domi|note: Sorry guys, I thought that the last chapter was going to be the last filler, but this piece of writing decided to make an appearance. I'm making a double post, because we love you guys so much, but don't forget to review!

(I) Commonly known as Zoophilia or Bestiality. Don't ask me how this works.

(II) I left the closet a long time ago.

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Hybrid A/N: Hi readers, this is the guy behind Welshald—"WELSHSCOT!"—Fine, Welshscot. Some may have noticed that I have been absent in reviewing, which I apologize to XX|D for, but things like work, a play, laptop having a period and a new set of medication have been getting in the way. But now that I'm free from any educational and theatrical obligation, I can now help XX|D, who has been doing a fantastic job without me and probably still will, the best I can.

Anyway, I just want to thank superechidna for reviewing one of my stories. It is, in fact, in progress right now...but my friend, CJMes12 who has time to help write my character but not beta my stories, is well...I think I just said it. But anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Have a merry Holiday, Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year... in whichever order you want.

"I can't find why I should disguise on Halloween… I already got a mask to get rid of …"- Thanos Grigoriou
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Anthem of Our Dying Day
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Chapter Twenty One
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"What's the worst that I could say? Things are better if I stay. So long and goodnight. So long and goodnight."
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Helena byMy Chemical Romance

N o c t u r n a l . F r i e n d . a n d . F r e a k i n g . F a m i l y

"... I'm sorry, Fina..."

The bionic-armed woman didn't reply, as both her normal and electronic eye gazed upon the shaking arm of Julie-Su, who was slowly raising a black, Barrette pistol. Trembling with fear, the pink-furred echidna had to force herself to look at Fina's face as she lined up her gun's barrel with Fina's forehead. It seemed to last an eternity, Julie steadying her quivering hand which was armed with a weapon that could, and would, end the bionic woman's life, when...

"Fine, I'll do it."

Julie-Su spun round, dropping her arm to her side, to watch Emerl raise his machine gunned arm at Fina. Before the echidna could try to stop him, the yellow cyborg unleashed a barrage of bullets. Julie saw, as if watching a frame-by-frame animation, the bullets fly through the air like little angels of death, all set to claim the life of red-haired half mutant.

If Julie-Su hadn't been looking at Fina's cyber eye, which was gleaming crimson (the colour it turned when Combat Mode was enabled), or Emerl's bullets, she would have seen Fina's mouth curl into a smug smile.

Just as the bullets were about an inch from her face, Fina closed her real eye, her smile still plastered to her face. To Julie's complete surprise and bewilderment, Fina's face started to spout a thick red-brown fur, starting from the tip of nose and to the base of her neck. In that one, tiny millisecond, her entire body (except for her bionic attachments) had turned from pinkish skin to burgundy fur.

Emerl's bullet didn't even leave a mark in the newly grown fur, they even made a soft thump as they bounced off Fina's fur covered cheeks. But the yellow cyborg didn't give up. He continued to lay siege to the bionic woman, his blue, bug shaped eyes fixed upon his target without a single glint of anger or annoyance. Truth be told, he looked kinda bored.

It took two minutes to empty his installed weapon, which never managed to pierce Auto Fiona's fur armour, and the floor of the Nocturne's firing range was soon covered in bullet casings and shells. As Emerl lowered his arm, which began to return to its normal form, he stated, "Impressive, Auto Fiona. Your fur armour is just as impenetrable as Welshscot's. But it is clear that yours is superior, due to the fact you can protect almost every inch of your body. And, might I add, the furry look suites you."

Auto Fiona rolled her organic eye, while her cybernetic eye powered down from combat mode, turning her red lense back to blue. "Emerl," she began, her tone half joke, half serious. "Just for future reference, I prefer being called Fina. And though I appreciate the compliment, I think you should stick to flirting with Shade. I've already got Zackary on my back."

Emerl made a sound that could be taken as a nervous laugh which had gotten chucked through auto tune, while Shade, who had been standing right behind the cyborg and Julie-Su, shot daggers at both Emerl and Fina, which seemed to bounce of the latter's armour as she grinned cheekily.

Shade then turned her frustration upon Julie-Su, snapping, "Julie-Su! I gave you a direct order to fire at Auto Fiona! Twenty laps around the range, now!"

The pink echidna had learnt long ago to not question her teacher's commands, especially punishments, but like the best of us she seemed to forget the last time she argued with Shade. Throwing up her arms in indignation, Julie-Su cried, "I thought you were asking me to kill her! You didn't tell me that she could grow bullet proof fur, why do I have punishment laps?"

