Chapter 10 – Losing Control
It should have been a pleasant night. It should have been a Saturday like any other, filled with the casual talk and laughter of students looking to unwind after another stressful week of studying and dealing with the average pressures of life. And for most of Green Hill's youth, it was. But not everyone. For two teenage hedgehogs on the quiet campus of Emerald High, it was anything but a normal Saturday night. After all, they didn't usually spend their weekends trapped in the school's security office, nor did they make a habit of listening to the campus groundskeeper scold them for being reckless and impertinent. No, for the young successors of Chaos and Control, it was not a pleasant night. Instead, it was the beginning of what promised to be the most trying time of their lives.
Maria sat silently in one of a few chairs lined against the wall, staring blankly ahead as her heart pounded against her ribcage and her head spun with dizzying thoughts about the uncertain future ahead. Occasionally, her line of vision was crossed by Miles, who was pacing intermittently from one end of the room to the other while arguing with the furious groundskeeper.
"Mr. Capra, please!" the lavender hedgehog begged. "You've got it all wrong! We're not bad people. We weren't doing anything!"
"Except trespassing onto school grounds after hours", said the gray goat bitterly. "Nothing else matters; that alone is reason enough for me to call your parents."
"No!" The boy dashed across the room to the front desk, staring unblinkingly at the groundskeeper. "Please, sir, just let us go. We promise it'll never happen again. You can't call our parents, you just... you just can't."
"You understand, young man, that I have no choice? You think you're the first kids to ever sneak into Emerald High after dark? I have to deal with trespassing hooligans at least three times a month! Seems like almost every week, some teenager gets dared by their friends to sneak onto campus and spray-paint slogans for Chaos or Control all over school property. And who do you think has to clean it up afterwards?"
Miles glanced over his shoulder at Maria before turning back to Mr. Capra.
"I'm sorry, sir, I really am, but... we're not like those kids, I swear. I know it's your job to catch us and turn us in, but you have to make an exception for us. You have to let us go. You really don't understand what you're doing."
"What do you take me for?" said the old goat, glancing between the hedgehogs with vexation in his brown eyes. "Don't think I don't know who you are. I've seen you two around school; I know you're the faction leaders' children, and I understand that the last thing you'd want is for your parents to find out you're together."
"Then please don't tell them", said the boy. "It'll kill them!"
The groundskeeper exhaled a heavy sigh before sinking into the chair behind him. When he spoke again, the anger in his voice gave way to an exasperated tone.
"It's not just that you were caught intruding on campus, as bad as that is. You know you were both reported missing this afternoon? Your parents are worried about you! Can you really expect me to overlook that?"
Once again, the teenagers hesitated to look at one another in shame. Neither of them said a word, instead choosing to listen in silence to the adult's next words.
"I've been working at this school for 20 years, and well before that, I was a student. My whole life, I've been dealing with this war between Chaos and Control. It was bad enough when I was your age, but by the time my kids started attending Emerald High..." Mr. Capra faced the hedgehogs with another deep sigh. "You think I like my job? You think I take pleasure in catching troublemakers every week? You think I enjoy being known as 'Cranky Old Capra'? It pains me to watch young people throw their lives away over something so petty! I do this job to help these poor students stay in line, to keep them from being caught in the crossfire, like my own children were. So when I see two kids like you, from warring sides, together..."
The goat fell silent, turning away with a look of exhaustion on his face. After a minute, Miles dared to speak again in a quiet yet determined voice.
"Sir, we can't stand all this fighting either. We wanna be together, we want this war to end, we want peace in Green Hill. That's what we're working for. But if you call our parents now and they find out about us too soon, then all our plans will be ruined. Please, for the sake of everyone in this town, don't let them break us up."
The groundskeeper looked up as those last words fell from the hedgehog's lips. Despite the hint of sympathy in the goat's eyes, his tone remained harsh and bitter.
"You made a mistake", he muttered. "You returned to the scene of the crime. You left me no choice but to arrest you and turn you in. You may have good intentions, but you were selfish too. You broke your families' hearts, and if I were in their place – worried sick about my own children – I wouldn't care what their plans for the world were. I'd just want to know they were safe."
Mr. Capra removed the whistle from around his neck and placed it on the desk with an audible clang. He opened the folder he had taken from a filing cabinet while reaching for the phone. As the adult brought the receiver to his ear, however, the teenage boy suddenly threw his hand out to slam his fingers onto the hook. In one last act of desperation, Miles locked his gaze with the goat's as if to silently beg him for mercy. There was little compassion left in the dark eyes looking back at him.
"You were fools to come here tonight", said the elderly groundskeeper. "You had a chance to make a difference, and you threw it away. Security is right outside that door. Don't make me call them back in here."
A long pause followed, tension rising by the second... but at last the lavender hedgehog lifted his hand from the phone and reluctantly retreated to the far side of the room. Over the next several minutes, the teenagers could only listen in defeat as Mr. Capra made the calls that would seal their fate. They gave no acknowledgement when the goat confirmed their parents were on their way, and they barely looked up when a security guard opened the office door half an hour later to announce that four irate parents were standing outside the school's front entrance. After informing the hedgehogs that he would go try to calm the new arrivals before letting them in, the groundskeeper followed the wolf out the door, leaving the young couple alone with their overwhelming dread.
"Well, that's it", said Miles hoarsely, finally moving from the spot where he'd been leaning against the wall for the past thirty minutes. "Game over. They're gonna see us together, and then who knows what'll happen from there..."
Maria, who hadn't yet moved, spoke for the first time since entering the office.
"This is all my fault", she breathed. At once, her boyfriend knelt before her and took her hands in his.
"No, it's not!"
"Yes, it is!" The girl broke her vacant gaze from the opposite wall to look the boy in the eye. "It was my idea to disappear for a whole day. It was my idea to come back to Emerald High. If I hadn't brought us here, none of this would be happening."
"Don't say that." The lavender hedgehog squeezed his girlfriend's hands a little tighter. "If anything, it's my fault for ruining our plans in the first place. Don't blame yourself; we're in this together."
At these last words, the light gray hedgehog suddenly had an idea. Turning to the desk, she caught sight of a medium-sized box sitting in the corner behind it, containing various items that had been confiscated from students. Sitting among the cans of spray paint and bags of firecrackers – as she had noticed when she first spotted the box 15 minutes ago – was a pair of handcuffs with a small key attached to it by a chain. She didn't care to imagine how they had ended up there in the first place, but with time running out before she and her lover were parted for good, she realized the discovery was opportune. With a new resolve in her dark blue eyes, Maria turned back to Miles and spoke again in a steadier tone.
"You're right; we are in this together..." And with that, she rose to her feet and headed for the box. In the course of a minute, the girl grabbed the handcuffs, opened both ends with the key, tied the whistle into the handkerchief she pulled from her pocket, and hurried back to her boyfriend. She pushed the chairs out to form a barrier around them, then held out her hand to him while requesting he give her his own. Not knowing what was hidden behind his girlfriend's back, the teenage boy furrowed his brow skeptically.
