Guardian

by yasha012

I used to want to save existence... I saw it as this beautiful place, capable of fostering life in all of its many forms. A place with the potential to nurture so much Light. But the closer I got to it... the more I fought for it… the better I could see the Darkness waiting within… the evil we would all rather forget. (Part 4 of the Hero series; sequel to "Eternal Shadow Falls".)

155. Imperiled

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

~保護者~

"Imperiled"

~保護者~

Tails was busy working on the blueprints he and Wery had received from Steam. She was most likely working on the same thing, though he wasn't certain because the part he was busy with was on a table some distance away from her. He pressed on in silence for a time before completing it with a smile. He gathered up what he'd finished and walked over to where Wery was. "Hey, I finished a piece. How are things going on your end?"

Wery jerked down with a wrench right about then and tightened a bolt into place, a sigh of relief leaving her. "Almost done here, luckily."

"Awesome. Do you need any help?" Tails set his piece down.

"Actually, yeah. Can you help me find a two-twenty five ohm resistor? I need to add it to the circuitry," Wery said with a smile before looking back at the part she was working on.

"Yeah, sure. Be right back." Tails walked off to one of his shelving units and began searching through a box. Within that box was a smaller sealed one that he then opened to pull out the part in question. He brought it back to her promptly. "Here you go."

Wery accepted it and went about soldering the part onto the board. "So… did you pick up on what he's wanting this to do?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, no." Tails rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess I didn't read it that closely. I was kind of focused on other things."

She frowned a little and set down the tool. "I'm not sure either," Wery admitted. "Not that I distrust him at all, but this is just… weird."

"Agreed," Tails shrugged. "But at least we're nearly done. Your piece looks to be the last one, then we just need to assemble it all."

"Yeah," Wery said. "Though… he wants it powered by the Aether?" The female fox began the finishing touches, making sure to carefully put all of the individual pieces together.

"Yeah… I'm not even sure what that is," Tails shrugged. "I might ask Wave, honestly. She tends to know about a lot of weird energies and powers since she travels between realms so much."

Wery shrugged a little. "Makes sense. Let's get this thing assembled so it's all ready to go."

"Right." They set to work together and, before too long, they were just about done. "You know, I've worked solo for so long that I never really got to enjoy having a partner to make work go by faster. This is really nice."

"Oh," the female fox chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head. "It's still really just an honor to work with you. I spent so much of my life just hoping that one day I could make stuff and help the world like you, and suddenly I'm here."

"Hey, don't shortchange yourself," Tails smiled. "You still could have done that even without me. Heck, I'm pretty certain that you would have. You're amazing at what you do, Wery. I really, really mean it."

Wery glanced away out of embarrassment. "So are you, Tails."

He smiled at her, then set his tools down. "I think that's a wrap. It looks good to me."

The female fox looked over it for a moment, blinking once. "It looks somewhat similar to the cannon thing we built for the fights against demons."

"It does, doesn't it?" Tails agreed. "It doesn't seem too feasible to use this one in an active combat situation, though."

"No…" Wery murmured in thought. "Well… in any case, let's put it away just in case. I'd hate for it to get damaged by getting knocked onto the floor."

"Definitely. There's a storage compartment in the Tornado's underbelly that we can probably use."

"Sounds good!" Wery said with a smile.

"Great!" Tails hefted the cannon into his arms and carefully took it over to the ship. He set the weapon down long enough to open the compartment, then slid it inside. Once it was all closed up again, he returned to Wery. "All done."

Wery smiled brightly and walked over. "Now that it's done, wanna take a bit of a break before we get to working on anything else?"

"Actually, yeah. I had something I kinda wanted to mention to you because it's so cool to me." Tails grinned a little. "So, you remember how I've explained about Shadow running the world government? And how his family used to be the ones running things before the ancient collapse of kingdoms across the world?"

It took her a moment to remember this, but she ended up nodding. "Mhm!"

"And you remember how I mostly explained revival, right?" Tails pressed.

"...Yeah?" she asked. "Why?"

Another grin answered her. "How familiar are you with ancient Mobian history?"

"Uh… only somewhat," Wery said. "It's a topic I didn't study in grand detail."

"Which is understandable," Tails answered. "So what do you know?"

"Well… I know that the planet had a king and queen, so it was a monarchy that ruled over the planet? They had a lot of relations with several of the different groups that lived at the time, such as the fox clans," Wery said.

"Yep, that's right," Tails smiled. "They peacefully unified most clans, tribes, and kingdoms for the first time in our world's history. Thus starting the first somewhat worldwide government." He canted his head. "Have you ever seen depictions of either of them?"

"I believe so. They were both Tokarians, right?" she asked.

"Yep," Tails confirmed. "So in the depictions you saw, one of them had really unique eyes, right? Grey for the most part, but with hints of other colors in them."

Wery frowned for a moment, thinking deeply before suddenly nodding. "Yeah!"

Now Tails was grinning. "Perfect! See, I have access to Shadow's security systems for multiple reasons, and I noticed that someone keeps coming and going at his house somewhat frequently. So I pulled up an image, checked whether I was correct with Shadow, and… Well, see for yourself." He quickly pulled up a still image on his communicator from a camera and showed it to her. "I present to you the King of Mobius!"

"...Wait," Wery mumbled to herself, turning her attention elsewhere for no real reason. "Are you serious?"

"Totally serious!" Tails exclaimed, his excitement apparent. "That's literally him! That's Satsuno!"

"Woah," Wery said, a suddenly bright smile on her face. "That's awesome!"

"Isn't it? I want to meet him so badly." Tails was positively beaming now. "Wouldn't that be amazing, Wery?"

Wery nodded immediately. "Absolutely! Gosh, there's so much that we could learn! Imagine all the groundbreaking discoveries that could be made!"

"I'm seriously tempted to ask if that's something we can do," Tails admitted. "I, uh, just kinda wasn't sure if I should. Plus I wanted to see if you'd be on board, and we had to finish the project."

"As long as Satsuno himself is okay with it, I'm totally down!" Wery exclaimed.

"Great! I've gotta text Shadow and see if he'll ask." Tails typed rapidly, still talking as he did so. "Gee, what should we even ask him? There's so much…"

"I mean," Wery said. "I really wanna know more about our people, if he knows anything."

"The old stories were really adamant that he and his wife worked very closely with our people's clans," Tails nodded. He sent the message off. "Maybe he can tell us how and why our population declined so sharply in the past? I'm not sure if that was even during his time, but still."

Wery thought this over for a moment. "Even if it wasn't, maybe he has an idea of what could have been the catalyst?"

"Yeah, exactly," Tails agreed. His communicator buzzed and, when he looked it over, he was suddenly beaming all over again. "Wery, Satsuno is okay with meeting us!"

The cheer that escaped Wery was shrill and bursting with excitement, immediately typing away at her tablet. "I need to write down every question I have before I forget them!"

"Good idea," Tails said, eagerly reaching for a pen and random pad of old paper. "Shadow said he's okay with coming over kinda whenever we ask him to, so let's write stuff down and then reach back out."

Wery nodded immediately. "Yeah, already on it!"

A bit of time passed, and Tails looked up from writing to smile sheepishly at her. "I've gotta admit, my list isn't that long or great," he laughed. "How's yours coming along? You almost done?"

The female fox didn't even hear him at first, continuing to just type away before her ears perked and everything seemed to register. "Oh! Yeah! I'm almost done."

"Cool, just let me know when you're ready," Tails told her happily. "I'll send Shadow the go-ahead once you're good to go."

Wery smiled and resumed her typing, finishing up in the next couple of minutes. "Alrighty, I'm done!"

"Great! I'll send it off now." Tails did so, then put his hand thoughtfully on his chin. "Huh. I wonder if he can teleport."

"I mean… a lot of people can, apparently. I've been watching people do it since I got here."

"Yeah, but it wasn't nearly as common in ancient times," Tails explained. "Only the toughest of the tough gained enough power to learn how to teleport. Flying wasn't even common. Most people just sort of… walked."

Wery blinked a few times. "That's… not entirely surprising."

Despite what Tails had just said, he suddenly got an alert that a strong energy source had been detected at his front door. Grinning at Wery, he motioned to the stairs and door leading straight into his house and flew toward them. If only because he had a door to answer, he rushed enough to leave her in the dust temporarily.

"Wait, I can't fly!" she called, running up the stairs as fast as she could to catch up to him.

"Sorry, gotta answer the door!" Tails called back. "Seriously, sorry!" He reached the door and opened it up to let their impromptu guest inside.

Wery eventually caught up to her fox companion, almost fumbling over herself. "You could have given me a chance to keep up!"

"I'm sorry!" Tails insisted. "I really had to answer the door!" Satsuno blinked at the two of them, saying nothing as he stepped in and wordlessly closed the aforementioned door behind him.

Upon seeing the king of the planet, Wery straightened herself out and stammered a mess of words into a conjoined jumble before blurting, "Hi, it's cool to see you."

…"Cool"? This weird wording aside, Satsuno politely nodded his head and murmured, "It is nice to meet you."

Wery was understandably mortified at her lack of proper wording in such a crucial moment and immediately tried to rectify it. "I-I so sorry!" She then reprimanded herself internally for that and said, "Sorry. Excited."

"I understand," was the calm reply. Then he lightly crossed his arms in a very Shadow or Kaden-like manner (as in, purely for comfort) and asked, "I was told you wished to speak with me. What about?"

"So, I have to ask, what was it like for you to be a king? Obviously people respected you, but what kinds of stuff did you have to do that nobody ever saw?" Wery asked immediately.

Satsuno's answering huff was probably a sound of amusement, Tails decided. "You mean administrative work? Signing treaties, passing laws…? I imagine any current kingdoms operate in nearly the same manner."

Wery blinked. "In a lot of ways, I think that technology has kinda complicated things such as that, though. How did you guys do it efficiently before inventions like what exist today came into being?" Tails smiled at her enthusiasm and decided to just let her keep going, since he highly suspected she had way more questions than he did.

"Efficiency relied on people always working," Satsuno shrugged. "Myself and my partner employed scribes to work on the papers we did not have time for, and I personally reviewed everything. That was the quickest way to handle things at the time."

"Wow… so it was similar," Wery said. "That's incredible. What about day to day duties? Did you actively interact with subjects or were you pulled away so much with papers and so on?"

