Chapter Text
Eclipse stared at the human, Stone, as it brewed coffee for it and Shadow. He sat on the table in this room, kitchen, while eating the sweet, crumbly circular things, cookies, that the long furred human had given him. The brown stuff that got stuck on his hands had a really, really nice taste. He was glad that he'd copied Shadow's tongue shape, tasting food was even easier with a wider tongue.
"Sit in the chair, not on the table." Shadow said to Eclipse with a frown and pointed with his thumb towards the chair.
Eclipse looked towards the chair. It was different from the other "chair" he'd used before though. It had a weird… bulge on it. It looked similar to a poison or infected sack… But Shadow looked even more irritated when Eclipse didn't do as he said, to the point that those ears tilted backwards.
He didn't want Shadow to be angry with him and punish him. He jumped down from the table and approached the chair with two cookies still left in his see-through bag. Eclipse poked the green mound to feel its texture. It was soft… and there wasn't a liquid in it either. He pressed his hand down on it to test if it would burst. But his hand sank down into it…
Shadow let out a soft scoff as he sat down on another chair opposite to Eclipse. His brother looked off to the side with a frown as the human was still doing… something .
He copied Shadow and carefully sat down on the plushy mound on the chair while being careful of his tail. It was… soft. Eclipse looked down at where he sat and shifted back and forth. It was really soft and nice to sit on… The closest he could compare it to was fresh flesh, but flesh was still hard even if it had some give. But this was really soft.
It was like that "sofa" thing that the human had… And that thing on the floor that they had given Eclipse in his "room". Just not as soft
His… He had a room just for him… Eclipse took another bite of a cookie and let the sweetness in his mouth take over his thoughts. It was good. He liked tasting things. He hadn't thought eating could be something to do for fun and not just because you needed to. He didn't understand why Shadow ate so much before he tried out food. Eclipse looked forward to trying the different flavours the Stone human could make. It was useful that way.
"Right, here's coffee for you." Stone human set a cup in front of Shadow with a smile. Then another cup in front of Eclipse.
The liquid in Shadow's cup was dark, almost black brown. But the one in Eclipse's cup was more… white. With some streaks of brown. He paused his chewing to look between the drink and the human.
"It's a mocha latte with extra steamed milk. Since you didn't like the bitterness of coffee, I added some chocolate." Stone human answered his question without Eclipse needing to ask as Stone human sat down next to Shadow.
Eclipse didn't know what chocolate was, but the human had given him a lot of sweet things to try since he said he had liked the taste "sweet" best. Sour and spicy had also been good, but not bitter that shadow liked.
Stone had said it was okay to not like the same things Shadow did, that it made them into unique people. That it made Eclipse more of a brother and a person since he didn't like the same things. Because everyone was supposed to like different things…
It still felt like he'd failed by not liking coffee like Shadow did. Because he was supposed to do better, do things that would make Shadow see and accept him, but he couldn't like the same things Shadow did. Eclipse set down the remaining cookie on the table (it got a little crushed but he'd pick up the pieces later) and gently picked up the cup. He looked at Stone and Shadow to see how they were drinking it. A small sip… And he felt that it was warm through the cup. So he needed to be careful or the sensitive nerves on his tongue would get burned and he'd get hurt in his mouth.
He carefully blew on the surface of the liquid, then took a small sip. An explosion of creamy and sweet flavour with a small hint of that smell that came from Shadow and Stone's drink. Not so much that it became bitter and bad.
Eclipse's body reacted with the warm feeling in his chest and mouth as his tail started to wag and his ears perked up and forward. He took quiet note of this reaction… So that was the reaction for good interest? He knew what tail wagging meant, and curling, but he'd eventually learn how these new ears reacted to emotions.
"Right, now that we're going to live together we need to establish some rules." Stone human said while glancing between Shadow and Eclipse. "First off, Shadow. I don't want you to hide when you are getting an overload of memory triggers. If it happens again, I want you to tell us and let Eclipse help you filter through it before it gets worse."
Shadow frowned with his ears tilted back towards his head. He glared at Eclipse, then looked down at his cup with a small nod. Eclipse shrank down slightly as he took another sip from the hot but sweet drink. What would he need to do for Shadow to see him…? To accept him..? Stone human said it would take time, but how long -?
"And Eclipse." The firm stare Stone human aimed his way made Eclipse frown. "You're not allowed to attack anyone. That includes the Wachowki family and any other visitors we get to our cafe. If you want someone to do something for you, you need to talk . Do not react by attacking them."
"Attacking is easier to make them understand immediately." Eclipse argued with a frown. Because talking didn't make sense to Eclipse. Why couldn't they just have a hive mind where you'd immediately be able to send signals of what you wanted? Or just reinforce behaviour through praise and punishment?
"Attacking people will not make them understand what you want from them, Eclipse. Remember how the blue hedgehog reacted?" Stone human countered with raised eyebrows. Eclipse didn't understand what that expression meant… "He tried even harder to approach Shadow even if it was the opposite of what you wanted. You need to tell them why you react a certain way or they won't understand why you are acting violent."
"They should just understand immediately…" Eclipse huffed and took another sip from his drink. He wasn't used to using words…
"I need you to promise, Eclipse. To both me and Shadow. It's really important to both of us that you don't attack anyone." Stone human leaned forward slightly on the table. "You are much stronger than any human. It's extra important that you don't use that power against the people who live here."
Eclipse curled up in his soft chair and looked away from the Stone human. Of course he was powerful, he was a higher lifeform who was powerful and immortal-.
"I can't promise that you'd be allowed to stay if you attack someone."
The warm liquid in the cup spilled on Eclipse's fur and the table as he dropped it to quickly stand up. His heart beat erratically in his throat and his blunt claws dug into the table and he stared at Stone with wide eyes because please, no, don't toss him away don't toss him away again -.
"D-Dont! Please don't I'll be better!"
"I know you will try your best." Stone human said in a very gentle voice. Stone human reached out towards Eclipse and he flinched, prepared for it to hurt, but-. But it didn't… Stone human placed its hand on Eclipse's shoulder and it felt similar to when Maste- B-Black Doom had praised Eclipse through the hive mind but it was focused on one place that was touched and not through his whole body and it felt nice so he wanted to relax but Stone human said he might be forced to leave .
"I'm just telling you what's at stake. That is the most important rule in this house that you have to follow. As long as you stay good, as long as you talk rather than attack, we can let you stay. But you have to listen to us and what rules we set for you, alright?"
Eclipse could feel himself trembling slightly. He let his hands relax against the table. Because they… weren't tossing him away. Stone human explained what the punishment for attacking someone was…
Eclipse swallowed and nodded. He felt a prickling sensation at the back of his head and his back as the.. quills he had relaxed… So as long as he didn't attack anyone, he'd be allowed to stay…
Eclipse's breath hitched slightly, because he had attacked someone he'd attacked the blue pest and the red things and-.
"D-Don't punish me for breaking the rule, I didn't know, don't toss me away…" Eclipse frantically looked between Stone human and Shadow and both of them furrowed their forehead.
"We know, and it's alright. The three colourful aliens are the only ones who would be able to handle your attacks, especially Sonic, so you're not in trouble for attacking them today. Fighting them is… fine. But you should never fight them to hurt them."
Okay so… So those three were okay to attack… But attacking anyone else would lead to punishment and the punishment was to leave and Eclipse didn't want to leave when he just found a use again. Eclipse's brow furrowed slightly as he stared at Stone human.
"Without hurting…? But fighting is meant to hurt."
Shadow let out a heavy sigh and Eclipse saw his brother pinch the space between his eyes. "I'll demonstrate what that is some other day… The important thing is to not attack anyone. Do you understand?"
"Y-Yes." Eclipse was quick to agree when Shadow gave him a firm glare. He then flinched when something rubbed against his chest and he saw the Stone human stand there with a dark piece of cloth.
"Easy, I'm just cleaning off your mocha." Stone human said with a smile and stroked the cloth against Eclipse's fur again. So many things humans made were soft… "Did you like drinking it?"
Eclipse let out a soft sound of agreement and watched as Stone human wiped the liquid off his fur. He hadn't even noticed that it had gotten wet… And the table was wet too. It wasn't as thick as blood and had spread a bit and was dripping on the floor.
"Then I'll be sure to make it again." Stone human guided Eclipse to stand up, something he followed along with because Stone human was important to Shadow and Shadow listened to Stone human so Eclipse should listen too. Stone human continued to wipe off the wet from his fur. "Do you have any questions, Eclipse?"
… Many. Too many. He tried to reach out to Shadow to share them with him, to make Shadow understand just how many he had. But he just hit a wall, he was closed off from connecting their thoughts. Shadow still had three of those powerful emeralds, the other 4 had been given to the red thing. If Eclipse had those… Would he been able to connect with Shadow like he wanted to…?
Since there were too many to even begin, Eclipse shook his head at Stone human's question. He shouldn't show weakness or insecurity… He was supposed to be perfect, better, if he showed weakness now he wouldn't be allowed to stay.
"Good. Don't hesitate to ask if you're curious about anything, alright?" Stone human stood up with a small smile aimed at Eclipse. "We'll be adding more rules as we get to know each other. But for now, that should be enough. Let's watch some TV."
That was the moving picture transmission that many humans could see using their screen things. Eclipse straightened slightly in interest and followed Stone human.
Eclipse will need to be careful… He'd stay useful and stay… nice . He wouldn't attack anyone and he'd help Shadow with his memories. He was allowed to attack that blue pest if needed but otherwise shouldn't attack anyone… That should be… fine. He'd do it for Shadow. Everything is for his sake, so Shadow would see him. So he wouldn't be alone. So he'd have a family…
He really, really wanted this to work. He had nothing left but this. He didn't like his new form much, but Shadow liked it. So he'd like it too, eventually. Someday.
Eclipse was very confused over what was happening on this TV most of the time, and he preferred to sit on the floor because his head got stuck in the soft sofa. But he was expected to watch and learn something. So he couldn't ask things or he wouldn't have focused and he'd fail. So he had to watch and understand on his own.
For Shadow, he'd do anything.
It was night. So Eclipse was told he should sleep in his room. (His, something that was his, that no one was allowed to enter without his permission, he couldn't believe something like that even existed)
He had tried to sleep. He really, really had. But without the usual buzz of other husks in his head it felt so… empty . And Shadow still didn't let him in. He kept those emeralds in his chest that helped him block out Eclipse and helped him not pass out from memory overload but Eclipse needed something .
It was too quiet. His fur and quills stood on end and the sensation felt weird . He gently stroked his fingers over his palm and wrist, where he'd let his skin still be covered with scales like he's used to. The finger stroking up and down, but the motion didn't help him calm down.
It was so quiet . That other place hadn't been this quiet, there had been soft beeps and hums of what Stone human called electricity. It had still been hard but he had managed to sleep but now he couldn't.
And Shadow still wasn't letting him in .
Eclipse sat up on the soft mattress with this smaller soft thing, pillow, being stuck to his head. He pushed it off with a frustrated hiss and heard the fabric rip but that didn't matter. He needed something or he would-. He-. He wouldn't be able to stay nice , his skin was crawling and he wanted to crush something under his fingers-.
He opened the door and stepped outside into the dark hallway. He had perfect night vision so the little light that came from the windows was more than enough to make him able to see.
The TV… That sounded a lot, that made noise. Eclipse ran over to the TV and stood in front of it.
"TV, show pictures." He told it while pointing at it.
… Nothing happened. And it made Eclipse confused. He reached out to touch the screen like he had seen that human hostage do with its phone thing. But the TV didn't react… He pressed on it harder, but still careful because everything was fragile, but it still didn't react.
He let out a frustrated groan and stepped back with his hands flexing. "Show pictures! Why won't you listen to me?? You listened to the Stone human!"
Still no reaction… Maybe that thing also slept like humans did? These squares were a hive mind, so maybe when humans slept these things also slept because no one was awake to give them something to show? But Eclipse needed something to make sounds!
"Will anything make sounds!?" He shouted into the room, just to see if there was another hive mind piece that was still awake. But no, nothing. Nothing listened to him and nothing reacted to him either! A deep growl settled in Eclipse's throat as he went over to a square… thing that was weird, striped and colourful.
"Is everything asleep when it's dark!?" He picked it up from the table. And the form of this cube thing crumpled under his grip with a "crrsh" sound. A sound. Something. He let go and squeezed it again and the box made that sound again, but it wasn't as loud as the first time. There was something white sticking out of the top of it.
Like ripping out the insides of a creature's belly, Eclipse stuck his hand into that hole, grabbed what was inside and ripped it out. He was suddenly covered by soft, thin, white things as all of it fell out of the square colourful thing. It all fell to the floor with a "paff" noise. Eclipse stomped on the pile of white but he only heard his own stomp. He moved his foot around in the white and he heard it rustle.
Noise. It was noise, something. He looked at the square box thing that was partially stuck to his hand and quickly reached into it to pull out more of that white, light stuff to cover the floor. He then crouched down to put both hands into it and rubbed them back and forth. There was that noise again, something he could focus on. And he could clench his hands around these thin, flimsy things and they didn't crumble but just wrapped around his fingers.
He laid down in these thin, light things with his back first and rubbed his head and body back and forth. Because that's how he got stuck on soft things, could he get stuck on these too? When he sat up, he was very happy to hear the rustling following his movements and that pieces of white had gotten stuck to his quills.
They did! They did get stuck! And now, they were making sounds when he tilted his head back and forth and it was close to his ears so it would be easy for him to hear it. (It was so weird that he could direct his hearing with these ears but this way it was useful)
He was still instructed to sleep, so he should sleep. But this was only noise when he moved, he didn't know how to sleep while moving. So while he was a little more settled hearing the rustling close to his ears as he walked around, he still needed to find something that made noise without Eclipse moving around.
A brief thought of asking Shadow for help came to mind. But it was just as quickly dismissed. Shadow didn't like him, not yet. If Eclipse asked Shadow for help, he would be seen as less useful. And Shadow would hate him even more. He needed Shadow to like him, he couldn't ask questions that were obvious, questions Eclipse should know the answer to. He's seen Stone and Shadow interact with objects to make noise, he just had to find them and… and activate them.
He found a big tube thing in a cupboard. Something that he recognised and it made his ears perk up. Stone human has used this to dice things into paste! This made a loud noise, this could work. So he teleported up onto the table and set it down. The top part of the tube thing fell off and clattered to the floor, so Eclipse teleported again to fetch it and set it on top of the… cube.
Why was everything shaped like squares and cubes? Humans had a weird fascination with that shape…
He remembered the human touching the front of this to make it dice things to paste… So he touched it. … But nothing happened. Nothing. Nothing at all.
Eclipse threw away the tool with a frustrated shout, grabbing at his quills and making the thin, white things rustle with the motion. "Why doesn't anything start!? You should be grinding things when you're touched! Are you broken or are you just asleep!?" He glared down at the paste-maker with a snarl. Things that didn't serve its purpose shouldn't exist…
His foot collided hard with the paste maker to crush it, only for Eclipse to fall back with a pained shout when something cut into his foot. He held his hurt appendage with a soft whimper, barely able to look past the tears clouding his vision. There was something stuck to his foot… There was something sharp in that thing!? He reached out with a trembling hand towards the object.
Only to flinch and hiss when the light suddenly turned on, snarling towards the offender. Stone human. It stood there with different coloured clothes on and it was frowning at Eclipse on the floor.
"Eclipse…? What are you doing up so late? Shouldn't you be asleep?"
Right, yes, he should be asleep because that had been his task, but he couldn't when everything was so quiet -.
"I don't need more sleep!" Eclipse hissed again, then focused on the thing lodged in his foot. Black blood seeped from the wound and he let out a choked whimper when he ripped it out. The wound closed soon after, but the pain was still there for a while longer. "I was trying to make these things… work . Is that part of your hive mind too? Does all of your hive mind sleep when it's dark? It's defective!"
Stone human looked at Eclipse. Then at the paste maker that was shattered on the floor. It then let out a soft sigh as he walked away. "Stay there, I'll be back."
Eclipse didn't like what that sigh meant… He didn't understand what that sound meant. Was he in trouble? Had he done something wrong? When Stone human returned, Eclipse was ready for some type of punishment for doing wrong. But instead, Stone human crouched down in front of Eclipse and pointed towards his foot.
"Can I take a look at your foot, please? I need to clean the wound."
Eclipse looked between his foot and the Stone human. "It's already healed."
"Well, I still need to clean your foot." Stone human said with a small smile. "So can I?"
Eclipse didn't know how to reply. Was… being clean important? Right, yes, Shadow thought it was important. Shadow had cleaned up every stain he saw on himself. If Shadow thought it was important, Eclipse should too. So he held out his foot towards the Stone human.
Stone's grip was gentle… Eclipse didn't need to remind Stone to loosen its grip because it was already gentle with him. Eclipse didn't need to endure a harsh grip because it was something he should handle. Stone human was just… gentle and kind…
Eclipse had tried so hard to make the husks be gentle with their hugs because Eclipse was strong but he didn't have as much muscle mass to handle high amounts of pressure. Sure, humans couldn't make that sort of pressure, but the fact that Stone human didn't even try was strange. Why wouldn't it? Eclipse had tried to destroy its planet. Why was it interacting with Eclipse like it interacted with Shadow?
"There, all clean." Stone human set aside a black stained cloth, then reached out towards Eclipse's head. The human surprised Eclipse again by being gentle as it started to remove the thin, rustling things from his quills. "Why do you have tissues all over your quills?"
"Let them be!" Eclipse moved away from the Stone human's hand with a snarl. Because it was rustling, it was noise, he couldn't not have them or it would be too quiet. "My reason doesn't concern you, human ."
"It does concern me since I was the one who bought those tissues for drama nights." Stone human countered with a raised eyebrow. "And what were you trying to do with the blender?" It gestured towards the paste maker Eclipse had stomped on.
"It was defective! It didn't make a noise and made paste when I touched it. So I destroyed it." Eclipse crossed his arms with a huff and straightened his back. "Something that doesn't fulfil its function doesn't deserve to exist."
"Eclipse, that's not-." Stone human stopped speaking, then reached up a hand to rub at its forehead. "It's too early for this… We can show you how to handle kitchen tools tomorrow. But for now, please go back to bed and sleep."
Eclipse tensed, that was the second time he had been given that order. First by Shadow, now by Stone human. Both wanted Eclipse to sleep and he was failing that task because he couldn't .
"What? What's wrong? Do you have trouble sleeping?"
"No! I just don't need it! And I'm bored." Eclipse stood up quickly as he frowned down at the human. He couldn't admit that he failed the task. He couldn't admit that he was less than perfect because then they wouldn't need him and he'd have nothing and he couldn't handle not having anything-. "You should amuse me instead! Wake up the TV so it will show pictures."
Stone looked at Eclipse with an expression he didn't understand, then stood up with a nod. "Alright, I'll help you start it. Be careful of the plastic on the floor."
Eclipse was then led to the soft sofa and instructed to sit down. The human then showed Eclipse a stick with strange shapes on it that the human called buttons. It directed the end of the stick towards the TV and pressed the button closest to where it was pointing. The TV woke up and started to show pictures. The Stone human then showed Eclipse what other buttons did, to change the pictures showing and how loud the TV was. It then went towards the kitchen part to leave Eclipse there…
Sounds. There were sounds again. Eclipse increased the volume coming from the TV and he felt his tensed muscles relax. Eclipse didn't even focus on what was happening in the picture, he was just content to be included in knowing what was happening in the human's hive mind. Noise that he could filter out but still be a part of.
The thin pieces of white, tissues Stone human called them, rustled when Eclipse leaned back against the sofa's soft surface. He let out a soft sigh as his eyes grew heavy. This was the type of noise Eclipse needed… Eclipse fell asleep only moments later with the sound of the TV and the human's hive mind lulling him to rest.
Notes:
Eclipse is just a silly little beaaaaan. :3 An alien bean.
The Wachowski family and other characters might be mentioned or appear, but they won't be the true focus of this spin off story. It's going to be about Eclipse learning how to be an earthling and living with Stone and Shadow. So don't expect the colourful trio of alien to be much in focus, it's mostly going to be Eclipse, Stone and Shadow. Which is why I didn't add as many character tags.If no one sees this spin off series because of that, that's completely fine with me. I'm just self indulging~. I don't know for sure when I'll update with the next chapter, but it should be somewhere in september! <3 I hope you will follow along and enjoy this silly little thing!
Chapter 2
Summary:
Eclipse joins on a shopping run
Notes:
It's an updaaaate! Whoop!
A little earlier than I thought it'd be but I also felt like I had to share it sooner rather than later.
Cause... well... Silksong. I'll explain more in the end notes. <3 <3 <3Hope you all enjoy Eclipse sillies!!!
(I was a bit lazy with editing, apologies)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
When Eclipse woke up, he immediately noticed how quiet it was. The TV didn't show pictures any more and there was a soft thing that was covering him and keeping him warm. He pushed it off him and he shivered at how cold he felt immediately after. But he was also so warm that he was getting sticky under this… fur and it felt uncomfortable. He shivered and rubbed his arms up and down but that didn't help very much.
There were things moving outside, the room was a lot brighter than before. The sun had gone up and the "day" had started. It was so strange that there was a sky and it could light up like that… Actually-.
Eclipse got up and was very glad his head wasn't stuck to the soft sofa this time. He then went over towards the window to look outside. The area above them was blue with some spots having white things slowly moving over it. Shadow had called those "clouds" when Eclipse had asked about them on the way here. Places in the sky where water gathered so tightly it became a cloud. And those only existed in the sky.
Windows weren't supposed to be broken or opened, so he stayed there with his ears tilted towards it and eyes focused on the sky. The sound of soft humming, footsteps and voices helped him settle a little bit. And watching those cloud things was… strange. Stone human had asked if Eclipse had seen shapes in them, but he hadn't then. So he tried to see shapes now, because it was a task he hadn't been able to do before so he'd try again now.
That was… an egg pod. And that one looked like the tuft on Shadow's chest. Only a little… That looked like-... That looked like one of those cup things.
Eclipse's ear twitched when it picked up the sound of footsteps behind him. Heavy, with a light "splat", soft feet. That should be the Stone human-. "Eclipse? What are you doing by the window?"
He was right, he had guessed right! He was getting better at hearing the difference in sounds. The tip of his tail wagged slightly at the success but he kept on looking at the sky.
"I'm looking at shapes. I can see some. There." Eclipse pointed at the cup shaped cloud and heard Stone human walk up closer behind Eclipse. Stone human was too weak to be a threat so Eclipse wasn't worried about it. "That's a cup thing. And over there is a sofa thing."
"Hm, you're right. That looks like a cup." A hand settled on Eclipse's shoulder that made Eclipse look up at the Stone human. The human was smiling at Eclipse, so he'd done a good job! He'd completed the task Stone human asked him yesterday! "Would you like to join me for breakfast? I can make another mocha coffee for you."
Oh! That was the sweet coffee drink that Eclipse had yesterday! He nodded and his tail wagged a little more. He'd like to have one, it was a good drink. So he followed Stone human towards the kitchen and sat down on the soft chair while he watched Stone human make it. He saw that paste maker thing in pieces on the table, broken from Eclipse's stomp.
"I'm surprised Shadow isn't up yet…" Stone human said as he was doing… something that made the sound of "crrrsssh". "Did you see him during the night, Eclipse?"
"No, I haven't seen Shadow." He frowned slightly and looked towards the door that would lead into Shadow's "room". He then reached out through the hive mind, feeling only static from everything except for Shadow. And he was surprised to… feel Shadow.
He shot up from his seat with his eyes wide. Eclipse could feel Shadow, he could-. Shadow would never want to let Eclipse in, he hadn't when it was night, but now he was and that was such a relief but that also meant that Shadow was wrong because he only let Eclipse in when something was wrong-.
"Eclipse…?"
Eclipse teleported to Shadow's side without answering, because that would be useless anyway. Shadow was resting with his quills splayed out over the soft "pillow" thing and head turned to the side. In the hive mind, Eclipse could feel a form of distress, but also peace. Like what Shadow was seeing was nice but also that something was wrong about it. He was deep in those memories and that worried Eclipse even more, because Shadow had slept for so long when he'd been this deep but having those emeralds should have solved it -.
"Shadow!" Eclipse reached for Shadow's shoulder and shook him. "Shadow, wake up! You said you didn't want to be that deep again."
No response… The door to Shadow's room opened and Eclipse faced it with a snarl. Shadow couldn't react, he was vulnerable, it was up to Eclipse to protect him from any threat and he wouldn't let anything get close to try and hurt Shadow-.
Oh. Stone human. That one was too weak to hurt Shadow in any way. And the human was frowning. "Is something wrong with Shadow?"
"He's in deep again!" Eclipse told the human, then turned back to Shadow. If shaking didn't work, then it was really, really tangled… "I gotta pull him out… He didn't like being deep that long last time." Eclipse gently cradled Shadow's head between his hands.
He didn't focus on what the human said, but focused on diving into Shadow's mind. Now that the wall between them was down, it was easy to dive in and part the space between his own and Shadow's mind. Like any other time, Eclipse entered Shadow's mind space by bursting out of dark liquid that covered the ground.
There was a large, orange scar in the sky of the mind where Shadow had "sealed" the rest of the hive mind from leaking into him. And in the middle was Shadow standing waist deep in this shifting liquid with his head down. Eclipse ran forward and grabbed hold of Shadow's form and started to gently pull Shadow out, piece by piece. He saw flashes of what Shadow was experiencing because of this.
A room with soft lights and a TV that showed pictures. Something that felt warm and comforting.
A white room with many things attached to him that felt irritating and tiring.
A view of trees, a lake, surrounded by mountains and darkness slowly creeping over the view. Comforting and warm but also a little bit afraid.
Eclipse managed to pull Shadow out of the black goo and retracted from Shadow's mind now that he was out. Eclipse "came back" to himself with a soft sigh and opened his eyes. Shadow opened his eyes only a moment after.
Shadow glared at Eclipse with a snarl. "You invaded my mind again -!" Shadow sat up in his bed and Eclipse quickly stepped back with his hands raised.
"I wasn't! You weren't waking up!" Eclipse winced when the wall between himself and Shadow was once again set up. But the rage, worry and distrust that he'd felt before made it very clear how unhappy Shadow was by waking up seeing Eclipse first thing in the morning….
It-. It shouldn't hurt, Eclipse knew Shadow didn't trust him, but he was trying so hard and Shadow still didn't like him-.
"He's right, Shadow. You weren't waking up." Stone human stepped in between them, because Shadow was still snarling and angry. "Eclipse told me you were in too deep. So he pulled you out. You almost slept for multiple hours again."
Shadow's ears tilted backwards when Stone human said this and he looked between the human and Eclipse. He let out a soft huff and looked away, then stood up from his bed. Shadow's quills relaxed slightly, and Eclipse took that as "okay fine I'll let it slide". So it made Eclipse relax too.
The three of them had this "breakfast" meal ritual together. Eclipse got a mocha drink, Shadow and Stone human got coffee. The human also got food in the form of a square soft spungy thing with a round meat slice on top. Eclipse didn't know what that breakfast food was, but he focused on his mocha. It was good. Sweet and with a hint of that coffee stuff that Shadow liked.
Stone human mentioned that they needed to go "grocery shopping" and that Eclipse was supposed to come with them. Eclipse argued against this, because he didn't want to walk among lesser beings like those humans. But Shadow scolded him that he should learn how to be among humans because Eclipse had chosen this. That Eclipse had chosen to live amongst humans and needed to learn how to be around them and talk to them with respect.
Eclipse didn't want to treat those creatures with respect, it felt degrading. They should be the ones worshipping him and Shadow! Because they were the perfect beings, the perfect creations! (Okay, Shadow was more perfect than Eclipse but he was trying! He'd been trying really hard his whole life, so he had to become perfect one day.) None of those humans has done anything to deserve Eclipse's respect, none! So why should he treat them with respect when they haven't done anything to even deserve it?
Eclipse didn't say this out loud because then Shadow would get more angry, but Eclipse really didn't like that he had to interact with those… humans …
The outside was loud. The air moved and he could feel it so much clearer with fur and quills that the air could pull on. He hissed at it and he felt his eyes gather fluids when the moving wind made them feel uncomfortable. Wind wasn't energy it wouldn't listen to Eclipse because that was like smells that just hovered and existed without a master. But that movement was uncomfortable .
"What are you doing?"
Shadow's voice stopped Eclipse in his movement of slashing at the air to try and make the movement go away . He looked at his brother to see him frowning.
"How can this air movement stop ? It's irritating." Eclipse swiped his claw through the air, but the air movement was still pressing into him and it didn't feel nice at all , not at all like that little air movement that just carried scents around.
"It's the wind, the weather, it's not something anyone can control." Shadow let out a scoff and grabbed hold of Eclipse's wrist when he'd been ready to claw at the air again with Chaos energy. Eclipse let out a soft yelp at the tight grip and how Shadow pulled him along. He let out a soft whine, but Shadow's grip didn't let up at all-.
"Don't ever use chaos energy among humans. You could hurt these people."
"It was just a claw attack!" Eclipse pulled at his arm until Shadow let go. He held it closely to his chest with a small glare aimed at Shadow.
But when his brother turned towards Eclipse flashing fangs, any arguments he had died in his throat.
"A "claw attack" is still enough to level a building and kill anyone it touches. You will not use chaos energy like that, do you understand ?"
(Eclipse remembered Shadow pinning him down, hovering over him with fangs bared and fist raised to kill him-.)
"R-right…" Eclipse nodded quickly, holding his aching arm close as he followed behind Shadow and Stone human.
There were square things with… 'wheels' that moved down the flat surface. They looked similar to that "helicopter" thing he'd seen before. There were also humans walking around. Some stopped and looked at Eclipse. Looked at him and Shadow as if they were something new and interesting. Eclipse heard one human say "there's another one?". He turned towards that human with a snarl, ready to defend his presence here because how dare that human ask why he was here when it should be obvious to that lower being-.
Only for his ear to be tugged on by Shadow and pulled him along. Shadow told him to not snarl at people, but that didn't make any sense! If he didn't snarl, how would they know that he was displeased by what they were saying!? All of these… rules were frustrating and his skin was itching because this wind stuff was tugging it back and forth and Eclipse didn't want to be here.
They reached a large building with wide openings all over. … Wait, no, that was glass. Something you shouldn't break because it's not supposed to open. And there were a lot of those squares with wheels on them all over the flat open space in front of it. And there were humans here too, walking around. going towards the large building with windows.
