Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this chapter… especially for the one who is leaving soon.

~保護者~

"Aftermath"

~保護者~

He'd been involved in the fight, but he'd needed to retreat quickly. Seeing his daughter tap into her Darkness so suddenly had honestly concerned him, considering that they had a strained relationship. As such, Ryuji had gone to where he'd been staying, wanting to avoid a potential confrontation.

The wave of energy that rippled across the Highlands had him alert and he rapidly unsheathed his weapon, but no attack or enemy came and he slipped back against a wall. Something had changed with him, but he wasn't sure. In a lot of ways, he felt… calmer, a bit more at peace.

It was unusual, but not unwelcome.

~保護者~

It felt like a dream, in a way. Being half-asleep still didn't help. Lucas had been… dead. He'd been dead, but then he'd been alive. Alive, yet younger. Missing memories. Now he was his actual age again, twelve in his years, and he remembered everything now. Or, nearly everything. He didn't actually remember the way he'd died, only that he had. In a way, it felt like he was being spared. He couldn't complain.

What he wanted to do now was find his dad. To talk to him, hug him, hang out with him… but right now he knew he couldn't Wave and several others had explained to him that his dad was "dealing with" some important stuff. That sounded right. It was normal for his dad to be busy taking care of things no one else could. As such, Lucas accepted it immediately. Though he missed his dad, he knew everything would be alright. His dad was the strongest, after all. He was the best.

Lucas knew they'd be back together in no time at all.

~保護者~

Shadow had no idea what the hell had happened. It had gotten late, for a little kid. He'd finally gotten Lia to go to sleep, briefly checked on Myriu and Soren, then promptly returned to his own room. He'd been laying there for an hour or so reading when a wave of strange, unfamiliar energy suddenly passed through the house. Whatever other affects he might have felt from it were quickly lost on him when a wave of nausea hit with painful abruptness.

Only his speed and fast reflexes saved him and his bed from enduring a mess. He was kneeling in front of the toilet in the bathroom connected to his room in an instant. Then his stomach was heaving. But instead of losing the tiny bit of food he'd managed to nibble on throughout the day, the substance that filled the bowl was… black. More specifically, it was black blood. He spat the remnants out of his mouth in disgust, but stayed put. The nausea had lessened, but not left. Given that, he didn't dare leave yet.

A self-assessment seemed pertinent. The analysis came back quickly. That wasn't the issue, as it had no bearing on the accuracy. Instead, the issue was some of the data he got back. Data that should only have been possible several months in the future. He wracked his brain, trying to make sense of this. Tails said in no uncertain terms that we have seven months… yet these results suggest that that timeframe has moved down to two. How is that even possible? It was almost as if things had been fast-forwarded somehow, and it didn't make any damn sense.

A bit of time passed. He got sick into the toilet bowl several more times before finally feeling well enough to clean up the mess - hoping beyond hope that the water was enough to dilute that bloody crap and prevent it from ruining any pipes on its journey. If it wasn't, well, he would worry about that later. Now was so not the time. He returned to his bedroom and laid back down. Several things failed to escape his notice. For one, he was much more exhausted than he had been before. By all accounts, his vomiting couldn't have made him that exhausted. This felt deeper, like it had been going on for some time… somehow. Which didn't make any goddamn sense, either, but that wasn't the only thing he was aware of.

Not only did he feel more weighed down in an unfamiliar way, but he also noticed that he was less… defined around the middle. It wasn't terribly visible, but visible enough that it could be noticed. The cause of it was technically obvious, but he didn't understand it at all. He was distracted from wondering about it any further, anyway, when he picked up an early warning signal that someone had approached the house. That someone was no threat. Still, he groaned a little under his breath in annoyance and exhaustion before getting up. He approached the door and opened it before they even reached it.

Steam didn't bat an eye at this, stopping at the door and crossing his arms slightly. "Mind if I come in and talk to you about something? It's pretty serious."

There wasn't much reason to refuse, so Shadow stepped aside to allow him in. "So long as you speak quietly," he muttered. "Lia is in bed."

The green hedgehog stepped inside quickly, silencing his steps as he did so. "Wherever you feel most comfortable speaking," he murmured. "I'd prefer you be sitting, too."

While ordinarily Shadow would have argued, he felt like absolute garbage still. Sitting didn't sound like a bad idea. He closed the door, then walked to the nearest couch and sat down. Once Steam had taken his own seat, he spoke again. "What do you need?" he asked. It wasn't as though he was genuinely in the mood to be curious, but rather just that he suspected Steam wouldn't be here unless it was important.

Steam took a seat nearby and let out a soft sigh. "It's about Toru. You're the first person I'm telling, because it's important for you to know." His arms crossed and he frowned, trying to think of a good way to put it. "Toru was corrupted by Zareil," he ended up saying bluntly. "I'm coming up with a plan to purify him, though."

Shadow's emotions briefly flared, but he was quick to drag them back in for various reasons. At least, mostly. A combination of anger and concern still quite clearly colored his tone. "How the hell did she get the opportunity to do that?" he quietly demanded.

"She came down silently and had the demons crowd in far more, keeping anyone from getting to her whether or not they were trying to stop her," Steam explained. "The only people that saw him were Wery and Tails, and that was because Zareil tried to take them out of the sky."

More emotions threatened to flare, but with great effort Shadow shoved them down deeper. "...Where is he?" he eventually asked, looking away.

"Not sure, yet," Steam admitted. "Toru is incredibly good at stealth, for obvious reasons, though I've got reason to believe we can track him shortly. Zareil will send him somewhere, and then we'll have a chance to do something about this."

Although Shadow didn't like how brief and lacking in detail this plan was, he was forced to concede that he certainly didn't have anything better. That didn't stop him from scowling to himself, though. "He may well break free of her control," he soon pointed out, "not unlike Espio did."

"Depending on how deep the corruption is, it might just need to be weakened so he can do that and act on his own will. That'll alleviate some of the danger, but from there it'll be a matter of catching up to him," Steam added. "I'm not sure of his ability to directly free himself, so I don't plan on relying on that."

"Zareil is likely to have sent him after someone," Shadow further added. "She would not have sent him after someone who was far below him or her in strength. That leaves few potential targets, multiple of which have the potential to cause this outcome. It is not worth relying on, no, but it needs to be kept in mind."

Steam gave a bit of a nod in response. "Absolutely. As much as I hate to say it like this, it's better that it was Toru and not Espio. We have a really good chance of getting to him. I'll make sure that everything works out well."

There wasn't much to say to that. Feeling some degree of hope was one thing. Talking about it was… another matter entirely. And he didn't feel the need to try right now. "Fine," was all he wound up saying.

"One more thing," Steam said gently. "If the situation comes up where you and the safety of your kids is a serious concern, I wanted to ask ahead of time if you would be willing to stay within Li's realm for a short time. Considering everything with Nareish, there's no reason to give her a chance."

As reluctant as he was, Shadow was prepared to be practical. But only for the sake of the kids. He didn't give much of a damn beyond that, at least right now. "If it becomes necessary," he conceded after a pause.

Steam nodded in response, frowning softly. "I hope it doesn't, but there's no way I'm letting her get to you guys. Not with everything you've got going on," he said. "Is there anything you want to ask about while I'm here? I've got a bit before I'm briefly returned to my timeline." He let that offer sit for a moment before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Right… you don't often put your curiosity out there. Look, I'm here right now to offer whatever information I can give. If there's anything you want to know about right now, tell me."