"We interacted with our people every day," Satsuno stated. "You cannot expect to maintain peace, prosperity, and happiness when there is a heavy disconnect between those in charge and those who are not. Those qualities were always our goals. We did what we could to ensure our ideals became our world's reality."

Wery didn't know what to think. It was so simple, yet so complex, having to maintain relations with their people constantly. "That's incredible."

"Really incredible," Tails agreed.

The female fox looked over at Tails, blinking a few times. "You ask a question!"

"Okay, okay," Tails laughed. "First, though, why don't we go sit down?" He gestured to the living room. "It's not much, but the couch and chairs are pretty comfortable."

This actually earned a huff and Tails couldn't help but smile at the obvious relation to Kaden and his family in that moment. "It is fine. I prefer things to be simple as opposed to grandiose and lavish." With that said, Satsuno moved to sit in one of the chairs.

Once they were all settled (Tails had taken up residence on the couch), the fox asked, "Do you know why old artwork of you shows your eyes as being multicolored? From what I've seen, they're just grey."

"Using different powers alters them temporarily," Satsuno shrugged. "They will gain different hues to them for a time."

Wery, from her place beside Tails, asked, "What powers make them different hues?"

"Spiritual abilities," Satsuno answered with another, more vague shrug.

Though her head tilted, she didn't know enough to pose a good question about his answer. "Oh. Is it kinda like how sometimes other people's eyes change when they use certain powers?"

This time, it was his turn to give vent to curiosity and ask a question. "There are other powers that can do such a thing?"

"I think it's more about the level of energy someone is putting out?" Wery said. "Like, Eila's, someone who's been here a lot and we're allied with, eyes will glow purple with her magic when she's using a lot."

Odd. "I never encountered such a thing in my lifetime," Satsuno admitted. "It is possible that the mechanisms behind it are the same, but they may not be."

"I'm leaning more toward them not being quite the same," Tails said. "That is, assuming a lot of that old art was correct. I've seen pictures with your eyes being everything from dark gold to this sort of ethereal teal color. Is that accurate?" Slowly, Satsuno gave a nod. "Right. So, at least in an example like what Wery gave, there would only be one color at play. Not multiple."

Wery nodded immediately. "Mhm! It means whatever happens with your eyes is distinctly different. Maybe your eyes have a different makeup that causes them to more intensely react to your powers?" Once again, Satsuno shrugged. Partly because he didn't entirely follow what she was saying. Mostly the "makeup" part.

"You said they're spiritual. What does that mean?" Tails immediately followed that up with, "Wait, Kaden can see ghosts, so I've heard. Is it that kind of power?"

"...Yes," Satsuno answered after a long moment of thought. "But it is not as simple as merely seeing them."

"Can you interact with ghosts?" Wery suddenly asked, enthralled.

"Unfortunately." After a slight pause, Satsuno elaborated for her. "I can see them, as stated, as well as hear them and touch them. It goes beyond that, but that is how it works on the most basic level for me."

"Woah," Wery said. She was beyond impressed and amazed. "Is it weird to touch them? Are they like, gooey?"

That actually earned her a faint smirk for a moment. "No, they are not. It feels no different than touching someone living. At least for me."

"That's… really cool," Wery said. "Weird, but cool."

There was a lengthy pause. Then, eventually, Satsuno asked, "Does… 'cool' mean something different now?"

Tails opened his mouth, the gears in his head turning. "Uh… Wow. I hadn't even thought about that."

"Oh, in a context like this where we're not talking about temperature, 'cool' means that something is good or interesting," Wery offered in explanation, a smile on her face.

Satsuno frowned faintly at this. "That is… unusual."

"A lot of things changed, language, culture, and so on as time went on," Wery said with a sort of apologetic frown.

"As I would expect it to," was the calm reply. "That does not make it less strange to encounter, however. This is sudden as opposed to gradual. It takes time."

"Yeah, that's understandable," Tails agreed.

Wery nodded. "Yeah."

The king of old waved them off with an idle hand. "It is irrelevant right now. Are there other questions you have?"

"Do you have anything else, Tails, or should I go again?" Wery asked.

"You can go ahead," Tails offered easily. "I'm enjoying listening to you two, to be honest."

Wery turned back to Satsuno. "So, back then, the fox clan was still around. They were an inventive race, for sure, but what was one of the last things you remember seeing from them?"

Satsuno let out a thoughtful hum and sat back in his seat. "Following a war that took place after my partner's death, people across the world began finding great flying machines. Most were crashed and none could be used by us. Your people studied the least damaged of them and began building their own versions. Their replicas were smaller and less advanced, but they still flew. However, there were only a few such machines made at the time."

"Woah," Wery said. "So that led to planes, helicopters, and so on," she mused. "Really interesting to know."

Tails was openly in awe. "That's crazy… Was that the Babylonian War?"

Confusion showed in Satsuno's eyes. "No," he said slowly. "Soren mentioned that name to me once before, but otherwise I have never heard of such beings."

Now that threw Tails for a loop. "Wait… does that mean someone else invaded us before they did?" He gaped at Wery. "That challenges everything in the history books."

The female fox's tail twitched and she gasped. "Oh my gosh, you're right!"

Tails turned his attention back to Satsuno. "Do you happen to know what the invaders called themselves?"

"No," Satsuno said again. "My people called them by various names, but we did not know their true identities. We could not even understand their language."

"Can you draw?" Wery suddenly asked, leaning forward from where she sat.

The abrupt change of subject made Satsuno go silent for a second or two. "I learned to some extent," he eventually replied. "It was part of my lessons as a child, not something I actively pursued."

Wery practically tossed herself off the couch and ran to the stairs, running down them and tumbling down a few in her rush. "I'm okay!" she yelled back to them.

"Uh… she gets excited," Tails laughed, smiling sheepishly as they both watched her departure. "I'm sure she'll be back."

Wery shortly did return, a paper and pencil in her hand. She offered them to Satsuno. "If you think you can even vaguely draw what their race looked like, we might actually be able to figure it out with our current knowledge."

The idea had merit, Satsuno had to admit. It had been many centuries since he had last done something like this, but he supposed he remembered enough to handle the task at hand. So, setting the paper on the coffee table between them, he moved to sit on the floor and drew a member of the race from memory as best as he could recall. As the image took shape, Tails's namesakes got a bit bushy with shock. "That… that looks a lot like a Therian to me…"

Wery tilted her head at Tails, her own tail flicking briefly. "A Therian?"

"To put it as simply as possible," Tails explained while Satsuno returned to the chair, "there were four original races. Babylonians and Therians were two of them, and they've been mortal enemies for… I dunno, maybe since the beginning. And for a long time, the Babylonians really suffered because of them. They were hunted down wherever they went and taken as slaves, killed, that sort of thing. But I'm not sure why the Therians would have come here. Maybe their warp-drives stopped functioning and they got stranded or something…? That's along the lines of what happened to the Babylonians, or so I've heard."

"That would be weird, if it was at such a number that they were being found all over," Wery gently countered. "Satsuno, were there any unusual damages to any of them, if you saw any?"

Satsuno was quiet again for a long moment, frowning deeply in thought. Then he moved back to the paper, flipped it over and quickly sketched another picture. This time, it was what Tails absolutely knew to be an ancient warp-drive… and it had some truly horrific cracks in it. That pretty much confirmed his on-the-fly theory. "This. It was in every one of the machines, and the damage was nearly identical each time it was found. We did not understand if it was significant, but it was strange enough to remember."

Wery looked the picture over, a deep frown on her face. "That shouldn't happen from normal use… At least, I'd hope not."

"I don't think it could, but… I also have no knowledge of the way their tech works," Tails sighed. Then he brightened. "Oh, wait! We actually have a Therian as an ally! She's pretty nice, honestly. She's the one who restored Mobius when it was kinda… you know, wrecked that one time not too long ago. She's lived a seriously long time, too. Maybe one of these days we can ask her what she thinks."

"Woah, that would be great! It could be super cool to learn stuff about her people, too!" Wery said.

"Yeah," Tails smiled. He returned his attention to Satsuno. "You know, if art skills were hereditary, I'd be tempted to say you passed them down. Kaden and his grandson, Silver… they're both crazy talented. They really love drawing and things, too."

Grey eyes blinked. Satsuno seemed to give that some thought. "...I see."

Wery didn't know about that, but she simply smiled. "Whatever we find out, I'll make sure to let you know, if you'd like."

"I should like to know what led to the deaths of scores of my people," Satsuno told her simply, once more moving back into the chair. "Whatever you learn, I would appreciate hearing about it."

"I-, oh," Wery said initially, caught off-guard. "Of course. I'll do whatever I can."

Tails decided to steer things away from such a serious matter for now. "If you don't mind my asking, was your partner revived, too?" Satsuno looked at him and nodded. Tails was quietly delighted by the news. "Wow… So you're both back…"

Wery gasped and smiled. "That's so good to hear! I'm glad you're both able to be back together!"

"I agree," Tails said, voice warm and smile bright. "Would it be possible to meet her, too?"

"I would have to ask," Satsuno said, one shoulder lifting in a vague approximation of a half-shrug. While he spoke, he decided to mentally reach out to Seiko. "You have been gone for some time," he murmured in lieu of a greeting. "Is everything alright?"

"Aniko's emotions went out of control. Something pretty big must've happened for her to not be able to keep her composure, but after some help from Sonic's allies, I was able to get her to rest. I was just watching over her. She's awake now, but the shock of her emotional breakdown has her… zoned out."

"She still needs you there, then?"

"Do you need me?"

"Not particularly. I wanted to check on you, and apparent allies of Kaden's asked to meet you sometime. It seemed prudent to check in."

"I will meet them another time. I believe she will be fine within the day. Once that is true, I will return to you."

"I understand." Pulling away of the connection, Satsuno told them, "She is busy at the moment. Perhaps some other time."

Wery nodded a little. "That's fair. I hope it's nothing too bad." Satsuno didn't really answer that, just murmuring something vague that he didn't elaborate on.

When she didn't continue, Tails spoke up. "I have a question, but I've got to ask a related one first." Satsuno blinked at him. "Erm… this is gonna be real personal, but did you know Kaden was born with a condition called autism?"

