Esplouge remained in the room for a long while afterwords, staring at the bloody wall, a look of horror on his face. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, but he didn't notice.

"No... No! No!"

The horror contorted to fury immediately. He punched the wall angrily, wishing it was thin enough to dent. He screamed and punched it again and again, over and over.

"No! No! No no no no fuck no!"

He slumped to the ground, staring at the wall angrily. His glass shard found its way to his hand. He didn't remember picking it up. After a moment of hesitation, he dug the shard into his arm over and over, this time intending to hurt himself.

"This- can't- be- fucking- happening!"

--

Metal Sonic arrived at Amy's house first. He knocked on the door hesitantly, remembering her large hammer and short temper. Part of him was doubting she'd even believe him. After all, there had been plenty of instances in the past where he had kidnapped her for his late master.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..."

Amy answered the door, staring at the robot.

"Uh... Hi?" she greeted, wondering why Metal Sonic would knock on the door instead of crashing through her wall as he had done dozens of times before.

"... Sonic and Shadow sent me," the robot explained bluntly.

Amy paused for a moment. "This is defiantly Eggman's worst attempt yet. I think he's having an off-day."

Metal Sonic flinched at his departed master's name. He suddenly found himself unable to look at Amy's eyes, instead contenting himself with the ground at his own feet.

"My master is dead."

"What?" Amy sounded genuinely concerned. "What happened?" She was still cautious of the robot, but she was sure he wouldn't lie about something like this.

"Someone... A fox named Esplouge killed him," Metal Sonic explained.

"What?!" Amy ran back into her house, grabbed her hammer, and bolted out the door, dragging Metal Sonic along with her. "We need to go tell Sonic!"

"I already told him. He and Shadow told me to get you, Knuckles, and Rouge."

And with that, they were off to Rouge's place.

--

"I can't stand just waiting here," Sonic muttered. He was sitting on the couch while Shadow was standing by the window, watching for Metal Sonic. "Tails is probably being killed right now, and all we're doing is sitting around and waiting!"

"Calm down," Shadow ordered coolly. "Tails is the last person Esplouge would kill."

"How the hell can you be sure of that?" Sonic asked frantically. He was shaking now, almost to the point of crying. "Esplouge is insane, we have no idea what he's going to do to Tails! He... He could..."

"Sonic, shut up already!" Shadow snapped, finally looking to the blue hedgehog. "Esplouge would never kill Tails. He told me so himself."

"What? When?"

"The... While we were fighting. Before he 'died'. He went on and on about how he 'took care' of Tails and would 'never let anything hurt him'." Aside from the occasional 'outburst'. "... Didn't you talk to Tails about it?"

Sonic shook his head. "I didn't want to make him relive it," he explained solemnly.

Shadow walked over and sat down next to Sonic.

"Tails is tougher than you think. He can take anything Esplouge throws at him." He laid back, relaxing on the couch, staring at the ceiling. "We're going to get Tails back here, safe and sound." He glared, thinking of Esplouge. "Then we're going to kill that smug little bastard for good and make sure he never has a chance to hurt Tails again."

Sonic nodded, looking at his shoes. He remained silent, not wanting to talk anymore. Shadow got the clue and walked back to the window.

--

Esplouge laid in a pool of his own blood, limbs outstretched, staring at the ceiling. The shard of glass was by his left hand, just out of reach. He inhaled deeply, feeling relaxed regardless of the damage he did to his arms. He ignored the pain. It wasn't important to him. He laughed, looking to his arms contently.

"If Tails saw me like this, he'd probably have a panic attack."

He laughed again, tried to sit up. He succeeded in standing after a few minutes. His arms hung uselessly by his side, hardly able to do anything else.

"Maybe I should go talk to him. Or..." He smiled snickering. "Maybe I should force him to taste my blood."

He walked out of the room and down the hallway. When he got to Tails, the smaller fox began panicking, just as he expected.

So predictable.

"Y- your arms! W- what the...? What h- happened?"

Esplouge smiled, gripping the one of the bars to the sell as if trying to crush it. "I got really angry at myself for a few minutes. It's okay, though. It'll heal eventually, quicker if Blaze ever brings me my damn emeralds. You should see the lake of blood it left in one of the rooms back there. You'd have night terrors for a week..."

Esplouge began to feel light-headed all of a sudden. He collapsed, unconscious. Tails began to panic again.

"Esplouge? Esplouge? Wake up! Esplouge!"

