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".)

161. Banter

Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during this startling revelation… especially for the one who really needed time with a friend.

~保護者~

"Banter"

~保護者~

Tails looked over the progress he and Wery had made. Mere hours had passed since they had started on their latest project, but things were progressing nicely. It was so late at night by now that he suspected they were at the point where it was technically morning. He yawned a little, but in truth he wasn't all that tired. Being engrossed in a project had a way of keeping him up well beyond what he should have been capable of. That may not be true for her, though. Turning his head, he looked at Wery. "Hey, are you doing alright? We can stop so that you can sleep, if you want."

Wery didn't even notice that he was talking at first, working so intently on their project that she'd accidentally tuned out everything around her. Her gaze did, however, pull away from it all for a moment to regard him. "Huh? Oh, I'm alright. It's not a big deal."

"Okay, if you're sure," Tails agreed easily. "I'm gonna take a break for just a minute to check up on a couple of things, though. I'll help you again as soon as I'm done, promise." As he spoke, he reached for his communicator and picked it up. The scanners in Silver's communicator showed he boosted his mental powers somehow by a crazy amount a while ago… I'm starting to suspect that change was somehow permanent, but it won't hurt to take another look at things.

The female fox nodded some sort of agreement before looking over at what he was doing. "Whatcha checking?"

"Well, you know what powers Silver has, right?" Tails asked her. "I'm pretty sure one of us has mentioned it at least once… but just in case, I wanna ask."

"Yeah, I know his powers," Wery said. "What about them?"

"It's crazy rare," Tails explained, "but some people with mental powers can boost their own abilities somehow. And I really don't pretend to know how, by the way. I can't even begin to explain it. But, anyway, for some who do this it's temporary, and some manage to make it permanent. I've been kinda keeping an eye on Silver via scans from his communicator, because he boosted himself at a really random time. So far, it seems permanent."

Wery moved closer, going as far as to lean up against him. "You're right. His readings have been incredibly consistent. Was there any sort of trigger for it that might be feasible?"

"Not really," Tails admitted, secretly blushing a little. "If I remember correctly, he was doing training with Eila and some others, but it was nothing that should have prompted him to do this."

"Eila has mental powers too, though, right?" Wery asked. "What if it was something to do with her?"

"I think she does… though I'm not sure. Even if she does, though, why would that have caused him to boost himself like that?" Tails set his communicator down, frowning in confusion. "Especially since he boosted them so much."

"Maybe asking her will help? If she has those kinds of powers, surely she understands them, right?"

"That's possible, yeah. She's not been around a whole lot lately, though… I get the feeling she might be busy with things." Tails picked up his communicator again, eyeing the readings once more. "I'd ask Silver, but knowing him he'll just brush it off and laugh about it. He can be kinda secretive when he wants to be, especially in regards to mental things. He understands way more than he tends to let on… and he's crazy smart. You have to be, to use powers like his to such an extent. There might be something going on that the rest of us don't know about yet. Something he isn't ready to share."

Wery frowned a little in thought, but ultimately nodded. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually."

"Yeah… probably." Tails sighed and pressed a few buttons on his screen to check over various other people one by one. "Looks like most everyone else is doing alright. Nothing alarming is showing up anywhere so far."

"Glad to hear it," Wery said, watching as he did all of this.

Tails kept switching through various scans, pausing when he reached one in particular. "Oh… It looks like Toru's been stressed out and emotional recently. I wonder why…"

"Maybe we should check on him?" Wery proposed.

"Yeah… but not right now," Tails agreed. "It's ridiculously late. He might go to bed soon, you know? Plus, whether he comes here or we go there, it might disturb Shadow. I'd hope that he already is asleep."

Wery nodded. "That's reasonable. We can say something tomorrow, then, if you think that's a good idea."

"It might be a decent idea to ask," Tails said. "Though… he's pretty reticent with us already. I don't think we should push even slightly, you know? I'd hate for him to be uncomfortable."

"Though, he seems fairly comfortable with us," Wery said. "He was so hesitant about everything with Shadow, but now he obviously trusts us."

"That's true," Tails had to agree. "Even still, though."

Wery shrugged gently. "I don't think anything bad could come of it. If he wants us to leave it alone, we can. I have no issue with respecting that."

"Same, honestly. We'll just be careful, then." Tails switched to a different scan again, and his previously at ease demeanor shifted to open confusion complete with a deep frown. "What the hell…?" he mumbled under his breath, despite normally never cursing even a little bit.

The female fox's hair stood on end as she examined the screen. "What… is happening?"

Tails was quick to transfer the data onto a larger screen, namely his computer. He hurried over to it, then turned it so she could see. "Wery, look at this," he said, half alarmed and half still entirely confused. "I don't know how this is even remotely possible, but this scan says that Shadow's DNA is changing. All the Tokarian in him has already been totally overwritten by something else, and it's happening to some of his Black Arms DNA as well right now."

It was Wery's turn to curse. "...The actual fuck?"

"I don't know," Tails said, staring at the screen. He was focused that her own swearing failed to register in his brain. "I can't make sense of any of this. I don't know of anything normal that can do something like this at all."

"That just sounds completely unreasonable, even for powers," Wery said. "This is insane."

Tails tapped a finger on his table rapidly. "Can you think of anything, no matter how fantastical, that might be able to explain this?" he asked, already running the same question through his mind. "Even if it was just hearsay or mentioned in an old story or whatever else. I'm running a total blank." A moment later he mumbled to himself, "It's not affecting the baby somehow… That's good…"

"It would have to be something that completely changes what he is," Wery said. "I've heard tall tales about things like lycanthropy, but it doesn't make sense."

"Lycanthropy?" Tails echoed in disbelief. Then he shook his head. "That doesn't seem right. But… ...crap, I guess it is technically possible for something else that's 'fictional' to us to be involved. I mean, dragons and horses with fire for hair are real. There's no telling what else might exist."

"Maybe that's another thing we should ask about tomorrow…?" Wery proposed slowly.

Tails pursed his lips together. "I'm not sure…" he admitted. He watched as more DNA was overwritten and altered, then executed a different form of scan from Shadow's communicator. "I'm gonna see if there are any physical changes taking place. That might help us narrow down what's happening."

Wery nodded and watched before pointing at something she saw to be an anomaly. "What's this?"

Following her finger, Tails saw the same thing and frowned. "That's… not normal," he said. "Is it just me, or do they look a lot sharper all of a sudden? Tokarian fangs are good at stabbing into meat and pulling it off like… I dunno, like a wild canine would. They don't need to be sharp to this degree at all for that kind of use."

"It must have something to do with the DNA changes," Wery said. "I mean, if he's basically changing races, it makes sense he might take on some of their physical attributes."

"Yeah… Though it doesn't narrow anything down for us." Tails looked over other things for a short bit before speaking up again. "Hey, look. According to this, his pupils narrowed. I've only ever seen this in certain wild animals or yokai before, but that's not the DNA we were seeing. This is bizarre."

Wery frowned openly. This made no real sense, but she had an idea. "Can you send me a copy of the DNA readings?"

"Yeah, 'course," Tails mumbled. He sent them promptly, then resumed poring over the data he was seeing.

The female fox walked over to her computer and opened a program before putting the data Tails had sent her into it. Her eyes widened a little. "Tails… Tokarians aren't built to consume blood… right?"

Tails looked over at her and stared for a long moment. "...Well… no. Though Black Arms can and do. We saw that in one of those old videos."

"Yeah, but all of his biology is changing for it," Wery explained. "Come here and look at this." Tails hurried over to look and soon wound up staring in disbelief. Wery pointed out where and how Shadow's body was beginning to change. "This is insane," she said again when nothing else sufficed.

"Keep… Keep monitoring that," Tails directed. He rushed back over to his computer. "I'm gonna run this data through some databases Jet gave me access to. Maybe they'll have intel on what the heck kind of creature's biology we're looking at here." Wery nodded easily, watching her computer screen. After a minute or so, Tails mumbled something in annoyance before saying, "The first one came up with nothing. I'll check the second. Are you seeing anything else?"

"More of the same thing," Wery admitted.

"Okay, good to know. I'm running the data through the system now… just give it a moment." Tails was quiet for a very short bit before frowning. "There's no exact match here, but from what I'm seeing… we're looking at something that's similar to the Black Arms. Maybe even related to them, somehow. Not through common ancestry, but more like a common source of origin? Kind of like how various existential energies emerged and certain people emerged from them, some races appeared in a very similar way. Maybe the Black Arms and this race came from the same source, somehow?"

"That's kinda weird though," Wery said. "They're also really different."

"Definitely similar, though," Tails insisted. "Black Arms are beings of Darkness, and whatever race this is sort of is as well. Plus they both drink blood, though for Black Arms it isn't a strict necessity. And, according to this, whatever race we're dealing with doesn't like the sun anymore than Black Arms do. So, they're not entirely different from one another."

"Let me know if anything comes up on your end," Wery said. "There's just… not enough here for us to say anything for sure yet."

"Yeah, I will. There's one more database to check, but it seems pretty empty compared to the others." Tails began feeding the data in once more. "Anything new on your screen?"

"Still just… him slowly changing," Wery murmured. This makes no sense.

Tails nibbled at his lower lip. Come on, come up with something… His eyes watched intently as things were pulled up on his screen. It took a few seconds for his brain to register what he was seeing, and he sat back heavily in his chair. "...Vampire," he muttered, stunned.

Wery didn't initially respond, too taken aback. She eventually turned to look at Tails, a confused expression on her face. "Huh?"

"I… I'm serious," Tails mumbled, still in shock. "Come look at this. According to what I'm seeing here, this is a race Jet's actually encountered before, and more than once. That means they're… they're real. Maybe not here on Mobius, but somewhere."

The female fox walked over and stared at his screen silently, blinking. What the…?

Soon, Tails was rubbing his hands over his face with a groan. "This is crazy, Wery," he said. "And there's no data about any kind of recent bite wound on Shadow, even one that was healed from. How could this even have been started? I thought they had to bite to make others of their kind." He was quiet again for a time before frowning deeply. "...Oh my god, he's developing magic."

