Tails' POV:

This wasn't happening.

This couldn't be happening.

In the back of my mind, I was aware of the others trying to talk to me, but I wasn't listening. She had said Maurice. As in Maurice. As in the name Sonic had been hiding since the day I met him.

I tried to shove the wave of doubt and fear that had risen up in my stomach. There are probably hundreds of people named Maurice in the world… Who are hedgehogs. Yes. Definitely. That is plausible.

Just... not highly probable.

I swallowed hard and tried to turn my focus back to my friends. Knuckles was shaking my shoulder gently and calling my name. His voice was steadily growing louder and more concerned.

"Tails! Talk to me! Say something already!" he said, sounding worried.

"Yeah… sorry, just thinking." Somehow, I managed to speak without sounding too out of sorts. Inside, I was still screaming. Knuckles frowned and glanced over at Amy; she shrugged.

Manic was staring at me, his eyes fixed in an unblinking stare. An odd feeling came over me, that feeling of being watched- no, invaded. Remembering that he could read minds and was probably doing so right now, I quickly began to recite random math formulas and trivia in my head, trying to block out any thought of Maur-

Sonic.

Manic blinked, looking surprised; his stare only intensified. Scrap.

"So… yeah." said Sonia uncomfortably. "That's it, I guess. We've been searching for our brother and… I don't know why I lied. I'm sorry."

"It's… fine." said Knuckles slowly, still refusing to look her in the eye.

There was a moment of awkward silence that I hardly noticed; my mind was racing and I still could feel Manic's eyes boring into the back of my head.

"So… if that's all…" said Sonia, moving to get up.

"No!" burst out Knuckles. Sonia looked surprised and Rouge clenched her fists even tighter than before. Knuckles coughed, backing away slightly.

"Um… what I uh, what I meant was, um… Didn't you- didn't you have a question for me about Echidnas, or Chaotic energy? Something like that?"

Sonia hesitated, "Is now really the best time? You seem pretty busy… with that attack on the city and your friend missing. And after all of…" she motioned around at the room, "This… I think it might be best to leave it alone for now." Knuckles protested with something about him being fine, but I ignored the conversation.

My mind was racing, trying desperately to understand what was going on. Sonic's disappearance, Robotnik's attack, Shadow vanishing, Sonia and Manic popping up out of nowhere, and-

Maurice.

Sonic would have told me if he had siblings. I mean, that seems like something you would tell your adopted brother. This must be another Maurice. He had to be a different Maurice.

Right?

Before I had a chance to think about what I was doing, I blurted out, "Was he blue?"

Sonia and Knuckles must have been arguing because they both looked over startled. Manic raised an eyebrow, his eyes still glued on me.

"What?" Sonia asked, very confused.

I forced myself to calm down and looked at her, struggling to force out the words. "Your… brother… was he blue?"

The question clearly caught her off guard and she took a moment to compose herself, "Um… yes. W-why do you ask?"

"... No reason." I began to pace back and forth across the floor, trying to stay calm.

Knuckles seemed to have forgotten his argument and approached me slowly, "Tails… is something wrong?"

"No!" I replied, a little too quickly. Knuckles raised an eyebrow.

"I… I mean…" I stuttered. "No. Nothing is wrong."

"Are you sure?" Knuckles asked firmly. "You look a little pale." He tried to put his hand on my shoulder, but I ducked around him.

"I'm fine." I gritted my teeth together and held back an entirely different set of emotions. Ever since Sonic had vanished, Knuckles had tried to be a little more… close, I suppose. I get it, I'm twelve and, legally speaking, shouldn't be living alone. But Vanilla checked on me every day and besides, I was used to being home alone, since Sonic liked to go out and run so much. I was used to the more distant Knuckles… the one who wasn't quite so friendly. It was weird.

I motioned back towards our two guests, "I… I just need to think. Figure them out right now."

Knuckles frowned, but turned back to Sonia. "Look, you're here, so... you might as well just ask."

"Well…" Sonia gave a timid smile, "I don't have it on me right now, but while we were searching for Maurice, Manic and I found something… really weird."

