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Acid eyes twinkled not with life but with giddy, malicious intent. They honed in sharply on the figure of a young girl from afar. She was a delicate thing, looking ever so enchanting in her pale silk dress laced with gold. The girl pranced around on her heels like a bird and, furthermore, wore a pair of white feathers tucked in her hair.
A dove. Beautiful, pure, and…
No, not pure. Her eyes had witnessed tragedy and sin. She had taken something from him, too.
Iblis. His other half was trapped within her soul, and that left her with a debt to be repaid. Her very existence warranted revenge. The fact that she pranced around at all was an insult, rubbing her freedom in the faces of those without it.
Well… Mephiles supposed it wasn’t all true. Much like a bird, the girl was trapped in a cage. Her cage was a beautiful, gilded castle with maids and guards at her service, but a cage nonetheless.
Yet Iblis’ cage was an infinite, dreamless slumber, and Mephiles’ cage was a cramped patch of darkness where sanity dripped away as effortlessly as tears.
The princess may have been a prisoner as well, but she was not exempt from her sin of holding Iblis hostage.
Mephiles couldn’t wait to shatter her gorgeous cage and show her true bleakness. Every moment he kept his distance was just another opportunity to fantasize about how excited he was to watch her weep. Her cries would be sweet, sweet birdsong to his ears.
As he watched the princess and her guards stroll through the kingdom, finding happiness in her impending doom, he reminded himself:
“I am not a violent person.”
Mephiles later lay beneath the stars at night, tossing and turning because he could not find peace in his mind. When his thoughts only presented revenge fantasies instead of serenity, he still tried to mute them. For hours, he lay there like that. It eventually became too much of a struggle to stuff down all the negativity. So, he gave up on sleep.
Once he accepted the grating noise, silence seemed like less of a goal. This was fine.
In his tired, irritated stupor, he dragged himself to his feet. With a flick of his wrist, a purple orb appeared before him. He knew full well what he was doing when he entered it.
Still…
“I am not a violent person.”
No… No, this was alright. The Duke of Soleanna deserved to be torn to shreds.
Mephiles couldn’t travel back to a time before he’d been sealed, no matter how much he pushed at the timestream. Nor could he save Iblis from his fate, either. Only after they were stuffed away was Mephiles allowed to enter the past.
He watched the Duke pass his daughter to a pale gray hedgehog, Silver. Silver took the girl and fled with a fear-stricken expression.
The Duke lay alone on the lab floor, wheezing with every breath. He was fated to die anyway… but the simplicity of his demise was much too quick for Mephiles’ liking.
He pounced without remorse.
The old man’s screams and wails echoed off the steel walls. Mephiles was nothing more than a hedgehog half his height, but the Duke was too weak to push him away. He tried kicking, weakly, and punching, weakly. Mephiles took every hit without batting an eye.
Sometime during the exhilarating mauling, Mephiles looked up from the mangled, twitching body beneath him. His eyes fixed on the hall Silver had run down.
“I am not a violent person.”
Manipulating Silver was crucial to the plan. Certainly. Without Silver, he wouldn’t be able to…
Hm. Surely Silver’s absence would make some significant difference. The boy was needed to… uh… buy Mephiles some time! That sounded right.
Any excuse to distract Mephiles from the pleasure he got from watching Silver fall further and further into his web of manipulation. It brought a rush of excitement to Mephiles every time he told a half-truth.
Would Silver catch on to his scheme? How far would Silver go for the sake of a ruse? Did Silver need him the same way Mephiles needed someone to-
The noise came back. The correct noise, the kind that clouded his conflicting thoughts. The loudest noise of them all, capable of refocusing his attention when his mind started to waver.
The one that screamed, “For the sake of Solaris!”
Everything he did was with Solaris in mind. Because, of course:
“I am not a violent person.”
He couldn’t be. He didn’t want to be. If he was violent, that meant Solaris was violent. And the beloved god… could never be so cruel…
“I am not a violent person.”
Mephiles’ claws dripped with thick, fresh blood. They squeezed. Tighter and tighter, with all their might, around a squirming thing.
The noise cleared just long enough for Mephiles to see again. The sunlight came as a surprise to him; he often forgot that being inside his own mind was so dark compared to the world. Before him, in his grasp, he saw two green eyes staring right back at him. But they weren’t acidic. They were the same beautiful shade as the leaves and grass and all nature around them.
