"Glass of water for you, sir?"

"Yes, please." No one could really understand Ogilvie Nadelmaus's raspy voice unless they leaned in extremely close, but what did it matter? At least he could hear himself. Surprisingly, Nurse Julayla Prudence heard him on the first breath; maybe he was getting his strength back. Ogilvie rubbed the back of his left ear gently, where the cancerous bulge had grown to a sizable ball. His short stature and aged body made removing it far too risky; he wished he had noticed it sooner. It had been almost ten years to the day of Ogilvie's collapse, and he still remembered every moment of it.

"Sir Nadelmaus," Elder Frederic's voice rang in Ogilvie's nostalgic hedgehog ears, "do you have any legitimate reason why my son shouldn't be king? If you do, please speak now."

Ogilvie remembered rising from his Council chair. He thought his reason was entirely legitimate. The Acorn lineage, from Alexander to Sebastian and finally to Frederic, was horribly overpowered. Between the centuries-old battle with the Overlanders and the close connection to the Source of All, the Kingdom was close to the Gaia spirits and culture. Too close. So close, in fact, that any policy even thought to be against the official religion of the Kingdom was immediately annulled by the Council (much to Ogilvie and young Sherman Tuskman's dismay); so close, in fact, that the "freedom of religion" enshrined in the Mobian Doctrine had been retooled to mean "freedom to practice Gaio in any way one so pleased". Ogilvie looked around the Council table.

Rosie Marshall's charcoal cat fur looked like satin beneath the jade-stained skylight ornamenting the Palace of Acorn. She and Ogilvie had certainly seen their fair share of bloodshed; they had been partnered with her eventual husband, Catt Marshall, on numerous assignments during the Second Overlander Folly, a mistake that had haunted Frederic's early career. The three of them had mastered the art of Contraction, or using the Source to shrink themselves to subatomic size. Rosie had also introduced Ogilvie to her childhood friend and his future wife, Juliana Longmore, a lanky purple-furred porcupine that had raised the two Nadelmaus sons while simultaneously becoming the best legal defender in pretty much all of Mobius. Rosie was well-known in the Council – and Kingdom – for strongly supporting Elder Frederic during his days as king.

Next to Rosie sat a very obese cobalt walrus. Sherman was the first of his family to even live this side of the Lantic Ocean; growing up in Iceborough had its perks, but apparently this Tuskman wanted something different. A very ambitious seventeen-year-old, Sherman had moved here with his girlfriend Georgette and become politically involved enough to earn a valid spot on the Council in just ten months. His connection to Iceborough was key in the Kingdom's diplomacy, and bridged the two opposing countries together quite nicely. It hadn't hurt that Sherman had almost immediately befriended Amadeus Prower, the newest leader of the Royal Air Force, either. However, Sherman wasn't very well-liked elsewhere in the kingdom, if only for his extremely "progressive" views that mostly included de-capitalizing the Acorn society.

To Sherman's left sat Rosemary Niles, a Mazurian refugee that came to the country to escape the Overlander conflicts in her Middle Eastern Homeland. She was fluent at least twelve languages, which made her a very important diplomatic asset much like Sherman, but she was also a fair hand. Well, fair in Acorn terms, at least. The fox greatly opposed the death penalty for any sort of violent crime, but was a proponent of excessive torture if necessary. She wasn't one to openly voice her opinion on education – being education in the Kingdom of Acorn consisted of "read today, forget tomorrow" – but secretly, Ogilvie knew she would change it in a moment. However, Rosemary was highly pious, to the point of converting her fiancé to Gaio.

Beside Rosemary was Ogilvie's empty chair. Next to where he stood sat Anand D'Coolette, grand vizier of what used to be the nation of Spagonia and father of its current stately president, Armand. Anand was tricked by President Alx Towers of the United Federation into surrendering the nation, and the king-like coyote still regretted it. He came to the Kingdom to set things right with Frederic, who deemed him untrustworthy. Due to his rampant popularity overseas, Anand was almost immediately invited to a seat on the Council that was recently vacated by local pastor Tobias Tortell. It was a lower position of power than Anand was used to, which led to Frederic and him arguing quite embarrassingly often. However, both were equally as pious and as pivotal in making the Kingdom so horribly Gaia-oriented.

