A/N: God, I am so mad right now, 'cause I made about a million corrections to this chapter, but then my stupid browser went backwards. Stupid... Microsoft shortcut things... I had to correct this chapter twice!! AHH!!

Yep, spaz attack over... anyways, the story's coming along very nicely thanks to the support we get from all of you guys :) It makes us both very, very happy!

Enjoy the chapter!

Dedicated to Marianne
"When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space."

- Pema Chodron

Tails was waiting for them as soon as they entered the tiny workshop. Not that Sonic was too surprised – Tails had known him long enough to know what he was thinking, even before he had thought them himself.

"Tails," Sonic stated, nodding at him as if he was a stranger. He walked forward, and the old wood creaked under his footsteps. The familiar smell of wood and oil rose up his nostrils, but he couldn't find any comfort in the familiar.

Tails nodded back, his face so cold that Amy clutched the babies tighter to her chest, as if she could protect them from his gaze.

"Is anyone else here?" Sonic inquired, still keeping that even tone.

Tails shook his head. "They're looking for the two of you," he answered, his voice cutting, like the cold blade of a knife.

Amy shrank back. All her courage seemed to have been used up. She looked tired… so tired…

"We… we won't go with you," she whispered faintly. The babies were silent as well. They stared up at Tails, their faces still innocent, still unblemished by the hardships that waited for them…

Tails tried to keep the anger in his voice controlled. "You don't have a choice," he retorted. The anger under his voice circled like a shark.

Sonic stepped forward. "Look, Tails…"

Tails snapped. "Sonic, I can't believe that you're helping those babies!" he shouted, his voice angry and mixed with despair. "They can end the world as we know it! What happened to all those wonderful declarations of protection you always spouted? You promised everyone… you promised me… that you would dedicate your life to protecting everyone, no matter what!"

Sonic was silent. Tails's angry accusations continued bouncing off the white walls. The blank walls seemed to mock the hedgehog's empty words.

When he spoke though, his voice was still even. It made Tails so mad, the way he was treating him like a stranger… like someone he didn't know. He had no right… not in his mind's eye. "I can't protect everyone, Tails, as much as I would like to." Sonic looked away, his eyes staring at the walls, as if trying to bore a hole in them.

"Then get rid of those babies! If they're gone, then everyone will be okay! Everyone will… will…" Tails's voice broke. Tears ran down his face. It wasn't fair… It just wasn't fair! Why did those babies have to choose Sonic and Amy? And why… why couldn't Sonic just understand?

"Tails… if I leave the babies to you, who will protect them?" Sonic stared at the fox in the eyes. He was looking through his tears, trying to find something in them… Tails looked away.

"Who cares about those little monsters?" Tails shot back. Bitterness rose in hit throat like bile. "They were born for one reason, and one reason only – to destroy the universe."

Sonic glanced at the baby. Was he trying to convince himself that they could truly destroy the universe? Tails felt something like a tiny spark of hope flare in his chest. "Believe me, Sonic. If we don't get rid of them, they will be the end of us all!"

The blue hedgehog glanced at the babies again and then back at Tails. "What does this prophecy say anyway?"

Tails felt his mind being pulled back to that ancient tablet that Knuckles had set down before him. He had pored over it so many times that he had it memorized by heart.

'Oh ice,

Ice that freezes tears,

Why do you bring before me

What will end the world,

What will create new beginnings,

What will need to learn what great power is?

Oh ice,

Ice that stops my heart,

Why do you bring before me

What will walk into creation,

And leave destruction behind?'

Amy's eyes widened. Had she not found the babies on a day when the snow had drowned grass, pierced sunlight, and froze trees?

But Sonic was shaking his head. "This is ridiculous…"

Tails glared at the babies with hostility. "Well, whether it's ridiculous or not, it's true. And if you're the hero that I know you really are, you have to hand them over."

Sonic continued shaking his head. "How can you believe in that prophecy?"

Tails looked surprised. "What are you talking about?"

Sonic looked at him with his incredibly green eyes. "Prophecies can be changed, can't they? Remember all those prophecies that Eggman looked up? Most of them never came true."