It took close to a full minute before Shadow spoke again. When he did, he explained slowly, "There was a pulse of energy. It ran through the entire area but damaged nothing."

"Well… it was a pulse of time," Steam answered.

That sharpened Shadow's interest and he looked back over at Steam. "Were the effects random?" he demanded quietly. "As well as those who were affected?"

"More or less, yes." Steam tapped his foot for a moment, glancing over Shadow for a moment. "It affected you, I assume."

Well that was certainly apparent now. "...Apparently," was the unhappy response. "Data from self scans were completely incorrect unless factoring in a sudden leap forward in time. They cannot simply be incorrect."

"I'd venture to guess more than three months?" Steam dared to ask.

"Five," Shadow muttered, looking away again.

Steam nodded slowly. "And this all started shortly after the situation where Toru's blood was put in your body. We're approaching six months, then?"

"It is just under five-and-a-half," Shadow corrected, arms crossing.

"Sounds about right," Steam murmured. "The jump forward fucked with you a bit, didn't it?" Shadow only shrugged in response this time, admitting to nothing but also not actually having the energy to deny it. The green hedgehog was quiet for a moment before speaking up again. "Just a note, but that kid's going to be spoiled as long as you're with Toru. It'll be healthy and protected well."

Shadow gave himself a few moments to think about that, to try and allow some measure of added hope sink in. It managed to, but only just. Many, many concerns remained, but this somehow had taken the edge off of them. "...Perhaps," he eventually said.

"There's no doubt about it," Steam countered lightly. "Not just that, but it's gonna be adored by all of your allies and friends. Nobody will let a damn thing happen to it." He fell quiet before adding, "I sure don't plan to."

"You will not always be here," Shadow pointed out, though with no harshness or anger. "You have your own home to return to, when this is over."

"I'm still gonna be around until it's over, and I don't plan to just never see you guys after that." Steam managed a faint smile. "Your brother made damn sure to let me know that I better be back to visit every now and then."

Despite their owner's lingering tension, crimson eyes immediately rolled. "Of course he did," Shadow huffed, not at all surprised to be hearing this.

"Wave was fairly insistent too," Steam added. "Said she'd kick my ass if I don't. Not sure I wanna chance a fight with her."

Rather unwilling though he was to let himself relax too much, Shadow found himself somewhat giving in to Steam's attempts to lighten the mood. As a result, he wound up saying, "She will find a creative way to make you pay for any slight against her. Such as turning you into a firework."

Steam chuckled lightly. "I could very well outdo that on my own. Cyril's the one I'd watch out for with that particular spell. He's quite fond of the 'dinner and a show' train of thought."

As anyone with half a brain cell could have determined. "She may well send him after you in her stead, then."

The green hedgehog shrugged. "If she did, I think I'm screwed. No amount of experience will get me away from all the shit he can pull from his belt. Man can basically have an answer to most anything, given the right amount of luck," he chuckled lightly.

Shadow nodded a little. He was quiet again for a moment before shifting back to another question that had been on his mind all damn evening. "Is Sonic alright?"

"Nothing worse than the usual scrapes and bruises that come with battle," Steam assured. "He came out of this more or less unscathed."

That was a relief (not that he ever planned on mentioning it to the cocky bastard he shared a parent with), but Shadow had one more set of people to inquire about. He assumed, based on Steam's lack of worry, that Tails and Wery were fine. That left just two others for the moment. "Mother and Father?"

It was obvious that the subject touched Steam in a way the hedgehog hadn't expected, a few faint tears coming to his eyes that he wiped away. "Sorry 'bout that. Analia is tired, but because she used Eona's Light to purify Kaden, she's doing okay. Kaden is unconscious right now, but… he'll be fine. Just needs some time to rest."

More relief came flooding in, far more than Shadow had anticipated, much less been prepared to experience. Everything regarding his emotions had been fucked lately, and this threatened to be overwhelming. As such, he squashed most of it until he was left with a small enough quantity that he could actually cope. "...Good," he finally said, almost sighing. He said nothing more about it.

"Just give them both some time to rest, and you try to do the same… as much as you can," Steam said. "In these later stages of the pregnancy, you're going to need it. And when you're able to, try to eat something. You know, the basics that Sonic would be on your ass about normally."

"I already told him that I can't," Shadow was quick to argue, though he kept his voice down. "Everything makes me sick."

Steam nodded slowly at this. "That's not been addressed, then…" he murmured to himself. "Once I leave, give me a day or so. I'll get in contact with someone and have a medicine sent to you so everyone here can focus on various things I'm gonna be having them do. It'll get it to you." Shadow glanced at him, then answered with a small nod of his own. He was willing to try anything at this point, if it made this damn nausea stop… "Anything else you want to know?" Steam asked after a few moments.

There wasn't much Shadow was willing or felt the need to ask about currently… but he did suppose he was rather needlessly curious about one more thing. "Father's parents were revived. How familiar are you with them?"

"Seiko and Satsuno? Fairly familiar. I didn't get along with Seiko as well as I'd have liked for a while, in my timeline," Steam admitted. "Something you wanna know?" Shadow shrugged. He had no particular question in mind, he supposed. Just sort of… felt curious about them in general. As dangerous as that curiosity often was when applied to anything else. Though he didn't think too much about that currently. There was no reason for such distrust here. "Those two are dedicated and have incredible will, and it applies to everything they care about in life. They care about their family," Steam eventually explained. "Outside of that, I'm gonna have a hard time giving details. Not my thing unless the question is kinda specific."

Shadow glanced at him. "...You do not get along with her?" he eventually inquired.

Steam rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I… wasn't the best of people around the time she appeared. We didn't get along, and I got it in my head that I didn't like her. Made things worse than necessary," he explained. "Outside of that, we just don't get along the greatest. Our personalities clash a bit."

In all honesty, that sounded reasonable enough. So much so that Shadow really didn't have a reply to make regarding it. Instead, he switched his focus to the other person he'd been asking about. "I overheard some things," he started, "when Satsuno was speaking with Toru and Myriu. Not everything, given where I was in the house, but enough. He sees spirits like Father can, but it sounded as though there was more to it than he was willing to divulge then."

"He was the previous God of Death," Steam answered slowly.

Upon hearing this, Shadow frowned. "...Soren used to also see spirits," he suddenly divulged. "They were capable of harming him, such as by pushing or scratching. Once he was even bitten. But that was as far as it went, in spite of his relation to people like Satsuno. Yet Myriu has the potential to have further abilities than this. Is there a reason why?"

Steam shrugged. "As far as I know, it's the same idea as how powers can just randomly pop up in a family line sometimes. This is just… an extra rare version of that."

And… that was it. Shadow was out of questions to distract himself with, even random ones. He did his best to keep his emotions level, however. Eventually, he said, "You have other places to be, I assume."

"If you want me to go," Steam answered slowly. "I know you don't know me all that well, but I know you. If there's something on your mind, about your past or something else, I'll try and help. I've got time."

Since he had no other questions and certainly nothing else he wanted to bring up, Shadow shook his head. "There is nothing to talk about."

