Characters Thus Far:
Miles 'Tails' Prower – Is much more of a genius than he thought.
Vanessa St. Vanderburgh – Is seriously a vixen. Maybe even more so than Haman Karn
Marvel St. Vanderburgh – A not so good girl after all.
A/N: I really didn't know how to begin, continue, or end this chapter. So I just went with whatever came to mind. It feels a bit rushed to me, i don't know. Anyway, hopefully you guys like it. SO, go ahead, and enjoy. Don't forget to leave some reviews!
"Wait…what is this!?" Tails yelled in shock, staring up at a large, sophisticated structure before him. Upon leaving the room he was tortured in, he had found that he was being held captive in a mansion. A very, very big mansion. How someone was able pay for a place that big, was way beyond him. But knowing that Marvel always carried scores of cash, her sister would probably be carrying the same, if not more. As she took him through the endless maze of marble and hardwood flooring and deeper into the lower levels, Tails had thought he was for sure walking into another trap. But when they had arrived to a particularly large, dome-like room, he found that what the girl had to show him was indeed something that he'd need to see with his own eyes. The shiny, silver plating. The egg-shaped core, with various tubes and wires draping down and dangling in the air. He also noticed the small, glowing lights all over the outer frame and numerous computer terminals.
"This is the product of decades of technological advancement. Or rather, what's left of it."
"Just what is this thing?"
"This is the device that allowed Marvelous and I to travel to your world. Crossing the mirrored dimension, it should have an equally fitting name; A Cross Gate."
"That's amazing!" Tails said, letting his inner geek take over. Looking over the control panel and various computer bays, he found that it was unlike anything he had ever seen. "These parts…I've never seen hardware like this before!"
"I told you, it's had decades of development."
"But you said it came from your world. If it's just a mirror or ours, shouldn't the technology that exists be the same as well?"
"They were." Vanessa said, crossing her arms. "However, Alsatia is far more advanced than Mobius because we're not as primitive as you anymore."
"These generators." Tails said, ticking away at a computer console he had managed to get working. "They output nearly the same…no…they actually output more than some I've seen using the Chaos Emeralds as energy sources. That's unbelievable!"
"Is it really that surprising?" Vanessa frowned. "It's just a generator."
"Just a generator? Just a generator?" Tails looked at her as if she had mentioned something blasphemous. "The Chaos Emeralds are the single most powerful energy sources on the planet! Probably the whole universe! To find something like this, that uses power that's on par with them, it's simply mind blowing!"
"Whatever these Chaos Emeralds are, we never had need of them. Though Chaos energy, as you might put it, isn't an unfamiliar concept."
"That's so cool! What I wouldn't give to see that!" Tails said out of impulse, before he realized the white fox sitting on top of one of the consoles shot him a vicious glare. "W-What?"
"You can drool over a pile of scrap metal and wires, but you act completely indifferent when face to face with a woman."
"T-that's not true!" Tails tried to defend himself.
"Then why have you not tried to make any advances on my sister?"
"Well, that's because…uh…well, you see…"
Vanessa snickered, immediately causing the boy on the other side of the room to grow irritated. "Here she is, throwing herself at you. And all you can do is treat her no better than the dirt you stand on. Nothing has changed, even in this dimension. You're no better than she is."
"I don't treat Marvel that way! I don't even-" Tails stopped. "Wait, what do you mean nothing has changed?"
"Exactly as I said." Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "You'd think after doing this multiple times she'd quit. But the girl is seriously a glutton for having her heart broken."
"You said something like this before." Tails, reluctantly, thought back to his experience of being tortured by the white fox. "You mentioned Marvel saying that story of hers to more than just me. What did you mean by that?"
"This isn't the first time she's met you, remember?"
"Isn't it? Well, aside from a future version of myself who went crazy."
"The clues are right in front of you." Vanessa said, motioning with her head for the boy to take a gander at the large machine. "This thing has been through a lot a stress. It's been used more times than I care to count. And the majority of those inappropriate uses came from one, selfish girl. All in an attempt to become noticed by an oblivious, self-absorbed sociopath much like yourself."