It took Satsuno a long moment to reply. "...I believe I know what you are referring to, though we most often knew it by a different name. And… no. I was not aware. He was not… with us long enough."

Tails's ears went down a little. "Yeah. I… heard a little about that. I'm sorry for bringing it up." Satsuno just waved a hand for him to continue. "I ask because his great-grandson, Kohaku, also has it. And it was thought for a while that his granddaughter, Emi, might. We also suspect her brother Grey might have some form of it, since he never learned to talk and has some mild tells that seem to indicate it. My point just being that there's a family history of this. It can crop up suddenly without that kinda thing, yeah, but at least in Mobians… For one person, in this case Kaden, to have it when no one else did and then it wind up passed down so many times… It's just unusual. I was sort of wondering if you happened to know anything at all. It would help me to help people very dear to me, you know?"

Once more, Satsuno was quiet for a time. Eventually, he let out a heavy sigh. "A year… perhaps two before my mother, the former queen, passed, the entire idea surrounding health of the mind was just beginning to form. Scholars called it something… untranslatable. Later generations spoke of it by the name of 'psychology'."

"That's the name we use today, actually," Tails nodded.

"During that time," Satsuno continued, "the idea of various… illnesses came about as well. They were believed to be behind crippling sadness in some people, states of constant fear in others, and so on. More complex ideas came shortly afterward, starting with a then rare 'disorder'. It was rarely called autism. Most called it something else."

Tails was rapidly starting to get a clue. "You had some sort of an experience with it, didn't you? A relative, or…"

"Incorrect," Satsuno murmured. "Word reached my home of the work being done, the things people were starting to learn or at least suspect. At my mother's insistence, I was sent to the people at the heart of it all and spent two years being thoroughly assessed and, essentially, studied. When I returned home, I did so with a label." He sighed again, looking away. "I do not know if it started with me or if I was merely the latest to have it. It is unlikely to help you answer your question."

Wery winced a little. "I'm sorry to hear it happened in such a way," she said gently. "Getting labeled for something just because it affects you isn't a good thing."

"So long as it is different now, then I do not care. The past is in the past. It can stay there, as far as I am concerned."

She shrugged. "Sometimes people put labels on things, but from what I know, the people around here don't."

"Not at all," Tails promised quietly. "But either way, if you'd prefer this stays between us, I won't say anything. It's about what you're comfortable with."

This time, Satsuno's thoughtful pause managed to seem more hesitant. "I do not care," he eventually said. "Do what you will."

Tails offered a nod, then said, "We can change the subject now. I've got a couple more questions, if you're still okay with that." Satsuno waved a hand once more. "So, I was sort of wondering if you could tell us about your crown and armor? From what I've read, they were ridiculously durable and whatnot, and I've always been curious to learn why."

Yet another pause. Then Satsuno murmured, "Wait," before vanishing. A second later, he returned with the items in question, saying, "It is easier to show rather than explain. The material used to craft them is not… available anymore."

Wery looked at the crown and immediately gasped. "That's made of something that definitely doesn't exist now."

Tails nodded eagerly, wanting to touch but refraining for now. "Not at all," he agreed. "What is it?"

"We called it atani. It was highly favored over even steel, though there was never a vast quantity of it."

"So much could be done if we had a reliable way to recreate atani, but how did you guys work with it? Was it resistant to heat?" Wery asked.

"Yes," Satsuno answered. He removed a gauntlet from the armor and tossed it to Tails, who caught it with wide eyes and immediately began looking it over. "Magic was most often used, as this material does not melt or become malleable in a traditional forge."

Wery smiled brightly. "That's incredible to know."

Tails passed the gauntlet to her. "You've gotta check this out. This armor looks heavy, but it's so light. A bit cumbersome, maybe, since it's all metal, but still!"

The female fox looked over it before the slew of questions arrived. "Does it resist acids? Have you ever seen it rust? Does it handle blunt impacts well?"

"It resists virtually everything, perhaps because of the way it is forged," Satsuno patiently explained. "It does not rust or suffer damage, even from blunt impacts."

"Woah, that means that it's a virtually invulnerable metal except for in the face of magic?"

"More or less. However, this material can damage itself. A weapon made of the same metal could cut through it."

Wery nodded a little. "Kinda like how diamonds can cut diamonds."

"Yes, essentially," Satsuno agreed.

"That's really interesting. I wonder what other properties might not be known just by pure inability to check it," she mused. "Maybe none at all, and it's just this incredible metal that's only molded with magic."

Before Tails could work up the courage to even ask, Satsuno surprised him by saying, "I seldom wore this, even in the past. You may keep that piece to further look over for now, if you so desire. I do not currently need it."

"Are you sure?" Wery asked in return. "That could be, like… a big deal."

"Certain," was the calm reply. "It matters little to me." Tails gaped at him.

Wery looked at the gauntlet in amazement. "Woah…"

Tails soon grinned. "Well… thanks. We really appreciate this. We'll return it soon." Satsuno murmured an agreement and sent the rest of the armor away. However, the crown continued to loosely dangle from his fingertips, and Tails noticed. "Is that made of atani, too?"

Satsuno shook his head. "No. This was crafted long before a portion of my people migrated to this world. We originated somewhere among the stars. This was crafted from something out there."

"Maybe Steam knows?" Wery asked, turning to Tails.

"That's entirely possible," Tails agreed. "For that matter, Locke might. He's a huge fan of history and all that. We can definitely ask around."

She nodded. "Yeah. That would be a good question for him."

"Speaking of questions, I've only got one more," Tails said to Satsuno. "Kohaku and the others who have been staying here are out on a walk right now, but when they come back did you want to meet them? Most of them are your family or family to Kaden's closest friend." Tails smiled at Wery. "That goes for you, too, since you haven't met Silver's kids yet."

Wery blinked once before nodding. "I'd love to!"

"Great!" Tails smiled. He looked at Satsuno. "What about you?"

Grey eyes blinked. "I will stay," he agreed. "I would rather meet them as opposed to not."

The female fox smiled brightly. "Sounds good!"

"I will wait outside for now," Satsuno told them simply. He teleported out onto the roof and laid back with his arms resting behind his head and reached out to his partner again. "Seiko, do you recall those foxes we were told about? I was sent to see them and we talked for a time. They had many questions, but I learned things from them as well."

"Is that so? Tell me more."

Closing his eyes, Satsuno allowed himself to focus fully on the conversation. "Language has changed in odd ways," he informed her. "'Cool' can now be used to describe something that is interesting, it would seem."

"That is interesting," Seiko responded. "I am not surprised to hear such a thing has changed, but the specifics are intriguing."

"I expected change as well, but this change was unusual."

"It stands to reason that language would be something majorly affected with time. I wonder what other major changes have happened."

"I don't know. I didn't pick up on other unusual words." Satsuno thought back over things for a moment before continuing. "Not all has changed, however. Based on what I was told, the modern government functions fairly similarly to how we ran things."

"Well then. Did you learn what else is similar in the form of government?"

"It is still worldwide, perhaps even more so than ours was. While we could not unify all people in our time, it seems that has been accomplished at some point."

"I am quite proud of the future generations for managing that."

"Yes. I learned that there are unique powers and abilities in this era, too." Try though he might to hide it, Satsuno knew it was a fruitless effort with her. The fact was that he adored learning and was quite thrilled to have picked up on so much so quickly. "Because of them, eyes changing colors is not so much of an anomaly anymore."

"Oh. Did they mention anyone that has such a thing happen?"

"Some woman named Eila. They did not elaborate as to who she is."

"They likely did not think of it in the moment. Perhaps we can see it happen someday soon," Seiko offered.

"I suppose," Satsuno agreed. "They did say that my case is still unusual, however. According to one of them, those whose eyes do this typically only change to one color, not multiple. The woman said something about it, but I did not entirely grasp what she was talking about."

"We can pursue that knowledge sometime, assuredly. We will make time for it."

"We do not have to."

"I want to."

"...Alright." There was no point arguing. Satsuno just continued on. "They spoke of a war against some race known as the Babylonians. It seems it took place after the mysterious war we faced, the one with the people from the stars."

"...The ones with the bird faces?"

Now Satsuno was confused. "You have seen a… bird person?"

"Briefly. I saw one in the home where during that fight we briefly intervened in. I did not notice much and it wasn't important at the time."

"I see. That may be the race they spoke of, then." Adding on to that thought, he soon said, "They asked me to draw a member of the race we battled first. The one with the flying machines. They identified the race as something known as a 'Therian'."

"Hm… interesting."

"They also said that those flying machine replicas the ancient foxes crafted led to something called 'planes' and 'helicopters'."

"Which is likely that machine that was in the air during that battle," Seiko pointed out. "Or… something similar."

"I suppose so." Another pause, then he changed subjects. "One of them mentioned that Kaden sees spirits like I can. I did not ask for further details than that, since they did not seem to know much else."

"Hm… that is certainly something to look into. Can he interact with them as much as you?"

"I don't know," Satsuno admitted. "They did not say, but they also did not say anything to disprove the idea. It concerns me."

"Perhaps he was not as easily influenced… I would hope."

"He is not a conduit. I would have sensed it when he was born. Whatever abilities he has do not leave him as vulnerable as me."

"Good."

When she didn't seem to have anything further to say, he continued on. "They also mentioned that the term 'psychology' is still in use. Which likely implies that the field of study has continued on through the ages without disruption, else that name would likely have been lost."

"Oh?"

"Autism appears to be something that is still actively known about and studied in this era."

"Incredible. Perhaps there are people who could provide you better aid than you found in our lifetime?"

"It is possible," Satsuno agreed. But, soon, he all but mumbled back, "I do not wish to make the attempt to find out. At all."

"That's okay. Maybe some of Sonic's allies know something. They could be helpful."

"I do not want them to."

"They are nothing like some of the people from our time. I can practically feel the goodness radiating off of them."

"I understand that they are good, but I still want nothing to do with this, Seiko. I have tried it enough times."

"We can talk about this more in person. It's not something I wish to speak through thought."

She had a point. Satsuno took a few moments to force the tension out of his body before continuing. "...I was told Kaden has autism as well."

"...Oh."

"A grandson of his, also. And it is apparently suspected that at least one other could have it on top of that."

"I… see…"

"I did not ask about it at the time, but the tone seemed to imply they were all doing alright." Satsuno sighed to himself, careful to separate his next thought from the conversation to keep her from overhearing. So long as their experiences were different from mine, they will continue to be fine… surely.