"What's going on?" he said, tentatively placing his left hand in hers. Instead of answering, Maria snapped one end of the handcuffs onto Miles's wrist, and while he reacted with little more than a stunned "OK", she pulled the other cuff behind the wire cover bolted to the wall next to them and closed it around her own wrist. Words could hardly express the lavender hedgehog's shock.
"Maria, what are you doing?!"
"Taking matters into our own hands", she said, still holding the cloth in her unrestrained hand while stashing the key in her shoe. "You know the second they walk through that door, they're gonna try to separate us. We have to stand our ground. We have to fight. We're gonna make them listen to us."
The girl gazed deeply into the boy's eyes with steely determination, and a weak smile formed on his lips as he stared back into hers. Terrified of what was to come, Miles used his free hand to pull Maria closer and kissed her as if they were about to face death itself. In their moment of passion, they were jolted back to reality by the sound of the door swinging opening, but their alarm subsided when they realized the newcomer was the one person they both trusted to help them keep their hope alive...
"Oh my god!" Lily was already panicking by the time she stepped into the room and partially shut the door behind her. "Oh my god, oh my god, this is so bad!"
"Lily, what are you doing here?" exclaimed the lavender hedgehog. He hadn't expected to see his sister here now, much less outside the company of their parents.
"I was there when Mom and Dad got a call from the school: something about how they caught you trespassing on campus after dark. I had to come and make sure things would be all right, especially since they freaked out when you didn't come home for a whole day! But then..." The lilac hedgehog paused to catch her breath, making the couple more nervous by the second. "Shadow and Crystal got here at the same time we did! You should have seen the look on all their faces when the guard asked if they were the parents of the students caught sneaking into the school together! I swear I could almost see the pieces falling into place in their heads! And now they're all out there fighting because..."
But where Lily's voice failed, Maria's finished the thought on all their minds. "...They already know."
Realizing they should expect their parents' outrage to increase by at least a factor of ten, the three teenagers exchanged looks of abject horror.
"Are you guys crazy?!" the lilac hedgehog yelled. "Why in the world would you disappear like that? And what were you thinking coming back here?"
"It was my idea, Lily", said the light gray hedgehog before her boyfriend could take the blame. "Miles wanted to go home, but I asked him to stay with me all day. I wanted to be spontaneous... and I got us caught. I'm sorry!"
The youngest of the group shook her head and looked down with a heavy sigh. Only then did she notice the barrier of chairs and, upon looking up again, the handcuffs holding her friends to the wall.
"Wait, what are you doing?" she said. Her brother shrugged.
"I ran out of ideas half an hour ago. I'm trusting her now."
Seeing the subtle confidence in her friends' eyes, the sister of the twins sighed and nodded once. "Well then, I hope you know what you're getting into..."
Just then, the hedgehogs were startled by voices yelling in the hallway, perfectly audible through the gap in the doorway that Lily had left ajar.
"Where is he? I'll kill him!"
"Shadow, wait! Calm down."
The voices were getting closer, throwing the teenagers' hearts into overdrive...
"Sonic, do something!"
"Shadow, stay away from Miles! You lay a hand on him and you're dead, you hear?"
"Gentlemen, please..."
The sound of approaching footsteps echoed menacingly through the corridor. They were almost at the door now...
"No, he's dead! It wasn't enough to practically cripple our nephew; he has to corrupt our daughter too?! He's not getting away with this, the little miscreant!"
"That 'little miscreant' is my son, and I'm not gonna stand back and let you tear him down! Your daughter's got a lot more to answer for! She's the reason he's been missing since yesterday!"
Small shadows appeared under the door. The young hedgehogs braced themselves for what was about to come...
"Don't you say a word about Maria; she's never been in trouble before that boy of yours came along! Now get out of my way, Sonic!"
The three friends listened as their fathers continued to yell at each other mere feet from the door, until at last they heard the Chaos leader shout a very credible threat. In the split second she had left to think, Lily darted out of the way just as the door gave way to a racing blue blur at the same time that the figure of a black hedgehog materialized before the frightened teenagers. Fortunately, Sonic managed to grab Shadow by the arm before he could take a single step forward, and while their wives and the groundskeeper hurried into the room after them, they both stared in absolute shock at their children standing against the wall together.
"Why, you little..." The black hedgehog threatened to move toward the wide-eyed teenage boy, but another girl rushed to stand between him and her petrified friends.
"Sir", she said in a trembling voice, staring unblinkingly into Shadow's piercing red eyes, "with all due respect, Miles is my brother, and I'm not gonna let you hurt him."
As the Chaos leader stared at the audacious teenager, Crystal took over for the blue hedgehog and urged her husband to step back.
"Daddy, please", said the light gray hedgehog while her mother cautiously tugged at her father's arm. "Not like this..."
While Shadow reluctantly submitted to the request of his wife and daughter, the Control leaders went about demanding the same of their children.
"Lily, get over here", said Amy, beckoning her daughter over with a sharp wave of her hand. The lilac hedgehog didn't move until she was certain there was no longer an immediate threat to her brother, at which point she scurried across the floor to stand behind her parents and watch the scene about to unfold.
"You too, Miles", said Sonic. "Now."
"I can't, Dad."
"Don't give me attitude, young man! You get over here this second!"
"No, Dad, I literally can't!" The lavender hedgehog raised his left wrist to indicate the locked cuff strands holding him back. Only then did the adults begin to realize the true extent of the teenagers' defiance.
"What in the world...?" The blue hedgehog was the first to express his indignation. At his demand for the immediate removal of the handcuffs, his son shook his head.
"Not until you hear us out", said Miles in his most assertive tone to date.
"This is ridiculous!" the black hedgehog interjected, and he turned to the goat on his left. "Don't you have a key for those things?"
"You mean this?" All eyes turned to the light gray hedgehog as she held up her knotted handkerchief, from which was dangling a chain attached to what only two people in the room knew to be the groundskeeper's whistle. The second her father and his rival started toward her, Maria threw her hand up over her head, stopping the adults in their tracks as if she were holding a grenade.
"Take one step past those chairs, and this goes straight out the window!"
For fear of prolonging an unnecessary standoff, the faction leaders retreated. But they were not prepared to yield to the demands of a 16-year-old girl.
"Maria, this is not funny", Shadow hissed. "Take those off, now!"
"Nothing about this is funny!" his daughter cried. "We have to chain ourselves to a wall just to get a word in! We're not taking these off until you agree to listen!"
But it quickly became clear that there would be no agreement between the young couple and their parents, and after several minutes of each father blaming his rival's child for all the recent confusion, Miles and Maria had heard enough. When Sonic and Shadow chose to call their supposed bluff by refusing to hear what they had to say, the lavender hedgehog pushed the windowpane behind them open, and before anyone could react, the light gray hedgehog tossed the cloth out into the night air, where it landed in a tree with a rustle and a metallic ring. Words couldn't describe the intensity of the rage that flared up in the patriarchs' eyes.