"I wouldn't treat Marvel that way! I mean, sure, she's a bit eccentric at times, but…"
"She used to be a lot happier. And a little bit more sane." Vanessa said, closing her eyes and lifting her head towards the ceiling. "She was a klutz, and an airhead, and could barely do anything right. But all it took was one promise from an idiot that changed her."
Tails painfully swallowed. "That promise to come back to her..."
"Of course, that never happened."
"Yeah…because I…I mean, because he…"
"You don't have any clue how much that broke her heart, do you?"
"I suppose I can guess. I know the feeling quite well."
"To know the one person you truly thought you loved, would one day turn out to be your greatest enemy, and there was nothing you could do about it. It's a very, disheartening feeling."
"Marvel actually saw what happened?"
"Oh she did a lot more than just see it happen. Not because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But because she was the only one who could stop him."
"W-What?"
"The Miles Prower that came from this dimension's future didn't immediately turn like the others. His original goal...his mission... was to kill my sister."
"Kill Marvel!? I have no reason to do that!"
"Apparently you did. And it was Marvelous that has had to live with that truth the rest of her life."
"I can't believe that." Tails balled his fists. "I wouldn't…I wouldn't do that to anyone! Why Marvel? What would make me..."
"I already told you I don't know. But what I can tell you is what happened as a result."
"Something bad I presume?"
"When you lose everything you considered dear to you, you lose your entire world. For my sister, her entire universe crumbled. She was devastated. Scared. She didn't talk. She didn't eat. She didn't sleep. All she could do was keep remembering that day. The fear she felt when you finally turned against her, and the powerlessness that she dealt with. It was enough to eventually wake her up. To force her to see her own weakness. And to force her to change."
"Change in what way?"
"You've seen it firsthand." Vanessa looked back down at him. "Her strength. Her speed. Her power. She was never that strong as a child. But it was only after she made that decision that she cast aside that weakness of hers."
"Her decision?"
"To join the Pandora Knights." Vanessa's voice grew darker.
"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Tails felt his fur stand on end.
"You shouldn't. No one ever does."
"Huh?"
"You do a lot more than you think you will in the future. For reasons unknown you systematically killed a lot of people, including the Renegade Fighters, R.I.F.L.E., and a few lesser known civilians. Marvelous' parents were among the casualties."
"What!?"
"As a result of your actions, She was orphaned. Wandering the streets in a cloud of delusion. She wouldn't have survived long if we hadn't found her."
"We?"
"There were many of us. Abandoned girls with nowhere to go or call home. Wandering the slums of that disgusting city, doing whatever it took to survive. Whatever it took to keep us all together. I was the oldest...and it was my responsibility alone to look out for them. And that sometimes meant making difficult choices. I did things I'm not proud of. Things that I'm sure I'll have to pay for one day when Karma decides to finally kick my ass. But it was all I could do to keep the rest of them safe. When things got really bad, and trust me they did…we were suddenly saved, by our foster father. An old, bushy-browed fool named Duke St. Vanderburgh."
"So he adopted all of you?" Tails became interested in the story.
"I immediately questioned why a man of great wealth and power would want to adopt a group of filthy brats like us. But like many other infamous parties, we had made a name for ourselves in a very bad way. I figured he originally confronted and liberated us, just so he could have us killed himself. But instead, he made us a deal. One that sounded sweet, and one that none of us could pass up. He promised us power. The power to crush those who used us. Who hurt us. Who tortured us. And every second, we bit more and more onto the line he fed, until it was too late to turn back. I, of course, had my own reasons for buying what the old man was selling. But no one took the bait faster than Marvelous."
"But why?"
"Because she needed that power...to kill you."
"I had a feeling you'd say that..."
"Duke St. Vanderburgh took us in, and left our training to a certain two-tailed fox that he had managed to befriend."
"You mean I-"
"No. It wasn't You who taught us how to fight. Who made Marvelous into the person she is today." Vanessa spread a wide grin. "And who made me into the girl that's before you now."
Tails' heart sank a little upon hearing the girl's revelation. Apparently his own nightmarish experiences over the past few hours were a direct result of someone he eventually becomes in the future. Not the first time something he's done came back to haunt him.
