Chaos
The smell of mildew and rusted steel emanated from his surroundings. Miles stood up, water dripped from his body. He shook himself dry.
His cell had to be about six feet across. He stretched his aching joints only to feel the rancid slime that covered the walls. His only light source was a small hole in the upper corner of his "residence." It had been about a week since he had woken up in this place. His last memory was that of Amy leveling some sort of blaster at him. Mile's only acquaintances were the screams of his fellow prisoners that flew throughout the empty halls like bullets. Miles had no clue why he was here, or in any case why Amy had shot him. Every time he breathed, it felt as if his lungs had been gouged out with a shard of glass. Yet he felt somehow...calm. Nothing seemed to startle him. This place seemed as if he had been in here a long time ago. He smiled.
Time passed. Miles could only judge it by the fading and reappearing light that flickered down into his cell. His whole body ached from the lack of nutrients, and the only water that was available to him was the water that dripped from the ceiling. It tasted slightly of blood.
Living itself became somewhat of a hardship for the fox. The pain in his chest had only increased in magnitude. Life became somewhat of a blur; Miles could no longer differentiate between reality and dreams. His cell door opened.
"Here he is." A voice
"Bring him out." Another.
Miles tried to look at the source of these new sounds. His body failed to comply with his mind. The last thing he felt was a pair of hands gripping his arm. Miles faded back into the dreams.
----
It had been one year since Den had brought the dying fox to his village. Tails had recovered completely and had grown quite fond of his adopted parents and they, of him. Den and Sara soon found out that Tails had a knack for fixing and building things. It was this mysterious knowledge of technology that helped out many of the residents of Algomare. The small fishing village began to flourish as new machines eased the strain of life upon the backs of the Mobains. People had become quite fond of the two-tailed fox. Time moved swiftly, yet there were days when time seemed to slow to a halt. Breezy ones spent lying in the fields, looking up at the clouds. Trying to remember forgotten memories.
Tails awoke to the glare of the sun through the windows. He shielded his eyes and got out of bed. Light danced vibrantly around his room off of they various metal parts that were strewn about the floor. Tails put on his favorite casual wear, a faded, green shirt, a black vest, and some blue jeans. It was probably around seven-thirty in the morning. Tails walked out of the door and onto the small dirt road that led to his workshop, he looked at his watch, he still had forty-five minutes. A rooster crowed in the distance. The large wooden doors creaked open. Light flooded into the dark room, illuminating all that lived there. Metal eyes gleamed in the sunlight. Tails walked into his workshop. The eyes drew back into the darkness. Tails flipped on the lights and walked into the center of what was once an abandoned warehouse...and there it was, his latest creation...it would be done soon. Tails smiled. The metal eyes watched.
The wooden doors closed, Tails walked along another dirt path that led to his school. He looked at his watch. He still had forty-five minutes.
"Huh?" Tails stopped abruptly. He looked at his watch; the hands had stopped moving. The sight of alone fox glaring at his watch must have been amusing to any onlookers.
"Gah!" Tails yelled as he sped off down the dirt path, cursing at his broken watch.
----
"Gerard what did you do to him!?" Someone yelled. The taste of metal lurked in Mile's mouth.
"I locked him up. Just like you said...Major." Yet another voice. This one older and more seasoned then the first. Mile's visage was that of darkness.
"...In D-block Gerard. I told you to put him in a cell, not kill him."
"The bastards a murderer. He deserved what he got."
"Yet you disobeyed a direct order in giving him 'what he deserved.'"
"So what are you going to do about it...Major."
There was a loud snap followed by a "click."
"How does a bullet through your eye sound?"
"...."
"Oh is the wittle puppy scared now?"
"...Uh...."
Blam! The sudden eruption of sound was followed by screams filled with pain.
"Sheesh, it's only your hand, Stop being such a baby. Oh, and Gerard, next time I won't miss."
The voices were replaced by footsteps. Miles could here a door open.
"How is he?"
"Just give him time and he should be fine."
"When he comes to, let me know."
"Yes Major."
