Nope, it insn't finished. I would be taxing Tails with a little more at the end. Despite the shortage of reviews, I still feel like I want to continue this story until it is finished soon. And unlike my other fics, I have a clear idea of how it is going to end, so I'm happy about that. )

And thank you for your reviews. Didn't know that my portrayal of emotions would be good enough. Gawd, maybe I might consider updating more often…

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Chapter 4- Reflection

I floated around in the blackness of my mind, deep in the unconscious. Voices surrounded me, echoing through the inky void.

"I'm giving you a choice, Tails, it's up to you whether you want to take it or not."

"Where… has it brought you to now…Tails? You're crying."

The voices seemed to be pulling me apart, as if Robotnik and Sonic were playing a tug-of-war game with me as the object in between. They were shouting words into my ears, persuading me to stay with the darkness or to turn my back on Dr.Robotnik respectively…

Pictures flashed through my mind; the young little rabbit, helplessly wailing for her loved one, her grandmother. It struck back the reality that siding with the dark side was going to make me hurt or kill…, and plunge people into torture and suffering, I found that it was inevitable, there was no way about it. Throughout my time here, I kept telling myself, I just wanted to show Sonic, that I wasn't as useless and young as he made me out to me, I wasn't going to really hurt anyone.

But no… I agreed to him using my inventions to force information out of people, I agreed to let people die, those were wrongs that couldn't be righted with a simple "sorry". They were vines that bound me, something I could never free myself from… Now, I had even hurt those who I once liked. As I paused to think, I knew that these things were the inevitable that came with my set of choices…

I vividly visualized vines coming to engulf me, dragging me down to some dark place, a one-way trip to disaster. Suddenly, I felt scared. I felt that I wanted to be with Sonic again; how he had consoled me when times were tough… I wanted to hear his cool and collected voice; I wanted to feel his warmth.

So cold… All I had been hearing for the past year were orders devoid of any emotion, monotone voices which were not human. As I remembered the times when I was with Sonic and my friends, this life had paled in comparison a lot. It was as if my very soul was trickling away into the darkness. How I had hurt Cream and many others, however unintentionally, was unforgivable. Master seemed to be in total control of me, manipulating me to do his bidding. He was slowly moulding me into something I didn't want to become. What exactly, I was not sure, but it would serve his purposes…

"Look at them, Tails. Walking around back and forth, nothing better to do. Dumb, eh? If you work with him, ever, you would be just like them… that lame… Promise me Tails, don't do anything silly, ok?"

Now then did it strike me that his seemingly exaggerated statement, just walking back and forth, was leaning towards the truthful side. As I spent 16 hours a day being a robot, with no sense of emotion; the only time I was human was when I dreamt in my sleep, and even that time was spent dwelling on the fateful decision, and nothing else. Compared to the already happy times I had before, as free as a bird, the real me was confined to the space of my cell.

I went to spoil it all. I was not content with freedom and wanted more. Joining Eggman, I guess I did get what I want. But now, as I look at it closer, glory was nothing without freedom. It was not worth sacrificing for your humanity and the people who cared about you. How would I enjoy that if I had only a minute or so in the whole day? How would I enjoy it if I had to take peoples' lives to get it?

I finally understood, I had it, but I never really enjoyed it… I could never really make the right decisions without Sonic, could I?

About Cream's stammering words, did she really say that Sonic actually wanted me to replace him someday? The reason why he had always sheltered me, was because he knew that I couldn't really handle it. I could imagine now that it was hard handling all that publicity, and thus, maybe Sonic wanted to wait a little longer, before he wanted to expose me to the outside world. I'm still was a young kid; at the age of 13. Maybe he wasn't like the self-centered idiot that I thought him to be, maybe he had good intentions for getting all that light…

And now I know what fruits my selfish quest had brought, glory wasn't what Sonic wanted most of.

It was a bad thing to yearn for. Now I had finally understood that fact…

And in that void, I finally felt the malicious hold of Dr.Eggman loosen completely, and I jumped toward the direction of Sonic's arms.

The spell cast over me seemed to finally break and fade away like vapours in the air.

-

But no, that was a dream. The reality was that it was far…, too late. The spell still lingered on, amassing like a cloud over me, preparing to deliver my fate. It was as if it was hanging a sword over my head…

Something that had started out small had become gigantic; strengthened to the point where a mere, strong mind could not break it. Drawn in too much by the illusions that it generated, I seemed to be teetering at the event horizon of the black hole, the point of no return.

I was locked tightly in chains, being thrown into this small, dank, prison. There was no escaping from here, at least not before Eggman would decide what to do with me. Whatever, cruel, tortuous way of death it might be, chances were that I would never be able to see my former friend again, and tell him the real truth of my life without him. A miserable mess, like the living dead… Because of that one thing that lead to my destruction…

Glory.

