VOZVRASHCHYENIYE
(Return)





A soft breeze upon the chrysantheum. The sun in the trees, shining down upon the soft green grass. It is all tranquil and quiet. All is well.

Or it could have been. But it is not. For they opened. The eyes of the Spectre opened to this.

It was that which he never thought to see again. Yet it was here, around him, the soft ground. He could see the brilliant colors around him. He could smell the air, recognize each origin of the scents he took in.

But that was futile. The Spectre knew this, understood it as he looked on his hands, no void of marks. He was clean like an infant. But his trime had come and gone. He was not here to lay, to look, to live. He was dead. No dead person like he can enjoy life again.

It is up to The Spectre, however, to see that others could still reap the benefit of the plane of living.

There was only one way to do it, and that was the truth.

But how? No ghost before The Spectre had to do it alone; with so much at stake, he felt nervous in his new role. The only thing which comforted him was the thought that no one had to see him.

For, to see The Spectre would be to meet death itself, straight in their clear blue eyes.


---------------------------

It had been awhile since Knuckles had smelled the sea.

With Antoine at the helm, the plane skimmed over the glittering dark expanse at a good speed. The sun shone over the ocean in the distance, readying itself for the long, arduous night to come. The smell of salt filled the air, even at the altitude the plane was at.

"Are we over the ocean?"
"Yeah, dummy." Connor rolled his eyes. "For the past three hours."
"Mommy! Connor called me a dummy!"
"Tattle! Wimp!"

This escalated into a fight, and when Sonic and Sally separated the two Connor was holding his knee, scowling. Lara-Su was still lunging towards him.

"You two!" Sally turned to Connor,. "You promised your mom that you would be good."
"I was being good!"
"He called me dumb!"
"......Lara-Su...Connor...."

The calm voice from one of the seats stopped everyone in their actions. The figure of Knuckles was staring out the window, but his voice was clear.

"Daddy..." Lara-Su looked at the new surroundings, and at her father, very warily. "Where are we going?"
"Lara-Su..." Julie-Su looked at the somber figure. "Its not something he's ready to answer."
"Daddy..."

Knuckles could only give a look towards Lara-Su. His face seemed pale, worn, and older than she had ever seem it. Yet he had been a little happier that morning, for such a tumultuous week that had occurred. She wondered how he could look so ashen in such a short amount of time. Within him, something he had never seen before.

Does....he know....about what I did?

"Its ok, Knuckles." Julie-Su noticed that Lara-Su was staring at her father. "We'll leave you in El-Alamein, if you don't want us to come."
"I don't think you should." The guardian's voice was low. "It's something that....I don't think its a good idea for Lara-Su to know.....yet......."
"You want to go alone."
"......I have to."

Julie-Su silently nodded.

For the past five years, ever since the tragedy of the echidna race began to surface, every pain was taken by those who had survived not to tell the world of the wormhole. The Mobians from the battle made a pact with Neo-Queen Serenity, promising that only under the most scrupulent of circumstance would they use the warp. This was, in Knuckles' opinion, one of those moments.

"Are we almost there?"
"A few minutes."
"Good."

Knuckles stood up, the bag of belongings on his shoulders, and another large bag on his back. Everyone who was on the plane, including Star Fighter, was looking at him. Lara-Su looked more fightened than solemn; she could not understand what he was doing.

"I....guess I get off here..."
"Daddy!!"

Lara-Su was suddenly glued to Knuckles' legs. Knuckles, as best as he could without hurting her, carefully pryed her from his legs and gave her to Sonic to hold even as she screamed.

"Daddy!" Lara-Su began to get mad. "Why are you mad at me?!?"
"Hmm?"
"Rotor told you, didn't he?" The little girl rubbed her eyes. "About me in the cellar and....I just wanted go see what was there...."

Knuckles knelt down auntil he was at Lara-Su's level. His eyes looked into hers, and noticed how bright they were. They were much like that of another woman's, one whom his father had known, had....

".....That's not it."

With a sad smile, Knuckles gave Lara-Su a pat on the head, then walked towards the emergency exit door.

"....Daddy?"
"Goodbye, Lara....I'll see you....."

With a yank, he threw the door open and, parachuteless, jumped out.

"DAAAAAAADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

As Lara-Su ran to the door, she gave a scream when she saw his body shift and disappear in mid-air. As he did, the wind brought in a strange smell to the young girl, and tiny specs of dust began to form on the floor in front of her. She began to make noises, terrified noises.

