Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during these tense discussions… especially for the ones who suddenly have so much to disagree about.

~保護者~

"On A Knife's Edge"

~保護者~

Aethra slowly opened her eyes to regard the stars in the far distance, having just finished observing events on New Babylon once again. "It is done," she murmured to her companion. "He has recovered enough to awaken."

Rusen nodded softly. "He has, and he seems to be doing… well enough since his family is around. It seems that his actions, no matter how well-meant they were, caught up to him."

With a small sigh, Aethra inclined her head. "He did very well, but there is still much pain within him. To recover from that will require more time."

"Certainly…" Rusen murmured. "His father especially should be able to do well with him in that aspect, but the rest of his family and his friends will be an absolute necessity. The support of all those who care about him is needed."

There was a moment of silence before Aethra spoke again. "Her departure from his mind brings both wondrous and terrible things to the surface. However… it also leaves him uniquely vulnerable. Her efforts to gain control were violent enough to create fresh damage within his mind. The Void will seek to utilize that, once it is strong enough to. It can do little beyond speaking to him thus far, but the time will come where it can be more active."

"That is concerning, but there is not much we can do about such. Doing so could alter events… badly." Rusen looked above him, eyes trained on nothing in particular. "For now we must simply watch."

"And wait," Aethra acknowledged. "However, I believe there is an area where we can be more proactive. I believe that we should, actually."

"What is it?"

"Sonic and Steam remain trapped in the ancient past," Aethra answered. "Have you been watching them, as I have? It does not seem that they will be able to return in decent time on their own. They have been trying for some time now to figure out how to reach the Immortals of that timeline, but they cannot even leave the planet as of now."

Rusen frowned faintly. "They have been in a very interesting position. I must say that they have been giving noble efforts with their attempts, however."

"Be that as it may, it is imperative that they return to their allies as soon as possible," Aethra responded. "We may need to assist them."

"Perhaps we should. They could be especially helpful in the situation regarding Eila, as it stands. Her presence is already creating a divide in the group of their allies," Rusen murmured faintly. "As it stands, the outcome of this could very well change much of the future as well. They all stand at a pivotal point."

"United they will stand, or divided they will fall," Aethra murmured back, eyes closing again. "They must find a way to stay together. If returning these two friends to them can aid in this matter, then we must do so."

Rusen finally stood from where he had been sitting, turning fully to face Aethra. "We must also keep Rose and Eila alive. Though not literally, their lives are now intertwined. Affecting one will affect the other." Rusen closed his eyes, a sigh escaping him. "But as I mentioned… her presence is pushing some away and pulling others to her. Whatever happens, I do not believe we can allow them to truly separate."

"Nevertheless… some time to safely put a small amount of distance between one another may well do them all good." Aethra's head canted slowly with thought. "Eona and the others have sent word back to me. The pieces are falling into place rather well so far. If they continue to do so, we will be able to contain Nareish, Kaden, and reality's other threats for close to two months. That may be just enough time for the allies to recover and formulate a proper plan."

"Absolutely. I do worry about Steam's wellbeing in the future, however. Being away from those he loves has placed great strain on him. Do you believe the presence of the few friends he has properly made here will keep that from cascading into something worse for him?"

"It is possible," was the quiet response. "If nothing else, we can certainly allow him to make contact with his friends and relatives within his own timeline. That would not damage anything."

"...As long as he does not return. Transferring his role to manage such is not a pleasant idea while we are containing several existential threats. Without being the Balancer, he would be far more vulnerable."

"I did not suggest returning him," Aethra answered calmly. "I merely meant that we could allow his communication device to connect to his timeline so that he could speak with those he is bonded to and see their faces. It would not be enough to end his pain, but it may help."

Rusen nodded. "Certainly. Are there any other important matters to discuss?"

"Not as of now… but we need to continue to monitor Jet. The transformation he experienced has not adversely affected him thus far, but as he is the first to ever undergo it… there is a possibility that there may be complications later." Aethra gained a small frown. "As we have been awake for such a short time, we may not be able to fully aid him. If something happens, we must see it right away so we can awaken our kin if need be."

