Fanfic / Teaching Darkness

An Alternate Universe fanfic, written by Rae Logan, branching off from the infamous Sonic '06. Starting immediately after the ending of Shadow's story, Mephiles makes a last ditch effort to survive... and fuses with Shadow.

This one action sets off a chain reaction that eventually leads to Mephiles becoming a separate consciousness from his dark half, and him, Shadow and Rouge having adventures of their own. This dark half (appropriately, named Dark the Shade) plagues the trio until the end of the fourth installment.

Yes. Installment. Teaching Darkness is a whopping seven stories. The stories are as follows:

• Teaching Darkness: Following the events in Shadow's Story in Next Gen, Mephiles takes a last ditch effort move that fuses him to Shadow. Now with two minds, Can Rouge and Omega save Shadow before Mephiles takes over completely?
• Teaching Darkness- Visions: Mephiles now lives with Rouge and Shadow, and has enjoyed his new lease on life. But when he starts losing sleep over what he thought were just nightmares, he's even more horrified to find them to be coming true...
• Teaching Darkness- Job Quest: Mephiles has been personality flopped, beaten up, kidnapped, electrocuted, possessed, drowned, and "dead" for six minutes... Now he must face his toughest challenge yet... getting a job...
• Teaching Darkness- Relapse: Is it true? Is Mephiles starting to lose his mind again? He claimed to have seen him, one from his past... but no one really believes him. Is he telling the truth?
• Teaching Darkness- Memories: Mephiles has gained a new ability... and he wishes more than anything that he didn't have it... Even worse, Dark has come back... but he's asking for Mephiles' help to defeat someone more powerful than himself...
• Teaching Darkness- Flux: Something is wrong with Dark. Since the Earth was split into seven parts by Eggman, Dark, as well as other members of the populace, have been acting strangely at night. Meant to cross over with Sonic Unleashed.
• Teaching Darkness- Rift: Part 7 in the TD series! It's Sonic's birthday, and our heroes have been invited! Too bad Dr. Eggman takes this as a chance to put his new plan in motion. We all know what Sonic went through then, so let's see this vaguely related tale of the boys' adventure through the timelines. Meant to cross with Sonic Generations.

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Teaching Darkness contains examples of:

