Following Tributaries (c) 00'-01' by me, MistressAli
All "Sonic the Hedgehog" characters and related indicia (c) and TM Sega/Archie/and DIC.
Used without permission.
Packbell (c) David Pistone. Also used without permission!
Casssar and Cu Chulainne (c) MistressAli

This document may be freely distributed, as long as it's not altered in any way. Ok, peoples, this story contains: violence and gore, swearing, and just a tiny bit of sexual things. Rated R.

Just a note this ** indicates thoughts
And ---- indicates Cu Chulainne's voice
Also, this story follows "The Glow of Something Bright". If you haven't read that, I highly suggest doing it... or this story might be a tad confusing. :)

Lifeblood of Mobius
Story #2
"Following Tributaries"

Chapter 1:
tainted

**Daddy is bad.*
That was the child Casssar's terminology for it. Daddy was more than bad.
Daddy was evil.
*Daddy is hurting mommy.*
Well, that certainly was the case. Casssar didn't know why she even bothered cowering anymore. It didn't stop the pain. But she couldn't stop her body from shaking, and seeking out the corner to hide herself in. She thought, maybe, if she folded her legs just right this time...daddy wouldn't be able to get inside...
Daddy slammed mommy against the wall. He used her hair as a handhold. She used to be beautiful, Casssar remembered. But now mommy's face was full of scars, bruises, cuts, and burns.
Her hair used to be thick and full, but daddy had torn most of it out. The rest was thin and ratty.
"No, Henry, please." Daddy threw her into the wall. He kicked her hard. He wore big boots, the kind with the steel in the toe. Casssar covered her ears and rocked back and forth. Mommy scared her when she started crying.
"You whore, you deserve it, you whore." Daddy always called her mommy that strange word. Casssar didn't know what it meant, but it sent terror into her.
Daddy called Casssar that word too, when he was hurting her, but only when he hurt her in the very bad way. Casssar never knew what he did exactly when he hurt her in the very bad way, but it was the worst pain in the world. And not just her body hurt, but it made her hurt inside, and made her feel dirty and used, like the old washrag Mommy used to clean the floor.**

Casssar stared down the barrel of a gun.
She wasn't a child anymore.
She was an adult, a full thirty-five years of age. She was ripe and full, and she made the man in front of her even wilder than he already was.
*He's crazy*, she thought idly, but his insanity didn't really frighten her. She was crazy too, maybe not in the same way, but she understood the warped mind quite well.
They were in a cave. The air was damp, the walls covered with green moss. There was a hole somewhere up in the wall; shafts of light filtered in. It was really quite pretty.
There was a Source pool in the cave. Casssar had just discovered it. The thick silver and gold liquid seemed to light up the cave. It was a strange sight. Green light above, yellow and white light below. It was very trippy.
The man looked like he was tripping himself. Probably been smoking some of that Kudruz plant. That stuff made heads swirl with wild and weird visions, but at the same time, slowly burnt away the flesh lining the lungs. Very unhealthy.
He waved the gun, and it caught the light and glinted.
She remembered...

**Daddy turned away, laughing. He acted angry, but in the end, he always laughed like it was a big joke. He liked to drink or eat after beating mommy or her.
Casssar held out her arms to mommy. But mommy didn't pick her up like usual. She didn't whisper in her ear and stroke her hair. Casssar's tears remained unwiped upon her cheeks.
Mommy crawled over to the old coffee table. It had nicks and scars in it. Mommy once said that the table looked like her. Casssar didn't think it was funny.
Mommy opened the drawer and pulled something out. It was shiny and glinted in the light.
Casssar's breath drew in. It was a gun!
Mommy grabbed it up and yelled at Daddy. She didn't really yell a word. She just made a shrieky kind of noise.**

The man was still waving the gun. His eyes were wide and crazed.
"Hey, lady. This water is mine. So pretty. Silver and gold, silver and gold. It's so pretty."
He came closer to her. She didn't move. "You're pretty too, lady. Maybe I'll let ya go. Maybe..." He laughed. "Maybe nottttttttt."
She didn't twitch a muscle. He looked her over, pursing his lips like he wanted a kiss.
She looked like a queen. Her head was held high, with noble poise. She stood solid, with one foot upon the cave ground, the other immersed in the pool.
She had black fur, but he noticed something strange. Where her foot was emerged, the blackness washed away and left her fur gleaming white.
Casssar noticed his gaze and looked down. She cursed inwardly. The purity of the pool washed away the taint on her fur; the black dye that she soaked herself in. She didn't want white fur. It was too pure, too virginal for her. She liked the black...the night's color, the deepness. It held her secrets and mysteries inside her.

