Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this almost playful confrontation… especially for the one who holds all the secrets.

~保護者~

REVIEW REPLIES:

Hello, MelGamingPlays! Your review to Chapter 34: I'm glad you liked it so much! I'm sure Blaze is happy, too. I just can't ask him right this second because he's at work. XD And yeah, Jet sure wrote some deep, dark stuff. You sure have some interesting views as well! We'll certainly do our best to keep writing as well as possible!

Your review to Chapter 35: Yeah, emotions are most certainly a complicated affair, especially when those emotions are intricately tied to the matter of romance. Espio absolutely needs more time... time he may not have. Once again, you have some interesting views on the matter! But, anyway, yes. Sonic was able to read him quite well, all things considered. He can do it better than he appears to give himself credit for.

~保護者~

"Secrets, Lies, Bloody Knives"

~保護者~

A colorful variety of curse words filtered through Espio's mind as he blurred seamlessly through the trees, sword in hand. In scarcely the time it took for one to draw in a breath, he was well on the other side of the vast palace grounds from where he had been before. He came to a stop in an isolated garden alcove, rapidly scanning his surroundings in an effort to spot the intruder. He knew he was out in the open, an easy target for attack, but at the moment he didn't care. Perhaps it would draw her out, prevent her from engaging in one of her many games-

In a flash, he was pressed back roughly against some sort of a statue, his wrist pinned high above his head. Slender fingers wrapped around said wrist, applying enough pressure and force to ensure that he couldn't easily wrench free. The curse words he had been thinking of seconds before came flooding back to him. He might have given vent to them, too, had his attacker not spoken first. "Truly, is the sword necessary? That is hardly a way to greet an old friend."

Given that he was never quite able to conceal his reactions effectively around her, Espio openly scoffed. "We are not 'friends'."

"Hm… I suppose you may be correct." She moved to smack the sword out of his grip, but he swiftly retaliated by kicking out at her legs while also moving to yank his arm down. With a nimble leap, she deftly avoided him as he avoided her. She landed atop the statue just as he spun around to face her. "However," she continued, unfazed, in a tone of false innocence, "I still think it a touch disrespectful. I came here unarmed and everything."

An amber eye instantly glanced to her right boot, then to the sleeve of her left arm. Unarmed… as if.

Seeing where his attention had strayed, she let out a tiny and amused huff. "Oh, hush. How could I call myself a ninja without at least a couple tiny knives on my person, hm? I seem to recall that you are never without yours."

"That is not the point, Nakea," Espio told her tersely. "You should not be here."

"Mm, on the contrary…" she jumped down from her perch, landing lightly in the grass just in front of him. "I happen to have a perfectly good reason to visit."

"Truly," Espio murmured, unconvinced.

"You don't believe me, I take it?" As soon as the words left her lips, she laughed. The sound was smooth and melodic and momentarily set Espio's heart racing. It had already been doing that a bit from the second she'd appeared but, of course, that hardly mattered now.

That split second of distraction was all it took for her to pin him against the stone again. Now sufficiently irritated (both at himself and at her), he tried to wrestle free of her hold. She again had a grip on his wrist, keeping it just above his head while the rest of her body lent its strength to keeping the rest of his in place. "Let me go," he all but growled.

"I think not." Using her free hand, Nakea lifted up his right sleeve. Seeing no increase in markings from what had been there before, she tutted in (perhaps genuine) disappointment. "A shame," she murmured to herself.

He disagreed. Strongly. He also disapproved of her manner of holding him still like this and sought to escape it. She, however, was going out of her way to distract him enough to make that more than impossible. The feeling of her fingers lightly brushing against his skin as she examined the markings on his shoulder sent small shivers running up his spine, as did the slight breaths he felt against his face when she spoke. Gritting his teeth, he tried to remain focused on his goal of escaping her clutches and regaining his personal space, only to have that plain totally derailed in one fell swoop.

The instant she planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth, it was like his brain shorted out for a second. His mind went blank as his body flooded with emotions that he was still after all these years trying to come to terms with. Coming to grips with them was especially hard during instances like now, when they surged up without warning and, thus, without him being able to prepare for their arrival.

