Welcome To Adulthood

by GetReadyForAwesome

Slowly, her love for the unachievable Fang the Sniper waned "Oh my gosh." Espio gulped sickeningly, covering his eyes with hands."I want his kids! I want his house! I want his friends! I want his everything!" I will not waste my last breath on a miserable whelp like you No lemons, no limes, guaranteed

17. The Betrayed Fox (Warning: Dark Chapter)

I ONLY OWN MY OCs. EVERYTHING ELSE BELONGS TO THEIR CREATORS.

Please note that the Point of Views (POVs) will be switching from first person to third person a bit continually, but I'll leave a little note for when that change is about to happen, and reason being, is that Fiona is the star of this will be a few other POVs, but not many though. Also, super long, dark chapter, read at your own discretion (Move on to the next if you think it will make you uncomfortable).

WARNING: There is a lot of domestic abuse during the first half, you may skip the paragraph with the *# on it, an insigna of all the major abuse, in which after all those paragraphs the story gets a little bit better. Also, there is no rape, so you don't have to worry about that.

Chapter 17: The Betrayed Fox

{First POV}

I can remember a lot of things. I can remember the warm sun on my face as Nic and I tanned on the beaches of Australia and as Nack surfed the grand ocean waves. I can remember getting into trouble with Bean and Bark just for the hell of it. I can remember the Destructix taking me on stealing sprees, despite Simian telling us not to do so. I can even remember Simian's warm smile as he invited me to stay with the Destructix forever, turn my back on the world, join a brotherhood and never look back.

But most of all, I remember love. I remember feeling the love I held for the Fargisens (A family of frogs that took me in as a baby when my teenage mother abandoned me to die) before Eggman took them away. I can remember holding love for Mighty and Ray as they took me in before they left me for dead with Eggman. I can rememebr the love I shared for Nic as I became a member of her family. I can remember the love I held for her brother until Nic deemed it wrong for foster siblings to date. I can remember the love I held for Bark and Bean, but I didn't want to ruin their eternal friendship (Strained does not even begin to describe the feelings I held in regard to Bark).

The love I shared for Sonic, even though Sugar Queen, Pink Twat, and Thinks-All-Girls-Want-Him wouldn't leave Sonic alone enough for us to really enjoy each other (They accused me of cheating when I turned to Scourge. Sonic is Scourge and Scourge is Sonic, they're the same people, so how is it cheating?), I shared a love for Lightning until I found out that he had a very delusional take on women (Who could blame him, women have tried to kill him all his life, his dad was never around, so his mom needed to get her fill somehow, and when Conquering Storm set him up to make him weak and exploit the weaknesses of the Destructix, that warped his sense of women traveled to irrecoverable distances, but not like Flying Frog's perception of women), the love I held for Predator, until we got caught by Simian and had to call it quits, the love I shared for Simian, my protector/father figure, the love I shared for Flying, the one man Simian warned me against falling in love with; an insane creep who loved to steal my clothes and wear them, the one man that tried to marry a girl who he really liked, and left him on an altar, a serial killer, but a gentleman to all women, despite that fact that his father molested and raped him, alongside the multiple mistresses his father had, and then I became the insane creep for him and turned him around into a more positive, healthy light.

I stole his clothes. I stole his aftershave. I stole every picture I could of him. I brushed up on my Spanish to wow him. I followed him on his murderous exploits. I collected his hair and his blood. I stole his weapons. I stole his baby pictures from his mom. I decided to let him have me, to take my virtue. I asked him out on a date. I was the one to cure him of his insanity, driving him mad with lust over me. I became close to his siblings. I made him think I wanted to marry him. Then I broke his heart because I fell in love with Scourge again.

The Destructix has tried many times to kill or get me to leave him, even Nic tried to get me to leave him, to keep my hands out of the antis because that's their world, and this is my world, where I belong, but Scourge is my Sonic, because Sonic and Scourge are the same person, and since I couldn't have Sonic, I would have his double. They are the same, afterall? Am I right? Am I?

Scourge loves me, just like he is going to love his baby right? Surely he must, for I am pregnant, Sonic loves his kids, so he'll love his, right? I'll tell him first, then I'll call Nic and tell her the news.

{Third Person POV}

An angry green, hedgehog covered in scars, stood imposingly in a dark room and rapped his fingers impatiently against a desk. Where is she? he thought bitterly. She has to come home and satisfy me. He violently beat the desk with his strong hands. "Slaves," he barked to the other side of the room where a volley of mousepeople, hunched over a bowl of rotted milk and weevils, lapping them up greedily to satisfy their hunger, stood to attention. "Where is Fiona?"

They had no answers for they didn't have any clue why he was howling such nonsense, and they didn't have a clue as to what to say to their king, as any wrong word and their heads will hang on a spike. Silently, they stood there gaping at him, their muscles clattering together, awaiting his rage. Scourge lacked the patience necessary for compassion and ripped his own clothes off in rage before screaming tantrumly, "I want all of you dead! Suppression Squad!"

They all stood there is silence waiting for a force that would never come. How could they? Their rotting heads were stabbed upon steel pikes for all to see as Scourge's magnificent trophies outside the broken castle; a reminder that these mice, and Scourge, were the only remaining natives alive of this planet.

The Suppression Squad went down fighting and did a number on the castle, but they were already tired from fighting Team Hooligan when Scourge barked the orders that they were weak and needed killed, and come to find out, Team Hooligan had been hiding their strengths, and the Suppression Squad was swept away like dirt from a porch by the three men and beheaded by Scourge, with Patch being the last one to fall, his last words in English being, "You suck."

Scourge called for his Suppression Squad again, and when they didn't show, he took matters into his own hands, ripping the throats of his slaves out into a bloody heap and swallowing the remains, before hearing the gasp of Fiona, who clasped her hands over her mouth, praying that he hadn't overheard her breath, but she wasn't that lucky.

*# Scourge turned to her and rushed foward, knocking her to the ground. He picked her up and slammed her into the broken walls of his castle threatening, "Fucking cunt! I'll rip your tongue out the next time you leave without your chain on around your neck! Now get onto that bed and satisfy me!" "Scourge!" Fiona begged. "Shut up!" Scourge yelled as he slapped her hard. Fiona shouted out in pain, tears rolling down her swollen, battered face. "Please Scourge, listen." she begged softly.

*# Scourge slammed her up against the wall and growled, "No." "Scourge, please don't!" Fiona cried out as she was grabbed by her hair and dragged to a busted, splintered bed that layed hidden behind moth eaten curtains, out of sight from prying eyes. "You will satisfy me or else!" Scourge screamed again, this time, reaching for her clothes. "Scourge, I'm pregnant!" she blasted out immediately, before her crying took over.

*# Scourge had done things like this before to her, but doesn't that mean that Sonic would've done the same? She knew of Flying's pain. To be touched unwantedly, be called demeaning names, be beaten every night, but this time, it was her husband doing this to her, not her father. Poor Sally. Poor, poor Sally.

*# Scourge stood there gawking at her, the suspense in his lost eyes terrifying her. "You're going to become a daddy Scourge. We're gonna be a happy family." Fiona gulped, a pained smile dropping onto her face. "Daddy." Scourge said to himself. Maybe he'll change, and we'll be a happy family after all. Thought the vixen to herself. But woe to her, Scourge's face dropped back into his abusive ways, and he started to pummel her in her stomach.

*# "Scourge! Scourge stop!" she begged, one arm thrown out to the wolf before her, the other pinned protectively over her stomach. "I don't want a baby," Scourge screeched. "I want sex! This baby will stand in the way of that!" "But this baby is beautiful!" Fiona argued back. The woman took a blunt kick to her lower jaw before the monster stood before her and swayed his arms behind his back.

*# "Now you're going to kill that thing inside you, and you are going to take off your clothes and let me have you like a good wife, or you are going to die right here." Scourge offered. "Death is more a honorable fate than what you'll do to me." Fiona spat, the blood clinging to her jaw like glue. Something about that phrase made something inside the hedghehog tick with rage. And as it built, Fiona could only watch helplessly as the hedgehog's evil face bloomed with rage, and then came the explosion- a flurry of abuse, his loud, towering voice booming, "Stop talking like fucking Lightning! The Destructix are fucking stupid! They don't matter anymore! I matter! Me! Me! Me!"

*# Eventually, the fox's shivers and squeaks of pain grew silent, and Scourge let off one last stomp to her bloody temple before he walked off muttering, "Stupid cunt, you'll never learn, now you're dead. Who am I to rape and abuse now?" Fiona layed there, daring herself to move, to moan, to do anything. A bloody teardrop found it's way down the maze of her broken face, tickling the edge of her nose, before shuddering it's way in front of her. Fiona layed there a few more moments before blinking painfully.

