Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this incredibly risky encounter… especially for the one who's hanging on by a thread.

~保護者~

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Hello, MelGamingPlays! Well... no, not exactly. It's not a matter of his sanity. Hopefully more of this matter will start to make sense soon. But, yes, being in this state is destroying him, in a way. It's certainly tearing apart his life, his bonds with people, his previous personality, his past way of life... the list goes on. And, as for the kid... I mean, as Armaris stated, Espio did mention this to her a little while ago XD Yeah, here's hoping that meeting his baby for the first time has a positive impact, at least for a little while, huh? Anyway, yeah, I'm not gonna punish Shadow too hard all at once. I like him, too, y'know! XD And yeah, Sonic definitely does need her around. She really helps him out, acting as his rock and helping him stay calm and stuff. But, yeah, being revived like that would be scary, haha!

~保護者~

"Hunting Ground"

~保護者~

Loyal. Brave. True.

Gazing down at the tiny baby in her arms, Cream felt nothing but softness and warmth within her heart. Watching him sleep, his slow and even breathing, his peaceful face, she couldn't help but truly, genuinely smile for what felt like the first time in far too long. She saw so much of Espio in this child… so many positive traits that she could read from his mind and even his aura to some degree.

Swift. Strong. Silent.

Lifting her head, she looked again at the entrance to the remnants of Espio's home. There was no one out there now, but she knew there would be soon. Perhaps when they had been more in touch with their Darkness this had not been the case, but Cream had long ago learned how the chameleons viewed births in their society. They lived very, very long lives and yet did not reproduce often. As a result, when births did occur they were viewed as a cause for quiet celebration. The baby's presence will have been sensed by now. People would come. It would be important to let them.

Kind. Protective. Calm.

In dark times like these, Cream knew it was important for people to have something positive to focus on - however temporarily that positivity lasted. She hoped, cautiously believed, that perhaps some of their joy would reach her former guardian, somehow help him come back to himself. These people, they would come bearing gifts for the new baby and his family, as was tradition. Would their generosity have as much of an impact on him as she believed it could? Would that happiness have any effect at all?

Stubborn. Intelligent. Confident.

Turning her attention away from the door, Cream closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. She felt that she had spent so much energy worrying that all she wanted to do was sleep. Sleeping, however, was something she could not do right now. Not with a baby in her care, not with people on their way, not with her protector still somewhere out there… searching… wandering…

...Lost.

~保護者~

I can't believe he's not here.

Pursing his lips together in concern, Sonic slowly scanned the area around him. He had arrived at Seaside Hills with Armaris in tow close to twenty minutes ago, but no matter how hard he searched he couldn't seem to find any evidence that Espio had ever been here. With how much Espio had always loved this place, Sonic had been so sure they'd find something here. Anything. Even something small. The fact that there was nothing… It was perplexing. Frustrating, even. Or, at least, it was. Until he recalled what Locke had recently told him about Kaden, that is.

"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 even outright animosity. Joy becomes rage. It goes on."

This was… concerning, to say the least. Sonic knew his friend wasn't corrupted (well, only slightly), but it seemed that Locke's words held true for Kaden and Espio in spite of their differing circumstances. With that in mind, Sonic couldn't help but wonder whether they were going about this search all wrong. If love turns into hate… then maybe he's avoiding places like this? Slowly, he frowned. ...No. With how he is, especially with how he is because of his Darkness, he won't be avoiding anything. He doesn't run from the things he hates. In his current frame of mind… he'll want to destroy them.

Alarmed by the implications, Sonic twisted around to look at his shadow as best as he could. It felt weird trying to look over his shoulder and talk to it, but keeping in mind the fact that there was an actual living person in there helped. ...Well, sort of. "Hey, Armaris…" he said slowly, trying to keep his voice level, "I think we may have a problem. A big one."

The cat's head slowly lifted out of the shadow and she frowned. "What?" Wasting no time, Sonic quickly explained his thought process to her, doing his best not to convey too much fear or worry so as to avoid stressing her out. She glared at Sonic, but not intentionally as she rose fully from her shadow and began walking. "Then what do we do?"

