Chapter Text
Dear Brother, I do believe I saw a ghost today. They look nothing like you, but the way he acts reminds me of simpler times. The fire in his eyes, the rage within his soul, the very way his heart is fueled by hatred. Oh, it reminds me of your terrors you unleashed upon this world. Though I am aware that you can no longer hear these thoughts, for you are beyond my reach, I write them down regardless. My hopes are if you can see me, you know how I feel. As the Shadows, I never understood how angry you felt, Brother. I did not understand how it burns into your mind, through your skin, and into your actions. I still feel the cold of my own darkness, and while I can no longer feel your warmth, it is enough for me that I am continuing where we left off. Soon, I assure you, I will reign over the land in our honour. That is my promise to you, Iblis.
“Dad,” the voice is soft and tired. Mephiles would peer up from his own notebook in his hands, glancing at the young fox girl. He hummed. The girl was in her pyjamas, tiredly rubbing her eyes as she leaned against the door frame. The living room stood still in the silence. Though he had not formally adopted this child, it didn’t bother him that he had accidentally become a father figure. Not overly, anyway.
“What is it, Eve? I’m here,” Mephiles murmured gently, closing his notebook. He set it down on the coffee table, then stood up off the couch. His feet guided him to the doorway where Eve stood, and Mephiles looked up to meet her gaze. She was getting taller. Good. That meant she was eating enough now.
“I can’t sleep,” Eve complained. The dark god would glance up and down the Fox girl once or twice, before letting out an amused sigh.
“Let me guess… You want me to read to you,” Mephiles chuckled. Even if Eve was 15, she was still a child at heart. That was what he loved about her. Or, so he pretended to love her. Wordlessly, Mephiles grabbed onto Eve’s hand, guiding her back to her bedroom down the hall. Pushing open the door, Mephiles let Eve’s hand go to allow her to roll back into her bed. He closed the door behind him, grabbing a book from her bookshelf.
“Can we read more Bear books?” Eve asked sleepily, though her excitement remained unchanged. Mephiles grabbed the book without even thinking. It was a medium sized novel, mostly for Eve’s age group, and while she had originally been reading it on her own, Mephiles decided to read it out one night. They’d read it out at bedtime eversince. This whole arrangement was built off of chance, to the very core of their relationship.
“Of course. Where were we?” Mephiles hummed, flicking through the pages to find the paper he’d dogeared. With Eve holding her bedsheets to her chest, Mephiles settled on the edge of the bed.
The scent of the Grey Wolves lead Hive’s paws towards a cave. She felt the tenseness in her muscles as she stepped closer to the beasts. She was strong now, stronger than she had been before, but could she really take on the Wolves? Without her sleuth, she felt as if she was nothing. Hive flinched once she felt the pelt of Lun brush against her, though relaxed once the large Sun bear glanced at her.
“I’m proud of you for coming this far, Hive,” Lun murmured, nudging his powerful shoulders against Hive’s brown fur, “you’ve come so far.”
“Thank you,” Hive murmured, gently pressing her nose into Lun’s black fur. With Lun by her side, she could do anything. While her family back in the forest could not see her now, she felt reassurance from Lun’s comforting glance.
Eve rolled onto her side, ears still perked to listen as her grey eyes shut. Yawning as she got comfortable, Mephiles kept reading.
The cave was large and looming, even for Hive. However, with Lun by her side, she could do it. She could do anything with Lun. Even if they were not related by blood, they were family.
“I’ll be with you, right by your side,” Lun reassured, slowly taking long strides towards the cave. For once, Hive wasn’t following him. She walked at her own pace, alongside Lun.
“I know you will,” Hive replied, flicking her ears back as she let herself enter the cave.
Mephiles held onto the purple chaos emerald he had held since he first swore to protect Eve, even if he hadn’t realized that he himself had made such an idiotic promise. His green eyes followed the faint twinkles of the chaos emerald, the familiar sparkling drone being music to his ears. With Eve asleep in her room, sitting in his own with the emerald that started it all made the dark god want to cry. The minute he stopped touching this emerald, all those feelings would go away. Each and every moment that he had played and pretended to be this child’s Father… Mephiles told her that he loved her.