"We spent years honing our skills. Becoming tools of war. But above all, we became sisters-in-arms, all part of the organization that you had created; the Pandora Knights. Our sole mission was to eliminate any threat to the collapse of the multiverses. To travel any dimension…and end those who wished to disrupt the balance."
"And that's where this thing comes in." Tails deduced. "But that would have meant…"
"You still think she's so innocent?" Vanessa smiled. "The perfect little angel you thought you knew, you'd be surprised how much blood she has on her hands. She's no saint…just like me. But the idea of killing didn't seem to turn her in a way that the rest of us were. She remained focused on one goal. And that was to kill you."
"But how? I mean, I'm still alive. If she really wanted to kill me, she would have done so already, wouldn't she?"
"I told you how much this Cross Gate was used. It was originally supposed to be used as a bridge to transport us to our field of operations. But as the dimensional balance shifted, it became harder to even leave Alsatia, let alone get back to it. Eventually, it became just a piece of useless metal, perhaps one final gift left behind by a genius in case things suddenly went to shite. However, Marvelous found another use for it. A way to travel to multiple outer-dimensions in search of her one true enemy. All the while trying to save her one true love."
"So Marvel traveled to other dimensions to save me from myself?"
"A mission she ultimately failed every time. Whenever she found herself growing close to you, the same event would happen. Another Miles Prower turned, and another Miles Prower died. And as I assumed, it would eventually take its toll on her mind."
"She had to watch the same thing happen again and again…" Tails felt a sudden knot in his stomach.
"After all she went through, and after all she did, she was still powerless to save you. And it was because of that she decided to leave the Pandora Knights, and take matters into her own hands. A decision that didn't sit well with my father."
"What did he do?"
"Obvious. He sent the rest of us after her, and our orders were clear. Force her to stop her foolish behavior and return home, or rip her apart. Guess which one ended up happening?"
"Well, she's definitely in one piece…"
"That's because we failed. Nothing was going to stop her from leaving. Even if it meant fighting the same girls she once considered her family. Her hatred for you was a fire that couldn't be extinguished. She made that clear to us. My sisters tried to stop her, and they painfully paid the price for it. I won't let what she did to them go so easily. And regardless of how she feels, I still have a mission to complete."
"Was that the only choice!?" Tails grew angry. "If you were all sisters wasn't there an alternative to fighting!?"
"There was. And that's why I'm here before you today."
"Huh?"
"My last confrontation with my sister was anything but enjoyable. We were at war with one another. We truly meant to kill each other that day. But during our battle, we came across a certain discovery. And that was, the last Miles Prower that existed was going to be targeted and eliminated. And that's when that little accident happened."
"The Dimensional jump." Tails Concluded.
"The facility where the Cross Gate was held was damaged, due to the interference of a certain blue annoyance. And as the place came crashing down, my sister and I were caught in the explosion. I thought for certain we were going to die, but as it so happened, the Cross Gate decided to intervene and transport us out of the blast. Ultimately, we ended up jumping through the mirrored dimension and landing here in your world."
"So that's how she got here? But when?"
"The same night you met her. Needless to say, the ride over wasn't pleasant, and I assume she was probably sick to her stomach."
"That would explain a lot, actually…" Tails remembered the night at the club. "How she knew me already, before I even knew her name. How she seems so comfortable around me. How she knows exactly what buttons to push…it's all because she spent so much time with all the other versions of myself."
"Now you get it." Vanessa clapped her hands. "But I'm surprised you haven't realized the actual situation you're in right now."
"What situation? The fact that I'm being targeted by myself from the future? Yeah, I pretty much got that."
"You're forgetting one thing." Vanessa's grin spread wider. She was obviously messing around with him, but then again, maybe she wasn't. She had given him the whole story. How Marvel was raised, and what she went through. The fact that she was trying to kill hiiiimmmmooooooooohhhh…Yeah there it is.
"Oh god…" The twin tailed fox's eyes grew wide.
"What amuses me the most is that she probably doesn't know which Miles Prower you are. How traumatic would it be to learn that the man you've fallen in love with is the same man you want nothing more than to kill?"
"But we should have looked the same! I mean, she was sure to know it was me, wasn't she!?"
