When Amy arrived home, she saw that there was a message on her answering machine. This terrified her at first; did the psychopath who tried to kidnap her know her phone number? Did he know where she lived? Amy's fears were only diminished when she pressed the button to replay the message and she heard the familiar sound of Sonic's voice.

Then a new fear came up.

"Hey, Amy," Sonic's voice said, slightly fuzzy from talking on his cell phone. "Look, I'll just get right to the point; the guy that attacked you and Shadow yesterday has Tails. Shadow and I are trying to gather everyone up so we can find him, so when you get this message, just come to Tails' house. I really need your help, Amy."

Amy stared at her answering machine in shock, wondering how on earth this could have happened. Esplouge had Tails? The person he had kidnapped in place of her was Tails?

"At this very moment, someone else is suffering because you wouldn't come with me. Does it make you feel selfish?"

"Do you want to know what you're causing to happen to another person?"

Amy felt completely disgusted with herself. It was crazy, but she did feel at least partially responsible for what was going on. There had to have been something she should have done, something she could have done to prevent all of this...

And now that psychopath had Tails, one of her dearest friends, and there really was no telling what he'd do to him...

Without another thought, Amy grabbed her piko piko hammer and ran out the door, hoping she could do anything it took to rescue Tails in time.

She had to make things right.


Esplouge stood over the human, panting heavily. Blood covered his front almost from head to toe, although even more blood covered the man he had just killed.

It all seemed so easy. Killing was just way too easy. He looked so much like Tails, it had been easy to keep the man's trust up until he removed the shard of glass he always kept in his glove, and even then, it had been too late for the man to put up much of a fight.

But that made sense, Esplouge figured as he slid the glass back into his glove, feeling it cut into his hand almost immediately. Of course the human hadn't been capable of fighting Esplouge back; Esplouge had been created with the energy of a chaos emerald, something much more powerful than any natural life. There was no way the human would have stood a chance.

The act of killing gave Esplouge a high he thought was impossible. Such an indescribably wonderful high, it was hard for several moments afterword for him to get his mind back on his goals.

He was going to kill Sonic and Shadow. He was going to kill everyone who was a threat to him, and he was going to completely raze the entire world. No one would see it coming until it was too late, and with the power of the chaos emeralds, he would make sure no one ever saw the light of day again.

Everyone was going to die...

Esplouge's mind went back to Tails, who was most likely awake by now. Oh yes, Tails was going to be especially fun to kill...

But for now, Tails needed to remain alive. As long as there were any remaining threats to Esplouge's plans, Tails needed to remain alive. Something he could hold over Sonic and Shadow's heads, to lure them to him when it eventually became necessary. Once he had gotten a few chaos emeralds and would have the upper hand.

Without glancing back at the mangled and bloody body, Esplouge headed back to his base.

And back to Tails.


Tails woke up completely alone. For a minute, he had no idea where he was, but as he took in his surroundings, he remembered.

He had been kidnapped. He had been kidnapped by someone who was completely insane, someone who looked strangely a lot like him, even down to the twin tails.

But for right now, there was no one else but him in that cold, dark cell.

Tails could see his cell phone on the floor near his cell, just out of his reach. Even so, he reached his hands out from between the bars and tried to stretch as far as he could to reach the phone, as though force of will alone would make it happen. He could see from where he was that it was off, so there was no point in screaming for Sonic; no one would hear him anyway.

No one could hear him scream, just as no one could see him cry. He was all alone for the time being, and there was nothing he could do to escape. All he could do was wait for Esplouge to come back. And once that happened...

Tails finally gave up his hopeless attempt at reaching the cell phone and began to cry, hiding his face behind his knees regardless of the fact no one was there to see him. He still didn't want to appear weak, knew he had to stop being so childish before Esplouge came back. It was just so hard to stop the tears once they got flowing.

No one was here to help him, not even Sonic. And he knew that any minute, Esplouge would come back to hurt him again.


