Notes: Sorry this chapter is coming a little bit late! I had finals to deal with, so finishing this chapter took a little while longer than usual. But now I'm done with my second year of college, and I actually have time to write again! I'm pretty happy with this chapter, I think there's a lot of fun things happening in it. So let's get to it!
The fact that time wasn't moving on Mobius was really throwing him off. As Scourge stared at the ceiling, determined to stay awake, he'd wished he had a clock to look at. Something to tell him how long he'd been laying there, and how much longer he had to go before Lil' T woke up and they started moving again. But there was nothing. No clocks, no time, just his exhaustion and the child sleeping on his stomach.
Staying awake through the "night" wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be, to be honest. The green hedgehog felt so tired, that he'd actually wrapped back around into feeling generally awake and alert. Not energetic or anything, mind you, but he was confident he wouldn't fall asleep anytime soon. No, the difficult part was dealing with his mind wandering. There wasn't really much that he could think about that was pleasant. The rest of the team? Could be dead. What they would do next? Trudge through more boring caves and hope they find someone. Going home after this whole ordeal was over? He didn't have a home, and he didn't even know if he could go free or if he'd be sent back to Zone Jail. His sentence was a long one, after all. Would saving the multiverse counteract his attempt to conquer it?
The only nice thing Scourge could think about at the moment was the small fox curled up on his midsection, breathing slowly as he slept. He was a good kid. Not annoying, not a huge pain in the butt, and just… really smart, and kind. Before the hedgehog had been to Zone Jail, his old crew only stuck with him and respected him because he was strong, because they feared him. But Tails respected him for him, liked him for him. Scourge didn't have to be intimidating around him, he could just be… himself? He wasn't quite sure what his true self was like. He'd been acting like a tough asshole to scare people for as long as he could remember. Not that he wasn't tough or an asshole, but he definitely tried to exaggerate it as much as possible. Getting to pull back on the whole tough-guy shtick every so often was refreshing, he was beginning to realize.
He stared up at the stone ceiling, the light from the green flames dancing on its surface. The hedgehog breathed softly, careful not to upset the child whose head was on his stomach. He listened hard for any sort of sound. 'I wonder how the others are holding up...' he thought. He absentmindedly ran his bare fingers through the short fur on Tails' head. He had been telling the kit that the others were definitely okay, without a doubt, and that they would all meet up again in no time. He had been telling himself that too, he supposed. But after a while of staring up at the ceiling and nothing happening, his mind started wandering into 'what-if' territory. What if he and Lil' T were the only ones who made it out of that cave-in alive? What were they supposed to do if they were the only survivors? They had no more food, not a whole lot of water. The other Chaos Emeralds would be totally buried. They wouldn't be able to beat the Time Eater, not in a million years, and they had no way to escape to another zone. It would just be the two of them, the only ones left… While Lil' T was a fine companion, losing everyone else didn't sit well with him.
Scourge's ears suddenly perked up. He thought he had heard something… Was it just the crackling of the fire? ... No, it wasn't that close. Something… shuffled. The hedgehog moved his head in an attempt to look around, but he thought he heard the sound come from behind him. He couldn't see without getting up.
Crunch. That was definitely NOT the fire making that noise. Scourge nudged Tails awake and quickly sat up. He swung his head around to get a look at whatever was making that noise. It was a time monster; not a huge one, but still big enough to be a threat to a couple of sleepy travelers. It had stepped on Scourge's broken sunglasses, completely shattering them, and it didn't appear to be too happy. It appeared to be holding something, but whatever it was, it didn't look like a weapon, so Scourge didn't care.
Lil' T rolled to the floor as Scourge leapt to his feet. "Wha's goin' on?" the fox asked, still half-asleep.
"Just stay behind me," Scourge said quietly. The beast at the other end of the room snarled, registering the green one as a threat. He smirked. "It's about time one a' you guys showed up! I've been itchin' for a fight." He stretched his legs as the monster began to run towards him and Lil' T. When it was about five feet away and Lil' T had covered his eyes, Scourge rushed up and side-kicked it straight in the gut. The monster flew backwards from the force of the supersonic kick, and landed on its feet in the middle of the room. Before it got the chance to charge again, the hedgehog jumped off of the raised stage-like area they had been resting on and homing attacked the creature. While his quills weren't sharp enough to cut through anything, his velocity alone was enough to cause damage.
Unfortunately, this monster, empowered by the broken flow of time, was more resilient than the creatures Scourge had fought in the past. The homing attack, while it did hurt, was not enough to stop the monster. It raised one of its thick hands and swatted Scourge away, sending the Moebian crashing to the floor. The hedgehog got to his feet and quickly backed up so he would have room to get a running start at an attack. He was stopped short, however, when after a few steps he backed up into the corner of the room. He cursed under his breath as the monster came closer, leaving him effectively surrounded. His head swam, protesting all the sudden movement. His vision started to turn dark at the edges, and the monster started to look like Smalls. He... He couldn't do this. He was frozen, breathing hard… The monster was getting closer, closing in… He could hear Tails yelling something, but he couldn't make it out… His heart was beating too loudly…
Suddenly, in a flash of blue, the monster was gone. It had been launched across the room with a surprising amount of force, and in its place was a small hedgehog who was gone again in an instant. Now he was over by the fallen creature, finishing the job. Scourge blinked. It took him a few seconds to process what just happened. He took a shaky breath. What had just happened to him? Why did he freeze up like that? Just what he needed, more hallucinations.
The lone time monster, now defeated, was lying crumpled in a pile at the opposite end of the chamber. "That's what you get for taking my stuff!" the young Sonic shouted at it, yanking away whatever it had been holding in its claws. It was his backpack; he opened it and inspected its contents, looking relieved. He slung the backpack over his shoulder and walked calmly over to the green one. "Hey, Green Bean! You made it!" he grinned. "I was starting to wonder if we'd ever run into anyone else."
"Y-yeah, me too," Scourge said, moving to shove his hands in his pockets before realising that Lil' T still had his coat. He suddenly remembered he didn't have his gloves, jacket or sunglasses on. He felt practically naked. "... Wait, we?" He asked, finally focusing on what Sonic had said.
"Yeah, Zonic and Tails, the older one. I ran ahead, they should be catching up soon-"
"Sonic?" Lil' T spoke up. He had been hiding behind the giant pit of green fire, and had just poked his head out.
