Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this tense time… especially for the one with the plan.

~保護者~

"Game Plan"

~保護者~

Fifty days had passed, leaving just ten more days for everyone to rest, get some last minute relaxation in, and generally prepare for whatever shitstorm that would be heading their way in the near future. Shadow was doing exactly none of those things. It was incredibly early in the morning, maybe three or so, and he was again holed up in his room. His room was his sanctuary, in a way. He could be alone here, left to his own devices by the outside world so that he could just think. He needed that more than ever right now.

Thinking was getting him nowhere, however. So many possibilities ran through his mind. A tiny, fading voice in the back of his mind argued that he needed to ignore those possibilities, turn his back on his recent thoughts, fight to banish the ever-growing Darkness inside of him. But that voice was steadily drowned out by others. Voices that suggested he test his guns on the people around him. Voices that almost demanded he aim one such weapon straight at Toru's head and pull the trigger. Maybe even keep pulling until the damn thing emptied itself and went click. He could imagine it so vividly that it already felt real. What was stopping him from making it real?

Then there were the voices that were rapidly convincing him to leave this fucking planet and not look back.

Cursing under his breath, Shadow crossed his room to a seemingly empty expanse of wall beside his desk. Connecting with the security systems via his mind, he unlocked the hidden door and opened it. From within the large room formerly hidden there, he retrieved one of his favorite handguns. It was the only one he felt the need to physically have on-hand. If he ever wanted or needed any others, he could teleport them to himself. For now, this would do.

Shadow turned to leave the secret space and lock it back up, then paused. His ears could easily pick up on virtually any sound, but chameleons were shinobi. They were silent. Instead, it was his eyes and their built-in scanners that told him that Toru was approaching. He debated just ignoring the man and simply leaving, but for whatever reason he didn't do that. He just walked out into the main room, waiting hatefully for Toru. Soon, the bedroom door opened.

"What are you doing?" Toru asked, keen eyes watching over Shadow's movements carefully. He seemed tense and perhaps unsure, but he was doing a damn good job of keeping anything else under wraps.

Almost scoffing, Shadow turned and sealed off the secret room again, turning on the security systems as he muttered, "Leaving."

Toru shifted imperceptibly, though was certain that Shadow would see it. "Where are you heading that requires you to take your gun with you?"

There was no point in answering that. Shadow decided to leave via the balcony as opposed to attempting to get past Toru to reach the door. He started walking that way. "Doesn't matter."

The chameleon appeared a short distance in front of Shadow, a deep frown on his face. "What's going on?"

It was nothing Toru needed to know about. Shadow refused to tell him. He hated the fact the chameleon wouldn't stop interrogating him. The urge to just shoot him hit again, but some tiny part of Shadow refused to follow through… for now. Still, his grip on his weapon tightened subtly. "Get out of the way."

"I won't, Shadow. You're reminding me of what I did when I killed my mother," Toru stated, shifting again. "Talk to me."

Shadow scowled at Toru. Whatever little part of him that had been preventing him from saying or doing anything too terrible here was rapidly fading in strength. His finger moved to rest on the trigger of his gun. "Get out of my way."

Seeing this motion, Toru's hand instinctively shifted to his sword and he glanced to his right, seeming to motion with his eyes before turning his attention back to Shadow. "I'm not just going to let you keep stalking off when you're in these moods. Do you expect me to just be okay with it?" he questioned, a touch harsher than he'd intended.

Shadow didn't care what Toru was okay with. He didn't even care about Toru himself, at this point. He levelled his gun so that it pointed at the other man's face, his aim unwavering from the exact intended position and eyes full of hate. "I said move."

"No," Toru answered, steadying his stance further. "You'll have to beat me to make me move, Shadow." He was prepared to fight Shadow if it meant helping him with what was going on, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this might turn into the same situation that happened with his mother. The chameleon had to mentally shake that thought away, as the pain of it was far too great for him to let it dwell.

The hedgehog didn't even hesitate to pull the trigger. He never missed. It simply couldn't, didn't, happen. And yet… the bullet didn't strike Toru. Instead, it punched a hole into the wall only millimeters to the side of Toru's head, the gun having been shifted at the very last possible second. And he, for the most part, hadn't intended to do that. Barely stifling a growl, he suddenly slammed Toru into that same wall with his Darkness and crossed the room to his balcony doors, which he roughly opened.

"Shadow, wait!" Toru called, rushing after him as quickly as he could manage. "This is a bad idea!"

This time, Shadow's resolve was stronger. He fired at Toru a second time, striking him in the shoulder just shy of the crook of his neck. It was the last warning he was able and willing to give that Toru needed to stay away… for his own sake. Then, not saying another word, Shadow did as he had done before. He jumped down off the balcony and, soon, he had disappeared into the night.

"Ah, fuck," Toru shouted, rushing off and collecting his sister before tearing across a great distance and teleporting to arrive at Tails' house and practically bust in, skidding to a halt from his sudden landing.

Given the time of night, most everyone had been sleeping. Sonic and Tails both happened to have passed out on the couches, as Tails was letting Silver, Blaze, and Amy use his bedroom for now and Wery still had the one guest room. The two of them jolted awake when Toru arrived, startled nearly beyond the point of words. It took Sonic a moment to collect himself enough to ask, "Wh-What the hell? Toru, what's the matter with you?"

"Shadow took off somewhere and I have no clue what's going on," Toru answered quickly, setting his sister down before clutching at where he'd been shot. "He shot me, and shot at me one other time."

Sonic's eyes went wide. Tails was already on his feet demanding, "He did what?" as he ran to get his communicator. Once he had the device in hand, he began trying to use it to track Shadow. His first method of doing so was quickly proven to be useless. Shadow didn't have his communicator on him. Which meant he'd have to try to use a more invasive method of tracking, taking advantage of one of the chips that had been implanted in his friend upon his creation.

Myriu spoke up for Toru. "He snapped at my brother and shot at him, slammed him into the wall with Darkness, then actually shot him the second time and left."