• Afraid of Blood: Mephiles throughout the entire series. Dark to a lesser extent in the later series.
• Alternate Universe Fic:
• Another Story for Another Time: Mephiles almost says it word for word when asked how the battle with Iblis ended.
• Apologizes a Lot: Mephy, full stop.
• Aura Vision: Jak had this.
• Author Avatar: Rae
• Afraid of Blood: Mephy is horribly sickened by the scent of it and it's not uncommon for him to vomit when it's present. Dark is sickened by the idea of drawing it from something.
• Afraid of Doctors: Mephy early on, though he's gotten better about it. Dark's case teeters on fear and absolute hatred, making him a very difficult patient, even for the one doctor he'll allow close enough to him for examinations.
• Afraid of Needles: Mephy is far less so than Dark. Dark will have a total fit if he's not lethargic from illness.
• Back from the Dead: Dark and Iblis, although it's unclear whether he actually died or not.
• Bad Dreams: Dark suffers these often during and after encountering Dire.
  • Mephy also has these, though he often doesn't recall them due to them being night terrors. Occasionally crosses with Dreaming of Things to Come.
• Bad Liar: Mephy and Iblis both are this, according to Dark. The former is such because he prefers being truthful, and the latter is such simply because he's bad at acting (and that is also the reason why Dark knows his intentions are non-malicious).
• Berserk Button: Don't threaten anyone close to Mephiles. Really, don't.
  • And if you try Mephiles himself, you'll get it from Dark instead.
  • To a lesser extent; try calling Mephiles a "rat". He will stop whatever he's doing to loudly protest it, as he takes offense to being referred to as a rodent.
• Body and Host: Mephiles as the host and Dark as the parasite.
• Born Lucky: Mephiles, AND HOW. Surviving an avalanche, poisoning, slashes to the head and more.
• Break the Cutie: Physical abuse, mental abuse, emotional abuse... Mephy's been through it all. And yet, he still finds it in his heart to be cheerful and forgiving.
  • Break the Haughty: When Iblis is introduced as the antagonist, this happens to Dark, too. Except he doesn't take it as well.
• Break Them by Talking: Dark and Iblis.
• Brick Joke: Chapter 13 of "Flux" has Mephy notice that Shadow is using Super Glue to repair his model motorcycle, at the start of the chapter, and wonders why it's called "Super". Dark manages to get a towel spotted with it stuck to his arm at the end of the chapter, which leads to this gem from Mephy as it's ripped off just as Rouge returns from the store: "Oh, THAT'S why it's called 'Super Glue'!"
  • Back in the 17th chapter of "Relapse" (written in 2008), a Sonic sent a box in the mail to Shadow that happens to trip him just as he tries to keep Mephiles from running out the open door in a panic. In the second chapter of "Rift" (just released this year, 2013), the box was referenced in the form of Tails asking Mephiles, for Sonic, if Shadow ever opened the box he left, and alludes to it being part of a joke.
• Broken Smile: Dark does this often when trying to hide his anguish. Mephy's late biological triplet brother, Ceus (who was a sickly child), apparently also did the same, as Mephy mentally compares the expressions between the two of them.
• Cabin Fever: Dark suffers this when being kept from going outside during the Dark Gaia incident.
• Character Blog: Mephy, Dark, and Iblis have one on Tumblr.
• Character Development: Mephiles is much braver than he was at the beginning of the series. Or rather, he isn't terrified of everything...
  • It appears Dark actually has a personality underneath his arrogance. Who would have guessed?!
• Character Tics: Dark has a habit of pulling out his quills and chewing on them when either thinking very hard or when very anxious. He sometimes has to be reminded to stop.
  • Mephiles stutters when he's either nervous, scared, sad, or shocked. He also gets hiccups when he cries.
• Claustrophobia: Dark, after having been trapped in a small, dark place for ten years.
• Converse with the Unconscious: On multiple occasions, considering how many times the characters end up comatose.
• Cosmic Plaything: Dark ponders this verbatim in one chapter.
• Cower Power: Mephiles. It even wins a battle against Dark once!
• Curse Cut Short: A common occurrence for Dark, either in-universe or by the third-person narrator.
• Cute Little Fangs: Within the artwork and stories, Mephy is shown to have these (usually only one is shown), as does Dark, who's are more prominent and visible when he doesn't have his mouth shut. Iblis also has a variation, but more attention is drawn to his missing tooth instead. Also, Shadow, like his game counterpart, has this straight as well.
• Cute Mute: Euphie, Dark's mental embodiment of "Euphoria", is initially described as what Dark might have looked like if he had ever been a toddler. ^note Due to Dark having a period of time where he wasn't able to properly use his emotions, Euphie was stunted in growth compared to the rest, and was physically incapable of proper speech at first, despite having the mental capacity. Euphie, as of late, has aged to be closer to a six year old physically and is a good deal more talkative.