“You’re s-sick…!”
Mephiles blinked. Pardon? Someone was speaking to him, outside of his own thoughts?
He focused his gaze on the pair of eyes staring back into him. Around those eyes, a face began to appear. Blue quills, a tan muzzle, both dotted with red.
Oh. It was the Iblis Trigger who was in his chokehold.
Sonic writhed in his grip, gasping for air. He beat his fists against Mephiles’ hands, but Mephiles hardly flinched. The blue hedgehog spat out, “Wh… What’s wrong w-with… you?! Saying you’re… not violent…! After everything!”
Mephiles turned to the bodies scattered across the field behind Sonic. Silver. Shadow. The princess. They lay in small pools of blood. “They are still alive.”
“They’d better be!” Sonic snapped, “O-Or I’ll-”
“I am not a violent person. I wouldn’t kill them.”
Sonic’s struggles faltered. He could feel Mephiles’ hold on his neck slacken, allowing him to breathe easier. It wasn’t enough for him to wriggle free, though. “You… agh, you keep… repeating that.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“’Cause it… makes no sense…?!”
Mephiles tilted his head to the side. “What? Why are you accusing me of being delirious?”
Sonic narrowed his eyes. He took in Mephiles’ expression, noticing the genuine confusion. “Seriously… Why do you keep saying that… but then do crap like this?”
“Oh, this? This is necessary for Solaris’ resurrection. When the princess awakens, she will look upon all the pain she has brought to this world by holding my Iblis captive. Her tears shall free him, and we will become a glorious god once more.”
“Y-You’re the one doing this. Not her.”
“No-”
“She didn’t maim these people.”
“Neither have I! I couldn’t, I would never! I am-”
“Yeah yeah, not a violent person! You keep saying that nonsense! Is that all, huh?! Can your broken record of a brain think of anything else?!”
Mephiles threw Sonic against the trunk of a nearby tree. Sonic gagged and doubled over, immediately reaching for his neck. He wheezed for breath. His bloodied knees buckled beneath him. Trying to run would be a strain. Doable, but painful… Mephiles had begun his sneak attack on the group by diving for Sonic’s legs immediately. It was planned. Coordinated. In a… non-violent way, supposedly.
Go figure that Mephiles had decided to attack right as Shadow and Silver found Sonic with Elise here. They were just on the verge of warning him about a new foe… Well, now Sonic knew who they were talking about.
When Sonic raised his head, Mephiles was storming up to him. His pointed crystal feet left small ruts in the soil.
“My mind is perfect!” Mephiles blurted, “There’s not a thing broken about it! It suffices just fine, and I am…!”
Sonic blinked. He watched Mephiles’ bristling quills rustle and gradually fall back into order. Mephiles appeared paralyzed, and only his eyes could dart around.
Mephiles jerked his head to the side. “I… am… I am… I am not violent-”
Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but he soon went quiet again when he realized Mephiles had more to say.
“-not rash, not brutish, not a fool, and not… not cruel. I am none of those.”
It wasn’t hard to miss the way his voice shook. Sonic did his best to stand up straight, ignoring the pain from the several claw marks along his body. “You’re a… hah… also not a good liar.”
“I’m not a liar at all!” shouted Mephiles, turning his head slightly to block Silver’s limp body from his line of sight. It then registered that he had purposefully done so. He had looked away from Silver… the boy he’d saved from starvation by offering a delectable meal of lies.
The field fell quiet for a moment. Only Mephiles’ stutters filled the space as he tried and failed to defend himself.
Sonic decided it was his job to push things along. He stepped forward and tried to ignore the pain. “Y’know… You’ve listed off a whole buncha things that you, supposedly, are not. So tell me, then, what you are.”
“P-Pardon?”
“What are you, Mephiles?”
“I… There, you said it yourself! I am Mephiles.”
“So?”
Mephiles faltered. As Sonic took another step closer, he moved back. His acid eyes flickered with fear under the penetrating stare of those softer green eyes.
“Your name is Mephiles. Sure, whatever. But what’s that mean?” Sonic wiped some blood from his nose and limped forward once more. He no longer felt anxious getting so close to his foe. Because, as clear as day, his foe now feared him. “What is Mephiles? What defines Mephiles? What does Mephiles have beyond his name?”
