A/N: Miles makes a moral realignment, and for the first major time in his life- works for the side of evil.
Months of yearning, teetering between his passions, the day had come, and he could not have been more ready. When he awoke from his bed, he ignored the itching dry skin around his eyes, the burning fluttered within his ribcage, scratching at the edges, and took a breath. The light taps of his feet against the metal floor, the occasional squeak from his sneakers, wind blowing through the sides of his jacket accompanying him, accompanied him as he walked to the storage warehouse deep within the complex's hallways.
As the lights flickered, the kitsune's eyes squinted as he scanned for his mentor, before setting his course to where his father was standing, shuffling through various papers and screens on a table in front of him. Ivo did not address the boy vocally, merely turning his head to lay a comforting gloved hand onto the boy's shoulder, and lifting the boy's chin with a reassuring glance.
"It is time, my boy." His voice struggled along the pavement, rasp on the bottom, with floating inspiration dancing within its fine lines. He turned away, subtly placing his hands within his jacket pockets, but not before the boy quickly intercepted his path; soon, two red jackets blended into one as the child's yellow figure embraced the doctor, slightly nuzzling his head into the space between the golden emblems on his coat. Any usual protests against the expression froze up on the doctor's tongue, and he rigidly wrapped his own arms around the boy.
Perhaps it was the realization of how small the boy was, or the hammering of both of their hearts in anticipation, but they did not discuss further their hug and the doctor silently ushered the boy to an impressive work of machinery in a corner of the room. Quiet was the room, save for the hum of ventilation and morning birds, the man placed his hand onto the robot's outer coverings– mental prayers that the bot would protect his charge.
A knocking sequence, distinctive in rhythm, was heard from the entrance doorway, and while the mentee turned to inquisitively look over, the doctor did not show any sign he heard it at all (and if the child was any less observant, he would not have noticed how the man's eyes twitched in the door's direction, and how he shuffled to put away any materials he was currently dealing with).
Ivo issued a blunt goodbye to his mentee, not before placing the ghost of a kiss onto the fox's forehead; which if the expression was out of place on its own, the lingering pause afterwards, the man's chin resting gently along the boy's bangs, was yet another check on the increasing list of discrepancies in the boy's mind. The creaking of the door's closing was the parting gift before the boy was left alone, drilling throughout his mind the drills run throughout the year's training– to ensure the plan would go without fault, and without hesitation. The humor in the boy's own change in alliance made him bitterly chuckle, a pressure building in the place below his ribs and behind his temples; waiting for the moment he could see the friend who had betrayed him, and prove! He did not need a reckless child, running ahead with no concern for those around him, and leaving those who cared in his dust.
A glitching set of eyes watching from the doorway was left unnoticed, as the boy clenched his fists, and familiarized himself with his machine.
The large field was ahead of him, various other small bots taking the offense onto a small village behind, and he could not have been more ready. Slowly approaching, the robot's lumbering steps moved him forward; he could almost pretend to not see the haze of blue and red destroying his father's creations, yet Tails knew to trust himself better than that. The creature wagged his finger at his father, wiping from underneath his nose with a smirk on his face; his once heroic and inspiring features twisted and harsh, like a lively plaza void of people and festivities.
Years of his shy, reserved countenance, biting back harsh words, broke free and the kitsune yelled at the hedgehog.
"Hey!" The 'hero' turned, his eyes dropping and his posture slacking as he locks eyes with the boy ("Tails?") as the fox locks his jaw. "Leave my father alone!" The kitsune fired at the hedgehog, forcing him to jump back from his mentor's vessel; his distraction allowed his father to speed into the air, laughing heartily, a booming joy resounding from deep within him, thanking his charge.
"Now you've really done it, Egghead!" The teen jests, snarling as he points towards the doctor. "Bringing your kid along with you- leave Tails out of this!"
"Oh," Something foul and rotten overcame the boy's senses, scorching his heart with fury, the fuel from years of pain raising the flames. "Is that how you see it?" He began to giggle, a childish glee not fit for the destruction and havoc being wreaked amongst him. His laughter ends, mimicking a certain gesture done to him, and he looks at the teen with a blank face, eyes null.
"Father, I can deal with the blue pest myself. You have more important matters to handle." With a glare, he adds, "This is personal."
The doctor nods at his mentee, scoffing at the blue hedgehog before his craft took off, flying towards another post of battle. The hedgehog made a squeak of protest, but the boy's firing blocked the hero's exit.
"Tails, I don't know what he told you, but please-"
"I listened to you." His gaze lingering on the spot which his father was, he subtly shifted his head to meet his gaze with the protagonist on the ground. Biting back his volume, he wanted this moment to be calm, rational, as he prides himself on being. "I did exactly what you told me."
The years of machinery malfunctioning, plans perfectly executed ruined in the last hour of completion, the hero escaping from a secure prison; all seemingly random, the fox ignored the frustration building in his mentor's brow every time, and turned the other way, offering quiet consolation. His father's glares, when it was his mentor's watch on their enemy and the blue blur escaped, and the pressurizing guilt fracturing within his chest was all pushed aside, for him.
Tails upticked his chin and scoffed at his own naivety, before looking at the hero from beneath his brows. "And you just ripped it all away from me."
His fingers glided over the various buttons and triggers placed on the board below him, slowly placing his fingers on the handles. The analytical speech, written during the late night, tossing and turning onto his pillows as the familiar tree taps his attention on the window- all his controlled emotions, muffled and held aback- could not be tempered any longer, and all his words foamed and snapped in their entirety.
"I never thought that you'd be so cruel– I never thought you'd be as ruthless as that!"
"Hey- Tails!" Fire shot out of a striker from the fox's craft, the blue blur barely escaping its scourging licks. "Watch the heat, buddy!"
The flames ended with a snuff, yet a fire ignited still in the boy's eyes, glaring down with a fervor akin to a match, resisting. A smile, thin and with a point, embedded itself into the boy's features, as the boy tilted his head innocently at his prior companion.
"To send me back. To leave me with nothing-" He leaned forward, his arms splayed across the surface with the switches, and bit out, "You knew exactly what you were doing."
Bullets whirred by, and the blue hero spun out of the way, before spurring out of his coil into a kneel.
"Tails, I need ya' to slow down a sec, buddy," the hero calmly pleaded, standing slowly with his hands lifted to surrender. "You're going a mile a minute right now– I can't help ya' if you don't talk me through it." He took small steps towards the boy, giving a small smile and reaching out an open palm. "What's going on?"
…
"No," the boy snickered, smiling as the other teen's arm fell down and his face morphed into disbelief. "I'm done with talking."
The holsters fired, and a shout of Miles' name was all the blue blur could muster before he succumbed to the battle, and soon at all to darkness.
He could not be more ready.