• Dark Is Evil: Dark. For fairly obvious reasons.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: During the fifth installment, Dark realizes this.
• Dead Fic: Job Quest. It hasn’t been updated since 2008. It doesn’t affect the series in any way however.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dark and sometimes Shadow.
• Derailed Train of Thought: "I do believe my train of thought derailed at the station… … But, thankfully… there were no casualties…"
• Distracted from Death: Shadow and Rouge attend to Mephiles and Dark first, then turn to see that Iblis burned out while they were distracted.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Dark, towards Mephiles.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Dark's reaction to having his mind invaded, also his hatred/fear of contact.
  • A more lighthearted example in-universe from Shadow's POV, where he seems to be internally questioning Dark's *ahem* preferences. It probably doesn't help Shadow that he finds Dark refusing to leave a closet at some point, Dark makes the comment of enjoying nuts (in reference to a vegetarian option for protein) and his favorite food is a type of melon, or that Dark has a tendency to be found hugging onto a very confused Mephy in the morning, and Dark's possessive nature with said hedgehog.
    • Word of God confirms that Dark doesn't understand gender roles, and is in fact technically genderless, and only identifies as "male" because he's "bonded" to Mephy, and reflects characteristics of Mephy.
• Door Stopper
• Dramatic Dislocation: When Iblis dislocates Dark's shoulder.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Common occurrence with Mephy, who doesn't often remembers them due to them being products of night terrors. After long enough of being accurate, everyone else takes these seriously.
• Drop-In Character: Rae herself, mostly in the earlier series.
• Dropping the Bombshell: A particularly dark (no pun intended) one with Mephy's alternate future self, Phee, who is 24, in "Rift", who explains that the reason he's also traversing through Time, is because Future!Dark went mad over nearly losing Future!Iblis to a reaction to a solar storm (as Iblis' fire abilities are quite sensitive to environmental change), and has disappeared after a week of silence, save for troubling behavior (explained by Phee as being as though Future!Dark couldn't sort or handle his emotions). Present!Dark makes the horrific conclusion that Future!Dark has disconnected from his Emotions, and might believe that altering the time flow will prevent Iblis from getting seriously ill in the first place. Even more, it's implied that Phee's abilities are being affected by the absence of Future!Dark, as Mephy and Dark both make note of the "empty Aura". Mephy himself makes note of how difficult it will be to sleep that night after all the bombshells dropped in that one conversation alone
  • After Dark suffers a stress induced aneurysm, he somehow manages to encounter his alternate future self in some plane of existance, who seems quite a bit unhinged, much to Dark's uncomfortable dismay. In addition to finding out the fate of many alternate selves and of his brothers, Dark also learns a few troubling tidbits of the future Phee is from. Among them are: 1) That many Darks who don't suffer the aneurysm are likely have their Seeing ability advance so far that their brains fill up with horrible memories that aren't theirs, 2) That Future!Dark was unintentionally poisoned when Phee tried to slip him sleeping pills out of desperation to get him to rest after a week of stress induced insomnia, and 3) that Future!Dark suffered an apparent psychotic break from that, as he felt that Phee had betrayed his trust. Dark himself seems to be in mild shock from that upon waking up.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: According to Mephiles himself.
• Ear Notch: Dark has a bite taken out of his right ear, which doesn't have the tuft of crystals that the other ear has. Iblis does as well (though he managed to grow back most of the tufts).
• Eggshell Clothing: One of Mephy's Chao wears an eggshell on her head.
• Elemental Powers: Iblis and Dark, with fire and darkness respectively.
• Elemental Shapeshifting: Iblis into fire, Dark (and Mephiles) into a shadow.
• Empathic Healer: Mephy's healing abilities have this as a sort of "cap" to them, which physically prevents him from completely transferring severe injuries to himself (though that doesn't mean he won't try). Coupled with his Healing Factor, this is a very useful skill when it's not taken too far. Enhanced to a degree by contact with Chaos Emeralds.
  • However, he's been known to endanger himself by trying to push beyond his known limits, explaining that he's willing to suffer if it meant that it was going to help out as much as possible. No one is pleased with this mindset, and Dark and Shadow have vocally expressed disapproval of the thought.
• Empty Shell: Heavily implied to be the fate of any of Dark's personified Emotions if they become "Disconnected". In "Rift", Logic likens it to a Fate Worse than Death, so much so that he nearly suffers a Heroic BSoD when describing it, as he had seen it firsthand
