fragmented-deity

[fragmented-deity]

Blue; love as peace

"I suppose it makes sense for me to be this one. Hmm..."

(Tagging: @a0iakuma, @dealfate, @asktheevilgeniusesson, @shadakai )

Pink; love as empathy

I think it fits perfectly!

@silver---linings @two-of-tails @fragmented-deity @sonic-the-hedgehog-91

[fragmented-deity]

can i give you a smooch

"I question why you wish to at all, but I suppose, just... note that I don't want it anywhere on my muzzle near where a mouth should be. The cheek or forehead should more than suffice, so try not to be greedy." The deity fragment responded with some level of caution, keeping reptilian green hues on the anonymous entity who had chosen to ask for a 'smooch'.

[fragmented-deity]

reblog if you’re 25+ and still roleplay; or if you believe older muns have a place in the rpc and shouldn’t be told to give it up when they turn 30. 

i received this anon & i just want to make a point. 

[fragmented-deity]

The cosmog chirps at him and just kinda. Settles into his hands. It seems deeply content right where it is.

Oh. It...actually likes him. Huh. Lior continues to hold Cosmog with a sort of fragility, like he's afraid if he doesn't he might accidentally hurt it. He curled slightly around the pokemon, petting the top of its head quietly besides a small 'krrr' back as his chest rattled in an incredibly rusty, awkward purr.

[fragmented-deity]

You know what I'm a slut for? When a character visibly drops a ruse. Like, the way their face changes the moment they give up a facade and reveal themselves.

This applies to revealing love, apathy, anger, evil intent. I mcfuckin love it.

[fragmented-deity]

true to his word, lance provided a place of respect for innerste in the kingdom. it was not something lancelot was entirely proud of--he had wished he could provide something grander, something that spoke to the kindness and mercy of the deity, but he could not. not when camelot tries to appeal to all gods equally.

he sits down on his knees in a prayer in front of the altar once he had finally completed his duty. perhaps, after this, he would make his own personal space in his quarters for innerste, one where he could actually place more than the allotted offerings given. but for now, he stops to take a breath, and he can't help the soft clicking of purrs.

"i apologize that i cannot do anything more for you in the square," he murmurs, eyes still closed. "i assure you, once i am done for the day, i will gift you something better. give you all that you deserve."

It's... cute, sometimes. How the other does this, and then proceeds, in some fashion, to think it needs more. He is more than satisfied with the modest offering place within the kingdom he's given, but the idea of an altar within Lancelot's own quarters that is more personal to the knight is not something he will deny the other. Hearing the prayer with a flick of an ear, he preens, just a little.

"Nothing to apologize for, treasure. Everything you do is well appreciated and welcomed. But I will not deny you the ability to gift more, if that is truly what you wish to do." Innerste speaks through the other's mind, choosing after a little bit to appear properly after a moment once assured there won't be passersby staring at the two.

"I have never even had my own altar without Iblis being beside it, before. So having even something so modest so that no God stands out above another... it is something I am grateful for and delights me... immensely." The next words are whispered softly into the knight's ear as he kneels next to him.

[fragmented-deity]

*gifts mephilis a cosmog*

He looks down at the Cosmog, his awareness of pokemon is... interesting, to say the least, two hands holding onto it with a low hum.

"Thank you?" He thinks that's the appropriate response to receiving a pokemon as a gift...

He holds it carefully, just in case.

At least he has something other than himself in his blank space or prison. Something he... can't be angry at.

[fragmented-deity]

"Of course, little star. You are quite welcome." Innerste replied in a soft, low tone of voice. He's not sure why, but the nickname feels fitting, in a way. The platypus was named Starline after all, surely star themed nicknames were not out of the realm of thought.

Innerste is warm, feeling the platypus rest his head against him as he purred in the way hedgehogs tend to with a clicking sound to it. He's in his organic form as it's softer and generally fluffier, so the soft fur is well felt given the height difference as he makes sure he supports the other properly.