"It may be good to speak to them about it all. They may have good insight. They are family."

"Perhaps."

"Did you learn anything else?"

"The technology I saw in that house is incredible, Seiko. I do not know what any of it was, but even what we found after the war did not appear as advanced." He paused, thinking, and said, "The spirits in the home told me about a workspace connected to the house, full of great machines and all manner of unusual tools."

"They live up to their clans' reputations, I suppose," Seiko responded with vague amusement. "Would you like to see their creations sometime?"

"Yes," he responded without hesitation. "This era is fascinating."

"We will make time for this as well. I would like to see what they are capable of."

"Alright." There was a brief lull in the conversation. However, he soon spoke up again, coming closer than he normally would to straight-up admitting that he missed her. "You are certain you will be back soon?"

"Yes. Aniko is recovering swiftly."

"That is good."

"As I stated before, I will be back within the day."

"Tell me if anything changes." With that said, Satsuno pulled out of the connection and settled down, content to be alone with his thoughts for the time being.

~保護者~

After his almost full-fledged anxiety attack earlier, Espio had gone ahead and taken a rare nap just after putting his children down for their daily one. This also gave Armaris the chance to return to bed if she so desired, but he managed to drift off quickly enough that he had no chance to notice whether or not she did. What he did notice, however, was that when he woke up, something was decidedly not normal.

Specifically, he wasn't normal.

That thought took way too long to process in his only semi-awake state. When it finally did, he jolted awake fully and yanked one of the blankets up to cover himself without thinking. It was a reflex and nothing more, but part of him was glad for it. It was easier to convince himself that he was mistaken when he couldn't see the changes his brain was trying to tell him had somehow taken place. He had polymorphic abilities, and he knew that. There were a lot of ways his body could be changed. But this? Fucking this? This was absurd to such a degree that he lacked the words to describe it. What… the actual… fuck, was about all he managed to think on the matter initially.

Armaris was awake due to the sudden jerk, sitting up and tilting her head. "You good, man? Haven't seen you do something like that… ever."

"Fuck off," Espio responded snappishly, only to wind up cursing under his breath because of course his voice was also different.

She blinked several times before sighing and standing. "Put the blanket down."

"No," Espio grumbled like the petulant child he apparently was, and purely out of stubbornness. His mind was already working through the various possible ways to fix this, but he knew from experience that it sometimes took a while before first-time transformations could be undone. Such was the nature of awakening new abilities.

"Fuckin' 'ell," she muttered, throwing a gust of wind to knock the blanket out of his hand.

Espio immediately sat up, cursing her in Japanese before abruptly switching languages long enough to say, "That was uncalled for."

The cat tilted her head a little at the sight before her. "Oh, you're a girl now?"

"Fuck off," Espio told her again, scowling. Try though he might, he couldn't currently seem to shift back. That only made him moodier about the whole thing.

Armaris tilted her head at him before shifting closer, examining him. "Wow... it's, like, the exact same thing I can do."

Being looked over didn't make Espio any happier. And he almost didn't dare ask what she was talking about. Almost couldn't. But his curious nature took hold long enough for the question to escape him. "The hell do you mean?"

"I can become a guy, and turn back to a girl," Armaris answered easily with a smile. "I just choose to be female more. It's way more comfortable to wear clothes."

"I hate you," Espio groaned, flopping back onto the bed with an arm over his eyes. He obviously didn't mean the words, though.

Armaris flopped back with him, laying beside Espio. "If you wanna go back, you're gonna have to work on activating the power consciously. If you don't do that, I'm gonna need to find you new clothes."

"I know how to use these powers," Espio grumbled. "I have others like this. It just isn't always possible to immediately change back when a new one surfaces."

"So you're saying that I have a female partner for a bit until you can figure out how to return to normal?" Armaris asked with a small snicker. That earned another annoyed groan. She rolled onto him with a growing smile. "Remember how I mentioned I can turn into a guy?"

Espio shifted his arm in order to glare at her. "You can't be serious," he muttered, already knowing where her mind had gone.

"I certainly am," Armaris said with a grin. "Unless you're against the idea."

He wasn't, necessarily. But he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of getting away with this so easily. "And if I'm not?"

"Well, then I suppose I'll just have to indulge in the situation," Armaris answered with a chuckle.

Amber eyes rolled. "Is this always your method of getting into bed with someone?"

"No, usually I'm very direct, tell them I want to fuck, and remind them that I didn't give them a choice," Armaris chuckled.

For a rare moment, Espio's dry sense of humor showed itself. His eyes rolled again as he said, "Take me now," in a monotone voice meant to communicate how utterly unimpressed he was.

"You know, I'm half inclined to do it just because of that," Armaris said with a grin.

Of course she was. Espio huffed at her. "You are impossible," he accused. A moment later, he allowed himself to finally stop being stubborn about this. "You win, I suppose."

The cat's grin somehow grew farther and she changed her body to match what she had directly implied, settling down up against him. "You realize this'll be really weird for you at first, right?"

Espio shifted for a second in an effort to get comfortable. In spite of himself, he had tensed up a little. "I'm fully aware. Nothing about this is in any way normal."

Armaris shrugged a little. "Just figured I'd warn you." Espio mumbled his understanding. The cat entangled herself with him more than readily, more than eager to see how this would all go.

~保護者~

With the sort of silence only a Rogue, chameleon, or yokai was capable of, Marthal slunk on all fours through the woods toward Tails's house. His nose told him Sonic had been in the area recently. Sonic was the only person who would know where Kaden was. He needed information about where Sonic had gone. So he crept toward the home, his sole remaining hearing aid taken out so he could focus fully on scents. They mingled together, flowing around in the breeze, but with ease he separated each trail from the rest and worked out where they led.

He neared the front door and paused. Something unusual had tickled his nose precisely there, but it was faint. Whatever it was had to be days old, at least. That wouldn't have been a problem if not for the constant wind Leaf Forest was known for. It had washed most of the scent away. He had to really focus and tune everything else out in order to find the smell again.

There it was. Marthal breathed in deep and slow, the gears already turning rapidly in his head. No fucking way. The moment his concentration was broken, the other scents came rushing in. Sonic, Silver, Tails, Wery, Knuckles, Rouge, Blaze, Armaris, and Mei. His fucking daughter. How long had she been alive? Why had no one even attempted to tell him? That wasn't like them at all.

More importantly, Mei had died from severe illness, the same kind that had taken her mother. Was she ill all over again? Orders be damned, he had to check on her. He would do what he was told, yes, but only after accomplishing his own goal. With that decided, he immediately circled the house to one of the back windows. It led into Tails's room, which in the past was rarely occupied due to the fox's tendency not to sleep near enough. If that remained true, it would be his best point of entry.

Sure enough, a furtive look through the glass showed the room to be empty. And he had been just enough of a rule breaker in his youth to know how to get in, even when the window couldn't be opened from the outside. Gathering immense heat into his hand, he laid his palm on the glass and melted open a hole. From there, he gradually worked the hole open wider and wider until he could just fit through. He slipped in as soon as he was able to.

Now that he was inside, he had to be even more certain of his silence. As such, he put his hearing aid back in. Then he crept across the room, nose twitching. He looked at the spare beds on the floor as he moved between them. Knuckles and Rouge there, Silver and Blaze there… Had I come at night, there would have been at least four people sleeping in here. And if they sleep in here, they might come in at any time during the day. I need to get out of this room.

The door was fully shut. Very slowly, he turned the knob and opened the door just a crack. He could hear some kind of a commotion in the front room, and the source of that was obvious. Kym and her siblings are back too, huh…? I didn't smell them outside. Did they teleport here? He shook his head. The specifics didn't matter right now, nor did he feel anything more than a passing curiosity about the whole thing. Focusing on finding Mei was infinitely more important.

Despite how much time had passed, the layout of Tails's house clearly hadn't ever changed. There was still only one other room right across the hall from this one. That was where his daughter's scent was concentrated at. How the hell do I do this? The hallway opens right up into the front room. It's too easy to be seen trying to cross while they're all over there. With no other options, he waited. He waited, watched, listened, and smelled, waiting for the right moment to finally present itself. It happened at a time when everyone was mostly facing away from the hall close to an hour later, talking and such and paying no mind to anything else. It was as good of a chance as he was likely to get.

Creeping as low to the ground as he could without compromising his speed, he opened the door a bit wider and hurried out. The moment he reached the other door, he opened it, slipped through, and closed it most of the way. Once he was out of sight, he stood up and closed it properly, then waited. No change. Everyone continued to chat, laugh, and whatever else. Kohaku even drew attention further away like a champ by exclaiming something excitedly about his blocks. Despite his demonic state, Marthal managed to feel quite pleased with that.

Safe in the knowledge that he was unnoticed, Marthal turned to look at Mei. He was shocked to see her in a crib. More specifically, to see her as just a tiny kit. So tiny that her little ears were still folded down. Not tiny enough to still have her eyes closed, however, as they flickered open very briefly when he scooped her up. He turned his head to look at the door, thinking about the people on the other side. They were fairly capable of taking care of her, it was true. When not considering the particulars of yokai baby care, they were fully capable.

The real question was what he wanted.

In truth, the answer was known to him already. He wanted her with him. Trusting people wasn't something he liked to do, and he felt even less capable of it now than he had before this had happened to him. Fuck this. Fuck all of you. Though he more or less appreciated that, according to the scents, Armaris had brought her here and Blaze had taken her in, that was all he was prepared to allow. Mei was coming with him. And now that he knew Sonic had teleported out of the building at some point (judging by how his newest scent trail abruptly cut off near the kitchen), it was time for him to expand his search.

...Or… maybe not Actually, he had an idea. Taking his kit's scruff gently in between his teeth to free up his hands, he exited this room the same way he had entered the first one. Once out, he quickly made his way deep into the forest the way he'd come. Only once he was far from the house did he gather up energy in order to teleport himself away. Being unused to space travel in such a manner, much less travel between realms, it took a lot of effort and many teleports to finally make it. Zareil's lucky yokai are interdimensional beings to some extent, or else I wouldn't be able to do this shit for her at all as a goddamn mortal. As is, I barely have the know-how and shit, you fucker.