Really weird? Yeah, I got something that can one up you, sist- Nope! Not even going there.

I began to fit the pieces together in my mind, and I wasn't liking the picture. They looked about the same age, had similar features, and the descriptions fit. They even knew his real name… no. No, this had to be a coincidence. I racked my brains, trying desperately to remember anything Sonic had ever told me about his past-

-and drew up a blank. Did he never tell me anything? I mean, I was his brother- albeit, his adopted one. You'd think something like this would come up in conversation sometime during five years. But apparently not!

I tried to calm down, reminding myself that none of this was confirmed as fact. There was still the possibility that these two were talking about some other hedgehog. But…

"When was his birthday?" I blurrted out, interrupting again.

This time, Sonia didn't even bother to clarify, "June twenty-third. Um… why do you ask?"

Alright, I was done. I grabbed the nearest wrench and went to smash whatever was on my worktable, but Knuckles managed to yank it out of my hand before I did so. He pushed me back, looking alarmed.

"Woah, Tails! What the Chaos are you doing?" he demanded, the wrench swinging uselessly from his hand.

I began to bang my head against a worktable, repeating "Scrap! Scrap! Scrap!" over and over again. Everyone just watched with confused and slightly horrified expressions on their faces.

A loud pop sounded outside, and for a moment everyone froze. The doorknob shook and turned, and the door flew open. Shadow took a few steps in before pausing. His eyes flicked from me, to everyone. When he saw Sonia and Manic, his eyes grew slightly wider. He looked back in my direction. We only held eye contact for a few seconds, but that look was all I needed.

He knew.

I turned back to the worktable and banged my head a few more times.

XXX

Sonia's POV:

Alright, so the fox had just snapped and some hedgehog just walked in the room. Today just kept getting better and better, didn't it?

I sighed; Maybe I should go grab Manic and get that corn dog he had been talking about. For once, the idea of vendor food didn't disgust me. Unfortunately, the arrival of the black and red hedgehog left me with the impression that this entire day was about to get even worse. Manic's expression of pure horror alone alerted me to the fact.

"Shadow!" Rouge fluttered over to the newcomer and crossed her arms, glaring fiercely. "Where the heck have you been?"

"Out." he replied, as if that explained everything.

"For a whole month? What's the matter with you?" I got the impression that Rouge and "Shadow" were on friendly-ish terms, since Rouge wasn't trying to slug him for vanishing. (honestly, what did Manic see in her?)

Shadow pushed her away and walked briskly over to Tails, stopping the boy from whacking his head again on the table. Tails looked up at him and moaned softly.

"He didn't tell you?" Shadow asked, his voice soft and... almost gentle. Tails shook his head, looking like he was holding back tears.

"Do they know?" asked Shadow; Tails shook his head again. Shadow placed both hands on the kid's shoulder before mumbling something too soft for me to hear.

Tails looked at the ground and nodded slowly, almost reluctantly. "I... " He swallowed, "I agree."

Shadow stepped back, turning towards everyone else, who seemed about as confused as I was. He nodded to me, "Sonia, Manic."

Okay, I was positive I had never spoken to this guy in my life. How the heck did he know my name? I narrowed my eyes and slowly reached into my purse, "Who are you and how do you know our names?"

Shadow crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me, "Do not even think about shooting me. I already had to deal with your Uncle."

Knew it. The day just got worse.

Manic's expression went from shock to pure delight, "Wait, you met my uncle? Did you vaporize him? Oh my gosh, please say yes."

"Manic!" I hissed, nudging him hard.

"What? I'm just asking!"

Amy threw her hands in the air, "Can someone explain to me what the Chaos is going on?"

Shadow motioned for her to sit down, his expression neutral. "I can explain, but we will need to start at the beginning."

"The beginning of what, exactly?" I demanded, growing more and more suspicious. Who did this idiot think he was? Behind me, Manic was frantically motioning for me to back down. I ignored him.

Shadow patiently held up a hand, "Have a seat."