Steam shrugged gently in response. "Fair enough. I won't bother you more about it. Just know that in the future, I'm always willing to sit down and talk. I can always make time."

"Fine." Saying nothing more about it, Shadow settled back in his seat a bit. "Go deal with whatever else requires your attention. Things will be fine here."

"Understood. I'll see you sometime soon," Steam answered, teleporting off to square away a few details. Since there was… obviously something serious going on. After all… Rusen's words had been 'after the battle'. He could be lenient, but Steam knew that wasn't the case. Not this time.

~保護者~

Tarin had sensed Steam appear first, but Arkiri noticed Kath. The two tore away from whatever they'd been doing and sprinted down the hall. Steam left soon after, obviously needing to go back to the battle they were having. Arkiri immediately moved Kath to his room, as the explanation they'd been given was… short, at best. And vague.

Arkiri sat in wait for now while Tarin set out to collect some tea for them both, perhaps all three of them should Kath awaken soon. It was a matter of waiting, and for family, He had an infinite well of patience to spare.

All he wanted was for his adoptive son to be okay.

~保護者~

With the Tornado-Z safely landed, Tails opened the cockpit and quickly leapt out to examine the damage done to his creation. One particular hole that had been ripped open on the main body of the ship was sparking and smoking. He tentatively brushed his fingertips along the edge of the hole to see if it was safe for him to touch and work on it. This resulted in him quickly snapping his hand back. "Ow! Son of a…" Trailing off, he leaned down to continue his examinations with eyes only. Definitely smoldering in there… Should've realized that. Looks like this is where that fireball hit earlier.

Sighing, Tails leaned back and waved some smoke out of his face. "Hey, Wery," he called up to her. "Not gonna lie, it looks pretty nasty in here. It can technically still fly, but I don't know how safe that is. We might be kinda stuck until someone can teleport this thing back home." He thought for a moment. "Well, unless you brought a good teleporter. I was in such a rush that I didn't think to bring one strong enough to transport a ship."

Wery reached into one of the storage devices she kept on her at all times and pulled out one of the aforementioned teleporters. "I grabbed it just in case," she said in a slight murmur.

Tails twirled his namesakes just long enough to alight on the wing beside her seat. He gently took the device from her before asking, "Hey… you okay?"

"Just… shaken up," she admitted. "I knew it was going to get bad, but that was insane. Zareil did that red fog thing that forced everyone to evacuate to a safer area, and she was giving Alana all kinds of problems after it hit Sein."

And that wasn't even one of our worst fights, miraculously. "Yeah. Things got pretty, erm, hectic. But no one is very badly hurt, and you and I are okay. That's something to be happy about, at least."

Wery picked up her tablet and handed it over to Tails, tapping on the screen and playing a video. "We lost sight of Toru pretty quickly once Zareil got to him…" she whispered.

Feeling grim all over again, Tails nodded. "Yeah, we did. I'm gonna try and track him down with my communicator once we get the Tornado back to the workshop. We've gotta deal with this before it blows up. ...Which, granted, may not be super soon, but still."

She didn't like that Toru had suddenly vanished, but overall that was still their best chance. All of their better equipment was at the workshop, too… so that made the situation they were in all the worse. They'd stand a better chance of locating him from here but, of course, they couldn't safely fly right now and the Tornado was in bad condition. "...Yeah. That's true."

Hoping to comfort her a bit (and himself, if he were being honest), Tails said, "If nothing else, there are still a bunch of other people here, including Espio and his mom. I'm sure one of those two will spot him somewhere."

"I hope so," Wery said before reaching back into her storage device. "I'm gonna release a camera drone here. Have it survey the area and look for anything we might need to worry about. Maybe that'll help me relax a little?"

"Sure, go for it." Tails offered a reassuring smile. "Whatever you need to do." Wery returned the smile before releasing the drone, hoping that they wouldn't find anything terribly worrying. With that done, Tails activated the teleporter and sent them away.

~保護者~

She had gotten away.

In spite of great efforts to prevent such an outcome, she had gotten away.

Fury had risen up in him when he'd first laid eyes on her. It had remained throughout their confrontation. It had ebbed away very briefly when other matters had snagged his attention. Then it had reared its head anew when their fight had resumed. Even now it remained, though more quietly this time than before. It simmered just below the surface, teasing Darkness up in and around him in the aftermath of the battle.

He did his best to calm himself and focus on other things. Such as his sword. Whether he was to blame or she was, the result remained the same. The sword Li had specifically made for him not so long ago had snapped cleanly apart into two pieces. Like a twig. Like the mortal's blade he had broken when his Darkness had first begun awakening. But this was no mortal's blade. She shouldn't have been able to damage it. Without tapping into Malevolent energies, he shouldn't have, either.

Frankly, the backup sword he'd been given hadn't served him any better. The fact that he'd used it only toward the very end of their fight was the main reason why it was in one piece. Albeit barely. Cracks and fractures were plainly visible along the length of the blade. Even the handle was damaged, missing entire chunks of the hilt and sporting more than one deep gouge, all courtesy of attacks aimed pointedly at his hand.

It was best to treat the sword with some measure of care going forward. As such, he sheathed it and secured it at his hip for now, just until it could be returned to its rightful owner. He kept the pieces of his own sword as well. With those matters taken care of, he began reigning his Darkness in as best as he could. The best way he could think of in the moment to do so was by getting his emotions under control, so that was what he did. Everything that was not needed found itself buried and shoved away.

That left… concern. His mother was fine, he knew. Physically, at least. Ryuji was as well. Shadow wasn't here to worry about, so no energy was spent on him. That left his kids (also fine, he knew where Ylden had taken them), Aku (he would have sensed it had something happened to the old beast), Toru, and Armaris. Except, he couldn't actually pinpoint where Toru was at the moment. He wasn't sure why. No matter how hidden his friend was, Espio had almost always been able to ferret him out wherever and whenever. That such an exception was happening now was cause for concern. Or perhaps it wasn't. He couldn't deny the possibility that he was overthinking things.

The only other person he was close enough with to check on was Armaris. He waited, albeit not with great patience, for clear signs that she was calm again and, essentially, herself. Only then did he appear beside her, now that he was sure his approach would not be taken badly. "Are you alright?" he found himself asking immediately and without thinking. He hadn't meant for his worry to be quite so… obvious.

Armaris didn't hesitate to roll over and wrap her arms around him, wincing a little. "Pushed it a bit too hard out there. That thing was… hot," she muttered.

He blinked at her. "It was made of fire," he reminded blandly. Already, his worries were ebbing away. She was very much back to normal.

"C'mere," she huffed at him. "Despite me joking around about it, I actually am hurting, and holding my arms out like this sucks."

Huffing, Espio took a seat beside her. "If it hurts, then stop moving. Amy or Rose will reach you soon enough." He'd already spied the other two women walking around healing people. There was little doubt that they were making quick work of their task.

Armaris ignored his words, wincing further as she proceeded to give him a more proper hug. "Doesn't matter if it hurts. I just want to be here with you," she answered with a bright smile.

"You can do that without further harming yourself," was the simple reply.

"I could, but you're hardly getting close enough," Armaris countered. "So I took the responsibility into my own hands." Espio huffed again, no longer making even weak efforts to rebuff her. The cat's ears flicked and she groaned openly, suddenly letting go and flopping uselessly onto the ground. "Rose is coming. Time for the public displays of affection to be put on hold."