**Mommy waved the gun like a madwoman. Her eyes were insane. Casssar could see the white showing round the entire colored part of her eye.
Mommy turned the gun towards Daddy. But he wasn't afraid.
"C'mon, you whore, do it. Fuckin' bitch. Yeah, ya can't, can ya." He spat onto the floor. "You know you're nothing without me."
Mommy held the gun more tightly. Casssar curled up tighter, waiting. She almost wished Mommy would do it. She wished Daddy would die.
Mommy waved the gun again. Casssar found herself looking down the barrel. It was like a long black tunnel. She whimpered.
Mommy pointed the gun at Daddy.
He kept taunting, making a 'come an' get me' motion. Mommy cried and screamed. Then suddenly, the gun turned inward. Casssar barely saw it.
But she heard the explosion... Mommy dropped down with a thud. Casssar flinched, moaning...as the wetness of mommy's blood and brains splattered her hair and face.
Daddy wasn't like Casssar. He didn't cry or curl up or even seem sad. He thought it was funny. He dropped down and tore mommy's clothes off. Casssar knew what that meant, but she couldn't believe it... How could daddy do the very bad thing to mommy when mommy was dead?**

"NO!" Casssar, the adult, Casssar the powerful, flared out with her magic like a firebomb. The cave incinerated. The Source rippled and hissed, the green moss burnt to black, and the man collapsed. He whimpered and twitched, near death.
Casssar crouched down and pried the gun from his hand. The Source made hardly a splash as she threw the gun in.

*************

"NO NO NO!!!" A terrible shriek echoed off the buildings in west Robotropolis. Water washed up onto the feet of an enraged Robotnik, tyrant of the dark city.
"HEDGEHOG, YOU WILL DIE!!" His old and tired threats reverberated in the air, then were drowned out as he grabbed one of the few remaining sentry SWATs and trashed it with a few powerful blows.
The streets were flooded in west Robotropolis. The Freedom Fighters had come in, and with devastating, and unusual precision, they'd wrecked the water refineries.
Snively looked down at his feet. He and the tyrant were on higher ground, and only a few inches of water washed the streets here. He shifted a little, hearing it splash under his boots, and winced. His side hurt; Robotnik had been angry earlier. A quick glance to his furious uncle confirmed that Robotnik was indeed unhappy again, and he sighed.
He suspected they'd been led by King Acorn. It seemed too well-thought out, and...professional to have been thought up by the children. But he wasn't very concerned with that right now, because right now...Robotnik was pissed, and he was running out of things to scrap.
Soon his attentions would turn to a softer, and more responsive target...
"Why," hissed Robotnik, "didn't you **do** anything, Snively?!"
Snively was looking down at the flooded streets, and he looked over at his uncle nervously. "I tried, sir, but they were fast...we didn't have time..."
"I am so tired of your excuses." The tyrant timed his words to each thundering footstep towards his nephew.
"Sir...sir please..." Snively backed away, wincing as his foot slid into one of the deeper puddles. There were craters all over the place. Big ones, small ones. They were made from the explosives the Freedom Fighters carried.
"You have not one excuse left that would get you back under my good grace, Snively, and do you know what that means?"
Snively shook his head. He wanted to move, but couldn't. When his uncle's eyes got mad and wild like this...they petrified him. He was frozen, save his shivering with fear. He didn't want to be hurt again, not today...
"It means you're no good to me anymore! You're disposable!" Robotnik laid a vicious backhand on his nephew's cheek, snapping his head to the side. He collapsed to the ground, moaning.
Three hard kicks followed the slap. Robotnik turned away, fuming. He put a dent in the wall, then turned back to his nephew. Snively was doubled over, clutching at his ribs. Robotnik sneered at the sound of his crying.
He tried to crawl away as his uncle came near, but was knocked down again by a kick to the belly. He lay, sprawled and gasping, clothes soaked by the wet ground.
Robotnik turned away again, and looked towards his command center. The sight of it, still standing tall and forbidding, calmed him a little. The Freedom Fighters could win the battles, but they would never win the war.
But he didn't like them to win the battles. It ticked him off. He heard whimpering and turned. His nephew had risen to his feet.
*They wouldn't win the battles if that idiot had done his job.*
He went towards his nephew to further abuse him. Snively tried to flee. Ahead of him was a large explosion crater. He tried to veer around, but his foot slipped on the wet ground and he tumbled in.
Robotnik went to the edge and peered down. The hole was not very deep. About a foot higher than Snively.
"Snively, get out of there this instant."
His nephew was cowering against the wall of the hole, sobbing and crying for all he was worth. "Sir...I'm stuck," he whined. "My foot is stuck." He cried harder as he tried to tug his foot free.
Robotnik sighed. There was a slight incline leading down into the hole where the ground had collapsed. He went carefully down, angered by the fact his boots were getting dirty.
The hole was quite wide. He stood, glaring at his pathetic kin. How he cowered, how his clothes were wet and sticking to his body. He looked like a drowned rat. He was streaked with dirt, cheeks all red and sticky with tears.
Robotnik slapped him across the face, making him wail and press himself against the wall. *A stupid rat caught in a trap.*
"Owww, sir...please. I'm stuck..."
"I should leave you down here to rot, you imbecile!" Robotnik roared. His hand lashed out again. "I've good mind to do so!"
"Ohhh sir, please! I'm s-s-sorry! There wasn't anything I could do..."
"SHUT UP!!" Robotnik grabbed his nephew and shook him roughly, before throwing him against the wall. Then he sighed and wiped minute sweat off his brow. "It's over and done. Next time, Snively, I will not be so lenient with you."
He grabbed Snively by the wrists, and with a good hard tug, yanked him free.
Then he turned and went back up the incline, leaving Snively to rub his foot and sigh in relief.