I crossed my arms and stepped closer, giving him one of my best death glares. "Hmm, well, let's see, how 'bout no," Jaws dropped around the room; I could hear Manic praying under his breath. I hardly noticed. "I've got questions and I want answers."

"And if you let me speak, I will tell you everything I know," hissed Shadow through gritted teeth. "Now sit down."

Maybe I was being a little rude. Or maybe I was just so completely done that I didn't care. "Why don't 'cha come over here and make me, tough guy?"

Shadow's eyes flashed with anger; his hands curled into fists and shook with restraint. I smirked, ignoring the incredulous expressions of everyone else.

Shadow took a few steps towards me. He raised his hand to push me into a nearby seat, clearly out of patience; I reached up and caught his wrists, gripping them hard and forcing him to make eye contact. "Touch me, and I break you." My voice was calm and hard. "Get it?" Shadow raised an eyebrow, surprised, but he did not break eye contact.

It's... difficult to describe what happened during the few moments of silence that followed. The simplest way of putting it was that, without saying a word, the two of us came to an understanding. Shadow pulled his hands away and gave me a respective nod. I nodded back before sitting down and motioning him to start explaining.

Manic's face alone was worth it. He stared, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. He pointed at me, then at Shadow, trying to speak but with no sound coming out of his mouth. After a moment he stopped trying and sat down on a nearby work table, stunned and silent.

Knuckles quickly recovered from his shock and turned to Shadow, "Well, um… Where exactly have you been for the past month? We could've used your help, y'know."

Shadow shot him an irritated glance before he began the story. It… wasn't what I expected. He explained that he had been looking for Sonic and found some... interesting information regarding me and Manic and exactly why Team Sonic has been trying to take down Robotnik in the first place. And, long story short, that was how I found out Maurice had not only survived, but had grown to become the hero now known as "Sonic the Hedgehog."

On the bright side, I wasn't alone in not knowing.

"WHAT?" Amy's was the first shriek, followed closely by Knuckles' exclamation of, "I dated Sonic's sister?"

Manic rolled his eyes and leaned back, crossing his arms. "Really, man? That's what you're worried about? I mean, yeah, I get it and all, but dude, get your priorities in check."

Rouge raised an eyebrow, "Funny how you're talking about priorities when you don't seem the least bit concerned with how your long-lost brother works for GUN and you happen to be a wanted criminal, Maniac. But hey, no biggie, right?"

Manic's eyes went wide and I had to stop him from falling backward. "Holy crap… holy crap..." he muttered, his hands starting to shake violently. Suddenly, he turned towards me, a desperate look in his eye. "We can't go back to jail, Sonia! Never again!"

I glared at him, very annoyed he had brought that up. "Manic, don't be ridiculous. Maurice is not going to throw us into jail. I mean, come on, he's our brother!"

I heard a door slam and saw a swish of orange fur as Tails rushed out of the room; Amy and Knuckles exchanged glances and she raced out after him without a word. Rouge still seemed interested on why Shadow's investigation took him a whole month, and started hissing something at him that I couldn't hear. Manic was ranting about Sonic's ego under his breath, with Knuckles trying to grasp reality.

I wondered to myself if anyone would notice if I left, and quietly wandered into an empty back room, sitting down on a work bench. I think that was really when it hit me. Maurice was alive. I mean, I always knew that, but there was that small part of me that worried I would never find him. And now I knew why the search had been so difficult- He had changed his name and taken on a new identity, exactly like Manic and I had.

If we had known he was Sonic, I could have just called Knuckles and asked for a meeting. I almost choked as I realized that, almost a year ago, I had actually talked to him- although it was over the phone and it was some comment about Knuckles and me dating. Still, we had exchanged words. And neither of us knew it. Chaos, why hadn't I just agreed to meet his stupid famous friend? Then this entire year wouldn't have wasted traveling around constantly trying to both cheat death, evade the law, and get over breaking up with my boyfrie- brother's friend.

It was stupid how obvious the situation was. I felt tears threatening to form in the corners of my eyes but pushed them back, feeling them burn deep down in my chest. All those months of searching for nothing. It wasn't fair.

