Tails' POV:

I knew I was overreacting. I mean, I get it: Sonic didn't want to talk about his dead family. Obviously, it was painful for him and, if we're being honest here, he probably didn't want me to be scared that the same thing could happen to me. Even considering the fact that I'd been kidnapped and tortured and nearly killed who knows how many times, I guess I can see why he wouldn't want me to live in fear that Robotnik could sneak up on us and I wouldn't make it out of the fight.

But at the same time, I still felt angry that he hadn't brought it up. I mean, come on, if you had someone who loved you more than anyone you were actually related to, and you found out they practically lied to you about their entire life- well, how would you react? Immediately forgive them and move on in life without looking back? News flash: that isn't how reality works.

Those thoughts, among others, were the ones running through my head as I slowly approached Sonic.

He looked… horrible, to tell you the truth. There was no other way of saying it. He had bags under his eyes and his fur was filthy, matted with dried mud and dirt. His shoes looked more worn in than I had ever seen, like he hadn't stopped running for weeks. His eyes were closed and his brow was furrowed; he was leaning against a tree, seemingly asleep but sharply twitching every now and then.

I hesitated. Should I wake him? Or just let him sleep? Or… what? In frustration, I let out a heavy sigh.

Sonic sprang to his feet and almost rammed his head into the tree before his eyes had even flown open, shakily holding up his fists as though ready for a fight. I was so startled I jumped back a few paces, nearly falling over. "Scrap! Sonic! Don't do that!"

He looked over at me, his eyes wide with terror and confusion. At first, he looked as though he didn't even recognize me, but as the realization slowly crept back into his eyes, so did the trace of fear. "T-tails?" he started, sounding unsure. "Is that you?"

Somehow, I managed to smile. Even though I was still mad at him… Chaos, it was good to see him again. "No, dummy, I'm a figment of your imagination," I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course it's me! Who else?"

Sonic didn't return the smile. He tilted his head skeptically, his eyes narrowing. He still looked confused. Very, very slowly, he crept forward closer to me before reaching out and sharply poking my arm. He sprung back just as quick, now in complete shock. "You're… you're real."

"Um… yeah. I'm real. I already told you." I responded tentatively. "...Are you okay?"

"How did you find me?"

That was the first thing he thought to say after over two months? I tapped my foot impatiently, crossing my arms. "That's not important right now, Sonic. I think I would know how to find my own brother..." My voice died for a moment. "Or at least... I thought I would."

Sonic looked slightly confused again, and I thought I saw a flash of pain in his eyes. "...Tails? What's wrong?"

Suddenly, the anger I had been battling with rushed forward; I clenched my fists and stared determinedly at the ground. "Why didn't you tell me, Maurice?"

Sonic flinched, recovering too late. "Look, Tails, I… I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, I swear I didn't mean to. I got lost in this stupid forest, and I think I'm starting to lose my mind-"

"Not about you disappearing!" I snapped, cutting him off. "About them!"

"...What're you talking about?" said Sonic, tilting his head slightly.

"About…" I took a deep breath, bracing myself for the typhoon of problems I was about to unleash. "Sonia and Manic."

Any color in his face immediately drained and he physically recoiled, looking as if he had been slapped. "Where… where did you hear those names?"

"You aren't answering my question." I folded my arms and glared, biting down on my lower lip. "Why didn't you tell me about them?"

"I… I…" he faltered, somehow out of breath and struggling to speak. "Tails, you gotta understand, I… I just… I didn't know how to say it." he stammered, burying his face in his hands. "I-I didn't know what you would think-"

"Sonic, you lied to me!"

"No, I didn't!" he protested, looking like he was about to have a panic attack. "I never said I didn't have a family before, did I?"

"But you didn't tell me!" I threw my hands in the air, turning away. "Sonic, what am I?"

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean, what am I to you? A-am I just some way to cope with your grief?" I demanded. "A replacement for what you lost all those years ago?" My voice broke, "Was I ever really your brother?"

"Tails… Miles, how could you even ask that?" Sonic reached out to me, but I jerked away.

"Don't touch me!"

XXX

Sonic's POV:

I stared at Tails, his words stinging with more with each syllable. I had no idea how he found out about my siblings, but at the moment… did it really matter? I had to fix this, and fast- before I lost even more family.

I took a deep breath, trying to compose myself. "Miles, I-"

"I wouldn't if I were you."

My eyes flickered to the space behind Tails and I immediately recoiled. This… this was impossible. He couldn't be here… he couldn't. He'd never left my dreams before.

Tails frowned, looking confused, "What?"

