Blood Bonds

Part 23 - Delated and Double-Crossed

The next day, Eclipse was first to rise. He sat up in the darkness and stared at the foreign symbols decorating the circular device on the wall. He knew what it was, it was a clock, he had learned at least that much from what Black Doom taught him about Earth. Each tick was a second going by, each dash was a minute, each number was an hour. Each tick was a second closer to when the first bells would ring, each dash was a minute closer to when he could have breakfast, and each number was an hour closer to whenever Juke's plan would unfold. He glanced over at the sleeping lynx and let out a soft, deep sigh. Who cared if Nutmeg was gone? He sure didn't.

Eclipse silently slipped out of his bed and crept over to the bathroom. He shut the door and turned on the light, staring at himself in the mirror. What on earth did the counselors see in him? He was made to destroy, to kill and slaughter. His spikes told him as such, as did his spiked teeth. Then why, why did he feel so weird about betraying them? They were keeping him from finding his fledglings, from reuniting with his kids. Mimic had promised to bring him what he most desired in exchange for secrecy. It was perfectly acceptable to him that he might join in demolishing the school.

But the alien paused in his thoughts again. Nutmeg had seemed previously intent on helping him find his kids. And did Mimic even have proof he knew where the Dark Arms were? What if, after the plans carried out, they would feel as though they no longer needed the alien and double-crossed him? Or worse, what if the plan succeeded, they kept him around, and everything he invested into F.V.R. went to waste?

Eclipse blinked in surprise. That was a strange thought. He hadn't invested anything, why would he think that? The treaty flashed into his mind. His fledglings joined it. Something odd echoed around his head, something Nutmeg had told him during the time she was still around.

"You know, one of our reformees sort of reminds me of you," she had said. "He thought Shadow was responsible for the annihilation of his entire pack. The two absolutely hated each other."

"What changed?" Eclipse questioned her.

"He joined F.V.R. in hopes of becoming a better person. The two pack-bonded as well, through shared experiences. Mobians and humans will pack-bond with anything. I wonder, if you and Shadow temporarily put aside your differences, whether you two could form a bond...

But, there's a well-known quote that's quite often misinterpreted; 'Blood is thicker than water.' The full saying is 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.' This essentially means that relationships or friendships forged by choice hold deeper meaning than those of mere biology."

The alien sneered, squeezing his eyes shut and shook his head. There was no way he and Shadow could ever come back from all the history of conflict between them. But Nutmeg had wanted to do nothing but help him. She and Scarlet had stood up against Shadow for his sake and offered to help find his kids. Was it really worth it?

"Is it really worth it?" He whispered out loud to himself.

"Having second thoughts?" A chilling voice echoed from behind him.

He spun around and saw the vent cover slowly slide off the wall. Mimic slipped out silently, eyeing the alien.

"Huh?" Eclipse flinched. "What do you mean?"

"Is it really worth it?" The octopus leered. "What else could you possibly be thinking about?"

"I, well, I... do you really know where the Dark Arms are?" Eclipse finally glared at him, trying to detect any sign of a lie in the shapeshifter's face.

"Of course, I do. What would you like me to do to prove it?" Mimic was nonchalant, unconcerned.

The extraterrestrial studied his face. "What does Whisper look like?"

"This." With a flash of silver, the octopus' form shifted into the likeness of the honey-colored wolf.

"What about the Dark Arms?"

"Which one?" His form shrunk.

Eclipse didn't wait for him to finish his shapeshifting. The alien kicked him as hard as he could, sending the little silver blob flying back into the vent. He turned and fled the bathroom, pausing only momentarily to see if either of his roommates were awake. Neither stirred from their slumber. The extraterrestrial then unlocked and burst out of his dorm room, slamming the door behind him as he raced down the hall. He needed to get ahold of a Head Counselor, and fast.

"Hey, why are you running?" A G.U.N. guard stationed by one of the exits called.

"I need to see a counselor, quick!" The alien half-yelled over his shoulder.

"Is there an emergency?"

The first bells rang, drowning out Eclipse's answer, and the early-rising trainees spilled out of their dorm rooms and into the hall, each eager to get to the cafeteria first. The alien became lost in the flood, but he quickly realized that it was probably for the better. He didn't want to immediately be singled out by his pursuers. Even as he felt this small reassurance, Eclipse glanced anxiously over his shoulder and locked eyes with the penetrating stare of Juke. The lynx was at least a hundred feet away, but that didn't stop Eclipse's heart from nearly lurching out of his chest. The extraterrestrial focused instead on pushing through the crowd, trying to see around the taller trainees as he searched desperately for the hallway he needed to go down.

After what felt like hours of shoving through the bustling crowd which were really only mere minutes, Eclipse broke free from the main swarm and darted down the Head Counselors' hallway. The pitter-patter of his bare feet against the tile floor was drowned out by the fast beating of his heart as his frantic eyes glanced into each Head Counselor's office. Each window was disappointingly dark, revealing nothing more than an empty office. He then came to a halt when he saw one of the lights were on in the Savage siblings' conjoined office. The alien knocked on the door, loudly. Scarlet glanced up from the drawer of her desk she had been rummaging through, then shut it, stood up, and came to the door. She opened it curiously, but Eclipse rushed inside and slammed it shut beside her.

"Scarlet, I need to tell you something!" He gasped wildly.

The dark hedgehog looked at his panicked demeanor in surprise. "What?"

"Nutmeg's been replaced by- Mph!" To the alien's horror, the hedgehog smacked her hand over his mouth.

"I figured as much." She said, her voice suddenly hushed as she glanced suspiciously over at her sibling's office. Her gloved hand slipped away from the trembling alien's face as a third figure entered the room.

"Scarlet?" Cyanic poked her head in. "What was that?"

Her sister regarded her sibling with some genuine irritability. "Why are you here? You said you were going to go help Sonic and Mighty look for Ray this morning!"

The blue hedgehog blinked in a wide-eyed, innocent manner. "...I am, I just needed to grab something from my office."

"Then get on with it."

"Okay, but why is Eclipse-?" Cy's question was cut short as Scarlet walked over and shut the door that connected their offices.

She faced Eclipse once again, her voice even quieter than before. "That wasn't Cyanic."

"It was Mimic, Mimic's here." Eclipse whispered. "We need to alert the others."

"Definitely. Come with me." She opened her door and led him out of the office.

He followed her down the hall and halfway across the building, until they came to a halt outside a solid wooden door. Scarlet unlocked the door and ushered him inside.

"This is F.V.R.'s safe space. I'll call the others to meet here."

He entered the room cautiously and looked around the dark space, wondering why it was so cramped, and why it smelled so strongly of strange chemicals. A singular light bulb flickered on overhead, and Eclipse saw that the room was incredibly tall, with a shelf on one wall stretching towards the ceiling. However, the area was very narrow, and he turned to ask Scarlet why that was. All he saw, however, was a glimpse Mimic's narrowed eyes and the octopus' scowling mouth before the door abruptly slammed shut, locking him in the janitor's closet.