Hey guys, I'm back! Couldn't write in a while cause parents (ugh) and a church camp (ohmygod kill me now please). But I'm back, and no, no lemon this time. But more story! Hope you guys enjoy this! Merry Christmas and a happy new year and all that fun stuff whatever on to the story (I'm great fun at family gatherings :p)

~Chapter 7~

Mirius refused to look directly at them as they ran back to the campsite, his magic brilliant silver flashes in the night as he sent demons spinning away into the gloom of the forest.

"Hurry!" he cried, slim figure slipping past trees easily, black clothes blending into the darkness of the forest. "Ah!" Tails cried out, falling as a wood demon tackled him, slamming into him with its hard, unyielding body. Mirius whirled around, and a lance of silver light from his hands struck the demon, slamming it away as Tails regained his feet. Sonic leaped forward, sweeping his enchanted stick, and watched in amazement as sparks exploded along its length as it struck a stone demon, and the demon wailed in pain as the coruscating magic sent it flying aside as if it were no more than a doll. Tails batted a muddy-looking demon, and the demon spun away into the night, trailing silver sparks. "We are close!" Mirius urged, throwing up a shield that halted a stone demon's fist mere inches from his head. Tails jumped to the side and struck the stone demon with his stick, but it seemed undeterred from its task of crushing Mirius. The blaze of magic in the air as Tails hit it over and over again was evident, but it did not falter. "Sonic!" Tails cried, the rush of using magic evident in the strain in his voice. It was indeed addictive in its power.

Mirius suddenly dropped the shield, leaping back as the stone demon barrelled forward at him, intent on killing him. He braced himself, and, augmenting his strength with the magic, caught the stone demon's fist.

Mirius grimaced at the strain it was taking on him, and the great cost of magic it was taking. Magic or not, the strength of a stone demon was legendary, and almost nothing can stop them, the shattered tree trunks around them testament to their great power. Focusing his mind, he sent the magic lancing into the demon, the silver light ripping through the stone demon, flaring as it shattered the rock as if it were no more than glass. Staggering to his feet, he dashed forward again, Sonic and Tails hot in pursuit.

They burst into the clearing suddenly, to see Shadow jumping on the heads of demons and sticking his knife in, while Silver and Blaze were still against a tree. Mirius announced their presence with an explosion of silver light that immolated an enormous demon made of….metal ore? Shadow leapt from its head and landed, rolling to absorb the impact.

"Thanks for the help. We almost thought you had died, especially after that big one came." Sonic laughed. "I can't die!" Shadow rolled his eyes. "Whatever, faker." Mirius dashed in front of Silver and Blaze, destroying a stone demon that seemed immune to her flame and Silver's knife could barely touch it. His clothes torn and slightly bloody, Mirius turned to Shadow. "Sorry about the clothes. It seems like there are less of them…..oh."

Shadow looked to where Mirius was looking. There, was a shifting shadow, in a vaguely humanoid shape. "Of all things, I would have thought…. that we wouldn't see shadow demons." Mirius said, sighing with resignation. Shadow stood in front of Mirius protectively. Not taking his eyes off the creature, knife twirling in lazy, hypnotic patterns, he asked, "Is there anything we can do? There doesn't seem to be any other demons." Mirius shook his head. "This is a creature of magic and shadow, Shadow. You could probably hurt it with the enchanted weapons, but it will likely kill you first. Damnit."

It swirled forward, a shifting shadow of indistinct boundaries. He sighed. "Well then, stay back, unless it seems like I really need help." Which I probably will, he thought silently, his face betraying nothing of his thoughts. He stepped forward, hands alight with the magic's silver glow. I really wish I had my robes, he suddenly thought, remembering the defensive magic woven into the fabric.

The shadow demon stepped forward, and the clearing dimmed, the fire sputtering. The two combatants were still, then, suddenly, warned by the magic, Mirius threw up a blaze of silver light, blasting at the shadow demon as it sprang at him, faster than the eye could follow, save for Sonic and Shadow, who were used to seeing at high speeds. Silver light flared and sizzled amidst living shadow, and the demon screamed its pain at the night sky. They could see Mirius locked in a tussle with the demon, magic shielding him from the demon and scorching at its black demonflesh.

However, the demon was far too powerful to be thwarted simply like that. The darkness surged against Mirius' magic, smothering the brilliant blaze, and clawed at his defences, eroding them like ice in a furnace. Mirius slipped to the side, dodging a spray of dark magic, and thrust his hands into the demon's back, hammering at it with the light. The demon merely caught his arms, the dark magic eating into the aura of protective magic, forcing Mirius to focus on defence, and giving the shadow time to recover. Mirius, already weakened from fighting earlier, gave ground, step by step as the demon drove him towards his friends. The demon's face split into a snarl of victory, sensing Mirius' weakness.

Reaching deep inside him for one last burst of power, Mirius' face was set in lines of raw determination, as his arms locked with the demon, his hands gripping the demon in an effort to hold him still, and turned all his power against the demon. Yet his failing magic was already weakened, and against the power of the shadow demon, was shattered harmlessly, and it hurled him into his friends, where he crashed into a tree. He cried out as he collided painfully with the unforgiving wood, and slid to the ground, unmoving.

Shadow stepped forward, taking the enchanted length of wood from Tails in his right hand, and the enchanted knife in his left, he crouched before the demon, before springing forward. The stick struck the demon in a flash of silver light, the magic lighting up the night as they duelled.

