Surprise! No, your eyes are not fooling you. After all these years, I've actually decided to finish this story. It was wrong of me to abandon it like I did so long ago, but I had my reasons. One of which was the title, which I eventually grew so ashamed of that I wanted nothing more to do with this story. So I'm changing it now from 'Incest' to 'Repeated Mistakes', which is a title that should hopefully gain more and more significance as this story reaches its conclusion.

I will try to keep the new chapters coming as regularly as I can, alongside my releases of my new 'Lethal Mutation REMASTERED'. Also, since I find these author's notes at the start of each chapter a detriment to reading, as opposed to my earlier opinion on the matter, this will likely be the last chapter to feature one as well. Now, I shall look forward to all the reviews saying, "About *BLEEP*-ing time!"

Chapter 12: Revelations

"Would you like something more to drink, Mysty?" Tails politely offered from the kitchen.

"N-no, thanks. I've had plenty at supper," the vixen refused from her seat in Tails' living room. She sat there in a nervous huddle, still hugging her oversized tail like she had been all evening since they returned from the Eggman encounter at the mall.

Tails walked back from the sink where he'd just finished depositing their dirty dishes. He gazed at Mysty in concern for a moment. He'd really hoped that after a good meal she might have calmed down more from the scare she got earlier, but Mysty still looked very shaken. Tails wondered if he needed to keep avoiding the topic until she felt better, but there were just too many important questions that had to be answered.

"Mysty, I know whatever happened today really scared you, but do you think we could talk about it for a minute?" Tails tried to ask as gently as he could while seating himself a comfortable distance away from her on the couch. "I know you don't know Shadow like the rest of us. Actually, even we don't know that much, since he's always alone and supposed to be dead. But if he really is alive and he's after you, then there has to be a reason. I promise to protect you, no matter what, but I need to know why Shadow would be after you in the first place."

"Honestly, Tails, I have no idea," Mysty replied after another moment of silence. "There's nothing special about me at all, especially not compared to you and your friends."

"Then, how about telling me more about yourself," Tails tried a different approach. "Like maybe giving me your real name?"

Mysty gasped as she looked at the other fox in amazement. "How did you know...?"

"It was a guess, but not a very hard one, Mysty," Tails smiled comfortingly. "Let's be honest, Mystique sounds a lot more like a stage name than an actual one. I can imagine that in your previous line of work a lot of people used call names instead of their real ones."

"..." Mysty continued to stare at Tails silently, but her body language told Tails he was still on the right track.

"Are you ashamed of your real name for some reason? Because I used to be, too, until I found out it wasn't just a joke but a reference to my father," Tails tried to coax an answer from the tight-lipped fox.

"No, it's not that. I just... I don't actually know my real name," Mysty finally admitted. "My memories of my life are almost all missing up until a few years ago. My parents, my childhood, even my name... I just can't remember any of it."

Now it was Tails' turn to react in shock. He'd known from talking to her before that Mysty suffered some kind of memory loss, but this was nearly unbelievable! She didn't even know her own name? "Seriously, you can't remember any of it?" he had to ask just to make sure.

Mysty shook her head in response. "I've tried so many times. Sometimes, in my dreams, I think I hear familiar voices, but it's all gone as soon as I wake up."

"Nothing you've ever seen looks familiar to you, either?" Tails wondered.

Mysty was about to open her mouth to tell Tails that he was the only thing that she could think of, but she immediately stopped herself. Instead, she wordlessly shook her head again.

"So then, how'd you end up with the name Mystique?" Tails asked for curiosity's sake.

"Well, one of my earliest memories I still have was a man, some kind of leopard wearing a gold chain, that caught me scavenging for food in a dumpster one night. He acted real nice to me. He told me he'd give me free food and a place to stay, not to mention a job, too, so I could make my own money," Mysty related her past to Tails, at least that which she did remember. "Of course I took the offer. It was only the next morning when things started to seem wrong."