Innerste has decided based on the earlier given how adorable are you meme, to pick Starline up to. Well... snuggle him. There's very faint clicking sounds.

He's purring.

- @fragmented-deity

What in the Geiger counter was that noise- Oh! It was him! And Starline feels the... Warmth of the deity that holds him. He feels.... Safe. And he hates to admit to it, but he'd hate more if Innerste didn't know he's grateful for the comfort. So his arms wrap around him and he rests his head against him as he tries to focus on the soft clicking the hedgehog shaped creature made.

"... Thank you." He says so softly. Just a little whisper.

[fragmented-deity]

He listens, waiting patiently for Shadow to run through the various words. It does hurt when he says he doesn't understand loss. He does, he wished he understood it less. He had experienced a loss of self, a loss of those he trusted. He'd seen generations upon generations of Soleanna peoples before his erasure and his split...die despite his hard work to protect them. To the point, perhaps, he had become numb to the loss sure.

But he knew loss, still. Even if it didn't seem that way.

"Humans... or Mortals, are the reason I exist as I do. I was once whole, once something else than this. That something else witnessed much loss. I... in this state. Have lost... my other half. The other side of myself that made up that something else." He murmured lowly.

"...I don't know. My original objective for such a thing is no longer attainable. I have no intent of killing you. There would be no point." Mephiles rumbled in a soft mutter, his ears folding back in slight annoyance.

"...I suppose stay around, for now. Until I do figure out what I wish to do now that I can't do what I used to have in mind."

“Hm. How ironic, that a god is talking to me on this sort of subject. But, i know better than to deny myself the wisdom of gods. Afterall, you and others like you will be the only thing constant and staying. As.. distant as you all are.” Shadow let out a soft hum, his voice ever so slightly muffled from the pillow, since he was laid out on his stomach for comfortability.

“While you have a point, Oh dark one, i know myself i wont have the motivation or desire to upkeep a house that would, over decades, just feel more and more hollow the more mortals stay and leave. Therefore i risk loosing all i have of them if that were to start being the case. A cave will not wither. I can keep every reminder of them safe and sound here.” Shadow began, his tone gentle as his voice soft and understanding. Eyes fixated on his own shadow. “I dont do this on purpose, but you can imagine it to be hard for someone with no godly ties to try and be around others after already experiencing loss at such a young age. But, i dont expect a god to truly comprehend what grief loss brings. You and the rest like you arent.. well. You dont seem very social, ill say that. But i cant blame any of you for it, mortals can be cruel.” He took a deep breath and sigh, shaking his head and fussing with his headquills in a small stim motion.

“My point is, i stay here to keep their memory from fading due to my own negligence. And i try when i can to make the effort to be around them, to be there for them- to do what i can. But its just.. hard to find the motivation when i know that, thanks to my father, i am forever bound to the fate of loneliness. It doesnt mean i dont value their friendship and companionship any less, however.” Shadow tried to explain the best he could- but he knew his fate. No matter how many eons when dark gaia would awaken, it would leave him standing and wipe out the rest. He’d watch friends and family rise and fall, dont even get him started on thinking of the possibility of a lover- that was.. that was too painful to think of. He could love this potential partner for years, and years. But in time it would end with them passing on, leaving him to walk alone. Its why he didnt dare put his heart out there like that. He wasnt going to hurt himself, and the other, that way. It would be cruel of him to seek that from a mortal. The short hedgehog gave a heavy breath as his head sunk into the pillow. Finally after some silence, he spoke up again.

“..tell me, if you may. When you gain your energy and such back, what do you plan to do?, naturally given your nature i’d assume you’re already planning how to kill me as revenge for what ive done to you, hm?” It wouldnt be the first time someone wanted him dead for his mistakes. But he wouldnt press on that.

