"Homecoming" Chapter 10

Written by: Toni the Mink

All Official Sonic Characters © SEGA

Marcie © Toni the Mink

Bryce © Psychedelic Hurricane (AKA Jenna)

Cori the Mole © A-R-A-D-

They weren't sure just how long they were sitting like that. It felt like an extraordinarily long time, but for all they knew, it may have been only five minutes while Espio finally let all his bottled up emotions out and Vector just supported him…

Finally, Espio was able to collect himself and pull himself away from Vector, dragging himself across the room to wipe his eyes. Vector came over, "You all right?" he asked, "Anything I can do?"

"Just tend to Marcie…"

Vector glanced over his shoulder, finally noticing the shackled teen gecko on the wall. He immediately approached her. "Oh hey… Sorry, didn't mean ta ignore you there…"

Marcie only looked back at him silently, no real reaction. Clearly she had gone through a lot recently, on top of watching Espio beat the living crap out of Crimson Shadow, followed by his complete meltdown…

"S'ok, kiddo," Vector knelt down and messed with her shackles, "Let's get you out of here."

"Crimson has the keys…" Marcie spoke quietly.

Vector turned to make his way over to Bryce's badly smashed body… noticing Espio wasn't around anymore. "Hey… did ya by chance see where my partner went off to?"

Marcie quietly shook her head.

Vector sighed, figuring Espio being by himself probably wasn't a good idea at the moment… But he couldn't worry about him right now. Marcie was shackled to that wall long enough, and who knows what was happening to her while she was shackled. She needed to be let free and gotten help. So he chose to tend to her and look for Espio later.

After unlocking her shackles, he wrapped a nearby blanket around her to cover herself, lifted her up, and took her upstairs to the living room. "I've got yeh," he assured as tears started streaming down her cheeks, "Yer safe now."

Charmy had just gotten off the phone as Vector came into the living room, carefully placing Marcie on the couch. "I called the police like you told me to," the bee announced, "They're sending some cop cars over, and an ambulance too!"

"Good job, Charmy," said Vector, "Hey, y'haven't seen Espio walk by, didja?"

Charmy nodded. "I was talking to the operator when he walked past, but didn't say anything. I think he went outside."

Outside… Great. Who knows how far he went? "Okay, listen," Vector ordered, "I want ya to stay here and keep an eye on Marcie. I'll go find Espio."

Charmy nodded again as Vector headed outside. He walked over to Marcie, who was curled up on the couch with tears in her eyes. "Are you Marcie?" he asked.

The gecko glanced up at Charmy and gave a small nod.

"My name's Charmy," the little bee smiled, "Are you okay?"

Marcie responded by glancing back downwards.

Charmy frowned. "I'm sorry," he said, "I guess you aren't…"

Marcie didn't acknowledge him. But the boy suddenly grew optimistic again, "Hey, y'know your mom hired us to come look for you!" he said. Marcie glanced back up at him. "She was really sad when she told us you were missing," Charmy continued, "She really misses you… I bet she's gonna be so happy when we tell her we found you!"

Marcie slowly grew a smile on her face as tears fell down once more. "Thank you…" she spoke.

"Espio!" Vector called out once he stepped outside.

"I'm right here…"

The croc turned around to see the chameleon sitting on the porch, back against the wall, staring downward. He wasn't in his usual meditation stature, but rather one leg tucked in, the other stretched out, and an arm draped over his leg. He was clearly mulling over a lot of things.

Vector gave a small sigh of relief, knowing he didn't have to look far for him. He made his way over and sat down next to his friend. "How you doin'?"

Espio gave a low sigh. "I don't know how to feel, to be honest…" he mulled, "I should be glad that this dark patch in my life is finally gone. But, at the same time…" he turned away, "I'm ashamed that I allowed it to control me for this long. I put this place… this part of my life… behind me, hoping to never have to confront it. I thought I could ignore it. That I could pretend it never happened and just start a new life as Espio the Chameleon, ninja and detective."