"No way…" Sonic breathed. It wasn't that he didn't believe the pair. Toru still had a bleeding wound as proof, after all. It was more that he couldn't wrap his mind around this. Shadow, what the hell is happening? Soon, he was on his feet, too. "Tails-"

"I'm working on it," Tails interrupted, "but I can't find him. I don't know how, but he's travelled way too far away for me to locate him." By now, Silver and Blaze had woken up and were hurrying down the hall with Amy not far behind.

"That doesn't make sense," Sonic responded, growing a touch frantic. "He barely has access to his teleportation power most of the time, and he's never been able to go that far."

Almost as if sensing the panic, Steam teleported in and looked around, a deep frown on his face. "What the hell is happening?" A quick explanation from Toru caused the green hedgehog's frown to deepen. "Oh, fuck. I… I think Kaden has been corrupting him."

Sonic's mouth dropped open in shock. Tails nearly dropped his communicator. The fox soon whispered a small, "Oh, no…" As the others filed into the room, Wery emerged from the room with a frazzled expression, hurrying over to try and be involved.

Toru turned to Steam, a slowly growing dark expression building. "Explain," he demanded sharply.

Steam sighed softly, trying to think of the best way to do as he had been so politely asked. "I'm assuming that Kaden has been corrupting Shadow for quite some time. If he's been irritable, which he was from what you told us, then Kaden has probably gotten Shadow to the point where he was willing to go to Kaden's realm, with help."

"Then I'm going there," Toru stated plainly. "I'm not letting Kaden just take him like that."

Silver was staring with wide eyes as he mumbled, "That can't be a good idea."

Whether or not Sonic agreed with that statement, he was quick to fire back, "We can't just let Shadow go there!" He did his best not to think about the fact that this was all happening because of their own father. That was just… too much to bear, right this minute.

Steam figuratively set his foot down. "I'm going to stop both of you right there for a second. We can't just go suddenly and take Shadow back. Kaden will kill the majority of us, if Zareil or the other demons don't do it first. I know how frustrating it is-"

Toru grabbed Steam with visible aggression, doing his best to not snap. "You better not say we're not going to try. I'll go there by myself if I have to."

Already, Tails was vigorously shaking his head. "Toru, I don't think you can. Whatever is keeping all the demons trapped might also keep you out."

"Are you sure?" Amy asked, finally speaking up. "If there's even a chance that someone can get through and rescue Shadow before this gets any worse…"

Steam spoke up again. "I have an idea, but I need you to let go of me," he murmured to Toru. The chameleon relented his hold on Steam, and the hedgehog began speaking. "I've… been planning for something like this for some time now. I had a bad feeling Kaden would pull a stunt like this, so I can come up with a proper plan with enough time."

"You said you had an idea," Toru muttered hatefully, Darkness slowly rising. He wasn't sure why he was so worked up, but he had to guess it was due to the situation with Shadow. The chameleon just felt so damn angry that he couldn't discern what he felt anymore.

While Silver and Blaze traded worried looks, Sonic took a calming breath (which didn't help as much as he'd wanted it to) and asked Steam, "Whatever idea you have, we need to know it."

Steam leaned up against the wall, biting his lip for a moment. "I spoke to Eona, had her fill some of those crystals with her Light. Not only can they keep Toru in a stable state, but I can use them to deter Kaden long enough for Shadow to be purified."

Tails was quick to voice a concern. "There isn't enough Light of that potency to kill any of those three, right?" Sonic shared the same fear, but held his tongue for the moment. The fewer people they had talking all at once, the faster this conversation could move forward.

"Eona wouldn't do that, and I wouldn't risk it," Steam confirmed. "They'll fucking hurt demons, but it won't kill them unless they're extremely weak. The ones we'll be facing are not."

Blaze spoke up with a frown. "What are we meant to do in the meantime? Unless I am mistaken, we still have several days before the forces separating us from our enemies are lifted."

"We prepare and make a proper plan other than just 'go in and bring Shadow back'," Steam said. "Bounce ideas, make contingencies, backup plans. We get everything ready so we can bring him back the first time and get it done right."

"We'll need the others here," Tails said quickly, "before we can do much of that. Rose, Jet, Espio… anyone else we can get to come here on such short notice."

Steam nodded. "Absolutely. And just to note, the group of people we send in has to be small. We can't send in people like Jet and Wave, as much as I hate it. The moment they arrive, everyone else is going to get swarmed and wiped out since we're invading Kaden's realm."

"So who do we send, then?" Silver asked. It took less than a second for him to add, "I assume we have to ask Rose to go, right? I mean, I'm guessing purification needs Light."

"Yeah," Steam answered. "Rose needs to go, Toru needs to, and I'll go. Rose for purification, Toru for his pure fighting capabilities to keep Zareil and Kaden distracted, and me for some of the same reasons." That and anyone else's life that I risk is too much. Rose is going to go whether or not I ask, and Toru is about to leave as it is…

Sonic didn't like not being able to help, but he also knew that he couldn't stand the idea of going back there. And besides that, he held firm to the belief that he would most likely just get in the way. I was an emotional wreck last time. If that happens again, I'll just be a liability. And Shadow… if we're going to save him… we can't afford that.

"I sent a message to Rose," Tails offered quietly. "Hopefully she'll be here soon."

Wery decided to speak up. "So… does this mean you're gonna need those weapons you mentioned?" she asked Steam.

"At least two of them, yeah," Steam confirmed. "But hold off on that for now. You should try and relax a bit." He was trying to be as comforting as he could, but that wasn't a thing he usually was… good at. It seemed to work well enough and Wery took a seat, despite the fact that she still seemed worried. Rose arrived a few seconds later, idle gaze shifting to the door before waving her hand and putting it back how it was supposed to be.

All eyes remained focused on Steam, each waiting for the answer to the same unspoken question. Now what?

Steam stood up straighter. "Tails, Sonic, given what you two know, I want you to work with Rose and help explain to her the best way to avoid Shadow killing her when she attempts the purification. Amy, sit down and talk to Toru with me for a minute. Silver, Blaze, I need the two of you to focus on contacting Jet and anyone else that needs to know what's happening. And Wery, if you would please, work on that device I talked to you about. It's becoming very important."

