Disclaimer: I only own my own crap and the warped-as-hell fics I come up with. Therefore no-sue-I. Get it? Got it? Good.

Author's Note: To all my loyal fans, again, my numerous apologies for the delays-of-doom. College has been eating my brain and my time. Not that any of you care. But at least for the time being you can put away the pitchforks, torches, and sledgehammers. Also, forewarning, this chapter is a little on the short side (or at least it feels that way to me), but the next one should more than make up for that. Other than that, read, review, and enjoy. (And if anyone is dumb enough to leave a bigoted flame they shall be laughed at.)

A single evenings'-flight wasn't too bad in Rouge's estimation. At least she didn't have to fly the distance herself. Liidara had been considerate enough to be willing to let Rouge, Shadow, and Marietta hitch a ride on her back so they could get to the Floating Island before the other group Robotnik had employed. The entire lot of them had left a bad taste in Rouge's mouth, but Patros… He had a history with Marietta that ran deep- and not in any way that she wanted to learn about if Marietta's distaste for him was anything to judge by.

Chancing a look at the cat-fox, Rouge was surprised to note that she'd knotted a few chunks of Liidara's mane, tied herself in place, and fallen asleep. To do that took more guts than Rouge thought she would ever have if she didn't have her wings. It was a rather forceful reminder that before Marietta Tia'ras had been the maid of Lord Bartleby Condammer, she had been the mercenary Mercian Rose. Giving a shudder as images of falling from Liidara's back without any way to catch herself played through her mind; Rouge turned her attention to Shadow.

True to form, he was wide awake and gazing off into the distance; either looking for the Island or lost in his thoughts, she didn't know which. He sat with one knee drawn up to his chest, one arm resting on it and the other keeping him braced upright against Liidara's moving back. If she didn't know better she would have sworn that Shadow never slept. That his sleeping patterns were by no means anything resembling normal meant little. He wasn't exactly what anyone could ever call 'normal' anyway. Rouge probably would have continued on in this vein if he hadn't chosen to speak up.

"You never explained why you hate him so much," he stated off-handedly.

"Who?" She asked, thrown off by his sudden desire to talk.

"I believe he means Manyi," Liidara contributed without losing her focus on their destination.

Rouge's wings arched instinctively, almost as if to block out thoughts of the green hedgehog altogether. "…I really don't want to talk about it."

Shadow's lips twitched downward by just a hair. Such minor expressions spoke volumes for his irritation. "Whether you want to or not, there's a good chance he might be there. The 'Disgrace' said as much. I would rather know why my friend has such a problem with him so that I might know how to handle things on the off chance that he is there."

"Shadow does have a point, Raati." That Liidara had chosen to call her 'Red' in Mercian was noted, but not commented on. Mercians did tend to have a habit of altering names so they were easier to say, as well as more affectionate.

Rouge scowled. She knew they were right, but that didn't change the fact that she wanted to think of him as little as possible. Finally she growled out, "He and I… disagreed over a choice he made. A bad one. I'm not going to fault anybody who kills with a good reason, to protect their loved ones or bring down those that hurt them, but to go out looking for monsters-!" The rage at the thought rolled off of her in waves. "He started 'hunting' for bastards. It's just… It's one thing if you know the people a bastard has hurt, but to do all that for a complete and total stranger? To risk his life for people he doesn't even know? It'd be admirable if he weren't an empath!"

"Oh?" Liidara asked. This was proving to be enlightening, and she couldn't help but be intrigued by Manic's history with the bat.

"If he weren't an empath he'd be a damned hero," Rouge snapped. "The fact that he's an empath… He's hunting the bastards of the world because he happens to catch the minds of people that get hurt. There is such a thing as too much, and he just decided to go ahead and make himself a yiffing victim to all of it anyway! And what about me? What about my worries that he was getting in too far and going way over his head? Ignored because he didn't want to hear it! Nooooo, instead he wanted to just let every poor tortured and abused soul in the world use him as a damned doormat that would clean up all their messes after them! That's why I don't want to have anything to do with him!"

