Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during this startling memory... especially for the one who finally understands that she was tricked.

~悪意~

REVIEW REPLIES:

Review reply: Hello, MelGamingPlays! It wasn't Tails, I swear! Marthal was the only character in that chapter, remember, and he has blue eyes just like Tails… so he's the one who died. ;_;

~悪意~

"Dark Horses"

~悪意~

Since the flash that had divided the group, Kym had woken up and regrouped with four of the five people who were closest to her. Those people happened to be her parents and little sister, proving to her that they were safe and bringing her no end of relief. The four of them were gathered in the shade of a rocky outcropping on the edge of the savannah Mazuri, savoring the cool to be found there while trying to get ahold of the others. After all, neither Silver or Ava (the only ones here who could teleport) could take them back to Sonic or anyone else without knowing where they were.

Like her family, Kym was on her communicator. As such, she saw it immediately when Marthal's mass message reached them. She frowned out of confusion and opened the message to read. However, almost immediately she wished she hadn't. Reading everything Marthal had sent about Malevolence, it's previous attack on this world, how it had killed before, who had fought it, where it had been sealed… it terrified her, because she knew. With a fierce jolt, she realized she knew what had happened.

For the first time since her early childhood, she recalled what had happened with her and Lia during the Nocturne War. She remembered the encounter with the mysterious cat woman (a demon, perhaps, or maybe someone who had been possessed?) who had directed them to go to the gate in the first place. She remembered recalled being chased through the "Garden of Darkness" toward the gate by Nocturnians, reaching the gate with Lia, the two of them leaping through it, the experience they had had within its dark depths…

Oh, god, that encounter.

She remembered… everything about it.

To their young minds, it felt like it had been years since Kimmy and Lia had arrived in this place. At the behest of the strange white cat woman that they had met who knew how long ago, Kimmy and Lia had set out through the snow on the northern Mobian continent of Artika toward a place know by the locals as the "Garden of Darkness". Within it was a door-like structure with a stone arch and everything, which many apparently called the "Black Gate". Lia had heard about it before. Her daddy had once told her that it was considered by many to be the literal gateway to hell, where the greatest evil imaginable had last stood on their world. Or... something like that. He had told her that such a story was likely mere myth, but that the place was dangerous regardless. She had been told never to go there. And yet the woman had suggested that she and her cousin do just that, and she had somehow sounded so convincing... Maybe that tone had actually been the kind her daddy would call "manipulative". But it was too late to wonder about that now, wasn't it?

It was strangely warm in this place, despite being so dark and devoid of any sort of Light. The Darkness was almost... soothing, in its own way, and she thought she possibly understood why. 'What was it that Papa once said...? "Darkness finds comfort in Darkness as much as Light does with other Light"?' Whatever the case, she didn't feel as afraid here now as she'd felt coming in (though being pursued by Nocturnians on the way here had certainly contributed then). In fact, she didn't feel afraid at all. It was... strange, to say the least.

To her right, Kimmy floated in the blackness as helplessly as Lia did. "Lia, are we going anywhere?" the kitten complained. "We've been floating forever."

Little Lia frowned in thought. "I don't think so. It's kinda hard to tell, though. You know, since it's so dark and all..."

That, apparently, gave Kimmy an idea. "Oh! Maybe we can use the flashlights on our communicators to help us see!" Her beaming smile was audible in her voice and entirely contagious.

"Good idea!" Without further ado, Lia turned on her small communicator's screen, tapped a button onscreen, and turned on the flashlight. Kimmy did the same thing at about the same time. Sweeping the thin beams of light around, they tried to see something in this place. Anything, really. But there was nothing. All around them was this all-encompassing and impenetrable blackness that seemed to have nothing but them in it. Their lights barely made the tiniest, most insignificant dents in it all.