"Young lady, you are in so much trouble!" the black hedgehog yelled. "When we find that key and get you out of there, we're going straight home!"
"You're not gonna find that key, Daddy! You're gonna stay here and listen to us while Mr. Capra and the security guards go look for it. The key is tied to a white cloth; it'll take them about ten minutes to find it and bring it back. If you've heard us out by then and agreed to our requests, then Miles and I will go quietly."
"And if we refuse to play this childish game?" Shadow was livid, but his daughter didn't flinch.
"Then you're in for a hell of a fight."
The parents exchanged glances before looking back into their children's steely eyes, but at last they agreed to let the groundskeeper handle the task of retrieving the tossed item. While the gray goat stepped out of the room at a leisurely pace, the blue hedgehog suggested his daughter accompany the others, but she refused.
"Actually, Dad", said Lily, gazing past her father at her courageous friends, "I kind of wanna hear what they have to say... and I think you should too."
It was a small gesture, but the lilac hedgehog's kind words were exactly the motivation Miles and Maria needed to stand up to their parents. After sparing a smile at Lily, the young lovers once again faced the adults, ready to bring the truth to light.
"I know what you're all thinking", said the light gray hedgehog, all eyes on her, "and yes, it is what it looks like. Miles and I are... together."
"How did this happen?" Shadow exclaimed after the gasps died down. "Did this boy tempt you into some sort of affair?!"
"More likely she seduced him!" snapped Sonic, but his son wouldn't stand for it.
"Stop it, Dad! Listen to her!"
"No, this isn't a fling!" said Maria. "We've been together for a while now."
"Since when?" The question on each parent's mind was voiced by Crystal, and as everyone else fell silent, her daughter replied in a quiet tone.
"Since September."
It took about five seconds for the numbers to add up in everyone's head.
"Six months?!" The black hedgehog was beside himself. "That's how long you've been... infatuated with this Control boy?!"
"It's not like that, Daddy!" As she looked around at the awestruck faces, the girl knew it was time to drive the truth home once and for all. "Miles and I are in love."
Shock and horror froze the adults to the spot. One could have heard a pin drop.
"Is this true?" the pink hedgehog breathed, staring at her son as though hoping for his denial. No such words passed his lips.
"Yes, Mom, it's true."
"Impossible!" The blue hedgehog took his turn to express his disdain. "How did you even get involved with this girl in the first place, let alone fall for her?"
But the Chaos leaders realized they already knew the answer, and with cold fury in his red eyes, Shadow stared unblinkingly into his daughter's blue ones.
"Your initiation party?" he muttered. She nodded without hesitation.
"Start from the beginning", said the lilac hedgehog before another row could break out. "Explain exactly how this happened."
For the next quarter hour, Miles and Maria recounted their story to their parents, from the night they had met and started a relationship, to their growing affection for each other over the past six months and the countless times they had gotten together in secret, to the events of the last few hours that had brought them here tonight. They made sure to emphasize their plans to establish peace between their factions, and they were careful to omit the details that would compromise the accessories to their romance, especially the girl standing across the room. By the time the teenagers were through with their account, the adults were stunned.
"So all this time", said the black hedgehog in a low voice, "everything that's been different about you... was because of him?"
These words resonated with the other three parents around him, especially with the mothers, who both suddenly recalled very similar memories regarding their children's unusual behavior in the past half year...
"The flowers", they whispered as one, and though the fathers didn't seem to take notice, the teenagers understood exactly what Amy and Crystal were remembering, Miles and Lily recalling the colored drawing on their refrigerator while Maria thought back on the events of Valentine's Day. Fortunately, despite exchanging glances, neither faction matriarch elaborated, instead choosing to postpone the discussion until after this situation had been resolved.
"So now what?" said Sonic bitterly. "Now that you've been cornered, what do you expect? You want us all to just forget about the past and make up, and everyone'll be friends? And then what? You two can live happily ever after?"
"We want the chance to be together, period!" The lavender hedgehog glared at his father. "You don't have to be friends. You don't have to like each other. You don't even have to be OK with each other yet. We just want you to be OK with us."
"We know this is hard to understand", said the light gray hedgehog, "but Miles and I hope you can all accept that we wanna be together, and we really hope you can find a way to get along. This feud has been going on way too long. All this fighting is keeping us apart, and we can't take it anymore! This has to end now! Please, can't you at least try to be civil to each other?"
Her words lingered in the tense air like an eerie echo, and for the one moment that their parents exchanged awkward looks, the teenagers believed there might actually be a chance of their wishes finally coming true. Then the patriarchs spoke.
"This is not your place", said Shadow icily as he locked eyes with his daughter again. "You're not ready to understand the true meaning of this rivalry yet."
"You think this is romantic?" Sonic scoffed, sparing a piercing glare at his son. "It's insane! You're just kids! You don't know what you want yet!"
Miles and Maria stared at their parents in shock, hardly daring to believe what they were hearing. They had failed. But the boy was not about to give up so easily.
"I know I don't wanna live in a world where someone like me is supposed to hate someone like her." The lavender hedgehog gazed unfalteringly back into his father's green eyes, his voice growing stronger with each word he spoke. "I know I wanna go to a school where I can talk to a girl from Chaos and no one'll threaten to beat me up for it. I know I wanna be able to kiss my girlfriend in public without thinking it'll start a riot. I know I wanna shout from the highest point in Green Hill that I'm head over heels in love with Maria Hedgehog! And I know I want our parents to be happy we're together! So please, Dad, make an effort! Forget the war, shake hands, make this a peaceful town – if not for yourselves or even Green Hill, then at least for us!"
While the patriarch of Control shot a resentful look at his rival, the light gray hedgehog spared a glance at the silhouettes she had noticed under the door a few minutes ago. They were running out of time; Mr. Capra couldn't stall forever...
"Daddy, please, take the first step!" The girl was close to crying tears of desperation. "Shake his hand, put the past behind you already! You can do it!"
Unfortunately, the teenager's plea would prove to fall on deaf ears, as the black hedgehog's only reaction was to return his rival's glare without a word. However, it seemed not all hope was lost, for although their fathers refused to acknowledge these requests for peace, their mothers had become unusually quiet, almost as if the young lovers' words were beginning to sink in. Almost...
"Enough of this nonsense!" The Chaos patriarch turned around and pulled the door open, only to find the groundskeeper already standing unapologetically in the hallway. The pair of infuriated fathers wasted no time in demanding the key that would release their children and put an end to the impasse, but the goat only shrugged as he stepped into the room with the coveted item in hand.
"I'm afraid I can't help you, folks", he said respectfully while opening the handkerchief, and he held up the chain for everyone to see the whistle hanging from it. "Looks like this was just a decoy."
If Sonic and Shadow were already seething, it was nothing compared to the rage that overtook them both at that last word. Realizing they had been deceived by their adolescent children, the patriarchs turned in unison to face the young couple again, fury burning in their eyes.