Eventually, he landed by the citadel - or what was left of it, since it was still absolutely wrecked after Ylden's rampage. He sat down near the rubble and transferred his kit into his arms, settling in to wait once more. It didn't take long for someone to arrive, but it wasn't Zareil that came. Eila teleported within his line of sight, blinking slowly as she assessed the situation. "Who are you…?"

"Should be asking you that," Marthal responded simply. "Takes a special kind of crazy to bring Light to a place like this."

"I'll be fine. Survived this place when Kaden ruled… somehow. Why'd you take the kid?" she asked. "You're obviously not taking her to someone for something weird."

"'The kid' happens to be my kid," Marthal growled lowly, demonic temperament showing itself clearly in him for a moment. "Where I take her is my concern only."

Eila paused for a moment, blinking. "She's… oh." The cat glanced to her left and frowned a little. "Seems I've been noticed finally." Her gaze flicked to Marthal, eyes narrowed slightly. "Just take care of her. As long as it's you… that's fine."

As if I need your permission, Marthal responded snarkily in his head. Then he mentally added, Nosy bitch. His nose twitched faintly, scents interrupting his thoughts as they often did. "You smell like Rouge and them. If you stay here, they're probably going to start wondering if you're corrupted or some shit again."

It had been quite some time since she'd gotten irritable, and she was quite proud of her slowly increasing streak of growth, but that comment was enough to shift it all back. "I'm sure you'll remember that when you're purified, because you will be." The woman waved a hand and cast a spell on herself before muttering, "Damned demons." With that, she teleported away before anything could come to attack her.

Demonic eyes narrowed hatefully. "As fucking if."

Zareil appeared moments later and shifted her gaze around. "That damned little fucking rat," the demoness muttered. "Why was she here?"

"Because apparently she deemed it necessary to question me about my own kit," Marthal muttered. He didn't explain further, mostly because he hadn't been asked to.

"Why have you brought it here?" Zareil questioned immediately. "I gave you direct orders."

"And I followed them," Marthal answered easily. "Analia's been holed up on a tiny world owned by some God named Nier ever since she was taken from this realm. It's the only place Sonic and his friends consider truly safe from people like you for the time being. Where else would he and the rest of them have hidden Kaden?"

Zareil muttered something under her breath, summoning her spear in hand. "Then I will be going shortly."

"Fine by me," Marthal huffed. "Am I going to be required to tag along?"

"Your choice," Zareil muttered. "I would have preferred you not collect a child, because leaving you alone brings the possibility of demons as strong as myself coming to bring you trouble."

"The kit is mine and I'm not fucking leaving her with anyone else," Marthal responded with a scowl. "Yokai children have to be near their parents to stay alive. They aren't safe anywhere else. As a demon I'd expect you to understand that."

His jab at her went mostly ignored. "Then get off your ass and come with me," Zareil muttered bitterly.

"All you had to do was ask…" Marthal responded snarkily even as he did as he was told.

Zareil glared faintly before teleporting them both away without a word, appearing near the planet. Already she knew that someone else was present, and she was more than ready for a fight if they brought one to her. "Stay close and don't do anything stupid." Marthal rolled his eyes, but wisely held his tongue this time. She teleported them directly onto the surface of the planet and walked up to the door, kicking it in and walking inside.

"And she tells me not to do anything stupid," Marthal muttered under his breath. Then, more moodily than before, he followed after her. However, his nose abruptly told him to tread no further, and as always he obeyed his instincts. "Oi, it smells like shadows in here. Shadows that are fucking moving right toward you."

"Fuck off, Finis," Zareil muttered hatefully. "I'm not here for you. Get out of my way." The fact that he was here alone made this mission far more impossible. Retrieving Kaden wasn't a thing she could do if she had to fight him.

The shadows coalesced into a single form in front of her, showing that her assumption about who was here had been correct. He crossed his arms and thought to her, "State your business. I may be inclined to let you pass depending on how you answer."

"I want to see Kaden," she muttered. "Out of the way."

"Behave yourself," Finis said calmly even as he moved aside. "He still requires much rest." Marthal instinctively and defensively lowered himself onto all fours, Mei's scruff in his mouth as he hurried after Zareil. His instincts screamed at him about the potential danger he was walking past, and that got some of his fur on end by the time they reached the stairs and began to climb.

Zareil muttered unsavory things in undertone as she ascended the stairs, growling when her spear clanked against several steps before just teleporting it away altogether. He's here. I can smell him.

Marthal's nose was twitching as they ascended the stairs. Sonic, Analia, Kaden, three little kids who smell like him and Zareil… Who the hell are they? He didn't bring it up, since logically he knew what the obvious answer was. Instead, he just continued to follow her.

The demoness resisted the urge to try and act out the moment she walked in and saw Analia, a whole new level of hatred surging up within her. You bitch.

Analia, to her credit, didn't even inwardly react to Zareil's obvious hate. The emotions would have revealed themselves in her scent, which simply didn't happen. "Zareil," she greeted softly. Sonic glanced between them with obvious wariness from where he was leaning cross-armed against a wall, but stayed quiet for now. "Please feel free to check on your family. However, I must ask that you be gentle. He is still healing."

"I should kill you," Zareil growled, noticeably keeping her tone down as she approached. "You took him from me, you and all of your little fucking friends."

"Zareil," Analia said again, more gently than before, "you must understand… the way Kaden was before… that was not something he wanted. Amnikaribah forced it on him. I am sure you are aware. He made no secret of his hatred over the matter at any point. Those bits and pieces of him you no doubt started to see in recent weeks and months were no anomaly. They were parts of the true version of himself, fighting for freedom. What I did was help him return to himself. He did not fight me. Zareil, he helped me. He wanted to be saved."

The demoness was brought an extreme level of pause as all of this was said. A foreign feeling made itself known to her and she had to blink once to make the weird pain and pressure in her eyes fade. "I want him. He is everything to me. Without him I'm nothing," she bit out.

"You aren't nothing," Sonic told her quietly. "And trust me… he cares about you like you care about him. That's why we're making an effort to establish a truce with you. For his sake. He's gonna want you in his life. Don't try to fool yourself into not believing that."

Unlike Sonic, Analia was looking at Zareil and saw her rising emotions. She made an effort to help soothe them to some extent. "Please, Zareil. Feel free to go to him. You do not need to stay over there. It is alright."

"I-" Zareil paused again. Suddenly, she wasn't even sure she wanted to. He wasn't the Kaden she knew. This weird feeling that kept rising back up in her began to add weight to her chest and make her heart rate quicken. "I… cannot."

"You can," Analia insisted. "He will not reject you, even pretending he were to wake right this very moment."

Zareil wanted to hit Analia. The urge was so strong, but she couldn't bring herself to anger. It was all so unbearable, and she surged to where Kaden was before she completely froze. I… this… this is not… it cannot be him…

Something about her emotional state woke the triplets. They slowly sat up, yawning and rubbing at their eyes with small hands. The (slightly) youngest, Tyrnn, responded to Zareil's presence in rare form for a demonic child and held her hands out to be picked up. "Mother?" she mumbled, half-asleep like her sisters still.

This provided enough of a distraction to shock her out of this mental state, turning her gaze to the child. Without hesitation, she immediately picked Tyrnn up and held her. The woman didn't know what to do anymore. "Yes?"

"You were gone for so long," the small child mumbled, eyes drooping shut. She laid her head on Zareil's shoulder.

"I know," Zareil murmured. "I could not be here. I had to ensure that you were safe."

"Father won't wake up," Tyrnn continued. "We wanted to be held."

The thought of him not waking up stirred that pain again and her expression shifted. "He's gone through a lot."

"Father is strong," Shyrr reminded her sister all of a sudden. "He'll be fine. Won't he, Mother?"

Zareil's eye twitched. "He will." He is not… fine.

Alynn, the oldest and so far wisest beyond her years, gave their mother a scrutinizing look. Then she scoffed under her breath and crossed her young arms. "It isn't becoming of you to be this doubtful, Mother."

"Silence," Zareil bit out, her gaze snapping to Alynn. "I did not ask for your insight, nor is it needed."

"No," Alynn retorted. She was the only one of the three who was bold enough to rebel against their parents and act on the sheer obstinance that their father had passed on to them in varying amounts. "It obviously is, but the freaking second-in-command won't stop freaking out."

Zareil bared her teeth at Alynn. "Cease your insubordination. You are well out of line and should have been punished for the first instance."

"Lay off," Marthal muttered. He had taken a seat in the doorway by now and taken Mei's scruff out of his mouth. "Kids know more than people like you give them credit for. Might be worth your while to listen now and then."

"I'm not questioning her legitimacy," Zareil growled, turning on Marthal.

"Then stop treating her like she's just mouthing off and use your damn ears," the yokai growled back. "Only one of mine works right now and yet I'm apparently hearing her better than you are."

"Get out," Zareil muttered simply. "Take your child and leave before I do something regrettable."

"I'm gonna take a page out of her book and say no," Marthal scoffed. "Gotta right to be here. Not leaving."

"Then I am," Zareil grumbled, setting her youngest back on the ground and moving to the door. "Get out of my way."

Suddenly, Sonic cut in. "...Oi. Wait a second. Come back." He pushed off the wall and walked over to the bedside where she'd just been standing and looked closely. "I… think he's starting to hear us. Maybe."

Analia pursed her lips together in thought. "Zareil," she soon murmured. "Please, come back."

The demoness clenched her fists. "Shut up. I'm through with your shit, all of you," she growled.

"I'm serious," Sonic told her harshly. "He just moved a little. Come see for yourself if you don't believe me."

Zareil didn't look back at him, baring her fangs as an oddly cold sensation flowed down on her face. "I don't want to see him anymore."

"What about what he wants, then? That still matter to you?"

Hearing that stung, and she gripped her face tightly as that sensation from before grew more consistent. "Be quiet…"

Finally, his tone gentled. "Look… I really am serious. Just come here. You wanted to see him. He's going to want to see you. We can give you privacy if you need it. There's no reason to hurt yourself like this."

"I don't want to see him purified," Zareil suddenly snapped, turning to Sonic with a pained expression. "He's the only love or god I've known, and now I don't know if I even know who he is!"

