Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during this hard… especially for the one who has so much to feel anger over.

~保護者~

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Hello, MelGamingPlays! Haha, yeah, it's very good for all their sake's that he's still around to lend them a hand. They really need it, that's for sure. And I think it's the second time, too, but I don't really know for sure, lol. XD Yeah, that fight was never destined to end in their favor. As for how they'll solve their troubles... well, we get to see part of the plan in this chapter, so enjoy... ;)

~保護者~

"Anger"

~保護者~

A shinobi of Espio's caliber was simply never found unless they were willing to be. That went without saying. Doubtless, Armaris was well aware of that fact… and yet, she and Cere went searching regardless. There was little hope of finding her wayward friend, not unless they were lucky. Would he stick to the wilderness, as he so often did when he was his usual self? Would he stray into settlements with the intent of harming or killing anyone he found? Would he do something else entirely? It was difficult to say… and time was of the essence.

Much of the traveling was done in silence, the two women's focus going toward finding the rogue shinobi. This would prevail, had Cere not had much on her mind. Things pertaining to her student, her fellow gods and goddesses, and so much more. Only one of these was she able to address, and so she did. "Armaris. Can I ask you something?"

Never one to turn down this particular elder (young-looking though she was), Armaris glanced over and replied, "What is it?"

"What happened while you were corrupted? Sein's expression told me that you hadn't been doing well."

Armaris shrunk down a bit. She hadn't wanted to speak of this at all, especially not when she knew Cere's position about acting in anger. Though… the woman seemed concerned about it. "I… happened to see where my mother was… on the planet." Cere nodded her head gently, motioning in a soft manner to continue. The cat hesitated, then began speaking once more. "Well… I… went to her. Confronted her."

"And got in a fight?"

"...More like killed her."

Cere paused momentarily, stunned into silence by this revelation. Armaris shied away, as if fearful of being reprimanded for such behavior. She flinched when a hand set onto her head, then relaxed when she realized the touch was gentle. The hexan pulled Armaris into a soft hug, simply holding her there for a time. "You… did nothing wrong. Acting so heavily from your anger was not wise… however," She pulled away, casting the younger woman a caring and compassionate smile. "You truly did nothing wrong. You had every right to do what you did, and I'm proud that you were able to."

"But… I did it because I was corrupted…"

"Ara…" Cere said, using an old nickname for the young cat. "All that happened was a powerful release of all of your pent up emotions. You acted well, despite what overwhelmed you."

Armaris pulled herself back into Cere's arms, seeking comfort from the motherly figure. Cere was all too happy to provide this, and they soon broke off and resumed their search. Both parties felt… significantly more relieved. They headed toward the only settlement that existed anywhere near where the barriers (the ones surrounding and concealing the massive mountains, known collectively as the Highlands of Northern Highlands, that the chameleon territories consisted of), which was a small and nondescript village nestled in the snowy woods multiple miles to the southwest of the once closed-off mountain range. Depending on which way Espio had gone after he'd disappeared… there was a definite chance that the village was no longer standing at all. They were incredibly close to it at this point, meaning they would find out any minute now.

They arrived at the village in silence. No words were spoken as they surveyed the scene before them. Once pristine snow was dyed red. Houses lay in ruin with their occupants all dead in and around them. People were missing limbs and sometimes even their heads. Many were left with blades still stabbed deeply into their bodies. One unfortunate man had a shuriken protruding from one of his widely open, horrified eyes. Every single person who had once called this quiet place home had been slaughtered and then left to rot.

The pair of women were silent. Questions ran through the Hexan's mind while concerns and intense fear ran through the cat's. Only after some ten or so tense seconds, Armaris began walking once more, following the path of destruction that Espio seemed to have wrought. Cere was content to follow for now, though her attention was now consistently elsewhere. Along this path she followed, Armaris managed to faintly sense a flare of Darkness, her whole body turning toward the source of said flare. Cere was almost caught off guard when Armaris bolted off, managing to quickly take after her student before the woman could get too far away. The sudden run was eventually slowed to a brisk walk as the two approached the origin of the Darkness. Cere moved ahead of Armaris quietly as the two walked nearer.

Horrifically, they came upon a scene of yet more death. Three fresh bodies and their parts littered the snow with their shattered weapons, their apparent attempt at an attack no doubt being the cause of the flare-up Armaris had just detected. Espio stood nearby, expression dark but otherwise unreadable as he gave his sword a sharp flick to rid it of some of the blood and flesh that marred its surface.

Armaris stepped in front of Cere slowly, walking toward Espio in a calm way with a noticeable frown on her face. "Espio…? Can we talk?" For better or for worse, he seemed prepared to ignore her. Not bothering to sheath his sword, he started to walk away. "Espio!" she called, walking after him. "I can't let you just leave me here!"

Clutching his sword a little tighter, Espio turned to face her. Through gritted teeth he muttered, "Go. Away."

"I'm sorry, but I won't. Just talk to me, please." Armaris almost flinched away as he turned to her, every fiber of her being startled at the aggressive mannerisms. Cere watched the two beings of Darkness in silence. She trusted Armaris to not get herself killed… but she was unnerved regardless.

In a flash, the tip of Espio's sword was a mere hair's breadth away from Armaris's throat. "Leave," he repeated, more angrily this time. Though he seemed to want to cut her down, he refrained… for the moment.

Armaris, in this miniscule amount of time, had unsheathed her own blade and pressed it between his blade and her body, obvious concern lighting up in her eyes. "I told you… I won't leave. There's got to be some way for me or someone else to help with what you're being put through. I…" she trailed off for a moment, biting her lip. "I don't want to see you suffer in any way." The urge to attack hit again, but with a sharp glance at Cere, Espio thought better of it. His sense of self-preservation had always been rather high, so he didn't deign to do anything that might endanger his life. At least for now, at any rate. Instead, he forced his arm down, turned sharply on his heel, and resumed walking away.

Cere began walking after him calmly, a glance being cast to Armaris to ask her silently to not advance. Her gait carried her close to him, after which she gently called, "Espio. May I have a word with you?"

His anger building, Espio muttered back a short and simple, "Fuck off."

