Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) throughout this stressful interlude… especially for the one who lends a hand.

~保護者~

REVIEW REPLIES:

Hello, MelGamingPlays! Very well put. Very sad, very true, and very well said. I always look forward to seeing your thoughts on subjects like these, they're always so intriguing. :) Aw, thanks! I love your support, it truly means so much. I cannot ever thank you enough for always reading and sharing your reviews! Also, my co-author, Blazing Winds, was quite thrilled to see his character mentioned in your review, lol. XD

~保護者~

"Breakdown"

~保護者~

After two days of no contact, Sonic jolted out of his dreamless sleep when he sensed the return of one of his missing friends. Before his sleep-addled brain had a chance to catch up with what was going on, he was on his feet and rushing out the door. He rushed almost too much as he sped into what remained of the woods, in fact, judging by the fact that he very nearly ran into said friend. But he didn't dwell on that, instead losing himself briefly to his relief. Jet stood before him, dirty and injured but, naturally, alive. Sonic tried not to think about how many times that life might have been stolen from the hawk prior to this moment. He had likely suffered a multitude of deaths. Although, thankfully, his condition wasn't too dire presently.

That is to say, his injuries weren't severe. However… Sonic could easily pick out many signs that his friend wasn't doing well in other regards. Jet was sort of hugging himself, for one thing, which coming from him was a clear sign of anxiety. The constant shivering was, too. And he wouldn't pick up his gaze from the ground, not even when Sonic approached him. He wasn't even putting forth the minimal effort that was required to hide his aura, and from that Sonic could tell just how much of a mess his friend's emotions were. His stress levels were frighteningly high, he was feeling anxious and afraid and all these other negative emotions that would almost certainly trigger a meltdown if he wasn't able to calm down quickly…

All of this Sonic worked out in seconds. Thinking it best to take Jet back to the house as quickly as possible, he quietly asked, "You okay to walk? You need to go lay down."

Jet shook his head after a few seconds, eyes still downcast, and took a tiny step back. "Don't want to," he mumbled in a tiny voice. Sonic wasn't surprised by this seemingly unusual manner of speaking. Purely because, for Jet, it wasn't unusual. Not when he was this riddled with stress and the like. It was often difficult to get him to speak at all, and when he did… well, his words tended to be overly simplistic, his sentences short, and his responses overall rather vague. It wasn't a good sign that he was displaying this symptom right now.

"Why not?" Sonic gently pressed. "You'll be safe there. And we'll all be there with you. You won't be by yourself." When Jet didn't immediately answer, Sonic looked to his friend's aura for help in understanding the problem. He couldn't be sure, but… Oh. Damn. Realization struck and his gaze swung back to Jet. He saw the shaking in a new light, noticed for the first time the way Jet's eyes seemed to be struggling to remain focused. Concerned anew, he quickly asked, "You're not feeling well, are you?" It seemed to take a long moment for his question to register, and when it did Jet merely shook his head.

No matter how old he was, Sonic still vividly recalled what signs and symptoms typically preceded a stress-induced seizure for Jet. He was displaying several of them, and Sonic knew what that meant. If he couldn't manage to calm his friend's emotions enough and do so quickly enough, then a meltdown would be the least of their concerns. Alarmed and full of fresh worry, he quickly teleported back to the house. He reappeared with Jet in tow, but not in the front room with everyone else. The guest room didn't exist anymore, so he had taken Jet into Espio's room. The bed itself (along with the sections of the roof and virtually every other bit of furniture) was trashed, but he made quick work out of preparing a new bed on the floor using the mattress and some in-tact blankets. He then guided Jet to lay down before the hawk could collect himself enough to protest.

No doubt hearing the commotion, Tails and Vector started to poke their heads in, but Sonic quickly ushered them out. "Not now," he muttered lowly. "It's a bad time. Just wait in the front room, okay? I'll be out in a bit." They didn't protest, much to his relief, and soon he was alone with Jet again. That was good. Jet desperately needed space… almost more than he needed support.

Now, Sein poked his head in curiously with a definite display of concern on his face. "Can I come in?" he asked softly, not wanting to make this worse than it was.

Sonic nearly huffed, but refrained. Of course you can. Stepping out of the doorway, he replied, "Yeah. Just… try to keep yourself quiet. And make sure you don't touch him unless it's necessary." He didn't explain just yet why physical contact might wind up being necessary, figuring they would cross that bridge when they got to it.