I've got to stand up, she thought to herself. To lay here is to die, and Simian always said, 'To willingly die is to willingly give up hope. Will you give up hope Fiona?' He had said those words to her when he saw the cuts on her wrists and thighs from failed suicide attempts, the bruising from the rope she had hung around her neck, the sickness from the pills she had ingested in unsurmountable quantities to die.

She could barely open her eyes without blood clouding her view. Her fingers were broken and snapped in cruel ways, her arms howling against her. How Simian, how? she asked in her mind. The gorilla knew the answer to everything, and his voice was as soothing as Nic's. She wanted Nic here. She wanted Simian here. She wanted them all here with her, holding her up and giving her strength. Surely Sonic could not be just as cruel as this?

She looked at her awkwardly curled fingers and struggled to move them. They hurt so bad, but she also knew that in the pastie of her brothel clothes could she find a Warp Ring. This could save her life, if she could reach it.

It wasn't easy, but with cries of pure agony did she reach the Warp Ring at last and opened it up before sliding into the opened ring to safety.

{Nic's POV}

"And then I loaded-" SLAM! And the table before my husband, I, Nack, Bean, Wave, and my twin daughters shatter before us, interrupting my story. We bolted up urgently to see what had fallen in front of our eyes. I hear my girls, a couple a beautiful yellow weasels with red eyes, bawling their eyes out as I gaze at the bloodied creature before us.

This creature was red and smothered in blood, abuse alit like a lamp upon it's flesh, it's fur ripped from several places, the tail flittering weakly against it's torso, the horrifyingly bent limbs, blood and tears pouring from it's face, skanky clothes upon it's body-pasties and a see-through skirt, and the hair thinned to near baldness on it's body.

I recognize this creature. "F-Fiona?" I struggle to stammer out. She continues to say nothing. I look up and around the room, the whole group sharing my same expression-horror. "Fiona?" I call again. I know she's not dead, my dear, sweet Fiona's not dead. Her tail was thumping lively towards my voice, showing me that she's still alive. "Get her a blanket!" I hear my brother hiss towards us all. I bend my knee down to touch her. She groaned at the soft touch of my hand, Bark and Nack knealing beside me as Wave and Bean wrapped her up as tight as a burrito with the curtains.

"She needs to go to the hospital." Bean declares. "You think!" I snap at him. Bean looks to say something back, but he knows that this is an urgent time and his mouth looks better closed at the moment. Wave runs for her cell phone and dials an ambulance. I gently stroke Fiona's bloody, matted hair, and whisper, "It's okay Fiona, it's ok." "N'c." she moans back to me, and smile at her, Nack rubbing the side of her face with the back of his hand.

Later...

We stay a long time at the hospital, Nack and I, watching her intently, tending to her every need and care. Dad's here, as is the Destructix, with Simian being the most lost and hurt. They have Fiona on life support, with breathing and feeding tubes illuminating her broken body, her continuous string of casts still adorning her body after multiple surgeries. She had to have multiple blood transfusions, something I cannot give to her, but Simian and Lightning could, sharing the same bloodtype-AB.

My brother and I are just an A and an O positive, Flying being a B, and Dad being an O as well, Predator, being an alien and all, his blood was out in limbo somewhere, so there was no way any of us could help her in that way, and more than likely, one of them, mainly Simian, is going to have to stay here tonight.

They had to reconstruct her mouth, give her false teeth, and sew her ribs back onto her body. Her legs were shattered to the point that there was no way she'd ever be able to walk again, and she had obviously been deprived of sleep, food, and water for a long time. Then when they went to wash her, they discovered tore vaginal tissue, and it became clear she had been raped repeatedly by rough hands, and was expecting a child soon. It's too early to know the gender, but it's late enough to be able to tell that the baby will survive.

We all wait by her bed, her life support doing the work for her, the tears crawling painfully down her face, my face, Simian's face. Their wives were waiting outside the door, thier children clinging to them, all except Toddler Tamara, clasped in her daddy's hands and squirming around, and my babies who are asleep in a carrier by my feet. Ya know, even in this condition does she still look beautiful.

It was pure silence in the room if you didn't count the beeping of the monitor, the movement of the life support machine, my sobs, sniffling from around the room, Fiona's light moans, and Tamara making noise in accordance to her father's mood.

"Scourge will be after her soon." Maybelle the Lynx, the beautiful, orangish, brown, and black, purple eyed lynx wife of Lightning, said into the room. We all look up at her, my ears pricking into her direction, the cold truth dawning on us like a new day. The pregnant lynx walked in (she stayed out of the room because she believed that it would be an insult to see her pregnant in case Fiona lost the baby, and besides, it's not like my fatass husband could've moved out of the way to let her sit down, nah, her swollen feet must feel perfectly fine) and blinked at us all for a moment.

"We must find her a safe place to rest," Maybelle said, her broken English proving to be a hurdle I'm determined to stride over in great leaps. "Australia is too predictable, as is the hospital, and Simian has a baby and knows Fiona too well for his own good-" "And Zimbabwe is the first place he'll come before he goes to Australia." Simian finished for her. Tamara reached for the IV cords, but Simian swatted her tiny hands away. "But where will she go, and in that condition?" I demand.

"Japan." Predator spoke. I look at him hard, mainly because I hate him. If not for Fiona, his voice would have been lost in the wind. "What? Why?" Nack sputters. "Because everywhere else is too obvious." Maybelle answered. Silence settles across the room once more, with all of us exchanging glances to each other.

"Japan has many people, and I'm in the mob," Lightning starts, sitting down and beckoning for his wife to sit on his lap. "My family is huge, and I know somebody else-" "No," I bring in, making his blank expression fall to shock. "Nobody else needs to know but us if we are to pull this off." "She's right," Flying states after a long pause, his arms cross. "She'll be a lot more safer if this information goes no farther than this room Lightning. Once Scourge knows that she's still alive, she's going to be in a lot more danger than we can even imagine."

"So in Japan, she can be hidden between me, my wife, and Anne and Tippey, a couple of able bodied roomates I have living at my house." Lightning adds. "I think we should hunt out Scourge before he becomes a problem." Nack advises. My babies start to stir, and I start to rock them, saying nothing.

"And if we don't find him and kill him on the spot we've wasted our time and allowed Scourge to know who's fighting hard for Fiona." Bean chids, knocking down the idea. "And what about the Suppression Squad?" Predator looks up. I have no idea who that is, but the other members of the Destructix look to him in confusion. "What about them?" Simian asks.

Soft knocking graces the door and calls for our attention. Two reptiles cloaked in tuxedos stood at the door. The first one was a very fat, very tall crocodile with vermillion eyes. His massive figure made his suit look very unproffessional, and a gun in his belt greeted us as a warning (They are two detectives, armed with with only a handgun, walking into a room of hostile ex-villains). His face was stern and unsmiling, and dark undereye circles tattoed his face, glamorizing his stress, age, and fatigue.

The other was a brassive looking chameleon, his features looking almost Wild Western, his face lit dully. His constant sighs made him seem even more unwelcoming than his rough stance and the constant rub of his gun (Almost as if he was letting us know that he was armed and dangerous) made him appear even more threatening, but at least his voice didn't sound as aggrivating as his sighs. It was obvious that he had a taut, wiry body in his youth, as now, his figure displays someone who hasn't really excercised in a long time. I feel as if I know him, but I can't quite remember. He shared the same tuxedoed attire as the crocodile, only his was black and the crocodile's was brown.

We would invite them in, but everybody is already as packed together as tuna to the point we'd explode from the seams of the room if somebody else stepped in. "Yes?" I chime to them. "May we come in?" the purple chameleon asks. I give them a contemptuous look. Despite the lack of room, I invite them in. They step in and introduce themselves, flashing their badges:

"Hello Madam, I am Detective Espio Sneak."

"And I am Detective Vector Moneywell."

"Nicolette Soutaboule."

Bark shakes both of their hands, "Bark Soutaboule." I introduce for my husband. Vector and Espio raise their eyebrows and look at Bark. "He's mute." I answer quickly for them. "Oh." nods both detectives in unison.

The Destructix have already begun to stand up, Tamara's squeals of delight echoing throughout the room. They all stand silent, watching the two detectives intently, as if anticipating themselves to be acknowledged and beckoned for questioning.

"What brings you here?" Nack asks. Espio shifts feet, a look of boredom spreading across his face because he knew that this question was bound to come from someone in this room, and that just happened to be my brother.

Most of us know that when a couple of detectives show up at your doorstep, it can't be anything good, except for my idiot brother who, despite going round and round with this sort of thing, lacks the brain power necessary to comprehend why a couple of cops would show up to the hospital room of a battered woman.