Sonic turned his head when he heard his name called. "Tails!" he gasped, racing over to his brother. He climbed up on the raised platform and scooped the young fox up in an intense hug. "Oh my gods, you're alive! I was so worried about you, you have no idea!"
Tails giggled. "I missed you too, Sonic," he smiled, returning the hug. When they were through, Sonic held him out at arms length.
"Are you okay? Nothing broken, no bleeding? Severe head trauma?" he asked, looking the kit over.
Lil' T rolled his eyes. "I'm fine," he said. "I hurt my ankle in the cave in, but-"
He stopped mid-sentence as Sonic immediately put him gently on the floor and stooped down to look at his ankle. The hedgehog paused when he saw the pair of gloves that were sloppily, but carefully tied around the swollen joint. "... Can you put weight on it? How does it feel?"
"Um, I can, but it really hurts when I do. If it doesn't move around or bump into anythin', it feels fine," the fox shrugged. Sonic raised an eyeridge.
"Are you sure? This looks pretty bad. We might have to amputate. I don't know if you can ever walk again, pal," Sonic said, feigning a look of pure terror. Tails looked genuinely afraid for a second before he realized what his bro was up to.
"Oh, no! Sonic, I think I feel my foot falling off right now!" he gasped, trying not to laugh.
"Right now?! We gotta get you to the hospital, ASAP!" the blue one lifted the child up and held him over one shoulder in a fireman's lift before he started running around the room, making a siren noise and dramatic skid mark sounds when he turned. Tails was laughing and whooping excitedly, occasionally yelling something about his foot being ready to fall off.
Scourge looked on from the corner, leaning against the wall. 'So, that's what Sonic and Tails were really like when they were kids...' It was weird, seeing them have fun like that, when they had just defeated a monster and the younger Tails was injured. 'No wonder the kid was whining the whole time about wanting Sonic back. They actually get along.'
Zonic and the older Tails entered the chamber now, finally having caught up with Sonic. They both appeared tense and frustrated, but their faces instantly lit up when they saw that Lil' T and Scourge were alive.
"Well, I guess he found his backpack," Zonic said with satisfaction, reholstering his pistol at his hip.
"Hey, wouldja look what the cat dragged in," the Moebian said, approaching the newcomers. "Looks like you guys made it after all."
Tails smiled. "Yeah, and you and little-me made it too, thank goodness. We were all pretty worried. Are you guys okay?"
Scourge shrugged. "We've been better, but we're fine. What about you guys?"
"Well, y'see…" Zonic said hesitantly, showing off his heavily scarred leg. The one leg of his jeans had been ripped off, and his blue fur was matted with blood. There were heavy scars going down his thigh, and they looked positively nasty.
"Aw, jeez! What the hell?" The green hedgehog exclaimed, making a somewhat disgusted face. "That wasn't there before, was it?"
The Zone Cop shook his head. "I got sliced up in the cave in. But apparently I'm a healer? I dunno, I just tried to heal it with a Chaos Emerald, not really expecting anything, and then... " He motioned at the scar tissue, still unsure of what to make of it. "It still hurts, but at least I'm not bleeding out anymore."
"Chaos… Yeah, that's… that is definitely better than bleeding out," Scourge cringed, scratching the back of his head. "Wait, so you can heal? Since when?"
"I don't know! Sonic can't even heal, I have no idea why I can. I'm not complaining or anything, but it's definitely weird."
"Yeah, but we can always wonder about the 'why' later. We've got bigger fish to fry right now," the green hedgehog said, crossing his arms. "We're one hog short."
Tails frowned, looking around as the young time traveling duo walked over to them. "Yeah, Sonic wasn't with you guys, was he? I hope he's okay…"
Zonic gulped. "You don't think he…"
"No. No way," the younger Sonic shook his head resolutely. "Older-me's not dead. No way some rocks would take me out, not when we're so close to winning this whole thing."
Lil' T was still sitting on his shoulders, resting his head on top of his brother's. He was practically swimming in Scourge's jacket, which was way too big for him. "He's all alone, though! We gotta find him. If our paths came together like this, maybe we can get to wherever big Sonic is!"
Scourge nodded, looking around at the room's exits. "Aight. We came in through there," he said, pointing to the door on the left, "and you guys came through there," he pointed to the right. "That just leaves goin' right down the middle." He finally pointed to the door up on the raised half of the room, directly under the cobra statue.
"So what're we waitin' for?!" Lil' T exclaimed, sitting up straight. "Let's go find 'im!" He wiggled his way out of the leather jacket before tossing it back to Scourge.
"Alright, alright," Sonic relented, starting to step away from the group and towards the stage-like area.
"Zonic," Tails asked the teenaged hedgehog leaning on him for support, "how's your leg? Can you keep going?"
The Zone Cop nodded slowly. "Yeah. Just not too fast, and I'll be fine. Let's go."
The reunited group of five started heading down the last remaining tunnel. The corridor leading out of the Snake Chamber was long, dark, and winding, and got progressively colder with each step. It felt as if they were heading deeper and deeper underground, and they could only hope that the path would begin to slope upwards sometime soon if they wanted any hope of seeing the light of day again. Around each corner, hopes rose and fell, as the gang was always wishing to see the missing blue speedster right around the bend. No hedgehog came to them, so they continued on, until the neatly carved and stacked stone blocks of the walls and floor faded away into large, rough, uncut stones, and finally a solid cave wall again. As they walked, the group naturally fanned out. Scourge took up the front, being one of the most able to defend against attacks should another monster appear. The younger incarnations of Sonic and Tails followed up the back end, protecting the group from behind while also catching up with each other about what had occurred during the time they had been separated. Zonic took turns leaning on different people, trying to keep weight off his bad leg. That left Tails to walk around, checking on the front and back ends of the line to make sure everyone was doing okay.
The fox walked up to Scourge, who was starting to walk more sluggishly as they went along. "So, how much 'time' passed for you and Lil' T?" He asked, making the hedgehog jump a little in surprise. "Um, just curious. Since it was only a couple hours for us."
"Uh…" Scourge said, rubbing his eyes. "Long enough that we walked for a long time, the kid got a full night's worth of sleep after."
"And I take it you didn't," Tails huffed. "Another nightmare?"
"No. Didn't chance it."
"Wait, so… You've been up all night?!"
Scourge nodded, furrowing his brow. "Yeah, not so loud. I'm only half-functioning right now."