I shook my head, rubbing my eyes. Okay, I had to be dreaming. This had to be a horrible nightmare. There was no way he could be here. It wasn't possible.

"Oh, Maurice," I watched as the other me, my dark, twisted mirror image stepped forward from the darkness, "I'm you. Of course I'm here."

Well, this day just went from horrible to nightmareland. "You… you can't be here. You can't be!"

Tails raised an eyebrow, "Sonic, we've already established that I'm real. I'll tell you how I found you later, okay?"

I shook my head, "Not you. Him!" I pointed at… me? Myself? Let's just say creepy Sonic.

Tails turned around, looked straight at creepy Sonic, then turned back to me. "Sonic, there's nobody there."

My blood froze and I almost had a heart attack. "Are… are you sure?"

"Sonic," Tails folded his arms, "Are you trying to change the subject?"

"No!"

Creepy Me smiled, taking a few steps forward, "Aww… look what you did now. Our brother doesn't trust us anymore. Shame on you."

"He's not your brother!" I snapped back, stepping back as Creepy Me passed by Tails, inching closer and closer.

"I know that! Quit trying to change the subject already!" Tails shouted, stamping his foot on the ground. He looked close to tears. I wished I could reach out and comfort him, but I was too busy panicking.

"I'm not!" I protested, still backing away from Creepy Me. "M-miles... I think… I think I'm going crazy."

The fox blinked at me a few times, his face blank. "That's your excuse to get out of this conversation? Pleading insanity?"

"This is exactly why we shouldn't see him right now." Creepy gave me an almost sad smile, "We aren't ready yet."

"Ready for what?" I mumbled.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. I'll just have to speed up the timetable."

"Sonic?" My attention snapped back to Tails, who now looked genuinely concerned, "Are… are you okay?"

"Still hiding from our past, trying to keep our life together." Creepy Me rolled his eyes, "Pathetic. We've left everything behind, Maurice..."

"Shut up." I said with gritted teeth, my knuckles closing themselves into fists almost against my will.

"...Everyone behind. No one trusts us anymore. We lied to them about everything."

"Shut up!"

Creepy Me got closer, his grin growing wider, "We've done nothing but hurt everyone around us. You know that. And it's just gonna keep happening until you grow up and accept it: You are the problem."

"Shut up!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, jumping forward to slap Creepy Me. I wasn't sure what I expected, but just before I hit him, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

I still hit something.

Tails let out a cry of pain as he flew back to the ground, skidding across the grass and banging up against a tree trunk. I froze where I stood. My brother, my little brother, the one who'd been by my side since we were kids, looked at me like I was the monster from my nightmares, his hand on his cheek where I had slapped him.

I heard someone scream out in horror then Amy ran into the clearing, shortly followed by Knuckles. The echidna was yelling something at me that I wasn't listening to while Amy was hurriedly checking Tails over for injuries. They were shortly followed by two other hedgehogs I didn't recognize, but didn't really care much about at the moment. I thought I also saw Rouge and Shadow show up, but I was already turning my back to run deeper in the forest. I hurt him. I hurt him.

My ears felt blocked and my vision was beginning to go cross-eyed again. It felt like I was drowning, even though there was no water in sight. I looked down at my shaking hands, failing to steady them, still in shock of what I just did.

"We'll just keep hurting them, you know."

No. This wasn't me. There had to be an explanation. There had to be.

But I was so tired. My body felt like lead, weighing me down and refusing to let me move; I screamed in my head, but it was like time was frozen. Nothing was real anymore. This was a horrible nightmare and I didn't like it.

I wanted it to go away.

I wanted everything to go away.

Something inside snapped; I could almost see Creepy Me's maniac grin. "Careful what you wish for, Maurice."

I blacked out.

XXX

Shadow's POV:

A single glance was all it took for my blood to run cold. I instantly wanted to reject the image, to forget it, but my eyes weren't lying to me. Miles was on the ground, Amy still checking him. Sonia and Manic scared and confused, trying to speak to Sonic, who was staring off into the distance, his back to us. Knuckles' voice was the loudest, demanding to know what had come over the hedgehog to slap his own brother.

I stood in shock, listening to the cold foreboding wind. Then Maurice dropped to the ground like a rock. Sonia rushed forward to check him.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" My voice rang out hard and sharp, halting the girl's hand only inches from his skin. She turned towards me, her expression demanding an explanation.

I hurried forward and pulled her away from Sonic, "Nobody touch him," I repeated, my voice much more quiet.

Everyone's eyes were locked on me to my annoyance, but I did not acknowledge it. My eyes were trained on Sonic- more importantly, the Chaos energy surrounding him.