[fragmented-deity]

Had he all of his limbs currently formed, they would have frozen mid movement, as it is, reptilian green lock with Vanilla's gaze and hold it, almost frozen.

They don't know him, of course they don't, no one does anymore, but in their case... it could be... forgiven. Of a sort. They weren't there in Soleanna when his erasure happened. They were not supposed to know who he was... because they hadn't yet met him.

It stung a little less, the not knowing, when he thought of it in this way.

"...I am known as Mephiles." He began, then paused, hesitant to truly give his full title, given its connotation. But he powered through the matter, deciding that it's not worth the effort to hide what would surely be spoken in full eventually anyways. "... Mephiles The Dark. The... Mind... of what was once... Solaris."

It still hurt to think of themselves... just himself now, he must remember that... as not only unknown to those around them... but no longer capable of becoming what he once was. He was a Mind of a God. Half of a deity.

Who now could no longer ever be whole.

"... I... assisted Shadow. During the Virus. To... attempt to prevent his infection. Within Sunset City." He felt the need to explain his role, to explain himself to the older rabbit. Forcing more of an energy drain to form enough of a mouth so that when his head tilted up, it was not a smooth, blank muzzle as an arm formed from the darkness and waved in return.

There had been no need for acknowledgement, but really, he'd invited it upon speaking. His gaze is careful, as he makes no move to completely exit the shadow just yet even if he does form the rest of his 'body' enough that he could. Some of it still such a deep black it blended with the shadow thrown from the ebony hedgehog.

Pain. Awareness was often spotty of where he was, but he could tell they were inside... somewhere. He heard voices. Feminine. But not the bat that the ebony hedgehog typically hung around most often, from the murk of the other's shadow, Mephiles cracked open glowing mint-green eyes, trying to focus his vision out of the bleary, blurred state of his semi-dormant self whenever he could manage it.

Rabbits. The two feminine voices, one young, one older, were from two rabbits. Clearly mother and daughter from appearance. He just barely dragged himself further out of the hedgehog's shadow. The other had been aware of him for a while now after the Metal Virus incident had occurred. He hadn't wanted to reveal himself so carelessly, but it had greatly irritated him to see the Ultimate Lifeform (supposedly) succumbing to the virus that should have been no problem simply because he was being overly arrogant and stupid.

His head forms, the crystalline appearance his preference normally, but unable to muster the strength necessary to adjust his physical form to such a state, he's left in his more organic shape, head hung slightly so the smaller rabbit can't quite see he doesn't have a mouth. Just in case it bothers her. He didn't want to unnerve an innocent child. He just wanted more awareness to... observe. Even if it might cause awkwardness.

"... Greetings."

( @fragmented-deity - Erased Verse! )

♪ it had been a well-needed check-in after the seemingly never ending torture of the metal virus. cream had been so excited to see everyone again--worried to see everyone again, and vanilla would be lying if she said she was not in the exact same boat.

♪ the friends cream had made were rambunctious, sure, but they had meant a lot to cream. they meant a lot to vanilla, most of them being her honorary adoptive kids. if they called, she would be there--most of them were young, too young in her opinion, and barely any of them had any sort of parental figure.

♪ vanilla did not mind being the matron. everyone respected her, as she did them. it was a balanced lifestyle.

♪ as cream continued to fawn over shadow, excited to see him safe and sound, vanilla noticed a shift. it was subtle at first, a shift of shadow's own shadow, but it slowly formed into something else entirely. and soon enough, yet another being was in her home.

♪ she stares him down. it's calculating, a sharp look seemingly piercing into his soul--but a smile continues to stay on her face. it barely shifts into something softer as she seems to have gotten an idea of the other.

♪ he reminded him of her older days: tired, confused, scared. but he was still clinging on, using any means to do so.

♪ and when she notices him shyly watching from behind shadow, careful to not show his entirety... well. she can't help but feel the same as she did with cream's other friends. cream gawked at him, enraptured by the sudden appearance of a supposed copy of one of her favorite people.

