Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this harrowing time… especially for the ones who suffer.

~保護者~

"Assault"

~保護者~

As they had been doing for some time now, Silver and Blaze were using the spare mattress in Tails's room to sleep. The fox himself was passed out in his own bed, having not slept in days (maybe even longer) and desperately needing the rest. They were all three sleeping, as it was late at night. However, Silver and Blaze were abruptly awoken by a faint purple flash and a tingling sensation running through them.

Sitting up, the young couple traded a bewildered look in the dark. "What was that?" Silver whispered, eyes wide. The tingling sensation persisted for a few seconds longer before fading away. He couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"I don't know," Blaze whispered back. Glancing at Tails's sleeping form, she frowned. "Whatever it was, he wasn't bothered by it."

Silver pursed his lips together. "You're right. You think it just affected us, then?"

"It must have," was the quiet reply, "unless anyone outside of the room was as well."

Crap, she had a point. "I'll see if I can sense if anyone-" He stopped mid sentence. After a few seconds of tense silence, he whispered even quieter than before, "I… I can't."

Blaze sat up straight. "What do you mean?"

Panic started to set in, but Silver tried his best to keep it together. "Do you remember when my psychokinesis was taken from me that one time? It's happening again, and I can't read into anyone's minds! I keep trying to lift that glass of water on Tails's nightstand, and I can't do that, either!"

Now equally alarmed, especially when she recalled the tale they'd been told of what had happened to Sonic some time before their revival, Blaze quickly told him, "Try to access your Light. Just a small amount, so we do not disturb Tails."

Almost immediately, Silver felt himself pale. "I can't," he repeated anxiously. "It's just… gone."

Suddenly, a thought appeared to strike Blaze and she lifted one of her hands just a bit and seemed to focus on it. Then, before Silver could even ask, she murmured, "My fire is gone as well." Shadows engulfed her hand briefly before fading away, and she shook her head. "It is the only one I cannot access…"

Now bother stricken with some form of minor panic, the pair quietly scrambled out of bed and out of the room, off to find Sonic. Something was very wrong here, and they needed help…

~保護者~

Kath knew this magic anywhere.

That was among the last fully and properly coherent thoughts he was able to have before everything went straight to hell in a handbasket. It just figured that this would happen now. He was alone in his room (Azerel was probably outside with the other wolves), rather properly awake finally because that new medicine appeared to do him more and more good the longer it was in his system, and now things had stopped looking up. Because right after that faint flash of what was, to him, unmistakable magic his world was turned upside down all over again.

Despite being in a room that deliberately was designed not to grant him too much sensory information, suddenly all of his senses were being overwhelmed. Sights, sounds, smells, touches, tastes, all unwanted, all unbearably intense, all certainly not there in reality and yet feeling as though they absolutely were… And none of it was going away. If anything, the longer it all went on, the worse it got. He couldn't escape any of it. Screeching sounds, endless hot hands touching him all over and invading his personal space, sparks and flashes of terrible and piercing lights, the tastes of a thousand different flavors he couldn't tolerate, smells that to others were perfectly normal and acceptable but to him were rancid and nausea-inducing…

His breaths came in fast and shallow, each one ragged and not providing anywhere near enough air to his body. Tremors wracked his slim frame. Thick tears started to slip free of his tightly closed eyes. He was curled in a fetal position, hands pressed tightly against his eyes in a futile effort to protect them as his heart hammered in his chest. Meltdowns, for him, were exceptionally rare. Even so, he knew what they felt like. One was inbound. The small part of him that was able to think clearly was sure of that. Desperate not to draw attention to whatever in the hell was happening, he concealed his aura. Then a second and far worse wave of sensory hell descended upon him and, for the first time in far too many years, he broke down.