Amy arrived at Tails' house rather quickly, completely out of breath by the time she got there. She was almost surprised to see that Shadow had convinced Rouge to come, although considering the situation, they were probably going to need all the help they could get.

Amy's previous guilt had yet to lift. She still felt at least partially responsible for Tails' kidnapping, even though she had obviously played no actual part in it. Still, she decided as soon as she saw Sonic's face, if she could, she would gladly switch places with Tails.

She couldn't stand seeing Sonic the way he was now. He looked worried, even though he tried to hide it, and did fairly well in that regard. Still, knowing that it was her fault Sonic looked like this...

Get a grip, Amy told herself, while forcing herself to smile at sonic as though nothing was wrong. It probably looked unnatural, but at least she tried. I didn't... It's not my fault...

She just had to convince herself of that.

"Hey, Amy," Sonic greeted somewhat flatly. "Glad you could make it."

Amy simply nodded as a response, feeling too guilty to say anything. She could still hear Esplouge's taunts in her head, accusing her of casting her own fate onto Tails of all people, as though if she had just let him kidnap her, Tails would be safe right now. She knew in her logical mind that made no sense, but in her emotional mind...

She couldn't help but feel like this was all her fault. There had to be something she should have done that could have prevented all the pain that Sonic and most likely Tails were facing at this very moment.

"So, um, what exactly happened?" Amy asked. "You didn't really explain much over your message..."

"Tails went out to look for a chaos emerald," Sonic said, holding up the note Tails had left for him the day before. "At some point, that psychopath got him."

"How do you know, though?" Rouge asked. "You're not just assuming this because he didn't come home on time, are you?"

"The maniac called me, for your information," Sonic said angrily, trying to keep himself from yelling. "Then I got to listen to Tails get the crap beaten out of him for the next several minutes. I'm not acting like an over protective parent, bat girl."

Rouge rolled her eyes.

"Hey, do you want my help or not?" she asked. "After all, I don't have to help you, especially if you're going to throw a fit every time someone says something you don't like."

"Oh, you're helping us," Shadow said coldly. "I need to get revenge on that bastard for trying to kill me. The only reason we're helping Sonic is because we share a common enemy."

Rouge rolled her eyes again but said nothing.

"If he called you, can't you try calling him back?" Amy asked. "Or try tracing the call or whatever?"

"He called from Tails' cell phone," Sonic said. "I've been trying to call it back all morning, but it's either been turned off or the battery's dead."

"Where's your echidna friend?" Shadow asked. "I though you were going to get him to help, too."

"Shadow, do you have any idea how hard it is for me to get onto Angel Island without Tails' plane?" Sonic asked. "I can't exactly fly, and I have no idea how to work that thing. And Knuckles doesn't have a phone, so I can't call him or anything."

"Rouge and I can fill him in later, then," Shadow agreed, already regretting the idea. He was certain Rouge would get distracted by the master emerald and focus more on stealing it than helping them find Esplouge. "Between her being able to fly and my chaos control, I think we'll manage."

"Thanks," Sonic said. "I doubt he'll leave the island, but it's probably better that he at least knows about the situation."

"So, how exactly are we going to go about this?" Rouge asked. "Searching for this little psychopath isn't exactly going to be easy, especially if he doesn't want to be found. And Sonic and I have no idea what he looks like."

"He looks like Tails, only brown instead of yellow, and red eyes instead of blue," Amy explained. "Trust me, you'll know him when you see him. Something about him's just... wrong."

"Yeah, I had the same impression," Shadow agreed thoughtfully. "Something about him just seems off somehow."

Of course, Shadow thought, that could just be due to the fact that there's no way a nine-year-old could stand a chance against the ultimate life form unless there was something else going on...

"I guess it's really something you need to see for yourself," Shadow finished.

