Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) for the duration of these discussions… especially for the ones who know so much.

~保護者~

"Clear-Sighted"

~保護者~

"So, you've been running around for the past several years with Novei?" Sein dared to ask, a faint snicker escaping him. He, Alana, and Li all stood on the roof of Espio's ruined home talking after Li had suddenly appeared within the village.

The wolf rolled his eyes at the hawk, sighing. "Yes, I have."

Sein raised an eyebrow in amusement. "And Novei's been 'threatening' you all these years over random things?"

"Exactly," Li muttered, huffing softly.

"You sure she doesn't like you or something?"

The wolf sputtered, coughing. "Definitely not. She wants me around because I told her a while back that I could make weapons for her."

Sein laughed openly, taking a few moments to simply let it out before the display died down. "Honestly, man. She's not that bad of a person. Sure she hits like a fucking train, and she'll more than easily break someone's spine if they so much as look-"

"Are you trying to convince me that she does like me, or that she's a terrifying woman?"

"Both. Because both could be true," The hawk grinned, trying his damnedest to not laugh. Alana raised a silent eyebrow at him, though she chose not to comment on his teasing for now. Li was familiar enough with his own friend to be able to handle it on his own.

The wolf groaned. "Oh, shut up, Sein. There's no way. I'm still teaching her how to smile and not consistently give the 'resting bitch face', as Sona would put it."

Sein sighed softly, his amusement slowly seeming to ebb as he let the topic go. "Fine, but just think about that. Oh!" The blue hawk quickly made the shield snap out of his gauntlet, smiling. "I absolutely love this thing. It's got just enough weight to feel like another sword, which makes it all the better for batting things out of the way."

"That's-" Li put his face in his hands. "Sein, you truly baffle me with how much you don't use weapons how they're meant to be used."

"Says mister master swordsman."

"Blacksmith," Li corrected. "I'm not a swordsman."

"You make swords."

"Yes, and armor. And maces, gauntlets, shields, sometimes even bows. Your point?"

Sein blinked as he appeared to consider this. "Suppose so."

Finally, Alana decided to butt in. She fixed her husband with an unreadable look that somehow managed to still be firm and even vaguely menacing. "Sein, given the fact that he is the one who crafts all of your weapons, I suggest you heed his advice. Listening to what he has to say my well save your ass."

Li didn't give Sein a chance to respond, immediately jumping in with more proper techniques for using the shield. He ended the short lecture with, "Don't. Just. Bat. Things. Out. Of. The. Way."

Sein glanced between the two of them in mock disbelief. "Wow. You both just attacked me. I see how it is."

The wolf huffed. "You're an ass, Sein."

"Gotcha," the blue hawk winked and grinned, nudging the other male softly. "Thanks for the info, though. I'll try to make sure to put it to good use."

"Anywa-"

Sein suddenly cut in, eyes widening. "Hold on," he teleported into the house briefly, causing the wolf to look at Alana in confusion.

"Do you know what's happening?"

Alana shrugged. "I do not," she admitted. After a second's thought, she added, "Though, knowing him, it would be fair to say that we will learn soon."

Sure enough, Sein teleported back and turned his attention to Li. "I remembered something really interesting that you might want to know."

"And that is…?" Li asked, a touch confused as to what was even happening.

"Well… Sonic's got a brother. And apparently, he knows how to make guns."

Li blinked a few times, even more confused before it suddenly clicked. "Wait, wait, he knows how to make guns?" he asked quickly, his words almost running together in his excitement.

"Yes." Sein answered, a goofy grin on his face. "He makes guns and is apparently really good at it."

The wolf's excitement grew at this, leading to him jumping off the house suddenly and calling out some sort of goodbye as he went off to go search for the hedgehog. Alana watched him go, then turned her attention to Sein. "When did you learn this?"

"Kinda had some suspicions from being around them all. Didn't find out for sure until about…" Sein glanced toward the sky. "Maybe thirty seconds ago."

That caused her to shake her head at him. "You are something else," she sighed, albeit with a note of fondness in her tone.

"As are you," Sein commented lightly, smiling. "Though, I think that's a given."

Alana tossed him a little smile, then said, "I am going to go inside. What will you do?"

"I'll probably hang out here for a bit. Steam still hasn't come back, and he was in the same place with Li and Novei. It's got me a little worried," Sein admitted, frowning. "That guy's tough and all, but he's been acting a bit strange."

"...He reminds me of Father," Alana commented after a moment. "He has appeared… overly consumed by stress, as of late, and he does not seem to be coping well with it - much as Father often does not."

"Yeah, though, the thing worrying me most is how he keeps disappearing. He still hasn't shown back up, and he keeps vanishing after doing something. With his personality… it'd make more sense to see him jump from one thing to another like he's trying to do," Sein murmured, crossing his arms. "Not sure what to think."

"He is likely making an effort to calm himself down," Alana responded. Then, following that line of thinking, she said, "I am heading inside. I wish to make sure Jet is alright."

Sein nodded and smiled. "Alright. I'll hopefully be back in shortly." With a nod of her own, Alana dropped down gracefully from the roof and walked inside. Meanwhile, Sein sat down at the edge of the roof, setting his hands on his knees and looking around. It was… melancholy, painful to see this level of destruction.

All of a sudden, there was the unique sound of claws gently scraping against metal as something pawed at Sein's armored back. There was a low "wuff" sound shortly afterward, but nothing else happened to indicate who or what was behind him right now. "Either I'm about to be eaten or someone wants to get tackled by a body of armor," the hawk remarked, slowly sitting up straight. A low growl sounded off behind him, but no words came. However, there wasn't too much fire contained within that sound. For now, at least. The hawk pushed himself up suddenly onto his hands and twirled around to face the source of the sound, a faint smirk on his face. "Ass." The look Sein received for that mild insult was flat, and the wolf seated before him huffed. Then the wolf got up and walked forward to give Sein a small yet vaguely affectionate greeting in the form of a small head-bump, much like a pet cat would do.