"Your appearance was a bit different then than it is now."
"That doesn't mean anything! If she were to find out that we were one in the same person, she'd-!"
"Rip you head off and cut you into pieces. Seen her do it before, and it's really not a way you want to go."
"This can't be happening! This just can't be happening!" Tails clutched his head. "If Marvel finds out…"
Everything that the fox had known was suddenly thrown out the window. He couldn't concentrate on anything else but the fact that his life could potentially end at any moment by a girl he just mistakenly made his girlfriend. And after what he did to her at the club, and the way he treated her, he would be lucky if his death was as horrifyingly quick as Vanessa described.
"You know, if you tell her the truth and beg for your life, she might not turn you inside out."
"NO! What's wrong with you!?"
"Nothing at all."
"You're laughing!"
"Because I find it amusing." Vanessa chuckled.
"This is no time to be laughing! She's going to kill me if she finds out that IIIYEIIYEIIYEEIIII!" Tails roared, watching as the girl sitting atop the console suddenly disappear in a flash, only to then feel something grab one of his tails and a quick jolt of paralyzing electricity sent him writhing to the ground.
"Can you be any more of a whining baby?" Vanessa said, standing over him.
"T-t-t-that w-was uncall-ed f-for!" Tails murmured, his face buried into the floor.
Kicking him onto his back, Vanessa crawled over him, staring down at him and bringing one of her hands to cup his face. "Not only are you being targeted by yourself. But you will potentially make an enemy out of your own lover."
"W-Why is this happening to me…" Tails wondered.
"It must feel terrifying. Especially since anything you may say or do at any given moment can trigger her. One phrase, one action, one teensy little reminder of the person you'll eventually become and 'boom'...it's all over for you."
"That's not making me feel any better!" Tails yelled.
"Then what would make you feel better?" Vanessa said, bringing her face in close to him. Tails grew tense, not really able to move under the weight of the white fox straddling him. "Getting rid of that mean ole fox?"
"W-what?"
"You asked me before what it was you could do, and the most obvious answers are the easiest. One, I could just kill you here and now and save Marvelous the trouble, save two worlds in the process, and finally be able to leave this backwater Dimension. Or, you keep your life and accept my proposal?"
"What proposal?"
"Hmhmhm…it's quite simple." Vanessa said, snapping her hands up and slamming them back down on either side of his head. "The Cross Gate was damaged in my fight with my sister. Other than basic knowledge, I have no engineering genius like yourself to repair it. As it stands, it's highly unstable."
"Is that why you brought me here?"
"No, but that'll have to do for now. You fix the Cross Gate, and you might just have a shot a surviving this whole ordeal."
"How is that!? How is fixing that thing going to solve any of this?"
"It won't. You're probably still going to die."
"Then what's the point!?"
"You choose how you're going to die then. Getting killed by your future self, or getting annihilated by my sister. There's really no difference in how it happens."
"That's blackmail! I think..."
"Oh…if you want to see blackmail, I can show you…" Vanessa said, leaning in close to his face.
"W-wait! What are you doing!?"
"I bet I can do a lot of damage. Like for instance, if my sister found out that I did this to you. Oh, how angry she'd be. Maybe even angry enough to kill you…"
"Wait a minute! Don't…!" Tails nervously shrieked, watching as the girl on top of him closed her eyes and leaned in closer; her short bangs brushing against his forehead. One thing was for certain to him now. If he did let it happen, there really was no telling what Marvel would do to him. Considering she ever found out about it. He watched as the girl puckered her lips, ready to make contact with his. He snapped his eyes shut, preparing for the worst, or best, depending on how you looked at it. But just before he felt the shocking lips of the female fox, he heard a sudden loud crash erupt from the other side of the room.
Leaning up, Vanessa brushed her bangs back, and turning around towards the entrance of the room, where the smoking remains of the broken doors now lay strewn across the floor. And standing in the doorway, a pissed off pink hedgehog with a trio of weasels scrambling across the floor in front of her. "BOSS! BOSS HELP US!"
