This chapter is extremely long, so watch out.

Darkest Before Dawn

Chapter 53

Tails' POV

"Ero, we need to talk."

There was a slight hoarse edge to my voice, but I was too stressed to care. I had been hoping to catch the rabbit alone, but had found that Amy, Nicole, and Faron were also in the room. Though my mind wanted me to race in and yell out everything to everyone, I felt somehow obligated to tell him beforehand. Maybe it was because he could assist me in explaining the situation to the others without freaking them out so much (though it still is rather frightful), or so he could have more time to prepare for telling Kage. I did not even want to muse about Keita and Kage, meaning that telling the black kitsune myself was out of the question. I just hope the rabbit will be willing…

"What's wrong?" Amy asked while taking a stand. Everyone in the room seemed suddenly tense, except for Faron, who could really care less. The pink hedgehog had a look of concern across her face, but also a determination that said she was ready to confront anything to find out what was wrong. "You can tell everyone, not just Ero, you know."

She awaited my answer patiently, but all I did was repeat myself and ignored Amy's comment. "We need to talk, Ero – now."

The rabbit hesitated, but stood up and pushed in his chair nevertheless. Amy was angry that he did not stand up for the public announcement and gave him a glare, but he did not seem to notice. "I'll be back," he said to her, and before she could response, I pulled him out of the room and slammed the door behind us.

I was going to break the news to him right outside of the door, but decided it was not the best idea. Amy probably had her ear against it, but even more, it was the fact that the World Army soldiers were running across the castle and could eavesdrop on our conversation at any point in time. I did not want them to hear that Shikyo was not the person we thought she – excuse me, I meant he – was. The fact that I had to address her – he – as a male was still foreign to me.

I began to head down the hallway and the rabbit followed close behind me. I knew that he was completely dense to what was going on. I think he perhaps was thinking that Soran passed away in his sleep and he was going to have to break it to Kage. To tell the truth, I would rather have had to tell him that than about Keita. I believe that everyone is going to take this badly – especially Kage.

I swung open the door to a random room, which just happened to be a study, and closed the door behind us once the rabbit and I were inside. "What is wrong with you?" He asked irately as he slowly examined me. "You are acting like Death just came knocking on your door."

It was true that I was paranoid, but I did not realise that I was showing it so greatly. I tried to settle myself down, but my attempts were futile. I realised that when I told him I would sound like I had gone completely mad. Perhaps I have. Ero was impatiently waiting for my reply. I felt like I should tell him this in the most professional, understanding way possible, but instead I blurted out, "Keita's our bad guy."

He thought over this for a few moments with consideration, but then a look of bewilderment flew over his face and he asked, "Excuse me? Are we even thinking about the right person? You see, the last time I checked, Keita was a brunt piece of flesh. And did we not already declare that he was dead, or did I miss something?"

"We all missed something," I answered him gravely. "Something that, if we did not find out, would have ensured that we would lose against her – him." I smacked myself on the forehead and did not bother to remove my hand from it. "I need to remember that! God, it's annoying."

"Wait," he said slowly as he tried to resolve his confusion. "Are we speaking of Keita working for Shikyo or…" He stopped for a moment as he thought about his latter idea. I awaited his reply patiently. "Forget I was even going to say a second ago," he told me quickly, "because it is sick and impossible, so I am not even going to say it."

I sighed, "The latter that you are thinking of is what I mean. And it is not as impossible as you may suspect, though yes, it is rather repulsive."

He still did not quite comprehend, which was understandable. It took me over an hour while in bed to realise how awkward and confusing the concept really was, but while I was thinking over it, I had also seen that there was so much foreshadowing to this that should have been quite noticeable. "So," he said though he was mostly stilling mustering, "you are saying that Shikyo is really Keita, who cross-dressed to look like his ex-fiancé to fool us into believing it was her making this dreamworld?" There was a moment of silence. I would answer his question, but the expression on my face told him that I was serious about this. "I thought you were just fucking with me," he said.

"Why would I fuck around about this?" I asked him. I received a simple shrug. I allowed him to muse over the new information more. "She – God, he! – has been lying to us the entire time."

Ero walked a few steps towards the door, but then quickly came back and told me plainly, "I do not believe you." He turned away and this time made it to the door. He twisted the knob open as he said, "I may have not known the guy, but he would not do that to Kage."

"He shape shifted," I told him despite the fact that he was probably not listening to my words. "The Watchers told us that 'Shikyo' knew how to shape shift (Chapter 20), remember. Keita made himself into the image of Ai so that he could hide the fact that his weakness was water (Chapter 38) – making him particularly invincible."

The rabbit shut the door quietly enough just so we would not gain unwanted attention. I was surprised that he was even listening to me. He did not say a word, so I decided to continue on with what I was saying. "The chameleon flaw makes sense now also (Chapter 38). Keita has been living for the past thousand years. He could have collected the souls during wars or plagues – no one would have noticed because it was over such a long span of time."

"So he has been planning this for the past thousand years?" Ero asked with a hint of anger and disbelieve in his voice. "Has he been planning to dress up as his ex, take Kage, and take his innocence away from him for the past thousand years?"

