Okay. MUCH by popular demand (looking at you, Bella Cullen-Luckier Than You and GrapeStripes), I'm putting up chapter ten now. Sorry to keep you waiting so long, BCLTY & GS :(


"Are you fucking serious?" Aidan half-screamed, much to Cream's dismay.

Caroline grinned. "I'm serious. I think I can get you out of here."

"Oh, that's SO EPIC! OMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD!" She started jumping up and down, giggling and hiccuping. Her blood sugar was really low, I knew from experience, and her emotions could go into overdrive when it was low.

Shadow put a hand on her shoulder. "Aidan... calm down. You haven't had breakfast yet, you need to stay calm."

"Ooh, now I'm hungry," Blaze said with a smile. "What IS for breakfast?"

As if he had been spying on us (which I desperately hoped he hadn't), Mephiles stepped up to our cells just then with a smile. Everyone got really quiet, but he had eyes only for me, which disturbed me slightly. "Good morning, ladies," he said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Morning," we (even the guys) replied in small voices.

He gave me a one-over, then said, "You need to change out of that gown and get your real clothes on before we go eat."

I looked at the crumpled pile of fabric laying on my bed. "Alright."

He stepped away from the cell, keeping his eyes everywhere but on me as I removed my gown and slipped on my real clothes. Today it was a light blue cotton tank top and a jean skirt. I liked it a lot.

When I finished, he opened the doors to our cells. "I think we can all go eat now. Stick together and follow me." He sprinted ahead of us while we all, except for speedy Sonic, Silver and Shadow, tried to keep up. I saw the grin on Sonic's face and knew that he loved the run.

I could smell the food before I actually found the room it was stored in. This morning it was scrambled eggs, greasy bacon and heavily buttered toast. Caroline wrinkled her nose at the smell of oil, but I took in deep breaths of the comforting scent as we found the dining room.

The room was about the size of an intermediate school cafeteria, with different round tables set up around the room. There were only four chairs to a table, so I knew that we all couldn't all sit at the same table and discuss our impromptu escape in quiet voices. Aidan, Tails, Sonic and I snagged a table while the rest of the gang sat at different tables closely surrounding us. Wherever Shadow sat, Rouge tried to follow, and he had to keep getting up and moving. He finally snagged a table where Rouge couldn't sit next to him, and I giggled mentally as she pouted and sat next to Amy, picking at her toast.

Sonic was a gentlemen and got all four of us our plates of food, getting me extra bacon, which made me smile widely. As Aidan tore through her first piece, she pressed her non-greased hand against my arm.

A few seconds later I felt the presence that I had sensed when she had shown me her Vision. If I closed my eyes, I could see it. It was a small, dark blue orb that pulsed with an aqua light every second or so. Then a thought came to me that wasn't mine. Hey, whatcha think of this whole Get out of Jail Free card Caroline's playing?

I was so shocked that I almost shot a half-chewed eggs and toast mixture out of my nose. "Aidan, what are you doing?"

"Ssh," she hissed quietly. "I'm speaking to you through my thoughts, baka." "Baka" was Japanese for "idiot" (also Spanish for "cow", according to her), and it was a term Aidan loved and used often. (Whenever she wanted to use the Japanese and Spanish version of the word at the same time back on earth, she said "baka two", and that way she could call someone a stupid cow without getting busted for it.)

My eyes widened. "How the HELL-"

"I have no fucking clue. Don't say any more." Then she began thinking thoughts to me. Like I said, what do you think about this escape plan?

"Can you hear my thoughts?" I breathed.

"Yes."

I closed my eyes for a moment, then directed my unspoken words to the dark blue orb in my mind as I chewed my bacon. I honestly don't know what to think of it. I have work to do here.

She internally rolled her eyes. Work, shmork. We need to get the hell out of here unless you wanna be Ol' Mephie's slave for the rest of your life. So, stay or not stay?

I hesitated. Not stay.

Then we need to listen to that Caroline chick. I like her a lot. Kind of reminds me of a young girl version of Freddy Krueger.

I should've known you would make such a comparison. After all, he's in your favorite series.

Aidan snickered quietly. "What are you two gigglin' about over there?" Sonic asked.

"Nothing," Aidan said. "I'll tell you later."

By the look in Sonic's eyes I wasn't sure if he wanted to know at all, but he kept the rest of his face straight and put another huge bite of eggs in his mouth.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence; we all filed back into our prisons soon after. When we got back, and after Mephiles had walked away with a "Good day," it was all clamor and voices directed at our new friend.

"We get to go home?"

"Are you sure you can get us out of this hellhole?"

"Are we going to see all our friends again?"

"Is Renata coming with us?"

At that question, Caroline looked straight at me with her disorienting eyes. "That's something she will have to decide for herself. As part of Team Pureblood, she has free will to do what she pleases, as long as she doesn't betray me." I swear, right when she said that, the light from the window behind her glinted silver off of the dagger she kept on her hip. I suppressed a shiver.

Sonic glanced out the door of the cell in boredom, drumming his fingers on his thigh. From where he sat, he could see into the room where visitors were told to wait if they wanted to see someone in the prison, and when he looked in, his expression changed. He became more alert, straightening up, and his ears twitched. From outside, Mason's rough voice said, "You wish to speak with Caroline?"

At the sound of her name being said, Caroline's fur rose and she turned slowly toward the noise. She took a deep breath, smelling the air around her. Then a grin spread across her face. "What is it?" Amy asked her.

"My sister..." Caroline's voice was choked slightly with a small, happy sob. She walked closer to the door just as Mason opened it, leading another little girl cloaked in gray behind him. "Bella."

"She need talk with you," Mason said before exiting again. Caroline stepped closer to the girl, putting her hand on top of her head. Then she pulled the hood off.

Like Caroline, Bella seemed to be pretty normal at first sight. She appeared to be a three-way hybrid: Hedgehog, Fox, and Cat, though the last two were more prominent than the hedgehog in her. Her muzzle was a pure white, and her fur was a beautiful dark gray, like a thunderstorm cloud. Her hair of the same color extended in wavy sections to her waist. She had 3 small points of fur that covered part of her face like Amy's hair did. She was about my height, just a little shorter. She walked slowly and seemed to depend on her right leg more than her left for strength, as she had a mild limp that was only noticeable if you really looked at it.

Again, like Caroline, her eyes stunned me, but in a different way. They were completely covered with a white blindfold, as if she wanted to hide them from the world. There was a large bloodstain on the top edge of the blindfold where a newly healed scar on her forehead was. It must have been an open wound when Shadow healed her.

"Bella..." Caroline wrapped her arms around her, not seeming to care that Bella didn't return the hug. But I saw pencil eraser sized wet spots appear on her blindfold. Other than those tears, there were no signs that Bella showed any emotion towards this meeting.

"Bella, I thought you were going to die, then my new friend Shadow saved you. Could you feel his Chaos presence there?"

"So that's the explanation for my bones being healed and the skin on my head being knitted back together unexpectedly." Her voice was soft and fluttering, like an angel's wing, but she also carried a motherly and, right now, stern tone in it. "That hurt like crap, Caroline."

"I'm sorry," Caroline said, looking up at her with wide eyes, even though I knew Bella couldn't see them. "But you're alive now, correct? And you're fully healed?"

"Not fully," Bella said, gesturing to her blindfolded face with a wave of her hand. I guessed that there was something wrong with her eyes. "Just partially. You know I'll never be whole again."


Hm... I like the ending. What about you? :D R&R.

~gabl