A/N Hey so last chapter dropped some bombs, Sonic briefly explained how he got back to HQ, but we still don't know where he is, we'll learn that. Oh and Fionas last words and confessing what truly happened. Once again I'd like to know if you think that's a believable reaction to the situation. I hope it does cause I feel like it could happen especially since her past had come to light by then and most of it was bad.

So let's go…

Silence reigned over the two foxes. The rage in the male foxes eyes was gone but the tears remained. The female fox had no idea how those words escaped her mouth but now they were out there and she couldn't find a reason to take them back or explain they weren't as strong as they sounded.

Tails only stared at her, through her, like she wasn't even there anymore.

Fiona shuddered, what was going on in his head, his face unreadable. All she knew was she needed to have an answer.

It took what felt like forever until he finally blinked, causing another tear to escape both eyes. Finally I could see emotion in his eyes, I just couldn't tell what it was, it kept changing.

Finally she felt his hands shift and for a moment she thought he was letting her go but just as his hands loosened he suddenly pulled her away from the desk and pushed away from him.

"NO! You don't get to say that now! You don't get to say that after everything that's happened!" he yelled facing away, I could see more tears escaping his eyes falling to the tabletop.

His answer stung her badly "What…"

"No fuck you Fiona. You don't get to tell me that. You destroyed me after I told you that, what makes you think you have the right to say it to me now!?"

She was silent her tears beginning to fall again, she felt like she was being ripped in two. She fought so long to hide these feelings from even herself and now that she finally admitted them to him and herself he turned her down. Karmic justice at it's finest.

"How could I say that to you back then, you were just a kid, I couldn't do anything even if I realized I felt this way back then. I rationalized and hid from it. I did it so much I believed it. What would people have thought if I accepted your advances?... Why do you think I went with Sonic, to distract myself… I couldn't take advantage of you, I would have never forgiven myself… you deserved to grow up first. But like always I try to do right and I utterly failed"

Tails continued to lean on the workbench refusing to look at her hiccupping. Tears fell to the table constantly and after awhile Fiona weakly spoke up "Please say something"

"You had feelings for me back then… but wanted to protect me and let me grow… then you made a plan to catch Scourge and that backfired and in the confusion you panicked and hurt everyone on the team including me" he took a deep breath through his nose "What makes you think I believe you"

"Tails I can't lie about this anymore to you, it hurts so much because you're right this is all my fault! I didn't mean for it to happen but it did and I ran from my decisions… and yet here we both are and you were the one hurt the most and I turned out fine up until two years ago" she pleaded on her knees now desperate to make him believe her.

He finally turned with tears in his eyes afraid of what he might be about to hear, angry that he'd been lied to again for all those years "So explain why you helped him out of jail!?"

Fiona looked away ashamed of that, ashamed she had been so weak. She looked down refusing to look at him "I was so weak, he was the only friend I had… loneliness along with being on the run, or get my one ally back…. It felt like an easy choice at the time. What was worse is I became someone different when I found him, I became the Fiona you knew after I hit you. I had to be someone different or he might leave me behind…. I was so afraid of being alone" she wrapped her arms around herself "I was so afraid to feel like when I was kid, alone in a cell… alone in the dark with no one to call for help and no hope"

After she was done and looking pathetic huddled up into herself on her knees his eyes softened The last time he saw her so completely helpless was after he knocked her out and locked her to the wall in the darkness. She had been so scared of being alone in the dark and broke into uncontrollable tears, like she were a child again. Now she was in front of him again looking nearly exactly the same, afraid of being alone, left behind and forgotten.

He thought back to the past, she never wanted the Freedom fighters learning her past in fear that they'd kick her out for her criminal past. She was afraid of losing trust from Scourge and the Freedom fighters so took the easier path to be with atleast somebody, even if it was Scourge. Her recounting her story of being abandoned by Scourge had been filled with so much rage. She was telling the truth, she had been so desperate to not lose her friends and be left alone again. And now she revealed she risked her freedom just for all of that too.