• Exhausted Eye Bags: Given his insomnia, Dark has these often. The majority of "Flux" was spent with them worsening, even.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Dire's a Type 2.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Dark.
• Evil Twin: Mephiles & Dark, and Dark & Iblis.
• Failed a Spot Check: Iblis when the sun sets, giving Dark the advantage.
• Fear of Thunder: Mephiles, due to his sensitive ears.
• Forgets to Eat: Mephiles in the first few installments, and Dark in the later ones.
• Glowing Eyes: Iblis.
• Grudging "Thank You": Dark. A lot, especially towards Shadow.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Dark, having been trapped in the Scepter of Darkness for ten years.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Mephy usually says this about himself in later chapters, much to Dark's caution.
• Good with Numbers: Considering he's the will and thought of Solaris, Dark.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Dark, and Shadow to a lesser extend.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Shadow, which is no surprise given his franchise origin.
  • Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Rouge, though she appears to wear more than her canon counterpart.
• Hates Being Touched: Unless you're Mephiles, an innocent pet, or Iblis post-side change, then expect this from Dark on a regular basis. Partially justified, as Dark is paranoid, and believes that anyone outside that small circle would never be interested in him enough other than to hurt him. Also, due to a decade of total isolation, save for Mephiles, Dark is not accustomed to such gestures and immediately goes into panic mode. Sometimes, he might even panic if the one doing so is in fact that small circle. He warns about the possibility often.
• Headbutt of Love: Mephy begins doing this with Dark in "Flux", and Dark later does this as well to Mephy starting in "Rift".
• Healing Factor: Mephy can recover from injuries much quicker than most, though may still be debilitated until then. Notable examples of this is when he survived the severe beating from Dire, recovered from being struck and slammed headfirst into a brick wall in a matter of hours with little more than a sore head, and waking up from a month long coma with a decent level of coherence.
• Healing Hands: Mephy's Healing Ability is often channeled this way.
• Heel–Face Turn: Dark in the middle of Memories and Iblis in the 38th chapter.
• Heroic BSoD: Dark suffers this when he believes his negligence had caused Mephy to die, several times. He also has this when he believes that Iblis (who he thought was a figment at the time) was going to leave him, mirroring an event in his past that deeply scarred.
  • Mephy also suffers this briefly when witnessing the aftermath of when Dark was thrown down a set of stairs. He also has this happen whenever his senses are overloaded, leaving him hardly functional until the stressor has passed.
• Homeschooled Kids: May or may not by the case with the Boys. They do not attend an actual school. They seem to get their information from books, TV and the Internet, though...
• How Many Fingers?: Rouge asks this after Shadow punches Mephiles in the head.
• How Much Did You Hear?
• I Ate WHAT?!: In "Rift", Dark accidentally chews apart a package of jerky while sleepwalking. Upon finding a piece of meat in his mouth once lucid, he promptly rushes to the bathroom to vomit, despite Mephy and Iblis trying to assure him that it was possible that he didn't swallow anything. Based on what he says while throwing up, we at least know that he swallowed bits of the plastic bag.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Mephiles tries this on Dire after he possesses Dark. It doesn't work.
• The Insomniac: Dark is a Type C.
• Instant Illness: Due to their weaker immune systems, this is common among the Boys, namely Mephy and Dark, the latter of whom is almost always sickly to begin with.
• Instant Sedation: Given their unusual physiology, this can be explained simply that Dark and Mephy's bodies processes the medicine differently. This also means that great care must be taken to avoid adverse reactions.
• Invisible to Normals: Iblis for a while during Flux.
• Ironic Fear: Dark is actually afraid of the dark, more specifically absolute darkness. Partial justified because he spent a decade in total darkness, and he will panic if he can't see. His eyes also reflect light like a cat, so he does have good night vision... as long as there's a glimmer of light to use it with.
• Kind Restraints: Happens to Dark early in "Flux", much to his and Mephy's dismay.
• Laughing Mad: Has happened to Dark more than once, especially while under a lot of stress.
  • Zane, a mental representation of Dark's "Insanity", is this a great deal of the time, especially if Dark's grip on reality slips ever so slightly. Crosses into Fridge Horror when he states, between uncontrollable fits of laughter, that he doesn't like being crazy as much as it would seem.
• Licking the Blade: Dark, in his earlier appearances.
• Literal-Minded: Iblis.
• Locked in the Bathroom: Dark does this after Mephiles snaps at him and unintentionally says something hurtful to him in "Rift"
• Madness Mantra: This is very common with Dark.

