(((I hope you all received your kind emails! Glad to have you with us again, some of you who haven't stopped by in awhile. If I missed any of you, it was either because I forgot or I simply could not mail you for reasons unavoidable. (youknowhoyouare. BTW, kisses and big wonderful hugs!) Anyway, I know a few of you newcomers are reading this fic first. SHAME ON YOU! Read the first one first! This is the sequel -baps them all soundly on the head- like I was saying, I'm going to be introducing some new characters in the near future- hopefully more males being that about 85 percentof the characters I've thought up so far are female. That's a booboo on my part... Eh, forgive me later. I also realized I left some VERY key points out of the plot (therefore giving it the appearance of not being there at all) and shall try to stuff and shove and fit those in. I was preoccupied by lemoniness and pretty, sexy, sleek...-drools- expensive cars... ahhhhh... (BTW, if you'd like to see some pictures of these cars- I took them myself- goto the following place: http:www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?fprofile&leallenpoe)

P.S. Pat the Kitsune: I appreciate the fact that you take time to review. I love you for that even! But please, get your keyboard fixed so that you can type in lowercase like the rest of us. And... how old are you? Really? You need to be at least 17 in order to read this fic. Thank you for listening.))

Sonic: ok, time for character comments.

Radien: jolly good! Righto!

Shadow: why is he talking?

Rd: I say! What do you mean there, old chap?

Sn: haha! Ok, seriously, stop.

Rd: I do believe I feel like a spot of tea...

Sh: you should see a doctor about that...

Rd: -laughing pompously- hah! Hah hah! Righto, good one, old chap!

Knuckles: Someone make him stop...

: I don't even think I own my liver, so how could I own Sonic? (by the way, my liver belongs to the Society of Misplaced Mooses and Other Random Paraphernalia, or SMMORP. Sonic belongs to Nintendo/Sega. You can all sigh with relief now.):

Chapter 12 - A Turn for the Different

I actually thought I was going to be able to sleep in that morning.

Yeah, heh heh. Right.

I reckoned Tarsa had kept me up until at least three, and I was enjoying a relatively good sleep in that nice, fluffy and expensive bed. I was having a dream, I think... something about sand... and dark clouds... and a foreboding sense that an idiot was sprinting my way...

Suddenly, something flung itself at me, barreling over itself and ripping me from my pillow as we tumbled off the bed in a tangle of sheets.

I was about two shakes from pissing myself.

But when I finally realized my attacker was none other than my least favorite so-called "friend," I felt unusually obliged to do some assaulting myself.

"Wakey wakey, hand off snakey!" he said with a wide, idiotic grin.

Damn the fact that bastard is so fast. I almost had his stupid smiling face wrapped around my fist, but he leapt back onto the bed, causing me to sink my barbs into a probably-rather-expensive mattress. The ripping sounds that resounded weren't very reassuring.

Thankfully, Tarsa had gotten up hours ago, otherwise one, she'd probably want to kill Sonic for waking her up violently while she was still naked (and I don't want to fight her for the sole right to pummel hedgehogs) and two, she hadn't seen me ruin a perfectly good mattress for no good reason. She gets touchy about those kinds of things. So I decided I'd just make the bed really well and hope she never noticed.

"Knux, cool it. I was just wondering if you were still alive. It's like me an' Tails are in another area code or somethin'! It took me THREE MINUTES to get here! THREE! At medium speed! That's like... -counts on fingers- fifteen minutes for you!"

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, right. You slept in, so the servant/messenger whatever missed you. The big kahuna Fairchild dude wants us all in the library at... -checks his watch- oh, now.

"Nice of you to tell me so soon."

"THREE MINUTES, MAN! I ran, too."

"You always run. And when did the messenger reach you anyway?"

"Oh, a couple hours ago."

"Thanks. I mean it."

Everyone showed up except Shadow and Karpa. Two guesses on why THEY weren't outa bed yet... and Tarsa was wearing one of the pale pink blouses her sis'd had tailored for her with a khaki frilled skirt to match. Not bad at all... she was leaning against a bookshelf reading, totally apart from the rest of the group- mostly her family I guess- who were all talking in worried rushed voices. I was wondering what the heck could be going on that would twist all these rich peoples' frilled knickers in a knot. (Like my metaphor?)

"Tarse, what's up? Who died?"

She looked up at me blankly for a moment, then gasped an "Oh!" as she remembered.

"An assassin was caught last night! She tried to kill uncle Radien!"

"She? Assassins come in she's?"

"Yeah! And they said something about swords too! I can't get much more out of 'em. My own parents don't even talk to me all that much." She sighed sadly, looking back to her book.

Just then this really pretty yellow echidna stepped in, dressed in a blue cardigan and a black skirt. She didn't look too happy.