Tails nodded his head solemnly. He was pretty sure he understood where this story was going now. "He was a pimp, wasn't he?"

Mysty fought back her tears to continue. "Yes. He took in girls like me for his 'business'. As long as we slept with whoever paid for our 'services' and did well, he was nice to us and took care of us. But if we weren't bringing in enough customers..." Mysty had to pause for a moment as painful memories came flooding back. "One girl... She... She couldn't afford birth control, and when he found out she was pregnant a few months later..."

Tails just stared at Mysty in regret as the other fox broke down in tears. He could tell she was unable to continue, and he wasn't about to push her any further, either. "It's okay, Mysty. I understand. You don't have to keep going," Tails tried to comfort her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Mysty instinctively recoiled from the touch for a moment, but settled down once she remembered it was Tails' hand. After another minute, Tails' tactic worked, calming the crying vixen enough to speak again. "A-Anyway... He was the one that gave me my name. He said it fit me pretty well, since I knew nothing about my past. Not to mention, he'd said, some guys kind of liked the whole mysterious stranger kind of thing."

"That's terrible, Mysty," Tails tried to sound as sympathetic as he could. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that. But, still, there has to be something we're missing. Didn't Amy and Cream say something about Shadow reaching down for your tail? Are you hiding a Chaos Emerald in there or something?"

"Of course not! You think if I owned something that valuable I'd still be selling my body on the streets just to afford food?" Mysty snapped back defensively at the mention of her tail.

"Whoa, easy, Mysty!" Tails instantly felt bad for his half-hearted joke. "I'm just trying to figure out what it is that an undead super-powerful hedgehog wants with you. Because I know he won't stop until he gets whatever it is."

Mysty didn't know the answer to that question either. Although she couldn't explain how he somehow had known about her tail, even that secret didn't make sense as to why Shadow nearly kidnapped her. "Maybe... he knew I was a prostitute, so he was reaching for my..." Mysty started to suggest, although she already felt like she knew better.

"Nah, that's not like Shadow at all," Tails also dismissed her idea off-hand. "Did he say anything to you, Mysty? Anything at all?"

"No," Mysty lied. "I was so scared, Tails. Even if he did speak to me, I-I couldn't remember..."

"You gotta try, Mysty! Please! We have to figure out what Shadow wants from you before...!" Tails abruptly cut himself off this time, sensing his emotions getting too high and not wanting to upset the delicate vixen next to him.

"B-Before what, Tails?" Mysty asked fearfully after a moment of silence.

"Well, it's just..." Tails sighed as he realized he owed Mysty an explanation now. "One time, Shadow came on board the Blue Typhoon to hunt down Cosmo. He wouldn't tell anyone why, but he said he had to kill her no matter how many of us tried to stop him. I... I wouldn't let him do it. Sonic, Knuckles and all the others got knocked out. I even tricked Shadow into getting launched into space, but he just teleported back. I knew I didn't stand a chance against Shadow on my own, but... I just couldn't let him do it."

Tails felt his eyes getting more and more watery as he continued. "Luckily, I guess, the Metarex showed up and told us why Shadow was trying to kill her, but before that..." Tails unconsciously clutched his chest at the memory of his injuries from that one-sided fight. "I... I was prepared to die for her. Shadow would have had to kill me before I'd let him touch Cosmo. That's how much I loved her. And now I can't... I just can't let it happen again to you, Mysty."

Mysty was struck silent at Tails' short recap. Not just the horror of what he'd recounted, but also the implications of his last words. "Tails, you... You don't..." Mysty stammered over her words, trying to figure out what she was trying to say even as her mouth was saying it.

"Yes, Mysty, I think I do mean it," Tails looked deeply into her eyes this time. His breathing was fast and nervous as he prepared himself to confess what his heart had been slowly realizing this whole time. "You remind me so much of her, Mysty. Your personality, your meekness, your beauty... I-I've been trying to convince myself these last two years that I would never love anyone again like Cosmo, but then I met you, and..." the fox just couldn't find the right words to go on.