All the rage escaped him realizing this, she had been afraid all her life and desperate. Trying anything she could to keep those feelings from coming back. It only made sense she eventually messed up that bad.

She had such a hard life before he had met her, he had forgotten that. He should have been first to realize trauma changes you and effects you forever. He should have been the first to realize her actions were due to her past. Her logic was far different on specific stuff compared to others.

With all that in his mind the rage escaped him as he watched the woman become a scared ball of tears. He slowly approached her and once right in front of her he got to one knee to get back to her level.

"Fiona…" she continued to cry with her eyes closed too scared to see his hate anymore.

"Please open your eyes"

"No I can't, I can't keep going like this isn't all my fault, if I hadn't left you wouldn't have left and you would have been there to make a proper plan to defeat Eggman, but instead everyone is dead. I tried to do good, got scared and it got everyone killed!" she sunk deeper into herself now blaming herself entirely, no wonder she had been trying so hard to convince Tails to help her, she had so much guilt built up and wanted to fix it all.

"You can't blame yourself for something like that, nobody could have known your actions would lead to all of this. I chose to leave too so people could easily blame me as well" The kitsune frowned.

She didn't immediately respond but then asked "What makes you think I won't screw everything up again? Why don't you make me leave?" she had expected to be forced away much sooner.

He wasn't sure how to answer, everything hinged on them not screwing up. At this point they were the only people who could stop Eggman, besides Sonic, wherever he was "That's because I need you ok?" he gently took a hand that was hugging around herself trying to coax her out of her ball "Everyone needs you. Listen, you brought us all together, you started this team and if we lost you then I'm not sure how long this team could last" with his mind clear of rage he could see how important she was to this team.

"But I killed your mom, you even said it, had I not shown up she'd still be here and your home wouldn't be a mound of dirt!"

The male frowned "I was just delaying the inevitable with my mom…. I was lying to myself"

The female fox slowly tried to stop crying and finally opened her eyes to see him, she was terrified of what she was gonna see still imagining that he'll be angry with her.

"Hey there's those eyes" Tails smiled warmly.

Seeing him not angry at her made her slowly lift her head cautiously revealing more of her face.

"Oh dang"

"Huh what!?" she asked worried at what bothered him.

"Well, here take this. You're kinda leaking" he jokingly smiled handing a few napkins to her.

She realized she must have looked horrible, tearing up and drooling out her nose. She wiped away what she could feeling really terrible for looking so awful.

"I must look terrible" she then blew her nose.

"Maybe, but I know it's temporary. Just stop crying and that will be enough for me" he said softly.

She tried to do as he said but it was hard since she was still half crying but Tails looked away trying to think of how to proceed "Listen I'm sorry… I just, I wish that she could still be around but at the same time I know that I had to move on."

He sighed "Come on, get up take a seat alright" he gently grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet. She still sort of hid her face from him but he didn't mind, she was clearing up and slowly looking better.

He pulled out an old stool and let her sit "Now just clean yourself up ok"

"Thank you" she hiccupped wiping her eyes "Maybe we can talk about something else" she hoped that they could both stop talking about the past and get past it all.

"Of course, how is everyone out there?" Tails asked assuming that'd be a good way to go.

"Oh ya" she sniffed "Well like I said Shadow found food, it's been partially eaten from, I guess that was Sonic. Nicole looked through more files and found a cache of power rings so she'll be able to use her mobian form for a good while. Silver moved some furniture so we have a semblance of a kitchen"

"Well I'm glad our luck has led us to some good stuff. How's everyone feeling?"

"Well Scourge ran off to stretch his legs, everyone else is talking when I came in here" she gulped down some gross stuff in the back of her throat.

"Well there isn't a lot to do I guess" he shrugged "I might be able to find something to help with that, I'll need time for that"

"That would be very helpful" Fiona nodded smiling a little, he was thinking of doing things besides weapons, that was a good sign.

"But until then…. I got to ask, did you mean what you said?" he looked to her softly hoping to encourage the answer out instead of sounding like he was forcing her to talk about it.