Eclipse stopped to stare at a human who was walking with a little human. Similar to the one Eclipse had been disappointed that the husks had killed. Short, fur that was brown on its head. The little human was holding onto the large human's hand… The little human looked at Eclipse. And it started to smile and moved its arm back and forth in the space in front of it. Why was it smiling? Why was it happy to see Eclipse? Shouldn't it be afraid? And what did that motion with its hand mean? Eclipse looked at his own hand, then back to the little human. He copied its strange wave movement.
The human's smile grew even larger and it pulled on the large human's hand while pointing towards Eclipse. Eclipse's ear twitched as he heard the little human tell the large human "Mom! Mom, look, it's another Sonic!"
Eclipse frowned with a soft growl at the back of his throat. He was being compared to that blue pest ? He was much better than that thing , Eclipse was the superior lifeform. He looked like Shadow , not like that blue brother stealing freak -.
"Eclipse! Come over here!"
He looked over towards the Stone human and saw the human standing by the largest window of the building with Shadow. With a quick teleport, Eclipse was by their side but glanced over his shoulder to glare at the small human. Stupid humans comparing him to something so inferior …
Shadow and Stone human walked into the building. Eclipse started to follow, but then something slid shut right in front of him and there was glass in the way. He stopped with his quills flared, partially staring at his own reflection and the forms of Shadow and Stone human as they walked further inside. The Stone human was pushing something along? What was that? Why did the glass open for them but not Eclipse?
He pressed his hand against the glass, he'd seen it slide to the side so he carefully tried to push them there. But he couldn't get good leverage… He took a few steps back to look at it, maybe there was a handle? Only to tense up when the glass slid open. So… now it was open…? Why? Eclipse tried to walk in, but it closed right in front of him again. He growled at the glass, his hands clenching and unclenching being VERY tempted to punch through it. He heard some form of high pitched sound behind him, sound that cut off and started in short periods. He turned to see that little human again, the little human whose smile was very very large as it looked at Eclipse.
Why was it so happy? He should show that thing how superior he is compared to Sonic… But Shadow was getting further away. The glass wouldn't let him in, so he found his connection to Shadow and teleported inside.
There were sounds of fear around Eclipse when he appeared and a hand grabbed firmly onto his shoulder.
"Stop teleporting in public." Shadow said with a soft growl, tightening his grip slightly before letting go. Eclipse took a small step away from Shadow with a frown.
"That glass wouldn't open when it should! It didn't let me in! The Human hive mind is inefficient." He looked at Stone human. "How did you make that open?"
Stone looked between the glass that had stopped Eclipse, then at Eclipse. "It's triggered by motion sensors… Just stay close, alright? And if you're curious about anything in the store, you can just ask."
Eclipse nodded. Not knowing what things were in this building meant that he had failed in gathering information on his own. He needed to learn, and understand. He couldn't be a failure. Stone held out one hand towards Eclipse while the other held onto a metal thing with lots of holes on 4 wheels.
A hand… Stone human was offering a hand. Was that like the little human did with its larger human? What did it mean? Was Eclipse supposed to do that too…? Since it was the Stone human, Eclipse should follow the order. And since the human was fragile, Eclipse needed to be careful. So he reached out to place his hand in the Stone human's outstretched one. Stone human tightened its grip, but Eclipse didn't. Because humans were fragile and Eclipse was strong. If he hurt Stone human, Shadow would be angry. And he wouldn't be allowed to stay.
This grip was… warm. And it was easy to follow close to the Stone human and look around at the same time when it held Eclipse's hand to gently pull him along. Shadow was on Eclipse's other side. He offered his hand to Shadow, in case Shadow wanted to have the nice warm feeling around his hand like Eclipse was.
Shadow looked at Eclipse's hand, frowned and looked away. So… that was a no. But holding a hand felt nice. Maybe it's because it was Eclipse who offered… Eclipse will offer again another time. For now, he stayed quiet, listened and tried his best to learn what Stone human and Shadow were putting in the cart to "buy" with their "money". It was strange how much food there was in one place… And that ALL of these things were food things. There were so many colours and smells…
Stone human didn't let go of Eclipse's hand even once. Shadow fetched the things Stone human asked for and they went down multiple "roads" inside this building. It was so much larger than it had first seemed. There were so many things that drew Eclipse's attention but he would observe, learn, and he couldn't make any mistakes. So while Stone human said it was alright to ask questions, Eclipse knew that was a lie. It had always been a lie, because Eclipse was supposed to already know the answer to the question he asked.
There were people who walked up to them to ask questions. Stone was the one who talked while both Eclipse and Shadow observed. Or, well, Shadow looked at Eclipse as a warning because Eclipse didn't like that those humans spoke to him so casually. His quills flared and there was a low growl at the back of his throat. But Shadow didn't want Eclipse to do anything, so he couldn't do anything even if he wanted to. It was frustrating… He didn't like it.
At least there was noise. At least there was noise and movement all around them. This type of noise, things moving, soft beeping, it felt like a similar bustle as the Black Arms Hive mind had been. It was comforting… If he ignored that he was among lesser beings like humans, he might find ways to enjoy being among them. Only because of the noise they make.
Stone human talked with Eclipse about the "checkout". Where all the items they had gathered would be "scanned" and then they would use "money" to pay for the goods they had scanned. And after that, it was theirs to eat.
So… Humans were limited in their food by this "scanning" and "money"? That was inefficient. If they need something, they should be able to have it. Why go through so many steps when you could pick it up from those shelves? With the hive mind, they could do the "scanning" and "paying" from those phone things couldn't they? Or is it really that inefficient that they really have to go through all of these steps? They really needed to improve their hive mind.
Stone human let go of Eclipse's hand and told him to help Shadow carry the food bags. So he did, looking into these flimsy bags to see its contents. There were so many different containers with so much colour. And all of these were food? What did humans use all of these for? He'd have to wait and see… There were some nice smells coming from it.
"Alright, let's go." Stone human said with a smile as he walked forward. Eclipse was close to Stone human this time so when the glass opened for the human, Eclipse could follow through as well. "We have a cafe opening to prepare for. And lots of sweets to make."
"Sweet? You're making sweet things?" Eclipse asked, immediately a lot more interested in the conversation.
"Yes. And I would like to have your and Shadows help. I'll teach you how to use kitchen appliances."
Stone human's smile confused him…. What was that word he used? What would he be taught? When he saw Shadow nod in confirmation, Eclipse was quick to nod as well. If Shadow wanted to help, then Eclipse would help too. Maybe it would make Shadow hate him less if Eclipse was good towards Shadow's human. It seems to be working so far, so… Eclipse would continue doing that.
As long as Eclipse didn't think of the creatures as humans , it was slightly easier to walk back to their nest. Wait, no, building? Eclipse wasn't sure if he could call it a… home . But it might be that, eventually, when Shadow liked him more. As long as he was with Shadow and Shadow liked him, that could be his home. That had to be his home. He didn't know what else could be a home now when he-... now when he had nothing.
Once they got to their building, Stone human instructed him and Shadow where to place the food stuff. Then, Stone human brought out some rectangle-like thing… wait, no, book . Eclipse sort of recognised those. There was text inside, and pictures. Stone human called it "recipes" and asked Shadow to follow one to make a "mud cake" while Stone human and Eclipse would make "cookies".
A lot of things were put in a bowl, then Stone human told him how a "mixer" could get turned on and used to mix all of those things in the bowl. Eclipse was surprised that the pile of grainy stuff could turn into some form of… mass? Like a weak lump. And it could get squished really easily. Then Eclipse had to wash his hands, because being clean was important, and Stone human told him how to make this squishy thing into spheres.
It was even more fragile than anything else Eclipse has touched before. One little squeeze and it became warped and flat. He could see Shadow working hard with a determined frown to follow the "recipe" and make that cake thing, Eclipse had to do the same! He'd make these cookies and Shadow will be impressed with how careful he could be and-. And yeah, he needed to do good at this.
It was clear who made which spheres when they were all placed on the "baking tray" that Stone human would put in the hot cube called oven. But Eclipse was still happy with the effort he put in and wanted to share it with Shadow. But Shadow just told him to stop when he shared the view with his brother... How would shadow otherwise know he'd done a good job? There were so many things that humans used in their hive mind that could do so many different things. Or was the oven part of the hive mind? It didn't show pictures and barely made any noise. It is activated with a button and a twist of a knob…
What was the criteria that it was part of the human hive mind? It needed to either make noise, show pictures or do both. The oven made a little bit of noise… So it should be part of the hive mind too. The mixer was part of it as well. Those doors that moved also made noise, so they were part of it too. And it moved on its own! And the paste maker that Shadow used was also part of the hive mind. How come Shadow could use the hive mind things but Eclipse couldn't without any help? Was it because he had been around humans long enough that he'd become part of their hive mind too?
These things worked when Stone human told him to do things. So Stone human was controlling its activation but Eclipse was controlling its movement and the intensity. He'll learn how to make this hive mind work for him eventually. And now he knew how to make noise with this mixer thing so he'd be able to sleep when Stone human and Shadow told him to.
After the spheres had been in the oven until that ticking thing let out a loud ring, it smelled really sweet. Sweet and-. And something. Eclipse couldn't describe it, but it made the whole space smell really good. And even if Eclipse's spheres hadn't been as round as Stone humans, the cookies that had been made from them looked good. He hadn't imagined that the spheres would melt and become flat on the baking tray. It looked like those cookies that other dark, long furred human gave him!
Eclipse reached out to grab one, but Stone Human's hand stopped him from touching it.
"Be careful, Eclipse. It's hot."
He looked at the human with a frown. These were things that Eclipse made! Sure, sharing was important so everyone could have their share, but if Eclipse made it, it was special and only those worthy of having Eclipse's things could have them. Eclipse was more than worthy to have one!
"I made them, so I will have them." He said with a growl and yanked his hand away from the Stone human's hold. Then reached out to grab the cookie again.
Heat seared against his scaled fingertips and he quickly pulled his hand back with a hiss. What!? How could that be so warm!? It wasn't supposed to be warm-!
"It needs to cool down first, I'm not going to prevent you from having some." Stone human said as he pulled out a tool from a drawer. Something flat that he pushed under the cookie to lift it onto a plate. "Most of these will be added to the cafe. Good job at making your first cookie batch."
Eclipse straightened slightly at the praise of doing a good job and Stone human then turned towards Shadow.
"Shadow, is everything going alright?"
"Hm. It's going well." Shadow nodded as he was looking between the book and bowl in front of him. "I'll need the oven soon."
"Not a problem, we're done with it for now. Just say the word if you need any help."
Eclipse almost scoffed at the thought. Shadow? Needing help? Hardly. Shadow didn't need any help from anyone, he was perfect after all. If there was anyone who needed help it was Stone human, clearly. Since it had Eclipse and Shadow carry those bags with food.
… And maybe eclipse needed some help but it's not like he'd ever ask for it! He was a superior species, he could figure out everything on his own. He would observe and learn and do everything right.
The three of them continued to make sweets. Stone human let Eclipse have only two cookies once they had cooled. Why? Eclipse didn't know. Because when he tried to argue that any human who came to 'visit', like Stone human said they would, didn't deserve the cookies Eclipse had made, Shadow cut him off. And Eclipse couldn't argue against Shadow no matter how much he wanted to… He needed Shadow.
And soon after they were done with making sweets, Shadow had some trouble unravelling a memory mess. So Eclipse helped with that too. So… Shadow needed him too. He hoped Shadow would hate him just a little less. Just a little.
Notes:
Lil Alien bean is smart, just has the completely wrong view on things. I love him so much. XD
But also, about future updates on this one...
Silksong.
I've been waiting for that game for multiple years and I can feel myself getting dragged back into that hyperfixation.
I knew it was coming, I knew that my Sonic hyperfixation couldn't last forever. I'm just surprised by how quickly it's being replaced by Hollow Knight again so I wanted to get this one out there before the last burning embers got taken over.I'll always return to hyperfixations I've had in the past, and the Sonic fandom is no exception. I'll try to continue writing on this, but I also can't give any type of promise on when I'll update it. I travel where my intrests take me and the time for Sonic seems to have passed.
(I'm really, REALLY glad I managed to complete the monster fic before this happened. Gosh, so relieved.
With that said, while this might only be the second chapter I can't give any promises when the next one will be out.
Cause... Silksong. It literally crashed the internet. (I struggled for 2 hours to buy it)When will I update this? I donno. I've had a lot of fun writing silly Eclipse doing silly things that he doesn't understand. So I absolutely want to do more of this.
As for the next plot heavy part? Thaaaaat will need another hyperfixation dose. When will that happen? Probably around Sonic 4 movie release. Or if I just happen to stumble into something Sonic related that I just can't let go of.We'll see when we see each other again! I hope you won't miss me too much. I'll be back! Eventually! Just might take a while as Silksong will take over the majority of my free time. :3 I can always be reached through my tumblr, Meatbunattack! Feel free to say hi or ask questions!
I wish you all the very best!
Chapter 3
Summary:
Eclipse and Shadow have a bit of an argument and it's the grand opening of the Mean Bean Coffee shop.
Notes:
Heeeeeeeey. What's uuuuuuup. It's meeeeeeee.
I told you I'd be back once my hyperfixation on Silksong settled!! X'D I couldn't stay away from these fun little gremlins for long~. Eclipse and his confusion over how to be an earthling is just too much fun~.
A part of me felt that this chapter got a bit of an abrupt ending but it would've gotten SO MUCH longer if I'd let it continue. My fingers were on FIRE on the keyboard the moment I started to try and type out a few sentences for little Eclipse.A good mix of hurt/comfort and slice of life~. One can never take the traumatised conditioning away from Eclipse, so hurt/comfort is almost guaranteed even if it's a slice of life story. X'D
I hope you enjoy it!! I donno when the next chapter will be but I'm having fun with it!! But it'll at least arrive in November. If you're curious to know when my next chapter is up, be sure to follow me on Tumblr! I remember to post updates for my fics there 98% of the time. <3 <3 <3 <3
(There will be art shoutout in the bottom notes)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The flat square (TV?) showed things called "episode". And it was a good way to see what humans did, enjoyed and feared. It was something Shadow and Stone human liked to look at after they had performed their late food ritual "dinner" and Eclipse liked it too. All of them sat in the soft sofa with Shadow sitting between Eclipse and Stone human and leaned back against the soft pillow things.
There were so many colours! And while Eclipse didn't know much of the context behind everything that was happening, he could see humans interacting with each other and talk with each other in this rectangular thing. This "Juan" human did a lot of things for that other long furred human. And apparently they were also a "man" and a "woman". Eclipse didn't understand why they had those titles, but he wouldn't ask either.
He was supposed to be better, he was supposed to learn quickly and not ask stupid questions that he was supposed to know already. Because if he asked questions, he hadn't listened properly and understood. So he couldn't ask questions to things he was supposed to understand.
So… while these "episode" were confusing they were also a good source of information. He'd preferred that they killed each other more than they talked to each other, but Eclipse already understood that humans preferred using words than performing actions. Which was… inefficient. Actions could tell so much more so much faster. Like, attacking someone could show a bunch of different things. If this "Juan" human attacked that "Pablo" human it could get that long furred human a lot easier. But the biggest problem was that they were brothers… Obviously you wouldn't want to kill your own family. But "Juan" human also always acted like the "Gabriella" human was super important to it while the "Pablo" human didn't seem as important. Even if they hated each other, they were still family. But they didn't even try to help each other, they only fought over the "Gabriella" human using words.
Was family between humans a lot more complicated than Eclipse thought they were…? How many family members could you have? Eclipse knew of "Father" and "Brother" and "Wife", but… But what else could be family? Who did Shadow consider as family? What did it mean to be someone's "lover"? And why did humans call another human a "brother" even if they weren't made by the same humans?
It was confusing… humans were confusing. They seemed to like making everything complicated.
Stone human's small rectangle let out a soft sound and he took out the rectangle thing. It was…. a "phone". Or a "remote"...? No, the remote was something that you pointed towards the flat rectangle thing to start it and play sounds and moving pictures.
"Shadow, the Wachowski family wants to invite you to dinner tomorrow. Would you like to go?" Stone human said to Shadow with a small smile. Eclipse and Shadow's ears both perked up at this and Eclipse was tense as he looked at Shadow.
Dinner… that was the special food ritual. Something those who lived together did. Shadow lived with Eclipse and Stone human, Shadow was supposed to perform that ritual with him. Not with those-. Those things-.
"Yes." Shadow answered with a nod and Eclipse couldn't see his expression when he said this. Eclipse sat up, but his head was tugged back against the pillow thing-.
"W-Wait, what about your memory problem!?" Eclipse protested quickly, struggling to sit up properly because something kept his head against the pillow but he wanted to stop Shadow cause dinner was something he was supposed to do with Eclipse because they were family-. "That blue pest made your problem flare up really badly, I gotta be there too-!"
"I won't let you step foot in their home." Shadow shot him down with a snarl and a glare aimed at Eclipse. "You're going to overreact to things that aren't a bother and will cause problems for everyone. You're going to stay here." Shadow turned back to the Stone human. "I'll have dinner with them. Thank them for the invite."
"No! I can't leave you alone with those trash! They'll hurt you!" Eclipse said with a growl of his own, claws digging into the pillow thing behind him as he tried harder harder to pull away. He heard a soft ripping sound and he quickly found himself pinned back against the pillow by Shadow grabbing his throat.
"Stop destroying the sofa." Shadow hissed and tightened his grip around Eclipse's throat. He immediately relaxed, ears pinned back against his head. Cause that worked, right? Pinning them back showed he was sad and sorry, right-?
"This is exactly why you can't be trusted. You're an outsider, an alien and a monster that destroys everything you don't like. The Wachowski family is important to me. I won't let you ruin that for me so you will stay away."
Eclipse was weak from exiting his transformation. Shadow hovered over him, eyes glowing orange with chaos energy. Eclipse's arm had been broken, Shadow's eyes were so full of anger and hate and his arm was burning and hurting so much but Eclipse had just wanted to kill that blue pest to take back his true brother and stop the mind poison from making Shadow hate them so much.
Eclipse trembled as that memory came to mind. It felt so similar to now, Shadow hovering over him and snarling with hate, forcing Eclipse to stay put-. Eclipse tensed up his jaw, forcing his mouth shut because if he pleaded it would only get worse. If he pleaded, the threat would become a punishment and he hated pain and he hated punishments and he didn't want Shadow to hurt him or hate him-.
Shadow's grip around his throat relaxed slightly, and the intensity in his eyes lessened a little. Eclipse wouldn't beg, he wouldn't struggle, he needed Shadow-.
"Eclipse. Don't argue against me going to see them again."
A command. A silent promise of a punishment if Eclipse doesn't follow it. So he nodded what little he could, completely stuck between the sofa back pillow and Shadow.
Shadow let out a soft huff and let go of his throat. Only to reach behind Eclipse's head and grab his quills. Eclipse tensed up at the touch, because it was weird. He could feel the touch both where the quills came out and in the quills themselves and it was just so different from his usual head protrusions but also similar but smaller pieces instead of one compact thing.
He let out a soft, pained whimper when Shadow tugged on them and pulled him off the sofa back pillow. But… he was still pulled back by the sofa back pillow…
"How did you get this stuck in the cushion…??" Shadow asked with a frown, his gaze focused on the back of Eclipse's head. He tugged on Eclipse's quills again and he shivered at the sensation. It was just so… weird… And a little painful…
"Hold on, let me help." Stone human said as he stood from the couch, only to move behind Eclipse. Eclipse could feel Stone human's hands brush through his quills, tug on them and then tug on the sofa back pillow. Or… "cushion"...? Is that what Shadow called it…?
"This is... really stuck in there…" Stone human said with a strange tilt to his voice that Eclipse couldn't place. He was too focused on Shadow to really pay attention to it… "Eclipse, what did you do to get this stuck?"
"I just… sat…" Eclipse replied quietly, watching Shadow's frowning expression. His… gaze wasn't focused on Eclipse any more. Only his quills… So.. So Eclipse promising not to argue against Shadow interacting with those… things was enough for Shadow to not be mad with him any more?
He didn't seem angry any more, only irritated… So-... So had he been angry? If he'd been angry, he would've done something worse… But now Shadow and Stone human were slowly working on releasing Eclipse from the sofa cushion's hold together. Shadow from the front and Stone human from the back…
Had Shadow been angry? Or had he been irritated? The memory of Shadow pinning Eclipse down and almost killing him had made Eclipse think he was truly angry with Eclipse… (He only wanted Shadow to be safe and not be in so much pain when his memories triggered) But… But maybe Shadow hadn't been angry…? Maybe he'd been irritated… And he pinned Eclipse and told him to stop destroying the sofa-.
Did he pin Eclipse to stop him from destroying this cushion thing…? Or was it to put him in his place…? Or maybe it was both…? Eclipse couldn't tell. But now they were focused on releasing Eclipse from the cushion.. Stone human seemed to be careful. And Shadow was a little harsher, but Eclipse knew he could pull even harder but he didn't. Shadow didn't pull on Eclipse just to make Eclipse feel more pain. He pulled to… release him from the cushion. It still hurt, but only a little.
So what was it…? Was Shadow mad…? Irritated? Was-... Was Eclipse safe from punishment…?
As long as Eclipse didn't hurt anyone, Eclipse could stay in this house. And as long as he didn't argue against Shadow going to see those things he wouldn't… what? What would happen if he argued against it? What would be the punishment for that? Eclipse didn't know… And he didn't want to find out either.
It took a few minutes, but Eclipse was eventually freed from the sofa cushion. And when Shadow told him to turn and look, he did. The cushion he'd been leaning against had a lot more holes than the places Shadow and Stone human had leaned against…
"Right, this means that this is your spot from now on Eclipse." Stone human told him with a small smile. "If you sit on the sofa, you sit here where the cushion is already partially damaged. You need to learn how to not get your quills stuck in them."
Shadow let out a soft sound in agreement and moved off Eclipse completely. He was both at a loss and relieved that Shadow moved away…
"You need to lean back and move your upper body upwards. If you tilt your head back while leaning against it, your quills will get stuck." Shadow said while crossing his arms. "And they are sticking up in different directions. Fix it."
But he didn't know how that happened in the first place… Eclipse quietly reached back to brush his claws through his quills a few times. "Like that…?"
"No, that's not-." Shadow let out a sigh and pinched the space between his eyes. "We'll need to get you at least a quill brush… And fur brush, your chest fur is becoming a mess… You'll get one tomorrow."
… Why was having quills so difficult? It felt as difficult as humans interacting with each other… And like what he needed to do to make Shadow satisfied. Eclipse let out a soft huff of his own and brushed his claws through his quills again. It was… weird. He was still getting used to it.
"Shadow, I agree with Eclipse's worry in a way. If your memories trigger and you're in too much pain, you should come back home." Stone human said to Shadow as he leaned against the back rest of the sofa between Eclipse and Shadow.
"I could also teleport…" Eclipse added while looking at Stone human and Shadow. "If I feel you in pain, I could get to you immediately and unravel it…"
"I told you, I don't want you near the Wachowski family." Shadow's fierce glare returned. "You attacked Sonic as soon as you saw him. Stay away from them."
Eclipse flinched and looked away from Shadow. He just… wanted Shadow to be okay. But he couldn't make sure that Shadow was safe and free from pain if he couldn't be there…
"Perhaps you should let Eclipse help if it gets too bad, Shadow. I don't want you to be hurting unnecessarily. Or collapse while you're there." Stone said in Eclipse's favour and reached down to settle his hand on Shadow's shoulder. "I don't want you to be in more pain than absolutely needed. I think it's too early to spend time with them alone, but I also know how much they mean to you..."
Shadow's quills flared out as his glare was now aimed at Stone human instead. "I can handle myself. I am accepting their dinner invite and you-" Shadow looked at Eclipse again. "-are not going after me."
Eclipse didn't answer… Because he couldn't just-... not go if he felt his connection with Shadow open up and feel Shadow in pain. That's just… not Shadow. Eclipse had one purpose now, that purpose was to help Shadow lessen his pain and arrange his memories that had gotten scattered when the hive mind collapsed.
Shadow pushed Eclipse off the couch and onto the floor as he stood up. He loudly declared that he was going on a run as he walked towards the exit. Eclipse didn't feel any pain from falling onto the floor, but something in his chest twisted at how Shadow slammed the door closed.
Stone human stood up with a soft sigh. He then looked down at Eclipse (still lying on the floor) with a small smile. "Let's… give him some time. I doubt he enjoys having to admit that he's vulnerable when his memories act up. Do you want some mocha latte?"
Eclipse sat up with a small nod and quickly followed Stone human as he went into the kitchen. Eclipse sat down in the chair, like he usually did when he was in the kitchen, and watched Stone human as he took out a bunch of different containers. Stone human paused, then turned around to gesture with his head towards the counter.
"Help me make coffee this time."
With a focus of chaos energy, Eclipse was next to Stone human immediately and looked up at him with a large grin. Stone human jumped slightly at the sudden teleport and scolded Eclipse for teleporting inside the house. But Eclipse brushed it off, because it was a lot easier to teleport than walk everywhere. If he could make coffee, he could make Shadows coffee and that might make Shadow like him more!! He needed to know how to make coffee!
So Stone human went through the steps with him, repeatedly reminding Eclipse to be gentle as he handled the box thing that made coffee. They needed to grind beans, then put the powder in a circle cup thing with a handle… then pour water in the box and-. There were so many steps to just make one drink. Eclipse asked why Stone human bothered to go through these many steps for just one drink but the human just said that the result of the taste was worth it.
Making coffee was a lot harder than Eclipse thought it would be… Maybe he wouldn't be able to make Shadow coffee. Not unless he practiced… He could practice, but then he'd need to taste it. And he really didn't like coffee. And if he broke something while he practiced, both Shadow and Stone human would be angry with him because both of them really liked coffee.
So… Something Eclipse would try to do whenever he could. He would get better each time. He was sure of it! He was the greatest vanguard of the Black Arms and memorised multiple ways to kill another being. He could memorise how to use this coffee making thing! And the way it was plugged into the wall also showed that the coffee making thing was part of the human hive mind… so Eclipse wouldn't be able to use it without Shadow or Stone human present anyway.
He wanted to ask why everything in their hive mind had so many steps and was so inefficient, but that also felt like it would be a stupid question to ask. That Eclipse was supposed to find the answer himself. So… He didn't ask even if it really irritated him.
At least the mocha latte drink he made tasted really good. And he got a cookie that they were supposed to "sell" tomorrow which was even better. Eclipse sent a mental image of this to Shadow, just to share it because Shadow wasn't here to see or experience it so Eclipse wanted Shadow to know what they were doing. But Stone human… didn't have the cup of coffee Eclipse made. Stone human had some warm water with a weird smelling bag placed in it. It made Eclipse frown at the human.
"If you hadn't been Shadow's human, I would have broken your bones with how ungrateful you are."
Stone sat up straight in his seat and stared wide eyed at Eclipse. "Pardon…? Why would I be ungrateful?"
"I made that coffee for you because you showed me how to make it!" Eclipse pointed towards the cup that held coffee on the counter, because Eclipse had insisted on making another. "And now you won't have it! It's great because I made it and it's even better than yours because of it!"
"Ah, no, sorry I didn't mean to be rude like that Eclipse. You did great handling the coffee machine." Stone human said with a small smile while holding his strange warm water drink. "But I can't have coffee when it's this late in the evening. I won't be able to sleep otherwise."
"Sleep isn't that important! I made it so you'll have it!" Eclipse stood up, walked over to the abandoned cup of coffee and firmly sat it down in front of Stone human despite his protests. The liquid spilled over a bit, but Eclipse didn't care. Because he needed to know that he was right, that the coffee he made was better than the Stone human's.
"Drink it!" Eclipse pointed at the coffee. "Shadow said it's bad to waste food and you're wasting it! And it's made by me so you know it's going to be perfect!"
Stone human paused for a few moments, then let out a soft huff and smiled. "Alright, I'll have it."
He waited with bated breath as Stone human picked up the cup and brought it to his mouth for a sip. No, he wasn't nervous. He knew it was good. He'd tasted his mocha latte and it was amazing. So he knew he did a good job.
He just-... He just wanted to make sure that Stone human thought the same thing too.
The human set the cup down with the smile still in place. He reached out towards Eclipse, making him tense up slightly, but Stone human settled his hand on Eclipse's shoulder just like he did for Shadow. Wait, that felt warm and comfortable like Stone human holding his hand in the store-.
"It tastes great, Eclipse. Thank you."
Warmth spread through Eclipse's whole body at the praise. Similarly to how Mast- Black Doom used to fill his body with emotional warmth but this came from inside Eclipse. And it came from his chest and spread out all out to his toes and fingertips. He could feel his tail wagging but he had no reason to stop it. Because-. Because that felt really nice. Like-... Like a hug that was inside of him. But it came from just a smile and a thank you.
"R-Right… I knew it was good." Eclipse said with a small nod, then returned to his seat to eat the rest of his cookie. His face was starting to feel even warmer even if Eclipse had willingly lowered his body temperature when making this body. Why was his body having this type of reaction to praise? He's gotten praise before! He's done good things and gotten praise for it and he felt really, really happy when he got praise for it then too!
He felt happy now, of course, but this was-... It was softer somehow. Warmer somehow. Eclipse didn't understand how this feeling from praise could have been even better than what he got before from Mas- Black Doom. Is it something only Stone human could do…? Was that the influence he could make with his chaos energy? Because it felt similar to chaos energy, this warmth. Stone human must have a great mastery of Chaos energy then… But how did that work? Stone human didn't even have chaos energy himself. But could Eclipse still learn that too? Could Eclipse help Shadow feel this nice too?
He hoped so… And this also explained why Shadow chose this Stone human to be his human. This feeling was really, really nice… Maybe Eclipse will do more things to have Stone human praise him in this way if it made him feel this nice and warm. And maybe Shadow will see that Eclipse is being good to Stone human and will let him come with to keep Shadow safe and free from pain everywhere he goes.
He needed to do things that would make Stone human praise him like this again. Definitely. Not destroying things and making things instead seemed to be things that Stone human liked. And something that didn't make Shadow annoyed. He'd make more things, then. He'd figure out how to make more things!
Shadow still hadn't come back when Stone human told Eclipse it was time for them to sleep. And after he had brushed his teeth like Stone human told him to (he wasn't as meticulous since Shadow wasn't there who he needed to impress) a very crucial thought came to him.
Eclipse has only been taught how to destroy things… How would he figure out how to make things in order to get that nice warm feeling from praise….?
Eclipse hated how silent the nights were. He needed noise, everything was so still and quiet.
Eclipse had pulled out some thin papers from that new box Stone human had bought and attached them to his quills before he went around to look for some noise. The flat screen didn't listen to him again, even when he pointed with that rectangular "remote" thing towards it like Stone human had done. So he had to find something else. And he needed something immediately so thin rustling papers in his quills it was. Some noise was made when he opened small doors and pulled out things to drop them to the floor, but that was brief noise. And only noise that happened when he interacted with it. He couldn't sleep while doing something at the same time!
