Chapter Eleven: Guesswork

May 8th, 2006

Dear journal,

It's been 2 days since Cosmo and Sonic went missing. Though missing feels like the wrong word. Because C2 is here, we can assume we know exactly where they are. If they're still

But I can't think like that. I have to still hope. Because if I don't, they don't have a chance at all. We have to keep fighting. We have to try to find the Chaos Emeralds. And then we can save Cosmo and Sonic if they're still

I'm going to be sick. Maybe it's just because I still haven't been sleeping well. Everyone's been taking shifts at the helm lately so that we all have time to rest. Though I don't think really anyone's resting at all lately. My mind's always moving way too fast but it's not really moving anywhere. I don't come up with any new plans or find some missing piece of the puzzle of everything going on here. It's just that my brain is constantly spinning.

I am so tired. Is this all life is ever going to be?

..Miles "Tails" Prower

A headache pounded in Tails's temples as he pressed his thin notebook closed against his bed. Was it from lack of sleep? Dehydration? Maybe the stress of it all? He was so tired of fighting. Hadn't they earned their way out of this by now? His muscles stretched so tight beneath his skin. They hadn't found release for years now. Vines wrapped tight around his chest and squeezed his heart until he almost wished it would burst, if only for the moment of relief it would provide.

But instead, Tails just squeezed his eyes closed. Sucked in a deep slow breath. Released it again, willing his tension out along with the air. He couldn't give up, not now, not when it meant sacrificing his friends. Tails had never cared much for the title of hero but he always wanted to be good. So he would keep going. He would keep fighting.

But he was going to do it with a painkiller and a bottle of water on his way to the bridge.

-(-)-

Tails's heart dropped when he stepped onto the bridge to find C2 already standing there. Though a moment later, the heat of shame crawled up his neck. None of this was C2's fault. She hadn't asked to exist. In fact, she had asked for the opposite.

He had never imagined how hard it would be to see the twin tail abnormality looking back at him. C2's tails twitched behind her, much like his always did. It wasn't like the abnormality in his genes was of any concern to his health. They were nothing more than a peculiarity. But while Tails could say with confidence that she hadn't been abandoned by her parents for the abnormality, in the same way that his parents had abandoned him, he couldn't help but wonder if C2 had been bullied like he had been before he made friends with Sonic.

Thinking of Sonic now, however, only served to stab a dagger into Tails's heart. He clutched at his fur above where his heart beat, as if he could pull out the knife that didn't actually exist there after all.

C2 stood off to the side of the captain's chair rather than at the station. Not that she needed to be there unless the Metarex were nearby or a navigation change needed made. Otherwise, the Blue Typhoon was on autopilot enroute to the planet of Majyk. Not that Majyk itself held the Chaos Emeralds they needed to rescue. Nor Sonic and Cosmo. But at least they might find two more individuals who could wield the Emeralds. And while their Chaos Emerald scanner was still offline until Chris made the necessary repairs, it was the best plan they had.

"I've got things covered here, Tails. I'm sure you have plenty of more important things to worry about."

Tails's eyes snapped C2's way to see she had turned to look at him over her shoulder. Her lips were pressed together into a single firm line.

"Did I…teach you how to do these sorts of things?" Tails asked.

The corners of C2's lips turned upward in a faint smile. "I picked up some on my own as well," she replied. "I've been a Time Whisperer for several lifetimes."

Tails couldn't quite explain the shiver skittering across his shoulders. He cleared his throat and if only to distract his thoughts from the places they wanted to go, he said, "That's different than how things worked for when Angel came back in time to prevent her existence, isn't it?"

C2 dipped her head in a nod. "Angel's existence had a single instance of possibility. Mine was supposed to be as well, and it too had been passed, at which point I became a Time Whisperer. At least until the Metarex manipulated the timeline and created a second instance of possibility of my existence. It's within those two instances that I've had my experience as a Time Whisperer. Which should be impossible. A mortal only becomes a Time Whisperer after all instances of their existence have been eliminated."