The fox tisked. "Scourge, that was stupid. Like, really stupid. I know your nightmares have been bad, but we need everyone at their best right now. It's bad enough as it is that Zonic and Lil' T got hurt!"
"You think I don't know that?" The Moebian snapped. He sighed tiredly. "Sorry. But it was either I exhaust myself, or I get scared so bad I can't function at all. And with the past-you there… Trust me, I would've loved to get some sleep, but I didn't want to risk it."
"Oh," Tails said quietly, feeling bad. Scourge looked horrible. Bags under his eyes, ears and quills drooping, struggling to hold himself upright. "Are… Are they really that bad?"
The hedgehog nodded wordlessly. He glanced behind him to make sure the others were out of earshot. "You didn't tell anyone about this, right?"
"I haven't told anyone. But you should!" The two-tail whispered harshly. "If it's bad enough that you're staying up all night to avoid these nightmares, I really think the others should know about them!"
"What, so the guys can make fun of what a huge wimp I am? Wittle baby Scourge, scared shitless over some bad dreams?Yeah, that's just what I need, more torment," Scourge said bitterly, turning his head away from the fox and scowling.
"Have I made fun of you?" Tails crossed his arms and raised an eyeridge.
"Well, no, but…"
"Then what makes you think the others would?"
"Hey, Green?" Came a voice from close behind them. The hedgehog and fox jumped in surprise, quickly turning to see the younger Sonic behind them, sans Lil' T. "Can I… talk to you for a sec?"
Scourge and Tails gave each other a glance, trying to quickly gauge the situation. It didn't seem like Sonic had heard much of their conversation, and if he did hear, he didn't look like he understood what they were discussing. Scourge shrugged. Tails nodded. "I'll go check on Zonic, then," the two-tail said, waving before he headed away towards the back of the pack. The oldest and youngest hedgehogs were left alone in the front of the line, and things immediately felt awkward. As the group been walking and talking, the narrow cave corridor they'd been traversing through had opened up into a much larger chamber. This open area had a more gravelly floor, surrounding a sort of underground lake. It also meant that their voices were starting to echo, so all private conversation had to be had at a lower volume.
Scourge finally raised an eyeridge at the smaller blue hog. "What do you want?" he asked sourly.
"I… I wanted to say thanks," the younger hero said. Scourge's other eyeridge raised to match the first one, and the pre-teen continued. "Y'know, for lookin' after Tails. I was so worried about him, I…" Sonic licked his lips and glanced away from the older hedgehog. "Look, I been thinking. Maybe you're not all bad. I haven't been giving you much of a chance, but Tails really likes you. And he's been real stubborn about it, he's not giving up on you. So I'm thinking that maybe I should trust him on this one."
"Whoa, what? Really?" the Moebian said, furrowing his brow and smirking a little bit.
Sonic nodded. "Yeah. But if I suspect even the tiniest bit of anything fishy going on with you, they'll have to surgically remove my foot from your ass," he said, jamming a finger into Scourge's chest.
"Hah!" the green one laughed, showing off his razor sharp teeth. "Alright man, I'll hold you to that. I slip up, you get to kick my ass, free of charge."
The time traveler started to smile. "Oh, you handing out coupons for that? Buy one ass-kicking, get one free?"
"Uuugh! Dude, I should've done that! Everyone in Zone Jail loved beatin' the living daylights outta me, I should'a made them pay me for it. As it was, some of them would schedule beatings with me in advance." Scourge chuckled, but it felt hollow. He'd meant it jokingly, but Zone Jail still wasn't the easiest thing for him to think about.
"Oh jeez, seriously? That's harsh."
"Yeah, you're tellin' me. It wasn't pretty. I do NOT wanna go back to that place…"
"Well, if it's any consolation," Sonic sighed, "I'm rootin' for ya', Green. For Tails's sake."
"Hey, it's better than nothin'," the Moebian scoffed, though having the cynical hedgehog's vote of confidence did make him feel a bit better. "Thanks, Blue. And, uh, speaking of ass-kickings, what was the Time Eater like when you fought it before?"
He thought about it for a moment or two before shrugging one shoulder. "Honestly? Kind of easy. He launched some slow-moving projectiles at us, and he was pretty weaponized by the two Robotniks, so he had some pretty glaring weakspots. Older-me and I just slammed into a big glowing orb on its chest a few times, and it went down. But… I have a strong feeling things are gonna be different this time. It won't-"
"Hey, guys!" Zonic suddenly called out from the back of the pack. "Get over here!"
"Hold that thought," Sonic said to the green hedgehog. The two turned and started to head back, joined halfway by Lil' T. Zonic pointed to a dark shape on the shore, where from the looks of it, something had washed up. "Zonic," Sonic said when they all regrouped, "what is it?" His eyes followed the Zone Cop's outstretched finger, his jawdropping when he realized what he was looking at. Sonic bent down low close to the figure. "It's… It's me."
o o o
Everything was dark. He couldn't feel, he couldn't see, he couldn't hear. He could taste, though. And all he tasted was salt water.
He heard something faint. It sounded far away, muffled even. Like he was listening to something from behind a pane of glass. The sound began to unfog. He could hear more clearly. Voices. Definitely voices. But whose? It sounded so familiar…
'It's me,' he realized. 'Little me. And… Tails? What happened…? Am I dead? Somehow I thought being dead would hurt less.'
He coughed, expelling the water that filled his lungs. As soon as he could, he took a deep breath. Then sputtered out more water. More air in, more water out. Repeat.
"Sonic! He's alive!" Lil' T said, his voice ringing through the waterlogged hedgehog's ears. Sonic flattened his ears to his skull. 'I'm alive…? Huh, could have sworn I'd drowned…' He slowly opened his eyes, being met with only more darkness at first. He was soon able to make out the light of torches and flashlights, and from there, faces were illuminated. His younger self. The Tailses. Scourge. Zonic. They were all there.
"... Guys?" Sonic said softly, a small smile worming onto his face. "You're all… alive?"
Everyone was on top of him at once. They pulled him out of the water, propped him up so he was sitting upright, made sure he wasn't seriously injured. They all chattered happily and with relief at getting their final teammate back.
"What happened?" his past-self asked. "How the heck did you end up in the water like that?"
"Wound up in HydroCity after we got split up," the older coughed. "Pre-flood HydroCity. Didn't stay that way for long though, and I guess I got knocked out when the water hit."