  Dark: Brother's gone! Brother's gone! Brother's gone!

  Dark: ... Let go... Let me go... Let go of me... Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Get your hands off of me!

  Dark: ... I wanna go home... I wanna go home... I wanna go home... I wanna g-go home... I w-wanna go home... I wanna go h-home...

  Dark: (While grabbing his head) NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO ^note When asked on the blog about one of the ways he would react if either Mephiles or Iblis had died

  Dark: You weren't supposed to find me! You weren't! You weren't! You weren't supposed to find me! You weren't supposed to find me!

  Dark: ... I'm not good enough, never good enough, not good enough...

• Malfunction Malady: Confirmed by Word of God and doodles that Iblis can sneeze fire by accident.
• Manipulative Bastard: Dark, and later Iblis.
• Me's a Crowd: Dark's collective emotions are a good example.
• Messy Hair: Well, quills and fur, more like. Dark is usually very unkempt in appearance compared to Mephiles, who takes pride in grooming himself.
• Mind Screw: Dire's preferred method of torment.
• Minor Major Character: Rouge and Shadow became this in Flux.
• Modesty Towel: Played With. Shadow does this in chapter of "Flux", with him commenting on needing his clothes. Mephy points out the absurdity of the idea, as Shadow is a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal most of the time, and that the only thing he wears regularly are shoes, socks and gloves.
• Mood-Swinger: Dark.
• Mouthy Kid: Dark.
• Must Have Caffeine: Mephiles, but not in a typical sense. It tends to calm him down, as his body processes it differently. It's common for him to seek a cup after a nerve wracking experience, or while particularly hyper.
• My Skull Runneth Over: Dark, who is highly intelligent, capable of absorbing information almost instantly, and has the inexplicable ability to understand anything with little prior training. He doesn't know how or why it works that way, but it could be due a side effect of the experiments on the Solaris Project. Implied to have this ability stunted a bit after his skull was cracked.
  • His ability to See possible outcomes has filled his brain with memories of things that could have been and things that never will be. He implies in the Character Blog at one point that this is the reason why he's not often happy, as well as why he's unable to sleep soundly most nights.
• Neat Freak: Mephy, who is often described as being well groomed and is often fretting about the state of Dark's fur as well. It's not uncommon for Mephy to clean up.
• Near-Villain Victory: The ending of Memories... until Iblis pulls his Heel–Face Turn.
• Nervous Wreck: Dark about 85% of the time.
• No Medication for Me: Given their strange physiology, this is the case with the Boys, as it's difficult to gauge what sort of effect it will have on them. Notable reasons include that aspirin leaves Mephy high as a kite, and some sedatives make Dark physically ill. Another implied incident included Mephy's stomach being agitated by Pepto. They are reasonably wary of medicines.
  • Dark is also suspicious of any medications, as he doesn't like to be drugged.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: Mephiles, to Dark.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Dark and Iblis.
• Oddball in the Series: Job Quest not only isn't as long, but doesn't seem to have a plot.
• Oh, Crap!: A common occurrence, both humorous and serious. Usually features Mephy saying "Ah/Oh/Aw geeze" in varying degrees of intensity.
• Only Sane Man: Logic.
• Our Nudity Is Different: Played With. Mephy, Dark and Iblis rarely wear anything, even by Male Mobian standards, given that their crystal coated hands and feet would destroy gloves, socks and shoes. The range of their wardrobe includes scarves and winter hats, and rarely much else.
  • In an early chapter of "Flux", Shadow (while in a Modesty Towel) comes to the realization that Mephy and Dark are nudists by Mobian standards, and proceeds to erase the thought from his mind by beating his head with a shoe.
• Overcome Their Differences: Dark and Shadow, while Mephiles is comatose.
• Pacifist: Usually Mephiles UNLESS you press his Berserk Button.