How could anyone stand this silence? Sleep was only used to spare energy, there was no other function tied to it! At least not to the Black Arms. But Eclipse had to sleep because Stone human told him to sleep so he had to listen and sleep. (Shadow still hadn't come back where was Shadow was he safe was he okay?) But he just couldn't do it, especially not when it was this silent.
… Okay, well, sleep was not completely useless because sparing energy with sleep still made him more energetic the next day and he did get tired. But that's only because Eclipse was special! Because he had such a high amount of chaos energy, it constantly leaked out. And sleeping was one of the best ways to gather new chaos energy. At least, that's how Master had explained it-.
Eclipse's breath hitched slightly and he shook his head to make the thin papers rustle. He tried to reach out to the hive mind again but all he received in return was static. Static and a wall that blocked him off.
He was Black Doom and he was dead… And he had thrown away Eclipse before he died… Eclipse was a failure, his mind had been poisoned and hadn't been able to be trusted-.
But how could he have gotten poisoned…? He hadn't been poisoned, he hadn't! He just wanted Shadow back… He just wanted Shadow to be alive and be with them… Because Shadow was his brother. Eclipse was made to support Shadow, that was his goal and purpose and Mast- Black Doom had wanted to take away his purpose… To kill Shadow… But if Shadow had been dead, Eclipse might as well have been dead too because someone who doesn't hold a purpose doesn't deserve to be alive-!
Eclipse let out a soft whimper, took hold of his quills and pulled on them painfully. Stop. Stop! He didn't want those thoughts, his thoughts felt so LOUD and he didn't like it, he wanted those thoughts to be gone and he needed noise because they were just so loud!
"Eclipse…? Again?" A very tired voice called out and Eclipse tensed up as he turned to look at the Stone human. There were a lot of metal containers surrounding Eclipse that he'd stacked on top of each other to make clanking noises.
"Your hive mind still doesn't work when I tell it to!" Eclipse gestured towards the metal round containers. "I'm bored again, I don't need sleep. Wake something up!"
Stone human let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. "We should… try and get you a hobby sometime soon. Are you worried about Shadow?"
Eclipse twitched and looked away from the human, placing another round metal container on top of a larger one. To make his tower higher. "No… Shadow is strong. Nothing on this stupid planet could hurt him, much less kill him."
He wasn't worried. He wasn't! He just wanted to make sure Shadow came back… That's all. And it was too quiet! He wasn't worried about Shadow being gone, nope.
"Come on. Let's put these back and I'll start the TV for you." Stone human said as he approached the metal tower Eclipse made. But Eclipse quickly teleported in his way and held his arms out to protect it. Because he-! It was a tower and not just metal containers!
"No! I made this so they stay! You won't touch it." He bared his teeth towards Stone human with a soft growl.
While Stone human didn't react in fear from his threat, at least Stone human stopped walking towards the metal container tower. Instead, the human nodded. "Alright, it can stay until morning then. I'll turn on the TV for you. Is there something special you'd like to watch?"
"Just something." Eclipse walked after Stone human and sat down on the sofa, in the place that was "his" now. He pressed down his quills with his hands as he leaned back, to make sure they wouldn't get stuck again. Stone human pointed the small rectangular remote towards the flat rectangle and the screen came to life. A strange creature with an unhooked jaw suddenly launched towards the screen with human screams in the background.
Stone human jumped at the picture, but Eclipse only relaxed. That was a hive mind picture of some human being attacked. He wondered where that was happening… It would have been a good candidate to join the Black Arms with how violently it was tearing into its victim.
But the picture quickly shifted to a serene looking forest instead where there was a human voice talking about its properties and an animal that lived in it. Stone human let out a soft sigh, settled the remote thing on the table and gave a light pat to Eclipse's shoulder.
"I'll go back to bed. Don't stay up for too long, Eclipse. Shadow will be alright and he'll return in the morning." Stone then put a blanket over Eclipse's lap and left to go back to his room.
Eclipse didn't bother to reply, because that's when the picture shifted to show something standing on a leaf. But he'd seen leaves… Was this creature as large as a leaf? But then it was really small! How could something so small be called a hunter? Now he was interested to know about it, because anything that was a hunter was more interesting than boring passive humans. Preying Mantis… Eclipse liked that thing. He shared a view of it with Shadow, because he might like that too.
Shadow came back inside through teleporting later into the night, right when the show about the Mantis was coming to a close. Eclipse and Shadow looked at each other for a few moments. Shadow slightly dirty from being out. Eclipse sat in front of the flat rectangle "TV" with a blanket around him to push down his quills so they wouldn't get stuck again. Shadow let out a soft scoff, then walked towards the bathroom.
"Stop sharing your vision with me…" Shadow said, but his voice didn't hold as much bite as it usually did when he reprimanded Eclipse. Then, he closed and locked the bathroom behind him, something inhabitants on this planet did to show they wanted to be alone. Same as when they went into their personal rooms.
Eclipse didn't understand why that felt… soft. It felt almost like a thank you from Shadow but he didn't have any reason to thank Eclipse. He hadn't even done anything? Eclipse focused on the TV thing again, but this time it was less interesting. Only about a place filled with a lot of cold and tons of white… Eclipse fell asleep to the noise, not even hearing or registering when Shadow was finished in the bathroom. Didn't even notice when he was pushed down to lay on his side to sleep rather than sitting up. Eclipse slept through it all as Shadow retreated back to his room to take his own rest for the night.
It was the "grand re-opening" for this… coffee shop stuff Stone human did. It meant that the three of them had eaten breakfast (only Stone human having something to eat while Eclipse and Shadow just had a warm drink) then they had started to clean the space downstairs. Just like they had done when they first came to this nest… home… house… something. (It wasn't a home, not yet, but maybe it will one day-.)
The plastic handle in Eclipse's hand let out a cracking sound and he quickly eased up on his grip. This "feather duster" thing was good at removing something called "dust" but Eclipse didn't even know what that was. So he stroked it against flat surfaces like Stone human had told him to. Table, chair, counter… All of them were flat surfaces so they must've gotten this "dust" thing.
Eclipse's nose twitched as he caught a very sweet and nice scent. He looked over to see Stone human and Shadow coming out from the downstairs kitchen room with trays. Where one tray held very familiar looking cookies.
"Hey! I made those!!" Eclipse dropped the feather duster thing to point at the tray Stone human held. "Those should be in the cookie box!"
"No, these were made to sell in my shop. I already told you." Stone human set the tray to be displayed in that glass case and Shadow had a tray with strange brown square things, a similar brown to whatever Shadow had made on his own when Eclipse made the cookies. Eclipse went over to look at the trays through the glass.
They all seemed… bright. Strange shapes where some were taller than others. One half having more green than the other. Eclipse's cookies were on the "no green" side of the container. Were these things all for the humans who would come in here…? He frowned up at Stone human.
"Humans don't deserve to have the cookies I make. They're weak."
"They're our customers." Stone replied with a shake of his head and went off towards the coffee maker thing. "They come in and pay us money to have coffee, pastries or sandwiches. As long as they pay the amount they cost, the customers will get what they want. It's the same process as when we bought food to fill up our kitchens."
Hearing this made Eclipse pause and look between the things in the glass case and Stone human. Was… Stone human going to be part of the hive mind to go through this process…? Would he also gain that blank stare and bleak smile as those in the "store" had? But… how would they be scanned? None of these things had that black box with streak thing like the things in the store.
Ugh, it was so confusing to think about… Eclipse didn't know what any of these things were called so he couldn't think it all through in a way he liked either. Okay, a step back, he could give it his own name and look it over in another way. Eclipse picked up the feather duster thing to continue stroking it against flat surfaces.
So… humans needed this "money" in order to get what they want. They didn't take things. They gave money so they could have the thing they wanted. That's something Eclipse understood even if it was stupid.
Stone human and Eclipse created those cookies so they could be given away so Stone human could get money… And Stone human used that money to get food things so he could eat and make the "lunch" and "dinner" ritual with Shadow and Eclipse. Shadow and Eclipse both ate as much as one human so Stone human was thankful that his money wasn't stretched as thin even with the two of them living here…
This "Coffee shop" Stone human had was a way for Stone human to get money from other humans by giving them cookies, coffee and the other things in that glass case… So this was the way Stone human got money so he could use that money to get Shadow, Eclipse and Stone human the things they wanted.
So… This coffee shop place was a way to get money so Eclipse could get what he wanted to get… But how would humans know how much money they should give Stone human to get what they wanted? And why should they give out the things the other trash humans asked for? They could take the money and just not give them the cookie they wanted. Eclipse's cookies were special! They were worth more than normal cookies. So humans should give even more money to get his cookies. And that would help Stone human too.
Eclipse nodded slightly to himself. He'd make sure that the Stone humans got more money from the cookies Eclipse made. Then Stone human could get more stuff, he'd praise Eclipse for being helpful and Shadow would see that Eclipse was doing good things to his human and Shadow would like Eclipse more! They'd exploit other humans for their money to get more money for themselves!
It took the three of them another few minutes to get the space "ready for customers" and Stone human stood in front of both of them with no clear expression Eclipse could describe. Maybe it could be seen as a serious one.
"Alright, we'll be opening up our coffee shop soon. So let's go over the rules again." Stone human looked between both Eclipse and Shadow. "No teleporting inside unless it's an emergency. Don't be rude to the customers which means no condescending or mean comments. If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything."
"And no hurting them because they have the money we want." Eclipse added while straightening his back. He felt very proud that he understood that part!
"Yes, no hurting them either." Stone human nodded while Shadow gave Eclipse a frowning side eye. "Don't eat anything that's on display. And lastly, you will do as I say. Any questions?"
Eclipse had many. But most of them seemed irrelevant to what was about to happen… Except for one that he'd thought about earlier.
"How much money do you take from humans when they want something we made? The things we made are super special!" Eclipse pointed towards himself and Shadow. "Trash should give even more to have something made by us."
"The prices of everything are listed on the boards behind the counter." Stone human said and pointed towards those black flat squares with letters and numbers. Huh… "While you two did really well at baking the brownies and cookies, we won't charge more for those. That would be unfair to our customers. The cookies you made aren't more special than the ones made by others."
"Of course they are! I made them!" Eclipse pointed to the cookies in that glass case. "I never make stuff, of course they'd be special!"
"Eclipse, we are not charging more money for a specific cookie. The customers won't be happy and will refuse to come back if we change how much they cost depending on the cookie they chose." Stone human crossed his arms with a firm frown. "This is not up for debate. Money is exchanged for goods and services. We provide both. If we want them to come back, we must provide what they expect from us. Which means, no fluctuating prices or too expensive items."
But Stone human could get so much more money and get more things if he did that! Eclipse wanted to argue more, but Shadow put a hand on his shoulder to pull Eclipse back. So he stayed quiet…
Right, listening to the human was one of the rules… If Eclipse went against the rules, then Shadow would be angry. He didn't want Shadow to be even more angry… So Eclipse looked away with an irritated huff.
"Right… Shadow, you will be on the floor taking care of dishes and giving out customer orders. Eclipse and I will stand behind the counter." Stone human said with a small nod. "We'll start out with this and see how it goes. Eclipse, do you remember how to handle the coffee machine?"
"Of course I do." No, not really but he couldn't admit that-. "But your hive mind things don't work when I try to tell it to do things."
"It's not a hive mind, it's technology." Shadow said with a scoff and let go of Eclipse's shoulder. "It works with conditions and interactions, not automatically through thoughts."
Eclipse whipped his head around to Shadow and stared at him with wide eyes. Wait, what-?
"Alright boys, time to open the shop." Stone human walked forward towards the front doors with a smile. He raised the cover over the windows and there were humans in front of the door just… standing around and waiting.
Eclipse quickly teleported behind the counter as Stone human unlocked the door. Shadow reprimanded him for it, but he was just surprised by how many humans there were! And they'd all been staring in! Eclipse felt his quills raise as Stone human opened the door to greet these trash with a smile and gestured them inside.
That smile… didn't seem fake. So Stone human hadn't connected with the human hive mind yet to start that "selling" process. … Wait, Shadow said it wasn't a hive mind… But then how-?
"Oh aren't you precious?" A loud voice said suddenly, which made Eclipse turn towards the sound with a snarl and flexed claws. A human with white fur on its head and strange lines all over its face. It flinched back from Eclipse's snarl, like it should-.
"Sorry, don't mind him. He's new to interacting with people." Stone human stepped up next to Eclipse and placed a hand between his ears. The touch was… warm. Very warm and very nice. Eclipse's snarl disappeared to look up at Stone human instead. It felt similarly warm as when Stone human held his hand in that food store… Head pats were for praise. Right, Eclipse didn't attack this human cause it was too weak to be a threat. Was Stone human praising him for not attacking, then? Eclipse stroked his arms to make the fur on them stop standing up.
"I see, nothing to worry about." The human relaxed and aimed a small smile towards Stone human. "So you're the one taking care of our two new hedgehogs. It's nice to see you again, dear."
"The pleasure is all mine, miss." Stone human said with a smile and went past Eclipse to approach the strange flat screen sitting on the counter. "What type of coffee would you like?"
"A dark roast, please." The white furred woman said as it reached into a section of its clothes to pull out something small and rectangular. What was it with humans and using square and rectangle things?? Did they just like the shape?
Eclipse watched as Stone human touched the flat, glowing rectangle. Then the white furred human held a thin rectangular thing towards the contraption Stone human was handling and made it beep. That sounded like the scanning beep from the store… Was that device registering what thing the white furred human wanted?
"Eclipse, could you fetch a coffee cup? The smaller one." Stone human said as he walked towards the coffee box. And with one jump, Eclipse landed on the back counter to reach the stack of small cups. He was careful when he picked up one of those small cups and held it out towards Stone human.
"How do you enjoy Green hills so far, little hedgehog?"
Eclipse looked towards the white furred human, its face lines were warped strangely when its mouth formed into an up curve, a smile. Hedgehog…? Eclipse wasn't a hedgehog, he was a Darkling, part of the Black Arms, the greatest race in the universe!
"It's annoying. And inefficient." Eclipse said with a huff and scrunched up his nose like Shadow did when he was irritated.
The white furred human's smile dropped and it tilted its head slightly. "Inefficient? Well, I'd say it's the opposite with most things. Where do you come from that makes Green Hills seem inefficient?"
"He's still coming to terms with how our technology works, ma'am. I'm sure his opinion will change soon." Stone human answered before Eclipse could and he aimed a small smile towards the other human. "We will bring out your coffee to you. Eclipse, could you handle the rest?"
Stone human gestured towards the coffee maker box. And Eclipse could see that strange circle cup with a handle was on the counter with some powder filling it in a small mound. Then… Eclipse miiight remember what was next. So he gave Stone human a nod and went over to stand on the stool in front of the coffee box. Stone human started to talk with another human to hear what they wanted.
Flatten out the powder… Then put the circle handle thing in its slot and twist it until it clicks. Then… uhm… The glowing circle…? No, that made the machine stop making buzz sound, Stone human pressed that one after the coffee was done. Then which circle was it…?
"It's the cup that's half full, Eclipse." Stone human's voice came up next to him and the human aimed a small smile towards Eclipse. He then pointed towards the circle.
Huh… It did have some form of picture on it. That was a cup that's half full? Eclipse touched the circle to make the box beep, then quickly moved to get the cup under the machine to catch the liquid that came out. Now that he looked at those other circles next to the "half full" one, he could see that they showed different levels of how full a cup should be. He'll remember that.
"Bring that to the counter and call for Shadow to bring it to the miss when it's done." Stone human said and pat Eclipse on the shoulder, then started to grind beans for the next cup of coffee.
So when the coffee was done, Eclipse put it on a small coffee plate and set it on the free counter space. Shadow came over before Eclipse even got to call him.
"Who is it for?" Shadow picked up the coffee cup as he asked this. And Eclipse shared the view of that white furred human with him as an answer, that was a lot easier than telling him.
It made his brother twitch and snarl at Eclipse. "Stop doing that."
"But it's easier! Now you know which human it's for." Eclipse frowned in return. Shadow let out a soft growl towards him, then went over towards that white furred human Eclipse had shown him. See? Super efficient! Showing pictures was a lot easier than just talking about it.
Eclipse helped Stone human serve a few more cups of coffee and with more humans came more noise in the building. Eclipse found himself relaxing in the busy atmosphere, this was sort of similar to the hive mind… Conversations instead of feelings. One picture with moving creatures instead of many pictures of many creatures. It was… comfortable. Maybe Eclipse wouldn't mind humans being around him if they weren't so weak, fragile and tried to talk with Eclipse as if they were equals. They made good noise in the background…
"Eclipse, can you put a brownie on a plate?"
He quickly went over to Stone human again, took a plate that he pointed towards. Then…. he looked at the things in the glass container. Which one was-...? Brownie…? Brownie… a brown 'inie' thing? There's two brown things, one that's cookies and the other darker brown that Shadow made. Eclipse could see a human on the other side of the glass and it was pointing towards the thing Shadow made with a small smile aimed at Eclipse.
Well, he already figured that out, trash. His nose wrinkled slightly, but he didn't say anything as he reached out with a hand to grab it-. His hand got lightly moved away by the Stone human.
"No, not with your hand. With the thongs." Stone human pointed towards a strange tool that looked like a V. "You used them when you put the cookies in the box. We don't want to grab anything the customers are eating with our hands, alright?"
… That was a stupid rule. Grabbing it with your hand would make it so much easier. But he was supposed to listen to Stone human so he'd do as the human said. Eclipse was careful with the tool and was even more careful (tongue sticking out a little between his front teeth cause that made it easier to be careful) when he grabbed the brownie square thing. Even if he was careful it still got a little squeezed, but it was mostly square. He put it on the plate and Stone human lightly pat Eclipse's head when he passed.
That warmth came again, those head pats felt really, really nice. It wasn't verbal praise but it was a type of praise that Eclipse has never gotten before and he wanted more of it from Stone human. He'd do good and make both Stone human and Shadow like him because he was good at following the rules and because he learned quickly. Everything was stupid and complicated but Eclipse would do it!
"Oh you're so adorable." The brown long furred human said with a soft laugh when Eclipse placed the brownie plate in front of it. "Thank you, little one."
The human reached out to take the plate, only for Eclipse to remember something. This was made by Shadow! He pulled it away and held it out of the human's reach.
"This is worth more than any brownie thing you'll ever have! Give more money for it."
The human looked at Eclipse with wide eyes, then its eyes narrowed with a frown. "Excuse me?"
"Eclipse, don't-."
"This was made by Shadow! Of course it's worth more than normal, he's the best at everything. So give more." Eclipse then held out one hand towards the human while still holding the brownie plate away.
The plate Eclipse held was taken and Stone human pushed Eclipse to the side. He wasn't bothered by Eclipse's growl but only smiled at the other human. "Sorry for him, here, your brownie."
The long furred human looked between Stone human and Eclipse. Then it started to smile and took out its strange square thing. "Oh, I see how it is. My kids would do this too." The human then took out a small round thing and held it out towards Eclipse. "Here, little one. Is this good enough to get your brother's special brownie?"
Eclipse stared at the round thing while he sniffed in the air. Metal… That little thing was metal. He took it before Stone human could protest and looked it over. It had a 1 and a 0 on it… 10. He'd seen these small things get handed in the store. This was a money thing humans used! Eclipse's tail started to wag as he looked at this small circle thing. Good! Humans should know that the things he and Shadow made are worth more like this!
"Hm. Good! You can have it now." Eclipse nodded towards the human. He got 10 money things! He placed the small metal circle behind the glass case close to Shadow's brownies. His ear twitched when he heard Stone human say "thank you" softly while the other human replied with "no problem". Then, there were no more humans to talk with and Stone human went to clean the coffee box.
Eclipse smiled towards Stone human with his fluffy chest puffed up. "See? They are worth more since they're special!"
"You can ask them, but don't get angry or disappointed if they decline, Eclipse. They are still our customers. And they need to be treated with respect."
Eclipse's smile disappeared at that… Why was Stone human not praising him? Eclipse was getting them more money! He let out a scoff and crossed his arms.
"Trashy humans don't deserve my respect… They should be thankful I'm not killing them."
He flinched when his ear was flicked and he turned towards Stone human with a deep growl. But Stone human pointed a finger towards Eclipse's face. "Don't pull that attitude with me. You don't say things like that."
Eclipse moved to bite at that pointing finger, but he moved slow enough that Stone human could pull away. The growl in his throat increased in volume. "I could tear you apart limb from limb before you even became aware of it, human."
"If you say one more thing that I disapprove of, you won't get the special treat after work."
… Treat…? The growl came to a sudden halt and his ears perked up. Treat meant reward… but a food reward. And a food reward was something sweet. Stone human had mentioned it, but Eclipse had forgotten about it completely. He wanted that treat…
So even if Eclipse was irritated that he didn't give Eclipse the praise he deserved for getting them more money, he wanted that treat… So he turned away from Stone human with a huff and watched Shadow instead. His brother was talking to the humans, stroked a cloth over tables and took plates and cups towards the back.
Eclipse got some more extra money for Shadows brownies and his cookies. A small stack of "10" money metal circles was made by the glass case and Eclipse felt very proud over it. But then, he started to see signs of Shadow being tense… His quills were more stiff. There was a tightness to his jaw. His eyes were narrowed and when Eclipse lightly pushed against the bond, it didn't feel as firm of a wall like usual. Something was up.
Eclipse quickly went into the kitchen space after Shadow and watched his brother stack the dishes in containers. "Stop interacting with those trash if they irritate you."
Shadow twitched when he heard Eclipse, but otherwise didn't stop arranging the cups and plates. "I'm fine. Focus on helping Stone with the orders."
"You're not fine, you can't hide it from me." Eclipse countered with a huff. "You're distracted and irritated. You don't have to talk with trash if you don't want to."
"Shut up." Shadow snapped back with a growl. He was about to say more when the door to the kitchen opened and Stone human stepped inside.
"Shadow? Is something wrong?"
"No."
"He's irritated." Eclipse said and ignored Shadow's glare. "And distracted. He doesn't like talking to those trash."
Stone human was about to say something, paused and let out a soft huff. He then focused on Shadow. "Are you feeling overwhelmed? You can take a break if you need to."
"I'm fine. I can continue." Shadow straightened up when he said this, but Eclipse let out a disbelieving huff. He could still somewhat feel Shadow, so he was not okay.
"It's time for lunch anyway." Stone human said as he glanced to the thing attached to his wrist. "You take first lunch, Shadow. Eclipse, could you take the floor? Just do as Shadow did, cleaning tables and such."
"Fine. They should be thankful to be given things by me."
"Thank you. Take 45 minutes to rest, Kalbi. It's alright." Stone human crouched down to place a hand against Shadow's shoulder. Eclipse saw how his brother relaxed from the touch and gave Stone human a small nod.
Good. Now Shadow would be better. Eclipse didn't want to interact with humans, but it was better than Shadow being tense and uncomfortable. Eclipse gave Shadow a small nod before he went out into the coffee shop again with Stone human. There was a coffee cup on the counter and Stone human directed him towards a human with fur on its face. So Eclipse carried the cup over and set it down in front of the human.
No words were exchanged. So Eclipse went to another table to pick up an empty cup to carry it towards the kitchen. After a few more walks back and forth, and not replying to any humans who tried to talk with him (they had nothing important to say to Eclipse so there was no use in talking with them).
One human was surprisingly quiet and stayed in the coffee shop for a long time. It wanted many cups of coffee while it looked over a rectangular thing that it had open and moved thin sheets back and forth.
Book… Eclipse faintly remembered that it was a book. Things that the husks read to get information about earth during the war… So Eclipse got curious. He looked at the book the human was reading and it took him only a few moments to sort through the information he had so he could read it as well. Knight? Princess? Rose garden? What were all of those things?
"Are you also interested in reading?"
Eclipse looked at the human, then the book. It was a way to get information… And Eclipse needed more information so he wouldn't have to ask questions and get punished for it. This human could be worth speaking to.
"Tell me where I can get those." Eclipse pointed towards the book.
The human smiled towards Eclipse. And that's when he learned about libraries from this human. It was useful information and he told the human that it had been useful and gave it a pat on the head to show praise. Eclipse would find and use a "library" as soon as he could. He needed the information that books had.
Notes:
The opening of the cafe went pretty good considering everything else~.
Also, Eclipse now knows where he can find books and knowledge. The hobby he gained and showed off during the epilogue is forming!!I adore writing Eclipse and his conflicting thoughts. He's so fudging adorable. X'D Like, looking at things from an outside perspective as I write this is hilarious to me. I hope that you all are having as much fun as I'm having~.
I also want to give a biiiiiig shoutout to Maulglin who made these absolutely ADORABLE and AWESOME sketches of Eclipse in his new hedgehog form~. Go check them out!!!! Give them tons of love!!!!
hereAlso also, one of my friends took commissions and I asked them to make little hedgie Eclipse!! Look at him studying so diligently~. Such a serious little man reading about human wars and history~. :3
hereI'll update when I can!! I doubt I'll stay away from writing for long but mid terms are being a bitch. I'll see you again soon!!!!
Chapter 4
Summary:
Eclipse goes to the library for the first time ever!
Aaaaand Shadow and Eclipse have a fight. Again.
Notes:
Heeeeey~! I'm heeeeere~.
These past 48 hours have been WEIRD to me soooo I figure why not update the story with that chapter I teased having finished on tumblr. To maybe, possibly, have a bit of a pick-me-up.I hope you all have been doing better than I have. X'D
But, but, anyways, Eclipse!! The alien bean!
Writing on this again is giving me so many ideas that I'm so excited to share with you. Not to mention the notes I've added to the sequel of "Finding the Reasons to Exist". It's gonna be goooood~. I'm gonna have so much fuuuun~.
I'm just not able to read any fanfiction at ALL though. Such is the curse when you have a writing spree. Can't do anything BUT writing and reading just falls off entirely. -sad sigh- But I suppose some of us have to be the ones to create. It's a sacrifice I am willing to make. :3This story is still slice of life, but, well, it wouldn't be the alien bean and fluffer pupper without some complications and hurt/comfort, right?
Enjoy!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Eclipse felt very proud over his stack of 10 money things at the end of the day. He even got two 50 money things when he demanded humans pay more for his and Shadows sweets! This was exactly as it should be, humans were lower creatures who should appreciate that Eclipse and Shadow even let them stay alive. Even more, that the humans got something they had created.
Stone human talked with Shadow for a while after they closed the coffee shop, then he left for that blue pest's house… Eclipse would for sure keep a check on their bond because the moment he felt that Shadow was in pain, he'd go over there even if it made Shadow angry. Helping him with his problem was way more important!
Eclipse was wiping the floors as Stone human came into the coffee shop space. "Good job today, Eclipse. You did well."
Eclipse perked up as he looked towards Stone human, straightening his back a little. "While they are annoying and useless trash, as long as they give money they can be tolerated."
"Right, perhaps don't call them "trash" or "filthy" next time. It makes others upset."
Eclipse let out a scoff as he put the "mop" thing back in its water bucket and looked at Stone human with a frown. "They are trash. I won't answer any of their questions. And those things shouldn't try to touch me! They're lucky I let them keep their limbs for even attempting it."
"It was a child, Eclipse. Those small humans haven't learned how to control their impulses. Your fur and quills look very soft." Stone human picked up the mop bucket with a smile and Eclipse followed as Stone human went to the large kitchen.
"Well, they're not! They're sharp and get stuck everywhere… And I'm not weak." Eclipse ran his claws through his quills and let out an irritated huff when they got stuck. So he let them be. "I don't want any of that sticky stuff on me. This fur is way harder to clean than scales!"
"That's understandable." Stone human nodded and poured out the brown tinted water into the "sink" where water disappeared. "However, Shadow is strong. But he's also very soft. Being soft doesn't make you any less strong, Eclipse."
Hearing this made Eclipse pause. That was true, Shadow was very soft. Even his quills. Every time Eclipse helped him with a difficult memory, Eclipse stroked his hand through Shadow's quills like that important human had done to him in his memories. And his fur was super smooth and soft… Stone human was right, being soft didn't make someone weak… Shadow was the strongest being in the whole universe, and he was also really soft.
Eclipse let out a soft scoff and crossed his arms. "Fine. Since I did good today, I should get my treat. So hand it over."
"Of course." Stone human easily agreed and cleaned his hands. He then reached into the chilly food holder and took out a small plate. And on it was a small stack of four very colourful cookie-shaped things. But there were two cookie things stacked on top of each other with something in between them.
"I bought them because they were on sale. These are Macarons. A sweet, fluffy and creamy treat. The first day was extra special that it went well, so this is an extra special treat we can't get every time."
Eclipse accepted the plate of colourful sweets, macarons, and gave them a light sniff. Pink, blue, green and brown… They had really bright colours. Eclipse picked up the pink one first because that had a smell Eclipse hadn't experienced before. He bit into it with a crunch and his ears perked up.
His many, many taste buds exploded with joy from how sweet it was. And it had a strange almost flower-smelling taste! Only they didn't taste how flowers tasted but how flowers smelled! His tail started to wag as he took another bite of it, not eating it completely to savour it. It was really good!
Stone human let out a soft huff and his hand lightly rubbed the spot between Eclipse's ears. "Good job today, Eclipse."
Warmth spread through Eclipse's whole being from the praise. Headpat, words and a treat! His face felt like it was burning up with how warm it got and he quickly distracted himself by eating the rest of the pink macaron. Eclipse really, really liked this reward! It would've been even better if Shadow did this but Stone human was a good replacement for it! He felt so warm and fuzzy like an inside hug and his whole mouth was filled with yummy sweets and it was one of the best feelings ever!
"Take me to the library!" He said with a wide grin, his tail still wagging from the praise he received. "I need to see those books they have!"
"Now?" Stone human looked at the thing strapped to his wrist with a soft hum. "It should be open for a while longer. Sure, we can go. Is there anything special you're looking for?"
"Something that amuses me." Eclipse picked up the blue macaron to bite into. And it had a completely different sweet taste! How can there be so many different tastes!? He was so glad he copied Shadows tongue to have so many taste buds, it was amazing to taste this much from his food.
"That won't be too difficult to find." Stone human nodded and started to loosen the thin cloth stripe around his neck. "Let me go change clothes and we'll head for the library together."
Eclipse nodded and waited while enjoying his macarons. It was a really, really good treat and reward. If they get enough money, Eclipse could get this reward again! Then he'd need to make more of those sweets they sell so he can demand more money from the humans who come to the coffee shop. He'd rather just take it, but then Shadow would be mad with him. So he'd get this money thing and do it by the humans stupid rules! He had to get more of these macaron things, they were his favourite sweet so far. Especially the pink one, it was the best one!