That was when her sense of place returned, on the sharp end of Shade's fierce stare. Julie gulped and backed away slightly as Shade slowly approached her, like a cat cornering its prey. "Now listen here, Julie..." Her voice was low and threatening, each word seemed to cut through the pink echidna like a knife. "... As my apprentice, I expect you to do what I say without question. I have already given you a break from your training for your little get together with Knuckles, which seems to have already taken a toll on your obedience. If this keeps happening, I'll have to take away some of your free time during the holidays." Julie was trembling slightly now. If, at that moment, you asked her if she would face Eggman's entire army or her angry assassin teacher, the pink echidna would have faced Eggman's army. Her hand began to shake a little when Shade came nose-to-nose with her. "And if I wanted Auto Fiona dead," she hissed like a poisonous snake, "she would be already bleeding on the floor."

The bionic woman, who had by now retracted her bullet proof fur, stood by Julie's side. Without any sign of fear upon her face, the red head stared at Shade and said, hotly, "Shade, how the hell could you expect Julie-Su to shoot me, a friend, without knowing I wouldn't be harmed? And I've told you, my name is Fina."

Shade stared straight back into Fina eyes, wearing a look of great dislike and loathing, "You have no right to say how I train my apprentice, Auto Fiona. I didn't ask Metal Knuckles to get you to help me and Emerl, and I think it'd be best if you leave the rest to us. If we ever need a live, useless target I'll call you." She then turned her gaze upon the pink echidna, and barked, "Julie-Su! Forty laps around the shooting range, at once!"

With a fleeting mutter of 'thanks for trying' to Fina, the apprentice began her punishment. Now considering that fact that the firing range was like a hurdle race, with a random weapon here and a broken target there, plus the fact Shade doubled the amount of laps if she even saw Julie slow down, the pink echidna was in for a nasty day. The only reason she survived her harsh training these last few years was because of Emerl's tendency to overlook a small mistake that Shade would've marked down as a 'failure of the exercise' and would punish her accordingly.

Turning her back on the bionic woman to observe her student for any signs of weakness, Shade made one last comment at Fina, saying, "Now please be on your way, Auto Fiona. I'm sure there's some problem around the base that needs an attorney's lying tongue."

It was very hard for Fina to resist the urge to charge at the orange-furred echidna and beat the ever living daylights out of her. But the bionic woman knew that Shade wasn't called the 'Living Shadow of the Nocturnes' for nothing. Along with her mastery of martial arts and any form of melee and ranged weapons you can imagine, the orange-furred echidna also had a power, called 'Shadow Eyes'. It didn't matter if you were standing far away from her in the shade of a small house or in the next room with a plant's shadow across your foot, Shade could use her power to find you no matter how hard you tried to hide or run. Just as long as you were in the shadow of an object, for it didn't work with a person's shadow, not counting Shade's own.

So with that in mind, Fina took note of how her feet were bathed in the darkness cast by the shooting range's faulty lights. Any move, or even a thought of movement, would be seen and countered before the half-mutant could even blink.

Gritting her teeth furiously, Fina gave a polite nod to Emerl (who was choosing to keep strategically silent) before turning on her heels to the exit. As the bionic woman opened the door, she saw, out of the corner of her electronic eye, Shade's smirking face, which grew larger when she watched Fina slam the door behind her.

Fuming like a volcano, Fina marched through the corridors of the Nocturne's hideout, muttering curses and death threats to that damn orange echidna. The red head never thought she'd meet someone she hated more than her adoptive sister, Fiona. But from the moment she had met Shade, the echidna had become a strong contender. No matter how hard the bionic woman tried to be civil, the assassin kept finding new ways to infuriate her.

In her angry state of mind, she didn't notice that her feet were taking her to the relaxation hall, the place where the Nocturne's had partied in before the news of the Jacaranda Slaughter had killed the mood. It was mostly empty, since most of the minor gang members were either working up above in the Garden Centre or patrolling the streets for bigots to beat up or extort. Unlike the Suppression Squad, who picked on anyone (though there were times Scourge had personally targeted a random guy to terrorise for the next month), the Nocturne's had a basic policy: give humans and bigots hell and help out mutants and Mobians, by either making sure bigots keep their distance or stop other gangs from shaking down businesses owned by Mobians.

Even though most of them had the same rights as humans, the increases of Half- Mutants, the result of a Human's and a Mobian's intercourse, (I) (even if neither of them was a Mutant) had made the poorer Mobians a secondary target for abuse. Most of this was discreetly encouraged by the Church of Solaris. No one knew what had caused the Duke of Soleanna, who was the Head Priest or Pope if you will, to start charging mutants and Mobians for weddings, which could only be paid for if that Mobian or mutant was rich and powerful. But rumours say it had something to do with his daughter, Elise.