Stick, knife, stick, knife. Shadow said in his head as he fought the demon, the magic of the weapons flaring against the demon. Yet he could barely dodge or block the attacks of the demon, while the demon seemed less than unaffected. It had even caught the stick, and while the magic had blazed brilliantly against the demon, it had barely reacted to it, its dark magic running down the length of the wood, overcoming Mirius' magic and leaving the stick a black length of charcoal, which it had snapped, slowly and deliberately, to taunt and mock Shadow. Now he only had the knife.

"Fuck." Shadow spat, knife held up before him, yet he knew such pathetic weapons would barely aid in this fight. Sonic was creeping around it, to try and surprise the demon, but a sharp crack! of a branch breaking made his efforts futile as the demon whirled around and blasted him with its dark magic. He staggered, the magic blocking the shadow demon's attack, but barely. He charged forward, speeding past the demon before it could catch him, and struck it with such force that the feedback of magic lit up the night sky with a blazing flash. The shadow demon stumbled backwards, black arm already whipping forward to catch Sonic. He felt a rush of cold as it barely touched him, and batted the arm aside with the stick, causing another flash of silver magic. Mirius had gotten up by now, and reaching into his backpack, pulled out a test tube of magnesium powder. He flung this at the demon's back, gesturing at Blaze to light it.

The sudden whoomph! of the magnesium igniting created a blaze of light so intense, that everyone shielded their eyes as the demon screeched its searing excruciating agony, the heat charring it, but barely hurting it. It was barely a distraction, and Mirius knew it too. It took one step towards Mirius, eyes murderous with hate, and Mirius backed away slowly. "Uh, I think I made it angry." Another step, and it was almost before Mirius. And before it could take another step, a flash of silver light collided with it, slamming it away. "Get away from him!" a loud voice shouted, silver flashes of light ripping into the shadow demon as it slammed against a tree, and it howled in agony.

A white robed figure burst into the clearing, hands afire with silver light. The hood fell back, and they saw it was Percival, and he had a terrible look on his face as he advanced on the demon, magic ripping into it, disintegrating the essence of the demon, which shrieked as it saw the newcomer, eyes blazing its hatred. Recovering, it hurled its dark power at Percival, only to be smashed back into the ground with a flash of silver light. Leaping up, it jumped at Percival, intent on tackling him to the ground, taking Percival before it expired.

Shielding his arms with the magic, Percival caught the demon mid-leap, and threw it to the ground. As it scrabbled to get up, Percival grabbed the demon's arms, and forced his arm around the demon's neck, in a vice-like hold, choking and melting it at the same time, the magic burning into the shadow. The silver light danced over the demon and it simply exploded, the magic invading it and disintegrating it.

He turned to them, watching as they lowered their defences, pathetic as they were, with a magic knife and a couple of sticks. Blaze cautiously put down her hands, the fire dying away as Silver let the telekinetic glow fade. Shadow sheathed his camping knife and Sonic dropped his enchanted stick. Percival's face suddenly broke into a wide smile. "You're alive!" They gathered around Percival, who continued. "I was at the Tower, drinking tea, and trying to finish my project, when…"

"So, I sensed that you were all in danger, and I came as quickly as I could." He concluded, looking up at them. "And I didn't realise how powerful and resourceful Mirius is. Without formal lessons, and just by learning all the stuff in that book. I'm impressed, but then again, I have no reason not to be. How long will you intend to stay here? If you intend to conduct war every night that is."

Shadow shrugged. "We're alright, and originally planned for three days, but I don't know if we're going to change that." Percival nodded. "In any case, I have stuff to teach Mirius and maybe things to give you too. Be right back." Taking Mirius aside, he began teaching him arcane secrets. Shadow caught snatches of the lessons, "Put the tea bag into the water for ten minutes, and boil it slowly. One cube of sugar only, idiot." He shook his head, wondering if he had heard wrongly.

"You seem to have gotten a lot of practice at doing magic," he said, indicating the enchanted weapons. Mirius grinned faintly, tired out from the extreme use of magic. "Thanks, but I mostly learnt the stuff from the books." Percival smiled. "In which case, I have something for you." Reaching into his robes, he withdrew a thick, leather-bound tome, which had been warded extremely carefully to prevent any damage, the flowing script encircling the edges of the cover. "This is the first book that we have on the uses of magic, part of the collection of all the knowledge we have gathered from centuries of experimentation, study, and discussion. Take good care of it, although I think that the magic protecting it will more than suffice. It's in cursive, so reading might cause headaches. But then again, almost all history books cause headaches when you read them."

The instruction carried on into the wee hours of the morning, and Mirius returned, exhausted but mind churning, dissecting information and storing it into different possibilities to be analysed. He collapsed into his tent, sleeping instantly. Shadow, who had stayed up to watch for the demons' return, saw Percival walk back. "I'm going to put a shield around your campsite, and I want you to see if you can make weapons from the stuff here." He indicated the forest. "Mirius will know what to do."

Stepping away, he threw his hands out, a shimmering light flaring all around the campsite. The magic that Percival was setting in place to ward them was immensely powerful, and Shadow could taste it in the tang that it left in the air. When it was completed, Shadow could see the faint shimmers of it in the air, the protective magic fairly glowing around them and jumping in small sparks to the ground. Finished with his magic, he turned away, waving to Shadow, who waved back and then crawled into the tent to sleep with Mirius.

The moon set soon after, yet they did not rise till late morning, exhausted by last night's ordeal. Mirius, an early riser, woke up first, to feel a warm weight pressed up against his back, and arms around him. Oh Solaris, Shadow….. he thought, unable to bear the notion of pushing him away. Sighing, he leant back into Shadow and closed his eyes again, resting his head against Shadow's strong chest, and felt the white fur catch on his quills. It's nice to have someone to lean on, and not the other way around, huh. Giggling slightly, he soon drifted off again.