"Let your sister know where you are going at the least, unless you plan to wander," Cere muttered in response. Espio didn't respond, focusing instead on deciding where to head next so that he could just go and leave these two behind. Cere sighed once more, closing her eyes. "Be safe. There are people that await your return to them. Always remember such." Scoffing, Espio made up his mind and vanished off to who-knew-where without further retort.

Armaris watched this happen numbly, her lips quivering faintly as she let herself fall into a sitting position. Fuck...

Cere watched Armaris quietly for a moment before walking over and kneeling beside the younger woman, embracing her in a motherly way. "You can cry if you wish," she whispered softly.

The cat stared at the spot where Espio had been for what seemed like an hour before murmuring something about it being a sign of weakness and teleporting the two back. Not again. I won't.

~保護者~

A painfully bright flare of sunlight outside jolted Sonic, Tails, and the others out of their silence and rest. Trading looks, they shared their mutual confusion… until Sonic recalled what had happened just before Locke had arrived at the scene of Jet's fight with Kaden. Eyes wide, he jumped to his feet for the umpteenth time that day and hurried out the door. He scanned the skies for any sign of the echidna once the light died down, only for some of his tentative hope to fade away when he didn't spot the man anywhere. Instead, a white cat descended from the sky, gently landing in front of Sonic as her dark blue dress flowed in the slight wind created from her touching the ground. Her eyes fell on the blue hedgehog quietly for a moment, blinking once before glancing over everything around her. "You are Sonic, yes?"

"Uh… yeah?" he said slowly, almost as though it was a question.

"My name is Rosalline, but you are more than welcome to call me Rose. Locke sent me to aid with your plight, citing a dire need for plentiful Light. Is this correct?" she asked in a soft tone, amber eyes still roaming.

After a small pause, Sonic relented with a nod. If Locke had told her, then… surely she was someone to be trusted. "Yeah," he sighed. "'Plentiful' is probably an understatement."

The cat gave a slow, thoughtful nod. "Understood. You and your allies are injured." The sudden change in subject was followed by Rose striding over to the home and teleporting herself into the building. Sonic quickly followed after her, a touch bemused and yet strangely… not. She reminded him strongly of his mother. But that hurt too much to contemplate deeply, so he shoved the thought aside. A faint shimmering of Light surrounded the entirety of the home, the epicenter being Rose herself as she looked over those within the room. "This should heal most of the injuries your group has sustained. Anything left, I should be able to treat properly."

Looking up at the woman from where she sat on the floor, Cream offered a wan smile. "Thank you, miss."

"Yeah, thanks," Tails chimed in with a bright smile of his own… though that smile, for once, seemed a touch strained. Maybe even forced. "That's very kind of you."

"It is nothing, truly. I am merely glad to help." Rose's keen, caring eyes fixated on Steam who was remaining a touch more quiet than he usually would have. A minor glance said enough for the cat to be concerned for his condition, and she appeared beside him shortly to examine the wounds. "You are operating… very well for your condition."

"Don't really have a choice otherwise," Steam muttered faintly, glancing at the cat. He narrowed his eyes, but none of his usual agitation was there.

Rose murmured something gently in another tongue before beginning to more directly heal the wounds Steam had suffered. It was short work for her, despite the severity. This was around the same time that Sein popped out of Espio's room. "Eh, another cat?"

"I am, indeed, a cat." Rose responded softly before seeming to gaze past him. He is here…?

"Ah, I see. A wise one too. Nice to meet you. Name's Sein."

"I am Rosalline. Rose for short." She turned for a short moment to face the others. "Forgive my rudeness. I became sidetracked and did not remember to introduce myself."

"It's fine," Tails said, waving her off with a casual hand. "We're not exactly a formal bunch. We don't mind. Anyway, I'm technically named Miles, but you can call me Tails like everyone else. You and Sonic seem to have met already."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, we did."

"My name is Cream," the bunny piped in quietly.

Finally, Vector spoke up. He'd been rather pensive for the last few days (understandably), but he did his best to display a friendly and open demeanor. Still, he kept his words brief. "I'm Vector," he introduced simply.

Rose gave a slow nod, taking this information in with care. "Once more, it is very nice to meet you all." Her gaze turned back to Sein. "Though, may I step in that room with you?"

"Uh… sure…?" His gaze flicked to Sonic, silently asking if that would be fine.

Noticing the look, Sonic hesitated for a second. Soon, however, he came to one simple determination. It should be fine… and if it's not, we're all right here to help. Given that, he answered with a small inclination of his head.

Sein gave a sigh of relief and motioned for Rose to step in, an action she took rather immediately. The hawk followed her back in, watching as the cat immediately went to one side of the bed with a deeply worried look on her face. Oh dear… Jet, what have you gotten yourself into? Rose cast her gaze to Alana and Sein, asking for some sort of explanation as to what put him in such a state. Alana said nothing, merely keeping an eye on her (finally) sleeping son in a determined effort to ensure that nothing further happened to him.

"Long story short, a fight with the God of Demons that ended awfully. He was already in a bad state, and that pushed it well beyond what I…" Sein trailed off, trying not to let it get to him.

Rose gave a gentle nod, her eyes moving back to Jet for a moment. Noticeable injuries, but nothing major. No internal bleeding, and overall he seems stable. Physically. Mentally, was likely much worse before arrival… He seems to have been calmed down well. Without another warning, the aura of Light around the house intensified briefly as she attempted to quickly handle the last of the wounds on Jet's body. She managed to handle this very quickly, before Jet even had a chance to start to wake up, and the aura faded back to its original brightness. "What was done to calm him?" she asked, eyes never leaving Jet's body.

Sein piped up quickly. "I went back to Babylon and brought that blanket, then played a few songs with a wooden flute. That seemed to help a lot."

"You did very well to have improvised." Jet… I wish to speak to you when you are feeling better. I suppose that must wait. Her attention very quickly fixated on the two conscious Babylonians, primarily Alana. "May I ask your name?"

The older woman glanced over, then briefly answered, "My name is Alana."