"Sonic," Tails said, sitting down next to him. "Are you okay? Your scar…"
"Yeah, what the hell happened?" Scourge sat down across from him. The rest of the gang followed suit until they were all sitting in a circle.
"I…" Sonic started, and then began to cough. The sudden jerks sent pain flaring through his body, and the cave rumbled slightly. Everyone flinched instinctively and huddled a little closer together. Once the rumbling and Sonic's coughing stopped, everyone turned their heads to look at him. "... I'm not okay," he sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest. "I have too much negative energy pent up inside of me. I can't control it. All these earthquakes… They're all my fault."
"But… how is that even possible?" his younger self asked, his voice breaking a little bit.
"I don't know," the charred black hedgehog shuddered. He placed a dark hand over his chest. "It's got something to do with my emotions. I'm having a harder time keeping them in check, and when they get out of control…"
"You make the ground shake?" Lil' T asked incredulously.
"Or worse. Waves of dark energy can burst out of me if it gets too bad… I'm a wreck, huh?" he laughed lamely.
"Heck, I'm just glad you made it out of there alive," Tails said.
"Yeah…" Sonic looked down at his feet. 'All that water… I was drowning, I almost died...' He felt his throat began to close up, and the air around him began to thrum with energy. 'No. Stop. Control. Breathe.' He needed to calm down, or he risked literally exploding.
"Um… Sonic? You good?" Tails asked as his big bro breathed steadily in and out.
"Yeah…" he sighed, clearing his mind. "Yeah, I'll be good. What about you guys, how are you all holding up?"
Scourge and Tails shared a knowing glance, but the hedgehog remained tight-lipped and quickly broke eye contact. Lil' T quickly raised his hand, smiling wide. "I hurt my ankle!" He exclaimed, as if it were something to be proud of. "See? Scourge had to wrap it up for me and everything!"
Sonic smiled and nodded, even though he couldn't see the makeshift bandages at all. All of his friends were just dark silhouettes against a slightly-less-dark background. He could barely tell a few of them apart, let alone see details like that. Some features in their faces were highlighted in a light purple, but that didn't seem to extend down to their ankles.
"My leg got pretty banged up, too," Zonic said, running a hand against his new rough scarring. "Had some deep gashes going down the side. But I… healed it. With the Chaos Emeralds."
"Woah, really?" The darkened hedgehog gasped, while silently trying to figure out if it was Zonic or his younger self who just spoke. 'Uh, uh, uh, crap, similar size, similar voice, both of them have been getting better with the Emeralds,' he thought frantically as he kept up his cool facade. "Congrats, dude! That's not easy to do, that's pretty awesome."
The Zone Cop smiled, feeling proud. "Thanks! Yeah, the scarring is pretty ugly, but it's better than a ruined leg."
"You can say that again," Sonic chuckled. 'Scarring. If Lil' S got scars on his leg, I would have them now. Right? I mean, my whole body is one big scar, so it's hard to tell, and timelines haven't been matching up lately- I think it's Zonic? I'm gonna go with Zonic. Chaos this sucks.'
"Don't you think it's weird, though? You don't have healing powers, right? So how come I do?"
'Crap, maybe it is younger-me? So far he's only learned abilities that I already have, so it might be… Man, why did there have to be four Sonics and two Tailses on this stupid adventure?!'
"Sonic," Tails said quietly, nudging the charred hedgehog in the arm. "You look a little weirded out, everything okay?"
Sonic balled his fists in his lap as his body went rigid. He knew it wasn't his fault that he couldn't tell the difference, but it still felt like it was. This transformation was ruining everything. "I… can't exactly see so well, you guys," he said, looking down at the ground, sounding disappointed in himself. "Mainly just… basic silhouettes. So I... " He took a deep breath. He could feel everyone looking at him. He didn't have the heart to look back. He laughed, the sound coming out a little bit sad. "I can't tell if that was Zonic or Lil' Me, who healed their leg. You both look and sound pretty similar, so… Sorry…"
"W-what?" Zonic gasped. They'd all figured that Sonic's vision would be limited from his scarred over eyes, but for it to be that bad… "No, it's fine, Prime! Don't sweat it," the cop said with a smile.
"Ooh, okay, so you are Z," Sonic nodded in response to hearing his nickname. "See, I thought so, but I just…" He blew air through his lips in frustration. "I can barely see, barely move, and barely control myself. I can't use the Emeralds, mine burned me when I tried. I can't do much more than crawl at the Time Eater like this. I'm just a liability at this point, I'm useless."
Everyone stared at him wide-eyed, unable to believe that those words had just come out of his mouth. Hearing Sonic of all people suddenly doubt himself so severely… it was just so unlike him. The whole process of his scar growing and eventually taking over his body had taken a huge toll. His younger self stood up and gave him a stern glance. "Look. I don't know what's going through your head right now, but you are not useless. We're Sonic the Hedgehog, for Chaos' sake! Don't just… um, what are those?" he said in a more hushed tone, his speech cut short. His eyes were transfixed on the small droplets of black energy that were dripping up and away from the older Sonic.
The elder hedgehog, frantically realizing this, rubbed his bare hands over his arms, quickly trying to cover them up. He didn't need to freak out his friends any more that he already had. His alarm, however, only made the droplets grow bigger. "Man, not now," he muttered under his breath.
"Sonic. Let me see." The short hedgehog walked across their circle until he was standing over his older-self.
"See what? I'm just cold, dude," the darker of the two said simply, fake shivering in a poor attempt to normalize the situation. "You guys pulled me out of the freaking ocean, what do you expect?"
"Somehow I don't believe you," the younger said. "Are you sure you're okay?"
The Tailses leaned in to get a better look at the dripping energy, too, concerned looks gracing their faces. "Sonic, what is this?" the older one asked, starting to really fear for his older brother's wellbeing. "Tell us what's going on!"