Arkiri suddenly barreled into the room, throwing the doors open as he rushed in. "Kath!" he called quickly, rushing over to the other man. No reply came. Kath couldn't have answered if he'd tried, even now that the assault was winding down somewhat and he could almost hear himself think again. The owl was soon by his bed, knelt down as he watched Kath carefully. "I need to know if you can hear me. Can you nod?" he questioned gently. It took a couple moments, but eventually he got a tiny nod in reply. "I assume you're having trouble responding?"

Unfortunately, difficulty speaking was a common result of experiencing overly strong emotions. Kath had always hated that. Not that he could say anything about it, though. So he only nodded again. Arkiri understood and simply posed another question. "Do you want me to get Alana and Sein? Anyone?" Immediately, Kath shook his head. He didn't know or trust anyone else around here for the most part, and he refused to put more stress on his daughter and son-in-law. Emotionally a wreck though he was, he was able to think rationally enough to be certain of that.

Akiri nodded softly. He knew an oncoming meltdown when he saw it with Kath, and had no issue being the one to stay and help. It was why he'd taken time to learn all those years ago, after all. "Just focus on me, Kath. Try and relax. Do your best to breathe normally, and tell yourself that it will be okay. Can you try that for me?"

Despite all the years that they had been apart, Arkri's method for handling these sorts of things was immediately familiar. It was… comforting in its own way as well. Swallowing hard, Kath nodded once more and did his best to follow the instructions he'd been given.

~保護者~

As she had been since Li's forge was reclaimed, Novei found herself helping him while he crafted more and more weapons. Not that she minded, of course. She had grown deeply attracted to him over the course of these years, and knowing that he was pleased was always a good thing.

As she dunked a heated blade into the water as he requested her to do, she felt a tingling sensation alongside a faint flash of light. Li didn't seem to notice immediately, too engrossed in his work. That was fine… she supposed.

A faint frown broke across her face. She felt different. Looking at Li no longer held the same, heartwarming effect it used to. Novei felt empty, blank. Like she had when growing up.

The absolute faintest agitation slowly whisked away with whatever had been left of her emotions and that frown grew. Whoever had done this to her… well… she didn't care now. The way her mind had been trained to think no longer held the same meaning. And so, she dropped the blade and headed outside even as Li tried to convince her to come back.

~保護者~

It had been a long, exhausting day. Purification, scans, trapezing around the hive's territory, having one way-too-awkward conversation… Really, Shadow should have been asleep by now. It was so, so late. But every time he started to drift off he found himself becoming restless and waking himself back up by moving around. Sleep had never come easily for him. Tonight, it was worse than it had been in a long time.

At first, he blamed it on two things. Then he blamed only one. Namely, the fact that he hadn't taken any of the medicine he needed for his withdrawals while he was on his father's world. There had been just enough in his system, it seemed, for that to have not mattered too much overall. He'd taken the medicine as soon as he'd been returned home, too. But it made just enough of a difference for him to notice some symptoms doing their best to start rearing their ugly heads. Some minorly fluctuating emotions, a few scattered thoughts here and there, the restlessness of course… Tails assured him it would likely stop come morning. He could only hope.

Eventually, the restlessness decreased enough that he was able to start drifting off. He had nearly eased into sleep when, of course, he was awakened again. This time, it seemed his mind was the problem. Having been half-asleep, he wasn't sure at first what had happened. He'd thought he'd seen a very faint flash of light, that he'd felt a strange tingling sensation, but now there was nothing. Scanning the room, he detected nothing unusual. Which meant he'd imagined that, somehow. Why, he had no idea. All it did was add another brick to the layers of his mounting frustration. He just wanted sleep.

A bit of time passed. Gradually, he started to succumb again. As with before, he wasn't able to drift too far away before something new happened. This time, he was fairly certain it was the beginning of one of his usual nightmares starting to try and take hold. He wasn't sure what he'd seen, exactly (though Gerald's face had been in there, he was certain of it), but whatever it all was he hoped it was gone and that would be it. Sometimes he was that lucky. Then again, today hadn't been a very lucky day for him.