Silver was up, and walking out of his tent, he realised that no one else was up yet. That's strange…usually Mirius is the first to wake up, with him operating on his 'vampire schedule'. He considered his options. Go back to sleep, with Blaze who had kicked him last night in her sleep, or stay up and get ready first. He decided on the latter, grabbing his toothbrush, toothpaste and a mug, before going to the nearby stream to brush his teeth. Returning, he found no one up yet still, and decided to look into their tents to see what was going on.

He looked into Sonic and Tails' tent, and saw them sleeping in each other's embrace, completely naked. Shocked, he staggered backwards, biting back a scream, before tripping over a tree root. This was a bad idea, stop it, Silver. But as if drawn by an unseen, inexorable force, he found himself getting up and walking to Mirius and Shadow's tent. What he saw made him scream.

Shadow was lying beside Mirius, both of them sleeping. Shadow was wearing clothes, yes, but they did nothing to hide the wet stain in his pants, nor the fact that he was pressed up close to Mirius. Mirius was lying there, sleeping blissfully, a small smile on his face that was quickly shattered by Silver's scream. Eyes snapping open, dark brown and ruby pairs fixed onto an amber, terrified pair. Mirius sat up, rubbing his head. "Why you gotta scream at us to wake us up, my head hurts." He muttered, rubbing at his head. Shadow sat up, looking down and closing his legs together to hide the evidence of a wet dream. Silver babbled incoherently, before disappearing.

The scream had woken up the rest of the camp too. Within minutes, Sonic, Tails and Blaze had emerged from their tents, and were looking for whatever that had caused Silver to shriek so violently in the vicinity. "What's going on?" Sonic asked, walking over to Silver.

"I..I..I just saw Shadow sleeping with Mirius!" Sonic frowned. "So? You were sleeping with Blaze, and I didn't scream 'incest' did I?" Silver babbled on more. "But he..he had…" Shadow had gotten out of the tent by then, and gave Silver a look that clearly said, Shut up now, Silver. Silver instantly quietened down. Sonic had a puzzled look on his face, but made no comment, heading for the stream to wash up, when he saw Shadow carrying a bucket.

"What's that for, Shads?"

Shadow sighed. "I told you not to call me that."

"Fine, Shadow. What is that for?"

"I was going to collect water so we could use it at our campsite, instead of at the stream. Where were you last night anyways?"

Sonic flushed red. "Err…with Tails in a very secret location."

Shadow grinned knowingly. "So, are you two an item now? Amy's not going to be happy, and neither is Tikal."

Sonic paled. "Oh..right. I'm gonna have to sort them out, huh?"

Shadow grinned. "Yep. Talk to Mirius if you want advice. He plans for lots of stuff, so, he could probably figure out something for you."

Sonic's grin returned. "So what happened with you and Mirius last night in the tent?"

Shadow snorted. "Nothing, actually."

"Don't lie to me, I told you everything about Tails."

"Fine…I had a wet dream. That's it."

"Who was it about?"

"Not going to tell you."

Sonic lengthened his stride to keep up with Shadow, who had started to walk faster to end the conversation.

"C'mon, I did tell you about Tails…. Tell me."

"Fine…later."

They reached the stream, and Shadow filled the bucket, before brushing his teeth, with Sonic beside him. "Oh, how do you feel about a change in schedule?" Sonic was nonplussed. "What?"

"Well, instead of beach sports, we play 'kill the demon' for sports."

"You're making this into a game?"

"Why not? It's good exercise anyways."

"Then what do we do in the meanwhile?"

"I don't know, talk? It's the first time we are together, so why not?"

They strode back to the campsite, Shadow hefting the now heavy bucket, and they came to hear Silver bemoaning his crappy Humanities grades. Mirius was listening patiently, as he always was, and was making a few suggestions. Tails perked up when Sonic returned, eyes lighting up again with the newfound love he had, the past hurts and despairs that he felt now a distant memory. Blaze had given up listening to Silver moan, and was blasting music through her phone, drowning out Silver. That gave Sonic an idea for killing time until night.

"Let's have a sing-off!"

Everyone stared at him. "Are you crazy?" Blaze asked. "I think it's a good idea!" Tails commented, looking at Mirius who nodded. "Yes, let's do it" Shadow said, agreeing. "Alright, four to two, majority saying to do it, so we will!" Sonic said, clapping his hands. Blaze sighed, pulling out her songs and flicking through her massive library. "So which one? And who first?"

Tails eagerly grabbed her phone first, and chose a song. "I'll go first!" Standing, he cleared his throat, and to the background instrumentals, he began to sing, voice tuning almost perfectly to the pitch of the singer.

"You're on the phone, with your girlfriend, she's upset. She's going off about something that you said. Cause she doesn't get your humour like I do. I'm in my room, it's a typical Tuesday night. I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like. And she'll never know you story like I do."

He glanced at Sonic, a smile on his face as they shared the same memories, the same understanding that no one else could match. He could see it in his blue speedster's eyes, the glowing emerald eyes that shone for him alone.

"But she wears shorts skirts, I wear T-shirts. She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers. Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time."

Sonic was captivated heart and soul by the song that Tails was singing. It was a story of their lives, their personalities, and the revelations that he had, to have his fox be his lover.

"If you can see that I'm the one who understands you, been here all along, so why can't you see…..you belong with me, you belong with me.