"Mine is Rosalline, or Rose," the cat answered softly, kneeling by the two. "Would you both allow me to heal your wounds?" Not feeling terribly up to conversation, Alana merely inclined her head as politely as she could manage. Sein did the same, though he flashed a bright smile of thanks as Rose let her Light flow to heal them directly. Sein was quick to notice his wounds were disappearing, and that the feathers that had been forcefully ripped from his body were now growing back. The cat soon stood, carefully dusting off her dress before glancing between them. "Am I wrong to assume that you are his parents?"

"We are," Alana answered quietly, something in her eyes visibly softening.

"He is a very lovely companion. I daresay that he has taken well after the both of you," Rose responded in kind, a tender look on her face. "I have always thought well of him."

Sein's eyes teared up in response and he smiled gently. "Thank you, Rose. I really… needed that." His hand found its way to Alana's wrist, giving it a gentle squeeze. Understanding what he wanted, she shifted her arm so that she could take his hand into her own.

Rose gave a gentle nod, turning and beginning to leave the room. "If you have need of me, I will not stray far. Please do not hesitate to get my attention." In response for himself and Alana, Sein gave a nod of understanding. Once this was given, Rose stepped back into the living room, one more immediate task in mind. She teleported herself onto the roof, her gaze flicking over the lip of the roof to regard Aku. "May I speak with you for a moment?" she asked softly, sitting herself down.

The old dragon released his camouflage and slowly twisted around to face her. Once he laid his eyes upon her, he almost scoffed at her… but refrained. Mostly. "What is it that you require of me, little cat?"

"I require nothing more than permission to heal the wounds inflicted on you, should you allow such."

Another slight scoff. Aku laid himself back down on a wide branch, too exhausted to hold himself up for more than a minute or so at a time. "Do what you will. I am in no position to protest or fend you off."

"You say this as if my wish is to bring harm on you," Rose remarked in faint amusement, floating closer to the dragon. "Not the first time I have been addressed in such a way." Her Light shone around her and flowed through the air around Aku's body. Seeing as he was ignoring her comments, she simply smiled and continued until his wounds had vanished as well. "Be sure to not push yourself too hard. Stamina restoration is no simple task, so resting would be the best course of action for now." With her advice given (and not caring to ensure he had bothered to listen or pay attention to her), the woman teleported back inside.

At about the same time, Sonic's ears perked up. However, it didn't seem to be her who he was listening for. He frowned after a second and stood back up, prompting Tails to ask, "What's the matter?"

"Think I heard someone land near one of the houses," Sonic explained briefly. He glanced to Steam. "I can't sense who it is. Mind coming with me in case there's trouble? If it's another demon or something…" He trailed off, but he'd said enough.

Steam nodded, pushing himself to stand, idly remarking, "I was gonna go whether or not you did." Rose wordlessly teleported out of the home, followed by Steam haphazardly leaping out after her.

Sonic quickly followed them with a slight roll of the eyes. Once outside, he hurried off toward the source of the noise, trying not to move too fast so as to avoid kicking up too much dust and debris with his movement. The moment he caught sight of magenta feathers amidst the scorched trees, however, that plan fell by the wayside and he picked up the pace. She's back… Steam and Rose moved after him, the hedgehog matching Sonic's pace upon seeing Wave. Spying what the Babylonian was awkwardly trudging along with in her arms, Sonic nearly froze. "You found him…!" he found himself breathing as he rushed over to help ease her burden.

Rose was fast to follow behind him, appearing beside him within the second and assessing the situation quickly. Steam hung back for the moment, hesitant for some reason or another. The cat glanced up to Wave and gently asked, "What happened?"

As Sonic carefully shifted his unconscious brother into his own arms, Wave cast an exhausted yet vaguely confused look at the cat. Instead of asking any questions of her own that she may have had, though, she just said, "Kidnapped." After a second's pause, she thought to elaborate, "He was. The Trokkerlar Army had him. I don't know what was done to him before I managed to find him. They just… left him like this in a remote area of their territory. Abandoned him to be found, it looked like. I don't know why."

The cat was quiet, taking this in before giving a soft nod, extending an arm to Wave to help her along, should she accept. "Would you mind if I took a look at your injuries?"

"Go ahead," Wave murmured, only to then say, "But check on him first, would you? He's worse off than I am."

Rose gave a faint smile of understanding, her eyes roving Shadow's body quickly with a slightly surprised blink. Not entirely organic… This caught her off guard briefly, but her attention shifted to other matters. Several blunt force and slash or stab based injuries. Nothing overtly worrying, but his physical state is in awful condition… She stepped near to Shadow and Sonic, letting her healing aura flow to life once more around her with the energies focused around the unconscious hedgehog.

Emerald eyes looked on with visible concern as wounds slowly began to close and disappear. The thought, Good thing no wires and things seem to have been damaged, crossed his mind, soon to be replaced with a new one. What if something else was done to him? Something we can't see? He shot a glance at Steam, wondering what (if anything) the other hedgehog knew about this turn of events. Seeing nothing there, he returned his attention to what Rose was doing. She had Shadow fully healed before long, but Sonic knew better than to expect him to wake up just yet.

Rose vaguely glanced to Steam as well, noting a faint shift in his aura and overall mood that he was doing his best to try and hide, but ultimately turning her attention back to Wave and quickly inspecting her as well. She was not lying about Shadow being in worse condition, at least… Expected wounds of combat. The cat was quick to work on these wounds as well, glancing to Steam once more and wordlessly asking him to come over.

The hedgehog reluctantly did, crossing his arms as he arrived and glancing to Wave. "You alright?" he asked vaguely, shifting a touch uncomfortably.

Despite her apparent exhaustion, Wave nodded once. "Yeah… more or less." She looked briefly at Rose. "Speaking of, thanks for that."

Rose gave a gentle smile in response, her gaze flicking over the others around her. "Shall I teleport us to the rest?"

"Nah, I got it." Without another word, Wave teleported everyone to the house.

Upon their arrival, Tails, Cream, and Vector were immediately on their feet with wide eyes. Tails in particular was running up to them almost as soon as they appeared. "You found him!" he exclaimed quietly, a mixture of fear and relief coloring his tone.

Steam frowned and murmured something under his breath before speaking up. "His body is physically alright, as far as Rose can tell. Though… the fact that he's unconscious concerns me."