The hawk smiled widely at Azerel, rubbing the wolf's back affectionately. "Been too long, eh?" Azerel huffed again in some sort of agreement, then sat back down on his haunches. He gave Sein a long and appraising look before standing up a second time and circling the Babylonian. Once he was satisfied that Sein was in good health and was unharmed, he came back around to the front and sat back down once more. "So, what's up? Why'd you come all the way here?"

Hearing this, Azerel's head canted and he seemed to think the question over before standing once more. This time, he walked right over to Sein's arm, bent low, and lightly bit down on it. He gripped the armor-clad limb hard enough to tug it, then let it go and looked up at Sein's face expectantly. The hawk blinked, allowing the wolf to do this. "Uh… whatcha doing…?" Seeming annoyed now, Azerel walked behind Sein and nudged him hard with his head. Then, when this wasn't enough, he did it again, this time punctuated with a low and insistant growl. "I don't understand. What do you want?" Sein asked, confused.

Now supremely irritated, Azerel gave up on gentility. Gripping Sein's arm in his teeth again, he heaved the hawk up onto his feet, pulled him forward a step with another growl, then released him and fixed him with a glare. The hawk lurched forward to try and keep up, frowning. "Oi! Rude!" Sein then stood up properly and shooed Azerel along. "Fine, I'll follow." Azerel, satisfied that he was finally understood, teleported away without further attempts at communication. Sein teleported after the wolf without hesitation.

The pair of them reappeared back on New Babylon and, apparently pleased with himself for this accomplishment, the young-again wolf trotted off toward the building without waiting for Sein to say anything else. Sein frowned in confusion, continuing along after Azerel. He had no idea what was going on. Azerel led the way inside, then up numerous flights of stairs until they reached the uppermost floor. Once there, he walked down several long halls toward the (formerly closed) double doors leading into the observatory Sein and Alana had been granted permission to explore seemingly so long ago. It didn't seem from here to be too badly damaged, and it was no longer so dark in there, either. The flickering light of candles illuminated the space, giving it some life. The hawk cast Azerel a confused and somewhat concerned look. "Azerel, why are we here?"

Azerel shot Sein a look, then simply walked into the room. He walked around various tables, bits of rubble, piles of books, and so on before reaching his intended target. Upon reaching said target, he reached out with his teeth again, this time snagging the cloth of a long sleeve and giving it a hearty pull. The fabric didn't rip, but its owner whirled around to scowl at him. "Stop," Kath snapped at him, yanking his sleeve free. "You are not a pup anymore. Enough of this." Azerel stared at him haughtily and sat down.

Sein froze where he was, intentionally forcing himself to start backing away marginally. "I- uh… hi…" Azerel was on his feet immediately and shoving Sein back over before the man could escape.

Hearing his voice, Kath glanced over. His irritation toward Azerel bled away momentarily, only to return when the wolf made a comment only he could hear. He shot said wolf a look before turning away to resume cleaning up. "Piss off," he told his partner silently. Azerel answered with a short growl.

The blue hawk stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say or do further. This wasn't the situation he wanted to be in as of a few minutes ago, and it certainly wasn't the one he wanted to be in now. Unsatisfied with this, Azerel returned to Kath, this time to give his arm a sharp nip. Kath reacted almost on instinct, cuffing the wolf's ear and giving him another glare. However, with his attention back on Azerel, the wolf was able to speak with him again. They had a very short mental conversation, and afterward Azerel actually walked away and laid down in a corner, apparently satisfied once more. Kath glared after him for a second, then returned to what he was doing. However, after a long moment, he relinquished a sigh and addressed Sein finally. "...You were upset earlier."

Sein cleared his throat, slowly attempting to speak to the other hawk. "Yeah… I was…"

Another long and somewhat awkward silence passed before Kath responded. "Why?" he asked bluntly, seeking to understand as he always did.

"Well…" Sein started, unsure of where to go with his statement. "I just… felt awful for bringing that up. You obviously didn't want to talk about it for a reason…" His tone dropped as he spoke, uncertainty and anxiety entering his voice.

Though not normally skilled at reading people, Kath was starting to suspect he knew what was going on here. "It was not you I was upset at," he murmured, setting aside some ruined books to be tossed out later.

Sein shrugged softly. "Even then, I upset you regardless. I don't like doing that…" he mumbled.

"It was not you that upset me, either," Kath admitted, still keeping busy. He often did that - busied himself - when attempting to deal with his emotions, be them his or someone else's. It just made things easier for him, in a way.

"I just worry about it. I don't like even indirectly causing someone to be upset," Sein admitted in kind, his gaze tearing away from the older hawk. "It hurts me." Unsure what to say to that, Kath focused momentarily on freeing some more books from the rubble and searching them over. Those that were salvageable were placed on a nearby shelf and those that weren't were piled off to the side. Sein eventually glanced back to Kath, a worried look on his face. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Kath shook his head. "Do not be." There was a pause, then it occurred to him that more of a response might be required. "I long suspected it would come up. I should have been more prepared for it. You did nothing wrong."

The blue hawk didn't want to accept this for a few reasons, the most prominent being that he felt responsible for being the one to bring up the conversation in the first place. Though, he made a strong effort to listen to Kath and accept that maybe he was telling the truth. "You couldn't have prepared… you didn't know I would find out."