"He's still Kaden," Sonic told her quietly. "He's not going to be violent or hateful or that sort of thing, but his core traits are the same. He's so stubborn he can probably make a planet move through sheer force of will alone. He's still got a serious temper. He's still one of the strongest people out there. Beyond that… You took the time to get to know him once. You can do that again if you choose to."

Tears streamed down her face and she gritted her teeth. "I'm terrified, dammit! Kaden is all I ever had. Suddenly he's just not what he's always been to me, and I don't know how to handle it."

"All we are asking is that you try," Analia murmured. "It is alright to be afraid. There is nothing wrong with that. But you are not alone. We will help if you allow it. Even if you do not wish for us to do so, he is still here. He cares about you deeply, Zareil. So much so that it broke through his uniquely severe corruption and allowed him to experience that emotion for you for eons. That is no fluke. He will continue to be here for you. I can promise that."

"I just want him as my god…" Zareil murmured weakly.

"There's more to relationships than subjugation," Sonic sighed. "There really, really is."

"That's all I ever needed or wanted," the demoness protested.

"Change isn't always something bad, you know."

Zareil shook her head. "I'm not ready…"

"And you might never be," Sonic shrugged. "Part of being brave is going ahead with things even when they seem daunting. And you never struck me as the sort to back down from things."

She looked away from him and leaned up against the wall and wiped her face off, sniffling. The hell is wrong with me…?

Sonic gave her a long moment. "What are you going to do?" he eventually asked.

"I don't know…" Zareil admitted weakly.

"You've got to make a choice," Sonic told her. "Irrespective of what the rest of us think or have said, you have a choice to make for yourself. And you don't have forever to make it. Life goes on whether we're ready for it or not. I'd rather you be prepared, in this case."

"What choice?" Zareil demanded to know.

"Stay," Sonic said, "or leave. You can't do both."

Zareil seemed to make her decision immediately, turning away and pushing past Marthal to walk down the stairs. I can't think… there's too much to process…

Sonic sighed heavily. "I was really hoping she wouldn't go with that one," he admitted. "This is gonna make things… hard."

"No shit," Marthal muttered.

The demoness walked straight to the door and out of the house, leaping off of it into space… where it was quiet. Where she could think without anyone else speaking. Kaden wasn't… the same Kaden she knew, but if they were to be believed, Kaden was himself now? Could she even love the new him? Could he love her? It didn't make sense, and all she'd ever known was demons and bloodshed. How would they even be able to stand each other if their priorities didn't align?

She supposed that was the point of contention. Her priority was Kaden, and little else mattered to her. She needed him… To leave now would be akin to abandoning her post, and as such she teleported herself back into the room with them all and immediately walked to where she knew Kaden was.

Sonic visibly relaxed, but this time he didn't say anything. He figured he'd given her enough crap for one day, and so he just moved aside to give her space. Zareil didn't waste time sitting beside Kaden, setting her hand on his with tears visibly streaming down her face again. "How long will he be like… this?"

"It should not be much longer," Analia assured her, voice still as soft as ever. "He moved his arm a little while we were all talking. That is proof enough that he is recovering. Faster than I had anticipated, even."

"I cannot stay here the entire time," Zareil murmured softly. "As much as I want to be by his side when he awakes… the demons may grow too bold for their own good."

"I understand. Word can and will be sent to you when he wakes, in the event you are not present when it occurs."

Zareil didn't answer that, simply curling herself up and relaxing by Kaden, taking in his warmth. "Why… am I so tired…?"

"Emotions can exhaust, at times," Analia told her, voice laced with sympathy. She watched as the triplets climbed onto her before settling back down to sleep again. "Rest if you wish. No harm will come to you here." Upon hearing that, the demoness's eyes slowly closed and she suddenly succumbed to sleep.

~保護者~

Wave barely had a chance to enter her family's small home before she was inundated with words from her younger brother. "Alec," she tried to interrupt, hands up in the universal gesture for mercy. "Whoa, Alec! Calm down, dude!" Finally, he stopped long enough to draw in a breath. "I'm fully aware of what's going on. I haven't seen Dad in a while, either. I was coming by to see if you had."

"I haven't," Alec was quick to say. "He never leaves me home alone this long. I'm still not strong enough to keep myself completely safe here."

"This realm is no joke, that's for sure. Listen, come with me for now, okay?" Wave backed out of the front doorway to give him space to walk after her. "I'm going to take you to Babylon for a while."

Alec's eyes betrayed his confusion. "We're visiting Jet again?"

"No, though that would be nice," Wave sighed. "Once you're safe, I'm going to see what's keeping Dad. He might've run into trouble. It's not like he can't handle himself, but still."

"So… he's probably fine, right?" Alec asked, taking her hand.

Despite her own (currently mild) worry, Wave smiled at him. He was a bit old for hand-holding, but her brother was still such an innocent little boy on the inside sometimes. Very in-tune with his own emotions, too. That kind of sweetness had her wrapped firmly around his finger and she knew it. "Yeah, most likely. But like I said, I'm going to check." She teleported them straight into the palace without giving any further warning. "I shouldn't be too long, okay? But in the meantime…" Turning, she knocked on a closed door leading into one of the rooms on the top floor.

Another young boy's voice answered her. "Who is it?"

"It's Wave. Mind if I come in?"

Excited footsteps suddenly ran up to the other side of the door, then it was wrenched open. "Wave!" Lucas greeted with a great big smile. "You and Dad haven't visited in forever!"

"It's only been, like, four days since either of us stopped by," Wave chuckled. "That is a bit long, though, you're right. We've both had a lot to do. I'm sorry about that."

Lucas started to say something, then looked to her left. "Who're you?"

"Oh. Uh, I'm Alec." The young Hexan pointed at Wave. "Her brother. I guess we're kinda close to the same age. Sorta. Technically."

"Close enough that you two can probably get along," Wave decreed with a renewed smile. "Now that you both are acquainted, feel free to hang out or whatever young men do. Or don't if you don't want to. It was just a thought."

Her humor finally got Alec to snicker. Lucas made a slight snorting sound when he tried to hide his own amusement. The pair wound up walking back into the room together, and that was her cue to leave. So leave she did, teleporting out past the planet's atmosphere and floating there for a moment while she focused. Now that she knew to look everywhere but home for Han, she stretched her senses out as much as possible. Magic amplified them through the realms, a taxing effort but also one that rarely failed to pay off.

It was just a hint. Just a faint wisp of lingering energy that drew her attention to a place somewhere between this realm and the Realms of Death. It was… a strange place, to be sure. And certainly not anywhere she would have expected her father to go. But the proof was there, and it was the only lead she had.

Retracting all her senses again, she was aware of shaking and panting. Jeez. That was a… pretty distant place to reach. I didn't expect to have to extend myself that far. Only once her breathing had calmed back down did she speak. "Hey… are you able to sense the things I sense, Aether? And if so, did you catch what I just found? and where? We're gonna have to go there, but it's not the safest place. You'll have to be ready to defend yourself."

"I'll be fine. Not like much of anything could really do much to me," the Aether said, the hint of a smile in its tone that it usually kept. "I'll keep my guard up, though."

"Even still, you should be careful. I will, too, obviously. Just saying." Wave teleported quickly to the strange, almost grassy grey landscape and began to fly close to the ground. "So… I hate to ask this, but are you familiar with death yet?"

"I-" It paused for a long moment before letting out a gentle sigh. "More familiar with… destruction… Specifically what the Void can do. Death, though… isn't something I could avoid learning about."

Wave sighed. "Just to ensure we're on the same page, I need to tell you this. So let's start off very, very simple. You know that life ends, right? Even when it isn't through violent means."

"Wave, I get that much," the Aether said gently. "I had to learn. I can't preserve all life. There has to be a balance."

"The end of life is what death is," Wave continued. "That's the only point I was getting at. And, basically, we're near the realm where dead things go. The Realms of Death, they're called. And in times of wars like these, there's bound to be a lot of malignant spirits roaming around. Especially since the realms are bursting at the seams at the moment. I doubt any of them can hurt you, but at the same time… I really don't know for sure. That's why I want you to be careful."

The Aether smiled to Wave. "I know. Worry about yourself first and foremost. I promise that I'll be fine."

"I just wanted to make sure you were fully informed, is all," Wave shrugged. She continued on her path for some time before gradually slowing down. "That's… weird. I sense Dad's energy, but it's not doing anything. Like, even the normal way it would behave in response to him being alive just isn't happening." Wave tossed her companion a confused and freaked-out look. "But if he was dead there wouldn't be any energy at all. What the heck…?"

"Hm…" It tilted its head, trying to discern what exactly was going on right now. It didn't make sense. "I don't know."

"It's just… stagnant." Wave sped up again, only to come to an abrupt halt at the scene before them. Everything was strangely frozen in this one small area, petrified as though turned to stone. Her father was in the center of it all, his position seeming (to her) to indicate that he had been knocked out of a portal or a teleport just before this had happened. Whatever this was. "Holy hell…" she breathed.

The Aether moved forward and more closely examined everything going on before attempting to shift one of its feet forward to poke what appeared to be the outer edges of this frozen zone. Wave started to say something vaguely disapproving, but stopped and just sighed when nothing happened. She landed and cautiously approached. "This doesn't feel like a disruption in the flow of time to me. What about you?"

"Well…" The Aether took the big risk and moved directly up to Han, blinking several times, "It's certainly weird. Kath wasn't involved in this."

Though momentarily surprised that it knew about Kath, there were reasonably a multitude of ways this could be so. As such, Wave didn't question it. "No, he wasn't. It's quite literally like something turned Dad into stone, just… without the stone. If that makes sense."

"Maybe I can do something?" It asked, turning to look at Wave. "I don't know, though."

"You can… try… if you're careful," Wave hesitantly agreed. Then she said, "There's someone else who might know what this is and how to help. Maybe. I'm grasping at straws here, but he works nearby and there's a slim chance this is tied to his Realms… maybe…" Swallowing thickly, Wave opened a portal straight into the living quarters for the God/Goddess of Death and their (essentially) employees and called out, "Ylden? You home? It's Wave, don't try to blast me or some crap."

The cat in question was slow to answer for once, and only came to her after some loud groaning. Ylden looked groggy and he was rubbing at his eyes, frowning. "What do you want?" he asked in a mumble.