"May we ask Fiona a few questions." Espio asks. We all look at Fiona, and know that there was no way in hell that she'll be talking for the next couple of months. "Are you oblivious to her breathing tubes and broken jaw?" my brother speaks defensively. "Sir, usually when a hospital calls in the case of a potiental rape and attempted homicide, we're required to ask a few questions." Vector retorted calmy, his hands halfway held in the air.

"Can you not see," I burst out immediately after he finishes his sentence. "She is unable to speak!" "We understand miss," Vector nods. "But we still have to ask questions." "Did you not hear the lady," Nack snapped. "Fiona is in no condition to talk. Leave and come back later." Espio leered at the male weasel before snorting. Using the sinister gruffness of his voice, he numbly declared, "I still need to bring the ones who found her down for questioning though." I burst out crying, "No! No! I won't leave her!" Espio and Vector's hands leap for their guns.

I'm still bawling my eyes out. "She's mine! She's mine! I won't let her be hurt again! I just can't live with myself if she ever got hurt again!" I was hysterical. "Relax Mrs.," Vector chids, his hands halfway in the air again. "We just want you and the others who found her." I look at him gravely, but I knew that sooner or later they'll be back with more questions, and so, I give up the ghost and go with them, with Nack, Bean, Bark, and Wave in tote behind me.

{Third Person POV}

For 4, long, torturous months she layed there in pain. For 4 months that was all she could do. She wasn't in a coma, so all she could do was sit there till the numbness took over her body and wouldn't allow feeling to return. Not that it mattered, she was feeling frostbitten inside. And with all of that numbness taking over all aspects of her being, there was only one thing she could do-scream. She screamed to relieve the pain she was feeling inside. She screamed because her body hurt so bad she couldn't stand it. She screamed because it was all the pent up rage inside her. She screamed so hard and loud to the point she had to be sedated, and to the point Nic was falling in tears.

She was sure she had damaged her voicebox, for the unspeakable would haunt the contents of her mouth forever. The feeling would haunt the surface of her skin, the emotional health of her being, her sanity, and her view on men forever. She would trust the Destructix, Nack, Bean, and Bark with her own life, but since her rape, she can't help but shudder at their voices.

They would never do that to her, but Scourge ruined her perspective of all men, so Sally must be in as much pain as she is in. She's probably raped and beaten nightly, and their kids are byproducts of the evil deed, as Sonic is Scourge and Scourge is Sonic.

But today was different, because today, they were going to take the tubing out and hand her over to the police. She rubbed her stomach and cried. "My baby," she said softly to herself. "This wasn't how it was suppossed to be. You were suppossed to be made out of love and loved. You were suppossed to see mine and Scourge's smiling faces, see Simian and Nic, and the Destructix, and Team Matrix, you know, Bean, Bark, and Nack, and you're going to grow up and play with their kids and make me proud. Now baby, I will tell you this again, but grow up and go down the right path. Make mama proud."

She wanted to curl up next to her baby, but the tubing made it hard to do that, so she closed her eyes and imagined a better place when all of a sudden, Knock! Knock!

She opened her eyes and looked beside her as Nic, Lightning, and two male nurses filed into the room. Lightning watched her from the door, Nic placing herself so that way Fiona would see her smile, but not be underfoot when the nurses began their work. They removed all the wiring from her body and another nurse appeared into the room, bringing her a wheelchair.

"Why do I need that," Fiona asked, making Lightning and Nic's faces drop into an empty states. "I can walk just fine." But then she tried to move her legs, but they wouldn't. She tried to throw them over the bed as hard as she could, but the numbness still stayed in her legs. She began to cry as the nurses helped her into the wheelchair.

"I can't move my legs," she moaned, crying softly. "Why can't I move my legs?" "Whoever hit you shattered the pelvis enough to paralyze you." one of the nurses explained. Fiona grimaced and asked, "Will I get them back?" "I'm afraid not Sweetie." said the other one as gently as possible.

It was obvious that they were trying to downplay the severity of Fiona's wounds, but little did they know, Fiona was very clever, and she pieced it together by the flabbiness of her hips as she rubbed her hands against them. There was no hip bones, and a catheder scar stood by her side. She looked at Lightning and Nic, both trying to retain what little hope that they had, but Fiona knew that they knew otherwise.

The nurses wheeled her out of the room and spoke to Nic and Lightning alone, taking her down to the lobby.

{Fiona's POV}

I look around at the hallway as we shuffled by and look behind me to see Nic and Lightning a few steps away. You cannot imagine how bad I want to just leap out of this wheelchair and hug them with my arms, but I can't. I can't even feel my own legs, and pieces of my pelvis are gone. I wonder why Simian isn't here?

I look behind me again, and see that they have caught up. "Hey." Nic says soothingly. "How are you?" Lightning says cooly. They may seem calm now, but you can clearly see the icicles in their hearts, and I know that Lightning is very vengeful, and Nic is one of these people that likes to overachieve, like Predator. Combine all of the darkest halves of ourselves, and our craving for bringing justice to one of our own, combined with pure hatred, and Scourge is going to have one hell of a fight on his hands.

We pull into a lobby, and the first thing I see is Simian, and immediately my eyes light up and I lurch foward, falling out of my chair and hoisting myself by the arms to get to him. His reaction went from a subtle smile to, "Oh Spirits, she fell!" The nurse and Lightning put me back onto the chair.

"Do that again," the nurse threatens. "And I'll have you strapped down." Next thing he knew, he had a shurikan buried inside the temple of his head. I look at Lightning and whine his name. He didn't need to do that at all! Now the hospital is up and arms and security is coming to arrest us!

"Sorry," he says numbly. "But I do not tolerate threats to expecting women." "Look," I bark harshly at him, making him blink and drop his ears. "I know you're a closet psycopath, but now is not the time for killing people, so knock it off! Somebody wheel me out of here!"

Yeah I sounded like a bitch. I'm an annoyed pregnant lady that is in immense pain and facing the reality that I'll never walk again, meaning, no more missions with Nic and the Destructix, and my child and everybody else will have to take care of me before I'm old! It should be the other way around! And Lightning going around and hitting people in the head with shurikans doesn't make it better.

Then Lightning starts to whine (We always had whining fights), "It is for your own protec-" I cut him off. "No! No! No! I won't have you killing somebody because they said something to me!" I cry out like a brat. Nicolette, who's pushing the wheelchair, shakes her head and says, "I know that everyone here has a killing problem," her eyes scan through us all. "But you need to settle down."

"But Nic!" I complain. "No complaining now," she says, shushing me. "You're heading to Japan today-"

"Today!"

"Yes. It is for your own-"

"No! I don't wanna-"

She slapped me. We stare lightning bolts at each other, tears forming in both our eyes. Th Destructix and Team Matrix put their eyes to the ground. Nic starts sobbing, and explains to me, "I don't want you to go," I can barely understand her through her tears. "But you need too. I want you safe and alive while we take care of Scourge. Please do this for me. Please."

Her eyes are so pitiful, but I can't let Scourge dictate my life. "I want my baby born in Michigan, on American soil, not Tokyo." I tell her. Nic stares me down and rages, "I can't believe that you'd put your own life in danger to have a baby born in Michigan! Do you have a death wish? Because it's obvious you want to die!"

"I'll die a free American and not some cowering Aussie! Go back to Kangaroo Land!" Once I said those words I knew there was no taking them back. Why would I tell someone that, let alone Nic? Nic leaves the room immediately and heads to the car- the only transportation- and drives off. Simian takes over and we start heading out of the parking lot.

"That was harsh, even for you Fiona." Simian tells me. "I know that!" I spat at him. He stops the wheelchair and rocks it, getting my attention and freaking out his men, who cry out his real name and lunge for me. "You listen here," he hisses harshly. "I stood by and witnessed your performance with Nic, you'll not pull the same stunt on me."

I give up and look at him and huff, "Fine." I cross my arms and we head a detour across the street. "How long till we get to the airport?" I ask him. "Since we can't call a cab because Lightning killed a man," Simian answered, glowering at Lightning for a moment before turning his attention back to me. "And since Nic drove off crying because you called her a cowering Aussie and declared your independence, it'll be a two hour walk to the airport."

"Oh gosh." I groan in aggrivation. "I better call my wife and tell her why we're delayed," Lightning says aloud, pulling out his phone, but first he tells me, "I don't live in Tokyo."

So two hours of hell later, and Nic calls us, saying that she's on her way back to Australia and she'll call back when she's not so upset she can barely form a sentence. Great, because I really need to apologize to her for what I've said, but now I can't, and even worse, we still have to go through airport security, and I think, Oh Goddess, they're going to arrest us all for weapons!

Look who I'm traveling with-a ninja, a serial killer, an alien assassin, a military man who keeps his guns as close to him as possible (he's been that way since he was married), an ex-bountyhunter/mercenary/treasurehunter, a couple of tournament fighters that carry weapons on them at all times, and then there's me who usually keeps a small arsenal of pocket knives on me and a lighter (I don't smoke, I just keep it on me in case I need to commit arson or something of the nature).

