Welcome back, readers, to Heterochromia! Sadly… this should be the last chapter… Just kidding! This is the second to last chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 11

Egg Behemoth

Eggman's POV

Now, I'm thankful that I had happened to be spying on Sonic's conversation with that bizarre fox who looked impeccably like Tails… except for his age, and number of tails… and his eye color… but that's beside the point. His human friend will be the perfect bait for my trap… Hohohohoho!

I heard the alarm go off right then. Perfect. The fox has arrived.

Let the show begin…

Aaron's POV

I finally got inside… Okay, where could he be holding Sebby? I was running through the base, searching frantically for my friend. Sonic should be on his way right now, so hopefully I won't have to do too much of the work.

Sending a Chaos Javelin at another of this guy's guard robots, I dashed on ahead, heading into a wide open room, almost like an arena. At the far end of it, chained to the wall, was Sebby, looking as if he had been held captive here for months, rather than a few hours.

"Sebby!" I ran over to him in relief that I had actually found him. He looked up at me weakly, but then he grunted in disappointment.

"Oh… it's you, Aaron."

I stared at him, unable to believe that he had received so much torture in such a short amount of time.

"Sebby… I'm sorry for what I said earlier…"

"'Sorry' isn't going to cut it, buster. How could you have said those things to me? I thought we were friends."

"We are, Sebby. Why do you think I'm here to rescue you?"

"You just don't get it, do you, Aaron? I don't want to be rescued, least of all by you."

"Wha…? Why? I…"

"Go away, scum!"

I just stared at him… he didn't have to go and say that… although… I probably had it coming.

"Fine… if you want me to leave, I'll leave." My voice had no anger in it… only disappointment. Sebby just looked on angrily. I was about to turn away and leave the base, without my best friend, with no one to hang out with but a bunch of anthropomorphic animals and Siri, but before I could, I had noticed a gigantic, ox-like mecha blocking the path out. Sitting there in the cockpit was this bloated, mustached man in a red tailed coat, and tiny, shaded spectacles. This must be that Dr. Eggman guy everyone was talking about. The name certainly fits, I'll give him that.

"Ohohohoho! Hello, there, Aaron," he greeted evilly. Wait, how would… He's been spying on me, hasn't he?

"What do you want, sir?" I asked bluntly.

"You, fox-boy. You'll be the perfect bait for the trap I have in mind for Sonic…"

Behind my shades, my eyes glinted in anger.

"Sorry, buster, I'm not letting you take me prisoner."

"You don't need to. I'll capture you myself!" With that, the mecha's horns rotated so that they were pointing at me. "Egg Behemoth, GO!"

The horns then started unloading several, rapid fire bullets in my direction. He put machine guns in those things!? I dodged a few, but several tore into my body, thankfully not hitting any vital organs. One bullet hit my shades, breaking one of the lenses, revealing my gray eye. I could hear Eggman laughing in that cockpit.

"What's wrong? Too shy to focus on this battle?" He taunted.

"I'M NOT SHY!" I denied. With that, I threw a Chaos Javelin at the Egg Behemoth, but it barely scratched the thing's armor. I didn't understand. How is it that my javelin didn't damage the thing? It was supposed to slice clean through it.

"Oh hohohohoho! You see foxy? You're so concerned about your eyes and the safety of your friend; you don't have enough free thought for the battle. You can't beat me because you refuse to accept the beauty of those who are different."

"SHUT UP!" I screamed at him. I would never admit it, but everything Eggman was saying… it was striking a nerve, and not one for rage. "What do you know!? I'm not like that!"

"Yes, you are, Aaron," This time, it was Sebby that said it. "You care more about hiding those eyes of yours more than anything else. I only learned about them by accident, but every time I told you they were beautiful, you accuse me of lying. You're stupid Aaron. You're nothing but a vain, selfish douchebag who wouldn't know beauty if it hit you in the face!"

That tore it. How could Sebastian say that to me? But, what hit me the most was the similarity what he said had to those things that farmer told me all those years ago.

I couldn't take anymore. I screamed bloody murder and fell to my knees, head hung down so that Sebby and Eggman wouldn't see my tears. My eyes… they were a curse. I've hid them my whole life to avoid the insults I would receive, but no matter what I did, someone found out. Maybe I should just let the doctor finish me. Maybe I should just let go… escape the curse the easy way… die.