"Oh great…" Vanessa sighed. She barely had a chance to flip to her feet before she raised her forearm to block an incoming punch from Marvel. But unlike before, the other girl was dead serious on settling the score between them once and for all. The sheer force of the blow was enough to temporarily stop the boy's heart for a quick second. Vanessa felt her arm buckle, and a second later, she was flung into a computer terminal. Landing in front of him, Marvel looked down at him with the same malicious glare she had given her sister. But a moment later, she suddenly smiled, kneeling down beside his head.
"Are you okay love?" She helped him to his knees.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, more or less." Tails said, realizing that he was still breathing.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here. Made a super wrong turn at Albuquerque."
"How'd you even know where I was?"
"I had some help." Marvel said, looking over at the weasels, which were still clambering around on the floor. That's when he noticed their tails were tied together, and that multiple patches of their fur were missing. He also noticed the familiar voices, and the outfits they wore.
"Wait, aren't they…"
"BOSS! HELP US! PLEASE!" The leader said, giving up on his advance and face planting on the floor in front of where the other girl lay in a heap of broken electronics.
"Wait, boss?" Tails thought. "That's it! They were the guys who trashed the market!"
"You still hit like a girl…" Vanessa said, pulling herself out of the wreckage. "And you…" she said, grabbing the leader by the throat.
"Wait, boss! Pleashs! Gish ush anosher chansh!"
"I gave you a simple order. Rob a bank, retrieve the money, bring me the money. But here, you show up…with your asses tied together like balloons, and NO MONEY!"
"It wash zhat bittsh!"
"Oh, I know who it was." She said, staring at Marvel. "Once again, she interferes in my plans."
"Plans!?" Tails yelled. "So it was you that ordered them to rob the market!? And then you had them rob a bank too!?"
"Restoring the Cross Gate is going to take a lot of money, you know."
"You're rich aren't you!?"
"How do you figure that?"
"You live in a mansion!"
"I never once mentioned that this place was mine. I don't even know who owns it really..."
"Whatever! You tell me all that stuff and you turn out to be just another criminal mastermind?!"
"Masterminds don't hire useless henchmen. No wait, they do."
"Stuff?" Marvel looked at Tails. "What stuff?"
"Uh…well…!" Tails found his words stuck in his throat.
"Oh, don't worry, dear sister. Since you were so afraid to tell him the truth, I went ahead and let him in on our little secret."
"You what!?" Marvel screamed.
"Does that anger you?"
"What did you tell him!? You-!"
"Marvel, calm down!" Tails grabbed her wrist. "She only told me the truth! The one that you didn't bother to think was important enough to tell me yourself!"
"W-what do you mean?" The pink girl calmed.
"About how you're from another dimension, and how you came here to save me from mys...gyaa I mean, uh…that guy! I know about all the other dimensional versions of myself, and I also know about you."
"Oh…" Marvel said, lowering her fists, which Tails didn't even realize were raised. "So then you know that I'm gonna…"
"Why didn't you bother to tell me anything? Why did I have to be strapped to a table and electrocuted before I found any of this out?"
"Well sorry for not telling you you're about to die."
"Sorry? Sorry is all you have to say? Marvel ,don't you think it would have been important to tell me that my life was in danger? Didn't you think that I would want to know something that serious?"
"I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid…"
"Of what?"
"…I don't know…the fact that…well,uh...see, what had happened was... "
"Well, it's not very often you find her at a loss for words. She must really feel bad." Vanessa smiled. Tails shot her an angry glance, standing to his feet.
"You're even worse! Look at all the things you did!"
"Hardly any different."
"Very much different!"
"Uh, boshh." The weasel said, surprisingly still conscious after being strangled for this long.
"What do you want now?" Vanessa growled. The quickly fading hooligan raised his hand, pointing to the computer terminal behind her. As she looked, she noticed the small sparks shooting throughout the box, which soon caught fire. It was long before the flames traced along the wires leading to a control terminal. "Oh, bollocks."
Before they knew it, everyone was showered with sparks, as the many pieces of already unstable electrical equipment began spontaneously combusting and blowing up. Vanessa, in response to the situation, quickly became frantic realizing that her precious Cross Gate was being destroyed. "Look what you did!" She yelled at Marvel.
"You started it!" the other girl shot back.