As an added bonus, we're all felons! We are going to be pat down so hard we couldn't even hide a dustbunny if we wanted to. I can't wait to be arrested. I remind them of this and they all look at each other and then laugh. "Why are you laughing?" I ask. Why in the hell would getting arrested by airport security be the funniest thing ever?

"We're not going to a airport," Lightning smiles. "We're going to the airport." "What?" I ask, confused. "You'll see." Nack tells me.

And I do see. We don't go to a traditional airport. No, no, that's too classy for Lightning. Instead, we take a detour through the middle of the woods and find ourselves prancing through a meadow towards a random plane guarded by hetrochromial lynxes.

They all stand as erect as soldiers and I bet none of them speak English, no offence, so I guess it's Kanichuwa for me then, but I still have to ask (I remember going to Simian's tribe and thinking that everyone spoke English like he did, only they didn't. Not even his sister, who was insulted when I spoke to her in English and continually did that, even though Simian had just told me, "She does not speak English." Not one of my brightest moments).

"Lightning," I say, catching his attention. "Does anybody speak English on the plane?" Lightning looks at me and says, "I do not know." Meaning, no. I read it on the internet (as did the author) that the Japanese don't really say no to disagree, they just say 'Maybe' or 'I don't know.' It's also obvious that this is his family, as they all look like each other so much, and I am to be on my best behavior regardless of hormones.

Anyways, we get to the plane and a couple of lynxes standing by the door slide it open. They are two of Lightning's many uncles (He has like 12 on his father's side and 2 on his mother's), not counting the aunts (4 on his mother's side and 6 on his father's). They're not all here because the plane isn't big enough to hold them all, surprise, surprise, and then the first two I greet bow at me. I do the best a 5 month pregnant lady can do when bowing.

"Rainoji." Lightning bows, as I look at the imposingly older lynx with red and yellow eyes as he returns the bow. Lightningsan was the only word I could make out during their conversation. When they were finished, Lightning looks at me and asks, "Ready to go?" I nod yes and say my goodbyes, the action being reprociated.

"Goodbye. Goodbye. Oh, goodbye." Predator waves frantically. "Oh Predator," I say to him with a chuckle. "You always were a lively one." "I am?" he says in confusion.

Flying looks at me and says, "I want to see you live a long time. Hang low and be careful, we got this." He plants a kiss on my forehead and steps back, never once taking his eyes off of me.

"Me sistah is just aggro right now, mate," Nack tells me. "She's just worried about ya, and I am too. Please be careful, and I love ya sis." I return with an, "I love you too" and hug him.

Bean and Bark wish me the best and give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then I come to Simian, the wisest of us all, besides Nic. He takes a piece of my long hair in his hand and brushes his fingers through, sighing.

"Oh Fiona," he starts. "As a stranger all I can say is, 'be careful.' As a friend, all I can say is, 'Get on the plane, this is for your own good.' As a brother, all I can say is, 'This is for your own good. I care for you.' As a father, I can say, 'All of this is true, I do care about what happens to you.' And it is the truth. The time is dangerous for you now, and we must depart for a long time, or at least until Scourge's head hangs as a trophy in my house, and when we reunite, I will know that you, and your baby, are safe. Please Fiona, for us all, don't give Lightning any trouble because truly, it is safer with him than with me, and I know this may sound selfish, but I do not wish to bury Tamara, as I have her mother. Take care now and be good."

He gives me a hug and kisses my forehead, and I give him my word. "I promise." I say. I hug him back, and then he helps me onto the plane the best he can. He's too big to actually board the plane, but thanks to Lightning hanging across the door like a spider and Simian's long arms, I get inside the plane safely. "Goodbye!" I wave one last time as the doors shut, blocking my final visions of them.

The plane ride was very awkward for me, not because of the fact I'm surrounded by people who don't speak English or because I'm afraid of heights, but the silence and constant staring. Lightning's 10 year old uncle (you heard me right, uncle) tried to make contact with me, but my knuckles were white to look at him.

Red and black eyes, almost like Eggman, and it makes me afraid of him, even though he put a toy on my lap and said a few phrases to me. I touched his head and he looked at me odd. Then Lightning's Uncle Rain called him back to his seat and turned on some cartoons. It's not anime like you're thinking, but something else, a seahorse and a praying mantis passing a beach ball back and forth as huge Japanese letters paraded across the screen.

"You will like it in Japan." Lightning says at last. I look up at him, my brain not comprehending that somebody has finally spoken to me. "What?" I tell him. "Japan very pretty. You will like." Maybelle iterates for me in her broken English. The problem with her is the truth. The last time I came here was to get Lightning back from the Raiju Bitch Clan headed by Conquering Whore hellbent on bringing down the Destructix by seducing Lightning and turning Black Widow on him.

I didn't do much in the way of sightseeing, but I'll never forget when I saw those cherry blossom petals raining down on us all as we walked by them. They were so beautiful, and the evening gave them an adoring orange glow, depite the fact that Lightning took out a katana and tried to slice them all in rage. He only made them look even prettier. I fear once I get there, I'll never leave.

"Yeah." I tell the pregnant lynx. She flicks her ears around and then continues to talk to me, and I try my best to understand her. It's obvious we're both taking turns wearing the same shoes as we speak, but by the time dinner rolls around, we've become the best of pals.

Lightning may have joined in, but he was clipped off by a hand placed softly on his mouth and a, "Hush." I do the same as him, minus all the touching, and making her emit a laugh I've never heard before-It's even more annoying than Predator's, but I get used to it.

Dinner is served to us on plates, and it's rice wrapped in seaweed with wasabi sauce drizzled over it with a ginger cake side. The drink is a starfruit and something bitter that was faintlly masked by goji berries runny drink that needed maple syrup. And so did dinner.

"Where is the maple syrup?" I ask Lightning. If he doesn't have that, I'll be mad. Personally, I've never liked syrup until I became pregnant, and now syrup goes on everything. Tacos, pickles, pancakes, sandwiches, fruit, barbequed steak, and eaten raw. Maybelle got her wasabi sauce and ginger cravings cared for, what about mine? And my feet, I want them propped up, regardless of the fact that I cannot feel them.

For the next half hour, we had Lightning running wild, and then he fell over our feet and broke his pinky. Why didn't he let his uncle help him? Either way, he accuses us of doing this on purpose. We're not. Lightning absorbs some of the power from the plane, causing a couple of seconds of turbulence, and his pinky heals up. Now he is, in literal retrospect, recharged.

Lightning took his seat beside his wife and pulled out a compartment and opened it up, revealing a cooler stock full of whisky, rum, burbon, sake, and beer. He crossed his legs as he drove his hand over the many bottles, trying to determine which one he'd like to have first, then he looked up to us, a smirk drawn onto his face.

"While you ladies are sitting over there eating your wasabi and maple syrup horror," he said as he pulled out a bottle of burbon. "I'll be enjoying a nice, cold drink." He pulled out a shot glass, filled it up to the brim and waved it around in our faces before downing it and refilling up the cup.

Lightning is an irresponsible alcoholic with a very high tolerance, and that comes from all the times he tried to drink himself to death crying over Conquering Storm, but at least he didn't smoke like Espio did. Espio was an old boyfriend of mine I was forced to break up with because the Destructix and Vector couldn't stop pissing all over themselves to try to break us up and interrogate us about our sex life (which we didn't have because of them).

Well, push came to shove, and Espio and I broke things off because it was becoming ridiculous with the constant threats, flares of jealousy, and Sonia the Whore bouncing her tits around like a circus balloon. I wish they were real balloons, because I would've took a pin to them and popped them where she stood.

Espio and I really like each other, we really did, and he gave me more respect than he did Sonia (He bought me a one-thousand dollar gilded hairpin that I wear everyday in his honor, took me to expensive restaurants like, The Romantic and La Inspiracion, as well as taking me to the beach every day), but between Vector, Predator, Lightning, and Flying's jealousy, Simian's inability to trust any guy around me, and both team's general dislike of each other, something happy had to end.

I would've swiped the bottle off the table and downed it before he did if I wasn't pregnant, but it's no longer about me anymore, and it dawns on me for the first time ever what Simian meant by, "The time is dangerous for you now, and we must depart for a long time, or at least until Scourge's head hangs as a trophy in my house. And when we reunite, I will know that you, and your baby, are safe."

That means I'll be having to conceal my baby until Scourge is buried in a shallow grave, and then I can come out of hiding. I can't do that! I don't want my baby hid away forever! It's mine! I am it's mother, I'll do as I please with it! But what about my baby's safety? I'm surrounded by ninjas, I think it'll be okay, I guess.