Stone human came downstairs again with another layer of clothes on him. They went out of the coffee shop together with Stone human leading the way to wherever this library was. When Stone human offered his hand towards Eclipse to hold, he hesitated for a moment. But then took hold of it so he could observe their surroundings without paying too much attention where they went. And holding hands was warm and comfortable, he just needed to be careful with his claws against Stone human's skin.
Every human seemed to have an extra layer of clothing. Most only around their body but some had cloth covering their heads as well. Small humans, tall humans, thin and thick, they were all in such different shapes and sizes. They were all talking with each other or walking around, completely relaxed with no sense of danger at all. They were nothing more than fodder, food. And way too complicated with everything they did.
The wind blew against Eclipse's face in a way that made him scrunch up his nose. His lower body temperature, fur and chaos energy prevented him from getting cold. But he could see humans hunch up their shoulders and pull their extra layer of cloth closer in response to the wind blowing through. They were weak to the cold as well? Was there something these creatures weren't fragile to? If the humans had things they weren't able to eat, Eclipse just might wonder how they've managed to stay alive and even conquered the planet…
The building Stone human and Eclipse eventually stepped into smelled… weird. Like a mix of humans, trees and… something. There was a slight breeze moving through because there was a large hole in the wall that was barely covered by pieces of wood and rustling thin fabric-looking things. Eclipse had seen some buildings with holes in them, something the Black Arms caused when they came to this town to feed. Human structures were more sturdy than humans themselves, but it was easy for Eclipse to destroy it if he wanted to.
"Welcome. How can I help you?" A human stepped in front of Stone human and Eclipse with a small smile. It had strange lines in its face and short, white fur on its head. Similar to that white furred human back at the coffee shop.
"Hello, we're here to look at some books. Eclipse was curious about them" Stone human looked down at Eclipse with a small smile of his own, then back to the white furred human. "Do you have any recommendations on beginner books? Preferably about animals."
"Certainly, that section is still intact." The human started to walk and Stone human followed. Eclipse still held Stone humans hand so he came too, of course. Meanwhile, he looked over the large rectangle book holders that had many, many books. There were signs hanging from the roof as well.
Anatomy, Language, History… What did those signs mean? The white furred human led them to a part of the library with a sign that read "kids" hanging above it.
"Here we are. Browse to your heart's content. We can't rent out any books right now I'm afraid, but feel free to read here inside the building."
Eclipse frowned slightly at that. Rent out? What did that mean? The human said Eclipse could read inside the building… Did the books stop working if they left the building? That was annoying… That human at the coffee shop must have had a special book, then, if it still worked.
Eclipse let go of Stone's hand to take a closer look at these books, his head tilted slightly to the side at how colourful they were. This… was not how he remembered books being… They had a lot of text and a few pictures. But these had pictures over it…
He noticed one picture that he recognised. Or, somewhat recognised. It was a Mantis and it was standing in front of a smaller thing with red and black colours. He shared this view with Shadow, because this was something Eclipse knew about! He'd seen them on the TV thing! So he opened it to see what it would describe about the Mantis.
He read the text… Looked at the pictures… His nose scrunched up and his lips curled in distaste. What…???
"Human! Explain this!" Eclipse teleported over towards Stone human and that other white furred human. Both jumped with the white human stumbling backwards, but Eclipse was snarling at Stone human. His claws dug slightly into the page of the book as he held it up for Stone human to see. "Why is this predator acting like prey!?"
"Eclipse, be careful with-"
"And this text is insulting! I can clearly see it has a green shell with sharp claws! Why is it not killing this worthless timid creature!?" Eclipse pointed at that red and black bug "ladybug" that was curled up and scared. The mantis was reaching out towards the ladybug and the book was speaking like the mantis was sad the ladybug was scared of it.
"Alright, then that is a book you don't have to read." Stone human covered Eclipse's hands and removed them from the book, then he placed his hand on Eclipse's shoulder. "That was a children's book, something that doesn't hold the factual truth but focuses on teaching children morals. You're right, the mantis would kill the ladybug in that instance."
Eclipse's quills relaxed slightly and he let out a huff. "It should be destroyed. Books are supposed to be informative and interesting! Not insulting and filled with lies."
When he tried to grab the book, Stone human held it out of his grasp and pushed Eclipse back by his shoulder. "There are still those who enjoy reading these books. And they are owned by the library, if you destroy this we'll have to pay them money to replace it."
"What!? But destroying it would be a favour! That isn't information, it's delusion!" Eclipse showed his teeth with his growl. "The money is ours!"
Stone human nodded and gently squeezed Eclipse's shoulder. "We are allowed to read the books here freely under the condition that we don't damage them. And if we do damage them, we'll need to spend the money we have so the library can get a new book of the one we destroyed. That's how libraries work." Stone human set that cursed book aside and pushed Eclipse away from those colourful books. "We'll take a look at some other books to find something informative and interesting for you."
Eclipse glared back at the colourful book, only briefly considering if he should destroy it anyway. But if Stone human was forced to give money if it was destroyed… Then Eclipse couldn't get any treats. And Shadow might not be able to get his coffee… That cursed, insulting book would stay intact. For now… Eclipse wouldn't spare it next time it appeared in his path…
Stone human brought Eclipse over to a sign that said "Astronomy" and gestured towards the books. "Maybe you'd like to start with things you recognise."
Eclipse perked up when he saw the pictures of these. Hm… He'd passed those, in the comet. Those were the planets of this galaxy. Eclipse picked up a book and started to flip through it.
"Hm. You gave these your own names too?" Eclipse tilted his head slightly. They even named larger orbiting asteroids in their system.
"Do you… know them by different names?" Stone human sat down by a table close to Eclipse. He teleported over to set the book down on the table, then teleported back to look over what else there could be.
"Life Galaxy 322, planets 1 through 8. Earth is number 3." Eclipse picked up another book to look through it. Huh, this one depicted the life of stars… Interesting that these humans have learned so much despite being so limited. "You are insignificant life forms in comparison to everything else. You call this a Nebula? Sounds strange. It's the birthplace of stars and you give it a name like that?"
Eclipse deposited that book by the table, then looked for others. These humans sure seemed to have figured out a lot even without outside influence.
"Then, why come here if we're so insignificant?"
"It's because you're insignificant that you were the better target. Less resistance, more livestock. Less chance of anyone else interfering before it was too late. And that you have the most powerful energy source in the galaxy hidden here." Eclipse shrugged slightly, picked up a third book and went back to sit by the table. He opened the first pages on these books and read who the writer was. All made by different humans… So knowing all of this was a collaborative effort.
"So there are others out there? Other than you?"
Eclipse let out a scoff and turned the page of one book while keeping the other two open on the first page. He'd try out reading them one at a time first. "Of course there is. We've fed on plenty of species. Don't think you're unique only because you have conquered your planet. Plenty of species have adapted the atmosphere they can live in and conquered their entire galaxy in order to expand. Interstellar communication and travel is easy with the right tools and rings. Stop asking stupid questions."
"Right, yes. What are these rings you use made of? And how does it travel across space?"
Eclipse didn't answer that question, because it was a stupid one. And it wasn't something he'd tell Stone human. He knew how rings worked, he had seen them be used plenty of times when others used them to escape the Black Arms as they came down on a planet to feed.
But Black Arms couldn't use rings… Mast-. … Black Doom had tried but they had already made some form of failsafe to prevent the Black Arms from using them for fast travel. Eclipse couldn't use rings. He'd tried but he was more similar to Black Doom than any other creature. Shadow was a perfect blend, a perfect creation. He might be able to use rings to travel if he wanted to. Eclipse would never be able to do that…
Not that he needed to when he could teleport. And he had nowhere else he could or wanted to be than beside Shadow. The comet was destroyed, Black Doom was dead and the hive mind had collapsed with him. There was no reason for Eclipse to ever want to leave unless Shadow wanted to leave too.
Eclipse found himself getting bored with reading about one topic for too long… So he started to read the second book. Then jumped over to the third one when he got bored reading about the same topic on that too. When he went back to the first book, it didn't seem boring. … until it became boring and he jumped over to the next one. As long as he got the information he wanted, the way he read these books didn't matter.
He read about space as human had come to understand it, remembering the names the humans had given them. It was easier to remember too even if they sometimes got weird names. Humans seemed to simplify things with their names rather than have the name explain them as they are.
Stone human tried to ask more things about space that Eclipse knew, but if this planet didn't know, then Stone human shouldn't know. Eclipse had no reason to share that knowledge with him. Jumping between these books not only kept his interest in what he read, but it was also a way for him to recall what he'd read. A way to review the information he had before he continued on the topic. Why hadn't the husks read books this way? It was a lot more interesting than reading one from start to finish. It was like taking pieces of different pictures and building up an amalgamation of all three, to create something even greater. Or sort the picture pieces as he went, both worked.
Point was, Stone human's question of why Eclipse read the way he did, jumping from book to book wasn't answered. And neither was his question of why he picked up a fourth book. And when Eclipse laid down on the chair with his head hanging down slightly while reading, Stone human stopped asking stupid questions. It's not like Eclipse would answer them anyway.
He moved on from space and teleported around until he saw the sign "Food" for a topic. He picked up some books about what humans could create and eat. And seeing the different types of sweets in these books made him want to try them. Everything about space were things he already knew, but having context of what humans called things was good in case he had to answer stupid questions. He finished the three space books. And it was while Eclipse had picked up a fourth food book that the line-covered human came up to talk with Stone human. Something about them needing to leave. Eclipse let out a scoff and frowned. He wouldn't listen to that human, its opinion on what Eclipse should do was irrelevant. He only listened to Shadow. … And maybe sometimes Stone human. His eyes unfocused slightly, because there was something nagging on the back of his mind-...
"Eclipse. The building will be locking up soon, so we need to leave."
He lowered the book he was holding to rest against his chest and glared at Stone human. "Its desire to lock up this building doesn't affect me. I could get in here regardless." He held up the book to his face again. There were all sorts of meat that humans ate but never engaged in eating each other. Curious.
Stone human gently took hold of Eclipse's hands and settled the book on Eclipse's chest again. He glared at Stone human for the interruption.
"I know, but it's more the principle of the matter. I still have to eat dinner and we're supposed to fetch Shadow from the Wachowski family after. We'll be sure to get you a library card when they can rent out books again so you can borrow these books and take them home to read."
Eclipse looked at Stone human for a few more moments. Then down at the book he was holding. Then back to Stone human. He sat up, took the earth focused books, stacked them with the books open on the page he was on and held them open to his chest.
"I'll bring them with me now. Let's go fetch Shadow."
He was about to walk towards the exit, but Stone human stopped him by the shoulder. Getting stopped like this was getting annoying… He let out a soft growl in warning towards Stone human, but of course that didn't affect the human. This human had gotten used to his threats and growls, somehow. It's almost as if he was used to being threatened but he did this anyway. There was a small spark of something in the back of his head, something that leaked into his mind but then Stone human spoke up before he could focus on it-.
"I understand that you're eager to read more, but we need to register that the book is not in the building before we take them with us." Stone human reached out to take the books, but Eclipse pressed them closer to his chest with his growl growing louder. "You'll damage the books if you press them to your chest like that. And if they get damaged, we need to pay for them, remember? A damaged book might also damage the text and you won't be able to read it as easily."
Eclipse twitched and his jaw tensed to a painful degree. His heart beat in his ears and there was a certain heat that seemed to spread through his body from the back of his head. He didn't like this… he was tired of it, all of these rules and words that held no reason or consequences on Eclipse. All the human 'technology' that didn't listen to him, the nights were so long and quiet, everything they wanted had to be traded instead of taken. He couldn't hurt anyone much less kill anyone and he felt like he needed to rip out the hearts of those who made up all of these idiotic and restricting rules and consume them just to prove how none of this had any effect on him. Eclipse couldn't even hold things without them being damaged somehow because these humans were so weak that what they thought was sturdy Eclipse could crush just by picking it up!
Could anything on this planet make any sense!? Why was Stone human preventing him from doing something that didn't involve destroying everything!? Eclipse's heart beat louder and his body felt warmer as Chaos energy coursed through him. Sparks of black and grey lit up between his quills as Stone human let go of his shoulder.
"Why is everything human made so fragile!?" Eclipse hissed as he let go of the books, letting them fall to the floor. His claws flexed and Stone human took a small step away from Eclipse. Power coursed through him as his heart beat faster, pounding in his ears with something familiar but Eclipse was too angry at these forced rules to even care-. "I'm tired of all these rules you try to impose! I have no reason to listen to a lesser creature like you!" Eclipse took a step closer, forcing Stone human to take a step back as dark energy gathered around his claws. "If I want something, I take it! If I find something too annoying, I destroy it! The only reason I haven't is because I'd lose the only person I have left! I have lost everything and you stupid humans just want to take more and more from me!"
"Eclipse, calm down-." Stone human held up his hands towards Eclipse and moved behind a table.
"I have been, all this time!! And you are too blinded by your own earth standard to even see it!!" Eclipse grabbed the table and tossed it aside, ignoring the crash that followed. Rage was still flowing through him in a steady stream, his whole body sparkling from unused chaos energy. "My purpose was to destroy everything that was a threat to us! I was their leader, their protector! And you took it away from me! You humans destroyed it all-!"
Hearing himself say that made Eclipse choke up. Because.. no. That hadn't been Stone human. That had been.. Shadow… Shadow and that blue pest. Why was he-...? Over some rules…? He didn't mind rules as long as he knew the consequences…
He felt that trickle of connection. That warmth in his chaos energy that came from somewhere in the back of his head. Something in the back of his mind that flowed into him, twirled in there and amplified his irritation into something more.
"Shadow…" Eclipse's breath hitched. That chaos energy. It was Shadow, Shadow's connection, and Eclipse hadn't even noticed-.
He turned to where it came from, fast enough to make his neck crack with the motion. Warmth and rage still coursed through him. And he knew this, he knew this feeling. This feeling of shared emotion through the hive mind, something that was always muted but could still be felt and he felt so much of it from Shadow that he had thought it was his own.
What was Shadow remembering to experience something so deep and visceral that even Eclipse got affected by the echoes of it…?
"Eclipse, what about Shadow? Is something wrong with him?"
Stone human's firm but worried tone snapped Eclipse out of his inner thoughts and he focused on the human. With rage no longer clouding his impression of the human, he could see how shaken Stone human had become. Eclipse looked down at his claws and saw them still sparkling with chaos energy. They were trembling and he couldn't push it down.
"Shadow's rage is bleeding into me…" He told the Stone human, because he deserved to know that much. Everything Eclipse said, he didn't regret… But he didn't enjoy that his emotions had been influenced to the point that it made him react to something so... small. With hands still trembling, he looked up at Stone human again. "I'm going."
With a flash, he teleported away.
Eclipse ran across rooftops of the small human settlement, teleporting forward to where he needed to be, moving faster and faster as the rage from his brother continued to flow into him.
He stopped in front of a large house, the place where those things lived. Shadow's words echoed in his mind, how he didn't want Eclipse to be here.
But… But…! He couldn't just let Shadow do this alone…! Not when he felt this much and those things would never understand what Shadow was feeling, what he needed or how to help him! They might even get killed if Shadow was this consumed by the memory. Eclipse wouldn't mind that (would prefer it, honestly), but he also knew that Shadow cared and Shadow would feel horrible if that happened.
Orange sparks were actively lighting up the window at the very top of the house, similarly to how Eclipse's chaos energy surged through his body. Eclipse took a deep breath and teleported the last distance he needed to reach Shadow. He appeared among the sound of voices. Blue, red and yellow standing around Shadow trying to talk with him. There was a human there too, the larger short furred one. Shadow was clutching onto his head with orange sparks travelling through his quills and his body, breathing heavily through whatever he's just remembered or was currently seeing.
A white gloved fist was immediately thrown towards Eclipse's face. Chaos energy continued to course through him as Eclipse blocked the hit and glared into purple red-glowing eyes.
"Stand aside! None of you are doing what he needs!"
The echidna's eyes narrowed slightly, but there was no resistance as Eclipse shoved the fist aside to step closer to Shadow.
"Eclipse!? What's going on-?"
Whatever question that blue pest had didn't matter. Eclipse grabbed the blue pest by its quills to throw it away towards the wall. At the same time, he reached out a mental strand towards Shadow, to show he wasn't alone and that Eclipse was here. That he could feel Shadow's rage mixed with despair.
Eclipse grabbed hold of Shadow's shoulder. Orange sparkling eyes met his own. Sparkling eyes that were filled with tears and not seeing him properly. Eclipse teleported both of them away. Away from a house that was a home to those creatures Shadow cared for. Away from civilisation Shadow cared for. They appeared on a rocky surface barren of trees, one that Eclipse had seen in passing as they had flown towards Green Hills.
The long teleportation took a good chunk of energy from him and caused Eclipse to stumble. But that didn't matter, because Shadow was drowning and he couldn't let Shadow drown, never. But Shadow wasn't lost in his memories (he knew what that felt like from Shadow by now), only lost in the emotions tied to the memory. So Eclipse had to make Shadow use that rage somehow, and there's one way that he knew would be effective enough.
"Fight me!!" Eclipse raised a fist and threw it hard against Shadow's cheek. Hard enough to make Shadow fall to the ground and slide along it for a short moment.
Both of them were sparkling from chaos energy and Eclipse let the connection between them be fully open. To take in Shadow's rage. He let Shadow's rage fuel him and turned it into determination, something he could use for Shadow's sake, to show Shadow that he was being seen, heard, acknowledged and that Eclipse was here to support him. It's something Eclipse never got, something he had always wanted, but he'd give it to Shadow, always, ALWAYS. Shadow's whole body was trembling as he sat up, his gaze not quite focused but still seeing Eclipse as their eyes met. A strange in between as tears fell down along Shadow's cheeks.
"Use it! Use your rage and fight me! Burn up the rage in your heart and let it fuel your battle instincts!" Eclipse snarled as he crouched into a ready stance. "Do it!!"
Eclipse could see Shadow absorb these words. Could see how Shadow's expression twisted into a fierce, hateful snarl for whatever memory he was experiencing. Shadow's whole body tensed up and his gloved hands dug into the dirt.
The teleport Shadow performed was expected. And their chaos energy collided in a violent blast as Eclipse met Shadow's fist with his own. Their surroundings lit up with orange and black energy and the two of them were blown away from each other. But they both teleported to meet again in the middle.
Both of them used their teleportation abilities to counter the other. Shadow's chaos energy flowed into Eclipse just how Eclipse's flowed into Shadow. Eclipse felt Shadow's pain, his sadness and despair. How hollow Shadow was, how a piece of him was missing and how it was a piece that could never come back.
Eclipse felt all of this, acknowledged it and tried his best to show Shadow that he wasn't alone. That Eclipse was here, that he saw Shadow and acknowledged his pain. That he wouldn't leave, that he'd never want to leave. That, more importantly, he understood that pain.
If Shadow's chaos energy hadn't flowed into Eclipse, he doubted he'd be able to keep up as well as he did without his transformation. He felt faster, stronger, similarly to how he would be in his enhanced form. He could overpower Shadow if he wanted to like this, he could transform and use every trick he had to subdue his brother. But that wasn't what he was here for. He was here as an outlet for Shadow's pain and that's all he wanted to be. The internal and external injuries he received were healed within a few moments. Shadow's injuries started to stack up but Eclipse never took advantage of that. Because that wasn't what Shadow needed.
This continued for a while. Up until Eclipse's attention was diverted when something blue flashed in the corner of his eye.
Eclipse's chest let out a loud crack when a powerful kick from Shadow connected, one that he hadn't dodged. Pain exploded through him and made Eclipse gasp for air even if he didn't need it. The ground cracked as his back collided with it and it hurt. (It hurt so much he didn't want it to hurt this bad, tears were clouding his eyes, his whole body was trembling, it hurt-.) These cracked bones healed within a few seconds, but it was long enough for Shadow to land on top of Eclipse's chest with both feet and crush it inwards with a huge cloud of dust and debris kicking up around them from the collision. Eclipse would have died if he had been one of those puny mortals.
Eclipse barely caught Shadow's chaos-covered fist with his own, catching the other one too even as his arms were trembling from strain. Shadow sat on him, pinning him down so he couldn't teleport away. His chest actively healed under Shadow weight, his chaos energy focusing purely on fixing the internal damage and Eclipse let out a pained sound, a mix of a whine and hiss. Tears fell down the sides of his face as he stared up at Shadow, and he could feel through their connection how his brother's anger fluctuated. What Shadow saw made him hesitate now that he had Eclipse at his mercy. Eclipse had hoped that he could have lasted longer without transforming, but… Maybe this was enough.
Eclipse grinned despite the pain he was in, his grip on Shadow's fist tightening slightly. He didn't need to breathe so the blood in his lungs didn't bother him. He spoke both with words and through their minds, to reach that deepest part of Shadow that only the Black Arms could understand.
"You're… not alone… You know that…"
Shadow froze, he stopped pushing against Eclipse's hold and stayed there. They could both feel (and hear) how Eclipse's chest was repairing itself. It was painful, really painful, but he'd signed up for this knowing that he'd be in pain and it would be worth it for Shadow's sake-. Eclipse let out a cough of black blood, to draw in just enough air to speak again.
"You've never… been alone… Not then… Not now… Not ever…" He continued to speak both through mind and through voice. Eclipse coughed up some more blood, but he continued to grin. The sparks of chaos energy around Shadow's quills dimmed and he stared at Eclipse with his eyes wide. From glowing orange eyes to more gentle orange-brown.
Rage gave way to confusion. Despair was still there, but it had lessened. Eclipse encouraged memories that he'd already seen from Shadow to come forth. That human girl brushing through Shadow's quills. Shadow and that blue pest sitting underneath the stars. He also called forth a dinner memory that he had with Eclipse and Stone human.
Shadow's arms relaxed as the memories flowed between them. Eclipse tilted his head to the side so he could spit out another glob of black blood. (The last of it in his lungs, thankfully, the rest could be rearranged or broken down inside of him) That colour blue… It was that blue pest who was standing at the edge of the cracked crater Eclipse's fall had made. Of course that thing's appearance would be the reason Eclipse slipped up…
"I hate you…"
Eclipse looked back towards Shadow as he said this. The gloved hands rested against Eclipse's chest but there was no pressure there.
"I know…" He replied softly, only speaking through words this time and still looking at Shadow and ignoring that blue pest's presence.
"I hate how you can get into my head and think you have some form of… privilege to know more than you should because of it. I hate what you did to me… whatever it was…" Shadow hissed, his hands trembling as he was glaring at Eclipse. But not directed at Eclipse. At least, Eclipse didn't feel like it was…
Shadow still hadn't shut him out. And Eclipse continued to share nothing but acceptance towards Shadow.
"I know." Eclipse was completely relaxed under Shadow. His brother wasn't angry at him… Eclipse didn't feel nervous or afraid of being trapped under Shadow this time. It was… strange. He was so often afraid of it…. "But I'll always be here regardless of that… If it takes eternity to make up for it… Then, I'll do it. I'll wait. Because you're my brother."
There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Emotions bounced back and forth in their mental connection. The rage that had been there before was gone. Their chaos energy settled and it was similar to having a silent conversation without words.
Shadow frustrated, confused and conflicted. Eclipse patient, open and accepting.
The rage Shadow had felt had been let out through aggression, just how Eclipse knew it would. It had been the best way for Eclipse to let out his own emotions when he needed it. Violence was in their blood, something that drove them forward. He knew that it would work for Shadow too.
Because they were brothers.
"Whew! I thought you were trying to kill him and we'd have to do the struggle 2.0! Are you doing alright, Shadow?"
The moment that blue pest spoke up, Shadow's whole body tensed up. His eyes hardened and the connection between their minds slammed shut like shutting a door in Eclipse's face. He couldn't help but flinch from being shut out again, but didn't protest as Shadow stood up and turned his head away.
"I'm fine."
Eclipse let out a scoff as he sat up, rubbing his neck and turning it this way and that with loud cracking sounds to arrange his bones properly.
"Riiiight and going all The Hulk angry mode fighting Eclipse means you're totally fine-. Woah, how are you even standing!? That's so much blood!" The blue pest appeared next to Shadow using its fast speed and carefully lifted Shadow's arm to reveal the large gash Eclipse had inflicted.
Shadow tugged his arm back with a growl and took a step away from that creature. "It's nothing. It'll heal in a few moments."
"Don't hold us up to your puny mortal standards." Eclipse added as he stood up. He tried to hold back a soft whimper from the pain that blossomed from his back, but failed. He reached back to tug on his tail, the bones in it cracking as they got realigned properly.
The blue pest flinched backwards from the loud crack, its eyes wide as it looked between Shadow and Eclipse. "Shit, dude, were you seriously trying to kill him? What even happened!?"
Shadow didn't offer a reply, but placed a hand over his side to prevent more blood from leaking out. Eclipse took a deep breath, held it and twitched as his insides finally settled properly so he could breathe out again. He spit out another glob of blood and wiped his chin.
"Do you need help with arranging it?" He asked his brother. Because that was the only thing that mattered to him.
Shadow looked at Eclipse for a brief moment, then down towards the ground. "No. It settled."
Eclipse let out a soft grunt and rolled his shoulders, flexed his fingers and moved his tail, just to make sure that all his nerves had repaired and aligned properly. "Good."
"Are you seriously gonna leave me out of the loop here? This whole place is wrecked from, what, a memory misalignment!?" The blue pest gestured to their surroundings. There were multiple places in this rocky area that had cracks and splatters of black and red blood. Eclipse aimed a growl towards the pest.
"If Shadow doesn't want to tell you, you won't get to know, pest." Eclipse looked back towards Shadow with his expression softening and ears slightly tilted backwards. "Stone human wanted to pick you up. Let's go back."
Shadow's hands clenched into fists. Shadow was silent for a few moments, briefly glanced towards the blue pest then back to the ground again. He then nodded. That blue pest stepped forward and rested a hand against Shadow's shoulder.
"Let's… hang out again sometime soon. Without any sudden memory awakenings next time."
Shadow looked at the blue pests hand, letting out a soft hum. He shrugged it off, then teleported away without giving it an answer. Eclipse wasn't sure what Shadow was thinking… And he wanted to know what Shadow was thinking. At least… he was let in for a little while. At least Eclipse was the only one who knew how to help him. And at least Eclipse was the only being on this whole planet who could withstand being an outlet for Shadow like that.
Eclipse could faintly feel where Shadow teleported to, and he held onto this thread as he looked at the blue pest. That thing's ears were pressed back and its quills were slack, signs that it was saddened. Saddened by what, Eclipse couldn't tell. Not that its emotional state mattered to Eclipse in any way.
"If you had attempted to fight him, pest, you would have died." Eclipse's eyes narrowed as the blue pest turned to look towards him. "Whatever else you could have hoped to attempt would have never worked. He needs me, not you."
He then followed Shadow's string of energy, appeared closer to that human town and quickly followed the trail of Chaos energy Shadow left behind. He was making it straight towards their shared house… Good. Because Eclipse didn't want him to spend more time with that pest and awaken more memories that could bother him. Not when this awakening had given Shadow such intense emotions…
Eclipse appeared at the cafe in time to see Stone human crouch down to the ground and pull Shadow in for a hug. One that Shadow melted into but didn't return with a hug of his own. Now… Now he really wished Shadow would be more willing to share his emotions with Eclipse so he'd know how he could help Shadow better. Eclipse didn't know how to soothe that lingering despair…But maybe Stone human did.
"Let's watch some movies together." Stone human said as he pulled back from the hug and gave Shadow a small smile. "But perhaps you should wash off first."
Shadow let out a soft huff and Eclipse stopped next to Shadow. Just… to look him over again. To make sure that his wounds had healed now and that he could get better. The wound in Shadow's side was still there, but he was sure that it would heal soon since Shadow had those powerful emeralds.
"And you too, Eclipse. You should also wash up." Stone human's hand settled on Eclipse's shoulder as he smiled at Eclipse too. "I'm glad to see you're both okay."
"Of course we are. We're not some weak mortals." That warm feeling spread from Eclipse's chest and he did his best to ignore how his tail was wagging slightly. "I could've beaten him, but I let Shadow win."
"You? Beating me? Only in your dreams." Shadow countered with a scoff. "You weren't even close."
"Your wounds say otherwise. I let you win because that's what you needed." Eclipse glared at Shadow while crossing his arms. "I could've subdued you easily in my enhanced form."
"Even in an enhanced form, you would never have enough power to defeat me." Shadow turned around to walk into the cafe, back to their abode. Eclipse followed close behind him, because that wasn't true! He could have beaten Shadow!
"Yes I could! I've defeated you before!"
"I don't believe that for a second." Shadow entered the building and tried to close the door on Eclipse. But he caught it and continued to follow because Shadow was wrong! Eclipse could have done more!
"I have!! You'll know once you remember it! I let you win this time, so you should be thankful. I even let you cave in my chest!"
"You hate feeling pain. If you could've dodged that hit, you would have."
"I was distracted by that blue pest! That's the only reason you hit me!!"
"All I hear are excuses."
The rest of the evening was spent getting cleaned, having his quills painfully brushed out by Shadow and watching this "movie" together. He enjoyed the bright colours and a call for adventure among the stars… Such a fascinating thing, that wooden structures that seemed so frail could gain the ability to travel through space… It was confusing, but enjoyable.
… It would've been more enjoyable if his head hadn't been pulsing from pain from that stupid brushing session. Sure, it healed and such when Shadow was done halfway into the movie, but it still hurt! And Eclipse had no idea pulling on fur could hurt too when "brushing out knots" or whatever. Shadow had said it was needed and that if he didn't want to experience that again, Eclipse should get in the habit of brushing his quills and fur every day. Stupid new body that had way too many needs…
Notes:
Emotional fiiiiight~. Brother bickeriiiing~. -dances-
Eclipse's healing works automatically but Shadow's healing works actively. In case you all were wondering why Shadow's wounds didn't heal as quickly as Eclipse's. :3
(It's also why Eclipse hates pain. He feels it such a short time cause his wounds heal before he gets to truly live with and experience it. That's how I see it. XD)A much needed grooming session!! And yes, I had them watch Treasure Planet. It's an awesome movie and Eclipse absolutely adore all villains. It opens his little eyes on how you can hurt people without physically hurting them too. ;3 Not something he'll use cause, well, physical hurt is still better. Buuuuut. His lil brain is cooking! :D
I don't think any of us regret that I spared this little alien bean and had him live with Stone and Shadow. ... But a part of me wonders if there will be a day where this comes up to bite us in the ass. X'D (I never know what my brain and fingers conjure up until it happens, honestly. It's why I move my completed chapters count so often! For those who know, know.)I'll try to update again in two weeks!! ;3
Chapter 5
Summary:
A bit of a time-jump with some shenanigans happening in the background.