But back to the angry, bionic red head, who by now so angry her blue optic eye had subconsciously changed to fiery red. Without paying attention to what she was doing, she practically threw herself onto the couch that faced the TV, still grumbling about Shade. One thing that annoyed her the most-no, angered her, was the assassin's continued use of her nickname. It had been her sister's idea of a joke, not just because of Fina's metal arm and eye, but that the nickname would be a constant reminder of what she had lost, sided with a word that would forever dub her as 'Fina Fox's sister'. It was all because of Fiona's taunts, of knowing what to say to turn Fina into an emotional wreck, which had reduced the bionic woman to work with the Suppression Squad for all these years.

But now she was free of her sister and back in the company of one of her oldest friends. Zackary hadn't really changed at all, despite losing his hands. He was still the teasing, sharpshooting and bullet catching flirt Fina had know all those years ago. But he was still also the guy who showed no mercy to anyone who hurts his friends, the guy who could kill a man while brandishing a wide grin and he was also the guy who still hadn't the courage to flirt with any other girl except Fina.

Speaking of the fellow red head, Zackary had somehow managed to silently sit down beside the angry woman. She only realised that he was there when he silently joked, "I guess this is a bad time to ask you out on a date, huh?"

Fina almost broke her neck with the force she used to snap her head in the direction of the pockmarked man. The moment she recognised Zackary, Fina became relaxed, her electronic eye turning back to a calming azure colour. "Argus, Zackary! When the hell did you learn to be so sneaky?"

A boyish grin shone clearly from M-Knuck's face, since he had finally shaved off his beard when Fina told him blankly that it didn't suit him. "Fina, remember who my team-mates where. Those two were always trying to teach me stealth..."

"...and you kept saying: 'Why should I hide my good looks?'" Recited Fina, smiling softly as her thoughts turned back to the old days. "And Amadeus would always walk in at that moment and say..."

"...'I thought you already were'." The red heads burst into tears of laughter, which echoed around the empty room, making them sound like rabid hyenas. After a minute or two, MK wiped a tear from his eye before saying, in a serious tone, "Ok, mind telling me why you were in such a strop just now?"

Fina pursed her lips and frowned, but thanks to her friend she was no longer writhing with rage. "It's Shade."

Zackary didn't even raise an eyebrow with surprise. "Figures. Shade doesn't like outsiders; especially since you were once part of the SS. Her trust issues have always been shaky ever since the old leader of the Nocturnes, Ix, tried to sell everyone out to Eggman. Plus she hates lawyers with a passion. Even though you never officially became a lawyer, thanks to the bigoted society we live in, Shade probably still thinks you're like one."

"Why?" asked the woman with great interest. Knowing what Shade's problems with her would help either understand the echidna assassin or use it for leverage later. Blackmail wasn't something she liked to use, but Shade's attitude called for desperate measures.

"Because a lawyer killed her parents," muttered Zackary in a dark, disdainful tone. "When Shade was ten years old, her parents were put into a coma before her very eyes. When they caught the bastard and put him on trial, his snob nosed lawyer publicly revealed that Shade's parents were mutants. That night, the doctor who was put in charge of their ward pulled out their life support. The charges were dropped and Shade was left an orphan, all because of one snobbish attorney."

Fina had definitely not expected that. She knew that the legal system was unfair on mutants, but she had never imagined that it took only a couple of words to ruin a child's life. Though Shade's behaviour still infuriated the bionic woman, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the orange echidna. But a sudden thought struck her, which made her ask MK, "The person who beat Shade's parents up, was that...?"

Metal Knuckles' face turned even sourer, as if uttering his reply was like trying to spit out acid, "Yes, it was the same bastard who killed Terri's parents." He spat onto the floor. "If he didn't have his lawyers, the money he brings in from his Casinos or his private army, Mammoth Mogul would be rotting in hell right about now."

Fina gulped and began to discreetly edge away from MK, who seemed to be working himself into a fury. For you see, though it was never brought to public, there had been a string of murder years before the massacre. The person behind it, the loan shark and Gambling King Mogul (who was in fact a mutant), decided to go around on a killing spree, 'Just because he felt like it'.

The bionic woman remembered those bitter words, which had been the finisher of a dark story of bloody murder, like they had just been said for the first time. Along with that, a face began to form in her mind's eye. His short, spiky black hair, a constant look that read 'the day I laugh is the day the world ends' and his dark cunning eyes; that was what Terri Cooper looked like before he turned into Metal Sonic.