In a bit of a rush from the slight panic she was trying to hold back, Wave tried to explain things to him. "Look, I know we've only met once, but you're the only person I could think of… Please, please tell me you and my dad are still friends in this era." If they weren't, the irrational emotional side of her brain that was trying to act up was also actively trying to convince her Ylden would have no reason to care or desire to help. Though she did do her best to ignore that voice.

"Just tell me what the hell is going on so I can attempt to help," Ylden said, motioning for her to continue. "We're friends, even if we don't talk often."

"Come look," Wave implored, moving out of the way. "Did he come to visit you or something? It looks like he was teleporting away from the Realms of Death and something somehow stopped him."

Ylden's tiredness faded in an instant and the pair were whisked away with his magic as Ylden moved to the site where Han was. "What the fuck?"

"I don't know," Wave insisted, taking a steadying breath in an effort to push her panic further back. "It isn't truly magic, so I can't undo it. I don't even know what it is."

The Aether started to speak, but Ylden did so first. "This is fucked. I haven't personally seen anything like it, but some other type of magic might be able to handle it. It's outside of our realms of expertise, though."

Despite her current state, Wave was able to follow his meaning. She let out a shaky sigh. "So… my senses didn't betray me, then. This is tied to some sort of corrupted magic." Wave turned to the Aether. "Hey, have you met Eila yet? If you know who she is, do you think you can ask her to come here? Tell her it's me asking and that it's important. Please." The Aether gasped and vanished in an instant, leaving Ylden alone with Wave.

The cat spoke quietly, a frown on his face. "You are not particularly pleased to be bringing her here for this, are you?"

"No," Wave mumbled. Then she clear her throat and said more clearly, "I get she wasn't herself when it happened, but some part of her hurt Jet, a person very dear to me, to such extremes that I will never, ever speak of it aloud. That's hard to move past from. I'm trying, but it's hard when he's around or when, you know, it's my dad who's in danger."

Ylden nodded slowly. "It's understandable. Just be willing to remind yourself that she has no desire for such things anymore," he said with a shrug. He would have continued, but the Aether returned with a windswept Eila on its back.

"I brought her!" it said brightly.

Having just heard Ylden's words and knowing she had basically ripped Eila away from whatever she'd previously been doing, Wave glanced at her guiltily. "...Sorry about this. We just… really need help." She gestured weakly to the scene before them.

Eila waved a hand and fixed her fur, floating off of the Aether's back and over to Han. "Holy shit… Petrification…?" She moved around him and examined the matter further, then looked at the surrounding area. "Corrupted, too… This is some really fucked up shit. You found him like this just today, yeah?"

"Not even five minutes ago," Wave said. "But my brother and I haven't seen him in days. He left Alec to go see someone, I assume you," she glanced at Ylden, "and that was the last we heard from him."

"Within the last four days," Ylden added immediately. "It happened in that timeframe."

"Shit," Eila bit out to herself. "We should take him somewhere else, unless we think we should invite whatever did this to come back." She didn't waste time, creating a platform of magic that lifted Han up and carried him to them. "Either in your realm," she said, glancing at Ylden, "Or back on Mobius."

"Mobius is rarely safe these days," Wave said after a pause. "Our enemies have it firmly on their radar. It's not exactly a utopia for anyone right now."

Ylden wasted no more time with words, whisking them back into his realm and setting a cushion out before putting Han's currently petrified body on it. "There."

Eila's eyes glowed for a moment and her body floated in the air as she began slowly working. "I may need Cyril at some point, depending on how serious this is," she admitted gently.

"What is this, exactly?" Wave suddenly asked her. Stress affected her tone and how she phrased her words, but she didn't intend for them to. "You mentioned petrification, but there's also corrupted magic. You mean to tell me that someone found a way to mix two powers into one attack? That kind of thing is almost unheard of."

"Think of it like what happened to me. I was a being of Light with Light magic, but once I was corrupted, my powers changed. My Light magic was no longer doing the same things it always did. The premise here is similar. The power or user were most likely corrupted, and that corruption seeped deep into the power," Eila explained, not missing a beat.

Wave mumbled some vague curse. Without even asking if it was needed or necessary, she vanished only to return seconds later with a probably bewildered Cyril in tow. "Mind telling him what you've explained to us? Like you said, he can probably help."

Eila nodded. "To keep the story and information short, Han was attacked by someone or something with a deeply corrupted form of petrification. Whether the person or power specifically were corrupted… it doesn't matter. Your magic may be extremely helpful alongside my Light Magic in freeing him."

"Don't have to tell me twice. Just tell me what to do," Cyril said, immediately walking over and focusing on his magic. Eila was firm with her instructions, giving detailed explanations on exactly how to go about this and what he needed to focus on. Once she was finished, he settled in to begin working. Wave watched worriedly, making every effort not to interrupt them.

Eila watched as she slowly managed to undo the petrification in Han's fingers, a vague frown on her face. This is taking longer than I'd like… How strong of a person was this?

Wave looked on in worried silence. "Did you sense anything when this took place?" she asked Ylden quietly after a time, so as not to distract Eila and Cyril.

"No… I would have said something sooner," Ylden murmured. "I didn't know he wasn't able to leave the realms fully."

I was afraid of that. "This practically screams Nareish to me," she mumbled. "It's at least the work of one of her minions. I'm sure of it. But why specifically target him? He's been so minimally involved in the war so far that all of our enemies have ignored him up until now."

"He's one of the strongest magic users to exist," Eila answered. "So much so that Petry wasn't willing to challenge his prowess. Taking a shot when you can catch him off guard is something any enemy would want, regardless of his involvement."

Logically, Wave knew she was right. It prompted her into silence again for a short time before she spoke back up. "Look… I'm sorry to have to ask you this… but corrupted magics cause physical effects when they come into direct contact with things and people, right?"

"You know the answer," Eila said, a touch more quietly. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm worried about what might happen to him," Wave answered just as quietly. "And I didn't know. Not for sure. For all I knew, what happened to you… That could have been the result of years of exposure, not an immediate reaction.

"It varies," Eila said. "It immediately changed me in a few ways." The woman fell silent for a long moment before adding, "We'll deal with whatever comes of this when he's free."

Wave nodded a little. "Will his magic be alright?"

Eila didn't have an answer to this. "I was saved by an ascended Immortal, practically one of the Faein. I never would have known if it permanently affected my powers."

That made Wave extremely uneasy. If his magic winds up corrupted… God, what would we even do? Magic courses through every fiber of our beings…

Cyril looked over with a small smile. "We'll figure it out, Wave. I promise you. I mean, Nareish corrupted me and I was more or less okay afterward."

"Yeah… but that kind of corruption doesn't work the same way," Wave mumbled. "That was control. This kind of corruption… It fundamentally changes people. Like being turned demonic, but even that comparison isn't exact."

"We will figure something out if it affected him, Wave," Eila affirmed. "I'm not about to sit idly by and let people get corrupted. Not anymore."

"Okay," Wave almost whispered. She sank into a sitting position, hugging herself tightly. "I'm… I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep questioning you and bringing this up. I'm just…" Scared.

Eila shook her head. "I would be more upset if you didn't question me." Her gaze flicked idly to Wave. "I'm doing this for him and for you, so when I say I'll find a way, I mean it. Do you trust that I will?" Wave hesitantly nodded.

After another twenty minutes or so, Ylden vanished to get back to working while Eila and Cyril kept at bringing Han back. It took some time for them to finally break through it and fully free him, but they managed it. Immediately, Eila shifted her focus to scanning his mind to make sure there weren't any immediate concerns.

So far, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him mentally. That he hadn't immediately regained consciousness wasn't especially surprising, either, though it did add another layer to Wave's worries. She hesitantly reached out and slipped Han's glasses off of his face, having noticed how badly cracked they were. Repairing them gave her something to focus on. "I don't feel anything off with his magic… yet. Would any changes have been immediate?"

"We'll see," Eila said softly, her hands glowing purple with her magic. "Just watch him for now."

Wave cast a glance at Cyril before reluctantly agreeing. "...Okay."

Cyril walked over to her and opened his arms, offering her a hug. "It'll be okay."

Wave readily accepted, hugging her old friend tightly. "But what if it's not?" she whispered. "I can't bear the thought of him changing, Cyril. I can't."

"I know," Cyril said softly, holding Wave. "Whatever happens, we'll figure something out."

"What am I supposed to tell Alec if this happens?" Wave asked. Her eyes stung, and her hand unintentionally clenched around the glasses, cracking them again and bending the circular frames without realizing it.

Cyril gently pulled the glasses free from her hand and repaired them with his magic. "I'll talk to him for you. I want all of your focus to be on helping your dad if it's necessary, okay? That's what you need to be doing."

"But he's my brother," Wave protested softly. "It's my job to take care of him when our dad can't."

"What about when your dad can't take care of himself?" Cyril questioned in return. "Someone that knows him well needs to be there for him." Wave had no good reply, and in the end she just shrugged.

Eila glanced over at both of them briefly and let out a soft cough. "Wave, come over here." Wave finally let go of Cyril and rubbed her eyes with her arm before doing as Eila had told her.

It was only then that she realized that her father had pushed himself up and was groggily rubbing at his face in an effort to wake up fully. "T'ena veri aki…" he muttered to himself in Hexan, one hand moving to try and feel for his glasses.

"Someone attacked you," Eila explained, raising an eyebrow. "Don't push yourself too much, but I need you to answer a question. Did you see what attacked you?"

It took Han a moment, but soon he answered. "Some woman," he said cryptically. "I barely got a glimpse of her. But… I did see that she had wings. That much I do know."

"Would you allow me to see that memory? Eila asked softly. "I won't intrude on your mind without your permission." As she spoke, Wave took the glasses from Cyril and sat down beside Han. She then passed him his glasses, which he quickly put back on.

Veri aki? Despite his thought, which translated roughly to "the hell", Han acquiesced quickly and without any fuss. "...I suppose it is necessary. Do what you will."

Eila walked up to Han and set her hand against his, her eyes glowing a deep pinkish color as she took a look at what had attacked him. It didn't take her long to pull away, magic flowing around her. "I'll be right back. Wave, watch over him. Cyril, help her with whatever she needs."

"Where are you going?" Wave asked, watching with lesser but still continuing worry as Han shifted to begin massaging his temples as though he was in pain.