13 hours later...

I have been wheeled off the plane and fitted with a kimono. It's very breezy, and Japan is a bit cold this morning, either way, I still can't shake my eyes off the scenery. In fact, I'm so distracted I didn't even know that I was at Lightning's house till my wheelchair had knocked against the raised sidewalk. This throws my wonderlust away, and I look up to a grand house.

Ok, a lot of you think that the Japanese have very small houses that you'd have to crouch to get into and I'm laying flat on my stomach, not true. It may have been true eons ago when the Ancient Japanese were taxed by the dimensions of their entire house, so they rendered them smaller for the sake of not having to pay taxes. This is no longer the case now, as you are no longer taxed by the dimensions of your house.

This is a very nice house surrounded by beautiful flowers, cherry blossoms glowing in the background, the polished marble steps glittered with the rising sun, the wooden outdoors laquered with an aire of history, and the porch was dazzled with bonsais and wind chimes. The sidewalks were pristine and dandelion free, if those weeds even grew here, and the yard has plenty of legroom. I bet the house is 10 times the size of the outdoors.

They push me onto the porch and open up their expensive looking door. Please note that all the Japanese have raised floors to tell when to take off your shoes, exchange slippers, where there's a tatami mat, etcetera, etcetera, so, that means that I'll be loosing the hospital slippers and replacing them with bare feet as soon as I step inside.

I step inside, and Lightning's house is a sight to behold. His floors are devoid of any carpetting, but his wooden floors are polished to the point they look like they had just came out of a floor cleaning advertisements. Pictures of him and his wife hung around the house, and I loved the picture of them on their wedding day. I was Lightning's bridesmaid. My dress was pink with red roses in my hair that day, and Maybelle couldn't have picked out a better color for me than that.

I'm rolled upstairs to my own personal room, where wooden banners of thier family crest were hung over my door (Every door actually) and my room door looked inviting, calming, like a safety beacon telling me that it'll be alright. It smelled like jasmine and lemonade, and then I stepped into it. It was a pure white room, like mental asylum white.

The bed may look expensive, the curtains may be silk, the carpet may even give me personal massages and comb my hair when I lay down on it, but my Goddess, did the whole room have to resemble a blank void? I say nothing and nod kindly, trying not to look like a "spoiled, overentitled American" as Nack says we all are (He ran into the wrong people when he first got here, ya know, the kind that gave us Americans the stereotype in the first place), and I think Lightning and Maybelle may share his point of view.

As I look at them, I try to give the most sincerist smile ever and hope I don't seem like a burden. They blink at me and help me into my room, showing me the gist of things, then I'm given a tour of my very own bathroom- very classy, very quaint, very cute little bathroom with so many buttons in it I felt like I was in the future.

"Wow!" I gasp. Lightning and Maybelle look at me and smile. "Hai," Maybelle says. "You like it here. This place very nice." And in my best Japanese (which isn't very good), I wanted to say, "Thank you. It's a beautiful place. I can't wait to stay here." What I really said was, "Thank you. It's a wonderful abomination. I can not wait to spit on it." This did not win me any kind looks from Maybelle and Lightning.

Like I said, my Japanese is very bad. Luckily for me though, Lightning gets a lightbulb over his head and saves my ass. I think Maybelle understands that my Japanese is going to suck for awhile, so with Lightning as my translator, I apologize for everything, even future accidental insults. Then he translates for Maybelle, telling me that it'll be alright, and that she understands perfectly that it will take some time to learn a language, and while we're at it, why don't I teach her English, and she'll teach me Japanese. It was a grand idea, until we hear keys jimmying the front door lock.

"Fuzzy!" a familiar voice yells, slamming the door. "Anne!" Lightning yells to noone in particular, almost running down the steps. Maybelle shakes her head and tells me, "The girl always shakes door. I surprised door has not fell off handle." What I tell her in Japanese with a sigh is, "Happily, falls happen."

We hear Lightning scold Anne and then she breaks the big news, "I'm engaged!" Everybody in the house is caught completely off guard, then a new voice steps in, a male voice. He repeats the same words, and then they run upstairs, happy as larks, and come screeching to a halt when they see me.

"Oh hello." says the light green hawkgirl with gorgeous blue eyes in shock. Her new fiance looks at me and goes, "You look familiar. Do I know you?" "Tippey! Anne!" I say, and they literally fall to the ground in disbelief. Lightning comes up the stairs and dismisses them, going, "Don't mind them, they're a couple of housemates of mine, which I need to talk to." Anne and Tippey roll off the floor going, "What's amatter?" Lightning tells them he'll tell them in private, and I'm rolled downstairs to the kitchen.

Now you're probably wondering who Anne and Tippey are right? In brief, Anne is Lightning's "daughter" and biological little sister of Jet. Tippey is Flying's wierd baby brother who likes to sniff hair and strip naked and throw rocks at people's cars. Anne and Tippey have liked each other for a long time, and well, they were a fairytale romance come true.

We munch on just about everything in the kitchen when Anne and Tippey meets us there, looking as if someone had shot their chao in front of them. Anne hugs me and goes, "I'll watch you, I promise." I hug her back and awkwardly say, "Thank you."

Months pass and I have found nothing to do. I can't read Kanji or Romanji, so I essentially have nothing to read, and I can barely understand what's being said on TV. I would go outside and walk around, but my legs don't move and Lightning barely leaves me alone. If there's nobody else in the house when he has to go to the bathroom, I get to wait outside the door until he finishes.

Even worse, I am kept in the dark about Scourge's whereabouts. Lightning talks in secret about it, and it makes me paranoid, but then again, do I really want to know? My husband skulking around trying to find me and kill me already has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge enough as it is, but if I do know, I'm afraid I might find myself becoming scared and waving around a knife as soon as a pin drops. It's driving me up the wall to not know though.

Nic visits all the time and stays a few days, making sure I'm alright (I make double sure I apologize for the dick move I made towards her a few weeks ago) and delivering a very large crate of guns to our front door. During her time here, she scouts the perimeter with as many guns as possible on her, scaring away the whole block, and being all secretive with Lightning. That too is driving me insane, in fact, it's making my skin crawl right now.

In order to aleviate this feeling, I go talk to Maybelle, who's sitting on a couch. "Think on the bright side," I say, propping up my swollen feet beside Maybelle. "Both our kids will be able to play together." Maybelle looked at me and smiled. "Flying's wife is waiting for the twins to hatch. And Predator's triplets too." Lightning added with a smile as he walked by with an armful of folded laundry. "So our kids will have lots of friends." Maybelle grinned.

"Of course." I say back to her, before I notice her breathing deepening and her wincing in pain. Fluid leaks from her kimono and I almost die on the spot. "Maybelle?" I say in urgency. Suddenly, a lamp surges and Lightning appears before us, picking up Maybelle and racing to the car. "What's happening? What's happening?" I ask him as he picks me up and puts me in the car with him. He never answers me, but I find out hours later in the emergency room, when I finally get a chance to hold Cookie Byers, the firstborn son of Lightning and Maybelle Byers.

They looked so happy, and I rub my stomach, knowing I'll be next a few more weeks. I can't wait to see him or her (I asked my OBGYN if she could keep the gender of my baby a surprise before I give birth). It was a glorious moment, but that didn't stop Lightning from watching me all the time.

Since Cookie's birth, Lightning's iron grip has lessened and he's been more focused on his son, but that also made him go into protective father mode and he and Maybelle have been more aggitated around me more than anything. It's almost as if they resent me being here. I do understand with this being their firstborn child they're not going to have the time, or the energy, to deal with me, and so, I am officially in the way, but still, I could do without the constant sneering and awkward silence.

Another week passes with Lightning just tossing me here or there, and constantly holds his son in his arms, until one day, he just broke. He just flat out looks at me and goes, "Since Cookie's birth, I know why Simian ran back to his own country. Because a girl like you is gonna get my son killed!" "A girl like me!" I shoot back at him. "I have to watch you until Scourge dies because my options are limited," he argues back. "If it wasn't for your own stupidity, you wouldn't be in this condition. But leave it to an American to screw things up."

That's very offending! Not every American is a screwup. "Says the greatest impulsive dishonor to all of Japan!" I shoot back at him. He slings Cookie into Maybelle's arms, and he shoves my wheelchair across the room, slamming my knees into the glass window. My head goes foward and hits the glass hard, and that was the last straw. I turn around and growl, "I don't need you! I don't need anybody!" And I leave the house forever.

Days later and I recieve a phone call from Lightning from a payphone. We both know that we said some things that deserve getting our teeth kicked in for, but why did he push me? Why? He's always been like this- impulsive. One time he threw his own shoe at Flying for not bringing him a lemonade fast enough, and sent Flying into one of those psychotic fits he always has when someone touches his face. He always caused a lot of problems and I really don't understand why.