Unlike most anti-mutants, Terri's reasons for distrusting Mutants had a firm base that didn't involve superstition or peer pressure. Mammoth Mogul, using his powers on a pointless whim, had beaten and killed many parents to the point of death right before a child's eyes, and Terri was one of them. From then on, he had a low tolerance for mutants. He didn't pick on them for fun, but if he caught two people near a crime scene, he'd look at the Mutant's alibi and would try his best to pick it apart. And if he caught a mutant who had used his powers to hurt people, all for a cheap laugh, then it would take the combined efforts of his team-mates to stop Terri from tearing the mutant apart.

But he hadn't been completely bigoted. After all, he had given Fina and Amadeus a chance... or did he always despised them and only tolerated them because they were the friends with Zackary and—

"Where's Welshscot?"

Fina and Zackary were both pulled from their thoughts by the unexpected question and the unexpected owner it belonged to. As one, still sitting on the sofa, their eyes all turned to the purple, pyrokinetic feline, Blaze the cat. Wearing her usual attire and mixed expression of urgency, curiosity and (though it was very faint) fury, the royalist stood before the red heads with folded arms.

Metal Knuckles was quick to realise why she was after the hybrid, in fact he was wondering what had kept her for so long. Reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket, the gang leader replied, "He left days ago for the Knotcorn Garage. He told me to give you this..." He pulled out a folded yellow letter, which looked slightly crumpled on the corners. "...When you came asking for him." Before MK gave the letter to Blaze, he said sincerely, "Can I just say, Lady Violet, that whatever you read in this letter will be truthful and sincere. I know..." He glanced quickly at Fina, who noticed it without fail, before continuing, "...t-this man, the one who... did you wrong and despite the horrible things he's done, he still has a bigger heart than most of the people I've ever known."

Blaze didn't reply to MK's plea, but she did seem to handle the letter with more care than she had planned. After she quietly unfolded the piece of paper, her eyes began to slowly trail the words that had been left for her by her mother's murderer. While MK went oddly silent, as if even a word might spark some kind of reaction that did not involve the pyro cat, Fina kept a sharp, bionic eye on Blaze's face.

Her eye, her metal eye, had some small quirks that made losing her real eye more bearable. When it was blue, the civil/analysis mode, it could perform info scans on just about anything. Her info storage was built into her bionic arm and it contained detailed DNA structures and sound patterns of all known substances she had found or met, and it was still only a quarter full. The last function, in the civil mode, was a polygraph, a very glitchy and unreliable polygraph, but a polygraph all the same. It didn't tell Fina what emotion a person was feeling, but she could still make rough guesses from the heart rate metre on her eye scope and it still did what polygraphs do, detect lies.

Well the lie detector wasn't going to be useful, but combined with Blaze's heart rate and the small expressions the bionic woman managed to pick up, Fina would be able to get some insight on this mysterious letter that MK never told her about. Or that was her plan, before her blasted eye decided to break.

She suppressed an urge to curse when her half her sight decided to vanish, leaving the rest to be blurred like a burning photo. In the pretence of shifting some of her hair so it didn't cover her ear, she discreetly managed to press the small reboot button on the metal plating that covered the area around her electronic eye and the lower part of her right temple.

In the time it took for her vision to become whole, the royal cat had long since finished the letter. Her eyes were still upon the letter, but they were too busy trying to read her own mess of emotions. Zackary was still looking agitated, his acid green eyes darting from his metallic digits to Fina face from out of the corner of his eyes and his heart rate was bouncing all over the place. It was no surprise that when a door banged open, both MK and Blaze jumped like Jack-in-the-boxes. But they were soon calmed, as Marine came skidding to a halt behind the sofa, panting hard.

"Blaze- mate- I swear... tell ya... sooner..." The purple cat didn't say a word to Marine, the letter still fresh in her memory, but she gave the raccoon a soft shake of the head, which ask her not to worry. Surprised and glad that her friend wasn't angry again, the raccoon literally collapsed in exhaustion, toppling forwards over the sofa and unintentionally kicking Zackary in the face.

Rubbing the sore side of his head, MK scowled and growled, "Hey, watch were ya feet are going, ya ring tailed scamp!" Marine, who must have tried to run after Blaze (who could sometimes give Sonic a run for his money), barely had the strength to retort to the pockmarked red head. She instead made a rude hand gesture, which caused a tick to rise on Zackary's forehead. "Hmph, kids today. No manners and crap comebacks. In my day, we didn't resort to the ol' flick when we collapsed on the ground. We would crane our necks up at the growling drill instructor and say, 'Look you, I've already run the distance you told me to run. If I want to lie on my back, I'll lie on my back. But if it's my buttocks you want then tough luck... unless you fancy a bit of head...'"