Rusen stared distantly for a long moment before seeming to fully return to the conversation. "Yes, though I must say that I await the day we see his family. They are all… talented individuals."

Aethra smiled slowly. "He will rise to join us… one day. And they will follow suit. I look forward to that day as well."

One day… our small family will finally grow.

~保護者~

Shadow was still sitting by himself when the first few droplets of the storm they had all been waiting on started to fall. One hit his ear, and it was just cold enough to both snap him out of his thoughts and make him jump… while simultaneously letting out a sharp curse at the spike of pain that the coldness of the water caused him to experience. He stood there for a second, rubbing his ear with a hand in an effort to warm it up before tossing a pointless glare up into the sky. Fuck you.

Why he was suddenly and irrationally angry at the weather, he had no idea. He chalked it up to another symptom and decided to leave it at that while turning his attention to the rest of the group. They were all safely contained within Calypso's large barrier, which seemed to be keeping the aforementioned weather out. He debated the merits of going back over there to escape the painfully cold droplets, but part of him remained adamant in its refusal to rejoin the group. In the end, the latter part won out and he stubbornly sat back down under the meager shelter of the tree he had been leaning against.

A barrier of Darkness suddenly sprouted up around Shadow, Toru sitting down beside him with a vaguely raised eyebrow. "You don't seem like the kind of person who likes sitting out in the rain."

That earned a huff and Shadow crossed his arms. "Not when it's cold," he grumbled. He'd spent enough time in White Jungle and the surrounding areas to not care too much otherwise… although to this day he detested all the mud and general grime to be found in that region.

"Then why hang out where the rain can still hit you?" Though there was probably nothing wrong with admitting that he just hadn't wanted to be surrounded by people right now, Shadow merely shrugged. Toru sighed softly. "You don't have to go sit out on your own, you know."

"It is a better alternative to being crowded by that many people," Shadow responded simply.

Toru nodded slowly, frowning. "Understandable, honestly." Shadow offered a vague shrug in response, but privately he was grateful for the shelter Toru had created as the pace the droplets were falling started to steadily increase. Normally he would have just retreated to Espio's house, but as it was no longer standing this was a good enough alternative. "So… I need to ask something," Toru suddenly murmured, glancing toward Shadow.

Shadow returned the glance. "What?"

It took Toru some time to actually work out how to ask this question, but he eventually managed a quick, "Do you like me?"

The sheer abruptness of the question managed to startle Shadow out of his souring mood long enough to respond without thinking. ...Which in any other situation might have been irritating, but as things stood now he didn't have a chance to give it too much thought. "Like you?" he repeated like the goddamn idiot he apparently was, turning his head quickly to look at Toru again.

Toru didn't seem to know how to respond, turning his own attention away briefly. "Ah, it was probably a bit of a bad question to ask, honestly…" he muttered, scratching at the back of his head. The chameleon then fell silent, unsure of what to do now. This felt… awful.

"I…" Shadow hesitated, trying to collect himself before letting out a heavy sigh. "No. It wasn't." He didn't know how else to reply, with his mind being stuck on the idea of assuaging the apparent concern Toru was feeling but not really sure how to go about doing that.

The chameleon eventually turned back to Shadow to look at him, expression nearly unreadable for the moment. "If I was gonna ask something like that, I really should've led up to it with something that made it less… sudden and spontaneous. That's why it was a bad question."

"It wasn't," Shadow repeated, looking away with a small frown. It took a few seconds for him to do it, but eventually he managed to admit, "I just… am not particularly adept at talking about emotional matters."

Toru set a hand on Shadow's shoulder slowly, a frown on his face as well. The touch made Shadow's skin suddenly feel warm. Abnormally so. "I'm not doing so hot at it, either, if you haven't noticed. I'm a bit of a fuck-up in that category."

A few more seconds passed, then Shadow dared to look at him and ask, "Do you like me?"

This certainly caught the chameleon off guard and he looked away immediately. Fuck. "...Yeah. I do."

With a slow nod, Shadow turned his head away again. He gave the matter some incredibly serious contemplation before forcing his next words out. "I think… I may feel the same. Perhaps."