After a slight bit of hesitation, Tails set aside his communicator and guided Sonic along toward Rose. They soon began talking while Silver and Blaze moved away from the group. The hedgehog used his mind to start communicating with people, while she used her communicator. Meanwhile, Amy tentatively approached Steam and the still-furious chameleon beside him. "Why do you need me?" she asked.

"You've got the best chance of being able to talk to someone losing control of their temper like this besides Rose, and I need her focused on something else. I trust that you can do this, as long as we work together," Steam answered gently, glancing meaningfully at Toru. "Let's all step outside for the moment so that we don't interrupt anything." With a nod, Amy followed him out. She wanted to help however she could.

~保護者~

Fifty-five days had passed. Kal tapped her foot rapidly on the ground, her lips pursed in thought. Before long, that expression faded into a sly smile. "Ryuji," she called with faux sweetness lacing her tone, "would you be a dear and fetch our grandson for me? It would seem he is finally in a position where he may be willing to listen to us again. I would like to take advantage of that now, lest some 'higher power' step in from the heavens again straight away."

"I still think this is a ridiculously bad idea," Ryuji muttered. "I have less and less desire to continue this after every encounter."

"It will be worse for us if we do not proceed," Kal was quick to tell him. "He will likely never be 'on our side' no matter what we do, but he is vastly more likely to turn his strength against us while he remains on the same side as our dear daughter. And, aside from that, I would rather die one day knowing that our family line is no longer being fully disgraced. Wouldn't you?"

Ryuji muttered something under his breath before speaking openly. "It's a fucking horrible idea. I have little desire to die to him like the mother of that one 'friend' of his."

Suddenly, Kal showed signs of temper. "Either we die having left our family be to become yet more disgraceful than it already is, or we merely risk death in an effort to right the wrongs of our daughter and her partner. I, for one, will not accept anything but the latter."

"You never gave me a choice. I was willing to disregard Aniko as nothing more than a failure and disown her," Ryuji answered in kind. "I will get him, but know that I never once wanted this."

"Disowning her was never enough. It was never enough. Not when her only child has the potential to do what we cannot, to bring our clan back from the shambles it has been left in." Kal tossed Ryuji a look of ire. "I do not care if you do not want this. You choose to care about virtually nothing already. Kindly resume doing so here as opposed to arguing with me."

Ryuji returned the look with no hesitation, but as he said he was going to do it. "Fine," he muttered hatefully before teleporting away.

Espio was on his feet almost before it even fully registered that Ryuji had appeared. He counted himself lucky that he was away from his parents and Armaris at the moment, but the fact that Sako was with him while in Ryuji's presence had him instantly on edge. "What do you want?" he demanded coldy, a hand already on the handle of his sword.

The man waved a hand. "Calm down. I'm not gonna do anything to your kid, either of them," Ryuji muttered. "You can let go of the sword."

Hardly a comforting response, Espio decided. He started hard at the man before him. "I have no reason to take you at your word."

"I don't care about him," Ryuji explained further. "I won't waste my efforts on a child, considering the luck our race has with bearing them as it is."

As much as Espio hated to admit it, that… was a fair point. But he didn't say that aloud. "Why are you here?" he demanded instead.

"If I'm honest, Kal wants you," Ryuji admitted. "She sent me in her place for some reason."

"Typical," Espio muttered under his breath. She is just like Nyokae in far too many ways. "I'm not interested. Get lost." Despite his best efforts to keep it under wraps, his Darkness was reacting to this situation. His aggravation was creating a variety of minor flare-ups that had the full potential to build up into something decidedly more major if he wasn't careful. He unintentionally distracted himself from that matter when he found himself voicing a sudden question. "If you have no personal interest in being here, then why are you?"

"I do not care for you, nor do I really care for your friends and family. If it were up to me, we would have never spoken to you or our daughter again. It just so happens that she wanted to do so and I swore to forever protect her. You are a threat to her," Ryuji answered plainly. "I also cannot ignore her wishes, as obeying is far easier than arguing with her for countless hours."

A promise… Suddenly, this situation made drastically more sense. Some factors of his interactions with the couple came into sharper focus for Espio and he was able to understand things better. Still, that didn't mean he liked this. "I do not give a damn about the promise you bound yourself to. I am staying here."

"Then I presume she will come here herself and make matters far more difficult. As far as I am aware, she cares… enough about those you care for to attack them if necessary. By all means, ignore me, but do not say I did not warn you," Ryuji murmured. "I will not be responsible."

"Somehow, I doubt she will get her own hands dirty," Espio muttered. "She seems to prefer using you for that."

"I still withhold responsibility, no matter the manner it occurs," Ryuji revealed. "Regardless, I have given you a fair warning. Your life will be simpler if you simply come with us."

"I refuse," Espio told him sharply. "I have no desire to be meddled with by you two any further."

That makes two of us. He then shrugged and sighed gently, teleporting away back to Kal. "He's refusing."

Kal waved an immediate and dismissive hand in her husband's direction. "I expected as much. He is coming into his own more and more. Manipulation of him grows less feasible the more time wears on. But that hardly matters. Use force, if you must. With that baby on his shoulder, he won't be able to fight you off… too hard. You will be fine."

"This is a mistake," the man muttered before returning to Espio. "I will say it once more, come with me and make this very simple."

"I. Said. No." The cold anger in Espio's voice increased with each word he uttered, and he again grabbed the handle of his sword. This time, he drew the blade from its sheath.

Seeing as he was now essentially 'threatened', Ryuji drew his own sword. "Do not fight with the child. You are making a worse mistake."

That bit of reason got through the rising emotions. Espio made a swift move, taking Sako off of his arm and gently teleporting him into the house. The problem now removed, albeit still close by, Espio remained where he was. "This is not a mistake."

"You will see that it is," Ryuji returned, rushing forward without any further hesitation.