The noise in Mephiles’ head had been completely shut off. Sonic’s sounds were much quieter. Less grating, and yet… they demanded his attention. Every word to emerge from those bloodied lips was completely absorbed in his mind.
Mephiles silently pleaded for the chaos to return and save him from this new, unfamiliar noise.
He was not used to this noise, these words that didn’t blind him but outright denied him. Sonic’s noise put him in control of his next choices. Mephiles was never in control of his choices. He was… Solaris. He fought and lied and schemed for Solaris.
And now… who was he?
“Mephiles is Solaris,” came his shaky reply.
Sonic gave him an unimpressed glare.
That look hurt. It did. Mephiles almost tripped trying to stagger away from it. He, too, knew that had been a lousy response. Fumbling for another, he said, “O-Only Solaris matters, in the grand scheme of things. I will soon cease to be.”
“You’re standing here. You’re talking to me. You might ‘cease to be’ later, but later ain’t right now.”
Still nothing. Sonic’s expression shifted to mild pity. “Okay, I’ll give you a hand. You got any hobbies?”
“What is a hobby?”
“Yikes. Guess you haven’t been alive long enough for that. Okay, uh… what do you like? What makes Mephiles happy?”
Mephiles couldn’t bear Sonic’s gaze anymore. He stared down at his claws. They still dripped with Sonic’s blood. Then, he abruptly fell to his knees in the grass.
“Whoa, are you-?”
He buried his face in his bloody hands. “I-I like to lie! The… The rush of anxiety, wondering if I’ll get caught… Succeeded by the rewarding ecstasy of getting away with it…! It’s a thrilling game, and I don’t… I don’t know… why…”
“You… like adrenaline?”
“I suppose.”
“...Anything else that makes you happy?”
Mephiles further sank into himself. “The… birds. I enjoy their noise.”
Sonic cocked an eyebrow. “Noise”? What an odd way of saying “chirping.” Well, still not the strangest thing Mephiles had ever said…
“Hey, Mephiles, I’ll tell you what. Let me go and take my friends to a doctor to make sure they’ll be okay. You wait here, and I’ll be right back so we can keep chatting. Okay?”
Mephiles didn’t look up at him, but he could tell that Sonic wasn’t moving until he got an answer. As usual, he didn’t have one. All he could ask was, “Why do you not find me appalling?”
“Because you’re… not an appalling person?”
At this, Mephiles raised his head. He began to speak, then froze.
Sonic was gone, and so was the body of Shadow.
Mephiles stared into the distance, where he could see a blue streak zipping across hills and into Soleanna. The blue blur returned, snatched Silver’s body in the blink of an eye, and then left again.
Mephiles’ eyes wandered to Elise’s body. In approximately three seconds, Sonic would come back for her.
Three seconds.
He turned and ran.
One.
He’d been a fool for thinking that cutting up Sonic’s legs would be enough to stop him from running. Even if it hurt, this was still Sonic. His own pain didn’t matter as much as the lives of others.
Two.
There was nowhere to hide here. Trees were scarce. Mephiles could’ve whisked himself away to another place or time, but he didn’t. He just ran until he found a small, rocky cliff not far.
Three.
Mephiles hid amongst the rocks. His crystalline form made for a decent disguise, even if the colors were too vibrant to blend in well. He curled in on himself.
In the distance, Sonic’s voice faintly called out. “What the… Hey! Mephiles? Mephiles?! C’mon, I thought we had a thing going!”
Mephiles covered his ears. He couldn’t bear Sonic’s noise for another second longer. It was too crisp, too clear in his mind. It provoked him to forget about Solaris and focus on himself. He didn’t want to think about himself. He didn’t even want to be a “he." An “it” would’ve been more accurate. Or better yet, nothing at all.
He quietly pleaded for the other noise that usually clouded his thoughts to return.
Solaris, please… Clarity hurt. He hated to-
“Huh, there you are.”
Mephiles went still. Or at least, he tried to. His faint tremors persisted no matter how much he tried to stop. He kept his face buried but remained acutely aware of the sounds around him. Rocks shifted to his left. Something rustled. Sonic let out a sigh.
The hedgehog had sat down beside him.
