(Attempt)
Imperious was the sky above the land of darkness.
"Hold!! HOLD!!"
"Get to work!! Lazy!!"
It was hard work for all here in this world, those who suffered under the
weight of the powerful which ruled here. It was a weight that even the powerful
could not hold off on their own. The weight was one of despair, longing,
hopelessness, fear. In the sky, a cloud of choking death, left by those of the
past, so that it might destroy the future. The decaying buildings, the filthy
"Sir, are you sure such a journey is a good idea?"
".....It is not."
The dark, cloaked figure looked at his constituents. It was he who ruled this
land, who had sought it with his own hands, who was trying to rebuild it as he
saw fit.. It was he who had to go.
"But it is the only way."
"Then....we wish you luck."
"It is all we can give, for you have taken all else away."
The figure gave his constituent such a look that the creature who defiled him
simply crawled away, its head bowed in shame.
"I take leave!" The figure turned. "May I be guided with my head
instead of my heart!"
The group nodded as the creature turned on its heels and left. Something, they
knew. Something was going to happen to their leader.
The question now was what.
-------------------------
The sun was setting upon the city of Crystal Tokyo, and the stars coming out.
Slowly, surely, all of them came out, at least to those who knew nothing of
what had befallen the Royal Palace.
"Are you sure, Knuckles?"
"I'm positive, Sailor Neptune." Knuckles' head was down. "I
don't want my father buried until I know who did this."
Three soldiers - Neptune, Uranus and Pluto - sat with him in the small den,
which held a bar and some lounge tables. Pluto simply looked at Knuckles,
silent the entire time he pressed his case.
"There must be evidence. I know there is. Some type of evidence, even a
shred, linking someone to this."
"We might never know, Guardian." Uranus leaned against a wall.
"For all we know, the killer is gone. There wasn't anything linking the
murder to anyone."
"No. There was."
"No fingerprints, no weapons...." Neptune looked at Knuckles.
"I'm sorry. If we were there, if the body had been untouched, we would
have recieved something."
"Our new woman, Washer, she did a scan, as did Mercury to double-up on it.
No foreign DNA."
"Washu."
"Indeed." Uranus motioned to Pluto. Lets speak outside for a
moment."
With that, the three left the echidna to himself, and they closed the door
behind him.
"Setsuna, talk!" Neptune hissed. "Takls to him, dammit!"
"He's possessed." Uranus looked towards the door. "No matter
what we say, he's convinced he can find a way. Pluto, as the guardian
of....time...."
Uranus' voice trailed off. Pluto wasn't looking at her; rather, she was simply
staring at the door. It was if she was trying to go through the door, to look
at Knuckles once more. It was very obvious that she was concentrating on him
for some reason.
"Pluto!"
"....Yes..." Pluto's voice was more dream-like; it was obvious that
she was very much into whatever she was thinking. "I'll talk to him.
Alone."
With a quick motion of her body, the time soldiers was opening the door,
closing it behind her before any of the other soldiers could protest.
------------------------
Knuckles sat down, his hands rubbing his head. It made no sense.
It is my fault, isn't it....
"As the Guardian Savior," Knuckles had looked at his father the
fateful day they had reunited on the Island. "If that is my destiny, I
must protect all whom I oversee, all echidnas, all Guardians, all
tribespeople!"
"Indeed." Locke looked over at his son. "But with this comes
responsibility. If, indeed, you are what was predicted, the fate of the
civilization would be in your hands."
"I won't worry, dad."
"No..." Locke turned away. "I think I will do it for
you...."
But my power as the Savior...could I have forseen it? The terrible feeling I
had....
Knuckles tapped his hand into the wall. He should have acted on his instincts.
The past week, he had had the strange feeling of dread, but he had not thought
once it was his father. No, his father had been happy with Kakyuu, despite the
drawbacks their relationship had on the overall situation with Knuckles and
Locke; they hardly ever saw each other.
The last time Knuckles saw him was a year ago, five years ago for Earth (no
matter what, he kept doing that estimate, as Earth's time was also engrained
into him). It had actually been by surprise; Locke had come to him and stayed
for twelve days. They had caught up on everything, and had talked about many
things. Many things - more reminiscing than anything.
During that time, Knuckles felt a strange pain in his arm. His chest, his head,
stomach, his legs, his left arm. It was very strange, as he had not ever had
any physical problems since his phima battle. He became so pained that he
actually went into a coma, and it took everything Locke and the doctors had to
bring him back. It had never been explained; it couldn't be explained.
Perhaps it could make sense now. The head, the chest, the stomach, the left
arm, the legs. Where the lacerations on Locke were.
Then, I had the feeling....
Knuckles rubbed his head. It still made no sense. They would say he could have
never known, but he wasn't so sure. But he was sure to find the one
responsible, find out why from their pleading eyes, then rip their hearts out
and watch them die slowly, painfully, as he watched...
For me..... Like an id, his ID suddenly awoke, and his eyes momentarily
flashed. I beckon me. I will do what I will to kill that which killed my
flesh!
No.
A strange voice of conscience seemed to rise into Knuckles, even as his own
selfish instinct thought out the demise of the murderer. It was something he
had never heard before, and he stopped momentarily.
I will kill him, his ID beckoned after a while. I must find the man
and kill him! Destroy him for all he did!
No, you will not, the strange, almost
female voice beckoned its tone familiar to him, like Julie-Su. But Knuckles
knew that it wasn't she who was his conscience. You
will face him, but you will not kill him!
I will!
You won't.
I know me better than you, ego! I am my own conscience!
......Do you?
"Knuckles."