It was almost certainly beyond obvious to her that she had managed to stun him. This earned him a smile from her, the very kind that he often found himself craving to see. It wasn't one of her sadistic or malicious smiles, or even the kind she normally wore when specifically interacting with him. No, this one was more… genuine, somehow. Equal parts devious, mischievous, and amused, it was so rarely worn that it never failed to make his breath catch in his throat whenever he managed to catch sight of it.

She pressed her advantage before he could think to even try avoiding any further torment. With a swift motion, she gave him another quick kiss, this time more fully on the lips. It was there and gone far too quickly for his liking, and he found himself struggling not to let himself accept that this was happening and just relent. Her smile turned into a grin… and suddenly he noticed that his sword was no longer in his hand. With a short curse, he wrestled himself out of her grasp and started to grab for one of his knives. By ripping hers free of her sleeve and hurling it at him, she forced him to focus first on dodging her decidedly weak attempt at an attack.

The knife embedded itself into something somewhere behind him, but he was already no longer paying attention to it. In a blur of motion, she lunged for him, now wielding the knife once concealed in her boot. He quickly pulled one of his own out into the open and used it to block her wide slash. She laughed softly at him. "How I wish I had the time to properly battle. I would enjoy the opportunity to paint more of those lovely markings on your skin."

Espio wasn't quite buying it. If she was short on time, then she wouldn't have been bothering with this mock-fight. She would be getting to the point of her visit by now, though perhaps in a roundabout manner. The more likely truth was that she simply wished to avoid detection by the many hundreds of Babylonians occupying the palace and its grounds. To alert them would mean bad news for her. "If you don't wish to be seen, then leave," he asserted firmly. He then returned her earlier favor by knocking her knife out of her hand.

"Oh, I would… assuming you genuinely wanted me to. However, given that the truth is quite the opposite…" Before she could finish speaking, he rushed in and soon had her pinned to the statue instead. She smiled at him again, wider this time, and informed him, "I know your secrets."

He frowned. Deeply. "And I know your lies."

Another laugh. She gently tugged the knife out of his hand and tossed it aside. For some reason, he let her. "I suppose that makes us even, then."

Spinning him around, she kissed him deeply without giving him the chance to try to refuse her. His head spun, drowning itself in all the sensations and emotions without his approval or consent. She pulled back sometime after he had apparently stopped drawing in breath and yet still far too soon in his opinion. Panting a little, he opened his eye to look at her, pointedly ignoring the blade that was now pressed against his throat. "Why… do you do that?" he demanded softly, too overwhelmed to make his words sound as irritated as he would have liked.

"Simple," she grinned. "This is fun. And, unless I am mistaken… you enjoy it, too."

He didn't care for her teasing, or the idle threat she still presented him with via that blade. What he did care about, however, was this. All of this. Bits and pieces of this scenario weren't normal for her. The fact that she was taking a huge risk by even being here could be explained as her merely finding danger thrilling. That much he understood. But why was she trying so damn hard to maintain physical contact right now? It wasn't something she typically did. But for the past couple of years, every so often she would just… be like this, and she never bothered to explain why. He couldn't make sense of it.

Squirming a little in her grip, Espio tried to work his way free again. "Tell me why you're here," he demanded sternly, though he didn't doubt for a second that he would be ignored.

Sure enough, she acted as though he hadn't even spoken. "You bore me," she complained instead. "You are usually much more fun than this. You cannot possibly tell me that you managed to grow tired."

Obviously, he hadn't. She knew that. Still, he replied. "As if I would."

"Then, pray tell, why are you being so… ah… 'grumpy', hm?" she inquired, another one of those special smiles tugging at her lips.

In an attempt to distract himself, Espio hit her with a half-truth. "I hate you."

Once more, she laughed at him. "Liar."

"I do not care, Nakea, what you think."

"Ah, ah, ah," she warned joyfully. "That's twice now. Three times and I might be forced to do something drastic." To prove her point, she pressed her blade a touch harder against his skin, cutting a thin line across his neck. "Lying will get you nowhere with me, at any rate. I can read you better than you can read yourself."

Moving very subtly, Espio reached for another of his own knives. "That was no lie," he muttered.

