Hey guys! I just wanted to update on Last Stand. Besides, it's part of that promise that I made on my profile, check it out if you want. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and please leave a comment... it can be about anything based on the story.

Disclaimer: Dark-Illusion-Detective does not own any of the Sonic Characters nor does she own Sega. She does however own Illusion the Cat and Charcoal the Cat.

Thank you Disclaimer, onto the story!

Chapter Eleven

It was one of those moments that you wished would just hurry up and disappear into the sea of memories; Illusion watched as Espio, the calm ninja, now held the appearance of being a nervous wreck and the white cat could understand Espio. The chameleon was scared of what might have happened to Vector and Charmy. Illusion was listening to Espio's IPod to songs that brought her out of the melody of Espio's feet hitting the floor as he kept pacing. It wasn't that Illusion was scared that Charcoal killed them unlike her previous thoughts until she was being carried by Espio, but she was actually wondering what was going through Espio's mind. She never wondered what anyone else thought back in the castle...

... The memories of her sliding down the railing and being scolded at, of Charcoal and her arguing, of her excitement of finally leaving the castle; those seemed distant, almost surreal. Her life before she met the Chaotix seemed to be a dream that no longer belonged to her, a happy dream that she was gifted to see before but now was unfortunate to never see again. It was times like this that she wondered what the kingdom was like without her parents guiding the people to the right choices, or of everyone's mystified gaze at Charcoal as he stepped out and cast a smile toward the crowd of people that would gather. The white cat had to shake her head, it wasn't going to bring Vector and Charmy back if she just let herself sink into the pool of sweet memories that were filled with her uncle Sherman's banana milkshakes or with her mother's loving embrace.

Illusion suddenly was brought back into the realm of reality when Espio walked upstairs and entered his room. The door closed quietly and Illusion then realized she had fallen asleep and that the IPod stopped playing. As the headphones fell onto the couch, she let herself camaflouge and she silently walked up the stairs, but she started to wonder if she had any right to spy on Espio. Illusion shook her head; she didn't, but Espio was her friend, and she wanted to see if he was okay. Through experience a person who feels horrible won't admit it right away and Illusion knew that the only way to see if someone was truly okay was by spying.

"Vector... Charmy... please come back," Illusion heard Espio say very quietly. Illusion placed her hand on the closed door and put her ear against the door gently. Her tail started to wave gracefully and silently as she heard his voice shake slightly. "I... I don't know what to do..."

She found herself pressing her ear harder against the door as Espio began to talk quieter. His voice shook even more and she felt her heart tug against her chest, she felt like she was suffocating but she kept listening.

"First... ... first it was Illusion's family... don't... don't let it be you guys next."

Those words echoed in Illusion's head and it was then that she truly looked into someone's position and saw what Espio felt. He felt guilt. Guilty of the fact that she had no family besides her gun slinging brother, and that he let something like that happen. He felt scared like a child would that he might lose Vector and Charmy. It came crashing onto Illusion and she quietly fell to her knees and pulled her ear away from the door. Her hand refused to separate from the wooden door though.

She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting in front of the door, but when she finally stood up and opened the door she was shocked to see that Espio was sleeping in a meditative position. Illusion lifted Espio up from the ground and placed him on his bed and covered him with the blankets. She felt tired as well and she wanted to desperately crawl into Espio's bed with him and hug him as she would drift to sleep; that's what she wanted, not what she needed. She needed to stay awake and make sure that Vector and Charmy came back. But even as the seconds ticked away and she walked down the stairs, she wondered what Charcoal's fate would be. Normally she wouldn't have given a second thought to her annoying brother's future let alone to Charcoal himself, but now she actually began to wonder.

The white cat sat at the kitchen table with a piece of scrap paper, and wrote two words:

Charcoal's Fate

Illusion looked at it and knew that murder was a high crime that often cost a long time being locked away. She then wrote down two things that could possibly happen.

1. Charcoal could wind up dead due to him shooting himself so he can't be caught for the murders.

2. Charcoal could be caught and sentenced to life in prison.

She looked at the two options and knew that they weren't too good. Illusion then considered if those two things were to actually happen to Charcoal, which one would she have felt good about; him committing suicide or him being caught. As her green eyes scanned the small piece of paper she turned it around and wrote Espio a note and darted out of the Chaotix building, just as a horrible feeling slammed into her.