"Cecilia! Tell us! Has she spoken?" one of the nameless family members asked urgently.

"No, and I don't expect her to. She's a warrior of an older code. It would be a disgrace."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"It would be best if you all went back to what you were doing. We'll alert the authorities when we deem necessary. Until then, she will be held in the basement." She nodded and turned on her heel. Wow, everyone is so serious in this family...

Sonic hadn't heard a word. Instead, he had pried one of the display swords off a wall and was fencing with an empty suit of armor.

"Take that I say! And THAT! Foul cur, be gone with thee from my premises!"

"Sonic, knock it off. You look like an idiot." I warned.

"Dost thou challengist moi?" he said, posing, pointing the blunted sword at me.

"What is he doing?" rumbled an angry voice. Hmm, I've heard it somewhere... I turned around only to be face to... I think it was his face...with Karpa's dad. He was fifty? He looked at least a hundred and six...

"Sir, I told him to stop... he won't listen to me..."

"ENGARDE!" and Sonic crashed into the suit of armor behind me.

"I'll... I'll pay for that..." I stated sadly to the now-enraged prune-like face of Mr. Fairchild.

"Dad! Hey!" Tarsa took his arm and diverted his attention, smiling sweetly.

"Sonic has some... issues he's still working out with his doctor..." she tapped the side of her head with a finger. Her dad nodded knowingly.

"Right, I'll get someone to clean that up... Keep him in his room or... on a lead... just keep him away from the family heirlooms... or anything expensive for that matter..."

She nodded seriously. Sonic poked his head from the pile of armor, a gauntlet on his head.

"Is this expensive?"

I took the liberty of dragging him from sight.

(AN- just in case you're American and don't know, a lead is a leash.)

:;: (same time and scene, shift character focus)

Thank God for Knuckles. Sonic will be the death of us all... Anyway, I now had a rather displeased father in front of me, shaking his head sadly at our guests as they left.

"Tarsa, my dear, your mother and I need to have a word with you." He took my arm, leading me back towards the dissipating crowd of family members.

"Now, I know you're relatively new to us, so a few of our family customs and rituals might seem strange..." he began, looking at me with a bristle-browed serious frown. "But you are indeed an heiress to the Lumin... Indeed, the Lumin chose you to be its cleanser, its guardian..." we stopped in front of a large oaken door and he seized me by my shoulders.

"Tarsa Fairchild, do you promise me, swear to me that you will never disclose any of what you are about to see to anyone outside of the Fairchild line?"

This spooked me a bit. I played absently with the frills on my sleeves, biting a lip and looking at my shoes. What could possibly be this important and have anything to do with little unimportant me?

"y...yes. I swear." I looked back up at him. Strange, I just now noticed his eyes were green like mine... If I don't have anything else from my parents, I at least have his eyes, I thought.

(AN- I'm going to be extremely candid with you all. I have absolutely no fucking clue what lies behind that door. It's Cerebus's idea! Man, the suspense! What's going to be behind that door -munches on popcorn- )

He nodded, looking around to make sure we were alone, then slowly turned the handle...

-o-

Norah looked to Demi with concern in her deep brown face. He only nodded, glancing at the distraught mistress.

"You should talk to her. I've never been any good with these kinds of... things..." the young grey raccoon admitted. She nodded in reply.

"We've been through a few of these before together. It's an old song and we know all the words..."

Demi patted her back, motioning for her to go ahead. He stepped out of the doorway they had been standing in and closed the ornate gold door quietly.

Karpa sobbed from beneath her black sheets, curled in a fetal position.

'why, my love...why...you confessed your love to me... you trusted me...and now, what crime could I have committed to make you despise me so? What could I have done to stop you? ... I only hope the distance puts you at ease... I hope someone can make you as happy as you made me...'

"Karpa?"

"Not now, Norah..." she sobbed, choking on her voice.

"Tell me. I'm listening." The hedgehog said calmly, sitting on the edge of the bed.

There was a long silence, broken occasionally by a soft sob. Finally Karpa pushed back a sheet slightly, enough to peer over through reddened eyes.

"I'm pregnant."

Another long silence blanketed the half-lit room. Norah drew a quivering hand to her mouth in shock.

"You... know this... for a fact?"

"Yes. I had a blood test taken. And..."

"And he left..."

"Yes, he left. He could be anywhere."

The two women hugged tightly. Karpa clenched Norah's shirt firmly in her naked hand as she sobbed into her shoulder.

"He was a coward, then. You're too strong for him, love." The older woman soothed.

"He knew... he knew I knew the truth... and I'd never tell him..."

"What truth?"

Karpa shook her head, burying it deeper into her shoulder.