Begrudgingly, we make up, but things will not be very smooth from here on out. I don't want him to come and get me, so I take the long way home, and to make matters worse, I'm so wrapped up in my angry thoughts I didn't even notice when I was being spilled out of my wheelchair onto the pavement and dragged through a warp ring.

{Lightning's POV}

I've made the shittiest mistake I could ever make. Where is she? Where is she? I think rapidly as I run frantically around the city. There's so many people, and she could literally be anywhere, it'll hard to find out exactly where she is. Why did I shove her? Why did I shove her? I'm no better than Scourge. Oh my Dragon Gods, Simian is going to kill me for doing such a thing to her! I hope she's alright. She's been wandering Halnoche for days now? She could be in any condition, and she's pregnant!

When Cookie was born, I became overprotective of him, like any father should be, and I just can't believe I just said something like I did to Fiona. Well I better believe it, because I've said it, and it can't be returned. Seriously, what was I thinking? I might as well punch Antoine in the face screaming, "You damn French and your cologne! Take a shower!"

I've got to stop doing shit like this, as it wasn't her at all, it was the hormones talking because my wife has said some things to me she probably wouldn't have ever said in her entire life, and the same goes for Fiona. She would have never had said such things beforehand, why now? Ugh, how could I be so stupid? Oh Fiona, where are you?

Eventually, I find her wheelchair being hauled into a policevan and detectives swarming the scene. Oh no! I think to myself. I'm too late! But I know exactly what to do, and I go out in search of a payphone, let's just hope I have enough yen on me for a long distance phone call.

{Simian's POV}

I have just packed my bags when a familiar blue hedghog bursts into my hut, shouting, "I want to help! I want to help!" I scowl to myself. This will only delay me further. Fiona needs me. I turn to him, hatefulness slipping off of my tongue with every word. "What do you want?" "To help Fiona." Sonic begs, falling to the floor and basically groveling at my feet.

"Stand up man!" I growl at him. Sonic looks up at me, still begging me till I take a light kick and flip him onto his back. He then starts bawling his eyes out. I shake my head and feel my blood pressure rising, which is never a good thing, and wonder, What now? He's already bothered the Destructix enough without becoming super overwhelming, like when we let Espio join our team. Had I known that he was packing the drama from hell with him I would've never let him join. I don't even know why I even allowed him in in the first place, but Lightning insisted, and I gave.

I take my pointer finger and thumb (My whole hand is too big to grab him easily) and pinch him up by the nape of my neck and bring him to eye level. I breathe in his face and go, "You have ten seconds to speak your piece, and then I'm leaving your ass here."

Sonic coughs and replies, "Please let me help you. Fiona's my friend and I think she's in danger. Please?" I raise an eyebrow at him and bring him closer. He kicks me in my face and I'll break his arms and turn them into toys for Tamara. I am in no mood for these little mind games people like to play.

"You are," I ask skeptically. "Last time I checked, she tried to make amends with you and you told her to go get AIDS and die." Sonic's face dropped, his ears turning into a floppy vegetable, his face pitiable. I have no pity to give to him. He looks up at me, an idea consuming him, as I can see it in his eyes, and I pray, Oh Spirits, let this be good.

"Shouldn't her marriage have been better than mine?" he askd. "Hm," I say, caught completely off guard. "Why do you say that?" "My marriage was miserable with Sally, shouldn't Fiona have been ecstatic. No I don't think she would be overly joyed, but shouldn't she be at least... satisfied with Scourge?"

I set him down and answer, "Unless your ultimate plan was to rape and beat Sally on a nightly bases, his personality was going to turn on her eventually. Why do you think we warned her constantly that the antis are fun for a few rounds but they need left alone? Because this happens, and she didn't understand that the antis want to kill their double and take over their life, that's why their there, but no, all I heard was her whining, 'Scourge is not like that. Scourge will change.' And the big one that just about knocked me into another dimension, 'Sonic and Scourge are the same two people. So Sonic is exactly like Scourge.' Then Flying has walks in, still heartbroken, and goes, 'Girl, are you dumb?' And then there's a gigantic mess that I have to clean up afterwards, still trying to explain that Scourge is not good for her."

"Uh, does she not understand that while I'm fighting for freedom for all he's wanting to take over the world," Sonic tells me. "Why did she think that his own team came after him? Because they wanted to wish him Happy Birthday?" "Oh Sonic," I say. "There is so much more to this none of us can understand, and I must say, you still have to answer me on why you come to me now about her? I was under the impression you hated every fiber of her being."

"Because I love her." he answers. I draw quiet for a long time. Letting your ex, your pheromone obsessed friend, your stalker, and the rest of your team run over your current girlfriend does not exactly strike me as one in love. I always thought love revolved around the heart, not your whore dictating everything you do.

I'm not entirely innocent either because I was a real womanizer back in my days of youth, screwing as many as I could, never wanting to put forth the effort of settling down, till I moved back to Zimbabwe and found true, genuine love. Even then, I didn't let my brothers in arms, or my other ex-girlfriends make my current girlfriend feel unwelcome, regardless of the side she was on. I don't even believe Fiona was even on a side at all to begin with.

Still, hearing Sonic say this makes me want to punch him hard. He didn't give her the attention before, why now? I ask him this same thing. His only response was, "I was blindsided by Sally's pussy." "That's not a viable answer." I snort at him. "I'm not finished," he barks at me. "Amy and Tails were causing so much drama, and the team was walking on eggshells and looking to Sally for comfort, it was hard to keep my attention on her. I'm really sorry Simian. I really am."

I know my blood pressure is boiling by now, but I clench my fists and glare at him, using my sergeant voice to get the message clear, "I'm sorry doesn't erase years of rape and domestic violence!" I storm off, Sonic chasing after me, begging me to wait. I don't. "I didn't know." he says softly.

I turn to him, backhanding him, growling, "You did because you're Scourge's anti. If you truly wish to redeem yourself to me, and mainly to her, you better be helping me destroy the walls of Scourge's palace and helping me bury his sorry, pathetic ass when we get there!" I have a tendency to let my temper get away from me, so with a stern voice I tell him, "Maybe Fiona was right. Maybe you two aren't so different after all."

{Fiona's POV}

It is so cold where I am at. Nothing like anti-Mobius where it was just a bleak landscape where no weather comes, no flowers grow, no happy people around (when there was people), no nothing. It was almost like a gray void where you have only the sound of your own breathing and footsteps to talk to. Where all of your nightmares come true because your mind has become bored and started to play tricks on you. A neverending nightmare. But my neverending nightmare was as bloody as Scourge, for weeks on end has cared for me to the extent of, "I wanna see if I like this baby, and if I don't both of you will die. If I do, you'll still die." In other words, the only thing keeping me alive right now is the baby, and he can't wait to see it. Neither can I, but our reasons differ.

I've tried to escape the best way a 9 month pregnant lady who can't walk can, but Scourge is quicker than me, and he starts breaking fingers with every attempt. I am already severe pain, and then I feel wetness.

At first I think I've peed myself again, but then my sides start aching to the point I grunt. More start coming in waves, like zombies decending upon a house, and then I hear footsteps. Oh no! I almost shriek those words, and I try to put on a brave face as Scourge looks at me with that evil smile of his. Another kick and I wince, and he knows now the condition I am in.

"Baby time!" he sings as he rubs his hands together, a knife in his hand. No! He's not taking it without a fight. Immediately, I lurch foward and pound my fists against his foot. He only laughs at my attempts and brushes his foot against my head. I spit at him.

He laughs and mocks me, and then cold cocks my nose. Blood just starts drizzling from it, and there's no longer any feeling there. "What," Scourge states, rising up like a couple of roosters ready to fight. "Did you think I was gonna take pity on you and let you give birth easily," he spits at me. "Bitch please, I'm gonna slice that thing out of ya, and then I'm gonna cut your throat and leave ya to die!"

And with that, I knew I was going to have to fight for my baby's life.

{Third Person POV}

The fox and the hedgehog stood face to face, with the odds stacked heavily against the fox. She was a broken bird with a charred pedastal who's body was on the brink of collapsing, the hedgehog was in prime condition, with a well toned body that screamed, "Dominance!" His swagger told of his cruelty and the lengths he'd go for such a measure.

He was notorius for taking out all those who dared look at him, and turning the tables on Sonic, sending the ex-speedster almost to his grave on multiple occassions, but all villains have their breaking point someday. The fox was only well rekowned for being a thief and a cutthroat, her swagger portraying her as this seductive viper with a callous heart, but within that turtle's shell layed a soft heart, but a soft heart would be her undoing, as ego would be the hedgehog's.