And the day arrives when Eclipse will be take part in a Wachowski visit.
Notes:
Heeeeeeey. What's uuuuuuup. It's meeeeee. :3
I managed to hold to my two week promise! Whoop!! Between school stuffs and my body betraying me, I succeeded. <3
I debated back and forth if I should do a time skip or not but, well. It was better pacing with a time skip. And I hope I still conveyed the chaos and fun that they all experienced during it well. XD <3
They have all been doing more than what I'm reiterating. (Like, Eclipse has talked to more people even if he doesn't like having conversations) and that will be shown later on. But I was just too eager to have him interact with Sonic and the others so I just had to jump into it. XDI hope you enjoy the chapter! A little longer than the last ones. <3 <3 <3 <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Eclipse, Shadow and Stone human settled into a form of… routine as they lived together. And it was something… pleasant. Eclipse was sort of used to having a routine, but having one that didn't include training or breaking up fights for food felt unusual.
The three of them would perform their breakfast ritual with Eclipse and Shadow having drinks while Stone human had food. They would then clean up the coffee shop and open it for the day. Eclipse and Shadow would switch between being on the floor and behind the counter. Eclipse would also be sure that they'd get extra money coins for the sweets he and Shadow made. They had lunch at different times throughout the day depending on how many humans visited.
After they closed and cleaned the coffee shop, they either made some more things to sell for the next day, bought things for their house or Shadow went off to see that blue pest when he was invited. When Shadow went to see those pests (two days after the fight because he'd refused the first time), Eclipse and Stone human went to the library so he could read some books. Shadow didn't have a bad memory flare up again, but Eclipse made sure to be more aware when reading books than he'd been the first time. They would then come together again for the dinner ritual and after dinner, they would watch TV. All 3 of them, together.
When night came, Eclipse would stay by the TV while the other two went to their rooms. And Eclipse would wake up lying on the couch rather than sitting and the blanket thrown over his body rather than only over his quills. And when Stone human came out from his room, Eclipse went to Shadows to help him wake up from being trapped inside morning memories. It was worrying that it happened every morning, but once Shadow was up, the cycle repeated.
And no, Eclipse hadn't once been able to sleep in the room that was his own… It was just too quiet.
Shadow wasn't kinder to Eclipse after he'd helped Shadow get out his rage. But he was less… snappy? He still scolded Eclipse and told him everything he was doing wrong, but he didn't talk with as much hate any more. And his quills didn't spike up as much when Eclipse was close to him.
The interaction between the three of them had started to shift more for the better when, one night, Eclipse had explored other rooms that might have had things that made noise. And he found a food container in the room Stone human cleaned clothes. Or, well, Eclipse thought it was a food container, it was something they had bought when Stone human said they needed food!
So of course he was curious why a food thing was in this room. He thought that perhaps it was a special treat Stone human placed here, close to Eclipse's room, so Eclipse could get it later when he did something good. So he'd opened it, sniffed it and really liked the smell. It tasted a bit weird and tangy, but it was also good. So he took the treat.
Stone human really hadn't liked to see Eclipse drinking from it on the sofa when he'd woken up. Stone human and Shadow had practically dragged Eclipse to a house called "The Vet" despite Eclipse telling him that he was feeling okay. That woman human (He'd learned about this "gender" thing through reading books. He can smell which was which.) who took care of the blue pest was there, but Eclipse had learned how to be good and let the human look him over and prod at him with the Stone human and Shadow there. As long as he gave consent to it, it was fine. Only Shadow and Stone human could touch him without getting consent first.
That dark human had looked as worried as Stone human when Stone human held up the good smelling container and explained how much Eclipse had eaten. Shadow had seemed very amused at the frustration Eclipse experienced over this whole thing and did nothing to help him get out of it… That was even more frustrating than having to put up with all of that prodding.
Why did something smell that good if it wasn't supposed to be eaten!? And it had been bought with the food things! They even had the audacity to try and force Eclipse to puke up food! It was unheard of, you never waste food in any capacity so Eclipse teleported around and absolutely refused to ingest something that could force that reaction of him.
That was also the day that Eclipse learned not everything should be ingested because, apparently, eating something like Eclipse did would have killed someone of his size. Or at least made them severely sick. So Eclipse had gone into a whole explanation of how his digestive system was made to absorb anything and that there was nothing in the whole universe that could be poisonous to the Black Arms. Shadow had surprisingly backed up his claim, that it was a waste of time that they were worrying over Eclipse. Shadow even mentioned various different things that had been tested on him in different ways that had little to no effect on him. And with Shadow being a hybrid rather than full blooded black arms, Eclipse "immune system" or whatever the humans called it was even stronger than Shadows.
So why hadn't Shadow said anything about it earlier if Shadow had that type of certainty that could soothe the humans!? Eclipse had asked this to Shadow but only received an amused smirk in return. He had enjoyed Eclipse's frustration and he couldn't help but growl at his brother.
Stone human had pointed out everything in the house that shouldn't be eaten after that experience. And Shadow mocked him for drinking chemicals and causing such a stir… Stupid, irritating brother saying such mockery… Especially when he could have soothed Stone human's worry and stress immediately!
(It… also made Eclipse wonder. How much had been true, of what Black Doom had told him? How much had the humans abused Shadow? How much of it had been done with or without Shadow's consent? The looks the humans had when Shadow told them, what had that meant? How much had Shadow remembered of it all? That hadn't been the trigger that made Shadow consumed by anger, that trigger had been death. So the times where Eclipse helped him get out of memories filled with unease in the morning, had those been memories where humans performed those tests? Why didn't Shadow hate humanity for doing that to him? Another series of questions Eclipse would never ask… Even if he asked, because those were important questions, he doubted that Shadow would be willing to give him truthful answers about that. His mind was poisoned, after all.)
Suddenly, 7 days had passed since Eclipse started to live with them in this human town. And Stone human came forth with a very strange suggestion…
"Absolutely not. I won't let that thing get into the Wachowski's home. Once was enough." Shadow said with a firm glare aimed towards Eclipse.
Eclipse looked wide eyed between Stone human and Shadow, not… entirely sure what to think about this. Him going with Shadow to visit that blue pest and its family? That was-. He wanted to stay with Shadow, sure, but he really didn't want to spend more time with that blue menace and the other creatures than necessary.
"It's been a week since Eclipse started to live with us. And he's been making great progress when interacting with others." Stone human's fingers were weaved together with his hands resting on the table. "I've talked with both miss and mister Wachowski about this and they agree that it would be good for Eclipse to learn how to… bury the hatchet so to say. They're inviting both of you over for the day."
"Progress? When it still speaks to others like it deserves royalty treatment and growls in the presence of children?" Shadow scoffed and shook his head.
Well, humans are lucky to be in his presence. Lucky to be alive even. And those smaller humans are annoying with their questions and sticky hands reaching for him…
"He hasn't hurt anyone and he can handle both books and pastries without damaging them. Seeing how you interact with your friends and interacting with them himself will be good for him. Now I know-" Stone human held up a hand when Shadow opened his mouth to protest further. "-that he has less than a positive view of them. But this will be the next step."
Eclipse's nose wrinkled slightly. Stone human wanted Eclipse to spend more time with those things? Why? They were brother stealing creatures who destroyed everything that Eclipse had, creatures who had made Shadow turn against the Black arms! He had no reason to like or accept their presence. It was irritating enough when they came to visit the cafe and took all of Shadow's attention…
"A step that would put them in danger." Shadow glared at Stone human as he said this. They were both talking like Eclipse wasn't here, but, well, he was used to it in a way.
"I'm confident that all of you together could handle him if he happens to get a little too heated." Stone human smiled at Shadow. "Give him a chance."
Shadow's quills were tense. Eclipse didn't say anything for or against this, because he'd do what Shadow wanted him to do. This was a conversation between the two of them…
What Eclipse wanted in this… He's learned that what he wanted wasn't always what was "best" in human society. Or among human made rules… He'd go along with what was chosen even if he didn't like the thought of spending time with that… pest. If he had a choice on what to do, he'd have gotten rid of them. But Shadow was against it and he couldn't lose Shadow…
"Fine… Only this time." Shadow glared towards Eclipse. "You hurt any of them, and you will regret it."
"I won't!" Eclipse quickly held up his hands and tilted his ears backwards in submission. "No one is going to get hurt. I know I can't hurt anyone else."
"Good…" Shadow let out a soft huff. He was still tense, but their breakfast continued like usual with all of them finishing their respective drinks.
Eclipse would have had no problem with hurting others, or any restrictions, if Shadow hadn't cherished human lives as much as he did. Especially that family… Eclipse didn't mind that woman human as much. It had given Eclipse sweets and it had treated him with somewhat respect in that "the vet" building. But the rest… He had no reason to enjoy any of their company, much less accept it.
It was for Shadow's sake… Everything was for Shadow's sake….
Eclipse and Shadow helped Stone human clean up the coffee shop to prepare for guests, but then left Stone human to handle it on his own. The "red" coloured day had a shorter opening time so Stone human wanted to take care of the coffee shop himself.
"I thought we would teleport there. Not… walk." Eclipse frowned slightly towards Shadow as he said this. Because walking when Shadow and him could move forward a lot more effectively didn't make sense.
"I decide the pace. And you will follow." Shadow briefly frowned at Eclipse, then focused his gaze forward again.
"Okay, okay…" Eclipse looked around them, just to observe the humans. They were all covered with a lot of clothes, as usual. The sky was really dark, close to grey. Not even a hint of blue or white… Eclipse didn't think that clouds could be that colour. He'd read a lot of things, but there were still even more things that he didn't know.
Space, food, human biology, animals. Those were the topics Eclipse has read about so far. He hadn't read much about the environment because he wasn't affected by this "cold" and "wind" stuff that he's experienced. And the TV time was also a good time to learn about how humans interacted with each other. Eclipse was learning how to interact with and around the creatures on this planet, slowly. He still didn't like humans, far from it. They had way too many "rules" that they followed and "money" was what controlled the world, not strength like it should be.
He has started to understand human technology more and more. He hasn't encountered a lot of technology before he came to earth, conquering worlds just to eat had that effect. So he hadn't interacted with it a lot.
So far, Eclipse understood how to activate the technology in the kitchen, mostly by watching and Stone human telling him to do something specific with it. He was certain there was more to it, however… Those "phones" were especially complex with how many things Stone human could do with it. He wanted to tear it apart, understand it and use it to its most effective capacity.
Not that he'd ask, but Eclipse needed to be better. And if that meant understanding what this technology was and how it worked, he'd do it. Doors that opened when it sensed movement in front of it, could this also be used as a weapon to shoot at everything that moves? Recordings of pictures and sound, could this be used to recreate something from the past like experiencing memories? Long distance communication, could this be extended to beyond this planet?
Eclipse could see the possibilities once he understood what technology was and he now understood why humans were the species that conquered their planet. If chaos energy could be used inside technology, it could be elevated into even greater heights. Similarly to those weapons the colourful creatures and humans used against the Black Arms. It would have a limitless power source in the hands of a chaos user, the technology could be intertwined with someone else's being in a more precise way, letting thoughts become commands rather than a press of a button.
He should find books that explain the basics of technology now that he thought about it… How it works and why humans called it "intuitive". Next time he went to the library he'd look up books about human technology. Maybe he could find things that not even Shadow had thought of… And Shadow seemed to know so much without having all his memories attached to what he knew. How much more could Shadow know but couldn't access because his memories were unaligned? Had he also been taught combat tactics like Eclipse? Did he have a better understanding of spatial transportation than Eclipse did because humans seemed to use spatial awareness through numbers?
Eclipse had to find a way to still be useful to Shadow after his brother's memories had settled completely… Shadow's need for him like this wouldn't last forever. So maybe Eclipse could lean more into understanding human technology and how to truly use it, maybe even how to connect to it like he was used to in the hive mind.
If Eclipse could figure out whatever made this technology able to communicate with each other… Maybe Eclipse could use that connection with his chaos energy. He was sure that he'd used chaos energy for a lot longer than Shadow had, Eclipse's body was made more out of chaos energy than tissue compared to Shadow. So he needed to find something to do for Shadow before Shadow's memories settled.
"One step out of line, and you'll wish you never came here." Shadow told Eclipse firmly once they arrived at the blue pest's home.
Eclipse was already wishing he wasn't here… Just thinking about hearing that stupid, annoying blue blabbermouth talk makes Eclipse want to punch something… Preferably that blue pest's face. But he didn't say this, just nodded to Shadow. His opinion and what he wanted didn't matter in this situation. He'd just… deal with it.
"Oh, hey Shadow! Good morning!" A high pitched voice called out from their left. There was a small fluffy creature there, the yellow one with two tails. A fox. It was inside a room with a large opening, holding some form of rod with a small blue flickering thing at the end of it. It had some strange… metal sheet covering its face that it quickly flipped up to aim a smile at Shadow.
"Put out the blowtorch." Shadow stared at the metal rod with narrowed eyes and only focused on the creature itself once it was done. "Is everyone else up?"
"Oh, yeah, but we haven't had breakfast yet. Maddie is making it and Tom is out buying some more balls. Knuckles is training in the back and Sonic should be up by now. Do you want to join us for breakfast? We're going to have pancakes!" The fox creature's smile grew when Shadow nodded. It set aside its tools to approach Shadow and Eclipse. Its eyes flickered over towards Eclipse, and then its body language curled up slightly. "Oh, and uhm… you too Eclipse. Do you want some pancakes?"
Eclipse frowned with a slight tilt of his head. This… "pancake" seemed to be part of these creature's breakfast ritual. And why was it asking Eclipse that? Doesn't it know that he doesn't need or want anything from them?
"He asked you a question." Shadow glared at Eclipse, a silent command for him to answer it with his arms crossed. Even if it was stupid and useless… Eclipse didn't like how human society seemed to like asking and answering questions that should be obvious.
"Whatever this... pancake is, I don't need it." Eclipse told this fox thing while crossing his arms. "I've already completed the breakfast."
The fox stared at Eclipse with wide eyes. Then looked between him and Shadow a few times before nodding. Its body language got a little more relaxed than before and its two tails flicked. "Well, if you want any you can just say so. I'm pretty sure Maddie is making extra."
Eclipse then followed Shadow and the fox as they went towards the door of the house. The fox talked about some… altercations to something and Shadow listened closely. Eclipse glanced towards that opened room with a small frown. Whatever was on that desk seemed to be a similar shape to a human arm, but made in metal. Did the fox create that? But why? And how?
When Eclipse stepped inside, his whole being immediately perked up at whatever he smelled in the house. It was… something with melted butter. Similar to a sponge cake smell but less sweet. Eclipse immediately followed the smell and peeked past Shadow into the kitchen in this house, only to see the dark woman human standing by the stove and fiddling with a sizzling frying pan. Next to her were stacks of golden brown things, similar looking to sponge cakes. And that's where the smell came from.
Eclipse teleported to stand in front of the plate, looking at it closer but not touching. He knew humans cared a lot about being "clean" and touching food with fingers wasn't "clean".
"Oh my god!" Eclipse's ear twitched as the sudden shout next to him and turned to see the woman human turned towards him with the spatula raised as a weapon in Eclipse's direction. "Please don't teleport like that."
Eclipse huffed and dismissed the human, looking at this stack of brown golden things again. Whatever rules that the human imposed didn't affect him. He didn't live here so they couldn't threaten him by forcing him to leave. He'd welcome it even.
But a sharp pulling on his ear and a very familiar growl accompanying it made Eclipse second guess his thoughts…
"Do not teleport." Shadow tugged him back by his ear, causing Eclipse to let out a soft whine from the pain.
"But it's so boring and inefficient to walk." Eclipse rubbed at his sore ear once Shadow let go and glared towards his brother.
"As long as you're in the Wachowski's home, you will follow their rules. What Miss Wachowski says goes. No teleporting." Shadow's eyes narrowed in a silent threat and Eclipse looked away. There were always these stupid rules… Was there any place that didn't have rules? It was so annoying.
"Thank you, Shadow." The woman human took a deep breath and slowly let it out. It then smiled towards Eclipse. "Well, despite that… Welcome to our home, Eclipse. Would you like some pancakes too?" It gestured towards the stack of golden brown circles with its spatula.
Eclipse nodded without hesitation, his gaze now focused on those good smelling things. If they tasted as good as they smelled, he'd really like to try one. The fox let out a soft stuttering sound, laughter. A sound that could be made outside of mockery, apparently. Something that could show joy and amusement, from what Stone human told him. That's the type of laughter humans perform most. This fox creature must have gotten into the habit as well… Eclipse couldn't recall ever making that noise out of joy, but that must be unique to these creatures.
"It smells pretty good, huh? Have you found a favourite food yet?"
What a strange thing to ask… Eclipse glanced towards Shadow, then back towards the fox. He was supposed to answer their questions even if they were useless, according to Shadow…
"Anything sweet."
"Oh, then you're going to love pancakes. Especially with syrup! Or chocolate!" The fox's smile grew slightly. "We all have our special way of eating them because we like different things. Like for example, Knuckles prefers his with grapes."
"Even on pancakes?" Shadow commented with a slight wrinkle of his nose.
"Says the guy who eats raw coffee beans." A very annoying voice suddenly added as that blue pest walked into the kitchen with a wide grin. "Morning, Shadow! Morning Tails!" The blue pest then rubbed his hand against the top of the fox's head. Something the fox protested against as its fur stuck up everywhere from the action.
Eclipse was not liking how many creatures he was already surrounded by… He shifted to put Shadow between himself and everyone else. Stone human had said it would also be good for Eclipse to observe.. So he'd prioritise that and hope that annoying pest wouldn't-.
"Hey, Eclipse! You came!" That blue pest immediately appeared next to Eclipse with a wide smile and stood way too close. (Anything closer than arms length was too close when it came to that annoying thing) As if it was summoned by Eclipse's thoughts like the cursed creature it was. "I thought for sure you'd do everything you could to not spend time with us. Cause, you know, all the threats you've thrown at me and all of that. Does this mean threatening people is your love language?"
A deep growl emerged from the back of Eclipse's throat. His hands twitched with the urge to strangle this blue pest. Whose smile only grew from Eclipse's reaction.
"I will turn your body inside out… My threats are promises, not some-... love language, you insolent pest!"
"Woahoho! Coming in hot there, bud!" The blue pest said with a laugh and its hands resting on its hips. "But don't worry, I see you. Threatening violence first and becoming friends later seems to run in the family! This hedgehog is just too awesome to not be friends with."
Oh how that creature's neck seemed tempting to squeeze right now… The audacity, that this blue pest saw itself as something worth Eclipse's time and patience. Even worse, that it wasn't afraid of Eclipse's threats but welcomed it as a form of, what, bonding!? Just how egotistic and delusional was this creature to have those thoughts!?
Shadow, his brother, let out a scoff. "Annoying is more accurate."
The blue pest turned towards Shadow with its mouth slightly open and a hand placed against its chest. "Betrayed, by my best friend. I'm not annoying, I'm energetic! There's a clear difference there."
"And yet, your running mouth proves otherwise." Shadow raised an eyebrow slightly.
Eclipse watched this interaction, feeling just a little better when Shadow took over the conversation. And that he agreed with Eclipse, because that blue pest was one of the most annoying creatures he's ever been forced to interact with. Even if Shadow told him not to, Eclipse teleported away from between them and to the corner of the room instead. There, he leaned back against the wall while observing the others.
Shadow and the blue pest continued to argue with each other, but never growing loud or physical. Like petty jabs at one another… The woman human was still making those pancake things. The fox creature was putting plates and all sorts of different things on the large table in the kitchen. It was larger than the table he, Shadow and Stone human had… The woman human noticed Eclipse standing in the corner of the room and offered him a small smile.
"Eclipse, could you go out and fetch Knuckles? The pancakes are soon done."
Eclipse's nose wrinkled slightly at the order. And from a lesser human no less… But Shadow had told him that whatever that human said goes. So even if he didn't like it, Eclipse had to listen if he wanted to be… "good". He deserved a treat after all of this…. Eclipse looked towards the door, a door he'd need to walk past that blue pest to reach.
Nope. He didn't want to get close to the blue pest to pull its attention away from Shadow. Shadow, despite being annoyed, enjoyed that blue pest's company. Eclipse would just stay as far away from that blue pest as he could. So he broke the rule again by teleporting towards the door, briefly glanced towards Shadow and stepped outside.
… Shadows body language, despite arguing with that blue pest, had been… relaxed. It always relaxed around that creature. Or with Stone human. Why couldn't Eclipse get that reaction too…?
Eclipse stepped onto a large patch of grass, the greenery stretching up far enough to tickle the sides of his feet as he walked on it. The Echidna was there in the middle of this large grass patch, lying on its back while holding a metal stick with metal circles on each end. It was pushing the metal stick up and down with two arms…
Seeing this made Eclipse pause. Last Eclipse had seen this echidna, it only had one arm. One made out of flesh… But now it had a second one made out of metal. His ears flicked as he could hear the joints in the metal arm shifting, but the balance of the metal pole showed that the flesh arm was taking most of the weight. The echidna was also letting out sounds of effort… Was that pole heavier than it seemed?
When the bar was held up in the air, Eclipse had walked forward to stand by the Echidnas head to grab hold of it in the middle. The echidna let out a soft grunt and seemed to hold tighter onto the pole, only to relax its grip to let Eclipse hold it. Eclipse lifted up the metal pole with one arm while tilting his head. It was heavier than it seemed. The echidna shifted away from under him as Eclipse tilted the pole back and forth, testing out the weights that were fastened at the end of the pole.
"Hm. You came, Warrior. Why are you here?"
Eclipse looked towards the echidna when it spoke. It was so.. strange to see something metallic attached to the creature's body… It made Eclipse wonder, how had Black Doom removed the echidnas arm? He had never cared to try and figure it out… Eclipse set the pole down with those round things towards the ground. Only for the pole sticking out of the other end stopping him.
When the echidna held out its flesh arm towards the pole, Eclipse handed it over. "The human says that these "pancakes" are ready."
The echidna grabbed the pole and carefully set it down on its side rather than upright like Eclipse had tried to do. "Good. But that is not the question I asked. Why are you here?"
Eclipse's nose scrunched up. He had already answered that stupid question-. Wait… Eclipse's eyes flickered around them, at the house and the large patch of grass surrounded by a fence. The echidna was asking why he was here, accepting their invitation… That makes more sense. The echidna's gaze had sharpened when Eclipse looked back at it.
"Shadow told me to. Don't think it's because I enjoy the company of you creatures. It's the opposite." Because this echidna was by far the most tolerable between the colourful creatures. Its attitude towards Eclipse hadn't once changed or shifted. It continued to be suspicious of Eclipse, always watched him and seemed ready to take the first step towards violence if necessary.
A warrior recognised a warrior…
"I see. Then, make no mistake. If you do anything that would be a threat to my family, I will destroy you." The echidna raised its flesh fist towards Eclipse with a hint of sparkling red chaos energy covering it for a brief moment. It then stepped towards the house.
"You wouldn't succeed." Eclipse countered with a scoff as he followed, keeping an arms length between himself and that echidna. "You aren't even close to my level. Especially with that fake arm."
"This arm may be made of metal, but my determination to protect what I cherish will always triumph." The echidna held up its metal arm. It moved without command and its claw-like end pointed towards Eclipse. How was that-? How did that even work? "I will defeat whatever need for destruction that lingers in your heart if it comes to it. I will not hesitate."
At least someone is sensible about the threat Eclipse can pose. It made Eclipse flash his fangs towards the echidna as a silent challenge.
"Hah. If you hesitate, you'd be dead before you could even try." He then teleported to reach the door first and stepped inside.
His ears pressed back against his head briefly to block out the first impression of chaos and he frowned as he saw the blue pest holding a bag of coffee beans and holding it away from Shadow. The table was filled with more things and that man human was in the kitchen now too talking with the woman. Eclipse stepped inside, leaned against the wall and just… watched.
What was he supposed to learn from watching all of this? He wasn't a stranger to big crowds, but this way of interacting with each other was still unusual to him. He'd watched humans in the cafe, talking about useless things, eating and drinking, spending time alone. And this was… different. They were arguing, but there was no malice there. The male human scolded the blue pest like Stone human did, but there was no punishment for annoying Shadow. When the woman human spoke that they should sit by the table, they all moved in unison to sit down by the table.
How could they be arguing yet have no true irritation in their words? How could they go from uncoordinated chaos interacting with each other to moving as a single unit and sit by the table when told? They should be one or the other, but these creatures were both. All he was learning was how little he enjoyed this-... organised chaos this family was showing. Eclipse preferred Stone human…
"Eclipse? Didn't you also want some?" The woman human called out to him as it set down the plates with golden brown things.
His eyes were drawn to the stack of those nice smelling things. Then he looked at the two seats that were free… Either between the echidna and the blue pest or between the male human and the fox creature. Neither of those seats were situations Eclipse wanted to put himself in.
And the thought of joining that table, engaging in a breakfast ritual with those things… It made him uncomfortable, as if something was crawling under his skin despite nothing being there. He didn't want to be there. He was here only because Shadow told him to. So he didn't answer the human. He didn't walk forward to take the seat that was offered to him. The door slammed shut behind him as Eclipse went outside instead.
Eclipse knew that he wasn't welcome back to Stone human until this cursed visit was over… And it was only over when Shadow said so. He needed to stay here and learn... something. Nothing that seemed useful. So Eclipse laid down on the grass, stared up at the grey sky. There were no patterns that formed clear shapes, just a vague shape of grey up in the sky. The grass was soft as the wind made it move to brush against his body. There were small creatures, insects, that lived in this grass that moved under him.
Insects were so easy to kill... Just like everything else on this planet. Why did Shadow care about them so much? Was it because of their ingenuity? The emotions they displayed? Did they have some form of use that Eclipse couldn't see?
Eclipse could see how Stone human was useful. It was the source of money they had that allowed them to stay on earth, have food and other things they wanted. Sure, they could still take it without Stone human, but this also meant that what happened to the Black Arms wouldn't happen to them too…
Eclipse reached down into the grass and picked up a small insect. One with a hard, round shell… Beetle, he remembered that. It was squirming in his claws, its tiny legs flailing around without finding any ground to stand on. He hated it… He hated how that flailing first reminded Eclipse of himself rather than the pathetic humans like he wanted it to resemble. Humans meant nothing to him.
So why did he let them have so much power over him? It was for Shadow, of course, but he didn't have to.
Had his mind become poisoned, like Shadows…? But what did it even mean to have your mind poisoned? The hive mind gave nothing but static when Eclipse reached out for answers. He shared the view of this struggling bug with Shadow, just to feel connected somehow.
There were sounds all around him… But everything was still too quiet. Black Doom had explained the mind poison as something that blinded Shadow from showing loyalty to the Black Arms. Something that made Shadow prioritise lower life forms over himself, something that made Shadow feel compassion where he shouldn't. A poison that allowed the humans to use him, abuse him and ultimately try to find a way to destroy him.
Eclipse was still loyal, but the Black Arms didn't exist any more. He was loyal to Shadow, the only one left and the strongest between the two of them.
Eclipse prioritised Shadow, not lower life forms. When Stone human died he'd be… inconvenienced but he would prioritise Shadow over him. If it was between Stone human and other creatures he'd pick Stone human.
Did Eclipse feel compassion? He didn't even know what that was. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, that wasn't something Eclipse could answer.
But Eclipse is letting humans use him… He let humans enforce rules onto him that didn't truly matter, let them decide what he should do and how Eclipse should interact with others.
Did that control humans had over him mean that he was poisoned too…?
… He hated how silent it was, his thoughts felt so loud-.
Eclipse's ear twitched when a swooshing sound stopped by his head and he snarled when that blue pest suddenly leaned over him. Looking down at him with a stupid mocking smile.
"You sure have loud thoughts out here."
"You can't see into my mind, inferior creature." Eclipse crushed the bug he held with a crack. The nerve that it could ever assume to connect with the hive mind-.
"Woah, no no, not literally, I can't see anything going on in your head. No matter how much I might want to." The blue pest quickly shook its head and took a small step to the side. "It's just an expression. That I can see you have a lot you're thinking about."
"None of which concerns you." Eclipse hissed towards the blue pest as he sat up, claws digging into the ground. "Go away, pest."
"You need to come up with a better nickname for me. Your creativity is seriously lacking." The blue pest held out a plate and a fork towards Eclipse with a smile. And seeing the golden brown round thing on the plate made Eclipse pause. His nose twitched as he took in the smell.
There was something... sweet smelling covering it, the pancake. And small spots of brown things. He recognised those… Chocolate buttons. The plate was forced into his hand and he blinked down at it. Then he looked up towards the blue pest with his eyes narrowed.
"This does not make me hate you any less…"
"Yeah, I know. But Tails told me you looked forward to them, so…" The blue pest scratched its cheek while it looked off to the side. "It'd be a shame if you didn't get to have some, you know? Maddie's pancakes are the absolute best, a 10 out of 10 experience. Not to say Tom's pancakes aren't also good, they're basically the same, but Maddie adds some vanilla to make it even sweeter and that's really good. Especially if you're someone who likes sweet things."
He continued to stare at the blue pest. Because it wouldn't come out here and give Eclipse something sweet, something he had wanted, without expecting something in return. Everything was done for a reason, for a tactical advantage or to keep up with their body's well being. So what form of tactical advantage did this creature expect with this?
The blue pest glanced back towards Eclipse, then looked down at its chest. "What? Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something stuck to my fur?" It moved erratically as it tried to look itself over. "I knew I should've been slower putting that syrup down."
"Whatever tactical or emotional advantage you wish to have will not happen."
That made the blue pest pause and look at Eclipse with a blink. "Huh? Tactical advantage? Dude, I just wanted you to have some pancakes. There's no ifs or buts about it."
Eclipse's nose scrunched up. What did humans behind have anything to do with this?? The blue pest shook its head and gestured to the pancakes.
"Nevermind, just enjoy it alright. And if you feel up to coming to join us while we eat, you know where we are." It pointed towards the door. And then with a streak of blue light, it left Eclipse's side to get inside the house.
… Teleporting was better than that speed the blue pest had…
Eclipse looked down at the plate of pancakes the blue pest had given him. He then picked up the fork and gently cut it apart like Stone human had shown him during their dinner rituals. The sweet smelling liquid was sticky. And the chocolate buttons seemed to stay on with the sweet liquid's help as he lifted the piece up with the fork.
Sweetness filled his whole being as he ate it. A good fluffy texture, taste of butter and sweetness and chocolate. He couldn't stop his tail from wagging even if he tried as he enjoyed this pancake. Outside, on his own. As long as he was away from all of that chaos, all the things that confused and frustrated him, he might be able to handle this visit well.
