AN: Guys, I think there's been some confusion. This story is not ending, in fact, I have at least ten more chapters pre-written. We've still got a long way to go. All I meant was that the recent story arc had been finished. (An extended or continuing storyline) Hope that clears up any confusion. Also, thank you to my reviewers for the last chapter. Love you guys! Now, onto the next story arc of this story.

•~•

~Flash-forward: Eight Years Later~

Hitting up the local carnival, Twinkle Park, Sonic, Sally, Caleb, and Andrew walked through the busy festival in Station Square's downtown area. The place was absolutely packed with guests enjoying the nightlife, food, games, and most of all, carnival rides.

Holding her hand, Sonic guided Sally through the food district of the fair. The four had just come off one of the roller coasters and some of them still had a bit of an adrenaline high.

"Woo!" Andrew cried out in excitement. "That one was hands down my favorite. Let's go again," he encouraged.

Caleb wobbled slightly as he walked, still reeling from the intense ride. He looked back at the wooden roller coaster in the background. "Feel free to go again, but leave me out of it. I'm still riding it."

Andrew wrapped an arm over the dingo's shoulder. "You're such a wuss, man."

"Hey, knock it off," Sally scolded the dog. "Some people like those types of rides and others don't. You're lucky you even managed to get him on the damn thing in the first place."

Caleb shot her an appreciative smile and nodded. "Thanks."

The group stopped in between a few competing food stands. The blue hedgehog looked among the options before getting in line for one in particular. Sally followed her husband as he eyed the menu hungrily. "Let me guess, chili dogs?"

He dug his free hand into his jacket, rummaging for his wallet. "Of course," he laughed. "You know they're my absolute favorite."

Andrew made an expression of revulsion as he spotted a recent customer walk past with a fresh chilidog. His sensitive nose picked up the sent of the fake meat, loaded with processed cheese. He placed a hand to his mouth, trying to keep from upchucking his lunch. "Man, how can you eat those things? They're gnarly!"

"Gotta agree with Drew, those things can't be good for your stomach," Caleb pointed.

"Hey, hey!" Sonic waved in defense. "I've been eating these things since I was eight and clearly you can see I'm in perfectly good health," he defended. "And in great shape," he added, smirking and flexing his right arm.

Sally laughed lightly by his defense of his favorite food. She wasn't the biggest fan of the food either, but she never tried to belittle his choice of food, since it brought him such joy. "Come on, boys. Don't pick on Sonic for his food choices. Go pick something else to eat, okay?" Sally looked over at the small food court station set up nearby. There, she spotted a few available benches for them to sit at and eat their meals. "We'll meet up and eat our food at those benches," she pointed.

Caleb and Andrew looked at one another before shrugging and wandering further off to explore the other food options. Once the other two were gone, Sonic leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek that took her by surprise. "Oh, what was that for?"

He gave her an endearing smile. "For sticking up for me, ya know?" The two moved further up in line, getting closer to the ordering station.

She smiled back, hooking her arm with his. "Don't thank me. I know how much you love them."

"So," he segued. "You having fun tonight?"

"Yeah, I am actually. I'm happy you convinced me to come out here, I haven't been to a carnival since," she paused for a moment. "Well, since my parents were alive…"

The two moved up again in line and Sonic sensed the trouble in her voice. He knew she was sensitive when it came to discussing her deceased immediate family. "We can make even more happy memories," he assured.

Leaning in for a kiss, Sally closed her eyes just as Sonic inched in closer towards her face. Their lips nearly met until a shrill voice interrupted their sweet moment.

"—Neeext!" Sonic and Sally pull apart and looked out the window at the food booth. The male cashier looked at them impatiently. "Well, what are you two having?"

Sonic looked at the menu and began to list off all the items he wanted to be ordered.

While Sonic took forever to name all the food he wanted, Sally's gaze drifted to her right, out into the crowds. She enjoyed watching the other families and guests smiling from ear to ear and enjoying the night. There were so many happy faces, that it took away the painful memories of her deceased family. Her eyes drifted to another part of the crowd spotting an ominous figure staring straight back at her.