"Of his past... He couldn't remember anything and I'd never tell him because it was so... so... terrifying..."

Norah hushed her, rocking her gently as she had done so many years before. She thought silently how similar it was, a cowering little Karpie afraid of a monster...

"He was a coward. Let's leave it at that." Norah said with finality, planting a motherly kiss on the echidna's forehead. "And no Fairchild deserves a coward for a father. Your child must grow up strong."

Karpa nodded tearfully, smearing a hand across her reddened face to dry it.

The elderly maid placed a gentle hand to Karpa's midsection, smiling tenderly.

"I have to admit I can't wait... another little one to read bedtime stories to..."

They chuckled softly, hugging again.

"Oh, what would I ever do without you, Norah?" the heiress said, sighing.

-o-

"Where have you gone... my wayward child...?"

The voice came from far away, echoing against metal... .

"... you don't remember, do you?"

"...no... forgive me... sing it for me again..."

"You don't need that now, my child. You must find your way. I can't guide you anymore..."

"just... One more time... One more time..."

That musical laughter of hers, the breathtaking sparkle in her crystalline blue eyes...

"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind
Possessing and caressing me..."

...Jai guru deva Om...

I woke suddenly, eyes sliding open to the shaft of moonlight which had found me, lying on the couch. I blinked a few times, breathing deep through my nose, trying to separate my subconscious from reality, the dream still strong in my mind.

Where have you gone, my wayward child?

And yet, that sounded so unlike her... who was she anyway? How did I know her so well?

Damn moonlight...

I got up to close the blinds, then tripped over something warm unexpectedly, and in my half-woken stupor, fell.

"owies..." a small voice protested sleepily.

"Nicole, what are you doing on the floor?" I asked her irritably, rising.

"I like the floor. It's cozy here..." She mumbled, yawning and rolling over.

I'll never understand kids. I'd actually quite grown to loathe this one in particular. I guess this comes from not remembering my own childhood. If you've never been a kid, they seem alien to you, I suppose.

I closed the blinds over the large window, then stepped over the child and sat on my makeshift bed.

I was really beginning to regret coming here, but where else would I go? Back to that cave I woke up in? Back to building machines of what purpose is beyond me? This... this unfathomable emotion... The need for revenge, the craving for carnage... And no rhyme or reason to it at all.

No, I couldn't go back there. And I sure as hell couldn't go back to Karpa. That's her own gawdamn problem now. Not mine. I'm not the kind to get mixed up in relationships and fatherhoods or whatnot. Fuck that. Not my kid. Not my problem.

I couldn't go back to sleep now that all these issues plagued my brain, so I got back up, looking for my shoes. I needed a walk anyway. And I'd never been through the Mystic Ruins before... to my knowledge...

As I closed the door softly behind me, I cringed at the three short beeps from inside- Rouge's house alarm. It wasn't armed, but it let off those beeps every time a door was closed. I hoped it didn't wake her.

Ahh, the blessed refreshing sensation of cold night air streaming through my quills... the moon was full and the stars were bright... It was a breathtaking view from the peak of that crumbling pyramid in the center of the ancient city. I'm not much for exploring really, but this place begged for at least a little investigation. The carvings and depictions on the walls... it's hard to imagine what their lives must have been like- why they had erected such beauty and in whose sacred name...

I stood against the wind, feeling weightless. Vertigo made my mind swim as I gazed downward, out across the rainforest. I then looked to the stars scattered over the nightmarish black expanse of heavens above me...

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe...
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe

"Jai guru deva Om..." the words escaped my lips as if I had recited them a million times before. The sound of them was like a hug from an old friend... the meaning of them still escaped me, yet it stood right beyond the grasp of my mind... I pondered after it for a moment...

Suddenly, the wind died and I had to right myself and keep my balance. A little too close... Of course, a fall couldn't kill me, but I still had the instinct... how did I know it wouldn't kill me? Certainly, I knew my title as the Ultimate Lifeform... how and why were both conundrums. It seemed that the only parts of my past life known were those facts. I cannot die...and I am the Ultimate... My name is... is...

"Shadow! What are you doing out here?" Rouge whispered at me harshly from behind. I turned to look slowly, then raised an eyebrow at her questionable attire.

She hovered there, gliding on the remaining breath of wind blowing in from the mountains, clutching a very thin purple silk robe to her body. The wind played at the fabric, causing it to ripple fluidly, opening just enough to reveal her tanned legs to the thigh... I smirked slightly at this, wondering for a moment what garment- or lack of- could be beneath the sleek silk...

"Are you sleep walking or what? Helooooo? It's four AM! And why are you looking at me like that...?"

"Sorry... It's just that I've never seen this...much of you, Rouge..."