This statement caused Tails to frown. Retreating to his previous seat, he grabbed his handheld scanner before returning to the group just as Wave was creating a bed of aura energy for Sonic to lay his brother down on. Once Shadow was settled, Tails scanned him quickly, only to frown more. "There's… nothing overtly wrong that I can tell. There's some minor damage caused by who knows what, it could even be old for all I know, but… this little thing," he gestured to his device, "isn't really equipped to conduct an in-depth scan of his systems and the like. I can't really say what's wrong, if anything."

"And I assume that the tech you'd need is somewhere else on the planet?" Steam asked with a slowly growing frown of his own, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

"He definitely feels warm," Sonic mumbled almost to himself. "Kinda feverish."

The unintended interruption earned a glance. "Yeah, there is that," Tails agreed, concerned. Seeing that they had things under control, Wave slipped away to the room where Jet was resting. Then, turning to Steam, he answered the original question. "My tech is at my home. In the lab, specifically, as you might imagine."

Steam gave a faint sigh, his eyes following Wave for the time being before refocusing on Tails. "I'd be willing to take you there, unless we'd have to take Shadow with us. That's a touch less... " he trailed off faintly, gaze wandering.

"He'd have to go with," Tails confirmed with a nod. "It'd be really time consuming to try to bring all the equipment here and try to get it all to work given the… devastation in this place."

The green hedgehog gave a small nod, glancing to Rose. "I assume you and the others can keep everything going around here."

A gentle smile broke onto Rose's face and she motioned gently for Steam to get ready. "It will be fine. Your friends… they are safe now."

Steam huffed faintly and looked back to Tails. "I'll be ready whenever you are."

"Yeah, I'm ready." Tails turned quickly to Sonic. "I'll definitely let you know what I find out, even if it's just that he's fine, after all." Sonic nodded, some of the anxiety easing from his face.

"Got it." Steam walked to Tails and teleported away with the fox and unconscious hedgehog in tow.

As soon as they reappeared, Tails set to work carefully hooking his friend up to several special machines that he had specifically designed years back to be able to perform in-depth checks on Shadow's well-being - and the well-being of his non-biological parts. After several minutes, he murmured, "His oxygen levels are fine… and he didn't lose a lot of blood, it looks like. Certainly not enough for anything to stop functioning, biological or otherwise. And there's no electrical damage, either, which is great news. I was really worried about that."

"Any serious damage to the brain? Concussive or otherwise?" Steam asked, watching from a short distance away.

Tails shook his head. "Nothing other than indications of the loss of motor skills and similar functions, which we were already very aware of." He typed at his holographic keypad, frowning in concentration. Another minute passed, then he mumbled nearly under his breath, "It's weird though… the parts of the brain that light up with activity in response to pain… they're really active right now. I just can't figure out why."

Steam walked up closer, inspecting Shadow's body as best he could. "Any firing from the nerve endings throughout his body?"

More typing, more brief silence, then Tails bit his lower lip in confusion and worry. After another second or two, he said, "It's so hard to pinpoint, Steam. The way these readings are coming back… it's like his whole body might as well be on fire right now."

Immediately, Steam began an inspection with his magic, trying to trace any sort of magic effects that may be causing this, but to no avail. "The hell…? Nothing magic either?"

"I don't get it, none of this makes sense." Tails re-checked everything once more, then resumed typing. "I'm going to try a couple different kinds of scans… hold on a second." He did as he'd said he would, and soon the first test started coming back with results. After taking a moment to read it, he turned to Steam and with unusual sharpness demanded, "Check his arm for injuries. I'm serious, check it thoroughly."

The hedgehog didn't spare a nod in response, walking closer to Shadow and lifting the black hedgehog's arm up to inspect it closer with his eyes as his magic activated to much more thoroughly do the same. Tails hurried over as Steam was doing this and began helping Steam search, parting fur with careful fingers as though looking for something small. "Would that lady, Rose, have possibly healed any mark that might've been here?" he wondered aloud.

"In my timeline, Rose is renowned for her healing abilities. I have no doubts about it." Steam gritted his teeth, then looked to Tails. "What are you looking for?"

Tails bit his lip again, then released it. "A lot of the pain is centered specifically on his arm. And some of the emotional readings I got back from that scan I just did…" He trailed off, but only very briefly before questioning, "Steam, in your timeline, how… how familiar were you with all of us? Particularly in the many long eras after Sonic passed away."

"There was a short time where I disappeared for a few reasons, but it wasn't… terribly long. I made it a point to try and keep up with everyone as best I could. Why?" His attention stayed trained on the fox, deep seated worry showing itself on his face.

In response, Tails almost hesitated. He didn't want to have to get into a drawn-out, emotional retelling of this if he didn't have to. "And him?" he asked, gesturing with a head nod toward Shadow. "How familiar were you with his life and… struggles?"

Steam managed a frown. "Not as much as I would have liked to have been. He always leaned more toward you for that, but I did catch some of it and helped where I could."

His answer earned a heavy sigh from Tails. An explanation it is. "Okay… Right. So, just in case there's anything you missed or anything that was different in your timeline versus our own… I'll give you a really brief rundown. A war went down here on Mobius at one point. He was captured and interrogated, among other things, and the end result of that was him being hooked on a drug I've only ever heard him call by its street name 'Zero'. It's extremely powerful and very, very famous for its intense euphoric symptoms. But as a by-product of its strength, the drug simultaneously causes incredible pain and severe addiction. And these few symptoms he's showing…" Once again, he trailed off.

The hedgehog gritted his teeth with bitter agitation. "Whatever fucker took him injected that drug into his system?"

"That's… the best guess I have right now," Tails said quietly. "It probably happened just before he was properly attacked, too, since it doesn't generally render people unconscious. Not unless they've had too much, of course. And since his pulse is pretty normal and so's his breathing, I don't think he was given terribly much. Just… you know, just enough to be… effective." Did they do this... just to slow us down again? Was it just meant to make him suffer? Is there some other purpose behind it I'm not seeing?

Steam viciously scratched at his head for a long moment, hard enough to cause a degree of pain in an attempt to stave off the stress and agitation. "God damn it… Is there anything we can do?"

