The Only One Who Understands
Drew this for two reasons. 1) i know quite a few people like The Cookie Yaoi so seeing blue and yellow on your screen will grab your attention (/hj) and 2) i wrote a melodramatic af au infodump in my docs yesterday and this drawing was my creative climax
Heres the full thing copypasted because i have no shame /silly:
Mephiles and Shadow are very similar, actually.
Think about it this way. Solaris wasn't ALWAYS a cruel being. At first, they want the best for the mortal kind. In fact, his will to protect the weaker and disadvantaged leads them to Soleanna, a mobian country in danger of being attacked by the stronger human tribes. He quite literally gives themselves away, turning into the Living Flame, to protect those weaker creatures from destruction.
But as time passes, they start taking his protection for granted. No longer a god to them, but a mere tool. The Duke of Soleanna, albeit kind at heart, experiments on the Living Flame, and by extension Solaris, for an ultimately selfish reason. The Kingdom was well prepared for the queen’s death, and he could have taken care of his daughter on his own, given her the warmth she needed at the time. Of course, there IS emotional context that makes him unable to find another way out of the situation, but I can be pretty certain that Solaris doesn't really know grief, so they wouldn't understand it either way. And you can't really accept someone’s apology if you don't understand what they’re saying, can you?
Solaris is experimented on, abused even. The Living Flame is pushed to such extremes that it splits into two — Body and Soul. The Body doesnt feel, it only has an urge to destroy. But the Soul of Solaris, overflowing from despair that seeped out of his core from the gashing wound in his back, the betrayal, the sheer disrespect, after all he has done for them… starts to feel HATE. Only ashes of his love for mortal kind remain. He is hence the unloving cold of lightless shadow. Mephiles the Dark.
And then, there is Shadow, who much like him too yearns to do good. From the start of his friendship, or maybe even siblinghood with Maria, he wants to protect the weak and disabled, to give protection and hope.
But G.U.N rips him away from his creator, his late father, and treats him like a tool. A weapon of mass destruction without sentience. He is given no respect, thrown around like an object, taken for granted.
Mephiles comes to understand that Shadow doesn’t seal him from his own volition, but because he was ordered to. Neither of them are allowed to have a will of their own, to think for themselves. But Mephiles, in the sense, has already set himself free. And when his cage is broken by the other’s hand, albeit accidentally, he knows that deep within, Shadow too yearns to break out of his chains. A fellow unfortunate. A kindred Soul.
But Shadow isn’t sure of his choice just yet. He is fragile. Impressionable. And, if he got the idea — the lie, in Mephiles’ eyes, — drilled into his head, that there IS good to the mortal kind, he would lose his one possible kin forever.
. I never finished it but the idea and lore is there yknow