"So, are there any places where it'd be even somewhat likely to find this guy?" Rouge asked, bringing the conversation back to the search. "Do we have any leads on this guy at all?"

"Not really," Shadow said. "Amy and I only saw him once, and I doubt he'll be going there again."

"Actually..." Amy said, cutting herself off. She knew she needed to tell them about what happened at the mall, but she wasn't quite sure how to say it.

That, and she still felt horribly guilty, and didn't want them to agree that it was her fault this was happening.

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

"I actually saw him again... well, sort of..."

"What?" Sonic asked. "When? Where?"

"Um... I... I was at the mall earlier today," Amy began. "He just... He just talked to me for a minute, I didn't even actually see him. When I tried to look for him, I couldn't find him anywhere."

"What did he say to you?" Shadow asked, suddenly interested.

"Um..."

"Come on, out with it," Sonic said. "What did he say?"

"He said that it's my fault he kidnapped Tails," Amy said quickly, averting her gaze to the ground. Unable to look at anyone. "That... That because I didn't let him kidnap me...!"

"He's just trying to get in your head," Shadow explained. "You understand that, don't you?"

"Yeah, Amy, that's totally insane," Sonic agreed. "None of this is your fault."

Amy simply nodded.

"Well, Rouge and I are going to let the echidna know what's going on," Shadow said wanting to get up and do something more productive. "Then we'll probably go searching for a while. If we find anything, we'll call you."

"Yeah..." Sonic agreed absently.

Shadow and Rouge left, leaving Sonic and Amy alone.

Amy immediately burst into tears.


When Esplouge finally got back to Tails, the smaller fox was curled up in a ball, clearly terrified. Tails' eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw all of the blood that was still drying on Esplouge's fur.

"Hey there, sweet heart," Esplouge greeted, leaning up against the bars of the cell. "You wanna guess who's blood this is?"

Tails was silent. Esplouge smirked and opened up the cell, letting himself in before locking the door behind himself.

"Come on, you don't have any guesses?" Esplouge asked tauntingly. "You have no idea who I killed?"

Tails felt sick about it, but he was just hoping it wasn't any of his friends. Anyone but them.

"Here's a hint," Esplouge said, his smirk growing. "You've served your purpose and I no longer need you."

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me," Esplouge said. "I only needed you so I could have something to hold over Sonic's spiky little head. But now that he's out of the way, I don't need you anymore."

Tails felt the blood drain from his face. There was no way, just no way that Sonic was...

He couldn't even think the word.

Esplouge removed the glass from his glove, slipping it out with ease, revealing the blood that stained it. He laughed at Tails' mortified expression as though it were the most hilarious thing in the world.

"And now that he's out of the way, I don't need you anymore," Esplouge said again, his voice deadly calm.

In moments, Esplouge was on top of Tails' holding the shard of glass dangerously close to Tails' throat. He slid the glass across Tails' throat, as gently as possible so he didn't even break the skin. Tails was completely still aside from the terrified quivering, out of fear that moving would result in his throat being cut open accidentally.

Esplouge laughed again, making a point to rub his body against Tails' to get as much of the blood that was on his own body onto Tails'. Tails whimpered and tried to get away, to get out from underneath him, but Esplouge was too strong.

"I'm gonna cover you with Sonic's blood," Esplouge taunted, feeling the same high he had gotten from killing returning. Even if he was only bluffing, Tials' reaction was hilarious. "I'm gonna make you drink it. And you're going to fucking enjoy it. Just as much as I did."

Esplouge placed the palm of his glove over Tails' mouth, muffling the smaller fox's attempts at speaking, leaned toward the smaller fox, and gently kissed the hand that was covering Tails' mouth. When Esplouge pulled away from the near kiss, he found himself nearly laughing at Tails' shocked expression.

"You're so gullible, Tails," Esplouge said. "You really fell for it!"

Esplouge's hand was still over Tails' mouth, so all the smaller fox could do was stare up at him, confused and terrified.