The hawk nodded and walked in quietly, sticking to the sides for now. Some of this seems familiar. The overall anxiety is definitely present… so I think I know part of what's happening. "Sonic, is this all related to a case of autism?"

"...Some of it's PTSD, I think," Sonic sighed. He kept a close eye on his friend all the while, though Jet wasn't doing anything too worrisome at the moment. Laying on the bed in a fetal position with his hands over his ears while facing the wall was about it, really. Aside from the constant shivering and shaking, he wasn't even really moving around. "Hard to tell, since he has anxiety and stress issues from both. But… yeah. Autism definitely plays a big role."

"Got it," Sein murmured, his attention carefully sticking to his son. "Some of this feels… similar to Kath. I understand some of it," he admitted, crossing his arms slowly.

That made sense. Still, Sonic knew Sein wasn't going to be fully prepared just based off of that alone. Shifting his gaze back to the older man, he said, "There are definitely some things that aren't going to be familiar to you based off of those experiences. The big stuff we need to be on the lookout for is meltdown stuff. The Kath we knew here pretty much never had any of those, and the ones he had were pretty quiet and contained. Was that true where you're from?"

"It tended to be that way, especially since his environment usually was. Every now and then it would happen, but it wasn't that common."

Sonic nodded. "Jet's meltdowns aren't the same way," he cautioned. "They're more… volatile, I guess you could say. There's the usual crying and whatnot that tends to always accompany a meltdown, but there's more to it than that for him. For one thing, he nearly always displays self-injurious behaviors. As in, he tends to hurt himself. And it's not terribly deliberate, either. It tends to be fairly automatic, like he can't help it, almost." Sein didn't say anything in response, merely nodding to show that he was listening and urge Sonic to continue with any other information he may have. Seeing this, Sonic continued. "In his case, there are three things to watch out for. The most serious one is head-banging. You might have heard of this one before since it's so common but, just in case, it's literally where an individual causes themselves deliberate pain by slamming their heads into hard surfaces like walls, tables, floors, or so on. He also tends to dig his fingers into his arms hard enough to bruise himself pretty badly. He's even drawn blood once or twice. The last one is harder to catch since it's not as visible, but he bites the insides of his cheeks as well, hard. Usually the right one."

"I'll make sure to keep this in mind." That's a lot of different things… but I should be able to keep up with any changes… I hope. Sein took a second to clear his thoughts before asking, "Is there anything else important to know for this situation?"

This time, Sonic's nod was more grave. "Yeah. Remember how I mentioned his PTSD? Something about that coupled with his brain chemistry or whatever, possibly also because of the mix of autism as well, causes him to have a very severe physical response to high stress levels." He hesitated for a second, decided it was best to just get on with it, and continued. "This tends to cause seizures. Serious ones, too. It's why he's shaking so much right now. It's one of the ways his body reacts when he's on the verge of having one."

Sein nodded and sighed softly, twirling a small bar of aura between his fingers in a careful manner to manage his own stress toward the situation. "Got it. What do you propose we do from here?"

"The most important thing is to get him calmer and then ensure he stays that way," Sonic answered. "He's also definitely gonna need some rest. Trick is keeping him in bed once he's more coherent, though. He gets… restless. To say the least."

"I think I may be able to help with the last bit, at least somewhat. The first part… I'd feel best following your lead."

Understanding that perfectly, Sonic said, "Yeah. I get it." He turned back toward Jet. "Not really sure how to handle him in this situation, though… given the circumstances. I don't have anything that we'd normally use to help him relax, and the cause of his stress this time is kinda… extreme."

"Well… what would you normally use? Maybe we can make do with something else?" Sein proposed, shrugging with a touch of insecurity.

"A TV, for one thing," Sonic answered. "Soft blankets also help, as does music off this old music player he used to have. Those are the big ones, and we don't have any of that stuff here."

Sein wracked his brain before suddenly coming up with something. "I have an idea, but I need you to make sure nothing happens in the short time I'm gone, okay?"

Already moving to sit down near his friend, Sonic gave another short nod. "Yeah. 'Course." Sein teleported away the moment this was said, returning a few minutes later with both a flute in one hand and a blanket in the other. Sonic looked over at him with a vague frown. "Where'd you manage to find those?"

"I… went back to Babylon for a moment. Checked the observatory and found this stuff." He held out the blanket, sighing. "The flute was the closest thing I could find, but I think it can suffice for now to replace the music."