This earned an audible huff from the older hawk. "I did," he argued. "You are nothing if not nosy, as I seem to recall. When even a hint of new information comes your way, you dig for more until you know the whole truth." He set more books aside, then stood and dusted his legs off a bit. "Though I supposed that may be my fault."

Sein scoffed softly. "Not true. I don't always dig for more. Only sometimes. Or when it really matters to me." He smiled for a second before gazing at Azerel. "You're an ass, ya know?"

Azerel lifted his head, but soon laid it back down on his paws again. Keth let out an indelicate snort and reported (despite not usually deigning to translate Azerel's comments to other people), "He says he is not going to apologize to you." As he spoke, he bent down and picked up a tiny pebble-like piece of debris.

"Did I ever ask for him to?" Sein asked boldly, crossing his arms. "Last I remember, I didn't."

By all appearances, Azerel made some sort of snarky comment… if the pebble that sailed across the room and thumped him in the forehead was any indication. The wolf leapt to his feet, growling and bristling, but Kath dutifully ignored him, continuing to clean up as though nothing at all had happened.

Sein watched this with amusement alight in his eyes and a smile on his face. "I'd love to stay, but I've been-" The hawk cut himself off, turning his full attention back to Kath. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Pure blue eyes glanced at him from under long bangs, then Kath nodded. "Ask."

"You and Steam met a bit ago, so you've at least seen him. I'm starting to wonder if he might have a similar problem to you when it comes to stress and management of said stress." Sein frowned for a moment before continuing. "I was wondering what the possibility was that you might actually… both have that same particular issue."

As he often did, Kath thought fairly deeply about the question before asking his own. "...He is part Babylonian, is he not?"

Sein thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, definitely. Maybe like, a fourth or a bit more, judging by his aura."

"His energy is akin to a sparrow's," Kath commented a touch distractedly, mind still working over what he'd been asked. Eventually, he stated, "The rates of the disorder are highest amongst our species, sparrows, and one or two others. It remains uncommon, but it is not impossible for him to also have it.:

"And there's no telling the chance he'd have based on the other parts of his heritage," Sein shrugged. Kath merely nodded. "I'll make sure to mention it to Alana and ask her about it. I'm getting worried because he keeps vanishing for longer periods of time." After waiting for and not receiving a comment, Sein gave a thankful nod. "Thanks for the help. It means a lot." Kath answered with a nod of his own but, as per usual with him, didn't feel the need to directly and verbally reply. The blue hawk then cast a smile and a wave toward Kath and Azerel before teleporting away.

~保護者~

The moment Jet walked through the door (seriously, how the hell did he even sneak out without anyone noticing?) Sonic was on his feet and ready to let loose a barrage of worry-induced words that were maybe-kinda-not-so-nice. Only, he never had a chance to voice any of those words before he felt a harsh thunk on the top of his head. He reacted on reflex, dropping back down into a sitting position and clutching at his now throbbing head. "Ow! What the hell?!"

Jet scowled quietly at him. "The next time you see a demonic portal, do not go leaping through it."

In the brief silence that followed, Sonic had something of an epiphany. I scared him just as much as he scared me. Simmering down a bit but still rubbing at his head with one hand, Sonic sullenly mumbled an agreement, only to follow it up with a quick, "Only if you promise to stop throwing yourself head-first into shit like that without help."

Jet huffed and, tellingly, didn't say anything about that. At all. Instead, he swept his gaze around the room and asked, "Where are the others?"

"You're changing the subject," Sonic accused. Jet glanced at him. In the end, Sonic relented. "Yeah, okay, fine. Whatever. Pretty sure you can sense most of them, but fuck it. I'll humor you. Cream's in the spare room with Armaris and Vector. They're trying to get some rest before Espio wakes up. Wave left Rose in there, too, but she took off somewhere a few minutes ago. I don't know where. Tails and I took Shadow to a little hut that's still standing nearby, since Tails doesn't think Shadow's gonna want to be around anyone too much right away. Shadow's up now, and Tails is staying with him. Steam's who-the-fuck-knows where." He paused, thinking, then added, "Oh, and I have no idea where the dragon went."

Jet let out a vague hum and took a seat beside Sonic. He was nowhere near as closed off in this moment as he often was, providing an unprecedented opportunity to read the variety of emotions he was experiencing. There was concern, anger, lingering anxiety, a tentative dose of calmness, some hesitation… There was likely more, but Sonic didn't have a chance to sift through it all before Jet leaned back against the wall, largely closing himself off again as he did so. Then he spoke into the silence, offering words Sonic hadn't at all expected to hear. "...I'm sorry you were forced to find out the way you did."

Sonic knew what Jet was referring to. He couldn't not. But, though his own emotions were an absolute mess over all this and his heart fucking hurt and his brain could barely wrap itself around anything he'd learned yet, he didn't hold any of it against his friends. They had done their best to protect him from the truth until they could tell him in a way that wouldn't be so damn scarring. They had wanted to let him down easy. They'd had such good intentions. Life… life just didn't always go according to plan. He knew that better than most people. "It isn't your fault," he sighed, looking away. "I know it's not what you guys wanted to happen, and I get what you guys were trying to do before everything suddenly went to shit. I don't blame any of you for what happened." When Jet still seemed unconvinced, Sonic reached over and nudged his shoulder. "Look, take it from an old guy who's already been dead - properly, that is - once before. Don't waste your life worrying over shit that you can't control. At least, not comparatively minor stuff like this." He gave his old friend a small smile when Jet finally looked at him again. "Besides, I already said it's okay. I'm not upset with you. I promise I would say so if I was. Okay?"

After a long moment, something about Jet's posture seemed to loosen up a bit and he nodded. "...Alright." Alana walked in but, seeing that the two of them were fine and in the middle of the conversation, she continued onward to quickly check on Cream and the others.