"Probably not," I answered calmly though I did cringe at the thought of the black kitsune and his past. "But he was planning something. Maybe before Ai and Kage came along, Keita wanted to take control over the Watchers and rule the spiritualists with an iron fist. He was the 10th Watcher and the youngest (I'm pretty sure this was said in Chapter 19, but not sure), so he probably did not receive a lot of respect from his colleagues. It was a slow process, but nevertheless, the sudden attack would probably bring down the Watchers in one blow.

"Speaking of the Watchers, remember how in Descentmet he was able to kill them off so easily (I guess this would be Chapter 22 when they were reported dead)? If Ai was the one truly executing this, she would have not known what elements killed each Watcher. This is information for them and them alone." I continued on with my explanation strongly. "We even received a warning, Ero, a damn warning. Kujiro, the Watcher that we talked to in the hospital, said Keita was alive (Chapter 22). He did not mean as a brunt thing we saw, he meant he was Shikyo."

"Why didn't just say, 'Oh, yeah, by the way, Shikyo isn't really who you think she is. She is really Keita dressing up as Ai – you might wanna watch out'?"

I answered him with another question. "Why would someone pull his own plug and why in hell would a Watcher die from that? It could only have been Keita."

The rabbit was at a loss. I understood that he did not want to think that someone who his best friend considered to be a brother was really the one trying to kill us (or, keep us as their toy, if you are speaking of Kage), but now he was just being naïve. "Did you notice that she – he, dammit - was not burned (Chapter 32)?" I asked him. "If she was really caught in a fire, wouldn't you think that he would at least whole some type of physical mutilation from it? I mean, if it was really Ai, she would be covered."

"Actually," he told me, "while we were up against… him… yesterday, Soran nicked 'em in the ear with a flaming sword (Chapter 50). Didn't do a thing to… him, or at least, didn't while we were able to see…" I could tell he hated to admit that I could be right about this. But, hey, I would love it if I was wrong, but I knew I was not.

"It also explains how a boat is the only way to transport information (Chapter 50, somewhat Chapter 38). It's because they cannot touch water."

"Why was Kage able to kill them with fire then?"

I had to think about this, but came up with a decent answer, though I am not sure if it is right. "They don't. It just looks like they are dead. Probably a trick Keita taught them so that we would believe it was Ai. They ten to one recover and rejoin the ranks – we just never realised it. We have been battling against an army that has been indomitable to us this entire time."

"How did you find out about this?"

I found myself reluctant to tell him. Saying to him that I have been having visions of events between Ai, Keita, and Kage would make me sound plain weird. But I figure that he already thinks I am completely fucked in the head, so I went ahead with it. "You know how I would… just randomly faint? It's because Shikyo - well, at least, I thought it was Shikyo; now I think differently – was pulling me into sort of a dreamworld and showing me the times before the fire that supposedly killed both of them…"

Ero found this quite odd, but avoided asking me directly about it. "Do you think that the person that sent that cat with the message is the same one that is giving you these vision things?"

I had never considered that but nodded, "Yes, perhaps."

"That means this person knows everything that we don't. They are obviously trying to help us though, thankfully. I wish that he would just show himself instead of sending you messages and messengers randomly. He's probably on some island in the middle of nowhere laughing at us for being at the middle of this while he sips alcoholic beverages and has hot, kinky sex with girls half his age(1)…"

I gave him an odd expression for his last remark, but took a seat in the study chair and spun around to ignore it. "No," I told him as I shook my head, "he's involved somewhere in Hatsu. There is no way he would come across such information without knowing Kage, Ai, or Keita personally…" I slowed myself down and set my sights back on the rabbit, who flopped himself into a chair. "Heck," I considered, "he could even be in this castle right now."

"The only person I could think of is Soran," he told me, "but he is not even a spiritualist. How would he know how to create a dreamworld?"

"No, it is not him though there is some possibility of him being in connection with the person in question," I said.

"But would he not have told us that when he told us about the Theory and whatnot?"

I shrugged. "I really don't know… some things, though, are better not known."

He nodded and sighed as sunk deep into the leather chair. He buried his head into his hands with a sigh and shook his head in frustration. "But Keita… I still cannot believe that he would betray the entire spiritualist order like that. Every person that I have ever heard mention him always talked highly of him. I mean, he even won the respect of Kage, which is saying something." The rabbit dragged his hands off his face and looked up at the ceiling. "This changes everything."

"Yeah, it does," I agreed quietly. During a long amount of silence, I looked out of the window to find that the sun was already passed its peak (it was only ten in the morning) and the world itself looked eerie and no longer like the one I knew only a month or two ago. To tell the truth, it was slowly starting to turn into Hell. I pushed myself up from the chair and said, "Will you help me tell Amy, Soran, and the Army?"

"Not Kage, not now," he responded as he leaned forward and raked a weary hand through his rather messy hair.

I nodded. "I know…"

He got up from the chair and stumbled a few steps away from it. His head was still messing up his coordination obviously. At least the bandage that covered his head was no longer bloody, unlike yesterday, when we would have to change it every half hour or so. "Let's go. The sooner the better anyway, right?"