Wery pinched the bridge of her nose. "But… why magic?"

"I… I mean, vampires are said to possess a lot of power in that area, right?" Tails asked.

"I suppose?" Wery said, shrugging. "I never looked much into stuff like that."

Tails sort of nodded. "We really need to tell Toru… This is dangerous to keep to ourselves."

Wery frowned for a moment before asking, "Do you think he already knows?"

"It's possible… but I can't say for sure." Tails pursed his lips together, eyes still locked on his screen. "But even if he does know, there's no telling how much he knows. I feel like we should bring this up to him regardless. On that note, would you mind giving him a call? I'll keep watching everything."

"Sure," Wery agreed, tapping on her tablet and issuing a call to Toru through her communicator.

He answered rather quickly. "Hey, what's up?"

"I had some questions that I wanted to ask you," Wery said. "I thought it was possible that you had some answers, especially since it's about Shadow."

Toru could be heard shifting on the other side of the call, as if moving to sit up or something similar. "Go on."

"Well, the first thing we noticed was that his eyes and fangs are changing. The fangs are-"

"Growing sharper, more than what he'd need to be able to tear apart meat?"

Wery blinked once. "Uh… yeah. That's more or less exactly what we saw."

Toru let out a sigh. "I'm gonna go ahead and say that he'd trust you with this information. Some guy and his dad both seem to be in agreement that he's become a vampire. Not because he was bitten or anything, but because he was given a power, we think."

"Tails, you hear that?" Wery asked, looking over at the other fox. Tails nodded once, frowning deeply. She turned back to her tablet and asked, "So… is it fair to say that's why he can now subsist on blood, has magic, and has DNA that matches vampires?"

"Not sure where the hell you got the 'DNA of a vampire' thing, but yeah. That matches everything we've been told so far."

"According to what I read in this database," Tails said, "vampires whose pupils become slits usually experience that shift when angered or when hungry. Since he seems to be asleep, I doubt it's anger at play. Are you… Do you have some sort of a plan for that?"

"Nope," Toru responded without hesitation. "Just gonna hang out here and if he needs to feed or something, I'm not gonna stop him from doing so from me."

"That could be dangerous, Toru," Tails cautioned. "What if he winds up needing a lot in order to get by?"

"I'm gonna assume that the regeneration that put my body back together in minutes after a fight with Zareil will be enough to keep me alive," Toru answered.

Wery frowned a little. "That's still really not a good idea…" she murmured. "There are a lot of potential unknowns."

"Got that covered. You guys really don't need to worry about me," Toru answered.

"Does he seem to be doing okay so far?" Tails asked. "I'm not seeing any signs of distress but, you know, still."

"As okay as one can be after suddenly finding out they've become a vampire," Toru responded.

"That's… fair," Wery murmured in agreement.

"And he is sleeping, right?" Tails questioned. "He definitely needs the rest."

"Right now? I believe so. Lately, not as much as I'd like."

"Has he been refusing again?"

"And struggling to do so," Toru added.

Tails's worry mounted. "He's been having nightmares about Gerald again, hasn't he?"

"Yes."

This earned a heavy sigh. "I'll… try to think of a way to help with that." Tails hesitated, then said, "Anyway, um… good news is, the baby isn't being affected by literally any of this. They're in perfect health and their DNA is normal."

A relieved sigh escaped Toru through the call. "Thank god. That's good."

"Yeah, I agree," Tails said softly.

Wery fell quiet for a moment before asking, "By the way… are you alright? You've seemed stressed out lately."

As opposed to how he'd been acting, Toru fell uncharacteristically silent for a long moment. Wery, for just a second, thought she'd made a mistake, but he soon spoke up. "Had a bit of a falling out with my sister. Took a toll on me."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tails said sincerely. "I hope things got better."

"It'll be fine. For now, I don't want to really talk about it."

"I understand completely. We both do. We won't pry, honest."

"Is that all you needed to talk to me about?" Toru questioned.

Wery looked to Tails, blinking. "I don't think I have any other questions."

"We just wanted to make sure you were aware of the situation" Tails said.

"Alright. See you, then," Toru said, not bothering to wait for an answer before he ended the call.

"Well… that…" Wery let out a sigh. "Not how I expected any of that to really go, but I suppose we know what we need to know."

"More importantly, he does, too," Tails added. He gestured for her to come over. "Also… take a look at this. Remember how I told you about Zero, and a snippet of Shadow's past with it? Addiction to that drug changes your brain chemistry a lot, but… look. Those changes are just… fading away. As if they were never there to begin with."

Wery thought quietly for a long moment, frowning deeply. Maybe… don't vampires heal fast? "Hey, do we know what kinds of powers vampires have?"

"Not a clue," Tails admitted. "Jet didn't list any of them. His descriptions of them are really vague, in a way that might suggest he didn't stick around them long. And I've never heard many stories, either."

"Well, maybe it has something to do with healing…?" Wery suggested.

"I mean… that's possible," Tails agreed. "It would make sense for them to be able to heal really well. But even beings that heal well don't get over Zero. Not that I've seen, anyway. This would have to be… I don't know, chameleon-level healing or something."

Wery shrugged openly. "It's the best guess I have."

"It could make sense," Tails said. Then he sighed and turned away from the screen. "This is so much to wrap my head around. I don't know about you, but I vote for returning to work rather than trying to understand all this stuff at this hour."

She didn't like dropping a matter like this. There were so many unknowns and things that didn't make sense… but at the same time what could she know? It was so recent that she'd even started being around here. "I… guess so."

"I'll keep all these scans up, though," Tails sighed. "Just so we can glance over from time to time, you know?" He stood up from his seat and walked back over to where they'd been working earlier and claimed a seat there.

Wery nodded a little and followed, moving to walked over to Tails and give him a small hug. "I'm kinda tired…" she admitted quietly.

"Thought you were fine before?" Tails teased, hugging her back. "Go ahead and sleep then, okay? I'll keep at it and watch over things."

She reveled in the hug and shifted a little closer. "I don't wanna."

"You're goofy," he accused lightly. Wery smiled a little, tightening her arms minutely around him. After a while, Tails hesitantly pulled back just enough to give her a small peck on the forehead. "How about we both go lay down, then?" he suggested, blushing. "Honestly, we could both use the sleep."

The small kiss to her forehead made her heart flutter, but ultimately she just nodded, moving to let him go so he could get down. "Okay," she said quietly, doing her best to keep her eyes open.

Tails got out of his recently reclaimed seat, then shyly took her head. "C'mon. It's probably way less chilly in the house, anyway." He began walking toward the stairs leading up to a door that would take them straight into the house without the need for them to set foot outside.

Wery quietly followed beside him, refraining from hugging so it didn't make walking more difficult. "I… am really happy to be here."

"We're all happy you're here, too," Tails smiled. They reached the stairs before long and began climbing. "It's been great, you know? Having a new friend, and someone who invents things no less, is… well, great, like I said."

"It's really nice," Wery murmured. A moment of thought, then she added, "Having someone else who understands it all… Kira supports me… but she doesn't get everything I say."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Sonic usually follows the stuff I talk about, and he catches up quickly even when he gets confused. And my friend Wave, she and Jet get this kind of thing, too. Most of the others kinda don't, though."

"You're really nice," Wery said suddenly, smiling slightly.

"So are you, you know," Tails replied with his own smile. The pair reached the top of the stairs, and he opened the door to go inside.

Wery mumbled something incoherent under her breath and briefly looked back as if she was going to turn around before ultimately just moving to go through the door. "'M tired…"

"Which is why we're getting you to bed," Tails assured her quietly. He flicked the overhead lights off for the workshop, then followed her into his front room and shut the door. After that was done, he carefully guided her through the dark house toward the one guest room where she had been sleeping lately. Wery wordlessly followed him at this point, holding onto one of his arms with both of hers.

Tails opened the door to the room for her. "Here you go," he whispered, not wanting to wake the people bunking in his room just across the hall. ...Not to mention whoever was sleeping in the living room.

Wery moved into the doorway before turning around and grabbing his hand softly, tugging on it. "C'mon…"

For once, Tails didn't immediately follow. "Huh?"

She tugged on his hand again. "Please," she murmured. "Lay down with me…"

"O-Oh! Uh… okay. S-Sure." Tails swallowed a little bit and followed her into the room, closing the door behind him as he went. Wery kept pulling softly until she was at the bed, climbing on with one hand still holding his. Tails climbed under the covers and did his best to get situated so that his fluffy namesakes were dangling off the edge and not crowding her out. Wery didn't really give him time to do that, however, as she cuddled up close to him with a soft, contented sigh. He hesitantly wrapped an arm around her before closing his eyes, hoping beyond hope that this wouldn't wind up awkward in the morning.

~保護者~

Thank the Faein. I watched the world before going… Eila thought to herself as she finished off her enchantments on herself and her outfit. If that new demon had seen me… I would be dead. The only chance I have is now, while they're gone.

Her mind immediately focused on the idea of reaching out to Cyril, Rose… or even Wave or Silver. She didn't want to worry four of them, but… she couldn't leave everyone in the dark this time. She sent a mental message to Wave. "I'm going to bring Marthal back."

With that out of the way, Eila grabbed a book from her conjured bookshelf and flipped through the pages. This spellbook had been crafted over the years by Petry, but some were still usable without dark magic. As such, she cast a final spell on herself to ward off detection and teleported away. This is a bad idea. I know little of his kind. However… he should not have adequate defenses against my mind.

She reappeared on the main world of the demons, inside the citadel. Her presence stirred, but didn't alarm. Briefly she had to suppose that her lack of an abundance of Light was aiding her, but that didn't mean Marthal wouldn't sense her. Moving quickly and quietly, Eila made her way to the half-yokai, stopping some tens of feet from him. "We need to get you away from here. This has suddenly become far too dangerous for me to ignore."

Having already smelled her, Marthal didn't even bother to open his eyes in acknowledgement of her or her words. "Not interested," he muttered. "Piss off."