Pleased that Jet had relaxed and was overall just relaxed in general (especially compared to earlier), Sonic managed a slight smile. Then a thought occurred to him and he shifted to turn toward his friend. "Hey… let me see your arms. You were gripping them pretty tightly before we got back to the house. I want to make sure you didn't bruise yourself up again." I mean, I know Rose went around and healed everybody, but… still. Can she even heal wounds dealt by an Immortal?

Although reluctant, Jet soon relented and held out his arms. Sonic quickly checked them over, making sure to do so with as little touching as possible. Sure enough, there were dark circular bruises concealed under those vibrant green feathers, each roughly the shape of a fingertip. Sonic winced at just how dark they were. "Don't these hurt?" he mumbled. Jet just shrugged a little, neither confirming nor denying Sonic's assumption.

At about this time, Sein teleported back to the house and dropped into the front room of the house, blinking as he looked between Sonic and Jet. "Hey… what's up?"

Jet glanced at him, then dropped his gaze while Sonic sighed and answered, "It's…" He trailed off for a second, then looked at Jet. "Look… I know you're not gonna like it, but I've gotta go ahead and explain this to him. Okay?" Though Jet was clearly upset about this, he didn't argue the point. Sonic took that as the (unhappy) permission it was and addressed Sein again. "Remember what I started telling you about before, the fact that Jet sometimes unintentionally hurts himself when really stressed out?"

Sein gave a slow nod to this, a faint few flickers of concern on his face. "Yeah, why?" he asked softly.

Sonic gestured for Sein to come over, much to Jet's continued upset. Once Sein was there, Sonic took hold of one of Jet's arms and gently parted some feathers to reveal a few of the bruises. "This is one of the things you have to look out for. He bruises up his arms like this sometimes." Sein grimaced at the sight, not liking what he saw at all.

"It's not… usually… intentional," Sonic continued slowly. Alana walked back into the room then and, upon seeing what was going on, immediately walked over to listen. "These sorts of behaviors, some people refer to them as SIB's. That means self-injurious behaviors. In the case of Jet and a couple of others I've met, these aren't done for attention or anything like that. It's usually in response to stress, due to emotions the person in question isn't equipped to handle, or that sort of thing." He looked to Sein and Alana. "Sorry if this is stuff you guys already know. Not sure if Kath's ever done this sort of stuff, so I wanted to explain just in case."

Sein gave a soft smile to Sonic. "In any case, whether we knew it or not, you might explain things in a way that pertains more to Jet. That alone makes it worth listening to."

"Father has done something similar at least once that I am aware of," Alana revealed after a small moment. Sonic went ahead and let Jet pull back his arms while she spoke. That pretty much immediately improved his friend's mood to some degree. "I was young back then, however. I do not know what was done about it, though I do know that mother and at least one professional worked with him greatly for many years."

"We try to do that, too," Sonic nodded. "He's… never had any professional help, partly because he just… has a hard time trusting people. But myself and various others, we do what we can." Jet chose not to comment, but Sonic was rather certain he detected a glint of gratitude in Jet's eyes for a second or two. That made the hedgehog smile.

The blue hawk gave another smile in return, watching the short exchange. "I'm glad to hear that," he replied. "Though, is there anything else you think we should know about this?" he asked, a more concerned look on his face.

Sonic glanced to Jet, as though silently asking for his permission to proceed. Jet just shrugged. Sonic took the lack of immediate rebuttal as permission enough, coming from Jet, so he said, "A bit, yeah. Actually, did… Or, I guess, does Kath ever have meltdowns?"

Though mildly surprised by the question, Alana nodded. "Yes, though it takes much more now than it used to for him to lose control and fall apart in such a manner."

That makes sense. Sonic filed that information in case it ever became somehow important. "And I imagine that his meltdowns aren't terribly big ordeals, given that it's him."

"They are usually rather… quiet," Alana answered. "For one thing, he often ceases speech for the duration of the incident, and often for some time afterward as well. He was taught sign language for just such a reason."

Well, that was news. Guess that means there's… eight people in our group who know sign language? ...Nine? "Right. Well, that's not really the case with Jet. Although, he does sometimes refuse to talk to people during or after a meltdown, it's not to the point where he has to use other communication methods because of it. And, to put it simply, he deals with a more… 'standard', I guess you could say, type of meltdown. The kind that's volatile, emotional, out of control, involves SIB's… It takes a lot to get him to that point usually, but the serious nature of the event is why Wave and I have tried to keep so on top of things with him lately. We don't want things to cross the line into being 'too much', and I know that he doesn't want that, either."

Sein nodded slowly, taking this all in. It was a bit much to try and process, but he did his absolute best with it. "In the case that a meltdown starts, what should be our first actions?"

At this, Sonic heaved a sigh. "I hate to say it, but it varies depending on what causes the meltdown in the first place. If it was, say, sensory overload for example, the strategies we'd have to utilize would have to be different than if, say, a purely emotional issue caused the meltdown."

"I thought it would be something like that," Sein admitted, shrugging softly. "What are some of the more consistent things that have to be done? Or is each individual case something entirely different?"

"Getting him away from other people for a while nearly always benefits him," Sonic replied. "He does well in quiet spaces where he can be alone or only with one, maybe two people that he really trusts. That blanket trick I told you about a while ago also tends to help regardless of what his trigger was." He thought for a moment, then added, "Oh, and I mentioned a TV back then, too. That usually only helps when understimulation was the root cause of the incident in question, but sometimes letting him just lay down and relax with a show helps with stress-related meltdowns, or with sensory overload by offering controlled stimulation that can sort of help… level him back out, I guess? And music always helps."