"Yep," I said with a small smile. I was surprised that I could even put on one with the pessimistic attitude I have been going through for the past week or so. I believe that I put it up just so everyone around me will think I am in control, when really, to tell the absolute truth, I was not. I could feel my sanity, my morals, my very life slipping from me every moment of the day. Though it has taken me some time to note this, I knew I was taking the same path as Kage, except these changes were brought to him swiftly and with a bundle load of stress upon it. He was much further down the road than I.

I felt my smile slipping, so I walked to the door and opened it only to be faced by Amy, who was directly outside. She was on the floor, clearly had been eavesdropping, but the number one thing I noticed was the fact that she stared at me with a look of surprise and distress. I sighed and simply let her name escape my lips. I was not sure if I sounded compassionate or cold – it was perhaps a mixture of both. I realised that she was shaking and was in shock, so I asked, "Are you surprised about this?"

It took her a moment to reply, but she said, "I only heard about Keita… How, Tails? How could he do this to us?"

"I will explain to you soon," I responded gently. "Come with us to tell who needs to know right now, would you?"

She nodded though she was not particularly glad about my proposal. "Of course."

Faron's POV (weird, huh?)

I had never exactly gotten what has been going on. I understand most of the technical stuff like the fact that Shikyo is trying to kill us all and such, there is no doubt about that, but when it came to the idiots I find myself babysitting twenty-four-seven, I always seemed to find myself at a loss. There was a sort of tension, an odd band that pulled them together, but all at the same time, pulled them slowly apart. I had never been quote-on-quote concerned about it, nor do I even care now, but the snips of conversation I have overheard (this all, of course, by accident) had made me curious more than anything. The hushed communications between Miles and the rabbit, the sudden mood-swings of the stupid, black kitsune, the random appearance of the cougar that seemed rather mad in himself, the endless worrying of the pink hedgehog – all have grabbed a bit of my attention at one point or another. I first suspected that they were just trying to make the situation seem more secretive than it was, or that they all really needed to be locked away in a mental asylum, but the deeper it went, the anxiety that befell them that in a way changed the entire atmosphere of the castle (especially Kage's, though I do not know why) had pulled me into wondering.

I hated to admit it, but they did know what they were speaking about. They knew her every tactic, her every motive – they even knew the smallest details that in my investigations I would have never even caught sight of to mused upon. I had already had figured out that one of them had to have known Shikyo before her mental breakdown, and after her attack yesterday, I knew that she was after them for personal reasons. I never got a clean explanation, nor did I ever fall upon information that could get me the account.

And to tell the truth, I really did not care…

Until now.

Well, I cared now only to an extent. Miles was currently standing before my council, his friends, the King, a few of Shiematsu's soldiers (though they did not understand a word he said), and I, gravely explaining a twist to Shikyo's identity that was destroying our original tactic with ever word that slipped from his mouth. Not only did it sound extremely wrong, but it in itself made no sense. His explanations for it seemed unreasonable, but after Kage was able to summon up the Dragon and Keita – Shikyo's true identity, I guess – was able to come this far with his psycho dreamworld, I realised that nothing was out of boundaries with the spiritualists. This, quite frankly, was a scary thought. If one spiritualist could do such things, think if they all banded together to kill off the modern world. Actually, I do not want to even muster upon it.

My advisors and the King stared at the small, orange kitsune with an expression of disbelief. They wanted to argue the point, but had no basis to even begin a dispute. All they could do was listen to the calm, yet uncertain commands Miles gave them about weaponry and tactic changes. I was somewhat happy that water was the answer instead of fire – we had an almost unlimited supply of it in our oceans, lakes, and rivers – or, at least, the ones that had not been polluted by dead corpses and disease. Even the stock of flamethrowers we had produced could be converted to spray large amounts of pressured water. Perhaps this twist was a relief from God instead of something that would ultimately bury us into the depths of Hell (which might actually be the place we are going either way). My colleagues, as Miles revealed more of the changes that needed to be made, seemed to realise this also.

But the kitsune and his friends were not as reassured as us. They were stressed and obviously tenser than ever before (except the cougar, who seemed to be taking this with patience and with no difficulty). This was the moment I had noted that there had been no comment, sarcastic or not, by the idiotic black kitsune. I glanced around the room for him, but he was no where to be found. He could have been forgotten, or he already knew… he was their friend though, so should he not be supporting them through this? Wait, he's a dumb-ass. He probably does not know how to be a friend.

"We must modify our strategies and positions at once," Miles said to us without giving us any form of direct eye-contact. "Keita will be declaring true, all-out war on every nation in a matter of days." He bowed his head slightly. "Thank you for your time."

The Hatsu leaders of the World Army, including myself, and the King stood up and left the room in haste. We obviously had work to do. I stopped myself, though, when I heard that small voice of Miles ask, "Who is telling Kage?" I continued on a few steps but halted once more so that I could hear the answer.

"Do we really have to tell him?" the rabbit asked hopefully.

Miles took in a rough breath and let it out in annoyance. "Ero, we have already been over this. Kage has to know. It is either now or when he actually sees Keita face-to-face trying to kill us and take him. When would you rather him break down about it: then or now?"