Espio scowled and immediately parried the oncoming blow, holding his ground firmly. In this moment, he saw so many things. He saw Nyokae in Kal… himself in Ryuji. He saw manipulation and wickedness, but with the latter taken beyond what he had previously experienced. There was so much that was wrong here. For the first time, he was starting to see who was truly to blame for it. There was only one key player… and it was not this man.

"The only one making a mistake is you."

~保護者~

It was fifty-five days in. By now, everyone had gathered today on Mobius, aside from Jet. He had been pretty glued to his grandfather's side once he'd learned Kath was sick. He basically refused to leave unless he had to, and since it had been explained that it was best if he stay out of the upcoming conflict for now… well, he opted to stay where he was. As such, Alana and Lucas stayed behind as well. Other than that, everyone was present.

Oh, how Espio wished Tails's home was bigger.

Considering himself lucky that there was at least plenty of space outside, that was where Espio opted to stay. It gave his toddler daughter plenty of space to run around, anyway, and it was warm and cozy enough that Sako was napping peacefully in his arms. For the most part, the three of them were left alone. Tails and a couple of others did poke their heads out to check on them a few times, but no one truly bothered him. He was happy with this.

What he wasn't happy about was the situation at hand… nor the way it was affecting Toru. He'd been keeping his senses trained on the other chameleon ever since arriving here, waiting to see what Toru would do and just hoping it wouldn't be something stupid. Truthfully, he doubted it would be something stupid, but the worry remained. Just one of the perks of having friends… as he was remembering more and more these days. But, so long as he continued to keep a figurative eye on said friend, the sensation of worry didn't get too out of hand. There was that, at least, to be thankful for.

Some time passed and the aforementioned chameleon returned, doing his level best to keep his emotions under control. Toru wasn't doing particularly well with that matter. Instead of stalking off somewhere else like he had been doing for quite some time, he walked over to where Espio was and sat down. Asking if he was alright was pointless since he obviously wasn't, so Espio waited silently to see if Toru would speak first. Luckily for them both, Toru did speak up. "What the fuck is this war even about?"

Espio gave that some thought before answering. "It started with a seemingly simple goal. We sought to save Shadow's father. Since then, it has morphed into something far larger. From what I understand, we are now battling to save balance itself… to some extent."

"If that guy wins or whatever, doesn't that mean existence will just fall into utter chaos? There's so few beings of Light, and surely him or his demons growing any stronger will only cause more issues," Toru muttered, agitated.

"He already is winning," Espio responded, shifting Sako in his arms. "While we have been able to cause him a number of setbacks lately, that has never done anything to shake him from his position. He is miles closer to his goals than we are to ours."

Toru groaned openly, laying back in the grass. "I mean if he comes out on top, like in the end. Won't shit just start falling apart for a long time?"

"Soon, things will collapse entirely," Espio shrugged. "Existence will not maintain itself for much longer, in this state."

"And the only way to manage that shit would be for more people like Rose to suddenly rise up, right?" Toru questioned, turning his gaze to Espio. "We'd need more strong beings of Light."

"Yes," was the quiet agreement. "However… most strong beings of Light were lost long ago. The very few that are left are in hiding."

Toru frowned briefly. "I guess both sides have their shitty ones," he muttered, laying an arm over his eyes. "At this point, it's no longer about the people. If you, just in a general sense, can't be willing to put your neck out to save existence, then what's your life worth?" The onyx chameleon laid there for a moment, contemplating his own opinionated statement. "I'd fucking kill to have some other decent beings of Light around like Rose and Analia at this point."

That got Espio thinking again. He took his time contemplating things, as he had before, then said, "There were others like them, long ago. People who can be revived in the same manner as our other old allies have been. It is possible that some of them will be returned as well."

"Hm," Toru frowned thoughtfully. "I still want to drag the cowards out and get them to understand that they'll die if they don't fight," he muttered. "That's also coming from me being pissed off already."

The other chameleon's frown was less thoughtful and more irritable all of a sudden. "You will be wasting your breath. We attempted for years to get through to them, to no avail. Even Jet was unable to make them see reason. For our own sakes, we gave up on them. They are hopeless."

Toru suddenly sat up, hands covering his face to hide the fact that he suddenly grew furious. Not that it really was an effective method, seeing as his Darkness threatened to flair in response. "I fucking hate this. Maybe I should've just went all out and annihilated Zareil the first time we really fought, but I got sidetracked."

Now that he had the opportunity to try to fully understand what had happened, Espio steered the conversation further in that direction. "Do you believe she had anything to do with what happened?"

"Of course not," Toru muttered. "She didn't seem that interested in him overall from what I recall. She took a lot more interest in me and your mother, and that one cat for whatever reason."

Speaking of… Espio glanced around, suddenly aware of another absence in the group. Where is he? Though he was now wary and more than a little bothered, he decided to not bring it up for the moment. Now that he knew Toru wouldn't lash out too badly over this being brought up, he asked, "What, exactly, happened?"

It took some time for Toru to speak, apparently trying to wrestle with his emotions over the matter. "I noticed it sometime around when we were hanging out together, the three of us. He'd started growing… irritable. Agitated. It only got worse from there, where he was outright telling me that I shouldn't care about him and later nearly shooting me. It fucking sucked, because I didn't know what to do." For the moment, he didn't really seem mad anymore. It was almost saddened and somber.

Though he hated to do it while Toru was obviously (even to Espio) hurting, but there was little other choice. "Back up," he instructed as gently as he could manage. "You skipped over much. I need to know as much as you are capable of telling me."

Toru's agitation flared and he looked at Espio with a small glare before relenting. "Fine. Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning."

I knew you'd fucking say that. Biting back some choice curses, the shinobi rubbed at his face. "As I mentioned, the shit with him being irritable for a while is still there. With the irritability, though… it was unnatural, almost worse than some of what our Darkness causes at times. I wasn't sure what to make of any of it, because it was so spontaneous and we'd been doing so well before. He just suddenly… started to grow to hate me. He avoided me, didn't want to be around me at all, and seeing me was enough to make him nearly pull the trigger even before he tried to shoot me," Toru muttered, a soft sigh escaping him. "And then it got worse. He just… outright hated me. Animosity towards me. He hit me with his Darkness…" The man's eyes widened. "Darkness that was corrupted." Oh my god… why didn't I see that sooner?