What was once a promising romance stood shattered before the fox as she peered into her husband's hard eyes and saw no remorse. He looked into her eyes and saw her fear, but she knew deep within her, this battle must be won, for she wanted to see her child live long and healthy and do good for the world, not die in a place like this, where only the worms would bear her a funeral, never to be found by another person again.

"I'm the king!" Scourge shouted as if he wanted to make sure the very wind knew. "The king of what," Fiona challenged, doubling over in contraction pains. "A planet devoid of life! Of yourself!" "Over all of you worthless cunts that can't do anything right!" he roared back, grabbing the pregnant vixen by her throat and slinging her to the dirt.

Fiona gasped and grunted in pain and lifted herself with her arms as Scourge neared her with a pocket knife. she clutched her stomach hard. She would protect her baby with the last of her breath. She then scratched and bit at the looming threat as he neared her, raking her claws into his flesh, using her teeth to tear bloody holes in his skin.

"What are you doing?" he cried out, gasping at the pain occassionally. "Doing what foxes do best," Fiona said, swallowing a chunk of his meat in her mouth. "Eat hedgehogs." Scourge, with all his might, grabbed the fox by her ribcage, slung her around and broke her jaw, declaring, "Since foxes like to eat hedgehogs so much, taste this baby!" He ripped a clump of quills off of himself and shoved them down her throat, making them stick out of her neck in a nasty way.

Fiona should be dead, but she wasn't one to give up, even as the blood squirted out of her neck, and she grabbed Scourge, moaning and bleeding at once, clinging onto her last bit of life as Scourge pushed her weak hand away and then dug the knife into her stomach and ripped out the baby. Fiona screamed and gargled out blood, but she wouldn't give up. By now, she was feeling lightheaded, but she had to do it.

She tried to make words with her mouth, even though they became slurred, and somehow, with the aide of adrenaline and battle firing through her body, she managed to miracuously stand up. It was a wonderful miracle that she would be able to walk again and teach her child some new tricks, but it was short lived.

"You gave me a daughter!" Scourge howled. He turned around screaming, "You worthless son of a whore! I wanted a son! Oh wait, you're standing." Now realize this, just because Fiona could stand it didn't mean she could walk or run like she used to, so the battered fox took a karate chop to the back of her neck, breaking it, and killing her at last.

"Bitch wasn't nothin' to me." Scourge grumbled as he kicked dirt on the squaling infant's mother. He looked at the baby with crimson fur, a peach muzzle, and the green eyes he forfeited when he devoured some illegal chaos energy, and said, "Well, daddy would love you if you were a boy, since you aren't, I'm gonna kill you." He clipped the umbilical cord off the infant, the least he could do before killing it, and thought, What's the best way to kill a baby? Abandonment of course! So he set out to find a box, set the baby in it and used his speed to drop it by an abandoned building starting to cave in. Then he returned to dispose of Fiona's body into a dumpster and halted in his tracks to the small skirmish in front of him, guarding Fiona's body.

"Surprise." a blue hawk said, his arms cross. He looked really mad, and so did the people behind him. "Simian, Lightning, Flying, big-tittied weaselgirl, her brother, Sonic, green hawk guy I don't know, Bean, Bark," Scourge said warmly as if they had had all came to his Christmas party. "You come to say goodbye."

He was nervous, but he was trying hard to conceal it. Fiona was no easy task for him to take on, and with her being blindsided by love, down with paralyzed legs, and so pregnant she could barely move, she made an easy target. These guys would pulverize him, and he knew it. And since men can't get pregnant, there was no way he was gonna be able to wait for them to become pregnant, force to become pregnant, and then beat down like he did Fiona.

Sonic pushed his way foward, his face drew up in a snarl, brass knuckles laced onto his hands, with the gang following his every move, making Scourge back up, as the Blue Anger surged, "Fiona died believing that you and I both were the same person. She died believing that all those horrible things you did to her I would do. She died believing that I'd never marry her and she'd have to settle for you. She died believing that I was as evil as you. She died never knowing that I was chasing her down in my dreams because nobody would let me have her. She died knowing that she'd be trapped in Japan till you were gone. She died never knowing how much I loved her. This is for her!"

And he buried his fist atop his evil double's head as hard as he could, the brass knuckles sinking in and leaving an indent in his head. "How can you stand up for an evil cunt?" Scourge blasted back, sending a fist flying into Sonic's gut, doubling him over. The people behind him surged foward, delivering the worst beatdown Scourge has ever had in his entire life.

"You like hitting girls," Sonic heard Flying say as he stomped on Scourge's ribcage. "Well hit this." "I'll break your legs for what you did to her!" Simian shouted as he jumped on Scourge's hips, crushing them. "She was my sister!" Nack growled as he took a hammer to Scourge's mouth, breaking his teeth. "She helped us all out!" Lightning shouted digging his fist into Scourge's back.

"Enough," the green menace panted, blood draining out of his body like a butchered cattle. "I've had enough." "Really," Bean spat. "Because those were probably the same words Fiona was screaming as you broke her body and tore her privates to hell!"

Scourge threw up his hands and admitted, "Okay, okay, okay, you got me. It was my master plan all along to beat her down, knock her up, and kill her because she was able to kick my ass with a single serving, and I really hate those Destructix bitches, so I made sure to strike at your core and ruin her before she could do any real damage. Hell, I didn't even think they cared for her until I saw this damn circus lined up for my head. But if you're wondering, I've left the baby to die somewhere you'll never find it."

Scourge smirked, proud at what he had said and did, but Nic returned the expression, "Don't worry. We got Predator." Predator shared her same expression with a, "As long as my heart beats, the baby will be found." "Hold him facedown boys!" Nic commanded with the flick of her hips. She cocked her gun and smirked, "Killing you will be all too easy. I wish I'd get a chance to do this twice." Then she walked down to the hedgehog, struggling to break free from Flying and Sonic's grasp, placed the cold barrel of the gun to the back of his neck, and with a satisfying squeeze of the trigger, she shot him through the back of the neck, killing him instantly.

"What a shame," Flying snorted, spitting on the corpse. "I would have loved to have watched him choke on his own blood." "Well, the nightmare is over. We're finished." Nack breathed. "Hold on, hold on, hold on," Jet added. "The nightmare ain't finished till the child is found." Everybody looked up at him, and they knew what had to be done. So they pulled together a plan and set off for it, scattering in different directions.

Before the last set of people left to find the baby, Nic turned to Sonic and said, "About you loving her Sonic, sometimes we make our own beds." And then she walked off to find Fiona's baby.

Sonic dug his hair through his hands and exhasperatted, "What?" "If you really loved Fiona, you wouldn't have let anything have stood in your way, and this maybe this wouldn't have happened." Simian explained. "But I didn't kill her," Sonic pointed out. "You're making it sound like I killed her." "In a way, you did," Simian replied. "All of us did." "Quit talking in riddles!" Sonic yelled angrily, throwing his hands through the air with a grunt. "Quit standing around." Flying shot back. He walked in another direction and mummbled, "Sweet baby gone missing."

{Predator Hawk's POV}

Damn Scourge! No, fuck Scourage! How dare he place his hands on our sister from another mother. He has no idea the amount of good Fiona has done for the Destructix and everyone else around her. Maybe she was rough around the edges and would like to take a shit in the Freedom Fighter's mouths sometimes for what they did to her, but hey, who can argue with someone who has tried to keep peace from both angles, but I've always had my doubts about what the Freedom Fighters were truly after.

Unlike Fiona, who envisioned that when her work was complete, she would be surrounded by a loving family and friends. The Freedom Fighters envisioned the anhilation of Eggman (who wouldn't) and then what? Sally takes the throne, Antoine takes his, and everybody else can go fuck themselves. That's not how the Destructix works, and Fiona knew that well.

As a bunch of serial killers with intimidating and unforgettable faces, we're not exactly what one would envision as loving. It's almost like a child squealing that they want the puppy that's dead by the side of the road. Sick, but hey, it's cuddly. Like us- sick, but cuddly.

Then you have Nic and Nack, and they're not exactly the nicest people ever, but if they like you, they like you. Be grateful that they do. But still, I cannot wave away the guilt that this was my fault. If I was back home on Babylon, I would have lost my head for this. On my planet, failure means death, but here, failure means that you just get up and try again, depending on who you talk to, as there are so many lands here. But with death, you don't get a redo. If I fail my mission and are caught, I don't get a redo, I get punished.

But this land is strange. Even their metaphors are strange, like saying that something is for the birds, or that something is dumber than a box of rocks. I don't really know why someone would want to collect a box of rocks, but I guess some people do. They think of me as strange themselves because I walk around naked and steal. I just hope the little haya, or baby in my language, is okay.