A note of relief entered Sonic's expression and his frown faded. "That's actually perfect," he said, standing. "Flutes, pianos, and violins are usually what we try to use, since they're quiet and usually pretty mellow." As he spoke, he retrieved the blanket from Sein and gently laid it over Jet. This seemed to finally rouse the younger hawk, who kicked it off mostly but kept it close enough that he could still feel the fabric to some extent.

Sein watched this quietly before sitting down with his legs crossed, glancing to the flute. Been a long time. Slowly and carefully to make sure he remembered, the hawk played a low, melodic tune that he would use in times of stress to relax. Maybe if it helped him, it could help his son as well. Initially, Jet didn't quite react. Then, for a moment, his face scrunched up and he tightened his hands over his ears. Sonic watched him closely as he shifted around, emotions seeming unsure where to shift in response to this new stimuli. Soon, however, he settled back down and resumed laying still. His arms even relaxed a little, hands no longer pressing quite so hard against his head. Sonic took this as a good sign and allowed himself to relax. Sein also took this as a good sign, continuing the song and keeping it simple. Jet didn't really do much throughout all this time, but his emotions did seem to settle… if only a bit.

Slowly but surely, Sein shifted on to a new song, something more lighthearted and gentle to try and give Jet something new to focus on and hopefully continue the good progression of his emotions. Eventually, the man decided to take a break and let the song fade before leaning his head back against the wall. "Damn. I still know how."

Sonic managed a vague smirk for a moment or two. "Yeah. Guess so."

"Do you think that'll be good enough for now?" Sein asked, turning his head to face the hedgehog.

"Hard to say," Sonic sighed. "It's not like he can really tell us right now, in his current state. We'll just need to keep an eye on him for a while."

The hawk gave a nod and pushed himself to stand. "Alright, then. If you need me, let me know. I'll be happy to help, but something's telling me that I might be needed elsewhere sometime soon."

Turning his head to look at Jet, Sonic asked quietly, "Will you come back afterward? He may not admit it out loud, but… he's probably gonna need you."

"Of course." Sein smiled, chuckling a little. "I'll never let anything happen to him that I can't help with. And if he wants me around, that's all the better."

~保護者~

Armaris darted through what remained of the village as merely a ghostly shadow, wispy Darkness trailing behind her. She soon caught sight of the portion of Espio's house that was still present, her eyes tearing up involuntarily before she teleported over and climbed the tree. It wasn't long before she arrived on the roof, carefully laying herself down without so much as noticing Alana there as well. The hawk glanced at her in silence.

"Alana?" Sein called as he pulled himself up to where he could peer over the roof. "Who's here?"

Turning her gaze his way, Alana (who had returned mere minutes ago and was trying to take a moment to gather her thoughts in peace) simply answered, "Armaris has returned."

Sein and Armaris' gazes met for a moment, and instantly a light of compassion flickered into the male hawk's eyes. He quickly pulled himself the rest of the way onto the roof and walked a few feet toward the cat before kneeling down gently. "Hey, Armaris. What happened?" Armaris was silent, her Darkness flaring out for a moment almost fearfully. She edged away from him, never letting her eyes meet his again. Sein watched for a moment and sat down where he was. "Where'd you go?"

"A city," she muttered unhelpfully, eyes flicking rapidly between the two hawks present. What would Cere say about what she'd done? What the hell was I thinking?

Alana's eyes narrowed very subtly as the understanding of these circumstances dawned. Something of consequence has happened to her as well… and it likely involves another person.

"Stop," Sein calmly demanded, letting a faint tone of authority enter his voice for that alone. "Why'd you go there?" he asked, much more soft than before.

"My mother was there," Armaris uttered, terror creeping into her aura.

Sein glanced to Alana worriedly. On one hand, he knew full-well that this could go any number of ways. On the other, his desire to help was always burning so deeply within his soul that he didn't want to leave this be. He sought her guidance. She met his gaze and subtly shook her head, believing whole-heartedly that it would be in Armaris's best interest to back off. A nod of response was given to this, and the subject was changed almost instantly. "What happened during the battle? Your aura seems… off. I'm just worried."

Armaris was quiet for a long moment, enough so that Sein was almost willing to simply stay quiet and let her relax. However, she did speak eventually, quietly. "He grabbed me. Corrupted me more."

"So that confirms it, then… Poor girl was born a half-demon." Sein mentally said to Alana. "No wonder her aura is all over the place."