Fina giggled, but only because Marine finally understood the joke. Upside down on the sofa, she pulled a face before toppling off completely, screeching, "EWW, METAL KNUCKLES, THAT WAS PERVERTED!"

The red head shrugged, "Don't shoot the messenger, it's not my joke. Welshscot told me that it's a guaranteed way of curing tiredness in teens and also a way of checking for homophobes. Since your eye brows rose in surprise as you began to picture me in that situation, followed by a small blush that was covered up by a fake look of disgust, I'd say you're a closet yaoi fan." (II)

While Marine, who was indeed tired-less, began to rant at MK, Fina drew her attention back to the yellow letter. Turning to Blaze, who was still in her own world of emotions, the bionic woman asked, tentatively, "Excuse me, Blaze, but can I read that?"

Again the Cat didn't speak, but the pyro absent-mindedly nodded, handing over the paper without really knowing what she was doing. With a small nod of gratitude, the red headed woman began to position the letter before her eyes. Though her bionic eye's scanner was faulty, her real eye was surprised to see a hand writing that seemed oddly familiar. Hardly impressive but still better than a scribble, the way the writer crossed his t's with a slanted line and dot the i's with a half dot was nagging her like hell. Knowing truth could only be found by pressing onwards, Fina leaned forwards and began to take in the words:

Dear Miss Blaze the cat,

As Zackary or Welshscot would have told you, I am the man people know as the Tails Doll. Though, after all I've done, 'man' is something I wonder when I ponder on what I've become. I wish I could speak to you in person, but that ability was one of the many things that were robbed from me when I became who or what I am today.

Just to make things clear to you, to help you understand why I do what I do, the rumours you might have heard about me are true: I am indeed dead. At first I thought I was a zombie, a walking corpse you see in a cheap horror flick. But after meeting Welshscot, who might I add was the first person to look past my mask and talk to the real me; I've discovered that zombies, believe it or not, do exist.

Souls of the long dead or of un-rested spirits can be captured by Shadow Voodooists and be used to reanimate the dead person's body to be used for slave labour. They are not rotting and mouldy corpses, but they can look like any normal person. But the difference between me and a zombie is that I still have a shadow; which, by Voodoo belief, means that I still have my soul. A zombie is a tool to be used, their souls are locked away inside the darkest places with their hearts; hence why a zombie can only be killed by stabbing their heart.

I have stabbed myself many times in the heart; I even tried to crush it with my own hands. But death still refuses to claim me, and my heart soon returns to normal; sitting behind a rib cage, as still as the grave I had sometimes wished for during the first weeks of my resurrection. I couldn't stand it, and still can't stand the fact that my speech has been cursed to recite my favourite song, 'Can you feel the Sunshine'. Without the ability to talk, people would run from my face; the burnt stitching, the only thing that keeps it all together, scared all who came near.

You can believe if it comforts you, that I only started killing because I went mad. Well, that maybe true, but never has killing been something I enjoy. I killed because I had to, that was my job when I was normal. But back then I was forced to protect sneering polotions and bigoted nobles who cared more for their next meal then the affairs of the little people, the persecuted people. Mutants, as long as Eggman and people like him live, will never have justice. They will always be the ones who get taken into a side-alley and beaten up, raped and murdered; with no law to protect them.

So I decided to put my immortality to good use. I decided to provide the justice that Mutants will never receive from a court of law. I decided to protect the poor, forgotten people and strike terror into those who believe they are superior because of genes and money.

Though I admit that I am brutal, I still try and keep the standards I up held during my normal life. Losing control and hurting innocents is something I shall never forgive of myself. And to you, and your parents, I have committed just that.

I will say now that I fully intended to kill your mother, Lume, for she committed a crime that is unforgivable. I was there when the robots attacked the cemetery, I saw how they uprooted trees and broke open coffins, defiling the burial place of all who have lost their lives to the same greed that tore there resting grounds asunder. I would've taken care of those robots myself, but my eyes fell upon a sight which made my blood boil. A 'man' I once knew, or thought I knew, that you know as Metal Sonic.

After giving chase, which turned out to be fruitless, I found myself outside of a warehouse in the Docks. Inside, after hearing rage of an old man, I found a broken robot that was one of the same ones used to level the graveyard. After interrogation, he gave me one name: your mother's name.