The door closed. Miles slowly withdrew from the darkness. Coaxed by the pain of reality, he awoke. He found himself lying on some sort of steel bed. He sat up, the pain in his chest flared. Miles gasped.
"Easy there big fella, you've been through a lot these past couple of days." Miles turned around to see an echidna staring at some charts.
"Where am I?" Miles asked her.
"The Andvari Medical Complex." She stated without looking up.
The doctor walked over to a black box on the wall and pressed a button.
"Miss Rose, he's awake."
The doctor walked over to a small screen next to Miles, wrote something down on a sheet of paper and left the room. Miles tried to get up, but his insides disagreed with this motion and forced him to keel over in a new onslaught of pain. Miles groaned and rolled over onto his back. 'The Andvari Medical Complex.' The doctor's words. Miles had never heard of such a place. Where was he? 'Miss Rose...' Amy? Miles could only hope that the answers would come to him. The door opened again. The pink hedgehog that Miles once considered as a friend walked in escorted by two heavily armed guards.
"Amy?" Miles blurted.
Again the hedgehog stopped.
She turned towards the guards and told them to wait outside.
"Major?"
"It's ok, if he tries anything; you'll be the ones to clean up what's left of his brains from the walls."
The guards abruptly left the room.
"Ok fox, first things first, how the hell do you now my name?" Amy asked.
"What do you mean?" Miles replied.
Amy deftly grabbed Miles by his throat and tossed him across the room. Miles yelled as he struck the floor, gasping for the air that had suddenly been ejected from his body.
"Answer the question."
"Amy...what happened to you?" Miles gasped
Amy un-holstered her pistol and leveled it at the foxes head.
"Answer the question."
"Don't you remember, Knuckles, Sally...Sonic."
These last words seemed to strike a nerve, as Amy's stern expression melted into that of a scared child's.
"What...how do you...?" She whispered.
"What?"
Amy holstered her gun and left the room. Her exit was followed by the return of the two guards. One of them raised his firearm and smashed the butt of it into Mile's forehead. Darkness.
----
Amy slowly started walking back towards her quarters. The lights overhead flickered. She walked into an empty elevator, pressed a few buttons, and sank to the floor in dismay. How did the fox know about Sonic? How did he know my name? How can he know these things? Sonic...how? The hedgehog started crying. The elevator stopped, and the door opened. Amy got up wiped the tears from her face with a brisk motion and stormed out the doors. She hastily walked down the hallway until she reached a door with the number "98" over it.
"Home sweet home." Amy muttered pessimistically.
She unlocked the door, opened it and stepped inside. She ran to her bed. The tears returned. The years of pain she had suffered through came pouring out. How does he know these things? The tears seeped into her bed.
----
Miles awoke to the sound of maniacal laughter. He sat up and felt his head. A large lump had taken residence there. Miles got up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He was in another cell, this one more vibrant though. Light flooded in through the bars. His cell was bigger. He had enough room to actually stretch. The pain in his chest still lingered and he found it hard to move quickly. Still the question lingered, Where was he? And what had happened to him?
"Hey, look the fox is up." The voice came from behind Miles.
Miles slowly turned around to gaze upon the speaker, a gruff looking tiger.
"Name's Redge, yours?
"Uh...Miles"
Redge whistled.
"So you're the one that killed that guy in Seaport."
"Huh?"
"Still denying it eh?"
"I don't understand, your saying that I killed someone?"
"Well yeah, they were hunting you for three days, it was all over the news, but it looks like The Major got you."
"I still don't...wait! The Major, that's...."
A guard stopped outside of the cell.
"Hey! Quiet down!"
"Ah, shove it will ya." Redge replied
The guard pulled out some sort of remote and pointed it at Redge. The tiger suddenly fell to the floor twitching in agony.
The guard turned, grinned, and then pointed the device at Miles. It felt as if something exploded inside of his head, He dropped to ground.
----
Shevat walked outside of the small hut. The sun beamed down on the baked earth. It appeared as if she was in the middle of a desert. She looked around, there had to be about fifty huts in the general area. Embers still glowed brightly in what seemed to be a giant pit in the center of the conglomeration of huts. She walked over to the remnants of the fire and sat down. Later on, she would ponder why she did this, or to the matter of fact, why didn't she try to escape. The crunching of hardened sand signaled Shevat to the wolf that was walking towards her.