It was bad. Very bad.

"Knuckles take everyone back to the Tornado and start flying north. Do not stop until you get to GUN headquarters." I took a step forward, reaching my hand outward and focusing on the energy. I estimated we only had minutes before the negative energy would reach its peak.

Knuckles looked confused, "What in the world are you talking about?" He was too confused or blind to see the truth in front of him. Wonderful.

I chose to ignore him. "Rouge, tell the General we have a Code C8-14."

She frowned, "I have no idea what that means."

"You are not supposed to."

Miles was now getting to his feet, still trembling, his initial shock turning into panic. "W-what's going on? Amy, get off me, I'm fine! Shadow! Kn-knuckles! What's wrong with-"

At that moment, Sonic started to convulse. His breathing became heavy and labored and he started to cough violently, as if trying to get something toxic out of his system. This time I raised a force field of energy to prevent everyone from rushing forward. "What part of nobody touch him do you not understand?" I hissed.

Sonia whirled around, her anger apparent. "Shadow, what in Chaos is going on? Let us through right now, he's sick! Can't you see it?"

I refused to look her in the eye, "You need to leave. Now. This is not a request."

She opened her mouth to protest, but her voice seemed to die off on its own. I motioned to Knuckles, who took her gently by the wrist and began to pull her away, mumbling something under his breath that seemed to calm her down.

There was no time to explain, but everyone would be at risk if they did not know. A condensed version would have to suffice.

I turned to Miles, "Do not do something stupid. That- thing is not your brother anymore."

He looked like he was about to say something, but I cut him off. "Knuckles," The Guardian looked over, slightly confused.

"Tikal should help."

"...What?"

Manic threw his hands in the air, "Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on?"

I turned to him, ready to growl a threat, but it died in my throat. I mentally began to curse my own stupidity. Sonic had stopped convulsing, but was now mumbling to himself and twitching hard. The clock was running short and I had no time to explain. I looked Manic in the eye, "Brace yourself. You are next."

Amy looked ready to pull out her hammer to try and hit me. "I don't know if you noticed, Shadow, but Sonic is passed out and I think he just had some kind of seizure-"

"Amy, for once, do not be blinded by your heart." I glared at everyone. "Now leave."

"What about Sonic?" Tails demanded.

"I will handle him. Worry about yourselves." I summoned a chaos spear and threw it in the general direction of the group, causing them all to jump back a few feet. Rouge and Sonia simultaneously cursed at me, but I ignored them. "Now move!"

Most of them ran, no matter how upset they seemed about it. Knuckles was the only one who remained. "Shadow, you haven't been making any sense. What's going on?"

"No time." I turned my back to him, focusing completely on Sonic. "Join the others. I will... deal with Sonic."

"Deal with…?" Knuckles questioned died in his throat.

I did not need to ask why. Sonic's fur had transformed from his usual bright blue to almost black in a matter of seconds. I summoned two Chaos spears, holding each in my hands. I chanced a look back at Knuckles.

"Run."

The Guardian hesitated, but nodded quickly, sprinting into the forest and leaving me alone with death itself.

XXX

The sounds of the forest whistled softly in my ears. I stood ready, tense to the bone. Sonic had not moved since Knuckles had left and no sound had been emitted either. However, his fur was almost glowing black at this point and the Chaos energy was off the chart.

Suddenly, Sonic bolted upright, slowly opening his eyes. They had darkened in color, but something else was... off. He extended his arms and flexed his fingers, examining them curiously. "Hmm… I'd forgotten how hands felt."

Alarms immediately sounded in my head.

The hedgehog sprung up, much quicker than I had expected. His movements were jerky and mechanical at first; He jogged in place for a second, stretching out his legs. "Oh yes... this'll do quite nicely." His voice sounded like Sonic's, but there was an eerie ring to it, as if he was laughing at a joke that no one else understood. He whipped around suddenly to face me, a small smile appearing on his face, "Oh! What do we have here?"

My suspicions proved to be accurate; This was not Sonic. "Who are you?" I asked bluntly, digging my heels into the ground for support.

'Sonic' walked towards me, swaying with each step, looking almost playful. "I should ask you the same thing…" He stopped, studying my closely. "Your Aura is strong. Very strong." The grin widened, "I will enjoy infecting it."

I did not like the sound of that. The hedgehog turned away from me again, but I kept my eyes glued on him. "Infecting it? Is that what you are- a virus?"

He spun around once then stopped abruptly, pointing at me, "Ah! Now there's the question!" He took a few steps closer, "I'm known by many names. Of course, most of them have faded from time and history. A shame, really. But you may call me…" A pause and grin, "Dark."