Sonic crossed his arms and walked after her, trailing behind several feet. "I don't know," he mumbled. "But if there are people around here, they're in danger." Actually, that line got him thinking. Again. Which could be considered a bad thing in some situations, he supposed. This time, however… he thought he may have actually had an idea of what to do. Or, at least, where to go. "...Listen, I really hate asking this and you can stab me for it later or whatever if you want, but when having your state of mind altered by evil energies… you - and I mean that as a general term, I swear - tend to be drawn toward… erm, prey, right?" He didn't dare look at her, chose instead to keep his gaze firmly locked on the ground. "So, in this case, groups of people? At least during periods like he's in now, where he's not able to totally control his actions in response to his Darkness and stuff."

The urge to smack the ever-loving hell out of Sonic was certainly present in Armaris at the moment, temptation to deck him for asking such an intensely personal question showering over her body in waves. She refrained, however, instead shooting him a minutely hateful glare. "Or whatever pisses you off first."

"Well… yeah. I knew about that bit." There was a pause, then Sonic sighed, ears lowering. "I'm really serious here, though, Armaris. I'm sorry, but I need a straight answer to the question."

She hesitated for a moment before growling under her breath. "Yes. In my case, I was attracted toward anything I knew I could just kill."

Sonic's ears drooped further. "...Since he isn't here… I think I know where to go." Still avoiding looking at her, he gestured vaguely with a hand. "Further south are Splash Hills. Back when he still worked with Vector all the time, I remember him mentioning off-hand that it was 'nice' there. Maybe he went there instead… especially since it's a lot more common for people to be there as opposed to here. Or, at least, it used to be. Might not be true now for all I know, but it's worth a shot. Maybe."

Armaris turned briefly and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him along after her. "Let's not waste time, then," she murmured.

Deciding it best not to anger her further (not that he'd been trying to in the first place!), Sonic allowed her to drag him to their destination. Only then did he tug his arm free. He quickly determined that giving her some space would likely be a good idea, so he said, "I guess I'll check… over here." He gestured vaguely to the rough area to their left, decidedly far away from the shoreline he saw in the distance. If he could avoid going there, he absolutely would. Armaris, meanwhile, wasted no time in stalking off within her shadow, leaving him to do as he had said. Sighing, Sonic turned away and began searching the area he had indicated.

Finding nothing, Sonic quickly switched his focus to the other surrounding areas. Still nothing. Nothing at all. He skidded to a halt, having been running as fast as he felt he could get away with without missing any potential clues, then looked out unhappily at the distant ocean. The thought crossed his mind that he might have to go there, despite how much he tried to convince himself that he didn't. ...This is gonna suck. Nerves made his steps heavy, but he soon forced himself to walk to the nearest beach despite that.

For close to ten minutes, his luck didn't change. He had just begun to think that he might have put himself through this crap for nothing when something glittering out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to it with a frown and walked closer, feeling puzzled upon discovering that it was some sort of a necklace. One that had been… cut? ...Aw, shit. Dread pooling in the pit of his belly, Sonic scanned the area further… and on the other side of a rock, he found what he been fearing. A body. And the way this person had died left no doubt in his mind as to who was responsible. Normal people don't kill this cruelly.

"Armaris?" he called out in a slightly nervous voice, not knowing whether or not she was close enough to hear… or if Espio was.

The cat materialized in front of him, raising an eyebrow before glancing to the body. Her mood and eyes darkened faintly and she instinctively set a hand on her sword. "Fuck."

"You know shinobi way better than I do," Sonic muttered. "Will he have stuck around?" If he's still here… we'll have to be ready.

Armaris grabbed her sword and unfolded it, stalking back into the shadows. "Maybe. Just be on the lookout. If you even so much as think you see him, say something and I'll drag you into my shadow."

"I doubt I'd have the time," Sonic mumbled, repressing a shiver. Then, trying to steel his nerves, he looked around again. "I haven't completely searched the beaches yet. There might be more people here."

"Just don't stray away," Armaris murmured as she began moving.

Sonic nodded and followed after her as he had done earlier, eyes carefully scanning the ground all around them as they went. Before too long, he found himself cursing under his breath as he pointed ahead. "Shit… there's another one."

The cat growled faintly and muttered something under her breath. "Let's go take a look."

As they approached the body, Sonic grimaced at the state it was in… only to tense up when he noticed two others. And then another two. Fucking hell… he found a whole group of people…

Armaris expanded her shadow on instinct, making sure that Sonic was always touching it as she moved to inspect the others. "Shit… There's no doubt there's more somewhere nearby."

"Yeah." Sonic swallowed hard. "Doesn't look like this place was attacked too severely by all those demons… no telling how many survivors have been coming to the area." There could be hundreds of bodies that we haven't found yet. Maybe even more.