Sein was about to respond when Steam suddenly landed in the room from a teleport. This wholly grabbed the blue hawk's attention, turning to face the green hedgehog. "Hey, everything alright? You've been gone a while." He cast a glance to Sonic, saying that they could continue this later if he felt the need to.

The hedgehog was slow to respond, taking an almost worryingly long amount of time before finally speaking. "Yeah, sorry. Got caught up in something. I need to speak to Jet, though. Something really important that I want his opinion on."

Jet's demeanor shifted from uncomfortable and upset to serious in a heartbeat. "Speak, then," he commanded quietly.

"So, we're pulling together a team of people to try and rescue Analia if Kaden decides to attack the Trokkelar Army like I think he will. It was unanimously decided by the Gods and Goddesses that you would be one of the best fits for the job, seeing as you've been there many times and you're able to be incredibly stealthy." Steam paused for a moment, putting his words together before continuing. "However… none of us want to drag you through that since you've already been through enough shit lately."

Whatever reaction Jet had to this news, emotional or otherwise, was hidden with perfect skill. Sonic, however, did not share in Jet's stoic demeanor. His shock and sudden pain-filled hope were plainly visible on his face. Jet's expression, however, was unreadable as he mulled over what he'd been told, then he eventually stood up. "Fine, then," he muttered. There was something akin to a sigh in his voice. "When did you intend to leave?"

"I want to be sure that you're actually willing to do this and not because you feel obligated," Steam answered, ignoring the previous questions. "That's something that matters to me."

Stubborn arms crossed. "It is irrelevant what I want," Jet responded a touch snippily. "This is something that must be done. If her location has finally been discovered, then recovering her and ensuring her safety is paramount."

Sein cut in, seeing that Steam was about to get snippy (or worse) in return. "Easy now," he said softly to Steam. "When are you planning to go and do this?"

"As soon as Kaden leaves his planet," Steam murmured, glancing away. "As soon as that happens, the timer starts ticking. We've likely got one shot at it."

Much to Alana's surprise, Jet suddenly utilized a power that had only previously existed within her father… the power of Vision, the very power he often used to gaze into the depths of space. Eyes visibly filled with stars, as this power caused to happen, Jet murmured, "He is preparing to do so now… Many ships are already departing from the surface."

Sein noted a sharp change in Steam's aura at hearing that. He could've sworn it was something akin to anxiety, but he hadn't the time to comprehend it before it was covered up. "Locke is the one who's planning to join us in this. If you're wanting to go ahead and get him, we should get moving. Unless you think we have time to do any other preparation necessary," Steam answered, crossing his arms tightly.

Jet's eyes cleared and he shook his head. "He is already there, waiting just beyond the reach of Kaden's senses." Sonic chose not to say anything for now, but the knowledge that Locke was also there made his heart hurt even worse.

Steam gave a slow nod. "Then we're going?"

"I am," Jet corrected firmly. "You are going to take the time to calm yourself first. Nervousness will not serve you there. It will only contribute to you being harmed. The demons will be drawn to the scent of your emotions."

The hedgehog froze temporarily, shock running through his system before he suddenly teleported away. Sein frowned a bit and looked to Alana, concerned. "Should I go talk to him, then…?"

Though she gave it some thought, ultimately Alana was more focused on the larger matter at hand. "It is your decision," she eventually said. "If you believe a conversation may be beneficial to him, then there is no reason why you should not go." As she spoke, she noted that Sonic and Jet seemed to trade some silent words with one another before Jet teleported away as well.

Sein gave a quick nod. "I only hope I can calm him down in time…" He teleported away, intent on helping the hedgehog recover.

~保護者~

Li poked his head around the frame of an open door, looking around for any signs of the black hedgehog he'd been told about. His interest had been piqued by a conversation he'd been having with Sein, someone having mentioned to the wolf that Shadow was capable of making guns. The thought of this (considering Li was a blacksmith for most traditional types of weapons) was something that he wanted to learn about. If he'd been honest… he had never thought to make guns before. "Hey, uh, Shadow? You in here?"

The hedgehog in question sat in silence in the only remaining room of this hut-house-thing (he really didn't give a damn what it was supposed to be called) with his arms and legs crossed. Keeping his jaw clenched to force his teeth not to chatter, he cracked his eyes open and glanced at the doorway. Why can no one leave me be? He understood why Tails was here, as much as he hated that it was necessary, but why was someone else now here? At least Tails was sleeping, however unintentionally that was, and leaving him alone.

Li's ears folded for a moment, unsure about how to approach this. He was always a careful person, and as such hesitated before stepping inside. "I heard that uh… you know how to make guns?" he asked meekly, chuckling nervously.

His teeth refused to stop chattering. Or, at least, attempting to. As such, Shadow didn't speak, merely agreed with a silent nod. Does it matter? he wondered irritably, though he refrained from voicing that comment aloud for now.

"Well… I was curious about that." Li glanced around before suddenly seeming to remember something. "Oh! Right! I forgot to introduce myself! Name's Li. God of the Forge."

God of the- Now Shadow's own interest was piqued. He turned his head to look over the other man, taking in his appearance and even going so far as to give him a brief scan as well. This gave his eyes a faint glow to them for a few short moments before he finally looked away. A God, indeed… hn.

Seeing the intrigue subtly displayed by the hedgehog, Li was quick to continue, hoping to not lose this bit of progress. "So, uh, yeah. I wanted to ask you about that, since I've never actually… made a gun."

Only once he felt that he could force some words out without interruption via various unwanted symptoms did Shadow speak. "Would it not be necessary?" he muttered.

"To some degree, not really? I come from what I guess you may call ancient times. We never had guns, so we learned to make do with other weapons we could make. I also have to prioritize making weapons that can handle various powers, such as something like the God of the Sun's weapons," Li explained. "I kinda… never thought about making guns," he added, laughing sheepishly.