---

"Vector, where are we?" Charmy asked his crocodile companion as he flew next to him.

To be honest, Vector had no idea where they were, let alone if they were even close to the Chaotix building, all the buildings started to look the same. The duo didn't have to even say anymore after Charmy's question, they both knew their fate; they were lost.

Westopolis was a large city, but yet the Chaotix had lived in it for about six years now and still they could get lost in it. This frustrated Vector very much and right now he wanted to scream for Espio to appear and lead them back home. He sighed.

"Hey Boss, is Illusion and Espio going to be okay?"

That was another thing that Vector wasn't too sure about. But he didn't want to scare Charmy into thinking they weren't going to see Espio or Illusion ever again.

"Sure they will be, they wouldn't let anything bad happen to themselves," Vector replied in a very convincing tone that made him even wonder if he was right.

A few minutes passed and Charmy sighed, "I spy with-"

"Wait when did we agree to play I Spy Charmy?"

"We didn't, we're going to play it so we're not bored."

Vector didn't have a reply to that and the honey bee cleared his throat and adjusted his helmet.

"I spy with my little eyes… something…"

Click

"That goes 'Click'."

The duo then froze as they glanced at each other.

"If any of you move I'll shoot," the calm voice said slyly. But what threw Vector and Charmy off was the voice, it was foreign, unknown. "Now you move on over to that alley quietly and stay there as you answer some questions."

Vector grabbed Charmy and held him as they walked into the alley, they honestly had no idea what to expect from this person. And Vector didn't want to risk Charmy getting shot at.

"First question, where is my apprentice Charcoal?"

This threw the duo even more as they looked at each other.

"We don't know."

"LIARS! That's what all of you are, liars!"

Charmy hugged Vector and Vector glanced around and thought of something. He sighed, his orange eyes looking at the ground.

"If you won't answer that simple question, let me ask you another question. Where is the young mistress named Illusion?"

Silence lingered in the air as the tension grew.

Charmy was about to say something but Vector covered his mouth swiftly. The honey bee could literally feel the glare from the figure pierce their back and left them crying for it to be over. Vector suddenly threw Charmy in the air and launched a punch at the figure. The figure dodged and shot at Charmy instead of Vector.

Charmy flew out of the way of the wave of bullets that were flying toward him in speeds that could've beaten Jet and Sonic at an extreme gear race. The honey bee then screamed the next thing that came into his mind, "VECTOR!"

Shots kept ringing in the air and Charmy was scared to see what was happening. Suddenly the shots died away and Charmy found the courage to move his gloved hands away from his eyes and when he did he blinked in sheer surprise.

The figure was slumped against the ground, Vector was unconscious, obviously hit over the head and not shot at. Charmy then saw another figure, one that seemed just as strange as the slumped unknown figure.

What Charmy saw was a figure with pointed ears, two small sharp teeth that barely showed against the blinding glow of white. Charmy saw the eyes and he flew down.

"I-Illusion, is that you?"

The figure just cast a small smile as a hand patted him on the head, giving him a strange feeling that he was right.

"Where's Espio?"

"Safe," Illusion replied, her voice had an echo-like effect as she spoke calmly. "Listen, wake Vector up, take that guy to jail and I'll be back by morning. Charcoal needs to learn that everything has a consequence."

Charmy hugged Illusion, "Thank you… do you know who that is though?"

There was a long moment where Illusion stared at the guy. She nodded, "He's the one that corrupted my brother. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find him."

"Wait, what about-"

"Just tell Espio I'll be back and don't look after me. I promise I will come back with Charcoal."

"Alive?"

Illusion looked at Charmy and smiled, "Of course alive, but right after I bring him back, he's going straight to jail. I can almost guarantee it."

Illusion darted but she vanished from sight as she leaped onto a building and the blinding glowing light that surrounded her disappeared with her. Charmy flew over to Vector and started shaking him, "VECTOR! VECTOR!"

While the young honey bee shook Vector, trying to wake him up, he never noticed the dark figure regaining consciousness and smiling evilly as he vanished without a trace.

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Alright here's the chapter you guys have been waiting for. Sorry if some things seem a bit out of place but I would love to hear what you guys think. As usual I hope you guys liked the chapter and I'll update as soon as I can.