My eyes narrowed, "Were you inside Sonic this entire time?"

Dark smiled, sending a chill down my spine. "Of course not, you silly boy."

I gritted my teeth, "Then where did you come from?"

"That…" he swung his head to the side, cocking it like a rag-doll, "Is a secret. A secret you'll never have the chance to find out."

"Then you know nothing about me." I tensed slightly, sensing this creature was almost through talking.

"I know enough…" Dark smiled, his eyes flashing green for a brief second, "Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform." His smile faded, "I heard you…"

My eyes narrowed and I took a slight step back. "You heard me?"

"A long time ago… your pain… your sorrow… your hatred…" Dark smirked, walking closer to me, "I heard you scream as she fell… when she died for you..."

My blood went cold. Did he just…? No. It simply wasn't possible.

"What was her name?" Dark pondered, pretending to think before turning to me with the crazed look of a maniac, "Hmm, maybe… Maria?"

I threw the Chaos spear as hard as I could.

Dark easily side-stepped it, laughing. "Aww… did I hit a sore spot?"

Yes.

I summoned another spear, holding it at the ready. Dark crouched down in a fighting stance, his grin widening. "Now this is an interesting twist- The Ultimate Lifeform versus me! Who will win?" The grin suddenly faded as the voice turned into a snarl. "Me."

Dark suddenly lunged forward in a spindash, hitting me in the stomach. I fell back on the ground, throwing the hedgehog behind me before rolling back to a standing position. I held my fists up, ready to destroy him at a moment's notice, but found nothing there.

Something zipped behind me. I whirled around just in time to see the dark blur come to an abrupt halt. I took a chance to throw some Chaos spears, but he easily avoided them, laughing like this was some game of his. It infuriated me, but his voice, his energy… it unnerved me. Threw me off balance.

"What's the matter, Ultimate Lifeform?" he taunted, now perched above me on a tree branch. "Can't keep up?"

He moved fast. Almost faster than Sonic himself, and definitely faster than me. I guessed this was due to his extremely high levels of Chaotic energy, no matter how negative it was. I managed to skim him a few times with my chaos spears, but every time I had a near miss, he landed a direct hit. And he was not pulling his punches.

"You shouldn't be playing with such big kids, little boy!" Dark jeered, kicking me in the back of the head and sending me flying face-first into a tree trunk. "You might get hurt!"

I gritted my teeth in fury; this thing was getting on my nerves. I wrestled my head out of the crevice of the tree trunk and aimed my spear expertly at Dark's back. To my pleasure, it struck him, knocking him forward and giving me a chance to recover. I did not have long, though; Dark seemed to heal much quicker than the average opponent, almost supernaturally.

"Aw, now look what you did," he crooned, his dangerously amiable tone only growing more ominous. "You made me mad. Big mistake, Ultimate Lifeform." He cracked his knuckles and grinned, "Now I have to punish you." His voice went dark, "Severely."

I braced myself for whatever was about to happen. And for the first time since the ARK, I prayed.

XXX

Amy's POV:

When Shadow tells you to let him deal with a problem, it's a pretty safe bet to listen to him. He usually had a point about these things. And when he starts throwing chaos spears at the people who are supposed to be his friends- or at the very least allies- you can assume he means business.

That didn't make me any happier to be abandoning him and Sonic… especially Sonic. I didn't know what was wrong with him or why in the world he hit Tails, but something was going on. Was he sick? Dying? And why was Shadow so afraid of him now?

To add on top of the strange factor, Sonia was staring at the horizon like it was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. Rouge was trying to act like she was above it all, but I could tell that she was worried. Manic was still shaking from when Shadow had thrown that spear at us- I didn't know what exactly his problem was, but he seemed more apprehensive of Shadow than he really should be. Or maybe he's just the right amount of apprehensive and I should take him a bit more seriously. Either or.

Tails was arguing with Knuckles about going back and for some reason, Knuckles was agreeing with Shadow- we should stay away. I honestly didn't know how I felt. On one hand, I wanted to go back and help Sonic, but on the other… I didn't know if I could help him. Whatever was going on, it was serious.

"Perhaps Shadow plans to perform his brand of sorcery on Sonic, as to revive him to his ordinary state of mind," suggested Rin in the back of my mind. I almost began to answer her, but quickly remembered that I wasn't alone and starting a conversation with myself would look awfully strange.

"I'm telling you, something's wrong!" Tails protested desperately, interrupting my train of thought. "Sonic would never… h-he'd never… clearly he's not… w-we've gotta help him!"

"Tails…" started Knuckles sadly. "There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."