"Hm… perhaps in part." In a flash, she had snatched his hand and yet again trapped it above his head. He frowned more deeply at her, but she only smiled and said, "You are stubborn… and fortunate that I am disinclined to kill you just now."

Growing extraordinarily tired of this, he surged forth and knocked her backward and away from him. "I have no time for you," he muttered, watching as she neatly landed in the grass. "Tell me why you are here." There were truly a wide variety of reasons that could potentially be behind her visit, but he refused to make assumptions. To do so was dangerous in its own right. Often when we guess at others' motives, we reveal only our own.

Smiling anew, she stalked over to him. He watched her distrustfully, but allowed her to come closer without rebuttal. When she was near enough to, she leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I may know your secrets, but you know so few of mine. Allow me to share one with you… just this once. Consider it a reward for having entertained me for so many years." Before he could even think to reply, she continued. "The Immortals have long held the line against the forces that would seek to tear apart the foundations of existence, Espio. Even an eternal sea could never quench their fire."

Briefly, Espio felt a flicker of confusion within. Where was she going with this? And, far more importantly… What is it that she knows about this?

She loosely wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her chin upon his bad shoulder and her cheek against his. "When my lady came to them in search of similar power," she continued, "she was sent away. Later, she returned to take it. Her army met them on the field of what would become a legendary battle… one which was all but forgotten by many afterward."

He was quick to catch on. She refers to the matter of "Privilege" discussed in those stones… and how it was stolen.

Turning her head, Nakea kissed his cheek before saying, "The Immortals were poised to win, but they were in the end undone by an unreliable ally… one of their own. Their dear brother saw my lady's dream and so believed in it that he granted her the power that she sought, foolishly bringing upon them all a time of great death and sorrow. Many Immortals she has slain, and yet still they continue to resist us. They are forever locked in a war they cannot win against us, two warring planets orbiting an ever-burning star." Quietly, she chuckled. "I suppose they cannot help it… but neither can we. My lady has a dream… and it will become our new reality."

In an effort to free himself before she distracted him once more (or worse), Espio started to pull away, all the while feeling his mind race. If what he was being told was true - and it certainly had the possibility of not being true - then this was no longer just a war against a power-hungry force hell-bent on mere destruction. In fact, it never had been. Nakea strongly implied that her leader, whoever she was, wished to change reality as opposed to destroy it. The question now, aside from the matter of truthfulness versus untruthfulness, was… How does she intend to accomplish this?

Now smirking, Nakea tightened her grip on him. "I suppose there is one more thing," she informed him. "Though, this one is less a secret and more a… warning, of sorts. One I am only willing to give because I do not wish to see you... ah... wiped out, shall we say."

Wisely, Espio stilled for the moment. A lie or not, the things she was saying right now had to be taken seriously for the time being. Her words required consideration and investigation before they could be discredited, for if she happened to tell the truth at any point… We will need to know what she knows.

Apparently, she was pleased with his reluctant cooperation, and it showed in the way her smirk grew on her face. "There exists a certain… dilemma in your little group of friends," she told him.

He subtly tensed. "Explain."

"Oh, I will. Assuming, that is, that you're willing to put up with me for a little while longer." When he gave her a small scowl, she laughed and pecked him on the lips. She then did so twice more, just enough to make him temporarily forget his plans to leave the second she finished speaking. "The Immortals," she began to reveal quietly as he forced himself to refocus, "can no more defeat us than we can defeat them. Such has been the case for far too many years." She gained a strangely thoughtful and distant look, as though remembering something from long ago. "Once, my lady was on the brink of wiping them out, only to discover that more would simply continue to be born, on and on across eternity. We have since been forced to seek a more permanent solution… and in that energy…" Her attention shifted back to the present and she resumed smiling. "My lady believes we have finally found it."

Feeling even more serious now than he already had been, Espio was forced to question, An energy?

Nakea idly ran a finger up and down his chest. "The trouble for you lot is… well… Let us just say that this new energy has long since picked its host… and that it is not particularly friendly."

Nothing ever is. Huffing, he ducked out of the loop of her arms and took a couple steps back. In mild retaliation, she threw her slightly bloodied knife at him. He dodged it and flung one of his back at her snappishly.