"You tricked us?" the black hedgehog muttered at his daughter through gritted teeth. Maria didn't falter.
"You didn't actually think I'd throw the real key out the window, did you?" she said, gazing back at her father without blinking. "We had to have a Plan B."
"So you deliberately wasted 15 minutes of everyone's time?" The blue hedgehog stared incredulously at his son, but there was no remorse in the equally emerald eyes looking back at him.
"We bought 15 minutes of your attention", said Miles coolly, "but we said we'd only go quietly if you chose to take our side. What happens now is up to you."
The angry fathers demanded the location of the missing key, but their children refused to oblige. When Shadow stepped forth threatening to tear the handcuffs apart himself, the light gray hedgehog threw herself in front of her boyfriend while staring fiercely over her shoulder.
"Don't you touch him!" she cried, forcing her father back a step. "No more threats, no more violence! Just shake hands and make peace, once and for all!"
"Stop it, Maria!" yelled the black hedgehog. "Tell us where the key is now, or I swear you won't see the light of day again until you're 18!"
The faction patriarchs remained unconvinced that the key wasn't already with either of their restrained children, even after both teenagers turned out all their pockets to prove they were empty. Meanwhile, the white hedgehog reached for the handkerchief still in the groundskeeper's hand, intending to hold on to it for her daughter... but the second it touched her fingers, she let out a sharp gasp that quickly drew everyone's attention. As all eyes fell on her and the cloth drifted to the ground, Crystal kept her head down while subtly shifting her blue eyes to gaze at the floor near the young lovers' feet, and suddenly Maria realized with a horrible chill exactly what had just happened to her mother...
"Honey?" said Shadow, staring at his wife. "Are you all right?"
The matriarch of Chaos looked up at her husband and nodded slowly, insisting she was fine. The long pause she took to retrieve the fallen cloth, however, was enough of a red flag to make the black hedgehog narrow his eyes in suspicion.
"I know that look..." Suddenly, his eyes grew wide, for he had come to the same conclusion as their daughter. "You know where it is, don't you?"
Over the next minute – which seemed like an hour to the couple watching with bated breath – Crystal returned Shadow's gaze without a word, then looked over his shoulder at the girl staring back at her from across the room. While everyone else's eyes were averted, the light gray hedgehog subtly shook her head, hoping against hope that her mother would feel enough sympathy for her and her boyfriend to keep from undoing their plans... but within seconds, the white hedgehog's focus was broken by the abrupt sound of her husband's voice.
"Crystal, listen to me", the black hedgehog whispered, gazing intently into his wife's blue eyes. "If you know where that key is, you have to do something. You can't let our little girl get into any more trouble, not for this boy. You have to help her before it's too late. Please, get her away from him!"
Under the pressure of over half a dozen gazes, Crystal remained silent while she glanced between her husband and her daughter, the faintest trace of doubt on her face... but at last, she dropped her head with a heavy sigh and stepped past Shadow to approach the teenagers backed against the wall. By the time her mother stopped in front of her, Maria's eyes were wide with barely contained despair.
"No..." she breathed, shaking her head frantically. "Mommy, please..."
The white hedgehog returned her daughter's sorrowful look, but followed through nonetheless, slowly kneeling to retrieve the hidden key. Just before Crystal reached for her shoe, however, an idea suddenly struck the teenage girl...
"Look at him!" The Chaos matriarch sharply looked up, freezing as she locked her gaze with Maria's. "Look into his eyes, Mom, and tell me he's not a good person."
Her mother avoided breaking eye contact with her for several seconds, then finally looked down again and reached for her left shoe. The girl resisted at first, still pleading while shifting her feet, but was ultimately forced to give in when Crystal grabbed her ankle and fished the key out of her heel. Through the desperate tears welling in her eyes, the light gray hedgehog almost didn't notice when the white one froze for a second while rising to her feet; unseen by the people behind her, the adult spared a single glance sideways at the boy on her daughter's right. Maria stared into Crystal's blue eyes for another minute, anticipating the moment when she would finally unlock the handcuffs and let everything fall apart...
But that moment never came. Instead, the despondent matriarch of Chaos turned away, approached the desk, and dropped the key onto the wooden surface with a clang that echoed eerily through the silent office. Then, without a word, she walked past the dumbfounded spectators and headed through the open doorway out of sight, leaving the faintest sound of a stifled sob behind as she disappeared.
Despite this thinly veiled protest, the faction patriarchs remained adamant about their refusal to bend to their children's will. With the remaining parents left disconcerted and Lily refusing to oppose her friends, Mr. Capra had no choice but to release the young couple himself, taking the key from the desk and approaching the restrained hedgehogs with disappointment in his eyes. As they watched their fathers move closer while the goat removed the cuffs from their wrists, Miles and Maria knew there was nothing more they could do to save what was left of their hope. This was it: their last stand together.
While the groundskeeper stepped away to return the handcuffs to the box and the patriarchs moved the chairs aside, the girl cried out in despair and threw her arms around the boy she adored as if it were to be the last embrace of their lives. As their lips touched in a final kiss, time itself seemed to slow until they were frozen amid the shattered remains of the dreams they once shared, dreams of the peaceful world their love could have created...
And then reality caught up with them once more. Suddenly, both young hedgehogs felt a sharp tugging at their shoulders, and the next thing they knew, they were being torn from each other's arms. Desperately they reached out to one another, only just managing to grab each other's hand before Sonic and Shadow could separate them completely. Their fathers tried to pull them away, but the teenagers tightened their grip and wouldn't let go for anything in the world. Their distraught pleas for freedom echoed through the room, and tears slid down their cheeks at the same pace at which their fingers were slipping out of each other's grasp...
With one last anguished cry, Miles and Maria felt their hearts break as one when they were finally separated. The teenagers struggled in vain against the adults' holds; Sonic threw an arm around his son to keep him back while Shadow dragged his daughter away. The young lovers continued to scream each other's name until the Chaos pair finally vanished through the doorway, leaving behind three unsettled adults, a teenage boy standing broken in his father's arms, and a girl shedding an equal profusion of tears as her heartbroken friends.
Late into the night, on opposite ends of Green Hill, two very similar arguments were playing out simultaneously, each involving one half of an inter-factional teenage couple and the rest of their disconcerted family. As if the agony of having been separated an hour ago weren't enough, both 16-year-old hedgehogs were being forced to endure harsh lectures from their fathers, who were so worked up by the time they made it home that their children couldn't have gotten a word in for the first half hour if they had tried.
"How could you do this, Maria?" After yelling about all the important values of Chaos that his daughter had been found guilty of disrespecting tonight, Shadow finally began to venture questions, though the lack of subsequent pauses made it clear that he wasn't really looking for answers. "How could you betray your family like this? Have we taught you nothing of honor or self-control?"
Maria remained silent as she stared past her father from the living room armchair. She didn't have to wait long to hear his voice again.