Finally, to the left of Anand was pompous southern baron Tanner Rabbot. Ogilvie never quite understood why Tanner, of all people, was chosen to occupy the seat of recently-deceased Valdez Nage, the great spy. The jackrabbit was a rich, spoiled brat of a proper gent. Ogilvie read his application and wondered how any of the other Council members didn't see right through his accomplishments of "wrestling a fellow crocodile", "rediscovering the Floating Island", and "rescuing the Chaos tribe". To make matters even more confusing, Tanner was rumored to have extensive ties to the Overlanders. It was as if he had brainwashed the rest of the Council into believing he was reliable. Part of that was probably how much he loved to profess his devotion to his country, his estate, and, of course, his religion.

In his dreams, Ogilvie would always say yes. He had a problem with continuing the Acorn line. The kingdom needed to take a swing to the left before the Overlanders attacked, and fast. In his dreams, Ogilvie would ignore the fact that Anand, Tanner, and Rosemary would already have given the current king's wish a four-to-three majority. He would ignore the politics behind Rosie's reluctant agreement with Elder Frederic. He would allow Sherman to take the floor and announce in his boisterous brogue how wonderful Iceborough and, truly, all of the Tundra had been under a more democratic rule. In his dreams, the Kingdom of Acorn was not a monarchy. In his dreams, Ogilvie Nadelmaus was the spark that lighted a liberating flame in all of Mobotropolis, all of this Kingdom, all of Mobius itself. But his memory was quick to show him what really happened ten years ago.

Ogilvie's lips formed a vivid pucker met with glares from Anand and Frederic; Tanner was too busy filing his Southern nails to a polish, and Rosemary had too terrible of an angle to see what was going on. The hedgehog's balance was thrown off – was it by the smiles from Rosie and Sherman, or by the cancer? He didn't know. Visions of Juliana and their twin children danced around his eyes as his vision went blurry. His ears let loose a deafening ring. He thought he remembered a sickly moan. Within a second, the Knight of Peace was unconscious on the ground, and Rosemary discovered the lump behind his exposed left ear.

Dr. Julian Kintobor, a friendly native that had been rescued from his tribe by Ogilvie himself at a relatively young age, diagnosed the hedgehog within the first hour. The tumor hadn't spread yet, but it was too strong and the body it occupied was too weak for it to be removed. There was a slim chance the former warrior would survive, but it would take years to survive. "Give me ten years," Ogilvie had said, and new King Maximilian hesitantly accepted. "I can get through this." But he wasn't getting through this. For five years, he struggled through the abnormalcy of hospital life. He was still able to eat and drink perfectly fine, but things like walking out of his room became more of a challenge than running through trees ever was. After those five years, his health had taken a turn for the worse, and within months, he was put on life support. Ogilvie was still alive, and still conscious, but barely.

The telephone rang. Somehow, Ogilvie's left arm had grown stronger than his dominant right, so he had the phone reinstalled last year for easier access. He didn't think anyone could access it, but he had given the number to his brother…

"Howdy, Ogie!" cried the all-too-familiar voice of Robin O'Hedge.

Ogilvie grunted. "Rob, you know all your shouting gives me a headache…"

A chuckle crackled through the line. "Heh, well, you know me, always laughin'."

Rob was a notorious world traveler (and prankster). The siblings were separated when Rob was only two, but reconnected in Ogilvie's late twenties when he traveled to Mercia, a small forest just miles inland of the Spagonian Channel. Ogilvie was almost nine years older than his brother, and time did not bode well for his fur, but as the hastily-taped photographs demonstrated on the back of the sporadic postcards, Rob's emerald coat was still shining at forty-five. "Hey, think you can keep a secret?"

Ogilvie looked at the clock and sighed. "Sorry, Rob, I'm dying fast."

"Ah, but I've gotta tell somebody the news!"

"Rob…they're taking me off of life support in half an hour." The shock wasn't visible, but it sure was audible, even if silent. "Can you tell anyone else? What about Friar Buck?"

Rob was obviously frustrated. "Look, you're my brother and my friend. You ought to know this, even if you're takin' it to your pathetic lil' grave."

Ogilvie surrendered. "Alright, what is it?"

"I found Little Planet!"

With that, the Knight dropped the phone to the floor. It landed with a loud thud, and Ogilvie reached his arm to the ground to pick it up.

"Isn't that gre—"

"Sir?" Julayla interrupted as she handed the hedgehog his glass. "Is everything alright? I heard a crash."

Ogilvie gave a thumbs up and a weak wink. Julayla left the room, which prompted Ogilvie to launch tons of questions. "Where is it? What's on it? Is there anything dangerous? What kind of tech—"

"Calm your mush-lovin' balls, Ogie, I'm gettin' there. It all started when Patchy gave me a call."