"I could slip him the bad tidings," the cougar told them with a voice that did not sound much like his own. "I just cannot speak that well as I could a few days ago. I get winded easily."

"You do now have to do such a thing," the rat informed him rather swiftly. "After all, you should not even be out of bed." He wanted to say something more about his condition or about speaking to Kage at such a time, but a low, stressed snarl from Soran pulled him into absolute silence.

"I do believe you and Soran would be the best to confront him about it," Amy said to the rabbit truthfully. "He does trust you two the most. If Tails or I even attempted to say such a thing, he would not believe us and perhaps cut off communications from us completely."

Soran shook his head and told her, "No he would not stop talking to you. He is more loyal to friends than you first suspect."

Amy wanted to defend her claim because of the unneeded guilt that overflowed her when the cougar said this, but Meep jumped in, "Everyone tell Kage. Kage need everyone… Kage will need lot of comfort and Meep want everyone 'ere to help him and… Meep want Kage happy."

"He won't be happy today," Miles told the annoying Chao honestly. "And probably not for a very long time…" With that, the orange kitsune pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and said, "I will go find him. He is probably outside with the Dragon someplace discussing tactics." He began to move himself towards the door that I was standing outside of. He suddenly seemed weak, fragile, and not the person he had appeared to be for the past three days.

A ping of obligation flew through me. I did not know why I even felt as though I had to do something, but I had a revelation about the entire situation at hand. Miles had once told me that Shikyo – well, Keita, I guess – and Kage had a bad relationship that he did not want to get into because of its length or its complexity. I believe I might know what this relationship might have been just because of the expression on their faces, and I felt as though I had to help in some sort of way with it. Oh, I hate when idiots grow onto me. "I will get him for you," I told him as soon as he caught sight of my presence. He was as surprised as I was about my offer. "I know where he is. Just stay here and calm down a bit."

"All… right," he said slowly and with a rather odd look. "Thank you."

I did not return any sort of polite response, nor did I stay to see the grin that would catch the cougar's face and the weird expression the others must have been giving me. Instead I stuffed my hands into my pockets and hurried down the hallway. I had been lying to them about knowing the black kitsune's location. Miles had a decent guess about where he was though. He had to be with Shiematsu on one of the balconies.

A few soldiers stopped me during my search and asked me what was going on. I mostly pointed them to a different official, but to one group I simply said I did not know which is not an utter lie. Some of the events occurring were as much of a mystery to me as Kage's location. Each time they would ask me, I would ask them about the black kitsune, but I always received a shrug. I probably needed a soldier to keep tabs on him so the next time I am looking for him, he could actually be found with easy.

I found one of the Dragon's soldiers in the hallway. It was not often that they set foot outside of the castle or away from Kage's side(2). I did not know a word of Portuguese, but I still tried to engage in conversation with him. The only word I said was the black kitsune's name and he instantly motioned to the door that he was in fact guarding. I thanked him with a bow of my head and pushed open the door and let myself onto the balcony.

The cold wind immediately impacted me and sent me into a shivering fit. It had to be below zero and it was in the middle of July. The sun, which held an unusual colour, was setting early. I caught sight of Kage, who was bundled up in his cloak and plotting tactics on something I could at first not comprehend. It was a black board about the size of a dining table. Four large, dragon-like legs held it up to the kitsune's height and an enormous dragon head stuck out of it and was looking at its board body interestingly. Instead of board pieces, fire figures of Hatsu's landscape, footsoldiers, and more were scattered across it. It took a moment for me to realise that board was truly Shiemastu. I never knew that the Dragon could transform into things(3). They both did not take any heed of my presence.

"Pensava talvez que podemos pôr as seuas tropas ao redor das fronteiras de Hatsu e nesta cidade. Acredito que força virá do mar," Kage said to him and did an odd movement with his hand to demonstrate his point by making soldiers places themselves around the borders of Hatsu and in the Kingdom.

The Dragon shook his head and said. Tenho um sentimento eles não virão da água. Em vez disso nós devemos pôr nossas forças em vários lugares. No reino, embora, definitivamente é necessitado. He gently blew a stream of air out of his mouth and the troops around the perimeter of Hatsu moved themselves to different locations. Força devia estar vindo principalmente de onde seu lair é. Acredito que a maioria das nossas tropas devem estar posicionadas aí. When he said this, most of the troops disappeared and a smoke question mark rose into the air.

Kage sighed and rubbed his head in exhaustion. "Eu não sou bom quando vem a táticas militares." He chuckled and looked up to the Dragon, who blew away the fire on the table. Shiematsu was able to get a grin from the kitsune when he created an image of Shikyo on the table and made her start ball-room dancing with herself and then trip over her tails. "Eu não posso ver seu dançar," he casually told Shiematsu with a laugh.

Você nunca sabe, the Dragon answered lightly. His dark green eyes flashed over in my direction and he stopped their conversation abruptly though I did not understand what they were saying. He turned into a smaller version of his original form and rapped himself across Kage's shoulders.

The kitsune took notice of my presence. "Oh grande, o general de idiota está aqui," he said to the Dragon in a mocking like tone. Shiemastu, though, could see that I was here on serious matters, not just to chat, and made Kage aware of this. The kitsune looked back at me and asked, "What do you need? We were discussing military tactics."