It was easy for her to dodge as well, and the standoff continued. She placed a finger upon her chin in a gesture of mock thoughtfulness. "Something tells me that you are not taking this very seriously. Now, what can I do to change that…? Oh, I know."

Since he was ready for her to come, Espio had enough time to react and save himself from a potentially severe injury. She lunged for him, this time with a dagger, and made a move to plunge it into his stomach. When he struck her wrist with the side of his hand to knock the blade away, she twisted said blade around so that the tip was digging into his palm. Then of course, because she was just in that sort of mood today, she pressed her advantage in a fairly unusual manner. Wasting no time, she knocked him back into the statue yet again, thrust the dagger up so it stabbed through his hand and pinned it to the stone at his back, and initiated another kiss.

Shameful though it was to admit, he lost track of time for a good long while after that point. It wasn't until she finally gave it a rest that he was able to regain his breath and his mind was able to resume proper function again. At about the same time that it did, he suddenly became aware of two important (and irritating) things. One, she had managed to distract and overwhelm him to the point that some of his aura had escaped its usual confines and had been capable of being sensed for… however long they had been standing here - a problem which he quickly remedied. Two, because of his idiotic mistake, they had been detected and (despite his quick cover-up) were about to be joined by a very unwelcome guest. Dammit. Was this what it was like to be under supervision? Because he already hated it.

God, he needed a drink.

Thinking fast, he knocked her away from him (not that the blow in any way harmed or bothered her) and retrieved his sword. Not two seconds later, the person responsible for their interruption was upon them. "Espio? What the hell is happening here?" A familiar voice called out. Soon, the green hedgehog who owned the voice was walking into the area with a noticeable huff.

Supremely irritated, Espio quickly retorted, "Nothing." Nakea just hid an amused smirk behind her hand.

"Yeah, no," Steam muttered, glaring at Nakea. "You can cut the smug shit now."

She responded with a small shrug and replied, "Whatever you say." Her smirk didn't drop at all, and Espio left off frowning at Steam long enough to toss her a short glare.

"Alright, so, you definitely hurt Espio. He's obviously a bit pissy, which leads me to believe something happened. Either way, you, woman, need to leave. Now." Steam crossed his arms, watching the two quietly.

Oh, she was enjoying this. Espio could tell. "I think not," she answered easily. "I still have some time to kill, and I would like to continue doing so."

"And you can kill said time without Espio involved."

"Hm, perhaps. But this is much more entertaining."

Inwardly, Espio scowled. Must they speak about me as though I am not here?

Steam took a step forward, anger flickering into his eyes. "I can bring a hell of a lot of attention here if necessary."

By now, Nakea had begun idly examining her fingers as though their appearance was somehow of great importance. "You could," she agreed. "I was not anticipating a slaughter today, but I would not mind one."

At this point, Espio interrupted finally. "Do it and I will cut you," he muttered. She chuckled.

The hedgehog's aura flared in annoyance at Nakea, noticeably gritting his teeth. "You're really just pissing me off, and I don't care if you want that or enjoy it."

"Mm, that is the idea, though," Nakea told him casually. At the same time, she countered his little aura flare with a sort of neutralizing flare from her own aura. Through this (a feat she could only pull off ever once in a while), she prevented his little call for aid from getting noticed by anyone. Espio frowned at her. Could she have not done this before and allowed them to avoid this whole confrontation? Damn her.

Steam glared at her hatefully, the air around him shimmering a golden color. "Piss off, asshole."

"Such an original threat… did you create it yourself?"

"Even if I did, it wasn't for any special purpose. Just delaying inevitable issues for people."

Growing a tad bored of this, Nakea rather idly flung multiple knives at the pair of them. Espio dodged, but did nothing to help Steam do the same. As far as he was concerned, she wasn't being anywhere near serious enough for the threat to be large, anyway. Steam waved his hand and batted the knives away with a wave of his magic, growling faintly as a black blur landed on the ground near them.

Taking sight of the blur, Espio frowned openly again. More company… brilliant. He tightened his grip on his sword.

Nakea raised a brow at this little turn of events. "So you were calling for help again," she murmured. "How cute."