Instead of directly answering that, Alana said, "She can be purified back to her normal state. She should be purified. The trouble is that she may not allow it. It will hurt her, after all, and the risk of death is always present in even the most controlled scenarios."

"She seems to hate that demonic side. I keep feeling this intense hatred and it's tearing her apart from the inside. I want to present the option to her, no matter the risk."

"Then do so, if you wish. She appears to be opening up to you already, so it will sound better if you ask as opposed to me."

Sein gave a gentle nod to this, edging closer to Armaris so he could talk more quietly. "I… think we can help you with that. At the very least, we can attempt to bring you back to what you were before that corruption, but at a big risk. It's gonna hurt, and… it honestly might kill you. If you're willing to trust us and take that risk, we will do everything in our power to help. And if you don't, we will respect and understand your decision."

The cat seemed all too eager until the mention of the risk of death. That concerned her, but no more than the thought of how others may react to her being more of a demon than she already was. She didn't even want to face the Gods and Goddesses she was around so often in this state, worried that they may not want her around. She spent a few moments to debate the choices before nodding. "Please… if you can fix it, please…"

Finally, Alana chose to speak aloud. "We can," she quietly and calmly assured. "And you will survive, that much I can promise. The risk of death is present, but very slim in this case. You will be alright."

"You didn't mention how low of a risk it was to me," Sein muttered with faked indignation.

Somehow, Armaris managed a small smile to Sein before pushing herself up to sit a bit closer to him. "Thanks…"

Sein chuckled and ruffled her hair before standing up, already beginning to gather the specific Immortal energy necessary for this procedure. Alana followed suit, silent once more. "Don't mention it, Armaris. Just doing my job."

~保護者~

It was quiet and calm again when Sonic snuck out of the house for some much needed solitude. He found one of the least ash-filled spaces in the immediate area and sat down. Only once alone and certain that no one was nearby did he draw his knees up to his chest, hide his face, close his eyes, and allow the floodgates within his mind to open. Everything he had been bottling up rushed out, whirlwinds of thoughts and emotions slamming through him outside of his ability to control… not that he felt up to trying right now, regardless.

Shuddering breaths were hardly enough for him to contain the tears that he felt stinging at his eyes. Focusing on his thoughts, on attempting to process everything that had occurred, didn't alleviate his struggle at all. In fact, it only made things worse. The revelation about his father plagued his mind, refusing to leave him alone and rendering his emotions so raw and powerful that it felt like he might drown in them.

A gentle yet heavy weight settled on his back. Though aware of it, it didn't fully register for a long while that he was feeling it at all. Directing his attention to that warm hand as much as he felt capable of doing, he drew in another breath. A familiar aura filled his senses, bringing with it the usual feeling of calm. He took in one last breath in an effort to calm himself down before whispering, "Locke?"

"Yeah," the other man almost sighed. "I'm here, kid."

Hearing that voice nearly caused Sonic's emotions to choke him again, but he nevertheless managed to get out a broken, "How?"

This time, Locke really did sigh. "S'pose you could call it good fortune," he murmured. "Malevolence tried to kill me, as you know. It would have, too, had my mentor not saved my ass. She was the Goddess of the Sun, before her death. When she passed the role onto me, it made me a semi-Immortal like she was. She's the only reason I'm still alive and kicking."

Processing this was difficult. It was easier to move on to something less painful. Except his mouth apparently had other ideas. "D… Dad?" he questioned weakly, still unable to speak in full sentences.

"He's alright," Locke assured in a quiet voice. "Properly pissed about various things, but fine. He had enough of Jet and I after a while and kicked us out of his realm. I don't think he'll be doing too much for the next couple of days."

More tears stung Sonic's eyes, but he fought to hold them back. "Why… why would he do this?" he found himself asking. "Attacking and trying to kill all of us… doesn't he remember…"

Though he trailed off, Locke understood. The older man sought to explain as gently as possible… but there was no way it wouldn't hurt. "It's not that he's forgotten. That's not what corruption does. But it does morph positive emotions into their most negative counterparts. Love, for example, mutates into hate. Sometimes outright animosity. Joy becomes rage. It goes on. This, naturally, fuels a lot of his reactions to everyone. It's…" He paused, shook his head, and let the sentence hang.

Once more, it was difficult to process any of this. Sonic tried to move on, at least for now. "We… aren't enough, are we?" he mumbled. "Tails says they want to try to save Dad somehow, but if Dad can do all of this so easily, we… we can't…"

Locke shifted beside him. "Yeah. We aren't enough. Not by ourselves." His confirmation was hardly comforting. But then he nudged Sonic a little with the hand still resting on the hedgehog's back. "So, what's your plan, then? You seem like you have one."

