Thorn sat miserably in the clearing awaiting his fate. It had been two days ago that he broke into Eggman's ship, and left a note for him asking him to meet him here on this date. Thorn knew he would come. How could he not.

The clearing was white with snow, only his footprints on the ground, and the lake where he and Scarlet used to play was covered in a thick layer of ice. It felt like Thorn hadn't been here in years, though he knew the drama had only happened months ago.

Crunching footsteps on the solidified snow, brought Thorn out of his thoughts, he forced his head to turn to look at the man who ruined his life.

"You actually turned up." Thorn spat at the man, though he had excepted him to appear.

Eggman shrugged "How could I not come? We both know I've been looking for you since then, and we both know what day it is."

Thorn glared at the human, clenching his teeth together in anger. "And why may I ask have you been looking for me? Isn't it pretty obvious that I don't want to be found?"

"That doesn't mean that I'm going to stop looking. I needed to find you. I still do. I know most of the story, but you have the remaining blanks. Tell me Thorn, what happened between you and Scarlet?"

Thorn turned away before replying, his voice still coated in fury. "And why would I tell you that? After all it's not like you even care about Scarlet. She was just some super weapon, in your messed up head. And you got what you wanted. My father's dead. Scarlet's dead. Why can't you just leave it at that?"

Eggman walked slowly towards Thorn. He was only a few feet away before he responded to the young cat's questions. "I care about Scarlet much more than you will ever know. I want the truth, so that I can put her memory to rest. I want to know what you did to her, and until I do, I will never leave you alone." As he spoke Eggman sounded calm, but Thorn could hear the menace beneath it.

Thorn's eyes widened, and his anger continued to grow. "Me? You're the reason she's dead. You're the reason she isn't here today celebrating her 16th birthday." Thorn was now on his feet, matching Eggman's height.

Confusion now covered Eggman's face, "Do you even know what happened to her? I assumed you did, after all Scarlet was spending all her time with you before she became that creature, but I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry to have wasted your time, as well as mine." As he finished Eggman turned to leave.

"Wait." Thorn replied, confusion now in his own voice. "What do you mean? Didn't you tell her to kill Sonic, didn't you force her to become that fighting machine? How did you even know about me?"

Eggman turned back to face the blue cat. He could feel the tears in his eyes, as well as see those in Thorn's. "Yes, I wanted Sonic to die. That was my goal in life. That was Scarlet's goal in life. But I knew she wasn't ready yet. I still can't believe that she actually succeeded in killing Sonic. He was so much stronger that her." Eggman felt the tears, as they slipped down his face, unable to stop them any longer. "I didn't turn her into that creature. I pushed her, kept on pushing her, but I didn't snap her. I blamed you for that. I knew straight away when she met you, there was something different about Scarlet, but in a good way. As if she had more purpose to life than just fighting. It wasn't until later that I realized you were Sonic's son. I knew all about him and Blaze. Even your sister Sun, but Sonic was more careful with you. I didn't even know you existed. I didn't know he had a son-"

"He didn't" Thorn cut in. "They found me, and brought me up, but biologically I'm not his son. I'm not even sure if they loved me-"

This time it was Eggman's turn to cut in, anger raging in his voice. "How dare you say that? They brought you up, fed you, cared for you. Sonic and Blaze loved you as if you were there's. I know. Just because Scarlet shares Sonic's blood, doesn't make him her father. He never wanted her, while I did. She was my daughter, biologically or not, because I love her."

Thorn stared in disbelief at his elder, before mumbling out, "I love her to." Thorn's voice then hardened "I never got a chance to tell her, I was so confused back then. I thought she was my sister, even after I found out that I wasn't related to her. Now I know she was my friend, and she died before we could become more than that. You're right. You were her father, and Sonic was mine. We weren't related."

Eggman looked at Thorn in wonder. "Thorn, I don't think either of us will ever know what happened to Scarlet to change her like that. We both could have had an influence on it, but there's no point in thinking like that, because we'll never really know." At this Eggman put a hand on Thorn's shoulder. "Thorn, where are you living now?"

Thorn looked up at the human. Being this close to Eggman he could now see the age lines and pain in the old man's face. "No where I guess. Sometimes I travel to this area, to remember Scarlet, and to visit my mother. She worries about me. But mostly I just travel where ever my legs take me."

Eggman's lips turned up, into a smile. Thorn had only ever seen Eggman smile once before, when he was talking to Scarlet on the boat, the day Thorn crashed her Christmas party. "In that case, would you like to come and live on my ship? You don't have to do anything for me, or be with the other fighters, but if you want I have a spare room, since Scarlet is no longer with me. I know she would have wanted you to have it."

Thorn smiled back at Eggman, "She would have liked that. She would have given me a tour of your ship, and shown me how to fight as well as her, so that we could have taken on an army of robots together. She would have raced me around the ship, and forced me to call you Uncle Eggman, just as she did, and she would have smiled constantly, because she was always that kind of person. I don't know how it would feel to be on your ship without her Eggman, but I think I would like to stay in her room, and practice fighting, until I can destroy an army of robots, because that was always her dream."

And with that the young blue cat, and the old human walked off together, talking about all the things that Scarlet would have wanted.