A lean, purple chameleon, stood in the crowd and stared back at Sally with a targeting look. He was wearing a grey hoodie and a large black backpack, camouflage cargo pants, and black colt ford boots. His daunting yellow eyes pierced a hole straight through her. It wasn't like he was trying to check her out or catch her attention, but it almost seemed like he was trying to threaten her with his stare. Sally pried her eyes away for a quick second, wondering if she had mistaken his actions. She looked back and was met with the same unnerving glare from the strange male.

"—Hey, Sal…Earth to Sal!" a voice cut in. Sally came out of her daze, shaking her head and looking to her left at her concerned husband. He along with the impatient cashier looked at her with confusion for her space cadet act.

She placed a hand to her cheek, feeling it flush in embarrassment for prolonging their order. "Geez, sorry about that, Sonic."

Sonic cocked a brow at her. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"Uh, no, just a soda," she replied quickly.

"One soda for my girl," Sonic repeated to the cashier. The food cashier typed it into the cash register getting their total. While they waited for their total to be announced, Sally looked back towards the area she had last seen the strange reptile but realized he was now gone. "That'll be $13.50," the cashier announced.

Sonic handed him the money and waited for his change and receipt. While he waited he looked back at his wife with concern. "Babe, you okay?"

She brushed at her bangs softly. "It's fine, it was nothing," she dismissed. "I was just zoning out while looking at the crowd is all."

Sonic accepted his change and receipt and the two walked over to the other window where they waited to receive their food. "You sure?" he asked with doubt.

"Yeah," she nodded. She backed up smiling at her husband playfully. "Now, if you don't mind I'm going to find a bathroom real quick. Save me a seat next to you?"

He winked in her direction as he waited in line to pick up his food. "Always."

Turning on her heel, Sally wandered the amusement park in search of a restroom facility. Seeing a small building in sight, she smiled in relief when she spotted a bathroom sign. Sally rushed around the side of the building and headed straight for the female's bathroom. But just as she was about to reach the woman's restroom a loud explosion erupted from the direction she had just come from. Everything shook as the loud boom came roaring in her direction.

She stabilized herself as she felt the floor shake beneath her and when she looked for where the explosion had come from; she spotted a large cloud of smoke licking at the night sky. Flames lapped at the side of one of the wooden roller coasters making her heart sink. Screams echoed around her as panic rained down at the carnival. Families and guests fled for their lives, running past, or knocking into her. They were desperate to get out of there in case another explosion happened.

This place was under attack but who was doing it? Then she realized that the wooden roller coaster that was engulfed in flames was right near the food stations. It was the same ride they had on been only twenty minutes ago. "…Sonic."

She started to run back in that direction, when suddenly the purple chameleon she had seen before, appeared in her pathway. She halted in her tracks and stared at the stranger, realizing that this was not some sort of coincidence. Clearly, he had some sort of business with her. "Who are you?" she shouted. The two were left alone by the bathroom facilities as they glared each other down.

The strange male reptile reached into his unzipped backpack and pulled out a small handheld crossbow and aimed it in her direction. "Espio," he replied calmly. "But that's not going to really matter soon."

Espio shot one arrow towards her but Sally grabbed it mid-air before it could even strike her. Looking annoyed by his attempt, she broke it with ease in the hand she had grabbed it and tossed it to the side. "I don't have time for this, now get out of my way!" she screamed rushing towards him.

Espio tossed his weapon to the side and instead grabbed for the two knuckle knives he had clipped to either side of his hips. Unsheathing them, he ran at her and forced her into hand-to-hand combat. Sally dodged one of his initial swings towards her face and kneed him in the gut. Espio gasped as he felt her powerful strike with her werewolf strength. When he fell to the ground, he managed to get a swipe with one of his knives at the back of her ankle.

Sally cried out, feeling the blade slice at her ankle. She collapsed to the ground, clutching her injured leg. Espio got back up to his feet and walked towards her with his weapons at the ready.