Snively frowned. When he bent down to rub his foot, he saw the hole his foot had been trapped in. A few feet below the surface of the hole was liquid. He thought maybe it was water, but it gleamed in a strange way.
He crouched down, thrusting his arm into the hole. He had to strain to reach it, but at last he felt the liquid on his fingers. He drew his arm out.
It was not water. He recognized it instantly. The liquid that beaded on his hand, gold and silver, was the Source!
"What's this doing here?" he whispered.
He heard Robotnik bellow at him to get his ass out of the hole and start cleaning the damage up. He wiped his wet hand off on his pants, and eyed the Source hole one more time.
*This'll be my little secret for now... Robotnik doesn't need to know everything...*

*******

The glasses were lifted; the sweet wine sloshed as they toasted, then dribbled down the chins from the mouths that drank eagerly.
The village celebrated its victory as it always did, with much cheer, wine, and food. The children ran and played their games of tag and hide-and-go-seek merrily, while some people brooded, knowing they may have won a battle, but still there seemed to be no end to the war.
Sally and her group, the leaders...Sonic, Bunnie, Rotor, Tails, Dulcy, and Antoine, along with her father, celebrated too. They held both the cheer of the children, and the melancholy of the brooders. They knew that it was important to celebrate, for it raised the morale of their little village. People who were depressed could not fight.
Sally giggled and took a bite of the roasted corn on the cob that Antoine handed her. Sonic was telling jokes as usual. Some were corny, others quite raunchy, to the amusement of the young Tails. Bunnie shook her head disapprovingly.
"Honestly, sugah-hog, li'l Tails here shouldn't be hearin' that kinda stuff!"
"Aw, lighten up, Bunnie. The Big guy prolly already knows all that stuff, anyway."
"Well, that don't mean that ya should be encouragin' that kinda talk!" But Bunnie's tone was more lighthearted than scolding. They had done good today. The end of the war might not be in sight yet, but it felt great to put a kink in the smooth operation of the hated city.
Sally moved down the table to get more salad from the large green bowl in the center of the table. Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation within her. It was like the hairs rising on the back of her neck, but inside her, in her heart and stomach. She shivered a little and ran her hands down her arms.
*I know this feeling. It's coming from the Source pool.*
Yes, their very own Source pool in Knothole. Only she and her father knew about it. It looked like gold and silver water, but it was supposed to be the lifeblood of Mobius. Sally wasn't sure about that. But she had made friends with the purifier of the Source, a strange glowing entity of light who called itself Cu Chulainne.
She knew that this was Cu calling her now.
She looked across the table at her friends. They were busy eating and talking. They didn't notice her absence, and probably wouldn't for some time. She had time to sneak away to the pool, if she hurried.
She turned away, and felt a hand on her arm. She jumped a little, then smiled at her father.
"Did you feel it?" he whispered.
"Yes."
"Let us go."
She looked back at her friends, and nodded. "C'mon."