Toru almost audibly choked on whatever words he had planned, blinking rapidly. "You- what?"

It was official. They were acting like children, and they needed to stop. Shadow sighed a little, but all he said was a slightly sullen, "You heard me."

"I… I'm glad you do," Toru answered softly. "I've honestly never really felt this way about… anyone."

There was a bit more quiet before Shadow spoke. "I thought at one time that I had, but… I do not believe anymore that I have experienced this before, either."

Toru turned back to Shadow and gave him an awkward half-smile. "Well, I guess we kinda have to figure out what the hell we're doing from here, yeah?"

Now that some of the awkwardness had passed, Shadow managed to relax a little. "I suppose so."

"So… er, Shadow…" Toru murmured faintly, unsure of how to proceed. "What now?"

Given that his only prior experience with a relationship hadn't been pleasant or healthy, Shadow had no real idea. He would not make assumptions about what to do here based on that. "I don't know," he admitted with a small shrug.

Toru's conversation with his mother, and not so coincidentally the only piece of actual advice she'd given before vanishing, came to his mind. Pursue him…? Without thinking, Toru intensified the Darkness around them so absolutely nobody could see in and moved closer to Shadow, gently kissing him. Shadow sucked in a small breath and quickly closed his eyes, mind immediately running a blank on how else else to react. Toru lingered for some few seconds, every one enough to make his heart race further before he finally pulled away and turned his head to look at some random object that was not in Shadow's direction.

Shadow stared at him for a long moment, mind still uncharacteristically blank before it finally started to dawn on him what had just happened. That immediately set his own heart racing as well and he also quickly looked away. The hell just…

"I… uh, sorry," Toru murmured, biting his lip. Spontaneity wasn't something… unusual for him, but never to this degree. Never with someone else. He hadn't even thought to make sure Shadow would even be okay with that.

Glancing at him, Shadow answered with a quiet and somewhat thoughtful, "Don't be."

Toru bit his lip a bit harder before daring to release it, despite it being a bit of a distraction from the still-growing concern in his mind. "I shouldn't have just done that without thinking."

Surprising himself quite a bit, Shadow found himself immediately saying, "It's alright."

The chameleon's gaze flicked to Shadow, surprise evident. "I… it is?"

Forcing back all these weird nerves that tried to crop up in him all of a sudden, Shadow took a breath and nodded. "I wouldn't have said so otherwise."

Toru tried to play this off in a calm manner, but he failed so badly that he didn't attempt to keep up that mask. "Well, at least we know how we really feel now, eh?"

For whatever reason, that little comment helped Shadow to relax again. "It would seem so," he agreed, thoughtful anew.

"Let's not tell anyone about what just happened for right now," Toru quickly said, looking away. "I'd rather not draw attention to us."

Shadow nearly cringed at the idea. "If we did, we would not hear the end of it for some time, especially not from the likes of Silver." Really, keeping this between just them for now was a grand idea, in his opinion. Sharing details so soon didn't seem like the wisest plan.

Toru nodded. "It's our little secret, then."

"Agreed," Shadow answered. With that, they fell into another silence… this one distinctly more comfortable.

~保護者~

Espio found himself gritting his teeth as he looked around the area. He wasn't sure how long Ylden had been gone, exactly, but his patience was suddenly running very thin. This was causing him to feel restless and angry, and he was running out of ideas for how to contain the emotions. He wanted to take hold of a weapon, find something to cut in order to vent his frustrations, but a voice cut into his mind, interrupting his train of thought before it could continue any further. He didn't know whose voice it was, just that it was calm, earnest, tinged with Light.

"Mind that you do not become undone," it warned softly. "Once the infliction of pain is entangled with joy and tinged with pleasure, you are naught but a beast."

It was possible that Armaris was aware of his escalating inner turmoil. He, however, was rapidly becoming less and less aware of her as he focused on the words that had just been spoken to him. Rather than acknowledge those words or any potential truth they may have carried, he bit out a single command. Leave me the fuck alone.