"Just leave me alone!" Sonic shouted, opening his eyes wide as a wave of energy blasted out all around him. The burst of black and purple shot towards the others, forcefully shoving them back and pushing them to the ground. The earth underneath them rumbled, small stones fell from the roof of the cave, and a mixture of dust and energy particles swirled around them before quickly dissipating. The air was still tense with energy, and Sonic's hands were shaking. He closed his eyes, unwilling to look at his friends through the clearing smoke. 'Oh no, what did I just do? They were just trying to help me, and… what did I do to them? What happened?' He couldn't bear to look and find out. If he opened his eyes and none of them were moving…
He heard sounds of light groaning and scuffling as his friends pushed themselves to their knees, so he tentatively opened his eyes. "G-guys?" Sonic asked nervously, looking down at the rest of the group. They were certainly moving, but something was wrong. They were moving sluggishly, almost like they were in slow motion. "Oh no," the hedgehog gasped, realization dawning on his face. He bent down next to Tails, who was climbing to his feet, and waved his hand in front of the fox's face. It took a few seconds for Tails's eyes to move to where Sonic's hands were, and they moved at a snail's pace. "Shit," Sonic breathed, standing up and taking several steps back away from everyone. "How did I… I didn't mean to… Shit!" He grasped his head in his hands as he started to pace back and forth. He'd slowed them all down. He'd slowed them all down. That was a straight-up time monster power, and he just did it.
It took a minute, but most of his friends were now on their feet and looking close to his general direction. Their mouths were moving, so it looked like they were saying something, but Sonic couldn't make it out. It was too slow to understand. He could feel the black energy dripping off of his body as he started to get more and more freaked out. Watching them all move so slowly felt wrong, it didn't look real. His younger self, the Tailses, Zonic and Scourge… He must be moving so fast from their point of view. Were they freaking out, too? He could barely tell.
Sonic looked down at his scarred hands. "Okay, I… I did this. I have to be able to undo it. Just gotta…" He tried to focus some energy in his hands, but it didn't seem to be working. He wasn't sure if paradox energy and Chaos energy could be controlled in the same way, but it was looking like that wasn't the case. He tried feeling the energy. He tried thinking about the energy. He tried verbally commanding the energy, which turned into just yelling at the energy. He tried everything he could think of until he was sitting on the ground, curled up in frustration, and Tails had inched his way over to him.
The hedgehog sighed as his best friend slowly sat down next to him. Everyone else was gathered around too, all looking either concerned or confused. The eldest fox was trying to tell him something, but again, he couldn't hear it clearly. Sonic frowned. "Sorry, pal," he said, having a strong feeling that Tails couldn't make him out either. "I didn't mean to set you all on slow-mo, but I guess that's just what happens when you wind up getting infected with weird time powers that you have no idea how to control. Man, this is bad…" He hung his head and looked down at the gravelly surface they sat on, trying to avoid looking at anyone else.
'Stupid time monster, stabbing me full of stupid time powers that I don't know how to stupid use. Stupid,' he thought as he stood up and began to pace around again. 'Why couldn't this be more like Chaos energy? I know how that stuff works. I'm used to using it, and Knuckles gave me the whole crash course on Chaos theory and all that junk. Willpower, determination, that stuff I've got plenty of. But whatever this paradox energy runs off of… My emotions apparently… I don't know how that works, or how to harness this energy without getting pissed off or freaking out or something.' This train of thought continued for several minutes, interrupted occasionally by pausing to check on his friends, observing their abnormally slow movements.
The hedgehog was growing frustrated and impatient. He'd finally just gotten his friends back, found them all safe and sound, and then this had to go and happen! He'd thought they could all be dead, and now they were all right next to him and he could barely interact with them. All they had wanted to do was help, and he blasted them for it. He didn't like these new powers, not in the slightest. This wasn't the first time he'd had dark powers given to him by an enemy- that honor went to the whole Werehog thing, if he remembered correctly- but this definitely felt darker, colder, less natural. He hated it, he hated the Time Eater, he hated this whole situation-!
Suddenly everyone around him was zooming. They'd all gone from zero to a hundred in a split second, and Sonic's head swam. His teammates became colorful blurs Before he had a moment to process what just happened, they were all teleporting around at random. Stopping and starting, freezing in new places and in new positions for varying lengths of time. And then they went back to being slow. Then fast. Then faster. Then frozen. The charrred black hedgehog was frozen in place, trying to take in what he was witnessing. It looked like he was playing a movie in reverse and fast forward at the same time.
"Wh-what the hell? Am I doing this? I-I barely feel like I'm doing anything!" Sonic stammered, looking frantically between his team and his hands. If the energy rapidly dripping off of him and his glowing purple hands were any indication, he was indeed the one doing this. He closed his fists, trying to stop the glowing. "Stop, stop, this needs to stop," he whispered, trying to get a hold of himself. Nothing changed. "No, I need to calm down. That should stop this, right? So just… Just be calm… Happy thoughts, man, happy thoughts…" He tried to take deep breaths, but it was hard to relax when your friends were spazzing through time just a few feet away from you. He couldn't calm down, he was freaking out. He wanted this to end, he wanted his friends back. He wanted this to stop.
ooo
"What's happening to him?" The younger Sonic asked fearfully. The five other Mobians stared at the scarred, older version of the hedgehog, who was now rapidly switching between being fast and slow, teleporting around and freezing in place.
"You mean, what's happening to us," Zonic corrected him, looking instead at the waves from the salty lake rolling up on the gravel shore. The water was just as erratic as Sonic was, meaning that their group was the one out of sync with the world around them.
Tails tried to get close to Sonic, but that was proving difficult with his random movement. Whenever the hedgehog slowed down or froze, though, it was easy to tell his expression. "He's freaking out. Bad," the fox said, worried. "And remember what he said about these new powers of his supposedly being controlled by his emotions?"
"His emotions that he can barely control nowadays?" Scourge groaned. "Yeah, I remember. How the hell do we get him to calm down?"
"I dunno, what do we do?" Lil' T asked, hiding behind the younger Sonic and holding onto the hedgehog's hand.
Just as the older fox was about to respond, Sonic started to sync back up with them. He was still sort of jittery, jumping around a bit, almost like a lagging video game. But he wasn't super fast, or painfully slow. He was sitting in place, unmoving, head in his hands, breathing hard as drops of the black paradox energy practically poured off of him. "Sonic!" Tails gasped, moving over and kneeling in front of him without even thinking. He grabbed the hedgehog by the shoulders, holding him tight and in place. Sonic's movements were still jittery, but he sat still. He shakily lifted his head up to look Tails in the eyes. He wasn't crying, but his eyes were wild and his voice cracked as he spoke.
"T-Tai-ls?" He shuddered, scared out of his wits. His voice sounded distorted, but at least the fox could make out what he said.
"Just calm down, bro, everything's gonna be fine. Deep breaths, okay?"
Whether or not Sonic's breaths were truly deep or not was hard to tell, but he seemed to jitter a little bit less with every one he took.