"Only because we did something about them," Tails retorted. "We can't change fate. We can't change our destinies."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you believe in things like fate and destiny?"

Tails bit his lip. 'Since when? Ever since I laid my eyes on those babies. Ever since the prophecies kept on coming true, one after another. And then… I realized that fate couldn't be changed… unless it wanted to.'

Sonic looked at him closely. He was always very good at reading the fox's thoughts. "Tails… 'fate' and 'destiny…' Those are just words. We can change them… we can choose where we want to go, and what we want to become. Besides, remember all those times Eggman tried to use some sort of prophecy to take over the world? We always managed to save it, right?"

Tails shook his head. "The prophecies don't mention anything that will help us turn it around. All those other times… you only were able to stop him because the prophecies say so…"

"… And so you just assume that the only way to stop them is to kill Nathaniel and Naomi?"

Tails stared at them, shocked. "You named them? Sonic, they're going to end the world, and you named them?"

A chilly breeze blew through the workshop. The wind was starting to pick up. Maybe it was mad at them. Maybe the whole universe was mad at them for keeping those babies. Sonic pushed the thought away. "Amy and I named them Tails, yes. Because they're alive, they live and breathe just like we do."

The snow howled louder than ever, as if everything wanted to protest against his statement. "How could you?" It seemed to scream into his ears. "How could you give us up for the sake of only two children?"

Tails's bright-blue eyes were drowned with despair. "You… you can't…" He seemed more shocked from the fact that they name them than anything. "How could you, Sonic? You're giving up all of us… Knuckles… Shadow… Rouge… me… just so you can protect what will ultimately end us all. I thought… I thought…"

"… You thought you knew me better, right?" Sonic finished for him. His eyes softened. "Up until today… I thought so too…"

Surprise stole over Tails's features. "What do you mean?"

Sonic shook his head, his voice gentle. Sonic looked at Naomi and Nathaniel with tenderness that set Tails's heart on fire with jealousy. It was the way he used to look at him… the look that he reserved for him, and it said, "I'll protect you no matter what, Tails."

And now, he was using it on the two monsters!

"Up until yesterday, the world seemed so much simpler," said Sonic, his hand gently brushing back Nathaniel's and Naomi's hair. "You know… good and evil were so black and white to me. I never thought about the gray area in between, or how the border can blur and mix." He sighed, his hand dropping. "But now… look at me. I'm probably crazy for doing this… what's good and what's bad isn't so plain anymore."

"Than how do you know what you're doing is right?" Tails demanded.

Amy spoke up. He had forgotten she was even there. She still looked tired, like she had aged too quickly overnight. The bags under her eyes sent a strange feeling of pity though him, but he angrily brushed it away from his heart. "Because we feel what we're doing is right."

Tails groaned in despair. "It's not that simple."

Amy shook her head. "Yes it is. Isn't that was being good is all about? Doing what you think in your heart is right?"

Tails struggled with his tongue. Words always seemed to betray you the moment you needed them most. 'Just goes to show that words are only words, right?' he thought bitterly to himself. 'Just like all those promises Sonic made…'

Sonic inched closer to him. "Look, Tails. Amy and I can't stay here any longer."

Tails tensed. "What do you mean?" he asked. 'What a stupid question!' A part of him thought scornfully in his mind. 'Your hero, your big brother, your best friend… he's going to…' Tails pushed the thought away… as far away as he could from his mind before it could finish.

Amy walked up to him, her movements slow with hesitation. "Tails, please understand…"

Tails backed away, his eyes showing anger, hatred… and fear. "No! I don't understand! I can't!' Curse his voice! He thought the shaking tears had disapeared, but now they were drowning his tongue with sorrow. "I don't understand any of this!" he shouted, as if it could make the shaking stop. "Why would you turn the whole world against you for something that will end it?"

They were so close to him now… uncomfortably close. He could grab the babies if he wanted to… he could run out with them, bury them in the snow, and then it would all go away. But… his fingers went numb, and his arms hung uselessly at his sides. Even his body was betraying him when he needed it most.

Sonic's voice was quiet, hardly above a whisper. He hadn't used that voice with him in years… Not since, all those years ago, he had claimed that he was no longer a child. How happy he had been back then – naively happy.

