Are you all amazed to see me again? I know, I know you're absolutely thrilled-huh? You say you're not thrilled? Come again? You wish I would just quit it already and not drag everybody through another one of my stories? Well, geez, thanks a lot! *Grumble grumble* Do you know how long I worked on this? Do you? What? Too long? Ok, now you're just being mean! To be absolutely honest, I wasn't even going to post this until a lot later. I wanted it either done or almost done before I published because I don't know what direction we're going with this one. Seriously. It could be anywhere. Like I said, I wasn't going to post until I knew for sure it was going to work out, but then I was reading my Facebook horiscope (don't judge me, ok?) and it was like, "The thing you have procastinated on for many a night will bring you great joy if you complete it today, noble aquarius!" Now, who am I to argue with the great power of a Facebook horiscope app? So, I post. Don't know when chapter 2 will be posted (it's done), Don't know when chapter 3 will be posted (almost done), but chapter 1 is being posted now.

Just as the hardest sentence to write in a paper is the first one, the hardest chapter to upload in a fanfiction is indeed the first. Anyway, I was doing some youtubing years ago, and I came across the mysterious character Nazo. After learning pretty much all there is to know about him, I more or less forgot him. Until today. The one thing I notice whenever I see him featured in fanworks (even though some are amazing, I'm not bashing,) is that he's always the bad guy. Nazo always struck me as more of a good guy. But, whatever, up to you. I wanted to see him featured as an ally for once, so I am writing a story on him. Enjoy, and please, please, PLEASE review!

Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.
George Bernard Shaw

Hurrying as fast as he could without outright running, the hedgehog strode past once-white marble walls and decaying fancy rugs. He was apparently in some sort of palace, but no palace quite like this one had ever been constructed. The hedgehog rushed past beautiful intricately constructed stained glass windows without so much as a side glance; the windows may be more interesting if light ever shone though them. Wonderfully crafted statues and paintings worth millions stood every ten feet or so, covered in so much dust it seemed they had not been touched in hundreds of years. They hadn't, to the best of the hedgehog's knowledge.

Hurrying even faster, it was all he could do not to run. The strange maze of a palace did not seem to faze him at all; he navigated the corridors as though he had lived here all his life. He had had a long life, and plenty of time to memorize the room he was heading to now.

Drawing near to the door, the hedgehog felt an emotion somewhat strange to him, a sort of tingling in his lower stomach that made him want to turn and run. Fear. He had been moving at a fairly brisk pace before, but slowed as he came nearer. All he could do was stare at the figures carved on the door. Many of them he could not identify, so he stared at the one he could: a carving of a dragon, most of it cloaked in clouds, making it difficult to tell what kind of dragon it was. The dragon was a charcoal black, and its face was carved so that no matter where someone stood, it would appear to them it was looking directly at them. Its face hovered just above the door handle, as if to give the hedgehog even more reason to want to delay passing through.

The hedgehog stopped with his hand on the handle, swallowing. This was it. Time to face the music. The hedgehog twisted the handle and swung the door open wide. Walking up next to another sapient he glanced sideways at it and was given the strangest impression of looking into a mirror. This made sense, as the two were identical twins. The fact that their outfits were almost identical as well did not help dispel the illusion. Their appearances weren't the only things the same. In each other's eyes, they could see their own fear reflected. The fear of the room's third occupant.

As if he had read their minds, the third occupant chose then to speak. "Vicus! Tractus! What news do you have?"

The twins, who both jumped when they were addressed, quickly lowered their heads respectfully. One of them stepped forward. "Master." He murmured. "Your contact has done well in his side of the bargain. Already he is almost completed with the task Master has set for him. There is just one thing…"

The third occupant, who had relaxed with a purr when he heard the good news, suddenly clenched. The third occupant could have once been mistaken for a hedgehog, just like the brothers, but now no one could make such a fatal error. "One thing?" his voice was deadly. Swallowing, he wished he could turn to his brother for just a little encouragement, but doing so would be unforgivable. Instead, he mustered his courage and forged ahead.

"Master's contact wishes for you to do him one small thing to prove Master's power. A-a trifle, really. I could easily-"

The third occupant raised his hand, silencing the hedgehog immediately. "I did not ask for your assessment of the request, Tractus. I asked you what it was."

Tractus bowed even lower. "Master's contact wishes for you…to take the life of a boy."

The third occupant laughed, a short bark, but there wasn't a hint of humor in his voice. "A boy? This is what he wishes me to do? How would this prove my power to him? Unless…"

The third occupant suddenly stiffened, an odd look in his eyes. Both brothers tensed immediately, and prepared to defend themselves. The third occupant only got that look when he suspected treachery. And when he suspected treachery, blood would be spilt.