He closed his eyes. "Had I simply confronted it… Had I even confided in my friends, those who I have even come to consider my new family… Had I simply come back here sooner… All this time I was afraid… and now I've found out I had nothing to be afraid of. Bryce had emotional control over me all this time, but by finally setting my fear of him aside, I was able to take him out almost instantly. If I had sooner simply put into motion what I have learned from becoming a ninja years ago, I could've taken care of him and properly moved on a long time ago." He lowered his head shamefully, "And perhaps… Bryce wouldn't never have been able to take on new victims."

"Okay, I'm gonna stop ya right there, Esp," said Vector, "Don't you DARE blame yourself for what yer cousin did. Ain't NONE of this is yer fault! He assaulted you… raped you… when you were just a lil' kid. Y'did what ya had to do to save yerself. And look what came from it! You grew up, ya got stronger, ya made somethin' of yerself. Ya made new friends, yer part of a team that helps people, ya even helped save the world at one time or another!

"Espio… you ain't responsible for what yer cousin did. Not to you, not to Marcie, not to anyone else. Whether or not you had the power to stop him at any point don't matter. He did really horrible stuff to you when you were just a kid… Makes sense that would freak you out enough to not wanna come back here and deal with it."

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't have ignored it and pretended this place never existed."

"Don't dwell on it, Esp," said Vector, "No matter what happened to you before, it don't define who you are now. Y'know who you are?"

Espio pulled up both legs and wrapped his arms around them, resting his chin on top. "Who?"

"Espio the Chameleon," Vector smirked, "Ninja detective. The brains of Team Chaotix. And most important of all…" He placed a hand on the chameleon's shoulder, "My best friend."

Espio glanced up at the croc. "You mean it?"

Vector nearly laughed. "Do I mean it? Course I mean it! I always mean what I say!"

Espio gave a small smirk. "That's for sure…" He lowered his head. "Vector… I… I'm sorry."

Vector raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for what?"

"You call me your best friend… But I've never shared with you the details of my past like you have. I've considered you, Charmy, even Mighty, the best friends I've ever had, even my family… but I was too shameful to tell you what happened to me. You always count on me for so much… I couldn't bear the thought of you thinking less of me if you knew."

"Espio, I could never think less of you," said Vector, "You could murder someone in cold blood, and I'd still think you were one of the greatest people to be a part of my life."

Espio smiled at this. He felt some tears rushing up, but rather than fight them back, he allowed them to fall, only wiping them away with his gloved hand. "Vector…"

"Hm?"

"… I think it's time I told you all about myself."

"Hey, you don't have to if you don't want to…"

"I know…" Espio lowered his head with a smile, "But I want to."

So he told him everything, starting with revealing his real name: Nage. His father, Detective Evan Chameleon, AKA "Espio", died undercover before he was hatched from his egg, leaving him with only his mother Marabelle to raise him. He then talked about his Aunt Maya's birthday party, when Bryce first tried to assault him, but he fought him off, resulting in the destruction of his favorite toy. Months later, unfortunately, his mother died of a heart disease, and he was sent to live with his aunt, grandmother, and as fate would have it, also Bryce…

For over a year, his life had become a living hell. Every night Bryce would seem to find a new way to torture, beat up, or straight up rape him. Despite the bruises all over his body, no one appear to notice or even care that Bryce was doing such monstrous things to the little six-year old. He once tried to tell his aunt, but she threatened never to say such malicious things about her son. Even his own grandmother wouldn't believe him, assuring him that it was merely just "nightmares" and that he should just forget about it… Of course, Bryce would then threaten that if he ever tried to tell anyone else again, "Gramma would get the worst treatment of all...!"