I heard Eggman laughing from the cockpit of his Egg Behemoth. "Can't handle the truth, can we?" he taunted. It's not the truth. It just can't be.

I could hear Sonic making his way here right now. Maybe that's for the better. I couldn't trust myself to handle Eggman alone… I'm useless. I couldn't even pull off that stupid Chaos Fantasy. I can't do anything right. And it's all because of my eyes… no… it's not my eyes… it's… me.

I'm the reason I can't do anything right. Sebby was right. I was just being selfish. Everything I've done… hiding my eyes… advising Sebby not to come looking for me… those things I said to him at the burger shop… they were all just me being a vain, selfish douchebag. Hell, I threatened to eat Sonic when I first met him. I blamed him for becoming a fox, and I was willing to kill someone if I didn't return to being a human. I was just being selfish.

And then there's Amy…

She tried to help me overcome my hatred for my eyes… but I didn't listen to her. But… she was right. She was right all along. Why didn't I listen to her? My heterochromia iridium isn't a curse. The only one who truly thought they were disgusting… was me.

"Ha ha ha! Face it, fox boy! You just can't win!" Dr. Eggman goaded.

"You're right…" I breathed out. "I can't win… not as long as I keep holding myself back like I have for the past thirteen years…" I didn't need to look up to know that I had surprised Sebby and Eggman with what I had said. I reached up to my shades, and slowly took them off.

"These sunglasses… they're just shackles holding me back from living life to the fullest… Shackles… I placed on myself." I tossed them over to the side, stopping at Sebby's feet.

"I don't care about what you said to me, doctor… everything was true. But kidnapping Sebby… I just can't forgive you for that." I slowly stood up, still keeping my head down. I allowed my anger to boil up again; let Eggman know I mean every word. "So, if you don't release him right now…" I lifted my head up at him sharply, making eye contact with someone for what felt like the first time in years.

"I'LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" I could see him cringe as I stared at him, and yell at him, but at the time, I didn't care. It wasn't until later that I learned from Sonic that my heterochromia had been different during that time. Instead of each eye having its own color, both colors took both eyes, dividing the eye in half yin-yang style. My pupils were split in half by each color, making my eyes look even more like a yin-yang symbol, giving the impression of me having four pupils and four irises between two eyes. Apparently, eyes like those scare the crap out of people. My eyes also seemed to do this only when I'm angry.

Perfect.

Sebastian's POV

HOLY CRAP! Since when could Aaron's eyes do that!? I was thankful his anger wasn't directed at me, but still… those yin-yang eyes were really intimidating.

Eggman was quick to recover from the shock, and sent a full volley of shots at Aaron. To my surprise, he dodged them like there was nothing to it. He then followed up with his own full on assault, launching those Chaos Javelin things left and right. Now, they were actually causing some amount of damage to the mech.

"Impossible!" the doctor protested. "How could he have gotten so strong in such a short amount of time?! Argh, no matter. This should finish him off!" Here, the mouth of the Egg Behemoth opened, revealing the huge cannon hidden inside, which then started charging energy inside it. Aaron didn't even flinch at the sight, only hardened his glare. He then suddenly flung his right hand at mech.

"Chaos Fantasy: Bind!" I heard him scream, clenching his hand into a fist as he did so. Suddenly, a large group of vines burst from the floor, tangling themselves around the Egg Behemoth, even jamming the mouth cannon. Eggman looked on in amazement at the vines that had burst through a metal floor. Aaron blinked in surprise, his eyes returning to their normal format.

"I… I did it…" I heard him mutter. "I ACTUALLY USED ONE OF THE FANTASIES CORRECTLY!"

"Not bad, Aaron," someone complimented from the doorway. I noticed the blue hedgehog from the diner-Sonic, I think it was-standing there, watching the battle in interest. Wait… was he there the entire time!?

"Sonic… thanks for being there," Aaron said to him.

"This isn't over, fox-boy!" Eggman screamed as he escaped in that Egg Mobile of his. Aaron stood there, watching as the doctor fled.

"Come on, Sonic. Let's get Sebby out of here."

And there you have it. Please, read and review.