"Of all the teenagers in Green Hill, of all the students who have shown interest in you, you chose a boy from Control? And not just any boy from Control: the son of your family's enemies, your enemies! Does the name of Chaos mean nothing to you?"
Still the teenage girl said nothing, looking down at the expanse of floor in front of her. The black hedgehog was beginning to lose whatever little patience he had left.
"The boy puts your cousin in the hospital, and you still go and spend an entire day alone with him? I'd hate to think what you'd do for him if Rex had been killed!"
"Shadow!"
Crystal, who had been sitting silently in the corner, suddenly cried out in shock, appalled by the words that had just left her husband's lips. No regret emerged in Shadow's red eyes as he watched his wife and daughter's reactions; if anything, he was satisfied to see Maria snap her head up. Invigorated by the horrified look in her eyes, the patriarch of Chaos stared down the light gray hedgehog.
"Don't act so surprised, young lady. What did you expect? But trust me, as bad as this looks to your own parents, I guarantee you're coming off even worse to his!"
Though she didn't want to believe it, the teenager knew in her heart that her father was right. Her frustration growing, Maria bowed her head again while fighting back the tears welling in her eyes at the thought of the boy she loved and the same hell he was being forced to suffer at this very moment.
Meanwhile, on the west side of town, a similar scene was playing out in the central house of Control. A dejected teenage boy leaned against the living room wall, listening apathetically to his father scolding him from across the floor while his mother and sister sat by a side wall to watch the lecture in uneasy silence. Like the girl enduring the same ordeal across Green Hill, Miles avoided eye contact throughout the speech about his faction's principles and how he had disgraced them tonight. Unlike Maria, however, he had no trouble confronting his dad when the opportunity finally arose.
"What were you thinking, Miles?" Sonic yelled, growing more irritated the longer his son stared blankly off to the side. "Getting involved with the girl who's supposed to run Chaos someday? This is the worst thing you could have done to your family! You've completely damaged our good name!"
The lavender hedgehog didn't shift his gaze from the wall as he broke his half-hour silence in a low voice. "I don't care."
"Word about this is gonna spread, and everyone in Green Hill will know you two were together..."
"I don't care."
"It'll be the most humiliating scandal in the history of Control!"
"I don't... care!"
As he shouted those words, the boy finally turned to face the blue hedgehog. Taking advantage of his stunned silence, Miles challenged his father, fire in his eyes.
"I don't care, Dad", he muttered. "I don't care what this does to our name. I don't care what this does to the faction. None of it matters to me anymore. I don't care."
"Well, you should!" The fury flared up in Sonic's voice again as he shouted with twice the original vigor. "Like it or not, you have an obligation to this family and to this faction, and that does have to matter to you!"
"Why?" the lavender hedgehog cried. "What has this faction ever done for me, except teach me to look down my nose at people who don't think the same way I do?"
Amy and Lily glanced repeatedly between the other hedgehogs like the quiet audience of a tennis match, feeling the tension rising with every word exchanged. They didn't like where this was going...
"This faction is the foundation of thinking that's going to move Green Hill forward!" said the blue hedgehog, and his son rolled his eyes and turned back to the wall. "This isn't about you, Miles. You're a part of something bigger than your own juvenile desires. You can't just run away from that!"
"I wish I could. Maybe then I wouldn't have to pretend I give a damn about this war between Chaos and Control anymore!"
"Don't expect me to believe that, young man! You never said a word against Control before you fell for that Chaos girl!"
"She has a name, Dad..." The teenager dug his fingers into the windowsill to keep his rising temper in check.
"She also has a faction that stands for principles yours is against, and you both know that! Heck, that was probably her plan all along: to charm you into turning your back on your own family, make it easier to lead Chaos with the main competition out of the way. So now you wanna give up everything – your family, your morals, your life – all for some little vamp?"
Before anyone had time to blink, Miles snapped around and darted straight at his father. Fortunately for Sonic, his daughter proved to be just as quick-witted as his son; also having caught the insult, Lily jumped up at the same time and managed to grab her brother a second before he reached his target. The adult didn't flinch, staring coldly at the outraged boy as the girl tried hard to push him back.
"Don't talk about her that way!" the lavender hedgehog screamed over his sister's shoulder. "Don't you dare say a word about her!"
"Well, it's good to see you give a damn about something!" the Control patriarch snapped. "If only you weren't so deluded by lust!"
"Stop it, both of you!" yelled the pink hedgehog, hurrying to step between her husband and her son while her daughter struggled to restrain the latter. "This isn't helping anyone. Miles, show more respect to your father. Sonic, I know you're angry, but that was completely uncalled for! Now can we please just calm down?"
At his mother's pleading look, the lavender hedgehog shook himself free of his sister's embrace and grudgingly returned to his spot on the other side of the room. Looking out the window at the starry sky, his thoughts drifted from the quarrel with his family to the girl suffering through an equally unpleasant exchange across town...
Maria stared fixedly at the floor, trying in vain to block out the heated words her father was yelling at her. It was getting harder to keep calm in the face of his onslaught of insults against the boy she loved...
"I can't believe you could be so easily beguiled by that Control boy! He's obviously been taking advantage of you! How could you be so naïve?"
"Daddy..." Her voice trembled as she spoke for the first time in almost an hour.
"He's no different from his father: a scoundrel and a troublemaker! You should know better than to get involved with someone like that!"
"Daddy, please..."
"I swear, if I ever get my hands on that wretched little-"
"DAD, STOP!"
Shadow, who had been pacing nonstop, suddenly froze in his tracks, stunned by his daughter's outburst. As he turned to face her, Maria looked up at the black hedgehog, the sadness in her eyes giving way to the rage finally rising to the surface.
"What did you say?" her father whispered.
"Stop it, Dad!" The light gray hedgehog rose from her chair, drawing courage from the look of incredulity in Shadow's red eyes. "He's not like that, OK? He's not a monster! You can't judge him by his background. You don't know him!"
"I don't have to know him!" the black hedgehog yelled. "It's enough to know what he's done. Did you forget what happened to your cousin yesterday?"
"That was an accident! It's not like he was trying to kill Rex!"
"Accident or not, he was still expelled for it! Or did you forget that too?"
"Did you even once stop to consider Miles's side of the story?" Maria felt the rage burning stronger in her heart at the sight of her father turning away in exasperation. "You know his cousin was hurt when he tried to stop the first fight? He only went after Rex because he felt guilty over what happened to Sonia! He made one mistake; that doesn't make him a bad person!"
"You honestly believe in his innocence?!" Shadow gave his daughter a look that suggested he could hardly believe his ears. "You're more gullible than I thought, to fall for his lies! Maria, you can't allow yourself to be swayed so easily! Don't forget, you're going to have a huge responsibility someday!"
"I know! How could I forget? I'm reminded of it every single day, just living in the same house as you and Mom!"
"And with good reason! Being with that boy can't change the fact that this faction is part of who you are. It's in your blood! You know someday the legacy of Chaos will be passed on to you. This entire faction will be yours to lead!"