Amber eyes rolled, but only for a second. "You are ridiculous," he quietly accused. He crossed his legs to get more comfortable, then crossed his arms.

"I hear that a lot," Armaris commented easily.

Armaris allowed his silence to lapse into a mutual quiet, waiting for Rose to make it to them. It really wasn't that long, but Armaris was impatient. Rose walked up soon enough, quietly taking a seat by them both with a gentle smile on her face. "I came to check on you both," she said gently. "Will you allow me to heal you?" As he was uninjured for once, Espio remained silent and closed his eyes, intent on tuning her out for the moment.

The black cat, however, was injured. She immediately saw to it that Rose did something about this before glancing over to Espio. "Hey, you guys haven't done any sessions recently, have you?"

Cracking an eye open, Espio glanced at her. "No."

"Too much going on?" she asked. He closed his eye again and just shrugged. He had nothing to say about it.

Rose decided to speak up around this time. "Espio, I would like to continue those if possible. I have another approach that… might benefit you more than having me simply try to gain information on your life."

This is pointless. Keeping that little thought to himself seemed prudent, so Espio did so. Instead, he muttered a quiet and unenthusiastic, "Fine."

"What's this new approach?" Armaris decided to ask. "Curious."

"The idea was for me to actually ask that someone like you join us," Rose answered. "With you there, I firmly believe that having a second opinion to any questions I may ask could reveal more on how I can help. It would also make you feel more comfortable, I presume," the white cat said, turning her gaze to Espio. "I understand that you did not always find it… pleasant to speak to me alone."

Espio felt the urge to sigh, but resisted. "There is no reason to be doing this at all." So much for keeping that thought under wraps.

Before Rose had a chance to so much as open her mouth, Armaris spoke up. "Why? What makes you say that?" Frowning, Espio promptly shut himself up. Armaris pushed herself to sit up, frowning as well. "Espio, c'mon. You've got a reason to be saying that. You can tell me at least. I doubt Rose is gonna be upset at hearing what you've got to say, but we can make her leave if it'll make you feel comfortable enough to talk about it with me."

The possibility of this upsetting anyone hadn't even crossed his mind, but even now that it had he wasn't bothered by it. He just was never fond of so openly voicing his thoughts. Never had been. But only because he knew she wouldn't let up about this, he forced himself to do it once more. "Nothing is being accomplished. Nothing can be accomplished simply by talking. It is a waste of time for all involved."

"No," Armaris countered gently. "A lot can be accomplished simply by talking. If it wasn't for Marthal, I probably wouldn't have a relationship with my dad anymore. I was only able to do something by talking to him about why I was upset after talking to someone else about what was bothering me and making sense of it all."

Almost, Espio wanted to scoff. That does not mean anything here. Talking has been tried, and it has done nothing. It is a pointless endeavor.

Armaris crossed her arms at him. "Look, I know it doesn't seem like anything is getting done, but it's slow at the start, especially when they're trying to figure out how to talk to you and what works best for you. I mean, look. She's here trying, and I want to try. Can we give it a shot?"

It took a surprising amount of effort not to let himself just immediately shoot the idea down. His Darkness was clearly affecting him again, so he refocused for several moments on curbing it all again along with the accompanying emotions. Only once that was accomplished did he reply. "...Fine," was all he wound up saying. On the inside, however, he was quite sure of one thing. This would be the last time he needlessly subjected himself to this.

Rose cut in before Armaris could say something else, offering a gentle smile. "As always, I will do everything in my power to help you. Though… may I ask a few questions? It's been some time since we talked." Rather than repeat himself, Espio just offered a curt nod. Rose continued unperturbed. "I know of what happened with Shei, and inklings of what may have happened with Aniko… but how are you feeling regarding it all? I can imagine your concern regarding it all."

"I am fine." There was nothing else to say. He refused to let himself feel anything about it right now. He could do nothing to help his father and his mother's emotions were far from being any of his business. As such, he stayed largely uninvolved and did what he could to focus on other matters. That was all there was to it.

Understanding that this may be a subject best broached another time, she simply moved on. "How would you say your relationship with Armaris has grown? I do not require any details, but I want to hear if you have any thoughts or concerns, perhaps with the future should you progress further?" That only earned a shrug from him. As was common, any questions regarding romance rather immediately had him stumped and uncomfortable. Rose sensed that Armaris wanted to speak, and as such motioned toward the other cat. "I presume you have your own thoughts?"

Armaris nodded slowly, directing her attention away from Espio for the moment. "I'm… really worried about us being able to talk about things. He opens up to me sometimes, and I get that he doesn't want to tell me everything and doesn't want to try and feel all the emotions that come to him, but I've done the same thing and I ended up in scary places."

Rose frowned for a moment in thought before turning to Espio. "On the matter of not opening up to her, I presume it is about matters you would not wish to speak about, more often than not?"

Stifling his sudden, renewed annoyance, Espio conceded with a brief, "Yes."

It didn't take long for Armaris to speak up again. "I just want him to know I'm always there for him. I'm not going anywhere, and I want to do everything I can to help. I care so much and just seeing things bother him and not knowing what's going on scares me a lot."

Understanding that Espio very well may not know how to respond, Rose decided to try and give him a clear avenue to go about it. "Espio. There are things that you believe are best left unmentioned, correct?" Opening his eyes again, he fixed her with a bland look. Eventually, he nodded. Rose returned this nod gently. "Sometimes, there are topics best left to mention another time. It is not always opportune, but what I believe is happening is that you wish to not broach these subjects at all… yes?"

She took his silence and lack of response as her cue to continue. "Leaving your concern and emotion tucked away and never revealed is the same as carrying a bomb in your own arms. You know it very well could explode, and without ever taking a look to see, you might not have a chance to respond before it does. When you allow others to look into it, even when you cannot clearly see it, you are given a chance to react, because if it happens, sometimes damage is irreversible. I firmly believe that you wish to stand by your family, and carrying such explosives in your heart will only further dampen the chance you have to do so."

When he didn't really give much of a response (mostly because he still wasn't completely following), Armaris decided to speak up again. "You know how intel is really important to completing some missions? Like, finding out where specific documents or other things are?"

Again, he said, "Yes," in reply. There was little other reply to give.

"What Rose was saying is a lot like that. If we were out on a mission and I found a keypad, but I didn't have the combination, I wouldn't be able to get to whatever it was protecting. You can look at emotions similarly. If we don't communicate about it, I don't know what you're thinking about. It doesn't have to be perfect or as detailed as the shit that comes out of my mouth, but just a little bit. Enough that maybe I can help you understand it."

"I prefer not sharing them," Espio muttered with a frown, looking away. It was all he was willing to admit, right this minute.

It was clear that whatever Armaris was about to say may push him down a different path, so Rose quickly attempted to defuse the situation. "How aware are you with Mobian culture when it comes to weddings and the like?"

"I have no reason to be familiar," he pointed out with a faint huff.

Rose nodded gently. "That is true. With Mobian culture, weddings are viewed as a sort of conjoining of two people in life. They say something akin to a promise with vows that often read similar to 'to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part'. These vows are meant to be the two people agreeing to wholeheartedly love and support one another for the rest of their lives. Not all love will last like this, but the premise remains. To support one another means making attempts to be open and speak to one another about matters that concern you. To make one's best effort to support the other through the matter at hand, and staying by their side."