Walking the streets with you and your worn-out jeans, I can't help thinking this is how it's meant to be. Laughing on a park bench thinking to myself, hey isn't this easy."

Sonic had lost himself in his lover's voice, the pure, sweet sound of Tails singing leaving him with his thoughts. He grinned at the strangeness of it all. Who would have thought that I would have fallen for my best and longest friend? Caught up in his thoughts, he barely noticed that Tails had finished, to applause from his friends. They won't know the meaning of the song, he realised. But as he met Tails' glimmering sapphire eyes, he read the message in there for him. They won't realise the meaning, his eyes seemed to say.

But we will.

Sonic smiled, standing and embracing the fox, causing Silver to choke on his drink. "Are you two….?" Sonic nodded. "Yeah…and I would appreciate it if my friends understood and didn't go off to tell Amy. Or anyone else for that matter."

Shadow clapped his hands to get their attention. "Well, now that we know that hordes of bloodthirsty demons are after us, let's get prepared for tonight's war! We shall now proceed to making weapons from what nature offers."

Shadow was surprisingly good at making weapons from scratch. He had wooden pikes, some staves and even a bow strung with vines. "Wow…Shadow, are you preparing for World War 3?" Mirius asked, shaking his head in wonder. Shadow shrugged. "I'd be more comfortable with an AK-47, but when needs must, I suppose." He was sharpening the head of a long wooden pike, and Mirius looked to the side to see Sonic and Tails working on….something. "No, the velocities it reaches will cause premature wear and tear!" Tails argued, Sonic moaning and covering his face in helplessness. "I don't know how to do all this!"

Mirius ran his hand across the wooden pikes, infusing them with his magic. They glowed a faint silver, the magic making them resilient and capable of hurting the demons more effectively than weapons of the physical alone. "You seem awfully confident doing battle with the demons." Shadow shrugged. "I've been through worse, on my missions." Mirius sat there, fascinated. "Tell me about them." Shadow glanced up from where he was writing plans for the equipment.

"Well, there was once when I had to rescue another agent who was trapped in Doctor Eggman's base, when he was still on his plans for world domination. The agent had been subjected to medical experimentation…" he continued, finally concluding, "So I managed to get her out with the Chaos Emeralds. Almost died doing it."

Shadow gestured at the mound of metal ore on the ground nearby. "Say, do you happen to know how to set up a blast furnace? Getting a metal weapon could prove helpful." Mirius thought about it. "I'll need bricks, and we can get the stuff to make it…somewhere." Shadow disappeared into the forest, returning with a bucket of clay. "This enough?" Mirius shrugged. "Should be."

Tails had wandered over, deeming the plan that he and Sonic concocted a complete failure. Blaze was still seated there, singing to her phone, and Silver was seated on a rock, hand between his legs as he looked at a wooden pike. Tails glanced at the metal ore and the clay and came to the same conclusion as Mirius. "You want a metal furnace?" Shadow nodded. "Can you help Mirius set it up? I know you have some experience with making one, to cast metal parts for your plane."

They stepped away from Shadow's little fort with the many pointy bits and sat down, Mirius bringing the bucket over, and they began shaping the clay into bricks, and baking them over a campfire. Sonic came over after deciding sharpening wood was boring as fuck, and was much more interested in what Tails was doing, or more specifically, was more interested in Tails.

"So what are you guys doing?" Tails sighed. "We're trying to make bricks to make a furnace, to get the metal out of that ore." He said, pointing. Sonic scratched at his head. "Look, I don't know much about that this stuff, but I'm pretty sure we need Carbon, right?" Mirius nodded. "Carbon, and high temperatures. Probably a little limestone too, to clean up the ore."

Sonic sat down beside them, and started molding the clay into bricks, relaxing in that simple work. "Hey, remember when we used to play with Play-Doh, hmm?" Tails leant into Sonic's shoulder, smiling up at him. "Yeah, and I'd get it all over my fur." Mirius pulled at his ears. "PDA, guys. PDA." Tails swatted at him. "Hey, you encouraged me to get this, okay." Sonic chuckled at this. "So you were playing matchmaker, eh Mirius?" Mirius just shrugged. "Hey, you two were perfect for each other! I just helped y'all to realise that." Sonic laughed. "Can't say I regret it, I love this too much." Tails flicked his arm. "I'm not a 'this'!"

Abruptly, Mirius stood, brushing off the clay from his hands. "That should be enough, now I gotta ask Shadow for some chalk or something like that. You two lovebirds can go and bake the clay into bricks, and I don't know, have sex or something while I go looking for more stuff." Sonic and Tails laughed at this, the events of last night coming back to them. "We won't make too much noise, we promise." Tails said, winking.

Mirius found Shadow amidst a plethora of weaponry, discussing their uses with Silver and Blaze, who were listening and arguing. Or at least, only Silver was arguing, Blaze more content to support her brother. He felt his emotions flare up when he saw Silver, and hurriedly quashed them, leaving his face a blank mask as he spoke.

"We'll need limestone, Shadow, if we want a quality metal weapon. It's to clean up the ore, from acidic impurities, like sand." Shadow frowned, brows furrowed in concentration. "There are limestone cliffs near that side of the beach," he said finally, pointing in that direction. Mirius nodded, before turning and breaking into a run, yelling for Sonic to follow him.

They ran to the cliffs, Sonic beating Mirius to it, even carrying the bucket. Mirius arrived soon after, panting while Sonic was barely breathing hard. "Alright…so the white stone….is the limestone." Mirius gasped, catching his breath. Sonic frowned. "We don't have anything to break the limestone with, so how will we get it?" Mirius grinned. "Get ready to catch falling rocks."