"It's utter shit," Sonic argued in a broken voice. "It won't work."

The echidna's voice remained calm and gentle when he prompted, "Tell me anyway."

A long moment passed as Sonic worked his way through his sudden and irrational anger. It soon melted away back into despair. "Shadow and I… were thinking about reviving people," he eventually admitted. "Anyone who could help. Everyone who could help."

There was silence. Then, suddenly, Locke stood up, finally prompting Sonic to look up at him. The man was covered in injuries and burns from demonic flames, but didn't seem to notice any of it. Despite his calm demeanor, there was a definite glint of resolve in his eyes and tone. "You'll need a lot of Light to accomplish something like that." He turned his head, met Sonic's gaze. "I think I know someone who can help."

Sonic blinked up at him, too emotional to think clearly or conjure up a decent reply. Locke said some sort of a farewell with a promise to return as soon as possible. Left to his own devices, Sonic could have easily resumed wallowing… but decided to force himself to focus on other things. His friends still needed him. There were things that needed to be done. So, wiping his tears away as best as he could, he shakily stood and began walking back.

~保護者~

A red portal flashed into existence above the remains of Espio's home, the black Hexan this magic belonged to stepping through and dropping gently onto the roof with a quiet, concerned gaze that swept over the destruction before finally landing on Armaris (who was laying down after the purification). The woman's eyes widened in concern as she looked over her student, relief coming to the Goddess upon noticing that Armaris was well enough. Her attention quickly snapped to Sein, quietly demanding an explanation.

The bird gave a gentle sigh, walking closer so as to not disturb the currently sleeping cat. "As far as I'm aware, she had some sort of incident with her mother. However, this came after… Kaden corrupting h-"

Red energy flared to life hatefully within the Goddess' eyes, her fists clenching tightly as she fought the rage flowing over her in waves. Soon, she was able to quell her anger enough to calmly, despite already knowing the answer, ask, "You and Alana were able to purify her, yes?" A short nod was given in response, to which the woman sighed a deep, held breath of relief. Her gait had her by Armaris' side in no time, a hand gently stroking the cat's hair. "Armaris, wake up," she whispered.

Almost instantly, the cat's eyes snapped open and she reflexively attempted to bat the hand touching her away, only to stop mid-swing upon realizing who the hand belonged to. "Cere?" she asked softly.

"Yes, my child. I'm here." Those words were more than enough for the cat to shoot up and cling tightly to the hexan, practically sobbing in seconds. Cere held her student close, simply letting the other cry as much as she needed to. After some time, the cat's sobs had diminished to nothing more than sniffles and the occasional cough. Once this time came, Cere gently pushed Armaris to where she could see the other's face, a gentle and careful smile shared between the two. "Whatever happened, we can speak of it in private if you so wish."

Armaris gave a gentle nod, moving close and nuzzling the older woman's neck. "Thank you…"

"I have an important question for you. Is everyone that was in the group currently here?" Cere asked softly, gently rubbing the cat's back.

A moment of silence before Armaris quietly admitted, "Espio… He isn't here."

Cere frowned visibly for a long moment. She wished Sein had stayed up on the roof with them, but yet still knew his reasoning. "I will help you search for him, if that's what you would like to do."

"...Yes."

"Consider it done, my child." The older of the two stood up, the cat quickly following suit and checking to make sure all of her weapons were on her person. Cere teleported herself into the house itself, her gaze quickly shifting to Steam and Sein. "Do either of you know why Espio isn't here currently?"

Steam scratched the back of his head sheepishly, with an almost annoyed expression. "Fucking energies got corrupted. It's-"

"Details. Only the important ones." Cere cut in sharply, fixing him with a glare that caused Steam to shift for a moment.

"Kaden got to him and starting corrupting his energies. Luckily, I prevented it from how bad it could have been, but it happened regardless. However, it was only the energies, and it was slight."

Cere grumbled for a moment about lack of conciseness before giving a nod and teleporting back to the roof. "Are you ready?" Armaris gave a gentle nod to this, latching on to her teacher's arm as they teleported away in search of the chameleon.

~保護者~

4,730 words this time. Apologies for the delay, but I nevertheless hope y'all enjoyed. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all his help! Posted (at about 8:35 p.m.) 01-21-20.