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mama-qwerty · 1 year

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What happened after Eclipse's panic attack from losing the game to Silver?

Picking up from the end of this one.

~~~~~

It had been two days since Eclipse's panic attack after losing to Silver at a children's board game. The darkling had fallen asleep in Callie's lap, and sleep most of the rest of the night.

Since then, when the redhead tried to talk to him about the things he'd said while in the throes of said panic, the boy staunchly refused to discuss it. His overall mood was withdrawn and quiet.

Silver noticed the change in his brother, and cautiously approached his mother to talk about it. Callie sat with the hedgehog, out of earshot of Eclipse, and spoke to him gently.

"You know how Eclipse was created as the 'ultimate weapon' for the Black Arms?" Silver nodded. "And remember what he told us about his father?" Another nod. "Well, I don't think his father treated him very well. Especially when Eclipse lost. And now your brother thinks he should never lose, or he'll be in trouble."

The hedgehog furrowed his brow. "But everyone loses sometimes. You can't win all the time. It's okay to lose. Right?"

Callie nodded. "I know that, and you know that, but I don't think Eclipse knows that. I think he . . ." She paused, thinking of the best way to phrase it. "I think his father punished him whenever he lost."

"Oh." Silver lowered his head slightly, before peeking up at her. "Bad?"

The librarian gave a little sigh. If anyone understood harsh physical punishments for any misdeed, Silver did. He'd suffered plenty of them at the hands of Dr. Starline. She nodded. "Pretty bad, I think."

"Oh." They sat in silence for a long moment, as Silver traced the circle on the palm of his hand with a finger. "I didn't know that."

His forehead fan began to bristle, and Callie smoothed it flat with a gentle stroke of her hand. "What happened the other night wasn't your fault, honey. We didn't know. You guys have played plenty of games together and he never once reacted like this. I don't know what it was about that game in particular that set him off, but it did, and now we know. Can't help him if we don't know what's wrong, right?"

Silver nodded, but kept his eyes on the finger circling his palm. "If I knew it would bother him so much, I would have let him win."

"Ah, that wouldn't have solved anything," Callie said, pulling the boy to snuggle in her lap. She caressed his muzzle with a knuckle. "He would have gone off at some point, and I'd rather he do this at home where we can contain it, as opposed to out in public where he may hurt someone. It's not your fault, babydoll."

The boy didn't respond, but he moved to pull his hands close to his chest. Callie gently rocked him, trying to soothe his growing anxiety.

"Hey, remember when you first came and you thought you needed to behave in a certain way, or else I'd get angry with you?" He nodded, his head bumping her chin. "Remember how we worked through that, and now you feel more comfortable?" Another nod. "This is kinda the same thing. Eclipse is used to being treated a certain way when he loses, so we just need to help him see that losing isn't a big deal. Right?" A third nod. "Right. Why don't you head over to the Wachowski's in a little bit, and I'll see what I can do for your brother. Sound like a plan?"

"Okay."

They sat together for while, and when Callie was confident Silver's anxiety and misplaced guilt had passed, she let him go to head to Sonic's house.

Now she stood watching her younger son as he played Mario Kart. He sat stone still, eyes glued to the TV, and thumbs moving over the controls. A look of pure concentration painted his features, and she didn't think she'd ever seen him look so serious.

Taking a breath for strength, she stepped into the room.

"Hey, Monkey," she called, flopping herself on the couch. He sat cross-legged on the floor before the TV. "How's the game going?"

"Fine." It was little more than a grunt.

"Good." She reached forward and grabbed the second controller off the coffee table. "Can I play?"

Eclipse paused the game and turned to give her a confused look over his shoulder. "Why?"

"I gotta have a reason to want to play the game system my boys spend way too much time on?" she said with a shrug. "C'mon. Lemme in."

The boy studied her for another few seconds, before turning and exiting his game to switch to two player.

For a while, the two played in silence. Callie--who was actually pretty darn good at Mario Kart, thanks to constant challenges from a certain blue hedgehog--feigned ignorance and spent a good amount of time crashing into walls or slipping off the track. Eclipse easily won against her, and it helped perk his mood. He began to laugh and the two traded teasing and jokes over the next few races.

Then she slowly got 'better'. Before, she finished last in nearly every race, but now she moved up higher. Over the next hour, she steadily gained on Eclipse, and claimed to be 'getting the hang of it'.

The darkling's mood began to drop again. His growing frustration became evident during their most recent race, when Callie made her way to the front. Eclipse was stuck in 4th.

His tail flicked in an obvious agitated manner.

They were on their last lap, and Callie moved around the track quickly. The finish line was in sight.

Right before she crossed it, she paused the game.

"What are you feeling, right now?" she asked quietly, her voice soft.

The boy growled, his back still to her. "MAD!"

"How do you feel?"

Another growl, his hands clutching the controller in a death grip. "My stomach hurts!"

"What about your chest?"

"TIGHT!" he yelled, jumping to his feet and turning to her. A deep scowl twisted his muzzle. "I'M GONNA LOSE!"

"Yes, you are," she said, scooting forward on the couch until she perched on the edge. "Why is that so terrible?"

"I CAN'T LOSE!" He hauled his arm back to pitch the controller, and Callie moved quickly to snatch it from his hand before he could. The scowl never left his face. "I CAN'T!!"

"Why?" she asked, going to her knees before him. "What happens when you do?"

"He won't let me lose! He . . . he makes me stronger!"

"How? How does he make you stronger?"