Pointing his hands at the cliffs, he sent three quick blasts of silver magic, shattering the side of the cliff and sending huge white chunks of rock falling at them. The cliffs shook with the force of the explosions, great booming coughs that caused the earth to tremble beneath them. Sonic raced around, catching the smaller rocks, while avoiding being crushed. He danced around the rocks with an elegance Mirius envied, but like Tails and Silver, could not bear the harsh exercise that attaining that fluidity of movement demanded. He was naturally somewhat athletic, but never really honed that skill, preferring the realm of books and experiments. And now magic too, as this skill was within his grasp. He turned his attention back to where Sonic was dragging a large lump of limestone out of the sea, and breaking bits off to fill the bucket. "Let's go," he called as he finished filling the bucket, blue legs already churning the sand as he took off back to the campsite. Mirius sighed. Oh, my aching legs.

They arrived back at the campsite, with Tails having already set up the furnace, sealing the gaps with the remaining clay and waiting for the furnace's heat to bake them, thereby sealing the spaces between the bricks. Mirius watched as Tails filled the sides with charcoal, and ignited the fuel, before pouring the crushed mixture of metal ore and limestone, mixed with some powdered charcoal. Mirius looked at a piece of metal ore, trying to identify it. It was reddish, and hinted at iron, although it could possibly be chromium, but he doubted that the reddish-brown dust it left on his hands was anything but. Likely iron, then. Tails was blowing into little vents that had been carefully constructed, to allow air to get in. Gathering his magic, he put out his hand, fire rushing into the furnace, magical fire that burned with magic for fuel, raising the temperature of the furnace considerably. Element control, oh yeah. Tails stoked the fire with more charcoal, almost causing an explosion as he poured powdered charcoal in, and was saved by Sonic slamming the lid on top with milliseconds to spare.

Slowly, a glowing liquid oozed out of one siphon, pouring into a cast. Tails skimmed off the top layer of slag when it filled, allowing more of the iron to fill the cast, shaped into a sword's blade. "Hmm…not enough." Tails muttered, waiting for a little more iron to pour out, adding a little bit of ore to the furnace. Rivulets of sweat ran down his face, damping his golden fur. Sonic caught himself staring at Tails, watching his golden sexy kitsune hard at work, his two tails brushing the surrounding bush as he waited for the iron to pour.

Inevitably, Tails caught him staring, which wasn't hard, seeing how his mouth was wide open. "What?" Tails asked, hands busy with the furnace. Sonic shook his head. "Nothing." Tails shrugged, closing the siphon off with a brick as the cast blade cooled. "Should we pour water?" Tails asked Mirius, who was watching the blade intently. Mirius shook his head. "No, the steel has a very high concentration of carbon already, so it's probably quite brittle and hard. Cooling it suddenly will make it harder and more brittle, cause smaller crystals will form, and more grain boundaries means that it's going to be really brittle." He glanced down at the huge book on top of his backpack. "Let me see if I can find something in there." He said, pulling out the massive tome, and started reading.

The blade had cooled by now, and Tails was thinking of the handle. "Should we cast the handle as well, or should we make it out of something else?" Mirius thought about it. "We could cast it, then I could weld them together." Tails sighed, looking at his slightly burned hands, and the char that came about working with furnaces. "Alright then, he said, taking a clay brick and molding it into the shape of a handle.

When he was done with the molding, firing and casting, he turned to Mirius, the two slightly blued articles of steel in his hands. "Well, what now?" Mirius rose, and set the book aside. "Okay, now I test what I studied from a book in thirty minutes." Taking the handle and blade, he placed them together, and concentrated on them. Tails and Sonic could feel the magic he was commanding, the magnitude of it telling in the flashes and sparks that jumped off his hands, spinning away onto the ground. The two articles of steel started to glow, a faint silver first, then brighter, and Tails could tell that they had joined into one. Yet the glow did not dim; it got brighter and brighter, a sheet of white light passing from the base of the hilt to the tip of the blade, shining brighter than the sun. Mirius was trembling with the effort, but poured more magic into the blade, laying his magic, the magic to defend and protect, to magic to preserve, into the sword.

With a brilliant flash of silver light, the sword was completed, the magic it possessed hidden away inside it. It still looked ordinary, a simple blade, yet it had a sheen which it did not have just ten minutes ago. Mirius clutched at it while he stumbled, falling down in a heap, exhausted from the effort. Gasping, he got up, and turned to where Shadow was. Sonic caught him just before he fell a second time, and walked him to Shadow, where he sat sharpening wooden pikes with his knife.

Wordlessly, he handed the blade to Shadow, who he had intended the weapon for. As soon as the intended had touched the blade, the spells that bound them together flared to life, and the sword blazed a brilliant silver, the light flowing down the blade, into Shadow. The light flared as it bound the sword to Shadow inextricably, merging the magic of the blade with his soul. Shadow gasped, and as soon as the merging was complete, the light died, revealing an ordinary sword with a name etched on the blade.

Shadow.

He swung it around experimentally, the blade light and responsive. The magic had done something to the blade, Mirius realised, for when he had picked up the two halves, they had been heavy and unwieldy, and seemed more a hammer than a sword. Shadow suddenly turned around, and hugged Mirius, somewhat impulsively. "Thanks!" he said, the glee he felt with a new weapon evident. Mirius shook his head and sighed. "Weapons seem to be the only things you like, huh, Shadow?" Shadow shrugged. "Can't deny that, when I was created to be the Ultimate Weapon for G.U.N, so…yeah."