♪ "hello there," her voice is warm, inviting, "you've missed the debriefing on the metal virus. i'm vanilla--this is cream." a hand gestures to her daughter, who waves excitedly. "would you mind introducing yourself? i'm afraid we haven't met; shadow is quite quiet about his own adventures."

[fragmented-deity]

He could sense the others emotional state. And as much as it was immensely satisfying to finally have Shadow be miserable after shiving him so many times in that god forsaken Scepter... He knew it really wasn't something to encourage him to continue.

He knew how that pain felt. He was always in pain. Even without that fight and hopping from timeline to timeline, he was still in a constant state of some variation of pain. The hollow feeling had never left, only growing deeper with the lack of assurance of Iblis' presence in the tether between them, the ends now frayed to the point it may as well have been cut.

"...Eternity might be a curse, Shadow The Hedgehog, but you should not spend it wallowing in sparse accommodation simply for the fact that something may wither and die. Houses can be fixed, improved, and grow with you. And companionship, no matter how fleeting it might be, is something to cherish and experience fully, not be drawn away from for fear of attachment and more loss." Mephiles speaks in a firm tone of voice, a huff to it as he offered what comfort he could manage. Trying, in his own roundabout way, to get Shadow to stop lingering on the concept of death.

That sounded.. cruel. No wonder he’d be screaming that he wanted to exist the last they thought. The timeline had been trying to eject and tear him apart.. and he just- denied him entirely of that. The guilt squeezed his innards like the doom morphs had. Where he could feel his entire insides shifting and squeezing to change and adapt. But this was more painful, dare he say. His promise to maria.. and he’d possibly failed to uphold it denying the deity the right to exist. He had no excuse. No matter how mad he was in the moment nothing could excuse that.

He sent a silent prayer, mentally, seeking forgiveness from his dear sister and creator, before he took a breath. Moving carefully, he stood infront of the other, holding his shoulders properly to keep him from collapsing. His expressions were hard to read, but there was an obvious look of guilt to his ruby-red eyes that burned throughout his face. “..if i were to refuse you the right to exist a third time, maria would surely be disappointed, or worse. She said it best. Everyone deserves a chance to be happy and live. Or, in your case.. Exist. Consider this a way of my forgiveness twords you for the chaos you’d caused, great one.” The small hog spoke gently, slowly kneeling down to the other. Simply keeping himself still to allow the other his shadow. “..do whatever you need, Mephiles. I doubt you could kill me, so i dont see need to fear of betrayal for allowing this.”

[fragmented-deity]

in a rare bout of unprompted relaxation, lance rests his head against innerste's side as they had found themselves relaxing in his bed. he's silent for a while, save for the occasional purr or chirp, merely enjoying the silence and company. eventually, he breaks it himself. "what had made you settle down?" he's merely curious, despite the ever-present scowl on his face. "surely, i could not have been your first. most deities do not directly make contact like you have."

It's an interesting question in of itself, of which there are multiple answers depending on how Lancelot means it. Long, clawed fingers trail softly along the knight's spine, the other being so relaxed and content something that made him feel... warm. In a way even assuring his devotees were safe simply did not. It had always seemed to be this way with variants of Shadow. A sort of tether of connection drawing him towards them like a moth to a flame, except he was not unwittingly headed towards his own end, merely pulled within the gravity of another shining star, even if one did not yet realize such.

"What made me... settle down?" Innerste echoed, humming faintly as he considered the question in his mind, turning it over like a well worn piece of rock or polished gemstone brought beneath his eyes.