"You know this is bad. I could sense the danger from where I was. I'm giving you a chance to leave and be away from them, to keep your kid safe," Eila pleaded. "Please, just come with me."

"I'm not interested," Marthal repeated harshly, finally looking at her. "Leave before I alert every goddamn demon in the area to your presence."

Eila's eyes glowed. "You leave me no choice." Rather than use her magic, Eila immediately assaulted his mind to render him unconscious with her psychic powers. As she'd predicted, he had no defenses against such an attack. He slumped over, thankfully managing to fall over in such a way that Mei didn't slip free of his arm. Therefore, she was unharmed. Eila waved a hand and teleported him to Analia rather than her sister, as doing so posed some… interesting problems before becoming intensely aware of eyes on her. Shit. No more time passed than what she needed to teleport and she felt the chain strike against her back. She landed safely on Mobius, in the room she'd crafted, but her pain was immense.

A quick scan (forced to be longer due to limited focus) revealed that the hit she took had torn through all of her defensive spells and bore into her skin. Just a touch to the left and she might have been paralyzed. It was all she could do to force herself up and walk out of the room, mentally reaching out for Amy. "I made a mistake. I need help, please." When the realization came that the hedgehog was asleep, she made the effort to nudge her awake. "Amy, please wake up…"

Thus caused the other woman to be roused from her sleep, and she soon emerged from the bedroom she had been resting in. Upon seeing Eila, she rushed over. "Oh my god, Eila!" she exclaimed quietly. Without wasting any time, she moved the cat into a sitting position. "What happened?"

Eila couldn't make herself speak, so she kept conversing mentally as she had been. "I saved Marthal, but the new God of Demons found me somehow. They attacked, and I couldn't do anything but run." Being moved was brutally painstaking, but she knew Amy was doing the right thing. It didn't stop her from hissing, however.

"New God of Demons?" Amy demanded, alarm coloring her tone. Her hands glowed pink as she hovered them over her injury and began healing it. "Did something happen to Kaden? And is Marthal okay?"

"Kaden had to have been killed. I didn't have time to locate him… or rather his body. Marthal is unconscious, with Analia. She can save him, I am sure of it." Eila chose to bite down on her arm, thankful that she'd cast all the magic she did before leaving. She couldn't bite through it, so it proved effective in helping her ease the pain minutely.

Amy gave Eila a sympathetic look when she saw this reaction, but for Eila's sake she didn't call attention to the other woman's obvious pain. "I… I'll reach out to people. Maybe Jet can look… as awful as that is. I'd rather Sonic, Shadow, and the others not be the ones to find Kaden like that." Amy finished healing one part of the wound and moved on to the next. "As far as Marthal goes, I'm sure Analia can help. He should be fine. You did us all a huge favor by finding him like you did. Thank you for saving one of our friends… But please don't put yourself into this kind of danger again. Okay?"

She couldn't stop herself from responding. "It's all I know to do." When she realized this was said outwardly, the woman quickly shifted topics. "Once I can focus, I will search for Kaden. If… nothing else… he deserves to be returned here."

"Yeah… I agree," Amy murmured. "He didn't ask for any of this. I can't even imagine what he's been through because of it all…"

"...I can…" Eila said softly as the wound healed. Now that she could think clearly, it became obvious that without her magics, she would have died from that hit, most likely. Left to bleed out on the floor she landed on. This is… bad.

Amy offered her another sympathetic glance. "You're right… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you think of that." She again shifted her hands to work on another part of the wound. "Is it feeling any better yet?"

Eila didn't answer the second part initially, instead choosing to address what was said first. "Thinking about it now reminds me of how far I had to come. It reminds me what I do not wish to be. I will not become Petry or Astra ever again," she murmured.

"I understand," Amy smiled. "You really have come very, very far. Everyone here is more than just impressed. I guess you could say we're… proud? I'm not sure that's the right word, but even still. We're happy for you."

That word, 'proud', prompted tears that not even her pain had brought on her, having to cover her mouth with a hand. Eila didn't dare speak, lest she say something embarrassing. She resorted to speaking mentally again. "...Thanks."

The wound was soon fully healed, and Amy removed her hands from Eila's personal space. "Are you alright?" she asked gently, eyes on the cat's face.

Eila couldn't stop herself from crying, curling in on herself in hopes of hiding her expression. "I… cannot control it."

"It's alright," Amy soothed. "Letting out your emotions is okay, Eila. I promise it is."

A sob broke out and Eila reached out, gripping Amy's hand in her own softly. "Stay with me…?"

"Of course, honey. I'll stay with you however long you need." Amy moved briefly to grab a pillow off the couch and set it by Eila. "Sometimes hugging something can help a bit. Squeezing on a pillow is a good substitute."

She hated herself for wanting to ask this, but she spoke mentally as her magic pushed the pillow away. "C-... May I hug you?"

"Oh, honey… Of course you can," Amy whispered like the mom she was. "It's perfectly okay."

Eila slowly and cautiously wrapped her arms around Amy, doing her level best to not lose any more of herself temporarily to her emotions. "Thank you…"

Amy didn't hesitate to hug her back, careful to keep her hold gentle lest she cause the poor cat any further pain. "Of course," she said again.

It really didn't take long for the semblance of control Eila had to crumble, hugging herself close to Amy. "Why does that word bring so much emotion…? I do not understand…"

Green eyes blinked. "Which word?" she inquired. Then she thought back and asked, "Do you mean 'proud'?"

It didn't have the same effect this time, and Eila immediately had to suppose that it was due to context. "Yes…" At this point, she was surprised she could think clearly at all. Perhaps this was one of the few good things Petry had taught her to do… thinking even under the worst circumstances.

The hedgehog didn't hesitate to offer Eila a smile. "I don't know, honestly… I don't know much about you or your past, and I'm not here to drill you for details, either. But… maybe this is something your sister can help you understand? Or, really, talking it out with anyone you trust deeply might be able to do you some good. But, if that isn't an option or you don't want to, meditation can also help. My friend Wave does that a lot these days, from what I've heard."

Eila managed a slow nod. "I can… try. I do not wish for Rose to see me cry."

"It's whatever you want to do," Amy assured. "You don't have to go anywhere or do any of this if you don't want to. It was only a suggestion."

"I should… for my own sake." Eila managed to calm herself enough to pull away, wiping her face with magic. She resumed speaking normally. "I need to… care for myself, even if I do not want to, because others care."

Once more, Amy smiled at her. "That's a very hard thing to do sometimes… and it can take a lot of courage. I'm very, very happy that you're willing to try, Eila."

Eila took a moment to fix her clothing, letting out a long and shaky sigh. "I will likely fail, but it's important that I… try." Her attention went to the Light sprite that had been following her briefly and how elated it was with her decision before she refocused on Amy.

"That's a good way to look at things," Amy told her. "And if you need anything along the way, you're always welcome here. We'll be more than happy to help. Alright?"

It was a couple moments before Eila responded, but she eventually did so with a smile. "I appreciate it. Greatly." A hand idly wiped at her eyes as she turned away. "I'm gonna go look. I'll return if I sense danger."

"Okay. Don't hesitate to wake me up again if something happens." Any returned her smile easily.

Eila nodded a little. "Yeah. I'll be sure to." Amy nodded and stood up, stretching once she was on her feet. Eila cast a spell over herself before glancing back to Amy. A smile broke onto her face once more and she disappeared in a flash of purple magic.

Elsewhere on Mobius, Saethrim calmly approached the person he'd been looking for. It wasn't that hard to find him. Purification left an obvious scent, due to the amount of Light it required. As such, Marthal was already in his sights. "Hey, got a question for you."

The yokai in question had somehow managed to recover fairly rapidly from his purification and, as his kind were wont to do, retreated into the wilderness of this world in an effort to destress. He'd been busily licking over his kit's scruff to give her a sort of wash, but stopped when he saw and heard Saethrim. On some instinctive level, he felt like he knew the man… somehow. That kept him from being needlessly reticent or irritable. "...What?"

"Name's Marthal, yeah?" Saethrim asked, staying a fair distance away from the half-yokai. "I was looking for you."

Marthal looked at him for a long moment. "Yeah, that's me," he eventually allowed. "Why were you looking for me?"

Saethrim smiled a little. "My name's Saethrim. I was the previous God of Mythical Beasts. I figured I'd check up on you."

That title felt familiar, somehow. Marthal chose to ignore that particular instinct for the moment. "Why?" he found himself asking.

"Well, you're a half-breed," Saethrim explained. Marthal blinked once. "Half yokai, half cat?" he continued. "That sound familiar?"

"Yeah. My mom was the yokai." Marthal adjusted his hold on Mei when she squirmed, but she settled back down promptly.

Saethrim nodded a little. "You're rare, in that case. Extremely so. However… we have a more important detail to focus on. You were recently purified, yeah?"

This question earned a vaguely annoyed sigh. "Yeah, and I can't get the damn smell off of me. It's getting on my nerves." Marthal dropped out of the tree he'd been resting in and sat down a few feet away from where Saethrim was.

The da Asani blinked once. "You were corrupted into a demon?"

"...Twice," Marthal reluctantly admitted.

Saethrim's mood took a briefly terrible swing, but he retained his composure extremely well. "I suppose I'll have to ensure it doesn't happen again."

"Pretty sure it won't matter," the yokai responded blandly. "I didn't exactly go out of my way to make a good impression with the new God of Demons. Just did the bare minimum to survive for the time being. I doubt he's interested in my furry ass."

"He needs to stay away from all creatures I governed," Saethrim muttered in a quiet tone. Marthal just wound up nodding a little. Saethrim coughed softly before allowing his tone to soften. "So, how are you feeling after everything that happened?"

"Crappy," Marthal sighed. "I did stupid shit while like that. I led a particular demoness to an unconscious friend of mine, even though that could have gotten people killed. I chose to grab my daughter, even though that could never have resulted in her being safe. I verbally attacked someone who's already been suffering a lot. That doesn't exactly amount to anyone feeling good."

"Okay?" Saethrim looked at Marthal more fully. "And what does it matter in the end?"