I smirked. "I am sure that watching Shikyo tripping on her tails is 'military tactics'." I decided to play it casual and wait for his friends to break the bad news to him. I wanted nothing to do with it. "Miles wants you," I told him. "He found out the mystery behind Shikyo."

Kage's face lit up. "Seriously?" He happily hopped down from the ledge and said to the Dragon, "Foi compreendida!" He walked passed me, but asked, "What is it?"

I covered myself by answering, "He wants to tell you himself."

We rushed through the hallways towards the conference room that Miles and the others were in. The black kitsune could not have been in a better mood. He laughed, joy obviously overtaking him. "I do not think I have had such a great day in a long time," he told me. "Soran's okay, we figured out Shikyo – what could go wrong?" He whispered some Portuguese into the Dragon's ear and surfaced a low chuckle from him.

My facial features faltered. I prayed that he did not notice, but I was unlucky. He had been looking at me to ask me a direct question when this happened. His smile slowly dissolved and it was replaced by a light frown. He seemed confused and did not hesitate to voice his concern, "What's wrong?"

It was the first time I ever realised how innocent he really sounded. I thought of preparing him for what was about to come so he would not take it so hard, but I knew this was not possible. If his relationship with Keita was what I thought it was, I had no idea what to say about it. So I simply looked away and answered, "We better hurry. He's expecting you soon…" I knew I did not sound optimistic at all. Perhaps this was my warning to him.

"Okay…" he responded quietly.

His smile never returned that day.

Soran's POV

I could not help but let out a sigh when I heard the door open and saw Kage slip into the room. The general gave him a few reassuring words, but then left the black kitsune alone to face us. Faron had obviously told him something was wrong, for the expression across his face hinted worry and bewilderment. "I heard you found out the secret about Shikyo," he told us slowly. The Dragon that was draped around his shoulders looked about the room with anxiety.

"K.G.," I said with a soft smile. "Come here; sit between Ero and me, would you?" I patted the chair between us to signal that I truly did insist. I could tell that the stares from the others were burning through his skin as he took the seat. I did my best to be as cheery as I could, though I knew that none us were going to come out of this discussion with any form of happiness.

An odd silence flung itself across the room and rebounded itself off of the red walls several times. Ero opened his mouth several times to say something, but always cut himself off before he could. I was truly hoping that he would start the conversation, but I knew that it was up to me to set fire to the discussion. So I casually asked him, "So, Kage, may I ask you a question?"

He paused for a moment but nodded. "Of course."

I placed my words carefully. "Have you ever… read a suspense/mystery book that had you thinking one thing, but then an event completely turned the plot upside-down in a way that you would never suspect?"

"… Yes," he answered slowly. "And what does this have to do with Shikyo?"

My smile increased for only a moment. He always wanted to get straight to the point. I rubbed my neck, which was hurting just by saying those words. I was surprised that I could speak so much yesterday, but today it hurt to even breathe. Maybe it is because I am now not allowed to have any form of medication. I signaled for someone else to pick up for me.

"You see, Kage," Tails said carefully when he gained the courage to even speak to Kage, "our situation is like one of those books…"

The black kitsune suddenly growled. "I am not a child. You can tell me what is going on without metaphors and puzzles!" He glared at Ero, who he was sure had planned them to explain it to him like this.

Tails sighed and quickly covered our mistake. "You see, Kage, you are not going to like or believe what we are going to tell you."

Kage was becoming impatient. "Tell me already. I do not have all day."

"Shikyo isn't who we thought she is," Amy blurted out suddenly. "Shikyo is not Ai like we all have assumed. Shikyo is…. really Keita…" She slouched down in her chair a bit as though Kage was going to pounce and try to kill her.

Silence reigned again.

The black kitsune chuckled as he found amusement in her statement. "What?" He started to crack up. "Wow, you guys, really," he said as he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, "I thought you were all serious for a moment." He let out another bark-like laugh. "You had Faron act perfectly and everything! How did he even agree to help you guys with this, huh?"

"Kage," I told him softly as I took his hand and squeezed it, "we aren't kidding."

He fell silent and simply stared at me. We allowed him to think. We wanted to see his reaction to the news. At first he was still slightly in denial about the fact that we were serious, but a deep frown quickly took him over. He dropped his mouth to say something a few times, to ask questions, but shut it and soon I could tell his jaw was locked. He glanced around the room several times hoping that someone would break out laughing and tell him they were just kidding.

Once he did not directly respond, Tails began to gently tell him how we found out such information. I could tell, though, that Kage was not listening. His eyes told that his mind was racing and had no time to stop and listen to the small kitsune's words. I simply held onto his hand and gave what comfort I could. I knew that my attempts right now were futile, but I tried anyway.

"Keita wouldn't do that," he finally said while completely interrupting Tails in the middle of a sentence. His voice was no longer the strong, vicious one that had told us to stop messing with his mind with puzzles. Instead, it held a sickening whimper. "He wouldn't do that to her, to the spiritualists, to the world, to me…"

"I'm sorry, Kage," Ero responded. He pulled the shaking, black kitsune into his arms, but was instantly shoved away. Though he seemed shocked by the rough gesture, he did not make a big deal out of it.