Zonic smiled, noticing the erratic pattern of the shoreline begin to stabilize. "I think it's working," he breathed with relief. He stepped tentatively towards Sonic and kneeled down next to Tails. "You can do it Prime, I know you can. Just a little bit more."
"Zonic? I c-an hea-ear y-you guys again-n," Sonic said, seeming like he was calming down. Everything was syncing back up again, finally.
Scourge groaned. "'Bout time!" He huffed, only to receive a harsh nudge from Lil' T.
"Don't discourage him!"
"I wasn't! I was just sayin'," the green hedgehog shrugged.
Sonic's ears perked up as he was able to pick up more and more of their words. "Guys… You're back, I'm so sor-orry I didn't-"
Tails smiled. "It's okay, bro. We know. Just breathe for a minute, okay? Everything's sorting itself out." He kept his hands firm on Sonic's shoulders, anchoring him. The hedgehog bowed his head and took some deep, albeit still shaky, breaths. "It's okay, that wasn't that bad. We're all safe. A little freaked out, yeah… especially your past self," he added in a whisper, "but we're all good now. Yeah?"
Sonic took a moment to respond, but he eventually nodded. "Yeah. Thanks," he said quietly, his voice sounding thick. "I don't… I don't know what happened. I knew this dumb scar gave me some weird powers, but this… I have time powers. What the hell."
"I know, I know," Tails said calmly, "but you need to just chill out for a second, okay? Just take a little bit and rest. Like, actually try and clear your mind, because worrying about this is just going to make it worse again."
The hedgehog huffed, knowing Tails was right. He tried to steadily breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth. Tails was back, everyone was back. They had returned to normal speed, and for that the blue hedgehog was grateful. He focused just on the feeling of his brothers hands on his shoulders, feeling their weight, as the other members of their party began to quietly discuss everything that was going on. Sonic, luckily, was able to block their words out and just listen to their now non-distorted voices.
"So wait a minute," Scourge muttered, "am I the only one of the three of us without some new power they just discovered?" He sat down and crossed his arms frustratedly over his chest. "That's bullshit."
The younger Sonic shot him a glare. "You think older-me wants these powers?!"
"You guys can never tell when I'm kidding, can you?" the green one sighed. "Whatever. So that… whatever it was… is all over now?"
Zonic nodded, taking a seat next to Sonic. "Yeah. Everything's okay." He breathed deeply through his nose and quietly observed the older hedgehog next to him. Sonic hadn't been acting quite like himself since this whole adventure had started, but to call himself useless and then panic like he'd just did… this wasn't the Sonic he grew up watching, and looking up to. This was everything Sonic usually kept bottled up, and then some. The self-doubt was definitely new and unusual. But he could get through it. He had to. He was Sonic, Sonic Prime. "Everything's okay," Zonic said to himself, fists clenched tight.
The two young time travelers, the only ones left standing, lowered themselves to the ground and completed the circle once again. No one spoke above a murmur, wanting to wait for the older Sonic to compose himself. He did after a minute or two, picking his head up and rubbing at one of his eyes. "Okay," he said softly, his lavender eyes still avoiding everyone else's gaze. "I'm all good. Sorry. So… what's the plan?'
Zonic shrugged and rested his elbows on his knees. "We're not sure. Just keep walking until something happens, I guess. I think we were all kinda hoping that you'd be in better shape than this, to kind of, lead the charge, y'know? But if you're not feeling up to it, that's… fine, we'll think of something else. Just keep moving."
Scourge groaned. "And then what? What if we do find the last Chaos Emerald down here, or the Time Eater, or something else entirely? Blue can't use the Emeralds, he said so himself. I don't like the chances of just three Super hedgehogs against the Time Eater, and he's a literal ticking time bomb. Don't play this off like it's no big deal, Z. We're fucked." He climbed to his feet, blinking as his head swam for a moment. No… more than a moment. The dizzy feeling wouldn't go away. He stumbled, collapsing to his knees.
"Woah, jeez!" Tails yelped, jumping up and trying to catch him as he went down. "Are you okay?"
"Scourge!" gasped Lil' T.
Scourge inhaled sharply, holding his head in his hands. "Shit!" he breathed, the room spinning. His eyes were shut tight, and he felt someone's hand on his back, steadying him. Probably Tails's. "Goddamn, what the fuck…"
"What happened?" the two Sonics asked, both moving to get up. Scourge said nothing, keeping quiet as he caught his breath. His head was starting to clear, and he dared to open his eyes. Things looked blurry, but he could make out Tails glaring at him. He closed his eyes again.
"Scourge," the older fox harshly muttered. "Tell them. They need to know."
"Tell us what?" Zonic asked, kneeling next to them. Everyone looked at the green hedgehog expectantly, wondering what Tails meant.
"Ugh… fine," the Moebian grunted, lowering himself all the way down to the ground so he could sit. He clutched his head and looked down to the gravel, trying to avoid everyone's gaze. "I haven't slept. In a while. So I… yeah, shit, I almost passed out."
"And why haven't you been sleeping?" Tails asked, leading him on.
"Chaos, Tails, gimme a sec," Scourge said quietly. Looked like to was time to spill everything. He sighed. "Nightmares. Like… every night. Bad ones. Bad enough that I stayed up all night to avoid having them. So sorr-ee for not being in top form right now, but between the nightmares, the flashbacks, the hallucinations... " He held his head in his hands. "...Tails thinks it might be… PTSD."
Well, he did it. He said the magic words, and everyone went silent. The only sound was the crashing of the gentle waves against the rocky shore. It was a long, tense moment before anyone spoke.
"I knew you'd had a bad dream or two recently," Sonic said, his voice a whisper, "but every night… PTSD… That's gotta be terrible. Jeez…"
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Zonic asked, his normally stoic face showing his concern. "Maybe we could've helped!"
"How could you have helped? How?!" The green one shouted, half angry, half upset. He hated talking about this, hated being pitied. Why did this have to come up now?
"I'm a cop whose dimension is at war. I know people who have gone through this!" the No Zoner yelled back. Scourge shut his mouth, not having an argument against that. Zonic paused for a moment and lowered his voice again. "I'm not an expert on this kind of stuff or anything, but that's hell to go through alone. We at least could have been there for you."
"Well," the older Sonic smiled a bit, "to be fair, we were all enemies for a long time. Can't exactly blame you for keeping this to yourself. It sucks that you dealt with it for so long on your own, but there's not much we can do about that now." Scourge glanced up at him, his head still tilted down. "That was some dizzy spell though. You feelin' better?"