Shadow gave a subtle snort, almost completely unheard due to the winds whipping past them. 'That explains a few things…' It was one of the rare times since he'd been awoken from his stasis that his curiosity was well and truly piqued. An empath that could stand to kill another sounded intriguing; an anomaly at the very least. Despite the job ahead, Shadow couldn't repress the desire to meet such a person. Then again, during the time he'd spent with Rouge he'd come to realize that he had a fascination for the unusual. 'Leftover habits from the ARK,' he thought, dismissing the memory of Rouge's frequent claims that he had an 'oddity fetish'. Getting to his feet, he stated, "I'm going ahead."

"Wha-" Rouge started to protest.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" In a brilliant flash of light that temporarily disoriented Liidara, Shadow vanished. Miraculously Marietta remained sound asleep.

"What in the world?" Liidara asked, slowing enough so that she could risk looking back at her passengers without getting too far off-course.

Rouge twitched, her ears trembling as she fought to keep them from going flat against her head in frustration. "I HATE IT WHEN HE DOES THAT!"

As Shadow carefully wound his aimless way through the forests of the Floating Island, he couldn't help but muse over what Rouge would think if she knew his reasons for going ahead. She was his only real friend in this time, so small wonder that her reaction would matter to him. Everyone else he'd ever known or cared about was dead; his grandfather, his sister, and all of the various scientists he'd known in his life. He literally had no one else to worry about. Be that as it may, and although he knew the sometimes volatile bat would not be pleased if she realized he was looking for her ex out of pure curiosity, he couldn't find it in himself to care. 'She'd probably brush it off as that damned "oddity fetish" she insists I have… just about as soon as she gave up being mad at me about it.'

He'd been raised by scientists; that he couldn't be curious about the unusual was a near-impossibility. Granted, Rouge was probably partly right in that he had an interest in the bizarre because of what he was, but that didn't change the fact that he'd inherited his grandfather's scientific curiosity. How could he not want to look into something when it defied logic? That it had a lot to do with empathy was perhaps the greatest attention getter for him. Having been raised to be fascinated by and question the bizarre, it hadn't been a far leap for most of Shadow's own research to be focused on ESP in all of its various forms- most especially empathy and telepathy. That he had a slight case of it himself, an on-again off-again telepathy that came and went as it chose (in addition to his other abnormal capabilities), had been incentive enough for his interest even without his grandfather's constant encouragement. That it had been his studies that put empathy and telepathy in the books as actually proven to exist was a great source of pride for him- even if his name had been wiped from the record and he was only mentioned as "a researcher based in the ARK". It was one fact about his past that he kept a jealously guarded secret, even from Rouge.

If he had his way about it no one in this time would know that 'Shadow: The Ultimate Life Form' was also 'Shadow: the accomplished (young) scientist'. In his mind, the fewer connections that anyone could possibly draw between him and 'the Disgrace', the better. 'No one needs to know that… thing is my "cousin"… or great-grand-nephew depending on how you look at it.' The thought of his relation to Ivo Robotnik was enough to briefly make him feel nauseous. He knew, logically, that he and Robotnik were about the same age, but he couldn't help his knee-jerk reaction when it came to seeing the human as an old and decrepit waste of flesh. Giving vent to a scowl, he muttered under his breath, "I didn't come here to think about him of all people."

Forcing away thoughts relating to his grandfather's descendant he continued onward through the dark. 'Now if I were an empath on this island, where would I hide?' Of course, realistically, he had to admit that he had no clue. He could guess at what a normal empath would do, but not one that was willing to kill. 'Undefined variable,' Shadow thought to himself distractedly, 'Grandfather would be tempted to pull out chunks of his hair if he were here…' A snort of amusement pulled itself from him at the thought. His grandfather died at the grand old age of 108, and he'd looked and behaved more like a man half his age. 'A bit of an "undefined variable" himself…' The irony proved difficult to not laugh at. 'An anomalous granddaughter, a genetically-engineered grandson, and a grandfather that just kept on going like the Energizer Bunny…My family are officially a pack of freaks.' This time he barely stifled his laughter. He missed them, there was no question as to that; but if there was one thing Shadow had learned from his grandfather it was that no matter how difficult things were, even if he'd lost everything he ever knew, he had to keep going for as long as he had. 'If Rouge ever learns that I still have it in myself to laugh at memories, she'll never forgive me for being so quiet.'