The presence of this person was forced out by a small yet no less serious spike within his Darkness. However… this seemed to invite a different voice to force its way into his head. "You seek death?" it purred. This voice sounded rough. Gravelly. Somehow demonic. He already detested it for that last reason. "Do not just seek it. Do not merely live for it. You must feel it. Taste it. Know it. Become it. Bring death upon all who stand in your way."

His head was starting to pound. Where were these voices coming from? Why was it that when he shoved this voice aside, the other one was able to immediately return? Why could no one ever just leave him alone? "Blind devotion is a dangerous thing," the first voice murmured. "When it came to her master, Nyokae knew no other way. Is it your intention to lose yourself just as fully as she did? To give up who you truly are in subservience to those who would control you?"

Temper flaring again, Espio internally snapped, I will not submit to them or to you!

"The mask you wear serves your purposes well, but take care that you do not become lost within it," the voice told him, calm as ever despite his outburst. "Do you truly not care about what is happening to you, or are you merely maintaining a facade…? That is an important question you must answer for your own sake."

I already told you to leave me alone, Espio seethed. Unless you plan on telling me who the fuck you are, leave.

That presence retreated before he could lash out at it with his energies again. Now only the second one remained, and it wasted no time in speaking again. "Reality is the finest flesh that one can rend," it laughed, its voice grating upon Espio's every fraying nerve. "Are you not hungry for the carnage you know you can bring about?"

Did your God put you up to this? Espio demanded rather than answering the question.

"I am allowed to speak my mind when I wish," the demon answered, sounding like they were now sporting a wide grin. "And I can do so with who I wish. My God is interested in you… That is why I speak now. His interest is my own personal interest."

Then you can fuck off. Ignoring another laugh, Espio allowed his Darkness to harshly flare, forcing that presence out far more ruthlessly than was probably necessary. He put his head in his hands then, trying his damnedest to massage away his headache as his awareness of the world around him faded back into focus. Bastards.

"Espio?" Armaris asked softly, setting a hand carefully on one of his. "Are… you okay?"

"I'm fine," he answered, though the words came out far more snappily than he had intended. He took a small breath in an effort to calm himself, but it didn't really help.

Armaris shook her head at him, a faint frown on her face. "Talk to me, Espio. You can tell me what's going on."

Another brief flare of anger caused him to snap at her again. "I said I'm fine," he reiterated, jerking his hand away from her suddenly.

Her ears folded back out of surprise, a few tears coming to her eyes that she managed to barely blink away. "I… I'm sorry," she murmured, turning her gaze down so that they wouldn't make eye contact.

Espio took time to make further efforts to calm himself before responding. "...Don't be," he eventually responded, his voice far more level now. He wasn't truly past his anger yet, but he had managed to get enough control over it to stop snapping, at least.

Armaris didn't dare look up yet, biting her lip for a few moments before muttering, "I shouldn't have been so pushy…"

That made him scoff, and he finally relented a tidbit of information. "You were not the pushy one," he muttered back, scowling at the ground.

She glanced up to him before slowly and carefully wrapping her arms around him, as if unsure as to how he'd react. "Are you okay…?" she asked again.

The contact made him tense, but otherwise he didn't respond to it. Her question, however, earned another scowl. "Yes."

The cat didn't want to question it more, or to further gain his ire. As such, she remained quiet for some time before finally murmuring, "If… there's ever something you want to talk about, I'm still here for you."

There wasn't anything he wanted to talk about. He had been keeping all of his private issues to himself as much as possible so far and saw no reason to change that behavior now. Still, though, he made an effort to not be quite so… harsh in his refusal this time. "I don't need help," he told her flatly.

"...Love you, Espio," Armaris murmured, nuzzling her cheek against his shoulder before finally falling silent.

Espio didn't respond to that statement, merely closed his eyes and resumed trying to make his headache go away. Only, for a moment, it decided to intensify instead. This very rapidly resulted in him again losing most of his awareness of his surroundings as a female voice he didn't recognize said to him, "Tell your mother we are coming home."

For a moment, Espio didn't really know what to think. Soon enough, however, he found himself demanding, Who the hell are you?

"You'll see soon enough, and I am sure your mother will be quite surprised to see us," a male voice answered.

After that, the voices faded away and Espio was left alone with his thoughts once more.