"Unless the boy is holy." He breathed. "Perhaps it is a trap…"

There was a very long pause, with the brothers nervously trying to think of a thing to say that was guaranteed not to get their master angry somehow. Neither of them could think of one, and it was the third occupant who spoke once again and ended the silence.

"Perhaps not. After all, he has no reason to fear…no indication of my true power…he'll do as I say first, and then I am free to dispose of him…yes…Vicus!"

Vicus nodded nervously. "Yes, Master?"

His mouth grew into a wicked grin. "Our time here is almost up. Make the necessary preparations."

Vicus couldn't stop a small gasp. "But Master…! Surely you don't mean…?"

Their master was in too much of a good mood to worry about his breach in protocol. Luckily. "I do mean, Vicus. Get it done! Tractus!"

Tractus stepped forward once more. "Yes, Master?"

"The rest of the job will finish itself, I believe." He purred, then paused. "…Dispose of the contact. I do not need him any longer."

Tractus nodded and then hesitated. "…Master?"

"Yes, Tractus?"

"What of the boy? Shall we let him live?"

"Hmm…" the third occupant considered this for a moment. "Well, it would just be a waste of time and energy…and he will not be able to stop us…" Suddenly, he clapped his hands in delight. "Oh, let's just kill him anyway!"

Tractus nodded in surprise. "Err…yes, Master."

The third occupant settled back into his chair with his eyes closed in content. One eye peeped open. "Oh yes, and boys?"

The brothers nodded as one. "Yes, Master?"

"I want no…mistakes…as it were. Not when we're so close to the goal, eh?" He smiled insanely.

Vicus nodded. "Of course, Master. All will be completed on time, exactly as Master ordered it."

Tractus chimed in as well. "And I can assure Master the contact and the hedgehog boy will not survive the encounter."

He should have kept silent in retrospect, as the third occupant suddenly shot to his feet, power shooting up around him as though he were on fire. "Hedgehog!"

Tractus swallowed, accidentally taking a step back. "M-m-master!"

It was too late, their Master already too far gone. The light of suspected treachery that had left his eyes without resistance just a few minutes ago had returned with a vengeance. "So," he whispered, taking a step towards the unfortunate hedgehog. "So," he continued, "You tried to trick me, did you? Thought you could outsmart me, did you? Thought, maybe, your master wouldn't notice? Wanted your master's power for yourself! Well, you can't have it! It's mine! It'll always be mine!"

He practically screamed the last sentence, insanity consuming his thoughts. Tractus was on his knees now, trembling all over. "N-n-no! Tractus wishes to serve Master! Master's p-power is all Master's!"

The third occupant simmered, his sudden tantrum cooling just as quickly as it came. "Yes…" he murmured. "You are right, Tractus. You do wish only to serve, and it is all mine. However," At this he smirked. "Flattery can only save you so many times, Tractus."

"Yes Master." The hedgehog on the ground tried to get the words out as quickly as he could, wondering what on earth his fatal mistake could have been this time. Was the boy's species really all that important? Apparently so. He didn't dare ask the question he wanted to ask, but he also couldn't leave until he knew the answer. Thankfully, Vicus bravely stepped up for him.

"Master, what shall we do with the hedgehog boy? Shall we kill him still?"

"No." he rasped. "No, we shall not. We need this one alive. For now. However," He was smiling again. "That doesn't mean we can't have a little fun with him…Tractus, I want you to deliver a message for me…"

Both hedgehogs glanced simultaneously at one another, then back to their shared master, a nervous look in their eyes. Neither of them could ever dare say aloud what thoughts were running though their heads.

Sonic awoke with a yawn, stretched out in his bed. Closing his eyes and letting himself relax just a little bit longer before having to get up out of bed, he tried to think back and remember his dream. Something about a psycho with anger management issues who was planning on killing someone…

"Okay, okay," He said with a laugh. "I get it, Subconscious. No more scary movies before bed."

Casually, he threw the covers off his figure so he could swing his legs over the side of the bed and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. As he leaned over to turn the water on in the faucet, he tried to think if he had anything planned for today. It was Sunday, so Cream and Vanilla would be at church…Amy said she was working on her house…Knuckles would be doing the usual, so no fun there…Tails wasn't doing anything important to the best of his knowledge…nope. Schedule clean. Awesome. He could go for a run or something.

The water finished heating up, and he stepped inside. He took some shampoo off the built-in shelf and scrubbed all over. His run yesterday through the swamp had not been a good idea. But, oh well. Totally worth it when he sent mud flying all the way up into Faker's face. He rinsed off the last of the shampoo, then turned the water off and stepped out, grabbing a towel as he did so. Rubbing himself dry, he headed downstairs for breakfast.