He raised his right arm up ready to strike at her head, when her eyes brightly illuminated yellow, signaling she was tapping into her werewolf form to gather more strength. Surprising him, she got up to her feet in seconds and slugged him across his face multiple times, sending him flying backward and into an abandoned popcorn vendor. The whole thing toppled over as his body made an impact with the machine, making him grunt and groan.

Weakly, Espio shuffled off the machine just as he heard a warrior cry. He looked up only to see Sally in midair with her fist ready to strike. He leaped out of the way just as she came down with a thunderous punch to the concrete, shattering the ground and creating multiple cracks to the surface. Espio caught his breath as he witnessed her monstrous strength, this must have been what she benefitted from by marrying that hybrid hedgehog. Her werewolf strength had drastically improved thanks to the vampire nature Sonic shared with her, despite her not being a hybrid like him.

"That's some strength you have," he commented, standing upright.

"Idiot," she spat. Sally confidently walked over to finish over this assassin. "It's gonna take a lot more than a cut to take me down."

Espio put one of his knives down on the floor and reached for something in his pocket. Fumbling slightly, he pulled out a small metallic-looking silver ball and tossed it over in her direction. The ball came to a rolling halt directly underneath her and let out a powerful white smoke. Sally shut her eyes and tried to waft the smoke away from around her. Unfortunately, the smoke-shrouded her completely and she began to break out into a fit of coughs. Choking on the chemical like substance she was seemingly inhaling, Sally dropped down to her knees, unable to catch her breath.

The smoke was burning her skin and the inside of her lungs as she desperately tried to avoid breathing it in. Stuck stationary, Sally suddenly determined this wasn't any normal smoke bomb. "…Wolfsbane," she croaked. Wolfsbane was a potent and poisonous plant used against werewolves if consumed enough it could even kill a werewolf. However, right now, it was only being used to weaken her.

Espio pulled up a bandana around his neck and used it as a mask for him to breathe easier. "Clever girl." He leaped into the smoke and used it to cloak his whereabouts. Sally could sense he was hidden within the smoke, but because it burned too much to open her eyes, she was now completely vulnerable to his attacks.

She felt a whack from the left side of her face and felt her cheek slice open. She cried out and fell to her side. Then she felt a strong whack to her right side, further winding her. Sally hunched over on the ground, wheezing uncontrollably. Espio grabbed her from the back of her hair and lifted her off the floor and stood behind her. He pulled her body flush against his core and used his other hand to press one of the knuckle blades against her throat. "You put up a decent fight, but it ends here," he whispered into her ear.

Before he could slit her throat, a blue blur rushed and tackled him to the floor. The female chipmunk fell to the ground; relieved she had been saved in the knick of time. "Sally!" another familiar voice cried out.

Now on her hands and knees, she felt two people come up from behind her and lift her to her feet. The two helped carry and guide her out of the battle zone. Gasping for breath, they took her to an area where the smoke had not lingered. "Take it easy," a smooth southern voice guided. Relief flashed across her features knowing she was in Caleb's hands now. "Take long slow breaths," he continued.

Sally rubbed at her eyes as Andrew and Caleb sat her down on a bench. "Where's Sonic?" she questioned.

"He's dealing with that punk at the moment," Caleb replied.

She opened her eyes, allowing her vision to adjust. She could see a large blue figure kicking the shit out of that assassin she had been previously dealing with. "Sonic…" When her vision finally focused, she spotted him in his werewolf form. He and Espio were currently clashing together.

"We came looking for you as soon as that explosion happened," Andrew added. "Most everyone is gone from the park, but we have no clue what caused it."

"I don't think that explosion was an accident," Sally stated. "I think it was intentional and I'm positive that guy has something to do with it," she pointed.

Caleb and Andrew looked to where she was pointing and saw it was directed at the chameleon. "What makes you think that?"

"What kind of person attacks a werewolf in a public location around mortals," she countered. "I saw him earlier in the crowds. He didn't attack me then, he wanted me alone to take me out. I think he set up that diversion to draw out everyone else out in order to get me alone."

"Wait," Caleb intervened. "You saw him before? Where?"