When it was clear that there was some confusion regarding what Rose had said, Armaris, having grown more accustomed to reading him, spoke up to try and help. "The idea is that whenever something is bothering you, I want to be there for you. Whenever something is bothering me, I would hope you would want to be there as well. I want us to be in this together, taking care of one another."

His frown deepened just slightly. "The things that 'bother' people are almost never anyone else's business than their own." Granted, that wasn't always true and he knew it, but even so.

"Do you think that Aniko and Shei do not converse about problems they have?" Rose dared to ask. "From what I have seen, they appear to support each other quite often."

"It is not my place to ask," Espio was quick to point out. "It is their business alone, not mine."

Rose smiled gently to him. "Would being with Armaris not make your life her business as well? Would it not be best for you to be aware of her problems and for her to be aware of yours?" After a moment's hesitation, she earned herself another shrug. This one was decidedly more uncertain than its predecessors, and less aggravated.

"I'll never ask you to tell me everything about everything that's bothering you," Armaris began gently. "Just… we can start with the small stuff. Keep it easy. Things like how fast Zei is learning or how dumb my dad has been with decisions in the past. It doesn't have to be all of the big things. Just… whatever gets us talking." Not knowing how else to reply at all, Espio just shrugged once more.

Rose decided to gently steer off of this topic. "In the time before I come to speak again, I urge you to try and speak on simple matters together, such as what Armaris suggested. However… I do wish to address something else. I am aware that something happened during the fight and your emotions spiked into anger, but your Darkness was kept relatively under control. During our conversation, as well, though you have been making efforts to hold back the fluctuations of emotion."

He hadn't intended to give such a knee-jerk response, but one of those damnable emotions did precisely what she'd just finished describing, causing him to respond without thinking. "So what?"

"Without knowing an underlying cause, I cannot do much to help it currently. Atop my previous request, I also ask that you make an effort to take notice of what causes the spiking and plummeting of your emotions. Armaris, I wish for you to watch as well, because your input may give us additional information that we would otherwise not have," Rose said gently.

Armaris nodded a little in response. "I'll do what I can. Anything else?" she dared to ask.

Rose shook her head gently. "For now, I will leave you be. I understand that emotions are high and people may wish to relax in the wake of this battle. I hope you two have a wonderful rest of your day." The cat, upon seeing that Armaris and Espio were either ignoring her (in Espio's case, at least) or simply leaving the matter be, teleported away to speak to someone else.

Several moments passed in silence before Espio abruptly stood, head turned to the right with a scowl. It took mere seconds for him to determine what he was sensing. How the apparent skirmish had managed to happen completely undetected was beyond him, but that wasn't what held his attention. She got ahold of him. Damn it.

Armaris shot to her feet when she sensed it as well, tendrils of Darkness immediately sprouting out of her back. "What the fuck? How did he get corrupted?" she demanded.

"I don't know." Drawing his only remaining blade, Espio took a chance and called forth his Darkness. He held no hope of repairing the thing, but maybe he could accomplish something else by focusing on the shape he was seeing. Sure enough, a blade of pure energy formed in his free hand. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. Sheathing the real sword, he shifted his new weapon into his dominant hand. "I do not care where you go, so long as it is not toward him," he suddenly said. "You are growing stronger, but you cannot yet tangle with him. I do not want you to attempt it."

The cat wanted to protest, but she knew better. He said what he said for a reason, and his obvious concern alone was enough to make her stop in her tracks. "Please just… be careful. Okay?"

Pursing his lips together, Espio nodded once. "Return home as soon as you can. I cannot guarantee he will not go after you if you remain."

"My dad has our kids, right? I'm gonna go get them real fast," Armaris said. "I should be safe in that realm."

That she said "our" didn't escape his notice. And though he wasn't certain what to make of it, he did immediately realize that it didn't bother him. So he let it go. "He took them there earlier," he confirmed.

"Go. I'll go to the kids," Armaris said, quickly hugging him and planting a gentle kiss on his cheek before bounding off to find her dad. After a short moment of pause, Espio shook his head (as though to clear it) before taking off. His friend needed… dealing with.

~保護者~

Only a couple of hours after falling asleep, Satsuno was awake again. He was drawn back to the waking world by the sudden rise and strong fluctuations in Shadow's emotions. As confused and concerned as this abrupt change had him, he remained in the room. It wasn't his business to get involved in. That didn't prevent his ears from hearing the entire conversation, however.

When it was all over, it occurred to him that there was someone else in emotional turmoil that needed attention. Pushing himself up in the bed, he turned over to face his partner. Not bothering with any segue into the conversation, he just said, "Seiko, you should visit Aniko." As he said this, he silently scanned the home with his senses. Whoever was sith Shadow right now seemed to be distracting him with conversation. While perhaps not the best method long-term, it was helping for the time being. Even so, Satsuno was a touch concerned. Toru is that chameleon man, is he not? He and Shadow are clearly close. For such news to reach him about his partner now of all times, when so many other things are happening…

And that wasn't even counting the apparent baby they had on the way.

But that was something to delve into another time, perhaps.

Refocusing on Seiko, he waited for just a second to see if she would sit up. Or at least for a sign of her being awake at all. The woman hadn't moved in the slightest with her eyes closed, but her magic shifting things around was evidence that she was mostly conscious, probably as a safeguard to rest and watch over him while he rested. "...Aniko and Shei, ultimately… yes?"

"Yes," he agreed. "Shadow's… emotional state reminded me of hers. She is unstable, but unlikely to listen to most people about it. You may be the one exception at this time."

Seiko nodded in response to this. "This is true. Can you sense where she is currently?"

"She left the battlefield," Satsuno responded after a moment. He extended his senses further. "Perhaps… there is a village nearby. She does not seem to be travelling, rather like she is resting somewhere. I would assume that 'somewhere' is her house."

"I see. I will leave in a moment. Sorting another matter out," Seiko murmured, sitting up. Satsuno fell silent, as there was no real reply to make. He tugged the blankets up, debating whether or not to lay back down. Seiko eventually got out of bed and placed her borrowed blade back on her hip. "I presume that Aniko will not be battling me, but perhaps the topic of a well forged blade may help her relax should things be too tense."

"Perhaps," he agreed with a shrug.

Seiko frowned a little. "I hope that she is alright. We have not seen her in some time," she murmured as she teleported away. Sighing to himself, Satsuno laid back down.

~保護者~

With Seiko gone and Satsuno left to his own devices, he found himself lingering in the living room. It was the easiest and most comfortable place to sit while still keeping a rather direct line of sight on many of the spirits wandering about the house. As such, he reclined on his back on one of the couches, arms behind his head and just focusing. But focused as he was on the dead, he was less aware of the living beings around him. For this reason, he failed to notice Myriu's presence, despite her not being far away or asleep.

Myriu dropped from the ceiling to sit by him, some few feet away as she tilted her head curiously at him. "What are you doing?" she asked bluntly.

Not even batting an eye, Satsuno replied, "Keeping an eye on things, as I promised I would."

"So what can you do?" Myriu dared to ask. "With spirits and all."

"A variety of things," Satsuno shrugged. "Most of it is not especially exciting to describe or hear about."