~保護者~

Tails frowned at the hearing aids he and Marthal were currently testing out. "Hm… looks like they don't fit quite right, so I'll adjust that when we're done here. How well can you hear?"

After adjusting the devices in his ears, Marthal answered, "You're quiet, but I can understand you just fine. These have any kind of volume control?"

"A rudimentary one, since these are by no means finished yet," Tails smiled. "Don't worry, I'll make it so you can finely tune the volume on these things like you could with your old ones." The cat opened his mouth to say something else, only to pause. When his nose faintly twitched and he drew in a deep breath, Tails understood why. "...What are you smelling?"

"...As weird as this sounds, different energies charge the air enough to alter the surrounding scents a bit," Marthal answered after a moment. He hesitated, searching for the right way to translate scents into words, then continued, "This smells like the kind of changes Light causes. Kind of… bright and fresh."

His attention sufficiently caught, Tails looked around before quickly calling over to Silver. "Hey, do you sense Light, too?"

The hedgehog in question was sort of lounging in the grass, idly toying with the stuff in his fingers as he watched the rain. He perked up when he heard his name and reflexively scrambled to his feet. A second later, he registered what he'd been asked and nodded. "Uh… now that you mention it, yeah," Silver answered. "I don't know where it's coming from, but it feels just like the flare of energy that brought Marthal back."

Both Marthal and Tails's ears perked upon hearing this, but only Marthal spoke. "Think someone else is being revived?"

"Maybe…?" Tails answered slowly. "I guess… it is possible."

Despite how these situations usually played out, the resulting flash of Light didn't leave its hapless victim free-falling down from the heavens. In fact, she appeared less than a foot off of the ground and landed quite gently in the grass. Silver, bless his heart-on-sleeve personality, immediately let out a tiny squeak-like sound of shock before blurting out, "B-Blaze?"

The purple cat in question blinked several times and looked around, her eyes inevitably landing right on Silver. "Silver…? ...What…?"

Neither gave the other time to say anything further. They were hugging each other tightly without wasting any further time. Silver could not for the life of him stop smiling… or crying just a little bit out of pure joy. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you," he choked out, voice soft.

Squeezing him tighter, Blaze whispered back, "I'm so happy to see you, too."

It would have been beautiful for the moment to continue, to drag out for a while so that the young couple could bask in their happiness. However, life seemed to take far too much pleasure in always interrupting everyone at every available opportunity. This time, though, the source of that interruption wasn't Light. Instead, it was… aura? "...Tell me I'm not the only one seeing that," Marthal said, pointing at the dramatic waves of energy that briefly pulsed through the sky.

Silver and Blaze immediately looked up, shortly followed by Tails. "Um… no. You aren't," the fox replied. "I've… gotta say, though, that I have no idea what's going on." He glanced in Wery's direction, briefly wondering if she had any thoughts on this before recalling that she most likely didn't even know what aura energy was.

Others in their small encampment did, however. Calypso and Lucas both kept their gazes glued to the sky, the former frowning but otherwise unreadable in expression and the latter sporting very wide eyes. As the explosion of Light had earlier done, most of the chameleons had their attention drawn from their own activities back to their sky for the second time. The energy was such that it even woke up Espio's two small children, who sat with Shei and Aniko and joined the adult pair in looking up at the visible waves as well.

Finally drawn back over to the group by the excessive energy pouring out high above their heads, Shadow suddenly appeared beside Tails. Seeing an opportunity, Tails quickly asked, "Hey, I don't suppose you're getting any data on what in the world is happening?"

Shadow was quiet for a moment, eyes locked on the waves and ripples as they performed multiple scans, before saying, "A path between timelines is opening up. There is no other way to explain these readings." Stunned into silence, Tails just stared at him. Silver gaped, too, but Marthal and Blaze did little more than frown as they continued to watch.

"So, uh… what does that mean?" Cyril dared to ask, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Someone or something is being pulled from one timeline into our own," Tails answered slowly, also frowning now. "Most likely, this aura energy is the sole cause, but I don't know how. I've never seen anything like this involving aura before."