"You idiot! Do you realize what you've done!?"
"Of course I don't! You should know I don't!"
"I should have just killed you! You stupid, ignorant…BITCH!"
Vanessa wasted no time leaping into the air and tackling her younger sibling to the ground. Tails watched as they rolled around on the floor, screaming and pulling each others' hair. If he had never witnessed a real cat fight, this was it. However, this was definitely not the time for their quarrel. Running over to the main computer console, he began hacking away at the keyboard. As the two girls behind him continued to fight, he slammed his hands down on the machine and growled. "This is no good! This is just no good!"
"What are you talking about!?" Vanessa said, her face being palmed by Marvel.
"I mean this machine! The thing is so unstable, the slightest spark set off a chain reaction in one of the energy conduits!"
"Eneershy whaaat!?" Marvel tried her say, Vanessa's fingers pulling away at the sides of her mouth.
"The generator that runs the Gate. They're overloading! I can't figure out how to stop it!"
"And you're supposed…OW!...to be a genius!" Vanessa tried to bar the other girl from pulling her hair. "You're so smart! Fix the bloody thing!"
"I don't know anything about this technology! I don't even know how the basics of this thing works!"
"Figure it oooOOOOUUUWWWWWTTTTT!" Marvel screamed, feeling the other girl's nails dig into her back before the waves of electricity surged through her body.
Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom, Tails continued his futile struggle to stop the Cross Gate from exploding. The weasels on the ground, scared for their lives, finally wised up and decided to head for the hills. "Boss! This place is going down! We're getting the hell outta here!"
"You useless bastards!" Vanessa berated them, but after noticing them huddled together in a horizontal formation and rolling like a log out of the danger zone, she raised a brow. "Hmph. Maybe they weren't stupid."
"This ends now!" Marvel said, grabbing her by the arm and slinging her into the air. Tail's hard work and effort into saving all of their lives was then ended prematurely as the white fox smashed into the hard terminal just above him. The binary-filled monitor then went blank, before spazzing out and making a weird sound, showing only a blue screen and a small grey box.
"What the…WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Tails was infuriated.
"Oh come off it, mate!" Vanessa yelled, falling from the broken machine and landing on her back. "There's no possible way you can fix it now!"
"Yeah, and whose fault is that!?"
"HER!" She pointed at Marvel, who was already charging at her before she speared the other girl in the gut. She retaliated by grabbing her by the hem of her dress and yanking it down, forcing the pink hedgehog to clumsily grab the piece of fabric before she was completely de-skirted. But with her hands busy, her face was unprepared for the roundhouse kick that knocked her senseless, before she stumbled backwards and tripped over a pair of cables.
Tails, who managed to catch a brief glimpse of Marvel's new choice under garments, stood there with his mouth open, and his body suddenly flushing hot. That was until he felt a another hot sensation, coming from the right palm that had just collided with his face. "Now isn't the time to be gawking, boy!"
"I-I wasn't even…URGH! Forget it! We have to get out of here!"
"It's way too late for that now you idiot!" Vanessa screamed.
"What are you talking about!?"
"She just trashed the fractal control module! There's no way this thing is going back to normal! When it finally goes, you're looking at a singularity collapse of at least 30 Kilometers!"
"Who builds something this dangerous!?" Tails found the situation getting worse.
"You!"
"Wait, what!? You mean I built this thing!?"
"I said you were the genius!"
"I didn't know that's what you meant!"
"bloody hell, can you focus for five, fucking seconds!" Vanessa yelled, raising her hand to slap him again. However, the ceiling took its cue to break apart and send a chunk of granite straight into the back of his skull. The boy came falling down to the ground, breaking his fall, or just plain breaking, on part of the console. "Whoops."
"What did you do to him!?" Marvel returned to the story and grabbing Vanessa by her blouse straps.
"I didn't do anything this time!"
"What did you do to him before?!"
"It's better you don't know…"
"You're lucky we're about to be reduced to molecules or else I'd turn you into a potato and ground you."
"How does that even make sense? Look at what you're saying."
"It doesn't matter!" Marvel said, slinging the fox boy up and leaning him over her shoulder. "We have to get out of here."
"Can't you just warp us out?"