"Come on. Let's keep moving."

Without a word, Sonic did as he was told and pressed on. That only lasted for about a minute, however, before he froze up and grabbed Armaris's arm to make her stop as well. Then, wisely, he released his hold on her, using his hand to instead point a bit ahead of them. There, he indicated multiple kunai knives embedded deeply in the ground. Each one of them had a paper tag with dark inked writing tied to their handles. "Don't… don't those explode?" he demanded softly. Scanning their surroundings, he quickly picked out many more of these weapons and he tensed up further.

Armaris very quickly grabbed Sonic and pulled him away from the kunai. "They do explode when thrown. Unless they're planted carefully. Any shinobi with decent skill can lay these out in no time flat. Especially with speed like his..." Her grip was tight and tense, and her movements were currently stiff.

The implications of this entire situation made Sonic's blood run cold. This place is largely intact. Survivors are obviously coming here. He left tons of those knives just… laying around. Which means… he doesn't care who he kills. Swallowing thickly, he glanced around the area. "If he's still nearby… what do we do? He'll know we're standing here."

The cat lifted her hand and removed all of the kunai from the bodies with her black Darkness Magic, surrounding them in a bubble before making them all explode by slamming them into one another. "If it comes to that, I'll get us out of here…" Armaris' body slowly became wispy as she prepared for anything to happen.

"One of us needs to keep a watch out, just in case," Sonic said after a moment, "while one of us contacts Rose. If we're to have any chance of getting through to him, we'll need her Light. I don't know anything about purification and crap, but… from what I understand, Light is what we need." Not that purification like what Tails talked about with Kaden would be applicable here, Sonic knew, but dammit he didn't know how else to explain his thoughts here!

"I'll watch. You contact Rose," Armaris said shortly, her eyes narrowing as she examined the area further.

Sonic nodded once and immediately put a call through to the communicator Rose was borrowing. Please answer. Please don't be fighting or some shit. Not now.

It was several long and tense seconds before Rose answered. "Ah, forgive me. I am afraid I do not understand these well as of now."

Taking in a deep breath, Sonic steadied his tone. "No, it's… it's fine. Listen, do you still have that map open? We're in Splash Hills and we really need you here."

"Give… me a moment… Ah, yes. I know the area you are in. I will arrive as soon as I can."

"Great. Listen, though, be careful. We're not sure if he's here still, but… he's already killed people here. A bunch of them. He might attack any of us, too."

Rose's answer came much more quickly this time. "I am searching for you all now."

"We're on the shore," Sonic answered, eyes lifting to the sky. "I can't give any better description than that, unfortunately. Just… ...look for the bodies."

"I will be there." The reply was short, yet confident. However, it was followed by, "How do I end this call?"

"Red button," Sonic answered distractedly, still scanning the sky. "It's on the screen. Just tap it once."

The call ended shortly after, Armaris glancing back. "So… she's clueless with technology?" she asked, turning her gaze back forward.

"It's just not some people's thing," Sonic shrugged. Though it was hard to talk about, he soon added, "My dad… he had a couple friends like that. They weren't exactly clueless, I guess, but did deliberately resist learning about tech if they didn't have to. They were always more… low tech, for lack of a better term." He glanced at her. "Actually, one of them was a cat like you. But, only half-cat. Also like you. Not for that reason, per se, but I think you two would have gotten along."

"Tch." Armaris huffed faintly. "It happens. Cere has no clue sometimes. Then again, she's got this whole 'born close to the beginning of time' thing going on."

"Yeah, I get it. The guys I knew had a similar mindset. Something like, 'we got by in ancient times without tech, we don't really need it now'. Or something close to that."

Armaris snickered faintly. "I had to learn at one point. Integration into society would've been a shit time otherwise." Sonic nodded, fully understanding what she meant. The cat fell quiet, unsure of what to talk about next. She was taken completely off guard when Rose suddenly appeared, stopping her run on a dime and somehow managing to not kick up a massive cloud of sand. Armaris almost attacked the woman, and would have if it hadn't been for the amazing amount of Light she was radiating.

"Forgive my delay. I had a matter to attend to as I searched," Rose said softly, gently inclining her head in an apology.

"It's fine," Sonic answered quietly. Already, the brief lightness that had entered his mood before began to fade away again as reality came crashing back into focus.