Kage abruptly stood up, not even caring that he almost knocked down his chair and inflicted a rather nasty scratch across the palm of my hand. "Excuse me," he said quietly. He rushed out of the room. The Dragon, those obviously worried, was smart enough to jump off his shoulders and remain in the room with the rest of us.

"Well," Tails said sarcastically as he slouched down in his chair. "That went extremely well, did it not?" He clapped. "Great job, people."

The rabbit growled as he stood up and began to head out after Kage. "Shut up, Tails," he told him roughly.

A thought crossed my mind and I grabbed Ero's wrist. "Ero, do not go after him yet," I said to him. "Give him a few minutes alone. He needs it." When he simply glared at me, I gave him some form of comfort. "I promise you. I have dealt with this before."

"Meep sorry for Kage," the Chao said sadly. "Kage like Keita lots. Meep never like Keita doe. Always thought something bad 'bout Keita."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Ero asked him angrily.

Meep sighed and replied, "Ero no listen to Meep. Ever."

"Congratulations," Faron said to us as he threw open the door. "You all officially have a very mad, black kitsune on your hands. How do you feel about this?" Though he was smirking and making fun of us, I could tell that he was truly concerned about the manner Kage had left the room and was hoping to know more.

Tails grunted and stood up from his seat. "Shut it, Faron. I am not in the mood today." He stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and said to us, "Tell me if you need any help with Kage. I have issues to deal with." With that, he left through the other door and slammed it behind him. Amy quickly followed him out.

"So," Ero asked irritated as he flopped into the seat Kage had been in, "when is the right time to follow him, hmm? It better be very soon because he is going to do something extremely stupid that neither of us can fix and ---."

I nodded as I cut him off short by saying, "I know. It's just a few minutes, Ero. Have some faith." When I heard Atreyu chuckle about my last sentence, I let my smile flip and asked him crudely, "Don't you have translating to do or something?"

He stood up as he thankfully understood that I requested his immediate dismissal. "Of course," he replied smoothly. "I shall do my best to finish up by today so we can have no further delay." With that, he left and I was able to breathe fresh air again instead of his maggot-filled stench.

"Faron," I questioned casually, "did you see which way Kage went?"

"I am not his babysitter," he snapped back. He flicked out a cigarette and lit it with a flame that oddly came from his watch. "You two are on your own." He took a long drag on the white stick and puffed smoke into Ero's face. The rabbit coughed.

"Can I have one?" I asked. I held out my hand to signal that I was serious. He gave me a weird look and was about to remind me that I had throat surgery only yesterday (and it is only because of spiritualist healing techniques that I am even up and breathing and such), but decided that he did not care and handed me one willingly. The Dragon, who had just perched itself on my shoulder, lit it for me. "Thank you," I said to both of them. I took a drag and coughed up the smoke.

"That cannot be good for you," the rabbit told me.

I grabbed my cane and awkwardly stood up. "I am completely aware of that," I replied with a chuckle. When I stepped backwards, I almost fell. Thankfully, the cane supported me. "Shall we be going, Ero? We have a kitsune to find."

"Someone who we would have already been talking to if we would have followed him when he left," the rabbit replied angrily. Despite his complaints, he still took a stand and helped me around the chair. I was surprised that he was patient with the fact that I was still getting use to relying entirely on a cane to walk and did not yell at me when I was moving slowly out of the room and into the hallway, leaving Faron behind. "Now, where do we find him? I am sure you already know this answer if you waited on him." Perhaps I was wrong. He was not patient at all.

A smile, though I believe it looked more like a smirk, spread across my face when I answered nonchalantly, "Water. Where do you think we could find the most water in this castle?"

He must have thought this was an odd response, but he did soon realise my reason behind my theory. He thought for a moment and then replied, "A bathroom. There's a sink, shower… you really think he locked himself up in a bathroom?"

"If I were him, I would have done it," I told him truthfully. "Some say to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, but I highly doubt Kage wants Keita anywhere close to him at the moment. Of course, this is if he is thinking rationally – and I do hope he is because, if not, we might encounter difficulties." When Ero did not reply, I asked him, "How many bathrooms are here, do you know?"

The rabbit rolled his eyes and answered, "I have been here for a week, and I haven't even been in half of the castle. This thing could have hundreds of bathrooms for all I know."

I stopped not only to give my aching body a rest, but also to think. From every bathroom I had seen, except for the ones in the guest rooms, it would have been noticeable if someone locked themselves in there and started up the shower and the sink all at once. And, from taking a look around the place, I knew that some of the soldiers, no matter how busy, would have taken notice. Kage easily could have slipped into one of the many guest rooms, but most of the rooms were in occupation (even if the individual is not there at the moment), and Kage's was on the other side of the castle – too far for someone who wanted protection from a demon. Where else in the castle could have a significant amount of water? An idea struck me, and it was worthy enough to try out. "Ero," I questioned, "how religious is Kage?"

"Religious?" the rabbit asked, as though he did not hear the word much. "He likes reading that Bible of his a lot, and believes in 'Jesus', but I do not know how religious that would be."