Wery looked over, blinking rapidly. "Wait, really? Alternate timelines and stuff like that exist?"

"Absolutely," Silver chimed in. "Blaze and I come from one, though we've lived here most of our lives."

Before she had the chance to geek-out, the aura energy high above flashed vibrantly before vanishing altogether. Not a second later, there was a distinct shout and most eyes again turned upward. But… not in time to be prepared for an unmistakable blue blur to suddenly slam into the ground, flattening Shadow in the process. There was a loud thud and several curses from both parties involved, then Shadow elbowed the offending person off of himself and stood. Laying there in a slight daze was Sonic, grumbling and complaining as he picked himself up. Silver immediately erupted into laughter.

A blur of green soon followed Sonic's trail, saved (though he could have caught himself in the landing) by Toru suddenly rushing in and catching him. Steam audibly cursed at his luck and a few other things before throwing himself out of the chameleon's arms and getting to his feet. After a short moment of silence, Sonic finally stood and let out his favorite complaint, "What the hell?"

"I should be asking you that, dumbass," Shadow muttered, brushing himself off. Silver snickered audibly, but made an effort to keep it down when Blaze shushed him.

Steam almost yelped when Wery ran up to him, asking him a flurry of questions that he had no chance of understanding as she tried to also perform various scans. "Oi! What are you doing?"

Spotting the 'trouble', Tails hurried over and quickly interjected with a sheepish smile. "She's just excited, Steam, sorry." Turning to Wery, he gently suggested, "Maybe a few less questions? And not so fast?" Wery made a few sounds of mild disappointment as she slowed herself down, a frown on her face. Steam was still stuck answering the oncoming flood of questions, but this time it was far slower and way more manageable.

Silver looked back and forth between Sonic and Steam for a short time before finally asking the question he suspected was on everyone's minds. "So… uh, what happened, exactly?"

This caused Sonic to roll his eyes. "Oh, you know… got thrown back in time by some random new baddy. Got stuck there for a while. Then got tossed back into this time by an unseen force. The usual." All of a sudden, his gaze locked on Marthal. "Wait, what the hell? Since when did you get here?!"

Marthal blinked, then just grinned and said a simple, "Yo."

Toru took this moment to not answer a damn thing, walking up to Sonic and raising an eyebrow. "You got thrown back in time?"

Sonic shifted his full attention onto Toru, frowning a little because he didn't know who this person was. Ultimately, however, he decided to just answer the question since his friends seemed relaxed in Toru's presence. "Yeah. Basically. ...Not that it's the first time that's ever happened, but still."

The chameleon frowned, tapping his foot lightly. "Well, either way, I'm glad that you made it back in one piece. Your brother has been worried about you."

"Do not lie to him," Shadow responded snippily with a small glare. Sonic tossed Shadow a scowl.

"And you don't attempt to lie to him, either," Toru huffed. "I'll call you on that bullshit here and now."

Sonic spoke up before Shadow could retort. "...I have questions now. Like, seriously."

"You are not asking them," Shadow immediately replied.

Toru shot Shadow a glare. "At least let him try before shutting him down. It's funnier that way." Shadow returned the glare without hesitation.

"Why're you two bickering like a freaking old married couple?" Sonic sighed. "It's just weird. It's especially weird for you, Shadow."

"Maybe you hit your head while you were gone," Toru huffed, shaking his head. "Honestly, you sound insane."

"And you sound just like him," Sonic said, pointing an accusatory finger at Shadow, "when he's in one of his snarkier moods." Almost soundlessly, Shadow scoffed at this statement.

"How do I sound like him, hm?" Toru questioned, almost harshly.

"'Maybe you hit your head while you were gone' sounds just like the sort of shit he'd throw in my face if it was just him here talking to me," Sonic huffed. Then, without letting Toru respond to that, he asked a decidedly less irritating question. "Who are you, by the way? You're pretty obviously an acquaintance or something, but I've never met you before."

Toru shrugged. "Name's Soul." Shadow raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing.