A single teardrop trickled down my cheek; I quickly wiped it away. No use crying over something in the past. What's done was done, and there was nothing I could do to change it.

The sound of the door opening caught my attention. To my surprise, Shadow walked in, a scowl on his face. He didn't appear surprised that I was in here. He nodded to me, but didn't move from the doorway, choosing to lean against the doorframe.

I gave a small nod to him, "Is something wrong?"

"No."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yes." His sentences were short and choppy, but not necessarily rude, at least.

I hesitantly got to my feet, "Um… I was, uh, wondering, um… how exactly did you… well..." I motioned with my hands back towards the room, unable to grasp the proper words.

"Find the truth about Maurice?" Shadow asked, his expression unchanged.

I nodded, "I mean, look, I don't care about the how- I mean, I do care about the how, but I don't-" I groaned and pinched my nose, "This isn't coming out right."

Shadow blinked once, "What you're trying to ask is how did I find the answer in such a short time when you could not?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, maybe a little too quickly. "Manic and I looked for months, and we just found dead end after dead end after dead end! And you only looked for a couple of weeks, with nothing to go off of but a few clues here and there!"

Shadow remained silent for a moment, "You were looking in the right direction, just from the wrong perspective."

I tilted my head slightly, confused. "What do you me- oh, Chaos." I grabbed my head as my vision started to swim.

A blurry Shadow seemed to grow concerned and took a few steps forward just as I passed out.

By this point I was used to spontaneous vision, or at least I thought I was. But this vision… this was different. It was a mix of old things I had seen, both in my mind and in real life. Tikal's creepy, unearthly voice came back to mind, fading in and out, sometimes quiet, other times deafening.

"It has been left unguarded…"

An image of the black emerald appeared in front of me, blurring away the rest of the room until the gem was in sharp focus. A cold, cruel laugh echoed through the air; I wanted to scream, but no sound escaped me.

"Listen well to my warnings..."

Shadow's face was calm and expressionless, refusing to look me.

"Get out of here. Now."

"You may see what comes, but you can never change the future's course..."

I stood in a hospital room. A life support machine was rhythmically beeping, slow and steady with no bumps or pauses. Shadow's eyes were closed and his body was covered in so many bandages I almost didn't recognize him. Wires ran around the bed to separate machines, each silent, but obviously keeping the hedgehog alive.

"Blood must be cleaved to and not forsaken..."

Tails' desperate and terrified voice rang in my ears; I covered them, but the sound only grew louder.

"MAURICE! WAKE UP!"

"The decision to trust may be the difference between life and death..."

Manic's back was to me as I yelled something incomprehensible. He was shaking back and forth muttering something I couldn't hear, clutching his sides as if trying to hold himself back. Suddenly he whirled around, wearing an expression of hatred and fury that I had never seen from him before.

"Shut UP!" he yelled, smacking me across the face so hard I fell over. I let out a cry of pain as I hit the ground...

"The Darkness feels no mercy for its victims…"

Someone had wrapped their fist around my throat and I felt my airway close off. Manic's desperate pleads for my attacker to release me filled my ears, feeling much more painful than anything the killer had done before. I gasped for breath, but my throat was collapsing… My vision was spotty and clouded, and Manic's voice seemed to be growing farther and farther away until I couldn't hear it anymore at all.

I still wasn't breathing.

The next thing I knew I was staring up at the gently whirring ceiling fan, my head throbbing. Shadow was standing above me, his expression neutral; he held out a hand and helped me to my feet. I groaned as I stood up, shaking my head.

"Ugh…" I groaned, my eyesight blotchy and dizzying. "I hate it when that happens."

Shadow simply nodded, "It is not a pleasant experience, to be sure."

I frowned and raised an eyebrow at him, "Have you ever… do you get visions too? Of the past, or… or the future?"

Shadow frowned deeper, "Not exactly. It is... difficult to explain. I possess many Chaotic abilities, some that I am not even aware of. Occasional clairvoyance or precognition is among them."