She sighed angrily and drew her robe more tightly around her slender form, giving me a flat glare.

"Get back in the house for Christ's sake. Go to sleep."

"Who wants to sleep when you have such a view?"

She didn't catch my joke and gazed out across the jungle, sighing happily.
"It is rather nice up here... but the stupid alarm woke me out of a sound sleep and I had to go looking for you and... :yawn: I just want to go back to bed..."

She faltered in the air slightly, wobbling violently and flapping to keep her balance.

"Would you like some help?" I offered.

"Help? How could you-" she began, puzzled.

I pulled out my powerful gem and tapped into its power, causing time to freeze. Without further ado, I levitated to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and teleported.

She blinked a bit in confusion to find herself suddenly in her own living room. The golden sparks slowly faded one by one as our feet touched the plush carpet softly. A bit bewildered, she pulled away, folding her wings which had still been open. She brushed a lock of white hair from her face (AN- forgot to mention, she let it grow out) and nodded a curt thank you before striding quickly to the stairs.

"Goodnight, Rouge." I bid quietly.

"Yeah, 'night Shady." She said hurriedly, scaling the stairs and retreating from sight.

"Don't call me that..."
I knew she didn't hear me, but it didn't matter. I flopped onto the couch, kicking off my shoes. What did this mean exactly? Was I after the bat now? She... didn't look half bad...she'd make for an excellent one-nighter, but unfortunately I didn't think I could avoid her after that... better off leaving her be, I concluded. Don't want history to repeat itself. Besides, the thought of a bat crossed with a hedgehog... Ugh... one ugly child. An echidna crossed with a hedgehog, though... My mind wandered after that, imagining what my own child might look like. It's too bad... Really... I'd like to meet him one day...

-o-

It was hot in that damned warehouse where they dumped me. The ropes were digging at my feathers and I just KNEW it would take me days to preen them all again. I just wanted to open my wings a little. That's all.

"Should we loose her?" Kai asked. Espio -I guess that's what his name was- looked at me with a hand to his chin, smirking. Ohh, just wait until I'm loose!

"I don't know... can we trust her not to get away?"

She looked at me skeptically, ears flaring halfway. "Poe? Answer his question."

Funny one, Kai. I frowned at her because my beak was still taped shut. She pulled out her curved knife, slicing along the crack of my mouth.

"BITCH! You're gonna get us all DEAD!"

"Answer the question." She said calmly, smiling.

"Yeah, you can trust me. Can't trust that I won't knock you into next Tuesday, but I won't be goin' nowhere..."

"Good enough." She then sliced me free. I ripped the tape from my poor beak and rubbed at my sore arms for a minute, stretched my wings a little. Good to be loose at least. (AN- for those of you confused about Poe's appearance, I went along with what Rouge looked like: both arms AND wings. That's how she can wear a jacket. It has slits for her wings, BTW)

"Now, you tell me what got in that scaly head a' yours ta tie me up like a hostage? And what in God's green earth are we doing running from Boss?"

The two lizards looked at each other and smiled.

"Poe, we're done with this business of death. We wanted you to join us." Kai stated happily.

"Join you? But... I'm an assassin! That's... what I am! Don't you get it? I kill, I get paid, and I keep on living! I don't have a problem with it! What else could I- could ANY of us do?" I panted for a moment after my tirade, standing.

"AND WHAT ABOUT AKA!"

They looked at each other again, then shrugged at me.

"We change our names and go far, far away." She said, almost seriously.

Espio pulled her close by the waist, grinning. "Australia?"

"Exactly."

They nodded.

"I give up with you two. Hell, if you can find some way to get a steady flow of cash, I'm up for it. I'm done with Boss. But I'm keepin' mah damn rifle."

"Fine!" they said happily. Lordy, what was going on?

((I was tempted to stop here, so I gave in. This has been a pretty long chappy... 3,860 words to be exact. Hey, that's better than average for me! I have ADHD! La! Anywhelps, I hope you enjoyed it, and I shall start typing the next one within the hour... or tomorrow... :yawn: oh, and you remember Karpa mentioning Demi and Norah from Cruel World. Just in case you were confused. Anonymous, I started typing that chapter BEFORE you reviewed, forgive us. AND IF ANYONE CAN USE ILLUSTRATOR AND DRAW REALLY WELL- ESPECIALLY IN THE SONIC STYLE, EMAIL ME! I suck at Illustrator and I'm too lazy to scan anything, so shitness be upon me. I want to see what my characters look like, too. And if you can't draw, email and yell atsomeone to draw for me. Ok, so, I've said everything on my mind. Almost. Ok, a piece. I'm going. Have a happy chocolate. Goodbye.))