"It was when we were getting food. He was just staring at me and it wasn't in a nice way…"

A painful howl cried out, and the three pulled their attention back when they spotted Espio riding Sonic's back with the knuckle knives plunged into his backside around his shoulder blades. Sally started to get up to assist her wounded husband. "Sonic!" she cried out.

Caleb grabbed her by the arm, keeping her restrained. "Don't, it's too dangerous. You could get hurt. Besides, you just told us he's after you!"

"Yeah, but Sonic's really hurt. We need to help him!" she urged.

Looking determined, Andrew got up. "Stay here," he ordered. "I'll go," he volunteered. Caleb and Sally watched as Andrew raced into action.

Digging his knives further into Sonic's back, the blue wolf whimpered as Espio inflicted pain that froze him into submission. Andrew charged at Espio, tackling and smashing him into one of the dumpsters. "You're dead!" the dog shouted.

Andrew punched him over and over in the face, causing Espio's face to snap right and left. Blood flew in all directions from the chameleon's mouth as it flung from side to side.

While Andrew kept Espio preoccupied, Sally and Caleb rushed over to tend to Sonic. Sonic had already transformed back into his natural form when they two got back. Seeing his nude form out on display, Caleb grabbed a nearby picnic tablecloth and draped it around his alpha. "You okay, man?"

Sonic groaned and pushed himself up slightly, holding onto the shroud to keep his modesty. He winced feeling his wounds throb on his backside. Sally gasped looking at the blood seeping through the cloth. "Your back…"

He gave her a strained grin, trying to assure her. "I'm fine, it's just a scratch…"

Police sirens sounded in the distance as the authorities and paramedics came to the rescue. Seeing his opportunity slipping to take out his true target, Espio cursed under his breath. "Shit..."

Andrew gripped him by the collar of his hoodie. "Yeah, buddy, you're done now. The cops are here!"

Espio knew he needed to get out of there if he wanted to be able to retreat, heal, and attempt his assassination another time. He'd definitely get the opportunity to try again, but he knew it'd be harder. Growling in frustration, he lifted his left leg up and kicked Andrew enough to free himself from his hold.

The dog stumbled backward and held his injured groin where his foot had landed. "Fuck!"

Espio did a backflip on top of the dumpster and pulled something else out from his backpack. Holding it up for Andrew to see, his face blanched when he realized what it was. Espio used his teeth to pull the key out before tossing it at Andrew. Espio ran towards one of the fences and climbed it with ease before hopping down the other side.

The item Espio had thrown rolled directly under Andrew and came to a full stop. Andrew turned around to look at his friend to warn them of the danger, knowing it was too late for him. "Get outta-"

BOOM!

The grenade exploded, taking out the canine with it and leaving only bits of singed flesh in its wake. Caleb tried to shield the couple by laying his body on top of the two from any flying debris. When the explosion settled, Sally screamed out in horror that one of her packmates got obliterated before her eyes. "Andrew!" she bellowed in terror.

•~•

A week later, in a large warehouse, Hendrix, stood before his people along with a few other covens from different communities. The different covens of Station Square had come together as one over the years and all had transitioned well to the new fit. There were some familiar faces in the crowd—like Mighty, who had grown a couple of years older, along with Aurora, who he was now exclusively dating. The couple sat side by side as they listened to Hendrix give his sermon.

The black cat clasped his hands together as he paced slowly in front of the large crowd. "It's been five years since we formed an alliance with Shadow and his family, and now it's brought peace to our community. Sure we still have our occasional outside threats, but we've worked hard on our established alliance and so far it's working. But, we can't afford to turn a blind eye. Our community will be challenged again," he forewarned.

Some of the crowd exchanged confused looks as to what Hendrix was alluding to. The audience began to erupt into whispers of speculation and rumors.

Seeing a bit of panic begin to form, Hendrix raised his hands up to silence the chatter. "Let me continue," he pleaded. "We all know Shadow has plenty of enemies and-" A hand shot up in the crowd.

Hendrix pointed at the individual. "Yes?"

"Are you saying we should expect things to heat up again?" one of the members questioned nervously.