"Tails… I don't want to leave either…"

Tails's ears perked up.

"… But I have to do what I think is right."

Tails trembled. He thought that he had grown up after all those years with Sonic, but he was still a child at heart. He wished that he was grown-up… maybe then Sonic would've listened to him.

"But… but what am I going to do?" he asked.

Sonic inhaled sharply. Tails really was still a child. Could he afford to be left alone, all by himself, waiting to grow up? Could he make it without him? Was it time that he finally found out what the world was like… what it really was like… all by himself? The trembling wreck of a fox right now sure didn't seem like it…

Sonic wiped those thoughts away. He had to stop thinking that Tails was a child. Without him knowing… Tails had grown up. And it was time that he made his own decisions.

Sonic let out a sigh. "You have to do what your heart thinks is right."

Tails took in a deep breath. "I… I can't." His voice choked with tears. "I can't lose you guys… Amy, you're like a mother to me… and Sonic, you're my best friend…" His voice dropped to a whisper. "I don't want you to go…"

Amy looked away, her eyes starting to brim with tears.

Tails continued looking at them, as if his will could change theirs. "Why…" he whispered. "Why won't you just… why won't you just leave the babies?"

Sonic walked up to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Tails didn't try to walk away, like he thought he'd would. "Amy and I made a promise, buddy. We're going to protect them… no matter what."

Tails shuddered. "So you'd have us… your friends… as your enemies, just to protect two babies you've barely known for a day?"

The babies started to whimper. Maybe they really did understand him.

"Tails, can I ask you something?" Sonic's hand was taken off his shoulder. "Would you give up one person… just one person… for the whole world?"

Tails didn't have to think about that one. He nodded. "If it's only one person, yes."

Sonic smiled ruefully. "What if that one person… was me?"

Tails's mind blanked. He didn't stop Sonic as he walked back to Amy. He didn't stop them as they gathered into the Tornado. He didn't stop them when the front blades started spinning, and he didn't feel the wind-swept debris that sliced at his skin, giving him little cuts. The garage door rumbled open, and with a loud roar that seemed muffled to Tails's ears… they were gone. The blizzard had closed behind them like a curtain… like he had just witnessed a play that he was never going to see again.

Tails fell to his knees. Maybe it was all a dream… and he would wake up…

He closed his eyes, and opened them again.

They were still gone.

A door slammed open behind him. "Tails!" Knuckles walked up to him, helping him roughly to his feet. Tails almost stumbled. Sonic would never do something like that.

"Tails!" His voice was sharp with urgency. "Where did they go? They weren't at their house, and we saw the Tornado take off…"

"I… I don't know," he said, turning and wiping away his tears.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Knuckles shook him roughly. "Where are they?"

"Mr. Knuckles! Please stop!" Cream grabbed Knuckles's arm, trying to pry them away, but the echidna shook her off. "Mr. Knuckles," Cream tried again. "He's in shock. Can't you tell?"

"There's no time to be shocked!" Knuckles shot back. He turned to Tails. "We don't have time for you to be in a daze, Tails! Tell us where Sonic went!"

Tails pulled away from Knuckles. "Th-they ran away."

Knuckles raised an impatient eyebrow. How can someone change in less than a day? "By foot? But we saw the plane take off!"

"It… it was a diversion," Tails muttered, his eyes darting away. Why was he lying? Maybe he still was hoping that this was just a horrible nightmare. "They set the plane on auto-pilot and ran away."

"And you didn't stop them?!" Knuckles shouted. He shook Tails.

"Knuckles, calm down," ordered Shadow. Even he seemed concern for Tails's well-being. He pried him away from the still-dazed Tails. "You won't do us any good if you shake him to death."

Knuckles growled, baring his teeth. "But he let those two traitors," he spat out the word like poison, "get away."

Shadow still held on tightly to Knuckles. "It was two against one, four if you count the babies. Besides, don't you remember what one of them did to us?"

Knuckles flared up even more, if that was possible. "Just another reason to get rid of them," he growled fiercely.

Tails spoke up softly. "If I remember correctly, it was only the little boy who did any sort of harm to us…"

Knuckles glared at him. "What are you talking about? All four of them must go!"