Alright… I'll buy that. I sat down on the worktable again to try and get my bearings again. After a few minutes of silence, I remembered my manners, "I know you already know who I am, but we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Sonia. Crazy psychic and terrible detective." I grasped his hand and shook it firmly. He looked slightly startled by this gesture, but seemed to allow it.

"Shadow the Hedgehog. Agent of GUN. Ultimate Lifeform." he replied, shaking my hand in return.

I gave a small smile, "So… one question: why exactly is my brother so scared of you? He mentioned something about Westopolis and hiding in a basement."

"Westopolis? That explains it," he grumbled, nodding slowly. "Your brother… he must have seen me preventing an alien invasion there some time ago. That… was not my most noble moment," he admitted. "Most people are afraid of me. You appear to be an exception.

"Speaking of which…" he continued, eyeing me skeptically. "About earlier."

"What about it?"

"While I admire your audaciousness…" he started, his voice suddenly hard and firm. "You must understand that I could have killed you in an instant. I am sure you are familiar with what I am capable of."

"No, not really," I said, shrugging.

"Then allow me to spell it out for you," Shadow held out his hand and, out of nowhere, an electric gold spear materialized in his hand; I jumped back in shock, feeling it pulse with energy even from a distance. I had no clue what that thing could do to me, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be pretty.

"This is a warning. Know your place," he said, his voice low and dangerous.

I shuddered. "Are… are you threatening me?" I demanded.

"No threats," he said calmly, vanishing the spear as quickly as he had summoned it. "Just ensuring that, if you attempt to intimidate me like that again, the consequences will be no one's fault but your own."

I opened my mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Shadow and I exchanged a few more words before Rouge called him away for a GUN check-in. He begrudgingly left, clearly not looking forward to the meeting. I said goodbye before he and Rouge vanished with a pop and a flash of golden light.

He wasn't called the Ultimate Lifeform for nothing.

XXX

Manic's POV:

Holy freakin' Chaos.

My hold on reality was crumbling before me.

Since when did my brother find the time to become an international celebrity hero? The last time I saw him, he was too chicken to climb on the roof, let alone protect entire cities from swarms of robots! And if he's anything like the tabloids make him out to be, he's not exactly humble about his adventures, either. At least that sounded like him. Cocky little squirt. Always thought he was the coolest thing since peanut butter just because he was good at playing Tag.

The others didn't seem to be taking the news very well, either. Knuckles, he looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. And that Tails kid… I honestly couldn't tell if he wanted to cry or punch something. Probably both, to be honest. Good thing Amy went after him- I got the impression that he was the type to set fire to his own house just to blow off steam.

Rouge and Shadow seemed to be the only sane ones around here, and they just left- something about GUN protocol or whatever. I think they're pissed that Captain Edgelord went MIA and didn't bother to ask permission. Honestly? I don't blame him.

Gotta hand it to Sonia, though, getting Alien Boy to back down took a lot of guts. I might've laughed if I wasn't, y'know, terrified that Shadow was gonna snap her like a twig. (And she says that I'm impulsive.)

Sonia had wandered off somewhere and wasn't back yet. And with Amy and Tails out who knows where and Rouge and Shadow off to get yelled at by the government, it was only me and Knuckles left in the room.

Awkward much?

"So…" I trailed off, trying to think of something to talk about. "You're a… guardian."

"Yup."

"Well, uh… how's that goin' for ya?"

Knuckles shot me a look that was somewhere between suspicious and incredulous. Clearly, he thought I was an idiot.

…Fair enough.

"Alright man, I'm gonna be straight with you," I said, deciding to get serious. "I know about your dad."

That got his attention. "Yeah, I was gonna ask about that," he started, already sounding irritated. "Even with your mind-reading thing, there's no way you could've known about what happened to my dad. I don't know what happened to him. So how would you know if he wanted to come home or not?"

"Hoo boy…" I muttered, almost regretting having brought this up. Where would I even start? "How do I put this… Okay, see, when I was ten, I ran away from home-"

"I'm not looking for your life story, punk." he snarled, crossing his arms and glaring. "Get to the point."

Okay, sensing some hostility here. "I'm getting there, hold your horses!"