Armaris let her Darkness fade in the presence of Rose's Light as the white cat walked forward slowly. "Would you like me to take the lead as we search?" Rose asked.

"If… you want to," Sonic shrugged weakly. "No one's gonna force you to."

Armaris was completely taken aback as Rose simply walked on, blinking rapidly. "Are you seriously just going to do it?"

"Yes," came the simple, almost pleasant response. "I would not wish to force either of you to do so."

Almost reluctantly, Sonic walked after her. As he followed, he said, "If he's still here, he's probably gonna be up on higher ground. I mean, guy's used to living in the mountains. Higher ground is appealing or whatever." He scanned the area a bit, then indicated a particular cluster of hills. "What do you think, Armaris? Think that's high enough up? It's about the highest elevation available that I can see."

She paused momentarily before giving a slow nod. "Possibly."

Sonic pursed his lips together. "It might be a good place to check… right?"

Rose closed her eyes and quickly produced a clone, letting it continue along the coast as she began walking toward the hills Sonic had pointed out. "I will do so, then." Almost as soon as the clone reached the spot and well before Sonic could speak, the clone's head exploded in a shower of blood before "poofing" out of existence (as clones did when destroyed). A single knife fell to the ground where the clone had been an instant before. Armaris's gaze sharpened as she put herself in front of Sonic while Rose walked fearlessly forward. "I see…"

With a hammering heart, Sonic hesitantly followed after them. I guess that answers that question…

Armaris moved after Rose quickly, as if worried about what plan the Light cat had in plan. Rose glanced to Armaris with a soft smile and walked a touch faster to the hills, slowly making her way among them. Armaris deadpanned at her before moving directly after Rose. "You're fucking insane."

"I am entirely sane." Rose answered simply. She scaled the first of the hills she came across, looking around as she did so. Where is Espio…? As if on cue, yet another knife sailed past her head, mere millimeters from the side of her face. The fact that he missed, even if only by an impossibly tiny margin, was incredibly abnormal, and Sonic knew it could only mean one of two things. Either he had missed on purpose (which was unlikely) or, for whatever reason, he wasn't giving his attempted attack enough of his focus… despite so little of it being required from him. Either way, it didn't make sense.

Rose's attention focused on the path the knife had taken, her walk slowly resuming in the direction the weapon seemed to have come from. No fear was evident in her features. This bitch is crazy, Armaris thought to herself, resisting the urge to grumble.

Not two seconds later, several more blades sailed toward them. Sonic barely dodged one of them, and the other missed by just as small of a margin as the first. He frowned, equal parts perplexed and afraid. "The hell's he doing?" he mumbled under his breath.

Anything coming at Armaris and Rose was stopped within an inch of making contact, potent Dark and Light magic respectively catching the various blades and discarding them. Rose gave Armaris a smile, nodded a thanks, and walked on once more. Her walk was adjusted slightly in that direction, intent on finding the source of the weapons. Soon, the three of them reached the crest of one of the hills, allowing them to finally lay eyes on their attacker. Espio sat with his back to them, irritably tying an already soaked bandage around his leg and seemingly ignoring them just for the moment. Though his aura was hidden now, Sonic still felt a soul-crushing sense of dread and sheer malice being in his friend's presence, and he hated being made to feel that way toward someone he cared about.

Rose initially resisted the urge to immediately approach but, seeing the bandage, slowly walked a few feet closer before kneeling down and watching momentarily. Speak or approach… Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "Espio. May I speak with you for a moment?"

The ninja gritted his teeth and yanked the bandage tighter to properly stem the blood flow. "Fuck off," he told her sharply. The only reason why he didn't throw another knife at her or something was because his hand was currently busy tying a knot in the cloth. His wording and demeanor caught Sonic off-guard, further revealing to the hedgehog just how different his old friend was in this state of mind as opposed to when he was normal.

"I wish to help. I can heal your wound so that it will not get infected," she said softly, a frown slowly forming on her face. He didn't directly answer her, muttering something crossly under his breath in Japanese instead as he moved to stand. Rose also stood, concern lighting up in her eyes. "Espio, may I please see your leg?" she asked a touch more directly, her hands coming together gently in front of her.

"No." His response was curt and almost… strained? Sonic couldn't be sure, but it seemed like Espio was sort of… forcing himself to be sort of civil? Or something? He might… be trying not to attack us, he realized, eyes widening slightly.

Armaris took a chance and spoke up. "What happened to you? How'd you get hurt?"