Eclipse wasn't sure why he stood at the front of the creature's house, in front of one of those rolling contraptions "car". He and Shadow still stood by the house, but the other creatures were placing things inside this "car" that they wanted to bring. It was a transport vehicle similar to an air ship, but it only travelled along the ground.
Shadow had demanded that Eclipse get inside when breakfast was done. The blue pest and the red one had been arguing over who was "pancake champion" or something. The plate he'd eaten from was taken out of his hands by Shadow, it had been placed in the "dishwasher" box and the fox had asked questions to Eclipse of what he did for fun.
When he said he didn't know what "fun" was and that he had no interest in finding out with them, the blue pest had immediately abandoned its argument with the red one and told everyone present they should "play baseball". That it was "the most fun sports you could possibly play".
With a blur of motions Eclipse hadn't paid attention to, he followed Shadow outside to let all the creatures "prepare". And now… They were all standing in front of that metal contraption with eager smiles. Shadow let out a soft huff through his nose and he was frowning. His nose and ears twitched, which made Eclipse tense up slightly.
"Memories?" He asked his brother, just to make sure. He's started to recognise when Shadow was starting to get flashes of them.
Shadow let out a soft hum in confirmation as he closed his eyes. "I've done this before. Be mindful of your strength."
Eclipse frowned slightly and tilted his head. "I know how to not break things."
"This will be different." Shadow took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. He then stood up from leaning against the wall and walked forward to join the creatures. Eclipse followed and kept a close eye on Shadow, just in case the memory flow grew worse.
"Oh, right, Shadow! Do you remember how to play baseball?" The male human asked Shadow with a small smile.
"It's… fuzzy. I know I have played before." Shadow nodded. The echidna walked towards Shadow and settled its flesh fist against its chest.
"You and I shall be in a team, more impressive hedgehog. Let our conquest over base of ball be victorious."
Eclipse saw another twitch of Shadow's ear as he stared at the red creature. But then the tension seemed to relax slightly as Shadow held up his fist towards the echidna. Something that made the echidna grin and slam its own fist against Shadow's.
So the memory surge passed… Good.
"Hey, hold up, are you breaking up the perfect duo? We did so well last time!" The blue pest put down whatever bag it had been holding in the container part in the back of the car as it said this to the echidna.
"As the best friend to the more impressive hedgehog, it is only right I offer him the spot in the victorious team!" The echidna crossed its mismatched arms with a smile aimed towards the blue pest. Which made the blue pest loudly protest that the echidna wasn't Shadow's best friend. Which started an argument between the two of them.
"Since Knuckles and Shadow are in a team, would it be okay for you if you are in a team with Sonic and Tails, Eclipse?" The woman human asked him from the other side of the "car". "Me and Tom usually stick to the field and leave the batting business to you all."
The thought of being in the same team as that blue pest made Eclipse wrinkle his nose. He glanced towards Shadow and saw his brother already looking at Eclipse. But there wasn't a clear emotion in his eyes, no threat… So it was up to Eclipse…? But it wasn't up to Eclipse because whatever the woman human said was the rule. So if it told Eclipse to be in a "team" with the blue pest, then he would.
Not that he knew what a "team" was…
"Fine." Eclipse glared towards the blue pest and the fox with his arms crossed. He would learn how to "play baseball", be in a "team" with the blue pest and be "victorious" like the echidna said.
Victorious… Win. But winning only had one winner. But Shadow should win… But Eclipse couldn't lose, losing was failure. Could Shadow and Eclipse win even if they were in different "teams"?
Eclipse felt something settle on his shoulder, a touch that wasn't his brother.
"Then let's show Shadow and Knuckles who will take the real-."
He attacked, his whole body buzzing with both fur and quills standing on end because he did not accept any other kind of uninitiated contact than from his brother and the Stone human.
The hit didn't land as the blue pest quickly moved out of his punch's range with its hands held up and ears tilted back. A deep growl rang true in the back of Eclipse's throat, which made the blue pest let out a nervous laugh. "R-Right, got it… No touching…"
Eclipse's quills got tugged on (this time by Shadow) and Eclipse quickly cut off his growl. He let out a huff towards the blue pest, stroked down his arms to help the fur settle and then teleported onto the container thing where the creatures had put the things they wanted to bring.
"... Right, let's get going. Let's hope the forecast is right and we'll miss the rain!" The male human said which made the other creatures agree.
The humans sat down in the front part of the "car" while the other three creatures and Shadow joined Eclipse in the container part. Eclipse didn't look at any of the creatures but focused on their surroundings instead. He sat on the edge of this container as the transportation vehicle started up and was surprised when it got difficult to sit on that ledge when the "car" started to move. His tail wasn't as long as before to help as much with balance either…
He followed Shadow's example and sat down on the floor. But now he was forced to look at the creatures…
The blue pest was talking about… something Eclipse couldn't follow. The fox was listening with a wide smile. Shadow and the echidna were both quiet, Shadow with his eyes closed while the echidna observed Eclipse. And it didn't look away when Eclipse met its stare, not like most humans did. And Eclipse refused to be the one who looked away first. Then he took notice that the echidna wasn't blinking naturally, so Eclipse decided to not blink either.
The car continued to move, and Eclipse never broke his stare from the Echidna. Not even when the car vehicle stopped. The blue pest tried to stop their intense staring by getting in between them, telling them that they were here. But the echidna shoved the blue pest aside.
"Do not interrupt our battle of wits, hedgehog." The echidna's eyes twitched and were watering, but it continued to stare at Eclipse. "I shall not lose."
Eclipse let out a scoff and smirked. "You are already losing. Mortals are limited in their body's function. I know you blink to moisturize your eyes."
"I will prevail over my body's needs." The echidna said with a strained grunt and its eyes twitched again.
"Right, then we'll leave you to your staring contest." The male human said, something that made Eclipse's ear twitch.
This was a contest? He hadn't realised something like this could be a contest. Was it a silent agreement to a contest, then? An interesting concept… This echidna was the one who initiated the stare first, so this was a contest the echidna agreed to.
And Eclipse refused to lose now that he knew it was a contest.
The echidna was struggling to keep its eyes open while Eclipse had no problems at all. He could simply make his eyes not need moisture through chaos energy after all. The red creature let out a frustrated grunt as it closed its eyes and wiped the gathering liquid away.
"You are a fine adversary in the contest of eye contact, warrior."
"Hm. Of course I am." Eclipse puffed out his chest slightly as he stood up, feeling very pleased that he won the staring contest. He aimed a small smirk towards the Echidna. He then took note of where they were. Some form of… grass field with a square like shape surrounding a dirt spot in the middle. And in each corner of the square was a small square platform.
… Why were humans so obsessed with square shapes…?
"Who won?" The blue pest called out as the echidna stood up. The echidna let out a grunt and gestured towards Eclipse.
That blue pest stared at him with a smile. "You beat the staring champion? Woah, remind me to not start one against you."
Eclipse's tail wagged, because apparently that was a huge feat! And all he did was stare at someone without blinking. He teleported down onto the ground and glanced towards Shadow, to see how he reacted. But Shadow was talking to that fox… So he didn't know Eclipse had won.
Eclipse deflated slightly. Then frowned, because he shouldn't feel sad that Shadow hadn't seen him win. His brother wouldn't praise him for it anyway. Shadow never praised him, because he hated Eclipse. He knew that. So he shouldn't care. He shouldn't expect that.
"Alright boys, are we all ready?" The man human stepped up with a smile and gestured for the other creatures to get closer. So… Eclipse followed. Because he was supposed to be a part of this. "So the teams are Knuckles and Shadow. Against Sonic, Tails and Eclipse. This is a game so we don't want to see any violence against each other. And, as usual, no superpowers. We want this to be a fair game."
Game? Fair? Eclipse tilted his head slightly at those words. There was nothing in this world that was "fair". Nothing was equal, there were always different restrictions that held some back and others surpassed beyond their limits. And game? What was a game? Was that connected to fun? Eclipse didn't know what any of those things were…
The man human then explained to Eclipse and Shadow the rules of this game. And Eclipse was the one who was supposed to be "out in the field". And he was supposed to work together with his "team" to "tag" the echidna and Shadow with the ball that they were supposed to hit away.
He had to work together with that blue pest? He'd rather trip that pest over its stupid speedy feet than work together with that thing.
Those strange wide gloves the creatures wore were supposed to help them catch the ball. Were they so bad at catching fast projectiles that they needed something to enhance their catching ability? What was the purpose of all of this? Eclipse stood between the two humans, the fox was on the dirt patch in the middle and the blue pest stood behind the "batting point" to catch the ball. If that ball flew out in the field, it was Eclipse's task to catch it to get a point.
Without using "superpowers", whatever that was… Power… super power… Did that mean he shouldn't use his enhanced form, then? That would make sense. But nothing about this was "fair" either… Human game was confusing and contradicting…
"I shall beat this ball far enough that it will not be caught." The echidna said loudly as it walked up to the batting point, holding a wooden stick with both its flesh and mechanical arm.
"Be careful with your prosthetic, Knuckles! It can't handle your full power yet." The fox called out as it held the ball.
"And let's not have the ball fly so far we won't be able to find it again." The human man called out.
…. Wasn't hitting the ball as far as possible the whole point?
The blue pest disappeared from behind the echidna to a table. And its annoying voice was now amplified by that table… No, it was speaking into something. Its voice was being amplified by that thing.
"Aaand stepping up as the first batter is Knuckles the Echidna! Will he be able to catch Tails Miles Prowers speed ball throw? Or will he miss and bring dishonor upon his team." The fox shifted as it prepared to throw the ball with its tails. The echidna lifted the stick over its shoulder. "The 5th Wachowski family game will now commence. Who will come out on top, who will be defeated? Will it be team Sonic or team Shadow? Stick around to find out!"
"We are team Knuckles!" The echidna called back towards the blue pest. Soon after, the fox threw the ball, the echidna's swing missed and the blue pest appeared behind the echidna to catch the ball.
"Strike one!" The blue pest called out with a grin towards the echidna. Which then started an argument about the blue pest being "dishonorable by not abiding by the rules of the game". And Eclipse couldn't understand why that was a problem. He might hate the blue pest, but it simply took advantage of the echidna's distraction.
"Boys, play nice!" The woman human called out, then offered a small smile towards Eclipse. "Sorry, they usually don't pull these tricks in baseball."
He raised his eyebrow slightly. Tricks? It was only using what it could to get the upper hand. And yet the woman human said it like it was something to be embarrassed about.
Soon after, a "clank" rang out and Eclipse heard something flying through the air. He teleported to intercept its trajectory, caught it and landed back onto the ground, far back on the "field" that they were playing on with a large "sign" with numbers right behind him.
"Good catch, Eclipse!" The fox called out and gave Eclipse a strange motion he'd seen humans do sometimes. Its fist was closed with its thumb sticking up. A positive one?
"Knuckles, no using powers! And Eclipse, you too. Since Knuckles was the one who used it first, we'll let it slide this time. Thank you for catching it."
Hearing the woman human say that just made Eclipse frown. He didn't use his enhanced form so why-? … Power… He just teleported. And it was something mortal creatures couldn't do… So they once again wanted him to not teleport and to abide by the rules of this "game". Why were they so fixated on making things "fair" by forcing down their powers and capabilities? What was the point?
The creatures told Eclipse to throw the ball to the fox. He looked at the fox's stature and realised, much to his disappointment, that the yellow creature would not be able to catch whatever Eclipse threw. So he teleported over instead and dropped the ball into the fox's hand, then teleported himself back between the two humans with his arms crossed.
It was Shadow's turn to use that wooden stick. And while the blue pest spoke in that voice enhancing thing again, Eclipse didn't care to listen. Shadow was focused on the fox, serious as he held the wooden stick past his shoulder. It was obvious that Shadow wanted to win this game… But Eclipse couldn't let himself lose. According to the team rules, one team wins and the other loses. And… Shadow was on the other team. Both of them couldn't win. Similar to a war or a battle? But one that didn't have any violence but only depended on points..?
… Again, what was the point to all of this?
Shadow's ball sailed far through the air, but not at the speed the echidna had done. Everyone shouted how they would catch the ball and Eclipse still wasn't sure if he should take it or not-.
No, Shadow wouldn't want Eclipse to give him the win. He'd want to take it with a proper struggle. He ran past the humans towards the ball, picked it up and took notice that the blue pest was waving its arms and calling "Throw it here!".
… He… was supposed to win. So even though he wrinkled his nose at the thought of working together with that creature, Eclipse threw the ball towards it. It sailed through the air at high speed and the blue creature let out a startled grunt when he caught it. Then "tagged" Shadow from reaching the last "base".
Eclipse, again, got that symbol of a closed fist with a thumb out, along with a "good job" from both the blue and the yellow creature. The woman human praised him when he went back to that spot he was supposed to be on.
What he did was… good? But he still didn't understand the purpose of it… So he'd continue to do.. whatever this was.
Once it was Eclipse's turn to use the wooden stick, he swung it through the air first to test out how much strength he should use. The result; he needed to use a laughingly low amount of strength… And even then, it went as far as Shadows and the echidna's balls went. Everyone cheered, smiled, laughed and slammed their hands together. That motion was offered to Eclipse too, but he didn't want to touch any of them like that.
Then… The sky fell on top of them.
"GAAH!! The sky is collapsing!?"
"It's just rain, get here under cover-."
"The fur is clinging to me!!"
"Woah, no, don't use chaos energy towards the sky-!"
"Let go!! I'll tear it apart for doing this to me without my permission!!"
Eclipse did not like that rain weather thing. The only reason he didn't show that sky his true wrath is because Shadow got a memory spike and Eclipse had to help him out. He will need to read more about this "weather" in order to defeat it properly. The "game" ended before anyone could win. He still didn't understand what "fun" was but he might learn that part eventually.
Notes:
Baseball is very confusing to the alien bean. And he now know what rain is. XD
I just had so much fun writing the reiteration of the vet visit. And Eclipse's inner thoughts are so complicated but straightforward, I just adore giving the little alien bean existensial crisis. :3
And of course, fluffer pupper has thawed out a little. I think Stone has also become more relaxed. And the blue bean continues to want to see the better part of Eclipse even if Eclipse doesn't want to show it. Knuckles has Eclipse's respect and he's wary of the fox for now.
(Little floofy fox absolutely saw the similarities between Eclipse and Shadow and relaxed thanks to that. X'D)I'll do my best to make another update in another two weeks! I could manage it! 5th of December! >:3
I'll be sure to post updates about it on my tumblr, Meatbunattack, if I do or don't make it. <3 <3 <3 <3
See you again then!!
Chapter 6
Summary:
Eclipse's no-good-not-happy-at-all day at the Wachowski house continues.
Some highs, some lows.
Notes:
Heeeey it's friday! And since it's THE friday, that means it's update time! :D
I'm also super, duper happy to say there's new art!! WHOOP!! You're gonna see it in the chapter and in the end notes cause my gosh, Mulligan absolutely blew me away by the result!Also also, a question I posed on my tumblr before:
I don't feel like this story needs a flashback of how Eclipse had it at the comet. I think I've been pretty clear with how he's been conditioned to act. But would people be interested in seeing something from it? Like a small snippet flashback?
(Because I do so adore seeing Black Doom hate in my comments for how awful and horrible caretaker he was. <3 <3)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Eclipse had hoped that this "day" with the creature family would end after that… Baseball thing. But no, they went back to their home and were given towels to dry off with the fox thing using some contraption that blew out hot air on its fluffy tails. Eclipse heated up his body using chaos energy, but he really didn't like how the fur was clinging to him every time he became wet…
"Soooo… That's your first time experiencing rain?" The blue pest asked him while it rubbed the towel carefully over its quills. That amused light in the blue pest's eyes made Eclipse snarl in return.
"There's hot chocolate for everyone in the kitchen!" The woman human called out and the blue pest immediately disappeared while leaving the towel behind. Eclipse followed Shadow and perked up at the smell of chocolate. He liked that smell… This woman human seemed to make a lot of sweet food, absolutely preferable over the man human. Never better than Stone human, though.
The woman human was at least preferable to everyone else who lived in this house.
Eclipse took a cup offered to him and would have started to drink if the woman human hadn't warned him that it was hot. So he sat at the table next to Shadow and waited, staring into the liquid. He had learned the hard way what warm food did to his tongue… Spicy food wasn't as bad, it was almost as good as sweet food.
"Despite our match being interrupted by the rain, did you all have a fun time?" The man human asked while he looked over all creatures. The colourful ones immediately agreed with a nod while Shadow let out a soft hum.
Then everyone looked at Eclipse, as if they wanted to know his opinion on the game. He frowned and stayed quiet, taking a small sip of his drink.
"And how did our first time player find the game? Our team would for sure have won if we'd continued to play, of course." The blue pest leaned forward across the table to get closer to Eclipse. Why did all of these creatures insist on asking stupid questions that didn't even matter?
"My opinion on that game thing doesn't matter." Eclipse leaned away from the blue pest and got closer to Shadow. "The less I am forced to work with you, the better."
The blue pest frowned slightly, and this was when the man human spoke up again. "Of course your opinion matters, Eclipse. If you weren't having any fun, why didn't you say anything?"
Again with those useless questions… Because no, his opinion didn't matter. It never had, as he'd come to learn. He needed to come up with strategies to bring forward a suggestion to change something. Whatever he wanted, he had gotten through making the husks act how he wanted them to by forcing them. Questions were useless and stupid to ask because he should be perfect. Any suggestion he posed was heard but was rarely taken. The last suggestion he'd made had ended up killing the small Black Arm converted aliens he had cared for. And his opinion on their death had been irrelevant. He was made to have a mind of his own to question and plan, but he should never question too much.
What Eclipse had wanted the most, the reason he had fought for the Black Arms for so long, hadn't mattered. Because Black Doom had thrown away that dream Eclipse had and attempted to kill Shadow. Then tried to kill Eclipse too.
Now, his opinion on wanting to solve things with violence, to kill and destroy what inconvenienced them, was something he couldn't do or he'd lose all that he had left.
"My opinion is irrelevant. Don't make me repeat myself, human." Eclipse scoffed and carefully sipped on his hot chocolate again. Still too warm…
"Riiight, I… think that's your trauma talking." The blue pest said while crossing its arms. "Your opinion matters because we want you to have fun too. What do you usually do at your place with Stone?" This question was aimed towards Shadow.
Shadow thought about it with a slight tilt of his head. "We work at the coffee shop, bake its products… And watch TV. They also go to the library when I'm here."
"No… comics? No dance parties? Or game nights? Or races? Just… working?" The fox asked as it looked between Shadow and Eclipse. Eclipse didn't know what those were, but Shadow nodded his head.
"It's what we prefer to do. It's productive."
Eclipse nodded when Shadow said this. Because he knew why being in the coffee shop was needed. And the TV and books gave him the information he needed to interact with the creatures on this planet and not be chased away from Shadow.
"You sound like such an old man." The blue pest said while shaking its head. "If baking, reading books and watching bad romance series are your only hobbies, you really haven't seen what else is out there."
"Alright, Sonic, take it easy." The woman human settled a hand on the blue pest's shoulder, then smiled at Eclipse and Shadow. "Those hobbies are a good start to finding things you like to do. It's only been a week so it's great progress."
Shadow frowned as he stared down into his mug. He probably felt frustrated that he didn't remember as much as he wanted to, again… Eclipse needed to distract or redirect or Shadow might try to force forward memories, and that always gave Shadow a headache. Eclipse always had to pull him out of a forced memory surge and he knew Shadow didn't want to be seen as weak in front of these creatures in any way.
So he'd aim all attention towards himself.
"The things you mortals do to spend your time is inefficient." Eclipse spoke up with a small frown and loudly set his cup down. "You have such a short time that you're alive but you spend it doing things that have no clear purpose. Food and drink is understandable since you need it for survival. But those disgusting smelling smoke sticks you breathe in. And the small human shaped plastic objects. Speaking with each other to catch up on events that the other one already knows. None of those things have any reason or purpose."
"You shouldn't take finding hobbies that seriously. It's the whole point of having a hobby." The blue pest added with a roll of its eyes. This blue pest questioning what they wanted to do would make Shadow insecure and sad over his lack of memories and Eclipse refused to make anything like that happen. His mouth formed into a snarl as he stood up from his chair.
"Whatever problems you have with what we do during the day, blue pest, you can shove it up your ass, bitch." He then glared towards the blue pest and did that rude gesture he'd seen other humans do. Fist closed with only his middle finger raised. And those rude words he'd heard would for sure get his point across.
The blue pest flinched back with its mouth halfway opened. The fox let out a gasp and covered its mouth. The man human let out a snort then let out a loud cough with the woman human slapping its shoulder. Shadow said a sharp "Eclipse" that made him sit back down and drop the rude hand gesture. The echidna let out a loud "ha" and it slammed its metal fist against the table. "I do not approve of crude dishonourable language, but I approve of putting the hedgehog in his place!"
"You're not supposed to know swear words! Or that gesture! What kind of people have you been hanging around?!"
Eclipse scoffed and turned away from the pest and took another sip of his chocolate. He wouldn't answer that question. The things that came up on the TV during the night were different from what was shown during the day. And he had good hearing. All kinds of humans came to the cafe and at the library
"Eclipse, we don't swear in this house." The woman human said with a somewhat stern voice. "If you do it again, you'll have to put money in the swear jar."
Eclipse let out a soft growl at the thought of giving these creatures the money that was his and Shadow's. He tilted his ears back as a sign of submission but continued to sip on his hot chocolate. At least he got his point across now, they shouldn't meddle with what they decided to do during their time outside work. He and Shadow enjoyed feeling useful and productive. Unlike these creatures…
Right, there was also that small human who had attempted to capture Eclipse in a "video" and offered to pay money for it. The small human had run away when Stone human had appeared so it most likely was something that could only be done by Eclipse. And if there's money to be had, he should consider it. He will demand that payment from the human the next time he sees it. It did capture some video already before Eclipse stopped it.
"But to answer why we do those things… It's either because it's something we enjoy or something that makes us feel good." The man human said as it smiled towards Eclipse. "Sure, we might not live for very long. But that just makes us want to do things that make us happy rather than something that's useful all the time. Doing chores all the time or doing things only because it's to our benefit can become tedious. We need breaks now and then."
Eclipse frowned when he heard this. Mortals' minds sounded fragile… Eclipse had managed to break human morale during the war, so he wasn't too surprised by this. He… could understand their determination to do something because it made them happy. This thought made Eclipse look towards Shadow. Because even if Shadow wasn't focused on making Eclipse happy… The concept of having Shadow as a brother was enough to make Eclipse feel satisfied with being here. It's what would make Eclipse happy in the future… So he focused on that.
Happy… smiles… fun… It made Eclipse come to a realisation as he looked towards the man human. That "fun" was a different state to happiness to humans. So they did all of that just to experience a sense of happiness? Even though it wouldn't lead to anything productive?
He didn't think something that wasn't productive could give emotional fulfilment… Perhaps that was something exclusive to these creatures.
"You humans are pathetic."
His comment made Shadow tug sharply on his quills, which made Eclipse let out a hiss while glaring at his brother.
"It's not pathetic to want to relax, Eclipse." The man human looked at him with its eyebrows raised.
Eclipse could feel Shadow's glare, a silent command that Eclipse should not insult them again even if their unproductive actions deserved it. So he stayed silent while taking another sip of his chocolate. Stone human had said "if you don't have anything polite to say, it's better to stay silent". So while on one hand, Eclipse should answer their stupid questions he also was supposed to treat these creatures like he treated customers?
Human rules in society were stupid… He'd rather just destroy all of them and be done with all of this… talking.
"Sooooo, while we're on the topic of hobbies. Does mister grumpy newest hedgehog have something he does for fun? Playing baseball was apparently a bust, so what do you like doing?" The blue pest asked with a wide smile. A stupid looking smile with a hint of brown covering the top of its lip-.
Wait… Eclipse tensed up.
Hedgehog…? No… Was he… a hedgehog? He wasn't. He was still Eclipse the darkling. Right…? He wasn't a hedgehog. But also not a darkling. But he also had to be-.
"Watching TV and reading." Shadow spoke up as Eclipse's silence had lasted for longer than he'd intended. Was Eclipse a hedgehog or black arms? But Black arms didn't exist-. "Eclipse also haggles with every customer who orders something edible."
"Those that are made by us! Of course they're worth more!" Eclipse replied to Shadow automatically. Wildly gesturing with one hand while the other still held his mug of chocolate drink. "Those humans should show how thankful they are to taste what we create. And they can do that by giving us more money!"
Hedgehog…? No… No he wasn't but-. But Shadow was and Shadow was his brother-.
"And yet, you only take coins." Shadow countered with a raised eyebrow.
"They have higher numbers." Eclipse nodded, his jaw tense as he forced those thoughts out of his mind. They bounced against Shadow's but at least they didn't feel as loud-. "I will be even more efficient in earning money soon, so I can have anything I want despite all these stupid human rules."
"There's no rush in learning economy since you have Stone to take care of you." The woman human added with a smile. "Just continue to learn the way you prefer. What are you learning about right now?"
"Anatomy." Eclipse focused on his drink again and took a sip. Just answer the question even if it's stupid and pointless-. "You humans can die from absolutely everything. I'm surprised you conquered the planet with how fragile you are."
"Well… Not everyone can be powerful aliens who can use sparkling super energy." The man human commented with a tense looking smile. Eclipse narrowed his eyes at the human, because he didn't like the tone that man human used…
"Actually, humans mostly took over by using their tools and ingenuity, not through force." The fox added with its tails twitching behind it. And it seemed to perk up when Eclipse focused on it. "Humans might be weaker than many animals on earth, but they use teamwork and tools to take down even the most dangerous beasts when needed."
That made Eclipse think about the war… How he'd directed the husks to try and destroy human resistance. How he'd seen the husks get taken down by human weapons. How the humans had been coordinated so Eclipse used a counter coordination in return. And despite this, despite all of this, the husks hadn't been able to make them surrender and die. Despite being the more superior species, the humans had created weapons that could kill the Dark Arms. Because they had observed and experimented on Shadow to create tools that could kill them.
Thinking back on that made Eclipse's nose crinkle.
"Annoying like those stupid reptile creatures…" Eclipse grumbled, drinking the last of his chocolate drink. And the silence that followed was somewhat tense.
"Thank you for the chocolate, miss Wachowski." Shadow said amongst the silence Eclipse's comment had made. The human smiled and said a "you're welcome" in return. Shadow jabbed his elbow into Eclipse's side, so Eclipse was forced to thank the human for the chocolate too. And, well, it was good chocolate. So perhaps that was a deserved thank you.
With their chocolate finished, the blue pest quickly stood up and asked the two humans if they could "play video games" since it was still raining outside. When the woman human agreed that they could use the downstairs TV, the blue pest became a blur of motion as it ran upstairs. The fox followed with a shout of "I call dibs!" with the echidna following close behind calling out "I also call for the dibs!"
And all of them left their used cups.
Eclipse stared at the three cups with a frown. (Or were they mugs? There was apparently a difference) After something has been eaten or drunk from, it should always enter the dishwasher box to get clean. And these creatures, who lived here on earth, couldn't follow that simple rule? That's pathetic. Eclipse wasn't going to correct their mistakes-.
Shadow got up from his seat, picked up the blue pest's mug and walked towards the dishwasher box. … Why-… Why was he doing something the blue pest should do-? This is another thing that they do in the cafe… Eclipse let out a huff as he followed Shadow's example by picking up the fox's mug. When was he supposed to treat humans like customers and when should he treat them like creatures…? There were so many hidden rules to everything and it annoyed Eclipse…
"Oh, thank you, boys. I appreciate it." The woman human told Eclipse and Shadow as they set the cups in the dishwasher box. Shadow gave the human a small nod, then turned to follow the other colourful creatures.
… Eclipse still wanted to know why they did that… If those creatures failed to follow the rules, then they should be punished. He and Shadow shouldn't pick it up to prevent them from getting that punishment. Or was there a punishment to not doing it? Was this the type of rule that earned a scolding and a reminder rather than a punishment? Eclipse let out a soft huff as he followed Shadow, ignoring whatever else the humans were saying. Something about "fun" again.
Eclipse highly doubted he'd experience this "fun" with the creatures here. A sense of happiness with these creatures wasn't something Eclipse wanted or searched for.
When Eclipse stepped into the room that held the TV, he noticed a strange box-like thing with wires attached to the TV. And it was showing a picture on its screen that Eclipse wasn't used to… The three colourful creatures were all sitting on the couch with the red and blue one arguing over who should be "player one". Whatever that meant… Eclipse stood next to Shadow, he also seemed confused over all of this…
"Come on, sit down!" The fox said with a cheerful wave towards Shadow and Eclipse while gesturing to the space next to it. "We'll be playing Mariokart!"
Shadow walked forward and Eclipse followed. While Shadow sat down on the couch next to the fox, Eclipse stood next to the couch on Shadow's side to watch everything. The TV, the creatures and what they were doing with the strange… thing in their hands.
"What is this…?" Shadow asked the fox with a slight tilt of his head.
"It's called video games! I bet they didn't have much in your time, huh." The fox showed Shadow the thing it was holding. It looked similar to a TV remote in shape, but it had fewer buttons and a strange protruding bulb on one end. "This is a game controller, it's how you move and do actions with the character on screen. Each of us will pick a character and we use abilities with these buttons and control the vehicle's movements with this stick." The fox then demonstrated the movements.
"Alright we have to do the obligatory sibling race first and the loser will give his controller to the next person who wants to play." The blue pest said with a large grin as it fiddled with the controller in its own hand. One that seemed to have two "sticks" rather than one like the fox had. "That'd also let you two see how the pros play this game."
"I will emerge victorious." The echidna said as it grabbed its own one stick controller with its flesh hand while the metal hand had a loose hold on the other side. It looked ridiculously small in the echidnas hands…
"Oh you two are going down. I have researched all types of strategies for this." The fox countered with its tails swishing up and down.
The screen shifted to show a grid of many heads. And as Eclipse listened to them talking, he realised that they were choosing which creature to be. Like the fox had said. They also chose what their transportation vehicle would look like based on how it looked or what "stats" they gained. The blue pest explained these "stats" to Shadow and what they meant.
Interesting… So the creatures on the screen could change how the vehicle performed in this game. Eclipse watched with his ears perked, looking over towards the colourful creatures hands to see what they did with the buttons. Then back towards the screen to get a good grasp on how each different "item" worked.
Eclipse was silent, observing, learning as the three colourful creatures shouted at each other while they performed this speed challenge, race. Shadow was offered the fox's controller but he refused since he wanted to observe a little longer.