Espio let out a soft hum and carefully asked, "Are you aware of what corruption does to a person's emotions?"

"Judging by what I experienced, it seemed to kind of turn his emotions around entirely," Toru answered, unsure as to where Espio was going with this.

"It turns each emotion into their precise opposite," Espio clarified. Then he dared to ask, "And the precise opposite of hate is what, Toru?"

"Love?" Toru guessed, raising an eyebrow. "The fuck are you getting at?"

"Think about it," Espio huffed. He refused to spell it out.

Toru groaned at him before ultimately shrugging. "Fine." So, he began thinking. It didn't make sense. Love was a normal emotion, in his mind, so of course it would get turned around, as well as things like joy. Then it hit him. Shadow's feelings for me were turned on their end? His...?

Once he'd decided he'd given Toru enough time for now to process things, Espio told him quietly, "At this stage, given the slow progression you described, it may well still be possible for Rose to purify him without needing any help. However, it will have to be done soon. If we wait too long, only power akin to Analia's will prove to be enough."

"And she's not exactly in a position to be providing that kind of help…" Toru almost whispered. "Fuck."

Ignoring that for now, Espio brought up another point. "You keep saying he shot at you. Did he miss?" The idea didn't sound logical to him, but he needed to know for sure what had occurred.

"It's not that he missed," Toru corrected. "It's almost definitely that he was trying to not hit me. He'd have killed me if he was committed, because I couldn't bring myself to fight him."

That more-or-less confirmed Espio's previous statement, then. Shadow wasn't entirely lost just yet. There was still time. Albeit… not much. "As soon as the barriers fall," he murmured, "we need to try and find him. Rose will have the easiest time the sooner we get to him."

"Steam seems confident that he knows what to do," Toru answered. "Sounds like he's planned for something like this and more, and I can't say that he hasn't. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not."

"It is yet to be decided," Espio agreed with a small huff. Almost as if also in agreement, Sako made a tiny noise and waved one of his hands around.

"This plan better work," Toru grumbled. "I don't like this kind of quiet." Some time passed before the chameleon sighed and laid back once more. "Thanks, Espio."

The other shinobi shrugged and returned his attention to his daughter. He hadn't really done anything, as far as he was concerned, and half a mind to say such. But, ultimately, he decided it was better not to. He settled on a small, "Mm-hm," instead.

"Speaking of all this, where's Armaris at?" Toru questioned lightly. "She's a demon and all, but she seems pretty chill."

"No idea," Espio admitted, casting him a sidelong glance. "...Why?"

Toru clicked his tongue. "Call it concern. I'd say check on her, if Kaden can corrupt people from this far away. I know she's not physically tough, but I've sensed her energies. She could be a threat to some people, and I don't want anything to happen to her like with Shadow."

Well, Toru's advice did have merit. Not that Espio felt the need to say that aloud. "I don't know where she is," he reiterated instead.

"You got any method of reaching out to her?" Toru asked gently.

"No," was the simple reply.

"Why not get her one of those communicator things? I'm sure she'd appreciate it, and it would probably also make it so you can keep up with that sneaky woman."

"That is up to Tails. He is the one who builds and distributes them."

Toru smirked. "Don't make me go ask for you. You know I will."

"Why would you?" Espio sighed because, really, why would Toru bother with this?

"Think about it," Toru murmured, pushing himself to stand. "Maybe get back to me when you figure it out."

Amber eyes rolled toward the heavens. "And if I refuse?" he asked, though he wasn't being serious anymore.

"Then I'll do it anyway and make sure nothing gets between the two of you," Toru answered with a bittersweet smile before disappearing.

~保護者~

Fifty-five days had passed. The group had three more days to prepare before their reprieve would be over. Absolutely everyone aside from Kath and Azerel, Calypso (who had been M.I.A. for sometime by this point), and Marthal (who people were starting to realize was also mysteriously missing) was present at Tails's home. Sein patted Steam on the back with a smile. "Don't worry kid, you've got this. I know your determination."

Steam sighed gently, glancing over the group. He knew that he'd brought this on himself, and that this was his plan… but it had been so long since he'd been in a situation like this. Leading people, being the voice and protecting everyone as best he could. The stress hurt, and he was more tense than he could have imagined he'd be. Somehow, though, Sein's reassuring words cut through it all and gave him enough resolve to push through. I'm glad you're back… You help everyone so much. With this thought, he stood up from where he'd been sitting and spoke clearly.

"Thanks to everyone for being willing to give me a chance to lay out a plan like this. It means a lot that you guys are willing to even take that kind of risk with someone most of you don't know." Steam took a moment before continuing. "As most of you know, Kaden has taken his chance at corrupting Shadow. Shadow is now in Kaden's realm, slowly being corrupted further. I think that this is also the case with Marthal, but I don't think that he's with them. We have three days to prepare for what is essentially an assault to purify and return Shadow."

Silver immediately spoke up. "How can we even do that?" he asked, eyes full of worry. "We can't seriously be asking Rose to try and purify him all by herself."

A small smile broke out on the aforementioned cat's face. "I have not only already agreed to do so, but I am willing to accept this risk as it reflects the will of many here and is within my own ideals to do so. I wish to see him return, and I will do my part to help."

Steam nodded. "She agreed to go before I could even ask her," he added. Like I'd expected.

On the other side of the room was Wave, who had her hand on Jet's to calm his obsessively drumming fingers somewhat - not that it ultimately did help much. The pair were sat on the couch by Sonic, but only she chose to speak right now. "What exactly are you thinking?" she asked Steam. "As in, I'd like to know whatever finer details you've come up with for this plan of yours."