"...There was always a desire for more companionship, far further than what mortals have ever managed to achieve in the millennium of my own existence. I thought myself to have found it, initially, upon Iblis and I finding Soleanna, but then we were fused to one another, unable to separate without the power of the Chaos Emeralds to lead it. Then I met the first Shadow I bore witness to. And I was... intrigued. Here was a being who had been born for a purpose they had thought to have known, only to have it ripped asunder... and instead of becoming listless, they had built a new one from the ashes of the old like a phoenix being reborn. I began... observing, at first. My actions during that time when first fused as Solaris and broken back into myself were... rather shameful. And observing was truly all I could do for a while, Mother Chaos was rather upset with me, and I didn't want to stir her ire further by imposing myself upon the timeline again." Innerste began to explain in a careful tone, as he tried to summarize as best he could instead of dumping an overload of information upon his dear knight. Dear Paladin really. Even if he didn't realize it quite yet.

"...Watching the lives of various alternates of Shadow was something I tended to... already enjoy doing. Learning of their lives, how difference circumstances still nonetheless produced that same spark to rebirth themselves from the ashes like a phoenix to pursue the goals and purpose that they chose. It was... enlightening. It made me realize, perhaps, that I had never truly had anything to just myself. I am fine with sharing, of course, but I have always shared all that I have with Iblis, specifically, down to our devotees, our stories were strongly intertwined even before the fusion. Meeting you, I realized that, while I would still be sharing you...I could, for once, have someone entirely to myself without having to share them with Iblis, and it was... intoxicating in the best way." He murmured in a low voice, hands drawing Lancelot up to his and gazing at him with an intensity to his ancient eyes that made it feel perhaps like the other was the sole point of his very universe.

"...To me you are like a brightly burning star. And I suppose, for once, I desired to burn beside you, rather than watch you burn from afar. The catalyst of my settling down, dear knight. Was you." He finished answering with a slow smile lifting his muzzle.

[fragmented-deity]

In any other situation, Mephiles would have bristled further at the implication that he was anything except strong and capable of slaughtering anyone he so chose where they stood. In this case, however... he knew the opposite to be true, even if he didn't want to admit to that.

He was so weak he could barely keep himself upright, the constant fight just to stay in the timeline and not be ejected to the timeless space he'd been sealed in known as White Space where he couldn't even heal anyway was draining on him, rendering him perhaps should he have pushed it, only capable of one greater feat before he lost that sort of fight and was shoved out regardless of his wishes.

Forgiveness.

It was such an... interesting choice of wording. Did this version remember him more than he realized? He'd said the third time. But to his recollection, his denial of existence had been once. The blue blur had been the one to lay the blow that had eradicated their whole self from existence. Rendered all the more painful when he found he couldn't feel nor find Iblis this time. He'd searched nearly every timeline that there was a Shadow within. And none held even a hint of Iblis. Nothing.

It had been the hardest blow to take, knowing that he was a mind of a god without its power, either doomed to hollow existence, or to possibly be twisted into something else as he continued to exist in this permanently fragmented state.

"...I thank you, Shadow The Hedgehog." Mephiles told him, the expression both a sense of deja-vu for him and how he had thanked him once for his resurrection upon breaking out of the scepter, rendering him, at least at the time what he had thought, to never have to go back into that blasted device again.

Time however had a way of being cruel in that fashion. As upon erasure, he'd been trapped in it until Shadow had fought with him as he tried to restore himself to the timeline in a way he had thought had been the means to do so. And nearly again if he hadn't managed to half latch enough to Shadow as he fought Devil Doom and the resulting distortion had been enough for him to just barely pull himself into the timeline, no matter how painful it had been.

"...I will not let your... generosity... go to waste." He added, before sinking and latching tightly to Shadow's own shadow, feeling the other's form and powers flow into him as he shifted to look much closer to the other before becoming formless and vanishing completely into the shadow.

That sounded.. cruel. No wonder he’d be screaming that he wanted to exist the last they thought. The timeline had been trying to eject and tear him apart.. and he just- denied him entirely of that. The guilt squeezed his innards like the doom morphs had. Where he could feel his entire insides shifting and squeezing to change and adapt. But this was more painful, dare he say. His promise to maria.. and he’d possibly failed to uphold it denying the deity the right to exist. He had no excuse. No matter how mad he was in the moment nothing could excuse that.