He was given no further warning. A tidal wave crashed over him, long-dead memories surging from their respected burial grounds in a relentless assault on his mind. Things he hadn't previously been able to remember, memories he had lost stretching back all the way to his earliest years all began to make themselves known again at the same time. He could hardly make sense of it all, being overwhelmed by too many things too quickly. There were bright lights, needles, surgeries while he was still awake and not under any anesthesia, cages, lab coats, chemicals, scalpels, computers, scanners, robots, injections, experiments, tests, sensory deprivation chambers, dunks into frigid water, poisons, and on and on and on…

When the tsunami finally tapered off and the memories began to fade away again, he found himself still in his bed. He was sitting up now, his head in his hands. His heart was taking part in a private race to beat out of his chest, feeling like it was about to bust apart his rib cage on the way out. His whole body felt weak and shaky. It didn't help that his breaths were so ragged and shallow, and there was no telling how long he had been breathing like that.

Making an effort to calm himself, he focused first on his breathing. He made himself take slower, deeper breaths, not letting him think about anything else until both this and his pulse were calmer. Once they were, he immediately executed a scan of the house. The reason for this was twofold. Firstly, he had to check again, to ensure that there really were no intruders. It was obvious that there couldn't be any, he would know if there were, but even so. Getting that confirmation helped calm him further.

His main goal, however, was to locate Toru. It wasn't hard to do. The other man was in the guest room that had been cleaned out for him, maybe sleeping or maybe not. He really didn't know, nor did he particularly care right this minute. What mattered to him was that Toru was still there and that he was obviously fine. Whatever had happened to Shadow had been some sort of a strange, isolated incident. As a result, Toru and his sister were both fine. They were safe. Toru was safe. That was all that he cared about in this moment.

Sighing heavily, he turned over and laid back down, hoping beyond hope that the night could just end already.

~保護者~

Rose quietly read through her book, finding great pleasure in the leisure time the late hours of the night could bring her. It was pleasant, to say the least, though she wished she could spend this time with Kial. That would have made it all the better.

She didn't have time to create a barrier as she saw the flash of light, a tingling sensation suddenly hitting her. It felt odd… and she felt a touch strange, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A quick run through of her powers and physical capabilities revealed nothing particularly helpful, so she dismissed it for the time being. She could inform the others in the morning. However…

As much as she hated to do so, Rose teleported to Shei and Aniko's recently built home first, a deep frown on her face. "Shei, Aniko?" she called gently, hoping that they would not actually answer. She knew they were here and alive, so them still sleeping would mean that everything was fine. Rose was not that lucky.

Aniko quietly walked to the doorway, a troubled frown on her face. "Yes, Rose?"

"Are you both alright? Something just occurred and I wished to know of your wellbeing," Rose murmured.

The female chameleon blinked once before frowning as well. "I could have sworn something just hit me. It was small and… tingled, but that was all. I have not noticed anything unusual," she explained. "Will you accompany me to check on Espio?"

Not fully expecting to be invited to something like that with Aniko (as she was not inherently sure of the level of trust the other female placed in her), Rose could only nod at first. "Let us go."

The two quickly teleported to Espio's home, where Aniko called out, "Espio? Armaris?"

At first, there was no reply. But after a short pause, Espio walked out into the front room, rubbing his eyes for a second as he asked, "Mother?"

"Are the both of you alright?" Aniko questioned, watching as Armaris slinked into the room within the shadows.

"We are fine," was the tired reply. The only unusual thing was that Espio was tired, but that was more mental exhaustion than anything. It just… happened sometimes. "What is the matter?"

Aniko frowned. "Myself and Rose both experienced an unusual sensation suddenly, and from my understanding it seemed to be similar in nature."

This time, Armaris spoke, coming out of the shadows. "What happened?"

"It was a flash of light followed by a tingling feeling," Rose explained gently. "We are both unsure as to what might have happened."