Fiona took a deep breath and nodded after a short moment of silence "Yes… like I said… I was just afraid of taking advantage, so I stayed away and when you, against all odds, kept coming back I tried to find a way out so I started dating Sonic. Obviously he turned out to be Scourge but I kept up the idea when the real Sonic came back. I coaxed him to give me a chance. I just hated how it nearly ruined your friendship with him" she looked away, it occurred to her very early on that she was basically avoiding Tails and ruining his relationship with his best friend doing it.

"But I had to keep it up or eventually slip up from one of your advances. God I sound like a pedophile…. I swear it wasn't that you were a kid ok, I still feel exactly the same, and it was you and your personality. You were just so damn cute and thoughtful, yet so grown up for your age at times" She frantically explained trying to explain.

"Maybe I am a pedo, but I've never felt this way about any other kid in my life, so I feel like it's specifically you" she sighed sadly feeling his accusing eyes on her "I mean once again I tried to do something right and distract myself and I nearly broke you and Sonic apart…. Maybe that was another reason I went with Scourge, I couldn't handle the guilt of knowing I broke you two up so I brought you back together… through emotional pain" she felt like a terrible person.

The male fox watched her explain slowly understanding the full story. If what she said was true then he agreed, she wasn't some kind of predator. He was sure of that actually. He appreciated her trying to restrain herself, as much as he would have loved to be her boyfriend back then he knew now with more age that would have been a mistake. So yes he appreciated her controlling herself.

He finally spoke accidentally leaving her in silence for awhile "Well I believe you. Thanks for controlling yourself. Had I known back then I may have had a heart attack knowing you liked me but, ya I didn't need a girlfriend at that age"

She weakly smiled glad he agreed and believed her "I still hate that I had to hurt you so much, in hindsight I had a lot more options, I could have done so many things differently…"

"But it's in the past, something we need to both stop living in" Tails interrupted.

She nodded "I guess so"

With that Tails got close and gave her a gentle hug and after a short moment embracing the surprised fox he said "Listen, I trust you out there in fights, I trust you to stand by the rest of us and not run and trust that you're on board for this mission completely"

Her voice was muffled buried in his shoulder "I hear a but coming"

He huffed with an amused smile "Buuuuuut, It may take awhile to trust you on a more intimate level. So here's my proposal, our feelings are out in the open between us now and I guess we can't hide from them, but trust in this area will have to come a bit slower.

"I get what ya mean" she sniffed accidentally letting a tear of joy escape her eyes hearing him accept her feelings.

"Good, we won't tell anyone about this for now, that good for you?"

"Yes" she nodded into his shoulder wrapping her arms around his chest tightly "Thank you for giving me another chance" that was sort of a double meaning, first allowing her to help save the world and second for this.

"If anyone deserves a second chance after that display it's you" he chuckled trying to make a joke.

Luckily she laughed in his shoulder then nuzzled in a bit more.

The male kitsune smiled and rubbed her bck while nuzzled in and for a moment forgot all about the world outside. It felt like he'd finally reached the end of a long road that had no turns but had been very bumpy and dangerous all the way through. It felt a little cliché but after so long this might finally all work out between them.

His mini zone out was interrupted though as she said "Tails, I promise I won't leave again"

"I believe you" was all he needed to say to make her smile, he'd lost faith in her a long time ago that didn't help her. So faith would more than likely help her now.

The two were quiet for awhile just enjoying the moment until a knock was heard at the door.

"Well guess that's all over, come on we got to get back to business" Tails groaned.

"Damn, I was almost asleep" she joked slowly pushing away with a fake frown. She quickly wiped at her face one last time while Tails walked to the door signaling her to keep what they talked about on the down low.

He took one last deep breath to calm himself down and opened the door to reveal Blaze.

"Greetings, I was wondering if you wanted to take a break and have something to eat, it is around dinner time?"

Tails looked back at Fiona "That sound good with you?"

She nodded "Ya, I'm starving" she was already getting up and doing a light jog to the door.

Blaze just smiled seeing that whatever Fiona did, Tails was leaving the workshop and seemed to be in a good mood. The cat led them back and inside everyone was sitting around relaxing.