• Picky Eater: Dark, who prefers a vegetarian diet. Will not eat anything that has had contact with meat, but will occasionally eat an egg if it's proven that it was never going to hatch into something. Dark is almost willing to starve himself to uphold this.
• Playing Sick: Dark fakes a migraine to prevent Shadow from asking too many questions about Shu. Shu later advises him against it in the future, should the next one be worse.
• Playing with Fire: Iblis, natch.
• Power Trio: The original Mephiles, Shadow, and Rouge. Later Mephiles, Dark, and Iblis.
• Power Incontinence: Common with Dark and Mephy, be it through stress or nightmares. A Running Gag is that an appliance, usually an overhead light or the toaster, will become a causality of this.
• Psychic Nosebleed: Dark has suffered these before. In "Flux", he gets one proceeding an intense pain in his head when he realizes the true identity of Shu. He's also prone to these on the Character Blog if asked about possible bad future outcomes he's had visions of, implied to be the result of too much information assaulting his brain at once. May or may not be a factor into the migraines that plague him.
• Real Men Eat Meat: Iblis, much to Dark's displeasure.
• The Reliable One: Rouge most of the time. She's usually the one getting things taken care of while the others are panicking.
• Reluctant Psycho: Dark, natch.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: "You blew up a comet?!"
• Repressed Memories: Dark has these due to trying to salvage his sanity. He screwed up and repressed more than he intended, and gradually allows them to resurface over time. Partially why he has severe migraines is because he's spent so long keeping them hidden, that fighting them back causes him mental distress.
  • Mephy is implied to have these, though he handles them far better than Dark does. It's implied that Dark had a hand in repressing them, but it's likely that Dark repressed that for himself as well.
• Running Gag: Mephiles' obsession of pointing out rabbits.
  • Mephy's ability to staple balloons to a wall without popping them.
  • Shadow's model of his motorcycle having the misfortune of being destroyed after he fixed it.
  • The titles of Chapters 7-44 of "Flux" all refer to the state of Rae's original computer, and how she had to type the later chapters on her iPod. She never changed them.
• Sanity Slippage: Dark and Iblis both have shown this, with Dark being a repeat offender. Dark tends to speak in short rhymes or repeat himself frantically when this occurs.
  • Zane, the personification of "Insanity" among Dark's emotions, is this around the clock. He's horribly aware of what's happening to him and doesn't enjoy it as much as his giggling might indicate.
• Sanity Strengthening: Dark implies at several points that being in close proximity to Mephy clears his mind ("... They go 'way 'round you...")
• Scars Are Forever: A good way to see when a drawing from the author is taking place, is to see what scars are visible.
  • Dark has several visible marks on his body, such as the bite in his ear from "Relapse" and a scruff of fur on his left side that grows that way because of a large scar from being slashed there twice in "Memories". He also gains electrical burns around his neck in "Flux" from a shock collar, and it's said in one of his reference sheets that there's far more hidden under his fur and quills from injuries. A Humanized design of him from the author shows that he also had faint clawmarks on his left cheek.
  • Iblis also shares the same kind of tear in his ear, but is relatively scar free.
  • Mephy "heals fast" due to his Good Thing You Can Heal ability, so he rarely has lasting scars. However, because of Dire attacking him in "Flux", Mephy has gained a single scar over his left eye that was the deepest gouge. As of the latest chapter of "Rift", which has taken place eight months after the attack, the scar is still there. May or may not have been because Dire was living dark energy.
• Scary Teeth: Dark and Iblis both have these. Dark despises them because they do not reflect his dietary habits (he's a vegetarian).
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Krad, to an extent.
• Sharing a Body: Mephiles and Dark.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Shadow and Rouge.
• Sleep Walking: Dark. Can range from simply sitting up in bed while mumbling, or actually managing to open the door and leave the house, much to Mephiles' apprehension. He's even "reorganized" the kitchen during an episode.