He sent a silent prayer, mentally, seeking forgiveness from his dear sister and creator, before he took a breath. Moving carefully, he stood infront of the other, holding his shoulders properly to keep him from collapsing. His expressions were hard to read, but there was an obvious look of guilt to his ruby-red eyes that burned throughout his face. “..if i were to refuse you the right to exist a third time, maria would surely be disappointed, or worse. She said it best. Everyone deserves a chance to be happy and live. Or, in your case.. Exist. Consider this a way of my forgiveness twords you for the chaos you’d caused, great one.” The small hog spoke gently, slowly kneeling down to the other. Simply keeping himself still to allow the other his shadow. “..do whatever you need, Mephiles. I doubt you could kill me, so i dont see need to fear of betrayal for allowing this.”

[fragmented-deity]

He allows the other to grab, hands slide to press at the other. "...I do not believe standing would be recommended with the state of my legs." His voice is low and quiet, still. As he accepts the support if nothing else.

"...I require a tether to the timeline. Which requires I... somewhat absorb your form through your shadow. I am... not the same, exactly, as your own version you must have met... possibly. Rather... this was not done just by our fight. Time itself is attempting to eject me... violently. In the process it rips my physical form apart." Mephiles explained with some level of quiet to it. Even if he could be louder, he's too exhausted to manage the feat at present. So for the moment, the low, almost whispering and undeniably weak tone is all he can truly manage to have come from his 'mouth' of sorts.

"...This requires you allow me access to your shadow. Which through the several timelines I have tried to seek refuge in, has failed immediately. Are you going to do the same?" He asked carefully, his voice is wary, and while he allows the other to support him, his body language is wary like he expects it to be ripped out from under him at a moment's notice.

Ears perking to the rather soft yet weak-toned voice that awnsers him, his ears swivel to the other to awnser his voice. Though.. h didnt expect to see the deity so.. damaged and weak. It had him thinking if he’d really done that much when he was in his rageful state against the B.D.. and a pit of guilt dropped in his stomach.

Without thought, the short hedgehog moved forward to the other weaker form, not really- bothering to ask if he was allowed to be near as his paws extend to hold the other and try and provide some structure. Long tail lashing side to side as he tries to do what he can to support and help.

If it wasnt his actions that left the deity this way— he didnt wanna know what could leave someone so powerful in such a state. “…It’s okay, breathe.” In a gentle, soothing tone. “Ive got you, Ive got you. Can you stand, or do you need immediate help?” The ebony hog questioned gently, he wasnt aware how gods and deitys healed and what level of damage was considered ‘fine’ snd ‘not fine’, sometimes what damage would be done to a mortal would be life threatening but for a god it’d be ‘just a scratch’- it confused him where on that scale he himself settled, honestly.

[fragmented-deity]

[ @adarkpastandbrightfuture sending shadow at erased verse innerste! ]

The short hog knew this was stupid. To search out a god that, twice now, had been on his bad side and clawing at his legs to cause havoc- it was stupid to the others. Sonic especially thought it to be a bad idea but after a heated debate shadow snapped and pushed his way past the blue hero and went on his way. He wasnt.. searching for the deity to cause him trouble this time. He had time to think over their last fight. He’d acted out because doom was on his nerves and he saw everyone but maria and gerald as an obstacle doom set infront of him to get into his body. So he.. was going to apologize? Yeah he- guessed thats what he was doing. Issue is, how do you find a god erased from the timeline? The timeeater was gone, so.. humh. How does one find such an elusive and forgotten deity. Does he shout his name? Guess he could try.