"HE HURTS ME!" the boy cried, his clawed hands going to his head spikes and yanking. A little habit he'd picked up from his brother. "He hurts me and tells me it's because I lost and it'll help me be stronger and better and faster and if I didn't lose he wouldn't need to keep doing that and I fail I keep failing and losing and he keeps hurting me and it won't stop it'll never stop because I'm a disappointment and won't stop failing him!"

By the end of his rant he was speaking fast, his voice higher pitched. Tears streamed down his muzzle. He was spiraling.

Callie knew she probably shouldn't touch him, not when he's panicking again, but reached forward and pulled him to her anyway. He stiffened in her arms, trail thrashing behind him as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.

"Listen to me," she said, her voice soft but firm in his ear. "Listen. What he did was not your fault. You could have done everything exactly right, and he still would have hurt you. Because it's got nothing to do with making you stronger or better or whatever he said. It's about power. It's about control. And sometimes it's about someone being cruel just because they like it, and they can."

Eclipse struggled in her arms, growling and hissing at her words.

"NO! You don't know him! You don't know! He's the greatest Black Arms there ever was! He's strong and wants me to be strong too! He does whatever necessary to take care of the Black Comet! He takes care of his people!"

"Then why are you here?"

Her voice was soft in his ear, and he stopped struggling with a jerk. Now he stood, trembling in her arms.

They didn't know why he was here. He couldn't remember anything before waking up in the forest all those months ago. He'd always suspected he was on some secret mission, but as the days turned into weeks, and then months, with no clear objective, that theory was looking less and less likely.

What was looking more likely, was that he was abandoned. Cast aside for one too many failures. Banished to some backwater mudball, awaiting the inevitable arrival of the Black Comet, and the ultimate destruction of every living thing on the planet.

It was a theory Callie had developed over time, especially with the things Eclipse had told her about Black Doom. She suspected he may also have considered it, but never verbalized it to himself.

Now she released him, and cupped his muzzle with her hands. Her thumbs moved in small arcs, wiping the tears as he sniffed back more.

"I may not know your father, but I know people like him," she said, locking her blue-green eyes with his gold. "I've dealt with people like him. They hurt you, and tell you it's your fault it happened. If you'd only done this, or not done that, or said this, or not said that, then they wouldn't have to hurt you. Wouldn't have to punish you. They want you to think there is some way to make them happy." She shook her head. "Honey, there isn't. No matter what you do, they will always hurt you. Because they like how it makes them feel when they do."

The darkling stared at her, his eyes big and round. He sniffed, and when he spoke next, his voice was soft and cracked. "Why?"

Callie sighed. "I wish I knew, baby. I really do. And I wish there was some magic thing I could do or say to take all your pain away. You don't know how much I wish that. But what I can do, is tell you that you are safe, you will always be safe, so long as you're here with me. It's okay to lose, it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to just be you. Because as much as you make me want to yank my hair out some days, I love you, just as you are."

Fresh tears trickled from his eyes, and she pulled him closer for another hug. He trembled in her arms for a long moment, before slowly wrapping his own around her.

"You are safe," she said again, placing a gentle kiss on his head. "No one is going to hurt you. Never again. And if someone does, they'll have to answer to me."

Eclipse uttered a sound between a laugh and a sob, before burying his face into the crook of her neck. He moved his body forward, crawling into her lap and pressing himself tightly against her.

"You are my son now," she said, holding him tightly and placing little kisses on the top of his head. "And I am so proud of you. I love you so much. And I will never, ever, let you go."

He sniffed. "Really?"

"Well, some days you make me consider selling you to the zoo," she teased, giving him a little poke in the side and drawing a soft giggle from him. "But I haven't so far, have I?" He shook his head. "Nope. So, looks like you may be stuck with me for the long haul. You lucky darkling, you."

Eclipse tightened his arms around her, and let out a long sigh. "So . . . I'm not a failure?"

"Oh my lord, do I have to clean out those little ear holes of yours?" Callie leaned forward and blew a raspberry on his shoulder. "No, you're not a failure. You're a kid. Kids make mistakes. Actually, everyone makes mistakes. Even grown ups. Even Black Doom."

He pulled back quickly at that to look at her. "Even him?"

She nodded. "Know what his biggest mistake was?" He shook his head. "Sending you here. Know why?" Another shake. "Because now the ultimate weapon of the Black Arms is my kid, and he'll never, ever, ever get you back. If he ever tried, he'd have to go through me."

A look of worry passed over Eclipse's face. "He's really powerful. He could hurt you. Kill you."

Callie shook her head, her lips pulled into a smirk. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and even that pales in comparison to a mother defending her child. And besides, I've got a mighty echidna warrior, two super-powered hedgehogs, and a brainiac fox in my corner. What's he got? The whole Black Arms race? Pfft. Hardly a fair fight."

The darkling kept staring at her for a long moment, an unreadable look on his face. "You'd really fight . . . for me?"

The snark and joking faded from Callie's demeanor, and she leaned forward to plant a kiss on the boy's muzzle. "Little man, I would do anything to keep you or your brother safe. You two are the most important people in the entire world to me. So yes, I would really fight for you."

The tears returned in full force once that statement hit home, and Eclipse leaned forward to hug his mother with all his might. Callie gladly held him, whispering soothing words and rocking him gently.

~~~

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#ask me #ask shortie #eclipse the darkling #callie macpherson #silver the hedgehog #sonic fanfiction #sonic the hedgehog fanfiction

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