After a long moment of focusing on fighting back some harsh shivers and chills, Shadow responded simply, "Firearms can also be built to withstand the use of one's powers. There exist guns that wield the power of aura, guns that concentrate radiation, guns that channel Darkness, and more. They are not useless in your field."

The wolf coughed. "Y-yeah…" he admitted. "I'm just really slow to adapt, but when I heard that you can make guns, I thought this might be the perfect chance to hear about something like that, ya know?"

In answer, Shadow picked up one of his prized handguns (which had been resting on the floor beside him) and tossed it to Li. "That one was modified to channel Darkness. It was not a complicated process. With a proper forge, it would likely be rather easy."

"Well… about that…" Li glanced toward Espio's house, almost distantly. "There's a reason I was traveling with the Therian. My realm kinda got… attacked."

Shadow caught on immediately and he had to force himself not to openly scowl. Attempting to keep the growl out of his voice, he said, "I assume Father was behind it." There was a slight pause, then he moodily clarified, "The God of Demons."

Li was properly taken aback, blinking rapidly. "Wait, wait, wait, you're related? I didn't know he even had family alive."

"He was not born demonic," Shadow muttered. Explaining this wasn't something he wanted to do, but it was relevant despite how much he hated that fact. So, for the time being, he sucked it up and continued. "He had a life, a long one, before he was corrupted. A by-product of that was four children, two of which remain alive."

The wolf's mouth would have been agape had he not taken care to close it, taking a second to process that. "Wow… That… makes a lot of sense. The uh, not born demonic part, that is."

Shadow turned his head to look at Li again, frowning unhappily as he did so. "He was behind the attack, was he not?"

There was a slow nod in response. "His inferno still rages. I can't go in there, or it'll kill me."

"Speak with Jet." Shadow turned his head back around to resume gazing out the window he'd seated himself beside. "Or his parents. They may be able to aid you while things remain calm."

Li blinked once. He had not thought of that. "You… yeah, you're right." The wolf flashed a smile. "Thanks for the idea." Then he suddenly realized that Shadow had tossed one of his guns over, and that he had reflexively caught it. He quickly turned it over in his hands a few times as he stared the gun over with an analytical gaze. "Wow, you're entirely right about the modifications. It's similar to what I do for channeling energies in blades."

Shadow glanced at him, mildly surprised and interested at the revelation but not feeling up to saying anything about it. In fact, he suddenly felt sick. Again. Which was frustrating to no end. But he did his best to ignore it. These symptoms were incredibly mild compared to what he would be suffering later. If he allowed himself to feel miserable now, there was no telling how absolutely shitty he would feel in the future. Breathe, he reminded himself in an effort to force himself to move past his nausea. Breathe.

The wolf frowned as he watched Shadow, concern on his face and in his tone. "Hey, is something wrong?" he asked, taking a small step closer. "You don't look like you're feeling so good."

In response, Shadow nearly snapped at him due to a surge of sudden irritability. He was able to mostly quash the urge to follow through with that emotional reaction, but his tone still had a bit of a bite to it when he spoke. "I'm fine."

Li managed to not recoil at this, having been the unfortunate man to have been indirectly subjected to his own best friend's anger made it a bit easier. Nonetheless, he was worried. "Hey, what's wrong?" the wolf asked softly, wanting to offer his help.

Irritation dissolved into sudden and deeply unwanted and utterly irrational nervousness. Damned mood swings. Taking another breath to steady himself because he knew this was only going to continue to escalate, he muttered, "Nothing."

"D-do you want me to go? We can try talking again some other time, if that's better…" Li murmured, not wanting to make the situation any worse.

Shadow didn't answer. He really didn't care what this man did right now. All he cared about was not heaving in front of the guy. It… was one thing with someone he trusted. Someone who had already seen him at his lowest point and didn't think less of him for it. Around a total stranger, however… Not fucking happening. He absolutely refused.

Li took this as a sign that he should go, giving a small yet thankful nod to Shadow. "Thanks for letting me see your gun. I hope we can talk again soon." He didn't waste much time in hurrying off, not wanting to potentially upset the hedgehog.

With him gone, Shadow finally relented, caving into the exhaustion he'd been fighting with since regaining consciousness earlier in the day. Settling himself against the wall in his chosen corner, he closed his eyes and tried to just let himself fall asleep. It would make his life so much easier if he could… even if only for a short while.

~保護者~

Everything fucking hurt.

That was the very first thing Espio's mind registered when the beginnings of consciousness began to return to him. Then came the memories - terrified faces, fights, screams, cuts, blood, death - and he jolted upright from where he had been laying. It took a moment for his pulse to calm and his vision to focus, and another moment after that to understand where he was. Namely, in his house, in his room, on his mattress. Which was… on the floor… for some reason. But that realization was swiftly dismissed as irrelevant as he moved to stand, instinctively grabbing his sword as he went.

Glancing around his room (or, at least, what remained of it) he quickly deduced that was alone for the time being. He took the opportunity to check over his own condition, and that of his mother's sword. The latter was fine, albeit soaked with blood which was… mostly… not his. He himself was similarly covered in the stuff, and much of it was fresh enough to still be wet. Noticing this caused him to grimace slightly with a sense of distaste - not for the blood itself, per se, but just the overall fact of being unclean. Blood in and of itself didn't bother him. Though, in light of his current situation… perhaps it should have.