--

Blaze returned to the base after a while, with a new chaos emerald. When he heard Tails' frantic cries, he rushed over to the young fox to find Esplouge unconscious, arms mutilated, in a small pool of blood. Tails was shaking and crying, still locked in his cell.

"What the hell...?" Blaze asked, looking to Tails, puzzled.

"E- Esplouge," Tails stuttered, unable to form anymore coherent words for a few moments. "You have to help him!"

Blaze stared for a moment, unsure of what to do. He opened the door to the cell before picking up Esplouge's limp body. Tails stood there, staring at Esplouge, worried.

"I want to help him..." Tails muttered, just loud enough for Blaze to hear.

"You should leave," Blaze explained, picking up Esplouge's body with ease. Esplouge sure was light.

"But... I have to help him," Tails repeated.

Blaze half carried, half dragged Esplouge's body down the corridor. Tails followed, regardless of Blaze's request that he leave.

--

Blaze threw Esplouge' corpse-like body onto an uncomfortable looking bed. Tails sat down on the floor next to the bed while Blaze left to find some bandages for Esplouge's arms.

"Ffffuck..." Esplouge had begun talking in his sleep a short while ago, occasionally swearing or saying things that made no sence at all. "Does... n't..."

"Esplouge?" Tails asked, feeling Esplouge's fingers curl loosely around his shoulder. "A- are you waking up?"

"Can... n't... S- stop... No..."

Esplouge's hands had begun to quiver slightly. Tails just sat there.

"Why did you do this to yourself?" Tails asked, not expecting a response. "You never hurt yourself before except... When you 'died'. Shadow told me that you..."

Blaze walked back into the room, holding rolls of bandages. He stared at Esplouge for a moment, grinning mischievously.

"... I say we wrap him up like a mummy."

"He'll kill us if we do that," Tails pointed out. "And if he wakes up while I'm in here..."

"Relax, kid. I'll protect you."

Tails looked skeptical. He wasn't sure if he could trust strangers right then, especially if they associated themselves with Esplouge.

"My name's not kid, it's Tails."

"Oh. Well, nice to meet you, Tails. My name's Blaze." He smiled, trying to act friendly.

"I... feel... ch- chaos...." Esplouge muttered, still unconscious. His grip on Tails' shoulder increased. "Em... r... ald....sss"

"What? Chaos emerald?" Tails asked, looking to Esplouge.

"Oh yeah..." Blaze held out his chaos emerald, which immediatly began to glow a faint red color, regardless of being purple. Blaze looked confused. "Red?"

"All of the emeralds do that when they're near him," Tails explained, motioning to Esplouge.

"Why?"

Tails shrugged. "Esplouge said that only he and Eggman know why. He got really mad when I asked him."

He remembered asking Esplouge about it eleven months ago. He also remember being slapped afterwords.

He looked back to Esplouge, staring at the older fox's mutilated arms.

"... Can I borrow the emerald for a minute?"

Blaze handed the emerald to Tails without much thought. Tails held the emerald close to Esplouge, but nothing happened aside from the emerald glowing a little brighter.

"Hmm... I thought the emeralds could heal him if they make him stronger," Tails muttered. "I guess I was..."

Esplouge's hand immediately lashed out, his fingers wrapping around the jewel tightly. Tails jumped slightly, let go of the emerald, and backed away.

"Em... er... ald... Yessssss....."

The emerald began to glow brighter. Esplouge laughed weakly. Tails immediately hid behind Blaze.

"P- please don't let Esplouge hurt me again, Blaze," Tails pleaded.

The emerald stopped glowing just as Esplouge's laugh subsided. The emerald fell to the floor.

"Pow... power..." Esplouge muttered, laughing even weaker than before.

"I think he's still unconscious," Blaze explained. He touched Esplouge's forehead for a moment before retreating his hand. "He feels a little warmer than he did a minute ago..."

Tails touched Esplouge's forehead curiously and felt as if he was touching a fire. He yelped and retreated his hand quickly.

"He's burning up!"

Without another word, Tails ran out of the room to get some cold water and towels to bring Esplouge's temperature down.

Esplouge's eyes opened a little. He looked to Blaze.

"Get... t away... now..."

Blaze stared at Esplouge, confused. "What?"

"B- burn... Pain... Red... em... er..."

Blaze paused for a moment, a calm expression replacing the confused one. He pulled the red emerald out of his pocket, keeping it a safe distance from Esplouge.

"Oh, you mean this?"