So from there I went to Violet Manor, to punish your mother and to find out who else was part of the conspiracy behind the cemetery attack. Until I found your Mother in her study, I didn't regret the blood I had spilt. Many of the guards I had seen before—one in particular, called Cubot Orbot, had worked for Eggman and had taken part in the Massacre many years ago. Cubot is one of the only people I've killed during my time as the Tails Doll that I have taken pleasure in doing so. My family has suffered enough by his hands.

On that note, I thank you for your saving Miles from that bigoted piece of trash. I was about to intervene, but the distraction you provided gave him the opening he needed. He has grown so much, and I have been distant to him for all these years...

But back to the matter at hand; when I had your mother in my grip I made her revile what she had done. Not only had she given Eggman warehouse to keep his robots close by the graveyard, but she was also tasked with buying the church land for a new racing course. There was also a mention of a garden, which I will investigate later.

I was about to kill her there and then, but as I raised the knife, I saw you glinting off the steel of my blade. It was a reflection of your family portrait, standing outside your Manor with happy faces on all your faces. I know what it's like to be an orphan, so I try and stay my hand on behalf of their happiness whenever I can. She was a traitor to her kind, but she was still your mother and your father's wife.

Before I let her go, she gave me two names, two other conspirators. I tell you this for your benefit and the benefit of Zackary and Welshscot; for the enemy must be known. Captain Whiskers, second in command of the Coconut Crew and Smuggling leader, and Adam Mecha, the popular news announcer who controls most forms of the Media, are in league with Eggman. Captain organised the shipments of robots and Adam made it look like an accident on the news, which we both know is untrue.

I swear to you that I was leaving, my hand was on the doorknob, but your mother, by some foolish urge of pride, began to try and taunt me with predications of my failures to kill Whiskers and Adam. I ignored all of them, until she jeered that Eggman, after he was finished with the Medics, was going to send Metal Sonic after Miles.

You can't understand the anger I felt. When Miles was born, Rosemary gave Terri, Metal Sonic, the honour to be the first to hold the new born fox. It was thanks to me and her that he and Zackary had people to call a family. And how has he repaid us all? He killed me, burnt me alive and threw me into the very house we called home, and now he was going to kill the last piece of family I have left?

Before I knew what I was doing, my hands were soon covered with your mother's blood. And as I wondered how things could get worse, your father walked into the study. As he began to sob over the fate of his wife, I was again forced to remain silent by the blasted curse that bounds my speech. Your father, out of mad grief, pulled a sword from the study wall and lunged.

Now I swear the only time I laid a hand on your father was to check if he was still alive. When he tried to attack me, I dogged his attack since I didn't want to add innocent blood to my list of guilt. But I had forgotten about the windows behind me, to my horror and your father's terror, he crashed right through the panes of glass. He may not have perished, but sometimes death is a better alternative than a suppressed life of misery or pain. Fortunately, your father will not suffer physically. But I still apologize for depriving him of the ability to walk.

I am not asking you to forgive me, I just want to explain myself the only way I can. I have torn your life apart, and I know what it feels like. Zackary knows what it's like to lose his parents, so does Welshscot and all your friends—especially Miles. And like them, when they felt such a great loss, they lash out at the world.

Sometimes it breaks a bond forever, leaving us alone and friendless, or sometimes it can strengthen it, bring friends and enemies closer. So I say to you: don't lose your friends because of my mistakes, my failures. Though I can never truly make up for my mistakes, I promise that I will do my best to protect you and your friends. And in return, look after them. Miles will need a strong hand to guide him and, if he's anything like his mother, smack him around the head when his clever plans get placed ahead of his friends' needs. And, though it sounds surprising, keep an eye on Welshscot. What you see of him now is just a shadow of his former self, which is slowly trying to bleed back though. He may like to help the lives of others, but he rebukes anyone who tries to help him with his own life.

Again, my deepest apologise

Signed—

BANG!

Fina, who was just about to finish the last line of the letter, jumped from of the couch as she heard lead meeting floor. Spinning round, dropping the letter as she did so, she turned her gaze back down upon the couch. It seems that while she was reading the Tails Doll's letter, Zackary and Marine had gotten into a row of sorts, which resulted in a stare off between the man and the raccoon. Blaze, having either contemplated her thoughts or decided that she had nothing better to do, tried to stop it by pushing them away from each other. But the feline's hand had managed to brush against MK's gun belt; which thanks to her pyro aura caused a spare bullet to explode.

Luckily, the small explosion only caused a blackened stain upon MK's clothes. But the red head was still in a towering temper. He pointed at Marine, who was nervously backing away from said man, and roared, "You bloody minx! All I did was just a little joke, and you managed to blow it up into an argument, and now this!"