Scourge must have come back while they were talking because he was at the table listening to Silver talk. Nicole also was up and walking around and had taken a seat beside Scourge.

"Hey, so finally taking a break from your nerd stuff?" Scourge asked arms crossed.

Ignoring his comment he just nodded "Ya, needed some air"

"We're all glad to see you are taking a moment to rest" Nicole smiled kindly.

"Well I need food some time right?"

After he said that everyone remembered that there was food and ate already rationing incase they had to stay here for a long time. Nicole had learned through digging through the computer files that these supplies had been placed inside the headquarters a year before Eggmans attack. Sonic and Sally agreed to have an emergency plan, the food was part of that plan.

"See anything worth noting on your run?" Tails asked Scourge partially through the meal.

"Not really, if fat ass knows we're here he's not showing it"

"Good to hear" the fox nodded then looked around "Anything else going on with anyone else?"

His open attitude surprised everyone, it's like his home and mom hadn't died recently. So everyone relaxed and tried to think of a way to begin talking.

Silver was first to speak, not hard to predict "Well so far this place seems pretty secure, besides the giant hole in the wall" he said pointing a thumb backwards in the direction of that hole Tails came in from.

"Unfortunately I can't fix it, if I do any changed to the exterior somebody will eventually notice" The kitsune sighed.

"Perhaps that works to our advantage" Shadow said "It's such an obvious weakness and can't be changed without risk, who would want to hide here? Well it's such a bad hiding place it becomes a good one"

"Maybe, but it would be a good idea to have a look out" Tails said. Everyone else agreed to this as well.

The group ate rather happily compared to how tense it had been hours ago. Now with everyone calm and clear minded they might finally be able to continue forward with their mission. Only one thing was left to do, Tails needed to watch the rest of Sonics video logs.

Since everyone was done and scattered, besides Fiona and Tails the two quietly talked to one another about what they'd do.

"So I think I'll just get to know the building, I mean I never lived here but I should get to know the layout" Fiona shrugged.

The kitsune nodded "I'll be at the computer, I'm gonna watch through Sonics videos" he was clearly trying to hide remorse of having to watch his friend possibly slip away from loneliness.

Fiona frowned looking at him then gently placed a hand on his shoulder "If you need someone to watch next to you…"

"No I'll be fine" he whispered glad she was concerned, but he wanted to watch them alone, he wasn't sure why but he'd only ask for help if he really needed it. He still gave her a smile as she got up giving his shoulder a small squeeze before walking off.

Taking a moment to make sure he was cool and collected he got up and walked to the console again sitting in the damaged chair. He accessed the video logs and found the second video log which was dated as a day after the first and opened it. As it loaded up he sat back in the seat patiently waiting for answers.

The dark screen became fuzz for half a second then revealed the same image as before. Sonic still looked bad but he looked like he had proper gauze cover his wounds.

He still looked tired, but that might be because of his wounds were making everything harder. He also looked more cleaned up having cleaned up his fur.

He was looking to the right then looked to the camera "Ok, so I have decided to continue making video logs, not only does it help me think but…. Being able to talk to something helps"

He took a deep breath "Well anyway I got downstairs and got into the emergency supplies Sally and I got built" he frowned obviously feeling guilty that something made to serve many people for over a year was now just his.

"In there was also med kits so I got some real bandages now, so that's good"

He spun the chair a bit looking off screen "And besides that I realized power is probably gonna go down at any point. So I looked around and found an old blueprint Tails made a long time ago" he sighed remembering the young fox "It's a blueprint to make a generator that makes power through spinning something like a giant hamster wheel, perfect for me"

"So I'm gonna try and build that before power goes out, once that's done I was thinking of trying to find help… Maybe I can make a new team… it will be hard to find anyone with good enough skills for the job"

"Umm… besides that I think everything is how it was before. I'll make another log when I got a good update" he leaned in closer and hit a key ending the feed.

With that done Tails knew that Sonic was the one who made the generator. He was also glad to see he hadn't lost any hope, he was still trying to make things right and get help.