Aniko glanced at Rose, frowning. They hadn't actually spoken about the light or them both being unsure, technically. Is she that intelligent? Shaking that thought away, she looked back at Espio and Armaris. "That did not happen to either of you, correct?"

Espio shook his head. "No. It did not."

Relief washed over Aniko's face, while Rose gently smiled. "If anything does occur, please let us know. I will monitor the Highlands as best I can once I have checked on my sister, if that is alright with all of you." Truth be told, Espio didn't care, and he made that perfectly clear by murmuring some dismissive agreement and disappearing back into his room. Armaris didn't hesitate to follow behind him as Rose turned to leave. "Aniko, please wake Shei and tell him what happened. If you can, contact the others. I will return shortly.

Aniko nodded gently and waved slightly, then teleported away to wake up Shei. What the hell was that feeling, anyway…?

~保護者~

"God this job is so fucking boring," Ylden muttered to himself, quietly monitoring souls as they were funneled to the Realm of Death they belonged to. He always complained of this, but truthfully there was nothing wrong with what he did. He took a bit of pride in being able to do his work well, as he usually did.

He could feel it coming, but the speed at which it came made it nigh on impossible to react to. How someone had sent something at him while he was in these realms, he didn't know, but it definitely didn't feel nice. The cat frowned and checked himself briefly. Nothing seemed wrong, and so he turned to the "mirror" of sorts he'd created so he could watch over those he cared about. Namely, Armaris and the people that she was close to.

The mirror wasn't working. Usually he had to keep a steady stream of magic going into it, so he tried to activate the spell once more. Another failure. Brief panic setting in, he tried to open a portal, only to find that he couldn't. He had his magic, so what the hell was wrong? He felt briefly irritated, knowing now that he could no longer ensure the safety of his daughter. So… he returned to his work, allowing that agitation to set in.

When he got out, he was sure as hell not going to simply sit idly. Now he had to be more involved in this war.

~保護者~

What the hell? Eila whipped up several barriers around herself and her home, but they all fell victim to whatever was happening. She could only watch as they shattered in near unison. When this attack reached her, she tried once more to throw up a barrier, but to no avail.

The pain was immense, and it felt like every bone in her body was on the verge of breaking. Truthfully, she suspected that several had, and it took all of her willpower to not curl up into a ball and start crying (if she could even move, that is). She couldn't heal herself, and knew that she'd die here if she just stayed by herself, so she reached out to Rose mentally. "Please… please come here… I need help…"

Rose appeared in an instant, kneeling down by her sister and collecting her off the ground to set her on a nearby couch (she herself had insisted Eila populate her home with furniture). Once this was done, she tried her best to begin healing the injuries that she could sense, but to no avail. No matter how much she tried, the injuries wouldn't heal. So she did the only thing she could think of to make sure her sister was safe and brought her to Tails's home. Eila was hardly coherent now as a result of the pain, so she didn't feel… as bad about bringing her somewhere that would no doubt cause her panic. Rose tapped on the door with her hand, hoping someone would answer the door as tears began streaming down her face.

Given that tapping on a wood door wasn't especially loud, Sonic was the only one to hear the faint sound. He opened the door quickly, having already been awake talking to Silver and Blaze. He started to say something, but cut himself off when he saw Eila. Or, as he knew her, Astra. Knowing what he was thinking, Rose quickly explained. "I can't help her. Something hurt her and I can't heal her. I don't know what to do…" She realized her speech pattern was changing as a result of this oncoming wave of emotions. Seeing her sister hurt was too much for her to handle all of a sudden.

This was too dire a situation. Sonic resolved to worry about the potentially disastrous consequences of his decision later as he stepped aside to let them in. "...Let me get Amy," he mumbled. "She's a doctor. She can help." Not wanting to stick around, he hurried off to go fetch his wife.

Rose stepped inside, no longer able to control the stream of tears from her eyes as she held her practically unconscious sister in her arms. Why did it have to be you…? Why not me?