"It matters because I behaved no better than how people viewed my mother," Marthal muttered. "Worse than that was putting my own damn kit in danger. That's not okay."

Saethrim sighed. Kial is the one who responds well to that. "Were you yourself?"

"If you want to be technical about it, yes and no."

"You weren't," Saethrim countered suddenly. "You were corrupted. Corruption brings out the worst traits in people. The fact that it bothers you now means that you don't like being that way. You're not that same person."

"No matter how true or not that is, it still doesn't excuse what I did," was the sullen reply. "And two of those three fuck ups can't exactly be undone or fixed."

"Then don't do it again," Saethrim said easily. "Make that effort to do better and be better than you were as a demon. Coming from someone who changes into brutal and vicious creatures all the time, I know a thing or two."

Marthal was silent for a few long seconds. "Yeah," he finally said. "I noticed that. You smell like a damn wyvern. I hate those bastards."

"Recently turned into one. Was dealing with some enemies," Saethrim said. "I can change forms, but it won't get rid of the smell."

That earned a small frown of cat-like curiosity. That curiosity prompted Marthal to immediately ask, "Wait, can you smell that shit, too?"

Saethrim snickered. "Course I can. How do you think I tracked down a damned yokai? I've gotta be able to track with all my senses."

"I thought you might have done something else, I don't know," Marthal groaned. "I wasn't exactly thinking about it at the time."

"I don't get super special powers like the other gods and goddesses," Saethrim said. "Other than my transformation, it's mostly just senses, strength, and speed."

"How strong is your sense of smell?" Marthal asked him, even more curious now. "Can you catch scents from all powers, aside from shit like speed?"

Saethrim shrugged. "I tend to ignore most scents. Once I check someone, I don't need to smell them again unless there's something new coming off of them."

That didn't exactly answer the question, but fair enough. Marthal shrugged as well in answer, but was distracted from replying when Mei mewled and squirmed again. She hooked her tiny claws into his arm and pulled away enough to wind up on the grass, where she proceeded to crawl right up to Saethrim with no hesitation whatsoever. Since her ears were still folded and her eyes had yet to open, Marthal watched her closely, ready to intervene at a moment's notice. Guess she's still a brazen little kit, like always…

There was very little hesitation in Saethrim's movement, gently scooping Mei up off the ground and holding her to his body with one arm. "Brave one you got here."

"She's always been bold," Marthal agreed. "Pretty fearless, too… for better and for worse. She was older before she was revived recently. Got herself into a crapload of trouble in the past."

"I can believe it," Saethrim said with a smile. "I'm sure that was plenty of fun to handle."

"What's 'fun' is dealing with two kits at the same time when they're both getting into mischief," Marthal huffed. "I practically had to be everywhere at once sometimes."

"Ever tried feeding dragon hatchlings?" Saethrim asked with a grin.

"I never dared to get near any, so no. But I can imagine the kinds of stories someone like you would have."

Saethrim rolled his eyes. "One tried to chew on my arm while the other three climbed all over me. They weren't sure what to think of me, but they sure as hell liked me."

That made Marthal huff out a laugh. "Damn. Sounds like an interesting time."

"Always is," Saethrim agreed.

Marthal nodded a little in agreement and adjusted his one remaining hearing aid. It was damaged from his time spent amidst demonic flames and the subsequent searing heat, but he did his best to ignore the crackling and popping he was suddenly hearing from the device. He was reasonably sure he'd still be able to make it Saethrim's voice. Maybe, anyway. "Was there something else you needed? Or did you just track me down because of that demon shit?"

"Little bit of that, a lot of curiosity," Saethrim answered with a light-hearted shrug. "My reasons are here and there. Also trying to see who needs to feel the fists of a god soon."

"I'd highly recommend the guy in charge of the demons, obviously," Marthal scoffed. "I think he and your knuckles should get real friendly with one another at some point."

Saethrim scratched the back of his head a little. "Suppose so. I'm more a fan of introducing people to the might of thunder and lightning," he joked, chuckling a little.

"Good luck with that," was the snorting reply. "Elementals are temperamental bitches and Eirza doesn't exactly share."

"I've learned. Been on the wrong side of that once or twice," Saethrim laughed. "She's scary when she's upset."

"I've heard some tales. Hope to never personally encounter that." Marthal's tail tip twitched as he watched a loose leaf drift down from the canopy overhead. "Pretty sure she could smite me with a glance."

Saethrim shrugged. "Ultimately, I'll always be more wary of Cere. Not to say Eirza isn't terrifying, but Cere has a hellish mix of a few powers to go against. Not to mention her temper is fierce. I'm glad she learned to control it better over time."

"Plus, isn't she a Hexan or something?" Marthal frowned. "I ran across this kid named Han a couple times. He was… I dunno, sixteen or so. Younger than me at the time, but he kicked my ass. Their magic is no joke. That alone is terrifying to me."

"Mhm, plus that power of hers, Judgement. Someone does something evil and she can basically cast a curse on them. It's more complex than that, but it's quite a powerful thing."

"Ouch. Curses are… God, I hate them. Saw a curse make a woman suffer somethin' fierce once. They, uh… really suck."

Saethrim raised an eyebrow. "I've watched Cere cast judgement on someone and nearly kill them on contact because of how evil they were. There's a reason that people have a healthy fear of her. She's quite the fighter."

"Yeah, so I've heard. And she's an ally and all, but if it's all the same I'd rather stay out of her way." Marthal watched closely as Mei suddenly resumed her mewling and squirming, just making noise and moving around like kittens often did.

"Same," Saethrim said. "It was always easiest to work on my own anyway. Sometimes we didn't see eye to eye."

The yokai canted his head. "That have something to do with your work?"

"Mhm. Way, way back when we were both pretty new to existence, all of my focus was on mythical beasts and creatures. Hers was on the evil in existence. Well… some mythical beasts and creatures choose to be evil or just… are. Wyverns fall in this category," Saethrim explained. "See where this is going?"

Marthal let out a soft hiss of annoyance, or maybe something more. "People like to classify yokai in that category, even the ones that aren't… well, civilized. Or at least aren't very civilized. My mother fit into that second category. She was more animal-like than people-like. Still got treated as a deliberately evil scourge, though. Pretty sure that played into a lot of what she did back then, regarding me." He shook his head. "But… anyway, yeah. I get what you're saying, is the point I was trying to make."

Saethrim sighed. "It was a misconception for us both. After a few scraps, we started seeing that we were doing things wrong. It got better, but there was nothing I could do sometimes for the actually evil ones. So… I focused on protecting those that weren't evil as best I could without people really knowing I was around."

"Why not let them know you were around?" Marthal asked. "Wouldn't a lot of them have liked to know you were there for them?"

"Doing what I did made me way too many enemies," Saethrim answered. "People didn't like to see me helping creatures that gave them trouble."

Marthal suddenly scowled. That's so fucking typical. People hate shit that isn't normal, especially when it can't or won't conform when they want it to.

Saethrim let out a long sigh, already shifting to leave. "Enough of me dumping my life story on you. I got someone to go see. Lots of catching up to do."

"Yeah, sure. Pretty sure you don't want a moody kit along for the ride, though." Marthal reached over and unhooked his daughter's claws from Saethrim's arm, then gently took her into his lap.

"Only potentially," Saethrim said with a chuckle. "Almost forgot she was there. Reminded me a lot of the old days and I guess I just got used to it."

"What, handled a lot of babies back in the day?" Marthal asked him. Mei mewled and squirmed in his arms, protesting the change in position, but a few grooming licks to the top of her head settled her back down.

Saethrim shrugged. "Hatchlings, kits, pups, so on and so forth."

"You must've had some crazy life, man." Marthal waved a hand at him. "Go. Do whatever you need to do. I won't keep you."

The man turned to leave before glancing back at Marthal. "Two things. You've got the scent of some chameleon on you. Might wanna see what they're doing. Also, please get that damned thing in your ear fixed. That sound is irritating."

"I'll check on her later, maybe. And trust me, it's way more irritating to be the one wearing it." Marthal pulled the hearing aid out and examined it. Much to his true delight, it let off a spark that time. "Well, pretty sure it's dead now, anyway," he grumbled, trying to keep his voice at a normal volume even though he couldn't hear it anymore.

Saethrim shrugged and suddenly signed to Marthal. "If you need to go somewhere, I can take you quickly."

Huh. Didn't know he could sign. Marthal was quick to answer in kind. "It's fine. The Highlands aren't far from here, and I know how to reach where that chameleon you smelled is. I can handle myself in the meantime"

"Understood. Be safe." Saethrim signed in return before warping away.

For all the good it did, Marthal waved a little then teleported away himself. He'd put off tracking down Tyria for long enough.

~保護者~

In spite of his state of weakness, Kaden survived for close to two hours by relying on his speed to attack and evade. Nevertheless, he knew as well as his enemy did that his fate had long since been sealed. The final blow was dealt, and for a short time there was only blackness. Then he found himself waking up. He was laying in a pool of his own blood and, naturally, coughing up the stuff as well. Despite somehow being alive again, he wasn't healed beyond what was necessary for him not to immediately die again. That told him that Sonic's method of revival had nothing to do with this. The presence that faded into being behind him confirmed his theory in an instant.

"Welcome back to the Realm of the Living," Nareish murmured. "I apologize for leaving you in such a state… though I suppose it is nothing you haven't lived through before."

With effort, he managed to crack his eyes open. He did so in time to see her walk around his prone form and kneel down in front of him. "You are quite fortunate that I did not need the Therian witch's powers to bring you back. It was necessary when I revived many beings all at once from across this realm's universe, but for one person… I've stolen more permanent necromantic powers for that. Aren't you so fortunate?"

"You're fucking insane," Kaden bit out, though even now he couldn't conjure up the slightest hint of emotion within himself. Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself up onto an arm.

Nareish tutted disapprovingly at him. "Is that any way to thank me? I even severed control over you, granting you free will again. My, how ungrateful you are." She stood, heedless of the blood staining her legs. "Oh, well. I, too, shall continue to live regardless. Until next time, love."