He leaned into the refrigerator, craving something, but unsure what exactly it was.

Causally, he draped the towel around his shoulders so that his hands were free and grabbed a few eggs out of the refrigerator. Cracking them skillfully, he put them in a skillet and set it on the stove. Pulling two slices of bread out, he set them in the toaster and grabbed the butter, setting it on the table. An old song came to him out of the blue, and he hummed along as he prepared his breakfast. The toast popped up and he caught it before it even bounced back down into the toaster.

Tapping his foot in time with imaginary music, he grabbed a spatula and started turning the eggs.

Just as he was getting to the chorus, the phone rang. Still keeping time, he grabbed the phone off its charger and cradled it between shoulder and cheek as he went back to flipping the eggs. "Hello?"

"….Sonic the hedgehog?"

Sonic recognized the voice immediately. "No, Knuckles, it's some other super fast, super cool savior of the world."

"Oh, sorry, Shadow." Knuckles said innocently.

"Shadow! Really? Super fast maybe, but definitely not super cool! And what the heck? I've saved the world more times than him!"

"He might not be super cool, but he's still cooler than you."

"You're the one who can't even remember his own best friend's phone number," The blue hedgehog retorted, "Even when it's programmed into your phone!"

"No! Shut up! You have no idea of the nightmare I've been though trying to call you this morning! Why you and Tails wanted me to have this stupid thing is beyond me!"

Sonic laughed. "Problems, huh?"

"You better believe it. The humans made the buttons on this thing so tiny! I tried calling you and ended up dialing a physiatrist in Sweden!"

Sonic laughed so hard at this he almost lost the phone. "Wow."

"Yes, and I only called you by using a stick to dial! A stick!"

Now Sonic laughed so hard he did lose the phone. "Ok, ok! I get it. It was hard work reaching me. Now why did you want to reach me in the first place? I thought you were still mad."

"Well, you see…Tikal showed me something, and…"

"Oh, great. Now I have to worry about the two of you up there, alone." Sonic interrupted jokingly. While the echidna princess was indeed still sealed in the Master Emerald, she was capable of communicating with the outside world, and often offered company to Knuckles, something Sonic was greatful for.

"Sonic!" Knuckles shouted into the receiver, embarrassed. "That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"Alright, alright, jeez." Sonic answered back without skipping a beat. "What did Tikal show you then?"

Knuckles sighed, an extremely annoying sound over the phone. "I…I'm not sure if I should try to explain it over the phone. Would it be alright if I could show up at your house? I think it's a vision of the future. And a pessimistic one at that."

"Mkay. Yeah, sure. I don't care at all. You sure it's all ominous and doom, though?" Sonic finished making breakfast and piled it all onto one plate.

There was a pause on the other end. Then Knuckles answered, "I wish I could say no, seeing what I've seen. But Amy has recently informed me that as a friend I'm supposed to keep my lying under control."

"Hey," Sonic replied. He dropped his cocky attitude for a minute so Knuckles could tell he was being serious. "I know you're worried, but don't be. Whatever it is, we'll handle it. We always do. 'Sides," He began, and his voice took on his ever confident tone again, "I've been hoping for another adventure!

Knuckles groaned over the phone. "Just what we need. And of course, you always get your wish!"

Sonic laughed and hung up. His breakfast was done, and he piled it all onto one plate. He sat down and began to eat. He hadn't taken more than a few bites, though, before the phone rang again, startling Sonic. "What did you forget now, Knucklehead?" he mused to himself. Amused, he got up and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" he asked.

"You have one week."

"What?" Sonic asked, taken aback.

"You have one week."

"Knuckles?"

"You have one week."

"Who is this?"

There was a click and the line went dead. Sonic pulled away the receiver and stared at it, as though that could help him identify his mysterious caller. Man, he had to get caller's ID. He was considering getting Tails to track down the caller, if only to give a prankster a serious lesson. Still… Knuckles called warning something was about to happen, and then a creepy guy just happens to call him with essentially the same message. Something weird was going on around here.

He set the phone back down, resolving to call Tails later, and finished his breakfast. He was rinsing his plate off at the sink when there came a knock at the front door. Blinking, Sonic glanced over at the clock. It had only been about 15 minutes since Knuckles had called. He had gotten here quick. He raced over to the door and opened it without bothering to check who it was. A mistake on his part. "Jeez, that was fas-!"

Sonic froze where he was, door half open, for who stood there was definitely not Knuckles.

"So sorry, rodent. Were you expecting someone else?"

Sonic stared up at the silhouette blocking his view of the morning sun. "Doctor Eggman?"