The hedgehog motioned to Wery, who quickly set up a device on the floor that displayed a hologram. On this display were some detailed explanations and numbers regarding the capabilities of the crystals filled with Eona's Light. "These crystals contain a large amount of powerful Light. This is the key part of my plan, as it's the only way for us to drive Kaden back for any period of time without an Immortal present. I plan to use them to essentially create bombs that will force him to stay away from myself and Rose while she's purifying Shadow." Steam then looked specifically to Toru. "Meanwhile Toru will be facing off against his right-hand, Zareil. He's more than strong enough to keep her busy so we can work."

Aniko coughed, audibly so. "You say you plan to use them like bombs, but how the hell do you intend to even come close to hitting him with them? If you're throwing them, he could easily cause them to detonate mid-air or just avoid it before it comes close."

This was… exactly what he'd hoped someone wouldn't ask. "It's a risky plan, I'll go ahead and admit, but I'll be setting them off directly." An uneasy silence fell over much of the group.

Armaris spoke up from where she was dangling from the ceiling with tendrils of Darkness. "So you mean to tell us that you're going to be blowing yourself up with the strongest Light known to exist. More than once. Are you fucking insane?"

"Uh… yeah. I agree with that question." No sooner than he'd said that, Blaze elbowed Silver in the side to make him shush.

"It's the only way for me to drive him back. I'd let the Light flow through my body, but ultimately I'm not fast enough to keep up with Kaden so any attack I throw out with it will be useless. We can't send in Analia, I'm not making Jet deal with this, and sending in Immortals for this is a bad idea since he'll take that chance to crush anyone else that won't survive against him. We don't have many options," Steam answered.

"You didn't answer the question," Armaris countered harshly. "You're setting off bombs of Light that only Eona is capable of producing like that. Can you even survive that?"

"Yes, can you?" Alana asked pointedly, not liking this at all.

Steam nodded gently, tapping on the device on the floor and changing the display to some different statistics. "I can. I've admittedly had to test my limits like this before, so that's what prompted the idea to begin with. After testing it with these crystals… I can withstand roughly eight, provided I find ways to buy myself time between the detonations so my regeneration can take the edge off the wounds." Wave's gaze sharpened.

"Also, I built him something that would let us monitor his vitals so we can tell if he needs to change tactics. It should keep track of everything, from his heart rate to the amount of damage he's suffered and where," Wery piped in quickly. "As well as a remote teleporter so we can bring him back if he's unable to do so himself."

"I'll help you add one more thing," Wave muttered. "Just in case, we need to be able to monitor the amount of Darkness directly surrounding him. Any significant and prolonged increase will alert us to an attempt at corruption." Wery responded with a quick nod before settling herself back down. Then, using her mind, Wave told Steam very firmly, "Jet's sensed a growing change in Kaden. We think Analia might be actively trying to affect him again, like she used to. You may be able to use his internal struggle to your advantage on the field."

"I'll make use of that if I can," Steam responded with a gentle nod. "If he does try to corrupt me, I'll have to withdraw. The moment one of those bombs detonates, it would kill me in that situation. That means we would all need to leave, since we can't afford to let Toru be corrupted or have Rose killed." The swallow offered a curt nod in reply.

Sein decided it was time to speak, setting a hand on Steam's shoulder. "You're putting a lot of this on yourself. Are you sure you can fight him without him immediately killing you?"

This was a hard question to answer, not because he had to find a way to skirt around it, but if only due to the fact that it was hard to explain. "He doesn't care all that much about me right now. Zareil is absolutely the one that wants me dead, but Kaden probably sees no reason to bother going out of his way to eliminate me. He won't fight me seriously, unless I give him a reason to. I have to use that to my advantage when trying to buy time."

Jet's fingers continued to frantically drum as he muttered, "Simply being there doing what you will is more than enough reason. He will kill you if given less than half a chance."

"Which is why I have to talk to him. I can keep him busy with my words, since part of him is still… reasonable," Steam answered. "I get what you mean though."

Despite the anxiety betrayed through his constant stimming, Jet's voice was even and controlled still as he spoke. "Talking may not be enough. Even now."

Finally, Sonic spoke up. "...What do you mean, 'even now'?"

Not wanting to give their friend potentially false hope, Wave gently murmured, "It's too early to say yet. I promise we'll tell you once we know for sure if what we think is happening is happening." Sonic just fell silent again, too upset to argue. Amy hugged him, doing her best to lend him some measure of comfort.

Aniko frowned gently. "One more thing. How do you plan on protecting Rose from Kaden?"

"That's going to be the hardest part, in my opinion," Steam answered. "Once it descends to me having to use those bombs, it'll be a matter of me staying close enough to her that Kaden can't approach and making sure Shadow isn't affected by the Light at the same time." Armaris looked like she wanted to say something for a few seconds before letting it go, and Steam took this as his chance to continue into a different topic.

"Whether we succeed or fail, we are going to have to plan for their retaliation. Zareil is going to be furious, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Kaden. Zareil, at least, will be coming back. If they both show up, there's a good chance that Zareil is going to drag some of their generals along to try and crush us. Any questions before I go further?" Steam asked. No one volunteered any questions or comments. Seeing this, Steam continued on.

"When Zareil shows up, I'm going to face off against her for a while. I know her fighting style and I can hold her off for a long time. When it comes to the generals… I'm going to have to ask for a few people. My personal thoughts are going to be Toru, Aniko, Cyril, Espio, and Wave. Wave, you likely want to work as a buffer between the generals and our Immortals while they work on what I spoke with you about, right?"

Wave immediately nodded, and something about their exchange seemed to trigger a thought in Jet. Turning his head, he quietly asked, "Mum?"

Surprised by being called that for the first time in her life, Alana quickly looked over. "Yes?" He asked her a question in Babylonian, one that gave her pause. After a few seconds, she asked Sein, "Remind me… how skilled are you with barriers?"

"I'm pretty good at them, I suppose," Sein answered, motioning to his shield. "I'm used to projecting them at a small scale, but I'm more than capable of making it larger as necessary."

Jet looked away. "Any decent containment method will require multiple layers. Aura, barriers, and so on. We will need to use it all."