Marine, who was still backing away, hastily replied, "W-well I d-didn't find it funny. A-an it weren't my fault..."

But MK cut across her. "Violet wouldn't have made a mistake if you hadn't been such so fussy. Now, unless you want me to show you why I was called the 'Happy-Trigger of the Metalix', you'll get me a new gun belt from the storage room, ASAP!" No surprising, Marine shot from the room like a bullet; driven by the fear of such projectiles raining down upon her.

Blaze, who had kept unnaturally silent since the moment of the mini explosion, decided to go with her friend. Without a word to Fina or Zackary, she picked up the letter, pocketed it and turned to follow the dust clouds the raccoon had left. MK didn't object and respectfully remained silent until the cat's tail had vanished from the sight.

But if he been expecting some piece and quite, he was dead wrong. The moment he had fallen back onto the sofa, Fina had moved in front of him, her real eye a light with a questioning fury. With her metallic arm, she pointed at the door Blaze had left by, and heatedly asked, "Zackary, who the hell is the Tails Doll!" Before he could reply, she added, sharply, "Don't even think about lying to me! I will know if you're lying to me, because of my Polygraph implant!"

"Whoever wrote that letter knew that me, your old team the Metalix brothers and Rosemary were friends. They also knew about things that only we knew like who was there when Miles was born, that we were all orphans, except me since Fiona's parent adopted me before I met all of you, and especially Miles' name—because most people know him as Tails! And, judging by the fact that he made mince meat of the Violet Manor guards, he was highly trained like you were! Not to mention the strong sense of justice, that he was killed by Terri and the fact that 'Can you feel the sunshine' was his favourite song..." Tears were beginning to steam down her cheeks, as her organic eye began to turn red and puffy. Wiping them with her real arm, she looked down at MK and pleaded, "Zackary...please...I need to know...Is it...?"

The pock-marked man diverted his eyes from the woman's tear strewn face. A battle seemed to rage within him, as dark thoughts seemed to battle against one another. Finally, after taking a deep breath, he looked back into Fina's eyes, which were both red due to her crying, and muttered, solemnly, "Fina...What I said was true. Daemon is dead..." He took a deep, steadying breath. "The Tails Doll...is Miles –father..."

Her real eye blinked, while her other eye examined the heart monitor on her eye's screen. It had not spiked when he said those words, meaning that he was telling the truth, and that the Tails Doll is...

"Amadeus! Miles's father?" She stood there, utterly bewildered, before saying, "No, it can't be him. Amadeus wasn't killed by Terri..."

"It's him," butted in Zackary; whose face became rigid and tight. "Contrary to most rumours, we didn't discover Eggman's plan was a massacre until we arrived on the scene when he gave us the order to torch the houses. Most people think it happened in the Egg Fortress because people say that Terri turned Daemon into a living weapon; so they think he got put into a machine or something like that. But what it really meant was that Terri disarmed Daemon, poured the gun powder from Daemon's own gun over him along with some cheap whiskey that he took off from that damned Orbot bastard and shot him into a Chuck's old house; igniting the lot in an instant."

He gripped his bionic hands as anger shot through him. "I would've torn him apart there and then if the other guards hadn't tried to stop me. Took me three minutes to shake 'em off; giving Terri time to escape. I reckon he did the same thing to Amadeus before I caught up with him. And through him into his own house..." Zackary punched the sofa and roared, "That fucking, traitorous bigot; I bet he enjoyed killing them both!"

It took time for him to calm down, breathing in and out in a slow rhythm. When he finished, he continued in a calmer tone, "I never would have thought that he would come back from the dead. When I first saw him, I thought that someone had stolen his skin and had decided to wear it for some messed up joke. Turns out that Amadeus' face had been so badly damaged that someone had to stitch his skin into a mask and his eyes were so badly scarred that someone also covered them with black doll buttons."

And I knew it was him because he knew stuff that only we knew; like you said..." His acid eyes then when out of focus, like he was remembering a long forgotten dream. "What his favourite song was and the first time he'd heard it, the day we all met in the orphanage (except you) and even Rosemary's first idea for Miles' name: Trevor."

He grinned, boyishly, as other such memories drifted through his head. Fina, meanwhile, was still in a world full of uncertainty. Though her Polygraph showed that her friend wasn't lying, she still couldn't picture Amadeus as the Tails Doll. But truth be told, she didn't picture Daemon, her dead lover, as the killer either. But it wasn't because of what he does, kill people mercilessly; it was the idea that they were suffering this fate; a bloody existence that was almost cut off from all forms of friendship.

"That's why you didn't tell me... or Miles," Fina uttered softly.