"Patchy? As in…Pachacamac?" Ogilvie had met the Soultouch clan's leader once long ago. It wasn't a pretty meeting.

"You got it! The crazy guy told me how close his Island was gonna be to the Planet, they pass it every quarter-century or so. So yeah, I hitched a ride on it."

"Does anyone live there?"

Another earsplitting laugh burst into Ogilvie's head. "Yup! I only met one, she was nice. But she didn't show me—well, she showed me plenty…mm-hmm…"

Ogilvie was getting annoyed; his brother tended to have some sort of sex complex where he imagined getting it on with every single woman he'd ever met, but never really actually done anything. "Get on with it, lover boy."

"Well anyway, I didn't meet anybody else, but there were a lot of Mobinis running around. Good lil' creatures, those guys are. It's a shame they'll never be more like us, but hey, more meat, I guess."

Another familiar shadow walked toward Ogilvie's room, and a pair of glinting sky-colored eyes peered into the window.

"Rob…I hate to cut this short…but…goodbye."

Just as Ogilvie took the telephone off his ear, so had Charles Nadelmaus bounded into the room and taken the phone from his frail father, placing it in its resting place. "Hey, Dad, I heard the news. I'm sorry."

Ogilvie patted the side of the bed, motioning for his son to take a seat. "Yeah, son, I am, too. I was hoping to stick around, but this old ear isn't what it used to be." The two shared a small laugh, though it was rightfully subdued.

Charles broke the laughter with an exciting announcement, his eyes aflame with joy. "Jules and I…we're knights, just like you, Dad!"

Ogilvie didn't hesitate to smile. "That's wonderful! Where is your brother?"

Charles's eyes lit up again. "Bernie and he are having Martin! She's due any moment now!"

Ogilvie smiled again. "That's good to hear. It's a shame I'll never see him…"

Charles hushed his father. "You might not see them, but you're still one of 'em."

"Hrm?"

"They named the first one after you, and the second one after Bernie's gramps. They thought it would be a…a nice tribute," said Charles. His excitement was being slowly washed away by the tears welling in his large blue eyes as the realization that his dying father lay in front of him set in like a knife through the heart.

Ogilvie struggled to sit up, his nostrils fighting with the ventilator keeping him alive. "Don't cry," he whispered as his own tears fell on his cheek. He couldn't believe his body wasn't going to stay long enough to see the next Nadelmaus generation. "You've got years ahead of you. I'm too sick to go on, and I'm just as sad when it comes to that, but…I guess that's just how it has to be. Just…be strong, Charles. You'll find what you're looking for eventually." Father and son embraced for what seemed like seconds to both of them, but really was almost fifteen minutes.

Charles looked at his silenced cell phone. Ten message alerts, including a video chat, all from his brother. "Well, he's out!," he said, trying to read everything as quickly as possible. "But…it doesn't look like he's made it…"

"What do you mean?"

Fresh tears rose to the surface of Charles's eyes as he mouthed a ten-letter word no former parent wanted to hear: "Stillbirth."

Ogilvie was startled, but not surprised. "You know…we had three children, but the first…she was a still as well."

Charles looked stunned. "You never told me! Or Jules!"

The elder hedgehog leaned back into his bed, his body weakening fast. "I know. Her name was Sonia. She had your eyes…" A recognizable pain swept through Ogilvie's head, but this time, he fought for his consciousness. He couldn't believe his last conversation with his son would be this short. He waved goodbye as the strength left him.

Charles took one last loving look at his father and left the room, accidentally bumping into a doctor in the process. Said doctor entered the room with a limp, damp rag against his hip. The lean figure stood tall above Ogilvie's paling body. "Are you ready, Sir Nadelmaus?"

Ogilvie took his last gulp of air and nodded. He felt the ventilator being tugged from his nose. He breathed.

Wait a minute…I can breathe. I can breathe!

A sudden wave of strength dominated his body. The doctor saw his patient move out of the corner of his eye, then gasped as the hedgehog sat up. "I can breathe! This is a miracle!," Ogilvie exclaimed. "I can finally—"

The cloth covered Ogilvie Nadelmaus's lips as he inhaled hot acid. As quickly as he came alive, the Knight of Peace was dying. He watched in terminal horror as his killer bolted out of the room, shooting hospital nurses as he ran by. Colin…no….