Hendrix nodded. "It already has. According to my sources, there has been a surge of hunters on the roam. They seem to be targeting the pack in the Mystic Ruins, run by Sonic and his wife Sally. We're not sure what caused this influx, but we believe it could be tied to something much more sinister."

Aurora turned to look at her boyfriend. "I didn't know about this," she whispered quietly as Hendrix continued to talk. "Are Sonic and Sally alright?"

"As far as I know they are," he replied quietly. "I'm sure we'll get more information soon."

•~•

~Two Days Later~

Now seven-years-old, Faith sat on her front porch drawing in her sketchbook. The young hedgehog wore a yellow t-shirt, a pair of jean overalls, white sneakers, and kept her quills out of her face in a simple short ponytail. Her quills weren't very long yet but were just now long enough to be able to put up with a scrunchie. Humming to herself, Faith held a crayon in her right hand and scribbled away happily.

Every day after school, Faith would park herself on the front porch and wait for her father to arrive home. In recent months, Shadow had found himself quite busy, either with tending to Sonic's pack, helping the witches in town, or taking care of family matters. Because Faith was away at school for so many hours, it seemed like she never got to spend much quality time with her father nowadays. So by waiting for him outside, Faith jumped on the opportunity to spend as much time with him as possible.

Suddenly, her ears twitched when she heard a car coming down the road. Looking up and away from her drawing, her face brightened when she spotted the familiar car coming down the road. Shadow's black SUV pulled into their driveway and Faith instantly got to her feet to run down the steps to greet her father. Shadow emerged from his parked car and closed his door just as he spotted his daughter running towards him.

"Daddy!" she shouted giddily.

Shadow smiled warmly as she ran over and embraced him around his legs. He patted the top of her head softly. "Hello, sweetheart."

"Where have you been all day?" she asked, looking up at him, with her innocent red eyes.

Shadow bent down and scooped her up into his arms. "Work, you know that you silly girl," he cracked.

Faith put her hands against his chest as he carried her back towards their front entrance. "What do you do all day?" she asked tilting her head at him. "Where do you work?" she questioned curiously.

Shadow hesitated for a moment, showing a bit of reluctance on revealing his true, "career". Shadow didn't exactly have a typical moneymaking job like most mortals. Instead, he worked by helping out the supernatural community. Over the years, he and many others had grown to trust him, and by doing so, he gained a lot of respect back in his community.

Since Faith still wasn't aware of Shadow's dark past, he intended to keep it that way until she was older. For now, she didn't need to know of the monster Shadow, at times, could truly be.

Coming out of his thoughts, Shadow shook his head playfully at her curiousness. "We've discussed this before, sweetheart, you're not going to find it to be anything fascinating. It's all a bunch of paperwork nonsense. Nothing an seven-year-old would find interesting," he waved off.

Faith stuck her lower lip out in a pout and bowed her head sadly. "I wish you'd take me with you so I could see you at work. I miss you when you go on work trips…"

Shadow stopped at their front door and gently lowered her back down onto the floor. Once she was back on her feet, Shadow knelt down to her level, looking her directly in the eyes. "You know I miss you just as much, if not more when I have to go away. Just know that when I'm away, I'm helping many people with various problems. You know I always come back."

Right then, Faith felt a hopeful smile return to her face. He was right, every time she thought her father wouldn't return, he did. There were plenty of times he'd be gone for days, even weeks on end, but he'd always return.

"Let's go inside now," he instructed, before opening the front door.

Faith started to go inside before remembering she had left her art supplies on the porch. "Wait!"

Shadow watched as she scurried over to the right side of the porch and bent over to pick up her sketchbook and crayons. With them all gathered up in her arms disorganized, she ran back over to her father, clutching them proudly against her chest. "I want to show you my new drawing!" she exclaimed happily.

"I can't wait to see it," he smiled. "Now, head inside and get ready for dinner. I'm sure your mother's nearly finished."

She nodded frantically. "Okay!" With that said, the young hedgehog rushed inside carrying all her supplies.