The teenage girl closed her eyes and threw her hands on her head, feeling the mounting pressure within her about to burst...
"Miles, you can't turn your life upside down for some girl!" Sonic yelled at his son, who was refusing to look him in the eye. "You have a reputation to uphold! You have a future as a leader to the whole faction of Control!"
The boy gritted his teeth as he tightened his grip on the windowsill. He couldn't take the lies anymore; the truth had to come out, before it ripped him apart inside...
If anyone could have been standing in two places at once, witnessing both arguments happening simultaneously in the head houses of Chaos and Control, they would have heard two teenage voices suddenly shout in perfect unison...
"I DON'T WANT IT!"
"Excuse me?" the black hedgehog replied in a whisper layered with outrage.
"I don't want it", Maria repeated in a softer but equally firm tone, staring unblinkingly at her father. "I don't want this faction. I don't want this name. I don't want the responsibility of leading half the population of a town that wastes so much energy on hating each other! I never asked for any of that!"
"It doesn't matter! You were born into this life; you can't escape that! And until now, I've never heard you object." Shadow took a deep breath, looking at his daughter as if she were a complete stranger. "It's that Control boy, isn't it? He's been putting these ideas in your head. He's the reason you think you don't want to inherit Chaos! He's obviously trying to get you out of the way!"
"No, of course not! He doesn't care about politics any more than I do!"
"I'll bet he's also the reason you haven't found your Calling yet!" The Chaos patriarch was getting worked up again, and the light gray hedgehog took a tentative step back. "He's been distracting you, hasn't he? Breaking your focus, keeping you from concentrating on anything else but him?"
"Enough, Dad!" the teenager cried. "This has nothing to do with my Calling!"
"Then what is this, Maria? Why are you defending someone who has so callously wronged you and your family? Why are you willing to abandon everything you've been taught in the last decade and a half for this boy?"
"Because I love him!"
Maria didn't hesitate to shout these words at Shadow. She didn't need to think; it was enough to know the truth in her heart. Her parents, on the other hand, fell silent, both gazing intently at their daughter until the black hedgehog broke the tension in the most condescending tone he had ever used to date.
"You're only 16. You're too young to understand what love is yet!"
"Am I?" Maria was tired of being treated like a child, and she was more determined than ever to challenge her father in defense of the boy she adored. "'Cause from what I do understand, love is supposed to make us happy. Love is about respect, and trust, and loyalty. Love is something that gives us hope and makes us believe that anything is possible, even stopping a pointless war that's been going on for years. And that was everything I had with Miles! So tell me, Dad: where did I get it wrong? How could that have been anything else but love?"
Silence fell over the room; Shadow and Crystal were at a complete loss for words. While the white hedgehog glanced between her husband and her daughter from the corner of the room, the girl kept her unapologetic gaze fixed on her astonished father, confident that she might finally have a chance of getting through to him...
"...What are you talking about?"
Miles, who had turned sharply to the other side of the room as he shouted, faced his father with an odd calm about his features, not a trace of penitence in his eyes.
"I don't want it, Dad", said the teenage boy unfalteringly. "This name, this faction, this reputation... I don't want any of it. I'm pretty sure I never did."
"How can you say that? What about everything you've learned over 16 years about leadership and progressive thinking and moving this town in the direction of change?"
At the increasing stress in the blue hedgehog's voice, Amy and Lily scurried back to their spot by the wall to continue watching the argument from out of the way. The lavender hedgehog paid no mind to his mother and sister, keeping his eyes fixed on his father as he shook his head.
"Those are your dreams, Dad", he said coolly. "They were never mine. And maybe you'd know that if you didn't pay more attention to politics than your own kids! You have never once stopped to ask us what we think, what we want! You just assumed we'd always follow you, like the 'good little children' we're supposed to be, right? At least with Maria, I don't have to pretend! I can just be myself with her, the me I wish I could be around you."
Sonic stared wide-eyed at Miles, left speechless. Though the boy had nothing more to say, someone else in the room quickly took advantage of the pause.
"Dad, please don't be mad at him", said the lilac hedgehog softly. "This is good; for once, he's telling you how he feels. You can make things right. Just listen to him!"
The blue hedgehog slowly shifted his gaze from his son to his daughter, and for a moment, the twins dared to hope that their father might be coming around at last... Then they saw the familiar glint of rage returning to his eyes.
"Lily..." Sonic uttered the girl's name in a low voice, which grew stronger as he moved toward her. "Of course; I knew there was something off about Miles's speech. You're obviously on your brother's side. Did you know about this, Lily? Were you in on the whole plan from the start?"
Lily's green eyes grew wide as her father approached, but just before he reached her, her brother hurried to her rescue, stepping in front of her at the last second and raising a hand to stop the blue hedgehog in his tracks.
"Dad, leave Lily alone", said Miles. "She had nothing to do with this, I swear. Be mad at me, but don't punish her. She didn't do anything wrong."
The teenage girl glanced between the hedgehogs before her, too stunned to speak. Sonic fixed his most intimidating glare on his son, but the boy stood his ground without faltering, and after a nerve-racking minute, the blue hedgehog retreated to his previous spot by the stairs, exhaling a deep sigh as he turned away. Miles glanced over his shoulder to exchange a nervous look with Lily before they both looked back at their father. It was starting to seem unlikely he would ever take their side...
"So you really think you're in love with this boy?" Shadow's voice was cold and sharp, but Maria's confidence didn't waver for a second.
"I don't 'think'", she said softly. "I know."
"And you're willing to sacrifice everything for him? I don't understand! How can you have a relationship with someone who was raised on entirely different principles? What could you two possibly have to talk about if Chaos and Control don't mix?"
"That's just it: it's not about Chaos and Control for us. It's never about Chaos and Control! My whole life has been about that! Do you have any idea what a relief it is to have a conversation with someone that doesn't start with news about the latest fight in Green Hill? That's all I've ever wanted since I can remember!"
But the teenager's words only infuriated her father more, a fact made evident when he started toward her at a menacing pace.
"So you fall for a Control boy for the thrill of escapism, and you let him take away everything that defines you: your morals, your beliefs, your sense of respect..." Shadow stopped before his daughter, and his voice fell to an icy whisper as he stared intensely into her eyes. "Tell me... has he taken anything else from you?"
The stress on that single word brought an expression of shock and horror to Maria's face, and she threw her hands over her ears while dropping her gaze to her feet. Fortunately, her mother was quick to intervene.
"That's enough, Shadow!" Crystal interjected, rushing to her daughter's side and giving her husband a meaningful look. "I think that's going a bit far."
"Is it?" The black hedgehog glanced furiously between his wife and the teenager looking up at him again. "How can we be sure? It's like we don't even know her anymore! One day, she's our sweet little girl; the next, she's talking back and off getting close with some boy, letting him deprive her of her innocence-"
"Because that's all he could possibly want with me, right?" the light gray hedgehog yelled, dropping her hands in frustration. "He must be in this solely for his own gain! It couldn't have anything to do with what he sees in me as a person, with who I am inside. No, anyone like him could only be interested in what's on the outside: my faction, my name, my face... Apparently, the entire faction of Control is incapable of love! That's why you had no choice but to take me away from him!"