"I didn't actually kill Sonic," Esplouge said, nearly laughing. "I just killed some human. Someone you didn't even know. It was really fun, too..."

Tails felt horrible, but he found himself thankful for this piece of news; at least his best friend was still alive.

"It felt so good," Esplouge went on. "He didn't even see it coming; I just plunged the glass into his stomach, ripped him open, and slit his throat. His blood went all over the place, but you know what? Just killing someone isn't enough for me."

Esplouge pressed himself against Tails with so much force, Tails felt like he would sink into the floor if all of his bones didn't break first. The pressure Esplouge was putting on his chest alone was making it hard for the smaller fox to breathe, which made him feel even more panicked than he already was.

"No, I can't just kill a person..." Esplouge whispered, his lips barely an inch away from Tails' ear. "That's just not enough for me; I have to completely rip them apart. I have to tear them apart with my claws and the glass, and you want to know my favorite part? Come on, do you?"

"N- no..." Tails answered weakly, closing his eyes tightly as though it would block everything out.

"I love the feeling of ripping someone's heart out," Esplouge said. "I... There aren't words to describe how it makes me feel. Just ripping out their organs and enjoying a little snack..."

Tails felt like he would throw up, unable to stop his mind from creating images of the situation Esplouge had described, of tearing out someone's heart and eating it, and it was the most disgusting thing in the world why couldn't he shut if off?

"They're all just useless sacks of flesh," Esplouge continued. "All of them. I can't wait to kill each and every last one of them, ending, of course, with you. I'm going to keep you alive until the very end, watching you as you watch me kill everyone else in the world. And then, once everyone else is gone..."

Esplouge licked Tails' neck slowly, tracing his tongue directly over Tails' jugular.

"I bet your blood is going to taste delicious," Esplouge mused. "I'm just hoping you don't die too fast; I'd sure love for you to watch me tear out at least one of your organs, and I can just imagine how lovely your screams will sound..."

"St- stop..." Tails said weakly.

"You know who's going to be really fun for me to kill?" Esplouge asked. "Shadow. He puts up a fight, so every time I cut him, his blood just splatters out from how fast it's running through his body. He's so much stronger than everyone else, so killing him is going to be a challenge. But it's going to be worth it once I silence him forever. I hate him so much..."

Esplouge brushed Tails' bangs out of his face absently.

"Well, I guess 'hate' isn't the right word," Esplouge corrected thoughtfully. "What I feel towards him is much, much stronger. Now you, I hate. Not quite as much as everyone else, but I still hate you. But Shadow... Just thinking about him makes me want to hurt you."

Esplouge slid the glass across Tails' throat again, this time nearly breaking the skin. He knew he had to be careful, but Tails didn't need to know that his carefulness was a conscious decision. It was more interesting having Tails fear him.

"It's too bad I can't kill you quite yet," Esplouge said absently. "After all, I still need you for a little while. Maybe once I kill Sonic..."

"P- please don't hurt Sonic..." Tails said weakly, his eyes filling up with fresh tears.

Esplouge suddenly slammed the back of his fist into the side of Tails' head, resulting in a yelp while stunning the smaller fox.

"Don't argue with me," Esplouge said coldly, losing all of the false affection he had been taunting Tails with. "If you do, it'll only make me kill him faster. I know where he is right now. I could just go over there and kill him and rip his heart out and make you eat it, because that just sounds like it would be so much fun...!"

"P- please don't..." Tails begged pathetically. "He's my best friend..."

"So?" Esplouge asked coldly. "Do you really think I care about you or your stupid friends at all?"

Tails shook his head, which helped Esplouge's previous amusement return. Esplouge gently stroked Tails' bangs, allowing his own mind to wander for a moment.

"I can't wait to kill them... It's going to be so fucking fun..."

Esplouge tangled his fingers in Tails' bangs, pulling the smaller fox's head up roughly, causing Tails to cry out. Esplouge's expression was entirely flat, which Tails couldn't identify as a good thing or a bad thing.