Shadow chuckled to himself and walked in, smelling the gorgeous aroma of Italian food. Closing the front door behind him, Shadow lifted his head, closed his eyes, and inhaled the wonderful scent of garlic, sage, Parmesan, and oregano all concocting together. He walked over to the table by the front door and dropped off his keys on the table right by a framed picture of Amy and himself at their wedding.

He smiled at the picture, remembering that fateful day 6 years ago. Next to their picture was a picture of Faith just as a toddler, but apart from their wedding as the flower girl. He still couldn't believe how much time had flown by already.

After a few moments of reminiscing, Shadow walked into the kitchen, spotting the table already set for dinner. "Hello gorgeous," he purred smoothly, spotting his wife in front of the stove.

Amy turned around wearing her stained apron to look at her husband. She held a wooden spoon covered in sauce she had been using to stir her homemade tomato sauce, but her face beamed as she stared at her husband. "Hey, how was your day?"

"Hectic, as always." Shadow walked over in her direction and gave her a peck on the lips. "There are more werewolf hunters on the loose. Sonic and I tracked a few of them down and finished them," he specified.

Amy continued to stir her sauce. "I don't understand why there's been such an increase. Do you guys have any theories?" she questioned.

"We're not sure yet, but I'm sure we'll be able to figure out why sooner than later. They seem to be trying to target Sally specifically, although we aren't sure why," he replied before noticing the absence of his brother and sister-in-law. "Where are Silver and Blaze? I see you've set the table for five."

"They left a few hours ago to do some shopping. They said they promised they'd be back in time for dinner," Amy answered.

"Right," Shadow murmured. "By the way, how is Faith doing with her training? Is she improving?" he inquired.

Since she had gotten older, both Mighty and Blaze had been helping Faith embrace and control her magic. Faith was quite talented and picked up on new routines and spells quite quickly, but if she couldn't keep her emotions in check, things could get out of hand rather fast.

"According to Blaze, she's getting better and better every day. Although she seems to have dampened her mood on furthering her education—instead, Faith is more interested in spending time with her Father," Amy emphasized.

"She'll have plenty of quality time with me when she's older. I'm not going anywhere, I'm immortal, remember?" he gestured. "Besides, she needs to focus on crafting and honing her skills. She'll be a very powerful witch one day."

Amy sighed as she began to plate up their dinner. "Yes, she knows that, but right now, with you being gone all the time, she misses you. She wants you around to play with, to take her out, to be her father," she pointed. "She looks up to you, you know."

"It's not that I don't enjoy being around her, but right now I'm working on securing safety for her. We can't let our guard down at any moment," he made clear.

"—Mom, Dad, what are you talking about?" Faith asked, now standing behind them.

"Oh," Amy smiled innocently. "Nothing important, sweetie." She walked over

and knelt down to her level. "Did you wash up for dinner?"

Faith nodded. "Yes, mama."

"Good girl, go take your seat," she instructed. The two parents watched as their child wandered over to her seat at the dinner table and took a seat. Standing back upright, Amy leaned in towards Shadow's ear. "We'll talk about it later," she discreetly whispered.

•~•

Later that night, in the Mystic Ruins, Sally stood by the lake at one of the many graves headstones. As she stood at the headstone, deep in thought someone walked up behind her. Remaining calm, Sally turned only to see Sonic standing in the background. "You visiting Andrew again?" he assumed.

She nodded sadly. "Yeah, I came to give him an update on everything that's been happening. I know he'd want to be kept in the loop," she laughed lightly.

Sonic gave her a weak smile. "What's the number at now, twelve hunters dead?"

"Twelve, that's right," she concurred. "And all in the span of a week."

Sonic sauntered up beside his wife and looked down at Andrew's headstone. "Don't worry, bud, we're planning on getting down to the bottom of this and figuring out why these assholes are targeting our queen."

"—There seems to be a new target on the rise," another voice piped in.

Sonic and Sally turned only to spot Mighty Armadillo in their presence. "Might, what brings you here?" he smiled.

"Nothing good, I'll tell you that," he explained as he approached them. "Hendrix sent me down as errand boy to get some assistance from you guys."