That sobering thought was enough to get him back under control, and he continued on his search for a man he'd never met.
...

Unbeknownst to Shadow, Manic was wandering the Island himself. After his announcement Knuckles had gone overboard on readying the Island for the arrival of invaders. Sabbat had taken the time to fill in Manic with as many details of what had happened as he could (after the initial panic), which was why Knuckles was freaking out about the arrival of multiple people instead of just an insanely large dragon. That backup from Manic's adoptive family was also headed for the Island did little to ease the echidna's panic. All entrances to the Hidden Palace had been put in lock-down and the Chaotix, Sonic, and Sonia were acting as sentries or out patrolling much like Manic was. The Guardian had proven to be so paranoid that he had them sleeping in shifts so that all of them would be rested by the time any invaders arrived. Above all, Knuckles was adamant that the Hidden Palace would not be found. None of the triplets bothered asking why.

Not willing to trust only his eyes in the dark, Manic let his mind range over the Island. Every sense was strained to its limit and he could almost feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Few things ever truly scared him senseless these days; the thought of facing one of the larger dragons was enough to give him an edge of queasiness he hadn't felt since his first 'hunt'. 'Goddess above, I'm going to die…'

All thoughts of his predicted death were soon abandoned, however, when he felt the slightest brush of a foreign mind. It was little more than a ripple of emotion, like a still pool of water suddenly disturbed by the barest touch of a finger. The thoughts were calm and collected… Not serene necessarily, but there was a certain sleekness to the mind that caused him to stop in his tracks for a moment. 'That's… weird. Not even Espio's mind is that calm. Hell, not even the Oracle's mind is that calm!' Like a fish on a hook, Manic followed the 'sound' of the intruder. True, direction was hard to tell with his empathy, but much like actual hearing things tended to become more 'muffled' the further away from the source he was. With just a little luck he'd be able to close in quickly. 'I'm just glad it's not a dragon…'
...

Shadow's ears automatically swiveled as if to catch a noise the moment he felt the faint brush against his thoughts. It wasn't focused enough for a telepath, but… A smirk tugged at his lips. 'So he is here. Rouge… You're going to be livid.' The dark hedgehog came to a stop and deliberately parked himself by a tree that towered over him by about a mile. He knew that the other hedgehog was getting closer, could feel it as his own telepathy briefly flickered on only to die out a second later. 'He's looking for me… Let's give him an easier time of it, shall we?' Deliberately dropping his mental barriers, Shadow focused on as many of the fine details of the area as he could take in at once. He couldn't have thrown Manic a clearer 'Here I am- come and get me' if he tried. Almost as soon as he heard the thief's breathing, he smirked. This was going to be fun.
...

Manic's eyes locked on the darker hedgehog, widened as soon as he made out the other's outline, and he froze in place. As the intruder slowly turned to face him, unsurprised red eyes looking him over, the first thought to run through the thief-prince's mind was a dazed, 'Oh… my God…'

The two stood like that for some time, eyes locked, before the darker spoke. "So you're the empath."

Manic couldn't help but stare stupidly. His heart was pounding in his ears and his mind didn't want to function. Comprehending that the other was a threat was made near-impossible by his thoughts hitching on the darker hedgehog's appearance and attitude. 'And that voice…' The other's voice was just as flawlessly smooth as his mind, despite its faint Japanese accent. '…He knew I was coming.' The breath caught in his throat.

"You're… 'Kleptomaniac' if I'm not mistaken?" he said in an amused drawl that was more statement than question. Manic's wide-eyed shock was confirmation enough. "So you are…"

The thief felt a shiver run down his spine. "Who the hell are you?" Manic asked in a whisper, forgetting to even try to use his false-accent. 'Don't lose focus, don't lose focus, don't lose focus! He's an enemy! You can't trust him! You don't know him! Don't lose- oh goddess…He's a telepath…' The amused look on the other's face as his mind flickered through Manic's left him with a sinking sense of dread.