Steam spoke up. "I know someone else who can help, but I'll get to that later. I should explain what we're planning to do." Sein nodded and motioned for him to continue, prompting Steam to turn his attention to the rest of the group again. "If Kaden comes as well, and I assume he will either at the beginning or in response to me fighting Zareil, I asked the Immortals to try and capture him so we can try and purify him."

Sonic sat bolt upright, making Jet jump slightly from the suddenness of the motion. "Are you serious?" he demanded as Amy looked on in wary silence.

Though not quite as sharp with his tone, Tails was just as stunned. "Waitwaitwait, you think we can do that now? How?" Blaze's mouth hung open for a moment, but she soon closed it with an audible click of her teeth. Silver merely stared.

"If Jet, Sein, and Alana can focus their efforts solely on Kaden and not fighting the hordes, I wholly believe they can face Kaden and contain him. As for the purification… we'll likely only be able to manage something partial, but it'll be far better than facing him as he is now for the foreseeable future."

Blaze frowned. "Partial?" she repeated. "What will this mean? How will that affect him?" In a dark corner of the room largely away from everyone else, Espio had started idly toying with a knife, agitated by all the sudden stress in the room.

"There's no telling," Wave sighed. "All we know for sure is that he's already been fighting with himself. He has been for a long time, though his struggles have been less pronounced in recent centuries. Once this is done, if we succeed, he won't just be struggling. He'll be at war with himself. So we have to be prepared for an immense amount of agitation, anger, stress, and even exhaustion from him. He'll likely lash out a lot, too, if we aren't able to purify him as much as we want to, since he'll still see us as threats. But… it's also possible that things will really go our way and his normal self will actually be in more control than his demonic side. We just… can't hold out too much hope for that right now."

Steam nodded slowly. "It's… one of our best chances. We know they'll be coming for once, and we'll have a good timeframe of when." he took a moment, then added. "Back to the fact of the fight, however, those of you that I pointed out, I'd really appreciate you doing your best to find and face those threats. You're the ones I know are very capable of handling those kinds of fights."

Though he didn't like the idea of facing off against a really powerful demon, Cyril nodded. "I'll absolutely do my best. Hopefully this all goes well."

Espio, meanwhile, waved his knife-wielding hand dismissively. "It will be handled." Somehow, his calm and coolly confident response managed to be reassuring to Sonic and Silver both. Somehow. In a weird way. Aniko glanced at him, having been about to make a very similar response, but neither she nor Toru deigned to say anything.

Steam nodded thankfully. "If any of you have questions about what to look for, talk to me outside after this. I'll gladly explain. However… one more thing needs to be mentioned." His expression shifted a bit, as if he was a touch unsure for just a moment of what he was about to say. "If we do contain Kaden, and manage to partially purify him… Zareil is going to come back. She'll kill anyone who stands in her way, and there's only a few people that can face something that serious."

He continued. "I… once again have to ask for Rose to fight, but I will not be sending her in as she is. I plan to speak to Eona and do everything I can in my power to make sure Rose is close to the level of power Zareil will have. If she does come back like this, I want the chameleons out of the village. She'll be tunnel-visioned on us, but everything around her will be destroyed. If you wish to withdraw your people even before the first battle happens, I understand. I don't wish for any more of them to die because threats keep coming at us."

Espio immediately straightened. Tossing a sharp glance at Steam, he addressed his mother, "Kainei offered refuge to most of our villagers after the last assault… yes?"

The surprise on Aniko's face was evident. She didn't expect an outsider to think of the wellbeing of her people, but the appreciation she had for his consideration made its way onto her face. Her gaze turned to Espio and she nodded softly. "Yes. Do you think it would be wise to remove them from the fray?" She had her own opinion… but she wanted a second.

"The fighters are largely dispersed in other villages already as they try to help prepare for future attacks," Espio reminded, clearly unhappy. "What we are left with is little other than our elderly, injured, and young. They are safest in Kainei, far to the west of Hyale."

Aniko nodded, pleased by the wisdom Espio displayed before looking back to Steam. "We will evacuate them to a safer village. I thank you for considering our people."

"Of course," Steam murmured before looking back up. "Does anyone have any questions?"

No one really spoke up. Tails looked over each member of the group individually, paying special attention to Shei for a second to make sure he wasn't trying to communicate and just being missed (which he wasn't). Eventually, he shook his head. "No… I don't think so."

Steam nodded. "Tails, I'm going to have to ask you if you can provide communicators to those who don't already have their own. We can't afford to not be up to date on what's happening."

The fox pursed his lips together. "Yeah. I've been working on that. I've nearly finished making enough for everyone. They'll be ready before you, Toru, and Rose head out."

"Thank you, Tails," Steam said. "I appreciate it. I'll be working with you and Wery in the upcoming days." He glanced to Wave, a thoughtful frown on his face. "I hate to ask, but could you try and have Jet leave? I need to speak to you, Sein, and Alana in private."

Wave gave him a long look, no doubt searching his thoughts as they pertained to this situation, and eventually she gave a subtle nod. Turning to her friend, she gently got his attention by tugging on his arm. When he looked at her, she murmured, "Will you go and check on Kath? I've been monitoring him like I promised, and I think his fever is trying to go up again." It wasn't a lie, as much as she wished it was. And here we thought that medicine was kicking this thing's ass…

Jet only hesitated for a second before nodding and just teleporting away. She suspected he was pretty relieved to get away from the crowd, anyway. Not to mention all the stress. Still, she hated to make him leave under semi-false pretenses like that. And it seemed Alana had caught on to that fact a bit. "That is not truly the reason you are having him go, is it?" she asked carefully.

"It was me," Steam revealed. "I need to speak to you, Sein, and Wave. Outside would be nice, and it'll only be a minute."

She blinked. "We are finished in here, then?" Not even waiting to hear the answer, Shei and Espio traded a look and promptly vanished with the latter's children in tow. They were intent on starting the evacuations now in order to ensure there was plenty of time for people to get where they needed to go. Aniko didn't hesitate to follow them, seeing that her purpose was fulfilled here.