Sally tilted her head, perplexed on what type of assistance they could possibly want. For the most part, the witches didn't need much asking for help. If anything, it was the other way around. The vampires and werewolves would go to them when they needed assistance the most. "What's going on?" she asked curiously.

"In the past two days, children have been going missing in our community. First, we lost a twelve-year-old girl, last night we lost a ten-year-old boy," he explained.

"And what, you can't locate them with magic?" Sonic deduced.

Mighty nodded, "Correct. Whoever has been nabbing them is using some sort of cloaking spell to conceal their whereabouts. We've tried doing a bunch of spells to find any loopholes but we're coming up short."

"Hunters after the wolves and now someone is kidnapping young witches," Sonic repeated in wonder. "What's next…"

"I know Shadow's been trying to help you resolve your own issue, but we were wondering if there was any way at this moment you could help us," Mighty pleaded. "We know you're under a threat of your own, but I will protect you in our journey of finding these missing children," he promised.

"No sweat, pal," Sonic smiled. "Sal and I will help you out. We all know when it comes to kids, we don't let people mess with them."

"What does this recent child that went missing look like?" Sally probed.

Mighty pulled out a flyer from his back pocket and handed it over to the couple. Sonic and Sally studied the picture of the little male skunk. "This is Jay, he's ten years old."

•~•

Speaking of Jay, in another part of town, Jay wandered through an abandoned house with a flashlight in hand. Still wearing his school backpack, the young skunk walked in a dazed-like state as he explored the abandoned home. Using his flashlight to search the darkened area, his torch stopped on something in the far back corner glowing faintly red. Encroaching closer to examine the entity, Jay stared in awe and wonder at the red orb floating just a few feet off the floor.

He stopped in his tracks for a moment to really look at it from a safe distance, before he heard a whisper beckoning for him to come closer. "Come, my child," it hissed ominously.

Even though he believed himself to have better judgment, there was something deep within that was telling him to move closer despite his better instincts. Slowly, the young boy dawdled closer to get a better examination of this entity. However, just as he was mere inches away from the red orb, it became overbearingly bright, practically blinding him.

Jay screamed out as he shielded his eyes from the intensity.

•~•

Back at Shadow's estate, Faith sat straight up and screamed out a blood-curdling scream as she awoke from a nightmare. Within seconds, her bedroom door swung open and she spotted the silhouette of her father standing in the doorway. Wiping at her teary eyes, Shadow flipped on the light switch to her room before sweeping in towards her bed to tend her needs. "Sweetheart, what happened?" he cooed with regard. Faith waited until her father sat on the side of her bed before cuddling up next to him. Shadow watched as she buried her face into his chest.

Sighing, Shadow wrapped an arm around his daughter to console her frightened demeanor. "Did you have a bad dream?" he inquired softly. Faith nodded frantically, as she continued to sob. Stroking her back soothingly, Shadow kissed the top of her head. "It's alright my darling, it was just a bad dream. Nothing that happens in a dream can hurt you," he assured.

"I know," she replied, sniffling. Faith pried her face away from his chest to look up at him. "But will you stay with me until I fall back asleep?" she asked quietly.

Shadow nodded with a genuine smile. "Of course."

Smiling weakly in return, Faith moved back and settled into bed. In the meantime, Shadow rose from his sitting position to tuck her back in. As he walked around her bed, his foot stepped onto a piece of paper left on the floor. Kneeling down to get a better look, Shadow lifted up the crinkled paper only to realize he had accidentally stepped on one of Faith's drawings.

As Shadow stared at the picture, he raised a brow unsure of what the illustration was supposed to be. It was some sort of glowing red infinite square that looked quite mystical. Shrugging it off, Shadow walked back over and switched off her bedroom light before climbing into bed with her. Lying on his back, he stared up at the ceiling as he waited for Faith to fall back asleep.

Unbeknownst to him, on the other side of the bed, there were more scattered papers of the same picture Shadow had just come across. Faith seemed to be fascinated with drawing it repeatedly for reasons, even she could not explain.