“MEPHILES! SHOW YOURSELF!” Screeched out as loud as his alien lungs can allow, either hes screaming into a useless void, or this works. He’ll find out-

"You don't have to yell..." Mephiles rasped as he formed briefly before practically collapsing forward. His body twitching as smoke leaked off of his body as he kept his blood mostly as vapor, though some of it wasn't, and was instead dripping down in thick dark purple lines down his currently mangled legs that had more cuts open up even as he knelt there. some of his back also being ripped apart.

He was shaking, quills, at least those that he still had that hadn't fallen or become misshapen due to his physical form becoming a bit more mangled and melty and so some of the quills of his more organic shape he had devolved back to now had lost their proper shape still managing at least bristle them slightly in a wary, somewhat angry fashion.

"... Mmmngh... I can hear you just fine..." He rasped as he wobbled even while basically on all fours, woozy and in a terrible amount of pain.

[fragmented-deity]

"We made them. Why would we not hold our gift to Mobius?" Innerste replied in slight confusion, though he didn't feel too offended. The fact may have been lost to time.

He looked at Shadow, ears folding back in a bit of a display of shame. He knew his actions had been a bit... abrupt.

"...I will... try to warn you next time. I was borderline close to the option of slipping into the nearest one with how exhausted I was... I didn't think I had time to warn you first." He admits.

"I carry at least one as it helps me to look through timelines if I manage to subconsciously zone hop... as it allows me to know where I need to go in order to get back to my own zone... and prevent myself from altering another zone's timeline too much unintentionally."

It takes him a bit before he feels up to talking any. The time stone glowing faintly in the blue hedgehog's palm. It was warm, the glow pulsing almost like a heartbeat as it reacted to the deity fragment's proximity, glowing brighter or dimmer based on the amount of space between the stone and where he resided in the ebony hedgehog's shadow.

His eyes open up slowly when he finally comes back into awareness. It takes a few hours for him to really feel up for talking, and whatever the two had gotten up to in the meantime, Innerste isn't sure of. A distinct 'mrrp' marking him waking up as he rematerialized himself into physical shape, though he does sprawl out on his belly for a moment or two. With how rarely he tends to ever really need sleep, the deity fragment is... groggy.

"...My apologies." Innerste rumbled when he got his voice in order. Slowly sitting up and getting to still wobbly feet.

"Zone hopping... is draining. And it has been happening more often without my conscious say-so. And that meant I was either going to go to the... nearest shadow when I passed out, or choose one quickly." He explained in a rough tone of voice, "I usually absorb the forms of those shadows... so I was... attempting to prevent absorbing a new form by using yours." He indicates the ebony hedgehog, "Since I already have a form that is similar enough that it wouldn't be absorbed."

[fragmented-deity]

To start with, this is a character ramble and one about fandom kind of, mostly honestly another rant at SEGA and how they put story beats that do something else than how they then portray the character in question. I have no idea how popular this will be but yeah that's what's gonna be talked on. Specifically, regarding Mephiles!!

Bc as much as he is a villain, I don't actually think he's much of a villain by choice. Sure, he manipulated Silver into trying to kill Sonic, did it himself, tried to manipulate Shadow.

Buuuut

let's roll the clock back to when he basically got first birthed? Did he try to kill the Duke? Elise? The other scientists who may have survived? No!! He ran. Away. He tried to run for freedom, possibly somewhere he could seek refuge. And what did Shadow do, after the whole thing in 06 present? Stuffed and sealed him in the Scepter of Darkness for... basically the Crime of Existing the way he does, for that Mephiles specifically, the way he does in the future ten years later. Which happens because when he could have run, escaped, been free. Shadow sealed him.

So he threatens that Shadow's death is certain. Because he's angry, hurting, traumatized.

There's no way that the Duke got that split apart of a God in one try. And I doubt it was painless. There's also no canon confirmation anywhere that the split pieces of Solaris attempted to intentionally cause the lab to explode. It's more likely that the Duke didn't anticipate there would be equal reaction in power to what's needed to split a God and keep it split. And the lab equipment couldn't handle it and it exploded.