Jaw clenched, Espio stooped briefly and picked up his very bloody (though Sonic tried not to think about that) sword off of the ground. He seemed totally prepared to ignore the question but, at the same time, he seemed to sort of consider answering. Sonic fully suspected it was because she was the one asking. He tossed Armaris a glance, silently urging her to go on. He's being just a little less hostile with her than he was with Rose a second ago… maybe she can get through to him?

"Espio… I have to tell you something really important." Armaris paused momentarily, glancing to Sonic as if asking if this would be a good idea to mention. His child...

Sonic's eyes glistened with worry as he considered everything that was at stake here (namely, their freaking lives) should this go wrong. He watched Espio for a moment, taking in his tense demeanor and the obvious fact that he still wasn't attacking them. He's out of control when left to his own devices… but can reign himself in a bit when we're here? Biting his lower lip, Sonic made one of his famous (or infamous, according to Jet) split-second decisions and gave Armaris a tiny nod. Maybe some good news… and a bit of Light…? Will that be enough to force all this Darkness back for now? He closed his eyes briefly. Goodness and Light… that's what Mom always did for Dad. Following this line of thinking, he subtly gestured at Rose as well, hoping beyond all hope that she would know what to do.

Armaris hesitated, her voice low."Your… child. He's at your house. Cream's taking care of him right now." Her words immediately made Espio tense further and he visibly frowned, mind likely racing in response to this sudden news.

Rose gave Espio less than a single moment to take this information in before suddenly allowing Light to flow from herself to him in an attempt to help soothe his rampant energies. That, alongside what Armaris had told the chameleon, was their most powerful weapon right now. Knowing they basically had one shot at this before they lost that chance completely, Sonic immediately jumped in with his own Light to help subdue the Chameleon before he could attempt to break free. As expected, the level of Light they were forced to use was high despite his Darkness being nowhere near as volatile and active as it could have been, but soon Sonic could tell that they were meeting less and less resistance in their efforts. Seconds later, the Darkness collapsed in on itself entirely and, as so often happened with Sonic himself and Kaden when they exited a Dark state, Espio promptly collapsed as well. Sonic tried to lunge forward and catch him, but was just a split second too late to do so.

Armaris, however, managed to react quickly enough to use her magic to catch the both of them, sighing in relief as a tear fled from her eye. She then hurried over to the chameleon and slowly removed the bandage as Rose walked over calmly. As the two quietly inspected the wound, Armaris came to a startling conclusion. "You've got to be fucking kidding me…" Rose wasted no time in beginning to heal the wound as Armaris glanced back to Sonic.

Sonic hurried over when he heard her swear like that, already concerned anew. "What?" he asked quickly. "What's wrong?"

She took a moment to think of how to explain this before speaking. "So… not sure how much you know about Hollows, but they're demons that were sealed away in the Highlands. Apparently, those bastards have been let loose and are now roaming. One of them did this to Espio's leg."

There it was again… that sense of cold dread. "More demons?" he breathed. Then, steeling his nerves as best as he could, he asked, "I'm guessing… there's not a small number of these things?"

"No," came the short, almost snappy reply. She didn't want to sound angry, but damn was she pissed about this.

Rose cut in, glancing at them both. "I will have my clones navigate the planet to attempt to stave off the threat as best as I can. Make sure that Wave, Jet, Alana, and Sein are made aware of this matter." The last part seemed more intently directed at Armaris, to which the white cat received a nod. Rose soon had the wound healed and stood up. "Can you both make it back?" she asked gently, her gaze now intently roaming the area.

With a nod of his own, Sonic tossed a glance at Armaris. "...Yeah. We'll be fine. I can get us back quickly."

"Take Espio back. I will send my clones around the planet as I am making sure the dead are buried. I will return soon, as… something incessantly worries me."

Looking at their unconscious friend, Sonic pursed his lips together and nodded again, but he was really only barely listening. To think he escalated so far, despite having only just been forced into this state for the first time… How much worse can this get. How much worse will this get? Every time he slips back into that state, it will be worse… Struggling to push those thoughts aside, Sonic forced himself to look at Rose again. "Be careful, then. We'll keep in touch."

Rose gave a gentle nod of farewell and teleported away, leaving Sonic to teleport himself, Armaris, and the unconscious Espio back to the house.

~保護者~

4,664 words this time. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Hope you all enjoyed! Posted (at about 8:30 p.m.) 02-18-20.