The blue hedgehog gave that a moment of thought. "Dunno if this is a rude thing to ask, but… fuck it. I'll just have to take the chance that that brother of mine will make sure I don't get stabbed too much if it is." Now Shadow gave him the raised-eyebrow look. Sonic ignored him and asked, "Guessing that's a sort of codename? I know of one or two that Espio used to use years ago."

The chameleon shrugged once more. "Could be."

Shadow did something fairly uncharacteristic for him and elbowed Toru in the ribs. "Knock it off."

Toru glanced to him with narrowed eyes. "Asshole."

"Hardly," was the unconcerned reply.

"Sheesh," Toru huffed, waving him off. "Honestly, this guy's insufferable," he said to nobody in particular as if he were speaking to them both.

Once again, Sonic cut in before a retort could be made. "So, seriously, Shadow," he said, frowning again. "Why'd you give up one of your guns, exactly? That doesn't sound like you."

That conjured up memories of his little conversation with Silver earlier, but Shadow immediately decided he was not going to be talking about that. "He was interested in using it and I was not. That's all."

"The right answer is that I bothered him incessantly about guns and he let me use one so I'd shut the fuck up," Toru muttered, crossing his arms. "Not that I'm complaining, but he coulda been nicer about it."

Sonic's ears perked up and he gave them both a long look before eventually asking, "...Okay, so when's one of you gonna actually tell me the truth?"

Toru raised an eyebrow. "So you're out here calling me a liar?"

"I'm saying I can tell when people do it, yeah, if I'm paying attention."

The chameleon's entire demeanor shifted for a moment, as if he were going to attempt to intimidate Sonic or do something else before he gave a careless shrug. "I asked if I could have it and he said yes, since he wasn't using it at the time. That's really all there was to it."

Satisfied now, Sonic nodded. Then he gestured between the both of them and said, "By the way, you two seem like you've got some shit to work out. Might wanna get on that." With that said, he turned and walked off back toward Steam and the others. Toru clicked his tongue at the blue hedgehog while Shadow huffed, crossed his arms, and turned away.

By this point, Steam had freed himself from Wery's incessant questioning and was now idly talking to Cyril for a moment, the hedgehog's gaze flicking over to Sonic as he turned immediately. "So, we more or less okay to figure out what the hell's happened since we were gone?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Sonic shrugged.

Steam shrugged. "Who knows?" The green hedgehog looked around, taking stock of those who weren't around. His heart dropped when he realized Armaris, Espio, Cream, Vector, and Rose were all missing from the group. Not to mention Li and Novei. For the moment, he was able to keep himself calmer than he would have been with the possibility of Sein, Alana, and Jet all being on New Babylon for whatever reason. "Where is everyone?" he asked quickly.

Sonic had just finished having a mouthed conversation with Silver, silently promising to catch up with each other and Blaze in a bit, but this question caught Sonic's full attention immediately. Just like that, he also took note of who all was gone, and he tensed up terribly. Meanwhile, Silver and Tails's ears immediately drooped. They exchanged a long look before Tails finally said, "...A… wickedly strong demon came through here and attacked us a little while ago. It's… how Espio's house got trashed. Cream and Vector, they… didn't make it."

Steam was at a loss for words, heart sinking further as a few tears escaped his eyes that he hadn't wanted to. "I…" He felt awful for not being there when everyone was attacked, and for once it showed directly in his eyes. Sonic stared, too in shock to speak or otherwise react to what he'd just heard.

"After that," Tails continued in a hollow voice, "I learned what else happened in the fight. Turns out… Espio was corrupted fully by Kaden for a while. I don't know the details of how he escaped from that, but he did. He hasn't returned to normal since then, though, aside from not being demonic anymore. He went off and did his own thing for a while, but once he exhausted himself and mostly calmed down Armaris managed to convince him to come back here. They're off somewhere else right now, though." He paused, bit his lip, then gestured weakly toward Shei, Aniko, and the two children they were minding. "That little girl… when he came home, she was with him. I heard she's his."

"At… least they're safe," Steam managed to murmur quietly, biting his lip. His gaze shifted to look at the two children and he couldn't help but feel… concerned. Concerned for their safety and the well-being of Espio. He pulled his attention elsewhere, however, refusing to focus on that for too long. "What about Li and Novei? Are they off doing something?"