Mephiles did love her. Here he was, almost a year through living with her and calling Eve his daughter. Sitting on his bedroom floor, leaning his back against the door. Though, as he set the chaos emerald down on the hardwood beneath him, that feeling went away. Such a unique experience, to feel something so many creatures sought out: love. Love that he could easily remove with just the removal of an all powerful stone. Taking it all away, and Mephiles felt distinctly that he had lost something, and didn’t know how to grieve. Lifting the emerald back into his palm, the feelings rushed back, reminding him that he was loved. That he loved someone.
Shifting himself, Mephiles got up from sitting on the ground slowly. His eyes peeled away from the potent chaos energy in his hand, and there sat the other on the bedside table. The golden shimmer of the yellow emerald was the potent opposite to the purple. Both in colour, and in representation. One was him, the other could be Iblis. One was his domestic life, the other was his revenge.
Reaching out, Mephiles’ hand locked on around the yellow emerald. He felt their energy flow within him, and as he crossed his arms over each other, holding the emeralds out, the emotions drained.
“Hive,” Lun suddenly said once they were in the darkness of the cave. Hive stopped in her tracks, realizing she couldn’t see the black furred bear. Usually, she could find him from his ability to remain right with her, but… Now, she felt lost.
“I’m here, Lun,” Hive murmured, eyes darting around the space. The cave echoed, the cold stone under her paw pads trailing up her body. There was dread thick in the air, and Hive could smell her own fear. No sign of Lun however, for his scent had become stale behind her.
“Hive, I want you to close your eyes,” the Sun-bear spoke slowly, methodically. Hive didn’t listen, instead turning on her heels to try and find her friend. No sign of that golden fur on his chest. Hive felt her chest tighten, and her heartbeat quicken.
“Lun, what’s happening? I can’t see you,” Hive whimpered.
“I know. I don’t want you to see what I’ve done,” Lun murmured ever so softly, “I don’t want you to see what I’m going to do.”
“I don’t understand,” Hive whispered, and as she turned around again, she could feel powerful legs pinning her down, the familiar scent of Lun, the familiar feeling of Lun’s claws. While they usually groomed her fur, took care of freshkill, poked her and teased her, they now dug in until blood dribbled.
“I know you don’t,” Lun sighed, voice tired, “that is what is for the best, now. Close your eyes. Think of something nice.”
Hive couldn’t think of anything nice. She writhed under Lun’s greater strength and fought as hard as she could. She growled, trying to keep some sort of composure, using all that Lun himself had taught her. Hive twisted her body, tried to bite up at Lun’s large paws--anything to escape.
Eve looked so peaceful, when Mephiles hovered into the bedroom. The room became frigid once he walked inside, but with his daughter bundled up in the blankets of her bed, she didn’t even stir. Her eyes were closed. She was dreaming, hopefully of something nice. It was for the best. Crystalline claws closed the door behind them, and icicles grew off of the metal door handle.
“...Dad,” Eve mumbled in her slumber, shuffling in her bed, smiling faintly. The dark god got closer, lifting the book that they had read together from the edge of the bed, and sat himself down. He flipped the page.
Hive could feel the air in her body escape her lungs, and never come back in as Lun’s sharp teeth bit into her spine, then into her throat, then tore away flesh from bone. The bubbles of blood that sprayed out from her maw, from her throat, from her wounds.
“I love you, Eve,” Mephiles spoke, closing the book. His clawed hands slowly laid themselves onto her head. As she threatened to wake up, Mephiles felt energy build up in his palm, then release in a glowing blade through the girl’s skull. There was no blood, just like how he had killed Sonic. Eve’s eyes didn’t open, she simply looked like she was sleeping. The memory of Sonic’s body hitting the grass crossed his mind, and the sight of Eve just tucked in like he had left her.
For once, he understood how the Princess of Soleanna felt when her love of her life died. He understood why the Duke of Soleanna had protected his daughter and sacrificed himself. He understood that laughter was just another way to express crying. He understood that as he got up from the bed, walked to the door, and stepped out, that he was not a dark god anymore. He was a Dark Father, and one that had killed his daughter for the greatest good he could manage; saving her from seeing his destruction.
“Goodnight, Daughter.”