• Sleepy Head: Mephy, who has narcolepsy that can be triggered by stressful events.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Mephiles.
• The Sociopath: Dire, and, to an extent, Dark and Iblis.
• The South Paw: Dark, as well as his emotions in his mind.
• Staircase Tumble: A big turning point in Memories when this happens to Dark.
• Stress Vomit: Common with Mephy, especially if sickened by the scent of blood. Dark now as well, after his encounters with Dire.
• Super OCD: Dark displays tendencies of this, even while sleepwalking (as he's been known to reorganize the kitchen, or stack things in his sleep). Mephy also has this on a lesser intensity, generally when it comes to grooming.
• Sweet Tooth: Mephiles. It's normal for him to have coffee with his sugar.
  • Not particularly touched upon, but Dark seems to have a fondness for peppermint candies in "Flux"
• Talking in Your Dreams: Mostly between Mephiles and Dark. Iblis can do it, too.
• Teeth Flying: Iblis loses one of his canines like this.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Played with. Mephy's suspected date of birth is September 13th, 1996... which also happens to be a Friday.
• Three Plus Two: Beginning with Mephiles, Shadow, and Rouge, then adding Dark and Iblis/Shu.
• Token Evil Teammate: Dark in the beginning of Memories.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Dark likes cantaloupe. A lot.
  • Mephy has a particular fondness for oatmeal cookies, as well as broccoli beef and orange chicken
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: The reason for Dark's memory issues. In addition to what happened to him early in life, he's also received amnesia from being in a building during an earthquake, when a chunk of debris struck his skull. The ailment lasts for three chapters until something jars his memories back.
  • This almost occurs when Dark witnesses what happens to Mephy at the hands of Dire. Iblis manages to keep him coherent enough to be able to tell what happened later to Shadow and Rouge. Iblis also realizes that this happened to Dark before because of his abuse to him early on, which may or may not be why Dark's memories of his past are spotty at best.
• Troubled Child: Dark, especially in later chapters.
• Trouble Follows You Home: Dark when he realizes Iblis is residing in Mephiles' mind.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Dark sometimes falls into this.
• Unfamiliar Ceiling: Mephiles has been in the hospital enough times to apparently recognize where he is based on that fact.
• Unluckily Lucky: Mephy ponders that at times, as, despite the situations he ends up in, he still manages to make it out alright.
• Victory Is Boring: After defeating Iblis, Shadow and Rouge have to go back to work.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Dark can take on the form of something he sees. Iblis has this power as well, although it's unclear whether or not he can become anything but Shu.
• Wham Episode: The moment Dark was thrown down the stairs. This is something that still causes him distress, as he developed a fear of stairs, as well as a hairline fracture in his skull that may be contributing to his migraines.
  • When Dark first realizes that Shu was Iblis all along.
  • Iblis wasn't a hallucination to Dark during "Flux" at all. This is especially hard hitting, as Iblis, at the time, was stuck on a different plane of existence that only Dark could see.
• Wham Line: This is invoked in-universe when Dark finally makes the connection that Iblis was really there the whole time in "Flux"
  • Dire does this when establishing his role to Dark. He breaks his own neck, then reforms in his true form to show his invulnerability
    Dire: Break my neck. Very well, since you lack the nerve.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Mephy, who doesn't have visible pupils, does this often.
• Yandere: In a non-romantic way, Dark is this to Mephy, to the point of being threatening to anyone who dares captivate Mephy's attention. On another level, Iblis is somewhat this way as well towards Dark, to the point of If I Can't Have You….
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair
• You Monster!: Mephiles to Dark, Dark to Iblis and Dire... It's a pretty common occurrence.