"Maria, you're an intelligent girl", said Shadow, exasperated. "You can't keep acting like such a fool! Regardless of the love you think he feels for you, his faction has a reputation for being unscrupulous! A boy from Control can't be trusted! He's just gonna break your heart!"
The girl stared quietly into her father's red eyes, disappointment in her blue ones.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, Dad", she breathed. "You already beat him to the punch."
Taken aback, the black hedgehog stared coldly at his daughter before finally turning away to return to the far side of the room. After retreating a few steps, the white hedgehog watched in silence as the argument persisted over several minutes, both Shadow and Maria's voices growing stronger with frustration. An impasse was axiomatic from the start; no matter how much her father insisted she was jeopardizing a promising future in favor of a futile romance, the girl refused to concede that the love she and Miles had was anything but genuine, and after almost a quarter hour of yelling at one another across the living room, they were no closer to reaching an agreement than they had been when they'd left Emerald High.
"I swear, Maria", cried the Chaos leader as he crossed the floor for the umpteenth time, at his wits' end, "with each passing second, I feel a greater urge to strike you!"
"GO AHEAD!"
Shadow and Crystal froze as they turned sharply in unison to face their daughter, their eyes wide with shock. Spurred on by her parents' reactions, Maria felt an ironic smile creep along her lips as she glared scathingly at the black hedgehog, knowing full well that her next words would be the last he would ever expect to hear from her.
"You're right, Dad", she breathed with poisonous disdain, "I am being a fool. I chose to be with a boy based on how good he was to me, because of the way he made me feel. I fell in love because he makes me happy. I wasn't even thinking about how awful that would be for my family or my faction! I was being selfish! So go ahead, Dad; hit me. We both know I deserve it."
The smile faded from the teenager's lips as she uttered those last words, and the white hedgehog turned to her husband in alarm. Shadow remained silent, his gaze fixed on the light gray hedgehog, but the searing fury in his eyes had no effect on his rebellious daughter, who stood her ground to face her father's wrath...
Suddenly, the black hedgehog stormed across the room at an alarming speed, heading straight for Maria until he was standing mere inches from her face. Despite her mother's fearful gasp and her father's unblinking gaze, the girl didn't flinch, calling his bluff with an unfaltering resolution in her dark blue eyes. Shadow raised the back of his right hand, threatening to strike her across the face, but still she didn't bat an eye. Father and daughter remained locked in this standoff for several seconds, neither of them saying a word as they stared boldly into each other's eyes...
And then the moment passed. With a heavy sigh, the black hedgehog lowered his hand and turned away in defeat, unable to bring himself to physically discipline the beloved child on whom he had never once laid a finger. Watching her father walk back across the floor, Maria subtly exhaled the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, then glanced at her mother to see an expression of immense relief spreading over her face. As the Chaos patriarch leaned on a table against the back wall, his wife and daughter watched him intently, waiting nervously for him to say anything to break the tense silence that had overtaken the room again...
"Putting you in school was a mistake", he whispered, staring blankly at the ground. Though his words were barely audible, the teenager had no trouble catching them, a fact made clear when her eyes grew wide with disbelief.
"What?" The light gray hedgehog didn't like what that statement implied, and her heart sank with dread as Shadow looked up at her again.
"We never should have pulled you out of homeschooling. That school has been nothing but a bad influence. It's changing everything about you, from the way you act to the way you think... Being close to that boy has turned you into a different person. We should have known better than to let you have tutoring sessions with his sister; she must have been behind this from the start, no doubt in league with her brother!"
"Don't bring Lily into this!" Maria cried. "She's my friend, and I'm not gonna let you judge her too! She's just as trustworthy as Miles!"
"None of those Control kids are trustworthy, especially those of the faction leaders! You've been getting too close with their side..." The black hedgehog sighed and looked away. "So we're pulling you out of Emerald High."
"No!" The girl was desperate. "Dad, please don't! I love it there! I have friends, and good teachers, and classes that I really like-"
"At what cost? It's been six months, and you still haven't found your Calling! It's all been one big distraction, if not a means of corruption! It wasn't worth it. You're going back to being homeschooled by your mother, starting immediately. Now not another word, or I swear, it's boarding school in Station Square!"
"Shadow, please, let's talk about this first", said Crystal nervously, but her husband shook his head; there was nothing to discuss.
"What about my exams?" said the light gray hedgehog. "I've been studying for so long! At least let me go back for one more week to finish them."
In truth, Maria had stopped caring about the upcoming exams after yesterday's incident. What she really wanted was one more chance to confer with Lily. After a minute, Shadow reluctantly nodded.
"Fine", he muttered. "One week to get your grades on your permanent record, and then that's it. Now go to your room; you can burn out the rest of your anger there."
The discussion was over. Crushed but unwilling to admit defeat, the teenager held her head high and walked slowly toward the stairs on the far side of the room, the white hedgehog nervously watching her every move. Just before passing her father, the girl stopped beside him and tilted her head the tiniest fraction to her right to look him in the eye one last time.
"I'm not angry at you, Dad", she whispered, ignoring the repressed fire in the red eyes staring back at her, "I'm disappointed. I thought I could always count on you to trust me. I thought the first time I ever told you I was in love, you'd be happy. And I thought for sure that of all people, you would understand if I wanted to use the name of Chaos to make the world a better place. But I guess I was wrong. You've really let me down, Dad. I just hope it's not too late to change your heart."
Having nothing more to say, Maria proceeded up the stairs with all the poise of a young lady who knew exactly how to hide her pain from the world. She didn't once look back at the adults left speechless in the living room, nor did she bat an eye at the crash that sounded behind her when she was halfway to the second floor, pausing to close her eyes just for a second before continuing into the upstairs hallway. It was only when she had shut herself in her room that the 16-year-old finally gave in to her emotions, leaning back against the door and sliding to the ground as she sobbed into her hands and tears of despair cascaded down her cheeks onto her trembling fingers.
Shadow flexed his fingers gingerly as he looked down at his hand, as though in awe of the power within it. His wife, who did not care to watch her fine porcelain pottery being hurled across the room and shattering, approached him to ask how he was feeling. Despite the softness of her words, the black hedgehog avoided looking Crystal in the eye for a minute before he spoke again in a hoarse voice.
"She called me 'Dad'", he whispered in disbelief, as if his daughter had uttered some unforgivable insult at him. "She's never called me 'Dad' before."
"There are a lot of things she never did before we let her out into the world", said the Chaos matriarch, gazing meaningfully at her husband as he faced her. "All things considered, you have to admit that our daughter showed remarkable courage and wisdom tonight. You can't shelter her forever, Shadow. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to face the fact that Maria's not a little girl anymore; she's a woman."