"Just spit it out already!"

"Geez man, chill. Anyway, so I was ten and homeless and basically starving. I had no money because I wasn't very good at pickpocketing yet, so my income was whatever I found in the gutter. This kinda lifestyle went on for a while and, long story short, I almost got trampled to death by the rush hour crowd," I took a deep breath. "Your dad… he saved me. Gave me a granola bar too, I think. We started talking, and I… I messed up. I wasn't very good at controlling the mind reading thing back then, and… well, I let a few things slip."

"Like what?" Knuckles asked quietly, clearly deep in thought but hanging onto my every word.

"Like how I knew about Guardians and Angel Island and his name and who knows what else. I don't remember a lot of that conversation," I racked my brains to remember what exactly was said, but only a few tidbits stuck out. "He got real interested in me after I started giving away all that. Got out this purple diamond and told me to concentrate. It's kinda fuzzy after that, but…" I couldn't help but shudder. "Bad vibes. Real bad vibes. I think it burned my hand or something. And ever since then… I dunno, I don't like being around gems. Weirds me out." As if on cue, the newly burned spot on my right hand stung painfully; it was all I could do not to wince.

"Huh," was all Knuckles said. Man of few words, I see.

I continued. "After that… that's when things started getting bad."

Knuckles looked up. "What kind of bad?"

"Um… you ever been mugged?"

Knux shook his head; I sighed. "It's not fun, lemme tell ya that. Well, a little while after the gem thing happened, these three guys came up to us and…" I struggled to find the words. "Well, y'know… they mugged us!" I spat out, not really caring to dwell on that memory for too long.

"So what?" asked Knuckles, a little too casually for my taste. "Look, I know what my dad was capable of. He could've pounded those morons into the ground-"

"No, he couldn't," I interrupted, more than a little irritated at this point.

Knuckles scowled stubbornly. "Yes, he could."

"No, he couldn't!"

"Yes he-"

"Zip it, musclehead!" I burst out, jumping to my feet. "Ya wanna know why your old man couldn't handle those suckers? It was 'cuz of that stupid gem! It… it did something to him! He couldn't fight, and they wouldn't go away, and they had a… they…" I trailed off, the memory suddenly as vivid and clear as though it had happened yesterday. May as well have.

I sank back down into my seat, my face buried in my hands and the sound of that long gone gunshot ringing in my ears. Dead. Shot. Gone because of that stupid gem… a crazy emerald, or whatever he called it.

"He's dead, man," I said quietly, unable to raise my voice above a whisper. "I saw it happen. He… he ain't comin' back."

I couldn't tell what was going on in his head; it was almost like he had shut down. For a little while, all we could do was just… sit there. After a bit, though, Knux seemed to turn back on, and I could read him again. I half expected him to get mad and blame me or some other bullcrap, but… he didn't.

"Okay."

"... Okay what?" I asked, confused.

"I believe you," he replied calmly, standing up.

I stared at him in disbelief; he was taking this way too well. I had prepped myself to start running in case he tried to beat me up as a way to vent. Somehow, though, this felt scarier. "You… aren't mad."

"No," he said with a neutral expression. "To be honest, I kinda figured he was dead in a ditch somewhere. I've gotten over it. All this was was confirmation of what I've suspected for eight years. ...Thanks for that, I guess."

"Um… you're welcome?"

Sonia walked in out of the side door, looking surprised that we had been talking. I quickly got up and shoved my hands in my pockets, heading towards the exit.

"Well then…" I said awkwardly, "Glad I, uh… confirmed your suspicions, or however you put it. Um… see you around, I guess."

"Yeah." replied Knuckles, smiling at Sonia but quickly looking away when she noticed. "See ya. Bye, Sofi- I mean, Sonia."

She smiled crookedly, giving him a little wave before heading out. I stuck around.

"One more thing, buddy..." I clapped a hand on his shoulder. "We gotta talk about you dating my sister-"

Knuckles grabbed my wrist and squeezed so hard I thought my bones would shatter; he snarled, "I can kill you in eight different ways."

"... Good talk."