It was hard to admit, but Tails said, "Last time… we were barely able to help at all. Mostly, all we were able to do was keep him safe from himself while his mental and emotional states tried to recover from all the withdrawals and such. We did our best to keep him hydrated, fed, that sort of thing, but we could never… get him to let us involve a proper professional. Anyone who would have actually known what to do. It's probably going to be the same thing this time. And it's not… gonna be a painless process for anyone involved."

"I… think it'll be fine. We've luckily got Rose around, you, Sonic, and me. Sein, too, and Wave when she's around. We can manage," Steam murmured, sighing faintly. He didn't deserve this shit.

Tails nodded a little before saying, "Even still… we're gonna have to really watch him. Last time… Last time, he went downhill extremely fast. There's a huge risk it'll happen again and he'll disappear on us just like before." He dropped his gaze. "I mean, there's also a chance that he'll still be in his right mind enough not to try to take off, but… we just have to be prepared."

Steam nodded. "I'll let the others know the situation when we get back so that everyone can be prepared."

"We'll need to try to gather medicine, too," Tails sighed. "He spiked a lot of fevers the last time, on top of being so sick to his stomach that he spent most days throwing up constantly unless we were able to get the proper meds into him. It usually helped with the anxiety, the insomnia, and so on as well."

"I can go around and work on that. Might even be able to get Sein, Alana, or Wave to go to Babylon for medicine from there, if you think we'll need it."

That reminder brought a measure of relief to Tails's face. "Right… I'd almost forgotten about that. See, back then… we were almost never in contact with Jet anymore. As a by-product of that, we rarely had contact with Wave and the whole of Babylon, either. We had to rely on Mobian treatments which, comparatively… are pretty lacking. If you guys can get your hands on Babylonian medicine, that might make a huge difference." He paused, thinking, then had another small lightbulb moment. "I heard something about Kath being back, too… is that right?"

The hedgehog gave a short nod. "Yeah. He's on Babylon right now, but he's definitely back."

"His advice should definitely be taken into account here," Tails said simply. "I've heard some stories and, trust me, he'll know what he's talking about when it comes to helping with this sort of thing. He'll know what medicine to look for."

"That man always seems to know what he's talking about - when he talks, that is."

"You're not wrong, but this is more of a… firsthand bit of knowledge, unfortunately. Jet's mentioned before that Kath's life got real rough for a while when he was a teenager and he… wound up getting involved in some pretty shady stuff. Kinda messed him up for a while. But it has the small upside of giving him the intel we need now."

"I'll do what I can to make sure we get to talk to him," Steam answered with a glance to Shadow. "What side effects should we watch out for, should he somehow get back out and get ahold of more?"

Another sigh escaped the fox as he said, "There are a bunch… With such a strong drug, how could there not be? There's the stuff I already mentioned - insomnia, anxiety, pain, nausea, vomiting - as well as a host of others. Lethargy, severely diminished or even utterly lacking appetite, fevers, shakiness or even outright trembling as though freezing, general weakness of the body, restlessness… Then there are cravings, of course, and they're extremely severe. There are also sensations of hot flashes or cold spells, migraines and general headaches…"

Tails took a moment to think before continuing. "In relation to the nausea, there's often unintentional gagging when he actually tries to eat or drink, plus he has to constantly deal with the cramping and other feelings you get when you're about to hurl. He also tends to get really agitated really easily, and understandably he's irritable and depressed a lot of the time. He also did engage in some self-injury the last time, though nothing too major and it was only a few times. Disorientation and confusion are a given with these things, but it escalated to full delirium on multiple occasions the last time. I think he might have even hallucinated more than once, but I can't confirm that.

"He had real issues with fatigue, nightmares, and difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep," he continued quietly, thinking back, "but sometimes it was the opposite. Sometimes it was all we could do to keep him from sleeping the days away." He shook his head, worry increasing as he kept on. "Racing thoughts are a normal symptom as far as I know, and he definitely appeared to suffer from that. Made it really difficult for him to concentrate, be patient, and so on. He also experienced a pronounced loss of interest in people, activities, general life… that sort of thing."

"Possibly a rarer symptom," he then said, "would be seizures. He had a couple of those, but they weren't serious enough to warrant hospitalization. His pupils were often dilated, too, and his senses were really… well, sensitive throughout the ordeal. We could almost never get away with touching him, for one thing, since he felt it so acutely that his brain convinced itself each and every time that he was experiencing pain, even though he wasn't." His graze dropped again. "I can't really… remember anything else. It was a long time ago, but I think that was everything."

"That's good information to have, regardless. I'll make sure the others know to watch out for this stuff," Steam answered. "Is there anything else you're wanting to do while we're here?"

Tails shook his head. "No… not really. We should just get back to the others. We can keep an eye on Shadow while you gather things. Talking to Sein and Alana might be good, too, since they can help you talk to Kath."

"Got it. Teleport back, then?" Tails just sighed and nodded. With a nod in return, Steam teleported the trio back to Espio's home. Their arrival prompted the attention of Rose once more, and the woman walked over while tilting her head faintly in a display of curiosity.

"What did you discover?" she asked softly, her gaze shifting to rove over Shadow once more.

Steam sighed, shaking his head. He was careful to keep his voice down so that Sonic, Cream, and Vector (who were having their own small conversation) didn't overhear just yet. "Long story short, whoever kidnapped him injected a very powerful drug into his body. I can give you some more specifics shortly, but for now just know that we need to keep watch over him."

Rose gave a distinctly worried frown, but said nothing more and simply moved aside as Steam began walking toward the gaping hole of the house. "I will help do so, wandering Balancer."

"Good. We could use someone like you." Steam sat down at the edge of the remaining section of the house, running his hands through his hair to try and cope with the stress. 'Cause I obviously can't do it myself.

~保護者~

Wave walked quietly into the room where she sensed Jet resting. With little more than a passing glance at his parents for the time being, she crossed the room and sat down on her knees beside the bed. She reached her hand out and gently smoothed down some of the feathers on his head. "How long has he been asleep?" she asked in a low tone, speaking to neither Sein nor Alana in particular.

"I do not know, exactly," Alana answered, voice just as soft. "It is difficult to gauge the time with so much ash in the sky.