"Well, if I can't get close enough to kick your ass, I'll find someone else who can," Steam answered easily, his stance slowly lowering.

"So your idea was to call in the kitten?" Nakea inquired, a finger on her chin. "I find myself wondering what you would do with a brain if you happened to acquire one."

Armaris rolled her eyes, glancing to Steam. "Man, this woman has no sense of good humor." Or, at least, she wasn't bothering to display one to these people. "I'd enjoy seeing her IQ bump up by a few points and making up something more clever and original."

"Hm, I could say the same of you," was the idle reply. Espio resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"So I see that you've got nothing good in retort. Good thing to hear, considering I can't be assed to keep this up. I've got a mentor to impress, and I think I'll do that now," Armaris replied simply enough, smoky darkness rising off her body.

In response, Nakea's smirk unexpectedly dropped and she huffed. "Espio, must you have such annoying friends?" she sighed, drawing her sword again. He immediately readied his own.

"Hey! I'll have you know that he didn't choose to have me as a friend," Armaris retorted, grabbing her own weapon and letting the blade snap outwards. It was technically true. She had essentially shoehorned herself into his life and sort of… never really left. But that was irrelevant now, Espio supposed.

Steam grabbed for his own blade, then decided against it. Against her, it likely won't help at all. "Espio, you probably shouldn't be here for this."

He tossed Steam a glare. "I'm not leaving," he muttered crossly.

"Of course you aren't," Nakea laughed. "We were not finished, now were we?" He gave her a glare, too, but she merely smiled. Knowingly.

Armaris snorted. "Stubborn as hell." With that, she immediately shot forward.

In an instant, Nakea was simply gone. She gave all the appearances of having retreated again for now, but Espio wasn't buying it. As such, he immediately moved to disappear from sight as a means of defense until she reappeared. In response to all of this, Armaris began allowing her body to morph demonically. Espio knew this secret, Nakea obviously would know after their last interaction, and Steam seemed to know her enough that this was probably common knowledge to him. As such, she didn't hesitate. Steam glanced around quietly, simply unsure what to do for the time being. The only reason he'd actually even called for help was due to the fact that Nakea was simply impossible for him to so much as damage more than half the time. For that reason, he was waiting for any opportunity to manage such.

In a flash, Nakea reappeared and, while again using her aura to help prevent others from sensing this little skirmish, coated their small area in a thick layer of Darkness. Steam was quick to begin counteracting this with pulses of Light, glaring. "Espio, seriously. You need to go somewhere else."

The chameleon was thankfully already out of range for the moment, having moved to safety the second the danger had presented itself. But, seeing an opportunity, he quickly flung his sword at Nakea's back. She dodged, but not fast enough for once. It sliced through her side, and she turned in his direction with a disapproving frown.

Armaris watched the sword almost as if time had slowed, her whole body careening in that direction as corrupted Darkness erupted from her hands and blade into a powerful wave to cover the area she assumed Nakea was in. Nakea watched her come, observing the violent energies at play, and saw an opportunity to further her little game. Smiling faintly to herself, she used her own Darkness to further spread Armaris's and hers throughout a much wider area, successfully engulfing both Steam and Espio before either could make a move to escape. Momentarily stunned by the influx of energy, Espio unintentionally froze, briefly unable to cope with the way his own energies (which he wasn't yet used to even knowing existed) were reacting. He shrugged it off, more or less, after a few seconds too long and leapt away again.

Steam was noticeably affected, but powered through it with continuous pulses of Light and went in the direction he hoped Espio had headed to. Nakea vanished again, this time seemingly with little intention of returning. As she did, Espio turned his attention to his arm, which was absolutely fucking burning right now. Armaris growled hatefully, crouched low to the ground and idly tearing at whatever was underneath her in efforts to calm herself down.

An amber eye glanced her way, then briefly at Steam, then Espio looked at his sleeve as he tried to somehow lift it up (damn his one arm, truly) and see why it felt burnt. Steam jumped into the tree Espio was in, landing besides the chameleon and using his magic to aid him in this endeavor. Once the sleeve was lifted, it became clear that the areas of Espio's arm that felt like they were burning were covered in new marks. While previously there had only been a few, the influx of demonic Darkness had caused so many more to appear that about a third of his arm was covered in them.