"I guess I can't kill you yet, but talking to you sure is interesting," Esplouge said, his voice as flat as his expression. "Your reactions to the things I say are pretty entertaining. Come on, say something right now."

Tails was silent, which thankfully didn't seem to bother Esplouge.

"You're scared, is that it?" Esplouge asked. "You're too scared to speak, because you don't know how I'll react to whatever you have to say. Right?"

Tails nodded nervously. Esplouge let go of his bangs, sending Tails' head back to the floor with a dull thud.

"Ow!"

"Your voice pisses me off," Esplouge said. "But it's still pretty entertaining to hear it when you're hurt or scared. Come on, why won't you say something? There has to be something you're not afraid to say to me."

Tails was still silent, appearing terrified. This seemed to annoy Esplouge.

"If you don't say something, anything, within the next few seconds, I swear I'm going to go out and hunt down one of your friends like an animal," Esplouge threatened. "I'm in a pretty calm mood... Maybe I'll just go after Amy, she's not very strong..."

"No, don't hurt her!" Tails cried, unable to restrain himself. Amy was such a close friend of his, he couldn't stand the thought of anyone hurting her.

Esplouge smirked.

"I see that got you to talk," the darker fox said triumphantly. "You really like her a lot, don't you? That's so sweet..."

"Who are you?" Tails asked quietly. "I... I mean... I don't even know you, so why...?"

"You wanna know my name?" Esplouge asked darkly. "Is that it?"

Tails nodded slowly, questioning whether or not asking the darker fox his name was a good idea.

"I don't feel like telling it to you just yet," Esplouge said. "I'd like to keep up an air of mystery for a bit, you know? I mean, once you know my name, you'll be asking me so many other questions I bet, and I'm not really in the mood to hear any of those, much less answer them. So, for now, you don't get to know my name. Maybe I'll save it for when I kill you..."

"Why do you hate me and my friends so much?" Tails asked weakly. "None of us has even done anything to you, so..."

"Is it too hard for you to comprehend that I simply feel hate?" Esplouge asked. "It's really simple; there's no real reason that I hate you all... I just hate you."

Esplouge stared down at Tails for a moment, his expression again flat, before placing his glove over Tails' mouth again.

"I guess I'm going to need to wash the blood off sometime, huh?" Esplouge asked. "After all, if my fur and gloves are covered with someone else's blood, I'm sure that's going to get me plenty of strange looks..."

Esplouge let his mind trail off for a moment.

"You have to be thirsty by now, right?" he asked, keeping his hand over Tails' mouth so the smaller fox couldn't answer. "How many days do you think you can go without food or water? I certainly wouldn't want you to die of dehydration or starvation by accident. Tearing out your heart would be a lot less fun that way..."

I guess I have to take his tears and sweat into account, Esplouge thought flatly. Maybe I'll get him some fruit; those are supposed to have a pretty high water content. I'll still have to clean this blood off of myself before I leave, though...

Esplouge took his hand off of Tails' mouth, but otherwise made no move.

"How long have you been awake?" Esplouge asked.

"I... I don't know..." Tails answered unsurely. "There isn't a clock or anything, and you turned off my cell phone, so..."

"Ah, you noticed your cell phone," Esplouge said, a smirk appearing on his lips. "I turned it off so the battery wouldn't run down. After all, that little phone call we shared with Sonic was quite enjoyable, wasn't it?"

Tails said nothing for a moment.

"Do you want me to bring you some food?" Esplouge asked flatly.

"Y-yes..."

Esplouge slammed his fist into the side of Tails' head, causing the smaller fox to cry out.

"Then you better fucking start agreeing with what I say," Esplouge said darkly. "You're not allowed to say anything that amounts to 'no' from this point forward, and you're not allowed to ignore me. Clear?"