You have no idea how rigorously my eyes were trained since the moment I could walk. It started out with cute little games of hide and go seek, an intergalactic enjoyment of children everywhere, when I was just learning to toddle, and then the game became more rigorous, with my siblings purposefully attacking me, as that was part of the training regiman to always be ready, but only a select few can become assassins.

On Babylon, you are lost without a purpose, and I get bored easily, and my father knew that, and when he hand picked me and my brother and sister, out of the 15 of us, I was honored and crying with joy, but it only got harder from there. I trained till my legs gave out, I fought till I thought I wasn't going to be able to lift my sword another time, and my discipline was even harder. An obediant assassin will do his job right, a disobediant one will mess up and get his throat cut.

But then the Armada captured me, and seperated me from my family, something I do not wish for this baby. When I was selected to be an assassin, my brother and sister and I were taken as far away as possible from our mother and older brothers and sisters (We were the youngest three), and that was tough in itself, and then I was taken away from my own planet, and I am choking on the thought of the little baby all alone, like I was, like her mother was.

Her mother was born in this... state... called Michigan, took in by a bunch of shopkeepers after being abandoned by her teen mother. I know Fiona would never do something like that. I don't think any of us could. I love all my children, and since the baby is without parents, I could always take it in, afterall, I grew up with a large family, and I hope to recreate that.

The bleak landscape leads me out into a dull opening covered in dying, tall grass with red flowers aplenty. In the distance is a sad, grey building. I've found more cloaked opponents in all of this so the baby should be an easy find, and I've always had that sixth sense that told me that I was on target and that this was the place to be.

I fly downward, stepping brasively through the grass. Jida, find, that is what I am going to do- Find it. This grass does not matter to me, only the baby, and this building does not intimidate me with it's hostile glare. If there is a baby in there, I will smash every bit of it up until I find it, for it is old, so it shouldn't matter.

I was never one for history as it always creeped me out, like this cracked building with it's volatile eyes defecating the beautiful landscape and the broken down door that would need to be pushed over to reach the indoors for those that can't fly, the torn curtains that made it look haunted. This was nothing like the tombs Nack used to drag me to when we were close. Those places would look like a place fit for a king if there wasn't any deathtraps looming around, or dust, and maybe a window here or there, but that's here nor there. As I draw nearer to the abandoned building, a pure certainty claiming my mind that this is definitely the place it has to be, fear grabs my throat.

This place is old, I think. If the baby is in there, then the Sun Gods know that the floor could have collapsed under the poor thing already. I can't believe Scourge would do this. Abandonment of this baby, leaving it to suffer of hunger and thirst. My Sun Gods, how could he?

Then I hear a baby's cry and think, Oh thank the Sun Gods! I thought that it had died! I walk around the corner, eventually getting close to an old basement opening where the metal doors were broke in. I grabs the doors and started to pull, but not even my hawk strength would make it budge, and I left in my robes without a weapon or tools on me like a fool, and so, I'll have to find some more elsewhere.

I round the bend, only to step on bubblewrap, the popping scaring me, and scaring the bundle below me. Could this be? I ask myself. I pick up the plastic wrap and start ripping it off, uncovering a crying baby still coated with labor juices and turning blue. Scourge got an easy death for an action like this. When Nic shot him, he was dead before he even hit the ground. Fiona wasn't so lucky, and neither would this baby had been had I not found it. It starts coughing and I pat it's back, shushing it and rocking it, but it seems being in my arms made it cry harder, so I go, "Klaya, klaya. Itsni nos se derefro hase keh." (Easy, easy. I'm not here to hurt you).

If anything, it needs to get used to my voice, and to my language because I speak it often, and maybe someday, it'll get a chance to visit Babylon if I am unable to obtain custody of it. My acablos, or my friends, are going to be a little on edge when they see those diabolical green eyes, and the pure absence of it's mother on like 90% of it's features, but age will change that hopefully.

But I can't keep calling it an it, it has a gender, and I check. A girl! Fiona had a girl! A beautiful baby girl! "You are very pretty." I say to her. She still cries, but that is because I am strange to her, but she will grow used to me with time. For now, I need to bring her back to where Fiona's body is to let her be near the others and for a course of action to be decided.

The baby is cold, so I bundle it up in my cape and place it close to my chest before takeoff. I get another good look and see that this baby looks like an intelligent being, like her mother. I wonder how this little one's life will play out? I hope I'm there to watch. "Don't worry," I say to her. "You'll be safe."

The baby curls into me and I repeat the word safe in my mind. Uyaya, safety. She will be safe.

{Third Person POV}

The group gathered around to survey the infant clinging desperately in Predator's arms. Many questions swarmed the group until Sonic stepped foward and said, "I want her. I'll take the baby." Nic pushed him and said, "What gives you the right to take her? I am Fiona's foster sister; you were just the ass who threw her away like trash and let her starve for attention. How do I know that Sally won't give you a little pussy and persuade you into finishing the job?"

Sonic ripped his hands through is head going, "Nic- what the hell? What? Why would you assume that? She needs to come with me because she's gonna get bigger, and then she's gonna come at us with questions. Since Scourge is basically my twin from hell, it makes a whole lot more sense to let her come home with me so that way she'll never find out."

Nic growled at him. "Nic," Nack said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "What Sonic says is true. If she finds out, it will destroy her. She's my niece and I want her to live long and happy." Nic turned to him and spat, "Nack, I live in another hemisphere on the other side of the world, and I can't just pack up and leave. If I hand her over now, I'll never see her."

"We are both sitting in the same boat, as is everybody else who wants to see her," Nack explained. "She needs to be in one place and stay put with her being none the wiser about what we all just witnessed this day. It's already bad enough we have to bury her mother, and her father was a complete bastard, I don't want her shipped all over the world like some letter. She needs to go with Sonic. Please do this for her."

"I promise that nothing will happen to her," Sonic pleaded. "And she'll never know of this day and will grow up to be the happiest little girl you've ever saw." Nic looked at him defeatedly and said, "If I ever see her at all."

"Don't worry," Sonic promised. "You will." "Empty promises!" Nic boomed. "Please Nic," Simian begged. "Listen to reason. We are all capable of taking care of her yes, but we can't stop curiosity. One day she's going to look in the mirror and notice that she looks very different than everybody else. Sonic and Scourge look the same, so she'll never know if we don't tell her."

"But she'll know when she starts noticing that her "mother's" features don't match up with her's and she's a completely different animal." Nic argued. "People are strange Nic," Lightning stepped in. "You could totally out of the blue have a couple of frogkids. It's not that you cheated on Bark, or you're part frog, it's just that when the humans came and fucked everything up, this sort of thing happens, so it's easy to wave away as a wierd fluke. Don't worry about seeing her or nothing, just worry about her ever finding out the truth, because when she does, who knows how she'll take it."

Nic looked ready to cry. "But, but-" she couldn't find the words to say because she started crying. Nack hugged her and whispered, "It's okay Nic, I understand." "Can I hold her?" Nic sobbed, pushing Nack away from her. "Sure you can." Predator answered softly, handing the baby over to the crying weasel.

Nic looked at the baby's face, still crying, and said, "Jessica. We'll call her Jessica." "Huh?" everybody asked. Nic looked up and said, "Fiona had been talking about naming her Jessica for quite some time now. It's the least we can all do for her." "Well I think it's a beautiful name." Sonic cooed, getting close to the baby and wiggling his finger in her face.

"Welcome to the world Jessica." Sonic and Nic grimly smiled simutameously.

Chapter Epilogue

A woman adorned with a baby blue, knee-length dress, bare footed, hair tossed into a plait, shimmering with the sunlight stepped towards the light blue and white cradle across the room and stood next to it, looking upon the sleeping newborn with awe.

"Oh Jessica," she purred softly, picking up the newborn and holding it close to her. "One day you'll know that you are special to me, but until that day comes, I want to see you grow up wise and kind."

The baby lifted it's eyes from sleep and looked up a the red fox and cooed. The woman touched the baby's nose. The baby shuffled around a little, and then moved back into place. The woman gave the infant another hug and sat down in a rocker nearby and rocked the baby back to sleep, without singing. When the child had fell asleep, she placed the newborn back into the cradle and wrapped it warmly. "Mommy loves you." the woman said as she departed into the warm sunlight.

End of Chapter 17

I apologize to all of those I insulted with the slurs against the Australians and all the other races of people incorporated. Please forgive me and read onto another chapter. I really mean no harm, it's just being looked at by all the character's involved POVs, and well, a person's innermost thoughts will be different from that of another.

If any of you are insulted, message me and I will take it down. And I am really sorry that the chapter was really dark, I promise all the others won't be as dark as this because I love babies and I hate the idea of them being killed or their moms being battered to the point of no recognition, which means, I stand firm against all form of domestic violence and violence against babies.

Also, I apoligize for the chapter being long to. Next chapter will be better, and not as heartwrenching, promise.