Now I knew, that they were forbidden fruits that could destroy lives, taking them apart piece by piece, such that one could always yearn for it. Bait would be a few feet beyond our reach, and to get it, we would be willing to cut the ropes that made up the ethical, moral limits we set. We compromise, more and more, until we taste the forbidden fruit and learn that it was not as tasty as we thought it would be.

By the time we would be able to realize that all we had done in that quest led to the very destruction of ourselves, it would be too late; we would fall into the void. Too many ropes were frayed.

I had been lulling over this point about how bad it really was repeatedly, ever since I saw the rabbits in the torture prison… But only now, in my final moments, could I dispel all the illusions that came with it… because no happiness has been brought by it.

I wasted a year, and the rest of my life, for that…, when I could have…

I slumped down the mossy stone wall, and began to cry a silent cry. It had been awhile since I had a bout of emotion come over me. Sheer hopelessness, deep regret, and overwhelming guilt was what came down over me, as thoughts filled my head. I could never see Sonic, Amy, any of the people I had been friends with again, nor could I ever even see what was outside the prison….

But the main thing that saddened me was that I was powerless to even do a desperate last grab onto the frayed ends of the ropes. I couldn't even have a chance to right my wrongs, or to even apologize to the victims. All I could do was to feel sorry for them, and to feel hatred for myself. Now, I didn't mind dying, it was poetic justice; as they like to say, it was an eye for an eye… I deserved it.

It was good news… Then I began to look up and become foolishly optimistic. I searched for other good points of the dire situation I was in… At least I wouldn't be able to cause any more pain, or any more deaths. I figured that I would create no more inventions, or weapons for Master's use.

Another thing was that Sonic would never know the truth behind where I went missing. I wouldn't have to suffer the shame of letting Sonic see me; a slave of Eggman, walking back and forth, like a mindless robot. I could imagine how the doctor could use me as a psychological weapon, revealing that I had actually done the unimaginable by turning to him for help, and would force me to fight a battle between friends…

With me dead, that was not going to happen…

That was what I hoped, at least…

The cell door opened, revealing menacing cyborgs. Two of them went into the cell, and held me by the soldiers, escorting me out of it… To where, I had no idea… But did it really matter?

As they started their mindless walk through the long corridor, I couldn't help but feel a little triumphant… I hung my head high…. Finally my horrible life would be over…

-

However, I started feeling a little insecure as I walked into somewhat unfamiliar territory. My confidence started to lower when the cyborgs actually marched past the Torture Chamber, the place which I assumed was the most probable place for me to be pushed into and perhaps shot at. But no, they didn't make the turn, and I could only look back at the hint of glowing light in the dark corridor, full of confusion and fear…

Was something… special going to happen to me? I could only hope that my wish would be fulfilled, to die. To repay all of the sins I have done and to free myself from guilt. Was that too much to ask?

My confidence started crumbling away like weathered rock, and now I found myself sweating heavily, trying to think of all other possible reasons as to what Eggman would now do with me. For betrayal, what better punishment to deal than death? I was now useless in his eyes, since he discovered that I had a soft side…, and I didn't follow his orders, because I was still partly on the right side… I did not want to serve him anymore…

What else could he do?

Then something ghastly came up it my mind… It made my blood freeze solid, as I slowly understood Robotnik's plan. The answer was staring in me right in the face. He wasn't going to be so kind to me, he was gonna squeeze every penny I'm worth, and use it for his own selfish reasons. How I suddenly lost my mind while talking to Cream, and how I couldn't really remember anything after that incident…, it now scared me more than ever before. He displayed the ability to do something that would shame me for the rest of my life, to make my presence in his army a whole lot more open, how he could force me to do his bidding…

To control my mind. Erase any mention of "free will" present in my mind and twist it into his desired form…, so that he could establish full control over me. Like a string puppet…, I would be made to willingly do things that I would not normally condone, even more jaw-dropping than just inventing stuff for Eggman…

The very thought was so overwhelming; a wave of emotion passed through me as tears started flowing down my cheeks. I couldn't bear it. I forcefully tried to struggle my way out of the iron grips of the Cyborgs' hands, but their arms didn't even budge a little… still as straight as if it had no joints. They still continued to walk, march, to the end of the corridor. It was now in sight, the darkness at the end of the tunnel.

I could only scream my lungs out as I was swept along the merciless tide of the black hole, into its inky depths, devoid of any hope or means of escape.

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God, I did click on the shortcuts of doom. As you can see, I have little or no will to write, I only can do it in short, creative bursts of inspiration, not continuously. So hope you enjoy this chapter.