The fox opened the next one which was dated one week after the second.

Once again it took a moment for it to load up and the feed opened to see the blue hedgehog. He was looking much better, less tired and nearly fully healed.

"So this is log three, I got the generator up and ready to go, was a little surprised it went by so smoothly, maybe Tails rubbed off on me a bit" he chuckled clearly proud of himself "It was a good thing too, power finally stopped working a couple hours later"

"So I headed out to find people and well… I was really surprised to find there seems to be a bunch of small towns holding people. They are protected by eggbots. I'd g and destroy all the guards of a town and talk to people but the first town I found was burned to the ground. You know what that tells me? That Eggman would kill everyone if he even got a wiff of me being their" He looked away thinking about that. So little people left on Mobius and he'd kill more.

"So I can't get close to anyone without risking lives, I'll keep trying, maybe I can get lucky"

With that the third video ended.

Tails had guessed that Sonic hadn't be able to do that much, he was glad he kept trying, but that didn't answer much.

He opened the next video, it was dated one month after the first video, why the long gap?

This time Sonic didn't look better than the last video. In fact he looked depressed again "Like I said last video I've kept looking for help but…. Still no luck. But I did see something strange today. I found a town completely encircled by a wall. I have no idea what was going on with that but there no way to get even close to the place without being seen so I had to leave it behind"

"Besides that nothing much is happening, see you next time" he said sounding a bit forced.

When the video ended Tails took a moment to think about how close he'd been to finding Shadow and how safe the town actually was with Shadow using the chaos emerald as a way to make a stalemate. So very close and he got it wrong and passed it by. If he had made that risk, he'd have been with Shadow.

He leaned onto console covering his face at the terrible luck. He almost didn't want to watch the rest, he could already tell Sonic had nowhere to go and nobody he could call upon without hurting others.

He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and lifted his head looking back.

"Fiona" he smiled.

"Is it really that bad" she asked wondering why he was slouched over.

Tails just sighed "Only one month in and he's already starting to show signs of giving up"

"He wouldn't give up, he's Sonic the hedgehog" she frowned.

"He's alone, and can't do anything without hurting himself or others. I've seen him bored in past, but this is much worse" he remembered back when Sonic would get bored and beg for anything to do to pass the time.

"So I guess you haven't learned anything yet?" She asked leaning on the desk.

"I learned on thing, it's kinda depressing though. He came across Shadow and Silvers town, he noticed the walls but was too afraid to go inside. Had he known Shadow was there and had the place in a stalemate he'd have gone but he didn't"

"What!?" Fiona asked shocked "He was that close to finding them, shit…." She was clearly also thinking the exact same thing he had.

"Chaos…" she muttered.

"I know…" Tails sighed looking back to the screen "I'm gonna keep watching, if you don't want to watch you can leave"

She shook her head "No, I'm right here beside you"

He smiled and checked to see what the next video was and found there was only one left.

"He didn't make another log for nearly two months?" Tails asked aloud.

"That doesn't sound very good" Fiona agreed.

The kitsune clicked on it and it loaded up. They were both silent while the little circle span around until the feed started up.

Both were surprised to see Sonic was right back to looking terrible, his fur was totally messy and his quills weren't as spikey as before dropping slightly. His fur looked much more dull than before being half covered in ash, he clearly hadn't been working on hygiene.

He looked totally defeated slouching over and almost looked dead inside.

"So…." His dry voice sound completely void of emotion, whoever Sonic had been before he was gone. All the guilt, pain and lack of real options had finally defeated him.

"… I haven't done one of these for awhile" he half mindedly scratched his head a bit of dirt falling out of his quills.

"So… I think I said I'd talk more, and have a plan by the time I did this again but… I can't. I can't do anything, there's nowhere to go. People would die if I talked to anyone and I'd die if I tried to do anything…. I just can't do anything" he leaned on desk groaning before subtly beginning to cry.

"I'm so sorry" he shuddered through his crying "I failed everyone"

The video simply went on for a minute and a half of him crying. He was completely broken, without friends, without any achievable goals and unimaginable guilt.