Mirius continued, "Now, be careful, cause this weapon has magic that can hurt just about anything, not just demons. It will cut through almost anything, and thusly, is more powerful than these wooden sticks." He gestured at the sharpened pikes. "It has bonded itself to you, and thus, the magic of the sword will draw from you too. But this magic is intended to protect, so you as the intended of this weapon, will have the magic of the blade come to life to protect you, and any other that you want to. I don't really know anything else to say, but just…be careful of the magic, alright? The magic come to life only when you have need of it, not just at any time. Solaris, I sound like Percival." Mirius muttered, turning away, and grabbing his clothes and toiletries from his backpack. "I'm off to take a shower."

He disappeared into a public restroom somewhere near the beach, courtesy of Eggman's social improvement project. It is really working out, he thought, the convenience of such facilities making his life so much easier. There were shower cubicles, and he heaved a silent sigh of relief to find that it was clean and empty. Slipping inside one, he closed the door and proceeded to strip himself, peeling off Shadow's clothes. I'm still going to be wearing Shadow's clothes, for a while too...yikes. He pushed them into a raised shelf, and pushed the water, only to screech in shock as the water that poured on him was freezing. Of course, it's winter…but the woods weren't that cold. He bathed quickly, running the cold water over him as he shivered and quickly soaped himself. Finishing up quickly, he threw on new clothes, courtesy of Shadow, and kicked the door open as he ran out into the December afternoon. It was a mild winter, and he was still dressed in a black shirt and pants, a small bag holding his folded but dirty clothes. Running back to the campsite, he dumped his stuff into his backpack, before collapsing asleep inside the tent, exhausted from the conjurations he had worked.

Shadow had finished all his preparations for the battle tonight, the sword's magic the only thing still untried and untested. "Well, I have nothing left to do now, so we might as well have that singing for fun now, huh." Sonic grinned at him. "You're welcome to the mike." He offered Shadow a stick. In spite of himself, Shadow grinned. "A stick? Really?" Taking it anyways, he flicked to a song he chose, letting the background instrumentals wash over him. Taking a deep breath, he began to sing.

"So hot, out the box, can we pick up the pace. Turn it up, heat it up, I need to be entertained. Push the limit, are you with it, baby don't be afraid. I'm a hurt you real good baby.

Let's go, it's my show baby do what I say. Don't trip, off the glitz that I'm gonna display. I told ya, I'm a hold ya down until you're amazed. Give it to you till you're screaming my name."

Sonic sat there with Tails, enthralled by the sound of Shadow's voice. Ultimate Lifeform that he was, his voice was perfect, pitching just where he wanted it. Damnit, this song makes me wanna dance! He thought, glancing at Tails.

"No escaping when I start, once I'm in I own your heart. There's no way to ring the alarm, so hold on until it's over! Oh, do you know what you got into. Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do. Cause it's 'bout to get rough for you, I'm here for your entertainment. Oh, I bet you thought that I was soft and sweet. I bet you thought an angel swept you off your feet. But I'm about to turn up the heat, I'm here for your entertainment."

Tails was completely entranced by the song, Shadow's voice projecting across the whole campsite, filling the woods. Tails cocked his head, and realised that Sonic was staring at him. Shadow kept singing, and Sonic scooted closer, the question in his eyes that only he could read. Tails shook his head. "No, not gonna dance." He whispered into Sonic's ear, slipping a furry tail around his shoulder, caressing his cheek with one gloved hand. "But there are other options available…" Sonic grinned. "Tails, when I said I loved you, I didn't just mean sex. I meant that I loved you completely, as a person. And I always will." Tails smiled, burying his head into Sonic's chest, running his hand up his back, while Sonic wrapped his arms around Tails. If Shadow minded, he gave no comment, singing through a small part of Blaze's massive library of music on her phone, pirated off YouTube.

Mirius stumbled out of the tent, rubbing at his face. "Is it time yet?" The sky was darkening, even though it was but five. Everyone sat around the campsite with marked disinterest, and Mirius muttered something about getting dinner ready. Shadow lit the fire, and everyone slowly came to life, as the smells drew everyone. They ate quickly, so they could be ready for the night's game of 'kill the demon', courtesy of Shadow. As he ate, Mirius perused his book, containing all the history of mages gone before him, and knowledge of everything known about magic. He knew there were seven books, and this was but the first, yet the magic whispered to him, revealing secrets that he had not read about yet, guiding him to make that sword and the powers that he had to imprint upon the blade.

Shadow broke the silence. "Well, that's the first one." He pointed to a demon seemingly made of fire, which crashed into the shield and was thrown back, magic flaring into the night. Shadow picked up a pike, and hurled it like a javelin, impaling the fire demon against a tree. The point flashed with brilliant magic as it punched through the demon, and the demon wailed in agony. Selecting an enchanted arrow, he nocked it to his bow, and pulled it to his cheek, only to have the vine snap and hit his face. "Ah!" he cried out, dropping the bow. Mirius immediately caught him, magic gathered into a healing balm, and numbed the pain, deciding not to heal the welt to save magic. Shadow had grabbed another pike and hurled it, this time into the fire demon's head, killing it instantly.

A creature of seemingly no distinct shape, flickering with flashes of light, came out at them. As it walked, a bolt of electricity arced from its body into the ground, burning a black scorch into the ground. Mirius breathed slowly. "A lightning demon. Hmm….. you gotta be careful with that thing. Kill it quick, cause its attacks will weaken the shield by like, a lot." Shadow gripped his sword tightly. Don't fail me now, he thought, leaping past the shield to dart to the side.