Within moments, Amy was rushing into the room, a first aid kit in hand and giving out sharp orders. "Sonic, I don't care where you find them, but I need more medical supplies than this. Go find them for me now. Rose, sweetie, I need you to put your sister down so I can work. Silver, Blaze, I need as much space as I can get to work on her, so I need you two to vacate." Immediately, Sonic teleported away. Looking a touch intimidated, Silver grabbed Blaze's hand and rushed her back toward Tails's room.

The white cat was slow to set Eila down, shakier than she wanted to admit before choking out, "Is it okay if I step outside for a moment…?"

"I've got her," Amy answered, already kneeling beside Eila's bloody form. Then, meeting Rose's eyes, she repeated what she said. This time, it was more of a promise. A promise that Eila would be fine. She would make sure of it. "I've got her."

Rose understood this and teleported outside, somewhere a short distance from the home as she fell to her knees and began sobbing. She couldn't control the emotion anymore, not that she'd been able to do so well a few moments ago. Everything just happened all at once and she couldn't do anything to stop it.

~保護者~

Toru was shocked awake when he heard Myriu screaming, throwing himself off the couch and practically directly to where she'd been sleeping. "T-Toru!" the sight of his little sister bawling out of fear tore his heart out of his chest and he quickly scooped her into a hug.

"Hey, hey, calm down for a second. What happened?" he questioned gently, keeping her as close as possible.

"I can't move…" she answered in a whisper. True enough, she wasn't shaking like she would in the infinitely rare circumstance she did cry. She wasn't holding onto him, nor was she moving.

Toru held her even closer, trying to soothe her. "It's okay… It'll be okay. I've got you, and we'll figure it out." This didn't seem to be enough, but he couldn't just sit here. He stood up and carefully carried her to Shadow's room, practically pounding on the door. "Shadow, get up!" Having heard the screaming already but also having just pulled out of another flashback of some kind, Shadow was a little slow to pull himself out of bed and open the door. The moment the door was open, Toru quickly explained, "Myriu can't move. I've got a really bad feeling that something is about to happen. Are you okay?"

Deciding now was not the time to burden Toru was more bad news, Shadow ignored the question (he was learning by now that lying was even less effective than avoidance with Toru) and said instead, "Take her into the room with the weapons. It is safest. If someone or something is about to show up, they will be unable to sense her in there."

"Get your weapons," Toru demanded, vanishing in a blur only to return some few moments later. "I don't trust this to go well."

Shadow had one of his handguns armed and ready and was busy thoroughly scanning his home. Just like earlier when his troubles had started, there was absolutely nothing around that could have caused this. There certainly weren't any other people. "Nothing has come onto the property. Whatever has occurred, it originated from afar."

"Contact the others, let them know something happened," Toru responded. "And just stay alert." The chameleon disappeared to some other part of the house briefly before returning again.

Shadow started to type a message on his communicator via his mental link with the device, only to abruptly stop when, just like earlier, there was a faint purple flash. Directly afterward, all of his home's security systems began to shut down one by one by one. Then the house lost power entirely. "Just fucking great," he muttered under his breath, already searching for a cause but knowing that he was unlikely to find one.

"We need to get out of here," Toru muttered. "They're gonna tear this place apart if they plan on attacking us."

"No shit," Shadow responded, already cautiously walking out of the room and toward where Toru had hidden Myriu. Toru silently followed him, blade already unsheathed. Before the pair could get very far, a shockwave sent them flying back into the room and made them hit the far wall. The second he saw the dark outline of whoever was responsible, Shadow fired at them. Curiously, the image blipped away as though it had never been there. The hell…?

Toru pushed himself off the wall, a deep hiss escaping him. "Fuck this, and fuck you, whoever the hell you are." No sooner than that final word had left his mouth, the same dark figure blipped back into existence beside Toru and blasted him back down the hallway. Then, not saying a word, they blasted him a third time, sending him through one of the walls and cutting him up on it. As they did this, they also repeatedly blasted Shadow in a very similar manner.