"Y-yes..." Tails said weakly, afraid of being hit again.

Esplouge gently rubbed Tails where he had struck him moments ago. It was painful, and Tails was sure Esplouge was fully aware of that fact.

"You see? I can be a nice guy if you agree with me," Esplouge said warmly. "I'm still going to kill you, but for now, I guess I can bring you some food so you don't starve to death. I'll have to leave you for a bit, though."

Esplouge finally got off of Tails and headed toward the door to the cell. He started to unlock it and stopped suddenly.

"Just to make this more interesting for me, let's say that if you try to sleep at any point between now and when I come back, I'm not feeding you until tomorrow," Esplouge said. "After all, sleep is such a worthless waste of time anyway, and I certainly can't have you dreaming about anything nice. You're in Hell, and I want you to be constantly aware of that. So no sleeping."

"O-okay..." Tails said, thankfully not feeling too tired anyway. He was drained in every way possible, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to get some sleep anytime soon unless Esplouge beat him into unconsciousness again.

"I'll know if you tried taking a quick nap," Esplouge continued. "And I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you what will happen to you if you lie to me..."

"I... I p-promise, I won't g-go to sleep..." Tails stuttered weakly.

Esplouge was silent as he let himself out of the cell. Tails watched Esplouge as best he could, following the darker fox down the hallway with his eyes until Esplouge eventually disappeared into the darkness.


Sonic stared at Amy, confused. Shadow and Rouge had merely left to go search for the psychopath who had kidnapped Tails, and Amy had suddenly burst into tears. Sonic found himself unsure of what to do; after all, he wasn't that used to girls and their spiraling emotions.

But still, Amy was his friend, and Sonic knew he had to say something, had to try to make her feel better.

"Amy?" Sonic asked gently. "What's wrong?"

"I feel like this is all my fault!" Amy cried. "Like... Like there had to have been something...!"

"It's not your fault, Amy," Sonic said firmly. "Seriously, whatever that bastard said to you was just to get in your head; he's completely psycho. I got a taste of it myself when he called me. He thinks this is all some sort of twisted game."

"But..."

Amy's argument fell short. She couldn't think of anything else to say. After all, Sonic had made a pretty good point; this guy was clearly psychotic, and probably fully aware of it, too. Someone like that would probably love to play with another's emotions, using flawed logic to mess with others just to see the outcome.

Amy could feel her guilt lessen a little bit, although that nagging thought in the back of her mind persisted. There should have been something she could have done, although she at least was beginning to accept that it wasn't directly her fault.

"It's silly for you to think that this is your fault," Sonic continued, making sure his point got across. "What else could you have done; let him kidnap you? He probably would have still come after Tails regardless, and I can't even begin to imagine how freaked out I'd be if both of you were in trouble."

Amy smiled weakly, her eyes still filled with tears. At the very least, Sonic was helping her feel a bit better about the situation, although another worry was plaguing her.

She was absolutely terrified for Tails. He was one of her closest friends, and he was just a young boy. Esplouge looked like a kid as well, but Amy had seen with her own eyes how violent and senseless the dark fox could be, and against Shadow of all people. Esplouge had been capable of beating Shadow to the ground - granted, after taking him by surprise - and Amy didn't even want to think about what he could be potentially be doing to Tails at that very moment.

Amy wiped away the last of her tears with the back of her hand, her focus returning to Sonic.

"You always know how to make me feel better, Sonic," Amy said finally, trying to put on the happiest face she could muster. "Thank you."


Esplouge watched the blood wash off of his body, swirling in the water. It was interesting to him, to say the least. Fascinating. It was so easy for him to kill, and then to just wash all remnants of the kill away.

Wash all the memories of the kill away...

But he didn't want the memories to go away. Esplouge derived some sort of perverse joy out of torturing and killing, and the thought of losing even a single memory of causing harm to another...

Still, the blood looked oddly beautiful as it swirled around his feet.