Ten years later, he's finally freed, and he absorbs Shadow's shadow. The person who all those years ago sealed him instead of helping him. And now, likely with his shade, he has an idea of every facet of Shadow's story... and it stings. Shadow was just like him once, he's an experiment. He wasn't born a normal way. And yet instead of helping them, Shadow, along with Silver, seal them away in an object and a young human for ten years.

And then when he asks, roundabout, manipulatively because he's doing what seems to work best, Shadow says he doesn't want justice. He just wants to destroy things. The second time, he says he wants nothing but destruction. Every turn, Shadow in 06 despite having become sure of himself and who he is... demonizes Mephiles and paints him as nothing but a monster.

So what does he do?

He becomes what he is thought of. And it ends in him being erased from timeline, not even allowed to exist because he did things that he was thought to be.

When he returns in mainline games years later in Shadow Generations, he doesn't seek destruction, doesn't seek to eradicate anything. He doesn't even truly play his original part in 06. He just seeks to exist. He seeks to restore himself to the timeline again, and because here Shadow is again, discovering his Scepter, of course his first thought, with probably no idea if it's true or not, is that in order to do that, he has to defeat Shadow.

He doesn't succeed in doing this, the Shadow he faces in this game is far stronger than he was back then, where he required, to overcome him, the lack of his inhibitor rings that leashed his power. Now he only required limited power, as Mephiles had not grown in any strength while trapped outside of time, sealed away and unallowed to exist within the timeline, in a space where time did not pass and so despite time passing in the timeline, Mephiles was stuck in the divine equivalent of Stasis.

So... I don't write him, even in Erased Verse, as a villain by choice. Sure, he was villain. But he did not choose that, he was painted in that light, and given he'd barely existed at the time. He took that mantle and played the part he thought was expected of him all while all he wanted was to be whole again and to seek justice on those who had hurt him and Iblis. To seek, perhaps if he didn't use justice, revenge on those who had hurt him, and however misguided, on those who hadn't done anything to help him, who had, in his mind, turned their backs on his whole self and continued to celebrate what had become a farce for ten more years during his time sealed in that Scepter. Which may have, at the time, to him, looked like they were celebrating the pain he went through.

SEGA heavily mishandled his characterization in terms of what they seemed to want him to be, as in pushing for him to be this cold, apathetic, sadistic being without compassion, they forgot to adjust or even add any context that could have explained that he'd actually always been like that. They could have added, in flavor text on a collectable somewhere, or during Sonic's story arc since Elise was there, during the time he was looking for information, that they may have misinterpreted Solaris as a benevolent deity who protected them. They could've done it even in Shadow's Story! But they didn't. They kept the meaning of the Festival of The Sun, the voice-lines in the story regarding Solaris and his role towards the people of Soleanna... but then they made Mephiles the way he was, and to me, it just looked like shoddy writing to give Sonic and co an antagonist while giving Shadow a Foil or mirror for his past self. But the characters all treat him as a heartless, irredeemable, apathetic, sadistic, villainous monster.

Which instead of coming off as "maybe Soleanna was wrong about Solaris" even when he fused back into him again. Came off more as a "You hurt me, traumatized me, and then you made me this way because I cannot trust any of you to help me. So I became the monster you wanted me to be anyway since it is all you see me as."

Mephiles is a foil to Shadow because he is essentially a mirror of him in appearance, and his past, and a what-if scenario of if Shadow had no Maria. He is, essentially, a Shadow without a Maria. Pure Darkness without a light to guide you to, instead of a shadow meant to point the way to the light.

And I think about that a lot. And I incorporate this sort of thinking into how I write Mephiles on here and on my Discord. I don't write him as pure evil without redemption. Because that's not what I believe he is. That's what, in my belief, even in SEGA writing, he was forced to be in order to give all the hogs an antagonist and to have the big finale boss for the most rushed game SEGA has ever pushed out.