Not that he needed to. Mysty already looked stunned at Tails' confession. Not just stunned, Tails quickly noticed. Almost frightened, horrified, even. It was not at all the response Tails expected, which had him suddenly worried.

"...I'm... I'm so sorry, Tails!" she eventually burst into tears, which was even more worrisome. "I never should have let it get this far! I didn't want to hurt you again! I... I... I have to leave," Mysty suddenly announced as she turned away.

"WHAT?!" his eyes shot wide as her words hit Tails like an Eggman-weighted wrecking ball. "Mysty, wait! Wh-what's the matter? I... I really thought you might feel the same way towards me," Tails' hurt was plain in his cracked voice and barely restrained tears.

"I do, Tails! I mean, I want to, but..." Mysty couldn't help but glance back at the sensitive fox she knew her words were destroying.

"Then why do you suddenly want to leave? Mysty, please! Y-You know that my heart can't take this!" Tails felt anger rising up inside along with his tears. He'd finally worked up the courage to trust in love again and listen to his heart, and this was how he got rewarded?

"I'm sorry, Tails! I really am sorry! I never meant to... to..." Mysty was crying her eyes out by now as she suddenly made a move to rush past Tails towards the door.

She only made it a few steps before Tails stopped her. His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, roughly restraining the female fox as Tails turned to force her eyes to meet with his own. "NO! Why, Mysty?! I deserve to at least know WHY!" the emotionally overwhelmed fox screamed.

"AH!" Mysty shrieked in response, yanking her arm away from Tails' grip and jumping back like she'd been bitten by a viper. She shrank into a submissive huddle on the floor, her eyes full of tears yet so razor focused on the perceived threat that they never blinked. She trembled as those same unwavering eyes displayed her state of terror, like a cornered animal.

Seeing her look of pure fear was like a tub of ice water poured over Tails' head. He recognized her expression, her cowering. It was exactly the same as he'd seen the first time they met in the alley. Only this time Tails wasn't Mysty's savior; he was her attacker. All the trust she'd slowly built up these last couple weeks... gone, in just one uncontrolled outburst from the person she'd trusted most. Tails felt like a monster. He didn't deserve her love. He had been right before; his heart had died with Cosmo. Now it was simply too broken to truly love someone again.

Tails turned away in shame, sobbing quietly to himself and trying not to let Mysty see. "I'm... I'm sorry, Mysty," he barely managed to find his voice again. "If you feel like you want to leave... then go. I promise not to try and stop you again."

The cowering vixen took several minutes to realize that Tails was being sincere. His sobbing slowly lured her out of her protective stance, her own tears silently restarting once more as well. Look what she had turned him into... The kindest soul she'd ever met, and here she was stabbing his barely patched-up heart all over again. And all because of what? The fact that she didn't have enough courage to tell him the whole truth when Tails had already laid his entire life bare to her?

Several minutes passed by as both foxes cried silently to themselves, fighting with their own demons in their minds. Both expected the other to make the first move, and so neither did anything for a long time.

"Tails... Please, don't blame yourself," Mysty finally broke the sorrowful silence. "It really is my fault. I... I should have shown you the first time we met," she spoke with regret. She slowly stood back up and reached into her overly large tail to part the long-entangled hairs and give Tails the answer he'd wanted.

"*sniff* Show me what, Mysty?" Tails muttered as he tried to dry his tears on his arm.

"These," she softly replied and waited for Tails to turn back towards her.

Tails did turn his face back to look at Mysty, and immediately his jaw dropped in shock. His brain told him that what he was seeing was something so rare that it shouldn't even be possible. Tails had been all over this planet. Heck, he'd been to tons of other planets, too! One had even been in an alternate universe full of humans, but never had Tails seen something else like this. Standing before him now... was another two-tailed fox.