"Lara-Su..."

The little girl, terrified, turned to see everyone looking at her now. Even Connor, who always taunted her, looked at her, shocked at what had just happened.

"Mommy....Daddy....just-"
"Disappeared. I know.......but he'll come back...."
"I....I'm sorry I looked at the cellar.....with all your stuff....."
"No....that's not why he left...."

Julie-Su went over to the door.With a small grunt, she closed it.

"Sand..." Sonic muttered. "I guess he's there now."

Lara-Su looked at her mother, confused. Sand in the sky was, to her, impossible.

---------------------

Knuckles looked around as he felt his feet step into the soft sand of Earth. Around him, the sand blew, but he didn't care.

"I'm here...." he murmured. "I'm back here...."

With a shake of his head, he glowed green, then disappeared.

---------------------

Washu sat down at her computer with a smile. It had worked.

"Heh." Washu entered a few letters. "With this access to the Crystal Tokyo mainframe, I can work on everything I'd been researching."

As soon as she entered the password, the screens on her mainframe lit up brilliantly. Trigabytes of data suddenly began to upload onto Washu's computer.

"Heh..." Washu chuckled. "This'll be great..."

A small, sharp, sound came from behind her. It was the sound of someone tripping over a bucket.

"Dammit..." Washu stood up. "Ryoko! I told you not to go into that room!! It has all of my chemicals in it!!"
"Huh? What?"

A figures came through another doorway, a door that was in a different direction from the sound. She had blue hair, and yellow eyes. Sighing as she rolled her eyes, her scanty halter top seemed to be ready to pop off.

"What now?"
"Ryoko?" Washu was a little surprised. "Weren't....you......in my closet?"
"No."
"But..."
"I wasn't." Ryoko gave a huff. "I was looking for Tenchi."
"....Oh....oh!!" Washu laughed. "Well, he's not here."
"I se..."

Ryoko's head came up. She gave a small sniff.

"Spirit..."
"Hmm?"
"Spirit. There's your problem." Ryoko turned to leave. "Its gone, though, so you don't have anything to worry about. Anyways...back to Tenchi...."
"Wait-"

The door slammed in Washu's face. With a growl, Washu could only go back to work and hope that nothing else disturbed her.

--------------------

Serenity sat in her chair, also known as her throne, rubbing her head, as she kicked her shoes off. It had been a long day, and she hadn't let anything sink in. Until now.

Locke....



"Queen...."

Kakyuu's face had suddenly appeared, crying, on a screen in one of the rooms. Serenity had been stunned.

"Kakyuu?!"
"Serenity....Its Locke..."


Dead...


Serenity felt strange when she let herself think the word. She felt a strange emptiness. But she didn't feel sorrowful, or all that upset. In fact, she felt happy he was gone, and it frightened her to feel that way.

This feeling.....why do I....I.....want to rejoice his death?

Her thought, her search for reason, very quickly came round, and she somewhat understood. His life had been tragic, himself an important, unwitting player in a destiny that did not include his life as important. He had worked hard to see others fulfill their destiny, yet he himself had never had one. Indeed, tragic, but all the more reason to be happy. It was an end to misery, of someone whom no one, in the long run, would honestly care about.

But it doesn't make sense...

Serenity shook her head. Someone had to have cared about Locke's existance. Even if for stealing his money and killing him. Yet no sane robber, even if he murdered, would take such time to torture him, gouge his eyes out, disemebowel him and hang him like a trophy for all who came through to se. Like a prize.

A prize.....

Did someone see Locke that way-


"QUEEN!!"

The girl's head jerked up. In an instant she was standing.

"Jupiter?"
"Do you sense it?!"
"Sense..."

The familiar power suddenly filled her head. In front of her, a green light began to form.

".....He's here...!!"

Serenity did not think he would come. She thought she would come, go to him, explain. But it was no use now.

He stood before her the next moment, hoisting several smelly bags as he bowed.

"Your Highness."
"Knuckles."

The two looked at one another, and Knuckles could not help but see that Serenity's eyes were clouded with confusion, much like his daughter's. He couldn't understand his sudden infatuation with them, and so he pushed it out of his mind as best as he could. He was here on business. Emotion could come later.

"I'm here." The echidna stood up again. "I'm here.....I bring with me something I want you to look at...."

--------------------

The shadows seemed longer that day.

The bustling city paid no attention to the alleys where the creature lurked, where the eyes looked around. It was in the place here it wanted to be.

Tonight. Tonight, the next victim.