Chapter Text
Shadow knew immediately that something was wrong. Team Dark had been following Eclipse for days, staying far enough behind that they wouldn’t be detected, but close enough that they wouldn’t lose him. It was midday when they found him.
Eclipse had stopped moving ahead, so they had caught up to him. Had he realized he was being followed? Team Dark was hidden, and it didn’t seem like Eclipse had seen them. Shadow would like to keep it that way. Rouge and Shadow gave each other a knowing look, one that meant they should stay silent. One word out of them or Omega and Eclipse would hear.
Shadow then shifted his attention to Eclipse. He just seemed to be… sitting there. By his stance, it was clear that something was wrong. His tail was thrashing quickly back and forth, and his usual proud stance had diminished as his eyes shifted around uneasily.
It seemed as if nothing had changed. One moment there was nothing, the next Black Death himself was standing in front of Eclipse. Shadow's eyes narrowed, and he readied his stance for if he needed to fight.
“What is the up date you wish to inform me of Eclipse? What is so important that you had to tell me in person?” Black Death said in a sort of exasperated voice.
“Master… It's about Shadow.” Eclipse began. “I don’t think that it’s necessary to kill him.”
Shadow scowled, already knowing where this was headed.
“We have talked about this Eclipse. He had his chance. He will never join us.” Black Death chided, eyes narrowing.
“That’s the thing!” Eclipse exclaimed, before cringing on himself for getting too excited. "I was thinking… that… we don’t have to harvest this planet. I have traveled this “earth” and I believe the risk would be greater than the reward. There are others that would protect this planet other than Shadow, and I believe that in the end, we… we don’t have to…”
Shadow was almost too shocked to notice that Eclipse's hands were trembling. He would have expected many things, but this? This was new. Sure the reasons for leaving Earth alone are not because of a change of heart or anything, but whatever makes his job easier. He glanced at Rouge to see that she had a serious but perplexed look on her face.
The eerie silence is what snapped Shadow out of his thoughts. The parent and child were staring at each other, a silent conversation between the two, and Eclipse looked… terrified.
Without warning, he slapped Eclipse so hard that he flew into a nearby tree. Shadow's eyes widened as he saw Black Death pick up Eclipse by the throat.
“I make these decisions for a reason. You will not question my authority. I gave you your own free will and I can take it away if necessary.” He growled out, not flinching as Eclipse clawed at the hand that was cutting off his airflow.
Eclipse was then thrown harshly onto the ground with a resounding thud.
“Get. Up.” Black Death commanded, his patience clearly worn thin.
Eclipse stumbled to his feet, wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. “M-Master I-“
“Quiet.” Black Death commanded as he grabbed Eclipse harshly and teleported both of them out of the area to what could only be assumed was the Black Comet.
Everything was silent except for the wind rustling the leaves of the trees, and Shadows controlled breaths.
“What the hell just happened?” Rouge whispered, breaking the eerie quiet.
Shadow didn’t respond, and was completely mute as he tried to tune out Omega who began to recount the entire event to Rouge, who in turn tried once again to explain what a rhetorical question was.
Shadow was more focused on the odd dread that was pooling in his stomach. Eclipse was their enemy, but he was also Shadow's brother. That had to mean… something right? The fact that despite time and time again of Shadow attacking the Black Arms, Eclipse still didn’t want to kill him… it didn’t sit right with him.
“Shadow? We have to report this to HQ.” Rouge asked, knowing that Shadow wasn’t paying attention.
“No.” Shadow said.
“No? What do you mean no?!” Rouge said, exasperated.
“I mean that we should try and see how more of this plays out before telling Towers about this.” Shadow grumbled. “I think… that maybe we should wait. We should talk to Eclipse. We can work something out. It doesn’t have to resort to us killing him.”
“Shadow…” Rouge said, looking sympathetic. “I… I understand how you feel. He is your brother after all but… we can’t let that blind us from what he’s done.”
Shadow thought for a moment, and clenched his fist. “You forgave me . Don’t you say that this is any different. I can see that he… wants to do something different than what has been set out for him. We can give him the chance to go down the right path. It’s clear that Black Death has controlled him his entire life, and with how we saw him being treated… I can’t stand by and let that happen to my brother.”
“Ok.” Rouge said, rubbing her temples. “We will give him ONE chance. Omega, does that work with you?”
“YOUR MEATSACK EMOTIONS DO NOT PERTAIN TO ME. BUT I WILL COMPLY.”
“Thanks bud” Rouge replied. “Ok Shadow. I’m going to let you take the lead on this one, since Eclipse is your brother.”
“Thank you Rouge.” Shadow said quietly.
“Shadow?” Rouge began. “I… Thank you. I can’t tell how old Eclipse is, but he’s obviously younger than you. He doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. No one does.”
“I TOOK A SCAN OF THE SMALL ALIEN. HE IS EIGHT YEARS OLD, BUT DUE TO THE BLACK ARMS EXCELLERATED GROWTH, HE IS MENTALLY FOURTEEN.” Omega stated.
“He’s… he’s fourteen ?!” Shadow exclaimed, clenching his fists.
This changed many things. The fact that Eclipse was this young…
“Oh my god we were fighting a child!” Rouge shouted, eyes widening. “SHIT Shadow, Christ! Okay, this just became much more urgent. We need to find that kid soon .”
“QUERY. ARE YOU NOT ONLY 16 YOURSELF SHADOW?” Omega asked, his voice cutting through.
“That's besides the point! Who knows when he’ll show up again.” Shadow growled, beginning to pace back and forth. The violent scene kept playing over and over again in Shadows head, and he couldn’t help but get more worried by the second.
“I WILL SCAN THE AREA IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS FOR HIS CHAOS SIGNATURE.” Omega offered, already bringing up a map of the surrounding land.
Shadow nodded, and Team Dark began to move out. He didn’t know what he was going to do next, but he knew one thing for sure: he was not going to let his brother stay with that monster.