When the three of them had done 4 tracks, there was a ranking system. The blue pest and the fox were close first and second place with two points apart. Where the echidna was in fourth place.
"Hah! And the racing champion continues to reign supreme. Good try though, Tails, but you can't beat perfection. Looks like this will be another game where I won't stop racing." The blue pest said with a large grin as it stretched its arms upwards.
The echidna let out a huff and held out its controller towards Shadow. "As the one who did not come first, I shall relinquish my control stick to you, more impressive hedgehog."
Shadow accepted the controller with a small nod and carefully turned it around in his hand. He tried the buttons and the stick similar to how the fox had first done. And suddenly, his view of Shadow was blocked by a yellow furred arm with a similar controller in its hand, handed out closer towards Eclipse.
"Do you also want to try, Eclipse?" The fox gave Eclipse a small smile and shook the controller.
Eclipse's eyes flickered over towards Shadow. He was more focused on his own controller than Eclipse.
"Oh, oh, yes! Let's have a battle between hedgehogs!" The blue pest said with a wide grin while leaning forward in its seat. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you both since it's your first time playing~. I won't humiliate you too badly if that's what you're worried about."
Eclipse didn't even think of what the blue pest called him, because it had the audacity to underestimate him simply because he hasn't done this video game before? Eclipse glared at the pest with a snarl.
"I'm not so weak as to need any type of coddling, pest." He grabbed the controller from the fox, being careful as he figured out what type of pressure he could put on it. Just like Shadow had done.
"It is you who will find yourself being humiliated." Shadow added with a glare of his own. Something the two of them could agree on. "You will be handing off that controller soon enough."
"Yeah right, you're all talk. As much talk as you are in a real race. You can never hope to catch up to me." The blue pest said with a laugh and the screen shifted to where the blue pest and Eclipse could choose their own characters and cars.
Eclipse didn't hesitate to choose the largest one with a spiky shell that was made of bones. When they entered the car building screen, Eclipse built a four wheel car that would steer well and get to its highest speed somewhat quickly, but its speed was still higher. Shadow was similarly fast with building his character and car, the two of them had come to understand this video game.
And as the race started, Eclipse's eyes narrowed in concentration. When the timer struck 2, he held in the acceleration button to get a boost in speed like the others had done.
The blue pest's squawk in surprise when both Eclipse and Shadow zoomed past it on the screen made Eclipse grin in satisfaction. They should never be underestimated.
"What the-? How are you playing this well?! You're not supposed to know how to grind!"
"Haha, yes! Go Shadow! Go Eclipse! Show him who's boss!"
"His defeat will be glorious! Go forth!"
"You're supposed to be cheering for me, not them! That shell was supposed to hit you!"
Shadow came first with Eclipse second and the blue pest close behind him. Eclipse's grin was wide as it looked over towards the blue pest while raising his controller. "Hah. And you who said you were going to humiliate us. How does it feel to be up against perfection, pest?"
"It's not over yet, just you wait." The blue pest pointed towards both Shadow and Eclipse with its eyes narrowed.
In the next race, Eclipse held the first spot for a while. When he saw a blue shell coming towards the first place holder on the map, he let the blue pest drive past him. Only to drive by the blue pest when it got exploded by the blue shell explosion and took delight in its shout in frustration, that Eclipse was somehow cheating. The echidna laughed and Eclipse simply continued. That time Eclipse came first, Shadow second and the pest third.
The pest had come in third place two times now with Shadow and Eclipse winning a race each. Oh, the frustration that rolled off the blue pest was wonderful to experience. Eclipse shared his side view of the blue pest's frustrated expression with Shadow and it made his brother let out a soft snort. Then slap the back of his hand against Eclipse's arm with a firm "stop that".
In the third race, Shadow came first with the pest second and Eclipse third. The pest let out a gleeful shout as it pointed towards Eclipse, mocking him for coming third. But the total point they had showed otherwise, Eclipse was still in second place.
He shared the view of the pest's gloating face with Shadow, looked down at his brother and raised an eyebrow. He then quietly offered a cooperation while sharing the view of the current scores with his brother within their minds.
Shadow had 42, Eclipse 37, the pest had 32. And with those pictures coming together, the score they received for each placement, Shadow's eyes widened slightly. Then narrowed in thought. Shadow glanced towards the still gloating blue pest, (The way it wagged back and forth was strange) then gave Eclipse a nod. Then another reprimand to stop sharing pictures, which made Eclipse huff.
They would show this blue pest what challenging perfection meant.
With Eclipse racing ahead, Shadow focused more on sabotaging the blue pest when he could. With Shadow actively sabotaging, the pest could never overcome Eclipse in the race. Which made Eclipse come first, the pest second and Shadow third.
Eclipse grinned towards the blue pest when the final score showed him and Shadow in shared first place with 52 points each and the pest being second with 49 points.
"Don't challenge those you can't hope to beat, hedgehog." Shadow said with a voice of smug satisfaction with both Shadow and Eclipse crossing their arms at the same time.
"You were working against me! That's not fair!" The blue pest stood up while pointing towards them. "You've been secretly practicing this game, haven't you!? You're not supposed to be working together! Now no one wins!"
"Everyone knows that you're the one who lost." Eclipse shrugged. "Neither of us have interacted with this Video Game before now. If you know the rules, effects and have the reflexes for it, anything is easy. Who needs practice?"
"Oh so you're acting high and mighty after one win, huh?" The blue pest glared at Eclipse. There was so much frustration in that creature that it only made Eclipse's grin grow. "Let's go again, tough guy. And I'll show you what a real racer can do."
"You have forgotten something. You're supposed to give your controller to someone else. You lost." Shadow added with a smirk. "There won't be a rematch for you, loser."
That made the blue pest sputter, to which the echidna snatched the controller out of the pest's hands with a cheerful 'HAH!'. "And the champion has fallen in his hubris! You should not have spoken such big words, hedgehog. They are both great warriors!"
The fox let out a laugh of his own while the blue pest continued to argue against losing, despite the result being very clear on the TV. Shadow leaned back against the sofa with a wide smile on his face, taking equal delight in the blue pest's frustration like Eclipse was.
There was a strange pressure in Eclipse's chest, something that made him pause and look down at his chest with his head tilted to the side. When he did that, the pressure disappeared… What was that? It was a reaction he hadn't experienced before.
"Now I shall be the one to challenge you! I will not show you any mercy." The echidna declared while it leaned forward in its seat.
One more race couldn't hurt. If only to show his superiority to the other creatures. Their shouts of surprise or frustration to whatever he did to them was amusing. Despite Eclipse being the one to hand his controller to the fox when he lost to the echidna by three points, the chaos he created on the track was worth more than winning over them all. This competitive racing was… amusing. Especially when he got to race against that blue pest again and collided so many shells with its car that it made the blue pest end up in fifth place.
That strange pressure in his chest kept on appearing too… It was weird.
Eclipse hadn't expected to be offered to take part in their lunch ritual. It was only used as a way for Eclipse to get away from humans, to have something that tasted good and have some time where he didn't need to think about all the different rules humans had on how to interact. And now these humans wanted him to be part of their lunch ritual? Just like they'd offered Eclipse to join their breakfast ritual?
"I don't need it." Eclipse said while wrinkling his nose, reading one of the books he'd found while the other creatures and Shadow were playing something called "board game". Where Shadow caught the blue pest repeatedly doing things that weren't part of the rules because it believed no one would see it move.
"Are you sure? We're going to have creamy bacon pasta, carbonara." The woman human said with a small smile. "I think you'll like it a lot."
"I have no interest in joining your lunch." Eclipse let out a scoff and looked back towards the book. It was talking about mathematical calculations surrounding shapes. Something that was interesting. And when he got bored, he looked at the board game the others played. Then back to reading. "Don't make me repeat myself."
"Then… What about getting a plate and eating it in the living room?"
Eclipse's ears perked up at this and he glanced towards the woman human. His eyes then narrowed slightly. What was its aim…?
"It would be a waste of resources. Nothing you offer would make me change my opinion of you. Or do you any favors."
"I'm not looking for any of that, Eclipse. I just want you to have a good meal." The woman human nodded towards him. "I'll make you a plate and you can decide if you want it then. Boys! It'll be lunch in 10 minutes." The woman human stroked the fox's head as it passed while the colourful creatures called out words of confirmation. They then went back to their game.
Eclipse hadn't paid attention to the rules since he'd found this book. But Shadow had a lot of cards and his piece seems to be far along the board trail. Eclipse looked back at his book, more interested in algebraic geometry. He was starting to understand why humans were so obsessed with squares through this book… It was an efficient shape.
When the woman human called for everyone to get into the kitchen to eat, Eclipse stayed where he was. When Shadow called out to him, Eclipse waved it off. He told Shadow the woman human agreed that Eclipse didn't have to join the kitchen table. And when it was confirmed by the woman human, Shadow went to join the others, leaving Eclipse with the book.
… Now he didn't have anything to watch when he got bored of the contents… So he teleported over to the bookshelf to pick up another book. Then teleported back to his spot on the sofa, leaning forward in his seat so his quills wouldn't get stuck. Bread baking…? Using yeast to make the creation expand… This is what Stone human ate in the morning. And something Stone human bought to make "sandwiches" and "bagels" in the coffee shop. Interesting… His ear twitched when he heard conversations from the kitchen, conversation Eclipse wasn't a part of. And he was very glad to not be there, it was too much… interaction. He didn't want to experience it more than absolutely necessary…
"Here you go, Eclipse. Some pasta carbonara for you." The woman human stepped into the large room with a bowl with utensils sticking out in its hand. Eclipse's nose twitched at the smell. Hmm… Salty and creamy…
The woman human gave Eclipse the bowl so he accepted it with the books lying on either side of him, pages down to show where he was. The bowl had white pasta with flakes of brown on it.
"Now be careful so you don't spill anything on the couch or the books. Do you want anything to drink?"
"No. Leave." Eclipse gave it a dismissive wave with his hand, then settled into a more comfortable position with the bowl in his lap. The woman human left and Eclipse used the fork to lift up the long pasta. How had those in the TV done it…? The other utensil was a spoon… Right, it was a rolling motion against something. So Eclipse held the spoon against the fork and spun the fork in his hand to heave up the pasta into a roll. It made Eclipse straighten slightly, that looked right. That's how they did it on the TV. So he ate the pasta around the fork.
Huh… creamy… salty… and something that was a little spicy. It had a lot of nice flavour to it. Not bad… It would've been better if there was more spice to it, but it was still good. It didn't take long for him to finish the bowl of food so he set the bowl aside to continue reading again. But then he paused when he saw that he'd gotten some sauce on his paws. Humans didn't enjoy when their things got dirty or had pieces of food on it. He should remove this…
Not on the couch… Were there any tissues? Nothing that he recognised. The cloth hanging by the windows seemed dirty. So he wiped his hands off using that, then went back to reading his books. Sounds continued to come from the kitchen as the other creatures and Shadow ate. Were their lunch rituals also timed? If so, Eclipse should have another 30 minutes of peace before he had to interact with those creatures again.
Eclipse's ears twitched at that thought. 30 minutes… Eclipse placed the books down and teleported towards the staircase he'd seen in the house and went upstairs.
Sure, he was teleporting when Shadow said he shouldn't, but not teleporting when he could was stupid. Especially since he didn't particularly like being in this house. And now when he had time where no one would be around him, Eclipse wanted to see more of it. It was larger than where he and Shadow lived so there was a lot more space to see.
The first room was a bathroom. So if he needed to get clean, that's where he should go. The next one had a very large bed. His nose twitched at the smell, it wasn't just one human smell like with Stone human's room. Why would two humans be in the same room? Was this a hotel room like on TV? But it wasn't a hotel building.
As the other creatures ate, Eclipse continued to look around the house. He took note of how different it was in many ways. It was messy, clunky and full of all sorts of different objects strewn around the place. The colourful creature's smell was most prominent at the very top room, the one Eclipse had to climb up another set of stairs to enter. This room was also a mess. And he'd been there before, when he came to this house to help Shadow…
It was strange. Bright. Clunky… There were so many things everywhere. So many colours and shapes and lights in the ceiling. It made Eclipse frown as he observed all of this.
How could this place have so many things, be so clunky, yet have a sense of… comfort…?
Eclipse was used to barren halls and rooms with pods in the comet. Stone human's house was organised and neat with everything in its place, which was good. Not too different from what Eclipse was used to so it was easier to settle in.
But this? This was chaos. Things placed with little to no organisation. Things on the floor that weren't usually on the floor. Pictures covering the walls and every desk covered with items to the brim.
How could something so chaotic manage to also give off a sense of comfort? The organised chaos, the way the creatures interacted with each other. Were all of these things something Shadow enjoyed? This made it more unnerving, the fact that it felt… comforting with how messy and unorganised everything was.
Was this what Eclipse was supposed to learn from being here? That humans could be this chaotic? That this was somehow… normal? And that it could also bring a strange sense of calm? Why was this room, something that was filled with things and disorganised, so… comforting? A room that was owned by that blue pest, something Eclipse should hate just for being connected to the creatures. It should be the opposite of calm and comforting! Eclipse didn't like things that were disorganised!
He could hear someone call his name, but it wasn't Shadow so he ignored it. Just… stared at the many different sections of objects and colour. It all seemed so… alive. And not in the way the halls of the comet had pulsed with their species heartbeat.
"There you are!" Eclipse's ear twitched when he heard the blue pest's voice from behind him. "What are you doing up here? Did the books get boring or something? You could've joined us at the table instead. At least nothing seems broken, so thanks for not doing anything strange, I guess."
Eclipse continued to stare at the stack of… colourful papers and desk filled with wires and metal things. Which made the blue pest walk up to stand next to Eclipse and lean forward to look him in the eye.
"Uuuuh, I didn't think you were someone who enjoyed interior decorating. Do you also read comics?"
"Get out of my face." Eclipse hissed and pushed the blue pest away by its face, then shook off his hand like shaking off dirt.
"Alright, calm down. I'm just curious." The pest held up its hands in front of it. "I didn't expect you to be here of all places. Our room isn't exactly the cleanest one in the house. And speaking of…"
It then ran around like a blue blur with the objects in the room becoming more organised as the blue blur passed by. Eclipse crossed his arms with a huff. Teleporting was still better…
"There! Now it's more fitting for your critical inspection. I would've done this earlier if I knew you'd come up here, promise."
"How you keep your space doesn't concern me." Eclipse said with a scoff. Then shifted his gaze up to the roof with its lights and its window. "It's still… strange."
"Strange? Strange how?"
Eclipse looked at the blue pest, a creature who had destroyed everything Eclipse had. And now was haunting him any time it could with acts of… camaraderie as if it could ever replace what Eclipse had in the Black Arms. It asked questions, questions that showed weakness and lack of understanding because it wasn't perfect.
Eclipse should be perfect… But there were still so many things he couldn't understand.
(Shadow asked questions but he was already perfect, him asking questions was good and okay because it helped Eclipse learn too. Shadow could never be seen as weak, never. Eclipse couldn't afford to show any type of weakness, at all, or he'd never be enough.)
"Or can you just… not explain it? That's fine too." The blue pest continued with a shrug. "Sometimes you just experience feelings but you don't know why. It usually makes sense after thinking about it for a few minutes or so."
This pest… took everything… But it might hold answers… This wasn't Shadow, someone Eclipse needed to need him. It wasn't Stone human, someone Eclipse needed. It was just the blue pest that he cared nothing for.
He could… try.
"This. All of this." Eclipse gestures to the room at large, cutting off whatever rambles the blue pest had started to fill the silence. "Stone human told me to learn while I was here. And this, this-... thing I'm supposed to understand doesn't-." How could he form words without asking it as a question? He shouldn't ask questions because Eclipse should just understand.
"Everything is so contradicting that it doesn't make sense." Eclipse settled on with a hiss, glaring at the room around him. "Everything is a mess. Disorganised, colours mixing, objects strewn everywhere without a proper place and even things on the floor rather in storage compartments. ("okay, I actually just fixed that, my guy") Even if it's all a mess, it doesn't disgust me like it should. Not to the point I'm expecting because it's still-."
Eclipse glared at the blue pest now, with the creature mostly quiet. Watching, but it wasn't firm like Black Doom would look at him but more like Stone human who was soft-.
"And the way you interact too! Arguing one moment, then sitting down together the next, inveracting with each other through so much chaos but you're organised enough that it doesn't infuriate me." He took a step forward and pointed at the blue pest's chest, barely touching it. "You keep speaking to me as if I'm important to you when that couldn't be further from the truth. I hate you, you took everything from me."
The blue pest's eyes widened as it took a step back, ears pressed back but Eclipse continued.
"You and your creatures are something I want to eradicate from existence." Eclipse's throat clogged up slightly, then gestured to the room again. "I should want to destroy this! I get joy out of your frustration and anger, I want to see you suffer at my own hands. I want to extinguish the light from your eyes every second I see you! So why is seeing all of this comforting!?"
Eclipse's breaths were heavy when he finished. Only for his throat to close up when he realised what he'd said. What he'd asked. He shouldn't doubt what he felt. He should never make those doubts known, he should never question why something is the way it is, he should just know and learn and understand and be better. Because he had to be better or he'd lose Shadow because if he wasn't better, if he wasn't useful, then Shadow would discard him too-.
"It's… because people live here."
The blue pest's quiet voice felt like a slap to his face, making Eclipse flinch back and focus on it again. He could feel his ears pressing back against his head (when had he done that?) and he flipped them back up, to be in control over something as he stared at the blue pest.
The creature was looking at Eclipse with a small frown, but its eyes shone brightly. Not literally, but it felt like Eclipse couldn't look away or he'd lose something, something he didn't even know what that was.
"Eclipse… You've been really isolated for a really long time. I get that… more than you might think." The blue pest raised its hands slightly to show its palms. "And I think… I'm starting to understand you a little better."
"You know nothing." He was quick to protest with a growl.
"You feel lonely." Eclipse's growl cut off when the pest said this. The creature gestured towards the room. "And seeing our room, it reminds you that people live here. People with thoughts of their own. It reminds you that you don't have to be alone any more. And… that's comforting, to not feel alone."
… huh…?
"But it's you!" Eclipse fired back, showing teeth. "You and your… pathetic humans-!"
"It doesn't matter who it is. Just that there's someone." The blue pest had the audacity to cut him off. But-... But Eclipse also couldn't say anything against it because that's-...
But Eclipse had never been alone. He'd always had the hive mind. Now he had Shadow, his brother. Shadow who hated him but also helped him. The concept of being alone in a hive mind doesn't even exist because your mind was shared with everyone. Eclipse found himself relaxing slightly and looking down at his hands. Hands covered in fur and scales.
That couldn't be right… That was impossible. That type of feeling wasn't something Eclipse should know, he had only heard of it, never experienced it. This blue pest was lying to him…
The blue pest let out a sigh and dropped its hands. "Look, I won't pretend and say I get all of it. You have a whole bunch of issues from your time under the T-pose guy, for sure. But I know what it's like to be around others but not be seen. To have a whole bunch of people around you but none of them ever focusing on… well, you. And from how I understand it, you-... You've had something similar to that until now."
The blue pest walked towards Eclipse and it held out its hand towards him. As if it was silently asking for a handshake. Eclipse glanced up to see the blue creature smiling at Eclipse.
"But we're all here now. And we all hear you and see you for you, Eclipse. Not because you have some duty or title. But as a person. You just have to try and see us too."
… What was this…? This creature, this pest was extending a hand of mercy…?
Eclipse snarled and punched that blue pest in the face, fast enough that it didn't manage to react and it collapsed onto the floor with a pained shout.
"Feel lucky I didn't break your bones, pest." Eclipse hissed and kicked it in the leg for good measure. Still holding back, but the yelp was satisfying. "I don't need anything from you, your existence means nothing to me. You and your creatures are an annoyance and a nuisance. So don't try and fool me by speaking as if I have a choice."
Eclipse's ears twitched when he heard footsteps approaching the stairs. So Eclipse teleported up to the roof to get away from all those creatures.
Only to get completely soaked by the water falling from the sky… Ugh, he'd forgotten about that. He could hear the blue pest telling someone that he was alright and that "Eclipse had a tsundere moment, but I think I'm getting through."
Eclipse decided that, all of this frustration and confusion, it wasn't worth any of this. Shadow will be disappointed in him anyway for hurting that blue pest, even if it had asked for it. Eclipse snarled towards the window as if the blue pest could see it, then ran off. Back towards Stone human.
Eclipse? Feeling alone? Unthinkable. That pest was only trying to sow doubt in his mind in order to take advantage of him, so that it could look down on Eclipse. As if Eclipse was something pitiful and weak. Remembering the way those green eyes shone made a growl grow in Eclipse's chest with his quills starting to spark slightly in his anger. He wanted to kill it, destroy it, remove it from existence so Eclipse never had to look at it ever again. So Shadow would be his and not be distracted by that pest. That creature believed that it knew Eclipse? It knew nothing.
Eclipse would never accept a hand reaching out towards him as if offering mercy. He will never be in a lower standing than that infuriating thing.
Notes:
:D -soft happy cackle-
One step forward, two steps back.
That reaching out a hand thing can't work for Sonic every time~!
The beginning of next chapter is gonna be good~. ;3
Also, let's give him some body dysphoria tied to what type of race he is! Why not? :D (I hope I can represent it well, it's not really something Eclipse thinks of often)See you again in two weeks!!! (Probably, maybe, hopefully. It's Christmas so I'm gonna go visit my family but I should finish the chapter and manage to get an hour alone so I can post it even while I'm there. <3)
I wish you all happy holidays!!!!
Chapter 7
Summary:
Eclipse, Shadow and Stone have a bit of a talk after Eclipse had punched Sonic.
It makes Eclipse react in a way no one expected.
Notes:
Hiii!!
I'm here with an early update! A true shocker, but I figured since my fingers went crazy fast with writing this chapter, I might as well post it early to give me some freedom during the holidays. :3
Now, since I WILL be staying with my family, that also means that next update will most likely be on January 3rd. So... Yeah a heads up on that. <3I'm not sure how many of you follow and see my tumblr (you OGs there, I adore you <3) buuuuut I've been talking there how I'm very excited for this chapter and your reactions to it. :3 It made me add some new tags!!
Also. I don't think a trigger warning is needed for this one since it's not huge. But do have your tissues ready and strap in. -cracks fingers- This little alien dude wrote himself. And I didn't understand why he did this until afterwards. :3 I wonder if you can figure it out too~.
I hope you all like it! :D
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Stone human had accepted Eclipse into the house even if he was there too early. And when Stone human asked why Eclipse came back without Shadow, he told the human that it was too infuriating to stay, but didn't elaborate more than that. Because only thinking about it made his blood heat up with chaos energy, he wouldn't speak it out loud to spare Stone human from any chaos inducing accidents.
That game he didn't understand, only to have the cursed "rain" fall from the sky. (He growled towards the outside at the reminder, cursed Earth weather…) Then how the creatures had insulted what he and Shadow did during the day, which they had no business in doing. That video game wasn't as bad, but the conversation with that stupid blue pest was just-.
His quills sparked again just at the thought of it, his claws digging into the towel cloth. That the pest thought itself in a position to offer a hand of mercy towards Eclipse. It was so far beneath him that it was buried in the dirt! To reach a hand out to someone, they needed to be beneath you. And Eclipse wasn't, and would never be, beneath that infuriating creature!
Stone had told Eclipse to brush his quills while they were wet while he called the other humans. Eclipse didn't know why the other humans needed to know where Eclipse was, but that was Stone human's decision.
Curse those creatures… Curse the rain. Curse these stupid quills that got stuck in the quill brush. At least it didn't hurt, but it was still irritating when it got stuck.
Everything was irritating!
Eclipse was eating a cookie in the kitchen when Shadow came back. Stone was doing something in the clothes wash room. Eclipse didn't even manage to turn his head towards Shadow before his cookie was suddenly crushed under the weight of Eclipse's cheek.
"I was eating that!" Eclipse shouted to Shadow, but winced and stayed quiet when Shadow's grip on his head tightened and pressed him down against the kitchen table. He pressed back his ears as a sign of submission while he stared up at Shadow.
"I told you not to hurt anyone." Shadow seethed between gritted teeth, his eyes sparkling a light orange brown.
Eclipse didn't flinch away, not this time. Because that thing had deserved it.
"Hardly." Eclipse snarled in return, something that made Shadow twitch. "It's lucky I didn't break its bones for insulting me. I refuse to let that pest look down on me."
Shadow frowned, the intense glow in his eyes lessened but not the grip he had on Eclipse's head.
"Despite what you think, you still hurt him. You don't hurt others."
"You can hurt me to put me in place! I did the same to that pest!" Eclipse reached up to grab Shadow's hand, because this was too much, Eclipse didn't deserve this! Not this time! He did what he should!
Shadow let go of him before his arm was grabbed, so Eclipse could sit up straight and glare at his brother with teeth bared.
"It tried to offer me mercy!! I don't want that thing's mercy! It's beneath me! It insulted me in every way possible, so I put it in its place!"
"That's not a reason to hurt someone! If it had been a human, they could have died from that hit!" Shadow loomed over Eclipse and his eyes started to spark orange again.
But Eclipse did nothing wrong…!
Eclipse stood up to be level with Shadow, his quills raised and eyes sparkling with dark energy of his own. "It wasn't a human, it was that blue pest! I held back enough not to break it, I did nothing wrong!"
"Don't resort to violence as your first reaction to everything! This is why no one trusts you to behave!" Shadow pointed firmly at Eclipse's chest. But Eclipse hit it away from him and took a step closer.
"I know that! Violence is in our BLOOD, Shadow!" Shadow hissed with his ears tilted back when Eclipse said that. "The only reason that blue pest isn't dead by my hands is because you care about it! If you don't want me to kill that thing, then make sure it stays away from me!!!"
Shadow grabbed hold of the fur on Eclipse's chest and threw him into the kitchen wall. Eclipse twisted in the air to catch himself and growled towards Shadow, both of their hands and quills sparkling with chaos energy-.
"Boys, boys!" Stone human stepped into the room with his hands raised. "Calm down, both of you. Don't start attacking each other."
"I did nothing wrong!! And Shadow wants to punish me! This shouldn't be punished!" Eclipse turned to Stone human while pointing at Shadow.
"And you're not allowed to kill anyone! Much less the Wachowskis!"
"I wasn't gonna!!"
"Boys!!" Stone human shouted. Eclipse flinched back from the noise, mouth clamping shut as he stared at Stone human with wide eyes.
Stone human… never raised his voice like that…
Stone human let out a sigh as he looked between Eclipse and Shadow. "Don't escalate this into a fight. You are both better than this. You can resist the need for violence, even if it's tempting. So let's calm down and talk through this, alright? I'm sure both of you have different perspectives on what happened. So let's try to listen and understand each other instead."
Eclipse forced down the chaos energy surging through his body as he looked down at the floor. Jaw tense and heart beating loudly in his ears. His heartbeat picked up as he realised what he'd done, that he'd argued against Shadow on him doing something wrong. But he didn't! He really hadn't done anything wrong!
He hadn't done anything wrong, it was the pest that was wrong. It had been lying. Of course Eclipse had to put it in its place.
"Now, for starters. Shadow. Could you clean up the crushed cookie and give Eclipse a new one?" Stone human gestured towards the kitchen table. "It was his reward treat."
"Reward…? It doesn't deserve a reward-."
"Shadow." Stone human cut him off sharply and the human's eyes narrowed just like they did when he scolded Eclipse. But he was scolding Shadow this time… "Please clean up the crushed cookie and give Eclipse a new one."
Shadow clearly wanted to protest against it. But with a soft growl, his brother teleported away (even though they shouldn't in this house). Stone human let out another sigh as he walked up to Eclipse and settled a hand on Eclipse's shoulder with a small smile.
"Don't worry, Eclipse. I'm sure you had a good reason for thinking the way you did. That hedgehog is very annoying and overbearing."
Eclipse straightened slightly with a smile. That's right… Stone human hated that blue pest almost as much as Eclipse did. Out of anyone, he would be the one that understood Eclipse's frustration with that pest. It was only Shadow who was annoyed by the creature getting hurt.
Stone human boiled some water in the boiler thing and prepared three cups. Shadow reappeared with a small brushy thing and a scoop, gathered up the cookie crumbs and dumped them in the trash. Stone human set down cups of leaf water for the three of them (extra sweet for Eclipse) and Shadow placed a new cookie down in front of Eclipse with a seething glare. But when Stone human told Shadow to sit down, he complied and sat down across Eclipse. Stone human sat down next to Shadow.
"Alright. Let's start with Shadow. You said Eclipse hurt Sonic?"
"Yes." Shadow was still glaring at Eclipse with his arms crossed, completely ignoring the leaf water in front of him. "During lunch, Eclipse went around to explore the house while no one was watching it. Sonic found it in the attic, in their room. And Eclipse punched him in the face before it escaped."
Stone human looked at Eclipse with his eyebrows raised. "Why did you explore the house when the others were busy, Eclipse?"
"I wanted to." Eclipse huffed and took a bite from his new cookie. "I wanted to find what I was supposed to learn."
"Did you manage to find it by taking a look around the house?"
A room that was filled with clutter but felt comfortable. A room that had the smell of two humans instead of one. The faint sound of noise from downstairs as the other creatures had lunch. Eclipse folded his ears back and wrinkled his nose.
"No."
Stone human was silent for a few moments as he watched Eclipse nibble on his cookie. He then turned towards Shadow.
"Did the hedgehog tell you his side of why Eclipse punched him?"
Shadow shook his head. "No. Just that Eclipse got embarrassed and left."
"I did not get embarrassed." Eclipse hissed behind his teeth, taking great effort to not crush his cookie. "That infuriating creature insulted me! I was ready to wring its neck-."
Shadow let out a soft growl, but it was halted when Stone human settled a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Right, let's not talk about how much you want to kill the hedgehog, we already know. How were you insulted?"
"Its whole existence is insulting…"
"Eclipse."
He huffed at Stone human's reprimanding tone and crossed his arms. "It was speaking lies and acted as if it was above me."
"We need a bit more context than that. Could you explain it more?" Stone human's smile was warm, attentive. Shadow's eyes were narrowed but his ears were perked up and aimed towards Eclipse. They were both listening….
Eclipse's throat clogged up and he wasn't-. He couldn't-.
But both of them expected Eclipse to answer.
"It-. It was speaking nonsense!" Eclipse set aside his cookie so he wouldn't accidentally crush it. Then started to flail with his arms as he spoke. "It insulted me, the Black Arms, my whole life! Acting as if it knows me when it doesn't! That pest understands nothing of my life, nothing! And it said it understood!? That pest wouldn't understand something fastened to its head! I've never been alone in my entire life!"