Mephiles wearily faced him. To his surprise, he saw that Sonic’s most severe wounds had been wrapped in bandages. Was he really so fast he could stop to briefly mend himself along the way…? He’d done a sloppy job, sure, but what did it matter? No one else could patch themselves up in any capacity at the speed of sound.
Maybe it had taken him more than three seconds to return after all. In hindsight, it had felt longer than that.
“Why’d you run?” Sonic muttered, sounding rather annoyed.
“...I thought of something I dislike.”
“Hm?”
“You.”
Sonic scoffed. “Hey, man, I’m bending over backwards to try and-”
“Your voice clears my mind.” Mephiles shifted his gaze to the distance, staring idly out at the rolling hills. “Usually, I cannot think or see straight. I let the voice of Solaris guide me, and I am… blissfully drowned in his noise. However, when you talk, nothing else does. Solaris quiets. The only other voice in my head I’m left with is my own. And it is the most hideous thing of all. There is… me and you, conversing. I have to hear myself for once.”
Sonic pursed his lips. Even after Mephiles had finished talking, he remained silent. He almost thanked Mephiles for complimenting his voice. There were a million jokes about needing ibuprofen he could make. Maybe even a comment like, “Ha, you think your voice is bad? Just wait until you look in a mirror!”
But he didn’t say any of that. It was inappropriate, especially after that confession.
Sonic already had a hunch that Mephiles was aware of how dreadful he looked, anyway. He kept running his claws through his quills to try and sort them out. He’d also noticed that Mephiles had been rubbing his eyes for a while now, as if that would make the dark circles on his cheeks go away.
“So, you… don’t like yourself very much, huh?”
“Hmph. You tell me what’s worth liking. I don’t even want to be sentient, I-”
Sonic abruptly stood up. “Nope! Nobody’s gonna lose their will to live on my watch.” He grabbed Mephiles by the wrist and dragged him to his feet.
Mephiles hissed. “Get your hands off me!”
Sonic ignored him. “You like adrenaline, right? Well, let me show you a better way to get it pumping that doesn’t involve hurting people! C’mon, let’s go for a run.”
“A run?! Oh, please, you know very well I can’t keep up with you.”
“Ha, of course I know that! Nobody can. But… Well, Shadow considers you a rival. And if you can keep up with my faker, you’re probably not too slow.”
The next thing Mephiles knew, he was being dragged out from under the rocky cliff. His feet felt the grass once more. Sunlight struck his quills and made them shimmer. He briefly tried to resist, but he couldn’t think of a reason to.
Once again, Sonic had his full attention. His eyes remained locked onto his face and his… smile?
Why would someone smile at him? Why would Sonic smile at him after all he’d just done?
“What is that expression for?” he asked, rather flatly.
“If you stopped staring at me and looked around, maybe you’d know!”
Mephiles blinked. He pried his gaze away from Sonic and let the rest of the world fade into focus. The hills around them were… moving. No. No, they were the ones moving. Mephiles looked down at himself. He was running.
At some point during his trance, Sonic had pulled him into a sprint. He was startled by his own speed. Mephiles had never realized that his clunky form could move so quickly. It was… exciting. His body was already tired, but he ran in spite of it. Sonic was holding back less than he’d anticipated.
Now, new noises filled his ears. They were sounds that had always existed, yet he’d been unable to hear them.
The crunching of the grass they tread over. Small rustling and squeaks of critters in the field, scurrying away as the two approached. And… wind. The wind sounded most incredible.
He could feel it washing over his body as he sprinted against it. It made him forget about the blood on his hands and how it had gotten there.
Mephiles’ gaze wandered back to Sonic, who still looked over his shoulder at him as they ran. Sonic appeared… puzzled. “Hey, dude, what’s that sound?”
“What sound?” No sooner than instantly after asking that, Mephiles became aware of what Sonic was referring to. All around them were the sounds of wind chimes. Small crystals clinking as they tapped each other. Gems rubbing against gems. Twinkling both visibly and audibly.
Sonic narrowed his eyes at Mephiles’ crystal quills. “Is that you…?”
“Oh, that wondrous array of chimes around us?” Mephiles shook his head. He then let out a chuckle that only added to the music. “No, Sonic, you have produced this harmony!”
After all, what melody but silence can a wind chime produce in the absence of the wind that provokes it?