"What about the stuff you didn't tell me?" The chameleon tilted her head. "Or… that you didn't say around my brother."

Perceptive. Or skilled in the art of assumption. Brushing that aside, Satsuno sat up to face her properly. "There are things I did not explain," he admitted. "However, I did not mention them for they will only cause worry. Or, rather, a few of them will. They are not things you need to worry about, however. You are safe, as we said."

For just a moment, Myriu seemed a touch older as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not what I meant."

A flicker of amusement passed through him. He'd wondered how she would respond to that. "Then mind your wording and speak more carefully. If you seek specific answers, ask specific questions."

"I should throw something at you," Myriu momentarily mused. "Fine. You obviously were hiding something. There's something you hid from Toru. Something that probably would have pissed him off."

Satsuno thought about this for a moment. "You are well aware that not all spirits are content to simply linger, or to even be 'nice' in any way. For some with abilities like yours, mostly evil spirits tend to gather and act out. When they do so, it is common for them to attack in various ways. Some are physical in nature, but others are not."

Myriu frowned in thought. "So, it wouldn't be unusual to find one day that they can attempt to harm me?"

"One day," he had to agree. "However, from what I have sensed from you so far… that day is far in the future. Likely years."

"That would be annoying," Myriu said in vague irritation. "Anything else?"

After a long moment, Satsuno sort of sighed. "Before I answer that, tell me something yourself. What do you know about ghosts already, even if it is only through stories or hearsay?"

"Well," Myriu began, "obviously they can talk to some people, interact with some people, you've mentioned that it's possible for them to attack some people… There's the chance that they could interact with the outside world, so like, objects and other stuff. Other than that… there's the potential of possession? Like… I don't know how to explain that shit."

"You do not need to," he assured. Then he shook his head and added, "Everything you said is correct, as unfortunate as some of those truths are."

She seemed incredibly exasperated by the idea of that, laying back on the couch. "You mean possessions are real?"

"Not for the vast majority," Satsuno shrugged. "Spirits are curiously incapable of pulling such a thing off with anyone who cannot see, hear, or otherwise sense them. And even among those who can, a very small and finite number already, only a scant few have ever been at risk of such a thing."

"Still," Myriu said. "That's weird. Taking control of someone's body."

"Weird" is not the word I would use for it. "I cannot say if this will remain true for the duration of your life, but at least for now you are of no risk," he told her. "Even if there comes a time where you are, you will be able to defend yourself. There are multiple ways. Seiko has personally given her word to see to your safety as well, so you will always be able to turn to her for help if it is needed or wanted."

The chameleon blinked a few times. "Oh, I wasn't concerned about that at all. It would be odd for them to suddenly be able to possess me after just being able to physically touch me."

"I understand you are not concerned." That vague amusement was back, but kept under wraps. "Having knowledge is ideal, regardless."

Myriu shrugged. "Suppose so."

Satsuno suddenly gestured vaguely at a spirit wandering about the room to his left. "That spirit there. How clearly can you see her? Is it the same to you as viewing a living person, or different?"

"It's hard to explain. I can tell the difference between them being a ghost as opposed to someone like you, not a ghost," Myriu answered. "Fairly clearly. Sometimes if they're far away, I don't particularly know the difference without focusing."

An eyebrow quirked up. "At your age, that level of clarity is rather remarkable. Even many adults see little more than shadows or hazy images." He paused, thinking. "It will be difficult to say for some time, but it is possible that you have a high potential that can one day be developed further."

"Developed how?" Myriu questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Through training, as with anything else," he told her simply. "None of this can be learned from books, observation, or any other kind of learning."

"Not what I meant," the chameleon girl huffed. "I meant what would be developed."

"Better," he said, smirking very faintly. "Specific questions, remember?" Then he added more seriously, "It would depend on what abilities you demonstrate that you have. So far, we know you can sense spirits, speak with them, and establish physical contact with them. There is nothing to be done with those abilities, as important as they are. Discovering abilities beyond those, however, would warrant training."

"On top of my already extensive training that fell to shit because of my mom so I can be a shinobi," the chameleon observed. "Sounds lovely."

"That deserves all of your attention, currently," Satsuno replied. "It is far more worthy of your time than any of this is, and will remain so even if you do gain more spiritual abilities. Your life in the living world is more important than your ties to the dead."

Myriu let out a soft sigh. "The issue is that I don't have a teacher at all to be a shinobi," she explained. "Adding onto the fact that Toru's not gonna be around for a bit, well, I'm really fucking far behind."

This made Satsuno frown faintly. "My partner is in your homelands currently. I will ask her to make inquiries to Aniko. I understand Aniko herself is too busy to teach you personally, but she may have ideas on who can. You do not deserve to have your training neglected because of events you could not control."

She crossed her arms a little. "Mom told me not to talk to people like Aniko. People in charge. Like Espio. She didn't like them, but I guess I know why. Nobody tried to stop Toru from killing her," she huffed. "Must've been just as bad to others."

Though he was missing many details, Satsuno chose to accept her words and inclined her head. "It is possible. However, the fact remains that the choice is no longer hers. It is yours. What you want to do is what matters here, as well as who you decide to trust."

"I know," Myriu murmured. "I'm just not sure if it's really worth trying to catch up. I'm years behind, at best. I don't think I can make up that gap."

"It would require a lot of work," Satsuno agreed with a nod. "A lot of time as well. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide if catching up is worth such a commitment."

The chameleon didn't seem wholly convinced on the idea of attempting to catch up, but ultimately she just shrugged. "I'll wait to make that decision."

"You have every right to. In the meantime, if you are alright with it, I will still ask Seiko to make inquiries." Satsuno laid back down the way he had been earlier. "That way, if you do at any point decide to do this, there will be an idea of how you can proceed."

Myriu shrugged again. "For now, I guess it's just about waiting around to make sure Toru doesn't get himself killed."

With another, smaller nod, Satsuno asked, "Did you have other questions?" He supposed she likely would have said so if she did, given her demeanor, but he still opened up the opportunity for her to proceed, anyway. Especially given her downward shift in mood. A distraction might serve her well.

"Aren't you and Seiko like, some important people or something?" she questioned randomly. "You've got this weird like… air about you. You also don't know a damn thing about stuff going on."

"...I suppose we were, once. But that time passed long before even your brother was born." He thought for a moment before continuing. "My family ruled over most of the known world since long before I came to exist. I continued to rule when I came of age, and Seiko ruled beside me. However, we died long before this era. We would never have experienced any of this at all, if not for being revived."

"Ah," Myriu said, as if she'd expected to hear something more grandiose. "Neat."

Not for the first time, her lack of social skills was made apparent. But, in truth, he only noticed it so easily because he had once been in her same position. In some ways, at least. He had never been particularly skilled in social settings, either. Growing up with no one living to interact with other than his mother for so many years had left him struggling. He'd required substantial help to get better in that area. It is possible she may require similar help, but… it is not my place to say so. Given that, he didn't mention it or even allude to it. "Was there anything else?"

Myriu shrugged. "Dunno. Didn't really think this far ahead."

"If you decide to say anything else, do so, even if I seem distracted," Satsuno invited, returning his near full-attention to the spirits around them. "I will answer what I can."

"Sounds easy enough," she agreed. "I will."