I scowled, crossing my arms. "If there's nothing we can do, then what's wrong? There's something you're not telling us!"

"Look Amy, I don't know about you, but I trust Shadow when it comes to stuff like this," huffed Knuckles, his tone hard. "And it's not just his judgement I'm counting on, either. I was sensing some seriously negative energy back there. Shadow's right- Whoever that… person was, they're not Sonic anymore."

The biplane suddenly took a hard swerve, throwing us all off balance. Manic almost fell out of the plane, but Sonia caught him just in time.

"Tails!" she shouted. "What was that for?"

Tails was shaking, looking on the verge of tears; I suddenly felt a twinge of annoyance towards Sonia. "Hey, give him a break! You're not the only one going through this, you know!"

Sonia glared, "Does it look like I give a-"

Knuckles interrupted her mid-sentence, a twinge of exasperation in his voice. "Do either of you really think this is a good time to pick a fight?"

Inside, I agreed; that didn't stop me from staring daggers at her, and her at me. I was beginning to understand why Rouge had such a problem with her.

Suddenly, Sonia stiffened. "Rouge, get out of the plane and dive left! Now!"

"Excuse me?" Rouge glared, her fury clear and fierce. "Since when do you give me orders, Princess?"

"Just do it." The two had a short staring contest before Rouge huffed in compliance.

"...Fine. But there better be one heckuva good reason." I raised an eyebrow as Rouge vanished into the clouds. It wasn't like her to just do what she was told… then again, Sonia was apparently a psychic. Maybe she was seeing something we weren't.

"I have learned that those who dabble in the mystic arts often receive revelation from beyond this world," Rin mentioned. "At least, for the price of their immortal soul."

Well, thanks for that, Rin. Very useful to the situation.

"Thank you."

Apparently, Rin still didn't understand sarcasm. I was about to give her another mental lesson on modern speaking habits when a loud, sharp scream rang out from somewhere in the sky. Instinctively, I jerked my head towards where the scream had come from and looked down. At first, all I was able to see was clouds. Then a silhouette began to form. Rouge was flying up, her whole body shaking and her face pale. Cradled in her arms was… oh Chaos.

Manic cursed. Knuckles made a sound that seemed to be a cross of a growl and a shout. Tails lost control for a split second, making the plane shake again. Only Sonia didn't appear surprised, putting her face in her hands and began to silently sob.

There was truly no way to describe my horror as Rouge arrived with Shadow. In all my years fighting alongside Team Dark, I'd never seen him in such a state. Long, deep cuts were scraped along his chest and limbs like tiger stripes, oozing foul-smelling substances that I didn't care to know the name of. His face was a mess of brown and purple bruises, including several dangerous-looking lumps on his forehead. I expected to wake up, to moan, to give us some sign that he was still alive, but… nothing. For the first time in my memory, Shadow was beaten. Really beaten.

Whoever did this to him… they weren't kidding around. I reached under my seat for the medical kit before rushing forward from the cockpit. Rouge to laid him down on the plane, as I tried to recall every medical know how I had ever learned in my life.

Behind me, Manic was cursing under his breath, but no one else made any noise. Rouge opened the Tornado's medical kit and pulled out as much gauze as she could find. Compared to the injuries, it was a pitiful amount. I checked Shadow's heartbeat and breathing. They were both slow and trembling.

Oh Chaos. Oooh, Chaos. I didn't know what to do. Rin wasn't helping as she began to speculate what happened to the hedgehog from attacks by dragons to possession by demons. My hands trembled and I was starting to hyperventilate. Rouge didn't look much better, her face pale and ghostly.

Knuckles broke the silence, his voice almost broken, "Is… is he… still… well, alive?"

I nodded, unable to speak.

"What…" Tails voice trembled as he tried to force the question out, "What in Chaos happened to him?"

I was about to press gauze against one of the many cuts on his chest when Shadow's hand suddenly flew up and snatched my wrist, his iron grip nearly cutting off my circulation. I managed to not scream, but only barely. Terrified of what I might see, looked up to his face. Shadow's eyes were open, but only barely. He blinked once before speaking; it was only one word, but he struggled to say even that.

"Dark."

It was all he could manage before his strength finally gave out and his eyes rolled back into his head. I didn't know it, but that word would haunt me for a long time afterwards. It would pop into my head as we arrived at GUN, watching the medical team hurry forward to take over for Rouge and me. It would echo in my dreams for the few moments of rest I managed to get as the doctors stabilized Shadow's condition in a life against death six hour battle. It would resonate off the walls along with the steady beep of the life support machines that made sure Shadow would survive the night.

If only we knew what it meant.