"Espio. Please come inside," Steam pleaded softly, biting his lip.

That idea held little appeal. None, actually. But, then again… neither did staying out here, at the moment. He took a second to consider his options, but scarcely had a chance to begin before she was back, crouching directly in front of him. Following her lead, he moved so fast that time around them seemed to stand still. He started to dodge away from her, but she stopped him through her next unexpected action. She hooked her fingers under the collar of his shirt and tugged. "Come. We have somewhere to be."

Momentary confusion made itself known in him as she gave another light pull. Only when she released him and disappeared in the direction of the distant woods did he understand her intentions. Though a part of him wanted to follow, he hesitated. Old words of wisdom came flooding back to him from his youth, though they lacked the power they had once had over him. "There are some paths that cannot be untread. Be careful which you choose to walk. Do not allow your enemies to change who you are."

She reappeared a ways ahead, positively goading him with her words and her laugh. Cursing himself, he retrieved his sword and sped after her.

Armaris hissed hatefully, making a move to follow them before deciding against it. There was no way going after them would be a good idea. As such, she stayed in her crouched position for the time being. Sonic, Tails, and Wave rushed into the area right about then, all looking around in obviously great concern. "The hell?" Sonic asked in lieu of a proper greeting, eyeing all the remaining Darkness was still crackling throughout the area. His eyes landed on Armaris and lingered, but he didn't ask about her just yet.

"Espio and that woman. She showed up," Armaris summarized, wincing and closing her fist angrily. "Don't come close."

Steam walked between them as a mild precaution. "She showed up and was fucking with Espio. I found them and called for help, so Armaris showed up. We got into a short fight, and then she ran off with him following after her."

Tails's twin namesakes shifted about in an anxious manner. Holding his scanner tightly, he said slowly, "...I detected a really big spike in Darkness over here."

"All three of them had a part in that. Wasn't just Espio, but he was definitely… in that."

Wave decided to forgo her usual humor and instead adopted a very no-nonsense attitude. "Which means more markings showed up, I'd wager. How many?" Alarmed, Sonic's ears went back.

"About a third of his arm is covered," Steam replied. "I tried to get him to come in, but he chased after Nakea…"

"Shit," Sonic muttered emphatically. "Shit."

"Yeah," Tails agreed quietly. "This is really bad. We should go find him, but… I doubt I have to explain why that's probably not possible or a good idea."

Armaris' Darkness briefly spiked as she attempted to gain control over herself, briefly twitching in their direction. "Now isn't… a good time to just stand around…" she muttered, glaring at the group.

Wave shot a certain blue hedgehog a stern look. "Yes… someone here is supposed to be resting. I'll monitor this with Jet while I work on the barriers, so you go to bed. Now."

Even though he strongly suspected she was just using this as an excuse to wrap this up, Sonic decided not to press his luck against her suddenly serious mood. So, with a curt nod, he simply teleported inside. Tails's gaze lingered on Armaris for a long moment but, eventually, he also turned and left. Any questions he had could be asked at a later time. He needed to check on Shadow, anyway.

~保護者~

Kaden sat on a rocky ledge, gazing out over the barren landscape with powerful boredom. Smoke drifted lazily from the cigarette he had lit. In the past, he had used these little sticks as a coping mechanism, but these days… he supposed he just enjoyed the ritual of it, for it took a bit of the edge off of his boredom. That boredom, that damned boredom, was the only reason he currently sat here. Watching. Waiting. Listening.

Patience, he told himself. The time will come. Reminding himself of that was only marginally helpful. He was itching to get going, eager to truly face his enemies for the first time in too long. He was goddamned bored, and the upcoming battle was the only thing that promised to eliminate his problem for now. He needed the danger, the excitement, the thrill. His enemies were preparing, in their own way, for battle. They believed they were ready. Ready to face him and win. How ludicrous. If only they knew.

He never lost.

~保護者~

5,327 words this time. Hope you all enjoyed, and many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help! Posted (at about 4:00 p.m.) 10-12-19.