She was gone before he could retort. Coughing again, Kaden shifted further until he was sitting somewhat steadily on his knees. The good thing about necromancy, he knew, was that it would have restored his full strength and ability to use his powers. He made full use of that immediately by telepathically reaching through the timelines in search of one mind in particular. As soon as contact was made, though he wouldn't be able to maintain it for long for obvious reasons, he said, "Steam."

"What's happening?" the other hedgehog immediately asked in response, obviously on high alert.

Without intending to, Kaden found himself coughing again. More blood entered his mouth, forcing him to spit it out. That coughing was easily translated across their mental connection whether he liked it or not. He chose not to even acknowledge that, however. "There is a new God of Demons," was all he said. With a shaky hand, he reached out and grabbed Saika, intent on examining it for any signs of damage.

"Fuck. Where is Zareil, and where are you?"

"I made her leave. It doesn't matter where I am."

"Get back to Analia. This is no joke. If you die, everything is fucked."

Though it hurt like hell, Kaden moved to stand now that he was satisfied with the state of his sword. It was unharmed. "No. I'm not going back."

"They are going to kill you if you stay alone. Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Zareil, and your triplets are all going to be in more danger than before. If you don't get to safety, you're condemning them to the same fate."

"I've already been killed," Kaden suddenly revealed, coughing again. "The bitch decided to bring me back. I'm not letting them anywhere near my family, but I am not going there either."

"This is a mistake and you know it," Steam retorted. "You're not stupid. Nareish revived you because she thinks you're interesting. The new god doesn't give a damn about that."

Kaden managed to get fully to his feet, only to stagger badly and wind up down on one knee again. Pain rendered him unable to reply for a moment, but eventually he forced himself to. "I'm… aware," he managed to mentally bite out.

"Go somewhere safe. I know exactly what you're feeling right now, but you need to remember how much your family matters to you. Show them that you're not dead before they realize what had to happen."

Feeling? Kaden wasn't feeling anything. He was so numb that he couldn't even immediately recall what it was like to feel. "I'll… tell Zareil. She has been in contact with Sonic and Analia." He forced himself up again and began limping over to where Saika's sheath was laying.

"Have Zareil be purified somewhat if she hasn't been already. The new god will kill her. She will never be loyal to him."

"I know that. She will likely not agree to purification, however. She enjoys being a demon. You should be aware of that by now." Kaden retrieved the sheath and slid his sword into it, having already decided to worry about cleaning both some other time.

"She listens to you. Now, get moving. You can't keep this going for much longer, can you?"

"No. This is taxing." Kaden tucked his sheathed sword under one arm to make it easier to use both hands in the event he needed to when he left in a moment. However, before ending the connection, he had one hesitant question. "...When will you return?"

"Very soon. I can't ignore that Nareish brought in a new God of Demons," Steam admitted.

"Good." The connection faltered, but Kaden managed to reestablish it very briefly. "I'm leaving."

"Be safe. That's not a request."

"Fine." Letting the link break away entirely, Kaden focused instead on teleporting away. There were things he had to do. They couldn't wait any longer.

~保護者~

I can't find a body. Eila's mind was wracked with possibilities. She'd barely managed to track the location where the fight had gone down, but that didn't help now. She was too unfocused, too emotionally exhausted. Rather than try and try to no avail, Eila instead teleported a few vials into her hand and did her best to collect samples of the blood left behind by Kaden. When I can relax, I may be able to track wherever his body was left with this, assuming I still know how to do any of that.

Once this was done, the woman sat down for a moment amidst it all to think. Her thoughts were deeply muddled by the recent emotional bursts she'd had, which certainly didn't help her focus. I… should talk to Wave. Talking to Wave might help me focus. Rather than attempt to teleport into the realm Wave was in, Eila instead reached out with her mind. "Hey, are you awake?"

It took a moment, but soon a mentally mumbled reply came. "Am now. Did you need something?"

Another voice broke into the conversation, one that Eila hardly expected nor recognized. "Oh, hi! Is this Eila? You sound way happier."

Eila blinked once. The presence of this voice was nothing dangerous or even close to something to be concerned about, so she simply ignored it for the moment and responded to Wave. "I wanted to talk, and I… felt comfortable talking to you."

"What's going on?" Wave asked, still sounding drowsy.

"I have questions about something, and… well, there's information I would like to give you soon. It's things that sorely need to be known. Would you rather me wait for a few minutes?"

Though she was yawning, Wave sat up. "Why wait?" she thought back. "I'd wager this is important, if you're contacting me about it at this ungodly hour."

"I… I don't suppose it's really that important, at least not the first thing I'm wanting to talk to you about." Eila winced a little, forgetting briefly to stop communicating to Wave as she thought. "I need to stop demeaning the importance of my own problems…"

"Hey, go easy on yourself. It's a learning process. Not something you figure out overnight." Wave stood and stretched. "Do you need me to come to you?"

Eila scolded herself for allowing that to slip through, refocusing herself. "As long as you are alright with it, I can come to you."

"That might work out better. I'm trying to stay close to my little brother for the moment." Since she didn't have to leave, Wave sat back down.

Wasting no more time, Eila opened a portal and teleported through to the house Wave was in, knocking on the door. "...Forgive me for the formality."

Wave opened the door and waved her hand. "Don't apologize. And you can talk, so long as we don't do it loudly. Alec's not a light sleeper." She stepped aside to let Eila in.

As Eila walked in, she became starkly aware of the presence of the Aether, watching as it flew around her head. "I will keep that in mind. I hope to keep this short, but perhaps stepping outside will be best later. It may well be good to have Ylden here."

This made Wave purse her lips together. "If… that's the case, we may need to go to him. I don't think he intends on leaving Dad alone right now."

"Provided you are comfortable with leaving Alec here," Eila murmured. "I would not wish to take you from his side."

"He's safe enough here," Wave murmured in reply. "He's just not familiar with this place, is all. He spends most of his time in the Hex. But if we aren't gone all night, it should be fine. I just want to be here when he wakes up."

Eila nodded before letting out a slow sigh. "I have a question for you, and I want as honest of an answer as you can give," she said suddenly.

Deep blue eyes regarded Eila closely for a long moment, as if gauging just how serious Eila was about this. Then Wave loosely crossed her arms. "Sure."

The cat's gaze was slowly drifting from Wave, in an attempt to not make eye contact. It was hard for her to with this on her mind. "Is it normal to cry the moment someone says they are proud of you…?"

That question caught Wave so off-guard that she initially didn't reply. "...Oh, jeez," she finally whispered. "I didn't think I'd ever be confronted with a question like that again. Not after…" She rubbed her hands over her face, then started again. "The short answer is sometimes. Life experiences can shape people's minds, their emotions, everything. You know that. I don't claim to know your past, but it doesn't seem to have been all sunshine and rainbows. Jet's wasn't, either. Once, just once, being told by… I think Sonic that we were all proud to have him as a friend back when we were kids teared him up pretty good. So, in some cases… yeah. It can be normal, I think."

Eila briefly zoned out. She was able to take this all in, but… suddenly she had to go back to speaking with her mind. "I… don't think my parents ever really told me they were proud… of me."

Before Wave could respond, the Aether (still in it's miniature form) moved to put its head against Eila's forehead. "Hey, it's okay. Even if they didn't, you've got people who will now." Wave nodded just a little, but said nothing else yet so that Eila could collect herself.

It took the cat a long moment to do so, but the Aether's presence greatly helped. "I'm… sorry about that. I didn't mean to become so… melancholy."

"Don't apologize," Wave shrugged. "Healing takes time. That's just how life is."

Eila briefly hugged one of her shoulders. "One day I may attempt to tell you what led to my becoming Astra, but for now I will ask that we head to Ylden. I am not in the frame of mind to attempt more introspection."

"I'd prefer you not push yourself, anyway. Baby steps and all that, you know?" Wave stretched one more time before teleporting to wherever Ylden currently was within the Realms of Death. This wasn't a place outsiders could normally just go, but she suspected either Ylden himself or someone else (maybe Zenith?) had temporarily allowed her access just now. "Hey, Ylden," she greeted quietly.

Ylden knew her presence well enough, but he didn't initially recognize Eila when she appeared as well. He didn't react badly, merely tensed before relaxing. "What do you need?" he asked pointedly. The man was obviously a touch irate, maybe even concerned, but he did a decent job of hiding it all.

Wave gestured at Eila with a thumb. "She has something she said she needed to talk about with us. Figured you would rather not leave here right now, so we came to you." She stole an anxious glance at her father once she realized this was the same sort of living space she'd last seen him and Ylden in. But he was so engrossed in a book that, though he was no doubt aware of their women's arrival, he didn't acknowledge either of them. That hurt, so she made herself look away.

"Then go ahead," Ylden answered, turning to Eila.

Eila took a moment and steadied herself fully. "My intention is to explain what we need to be wary of in magical corruption." Wave pursed her lips together and focused on listening with Ylden following suite. The white cat took the cue and continued. "The major components to understand are how it affects the mind, emotions, behavior, personality, and powers of the one corrupted. First and foremost, Han may experience emotions that fall well outside of his normal range. With him being relatively calm, he could suddenly become hysterically happy or maliciously irritable… with the latter being much more probable for him. Things such as that can come on suddenly, but they're usually triggered by some form of stimuli in my experience." Her last statement hurt to say aloud, but it was necessary to say.

"Stimuli… like if he were to encounter some sort of threat or source of irritation?" Wave asked, really trying her hardest to think about all of this in a very business-like manner.

"...Regrettably, any form of stimuli could evoke a reaction," Eila answered.

Ylden crossed his arms. "And this can happen at any time?"

Eila nodded. "It's entirely possible."

"What do we do?" Wave asked.

"The best we can do is attempt to not draw his ire," Eila said. "It seems to be that Ylden has done well with staying in his presence for an extended period of time."