Down the hall, Toru shot up to his feet quickly, his Darkness already fully in effect as he launched a blast of his own at them, more than aiming to kill now. His sister and the love of his life were being endangered, and there was no way he was letting anything happen to them without a fight. The person, not saying a word, used what appeared to be some form of telekinesis to lift both of them up and fling them through yet another wall and into one of the guest rooms. Then, apparently unsatisfied with this, it took hold of them a second time and tossed them outside. The moment they stopped falling and hit the ground, Shadow took aim and fired again. It had the same odd effect as before.

The chameleon launched himself to his feet, ignoring the damage and instead waiting to activate the power he copied from Zareil. If he could land one good hit, he was sure he could rip them in two or three pieces. As if challenging him to try, the person reappeared beside him again. They conjured up their own Darkness and used it to create massive spikes in the ground and stab upward. Shadow managed to dodge by leaping onto the roof, but only barely did so fast enough. Toru almost ignored the spikes, throwing himself into the air just enough to avoid them as he tried to hold them in place with Zareil's power.

Once again, the person blipped away. Shadow stared at the spot where they'd been with a deep scowl, trying to work out exactly what sort of power they were utilizing and how he and Tory could counter it. Ultimately, however, he didn't have enough time to really contemplate it. More spikes shot up, this time covering the house and trees as well. One in particular managed to stab nearly all the way through his thigh before he'd jumped clear, but he barely noticed.

Toru slipped between the spikes, knowing that Shadow would be okay long enough to save Myriu from this deathtrap. He collected his sister quickly and teleported her away, then threw himself into the air and let his Darkness fully free. The house was mostly destroyed for sure by now, so he had no intention of really holding back now. After a few seconds, some of the spikes receded and the person reappeared. This time, instead of being by Toru's side, they were behind him. A blade of Darkness extended from their palm and, with unnatural speed, they stabbed Toru through his back and out his stomach, creating a real bloody mess straight away. Toru couldn't care less, using both the power he'd copied and his Darkness to unleash a wave of energy at the enemy behind him.

They blipped away and reappeared, this time beside Shadow, he whirled and started to pull the trigger, but they shifted behind him just as quickly as he'd moved. He was then stabbed in the same way before the person vanished yet again. Rather than keep fighting this being that they obviously couldn't touch, Toru instead attempted to grab Shadow with threads and take off with the knowledge that he couldn't get near. If his blood got onto Shadow or, worse, into his wounds, that would cause more problems than whatever this being of Darkness could create.

The enemy intervened. Because of course they did. Severing the threads with their blade, the enemy blasted the two of them apart, then did it again, and then a third time. With them thoroughly separated for the moment, the person strode silently over to Toru. The chameleon pushed himself to stand again and crushed his communicator quickly (he knew that they were designed to send alerts when severely damaged) and stared the enemy down with murderous eyes. "What's your fucking game here?"

Predictably, the person didn't speak. Not wasting any time, either, they used their Darkness to knock Toru back over and pin him down as they approached closer. "Well aren't you a fucking ray of sunshine," the chameleon remarked, slowly attempting to see if there was some sort of escape he could make here. He knew that this enemy's Darkness was stronger than his own, so using the trait his own Darkness had was not an option. Instead, he opted to see if it would be possible to turn his body into Darkness, should the need arise. Not that I want to do this… but if it means protecting Shadow, I'm willing to descend like I did to rescue him.

Ignoring the comment, the enemy knelt down beside Toru with an expressionless face. Raising their hand, they proceeded to create several more large wounds on him. Once they did that, they allowed their blade to disappear. With that done, they created a sphere of Darkness within the bloodiest of the wounds, using it as a vessel to carry his blood. Then, apparently satisfied, they stood and began walking away. Toru's eyes shifted to a silver color and he was hardly aware of the change. He glared and called out, "Don't you fucking dare!"