He once again dismissed his thought as irrelevant and made some effort to focus. It occurred to him somewhat distantly that his thoughts only ever bounced around like this when experiencing some sort of negative emotion… stress, maybe? But he didn't allow himself time to dwell on that. Instead, he focused more on other, more important matters. Such as the fact that he could actually feel something that he absolutely should not have been able to feel. At all. Frowning deeply, he looked down at his (formerly?) ruined arm and slowly, gingerly, flexed his fingers. Then, just as carefully, he stretched them out. He shifted his hand a bit, even moved his arm itself.

Without thinking, he slashed what remained of his sling with his borrowed sword, allowing the tattered fabric to fall to the ground. Much to his mute surprise, he was able to hold his arm up and prevent it from simply dropping limply to his side. In fact, he was able to stretch it out, move it around, even use his hand to grasp the handle of the blade. It was frankly jarring, to suddenly be able to feel the things he was touching, to have mobility, to not have a part of himself be just useless. And yet, jarring though this undoubtedly was, he knew there were still other things he needed to be dealing with.

The rest of his memories prior to this moment were fading into focus. He remembered now the bloodbath in the hills, being attacked by a Hollow, his exchange of words with Armaris and the others, the searing agony of all the Light that had suddenly engulfed him… and something she had said just prior to that… those words strangely chilled him, causing his grip to tighten on his blade. A child… ...No… the child.

His bedroom door opened, wrenching him free of his thoughts. Cream walked in, alone, her face awash with relief. "You're awake," she breathed. Heedless of the blood still covering him, she rushed over and embraced him. He allowed it, for now, though the urge to retreat from the sudden touch was there. "We were so worried."

Armaris stood at the doorway, arms crossed as she watched them. "Yeah. I got worried that the Light fucked you up…" She glanced away, sighing softly. Espio gave her a short, knowing look before turning his head away without a word. He knew what had happened... what he had almost done.

After another couple of seconds, Cream released him and checked him over. "You are not hurt?" she questioned with obvious surprise.

"Darkness based regeneration? Something like that would have to be the cause, considering that he's never had any sort of healing powers," Armaris murmured softly, tapping her foot lightly. "Probably came to be when his Darkness flared up really bad the first time around."

Cream thought that over very briefly, expression turning thoughtful. This… was not mentioned in the book. What other information was missing? Equal parts relieved and concerned by his lack of injury, she let out a sigh and said, "You had us all terribly afraid." Then, more quietly, she murmured, "I was scared."

Out of the blue, Espio bitterly admitted, "You scare me." He refused to admit it aloud, certainly not to her, but she had been part of what had pushed him over the edge earlier. The threat of her safety, the threat against her life… it had been too much. That, amongst other things. But these were not things he would mention. Not here, not now, not around other people.

Fittingly, Cream was rather stunned. "I do?" she whispered.

There was a small second of silence. Espio took that second to think through his next course of action. Then, mindful of a similar request she had asked of him when she had been smaller and more innocent, he muttered, "Promise me something."

Wide and still-innocent eyes blinked at him once. "Yes?"

Meeting her gaze, he curtly ordered, "Do not die."

Everything about her softened all at once into one of the brightest and warmest smiles he had seen from her since her recent revival. "Of course not," she said softly. "I won't die. I promise."

"Hey, Espio," Armaris said, turning her attention back to Espio. "I want to ask you something." Still avoiding her gaze, Espio answered with a simple nod. At the same time, he busied himself with using his frankly already ruined blanket to wipe his sword clean. "You don't want to do any of what you did right now, do you?" Her question was frank and her tone was quiet yet intent on gaining an answer.

Espio scowled. "No," he answered tersely, dropping the blanket and sheathing his sword.

Armaris managed a small smile. "That's all I needed to know. It's good to have you back." Her attention shifted back out of the room for a moment before she stepped out of the way.

Rose gently knocked on the door and poked her head around the corner. "Espio, may I come in?" she asked softly, eyes scanning the chameleon's body for any sign of injury by instinct. He wasn't entirely paying attention, given the fact that he was now busy untying the makeshift bandage he had put on his leg earlier, so instead of speaking he just nodded. What was the point in denying her access? It seemed that everyone else was congregating in here at this point… The cat quietly walked in, holding a small bundle in her arms. "I thought you might want to see him sooner rather than later," she whispered as she walked closer, smiling gently.

Him? That caught Espio's attention instantly and he dropped the bloody bandages as he turned to look at her. Then his gaze snagged on the bundle she held in her arms. When he didn't immediately speak, Cream helpfully interjected, "A few villagers stopped by with gifts. One of them brought a proper blanket and a couple of traditional bottles. Although, he has not wanted to feed yet. Is that normal?"

It took some genuine effort to conjure up what little knowledge he even had about chameleon babies, then Espio answered with a short, "Yes. They do not eat much, initially." As he watched, the bundle shifted enough that some of the blanket fell away, revealing purple skin and tiny limbs. Then there was more shifting. The baby rolled over a little, yawned, then blinked open bleary amber eyes. Temporarily unable to come up with a reaction, Espio simply stared.

"What is recommended as a diet for young chameleons?" Rose ventured to ask. "I can begin preparing for when he is hungry as well, if you would like."

Once more, Espio didn't immediately answer. Cream suggested, "Would it be something akin to juice and the like? I know your people typically eat many plant-based foods, such as fruit." A long pause, then Espio conceded another nod. Meanwhile, the baby wiggled around in Rose's arms, his own arms outstretched and legs moving around awkwardly. It may have seemed like random motions to most, but Espio understood what was going on. The baby was following their instincts and trying to climb, to cling, and soon he would be able to do so. It was how babies stayed close to their parents and were carried around. Within the hour, perhaps…

Rose continued to smile and gently waved a hand, using her magic to clean off Espio's body as best she could manage. "Forgive me for doing it so suddenly, but I did not assume you wished to be in such a state for long."