The voice suddenly disappeared from the room, leaving Knuckles alone with the
time soldier. With a motion of her hand, she beckoned him sit.
"I can sense it in you. You thirst for justice."
"...I....." Knuckles shook his head. "I do."
"You know I can help you." Pluto put her garnet rod down. "But
you must help me. Was anything given to you, when you first encountered your
father's body?"
"No...."
Yes.
Knuckles suddenly remembered the terrible note. The horrid taunt, a taunt he
couldn't understand.
"No.......I do have something?"
"Hmm?"
"This."
Knuckles quickly took out the note. Pluto slowly took it from his hands and
unfolded it. As she read, her expression was normal; as she read more, however,
her face became more and more concerned, almost even confused.
"Pluto....?"
".....ID."
The words, the initials, came slowly through Pluto's mouth, like she had heard
the expression before.
"ID?"
"ID......The Freudian part of the brain which states a person's 'I' wants,
their selfish needs." Pluto rubbed her chin. "This person, this
murderer, must be using this idea murder as a way of enhancing themselves
and........"
Pluto stopped. She looked at the paper.
"Knuckles?"
"Hmm?"
"How was this given to you?"
"Huh?"
"Was it folded?"
"No; I folded it in half."
Pluto examined the paper carefully. Slowly, surely, she began to fold it - not
on the creases Knuckles made, but on other creases, in the tattered points
which Knuckles had somehow ignored. More and more she folded the paper. Until
all there was was a shape. A geometric shape.
A triangle.
Pluto's eyes furrowed.
"ID..." she hissed. "So this is what ID is..."
"Sailor Plu-"
Knuckles was interrupted by the slamming of a door.
-------------------------
The figure crept silently down the stairs.
Though there had been some pesky guards, everyone was, for the most part,
asleep or inaware of his presense as he silently opened the door to the room.
After this, the mission, his liefelong mission, complete....
"Mamoru? Is that you?"
The figure smiled. It was too easy.
-------------------------
"This."
The triangle was suddenly thrust in the faces of Neptune and Uranus. In reply,
Uranus cocked an eye while Neptune simply stared.
"A triangle?"
"A note." Pluto unfolded the latter. "From ID."
"ID?"
"ID." Pluto repeated. "What it stands for. The triangle!"
The faces of the two soldiers suddenly collapsed; they simply stared at Pluto
with shocked expressions. It was as if they were re-living Albion once more.
"Not..."
"Pluto....Not that...." Uranus growled. "You....can't be-"
Uranus was interrupted by a loud sound, followed by several screams.
"NO!!"
"KNUCKLES!!"
Pluto threw the door open in time to see Knuckles disappear in a trace of
light.
-----------------
The flowers on the table were in full bloom in that season. With all of the
beautiful petals, it was hard for anyone not to be cheered up by their scent,
their sight, their message of happiness.
"Come on, Lara-Su." Connor sat across from the echidna, his face
sulking. He had picked the dandelions at the suggestion of his mother,
Lara-Su's grandmother. "Stop being stupid."
Lara-Su didn't yell back. She didn't say anything. She didn't even look up at
Connor. She simply sat, her face down, her eyes just looking down, looking
through the floor.
"I called you stupid. Aren't you going to hit me or something?...."
Connor looked into his playmate's eyes as best as he could. "Because you
are, you know."
There was still no reaction. With a roll of his eyes again, the boy echidna got
up and left.
"What's her problem?" he mumbled. "Its not like her dad's
dead."
------------------------
Knuckles got to him first.
The figure turned around. Somehow, he missed Jupiter's head.
"Stay where you are!" The guardian hissed.
The figure looked at the echidna. He was familiar. Would he submit? Why should
he? Jupiter had not been his target. His target was supposed to be here, in her
room, but somehow she wasn't.
"Drop your weapon."
The figure slowly dropped his weapon; it was obvious that he would have to at
least get out with his life. Looking closer, seeing the face of his arrestor,
he realized that he would be lucky if he got out with even that.
Him......him here....
"All right..."
Knuckles was burning, meanwhile; losing his father was bad enough. Another
death would have pushed him over completely, especially with him there to stop
it.
"Your under arrest under the authority of the Cry-"
It came unexpected, and while Knuckles had expected a fight, the fast kick he
got to the stomach still sent him reeling. As he crashed to the floor, the
figure jumped over him, allowing his hood to come off.
What.....
The dreadlocks beckoned to Knuckles, flying from the cover of the fogure's
head. They looked like twisted vines, ready to come down and strike him, choke
him for failing his father, for failing to capture him, for his father....
*FLASH*
Knuckles skin turned bright green, the power tingling from his-tinged
dreadlocks, and he was up on his feet within the instant.
Confidently, intelligently,
inquisitive, happily,
he lived before.
His fatality,
reaper of torture,
his corpse a product,
of hatred and vengeance......
This is it.........this is it....
....Who is in my head?
His pondering of this sudden voice stopped as the door slammed in his face.
"STOP!!!" He roared. "STOP NOW!!!!"
"KNUCKLES!!"
Pluto was on the figure in an instant, running after him.
"Uranus! Neptune!! Attend to the queen!" To Knuckles, "Follow
me! We have a chance to stop him yet!!!"
---------------------------
The Spectre watched quietly as the two, Pluto and Knuckles, began their
path.
He could only give a sigh. It was going to be hard to just do nothing, to just
haunt this place and the new inhabitants, the scientist and the policewoman,
until the truth was shown to them.
But he would have no choice. Whatever path Pluto and Knuckles found when
following their new echidna friend, it was theirs to take.
His business, sadly, was not to show them which path was the right one. And he
hoped for everyone's sake they took it.