The lightning demon was much faster than he had expected, but then again what had he expected. A bolt of lightning shot past him, causing his fur to rise at the static. The sword was glowing in his hand, trails of magic left in his wake as it blazed a brilliant silver in the dark. He could feel the magic wake to his need, rising to his call, sheathing him in its power. A sense of invulnerability surrounded him, and he realised an aura of silver light over him, filling him with its magical strength. He smiled, and changed his plans. After all, who needs to run when they are indestructible?

He crashed into the lightning demon, grappling it into the ground, where he cut it in half, glowing blade severing it in one stroke. The magic's rush filled him, and he rose fluidly, sweeping his sword in a stroke that cleaved a stone demon from hip to shoulder, the blade cutting rock with magic.

Mirius stood within the shield, thinking. The shadow demon was not a natural element from which it could be born, therefore it had to be summoned. It was from the ether and the magic, so only a powerful magic, with the right tools could summon it, and so who and where was that person? His mind flickered back to when Percival had saved them at their first encounter with the shadow. He remembered that presence, that had struck them with lightning. Extending his magic, he probed at the surroundings, sensing for any semblance of life with that same presence. Detecting nothing, he was about to give up, when a great darkness seemed to throw itself into his senses. He staggered back, whirling around to the source. Great, another shadow demon, he thought, seeing its similarities to yesterday, and calling for Shadow. Shadow had sensed it too, the sword warning him through the bond. This time, we'll kill it without help, Mirius and Shadow agreed, as they met each other's eyes. Together, they stepped out to meet it, the rest of their friends fending off more mundane demons with their enchanted weapons.

Shadow dropped into a fighting crouch, years of expertise in this area buttressed by the magic of the sword. Mirius just pulled his hands out of his pockets, already lit with the magic's glow. The shadow leapt at Shadow, deeming him the greater threat with the weapon, and Shadow brought up the blade, parrying the demon's hands, the silver sunfire dancing along its length and burning the demon. An ebony staff materialised into the shadow demon's hand, and it brought it up to deflect Shadow's blade, silver light blazing against dark shadow. Mirius thrust out his hand, and blastt of force slammed the demon away, not hurting it, but buying some time.

It snarled, and launched itself at both of them, flowing in the darkness to unexpectedly strike at them. Mirius blasted at the demon with magic, but it seemed indestructible, the bolts of light barely slowing it. Shadow cut and stabbed at it, pressing the offensive, until the demon kicked him solidly between the legs. Shadow collapsed, and the demon would have killed him had not a fresh burst of magic sent it reeling away, Mirius slamming a glowing fist into its face, and watched as the magic spat brilliant sparks as it burned at the demon. Lances of silver light struck the demon, and it spun backwards, trailing sparks as it staggered back. Shadow had recovered, rolling to his feet, and leapt at the demon, slashing at it with his blade, feeling the magic bite into the demon. Yet the demon flung him off with a snarl, and Shadow barely managed to land on his feet, years of training saving his dignity as he landed, cat-like, on his feet. Blaze threw a pike at the shadow demon's back, but it merely flashed and bounced harmlessly off the demon.

Mirius and Shadow circled the demon, seeking any openings to attack, but the demon gave them none, always where they thought it would not expect. Think, Mirius, think! He thought furiously, knowing that while the magic, powerful as it was, was not enough in this confrontation. The histories recorded into that massive book told of the First War of Magic, where the magic had not been enough against the creature of the Abyss, or Hell, and the White mages had to use cunning and intellect. C'mon, Mirius, use that brain of yours, or someone could get hurt!

The opening came when the demon lunged at Mirius, catching him off-guard while he was thinking, ironically, for ways to kill the demon. Only his defences, already laid about him, protected him, although the demon almost penetrated through all of them. The brilliant flash of silver light the flared to throw the demon back also threw Mirius back, into the shield the Percival had laid. Snarling at the loss of one of its prey, the demon failed to notice Shadow leaping silently behind him and thrusting the blade between its shoulders. The magic flared sharply as it reacted to the demon's dark flesh, the point piercing its black heart. Yet, it did not die, dragging the blazing sword out from the wound, to the astonishment of a shocked Shadow. The sword burned against the demon's flesh, sizzling white against the blackness of its body. Snarling triumphantly at having defeated death, it was about to hurl the blade back at Shadow, when a book seven inches thick and twelve inches tall struck its back, exploding into a fireball of pure magic, disintegrating the demon.

Mirius looked down at the book, untouched by dirt or harmed by the magic. Its wards were what had caused that explosion, to defend the book from any damage, and they had done their work admirably. Shadow gaped at him, the disintegration of such a powerful demon with such ease shocking him, especially where his efforts had been thwarted so simply. Mirius looked at them, confusion and shock mirrored in their eyes. The demons ringing their campsite, having seen what had happened to what had happened to the most powerful of their brethren, inched backwards slowly, disappearing into the forest again. As the last crackle of fire demons faded into the stillness of the night, the group turned to each other, bewildered yet elated, and filled with an all-encompassing exhaustion.

"That was fantastic, with the magic sword, Shadow!" Blaze exclaimed, pushing her long purple fur out of her eyes, which had fallen in during the battle. "And your magic and chemistry stuff Mirius! You're so lucky to have such a fantastic chemistry teacher like Earthia," she said wistfully, her chemistry teacher being the infamous Mephiles, who was slightly creepy and rather short-tempered, always creeping up on people to tell them off. Sonic brushed his hands through his quills, and Tails swished his trademark tails around, before wrapping them around Sonic's body.