That was understandable… and a harsh reminder of how badly they had failed. Wave strove to focus on other matters, at least for now. "I assume that Rose healed him." There's no way Kaden let him escape unscathed. Even Jet dying and reviving wouldn't heal him completely.

"She did," Alana confirmed. "His injuries were not life-threatening, but he was wounded nevertheless."

Understanding, Wave inclined her head. She slowly, almost reluctantly, removed her hand from Jet's head. Her presence and touch seldom bothered him when he rested, but she wanted to be certain that he didn't wake up just yet. Though there was no doubt that she would have to wake him soon, for the time being… He needs the rest. There's no mistaking that. Turning her head, she looked at Sein and Alana. Delivering bad news wasn't something she enjoyed doing, but here it had to be done. "You two… were thrown into this whole mess at a really bad time," she sighed. "I'm grateful you're here, don't get me wrong, it's just that… this hellscape that was brought down upon this world and Babylon… it was a very long time coming. And none of us had really had the chance to explain why to you, let alone explain much of anything else." Meeting each of their gazes in turn, she quietly declared, "Now, more than ever, those explanations need to be given. That is, if you're prepared to hear them."

"There's no reason to delay them," Sein muttered softly, leaning back with his arms crossed. "Since you're here, you may as well explain it as long as you're willing to."

Wave nodded once. "To start off with… I heard through a mental conversation with Jet earlier, during all the fighting, that you know Kaden to some extent from your timeline. I'd wager, based off what he said, that none of this was going on where you're from. So, to explain it as briefly as possible, the Kaden of our timeline was - alongside the rest of us - taking part in a war against an ancient race known as the Nocturnians many, many years ago. At the time, we assumed he and his partner had died, as we didn't truly knew much of anything about semi-Immortals at the time. However, instead of truly dying, they began to slowly revive following their violent 'deaths'. Only, the previous God of Demons, a massive beast known as Amnikaribah, stole and corrupted Kaden's soul before he revived. That… set Kaden down the path to doing what he did here."

"He's not completely lost to us, however," she continued. "His partner, Analia, also revived and is still out there somewhere. Just as Kaden is the current living embodiment of Darkness, descended directly from the first being of Darkness, she is descended from the first being of Light and exists as the current living embodiment of said Light. As a result, her power is incredibly formidable, and more than powerful enough to stave off total corruption within Kaden… so far. She is the reason why we believe he's still capable of being saved, and why neither Jet nor I have made any plans to simply defeat him somehow and move on. He can be saved, and Jet… to say he's hell-bent on doing it is quite the understatement." She sighed and looked down at her friend. "...Especially… now that Sonic's back."

Sein sighed softly, glancing at Alana. She didn't return his glance, frowning a little to herself as she mulled all this over. "I can't say I'd do anything differently, so I at least get where he's coming from…"

There was little to be said in response to that, so Wave moved on. "The issue of Kaden's corruption goes deeper than the surface issues of murder, world-destruction, and the like. In the past several million years, he's undertaken a thus far extremely successful campaign to systematically wipe out any and every being of Light he can get his hands on."

Alana froze up, stunned. To her, that sounded just like the mass genocides that many beings of Light had undertaken long before her and Sein had even been born. Genocides that had eradicated many species of Darkness in their entirety, driven the ancient Chameleon races out of the Garden of Darkness and into reluctant hiding, sparked an existence-rattling war… Though she and Sein had begun life long after that ramifications of these events had been forgotten by most, she, Sein, and others like them had been taught the truth. What if something akin to that were to begin again?

Sein's mind traveled another route, an immediate concern rising within him. Such a genocide once more would leave existence in a state of disrepair… It couldn't handle losing several beings such as Rose and Analia. Not to mention… His mind wandered to Espio and Armaris. We've seen what could happen if other beings of Darkness get their hands on those two…

"Alongside that, Kaden has been working on repairing a portal," Wave informed them, tone turning grave. "I assume you two are rather deeply familiar with the Twilight Cage."

The realm where Malevolence was first sealed… and for many millions of years. The "gate", "door", "portal", whatever one wishes to call it… was deliberately shattered to prevent anyone from ever returning there, with the hope that without any outside tampering it would never be released. And yet… Heart sinking, Alana dared to question, "He intends to set foot in that realm?"

The male hawk's eyes narrowed, a faint twitch of his cheek being the indication of how it bothered him, but he attempted to keep such hidden. "What plan could he possibly hope to carry out by opening that portal?"

Slowly raising her eyes from Jet again, Wave met Sein's gaze. "He intends to kill Malevolence," she murmured, causing Alana to stiffen further, "and to wrest its place of power from it… just as he did with the God who corrupted him."

Sein almost burst out with how insane of an idea that was, and the only thing stopping him was Jet sleeping merely feet away. "What in the absolute fucking hell?"

"We don't have all the details, obviously," Wave said, breaking eye-contact. "All Jet and I know is that Kaden absolutely has the power to carry this out and, most importantly, be successful. It's why Malevolence is even back in that realm to begin with. Between Kaden's vendetta against it and the rising threat of the Void… it felt the Cage was the last remaining place in existence where it could seek shelter. It just… isn't going to remain that way for too much longer. Jet managed to lay eyes on the portal again a few months ago, and it's closer to completion now than ever before. At best, if Kaden continues retrieving portal shards at the same rate he has been these past few eons… we have maybe a month or so before he's able to reach Malevolence's realm, assuming we're incredibly fortunate."

Alana was silent. What even was there to be said about this? Aside from the obvious "we have to stop this" nonsense people normally spouted during these sorts of discussions, she had nothing to offer. Her mind was far too focused on the issue of how to stop this, anyway. Taking away the option of killing our enemy, we are left with nothing short of total purification. Is it even possible to carry out such a feat against such a powerful evil? Even if it worked… would it not just kill him regardless?

"It's kind of the only option we have, then. The only chance we have to not kill him and stop this before everything gets too out of hand," Sein sighed, his gaze fixed on Alana for the moment. "I… I'm sure we could manage it somehow."

His wife shifted her focus to him. "Only a True Immortal could pull off such a purification successfully," she countered, a sort of icy edge to her tone that reminded Wave vividly of the Kath she and Jet had once known. Then Alana continued, "And even if we managed to do it, who is to say our efforts would not still result in his death? A purification such as the one we did on Armaris has a very low risk of death, but one of this magnitude… the chances of it not resulting in death are nearly nonexistent." Wave tensed up at this news.