"Forging weapons, last I heard," Silver helpfully answered, though his eyes remained downcast and sad. "Aniko gave Li the go-ahead to craft traditional chameleon weapons for all the shinobi that need to be armed for war."

Finally, Sonic spoke up. "What about Jet and Wave?" he asked quietly. "And… his parents and Kath?"

"On New Babylon," Silver replied. "There was… a whole fiasco with them as well."

"What happened?" Steam all but demanded.

"I don't have all the details, but I've been in contact with Wave a bit," Silver told them carefully. "Astra… Okay, so long story really short, she planted a seed of mental control and left it there for a really long time, then began using that festering influence to actually take control of Uncle Jet. I don't really know what became of that, but I guess he broke free on his own pretty quickly before anything bad could actually happen. Last I heard, Wave said that he was fine, but tired and resting."

"I… I don't think he should have been able to free himself. If it was sitting as long as I think it was, she would have had an extreme amount of control over him. Without people to remove it… he should've stayed that way under normal circumstances. Normal being used… loosely, though," Steam explained.

"I don't get it either," Silver shrugged. "I agree that it doesn't make sense, though. But, like I said, I don't have all the details or anything. This stuff just happened, and I imagine Wave's pretty distracted with making sure Uncle Jet's okay and all that."

Steam sighed, deciding that it was best to leave that topic alone until they had more information. "So… what about Rose? Surely she wouldn't have just left or something, right?"

"She's been around," Tails immediately explained. "She hasn't left us or anything, though she and who I guess is her sister are hanging out a little ways away from here, though."

"Yeah, her sister showed up out of nowhere," Silver frowned. "Uncle Shads looked about ready to shoot her, honestly."

"Sister?" Sonic asked. He was also frowning, but only out of confusion. "What sister?"

"Her sister is better known by the rest of you as Astra," Steam murmured, frowning deeply. "Though… if Rose is with her sister currently, there are only two possibilities and one I really don't like."

"Astra is here?" Sonic demanded, already equal parts angry and frightened. "Why the hell didn't someone mention that before?!"

Toru cut in before anyone else could speak. "I understand how you feel, but she's currently not corrupted as I've heard she was. She doesn't currently pose a threat, but I told Rose to keep her away from here for the time being."

"She needs to not be here at all!" Sonic answered a little harshly, though he took care to lower his voice. "To say that she did horrific things to people I care about is the fucking understatement of the millennia!"

Steam sighed softly. "We can't just get rid of her. Wherever she goes, Rose is going, and we need Rose around. If we send Eila off on her own, something else can grab her and kill her or corrupt her again, which will destroy Rose and cause a lot more problems than we're ready for."

"Keeping her sister around is going to destroy Uncle Jet," Silver pointed out quietly. "There's no way it won't. And we need him around. Plus we want him around, you know? He's our friend."

There was an almost imperceptible flicker of anxiety on Steam's face, but he managed to keep it under control. "I don't want to keep anyone away from the people they care about, but we need to think of what to do and how to do it before any plans are made. There are a lot of risks involved with each decision we make."

"Look, I am not making Jet come back here so long as she's around," Sonic told him point-blank. "If need be, I'm going to where he is. We need his guidance and his abilities if we're going to win this stupid war, as well as that of his parents and Wave. Being in a position where he won't come near us because we're near her is a death sentence."

"I'm not going to do that either, but I'm sure as hell not putting both of them in immense danger as well. I…" Steam trailed off, turning away. "I don't fucking know."

Toru walked up to Steam and set a hand on his shoulder, a frown on his face as the hedgehog tensed up. He whispered something, to which Steam walked away quickly. Toru then spoke to the rest of the group. "I think that he just wants to protect everyone involved. I get that, but I also understand that we need to prepare for whatever is about to come our way. Let's sit down and think about where Rose's sister can go so that she'll be safe while also keeping her far enough away that Jet can come back."

As the group lapsed into tense silence, Sonic closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. This is already threatening to tear people apart... What are we going to to...?

~保護者~

7,143 words this time. Hope you all enjoyed, and many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 11:05 p.m.) 06-19-20.