And with that, Crystal walked away to fetch the broom from the kitchen, leaving Shadow alone with a troubled mind and a heart as broken as the unlucky vase.
Sonic and Miles were caught up in the worst shouting match of their entire relationship. After establishing the boy's refusal to accept leadership over their faction, they were trying desperately to come to an agreement about how to handle the problem of his expulsion from school, but after several minutes of yelling, virtually no progress was made.
"You couldn't have stopped at the fight with the Echidna boy, could you?" said the blue hedgehog. "You had to get caught with the Chaos leaders' daughter too? How can you possibly show your face in this town again?"
"By remembering that there are things more important in life than image!" the lavender hedgehog shouted back. "Last I checked, it wasn't a crime to love someone! If it really bothers you, why don't you just trap me here with homeschooling?"
"No, that's not an option anymore." Sonic narrowed his eyes at his son. "You threw that out the window when you chose her over us. You think you're gonna get the chance to sneak out and see her whenever you want? Think again!"
The teenage boy glanced at Amy and Lily. He could tell by the look in their eyes that they didn't like the implications of those words any more than he did.
"We're sending you to Mobotropolis." The blue hedgehog ignored the indignant reactions from his family. "Your Great Uncle Chuck still lives in the city. You can stay with him while you finish school there."
"No!" The others fell silent as Miles yelled at his father. "Dad, I don't wanna leave Green Hill! Everything I love is here! You can't send me away!"
"You leave me no choice! Once word of this gets out, you won't be able to set foot on neutral ground until it all blows over, if it ever does! We'll make arrangements this week. You're leaving first thing next Monday, and you're not coming back 'til you've learned to respect this family and the name of Control!"
In the tense pause that followed, the lavender hedgehog noticed his mother and sister turning to him from the corner of his eye, but he didn't break his icy gaze from his father's as he spoke again in a sharp tone layered with cold fury.
"Well, then I guess that settles it: I'll never see Green Hill again."
Words couldn't describe the rage flaring up in Sonic's eyes at his son's words. "So you're serious? You want to throw your entire life away over this Chaos girl?"
"I don't want to, Dad! Frankly, I don't think I should have to choose. You're the one giving me an ultimatum!" The teenager started toward his father. "You know, there was a time when I thought I wanted to be like you when I grew up. But if 'respecting Control' means acting hateful and being forced to deny my love for the most incredible girl I've ever met in my life, then I'd rather have nothing to do with this family anymore!"
"Is that so?" said the blue hedgehog as his son stopped in front of him. "So everyone in this family is 'unworthy' of your respect?"
"Not everyone. You wanna know who the best role model in this family is?" Miles looked behind him and gestured at the girl sitting quietly by the wall. "Lily! Out of everyone in this room, she's the most qualified to lead! She doesn't promote hate—" He glared at Sonic. "—and she's not afraid to say what she's really thinking—" He glanced at Amy. "—and she isn't stupid enough to make mistakes that wreck all her chances at happiness!" The boy gestured at himself as he faced his father again. "Green Hill needs someone like her in charge. She's our last hope. Just give the faction to Lily, and let me be normal! Leave me the hell alone!"
"You're not getting off that easy! You can never run away; you can never be 'normal'! You are a son of Control!"
"SCREW CONTROL!"
SMACK!
Two sharp intakes of breath marked the mutual shock felt by Amy and Lily, for what had just happened before their eyes was something they had never dreamed they would witness in their lives: in an impulsive act of rage, Sonic had just struck Miles backhanded hard across the face. The teenager staggered, stunned by the blow, but stood his ground nonetheless. For a minute, no one moved, all four hedgehogs frozen to the spot as the reality of what had happened sank in... Then the boy shifted his blank gaze from the floor and turned away to walk back to the wall, his soft derisive laughter echoing through the room.
"What happened to you, Dad? You used to be better than this. You used to be carefree and adventurous. You used to laugh at the people in this town who take everything so seriously. Now you're one of them, no better than those you call your enemies. You've changed. Hatred is like poison, is it not?"
Despite the stinging in his right cheek, the lavender hedgehog kept his cool as he faced the blue one again.
"How does it feel, Dad?" said Miles in the darkest, most brazen tone he had ever used against his father. "How does it feel... to lose everything that matters to you?"
Sonic said nothing, glaring lividly at his defiant son. The young hedgehog took advantage of his dad's silence and approached him again, this time slowly to match the pace of the rising tension brought on by his dangerous questions.
"How does it feel to have the things so important to you just... taken away? Your pride... your reputation... your control..."
As he breathed this last word with the utmost contempt, Miles stopped in front of Sonic. His voice fell to a low and private whisper, so that only his father could hear the full extent of his disdain.
"Honestly... I hope it's killing you, Dad. I hope it's tearing you apart inside, and I hope it's all you can do to keep from going insane. Because then maybe – just maybe – you'll start to understand how I feel after you and your stupid war with Shadow took Maria away from me."
The fury in the Control leader's eyes was reflected in his voice when he broke the subsequent pause in a sharp whisper. "Get out of my sight."
The lavender hedgehog stepped back, never breaking eye contact as he lifted his arms in a mock bow of respect. "So His Majesty commands."
The teenager passed his father and started up the stairs. A few steps up, he paused to look over the railing.
"Ask yourself this, Dad: if you had to do it all over again, and the world gave you an ultimatum, would you choose to take over Control... or be with Mom?"
Sonic whirling around to stare at him wide-eyed, coupled with the shock on Amy's face, was all the reply he needed. With a wry smile and a look in his eyes that read, "Think about it", Miles headed up the stairs and out of sight. Lily took the sound of her brother's door closing as a cue to retire to her own room, leaving their parents alone to discuss the aftermath of the quarrel.
"Well, I hope you're happy!" said the pink hedgehog, approaching her husband as soon as the second door closed. "If your plan was to alienate our children, that is."
The blue hedgehog barely reacted, staring past his wife as though suddenly numb.
"I hit my son", he breathed as if he had just been stricken himself. "Something's messed up."
"Something's messed up, all right!" The matriarch of Control was beside herself. "You may be the adult, but Miles was a long way ahead of you in terms of sense and maturity tonight! You better get your act together, Sonic, because the last thing you want is to wake up one day and realize that your 16-year-old son is wiser than you."
And on that note, Amy walked away to vanish into the hall, Sonic remaining in the living room to ponder her words and succumb to the guilt brought on by the undeniable truth: his teenage son really was the better man.
It should have been a pleasant night. It should have been a Saturday full of fun and laughter and the promise of a pleasant weekend. And for every one of the town's youth unaware of the night's scandalous events, it was.
But for two teenage hedgehogs each sitting on their windowsill or balcony with their eyes turned up to the sky, it was anything but. As they gazed at the same bright star from opposite ends of Green Hill, they felt nothing but their hearts aching with loneliness and despair. For Miles and Maria, it was the beginning of what they knew was about to become the worst waking nightmare of their lives.