"I don't… I don't think Dad is capable of anger," Wave said softly. "Hexans that don't go down wicked paths rarely have any emotions at all. And, I mean, he developed quite a few as he's lived, but losing mom…" She swallowed hard. "That… hit us all hard. And it set him back a lot, emotionally speaking. That's why he's only recently begun to get involved in the war. He was finally starting to relearn how to care about things that weren't just Alec, me, and his friends. But anger was just… never there to begin with."

Eila frowned. "It may well invoke something within him related to the more wicked path that Hexans can take."

Wave swallowed thickly again and just nodded. "What… What else?" she eventually asked. "What else do we need to know?"

"Another thing to know is that we have to worry for the chance that he may well act like a completely different person, even beyond just his personality. It's entirely possible for the worst traits that he could inherit to come forth and become part of who he is now," Eila explained.

Wave suddenly got a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Evil Hexans are… murderous. They usually aren't hostile or hateful or anything. They just… don't care. Dad was never like that, but… his family… His mom, his brother, his aunt, even his childhood best friend… They all were."

Ylden closed his eyes as he thought this all over. "Here's a question, then. What can be done to prev-"

Eila cut him off gently. "Unless Eona can intervene, it will likely require an Immortal."

Shaking a little with renewed grief and fear, Wave stole another glance at her father. Jr still didn't seem to be paying them any attention, and she forced herself to look away. "Light can't do anything about corruption not brought on via Darkness," Wave murmured. "At least, I don't think it can."

"Which means it would require intervention via an Immortal, such as what happened to me," Eila agreed.

"No. No, that won't work. What helped you-" Wave rubbed her hands over her face, trying to find the words. "Jet wasn't just an Immortal then, in that moment. He was something else. Something more. But that wasn't a state of being he could maintain, and it isn't like he can just become like that again because he wants to."

"I know. I triggered that state," Eila murmured.

"What do we do?" Wave asked in a soft voice. "Unless Dad consents to it, the Faein can't help. They're bound by their own rules not to trample on free will unless existence is threatened."

Ylden crossed his arms. "I suppose we could just ask him." Wave shrugged weakly.

Eila motioned softly to Ylden. "If anyone were to ask, I'd say it needs to be you. You're one of the only people he's met so far."

"I can certainly try," Ylden agreed.

"One more thing I want to add quickly before things potentially get out of hand. I want you both to know that such as with Nira… it's possible for Han's powers to be changed due to his corruption," Eila said. "Even after purification, my magic took on a purple hue, which is a… rather lame example… but it could be anything. We won't know what his powers do outside of the usual until he uses them, and for everyone's sake, I hope that his magic has only changed color."

"So far, that's it," Wave murmured. "It turned bright red straight away."

Ylden nodded. "He's not had a reason to use his magic, so I have little knowledge of anything else that may have changed."

"I don't believe there's anything else important to note, but feel free to ask me a question if one comes to mind," Eila said. "I have no issue with answering them." Wave could only nod, too emotionally overwhelmed to think of anything right now.

Without waiting for either of the other two to say something, Ylden turned and began walking over to Han, returning to a seat. "Hey, Han." The Hexan in question acknowledged him with the barest of glances, but otherwise kept most of his focus on the book. Knowing him, though, he was listening at the same time. Ylden let out a slow sigh, unsure of how to approach this other than just being straightforward. "So, I want to mention something. I told you about how that person attacked and corrupted you. There is a chance that we can undo that, but that would require you to let beings referred to as the Faein purify you. These beings… essentially created existence. They're the ones who brought it all into being, and we've had a few encounters with them thus far, to my knowledge. They've been helping people a lot."

Han didn't even bat an eye. "No." That simple response made Wave tense up.

"Do you mind if I ask why?" Ylden questioned, tone sounding oddly light.

"Because I am fine, and I do not trust people. No matter who they are."

"Even if this corruption has changed part of who you are intrinsically without anyone knowing? They might even be able to restore your memory," Ylden pointed out. Please, dear god, just agree. Please.

"I'm not interested right now," was the neutral reply.

Ylden took a deep breath in before glancing to Wave and Eila. "You should both go. I don't want other company right now."

Fighting back tears, Wave nodded mutely and vanished. Eila watched Han and Ylden for a long moment, even as the black cat's gaze bore into her. "I wish you both well," she murmured, teleporting away to rejoin Wave. Ylden didn't say a thing, instead returning to his work.

Rather than stay sitting, Ylden collected his scythe and vanished to the stream of souls, walking among them. His presence alone straightened out the actions of some that were here, and that almost upset him more. Han saying that had left him reeling, and he wanted something to deal with to focus on other matters. "Fucking hell… if he'd said yes, this would all be handled… but… 'no' was definitely something he could've said, too…"

Too emotional to think beyond this, he once again buried himself in his work.

~保護者~

He'd had it rough, but it was nothing Rose hadn't handled before. The woman, upon being approached by Cere with an injured Nier in her arms, immediately set to work. By now, the wounds were healed properly and Rose had more or less demanded that he rest before undertaking any further work. "How are you feeling?" she asked gently. "All of your wounds should be healed properly now."

Nier rubbed at his face with a hand. "Honestly, I'm exhausted," he sighed. "I haven't had to brawl like that in a few eons or so."

Rose passed a small smile to him. "That is understandable. You do not appear to be a fighter in the ways that I am."

"I actually am," Nier chuckled. "My fighting has a lot of physicality to it, because it has to. It's just been a long time. I've been helping Therin with reconnaissance for ages now since this era isn't the safest for him, so I guess I'm out of practice."

The woman blinked once at this. "I suppose that means my perception is not what it used to be."

"Or I'm just that tricky," Nier halfheartedly joked. He moved to stand, wincing at how stiff he was, though nothing actually hurt anymore. "Jeez… I need to spar more often, I guess. This is not a good look for me."

Rose gave a soft chuckle to this. "I would not be opposed to aiding you in such, but my abilities are far from magical in most cases."

Nier blinked at her, then it clicked. "Oh, no, that wouldn't even be an issue. My runes aren't magic. They're pure energy, like your Light is. When I use a rune for, say, wind, I'm not using magic to call upon it. I'm creating the element in its purest energetic state for use. All my runes work like that. No magic involved."

Her mouth opened in a small 'o'. "I cannot believe I misjudged something twice in such a way. I must really have slipped."

"In this case, I don't think you can be considered at fault," Nier shrugged. Then he added in a conspiratorial whisper as though that would somehow prevent Cere from hearing, "I even had her confused about my powers when I first showed up."

Rose's eyes widened slightly. "That is quite the feat."

Cere passed on a quizzitive glance, as if playing along with what Nier had said. "Is something the matter?"

The Babylonian turned his usual friendly smile on her. "Nothing at all. In fact, I was just thinking about booking it out of here before I do something smite-worthy."

Rose decided to catch Cere's attention as the Hexan moved to speak. "I was about to question him on the way in which his runes work. With them not being magic, they are quite curious to me."

This caused Nier to blink again. "That, uh… wouldn't be much of a conversation," he admitted, turning back around to face her fully. "It's hard to put this kind of thing into words, you know? No one's ever occupied this role except me, so I'm working fully off of feelings and innate instincts and stuff. In a way, you're lucky because you probably had people to teach you. And I may be old, but not as old as Cere. So she's got her stuff way more figured out than I do."

The cat tilted her head. "Is that so? Perhaps…" she frowned a little. "Ah, forgive me. I would not wish to volunteer my sister for something."

Cere blinked once. "Speaking of, how is Eila?"

"She seems to be doing much better than before," Rose said with a bright smile on her face. "I am incredibly happy for her." Nier decided to let the two of them talk while he busied himself with examining that wreck that was now his outfit.

"I am glad. Last I remember… she had a rough time. I read through some of the tomes she's created recently about her knowledge, and I have to say they've been pretty insightful. I wish I'd known a lot of it sooner," the Hexan admitted. "Might've saved me a couple close calls."

"Since when do you need saving?" Nier asked, unlooping his scarf from around his neck to look it over. "I get that I'm not around a lot, but I'm pretty sure I would have heard about you of all people having close calls of any sort."

Cere shrugged lightly. "It's been quite some time," she answered.

"I should hope so. Also, I don't suppose you know a Hex that can fix my clothes? They're all torn up and filthy." Nier made a face. "This was my good scarf, too."

The Hexan moved to help, but Rose stepped in first. Her magic was nothing incredible like her sister's, but it was enough to mend clothes and clean them. "I have extensive experience with this manner of repair. I wear dresses quite frequently," Rose explained.

"Oh, nice. And also thanks. I'd rather not have even fewer outfits than normal." Nier put his scarf back on. "Cere, are you going to demand I stick around?"

"It may do you well to," Cere answered. "You said it yourself, it may do you well to spar." A smile broke onto her face as a thought flickered through her mind. "Unless you fancy yourself a fight with me."

"Uh, no thanks. Honestly, I'd rather fight with Jet. He's less terrifying." Nier chuckled to himself and admitted, "Still kicks my ass, though."

Cere raised an eyebrow. "That's not an option currently, but I suppose that someone like Rose would simply have to do," she commented.

Nier's foot tapped on the ground rapidly. "Back up and explain to me why it's not possible," he suddenly said, his normally casual demeanor turning all serious. "Something's going on with him, but I don't know what. The whole reason I got ambushed like I did is because I was vulnerable. Granted, I could've left before the fight, but excluding that detail the main cause was Jet's clone vanishing. There was this purple energy that erupted from it, and then it was gone. Whenever anything happens to the clone he keeps with me, he personally shows up to have my back. He didn't this time, and I damn well need to know the reason."

"I don't believe that is within my rights to explain, but I must admit I don't very well understand it myself," Cere said quietly. "It's some form of energy, the Void. It's affecting him. Anything beyond that, it's harder to explain, like explaining Light or Darkness."

His foot kept tapping for a moment. "I don't like it," he muttered. "Fuck, I don't like this at all. Do you remember that scribe woman who used to follow him around, Cere? Around the time that Malevolence was really active again, long after his old friends died."

"I remember," Cere answered.