"Go to his room, see if he is there," I commanded. "If not, bring some bandages and tea to the chapel on the south side of the castle. Ask someone for directions if you have to."

He seemed to know what a chapel was because he asked, "In what way would a chapel have water?"

"Holy water."

"Keir?" I called as I slowly pushed open the stained-glass, chapel doors with my shoulder. My voice echoed through the small, yet beautiful place, but I did not receive any sort of reply. I closed the door behind me and instantly noticed that the bowl of holy water that should have been on the podium in front of me had disappeared. There was no priest here to have taken it, so Kage would be with only one with a reason to do so.

I made my way up to the altar as best as I could while taking the time to look through each individual aisle and underneath every row of pews in hopes of finding Kage somewhere in this place. He was no where to be found. I arrived at the altar and looked upon it in all of its glory. It was craved out of a mass of white, pearly marble and held the image of angels flying from all directions. The angel that was flying out towards me was holding a familiar object in its hands: Kage's golden cross. It was hard to climb up the stairs, but I was able to retrieve the necklace from the angel's grip and stuff it deeply into my pocket.

I turned around and scanned the room once more. There was still no sign of his physical presence anywhere. I noticed that to my right was a door that was open though it was just ever so slightly. Thankfully, I did not have to go back down the stairs of the altar to reach it. I pushed the door open and took a look inside. It had to have been pitch black inside before the light from the outside flooded into the small corridor. I chuckled when I realised exactly what I had found. A confession room. A wooden chair stood alone by a wall, which held a door and a window without glass. I stepped inside and looked into the corners in hopes of finding Kage. Nothing. I approached the window, but before I even had the chance to call out his name, a splash of water flew out from the opening and drenched my clothing. I stood in shock for a moment as the water sunk into my clothes and quickly made its way into my fur and my skin. A few drops fell from my nose and made it twitch. I shook off the water the best I could.

A pair of red eyes peeked through the window and panic filled them when they saw it was only me. "Oh, Soran, I am so sorry," the voice told me swiftly. "I thought you were ---!"

"I know," I said calmly. "I completely understand." I wiped my face with my soaked sleeve, but it obviously did not help much. With the removal of my sleeve from my face, I brought a cheerful smile though I was not particularly happy. "May I come join you? I mean, of course, if you are ready not to pour holy water all over me again."

There was hesitate, and from it, I could already tell his answer. "No," he responded slowly after a moment. "I would rather you not. But… would you stay with me, please… out there."

I nodded, "Yes." I gave one look to the chair, which did not look too inviting (especially since the last time I had sat in a confession chair was over two and a half years ago), so I instead flopped onto the ground and leaned against the wall that separated Kage and I. "Ero and the others are worried about you, you know. You left in quite a rush – we were there to help you through it. That was the whole point of all of us confronting you with the news."

"I know," he responded quietly. "I just… needed some time alone."

I hurried on the discussion. "So what did you use this time, dear Keir? A knife, a rock, or did you use your imagination."

He actually chuckled at this. I took note of his sudden change in his breathing patterns. "I was creative," he answered with honesty. "Much like Slacks was. You remember how imaginative Slacks was? Always thinking of something new?"

"Yes," I replied. "He was." I took a moment to soak this in, but talked again so that I would not lose the black kitsune's attention. "How many?"

"Much better than last time," he told me. "Did Ero tell you about that? Probably not – oh well, it's the past now. That was when I thought Keita was my friend…." His sigh was ragged. "Perhaps this is how it is supposed to be – me, stuck alone in the dark for all eternity. Maybe this is the path God has set for me. Soran, do you think I should hand myself over to him and see if I can make this all right again?"

"Keir," I replied sharply, "I know this betrayal has dug a deeper scar into your heart than any other, but you must not waste your life because of it. We must think rationally in order to survive. You know that going back to him will not stop him from killing us all and creating his Perfect Dreamworld, right?" I took a puff of my cigarette, which, quite truthfully, I had forgotten I had.

He ignored my last comment, but did reply to the one before it, "You never think rationally in times like these…"

I managed to laugh about this. "Oh dear, I am afraid you have caught me. But aren't I acting quite reasonably right now, though?

"Not if you were in my position."

"True, true," I agreed truthfully. "You have stated a good point. But you see, Kage, I know I sound like such a hypocrite when I say this, but if you do not think this through you will make a decision you are going to regret… I have suffered much more from not thinking sensibly. If I had, perhaps I would not be the way I am now..."

"But, Soran, if I am really what he wants, then handing myself over to him will show that he does not need to kill every living thing on this planet. I could save everyone, even you."

I shook my head and took a long drag out of my cigarette. I watched the smoke rise into the air and slowly dissolve into nothing. "No, Kage, I am dearly sorry, but you cannot save me." I continued on before he could response. "And you cannot save anyone else if you just give yourself away like you are nothing – you know that! That will only prompt Keita even more to succeed! Now please, come out and I shall give you the help you need. You obviously do not want to go to him. I mean, you thought I was him and you threw holy water in my face!"

"Sorry," he apologized again, "about that. But I am sorry, I can't come out. He's coming soon. And anyway, if I move, the cut in my neck might grow larger."