"I'm so sorry to everyone, to all the people I failed, to all my friends… but I just wish… I just" he sighed loudly trying to clear his eyes and throat "I just want to talk to Tails one more time…"

Fiona looked down at him and tried to get a read on what was happening in his head but his blank stare really only showed that he was intently watching.

"I've always wanted to redo that conversation with him. I didn't mean to sound like I was trying to stomp on his dreams" He sighed, he was clearly talking about the conversation Tails had mentioned in his story after meeting Shadow and Silver.

"I just saw that he was distancing himself from all of us. We could all see it coming, he was staying in his shop more and talking less. I just knew if he took that deal from the government he'd just disappear even more… I didn't want that, none of us wanted that. He was our friend…. We cared about him…. But of course I didn't think about what I wanted to do, like always, and pushed him away"

He paused thinking back to that conversation but Fiona was watching Tails.

"If I could do things over that'd be the one thing I would have changed" Sonic continued to talk.

"If I could just tell him that before I die…"

The camera shook slightly and Sonic seemed to react to it. The subtitles Nicole had put into the video explained "Eggmans voice in the distance"

"Well I think I've had enough seeing you slowly destroy yourself but it's finally the end of the road"

"What… how did he…?" Sonic got out of the chair and looked around confused.

Within a moment the camera shook violently and knocked Sonic off his feet.

He got to his feet again but several eggbots came out of stealth around him one knocking him back down midway through getting up.

The bots kept him down threatening him any time he tried to move. Within a moment Eggman waltz in with an evil, satisfied grin. Both foxes noticed he came from the direction where that big hole was in the wall, guess that answered where it came from. But they continued to watch in horror.

Eggman laughed "Oh Sonic, I've been watching you for awhile now, it's been quite fun seeing you fall apart, but now is finally the time to end it"

Sonic just struggled he had no words to say the subtitles only saying "Growls mixed with profanity"

Eggman just laughed again then noticed the computer "Oh I'm sorry but, what happens next isn't for viewers, I apologize" he darkly chuckled walking to the console and pressed a key ending the feed.

"Oh chaos…" Fiona shuddered "Tails are you alright?"

"He's gone…"

"Tails…" she whispered just wanting him to look at her.

"He killed him… after everything… Eggman kne he was alive the entire time, where he was and just watched him fall apart before killing him" his anger rising at the cruelty against his best friend.

"We're gonna get him Tails, we'll make him watch his empire fall" Fiona said harshly, but then her voice got much softer "But for now we just need to think clearly and move cautiously"

Tails was clearly holding back some rage, she was right. Anger would only get them killed so he took a deep breath and looked to her again "Thanks, I know we'll get to him eventually"

"Good" she leaned over and gave him a supportive hug that he gladly accepted.

"I just wish I could have said goodbye that's all" Tails sighed.

"I know, when this is all over we'll properly say goodbye, that sound good to you?" Fiona smiled comfortingly.

"Ya" he nodded slightly.

Fiona just watched him for awhile trying to read if this would effect him too badly. But he seemed calm and staring into space.

"Tails?" she asked softly.

He was lightly snapped out of his trance "Sorry, just… trying to get past it" He admitted.

"Well remember if you need some help getting over it I'm here to help alright?" she hoped she could be helpful to him, anything to see him not go back to his closed off angry state.

He nodded with a weak but appreciative smile "I know, and thank you"

She just smiled back and after another minute Tails got up and simply said "We'll get Eggman, but for now let's find something to get our minds off all this"

Fiona smiled and the duo walked away from the console trying to forget what they saw for now.

Alright so that's the most recent chapter done, I've been finding it hard to write recently, so little time and the heat actually, and most of all I've been sleeping weird lately, the heat is keeping me up a lot.

Anyway I finally got Tails and Fiona semi together, only took me….. 29 chapters, so to ayone who thought that was taking too damn long. So now I need to get my other plans done. Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far and thanks to anyone who's reviewed.

Live long and prosper

Admiralkirk