"More or less. If people want to stick around and talk about it, that's fine. I understand that there's a lot of apprehension about everything, so I'll be coming back in afterward," Steam answered.

Sein nodded gently, a small smile on his face. "I'll stay with you after, too." Steam's look was appreciative as they both walked outside. Wave and Alana immediately followed.

Once they had the door closed, Steam turned to the three of them with a concerned expression. "I hate to drop this on you, but I had to ask Eila to work on the containment situation as well. She won't be anywhere near Jet, and I know she'll be exceptionally helpful." Despite his immediate assurances, Alana tensed up. Wave remained silent but frowning.

Sein obviously disliked the idea. He had no idea what to say, since so many things immediately came to mind. Instead of trying to think of something else, he asked, "Do you believe that she's actually going to help us?" he questioned, a touch harsher than he'd meant to.

"Absolutely," Steam answered. "I wouldn't have asked her to help if I didn't think she would."

Tapping her foot rapidly, Wave shook her head slowly. "No matter her intentions, if Jet senses her or her power at all he'll spiral into a panic attack at least - probably flashbacks, too. I don't like the idea of risking him being put through that when he's already going to be stressed out."

He had a bad feeling that would be the case. Steam nodded in response before speaking again. "Can you think of any way for her and her power to be concealed from him, or do I need to have her pulled from this entirely?"

The swallow shook her head again. "I don't know… maybe?" After a second, she clarified, "Maybe there's a way to conceal it. I just don't know. My dad… he'd know."

"Get back with me on that," Steam said. "I want you to know my plan, regardless. There's a spell I want her to cast that will act somewhat similarly to what the Faein did. It will last a very short time, trapping the demons in and making it so they can't escape without attempting to destroy it."

"I'll pay him a visit again once we're done here," Wave told him. "I can't reach out to minds in other realms."

Steam nodded his appreciation before looking to them all. "I have to ask that, if the chance arises, please let her prove herself. I know what she did and I don't expect you to forgive her easily, but at least let her show that she's not evil and is trying to turn her life around."

Alana's demeanor remained tense and even frigid. "She tortured my son. The boy that I died for. That my husband died for. I cannot and will not accept her. Not now. Whether or not it happens in the future depends solely on my son."

Sein sighed gently. "I want to see that she's making an effort to become a better person, but I also can't just accept her after that. I wanted to kill her for what she did," he admitted, a few small tears welling up in his eyes. "I can't just ignore it, but I'll at least wait to see if she's trying to become a better person."

Being uncharacteristically angry in her own right, Wave gritted her teeth together for a moment before just… letting it all go in the form of a heavy sigh. "I can't pretend I like this. I won't. And for Jet's sake, I will not be spending much time around her. However… I want to see the best in people. I want her to prove my misgivings wrong. I want her to prove she is something more than Astra was." She turned her head to fix Steam with a hard look. "I'll be keeping an eye on her. A close one. That's all I can promise right now."

"I can't ask anything more than that from you all," Steam murmured. "Take care of Jet first and foremost. That's who your concerns are with, and I respect that."

"If something, anything goes wrong with this in regards to him and her," Wave murmured, "we'll need to be prepared. He won't be easily calmed down from that."

Steam understood that. They couldn't lose Jet in this, and even beyond that, putting Jet into a situation like that bothered him. "If you need anything from me, just say the word. I'll be going around to everyone, training and working with people to make sure this is all working together."

"I don't know what we'd need," Wave sighed. "I've only ever had to deal with severe PTSD episodes with him a handful of times, and never due to such a direct and intense cause. I don't know that I actually can do much this time around."

"We'll figure it out," Sein answered. "Best case scenario, we find a way to keep Eila's presence along with her magic concealed. Worst case, we keep her out of the fight." Alana only nodded.

"Anyways," Steam murmured. "I'm gonna head inside. You all are free to do whatever you'd like, and I hope that we can break through and make this all work out."

Wave fixed him with another hard look. "I have one more concern. It's about Kath." Alana tensed up all over again. "He's more vulnerable than ever right now, and Kaden's already shown a big interest in him before. If he's actively corrupting other people, then Kath's at risk. While all the rest of this is going on and while he's down, we need to protect him."

"Do you think he can stay with Analia for the time being?" Steam questioned. "He'll be safe there."

Alana was surprised by how quickly and accurately Wave answered. "No, we can't do that to him. As much as he doesn't let on to it most of the time, he has a hard time with change. He needs consistency, partially because it helps him feel safer. He's not going to want to leave his room or, at least, the palace."

Steam nodded slowly. Shit. That's right. "That means that we need people on Babylon, right?"

"Most likely," she agreed.

"I'll see who I can get in contact with," Steam answered. "Stationing the Gods and Goddesses there might be a poor decision because Kaden would see that something's amiss. Mind if I get back to you on that?"

"It's fine. We have a bit of time."

Steam frowned. I might… have people to reach out to, but getting them to help would be hard if they even exist in this timeline. "I'll tell you whatever I find out. Anything else you need from me?"

She sighed and shook her head. "No… thank you. That's all from me."

"If that's all for the time being, then I'll be heading back inside," Steam murmured, prompting the three others to speak if they had anything on their minds. Alana remained tensely silent, eyes full of unspoken displeasure and concern that she refused to give vent to right now. Sein gently hugged his wife, whispering something to her before letting go with a small smile. At his soft suggestion, she teleported away to join her son and father. Wave promptly left to go see her own father again, as she'd promised. Sein and Steam walked back inside, the both of them taking a look around at those that remained.

All of a sudden, Sein patted Steam on the back in a fatherly manner, a bright smile on his face. He addressed the group. "I know that for all of us, this is a stressful situation to be in. We're all playing into a plan with our own uncertainties and concerns, but I know that if we all work together and keep pushing through, all of us will get out of this mess alive, happy, and on top of it all. We've all been through hell and back more than once, so let's end this shitstorm together and bring this war to a close sooner rather than later."

~保護者~

10,980 words this time. Hope y'all enjoyed. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 9:30 p.m.) 11-21-20.