With nothing else to say, Satsuno entirely switched his focus back, determined not to let anything slip past him.

~保護者~

Why the fuck is she attacking me? Ylden thought as he bent backward to avoid the warhammer from crashing into his body. He kept his momentum and delivered a kick to Tempest's chin, launching her into the air. They'd been at this for a minute or so now. Tempest hadn't so much as landed more than a grazing blow the entire time. Yet, despite how many hits of his did connect, it seemed like she wasn't taking much damage at all. He had to guess it was some power of hers, that was the only way she could be shrugging this sort of stuff off. Ylden had to cut off his train of thought to stop her warhammer from colliding with him, shifting back a few feet.

Was she getting stronger?

Tempest suddenly brought down a massive blast of magic on him and he was thrown into the ground. She is getting stronger. Whatever she planned as a follow-up, he stopped it by casting a widespread sphere of Darkness, sending her flying away as a wave of his hand conjured blades of his magic and shot them through her body. How the hell? This is hardly hurting her. Ylden used his scythe to rapidly parry her hammer, his eyes following every movement she made to find an opening. Someone with her style would usually have a lot of them, but he knew that trying to capitalize on anything with someone who could shrug off all of this damage would result in some sort of counter on himself.

He supposed he didn't have a choice, grabbing her by the head and uttering, "Ultima Voto!". The spell centralized on her body and froze her in place temporarily, but Ylden was baffled as she staggered forward and bashed him into the ground. She'd abandoned her weapon, instead opting to use her hands and grab him off the ground to send him flying into the air. Once more he felt surprise as she appeared above him with blinding speed and brought her fists down, throwing him to the ground once more.

Tempest's anger was visible and obvious, and Ylden had tried to keep himself from snapping at anyone right now, but he found it a lot harder to keep down right now. She got too close and he grabbed her by the neck, slamming her down and rapidly casting several spells into her body to try and do something, but she responded by gripping his own neck and throwing his head down, leaving him to stumble away briefly.

"Enough!" Ylden ascended into his dark form and began violently beating Tempest against whatever was hard enough to hurt. When things around him seemed sufficiently destroyed, he instead focused on trying to break down her body with Darkness. He eventually released her, since by no means was he trying to kill her, and the woman got back up. She got to her feet with a grin, despite the blood flowing out of her body.

"That's it? All you got?" she laughed. "I'd hoped you'd be better than this." The woman stood up straighter, allowing her magic to flow around her. "Kinda sad. I was into you."

Ylden raised his hand and flicked his wrist, white eyes now glowing a pitch black as he tapped deep into his magic. "Omnes Ave perditionem devorans." The cataclysmic explosion of magic centralized solely around Tempest, violently annihilating the vaguely attempted defenses the Therian conjured up. He couldn't remember the last time he'd used this spell against anyone. It wasn't something he usually resorted to, and it sure as hell wasn't meant to be used on anyone that he didn't want to kill.

Another flick of his wrist and the spell slowly dissipated, leaving behind nothing but the hole created as magic disintegrated the earth beneath them. Then… she climbed out with a weak chuckle. The surprise alone stopped Ylden from acting further, and he blinked a few times at her. Sensing that she was no longer going to attempt to fight, he returned to his normal form and watched her. "The hell was your problem?"

"Don't you listen…?" Tempest questioned, laughing a little. "Said I was into you. Had to make sure you weren't some weak bitch."

Ylden blinked several times, confused beyond belief. The woman took advantage of this and tackled him with a wild grin on her face, pinning his arms to his side. He snapped out of his daze and struggled against her, beginning to shift back to his dark form in preparation for more of a fight. But whatever Tempest had planned was thoroughly interrupted by a furious outpouring of wind. It wrenched them apart and tossed the woman back several large paces. She was left laying on her back in the dirt. Eirza floated down from the sky to stand calmly between them. "Tempest, this has gone far enough."

"I just got to the good part," Tempest complained, arms limply flopping onto the ground. "You always ruin my fun."

Ylden pushed himself to his feet at the first available opportunity, dusting off his clothes and body before passing an appreciative glance to Eirza. "Thank you."

Eirza returned his glance, blinked, then looked back at Tempest. "You forget yourself. Your emotions too often dictate your actions. Please, exert stronger control of yourself in the future." With that said, she turned fully around to look at Ylden. "She did not truly mean your harm, in spite of her… methods. I apologize for not interfering sooner, nevertheless."

Whether Tempest heard her at all, she didn't make it known. Ylden let out a sigh and shrugged. "Don't worry about it. She's the one that was actually hurt. Anything that happened to me will heal fairly soon." He frowned a little, glancing to Tempest. "What the hell is her deal?" he asked a touch more quietly.

That earned him a humorless smile. "Unfortunately for you, she is not prone to lying. She and her sister… They are rather brutally honest."

Ylden honestly didn't pick up on what she meant by that for a few moments before seeming to be taken aback. "Wait… what? She wasn't trying to fuck with me?"

"Indeed, she was not," was the calm confirmation. "Regardless, you are under no obligation to deal with it. Your efforts certainly tired her. Now is the ideal time to make yourself scarce if you so desire."

"...Is she likely to go right back to this if she gets healed by someone?" Ylden murmured. "Whether I like it or not, she helped out… even if I basically had to attempt to kill her just to stop her."

Pure blue eyes flicked in Tempest's direction. "...She may," Eirza allowed. "If you do not intend to leave, I will remain close by to… manage her."

"I have things to do and people to check on," he sighed. "If you can keep her away while I'm busy with that, I'd be appreciative."

"I can, and I will," she answered easily. "Go handle the things that require your attention."

Ylden vanished instantly, teleporting Tempest somewhere else while he went to go check on his daughter, among other things. She likes me? What the fuck?

~保護者~

Wave would have gaped, had she not reminded herself that this was Analia and therefore not surprising. The fact that the woman possessed enough fortitude to drag herself here despite not being fully healed, purify the very God of Demons (albeit with Light that was borrowed from Eona and not her own), and then go on to wipe out Iblis without even looking at the thing was beyond amazing.

The timing was perfect, too, because Mephiles went down mere moments later, courtesy of Rose. They were both dead. By all accounts, that was something worth celebrating. Except, her personal moment of celebration was bitterly short-lived. Corrupted energies approached her, and she whirled around to face them. Laying eyes upon the source caused dread to flush her system. No… Oh, no…

Toru approached with his sword drawn, dragging it into the ground to launch debris at Wave before following it up with a blast of Darkness. Only with great effort did Wave force herself to retaliate. She blocked his attacks with a barrier, then slammed a vaguely hammer-shaped magical construct into his side to knock him away.

In the brief moment when Toru was sent flying, Eila appeared by Wave's side and waved into existence the strongest barrier she could muster. "What the fuck is going on?" she demanded, recoiling harshly when his blade slammed into her shield.

"He's been corrupted," Wave answered quickly. She batted him aside again to spare Eila's shield. Unsure how else to contact her newest friend, she awkwardly asked aloud, "Hey, uh, Aether? I don't suppose you can help us out here somehow? Without hurting him, that is."

The Aether seemed to appear from her, tilting its head curiously. "Hm, maybe. If you two can hold him still, I can try," it answered.

Eila waved her hand and rebuffed him one more time, but not before he landed another hit on her shield, leaving a large crack. "Easier said than done."