"She wrote about him going through all these personality shifts back then," Nier said. "That he suddenly became obsessed with the topic of death, even though that's not in his character. And she transcribed these… these journal entries that he'd written, talking about whispers in his head and the stuff he was hearing and whatnot. He even wrote himself that he was rambling in one of them and felt like he was being 'driven to the point of madness'. Whatever in the hell was happening back then, do you think it's the same thing that he's going through now?"

Cere nodded. "Yes. It is assuredly the same."

"What the hell did he do back then?" Nier asked her. "He did something. Wasn't it written in that book somewhere?"

"Purged his memories of it entirely," Cere answered slowly. "It was the only choice he had."

Damn… that's extreme. "There's no way that's a viable option this time, right?"

"I would advise against doing so," Rose murmured.

Cere glanced over at Rose, raising an eyebrow. "Any reason why?

"Yes, it may have once weakened its influence on him," Rose said, "but I am of the opinion that there's more to this than we know. I would think he must find a way to maintain some form of control over it."

"The more I learn about this thing, the less possible that sounds," Nier sighed.

"This is also Jet we are speaking of," Rose reminded softly. "He has made many things possible that should not have been. I believe he can do so again in time."

Nier exhaled heavily. "...Damn it all, you're probably right. I swear, the guy's practically impossible himself."

Cere shrugged lightly. "I'm inclined to agree."

"And I'm inclined to at least partly blame you," Nier responded. "Since you've helped 'raise' him."

"Sometimes being impossible is a powerful trait," Cere answered.

"Yeah. s'pose so. Anyway, listen… If we're done here, I think I really am gonna take off." Nier put his arms up behind his head and looked at Rose. "Thanks for the help. I've got stuff to do, though, so I'm not gonna stick around."

Rose nodded softly. "If you have need of any aid, simply say so. I will offer what I am able," she added.

"Sure. And hey, I'm down to spar sometime if you are."

Another smile came onto Rose's face. "As am I, but for now I suppose we likely both have something to do. May you have luck in your favor." Nier nodded, gave a two finger salute, and vanished.

Cere looked at Rose as Nier left, a slight frown on her face. Something is different with her, and I'm not entirely certain what it is. "It's good to see you have recovered from your own matters. Are you well?"

Rose turned and blinked once. "I suppose so. Truthfully… I do not feel as…" Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "...Angry. I feel much more at ease."

"That's certainly good to hear," Cere said, smiling slightly. "I suppose that explains why you feel so different, yet so similar to how you were when I met you."

The cat tilted her head a little at Cere. "Different how?"

In truth, explaining it wasn't something she wanted to do just yet. Cere simply smiled a little more. "I'd like some time to really think on how to explain it, and maybe by then it'll be a bit more clear."

Rose nodded in understanding. "As you wish. Will you be leaving soon to return to your post?"

"Yes," Cere answered. "However, I hope that all remains well here. Have a good day, Rose." When Rose gave a nod of response, the Hexan vanished.

~保護者~

Dad's okay. He's okay. He's… sort of okay.

Those words continued running through Sonic's mind while he teleported to Tails's house. He, his mother, and Finis had noticed straight away when Kaden had bolted, leaving Nier's home not even two full minutes after waking up. Zareil had gone after him. Then, later, she'd come back.

Now word had reached them through her (courtesy of Kaden's telepathy) that Nareish had brought a new demon into play in this war. That demon had somehow killed Kaden, thus taking over the demonic throne. Kaden had been brought back by Nareish through necromancy, though she'd severed control and left him alone afterward. That was all they knew. No one had any idea where he'd gone or what he was doing, or even what sort of condition he was in.

So much for things taking a turn for the better.

After learning all of this, Sonic spread the news via his communicator. Then, at his mother's insistence, he'd come here in an effort to relax a little and maybe get some better sleep than he'd gotten around Zareil. Emotional or not, she was still dangerous and he had a hard time being at ease around her. As a result, he (albeit reluctantly) did as Analia had told him to do and showed up here.

In all honesty, he wasn't surprised to find the roof already occupied. Knuckles was laying on his back in his usual position, hat resting by his side. The guy had always preferred the outdoors to being inside. And, in all fairness, it was pretty crowded in there these days. Upon noticing Sonic's arrival, the echidna opened his eyes and turned his head to look over. "'Ey," he greeted. "You're up late as usual."

Only just then did it occur to Sonic that he hadn't properly reunited with Knuckles or Rouge at all since their revival. He'd had some conversations with them here and there, but they'd yet to sit down and really talk. Now felt like as good a time as any to remedy that. "You know I could say the same about you, right?" he sighed, taking a seat. "Minus the 'as usual' part. Thought you preferred the 'early to bed, early to rise' lifestyle."

"When it's feasible, yeah. Gotta admit, though… It's damn hard to sleep when things are taking up unwanted space in your mind." Those violet eyes had a knowing look to them. "I don't suppose that's your issue now? Considering the messages you just sent out."

"Well… I guess that's one way of putting it, yeah." Sonic laid back with his arms behind his head like Knuckles was doing. "I just… I don't know what we expected to happen, but this… This wasn't it. Part of me suspected he'd take off. Hell, I'd probably have done the same if I were in his position. So would've Jet, or Blaze, or hell, maybe even Shadow. But how could anyone have seen this coming? He was murdered and none of us were there for him. We still can't be because he won't let us. That's possibly asking him for a lot too soon and I know it is but… still."

Knuckles turned his head back toward the sky, eyes roving the stars overhead as though they had the answers Sonic sought. "I can't pretend to know what'll help and what won't," he eventually said. "This whole thing is like nothing we've ever faced before. It's unprecedented. I realize you've been here for a while, Sonic, but in the grand scheme of things it's not been that long at all. Corruption is a new and novel concept to us. That makes it even harder to cope with. Wave, Jet, Tails, Espio, Shadow, and your dad have all had literal ages to come to terms with the idea of corruption… well, being a thing. For the rest of us, it's still going to take some time. That's not to say acceptance or whatever else will make issues like this any easier, but it may help things hurt just a bit less someday."

"'Someday' feels like it's out of reach," Sonic murmured. "Things have been quiet since Dad was purified. How long is it gonna last, though? And when things kick back up again, how bad will they get? We've lost Cream and Vector already. None of us managed to save them. Even more people might die any day now, and even those who don't die are at constant risk of being turned into the worst, most evil versions of themselves at a moment's notice."

"Like what happened to Marthal," Knuckles acknowledged. "That definitely is a huge risk we're all taking. Corruption and death are both terrible in their own ways. Corruption changes everything about you. Death is the often painful end of your existence of your physical self. Both can technically be undone, but not easily and not on a whim." He let out a heavy exhale. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I get it. What you're thinking about and feeling, I mean. This is all a goddamn lot to live with."

Sonic nodded just a little. "I can't even imagine how Jet and the others have lived with this for so long," he admitted. "Tails seems mostly fine and Espio doesn't usually get emotionally invested in things, but as for everyone else… Even your dad must be dealing with a lot, and he's freaking God for crying out loud."

That actually caused Knuckles to bark out a small laugh. "You're right, he is. I managed to forget about that, somehow."

"Dumbass," Sonic accused. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Yeah, yeah, you can shove your comments up your blue ass," Knuckles retorted.

"How 'bout I shove it up your red one so you can suffer from them more?"

"You get anywhere near me and my ass and we're gonna have some problems."

"Okay… Toes." It took a moment. One long, glorious moment where Knuckles struggled to figure out what the hell that insult meant. And then it clicked. The dawning realization that that was the god-awful nickname Sonic had given Knuckles in place of his normal name very early into their adventures was, in Sonic's opinion, beautiful to behold.

Suddenly, Knuckles burst into laughter. His helpless chortling swiftly dragged Sonic down with him. The pair laughed until they couldn't breathe, sucked in some air, and then laughed some more. Once they ran out of breath a second time, they managed to collect themselves enough for Knuckles to wheeze, "Oh my god, that was the last fucking thing I expected you to say to me."

Grinning, Sonic wiped a tear from his eye. "I've gotta be honest, I wasn't expecting that to come out of my own mouth," he chuckled. "My brain just forced it out of me. I didn't even realize I still remembered that."

Knuckles let out another breathy laugh. "You're Tokarian. I'd be way more impressed if you didn't remember. Your race is practically engineered to have impossible memories due to your lifespans." With that impromptu biology lesson out of the way, he turned a touch more serious. "Hey, how is your brother, anyway? I've seen Silver, Amy, and them plenty and I've heard a good bit from Amy about how Analia is doing. Not much on Shadow, though."

"He's mostly fine, from what I can gather," Sonic shrugged. "I haven't talked to him in the last… I don't know, week or more? But Tails checks in on him a lot. If something was really wrong, he'd tell me even if Shadow won't."

"Fair enough," Knuckles acknowledged. "And Jet?"

"God, where do I even begin with him?" Sonic groaned. "That asshat worries me even more than my actual brother most of the time. I haven't seen him since he stormed onto the battlefield and chased Zareil off before ditching again. We haven't talked, either. I'm gonna reach out in the morning to try to check on him."

"Some word's been spreading through the group about what's going on with him," Knuckles suddenly said. There was a brief silence. He tossed Sonic a glance. "The Void, huh?"

"I guess so," Sonic acknowledged. "I'm not the best person to ask for details, though. I'm still working on wrapping my head around it all myself."

"I'll poke around some on my own, then," Knuckles stated. "Given who Dad has contact with these days, he probably has access to the same information you were given. Can't be too hard to learn something."

"Have at it, Toes," Sonic invited. "Be my guest."

"Call me Toes again and I'll come up with an even worse nickname for you."

"Try it and see what happens."

"Don't call me that anymore and we won't have to go there."

"...Toes."

What ensued next was several minutes of verbal and semi-physical squabbling that only stopped when Amy mentally chastised the both of them for being so loud at this kind of hour. Sonic and Knuckles separated, halfheartedly sulking before finally giving in and grinning at one another. "Well, it sure didn't take us long to irritate her just like the good ol' days, huh?" Knuckles asked.

"No, it really didn't," Sonic agreed. He managed a fleeting smile, one of fondness and old happiness. "At least she didn't threaten us with a hammer."