"But the fact that you're forced to say 'nearly' means there is some small chance. Even if it doesn't work, and it does kill him, we will know that we tried for it regardless instead of never taking the chance," Sein answered, none of that same icy edge Alana carried. His was more… passionate. Alana didn't answer, looking at their son once more. Would he ever forgive them for such a turn of events…?

Though she didn't particularly like the idea of interrupting, Wave felt she had no choice. "There's, unfortunately, more to mine and Jet's struggles in this era than just Kaden," she revealed quietly. "We are on the brink of a full-blown existential crisis… a war of many, many fronts that is only just getting started."

"With?" Sein demanded, eyes narrowing further as his concern grew. He didn't like what that insinuated.

"For one thing… I already mentioned the Void," Wave answered carefully. "I know Jet told you two a little bit about it… but I doubt he confided as to the full extent of what's actually going on."

Frowning deeper now, Alana responded, "No… he did not."

"That's not surprising," the swallow admitted. "Precisely because of what's going on… I don't know how much he even could have told you. Some of it… he, being the victim of it all, may not have the ability to notice or take action against right now."

Alana's fear for her son rapidly mounted. "Explain."

Instead of stating the obvious (namely, the fact that she was going to do just that), Wave merely nodded and proceeded. "The Void… as he may or may not have mentioned… speaks to him. He doesn't like, doesn't passively let it, does everything in his power to prevent and ignore it, but the whispers persist regardless. The things it says are cryptic and, on the surface, can seem like nonsensical ramblings that any sane person would ignore. But with each new message, it gives its previous words deeper and deeper meaning. Those meanings grow darker and more dangerous with each new layer that is unveiled to him."

She looked down again, the weight of her own fears and worries seemingly dragging her head down somewhat. "That, coupled with the Void energy itself that Jet has unwillingly possessed within him ever since the energy came into being, has for a long time been creating a subtle but strengthening... influence on his mind and heart. It isn't corruption or even manipulation, exactly, but it's working somewhat the same way. The Void chose him as a vessel for its energies and power and, so far… he's not been able to control it to any degree. If it persists and the Void carries things too far, there's… no telling how much further hell it will be able to unleash upon us all."

"What energies currently exist?" Sein asked suddenly, scowling. "Including the Void."

Realizing that he meant existential energies, specifically, Wave answered shortly and in order of birth, "Aura, Chaos, Light and Darkness, and the Void." Beside her, Jet shifted, and she instinctively placed a hand on his shoulder as though to soothe away a nightmare. One that, currently, he wasn't even having. Thankfully, it didn't wake him up.

Sein tapped his foot on the floor softly. "That… doesn't sound exactly like it should. Aura has always just kind of… existed. Light and Darkness are opposites to balance one another, but Chaos and Void…?"

"They most certainly are not meant to be opposites," Wave confirmed, following his line of thinking. "Chaos is the direct child, if you will, of Aura. Void is… something entirely new and unique. It wasn't even directly birthed from just one other energy as Chaos, Light, and Darkness were. Chaos comes directly from Aura. Light and Darkness both come directly from Chaos. The Void, however… comes from a volatile mixture of both Light and Darkness. There exists a point in existence where the two realms have met and, at some point in time, began merging. That place eventually separated to form its own realm as the energies further blended, and… the end result was the creation of the Void."

"And nothing else has spawned to even somewhat help deal with the Void?"

"Nothing. And believe me, we have been searching. Everyone capable of it has been searching. Myself, Jet, the other two Immortals before they strayed down their darker paths, most of the Gods and Goddesses… No one has found even the vaguest hint of proof that any other energy has even begun to come into being."

Troubled by this, Alana closed her eyes. None of this bodes well… None of it.

Sein's gaze quickly turned toward the door. He had someone he wanted to ask, but… He's got something else keeping him busy. I suppose it'll have to wait. The hawk decided to keep that out of his mind for the moment before something suddenly came to mind. "There's something else, right?" he asked Wave, sitting up straight.

She nodded once, reluctantly. "One more thing," she confirmed. "And it's not any better than the other two. There's… an army that has been plaguing existence since the time of the second generation of Immortals. I don't know how much you two already know, but an Immortal of that generation created the ability of 'Privilege' which is designed to allow Immortals to grant some measure of their abilities for others during extreme situations and only when it is required. Only, back then, there weren't such limitations in place."

No chance was given for either of them to respond. "By the time the ability was rediscovered and properly limited by a much later generation," she said, "the creator of this power had been tricked into granting extraordinary privilege to a woman who then turned on the lot of them and slew them. She hunted them down one by one, stealing further abilities wherever she could to make herself even more powerful. Ever since, she has systematically repeated the same pattern of behavior as often as she could, raised an army, both crafted and taken over realms for her army to operate in, taken in and irreversibly changed countless demons into mindless, fiery 'Pyrzar' beasts to further bolster the Trokkelar Army's power…"

Shaking her head, she continued, "Amidst all of this, she's been wiping out entire planets, realms, civilizations, races, and even realms in a show of power and who knows what else. She's even taken out her rage on the likes of semi-Immortals. There are roles meant to be filled by Gods and Goddesses that simply don't exist anymore because she wiped those people out before any of them could even begin training future replacements. She deliberately led many beings of Light straight to Kaden, knowing he would kill them. And Kaden… she's been antagonizing him for many, many eons as well. Just as we are on the brink of war with the both of them, he is on the brink of war with her. This latest stunt her people pulled with Shadow is likely going to be the final nail in her coffin, as far as Kaden is concerned."

Sein shook with anger for more than a few seconds, understanding exactly who this person was. "That fucking bastard," the man spat, still trying to keep his voice down. Faint traces of his aura loomed over his body for a moment before he managed to quell what surely would have been a fairly destructive outbursts. Jet shifted again, nearly woke, but Wave quickly set about soothing him again in an effort to prevent him from getting up just yet. "I know… who that piece of shit is." Alana had gone utterly silent and still, expression blank and oddly vacant.