"Well, look whose up." The wolf laughed
Shevat turned around wearily. "Yeah." She muttered.
The wolf sat down. "You all right?"
"I guess, it's just...where am I?"
"Well, we're not quite sure ourselves, but we believe that we are somewhere around the Shien Flatlands. Oh, sorry about Hect, he thought that you were one of the renegades from the Shava. "
"...It's fine really." Again, Shevat had no clue in why she said this; the words had just seemed...right, but strangely, Shevat felt as if she was among old friends.
"So you're Nomads?" Shevat asked.
"I guess you could call us something like that."
Shevat had heard of two warring nomadic tribes in the books back in school. There was once a dispute among issues that had long been forgotten, they had been fighting ever since. The largest, and most predominant tribe, was called the "Shava," while the smaller, more reclusive one was called the "Oura." Neither tribe had gained any foothold in the generations of war, yet they still continued fighting, blinded by the dull perception of the honor and glory that had been drowned in the blood of its victims.
"So why did you bring me here?"
"You'll have to ask Hect that, he brought you back."
The wolf got up.
"By the way, my name's Shiva." She said as stirred up some of the embers with a large branch.
"Shevat."
Shiva turned around and stated walking away. She grinned, 'Hect was right, the war would be over soon.'
Shevat stared in to the glowing pieces of timber.
----
A week had passed since Miles had been moved to his new cell. He had never seen, nor heard of Redge since the incident with the guard. Miles had learned why Redge had called him a murderer. Apparently, "he" had killed a rich citizen in the wealthier part of "Andvari," called Seaport and had escaped the city, "he" had then been captured by Amy, or as she was known by most of the populous, "The Major." Her title had been applied to her not only for her position in the New Mobian Police Force, (NMP) but for her harsh brutality in dealing with her victims. On one such occasion, she had broken a citizen's arm in six places for sneering at her. On the battlefield, 'The Major" was a tactical genius, and much of the NMP's success had been because of her. The only thing that remained hidden about "The Major," was her past. She was an enigma...and a deadly one at that. Lastly, Miles had learned that the "Mobius" he was in now, was vastly different then the one he had grown up in. There had been no Robotnik or no Freedom fighters. There had been no "Great War," Nothing remained of the world he once called home, except for...her. Why was Amy here, and what happened to her? These new facts dumbfounded Miles.
Life in the prison was an interesting addition to Mile's unanswered problems. Some feeling told him that he had to escape, that he didn't belong here, that he had to get back home. Home, where was that? Mobius? Miles for once in his life could no longer make sense out of reality.
----
Amy walked out of one of the resort complexes located on a large island due south of Andvari. She had been ordered to bring in the self-named "Guardian" of the island. Apparently it had been attacking tourists on some of the new resorts there.
Amy watched as the helicopter disappeared into the clouds. She drew her SR-385 assault riffle from its lodging on her back, loaded a fresh clip, and flicked off the safety. She walked into the dense forest surrounding the resort, the hunt had begun.
----
The Oura camp was now thriving with activity. Multitudes of the nomads were now crowding around the rekindled fire. Shevat still sat on the ground, watching the flames dance in the brisk morning air. After some time, Shiva came back and beckoned Shevat to follow her. They began walking towards a large building near the edge of the camp, one of the relics left by an ancient civilization.
"Go inside." An order.
An impending sense of dread drew over Shevat as she was shoved into the dimly lit corridors. The door shut behind her. She was scared, she was trapped.
"Shevat."
Something called out to her. A part of her wanted to follow the enticing voice, a part of wanted to flee from it. The voice called out to her again.
"Shevat."
She was walking down endless hallways guided by her unconsciousness. She was no longer in control of her own body. It was guiding her. She followed the voice into the depths of the earth.
----
The Arbiters, one being to the embodiment of Fate, while another sits in a cell, waiting for time to stop. Two others wait for their resurrection to comence. History shall repeat itself once more. The war for the Eternal awaits.