"Shadow," he stated, his accent deliberately stressed. With a smirk that made Manic's tenuous hold on his purpose even more threadbare, Shadow stated. "I've heard about you… You intrigue me. Most empaths I've ever had the pleasure of knowing can't stand to see others hurt… Or feel it as the case may be. But you…" He cocked his head to the side quizzically, a detached curiosity rippling through his mind to lap at the borders of Manic's. "You're unique. Tell me, what is it that makes you so special? What is it that allows you to do what is forbidden to all other empaths?"

Manic couldn't think clearly, and he knew that Shadow wasn't tampering with his mind. Any difficulty he was having was purely his own, and that made him feel a faint bite of panic. "W-why in the hell do you want to know?" He snapped, slamming his mind closed like a trap. He did not want Shadow poking around in his mind at that moment- not when it was running off in directions he didn't want it to go about someone he didn't even know. Shadow's amusement rippled through his mental walls even as his lips twitched ever-so-faintly upward. 'The bastard is having fun with this…He knows…'

"Call it innocent curiosity," Shadow replied as he took a step closer to the thief. The mirth dancing in his eyes as Manic took a step back made the thief internally curse himself. Both for showing weakness and for the new tangent his mind chose to run off to.

Much though Manic wanted to argue otherwise, Shadow clearly had no intention of being a threat at the moment- not with the various ripples of thought that he was letting Manic have access to. And he was just letting him; the thief-prince bore no illusions as to that. Shadow's telepathy might have been flickering inconsistently, like a mental brightness that mimicked a candle-flame, but it was blatantly obvious that if he didn't want Manic to 'hear' anything from him it would have been easy for him to keep his mind silent. That knowledge pushed Manic's panic-button to the border of full-on-terror; creating an internal war between his fear and his dazed fascination. "I suppose you're just the first one here," he growled, trying in desperation to cover the confused swirl of his emotions.

"Hn. She said you were smart," he smiled in return. "Maybe I'll get a chance to find out just how much at a later time."

As Shadow turned to walk away, Manic felt his breathing return to normal. It was infinitely easier to think somewhat clearly when those red eyes weren't looking at him. His temper flaring, largely at himself, Manic reached for Shadow and snarled, "Now wait just a damned minute! Where do you-" Though he saw every second of it, he was unprepared for Shadow's speed when the darker hedgehog spun around and darted behind him to get him in a head-lock. The fact that Shadow was just as fast as Manic was so unexpected that the thief froze in place and his eyes went wide. Nor was it helped any by the fact that he knew in such close proximity Shadow very likely could smell the conflicting emotions raging in his body. The thought caused an unwanted tremor to ripple through him.

"As entertaining as this exchange has been," Shadow hissed into Manic's pierced ear, "Now is not the time. Besides, I'm certain you and I will have plenty of time to become better acquainted later." Releasing him as suddenly as he'd grabbed hold; Shadow shoved him away so that he stumbled forward a few steps. At the fiery golden glare that was aimed at him, Shadow grinned, "Until next time 'Kleptomaniac'."

"What the hell are-"

"Chaos… Control…"

"-you?" Manic blinked to clear away the phantom lights left by the bright flash of Shadow's departure. For a few moments he stared dumbly at where the other hedgehog had been; his disbelief broadcasting with no control to anyone who might be close enough to feel it. Those brief minutes wrenched through his mind in a rapid-fire replay that soon turned his disbelief to pure rage. Throwing back his head he roared, "KISAMAAAA!"

He had perhaps only a few minutes to calm himself before Mighty crashed through the undergrowth with a bewildered frown on his face. "Manic? What happened?"

His breathing ragged with the edge of his anger and his quills bristling, Manic stated, "I just ran into our first intruder."

Review people! You know you want to! And as a bonus I'll be sure to get the next chapter up by the 14th! n_n Maybe sooner...