"I can only do that so many times! And I'm not the only one who can do it either, or did you forget!?"
"Ooooooooooh. So now you want my help?" Vanessa spread a wide grin.
"Vanessa...I do not have time to do this with you right now..." Marvel was quickly losing her patience.
"Admit you stole my pencil and I'll help."
"I didn't steal the freggin' pencil!"
"Say it."
"NO!"
"Say it, Mars."
"Nessaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Marvel whined, hopping up and down. She always had a knack for making her suffer, and doing it at the worst possible times. And right then was a very, very bad time. Vanessa, however, loved teasing her. Seeing the desperate look on her face made it all the better. "Pleheheheheheheeeeeease, just, come ooooon!"
"Fine! But this isn't over between us. Truce?"
"Yeah, whatever! Truce!" Marvel frowned.
As the Cross Gate reached critical mass, Vanessa exhaled loudly before grabbing Marvel by the wrist and closing her eyes. A moment later, the two of them, dragging along an unconscious Tails, disappeared in a flash of light.
Tails opened his eyes to darkness, feeling a searing pain in the back of his head. It took him a moment for his memory to catch up with him. The last time he woke up with a headache, he wasn't too fond of the outcome. And this time was no different. He jumped up, clutching his wrists, and breathing heavily. Luckily, he realized that he wasn't being held captive again. In fact, he found himself lying in a bed. His bed. How he got back home, he didn't know. The last thing he remembered was that weird machine going yonkers, and guessed he must have made it out of there alive somehow. Though he could only imagine the carnage it left behind. As he flipped the sheets off of his lower body, he was about to get out of bed when he suddenly felt a fingertip press against his forehead. The delayed, frightening reaction that followed, only seemed to amuse the girl beside him, as she burst into a series of giggles. "It's about time you woke up, Captain McSleepy Pants." Marvel said, smiling.
"Oh…i-it's just you…" Tails calmed down.
"Wow, that's some greeting."
"Sorry…you just surprised me."
"You looked like you were more afraid than surprised."
"Did I?" Tails questioned. Though he wouldn't have admitted it to her, he actually was afraid. How could he not have been, especially when he now knew the truth?
"But enough about that. You must be starving."
"I guess so…" Tails said, rubbing his stomach. "I really haven't eaten a decent meal all day. And it feels like I threw up again. Though I don't remember doing so."
"Don't worry about that. I worked long and hard on tonight's dinner and I promise it's edible this time. Come on, your food's awaitin'!" Marvel said, dancing away from her place beside the bed and down the stairs. Tails got out of bed and soon followed her. The idea of dinner sounded nice. After a long couple of days, he was completely exhausted. There had been too many things happening; things he wished he never had to deal with. But at least for now, things were quiet. But not quiet enough for him to hear a peculiar sound coming from the other side of his hallway. Why it took him so long to hear it, he didn't know. But as Marvel traveled downstairs, Tails found himself heading in the opposite direction, where the sound of running water filled the air. He was sure it wasn't coming from downstairs. And as he came closer to the sliding door, he realized that the sound was coming from the shower.
"What the…"
He slid the door open, feeling the sudden heat erupt from the humid outer room. And as his gaze shifted to the clothes basket on the pedestal next to him, he could see an all-black ensemble, complete with garter and knee socks. And not to mention the frilly black-lace trim all over it. An outfit that looked awfully familiar. Just then, the water stopped, and a second later, the thick glass door on the other side of the small walkway swung open. Tail's eyes met once more with a pair of dark red ones, and the boy found himself paralyzed with both fear and mortification.
The white fox before him, drying her hair with his personal towel, stared at him with tempting eyes and grinned. "You don't mind me using this, do you?"
The boy's mouth hung open as she walked past him and down the hallway, dripping water everywhere and stretching her arms into the air. "Not that I care anyway. Oh, and I used all your shampoo. Let's hope whatever's in your fridge isn't as cheap as your tastes in hair products. I'm starving."
As the girl disappeared down the staircase, Tails continued to stand there, processing the situation, before his mouth slowly closed, his teeth clenched, and breaths growing deeper and louder. "WHY IS SHE IN MY HOUSE!"