"M'fine," the green one said quietly, still holding his head. "But we are so boned. The only ones left here who aren't hurt or fucked up somehow are big Tails and little Sonic, and that's just not gonna cut it. How the hell are we supposed to kill this god-monster that makes the time stream its bitch if half of us can barely move?"
No one had an immediate answer to that. Things were looking pretty grim, especially with new problems arising all the time like this. "I think…" Zonic said slowly, putting his hand on his chin, "we need to take a little bit and rest up. A lot just happened, so I think we should take a quick second to… to calm down and take everything in. We are in rough shape, and I feel like we're getting close to something in this cave. There's been an awful lot of time monsters around for there to be nothing here. We need to recuperate, at least a little bit, before we move on. At least so Scourge can sleep and I can finish healing my leg."
"And my ankle!" Lil' T said cheerfully, raising his hand.
"... Yes, hopefully, I can heal your ankle, too."
Little Sonic nodded. "I agree, but we don't have a lot of time to waste. We could get attacked at any time, and who knows what sort of damage the Time Eater's caused since we've been here?"
"It'll be a short rest, then," Tails said, quickly noting the state of their group. "We could all use one. I think Scourge and Lil' T are the only ones who've stopped for a breather so far."
"Okay," Zonic clapped his hands together. "Plan. I'll work on healing my leg, then Lil' T's ankle. Scourge? Try and get some sleep. I know you might not want to, but you almost passed out from exhaustion. A quick nap will help, trust me." He turned his attention to the scarred black-and-purple hedgehog. "Sonic, you need to rest, too. You almost drowned earlier, and being tired and stressed out isn't going to help your whole 'powers' situation. Eat something if you haven't. Tails, keep him calm, keep him grounded. Sound good?"
The others nodded, none objecting to the idea of a break. Scourge muttered "sure thing, mom," under his breath, earning him a small grin and an eyeroll from the Zone Cop.
The younger Sonic cleared his throat. "And what about me, o mighty Caller of The Shots? I feel fine, I don't think I need much rest."
"Yeah, I know, I'm thinking," the officer hummed. He looked around the long chamber they were in, trying to come up with something. His eyes settled on the furthest end of the cave, the way they'd been walking before they found the older Sonic washed up on the rocky shore. "How do you feel about running recon?"
The young speedster nodded. "I can do that. Check and see if there actually is anything big ahead." He stood up and started to stretch out his legs.
The older fox removed his communicator from his wrist. "Here," he passed it to the small hog. "My comm still works, and so does Zonic's helmet, as long as we're still in the same time zone. Keep in touch."
Mini-Sonic slipped the device onto his wrist as Zonic switched on the communicator function of his helmet. "Come back as soon as the signal starts getting shaky. And don't do anything too risky!" the captain ordered, starting to feel like he was in his element for once.
"Yeah yeah, I'll be careful, mom," Sonic smiled as he ran off. Zonic groaned as Scourge laughed.
"Hey, only I can call him that!" the Moebian said. "See? It's not just me. You're totally a mom."
The cop slid his helmet on over his head and started assembling the group's Chaos Emeralds. "Less sass. More sleep," he smirked. Scourge rolled his eyes as the younger hedgehog crossed his legs and let the six Emeralds float around him.
Everyone took that as a cue to assume resting positions. Tails took the remaining food they had out of their packs and distributed it amongst the team, whom at this point, were all hungry. The fox started chatting up his older brother, trying to cheer him up and keep his mind off his current condition.
Scourge took a few bites of his sandwich, but the thought of going to sleep made his stomach turn. The thought that everyone knew that he was having nightmares made him feel particularly nauseous. Sure, he'd left out the specific details of his dreams, so only Tails knew about that. But they all knew the basic gist, now. They'd just wanted to help, but he hated feeling pitied. The guys had all seen him particularly vulnerable over the past few days, and he still half expected negative consequences to that. But they were just concerned about him, something Scourge was still getting used to. It was kind of annoying, but they just wanted to help, after all. Could he really be mad at them for that?
"Scourge?" Lil' T spoke softly, tugging on the sleeve of the hedgehog's jacket. The Moebian turned his head to look down at him. "I don't know what PTSD is, it sounds bad, but… have you really been having bad dreams every night?"
Scourge reached to remove the child's hand from his jacket, but stopped halfway and sighed. "Yeah, pretty much. I don't… really wanna talk about it, kid."
"So last night, you were…"
"Awake the whole time, yeah. And I ain't too keen on takin' a nap right now, either." He turned away shifting so his back was to the small fox.
"... Are you afraid?" the child hesitantly whispered. Scourge said nothing, his quills bristling. Lil' T moved around him until he was at the hedgehog's side again. "'Cause… I might be able to help."
"Oh, do tell," the green one said skeptically.
"Well, whenever I have bad dreams, Sonic tells me that everything'll be okay, and then I sleep with him and I don't have the bad dreams anymore," Tails said, hope shining in his dark eyes. "So, since we're friends, maybe if you sleep with me, then you won't have any nightmares!"
Scourge frowned. "That's a nice thought T, but I don't think that's how it works," he said tiredly.
Lil' T huffed and scrunched up his shoulders. "It does work! And we're gonna try it, 'cause you need sleep, mister!"
"PFT" the hedgehog snorted, starting to grin at the kid's determination. "Ah, well, if you insist, how can I argue?" he deadpanned, letting himself drop to the ground. Tails quickly snuggled himself in with him, getting a little cuddlier than he would have prefered. Scourge scooted back a bit, not wanting to get that soft and snuggly, especially in front of other people..
"You'll be just fine, I know it," the fox yawned, feeling a bit sleepy himself. His sleep had been interrupted by a monster attack, after all. "G'night."
"Yeah, g'night."
"And actually sleep this time!"
"Alright," Scourge closed his eyes, exasperated. As much as he didn't want to sleep, he did feel sleepier as he laid down, and the kit who continued to snuggle against him was warm as a blanket. He couldn't help but yawn. He supposed he couldn't escape sleeping anymore. He'd almost blacked out when he stood up for a second, after all. And hey, maybe Lil' T's plan to get rid of his nightmares would work. Weirder things had happened. He needed to at least try.
Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails sat a few feet away, trying to not look directly at the heartwarming scene unfolding in front of them. They'd wanted to give Scourge some privacy while he tried to sleep, but it was pretty cute how close he and Lil' T were.