"This can't happen again," Eila muttered, opening a portal inches in front of herself. "You're in no condition emotionally, Cyril needs more training, and Han was just freed from petrification. I'm going to end this before it begins."

Hearing this, Wave turned her gaze on Cyril in the hopes that he wasn't as at a loss as she was. Cyril didn't know what to say, and as such, said nothing. Eila glanced back at them all before simply stepping on through and closing the portal behind herself. Once she was gone, Wave decided it was best to focus on her dad. "Hey, Cyril, would you mind staying here for just a second? I want to get Ylden and let him know Dad's awake."

Cyril nodded with a soft smile to Wave. "Go ahead. I'll make sure he's alright."

"Thank you. I'll be right back." Wave was gone for but a moment before returning.

Ylden strode up to Han and knelt beside him, a deep frown on his face. "I'd give you shit, but you've had enough of it for the next couple decades, judging by our interactions. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been murdered and brought back," Han responded with a vague groan of pain. "My head is killing me."

The Aether decided to break its silence and walked up to Han, bumping its head against his, using its energy to try and help with the pain. "Did that help at all?"

The Hexan let out a sigh. "Yes. Thank you."

It smiled brightly and pranced over to Wave, shrinking to sit on her shoulder. Cyril decided to speak up now. "So… you were trying to leave the realm when you got attacked?"

"I had just barely begun to teleport when an attack slammed into me," Han explained. "I caught a glimpse of the woman, like I said. But by then I was already beginning to feel paralyzed as I fell. That's all I remember."

"Jeez, that's awful," Cyril said softly. "Do your magic and everything feel like usual?"

Wave's stomach dropped at the answer that came. "No." Without even opening his eyes and looking, Han conjured up enough magic to draw a line in the air with his finger. It faded quickly since no hex was drawn, but lingered more than long enough to be seen clearly "My magic should be gold, not red."

Cyril gulped softly. "Mind… if I try to take a look? I don't know if I can even help… but it might be worth a shot."

"Be my guest," Han sighed. Despite the change in color of his magic, he seemed to be behaving like himself so far. That managed to give Wave a bit of hope that maybe things were really going to be okay.

The finch walked over and sat by Han, holding his hands out and reaching out to Han's magic with his own. The magic reacted as it normally would, non-violently and calm since Han was calm. But the color proved there was some degree of taint somewhere regardless. Cyril didn't like what he saw, but ultimately he wasn't sure there was anything he could do. "So… things seem okay, but that color change means what we all probably think it means."

"I'm worried about this," Wave finally said. She leaned against Han's side, and he moved an arm to give her a sideways hug like he always did. "I have no way of monitoring this for signs of it getting worse or better."

Cyril looked to Ylden, hoping he had an answer. The cat was quiet for a moment before murmuring, "Han, we should keep you somewhere with someone that can handle you if things go south. Would you be against staying here in the meantime?"

"Kisera aki… I suppose not," Han eventually said. He almost never swore this much, but at the same time he was almost never attacked so boldly, either. "But Alec-"

"Is safe," Wave interrupted. "I took him to Babylon. He's well protected there."

That brought a swift end to Han's only argument and he let the matter drop. "Keri avid'e," he murmured to Wave. It was an expression of thanks that had no proper translation. Then he said to Ylden, "Assuming I am able to, I will tell you of any additional changes, should they occur."

"I would hope you do that much," Ylden said.

"D'ona kiseru," Han told him. The first word usually translated to "shut up" while the second one was essentially the Hexan version of the word "fuck". Put together in this context, what he said could very roughly be translated to, "Shut up, fucker." But it was said in a light tone, acting as a rare form of humor coming from him. Really, it was more an attempt to relax again as opposed to anything else.

Ylden scoffed in return, half-heartedly hiding a slowly forming grin. "Only if you do."

Han let out a breathy chuckle and adjusted his glasses on his face. "You have no reliable means of making me." Wave managed a wan smile at them both.

Black wisps of magic flowed off Ylden's hand and he raised an eyebrow briefly before letting it fade. "I could try."

"I'm tempted to dare you… but I think I've had enough fun for one day." Han gently extracted himself from his daughter and stood, using his magic to pick up the cushion and return it to where it belonged.

Ylden glanced at Cyril and Wave. "You two are free to remain here if you wish, but I would advise one of you to check on Eila in due time. I didn't think beings of Light to be that capable of anger."

"Her situation is… complicated. And her Light isn't especially strong." Wave sighed and stood. "I'll go check on her, and then I need to go tell Alec that Dad's okay. Cyril, mind checking on Rose for me? She's been gone a while."

Cyril looked to Wave. "I saw her really recently. She seemed… a bit better. I told her to try and rest, but I should probably make sure she actually did."

"Would you, please?" Wave asked him. "I'll send word to you as soon as I find Eila, and I'll make sure she's okay."

"And I'll do the same for you with Rose," Cyril said with a smile before vanishing in a flash of magic.

Wave managed another fleeting smile. "I'll be back later, Dad." She vanished before he could do more than lift a hand in farewell.

Ylden turned away from Han. "You weren't hiding anything from them, right?" he asked quietly.

This earned an immediate sigh and Han sat back down on the floor. "I was," he admitted. After a short pause, he continued. "It feels as though there are gaps in my memory. Blank spaces where I know there should not be any."

"What periods of time do you think are missing pieces?" Ylden dared to ask.

"Many, stretching back for at least the last decade. Perhaps longer." Han shook his head slowly before adding, "I do not even remember coming here, prior to the attack. I only remember the attack itself."

"Fuck," Ylden muttered. "If that thing took some of your memories, Eila's about to murder it."

"I don't know that I believe she can," Han said. "The magic I sensed from her is formidable, but in this instance… not formidable enough. She is young yet. Whoever did this has had far more time to further develop their own abilities."

Ylden didn't wholeheartedly agree, but he chose to not argue the matter. "Regardless, we should attempt to investigate soon if it was theft of memory or not."

Han nodded slowly. There was a fairly lengthy silence. "Whatever happened… I do not think it was mere theft. Even now, certain memories feel like they are actively… getting fuzzier."

"...Will Wave arrive in time to save Eila? That cat is too headstrong to back down."

"She should," was the mumbled, distracted reply. "She is quick. Unless something actively delays her, she should be there by now."

Ylden closed his eyes. "Good. Both of those sisters need to be alive."

Han inclined his head and murmured an agreement. However, his focus was on a memory he could feel actively slipping away from him. But it was gone swiftly, leaving him unable to recall what he had even been grasping at. Only that it was no longer there. Damn…

The cat eventually spoke up, a soft sigh escaping. "We're gonna need to act fast, aren't we?"

"...Yes. Several more memories are just… gone. If it continues at this rate, I don't know how much I'll be able to remember come the end of the day."

"Once Wave and Cyril return, we're leaving," Ylden said easily.

"Where?" Han asked, his head now in his hands. He felt sort of… lightheaded all of a sudden. Maybe even dizzy. He wasn't sure.

"To anyone that might be able to help," Ylden answered. "Eona, the Aether, Jet. Anyone."

...What? Who are…? Han cursed under his breath in Hexan and was forced to admit, "I don't know who they are."

"Jet is a friend of Wave's, an Immortal. Eona is the true embodiment of Light," Ylden explained. Han mumbled another curse but otherwise didn't reply. "Relax, now. Things are slipping way too fast."

"As I've noticed," Han sighed. He resumed rubbing at his temples. "This is worse than it initially seemed."

"I'm noticing," Ylden said. The lightheaded feeling increased suddenly to the point where Han nearly blacked out for a couple seconds. When he resurfaced, he did so just in time to catch himself with his magic in order to avoid falling over. He couldn't even find the words to explain what had just happened. Ylden shifted and flicked Han's magic away when he realized his friend was back again. "We're leaving, now."

Han nodded a little and, suddenly having no recollection of parts of their earlier discussion, he mumbled distantly, "Where?"

"Just follow me," Ylden answered, grabbing Han and teleporting away with him. Han stumbled a little, still a touch out of it, but made no effort to argue or resist. The cat grimaced a little as he opened a portal, staring into intense Light. "Eona!"

Rather than her, a tiny Light Sprite soon appeared before him. "Lady Eona is in the Realm of Chaos," it chirped, voice squeaky and innocent like a child's. "She's with Lady Teyan."

"A place where I'm less likely to survive," Ylden grumbled, turning away immediately to open a different portal. "Thank you."

"You'll be fine!" was the cheery reply as they departed.

A curse escaped the man in some other language as he stared at the Chaos before him. "Eona! Teyan!"

The woman in question appeared almost before he could finish calling out for them. Eona blinked at Ylden, head tilted to one side. "Ylden? Why have you come here? It is not especially safe for you."

"Thanks. Han needs help. Someone attacked him with a corrupted power and he's losing his memories," Ylden explained quickly.

Teyan walked over immediately with a frown. "That's not normal," she muttered. "And yes, I know that's obvious. Hold your tongue about that or I might remove it. Fair warning." She poked a finger into Han's forehead and focused. "Damn… they're disappearing fast."

"Is there something that can be done?" Ylden demanded.

"Not by me." Teyan looked at Eona, who shook her head sadly. She then bit her lip. "Let me… ask Ythene. She may have answers I don't. She's like that." The Queen of Chaos promptly vanished.

Ylden crossed his arms lightly, biting his lip. Hiding that he was upset and concerned by this happening wasn't something he could do well at. "She better…"

Eona thought hard for a moment. "Ylden, keep your friend close. I will also return shortly. I must make my own inquiries elsewhere."

The cat nodded a little and turned his attention over to Han. "How are you feeling?" he asked softly.

Thankfully, Han still remembered who Ylden was and what was going on, at least for the moment. As such, he was able to reply just fine. "Slightly better… Just… dizzy."

Ylden gulped softly, glancing away. "They better figure something out…"

Han nodded a little. His voice was a little shaky when he replied. "I can't stop this. I keep trying, but I can't. My memories of my kids is fading and I can do nothing about it."

"I know…" Ylden murmured gently. "I'm sorry that I didn't notice this sooner… If I'd just… fucking paid attention…"

"This isn't your fault. But I don't know what to do about this. I hate it."

Ylden gritted his teeth. "I'll do everything I can… I promise." For one of the only friends he had... he would do all he could.

~保護者~

18,142 words this time. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 10:15 a.m.) 08-26-21.