In response, the person merely tossed Toru into the air and slammed him head first into the ground several times before blipping away yet again. Despite the damage his body had sustained, he stood once more and teleported to Shadow, dropping to a knee beside him and examining him. "You can hear me, right?"

Cursing under his breath, as he had also just been attacked by being slammed into the ground a few times, Shadow sat up. "I'm fine," he nearly spat, temper flaring.

"I crushed my communicator. Hoping someone notices," Toru explained, ignoring the temper as his own threatened to rise. Not because of Shadow, but largely due to seeing the wounds he had sustained. That's fucking unacceptable.

Hearing this, Shadow nodded his approval. "Tails will be alerted, loudly. He will send help if he is able." As he spoke, he kept his eye out for their mysterious attacker, not believing for a single second that they were gone.

Toru whipped around when someone appeared, swinging his blade only to stop mere inches from their hand when he realized it was Steam. The hedgehog didn't seem bothered, so he didn't care about his attempt at murder. "What the hell happened here?" Steam questioned quickly, looking over them both. "Actually, tell me on the way. We're leaving."

Shadow stood up, reclaiming his gun as he did so. He debated arguing the point, if only because he hated the idea of running away, but ultimately he held his tongue. "Fine." Toru nodded and Steam immediately teleported them all to New Babylon, right outside of one of the medical wings. Grabbing the attention of a doctor, he ushered the both of them in to have their wounds treated.

It took roughly an hour for the doctors to be satisfied with the state both Toru and Shadow were in, and they were left to rest after that. Except Shadow was decidedly not resting, because everything about the medical ward had him on edge. So, deciding he'd had more than enough of that, he got out of bed with every intent of going out on the roof. Toru didn't hesitate to follow, walking directly beside him but not saying a word for now. Shadow took the opportunity to grumble, "I don't need an escort."

"I'm not an escort," Toru murmured in response. "I'm going with you because I want to." Though he huffed, Shadow didn't argue further. He led the way out onto the roof in silence and took a seat, the fresh air soothing his nerves rather quickly. Toru sat beside him, sighing quietly. His Darkness had receded some time ago, but the anger was still there. "What the hell happened?"

"I know just as little as you do," Shadow shrugged. He glanced over Toru's rapidly healing injuries for at least the third time that night, as if assuring himself again that Toru really was fine.

Toru sighed again. "We couldn't touch them. My Darkness wasn't strong enough, and any time we had the chance for a proper attack, it vanished."

"That was no demon," Shadow added, looking away. "But with that level of strength, it is unlikely not to be allied with someone, even if it is unwillingly. Perhaps that woman, Nareish…"

"I'll find a way to kill them if I can," Toru muttered darkly, clenching his fists. "It put you and my sister at risk. I can't accept that and live with myself."

"Focus on Myriu," Shadow told him quietly. "She needs your concern and care more than anyone right now." He paused, then added, "Staying with her tonight would be good for her. It will ease her fears somewhat, knowing you are there."

Toru had to resist the urge to glare. It was a good idea, but he was not leaving Shadow alone. "I'll bring her here for fuck's sake. There's no way I'm going to be anywhere without you right now."

Crimson eyes rolled. "Then take your dramatic ass inside and get her. I will wait."

The chameleon stared for a moment before vanishing, intending to return as quickly as possible. He returned shortly, carrying his sister in his arms. In the few short seconds that had taken, things had abruptly gone to hell again. Shadow had been launched a good fifty feet and was sitting on a different section of roof, freshly bloodied around his stomach and coughing painfully into his hand - muttering creative curses in between each small gasp for air.

Toru didn't even register returning inside the palace and depositing his sister somewhere, just the fact that she wasn't in his arms a split-second later when he appeared by Shadow and quickly inspected him. "What happened?" he demanded harshly.

Once he managed to get the coughing under control (being struck in the chest was not his idea of fun), Shadow cursed some more before quickly making his own demand. "Back off before this fucking bullshit melts you!" He gestured meaningfully to the steadily growing pool of black blood that was forming around him.