Eclipse swallowed, but continued, letting the fire light up in his chest and make his quills spark black. "The fact it even suggested it is insulting! It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Of course I had to punch it when it reached out a hand with pity and mercy. I don't want anything from that creature, I want to destroy it more than ever. Destroy it, its family, that entire house to get rid of those pesky eyes that keep on looking at me as if I'm something pitiful and weak! I'm not weak! No one can reach out a hand of mercy towards me! That creature isn't above me! I was putting that blue pest back in its place!"
When Eclipse swiped his arm to the side, a chaos bolt was accidentally released from his fingers. Weak, but it was enough to collide with the wall and create a scorch mark in the other room. Eclipse hissed towards the scorch mark, chaos energy still running wild inside his body in response to his anger.
He needed to punch something… He needed to destroy something.
"Woah, alright, calm down. I understand why you're angry-."
"You don't! None of you do!!" Eclipse cut Stone human off with a snarl. "Don't pretend to care or even want to understand! What I want doesn't matter to anyone!"
"We- I do, but it's been-."
Eclipse teleported away before Stone human could continue. Away from that house, away from the human town and teleported in bursts towards the place where he and Shadow had fought previously.
Trees were punched and new craters were formed in that area. And he got sopping wet again. At least that stupid rain disappeared when Eclipse shot a high energy blast into the sky that dispersed the grey mass. When he got back, the half eaten cookie was still there. And it was so late that Stone human and Shadow already had their dinner ritual and went to their rooms… He hadn't even realised he'd missed it.
He was tired. Tired and still mad at that stupid creature. And at Shadow for not seeing how he was justified in punching that creature. He should be praised for not killing it. He ate the last bit of his reward cookie, brushed his teeth and then turned on the TV to fall asleep to its noise.
He wasn't lonely. He's never been alone. Not once. Never.
Small creatures. Small creatures that brought a sense of worth and purpose, something he enjoyed and wanted more of. He was so careful with them because they were fragile. Soft happy sounds emerged any time he visited and they were his-.
An overbearing presence. One that encapsulated his mind, pushed down his emotions. A hand on his head and three glowing red eyes staring at him. Firm, disappointed, a command that he had to follow but he still wanted to try because there HAD to be another way. The grip around his head tightened-.
Eclipse shot upright on the sofa, his breaths coming out in rapid pants and his heart beat loudly in his own ears. His blanket pooled in his lap and Eclipse's hands were shaking. There was a tightness in his chest that he did his best to push down as he clutched the fur on his chest.
A dream... A memory. Why? Why now? What was that? When was it from? He didn't need to breathe and yet he did, breathing too quickly for it to be normal. His vision grew blurry, his limbs locked up, it was too much. Master, it was too much, help, it's too much. He tried to reach out, to send these thoughts away, but all he got was static, nothing he found comfort in, nothing was alive. Not even Master, where was Master? Where was his father? Eclipse needed him, this was too much, what was happening-?
He connected with someone, his throat felt tight as he let out a whine. He closed his eyes and focused on that other mind instead. A mind that was alive, one that had its own emotions and it was calm and happy and Eclipse curled up tighter as he let himself focus on that. Focus on that brightness, ignore whatever was happening to him, focus on the emotions that came from that other mind than his own.
He slowly got his breathing under control, letting his emotions match the other mind's so his chest didn't feel that pressure any more. His face was wet… He quickly wiped off the liquid and took a deep breath.
He.. hadn't had his emotions overwhelm him like that in a long time. Eclipse never had to deal with that by himself…
Everything was quiet… So quiet-. Eclipse reached out for the TV remote to turn it on. His shoulders relaxed at the sounds. Just focus on that. Focus on something else. Master was gone… and he'd tried to kill Eclipse. Eclipse had been tossed away before the Black Arms was destroyed. Eclipse didn't have a Master, he was Black Doom… Eclipse had let the Black Arms down, he couldn't protect them and he'd failed to kill those needed to complete their conquest.
And now Eclipse only has Shadow… Shadow who hated him… Shadow who loved this planet and had no will or reason to ever think about the Black Arms, about their family…
Eclipse watched the TV while hugging his legs close to his chest. He didn't know when Stone human would wake up, but he didn't want to sleep. Dreams were rare for him and he didn't want to risk having one again. So he focused on the TV and the feelings Shadow had from his own sleep.
Some time later, Stone human's phone started to ring to wake the human up. And soon after, Stone human walked out of his room and offered a soft "good morning" to Eclipse. Something he always did, every time he woke up. Eclipse didn't know why it was needed, but he replied with a "good morning" back.
"Has Shadow woken up yet?" Stone human stood behind Eclipse as he glanced towards Shadow's room.
"No. He's still sleeping. And trapped… again." Eclipse stood up and stretched out his stiff limbs. "I'll take care of it."
Stone human offered a small "thank you" as Eclipse walked towards Shadow's room. Eclipse wondered when Shadow would wake up on his own again, when the memory surges would stop pulling him under like this. How much longer Eclipse would be useful-.
"Eclipse, are you-... Are you feeling alright? You look like you haven't had a good sleep."
He paused in front of Shadows' door, then looked towards the Stone human with a frown. "My feelings don't matter as long as I can function." He waved Stone human off in dismissal as he stepped into Shadow's room.
Shadow lay still in his bed, like any other morning Eclipse had to pull him out. Last time he'd talked to Shadow, Shadow had been mad at him… Eclipse still believed what he did shouldn't be punished. But if Shadow wanted to, he won't say anything against it this time. Even if that blue pest had deserved it.
Eclipse settled his hands on either side of Shadow's head, settled his forehead against his brother's and took a few more moments to bask in Shadow's presence. Just… the calm feeling Shadow sent out in their shared mindspace. Feeling anything at all between them.
He missed it…
Eclipse dove down into Shadow's mind and pulled him out of the mental tar that wanted to pull Shadow further under. When he felt Shadow wake up, Eclipse expected to be pushed away like always, so he kept his eyes tightly closed. Having a finger in his eye was not comfortable.
But... nothing happened. Eclipse carefully peeked an eye open, just to make sure that Shadow was awake. And Shadow was staring at him with no clear expression on his face. The link between them was still there… Faint, but there. Shadow hadn't shut the door yet. And Eclipse still had his hands around Shadow's head and their foreheads were touching…
Eclipse leaned back, just… staring in return. Why wasn't he-...? Eclipse had assumed that it had become their… normal? Eclipse woke Shadow up, Shadow shoved him away violently and they had a brief argument then went on with the day. But that… second step hadn't happened.
"Let go." Shadow's firm voice made Eclipse twitch and he quickly removed his hands from Shadow's head.
His brother then sat up, completely ignoring Eclipse, and exited his room. Eclipse was left sitting there, absolutely confused. Why didn't Shadow shove him away by his face like usual? Since Eclipse had hurt that blue pest, he was sure Shadow would be even more mad than usual. But he… wasn't??
Eclipse flinched when the door between their minds was shut and he quickly got up to follow Shadow to the breakfast ritual. Stone human and Shadow traded a "good morning" and Eclipse sat down in his seat opposite to the two of them. Eclipse got his mocha latte like usual.
Everything should be normal but somehow it wasn't normal? Why? Something tightened inside Eclipse's throat. Was this because of his dream? No, it shouldn't be, dreams didn't affect reality. Has something happened? Had Eclipse missed something-?
Shadow got a small bowl of raw coffee beans. While Eclipse got an equally small bowl of something that smelled sweet. Thin things that smelled sweet. And when he stared at Stone human for answers-.
"I bought some sweet cereal for you. I hope you'll like it." Stone human smiled, then went back to his seat to eat his bread with things on it.
"What has happened?" Eclipse stared at both of them with his eyes narrowed. "Neither of you act like this in the morning. Have you gone mad?"
"No. What makes you say that?" Stone human raised his eyebrows slightly. "You don't want cereal?"
"This isn't about the food! You're acting strange!" Eclipse stood up and pointed towards both of them. "You ask how I'm feeling as if it matters and YOU don't punch me in the face first thing you do! Why? Aren't you angry with me? I thought you'd be more angry! So tell me what changed!"
Shadow narrowed his eyes while Stone human held up a hand. "Calm down Eclipse, we're not mad at you. You did very well in explaining yourself last night and how you felt about what the hedgehog said. So it's fully understandable that you punched him."
Shadow let out a soft huff and, surprisingly, nodded. "He can be.. invasive."
Eclipse looked between the both of them and slowly crawled back onto his seat. "You've still changed…" He took one of those "cereal" things and ate it. His ears perked up slightly at the sweetness. That was nice, and crunchy.
"Well, we did talk a while after you left." Stone human nodded. "And I say for both of us… that we're sorry how we've treated you, Eclipse."
Eclipse froze as he looked at the stone human, looking at both him and Shadow. Because that didn't make sense. Apologising? To Eclipse? Stone human's smile softened slightly.
"I haven't done a very good job of making you feel included… Yes, I've helped you in the way that I can but I haven't done a very good job of nurturing you emotionally. I've always focused more on Shadow than on you."
When Stone human settled his hand on Shadow's shoulder, his brother straightened slightly. "I might not like you… But there's no reason for me to be… unreasonable concerning your actions."
.. huh..?
"So… We came to an agreement that we will try to change that from now on." Stone human clasped his hands together as he leaned forward. "No more punching you in the morning. And no more of me putting aside your feelings and wants. As long as it's within reason, of course. We still wouldn't like you to go around hurting others or destroying things for no reason. I want you to be more honest with what you want and need, Eclipse."
"There's nothing I want or need." Eclipse was quick to refute that, his nose wrinkling and a strange tightness in his chest. "I have nothing to say to you."
"You never ask questions." Shadow countered while crossing his arms. "And when you do, it's only when you are irritated, need direct answers about someone else's opinion or say it as a statement."
Eclipse huffed and shook his head. "Stupid or useless questions should never be said. That's obvious."
"There's a saying we have here on earth. That 'there is no such thing as a stupid question. Only stupid answers'. I doubt any of your questions could be considered stupid, Eclipse. Questions are asked in order to learn, and you're still learning." Stone human nodded towards Eclipse. "We expect you to not understand things, because you've been on earth for less than two weeks. I was surprised that you didn't have any questions. And I hadn't even realised that's what was wrong."
"That you never asked about technology earlier is laughable." Shadow added with a small smirk.
While Shadow saying that would've made Eclipse jump to his own defence, he just… didn't know how to react. More accurately, how to react to this information.
On earth, no question was a stupid question…? How did that work…? Knowing opinions and feelings were irrelevant, because all that mattered were actions and results. Asking how or why something was the way it was is stupid when you had enhanced senses to learn with. Asking for permission was good towards your superior. But towards lower lifeforms it was shameful. Asking questions about your own emotions was mixed, it was his strength and weakness. Sometimes praised, sometimes dismissed, sometimes punishable. Doubt was punishable. Questions of why he felt some way was punishable.
And he should never doubt that-... that he was less than perfect. And in order to be perfect he needed to learn. To learn through observing. To not interrupt his superior's productive time with questions he could find the answer to himself. Questions were for those considered weak who couldn't come to those answers on their own. Eclipse wasn't weak, he was-.
A warm touch to his arm made Eclipse flinch away. Stone human was crouched beside him (when had Stone human moved?) and he slowly reached out to grab Eclipse's hand. Eclipse let him, because it was Stone human, but the touch felt warmer than usual.
"I'm so sorry, Eclipse… I'm sorry I couldn't see this sooner." Stone human gave Eclipse's hand a light squeeze. "I'm sorry you haven't felt safe enough to tell me…"
What…? Safe…? What did that have to do with any of this? Of course Eclipse was safe, there was nothing on this entire planet that could kill him! Except for Shadow, but Shadow couldn't kill him yet since Eclipse was still useful. He's never once been in danger when he's been in this house. So why was Stone human saying something that wasn't true?
Eclipse opened his mouth to protest, because he was safe, when Stone human shifted closer to lightly wrap his arm around Eclipse. A… hug. He knew hugs. But Stone human has never-... Only to Shadow-...
That tight feeling in Eclipse's chest grew as he remained frozen in place. Stone human hugged Eclipse a little tighter and Eclipse was just more confused. What was happening?? Why was Stone human hugging him?? Hugs were only done to.. settle emotions. Did Stone human need to do that? But why to Eclipse and not to Shadow?
The last hug Eclipse had was with a Dark Oak… his-... his family.
"I'll do better, Eclipse. You don't have to stay quiet. You can ask me anything and I'll always answer. No question is too stupid or useless. You're okay."
Stone humans eyes shone in a way Eclipse wasn't used to when he pulled back. And that uncomfortable pressure spread up to his throat so Eclipse couldn't speak. That couldn't be right. That had to be a lie. Only Mas- Black Doom knew everything there was. The human couldn't answer them all, that was impossible.
"I will still keep you in check so you don't step over the line." Shadow's voice cut through his mind like claws and Eclipse quickly focused on his brother. "But I'll answer any questions you have, too. If you're supposed to live on earth, you should understand how and why things work the way they do. Asking questions is faster than just watching."
Eclipse wasn't sure what to do… It was too much. First waking up from a memory dream he didn't remember. Now-... Now this. It didn't make sense. None of it made any sense-.
It's that blue pest's fault… Eclipse tensed up as his quills started to stand on end.
All of this happened because that stupid blue pest insulted Eclipse, which made him angry, which made Shadow and Stone human talk and now they were doing… this. And they were telling Eclipse to ask questions, which was a trap. It had to be a trap, because that didn't make sense! He needed to be perfect and asking questions was a sign of weakness and Eclipse wasn't weak. The normal Eclipse had gotten used to was changing and it was that-.
That annoying creature was destroying what he'd built here, AGAIN. He was going to lose everything because of that creature, AGAIN!
"Woah, hold up, where are you going?" Stone human quickly caught Eclipse's arm when he tried to walk towards the door.
"To not kill a creature!" Eclipse was careful when he yanked his arm out of Stone human's grasp, only for Shadow to teleport in front of him to block his way.
"You're not going anywhere." Shadow's eyes narrowed. "What's making you angry all of a sudden?"
"None of your business!" Eclipse snarled at Shadow, then teleported away outside. Then teleported again towards that pest's house.
He felt chaos energy shift close by. Eclipse disrupted it so Shadow didn't appear at all and continued forward. He jumped over gaps on rooftops, his claws digging into the tiles to give him more speed and his black chaos energy followed him in a brief trail. One last teleport and he appeared at that house and he could feel that pest at the very top. Eclipse charged up his chaos energy with the blast aimed towards the roof-.
A heavy weight slammed into his back, the world was turned upside down, then a painful collision against his head. His trajectory stopped when he teleported to somewhere far above, his vision swimming as he now had an overhead view. A tree below him shook violently as Eclipse snarled at Shadow, completely ignoring the trail of warm liquid running down his forehead.
"What is making you angry!?" Shadow shouted up towards him and Eclipse landed on a thick branch of a tree, his tail steadying him as he held onto it with his claws.
"Stop asking!!" Eclipse charged up a chaos charged spear, the shape Shadow preferred, and threw it towards the top of the house where he felt that stupid pest.
Shadow teleported in front of it to take the hit and slammed into the house wall. Eclipse's breath hitched briefly no, no, he didn't want to hurt Shadow but then he let out a shout of frustration towards his brother.
"Stop protecting it!!"
"Then tell me why you're angry!" Shadow's arms were smoking slightly as he shook them out. Then Shadow teleported towards Eclipse to try and tackle him off the tree. Eclipse teleported down to the ground, only for something else to collide hard with his chest, hard enough that he heard his bones crack, and he was stopped when his back collided with a tree.
"Hah! A fine construction, Fox. It is still intact!"
The echidna… A growl grew deep in Eclipse's chest as he stood up, wincing from pain as his chest was repairing itself. All these things… Standing in his way… When he was just doing what was right. What he needed to do.
"Eclipse, Shadow! Why are you having a shouting match in front of our house!?"
His growl stopped as he heard it. Heard that blue pest. It was here. It was within his reach and he could wring its neck. A large grin spread over his face as he lifted his head and saw it. Saw his target. The one he needed to kill for everything to be right again.
"Eclipse is here to kill you."
"What?! No, that can't be-."
Eclipse teleported towards that blue pest, his claws reaching out towards its stupid neck to crush it and get rid of it for good. He saw that pest's eyes widen and it managed to lean away just shy of Eclipse's claws. It disappeared from his grasp in a blue blur, but Eclipse was already tracking its chaos energy to know where it would be next. He blocked a hit aimed for his head, his limbs buzzing with chaos energy.
"Okay, cool, I believe you but that doesn't tell me why-!"
Eclipse teleported directly in its path with his claws extended in a swipe, aiming towards its stupid chest for its stupid heartbeat.
The yelp of pain and smell of blood made Eclipse's grin widen despite it being a shallow wound. He needed to kill it, destroy it, his whole body sang over the wound he'd caused and he needed that thing to die and perish.
He felt chaos energy beside him and quickly teleported out of the way from an incoming fist. Then ducked under Shadow as his brother appeared behind. Eclipse felt his quills shift from a punch that just barely missed him. Eclipse grabbed hold of Shadow's chaos energy so he couldn't teleport, and knocked Shadow off the tree with a firm shove from his foot. Because his brother needed to stop trying to protect that creature when all it did was ruin everything again and again and again.
The blue pest ran away and with a frustrated shout, Eclipse went after it. Nothing else mattered, he needed to destroy it, he needed to kill it. It might be faster, but Eclipse could always track it down, following the trail of energy and he attacked where it had taken a pause. The blue pest tried to talk with Eclipse each time he caught up but its words didn't matter. It didn't matter how fast that thing was, it didn't matter where it ran, Eclipse would kill it and Eclipse refused to fail.
When Eclipse had attacked the blue pest for the fourth time, claws just barely missing as it curled up into a ball, the blue pest panted softly as it stared wide eyed at Eclipse.
"Dude, chill! We can talk about this-!"
Eclipse's claws collided with a tree as the blue pest dodged being impaled on his arm. His arm went through it but was just as easily ripped out. The thing was running again. His prey was running. He wouldn't let it escape, never, that thing needed to die or the Black Arms would never prosper.
He chased it. Again and again, with his chaos energy getting lower and that pest slowing down, it was only a matter of time until Eclipse managed to kill it. Then, he was surprised when next time he appeared, the creature threw a punch. It collided with his cheek and made Eclipse fly back, then got up again with a fierce snarl. The blue pest's ears were drooping, it was panting and its eyes started to glow without glowing like it was looking through Eclipse and it made all the hairs on his body stand on end.
It knew nothing, it understood nothing, Eclipse needed to rip those eyes out of its skull and destroy its neck so it could never ever speak or be alive.
"What are you afraid of?" The pest said with a surprising certainty to its voice. Eclipse paused, briefly, then his claws dug into the ground getting ready to pounce.
"STOP ASKING!!" Eclipse jumped forward to kill it, to carve it into pieces but the cursed thing just dodged but it didn't run. It had stopped running and it was now fighting Eclipse. Dodging, redirecting hits and still. Talking.
"I thought we were getting better! There are other ways to get out your anger or fear than trying to kill me!" The blue pest used a burst of speed to get close and punched Eclipse in the stomach, but it was too quick for Eclipse to grab that arm and rip it out of its socket. "We had a great bonding day together! So what gives!?"
Eclipse snarled and charged up a chaos shot in his hand, only for that blue pest to avoid it. Right into Eclipse's kick as he landed a hit on the stupid creature hard enough to have it collide with a tree and make a dent in it. Eclipse flexed his claws, ready to finish the job, when Shadow appeared between them from a streak of orange.
With a fierce snarl and eyes glowing orange, Shadow shielded that thing like it was something important.
"Eclipse. Stop."
"Get out of my way, brother." Eclipse's quills sparked with black energy, but he didn't-. He didn't want to hurt Shadow but the pest was right there but he could hurt his brother. Shadow was the only thing he had left but he needed to kill that thing so it could never ever take anything more from him than it already had.
"No. I won't. So stand, down." Shadows quills started to spark with chaos energy as well, much more full and powerful than Eclipse's because he'd been using a lot already.
He should stand down, he shouldn't refuse, it was Shadow. But he needed to kill that thing he was protecting but he couldn't hurt his brother, his reason for even wanting to still exist, the only one he was useful to and he needed to stay useful to Shadow so that thing had to die.
"It needs to die." Eclipse hissed in return, claws flexing and chaos energy feeling warm and hot in his chest. "I have to kill it so get out of my way!!"
"No, you don't. Why are you angry? Wasn't that what you wanted to hear?" Shadow wasn't moving. The blue pest was looking at Eclipse from behind Shadow and it made his blood boil. He couldn't get to his prey without risking hurting Shadow.
"STOP ASKING!! What I want doesn't MATTER!!" He pointed towards that creature behind Shadow. "That thing has to die for taking even more from me!! Don't make me hurt you!!"
Shadow's eyes narrowed. Eclipse had to block a chaos charged fist as he appeared in front of Eclipse. It made Eclipse's chaos energy burn inside his veins, because Shadow was protecting something dangerous, a threat, a liability.
If he wanted to reach his target he needed to go through Shadow. So be it.
As Eclipse dodged and weaved between Shadow's punches, blocking others and then dodging that blue pest as well, he gathered up his chaos energy. Deep inside his chest, condensed it so that his whole body started to spark from the effect.
Both Shadow and that creature came towards him on opposite sides. Eclipse teleported high into the air, then as he fell down he released his chaos energy. Let it expand beyond his current form, grow stronger, sturdier, releasing the innate energy that Eclipse always had.
A powerful shockwave was released as his fists collided with the ground, something that blew Shadow and his prey apart. Shadow recovered first and he tried to teleport, but Eclipse wouldn't let him. He stood up to his full height, his build similar to a Dark oak, Chaos formed armour over his shoulder and a crown shaped attachment to his forehead. The same enhanced form as before but now covered in fur and quills rather than scales. A body that held an abundant amount of chaos energy, a body that could withstand blows that would otherwise break him, the pinnacle of what it meant to be part of the Black Arms…!
He picked up a boulder that was lodged in the ground and threw it towards that cursed pest in hopes to crush it. Without even looking at Shadow, he blocked his brother's incoming kick, grabbed his leg and threw him down hard against the ground. Then spun around and threw Shadow up and away so he wouldn't bother Eclipse any more. A blue ball sped towards Eclipse, but Eclipse caught it with his hand, slowly tightening his grip with a growl as his dark chaos energy fought down against the pest's blue.
He slammed that blue pest down into the ground too, forcing it to uncurl and lay sprawled out under his palm. Completely at his mercy as the creature became unable to take a breath in.
It couldn't speak, it couldn't fill Eclipse with lies, but it was still looking at Eclipse with its eyes glowing like it knew something but it didn't! It knew nothing! It has destroyed everything! But it was still looking at Eclipse like he was something pitiful and he couldn't stand it!! Those eyes made something in him hesitate but he should never hesitate, this thing was a threat to everything Eclipse had and he needed to kill it before it destroyed even more but those EYES!
"I AM NOT WEAK!" Eclipse lifted up the idiotic pest and threw it towards a tree, making it crash through it with a cry of pain and cough as it fell limp onto the ground. "I'M NOT BENEATH YOU, PEST!"
His fist collided with the ground as that stupid pest managed to roll out of the way and the ground trembled under Eclipse's might. The pest curled up into a ball and hit him, but it simply bounced off Eclipse's shoulder. That pest dodged his claws again. Die, die, die, die!
That stupid thing mumbled how it understood why Shadow had a tough time, but that didn't matter. That thing needed to die. He picked up the fallen tree, broke it in two and threw both of them towards that annoying pest that refused to die!
"Eclipse! Seriously, we can just talk about this!! You don't have to go on a hulk rampage when you get mad!"
Eclipse was about to tell that stupid pest to go and die when he was forced to block a powerful kick coming in from the right. A kick that was charged to the brim with chaos energy as his brother's eyes burned fiercely with an orange glow.
If Eclipse hadn't been in his enhanced form, that kick would have blown him away. But he was stronger, sturdier, so he met his brother with a fierce snarl. He made Shadow unable to teleport as he tried to punch Shadow away, but Shadow pushed off Eclipse's arm to dodge.
Shadow called out that pest's name call out for Eclipse, it should be HIM Shadow should focus on not that MONGREL that took EVERYTHING and something shiny flew through the air from Shadow's hand. Eclipse didn't even have time to register the powerful energy signature coming from that object before it was in the blue pest's hands. Both of them started to circle Eclipse at high speeds, enough to kick up a strong wind and they enhanced it with their chaos energy.
It made Eclipse's feet shift backwards, towards the centre of the storm, but he stood firm. He wouldn't lose, he couldn't lose not again NEVER again. He could feel the chaos laced wind make cuts against his form, none that broke through yet but they could become stronger and Eclipse couldn't let them. Eclipse crossed his arms, gathered up Chaos energy and then released it in a blast around him to disperse it all. To destroy it all. Releasing so much at once made him stumble, he lost so much time but if he could just kill that threat!
He barely managed to take a step towards that blue pest before a chaos charged hit collided with his back and forced Eclipse onto the ground. Chaos energy that pierced into him and made Eclipse let out a gasp of pain.
"NO… NO, NO, No…!" Eclipse felt himself grow weaker, the enhanced form melting as his energy was expended. He dug his claws into the ground, but his arm fell away to show his smaller limb instead. There was still a firm pressure on his back as he struggled to keep his enhanced form intact.
Weak, tired, he'd failed. He'd failed, again, and now he'd lose everything, again, all because he couldn't kill that pest… All because he couldn't destroy it quickly enough, because he hesitated, because he was imperfect-.
"It needs to die…! I have to-...!" Eclipse scratched against the ground to try and move forward, but he was too weak. The rest of his enhanced form melted away and left Eclipse feeling cold and weak. A hand pressed against the back of his neck and pressed him down against the ground, making it even less possible for him to-. But he needed to-... That thing had to die…
"What would you gain by killing Sonic?" Shadow's voice cut deep as the grip on the back of his neck tightened. "And why are you reacting like this?"
"Shut up…!" Eclipse let out a grunt as he turned his head, just enough to look at that stupid blue furred creature with everything in his being promising it death and destruction because that's what it deserved-! "It's a threat, it'll ruin everything it needs to die..!"
Eclipse was panting from exhaustion because of his struggles, his body was trembling and his vision was getting blurry. He needed to kill it, he had to kill it or this would happen again and again and again as long as that thing stayed alive.
"He is not a threat. You are." The pressure on Eclipse's neck increased.
Eclipse closed his eyes tightly and couldn't hold back his whimper in pain. His whole body was starting to ache, he could barely move his limbs, but he still had to eliminate his target or this would only happen again.
"Ease up on the grip, Shads. He's having a rough enough time as it is."
Eclipse hissed loudly at the stupid blue creature's voice but the grip on his neck eased up. Enough so he could lift his head and glare at that infuriating creature as it walked up to them. It crouched down in front of Eclipse and its eyes were glowing in that way again that it made all hairs on Eclipse's body stand on end-.
"You could have killed me there. So why didn't you?"
That creature was genuine, curious, enough that it made Eclipse's thoughts pause. He then snarled again, struggling against Shadow's grip but lacking the strength to do anything.
"You infuriating-...! I'll kill you…!"
"And you could have. But you didn't. Why?" The blue pest was covered in bruises, dirt and smaller cuts. All made by Eclipse. With one large bruise over its chest that it gestured to. "You had me pinned, Shadow wasn't here and you had a clean shot. So if you wanted to kill me so badly, why didn't you?"
It's those eyes, those fucking eyes and the poison spilling from its mouth again. Entering his mind and echoing inside his head like it had done on the comet, on his home. It made something painful twist in Eclipse's insides as he tried to weakly swipe at that stupid inferior creature but his claws couldn't reach.
"Stop talking…! You poisonous, lying-... mongrel…!"
"Okay, a new nickname is good but that's not what we're focusing on here. You didn't kill me because you don't truly want to kill me, right? And this whole thing, it isn't just because you got angry out of nowhere, right?"
"Don't speak as if you… you know me you-..." Eclipse dug his claws into the dirt, shaking because those words shouldn't matter. Whatever that thing said to him shouldn't matter, it shouldn't affect him in any way. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at those stupid green ones that looked at him as if it saw through everything Eclipse was when it knew nothing. It knew nothing…!!
"Come on, Eclipse. Work with us here, why did you get so angry? And why say you want to kill me but then not follow through?"
Eclipse used the last bit of his energy to teleport towards it, to wrap his claws around its stupid lying neck-.
Eclipse was quickly held back with arms around his shoulders and middle, he'd forgotten Shadow. Eclipse flailed weakly in Shadow's grip as he screamed at that stupid lying pest…!
"I hate you…! You took everything I had…! I won't let you do it again!" There was a tightness in his chest and throat, but Eclipse just spoke louder as he tried to reach for that fucking creature to gouge its eyes out-! "I'll kill you, I'll kill you before you get the chance! I'll gouge out your eyes so you stop looking at me! You ruin everything!! I'm not weak!! I'm not a pity project!! You're no hero!! You're a fool hearted mongrel, who wants to soothe your stupid morals about killing my entire species and family by keeping me alive!! I'd rather die than be pitied by a creature like YOU!!!! SO GO AHEAD AND FINISH THE FUCKING JOB!!!"
The pain in those shining green eyes gave Eclipse a deep sense of satisfaction. The way that blue creature shrunk into itself from Eclipse's words felt good. He hurt it, he made it hurt just how Eclipse was hurting, because that thing was destroying everything Eclipse had-!
Chaos energy pierced into Eclipse's body like a shock, forced its way into his head and knocked him out cold.
That memory from this morning returned to him, Black doom's voice speaking to him with an overwhelming presence that he could never ignore. Echoing through his entire being.
"YOU HAVE FAILED."
Notes:
:D
Eeeeeey~.
How are we? Are we all okay?
I certainly wasn't!! Eclipse did a whole behavioural relapse because of this. That last bit felt HEAVY for me personally.
Like, Eclipse has come to understand earth morals and why others call Sonic a hero. And he absolutely weaponised that/showed his thoughts on why he was spared. Cause that makes sense in his mind!
But also, I adore being able to include his enhanced hedgehog form. Maulglin did an amazing sketch of it that you can see down below, do go show them some love.We also got some pieces of that flashback scene I've written out and have ready! I'm gonna reveal it in bite sizes, include it into this current plot point~. It's gonna be fun!
Sooo.... Yeah.
... :'D
I'm ok. Truly! Yeah! The character just wrote himself! I planned this, uuuuh, 100%! Was totally my intension with this chapter! Haha! hah.. hah......
I'll see you in January!! :'D