"You cut yourself in the neck?" I wanted to get up and disregard the fact that he did not want me to go in there, but my leg would not allow such sudden movements. I was afraid that he was not lying about Keita coming, for if he did I could not help Kage whatsoever, but thought that it was a fragment of the black kitsune's imagination. Even for him, Keita (in the form of Shikyo or not) would never step foot in a chapel.

"It's not that deep," he replied almost casually other than his odd breath patterns that were more than just slightly noticeable now. "Where is Ero?" he asked while trying to change the subject.

I wanted to snap at him to get back on the topic of our discussion but knew exactly who he retrieved these tactics from: me. I did not want to sound like more of a hypocrite, so I answered his question, "He's probably on his way right now. I made him check if you were in your room or not."

"Oh," he muttered. There was a moment of silence, but he broke it. "Soran, do you believe in God?"

I shook my head though I knew he could not see me. "No. I have seen too much suffering to believe that there is a god who loves us out there. But if there was one, wouldn't he want you to live your life the best you can during the last of earth's days or go to Keita and spend your time with him? You raised an army that could actually give us a chance of making things right again. Do not give it up now."

It took him a while to reply. I was thankful that he was thinking. Even if it was not judiciously, he was still using his brain, which always seemed to prevail somehow for him. "You are such a hypocrite," he finally told me.

"I know," I replied.

"What am I to tell Keita when he does not find me here?" he asked me. I could tell there was fear in his voice.

I thought for a moment but came up with a rather witty response. "Tell him to go fuck himself. I am sure he would have a lot of fun doing it."

"I didn't think you cussed," Kage laughed.

"Special occasions. Now, please, come out, Keir, and accept our help."

I was disappointed at first because I did not receive a reply. But then the door opened and out stumbled Kage, who, quite frankly, was not in the best of shape. He had a rather nasty cut on the side of his neck and blood stained his left arm with considerable amounts. It took a moment, but I stood up without falling over. "Shall we go?" I asked him. "We could have tea and then I don't know, sleep, or something. After all, the next few days are going to be very rough."

His mind seemed to be wandering, but he nodded. "Yes. That sounds nice."

And as I lead him out of the chapel the best I could, I knew that I had only accomplished giving him another couple days. After that, the dream world of Keita's visions would come to life and anyone and everyone the black kitsune knew would no longer be in existence. These couple of days that, if it were me in his position, I would have no given myself. I was a hypocrite, but it was better being one than letting others make the mistakes you would have made.

1) My brother said something about this just before I wrote that, so I put it in. Please, do not ask how we even got onto that conversation. Our talks always end up being a bit odd.

2) After Keita (it is so hard to say Keita instead of Shikyo!) attacked Kage in chapter 50, Shiematsu has ordered at least one guard to be at his side. I think it said somewhere in there that a soldier was standing outside of his room – not sure though.

3) Kind of important in the next chapter or two.

Yes, I know this chapter sucked arse. And it was really long too. Sorry.

Anyway, I am happy to report that I made it to 50,000 words on November 29 – a day before the due date! If anyone is interested in reading my NaNoWriMo book (called Nevaeh), then tell me so. There are three ways to do this: 1) If you a member of and have your email accessible to other users, just send a review saying that you want Nevaeh. 2) If you do not have an account, then send an anonymous review and enter your email into the place that says email. 3) If you are a person that has an account or does not have an account and DO NOT want their email to be shown to other people, email me personally. My email is on my page. You cannot enter it into the box where the actual review goes! It doesn't appear – believe me, I know.

(Cough) Now, I need to speak of a serious issue. Well, it's not "serious", but it is serious for the story. I need to talk to you about yaoi. Yes, I said it. Yaoi. Fear me, fear it. You see, since Shikyo is actually Keita (cringes) that means that everything that has gone on and will go on between Kage and him will be classified as yaoi. Yes, I do give you permission to start screaming your arse off and stop reading the story because of this (and the fact that I did not warn you in my description of it – but that would have given away the mystery!) This might sound really odd, but it will be at least give yaoi-haters some relief – there will be nothing, and I mean nothing, close to a sex scene. I will never write a sex scene – I will never come close to writing even a make-out scene. I am good at suspense, fantasy, and "horror" – not romance, especially not sexual relationship stuff (gay or not). After this story, you will not see another yaoi thing from me. I am not exactly a fan of it myself. If you are, great. You will not have a problem with the few kisses that are going to appear in later chapters. If you hate yaoi, all I can tell you is a feel your pain (I mean, I have to write it – of course I understand) and you are either going to have to deal with it or not read anymore.

So the next chapter will be up soon. Don't worry, we are further than ¾ of the way through the story. It shall be done soon, I swear! Oh, and if I forgot anything about the foreshadowing that it was Keita. I'll make sure to tell you. But make sure to read the end of Chapter 15 – you'll consider yourself incredibly dumb if you do (especially el knackered one, since he was the one that said that part had no point at all).

Happy to be back,

Kelsey (Shiming-Star)

P.S. Go see Narnia and bow to Aslan, the lion. GO!

P.S.S. For all you wondering the fate of the other Sonic Team members, I have no comment. Sorry!