"That wasn't so bad, I was scared for a little bit. Just a little bit. Yeah." Tails said, sitting down with Sonic in their tent. They had had a small convention, and Mirius determined that the demons wouldn't be coming back anymore, allowing them to get on with their camp. "Yeah, well, my little genius, you don't need to be scared at all." Sonic murmured into his ear, slipping his arms around him as Tails pushed himself into Sonic's chest. "But….we go to church, and Solaris dictates that we can't even do this; it's a sin, Sonic." Sonic grimaced, all the unpleasant thoughts coming back to him. "Well, Tikal's gonna just have to accept it. Or we could renounce Solarity. Y'know, Shadow did bring up a good point." Tails frowned. "What was it?" Sonic sighed. "Well, it was to go to Mirius for some advice, but I don't really know…" he trailed off, before nuzzling his chin into Tails' fur, resting it atop his head. Tails perked up immediately. "That's a good idea!" Sonic looked at him doubtfully, or as well as he could look from the top of Tails' head. "You really think so?" Tails nodded enthusiastically, making Sonic's teeth suddenly click together, and he reeled back slightly, stunned. "Sorry, sorry, but I really think that talking to Mirius is a good idea." Sonic shrugged. "We'll see." Tails looked at him, but wisely left it at there. It was the best he could have hoped for.

Mirius sat in his tent, yet his ears were attuned to somewhere further off. Specifically, he was listening into Silver's and Blaze's tent. The muted whispers in their tent were indistinct, yet Mirius heard all, and clearly. He was used to this, just sitting and listening. Eavesdropping was just another form of listening.

"It's weird, I mean, like guys can't like guys, right?" That was Silver, and those words cut Mirius, cut him deeper than any other things that had been said to him before.

"I'm okay with it, but I'm straight. The Kinsey scale test I did proves it."

"Mirius acts so….gay too… I'm pretty sure he is. He said he was once, to me, but I wasn't really sure." Mirius bit his lip, sitting there with fists clenched, fighting down the urge to torch their tent.

"That's not very nice of you, to be mean to one of your friends just because they aren't 'normal' like you."

"But you just can't be like that. No. And no transgenders too. They're not natural."

"Well, whatever. That's not a topic I want to discuss now."

Silver ignored her. "Transgenders can't be real, they are all fake. They can't have babies naturally, because they don't actually have muscles there to give birth."

Mirius was pissed by now, and immediately reached out, deftly manipulating Blaze's mind, placing a suggestion in her head to say something, controlling her almost as a puppet with the subtlest, yet most insidious of suggestions.

"They can have surgery to have a baby, like C-section."

"That's not normal, they aren't born with it."

"What they are born with is their sex, not their gender, and definitely not their sexual orientation."

"Sex does not define gender."

"Notice how they mean the same thing?"

A small spark of silvery light flickered to life in Mirius' fist, and he took deep breaths, aware how closely he had come to losing control. Gritting his teeth, he extended his mind again, intent on ending the conversation.

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep."

"Goodnight."

Before he left Blaze's mind, he took pity on her, and left the memories of what had happened, as well as a reminder that he had been in her mind. Blaze started, as she realised that Mirius had used her in the argument, and revisiting the memories, realised that Silver had sort of won. Shrugging, a small smile on her lips, she turned over to sleep. Well, Silver won the argument against you, stupid. She thought as hard as she could at Mirius. A sharp crackle gave her a sense of satisfaction, before she turned over to sleep, smiling.

Mirius sat alone in the tent, looking down at his trembling hands. He feared to even lose control of his emotions, holding them in an iron grip, examining each feeling under the cold light of logic and reason. Yet they surged in his mind, threatening to overwhelm the island of sanity and total control in his mind, held back only by his solid iron will, that had helped him to hold against impulses that claimed so many of his age. Deep breaths, Mirius, deep breaths. He inhaled, every movement a controlled action. He wasn't so much angry as totally devastated. He had thought that Silver would be accepting and loving, and had received the rudest shock ever. How could you do this to me? He thought, his thoughts coloured deeply with betrayal and sadness. Closing his eyes, the faintest trickle of salt water ran from his eye down his cheek, dripping off his face as he sniffed quietly. This was a horribly cruel joke. He had fallen for someone completely, body and soul, and now he was discovering that he did not know him as well as he thought he did. He heard rustling outside, and immediately wiped his face, turning away into the dim recesses of the tent to hide his tears. This is illogical. Silver hasn't betrayed me yet. He thought, yet his heart screamed 'Traitor!'. The tent flap opened, and Shadow entered, movements as fluid as his namesake, to sit beside him. He heard me crying, he realised, as the Ultimate Lifeform has perfect senses. Yet he did nothing but sit quietly with him, for which he was grateful.

Controlling his voice, he spoke at long last. "I'm going to sleep." Shadow nodded, carmine eyes questioning, but filled with warmth. Mirius could not bear to meet them, fearful that all his feelings would come tumbling out. Turning over, he lay down on his sleeping bag, and quickly fell asleep. As he closed his eyes, the last thing he felt was the warmth of Shadow on his back, and he leant into it, letting Shadow warm his icy, shattered heart. Then he was gone, into the realm of his nightmares, of hearing Silver reject him over and over again until it all blurred into a singular vision of him saying this one sentence.

"You are not natural."

Please follow or favorite if you liked it, and don't forget to leave a review, even just an itty-bitty one! Please? (Big eyes)

Slightly based off my life (just a little bit)