Tails furrowed his brow and nodded slowly. While he thought he understood C2's point, it was a difficulty to consider experience that occurred outside of time. It wasn't as though most things did.

"You said the Metarex manipulated the timeline," Tails said suddenly. C2 turned more fully to face Tails, apparently already recognizing the complexity of the question he was in the midst of attempting to articulate. "But…how can that work? How can they make a timeline that doesn't exist?"

C2 frowned. She didn't answer right away but instead just watched Tails's face. He couldn't tell if she was figuring out how to answer this question or deciding if she even would. After a long moment, she said, "Without going into too many details, it's important to remember Time Whisperers are guardians and protectors of time, not controllers of it. We observe all points of time across time-space to identify risks or improper manipulations. While we can travel through time-space ourselves or provide that ability to another, we cannot manipulate events without becoming involved in them."

C2 turned away from Tails to look out the window before them on the bridge. But then she continued, "The Metarex are not the first to manipulate time-space and they won't be the last. In fact, I recall that this team has a few manipulations under their belts as well, involving a planet called Earth. Including one that nearly ended time itself." She shot a quick, knowing glance over her shoulder, and Tails flushed in response.

But then she turned forward again. "Unfortunately, this is the first time that time-space has been manipulated so extensively. Even the Chaos Emeralds—tools of time-space manipulation themselves—have taken notice. The theory among Time Whisperers is because the manipulation itself occurred at coordinates 0-0-0."

Tails's eyes widened. It had been a long time since he had considered the significant time-space event during which the Metarex had staged their final stand—or what had appeared to be their final stand at the time. They had chosen such a time in order to spread forestation across the universe.

But what if there had been an ulterior motive as well?

"To be honest," C2 added softly, "I don't know how we fix this. I don't have access to the Time Whisperers now, but I know they're having trouble accessing this time, or else Angel would provide us intelligence. My only thought is that perhaps the Chaos Emeralds can defeat the Metarex and undo the damage they've done to space-time."

Tails considered this, considered the quiet Chaos Energy living inside him. "It does seem like our best chance," he agreed eventually.

Tails stepped up to stand beside C2, and she offered him a grateful smile. "I apologize if it seems like I'm trying to take over control and make decisions for your crew," she said. "You're the captain of this craft. You tell me what you need."

Tails nodded. Though he noticed that she deferred to him as captain rather than because he supposedly was her dad. Maybe it was because of her experience as a Time Whisperer. She had for so long been divorced from a timeline where such a relationship existed between them that perhaps it felt more like a distant dream than anything resembling memory.

"Unless you know a ton about engineering or how to reassemble the Master Emerald after it shatters, then this is exactly where I need you to be," he told her.

C2 turned her head enough to offer him a sideways smirk. "The theoretical physics and philosophy of time-space doesn't exactly translate to engineering," she admitted.

Tails's heart warmed, though it took him a moment to realize why, if only because the experience was so foreign to him. At least, until he realized the sensation was similar to—though not the same as—when he collaborated with Chuck Thorndyke on Earth.

It was the feeling of being known, only intensified by the fact that C2 looked so much like him.

And then, out of nowhere, the fur at the back of his neck bristled.

The faint smile warming his features evaporated in a heartbeat. Beside him, C2's face mirrored his. And as one, they both muttered, "Chaos Control."

A bright light erupted before their eyes the moment the words left their mouths. On instinct, Tails stepped in front of C2 to shield her body with his own. He shaded his eyes with his hand and squinted but refused to look away from the sparking light. The Chaos Energy in his own core rose in response to the Energy before him.

And then the light vanished. With a flash, it was gone. And in its place was a black and red hedgehog.

Black for the hedgehog's fur.

Red because blood matted in his fur and dripped to the floor at his feet.

Shadow the Hedgehog dropped to one knee, bracing himself against his knee with the hand that held a single violet Chaos Emerald. He tilted his head up to look at Tails and C2. Words struggle to form on Tails's tongue. And before Tails found them, Shadow gasped, "The Metarex are attempting to commit genocide on Majyk."