Wave looked at him, looked at her, looked back to Jet, and then released another sigh. "...I know you do. Your history with her is… something I unintentionally read in your minds when we first met."

The man carefully wrapped an arm around his wife in a protective and comforting way. "Don't worry about that." Despite how calm he was trying to sound, the words were practically being bitten out with anger, anger that managed to keep him from fully noticing Steam slip into the room.

"I-" Steam glanced around, biting his lip. "Is this… a bad time…?" His voice roused Alana from her frozen state and she blinked slowly a few times, mind gradually beginning to refocus on the present.

Wave was quick to take the opportunity as it came. "...No… No, you're fine. A distraction is welcome, honestly. What's the matter?"

"I wanted to talk about a few things… more specifically with Sein and Alana for some." Steam answered, watching the three for a moment before deciding to continue. "To… start then… I need to explain what's happening with Shadow. To keep it short, whoever kidnapped him also injected him with a powerful drug that he's been addicted to before. I want to get Kath's opinion, and aid if he can provide it, to know what to do while Shadow is recovering."

Alana straightened, a look of surprise and confusion flashing through her eyes as the implication of what Steam had said sank in. Sein didn't even know of that part of her father's history. She wasn't even supposed to know, truth be told. How did this boy know? "How do you…?" she started to ask, trailing off. Sein's anger noticeably ebbed as he listened, his gaze finally shifting over to the hedgehog.

"It's a long story, but the easiest way to explain it is that Tails told me because Jet told him at some point or another. You can ask either of them about it after this, but I really want to get these things across before I potentially end up going somewhere." As Steam spoke, Wave entirely shifted her focus to Jet, as she knew he was definitely waking up and she wanted to monitor his emotions and stress levels as he did so.

After taking a long moment to consider the potential ramifications of approaching her father about this matter, Alana relented and said, "We will take you to him, then, once you are finished with your discussions here. Speak."

Steam didn't spare time for a thanks, instead continuing along. "The next major thing is regarding something a little more related to Jet and… Rose." Sein raised an eyebrow, motioning for the hedgehog to continue. "The woman you know as Astra…" Alana frowned again, recalling the tidbits of information Sonic had shared about the woman with Sein and Alana since the fighting had ended mere days ago. "Her real name is Eila, and she was once a being of Light."

Once? Alana thought to herself.

"After some sort of envy or jealousy as a result of something her parents did, something I won't get into detail about, she ended up practicing Dark Magic. She ended up damaging her mind and body in some blind pursuit for power. However… in my timeline, Rose and her parents were able to catch Eila and purify her. Obviously, that either didn't work out here, or she corrupted herself once more."

Sein frowned once more. "You said it has to do with Rose… but…" he trailed off momentarily, unsure of how to ask his question.

"They're sisters, Rose and Eila. They possess powerful Light and Light Magic, respectively." Steam sighed softly. "Don't talk to Rose about it now, I'll say that much. She's sensitive about her sister, but the thing is that she's been corrupted a second time over now. Eila is distinctly demonic on top of her previous corruption. I sensed it last time we ran into her, back on New Babylon."

Dormant Light. Mulling over all everything that had been said, Alana began to wonder, What does any of this have to do with our son?

"I wouldn't have thought a being of Light could be corrupted in such a way," Sein idly commented, tapping his foot on the floor once more. He shook his head lightly and decided to ask what he and Alana were both thinking. "What's this got to do with Jet?"

Steam paused faintly, debating the worth of really explaining how bad this could be. "Astra and Jet… likely have a long history by now. Her mental abilities… well… she's capable of fully controlling people. Minds, memories, and more. There's a good chance that… she's been heavily involved, or maybe even just somewhat involved, in some of the events that have scarred him mentally." That revelation made Alana tense up anew, her thoughts briefly fading away as her mind became stuck on the fact that this woman had likely had a hand in hurting her child.

The hedgehog watched Sein, who had dropped his gaze in favor of keeping his attention somewhat focused on something else. Steam grimaced faintly before adding, "And… with how easily she was able to mess with him mentally, there's a chance that she's done something to make it easier than it should be naturally. I wish I could say more, but I don't know Astra as well as I know Eila."

Wave suddenly spoke up again, tone wooden and suddenly devoid of normal emotional inflection. "Jet was tortured," she revealed to his parents slowly, "a very long time ago. Whatever he endured was far beyond extreme and even outright savage in nature. His mind was left… shattered for years following his ordeal. To this day, his ability to guard himself mentally from further torment and the like is drastically diminished from what it should be for someone of his overall caliber. It doesn't help that his mental walls were already weak due to how he was brought up and the hardships he faced back them. The idea of someone trying to capitalize on that…" She trailed off briefly, then admitted, "It's something Sonic and I feared for years would happen. We just… never realized it was actually…" This time, she didn't continue and let her sentence hang.

Sein muttered something hateful under his breath about not letting that happen before Steam decided to change the topic. "I've… got one more thing to talk about." Hoping that this wasn't too much to unload at once, he continued, "I'm going to be speaking to the Gods and Goddesses as soon as I can about… various things. One of which being attempting to find Analia, and another to try and get everybody to the same level of understanding about the enemies we face as quickly as we can. Is… there anything you need me to ask them?"

"Question them about Lady Teyan," was all Alana said. They hadn't heard so much as a whisper from the Queen of Chaos since her unexpected interjection into the fight with Astra seemingly so long ago, and Alana was determined to find answers. If anyone else knew anything at all, she wanted to know.

Steam nodded softly, then glanced to Wave and Sein quietly, as if prompting them to speak as well. Wave just shook her head, still almost entirely focused on Jet and not this conversation. There was a moment of silence from Sein before he decided to speak, a flare of his anger in his voice. "I'll ask them my damn self, but I've got a question for you before we go anywhere." Steam nodded once more. "Did another energy ever come to exist after the Void appeared in your timeline?"

The hedgehog sighed softly before replying, "I was well acquainted with one."

"And?" Sein asked, motioning a bit impatiently for the hedgehog to explain.

"The Aether."

~保護者~

10,798 words this time. So sorry for the delay, again, but I hope you guys enjoyed! Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help! Posted (at about 8: p.m.) 02-07-20.