"I can manage that," Wave said. "Eila, you might want to move back a few paces. This hex has a bit of an 'area of effect' thing, you know? Wouldn't want you to be immobilized along with him." As she spoke, she began drawing a small hex in the air with her index finger. Eila didn't hesitate to redouble her efforts on her barrier shifting back a short distance behind Wave.

Wave slammed her hex into Toru, pinning him where he stood and not allowing for even the slightest movement. He couldn't so much as blink. Even the grass immediately around him was frozen in place. "This is the best chance you're going to get," she told the Aether. "Make it quick, though, he might break out of this pretty quickly."

The Aether wasted no time in flickering into existence beside Toru and using its energy to free him from Zareil's control as quickly as possible. There wasn't time to do much else with how deeply corrupted he already was, and whatever remained was cut short as he slowly began to break himself free. Rather than confront the deadly chameleon with its limited knowledge on combat, it ducked out of the way as he blasted the area with his Darkness. He then tore off in a completely different direction, choosing to leave them alone now. Even Eila's attempts to hold him in place were in vain as he effortlessly broke out of the hastily made restraints.

Though she wanted to curse, Wave refrained. "Just… let him go for now," she muttered. "It isn't safe to try to handle him right now, not with so many people around." Her head turned to look into the forest, eyes squinted just a little. "It looks like Espio's noticed him, anyway. He might be able to handle this better than us."

Eila crossed her arms lightly, frowning. "I suppose."

The Aether tilted its head at Eila briefly before looking at Wave. "At the very least, he shouldn't be able to be controlled by Zareil now."

"Yeah. Which, by the way, thank you for that." Wave crossed her arms with a sigh. Things just keep getting better and better. "Hey… Eila. It's probably safe for you and Cyril to head out now, if you want. I don't know where you two have been staying lately, but I'd wager it's safe enough."

"Cyril's been out and about doing various things and I've stayed with Tails and the others, considering my house is wrecked and I'm honestly not sure what Petry did to it. I wasn't able to put it back together like I usually do." Eila shrugged a little. "Probably some sort of spell."

The swallow thought about this. "Hm. Okay. Well, I'm sure you know that Tails will let you go back to his place whenever. But if you aren't comfortable with that, we can find another place for you to go. Either way, finding a place to rest is a good idea."

"...I feel more comfortable than I would have in weeks prior," Eila admitted quietly.

That was good news. "Will you go there, then?"

"Most likely." Eila shifted her gaze briefly before finally managing a gentle smile. "It would be the best choice. I have been targeted for being alone in the past, and there are a few I certainly enjoy being around."

"I suggest you head out, then," Wave told her. Tired and emotionally strained though she was, she managed a fleeting smile of her own. "If I see Cyril, I'll let him know that's where you are."

"Thanks." Eila moved her hand as if she was about to teleport before murmuring, "Try not to push yourself too hard."

"Same to you," Wave replied. "Do your best to take it easy for a while." Eila briefly looked as if there was more she wanted to say before simply teleporting herself away, presumably back to Tails's home. Once she was gone, Wave turned her full attention to the Aether. "You saw what happened with Jet, right? The way he was acting, the power he was using… was the Void controlling him?"

"Controlling? Nope," the Aether said. "Not in the slightest. We don't really have the power to control the person we're bonded with."

Wave pursed her lips together tightly. "So he was using that power… willingly?"

"After being influenced," the Aether added. "It's kinda pushing him to do certain things, and I gotta assume it's through words."

"...So it can't force him to do anything but it can… what? Suggest things?" Wave shook her head, still at a loss. She doubted she would ever fully understand what was happening to him no matter how badly she wanted to. "Is there anything that can be done?"

The Aether frowned a little. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure at this moment. The Void grew increasingly upset when I appeared, so I feel like any approach I make will be met with anger from the Void itself."

Sighing, Wave shook her head. "I understand," she conceded. "I suppose the best course of action is to at least continue to monitor them for now. I'm… guessing you'll be able to help with that."

"Yeah, but like I mentioned, it's upset with me. If it notices that I'm watching it, it just might make things worse," the Aether said. "So, we'll have to be quiet and careful."

"Understood." Wave lowered herself to the ground and began walking. Largely in an effort to help her own mood lighten, she soon said, "In the meantime… let's go check on people. I've got some great friends you have to meet."

The Aether gasped and shrunk down enough to sit on her shoulder again. "Yay!"

Managing another smile, Wave led the way.

~保護者~

With a sigh, Amy sat back on her heels next to Tyria. She was making her rounds through the group, healing everyone one by one. This was her fifth patient so far. She'd focused on Knuckles, Rouge, Sonic, and unfortunately herself first. At least she could be thankful that the most serious injury between them (which happened to be hers) was a bad slice from a claw across a knee. Now they were all better and, with any luck, Tyria was too. "That about covers it. Does anything still hurt? I didn't notice any other injuries, internal or otherwise, but I just want to be sure."

Tyria finally sat up, attempting to transform her skin into metal like she had during the fight. The area where Zareil had relentlessly beat upon with her axe didn't fully convert, but it was better than she had hoped for. "I am alright. Should I notice another issue, I will mention it."

Amy inclined her head and stood. If she was at all surprised or confused about the transformation, she kept it to herself. "Okay. Just call for me if you need me. I've got to go check on other people." She headed off without waiting for a reply.

"Understood," Tyria said, already moving to stand as her body reverted back to normal. Her fingers traced the area of her torso that had been pummeled and torn open, frowning. Had she continued, I would not have survived. I suppose I should be pleased that her own ambitions led her away from me, although… I could not protect him. I failed in every sense of the word, though it is my own fault. I exposed myself to her.

The chameleon rubbed at her eyes. Apparently nearly being bludgeoned and cut to death was tiring, so she made a point to finish up her business here as quickly as manageable. It didn't take her long to find a source of her ire and she strode over to Ylden and snatched him by his fur. The cat blinked a few times in response, but wasn't allowed to speak before Tyria launched into her own words. "You need to know that Zareil reached Marthal in the midst of that battle and has now corrupted him."

Ylden blinked several more times before frowning. "What?"

The sound Tyria let out was akin to a growl. "Marthal is a demon. Zareil took him to wherever they congregate."

Once more Tyria was left surprised by the precision of his movements, forcing her to unhand him and dusting himself off. "I'll be going there shortly, then. I might not be able to bring him back… but I've got a message to take."

"Then you're taking me," she huffed. "I want to help."

The look in his eyes wasn't disdain or him looking down on her, but it seemed to be some form of concern, despite what he was saying. "You'll be in the way. If I take you, you'll die."

It was hard to argue with him. She could sense the power he held, and he was more than capable of tangling with Zareil himself. One thing she didn't know was how he fought, so it was incredibly important for her to not take another huge risk when she already didn't have much energy left in her system. "...Fine. When you get back, find me. Tell me what happened."

Ylden gave a wordless nod and pulled open a portal to his realm, walking through to prepare. Tyria, however, found herself more than content to spontaneously lay down and sleep. She was tired, and the lack of proper rest was catching up to her. She couldn't help but think about the matter at hand even as she slipped to the realm of the unconscious, though. I want you to come back safely.

~保護者~

13,767 words this time. Many thanks to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 5:00 p.m.) 06-11-21.