He nodded. "He didn't want Miles to know what he had become, or you. And I thought, that maybe, you might think that there was a way to bring Daemon..." He trailed off; hanging his head in shame.

Fina sat down beside him and gave him a gentle hug. She leaned into MK's ear and whispered, "Its okay, that's how I might have reacted if I had found out. But I would never wish for Daemon to share the same fate as Amadeus. It would be too cruel to wish that upon anyone..."

Zackary nodded slowly, whilst retuning Fina's embrace. After a minute or two, the male red head leaned towards Fina's ear and asked, humorously, "So...does this mean the date is possible?"

Fina laughed, a smile now stretching across her face. "Yes," she replied; in a friendly, flirtatious tone. "But only...if you apologize to Marine."

The ex-guard nodded as he and Fina broke apart. "Ok, I was planning on doing that anyways. I remember how Alina reacted when Welsh first used his therapy games on her."

Before the bionic woman could ask who Alina was, she suddenly felt a presences right behind her. Sensing it also, Zackary and Fina both leapt to their feet and turned around; both ready to face the unknown intruder...

Zackary's face seemed to crumple, while Fina could only gasp and stare, as their eyes fell upon the Tails Doll. The bionic woman's heart beat monitor was showing nothing and, because of the broken mute button that linked to her ear drum, was giving off a flat-line. Her real eye, on the other hand, was examining the tacky stitches, the burnt fur and black button eyes; which all formed a twisted version of the face she had once known. The only difference being the jewel topped antenna and the large trench coat, Fina could clearly see that it was Miles father, Amadeus.

Since his face had been turned into a mask, Amadeus could show no expression as he pointed his button eyes at the red haired woman. He didn't even move a muscle as Fina began to circle the sofa; her eyes still examining her long lost friend. The Tails Doll did turn to face her when she was in an arm's reach, which didn't startle or scare her in the slightest.

When she was right in front of him, the top of head just above the level of TD's sightless buttons, she whispered to him, in a scared yet amazed tone, "Amadeus, is it really you? Can you recognise me?" He did not respond for a few moments, still as rigged as a board, before slowly nodding his head. Fina automatically threw her arms around him, embracing the dead man in a tight, loving hug, whilst joyfully saying, "Oh my gosh, it really is you! Zackary told me what happened to you...and I'm sorry for what has happened to you...but I'm still really glad to see you again!"

Amadeus' mask was as blank as a dictionary, but the amount of emotion he put into his hug told Fina that he was also glad to see her again. They broke apart, Fina smiling warmly while TD just remained still like an awkward school boy being kissed for the first time. Many questions were running through the bionic woman's head, but none were heard because her eye implant began to chime the 'Diamond in the Sky' song. After quickly whispering an apology to the trench-coated man, she pressed a button which caused a text message to pop up on the screen.

After quickly reading it, she muttered, apologetically, "Sorry, Amadeus, but the mechanics downstairs need me to fix their gears—again. I swear that if it wasn't for me, Shade, Julie, Emerl and Zackary would've never won their races." She gave him another hug before she began to leave for the garage. "I'll be back as soon as I can—And Zackary..." She turned at the door and shouted, "...I'll meet you at Omega Milkshake bar at seven, ok?"

Zackary, who had been avoiding TD's gaze, smiled sheepishly and nodded rather hurriedly. He kept his smile until Fina had closed the door. When he did, he turned to the trench coated man...and found that he was now towering over him. MK was taken by surprise, but he did not make a sound. After a few moments of silence, in which Amadeus continued to stare at the red headed man, Zackary finally burst out, "Yes, I told her—I didn't have a choice, ok? She read the letter—I couldn't..." He looked away, expecting to feel a blast of anger any time soon. But after a few seconds of nothing, MK turned back to TD...and he was gone.

Zackary's heart beat began to slow down. If TD had been angry that he had told Fina, he would have punched him right now. MK knew that because he knew TD like the back of his hand. So that was also why he looked around for...

He spotted it, on the couch he had just been sitting on. He wasted no time in picking it up and raising it to his eyes. And it took no time to understand what TD was about to do...

Watch the news tomorrow at ten. It will not come from the usual den.

Do not be surprised by what you see. Omochao will do admirably.

For tonight my friend I go to work. Tough I still think you are a jerk.

For telling tales I don't want told. At least, forgive me, it wasn't sold.

But now I go for the damned. Adam Mecha will die by my hand.

A/N: Hmm... I wonder what it means? Anyway, I can see that my Asylum has caught up with me. Until next time, I, and probably XX|D, hope you have a great life :)

domi|note: And remember to review! (As Christmas presents.)