"Or chase you with it."

"Yeah, or that."

More silence settled between them before Knuckles broke it once more. "You said Shadow's 'mostly' fine. Is something up?"

Sonic let out another sigh. "In a manner of speaking. You've been told about Nareish, right?" Knuckles nodded. "Right. Well, she's been… I don't know, picking on him for quite a while now, to put it as goddamn lightly as possible. She was partly doing it at first because getting at him was easier than getting at me, and hurting either of us is a surefire way to rile Dad up. Then the witch revived Gerald and helped the bastard get ahold of Shadow. His entire skeletal system was removed and replaced, Knuckles. And Tails thinks Shadow was conscious and aware for the whole thing."

"Fucking hell…" Knuckles muttered with a scowl on his face.

"To top it all off, Tails texted me saying Shadow developed some random new powers earlier, and we both suspect Nareish is involved again. And she injected with a drug a while back, and she abducted him and a few others and nearly killed him, and she's probably still not done. We just don't know what she's going to do next or why she's targeting him at all, especially since Dad's not even a demon anymore."

Knuckles gave all of this some serious thought. "She steals powers, right? Not just from Immortals, either, I'd wager. That could be where those random abilities came from." That gave Sonic pause. "And I'll go ahead and assume that the new skeleton Gerald put into him was somehow an improvement over the one he had before."

It didn't take much effort to follow his line of thinking, and Sonic stiffened. "You think they're not just hurting him, that they're simultaneously trying to strengthen him on purpose?"

"I don't know about 'they'," Knuckles cautioned. "It makes sense coming from Gerald, since he created Shadow in the first place to be his 'ultimate weapon'. But with Nareish… I'm not in a position to guess at her motives. All I can say is that this is weird and suspicious. Something's going on here."

"Damn it all… You're probably right." Sonic sat up long enough to get his arms out from under his head, then laid back down. Pulling up Toru's contact, he typed out a lengthy message detailing this whole conversation as well as Knuckles's suspicion. Once it was sent, he put his arms behind his head again. This could be really bad.

"Who were you texting?" Knuckles asked. "I can't imagine it'd be Tails, since he's inside."

"His name's Toru," Sonic said. Then, like the big brother he was, he couldn't quite resist the urge to briefly be a pest by adding, "They haven't said a damn thing to anyone yet, but it turns out Shadow's gotten himself a boyfriend."

Red eyebrows shot straight up. "I… did not see that one coming," he admitted. Then he gave it a bit more thought. "You know, it's weird how much sense this makes to me."

Sonic managed a fresh smirk. "I know, right? They lied about it to my face the last time I prodded them about it, though. Meaning they probably aren't ready for other people to know. In other words, don't say shit. Alright?"

"You have my word. Though I will say that the protective instincts weren't entirely necessary here."

"I was just saying-"

"Because you were being protective, I know."

Emerald eyes rolled toward the heavens. "You're such an ass."

"S'what I'm here for," Knuckles grinned, then resituated a bit to get comfortable again. "Anyway, it's late as sin, so I'm gonna hit the hay. And by that I mean the roof."

"Not a bad idea… though Tails might not appreciate it." Sonic closed his eyes, suddenly reminded of his own fatigue.

"Eh, he'll live."

"He'll complain until we fix it."

"That's when we book it outta here and enjoy the peace and quiet somewhere else until our wives find us, give us a good pummeling, and drag us back by the hair to fix it anyway."

"You know us all too well."

"Thanks for noticing. I put effort into that plan, you know."

After chuckling some more, the pair fell silent again and waited for sleep to claim them.

~保護者~

Once word reached Espio that his father (and… apparent aunt) had returned and was alright for the moment, he naturally stopped by to visit for a bit. He spent a short bit of time conversing with Atani, just sort of getting a feel for who she was as a person. This resulted in him rather immediately accepting her, especially when he saw how much she and young Zei were getting along. Armaris was nearby, lounging in a hammock of her own Darkness while watching over everyone quietly.

After that, Espio and Shei conversed for just a few moments before Zei pulled the older man's attention away. Espio promptly turned his own attention to his mother, and he set Sako down on the floor between them. "Kasaan, oharu," he murmured, not even attempting to hide the tone of warm, gentle parental happiness in his voice. "Hold your hands out. He has started crawling already. He may come to you." ("Mother, look.")

The woman gave a soft smile, briefly managing to hold off how much the idea excited her with her arms held out. It took several moments of Sako sitting there on his hands and knees just sort of looking around before he seemed to notice her hands. He reached one of his out to try to bat at her fingers playfully. When he found that he couldn't reach, he awkwardly scooted forward just a little bit. Sure enough, for just a few seconds, he managed to actually crawl toward her. The well of emotions in Aniko's eyes was on display and all of it was positive. She shifted just a little closer to Sako, holding her hands closer. "You're so close, Sako," she encouraged.

Sako reached a tiny hand out and swatted at her fingers again, gurgling with innocent delight when he was actually able to sort of reach this time. He promptly scooted further toward her, making a few little sounds of effort as he went. Aniko, once he was close enough, moved her hands to gently collect him off the floor and set him in her lap.

For just a brief, fleeting moment, Espio actually smiled. It was something he'd only ever very rarely done even as a child himself, but the expression nonetheless came to him in that moment. It was there and gone very quickly, but the happiness remained in his eyes. "He was rather determined, wasn't he?" Sako, for his part, just busied himself with looking around as he was held.

Aniko nodded easily, a gentle smile displayed on her face. "Yes, he was. I am quite proud of that. It bodes well."

"It does," Espio agreed quietly. "He and his sister… It is hard to believe, sometimes, how advanced they are both becoming."

"It helps that they have incredible parents raising them," Aniko murmured gently.

Espio glanced at Armaris. ...One.

Armaris caught the glance and frowned at him. "Espio," she warned softly. "I know what you're thinking and you're wrong."

This earned a sigh. "I was not thinking anything, Armaris," he argued quietly, though he kept his voice down so as not to disturb the others.

"You should know you can't lie to me," Armaris huffed.

"And you should know that I am not always lying," Espio grumbled, though he knew good and well that that was an utterly pointless argument to make here. He was just feeling ever-so-slightly petty and acted on the feeling by wasting just a few more seconds of their collective time.

Armaris stuck out her tongue at him and had her Darkness recede, landing beside him in a silent crouch. "Same here." Espio just rolled his eyes.

Aniko rolled her eyes at them both, chuckling. "You two have grown well together in more ways than one. It is quite impressive." This time, Espio responded by giving her an inquisitive look. His mother motioned to them both. "You allow her to be close to you actively. Her presence even seems to greatly aid you, and she seems to be much more open and happy around you."

Espio shrugged, unsure what to say about that. Though, he did internally concede that she had a point. Armaris, however, was a touch more vocal as she leaned up on Espio. "I'm really happy here… with this family. It's everything I could've ever asked for."

"Happy!" Zei exclaimed in sudden agreement, all but launching herself into Armaris's lap from wherever she'd been moments before. "Mama happy, so I happy!"

The cat laughed a little and wrapped her arms around the young chameleon, nuzzling her. "And it makes me happy that you're happy."

Zei beamed up at her, then looked at Aniko. "Are you happy, too?" she asked, all smiles.

"Of course," Aniko answered gently, her gaze shifting to Espio. "And you, my son?"

After a small pause, Espio's shoulders lifted into a shrug. "I suppose," he conceded.

That was enough for Aniko. "I am glad to hear it."

"Oh! Oh!" Zei suddenly exclaimed, bouncing in Armaris's lap. "He's daddy and she's momma and he," she pointed at Shei, "is papa! But what you called?"

Armaris suddenly spoke up, a devious smile on her face. "You can call her granny."

Aniko blinked once, trying to understand why that seemed to be something worth acting in such a way. "Armaris… why?" Espio looked between the pair but decided not to get involved in whatever Armaris was starting.

"I figured that was the most suitable, what with how much older you a-" The cat sunk into her shadow the moment Aniko moved to stand with Sako wrapped up in her left arm. Tendrils moved Zei onto Espio's lap.

Espio shifted Zei onto his knee with a huff. "Armaris, do not finish that sentence if you wish to remain in good health. I will not protect you from this."

"I'm good down here, thanks," Armaris answered.

Aniko snorted a little and reclaimed her seat, shaking her head slowly. "Sheesh."

"I don't wanna call her that," Zei suddenly decided. "I wanna pick a perfect name."

Thinking over it, Aniko came up with a blank. "I am not sure what would be a good choice for you to call me."

Zei thought about the matter on her own. Eventually, she shrugged. "I'unno," she said, hopping up. "Dada, can I play? I brought my toy, remember?"

"I know you did," Espio acknowledged. He gestured to the wood horse resting near the doorway. "You left it over there. Stay inside." Zei smiled brightly and ran off.

Armaris poked her head out of the shadows and smiled a little before looking over to Atani and Shei. "So, how's everything going with you two?" she called.

Atani raised an eyebrow. "...I get the impression this is somehow normal for you," she mused aloud.

"What in particular?" Armaris asked with a grin.

"You and your shadows," Atani answered easily.

"It is normal," Shei confirmed. "That is often her preferred means of transportation and defense, among other things."

Armaris nodded. "Mhm. It's a lot more comfortable than being directly in the light sometimes, and most things couldn't ever reach in here and get me, so it's usually pretty safe."

"Odd… yet interesting. You're a full being of Darkness, but you manipulate a form of the energy that isn't true Darkness itself." Atani looked Armaris over thoughtfully. "That's rather unusual. As I said, though, it's interesting."

"I didn't always have full access to Darkness. My dad sealed my it away in hopes of keeping part of me from emerging," Armaris explained simply.

"I see. Regardless, it serves you well, no matter how the ability came about." Atani canted her head slightly to one side and added, "It suits you."

Armaris beamed at that. "Thanks. I'd like to think it does, too."

Atani couldn't help but smile back faintly. This family certainly is interesting.

~保護者~

17,729 words this time. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Hope you enjoyed. Posted (at about 9:10 a.m.) 09-21-21.