Toru would have argued, but he felt a hand pull him back and watched as Aura surrounded Shadow's body and lifted him off the roof carefully. His eyes shifted to see Sein beside him, eyes wide with concern. The chameleon decided that attacking him for so suddenly moving Shadow was a bad idea and quickly glanced back at Shadow. "What do we do?" he questioned quickly. Shadow had no real answer to that. He just knew that this wound had to be closed up soon, before any more blood got on anything. Or, worse, anyone.

Sein grimaced briefly before saying, "Let's get you somewhere safe and figure this out. It won't hurt you, right, Shadow?" he asked, already moving to go inside with Toru in tow.

"No," Shadow muttered unhappily. Not that he felt it would matter if it did. That was hardly important at the moment.

Around the time they got to the doorway that would let them back inside, Steam suddenly appeared and his eyes widened. "Fuck, I'll be right back." With that said, he opened a portal and promptly disappeared into it. Sein and Toru didn't question it, instead finding a sitting room and moving into it.

Toru watched Shadow the entire time, a mixture of emotions playing over his face and eyes. Anger, hatred, pain, agony… all of it was present, but nothing felt more prevalent than the desire for revenge. To absolutely obliterate the one who had done this to Shadow.

I'll become stronger and make sure nobody else can touch you. Mark my words.

~保護者~

Typically, Espio didn't appreciate being as attuned to evil Darkness as he often appeared to be. He was sensitive to the energy, immensely so, and it caused him more trouble than it was worth. The one and only time where that wasn't the case was… now, incidentally. Not that he was happy about it. It was useful at the moment, sure, but he'd also been sleeping. Quite fitfully for once, too. He was more than a little annoyed that something had woken him up.

That something was a demonic presence. Now, that wasn't anything unusual in these lands. There were many, many Hollows prowling about, after all. But these demons… These were decidedly not Hollows. Why he could now sense a difference when at one time he hadn't been able to do so more than anyone else, he had no idea. Perhaps it had something to do with having temporarily been a demon himself? He had no idea. Right now, he didn't care.

His senses were telling him that these newcomers were lingering out in the wilderness, away from the villages. Small comfort. Still, he didn't like it. They are likely scouts. This does not bode well. The others should be informed. Frowning to himself, he climbed out of bed silently and slipped his boots back on. Given the late hour, he strongly suspected Armaris would remain asleep. Still, just to make sure he hadn't bothered her, he glanced over.

She'd been awake the entire time, since they'd been awakened by Rose and Aniko, as it turned out. The cat raised an eyebrow. "You sense them, too?" she questioned softly.

"There is no way not to," Espio answered. He turned away briefly to grab his sword.

Armaris did the same, standing up and moving to follow. "What are you planning to do? Kill them all?"

"I wish to see how many there are," Espio admitted. "If there are only a few, I will kill them. But, regardless, the others need to be informed that these are here."

She nodded gently to this, a faint frown on her face. "Why do you think they're here?"

"They are scouts," was the short reply. "Their purpose is to see who is around, to assess threat levels, and the like, then report back. That is what they do."

The cat frowned further, apparently in thought. Kaden, does it matter what I do here?

A response came moments later. "Do what you will. I have the information I was after. Maintaining your own cover is your primary concern."

'Course. She looked up at Espio and smirked. "Let's show those fuckers a damn awful time for interrupting our sleep."

Espio huffed even as he drew his sword. "I would prefer it if you stay here. Their presence will likely affect you negatively."

Armaris couldn't resist this chance. "Well maybe it'll be okay once we lay down together again." The cat chuckled briefly before simply nodding in agreement. "I'll stay… but come back quickly. You know I get bored without you around." The chameleon mumbled something under his breath in reply before simply vanishing, off to do his task.

~保護者~

6,913 words this time. Hope you all enjoyed. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 10:22 p.m)