There was silence. Cream and Tails stared at him, shocked, and even Shadow was raising an eyebrow at him. "All four?" Shadow asked, coolly. "We don't want any more deaths on our hands then are necessary."

Rouge pressed her lips shut. She could feel Shadow's icy glance on her, as if waiting for her to say something. But what could she say? The white bat looked at Knuckles once, and turned away, as if her eyes had been burned. He was so different now. For a second, his eyes had been truly amethyst – hard and unfeeling.

She felt drowned in confusion and weariness. So much… too much had happened too quickly. All she wanted to do was sit down and let the weariness slide off her like water.

"Y-you're… right…" Knuckles looked a bit uncomfortable. Maybe even he was shocked by his own words. "I… I got a little…" He cleared his throat, and tried to soften his voice. "Tails, can you please tell us which way they went?"

'Should I… tell him?' Tails asked himself. Yet, he couldn't help shivering at those words that Knuckles had said earlier - "All four of them must go!"

Knuckles seemed to sense this. He put a comforting hand on his shoulder – just like the way Sonic would do when he felt agitated by something. Tails looked away, surpassing a shudder.

"Look, Tails. The fate of the world is at stake here. We can't let them get away," he said, as if this wiped away all those words – those horrible, terrible words that he had said earlier.

Tails nodded. "They went… North," he said, pointing in the exact opposite direction that Sonic had went.

"North?" Shadow examined him closely. "In the middle of winter?"

Tails looked away. "Yes… maybe they thought that we wouldn't guess that they'd head North in such harsh weather."

Shadow continued observing him. He shook his head. "No… Amy wouldn't allow those two babies to die up there in the North."

"Well, they did go north!" Tails snapped uncharacteristically. Shadow's eyes seemed to see through him. 'Can he tell I'm lying?' Tails asked himself.

Knuckles sighed impatiently. "If Tails said that they went north, than they probably did. He wouldn't lie to us, right?" He gave Tails such a patronizing look that he wanted to shrink away.

"Y-yes… I mean, no, of course I wouldn't lie," mumbled Tails uncomfortably.

Knuckles nodded. "Well, they won't get far in this weather," he said, confidently. "C'mon, Cream, Shadow, Rouge. Tails, you stay here and rest for a bit… and sorry about earlier."

'You don't sound very sorry at all,' thought Tails, but he bit back those words and just nodded. 'You just sound like… you sound like you're trying to be a leader.' A leader… wasn't Knuckles always left second-in-command? He could sound like a leader… but not like Sonic. No, never like Sonic.

Quickly, Knuckles threw back the door, and the wind immediately blew in. "Let's go you three!" he shouted over the wind.

Shadow nodded. "I need to have a word with Tails first," he said.

Knuckles gave him a queer look. "Fine, but catch up with Cream and Rouge and I as soon as you're done." He grabbed Cream, who looked surprised, and raced out the door. Rouge was much slower going out. Her slim body seemed to sag, like she had become and old lady. Her eyes looked dull… like they were too busy trying to convince herself of something that she already knew was a lie.

She walked out, closing the door quietly behind her.

Tails started shrinking back a bit when Shadow rested those ruby-red eyes on him. He had always been a bit intimidated by him.

They were silent for a long time as Shadow just kept staring. Tails was getting very uncomfortable. He'd never been scrutinized this way before – like a schoolboy awaiting his punishment.

Finally, just when the silence was getting unbearable, Shadow just said one thing.

"Tails… choose the sides that you're going to fight for wisely."

And then, he opened the door, and was gone.

The door wasn't closed properly. It just kept on slamming against the doorframe, in time with Tails's wildly beating heart.

A/N: Questions? Comments? You know how to contact us :) We always enjoy the comments we get... some of them are kinda funny, to tell the truth. And we seriously will take some of the ideas you give us, if you know... you decide to :P And it fits into the storyline, obviously.

Thanks for reading!

Anonymous Reviews:

Casey: Wow, you have chills? Haven't heard of anyone having THAT reaction yet :P Thanks for reading!

The Queen of Aces

azngirlchibi (and yes, my name DOES NOT start with a freaking capital "A!")