So he was forced to deal with it, resigned to live the rest of his life in such a battered lifestyle… Until one night, luck gave him a chance to escape once and for all when a drunken Bryce came home and left the bedroom window open. He escaped, although with no money and no supplies, but managed to get away as far as he could…. And never returned to Rainbow Valley again…

TEN YEARS AGO

Nage had been on his own for over a day now. Even he was impressed with how far he made it. Of course, it helped leaving in the dead of night where there was a slimmer chance of being seen, added to the fact that he stayed away from busy roads. He stuck to mostly the nearby forest, just hoofing it for as long as he could.

He didn't come across any new towns or cities. It was all just trees and a small river. He drank a little from the river and continued on, but at one point his stomach was growling. He really wished he could've brought some kind of food with him, but he just didn't want to risk waking up anyone in the house…

He did come across some bushes that had little small berries on them. Were they safe? Dangerous? Nage didn't care… He was too hungry to consider details, and just had a few handfuls. Momma used to tell him to rinse his fruits before eating to wash away any leftover bacteria, but the river was far behind him now, and he had absolutely no intention of going backwards…

He continued on. More trees, more rocks, more nature… But no sign of life. Where exactly was he heading anyway? He had no concept of direction at his age. Was this forest ever going to end? Oh well, as long as he was away from Rainbow Valley, far FAR away, he didn't care where he was heading…

It was getting dark out. Nage had no place to sleep, nor did he have anything else to eat. Eating wasn't an issue, however… His stomach was really bothering him. Was it those berries he didn't wash off first?

The darker it got, the colder it became. Nage hugged his body tightly, shivering as he tried to press on with an aching belly, pained from both hunger and possibly indigestion… His knees shuddered, his body was freezing, and he was feeling rather light-headed… He needed to sit down. So he plopped himself next to a nearby tree and curled up into a fetal position.

It was hard trying to sleep with a woozy head, painful stomach, and freezing body… But soon, despite feeling so cold, he felt his whole head getting warmer. He huddled himself closer to fight off the freeze, but he was still shivering violently. The only source of heat was from his temples…

He wasn't sure how long he was laying there. He knew hours had passed, seeing that the moon changed positions in the sky, but it almost felt like an eternity. Was he dying..? After all, how could a young child live out on his own like this? He didn't have food or any other means to take care of himself…

Well… He'd rather die than go back living with Bryce…

Mom… Dad… Maybe we can become a family again….

"Hey!" a voice suddenly rang out, "Are you all right?"

Nage looked up, coming face to face with a dark figure, with only her eyes clearly shown. "AH!" he cried, jumping up and backing away as far as he could go before bumping into the tree.

The figure held out her hands. "Whoa, whoa, it's okay!" she cried, "I won't hurt you. What are you doing here all by yourself? Are you lost? Where are your parents?"

Nage shuddered, but he could finally get a better look at the figure. She was a little older than him, maybe ten or eleven? She was completely dressed in black, save for her mid-section, and wore a headpiece that covered her whole face, except for her eyes. The only thing that stood out was a light-blue bow in the back.

She looked like she could be a ninja or something…

The ninja-like girl narrowed her eyes. "Are you going to answer me?"

Nage stayed quiet, remembering his last attempt at running away. Not only was it a brightly lit day, but he was also dumb enough to give out his name when someone asked him. He won't make that mistake again… And he sure wasn't going to tell her where he was from.

"If you tell me, I will help you. I promise."

Nage shook his head… then fell over. He felt so woozy, just shaking his head 'no' was enough to take a lot out of him. The ninja leaned over him and picked up his shoulders. "What's wrong with you?" She felt his forehead. "You're burning up… Poor thing. You need medical attention." She looked around herself, "I don't know where the next town is… I can't risk you being out here much longer. I guess I have no choice…"

She gently laid him back down, then pulled out a scroll and opened it on the grass. She then lifted Nage into her arms and hopped into the scroll, and it felt as if they were teleporting away.

Nage couldn't remember much of what happened afterwards, as he passed out.