****

Sonic wiped a stray piece of chili bean from his lip. He'd piled a little too much of the thick red sauce onto his hotdog. He chewed loudly, earning a distasteful look from Antoine.
"Ya got a problem?" Sonic stuck out his food-covered tongue at the fox.
"Son-eek, dat ees disgusting!"
The hedgehog laughed.
Antoine sighed, his turquoise eyes wandering over the party. He frowned a little as he saw King Acorn and Sally disappear into the trees.
"Where are dey going?"
"Who?" Sonic turned around, but saw only a stretch of empty forest.
"Mah princess and zee king. They just went into zee forest."
"Huh." Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Wonder where they're off to."
"Eet ees most unusual dat they would just get up and leave."
"Sal has been actin' kinda funky lately," the hedgehog agreed.
"Maybe because her father is cure-ed."
"Maybe. I know I'd be happy if Uncle Chuck was deroboticized, so I can imagine that Sal's happy her pops ain't made outta rock candy anymore."
Antoine nodded, accepting the explanation. He didn't want to think anything was wrong with Sally. It was just too much. She had been through so much danger. Always going into that city. Being captured, replaced by automations. They were so lucky that she hadn't been killed or roboticized. He shuddered. They were lucky that any of them hadn't been. Even him.
*I just wish we could win theese war and be done. I just wish eet would end.*
"Still," Sonic narrowed his eyes. "She still is acting all weird and stuff."
"She ees just tired, Son-eek. She ees just happy to see her fathair healthy again."
Sonic nodded, but his eyes were not reassured.

********
Sally and her father entered the Source room through the secret door, which was located in the large boulder cradling one side of the power ring pool.
There was a short walk through a cramped and damp passage, and then the cave spread out in a cavern. In the middle of the floor was the Source pool. It would've been dark in the cave, but the Source lit up the walls with a soft glow.
They stood silently. A ball of light manifested itself above the pool and floated towards them.
---Hello, my friends.--- Cu Chulainne did not speak aloud. They heard it in their minds. Such a powerful, magnificent, yet gentle and warm voice could not exist in the world of sounds...only a mind could hold such a voice.
"Hello, Cu," said Sally aloud. King Acorn nodded.
"What is the matter?"
---There is a disturbance in the Source. I sense a hidden part of the Source has been opened to the surface. It is being tainted.---
"By what?" King Acorn asked.
"Is it Casssar?"
---No, I do not believe so. This is not evil. It is more like dirt.---
"Will it corrupt the Source?"
---I do not know. I do not believe so. Still, I must purify any intrusion to the Source. That is not the problem. I can cleanse the Source from here, but the opening must be sealed.---
"Why? If it's just dirt, it isn't going to hurt anything."
---It must be sealed, for I felt a malevolent presence close to the opening. I do not believe the being sensed the Source, but it is possible it may find it. This being is a threat to the Source.---
"Huh."
---Also, someone has come in contact with this Source. I recognized who it was immediately. It was my old host, the small one.---
Sally frowned. "Snively?"
---Yes.---
King Acorn looked startled. "Snively has touched the Source?"
---Yes.---
The two squirrels exchanged horrified glances. "Has Robotnik found it?"
---The malevolent presence has not discovered it, as far as I can sense, but should the small one tell...it could mean disaster for the Source. I know what this malevolent man does. He brings corruption to the land.---
"Yeah, we know," said Sally, sighing a little. "Well, shall we go and find this opening?"
--Yes. I will guide you.---
Sally laid her hands upon the ball of light three times. Three was the link. She relaxed, letting her mind grow blank. In a moment, she felt warmth inside her, and knew Cu Chulainne had entered her, clinging gently to her mind.
Sally took a jar from a niche in the wall and filled it with Source. Cu could not stay away from the pool for long. The entity needed to refresh itself. But now, with the jar, it was like bringing along a fresh pack of batteries.
"Let's go."
King Acorn laid his hand on her shoulder. "Be careful, Sally."
"I will." She kissed her father on the cheek and left.