself prepared. Thankfully we have a long time before we actually leave."

And he locked himself up in his room.