Though he sort of huffed at her, Espio didn't argue or complain. He didn't give a shit when in the heat of battle, but otherwise he did not at all enjoy being dirty… let alone filthy to that degree. Especially not when it reminded him so strongly of what had gone on prior to that blast of Light earlier, things that he did not want to be remembering right now. There was a time and a place for dealing with such memories and this was not it. Besides… he had a much bigger problem to deal with right this second. Namely, the child. More specifically, her child. Their child. ...My child…

Whatever stunned and stupefied state he'd been in shattered and a wave of resentment crashed over him. He didn't want this. He didn't want any of this. With the virtually nonexistent fertility rates of his race, what were the chances of this having ever occurred? Why had this happened? Why, with her of all people? And then the thought struck him, albeit belatedly, that it was possible that these negative emotions weren't even entirely genuine, either. How much of these emotions were really his own? How many were simply brought on by the Darkness he could still feel swirling inside of him, gnawing at the very furthest edges of his self-control in a desperate bid to be free once more?

Either way, he needed to distance himself. Not just from the baby, but from everyone in this room, in this house, in this fucking region. He couldn't trust himself around anyone anymore, not after what he had done. Leaving seemed the only solution, the only option presented to him in this moment. Running away was a course of action he frowned upon, but in this case… what other choice was there? It was necessary to separate himself, at least until this violent energy calmed down further. ...If it ever did.

Dammit, his thoughts were spiraling out of control again. There was too much stress, too much general upset, and he knew he wasn't handling it well. Cream didn't seem to notice any of his turmoil as she watched the baby wiggle around some more, meaning it wasn't that obvious, but even so… Stop being an idiot, he mentally chided himself. Shinobi display vastly more control than this.

His urge to retreat must have been noticed. Cream acted swiftly to prevent him from acting upon his newfound desire. Taking the baby from Rose, she approached him again and passed it over before he had the chance to refuse. He very much wanted to refuse, but found himself instinctively taking hold of the child instead once it was placed in his arms. A myriad of emotions swelled up inside of him in that moment, and he was dimly aware of the fact that not all of them were negative, suddenly. Whatever those apparently positive emotions were, however, he was helpless to name them. He was too distracted by the tiny, fragile life he was currently holding… with hands that so recently had been used to end lives. I should not be doing this.

Once more, it was Cream who pulled him back from the brink of full-blown anger, hatred, and who even knew what else anymore. "Do you have a name for him?" Slowly, very slowly, Espio shook his head. He had no idea what to call this child…

"Pick a letter you like," Armaris said softly, noting the potential hesitation. "Or just think of a letter and I'll help you."

When he didn't immediately answer her, Cream suggested, "How about… what letter did your father's name start with?"

A long pause followed, then eventually Espio mumbled, "'S'." Unable to look away for now, he continued to watch the baby.

Armaris thought briefly for a moment and rattled off a few names. "Suen. Shien. Shoto. Satsuko. Shoji. Suren. Sako. Syrut. Sett. Skon." The cat glanced over, raising an eyebrow. "Any of those work?"

Espio immediately ruled out "Satsuko", simply because that had been the name of one of his past senseis. Skon sounded rather… Babylonian, so he ruled that one out as well. Following that, he ruled out several others that didn't quite fit the norm for a chameleon name. That left "Suen", "Shien", "Suren", or "Sako". The problem was… he didn't know what the hell to actually name this child. And that overwhelming feeling of not wanting anything to do with this was returning, bringing with it a flood of negativity that he fought to push away. Passing off the child and getting the hell out of here suddenly seemed like a fucking great idea.

No doubt keenly aware of his inner turmoil, Cream strove to be a voice of reason. "Those four names…" she said softly, cutting into his thoughts, "which do you like the best?" He didn't answer, largely because he didn't have an answer to begin with.

"Which four is it?" Armaris lightly probed, turning and stepping into the room. Ever the helpful one, Cream listed them off for her. The cat nodded slowly, thinking to herself. "Well… Shien and Suren give me the mental image of people who are a bit older. Maybe a bit more traditional. Sako and Suen sound younger, and sort of give the impression of softness, whether or not it's the same kind of soft I had as a kid. Sako sounds a bit more modern, too, if you care at all about that."

Cream suddenly had a thought. "I know that not as many people anymore still understand your native language, but you do, yes? Do any of these names have meaning in that language?"

Knowing she wasn't referring to Japanese, which his people had adopted well after coming to live on Mobius, Espio took a minute to think. "...Sako means 'swift blade'."

"Sounds a bit fitting, potentially," Armaris responded, a faint smirk on her face. "That the one you like?" Another short pause, then Espio responded with a decidedly weak shrug. The baby, meanwhile, decided to redouble his efforts to latch on to whatever he could grab and climb it. His energy and determination were both good signs, indicating good health and strong instincts. But none of that quite kindled the positive emotions Espio supposed he was meant to be feeling right now. Though, he naturally didn't say anything about it. "Unless you change your mind, I'd go with that one. You seem to be somewhat inclined toward it."

"It is a good name," Cream further encouraged with a smile. She knew better than most that, right now, his lack of refute was agreement enough. "I quite like it as well."

Rose nodded her agreement gently, smiling brightly. "I as well," she said, turning to step out. "I'll go prepare food for young Sako, in any case. You may wish to awaken your crocodile friend."

Espio remained silent as she walked out and when Cream volunteered to be the one to fetch Vector. He wasn't left entirely alone with his thoughts and emotions and fucking child, but with how quiet Armaris was being it certainly felt as though he was. And he couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that all of this was inherently dangerous… for everyone.

~保護者~

9,922 words this time. Many thanks to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Hope y'all enjoyed! Posted (at about 9:05 p.m.) 03-01-20.