"Well," Sonic whispered, "I see they've made up."
The older Tails took a sip of his water and nodded. "Mmm. I hope Scourge sleeps okay."
"Me too. How long have you known about this, by the way?" the hedgehog uttered. "Because he said you know about this. And…. PTSD?"
"He told me the night before we left Moebius," Tails said back, equally quiet. "He made me promise not to tell anyone. He didn't want anyone to know, but… he seemed so upset. He need help from someone, and he picked me I guess." He twisted the cap back onto his water bottle, holding the plastic tight. "He said he'd been having flashbacks and hallucinations, too. I don't really know if it's PTSD or not, but it sure sounds like it could be."
"Chaos… Poor guy. I feel bad," the dark hedgehog said, rubbing his arms. He could practically feel the paradox energy bubbling up again. "He's really been trying, and he's turned out to be a kind of decent guy, y'know? He doesn't deserve this."
Tails eyed the energy beginning to drip off of him again, signifying the hedgehog was starting to get upset. "It's okay, he'll be alright. He's got little me with him," the fox smiled. Unfortunately, Sonic showed no signs of cheering up. Tails's smile faded. "Sonic," he quietly worried, "Scourge'll be alright. We'll all be alright. So chin up, okay?"
"Yeah, sorry…" Sonic blinked. He looked at his ungloved hand, studying the scarred skin. "Having this Time Eater crap inside of me is a real downer, gotta say. Plus…" he paused, gripping his own cold arms again. "I was pretty worried about you guys. I thought you all might be… y'know, dead. Guess I'm just feeling a little overprotective 'cause of that."
"Please, you've always been protective," the teenager scoffed. "You should've seen your younger self earlier. He didn't vocalize it much, but he was worried sick about everyone."
"Heh, I bet. Worrying about you was second nature when we were their age. Not only were you tiny, but you always seemed to run towards the evil killer robots."
"Shh, my past self is right there, you know," Tails smirked nodding towards the small fox dozing just a few feet away. Sonic chuckled, the dark energy around him starting to fade again. The older fox breathed with relief. "So, this time energy stuff… what's it feel like? Aside from being a downer, I mean."
"It's cold," the hedgehog said, trying to think objectively about it. "And not terribly responsive. If these powers actually did what I wanted them to, it might not be so bad. But they don't listen, they just do what they feel like. Like putting all of you in slow motion." He sighed through pursed lips. "If I could actually use these powers, they'd probably be helpful for going up against the Time Eater. But I can't."
"Is… there any way you can practice? If Z can learn Chaos Energy, maybe you can learn this."
"I don't think we have enough time to try and figure this out, bud," the black one shook his head, nervous about the very proposition.
"To be fair, if you use your powers right, we'd have all the time in the world," Tails shrugged.
"I don't' really wanna risk it," Sonic said, formally shutting the idea down. "I'm not the most stable guy right now, I don't want these dumb powers to get out of control and hurt somebody. Besides, I thought Z said you were supposed to keep me calm so I don't use my powers."
Tails smiled innocently. "Can't blame me for being curious!"
"Tails, stop being curious," Zonic chided from where he sat on the other end of the sort-of circle, surrounded by the six Emeralds.
The darker of the hedgehogs snickered. "Busted," he whispered. "Yo Z, how's your leg doin'?" The Zone Cop was apparently close enough to hear them, so he might as well be included in the conversation.
"Good," the No Zoner replied, his visor down over his eyes. "This is a lot easier with more Emeralds."
"I bet. I still can't believe you can heal... Do you know how rare of a power that is?" Sonic looked at the younger hog's leg, which from his point of view, was glowing a bright lavender, as were the Chaos Emeralds. From this close, he'd normally be able to feel their warmth without a problem, but they felt no warmer than distant stars.
"Little-you and Tails told me it was rather uncommon, yeah," Zonic shrugged.
"Not just uncommon. I've never met anyone who could heal," Sonic said. "Knuckles can sort of heal, but he's been studying this stuff his whole life. He's had years of practice to work on it. But you… You just have a natural talent for this stuff. That's pretty insane. I'm impressed."
"Heh… Thanks, Prime," Zonic beamed. "Wish I knew how to do this so my leg didn't scar up, but… hey, now the three of us match. You, me, and Scourge. The scarred dimensional triplets."
"The Super Scar Brothers," Tails laughed.
"Haha, dude, nice," Sonic high-fived him.
Their conversation fell into sort of a lull at that point. Sonic watched on as Zonic continued to heal his leg, the remainder of the raw cuts slowly scarring over. Tails looked over at Lil' T and Scourge, who against all odds, appeared to be sleeping soundly. The younger fox's tails were wrapped around the pair, and the green hedgehog was snoring softly. He looked remarkably more like Sonic when he wasn't scowling. It was quiet, the first bit of relative peace any of them had had in awhile. No one was worried that the others might be dead, and they were all (mostly) together again. They might not have been safe, but just resting together made everyone feel a little bit better, like things were almost normal. Except that Sonic was black, purple, and glowing, Zonic was a young teenager with healing powers, and Scourge was… just not doing so hot. But aside from all that. Normal.
It felt like a while before anything happened, everyone just resting and recovering from their hectic time apart. Zonic talked periodically to the younger Sonic via his helmet as his leg finished up healing. The others could barely make out the smallest hedgehog's voice through the inner speakers, but it was enough to know that Zonic wasn't talking to himself. But the latest message Z got was loud and fast, Sonic talking a mile a minute.
"Woah, woah, Sonic, calm down!" Zonic said, tilting his head down and pressing his hands against the side of the helmet to keep it in position. "Are you okay? What's going on? … Oh… Oh gods, you're kidding… Shit. Shit, okay. Stay hidden, keep quiet. We'll be right there. Guys!" he said, picking his head up.
"What's happening?" Tails asked as Sonic moved to shake Scourge and Lil' T awake.
"I got good news and bad news," Zonic gulped. "The good news is that Sonic's past self found the last Chaos Emerald."
Sonic grimaced. "And the bad news?"
"He also found the Time Eater."
Notes: Oh shiiitttt! That's right folks, we're getting to the endgame here. This chapter was chock-full of stuff, so I hope you enjoyed all of it! If you have any questions about anything (the characters, how I write in general, etc) feel free to ask! Don't forget to leave a review if you liked it, and have a good day!