A voice from both everywhere and nowhere finally succeeded in invoking momentary terror in the girls. "You should not have brought light in this place..." There was a shriek, maybe two, and Lia wasn't sure if it came from her or from Kimmy, or from both of them. Too terrified to speak, she just reflexively snapped her hand back to her communicator and shut it off. Kimmy, now trembling in the faint glow of her flashlight, kept hers on. That voice, that deep and menacing voice, spoke again. "So one of you is at least partially true to your Darkness... and one has inherited reserves of Light as well... how unfortunate."

Honestly, Lia had no idea what provoked her to speak. "W...Which one... is unfortunate?" she asked meekly.

The mysterious, unseeable entity opted not to answer her question. "You have encroached upon my realm, brought with you lights, and resealed the gate... Such foolish, tiny creatures..."

"We're in another realm?" Kimmy blurted out in alarm.

Again, the entity did not answer her. It did, however, voice it's own question for the first time. "Why have you come to this place, if not to die?"

Trembling anew, Kimmy looked to Lia for help. Trying her damnedest to be brave like her father, Lia whimpered, "W-We were being chased, by, um," she swallowed hard, "by Nocturnians. They tried to kill us, and this cat lady we met told us we should come here... that it was tied to to our 'inheritance' or something like that..."

"I see... so the Widow sent you, then... and those insects are indeed active once more..." Kimmy and Lia traded half-puzzled, half-terrified looks, but the entity continued. "Tell me, little creatures... where does your Darkness come from...?"

They traded another puzzled look. "...From... our Papa," Lia said. "I-I mean, our grandfather. Her great-grandfather, technically."

"And his name?"

"It's... It's Kaden."

"So it is the Child of Darkness, then... Zenith's successor." Before Kimmy or Lia could even ask, it said, "You are strange little creatures... One a blend of Darkness and Light, the other full of Darkness yet acting as though filled with Light... Each of you possesses what I need."

Lia was too terrified now to ask. Kimmy, on the other hand, was always eager to help. That feeling apparently overrode her fear, at least briefly, as the entity spoke. "Oh, what did you need?"

"Easy transport," the entity replied enigmatically. "It has been too long since I have moved and I remain weary... I have need of my portal... the one you have again closed."

This made Lia frown. "So... you... want to go to... to our world?" The thought sent sharp chills up and down her spine. "W...Why?"

"I seek to purge all realms of all that should not exist... all that has no place within existence."

"So..." Kimmy frowned in thought, then made a decision that startled Lia. "So, you're kinda like a hero, then."

"What?" Lia demanded, more confused than anything.

"I am unfamiliar with your terms, little creature."

"Like, you get rid of bad guys and stop bad things from happening and stuff," Kimmy elaborated poorly.

The troubling thing was, the entity didn't truly agree with what Kimmy said. At least, not out loud. Instead it said, "Believe what you wish, little creature... I require only that the gate be reopened..."

"And... you'll start getting rid of the bad things... right?" Lia asked, a little more hesitant than Kimmy now appeared to be.

"I will do as I have always done, little creature... regardless of what 'bad things' are out there."

After a long, long moment, Kimmy and Lia turned together to where they could now sense the gate to be. Trading a look, they slowly reached out... and opened it.

For the first time since that fateful encounter, Kym understood what they had been tricked into doing… and what horrible things that entity had been alluding to with its words. The entity had been Malevolence. It had been talking about eliminating existence of Light. It had convinced her and Lia to free it from a seal it had been placed under to prevent it from killing again. And they… they had... We set it free. Horrified by the very idea, she sank to her knees. Unable to respond as her family quickly turned their attention to her in an effort to figure out what was wrong, she unwillingly focused on the one thought that kept running through the her mind.

What have we done...?

~悪意~

1,535 words this time. Quick note: a Google search of the phrase "dark horse" brings up this definition, hence the title of this chapter. "A candidate or competitor about whom little is known but who unexpectedly wins or succeeds." It's very fitting, especially since Malevolence can be kind of considered to be a competitor of sorts. Albeit one with very opposite goals to that of the heroes. But, anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. Posted (at about 7:35 a.m.) 10-07-18.